"Ready?" Artie had first demonstrated by getting up the ramp in a few smooth motions. He was wearing his lucky bicycle sweater that day, which had surely helped him make it look easy. It was actually not easy, not even for someone experienced like him, and in the past he'd avoided it. Then all his friends started eating out in the courtyard, he realized how long it would take for him to go back in with the crowd of students, and he had to come up with this as plan B.

But now the day had come for Quinn to try her luck with the ramp, as she'd promised to do last month when Artie first mentioned the idea.

"I don't know, it's super steep." Quinn looked rightfully timid, when actually faced with it.

"In fact, it's the steepest accessibility ramp in Lima," Artie announced, importantly. "I know, I've conquered them all."

"I think I'm just gonna go to the front of the school," she said, as she started to wheel away. "That ramp is nice and gentle."

"Quinn Fabray!" He stopped her by yelling out her full name (and graciously not calling her 'Lucy.') "I believe in you. Now, come on, prove me right. You can do this."

Quinn reluctantly wheeled back a pace and straightened up, pointing her wheels towards the incline and wheeling back slightly for momentum.

"I'm not gonna make it," she exclaimed, after three effortful, strained pushes.

"You will!"

"Ah... my... arms..."

"Are like iron!"

"... aren't strong like yours."

"Yes, you are!" Artie demanded, hovering a few feet over her and following her as she went up. "Lean forward and push... push!"

"Don't make me laugh!" Quinn couldn't help the laughs that escaped, as they both thought of the same thing.

"C'mon, you're halfway there, you've got this!" Artie encouraged her, laughing right along with her. "Push! Push!"

"Sounds familiar!" Quinn exclaimed.

"It's just like having a baby," Artie affirmed, with a goofy grin.

"You wouldn't know!"

"Three... two... one..." Artie counted down as she somehow made it to the top. "Zero! You did it!"

"Oh, my gosh!" As Quinn laughed, Artie put his hand up for a high five. As she high-fived him back, she started to slip backwards a little. He reached out and made a grab for her frame and they both dissolved into giggles as he made sure she was safe and steady up top.

"Now stay up here," he added, as they both looked back at what she'd just done. "C'mon, I'll show you why it's so much better to cut through the library after lunch."

"That was one of the hardest things I've ever done," Quinn told him, as they exited the library and turned the corner to head down an empty hallway. Sure enough, they'd managed to beat the crowd in from lunch.

"Until you go to Kings Island," Artie said, at which point she looked at him in alarm.

Earlier that day, the plans for the elusive senior skip day had been announced. Secretly, of course, but every student now knew they'd be meeting up at the Kings Island amusement park this year. Senior skip day always occurred on the Friday before spring break. Historically, teachers just looked the other way when most of their class turned out to be absent. After all, senior skip day had been a tradition, even when some of these teachers had been seniors themselves.

"Artie, it's senior skip day..." Quinn looked heartbroken. "Are you saying it's too difficult for a person in a wheelchair to go to an amusement park and expect to have any fun?"

"I'm not saying that at all," Artie clarified. "I want you to go. I just... well... I personally have had more fun with just my family or a few of my close friends. A school trip to an amusement park in a wheelchair was kind of tricky..."

"Tricky, how?" Quinn wanted to know. "When did you go on a school trip to an amusement park?"

"At the end of eighth grade," he explained, as she followed him to his locker. "We got to go to Kings Island to celebrate the end of junior high. Everything from the rides to roaming around the park was just... more complicated for me. It would have been okay, if not for the kid that was with me. It's a long story."

"Well, I've got time," Quinn said. "And so do you, being that our next class is study hall and we're both straight A students. C'mon, I wanna hear about it."

Astronomy class only met a few times a day, so other times, the classroom was empty. Knowing this, Quinn led him in there. He was a bit more hesitant but he followed her anyway.

"Uh, isn't this kind of known for being the secret make-out spot at McKinley?" Artie remarked, as he followed her to a table. He gestured to the star-and-planet decor hanging above. "Something about... romance under the fake, plastic stars..."

Quinn giggled. "Something everyone expects of us by now anyway, right?"

Artie wasn't sure if anyone expected that. Sure, it was true they'd been through a lot together, from Quinn living with him during and after her pregnancy to him teaching her to navigate life in a wheelchair. So, he just ignored the comment and concentrated on the real reason they'd come to the empty classroom.

"If I tell you about my story from eighth grade, you have to promise not to get discouraged and skip out on going yourself," he began, issuing this disclaimer because he never wanted to tell someone they couldn't do something. Just like he didn't like being told he couldn't do something, especially if he really could. "You can go and be a part of the fun. I just think, well... more than anything, you having had a recent surgery is the biggest factor that may count you out of some stuff."

Quinn nodded. "I've considered that, believe me."

"Good, 'cause it means you won't be able to ride very much at all," Artie said. "I can do the stuff with upper body restraints safely, and I've done it and it was fun. But I wouldn't have done it, like, last summer when it hadn't even been a year since my operation for scoliosis."

Quinn nodded again. "I get that," she said. "Really, I don't want to do anything to jeopardize all my progress, believe me. I just don't wanna miss out. So, tell me, what was it like for you?"

Three Years Ago

Artie's dad took the day off from work that day, to take his son to his school trip to the amusement park, nearly two hours away. That alone was a big deal, since his dad hardly ever took off work for anything. His purpose for coming along was to make sure Artie visited Guest Services to get the pass for all the accommodations he would need. He wasn't sure if a chaperone would be available to go with Artie for that, and it was an essential part of a theme park visit for someone with a disability. Artie, being older than most eighth graders, had begged his dad to let him handle things on his own. In a rare moment, his dad denied him this particular moment of independence. He just wanted to ensure Artie had a good time, and he reasoned the best way to do that was to be close. He wouldn't go so far as to baby Artie by accompanying him to the park the whole time. At fifteen, Artie was in that stage of adolescence where everything parents did was embarrassing. Still, his dad intended to spend the rest of the day nearby. That way, if Artie needed to leave, one of the sponsors would have his dad's number.

Artie didn't plan to ask anyone to call his dad, no matter what. After all, he had loved Kings Island as a daring, fearless, normal, little kid. As soon as he was tall enough to ride a ride, he'd ride it. They went at least once or twice each summer. When he was eight, they'd gotten summer passes and had gone a lot. And then, when he was nine, that family tradition ended for while.

But he'd even been once already as a person in a wheelchair, at the end of fifth grade, on a trip with his family. Of course, he'd been disappointed about some of the things he couldn't do. There were several rides that required at least "three functioning limbs" to safely ride. But they quickly figured out that Artie could do the rides with full-body harnesses, as long as someone from their party helped him transfer on and off of the rides. His chair was waiting for him when he got off. The experience was terrifying, at first, but thrilling by the second time they'd been on a ride. It was a rare treat, to experience something the same way others did.

Artie and his dad had finished up at Guest Services just about the time the busload of kids from Glover Cleveland Middle School arrived. Like the cool dad that he was, Artie's father made a smooth exit, merely waving to one of the teachers in charge and heading back to the car. Artie was relieved, for he would have absolutely died of embarrassment if his dad had tried to strike up a conversation about something awkward related to his "special needs" in front of anyone.

As it turned out, a few of the popular kids knew that Artie's special pass got him on and off rides quickly. As a result, several of the boys who usually paid him no attention at school were suddenly begging to be placed in a group with him, just for the chance to partake in one of the very few perks that existed for people like him.

One such boy was Garrett Snell, a lanky redhead who was on the soccer team. Artie knew him because he was one of the better players on the team. He was just a year younger than his brother, Drew, who had been on Artie's soccer team when they were kids. Garrett never had any time for Artie, but suddenly, he'd positioned himself right next to him and insisted: "I'll go with Artie! And so will Liam and Isaac!"

Well, as it turned out, only three companions could go with Artie, and one of those companions needed to be a chaperone. Mrs. Fritz, their weird eighth grade drama teacher, volunteered for the job. And since Garrett had been the most vocal one about going with Artie, he got to be one of the companions, too, but without his two best friends. Neither of them wanted to be split up, so neither volunteered to join them. Neither did anyone else. Artie could see that Garrett wanted to back out as soon as he realized it would just be him, Artie, and their teacher.

"I can't believe this happened," Garrett muttered, just loud enough for Artie to hear it but not Mrs. Fritz. They were both walking too fast, but Artie didn't want his teacher to push him, nor did he expect Garrett would offer to do it.

"You can still pass the lines..." Artie didn't know why he felt like he had to sweeten the deal, make it worth his while, but he'd been determined to win Garrett over somehow. "What-what do you want to do first?"

"Congo Falls is my favorite," Garrett said, naming the water ride with the 50-foot drop at her end.

"Hmmm..." Mrs. Fritz was thumbing through the copy of the handbook they'd given Artie that specified all the accessibility guidelines. She found the specifics for Congo Falls. "Says here guests must have a minimum of two functioning extremities; one functioning arm and one functioning leg. Do you have a functioning leg?"

"No... I don't," Artie had said, in a very small voice. He tried to remember all of the things he'd ridden the one time they'd come when he'd been in a chair, but his dad had worried about the details that day. He'd just ridden whatever his dad said was okay. "But... I did do the log ride when I was here last time. The Charlie Brown one?"

Mrs. Fritz flipped through her the book of guidelines once more. "Guests must have a minimum of two functioning extremities; one functioning arm and one functioning leg..." she read again. "Two functioning arms are sufficient instead of three functioning extremities if the guest is able to form a saddle posture with leg remnants sufficient to brace self upright in the seat."

"My mom and dad sort of... held onto me," Artie explained, turning red then as Garrett looked thoroughly disgusted by the idea. Artie didn't love it either. Eighth grade boys didn't normally hold onto other eighth grade boys.

But they did get to skip the line and enter through the exit ramp, which Garrett did comment was "cool." As they approached the little log flume, Artie looked at it warily. Last time, when he was twelve, his dad had just picked him up and put him in the ride. This time, he had no such helper, nor were any of the workers trained to do so. Garrett gawked at him as he used his hands to lift one foot towards the flume and placed it carefully in the floor. This was made extra complicated by the slippery water in the bottom of the flume. His leg spasmed, as it nearly always did when he manipulated it into strange positions, and he could see that Garrett didn't understand.

"You can move your legs?"

"I didn't move it, it just moves by itself," Artie explained, too focused on fighting against the spasm to give a much more detailed explanation than that.

Once he had a foot safely in place, he gripped the sides of the boat and made a lunge for it, trying to move fast. Too fast. Luckily, the untrained ride attendant at least had good reflexes and was paying attention. He caught Artie before he fell out and sort of pushed him the rest of the way in. It wasn't the least bit graceful, but at least he was in. He asked Garrett and Mrs. Fritz to get in front and back of him and to sit close, sandwiching him tightly in the middle.

"I do not want to keep the picture of this," Garrett muttered, as he climbed in behind Artie. He was referring to the picture that was always snapped as each flume went down the drop at the end of the ride. "This is so gay, dude. My balls are right up against your ass."

"Garrett, enough!" said their teacher, who couldn't help but overhear Garrett's hateful comments this time.

"I can't feel it," was all Artie could think to say. Garrett, in the back of the ride, was unamused, to say the least.

The majority of the ride was gentle and slow, of course, and Artie really didn't need attending to for that part, but it didn't stop Mrs. Fritz from checking in every few seconds to make sure he was okay. It was annoying. Until the point where the ride started to climb to the top, and Artie really began to panic himself, gripping the bars on the side for dear life. He didn't know if he could trust the guy behind him to hold on or not.

"Please... hold onto my waist..." he heard himself saying, at the last minute, as Garrett – truly an asshole but apparently not heartless enough to make Artie feel unsafe – grabbed onto him from behind as the flume plummeted. Artie didn't enjoy one bit of the thrill ride, and neither did Garrett, who was now worried about how holding onto another dude didn't fit with his tough guy image.

As Artie had anticipated, it was even harder to get off the ride and back into his wheelchair, now that he was soaking wet. He managed, only because the strong-looking attendant, who wasn't really supposed to help, took pity on him and supported him through the second transfer of the day.

By then, Artie was already exhausted yet still having to push himself through the theme park for the rest of the day. At least Mrs. Fritz had the decency to suggest stopping for a snack at this point, which seemed to agree with everyone, for a change of pace. But, after corn dogs and lemonade, it was time for Artie to take a bathroom break. When he told Mrs. Fritz this, much to Artie's dismay, Garrett agreed that he had to go as well.

The two guys headed to the restroom, and of course, Artie had to wait on the handicap stall to become available. Garrett just kind of jeered at him a moment before using the urinal. When he finished, Artie was finally able to get into the larger stall he needed as Garrett was washing his hands. The other boy gave him an annoyed look that said he already knew Artie would take longer than the average person in the bathroom. Well, he was right, and he did. He tried to get in and out as quickly as possible, but Garrett was still leaning against the building when he came out and made a huge show of blowing his cheeks out in frustration.

"How about the Bat?" Artie asked, ignoring his companion's behavior as he suggested a wild ride with shoulder restraints that wouldn't require anyone to hold onto him. Garrett raised his eyebrows, as though skeptical about Artie's ability to ride this, but said nothing and just nodded.

Artie picked the Bat because he felt safest in that one. It had shoulder restraints and a car below, so his feet didn't dangle precariously in mid-air. However, as it turned out, the ride was completely on the opposite end of the park. Halfway there, Mrs. Fritz clued into the fact that Artie was working super hard to wheel himself to their destination.

"Dear me, Arthur, would you like a push?" she finally asked, but Artie's pride wouldn't let him do such a thing, not with Garrett sneering down at him. Stubbornly, Artie shook his head and pushed onward. By the time they reached the ride, Artie felt like he'd used all the strength he could muster. And he still had to somehow get on and off this ride without help.

Garrett looked pretty pleased again, as they led he and Artie through a special back entry to get to the ride and pass the line. His riding companion always cheered up when he remembered the one perk of being with Artie. This time, their teacher opted to sit out, claiming she'd eaten too recently for the ride.

"Dude, not cool, we've been waiting forever!" The voice belonged to Liam. As Artie was sizing up the first car and mentally preparing himself to get in, he suddenly realized they'd managed to board the ride just as Garrett's best friends, Liam and Isaac, reached the front of the line. His heart sank. Garrett, however, was positively elated.

As the other boys loaded into the cars, Liam and Isaac immediately behind them, Artie suddenly became highly self-conscious. He was keenly aware of his peers staring as he heaved his leg into place, with it shaking violently all over the place. Possibly just out of surprise, Liam and Isaac began laughing loudly at this.

"He looks like he's trying to tap dance!" Isaac exclaimed, as his buddy roared with laughter. For the first time that day, Garrett looked torn between two options, and for a split second, Artie thought maybe he was going to tell the other two to shut up instead of laughing.

"I know, right?" Garrett agreed, snickering.

And in that moment, a rare one for Artie, who never wanted to let people see him get upset, he'd had enough. He pulled his leg back towards his chair and grabbed onto his wheels.

"I changed my mind," he muttered, hoping and praying they wouldn't make Garrett get off the ride, now that he was wheeling for the exit. If that happened, he'd never hear the end of it. Luckily, the ride attendant either seemed to realize this or didn't have time to make Garrett get off. Whatever the case, Artie's heart was still pounding as he headed back down the exit ramp, crowded now with several people who were getting off the ride.

"Artie?" Mrs. Fritz rose from the bench where she'd been waiting on them. "What's wrong? Where's Garrett?"

Artie was fighting tears by now but was determined not to cry. Mrs. Fritz, if she noticed, said nothing. "I changed my mind," he told her. "They let him go without me."

Mrs. Fritz, though not completely clueless this time, let it go and let him sit next to her in silence. He really didn't want to wait for the other boy. So, when Tina and the other really weird goth girl she hung out with passed by with their chaperone, Artie didn't waste the opportunity. As much as he didn't want to be associated with Tina Cohen-Chang and her weird friend, he'd rather spend the day with them. Garrett would surely ditch him for his friends after this anyway. Not much of a loss there.

"Mrs. Fritz... can I go with Tina?"

And that was how Artie ended up spending the rest of the day going on all the slow, easy rides with rollercoaster-wary Tina Cohen-Chang. She even noticed that he was extremely worn out from wheeling all over the park that day.

"D-d-do you n-n-need a push?" she'd asked him, astute enough to see it written all over his face. When he reluctantly nodded, she seemed pleased to have a job. So pleased that he'd even go on to let her do it at school, the next time she asked, and eventually, she didn't even ask anymore. She just pushed.

Present Day

"Artie... I... I don't know what to say."

"Quinn, don't start crying because I told you that story–" he started to say, and they both laughed, because this happened far too often. He'd never opened up to anyone about these issues before. He'd never even told anyone that story, not even his dad, when he'd asked how the trip had gone.

Quinn wiped her eyes and chuckled. "Okay, Artie, sorry," she told him. "I just... wow. Garrett? Should I know this guy?"

Artie shook his head. "He moved after eighth grade," he told her. "And thank goodness. I don't know if he ever would have let me live it down..." Artie trailed off. "But you're not like me. You have a lot of friends who will help you out. You have to go."

She nodded. "I know," she said. "I wish you'd had better friends. I guess you would have had more fun if you'd just gone with Tina in the first place, huh?"

At this, he just rolled his eyes and they shared another laugh before the bell.