Quinn lay in bed, her arm across her forehead as she stared at her ceiling. She really hadn't been expecting the response she'd gotten from Rachel. Rachel Berry, condoning, no, praising Quinn punching Ritter in the face. Ms. P cared about that kind of stuff, but that was because she cared about people more than anyone in the whole world. Other people didn't care about that kind of stuff. Rachel didn't even know the girl that Ritter had been going after. If Rachel knew it was Mack she probably would think Mack was asking for it… And if she knew about Quinn-
Quinn slapped both her cheeks sharply with her palms, stopping that train of thought in its tracks. The point was, Rachel Berry was weird and Quinn couldn't quite figure her out. Sure, on the surface Rachel seemed pretty straightforward. But no one was that earnest, no one was that animated and happy and vivacious. Rachel Berry, simply put, could not be real.
Yet here they were weeks into their relationship, whatever it was, and Rachel hadn't given up trying to get Quinn to accept her friendship. Quinn had barricaded her in every way she knew how short of the extreme measures she'd gone to in getting Santana and Brittany to stop calling. And that- that had taken everything she had in her the first time around. She'd been the living dead for months after that, so depressed she almost gave up. Thought that life might not have been worth it, if this was all it was going to be. Lonely and shameful and painful.
Celibacy club had come around in the nick of time. And she'd thought that might be enough, her very own floating piece of wood in ice-cold waters.
Even so she had roboted her way through life for a little more than a year, and then the Skanks had trampled into her space under the bleachers and into her life.
Rachel was trying to offer her more, without knowing that Quinn Fabray couldn't have more. That Quinn wasn't worth offering more. Rachel would eventually end this crusade with disappointment. That almost made Quinn sad. Ultimately it was Rachel's own fault, though, and maybe it would help in curbing that insane optimism the little diva had going for her.
And maybe it would be nice to have another foothold for a time. A year and a half was looking longer and longer as things at home got worse.
Quinn could be a little selfish, then, and let Rachel keep trying until she gave up. In the meantime, Quinn could have one more distraction. Rachel wasn't a bad option as distractions went. Sure she was grating and naïve and completely obnoxious, but she wasn't a bitch or a jerk or any of the other stereotypical popular archetypes. Rachel was amusing in her own way. Had already made her smile more in a little more than two weeks than the Skanks had in a year.
Ms. P still held the record, but Quinn wasn't about to hold her breath on Rachel breaking it anytime soon. Ms. P was special. She wasn't trapped in the maze of high school expectations. And she was Ms. P.
Quinn grabbed her pillow from under her head and curled around it, burying her face in it. What a selfish decision, to let Rachel burn herself out over her. She really was the worst kind of person.
And clearly, she didn't have enough willpower to change her mind.
.
Quinn walked into school the next morning with a clear head, having gotten some of the best sleep she'd had in ages, despite the realization that she was a selfish fool. Her dad had been away, and she was well rested and she hadn't had to take an hour-long shower at any point in the night or morning. All good things.
That's why she was alert enough to hear a scuffle down what would have been a normally empty hallway at this time in the morning, and she followed the noise to make sure one of her Skanks hadn't gotten into any early-morning trouble, as unlikely as that seemed. She wasn't sure Ronnie, Sheila or Mack had ever gotten to school before the middle of first period.
When she peeked around the corner she saw two of the football jocks, the quarterback Finn Hudson and a boy she was pretty sure was named Puck, pinning Phil Ritter to a row of lockers. She stayed put, her mind whirring. Weren't Finn and Puck two of Rachel's Glee friends…? This couldn't be a coincidence, after last night.
Oh no. She hadn't.
But as if hearing her question, the boys started to speak.
"What is this? You said you wanted to talk to me about football tryouts next year, why are you hounding me?"
"Because we heard that you got your nose broke earlier this year for assaulting a girl in a hallway!" The bronze boy Puck growled, shoving Ritter again.
"That's not cool, man!" Finn added with a befuddled frown on his face, like he couldn't quite believe it could have happened. "You don't do that stuff."
"Yeah, Pinkie should have broke more than your nose," Puck yelled, clearly getting more worked up. From her hiding place Quinn huffed in annoyance. Yeah, like breaking more than his nose wasn't a sure ticket to expulsion.
"What are you t-talking about, I don't know-"
"Don't be any more of a pussy than you already have been Ritter! You're a scumbag, and if you lie to me one more time I'm going to re-break your nose." Puck cracked his knuckles as if to emphasize.
"Okay, okay!" Ritter held up his hands and tried to shrink lower to the ground, sliding down the lockers as he did. "I don't understand, why is this coming up now? She was just some Skank!"
"Just some-" Finn started in outraged disbelief, but before he could finish there was a muted 'whuff' as Ritter doubled over in pain, Puck's fist in his gut.
"Don't you ever, ever think about hurting another girl at this school, got it?" Puck said into Ritter's ear, and the pathetic boy nodded as he whimpered.
"Puck," Finn warned, looking around. He almost caught sight of Quinn, but she ducked back around the corner as his head swung around.
"It's okay, I got this," Puck said, and when Quinn looked back Puck was standing a few feet away again, the only sign of his ever having touched Ritter the way that the other boy was still slightly doubled over.
Finn's brow furrowed in anger and he said, "Now, pretty much the first request the person who told us about this had was that we get you to leave the school. I don't think we can do that, even if we are mad scary when there's more of us, so we figured something else out. You're banned."
"W-what?" Ritter choked out.
"You're banned. From everything. If we see you at a party, at a game that isn't one of your dumb hockey matches, at a table that isn't located within smelling distance of the trashcans, we're coming for you. Like, Fight Club style."
"I think you got that reference wrong, dude," Puck said, but he was otherwise nodding in agreement. "And Ritter, if you even look at a girl wrong I'm going to kick your nards in. And you'll have no proof it was me, and no one will rat. Disclaimer, man. I've heard they're good."
"You can't do that! I don't understand, why do you care what happens to some-"
"If you finish that thought, I swear to Jewish Jesus that you're going to be missing all your teeth in the next few minutes," Puck growled, both his and Finn's eyes narrowed into slits. Ritter wisely clammed up.
Quinn heard the two boys storm off and didn't wait for Ritter to move, stomping off herself in the direction of her first class.
Oh, she was going to kill Rachel Berry.
.
Rachel was feeling quite proud of herself. She'd texted Finn and Puck early that morning, telling them what she had learned. Finn had replied with misspelled questions, but Puck had just said, "I got this", after reading Rachel's five and a half paragraph text about what she wanted him to do about Phillip Ritter. She had very nearly gone off to scream at Ritter herself, but had realized shortly that she was about two feet and one hundred pounds short of intimidating the disgusting boy. She'd considered texting Santana, but had stopped short because she hadn't wanted Santana to be charged with murder so young.
Puck and Finn were her next best enforcers. Quinn breaking Phillip's nose was all well and good, but Rachel had a social order to maintain. Phillip probably had not taken Quinn's vengeance as word of law, and Rachel had to make sure that he did in fact know that what he had done was not only unacceptable in her reign, but abhorrent.
She hadn't planned on telling Quinn about what she'd done, but she was nevertheless bursting with pride as she waited to see Quinn in Spanish class. She would have to contain her excitement.
So Rachel was unprepared for a fuming Quinn to round the corner of the door, zero in on her, and march up to her with a livid snarl on her face. Rachel quailed in alarm. "Wh-what-?"
"Come with me," Quinn snapped, grabbing Rachel's arm and pulling her out of her seat.
"Quinn, class is about to start!"
"We aren't staying. Come. With me."
Rachel continued to protest even as she grabbed her bag before she left, passing a confused and attack-ready Santana and just confused Brittany in the hall. Santana nearly launched herself at Quinn before Rachel shooed her off, giving her a thumbs up and small wave as they disappeared from Santana's view.
They headed toward the bleachers, and Rachel still mumbling protests as Quinn practically shoved her into sitting down on a raggedy couch Rachel had not known was under the bleachers. To the side, the three other Skanks loitered, watching the scene play out with obvious surprise.
"What did you do, Berry?" Quinn snapped, crossing her arms over her leather jacket.
Rachel looked around. Quinn obviously knew about Phillip Ritter, but how she knew and why she was so upset was lost on Rachel. She didn't see the point of claiming ignorance, so she said, "I made sure that Phillip Ritter knew that his actions were not just frowned upon in your neck of the woods."
"Ritter?" the thinnest of the three Skanks standing apart questioned loudly, and before Rachel knew what was happening the girl had marched over to Quinn and punched her hard in the shoulder. Quinn flinched but didn't seem too surprised by the girl's reaction.
"Excuse me!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Shut up, twinkle toes," the girl said, holding up her hand in Rachel's face but not looking at her. "Fabray, you fuck, did you tell this chick about that? That's barely even your business, let alone hers!"
"I didn't tell her specifics, Mack, but I'm pretty sure she's not stupid, so this isn't really helping out with the anonymity thing!"
Mack glared at Quinn, and Rachel's heart sank. "Were you the one who-" Mack's head whipped around and she raised her fist, clearly about to punch Rachel too, but Quinn stepped in her way. "Look, totally hit me, that's pretty justified, but Berry's just a naïve wooly-hearted kid in all this."
"I'm not a kid!" Rachel protested, but the girls were having a stare-off and didn't look at her. From the side one of the other girls snorted.
Mack finally turned away and marched back over to the other two girls, saying something quietly to them. They started to clear out, until Quinn said, "Wait."
All three girls turned to glare at her, but Quinn held their gaze. "I brought Berry hear to tell her some unkind truths about this school. She seems to think it's some bastion of hope and love, but we know better, don't we girls?"
The two girls who Rachel hadn't been introduced to snickered, but Mack stayed silent, still furious. Quinn smiled tightly, holding out both hands. "What, you don't want to pop her bubble?"
Mack exchanged looks with both girls, then all three returned and suddenly Rachel was surrounded by four Skanks.
"Oh god, please don't hit my face."
"You little bitch," Mack snarled, but Quinn held up a hand.
"Rachel, shut the hell up. I can't make them lay off forever, and your mouth is gonna keep picking away at their patience."
Rachel snapped her mouth shut, sucking in her lips and biting down.
"Berry, this is The Mack, Sheila and Ronnie," Quinn said, gesturing first to Mack, and then to the heavy black girl and finally the other heavyset girl. "Bet you didn't know their names. Too lowly, right?"
"Quinn, that's not at all fair," Rachel started to exclaim, but the four girls started laughing at her anger.
"Ah, shut it, midget," Shelia said, still laughing. "Like we care if you know our names?"
"Do we look like we wanna know you?" Ronnie asked, grinning wickedly.
Rachel closed her mouth again.
"Guess what Berry decided would be a good idea, girls," Quinn said, anger creeping back into her voice. "She decided to sic two of her lap dogs on Ritter to tell him what he did wasn't 'kosher'. Because that's her job, get it?"
"The fuck, Fabray!" Ronnie exclaimed, suddenly looking worried. She looked between all the girls. "Anybody seen Rigby?"
"We'll go look for him, promise," Quinn assured her mildly distressed friend. "We'll make Berry come with us."
"Who's-" Rachel began, but she was ignored.
"You're unbelievable," Mack said, brow creased with anger. "No wonder we get so much shit."
"I don't understand!" Rachel said, pounding her fists on the couch and causing a cloud of dust to rise.
"Berry, think. Do you actually believe that bullies cease to exist when they're told they can't pick on a certain group of people?" Quinn demanded.
"We don't have bullies, not like you're implying, I made sure-"
"Are you positive I can't sock the bitch, Q?" Sheila demanded, hitting her right fist against her left palm.
"Positive. She's just dumb, that's all."
"I'm NOT-"
"Be quiet and listen, for once in your life," Quinn said, but her tone was more tired now, and Rachel started to feel anxious.
"Look, I'm not saying your little crusade isn't admirable, or whatever, but you forget about people who have nothing to do with you. Bullies can't spread their animosity around, and, well-"
"We get shit on," Mack finished.
"No, that can't be right, we watch for bullies!"
Quinn rubbed a hand over face, and turned to her friends. "Come on, let's go look for Rigby."
All four girls started to leave, and when they noticed Rachel wasn't following Quinn grabbed her and hauled her to her feet. As they walked, Quinn spoke in a low monotone. "You don't watch after you've gone on your crusade, and when you do shit to people, like pinning Ritter against a wall and telling him he isn't invited to your tea parties, he goes out and takes it out on us."
Rachel's jaw dropped. "What do you mean by that?"
The girls circled the school, finding themselves by the dumpsters behind the cafeteria. For some reason there were bricks piled on top of one of them, and the Skanks rushed over and began to clear them. Rachel hung back, confused.
When the Skanks could finally lift the lid, all the remaining bricks sliding off the back and clattering to the concrete ground, Ronnie pushed the other girls aside and reached in, pulling out a scrawny, bespectacled boy who must have been a freshman. Ronnie wrapped the boy up in a tight embrace, petting his head. The boy had a black eye and welts on his bare arms, from where it looked like someone had twisted the skin hard enough to burn it. Rachel felt like being sick.
"That's Rigby," Quinn supplied, shrugging a shoulder. "He's Ronnie's- eh, friend? Who knows. Ronnie loves the kid. She's practically adopted him, though you won't catch her telling that to anyone. He's a geek, and he'd probably be one of yours, but of course he can't sing, and he doesn't have any friends to speak of. So there goes that protection."
"We have to do something, tell someone!" Rachel exclaimed.
All four Skanks looked at her and yelled at varying levels, "No!" Rigby looked at Rachel like she was crazy.
"What?! Why not!"
"Because it'll only get worse!" Sheila growled, as if it was entirely too obvious.
Rachel shook her head. "But it won't get better if you don't ask for help!"
"Like anyone wants to give any of us help," Mack said bitterly. Slowly, Quinn nodded in agreement.
"No, you can't think like that," Rachel said, clutching her hands in front of her. "People want to help! They really do. I'm sorry I didn't notice, I'm sorry that people haven't noticed what's been happening to you all. That's not fair, and it's not right. And I wish I'd noticed instead of having to be told, really and truly, but nobody is perfect. Even if by all rights someone should have noticed and helped you, sometimes people just fail. So you have to ask! I know that you shouldn't have to beg for people to figure out that you're hurting… but please, sometimes we just don't know."
The four Skanks just stared at her silently. Finally, little Rigby spoke up, "Who are we supposed to tell?"
"Well, who do you normally tell?" Rachel asked. Rigby, Ronnie and Sheila looked at one another and then shook their heads. Mack crossed her arms and glowered at the ground, and Quinn seemed frozen in place.
"Okay… well what do you normally do?" Rachel asked somberly.
"Hide," Rigby said.
"Beat up the littler Cheerios," Sheila said, and Ronnie nodded in agreement.
"Don't be where you shouldn't," Mack supplied in a low mumble Rachel barely caught.
"… keep your head down," Quinn said softly.
"Has any of that worked? Has any of it ever worked, truly, for any good amount of time?" Rachel asked, tears growing in her eyes. She was surprised at how concerned she was for these people, who she never thought she'd spare a moment for, but especially, especially for pale, quiet Quinn.
None of them said anything.
"Please, I know it's hard. Trust me, I know. But you have to ask for help. You just have to. Or nothing will change. And as for who… Well, how about Ms. Pillsbury?"
"That ginger fluffhead?" Mack asked in disbelief.
"Back off," Quinn snapped. Mack shrugged, clearly still unhappy.
"Will she help?" Rigby asked, pushing away slightly from Ronnie.
"She'll do everything she can. If she has trouble with getting the help you need, tell your parents!" Rachel replied.
Rigby deflated slightly, kicking the ground. "My dad thinks I should handle it on my own."
Rachel felt like she'd been punched. His dad wouldn't help? She cast glances at all the Skanks, who seemed unwilling to meet her eyes. Did all of them- didn't any of them have supportive parents? Rachel's eyes rested on Quinn, who was biting at the side of her thumb.
"Well, well-" Rachel faltered, unsure of what to say. She couldn't imagine it, having parents who wouldn't help… and if Ms. Pillsbury, the member of staff who was supposed to help with these things couldn't, then-
"Then come to me," a sharp voice behind them said.
All six kids whirled around. Sue Sylvester stood with her hands on her hips. "Excuse the interruption, I noticed my little Twinkles lurking next to a dumpster and had to come investigate."
"You don't care about us," Mack objected.
"No, not really," Sue said with a shrug, stepping forward. "And heck, I think a little bullying builds character. But this?" Sue took one of Rigby's arms in her hand and he winced in discomfort. Sue frowned. "This is despicable. Cowardly. I don't hold with cowards."
Rachel could have hugged Coach Sylvester, she was so glad to see her and so grateful for her words.
"Berry, front and center," Sue snapped. Rachel jumped to attention. Sue put both hands on Rigby's shoulders, and he looked distinctly uncomfortable, but she didn't seem to notice. "Am I to understand that this morning you ordered a hit, and you did not deign it necessary to tell me the conditions that spurred this decision?"
"I- how did you know about that?"
"Your little warblers are extremely bad at keeping secrets, and Porcelain and Aretha were talking about it in front of my office. I asked Lopez, but she seemed not to know what I was talking about, so I called Hummel and Jones into my office for a bit of an interrogation. Apparently word got around your club that a boy hurt a girl in the hallway, and you got Lurch and the Manwhore to take care of him."
Rachel swallowed, not looking at Mack or Quinn, but nodded mutely. Sue narrowed her eyes. "I'm disappointed in you, Berry. More disappointed in that moron Figgins, but disappointed in you nonetheless. You should have come straight to me and told me what you learned. I'd have gotten the kid expelled, or at the very least punished further than he was. Instead you tried to impose student justice on a very serious matter."
"I'm sorry, Coach Sylvester," Rachel said quietly, eyes downcast.
"As you should be," Sue said with a nod. She turned to look at Quinn. "And you."
Quinn hesitantly stepped forward. Sue leveled a glare. "You punched a boy, who don't get me wrong thoroughly deserved it, but when you found out nothing much was going to be done to punish him you didn't come straight to me?"
"I- I didn't really think we were on those kinds of terms, Coach," Quinn softly replied.
"Bull roar!" Sue said, actually looking mad. "These are the exact terms we are on, Fabray. I may not like you sniveling excuses for human beings, but I'll be damned if any of you get hurt like that when I'm around. Don't you dare think of not telling me again!"
Quinn was quiet for an extended period of time, and Rachel looked at her questioningly, until finally Quinn said with voice barely above a whisper, "Yes, Coach."
Sue stared long and hard at Quinn, and at last she gave a curt nod and started steering Rigby towards her office. "Get lost, all of you. I'll be taking care of this little gentleman from here on, so go back to skulking in the shadows."
Sylvester and Rigby disappeared back into the building, leaving the five girls standing around by the dumpster. Sheila and Ronnie exchanged a look, then turned to Rachel. "So Ms. Pillsbury, huh?" Mack didn't say anything, but she took a step back towards the three of them.
It took Rachel a minute to notice that Quinn had disappeared.
Someone got angry in reviews that I insulted Glee. Well, that person should probably not have an extended conversation with me about the management of the show. Probably nobody should, I get very angry.