Charlie sighed as she pulled off one of her rings and began to control it with her magnetism. The black ring begins to spin rapidly in the palm of her hand. She could only imagine how horrified her mother was going to be when they told her. She would probably be sent to bed without dinner again.

It was odd that she was the only person who had been dragged to the principal's office. She couldn't remember the name of the girl she'd been with, but it wasn't as if she'd been masturbating in a closet. She'd been with another person, who had managed to escape unscathed. Which probably meant that this was a set up and she'd fallen for it. Which probably meant that Figgins wanted something from her.

Now she needed to determine if doing whatever Figgins wanted was worth losing out on dinner. She was leaning towards no. Her mother was clearly taking out all her frustrations over the divorce, and channeling it into cooking. Which meant that she got to eat all sorts of good food.

"Charlotte Fabray, Principal Figgins will see you now."

The ring in her palm suddenly stops spinning, before she floats it back onto her finger as she gets up and makes her way into Figgins office, stopping when she spots Beiste there. "No," Charlie says firmly. Her instincts had been correct, Figgins clearly did want something from her.

"Charlotte—"

"It's Charlie," Charlie corrects Figins and turns to Beiste. "I am not joining the hero course at McKinley. If you want to tell my mom that I've been having sex on school grounds, go ahead. It certainly wouldn't be the first time. Quite frankly she'll probably just add it to my ever growing list of embarrassing stories."

Beiste immediately decided to intervene before Figgins could ruin this for them. "Your grandfather mentioned that you wanted to be a hero—"

Charlie held up her hand interrupting Beiste. "I'll be frank. I'm not interested in joining your hero course. I certainly have no interest in competing at the Regional Inter-High event. Mostly because it wouldn't be fair. I've had extensive training, far more training than anyone else in my age group. Throw in the fact that I'm a level 5 augmented individual who already has her provisional license, and it becomes silly that I'd be in the same category as most teenagers in my age group."

Figgins folded his hands on the desk. "Be that as it may Charlie, you are still a teenager, and your mother made it very clear that she wanted you to have a normal experience at McKinley. She didn't want us granting you any favors, she wanted you to make friends—"

"I'm not exactly hurting for company," Charlie interrupts again. "Also shouldn't you be calling my mom and informing her that I was caught having sex? You're already treating me like I'm special by trying to offer me this alternative."

Figgins winced and looked over at Beiste, this was not going well. He knew that Charlie was intelligent, her test results showed that, but she was sharp for a teenager. Most teenagers would be quaking, and ready to promise not to do it again, but Charlie seemed unfazed by his authority.

"I've watched your previous testing Charlie. You're correct in saying that you're on another level than most teenagers your age. In fact I'd say you could go pro the moment you turn 18. And I understand why you're hesitant to join. But I'm willing to negotiate with you like an adult, to see if we can come to a compromise."

"I don't think you have anything that I want," Charlie points out. "Me being on the team, doesn't help them get better. If anything it stunts their growth because they'll depend on me to solve difficult or tricky situations. I'm not learning anything and more importantly they aren't learning anything thus defeating the purpose for them."

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"I do, and I'm done with people resenting me for my abilities."

Beiste nodded, suddenly understanding why Lawrence had basically torpedoed Charlie joining. It would be so easy to get her to be a one-woman wrecking crew for the other teams. "I'm not going to pretend that it didn't occur to me that just having you or Quinn would mean that McKinley would make it all the way to nationals. But that's short term thinking, you will eventually graduate, and I'll be left trying to rebuild hoping for another level 5. And while I'm sure there is very little I can teach you when it comes to controlling your powers. I was a professional hero for several years. There are things that I know that your grandfather simply can't teach you."

"Like?" Charlie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Beiste smiled, she had her. "You don't strike me as the type, who wants to join an existing hero firm. You want your own firm. I want you to think of the hero course as your own firm. The vast majority of people who apply to your firm will be weaker than you. You'll be responsible for their failures and you'll share in their successes. Allocation of manpower, choosing which person fits which role best."

Charlie hesitated, that was certainly an offer that she really couldn't pass up. She finally takes a seat, "Okay. But I need it written out that I will not participate in any Inter-High events unless I deem it necessary. It doesn't matter if McKinley is losing or not, I am not going to be McKinley's ringer."

"But—"

"Agreed," Beiste said, cutting Figgins off. They needed to build all the students up and depending on Charlie to save them would not be good for morale. She didn't want anyone to get complacent.

Charlie nodded, "I want to have some say on who is on the team."

"You have someone in mind?" Shannon asks leaning forward. If Charlie had spotted talent, then they could use it.

Charlie shrugged, "Rachel Berry deserves a spot, her abilities can raise others powers. It may also be able to decrease their power, if my grandfather's notebook is to be believed," Charlie shrugged. She hadn't really meant to take a peek, but he had just left it there, and she had needed something to do as she ate her cereal this morning. There had also been a section for Santana, which she had skimmed.

Beiste pulls out a notebook, and immediately jots the name down. "I'll have to see her abilities in action before I make a decision but that is an incredibly useful ability. Anyone else?"

Charlie hesitates, "Sort of, give it a few days though. I'm sure she'll surprise me again," Charlie admits with a shrug of her shoulders. She pauses for a moment before smiling inwardly, "And I'd like my own office, with a key."

"You're not getting your own little sex room on school grounds Charlie," Beiste said immediately shooting that idea down. "You're also done having sex on school grounds," she adds.

"Then where am I supposed to—" Charlie narrowed her eyes but sighed. "Fine, but you have to keep this unfortunate incident to yourself."

Beiste studied Charlie, "We won't tell your mother this time, but that requires your full cooperation going forward."

Charlie groaned, "Fine."

"Excellent," Figgins said, relaxing now that the tension had passed. "I'm glad that's been sorted."

"Not quite, I need an email address from you. One that you actually use, I will need to get in contact with you to discuss scheduling. I think nearly half the student body signed up. I was thinking of splitting the tryouts before and after school. You will attend as many of these meetings as you can."

Charlie winced, there went all her free time. "Fine," Charlie groans, and scrawls an email address on a notepad that Figgins hands to her. She really did need to find out who ratted her out.

~ O ~

"What the hell were you thinking Charlie?" Quinn demanded as Charlie bit into her sandwich.

Rachel immediately patted Quinn's hand in an attempt to calm her down, before turning to Charlie. "While I agree that you shouldn't have had sex on school grounds, I'm more curious to know who you were with."

"She probably doesn't even know their name. It's like our old school all over again," Quinn said pinching the bridge of her nose.

Rachel frowned, she had hoped to hear of young love and Charlie being romantic. This was not what she was expecting at all. "You don't know who you were with?"

Charlie swallowed and reached for her soda and frowns, it was warm. She pushes it to Quinn and flashes her a small smile.

"I am not a refrigerator," Quinn reminded Charlie.

"No you're better than one cause you can make this instantly cold, so—" Charlie smiles when Quinn touches the can and frost appears. She immediately picks it up only to realize that Quinn had frozen her soda solid. "Seriously?"

"What did mom say?" Quinn asks. She groans in frustration when Charlie taps her soda can. She rolls her eyes, and unfreezes Charlie's drink.

"Mom didn't say anything, I cut a deal with Figgins and Beiste to be the Captain of the Inter-high team. I mean mom will probably find out anyway, but I'm hoping that she won't care since Figgins never called her." Charlie shrugged her shoulders.

Quin blinked, before she simply shook her head. "So much for them not treating us any different."

Rachel frowned, Quinn was clearly dropping the real issue here. The twins had gotten preferential treatment since they arrived. "You don't know her name?"

Charlie flicked her gaze over to Rachel, and chewed on her sandwich slowly. "I don't. I can barely remember her face either, I was more interested in other parts of her body. She did however sell me out to Figgins and Beiste. There needs to be consequences for that."

Rachel stared at Charlie and turned to look at Quinn who didn't look impressed. "You didn't have feelings for this girl?"

Quinn snorted, causing Rachel to shoot her a scandalized look, she raised her hands defensively. "Why is this a surprise to you Rachel, she asked you out on day one. She also broke up with you in ten minutes when she realized you didn't eat meat."

Rachel sputtered and looked at Charlie, "I thought you were better than—that!"

"Better than what? None of the girls I've slept with since I came to McKinley have been my girlfriend, the only thing they expect from me is to show them a good time. And I'm really good at doing just that." Charlie took another bite of her sandwich.

"So if you hadn't broken up with me you would have just taken my virginity and moved on?"

"A girlfriend is different from a hookup, Rachel." Charlie said with a sigh. "I mean I probably would have broken up with you anyway because someone else wanted to have sex with me. It's basically what happened with all my previous girlfriends."

Rachel's jaw dropped. "That's not what—" Rachel turns to Quinn and points to Charlie. "I can't—I don't have the words."

Quinn snorted and watched her twin for a moment before looking at Rachel. "Charlie has the emotional depth of a puddle, at least when it comes to women."

"That's not true," Charlie said defensively and turned to Rachel. "It's not, I just can't determine if people want to date me for me, or if they want something from me. I refuse to end up like my parents."

Rachel glanced at Quinn who made a face, "I—can see why you both would want to protect yourself. And it's not like I have a wealth of experience, but I do think that you need to take chances with people. Maybe it ends in heartbreak, but I think people deserve a chance."

Charlie waved her hand, "I know exactly who I want to date, and that quite frankly is Sasha Banks. Though if Becky Lynch asked me out, I wouldn't be opposed to that either." Charlie grinned to herself.

Quinn waved her hand in front of her twin's face and rolled her eyes, "She's gone. It's no use telling her it's not going to happen. They are at least 10 years older than her, and she's a teenager."

Rachel lets out a small laugh, before reaching for Quinn's arm and gives it a gentle squeeze. "I didn't realize how lonely the two of you must have been, but I never thought about why you two keep to yourself. It must suck to never know who just wants to use you or who genuinely cares for you.."

Quinn freezes under Rachel's touch, her cheeks flush and she looks away. "I mean I had Charlie—" Quinn blinks and looks up at her twin before rolling her eyes. Charlie was still very much in her own fantasy world. "At least I have you now," Quinn says.

"True, and I promise that I won't do anything that will betray the trust in me. I'm already super thankful for you helping me, but if you think I'm taking advantage of your kindness, then please let me know. I am grateful to have both you and Charlie in my life."

"We're grateful to have you in our life, right Charlie?" Quinn looked at Charlie for a bit of backup but when Charlie doesn't answer her she kicks her under the table causing Charlie to turn to look at the two of them. "We're happy to have Rachel in our life."

Charlie blinked and looked over at Rachel and nodded. "What Quinn said," Charlie adds unhelpfully as she finishes her sandwich. "I'm going to go look for who set me up and give them a tiny shock of 800,000 volts. It'll be an accident."

Rachel opened her mouth to protest when Quinn shook her head. "Charlie is not a detective, she'll give up in a few minutes when another pretty girl winks at her."

Rachel puffed out a breath, and nodded, "Do you want to help me prepare for my audition?"

"It's a tryout," Quinn corrected and shrugged. "And sure, what do you need."

"Since my abilities are music based, I feel like I should find the right song. And I was planning to head to the music store after school, I could always use a second opinion."

Quinn paused, "We're not taking Charlie are we?"

"No, the last time we went to the mall together we lost her, for a good hour." Rachel reminded Quinn. "She could have mentioned that she was redoing her tattoo."

Quinn nodded, a pleased smile flitting across her face. "Yeah, but I'm sure you have some ideas already." It's almost instantaneous how Rachel lights up and launches into a discussion about the various styles. It's oddly relaxing and Quinn nods along listening to every word.