Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. :) And now after all of the excitement of the weekend they go back to school.
Chapter seven: Surrounded by Hyenas Circling.
"Hello, fellow Glee-clubbers!" Rachel greeted brightly.
Artie, Mercedes and Kurt all turned their heads to her, their expressions a mixture of wary and weary, and she sighed on the inside. It wasn't like she'd planned to speak to them but they were all gathered around Mercedes' locker which happened to be just two down from her locker, and she hadn't wanted to appear rude by ignoring their presence and…
"Hey," they all said flatly in unison, as if they'd rehearsed it, but that was silly. Except maybe it wasn't; they were all performers after all.
Despite them, Rachel couldn't seem to stop herself from being so chirpy, "And how is today treating you all so far?"
"I simply can't take you this early in the morning," Kurt said with a wave of his hand and then walked away.
Rachel watched him go, trying not to feel hurt.
Mercedes just rolled her eyes and went back to her locker without saying a word.
Artie at least sounded a little friendly, "Why are you so chipper on a Monday morning?"
"What's not to be chipper about?" She opened her locker to stow the books she didn't need until later. She noticed that there was a folded piece of paper waiting for her, "I had a wonderful weekend and I'm ready to embrace the week ahead."
"Oh, yeah? What was so wonderful about your weekend?" Mercedes might have sounded bored, but Rachel knew that gossipy glint in her eyes by now. She was fishing.
Concerned about giving something away, she thought it best to side-step Saturday altogether, "I had an amazing Thai meal with my parents yesterday and then we watched King Kong, one of my all-time favorite movies. It was lovely." Out of politeness, she added, "Did you two have an enjoyable weekend too?"
"Yeah, it was okay," Mercedes said casually.
"Matt had a party," Artie put in, totally unconcerned for her feelings.
"Yeah, but it wasn't all that. Pretty sure his dip gave me food poisoning."
"Oh, did he?" she asked innocently, "I didn't realize. That's a shame, I would have attended had I known." The two shared a look that was about twenty percent guilty and eighty percent relieved, and Rachel had to hold tight to her hurt annoyance so that it didn't show. "Anyway, Coach Sylvester is taking on her Co-Director duties this afternoon and I think it would be wise if we, as a club, had a meeting about it first. You know as well as I do that she can only mean trouble so we need to come together to form a plan of attack, or a plan of defense at the very least."
Mercedes and Artie nodded, both fully on board with her hypothesis.
"When?" Artie asked.
"Lunch time, because I think it might be a long meeting. We'll have a lot to discuss."
Mercedes rolled her eyes but didn't disagree, "We'll spread the word. Choir room, right?"
Rachel nodded, "And…" she hesitated because this felt disloyal, but Glee Club was bigger than any of them, right? She couldn't let her personal relationships get in the way, "… the Cheerios, we can't necessarily trust them when it comes to Coach Sylvester. I'm not suggesting we leave them out of the meeting – we are a team after all – but I believe we should be wary of any suggestions they make. In fact, of anything they say at all during the meeting." She gave them a bright smile, "Just to be on the safe side."
"You're suggesting we ignore your girl Quinn?" Mercedes teased with a smile.
"Firstly, Mercedes, Quinn is not my girl, we aren't even friends, and second of all: yes I'm saying we should subtly ignore their input. We don't know what Coach Sylvester is feeding their minds with."
Not that she thought Quinn would do anything to jeopardize them, but she wouldn't put it past Santana and Brittany to be Sue's spies and saboteurs.
"Okay, got it," Artie affirmed, "See you at lunch."
Mercedes gave her a nod of agreement as she shut her locker and then they both left, completely dismissive of the fact they all shared first period and could have walked together if they'd just waited a few seconds.
Not that she'd wanted them to wait on this particular occasion.
Her eyes zeroed in on the folded piece of paper on top of her history book.
With a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure nobody was too close, she opened it up.
Good morning :) x
Rachel melted, literally. Well not literally, obviously, but she didn't know how was she not a puddle on the floor right now! Quinn could just be so adorable sometimes, she thought as she smiled sappily at the two neatly written words and the cute hand-drawn smiley with a kiss that looked like a bowtie, or was it a bowtie that looked like a kiss? It didn't matter, either one just showed what a perfect person Quinn could be. Why didn't she show this side of herself all the time? Okay, maybe she didn't feel the need because she already had the whole school falling at her feet, but if she let them see this side of her they wouldn't just be down there out of fear; they'd be down there out of reverence, because her awesomeness made knees go weak.
It certainly made Rachel's knees go weak, anyway.
Folding the note back up, she tucked it into her history textbook so that it wouldn't get lost or crumpled and then took that book along the others she needed out of the locker before closing the metal door.
In retrospect, she could only blame the fuzzy feeling the note had induced and the consequent stars in her eyes for what happened next.
She started for class; totally oblivious that she was stepping straight into the path of some cheerleaders until a hand pushed against her chest, sending her back into the lockers with a dull clang.
"Watch where you're going, Manhands," Quinn snapped out as the three Cheerios strolled past.
Rachel watched them go with a heavy sigh. The push hadn't been hard and the impact of her back against the lockers hadn't even hurt but… She shook her head – maybe she should look on the bright side. Quinn had just touched her boob again, after all.
"What are you grinning about?" Santana asked.
Quinn shrugged, because she couldn't think of an answer that wasn't lame or a dead give-away. Santana eyed her suspiciously and then the perfect response came to her suddenly. As suddenly as the actual realization hit her.
"No morning sickness. I haven't been sick since Saturday."
"Yay you," Santana said sarcastically.
Quinn rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you try chucking your guts up every day for ten weeks and see how well you cope."
"Eww. Thanks for the TMI. You are so gross."
"Love you too, San."
"Whatever, Preggers," Santana drawled, but bumped her shoulder with hers in a show of camaraderie.
Santana pulled her fingers free from Brittany's and offered her a sweet goodbye before walking into the classroom. Quinn was about to follow but Brittany's hand on her arm stopped her.
"Everything okay, Britt?"
"I get it, I really do, but how would you feel if she pushed you into a locker?"
"I…" This was what she'd feared and it was happening. She had to swallow a lump in her throat before she could speak, "It's not… I don't know what…"
Brittany didn't wait around for her to get a sentence out. She just gave her a sympathetic smile and then left to go to her own class.
Quinn fell back against the door frame, waiting until her breathing regulated itself. That had been scary. She'd already known Brittany knew too much – it was why she'd planned to speak to her about it – but to have it laid out in front of her… she hadn't been ready for that.
Maybe Brittany didn't know that much, though? What if her advice had been general and she was just using Rachel as an example? After all, Brittany had no more love for Rachel than anyone else did, so why would she be sticking up her for specifically? She might have said the same thing if she'd pushed Tina into the lockers instead.
Wishful thinking?
Maybe, but she really hoped not.
Between third and fourth periods their paths crossed again.
"Hey, Stubbles," Santana called out in the crowded hallway. "My mom's running a clothing drive for the homeless this weekend; should I tell her you'll be stopping by for a new wardrobe?"
Rachel didn't find anything funny in the theft of charitable donations or in her own fashion sense, but Quinn laughed as she walked past and didn't even spare her a glance. Kurt was watching, she noticed, so she stiffened her features and walked on as if she hadn't heard any of it.
After the lunch bell rang, she went to her locker before heading to the Choir room. There was another folded note waiting for her.
I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you when we're alone, I promise. Glee-lunch is going to be hell, so I'm asking for your forgiveness ahead of time :) Please take everything I say with a pinch of salt. xx
Rachel ran a frustrated hand over her face. She could do what Quinn asked, of course, but this wasn't easy. She'd known they would have to keep their distance but so far she had been shoved into a locker, called names, and laughed at. To make matter worse, none of the other Glee kids were speaking to her unless they had to, and even Finn had given her a barely coherent grunt "hello" when she'd passed him in the hall earlier.
It was a lot to take and as much as Quinn's apology meant to her, it didn't do much to take the sting of the day away. So, she walked to the Choir room with heavy feet and an even heavier heart.
Nearly everyone was there already, the only two missing were Santana and Brittany. Suspicious?
"RuPaul, if your skirts get any shorter we're gonna be able to see your junk, and I swear on all that is holy that I will kill you if that happens."
"I kinda wanna see Rachel's junk. I've never seen a girl with boy parts before."
Or not.
Rachel spun on her heel, "Santana, Brittany. Nice of you to join us, now shall we get down to business?"
This was Quinn's – latest – definition of hell!
First of all, she couldn't defend Rachel against all the snide comments coming her way and on top of that, this was a meeting about Coach Sylvester's plans. She hadn't known that; if she'd known she would have made up an excuse to stay away!
She was the only one who knew Coach's plan!
She did her best to feign disinterest while at the same time not looking too disinterested because she didn't want anyone thinking she was a mole – even though she reluctantly was. She probably came off looking twitchy-eyed and pissed off, which didn't make her feel any better about any of this. And it must have only gotten worse when, after Rachel had finished her speech on unity and all standing together in the face of adversity, she called on her.
"Don't you agree, Quinn? As head of Coach Sylvester's band of Cheerios, I imagine you have some valuable insight for us."
Was Rachel punishing her? Of course she was!
"Not really." Everyone was still looking at her, so she shrugged, "I'm not sure what you expect me to say. Is Coach going to try and destroy us from the inside? Probably."
"Do you have any specifics?" Rachel asked impatiently.
"No."
"How do we know you're not just lying?" Mercedes asked.
"Yeah, it's not like you have a great track record with the truth recently," Mike put in.
Oh great, he was back. She turned in her seat to glare at him before facing Rachel again.
"I won't be offended if you don't believe me; actually, I don't care if you don't believe me. But no, I can't give you any specifics on Coach Sylvester's plans."
Rachel gave her a barely perceptible nod and dismissed her, turning her attention instead to Finn and Mike – more punishment? she wondered – and Artie and Tina as she encouraged them to brainstorm defense strategies.
So, she knew; she'd read between the lines and deciphered the message Quinn was sending her and had chosen to respectfully back off rather than force a confrontation. She should have been relieved, but Quinn just knew that she was going to pay for it later when they were alone. At the very least Rachel would hound her for details, and at worst it would be, well, worse.
She'd have to come up with something good to take Rachel's mind off of it and she already had a few ideas. Jeez, just looking at her standing there, with her hands on her hips and her eyes bright and passionate as she ranted, was giving Quinn more than a few ideas!
She followed the rest of the conversation intently, throwing in phrases like mutual respect and group harmony and the importance of remembering that at the end of the day they were all teammates working towards the same thing because she might not be prepared to give Coach Sylvester's plan away, but she did care about Glee a little. And even more about Rachel, and she didn't want the club destroyed any more than anyone else here did.
Most of the kids gave her funny looks whenever she spoke, like they didn't even believe what was coming out of her mouth now, but Rachel seized on everything she said – recognizing it as the insight Quinn wasn't prepared to give directly, perhaps – and expanded upon it. So did Finn; he was up beside Rachel now, doing his bit to rally them together, and by the time the bell rang to signal that lunchtime was over, they'd all been subjected to quite the little pep-talk.
There were groans of relief at finally being able to escape but they all agreed to show a united front against whatever stunts Coach Sylvester pulled. Quinn knew it would be pointless in the near future, but hopefully they'd keep the message in the back of their minds and that the coming weeks wouldn't damage the club irreparably.
Quinn tensed as she picked her bag up from beside her chair and stood up, because it looked as if Rachel was going to approach her. But then the other girl seemed to change her mind with a sigh as she turned to the white board to scrub out the motivational slogans she'd been writing throughout the meeting.
She was about to walk out with Santana and Brittany when Finn blocked her path with a smile and a, "Hey, I haven't seen you much today."
"I'll catch up with you in gym," she told them before returning his smile, "That's because I actually go to every class. Walk me to Spanish?"
"Uh, yeah sure, but I thought first, we could like…"
She cast an eye at Rachel, who seemed to be taking a ridiculously long time to complete her task – nobody cleaned a white board that meticulously, except maybe Miss Pillsbury – before fixing Finn with a stern look.
"Not in school, Finn, and especially not right now, when we have class."
"What? Oh, no, I'm not, like asking you if you wanna make out or anything. I know you'd never do that in school."
Did Rachel just smile? Quinn could only see one side of her face but it definitely looked like she'd just smiled! She shook her head in despair, but at least only the three of them were left in the room and Finn had his back to Smiley.
Finn dropped his voice to not-quite-a-whisper and sort of nodded his head back towards Rachel, "I thought now might be a good time for you to do that thing you said you were going to do yesterday?"
"What thing?" But then she remembered. He wanted her to apologize personally – again. "Oh. Okay, fine, why not?"
She was surprised he hadn't picked a more public location for her humiliation but she didn't mention it in case he thought it was a good idea. Finn turned with her and took her hand, obviously planning to stand beside her throughout the ordeal. Had all of the "united front" talk gone to his head or was he actually jealous of her talking to Rachel? Even at his own insistence? It would have made her feel guilty if she didn't honestly find it funny.
She let him keep a hold of her hand but she led the way, this wasn't a time for showing any meekness, even if she was about to just apologize.
"Berry."
Rachel swivelled around on her toes, as if she'd been expecting her arrival, "Fab… Quinn."
She didn't bother to hide her smirk at the cocky slip and quick correction; her smirk held power and Finn would take it as a show of said power rather than affection.
"Was there something you needed?" Deep brown eyes darted nervously to Finn before meeting her own again, "You have a confession perhaps, pertaining to your part in Coach Sylvester's dastardly plans?"
"Quinn doesn't know anything about them, Rach, give her a break, okay?"
They both looked up at the boy; Quinn with surprise that he had not only listened to her yesterday, but he was actually following through on his promise and Rachel with a kind of indulgent skepticism as if he was a child who really should be old enough to know that Santa wasn't real but she wasn't going to be the one to break his little heart with the truth.
Resisting the urge to laugh, she cleared her throat, better to get this over with, "I wanted to apologize personally for trying to kiss you last week."
"Oh. Why?" Rachel asked, straight-faced.
"Because, apparently, Finn thinks my kisses are terrible and that they shouldn't be inflicted on anyone."
"I never said that!" Finn groaned, but it was background noise because Rachel was doing her best not to smile and it was dangerously adorable.
"Well, Quinn, obviously I can't say for sure – because I stopped you before I could experience it for myself – but I have to say that I think Finn is probably mistaken. I have always imagined you kiss quite nicely."
Don't smile, don't smile! Cool indifference, come on, you used to be so good at it!
"You've imagined kissing my girlfriend?"
Rachel's eyes shot to Finn again and for a split second she looked guilty but she schooled it well, "As an acting exercise, of course. The perfect stage kiss is very hard to master and having relatively no experience in that area myself, I find it useful to imagine how others might kiss, to work on my own moves, so to speak. For example, I imagine Mercedes would be a very tender kisser, while Tina would be rather ferocious, Kurt would be timid, but Santana would chew half of your face off," she shuddered a little at the thought of kissing Santana and again Quinn had to curb the urge to laugh. "And Mike I imagine would be very good because I expect his lips are as graceful and passionate as his dancing."
There went the urge to laugh and she scowled at her. Rachel's gaze deliberately dipped to where her hand was still holding Finn's, before she looked her in the eye again.
"So, yes, I have imagined kissing Quinn, and I'm sure at the very least it wouldn't be terrible, Finn."
"Just not terrible? I'll kiss you right now, and we'll see if your legs can hold you up for long enough afterwards to say that to my face again?"
Rachel took a step back with the white board eraser held up like a shield but Quinn's step forward was restrained by Finn pulling her back by her hand. Flaunting her fantasies of Mike's lips in front of her like that and then saying she was just not terrible?
You wanted me to peel you out of your dress Saturday night, Rachel! Or did you forget that already?
"Quinn," Finn said, concerned, as he pulled her back again.
"I am an awesome kisser, Berry," she pointed a finger at her, "And don't you forget it! Come on, Finn, we're going to be late for class."
Rachel watched them go impassively.
Once they were out of the Choir room, her shoulders slumped but she didn't stop dragging him towards their Spanish class.
"What was that about?" he sounded shell-shocked, "I just meant for you to apologize for lying about her kissing you, but, uh… that was weird."
It had been flirting. It had gone wrong. Really wrong.
"She just pisses me off."
"I noticed. It's okay, maybe you can try the apology again some other time."
"No, that was it. If it wasn't good enough for her or you, tough. I'm drawing a line under this whole business. I – we have enough going on, don't you think?"
He stepped up again, "Yeah, we do. And you're not a bad kisser; you're a great kisser. Rachel would be really lucky to have you kiss her."
She turned to smile up at him until she saw his expression, "Stop imagining us kissing!"
"I'm not!" he denied quickly, guilt written all over his reddening face.
She glared, "You're lying."
"Well, if Rachel's allowed to imagine it," he tried, grinning sheepishly.
"Whatever, Finn," she rolled her eyes. "You're disgusting," she added, because seriously, that was too weird.
Rachel requested a pass to go to the bathroom ten minutes before the end of fifth period and she walked boldly through the halls until she reached her locker.
Once there, she looked left and right, and then left and right again before sidling along a few feet to push the folded piece of paper she held in her hand through the thin gap above Quinn's locker door.
Satisfied that she'd done what she came to do, she clapped her hands quietly and decided to head to the locker room early. With any luck, she could be changed for gym before anyone else arrived and would be able escape a similarly humiliating torture like she had endured on Friday. Not to mention, she didn't want to give Quinn the satisfaction of seeing her struggling to not look at her while she changed. Quinn was in a very gray area in her mind right now. She knew the blonde was in on Coach Sylvester's plans. Despite her attempts at denial, it had been pretty obvious that she was hiding something, and Rachel also knew she wasn't going to give up the details. This left Rachel in an awkward position; Glee was one of the most important things in her life right now and she should be doing everything she could to save it. Unfortunately, the other most important thing in her life was Quinn, and while she hated it, she understood why Quinn was staying loyal to Coach Sylvester.
Quinn needed the Cheerios – at least, she felt like she did – Rachel didn't want to put her in a position where she had to choose. Because what if she chose the thing Rachel didn't want her to?
It was easier to turn a blind eye for now and just hope that Quinn came through when it really counted. She trusted her to, or at least she wanted to trust that she would.
There was also the little matter of Quinn nearly kissing her in the Choir room in front of Finn! She wanted to pass it off as good acting on Quinn's part, but she'd seen the genuine intention in her eyes, and it would have been more flattering if the intention hadn't been borne from anger.
Okay, so she may have goaded her a little by talking about Mike, but what did Quinn expect when she'd come over to talk about them kissing while holding hands with Finn? That had been unfair and with everything else Quinn had already done to upset her today, was it any wonder she pushed a little too far?
The bell rang as she pulled her WMHS polo shirt over her head and she happily made her way into the gym before anyone else even had a chance to leave their classrooms. Nodding at the gym teacher as she entered, she grabbed a volleyball from the net bag and…
Um, how did you practice volleyball on your own?
Quinn was dreading her next lesson.
The jumping around always made her feel sick nowadays, and then there was the added stress of sharing the class with Rachel.
Ever since the sophomore Cheerios had pulled their prank of dropping Rachel in the boy's locker room in her underwear, Quinn had been dealing with the added worry. Now, after the events on Friday, when Rachel had been singled out once again – only this time as a direct consequence of the lies that Quinn had told – it wasn't understating to say she would rather be walking in any other direction than the one her schedule dictated. She was already braced for some kind of repeat, but she could so do without that. The day had been wearisome enough without throwing her conscience into an all-out war over whether to jump in and protect Rachel or trust that Rachel could handle anything and stay out of it to protect herself.
When the time came that she couldn't put it off any longer, she pulled Finn down by his letterman jacket and gave him a sweet goodbye peck on the lips, "I'll see you in Glee."
He frowned, "It's going to be harsh."
She nodded in agreement, "But we'll get through it."
They were probably talking about completely different things.
"Yeah," he gave her a smile and squeezed her shoulder affectionately before running off to wood shop or auto shop or whatever 'shop that he had now.
Sighing audibly through her clenched smile, she turned to open her locker. She noticed the folded piece of paper just as she was about to shove her bag inside.
That was new.
Pulling her bag back over her shoulder again, she leaned into her locker and unfolded the note.
You're an amazing kisser! I never want to kiss anyone but you because I know the best they can hope to be is "just not terrible" in comparison. xxxxxx
Well, okay then.
Her face was red-hot, so she stayed at her locker for longer than necessary as she refolded the note, then pushed it into the front pocket of her bag, and stowed her bag inside.
"So," Santana's shoulder hit the locker next to hers as she announced her presence, "What did you make of the Midget's team spirit speech?"
The words were like a cold shower to her blush, but brought an angry redness to her cheeks anyway.
"Who? What?" she asked impatiently as she slammed her locker shut.
"RuPaul! In the choir room for, like, the whole of lunch. Don't tell me you got so lost in her big brown bovine eyes that you didn't hear a word of it." When Quinn glared, Santana held her hands up for peace, "Joking, Q. Wow. Still sensitive about your little crush then, I see." Quinn's glare intensified and then she started to stalk off towards the phys. ed block. Santana went from leaning on the row of lockers to walking beside her fluidly, laughing as she promised, "Relax, I'm messing with you."
"Well, don't!"
"Don't make it so easy then. I mean, I know you've always had a stick up your ass about guys and sex and all that shit, but you used to at least be able to laugh about it, too."
That's because it had been about boys and talking about them had been expected and encouraged, and it was much easier to make a joke out of having sex with a boy than it was to take the idea seriously.
"Say something funny and I'll laugh," she countered, but changed the subject before Santana could take that as a challenge, "Be honest, did Sue get to you before Berry did?"
"A better question is, did she get to you before Berry did?"
They sized each other up with narrowed eyes, each waiting for the other to crack first, but eventually it was laughter that seized them. They jostled shoulders, still giggling, as they filtered through the locker room door with the other girls who shared their gym period.
Brittany, already in her gym clothes and stretching out her long legs, greeted them on their usual bench, "What's so funny? Sorry I had to be so harsh on you earlier, Q, no hard feelings?"
Quinn accepted a hug from her friend, smiling and raising her eyebrows in confusion over Brittany's shoulder for Santana's benefit. Santana shook her head like she didn't know what to do with her and started to get changed.
"We're good," she promised, detaching herself so that she could catch up with the others, "And we were talking about Coach Sylvester's plans for Glee club."
"Oh, you mean how she's going to use Mr. Schue's biodiversity against him and sprinkle rainbow seeds in his hair."
She didn't even have to act confused this time, but it was Santana who whisper-whined, "Britts!" for revealing their involvement.
It left her feeling a little uneasy, but Quinn grinned at them both, "Sound to me like you two know more about her plot than I do." She saw Santana start to wrestle inside her red polo shirt to get her head out, "And no, not because of how far I've had my head up Berry's ass."
When Santana's face finally popped turtle-like out of her top, she was frowning, "It's not as fun if you steal all of my best lines."
"If that was going to be your best line, you need some new material."
Just over five minutes later, Quinn was still tossing comments back and forth with Santana and semi-seriously discussing the Glee/Cheerios situation, as they trailed into the gym at the back with the stragglers.
The gym teacher was a short, stocky woman with an ink-black crew cut, who wore camo shorts and a tank top to match. Despite modelling herself after GI Jane, she was a mild mannered woman and was generally considered pointless as a result. She did have a fearsome ability with a whistle, though, and she exercised it now as they came through the big double doors, "That's it, line up. We'll only have time for one game at this rate. Come on, line up in front of Rachel Berry and Brittany Pierce."
"I'm sorry," Santana began, stepping through the crowd of girls and into the teacher's personal space, "Berry's a captain?"
"She's been here practicing while the rest of you have been lolly-gagging your way from class, so yes, she's a captain. Now get in line, Lopez!"
Grumbling, Santana fell back next to Quinn, who was already starting to feel anxious. She didn't know what would be worse: for Rachel to choose her first or to not choose her first.
Brittany won the coin toss, "Santana!"
No surprise there, but now it was Rachel's turn, and Quinn held her breath.
"Mercedes!"
Okay, so she was a little hurt, but mostly she felt relief as Mercedes strutted over to Rachel's side, proud to be picked first for once. This was good because now Brittany would pick –
"Reena!"
What the hell? Reena was good at volleyball, but Quinn was supposed to be one of Brittany's best friends! It was okay though; Rachel had proved her point and the next name to leave her lips would be –
"Tina!"
No, that wasn't the right one! Brittany, Brittany, do the right thing.
"Angela!"
She was going to kill someone! She didn't know yet if it would be Rachel or Brittany, or Mercedes or Tina or Reena or Angela, but she was definitely going to kill someone and she was so going to fucking enjoy it!
"Quinn!"
She actually shoved Tina out of the way, "You picked me third!"
Rachel's eyes were sultry when she half-turned her head to mutter below the girls' voices and background sounds echoing of the large gymnasium, "Growl in my ear like that again and I won't be able to keep myself from kissing you right here."
Quinn's eyes shot wide in surprise as a ribbon of heat uncurled within her, but she didn't miss a beat, "Look at me again like that and I might just beat you to it."
Rachel smiled as she called out, "Selina."
"Pick Kassie next if you get the chance," Quinn said into her ear, "She's a bitch, but she's tall."
"No way," Rachel shook her head, "I'd rather pick me than her."
"You are you, and she's good."
"And I'm merely okay at this game, and I'd still pick me," Rachel turned her head fully this time, making eye contact, and she felt her heart pick up.
This was the closest they'd been all day and the air between them seemed to sizzle with the electricity they were trying to suppress. Her eyes fell to Rachel's lips; they were just inches away and so inviting. For a split second, she envied the likes of Brittany and Santana and Kassie who could – and did – freely kiss the people they wanted anywhere in school. Until she remembered her decision on that was more about class than gender, and she forced herself to focus on what could happen in the here and now instead of what she secretly wished could happen.
She looked around with disdain at the rest of the girls, "Seriously, pick her, because I am not confident about your choices so far and I can't carry all of you to victory on my own."
With a mischievous – no actually, downright evil, look in her eye, Rachel raised her voice to carry across the courts, "You seem to be under the mistaken impression, Quinn, that this team is a democracy. It isn't. Welcome to Team Berry, where I call the shots."
While Quinn silently fumed at her, trying and failing to think up a suitable comeback worthy for the rest of the class, Mercedes snickered behind them.
"Girl, like you were ever in charge of Team Berry. You were just a token figurehead."
The wind went out of Rachel's sails, "That's… that's not entirely true. I held sway over some decisions."
Quinn looked over Rachel's wilting shoulder and spoke before she could think better of it, "Whether it's true or not, I didn't see anyone rushing to form Team Jones, did you? So, you must have needed Berry for something you couldn't provide."
Mercedes grumbled something under her breath that Quinn didn't catch and then turned her attention to Tina.
"I'm surprised you stood up for me after I just intentionally embarrassed you, but thank you," Rachel murmured.
"Oh, I'm still mad about that, but that doesn't mean you don't always come first."
Rachel smiled, ducking her head shyly, "And now you need to step back before I do something that embarrasses both of us."
Quinn grinned as she whispered, "Meet me after Glee?"
"Of course, but can I ask why?"
"Can't I just want –"
"Head's up, Stubbles!"
Quinn wasn't startled as much by Santana's shout as she was by Rachel's scream right next to her ear followed by the girl dropping into a crouch. Before she could question it or ask if she was alright – SMACK! A rubber ball with the full force of Santana behind it hit her directly on the forehead. She staggered back and landed on her ass at Mercedes' feet as the other team erupted into raucous laughter.
Rachel, on her knees a few feet away, was the only one not laughing at her as she scrambled over, "Oh my God, Quinn, are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" she snapped, pushing Rachel's hand away from protectively covering her stomach. She hadn't fallen that hard; she'd pushed her hands out behind her and they took most of the brunt, "Get off of me!"
She pushed at Rachel's shoulders when she didn't get the hint fast enough and sent her sprawling too, increasing the laughter around them despite the teacher now yelling for quiet.
"I'm so sorry, I wouldn't have moved if I'd known…"
"Yeah, sure you wouldn't have," Quinn got back to her feet to yell at Santana, "Why did you warn her, you idiot? You must have known she'd duck!"
"What?" Rachel asked weakly from the floor, "You planned that?"
"No, that was Santana being spontaneous and I'm about to kill her for it!"
Santana shrugged, not in the least bothered that she'd missed her mark, "Maybe if you hadn't been so cozied up to her, you wouldn't have gotten hit by mistake. Think of it as a life lesson, Q."
"My foot is about to teach your ass a life lesson!" She was already striding around the net to wipe that smug smirk off of Santana's face, but Rachel was also back on her feet and put a restraining hand on her arm.
"Quinn, she's not worth…"
"Get your freakingManhands off of me, Berry!" she snapped, roughly shrugging the contact away, "And leave me alone."
Rachel held her hands up and stepped back, "Fine, Quinn. Fine!"
Quinn was about to round the net and throttle Santana with her bare hands, and Santana was still smirking, when a long, loud whistle blew, effectively stopping her mid-step as they all turned to the teacher.
"This can go two ways," she barked out, "You can apologize to each other and we'll start the game…"
"Yeah, I don't think so. What's the other option?" Santana asked.
"A week of after school detentions for both of you."
That would mean no Glee for a week – which wasn't all that unappealing right now – but Coach would make life even more unpleasant for her if she wasn't on hand for whenever she was needed.
Surprisingly though, Santana shrugged and apologized first, "Whatever. I'm sorry, Q. You know I wasn't actually aiming for you anyway, but I am sorry I yelled out a warning."
"I'm sorry too. I know you didn't mean to do it. It was just a bit of a shock, being smacked in the face with a ball like that, you know?"
The teacher seemed satisfied with them and began to get the game underway.
"Isn't anyone going to apologise to me?" Rachel piped up indignantly, "As the intended target of the unprovoked attack I think I'm due one."
The teacher hesitated before looking at Santana.
"No way in hell, I'll take the detentions."
Sighing, she looked at Quinn.
"If it wasn't for Berry, I wouldn't have been smacked in the face in the first place."
With no sure way of knowing how to proceed, the teacher just left Rachel hanging, "Okay, let's play some volleyball. Into your positions, ladies. Those not picked move to the bench, we'll switch you in at after the first game," she blew her whistle again and Quinn picked up the discarded ball and rubbed at her sore forehead – a small lump had already formed, she realized as she moved into the server's position.
"I'd like the ball, please, Quinn. I'm serving first."
She didn't even look at her, "No, you're not."
"As captain of this team I insist –"
"Shut the hell up, Berry!" And she punctuated her command by launching the ball over the net in a devastating serve that resulted in the other team fumbling, then dropping the ball so that it bounced out of play.
Thanks to Rachel's stubborn stupidity, Brittany had picked Kassie, which meant that their team needed all the help it could get. She'd suffered enough humiliation on team loser already and she wasn't going to add to that by losing the match, as well.
Rachel knew exactly why Quinn was acting the way she was.
She had been embarrassed in front of everyone and was feeling self-conscious and vulnerable as a result. The fact that Santana had played on the two of them conversing before the deadly strike had obviously added to that. So, she fully understood why she had been pushed away, snapped at, and then treated horribly.
That didn't mean she condoned it!
Quinn would have a lot of making up to do later. Luckily, Rachel already had the perfect plan formulated for her to do so. The only bright side was that now all of her planning the day before wouldn't be going to waste after all. Although, it wasn't much of a bright side considering the high her day had started on.
The game was an understandably boisterous one; despite the apologies, tensions were still running high and Quinn and Santana both seemed to be on a mission to kill the other via volleyball. Rachel rose to the strenuous challenge, wanting to help Quinn as much as could, resulting in getting in each other's way by going for the same ball more than a few times.
Quinn didn't get angry like Rachel expected; in fact, she pretended to ignore it was happening at all. Only pretended to, though.
The first time it happened, their sides brushed together as they both reached up at the same time, and Rachel muttered, "Are we still meeting after Glee?"
"Yes."
The next time, Quinn's back bumped into her front and she caught Quinn's hips to stop herself from staggering backwards, "Where?"
"Our place."
"You want me to walk to the freight yards?"
A few minutes later, Quinn barged into her side to reach the ball first, "Our other place. Our school place."
"Okay." They had two places now that were just theirs! Despite her residual anger, that gave her a warm feeling.
Tina had just served and Brittany had sent it back with force into the middle of the five of them. Rachel and Quinn both leaned down and in, both clasping their fists together to punt it back over the net.
"Why?" she whispered as she got to the ball first for once and shot it up into the air.
"I'm going to have something for you," Quinn leapt up even as she spoke and hammered the ball across the net with a grunt. It hit Santana full pelt in the stomach, making the girl double over and cough as the ball bounced down and away from her, earning them another point. "That was an accident, but it felt so freaking good," Quinn muttered only loud enough for her to hear.
Rachel grinned, "I consider myself avenged."
"Screw that! I was avenging myself," Quinn gave her tiniest of winks before moving back into position to wait for the serve.
Rachel was feeling all enamored again, what with the wink and the idea of Quinn having something for her, but then she made the mistake of going for the same ball as Mercedes, who apparently had something to prove, and they became tangled up as they collided and both fell to floor.
Quinn's laughter was the first to be heard, though not the meanest. In fact, it was downright affectionate compared to everyone else's, "How on Earth did I get saddled with Team Loser?"
"I don't know, Fabray," Kassie sneered, "Maybe next time tell your girlfriend not to pick you?"
For a moment, it looked like Quinn was going to start yelling again, but she just adopted a sneer of her own instead, "You seem exceptionally obsessed with the fantasy of me being a lesbian, Kassie. Why is that? Do you want me or something?"
"Uh, no! I'm not a fucking freak lesbo like you!"
Oh, Barbra! Still on the ground, Rachel closed her eyes, not wanting to witness any actual bloodshed.
So, she was surprised to hear Santana's voice cut clear through the cruel, adolescent laughter first, "Did you just call your captain a freak?"
"What?"
"Did you just call," Santana was enunciating every word now, "your cheer captain a freak?"
"Um… yeah. Why?"
"Then you need to get down on your fucking face right now!"
Rachel's eyes popped open in alarm to see Quinn just standing there, hands on her hips and her face impassive, perfectly happy for Santana to call the shots.
"Santana Lopez!" the teacher began, "You will not use such language…"
"Sorry Ms. Hedges, but this is Cheerios business and it's bigger than you. Why is your face not on the floor yet, Kassie?!"
Kassie dropped like a rock, laying on her stomach with her palms flat on either side of her head, and her nose touching the scuffed gym floor, "You can't do this to me! I'm Homecoming Queen! I'm worth ten of her!"
"And yet you're on the floor and Quinn's not, so… I guess I'm not much of a royalist."
Rachel exchanged a look with Mercedes, who looked as equally shocked and confused by this turn of events.
Santana stepped up until she was standing right by the bully's shoulder, "Remember how this feels, Kassie. You feel pretty humiliated right now, don't you? You should, because you deserve to! If I ever catch you disrespecting your cheer captain again, I will make you do this, wherever you are, do you understand me?"
Kassie was still defiant, if somewhat more whiny about it now, "You call her names all the time!"
"I'm her best friend, I can call her whatever I want! But you're nothing; just a wannabe who can't get her damn backflips right for love nor money."
Quinn finally spoke, "But right now, Kassie, you're a nothing who's a Cheerio. Cross us again, and you'll just be a nothing."
"Okay, that's enough!" The teacher blew her whistle again, "All of you hit the showers and cool off!"
As most of the class dispersed quickly, Quinn offered Mercedes a hand up from the floor. Only when the other girl was on her feet, muttering thanks before walking off, did she offer her hand to Rachel.
The gym was mostly empty now and so she felt free to speak her mind, "What happened to me always coming first?"
Quinn's lips twitched into a smirk as she pulled her up, "Don't push our luck! Now come on, you heard the teacher, get that ass in the shower!" And she swatted playfully at Rachel's butt to get her moving.
Rachel grinned flirtatiously – or tried to, "Was that an invitation, Miss Fabray?"
"To shower with me and fourteen other girls, why yes it was, Miss Berry."
"Hmm, not quite as sexy as what I was thinking."
"I should hope not!" Quinn's scandalized tone set them both off laughing as they walked out of the empty gymnasium.