Room 317, Thursday Afternoon

[chief_cheerio]

Quinn had paid a rickshaw driver to tote most of her stuff to her car, so she just had her purse and a box of things too precious to trust to anybody else as she went through her room for a final check.

She couldn't get over the strangeness of it all. She'd come as a popularity-obsessed 16-year-old cheerleader with a straight A record and a doofy

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[endsthegame]

Ender hadn't talked to Quinn since... well, that insane weekend she had gotten so shaken up about.

But she had been a friend of his brother's, and considering that one, mad bit of history, he somehow felt inclined to at least say hello before she went.

He knocked on the open door, not wanting to enter without warning.

[chief_cheerio]

"Hey," Quinn said, surprised but not exactly unhappy to see ... well, anyone, but Ender in particular. "What's up?"

[endsthegame]

"Wandering the halls, keeping an eye out for anyone who shows signs of packing," Ender volunteered. "And who would I happen to run into but you?"

[chief_cheerio]

"Serendipity," Quinn said, banter just a touch wobbly as she flashed a smile. "You're sticking around a while, huh?"

[endsthegame]

"My ride doesn't leave until the end of the summer," Ender confessed. "I'm quite literally stuck here." He smiled at her. "So where are you off to?"

[chief_cheerio]

"Coaching cheer camp for the summer, then Yale," Quinn told him. "It'll be just a little whiplashy, but I think I can rock it."

[endsthegame]

"The summer's the time for light labor anyway, or so I'm told," Ender said, smiling at her. "I think an American teenager should be able to weather the whiplash."

[chief_cheerio]

Quinn snorted. "You wouldn't call it light if you knew the head coach," she promised. "More like boot camp in short skirts."

She sat on her bare bed. "I owe you a thanks, by the way. You could have seriously screwed things up for me, and you didn't."

[endsthegame]

Ender frowned. "Would I have had a reason to screw things up for you?" he said. "I can't think of one."

[chief_cheerio]

The question surprised Quinn, and it took her a moment to smile.

"Not really, but I'm kind of used to thinking people will just because they can," she said candidly. "Probably not the best approach."

[endsthegame]

"My brother would probably say it's only healthy," Ender said, sounding a little dry. "I've just never seen the point of doing something like that... I don't really have the knack for it."

[chief_cheerio]

Quinn glanced over at him. "Good. I like Peter, but there are enough people in the world who rock blackmail without even trying."

[endsthegame]

"Either way, no thanks are necessary," Ender said, waving a hand. "But since you're leaving now-- you and Puck...?"

[chief_cheerio]

"Over," Quinn confirmed. "He's got some idea about a pool cleaning business, I'm going to Yale. We weren't built to last, anyhow. You got lucky with Ben."

[endsthegame]

"I did," Ender said, his mouth shaping into a small smile. "He's coming with me at the end of the summer."

[chief_cheerio]

"Awww," Quinn said. "I'm not ready for anything like that, but it's still ... nice to see it works for other people. Where are you going?"