You better get here soon, please don't make too much of it [IT]
Title: You better get here soon, please don't make too much of it. [I won't get out alive, take it easy on me]
Chapter: Three
Author: lifeawakening
Pairing Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray
Rating: PG for now
Summary: An accident happened after sectionals, and then everything changed. Definite angst, but not the kind that makes you super depressed, just the kind that brings out the best in people. AU ish. “Classy, Quinn, classy. Do you spend most of your time looking through thesauruses for insults?”
Three in the morning slapped Quinn in the face as her cell phone started blaring Bright Eyes. She fumbled around the unfamiliar setting before remembering that, not only was she in Brittany’s guest room, but her nightstand was now to the left. She squinted against the harsh light of her phone, silencing it while bringing it close to her eyes to see a text from Hummel.
“Just got home. Since I know you don’t care, I won’t tell you that I got the exact pastries you wanted, and that it took me an hour before Rachel would let me see her, let alone believe that I cared about her, the nerve of-” Quinn moved to the next text. “her, thinking I’m selfish or something.”
Groaning, but suddenly far more awake than she’d like to be, she hastily texted back, “Get to the point.”
A vibrate. “The point is, Quinn, that she isn’t mad at the oaf, per se, but she is terrified of him and everything, really. She flinches at the slightest movement, it’s really quite sad. Anyway, she cried a lot. If you’d told me a day ago that Rachel Berry’s nose could get any bigger I would’ve laughed in your face."
Quinn growled low in her throat and pounded out, “How bad does she look?” while resisting to add, “you vain, inconsiderate little man” to the end.
It seemed like it took Kurt forever to text back when she finally got, “Finn has huge hands, you know. One of them alone is the size of Rachel’s face.”
Quinn growled again, “I’m aware.”
A pause - another vibrate. “She doesn’t look good. Yeah, her face is bad. Her demeanor is worse. The golden star that is Rachel Berry has fizzled out, replaced by someone so small that you could step on her.”
Quinn pondered this before sighing and texting, “Thanks, Kurt.”
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If anyone was surprised by Rachel showing up to school the next day, they did a wonderful job at hiding it.
I don’t blame them, Rachel thinks as she makes her way down the hallway that’s parted like the Red Sea, adolescent violence in Lima isn’t actually as prevalent as one would think. And it’s not as if I could apply makeup to successfully cover it, although Kurt offered enough times… She ignored the gawking teenagers, the hushed whispers, it’s not as if they were anything new to her. What was new to her was the outfit she had chosen to wear today (that really, she didn’t even know that she owned anything like this). Jeans and Converse from the Don’t Stop Believin’ performance and a red, faded McKinley High hoodie that was two sizes too big. Rachel Berry was never one to not look her best, after all, one never knows when a Broadway casting director might show up. However, Rachel Berry does believe in being comfortable when going through one of the hardest situations in her life. At least she managed to curl her hair.
As she was putting her books away in her locker, wincing at every locker slam or loud outburst in the hallway, a shadow loomed over her. She gasped and shrunk into her locker before a reassuring, yet heavy, hand rested on her shoulder.
“You aren’t going to be slushied today. I know that’s probably the furthest thing from your mind but it wasn’t in mine and so I made sure of it. Just so you know. I’m sorry,” Puck rushed out, quickly stuffing both of his hands into his denim pockets. Rachel turned and hoped the tears that she felt weren’t horribly obvious in her eyes as she looked at Puck. With his head down, he looked up at her through his eyelashes, hesitant. Rachel smiled, putting his fears aside as she hugged him.
“Thank you, Noah. You’re right, that hadn’t even crossed my mind today but if it had happened I’m sure it not only would’ve hurt my face but also what’s left of my pride.”
“You uhm, you don’t need to be scared, Rachel. I’m going to be looking out for you.”
Rachel’s eyebrows furrowed as confusion flashed across her eyes, actually hurting Puck, “Why are you going to be looking out for me, Noah?”
Puck’s eyebrows also furrowed, but his were in anger, “Damnit Rachel, because apparently you need someone to watch your back, someone who isn’t, I don’t know, gay or in a wheel chair. Not that they aren’t helpful,” he rushed out, quickly looking around for said gleeks, “but it’s just, I just - I care about you, okay? And what happened wasn’t right. So, you know, I’m a stud, so I‘m here for you.”
Rachel just nodded numbly, letting the boy leave before he burst into tears or something. Clutching her books tightly to her chest, Rachel made her way to first period, all the while having the feeling that she was being watched.
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In between first and second period, Rachel still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. She occasionally looked over her shoulder, only to see a student cussing or falling into a wall. Right before her classroom door, she managed to turn in time to see Artie quickly wheel himself behind a wall, effectively running over a student’s foot.
She hesitantly made her way to the wall and peeked around the corner, “Artie? Have you been following me?”
Artie flashed a sheepish smile while pushing up his glasses on his nose, “Kind of, yeah.”
“Did you need something from me?”
“No.”
Silence. “Okay, so, why are you following me?” Rachel calmly questioned.
Artie looked around the halls before answering, “I’ve been running over people’s feet behind you.”
Confusion flashed across Rachel’s eyes as she tried to form a response for this. She finally came up with, “I’m sorry Artie, I’m not following.”
“People are whispering behind your back, and every time they get close enough for you to hear I run over their foot so they can’t finish their sentence.”
Rachel looked horrified as she stammered out, “Artie are you insane? You don’t need to hurt people, I always hear what they say about me, I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
Artie squinted his eyes in surprise, “You don’t understand why I’m doing this?”
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this for me.”
Artie couldn’t even reply to that, and the bell for class rang anyway.
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“Kurt, Mercedes, I see you.”
Two lockers closed simultaneously, revealing a sunglass-clad Kurt and Mercedes to Rachel. Kurt, with his arms crossed and his hand daintily swirling the air replied, “Fine, you caught us. We were spying on you.” Rachel could swear she heard The Pink Panther song playing somewhere.
“Why?”
“To figure out if it was indeed Rachel Berry hidden under those unisex clothes.”
Kurt received a sharp elbow from Mercedes as she replied to Rachel, “We were just making sure no one got near you.”
Rachel huffed angrily and stamped her foot, “Why is everyone suddenly so interested in my well-being? Have you all forgotten that this is ME we’re dealing with?”
Mercedes and Kurt exchanged a look and Mercedes snapped, “Why are you so confused about this? We’re looking out for you, Rachel.”
Rachel shrunk back at the level of Mercedes voice but continued anyway, “but why? I would think, you two especially, that this would be what you’ve wanted to happen for a while. Haven’t you all said that you wanted someone to hit me?”
Mercedes and Kurt shared an astounded look before Rachel turned and walked to third period.
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During lunch, Rachel was chewing quietly on her celery sticks and sipping her green tea when suddenly a tall blonde was sitting across from her. Staring at her. Rachel set down her celery stick and stared back.
More staring ensued.
Eventually Rachel calmly folded her hands primly on the table in front of her, “Brittany, why are you staring at me like that?”
Brittany opened her mouth to reply when Santana’s voice came out, “Cool your jets, man-handled. Brittany’s only following orders.”
Rachel sighed as Santana sat down next to Brittany. Brittany immediately grabbed Santana’s arm and began stroking it as Rachel looked at them with tired eyes, “Whose orders?”
Santana smirked, “God’s.”
Rachel quirked an eyebrow, “I’m Jewish.”
Santana glared, “We’re not allowed to tell you, Berry.”
Rachel let out a sound that should have only been coming from a frustrated kitten, “This is ridiculous, you guys are all insane.”
“Because we’re looking out for you?”
“Yes!” Rachel practically shouted. Lowering her voice when she saw that she had caught unwanted attention, she continued, “Yes. Santana you don’t look out for anybody, no offense.”
“None taken.”
“Yet all of a sudden, you and everyone else in Glee are suddenly looking after me like you actually care about what ails me in my daily life. And you say they’re some orders from someone else that you claim is “God” yet I somehow doubt that any of you talk to your god about me.”
Santana scoffs, “Ails?”
Rachel sighs but Brittany interrupts, “Santana can’t tell you who gave the orders because no one did.”
Rachel raises her eyebrows as Santana glares daggers at Brittany, yet Brittany continues, “All of Glee club just decided that we’re going to care about you now.”
Santana closed her eyes and let out a sigh while Rachel’s eyes dropped to the table. She let out a bitter laugh, “I see. So you all had some group meeting that said you were suddenly going to care about me because I was abused.”
Santana’s eyes suddenly snap up and meet Rachel’s, “No. We had a meeting and decided that it was high time we pull the huge stick out of the Glee club’s ass and start treating you the way we actually feel about you.” Santana’s eyes widened in terror as her mouth clamped shut. Brittany giggled and hugged her tightly and Rachel paused in her ministrations of shoveling her lunch back into her bag.
Standing up, and pulling Brittany up with her, Santana hissed furiously, “I don’t know why I said that, Berry. It’s probably Brittany’s fault.”
“Sorry, S,” Brittany whispered with a frown on her face, “I do that to you a lot.”
Santana continued, ignoring Brittany, “You better not tell anyone I said that. Just stop looking so damn confused when someone cares about you, it really pisses me off.” With that, the two Cheerios stormed off, leaving Rachel staring wide-eyed at her celery sticks, wondering what the heck had happened to the world while she was sleeping last night.
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When Mike and Matt flank Rachel on her way to fourth period after lunch, she merely smiles at them and hugs them both at her classroom door. When she leaves, they exchange a sad look, both having seen the tears escaping the, now very quiet, diva’s eyes.
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Tina’s eyes widened as Rachel came out of her fourth period class and immediately looked behind the trophy case, mumbling something about “you guys aren’t as sneaky as everyone gives you credit for.”
Tina questions Rachel on their way to fifth period, “You’re know we’re doing this?”
Rachel shrugs, her arm looped through Tina’s, “You guys are obvious. I just don’t know why you’re all going to such trouble.”
Tina looks taken back, “Because we care about you Rachel.”
Rachel is quiet until they reach her door, “That’s just the thing. I’m not used to anyone caring about me, much less all of you guys that, what, two days ago, hated me.”
“We never hated you,” Tina whispers to the air, as Rachel has already slipped into her class.
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If my calculations are correct, Rachel thinks to herself while ignoring her fifth period math class, the only two members left of Glee that haven’t stalked me yet are Quinn and… she gulps, Finn. And somehow I doubt they’re even letting Finn near me, if he’s even here… She takes a moment to think about how she hasn’t seen Finn at all that day. Looking at the clock - five minutes left - Rachel turns back to her list of names, circling Quinn’s. Normally I would doubt that Quinn would even go out of her way to help a dying civilian, much less me. Yet after yesterday… Rachel shakes her head, no, she still hates me. I’m sure no one even included her in that stupid meeting.
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Six hours before Rachel‘s math class; thirty minutes before school that day.
Quinn paces the music room while the rest of the Glee club - minus Finn - sit in silence. Santana speaks up, “Quinn, you’re freaking us out.”
The pregnant girl glares at everyone, “I don’t care. We need to figure this time frame out.”
Mercedes pipes in, “Look, we all mutually agreed on this meeting, so I think each of us should have a turn in between periods.”
“I’m with Santana!” Brittany says through a smile, while raising her hand.
Kurt raises an eyebrow, “We all know that, dear. But we’re talking about partners in keeping an eye on the golden girl.”
Santana flushes and bites out, “You know what she meant, Hummel. But, yeah. Okay, me and Brittany can take lunch, since we like, don’t eat anyway.”
Puck glances warily at Quinn before speaking up, “I’ll take before school and, I don‘t know… all day. I already talked to all of the jocks and stuff. I’ll just be keeping an eye on her all day, and an eye out for Finn.” That earns him a small smile from Quinn.
Kurt and Mercedes do their secret handshake type thing as Kurt says, “We’ll take after second period. That’s when we go to our lockers to fix our hair, anyway.”
Artie and Tina talk heatedly before Artie raises his hand, “Me and Tina will split up, since we’re assuming Mike and Matt will be partners.”
Mike and Matt fist bump as Artie continues, “I’ll take after first.”
“And I’ll take after fourth,” Tina offers.
“We’ll take after lunch,” Mike offers.
Puck speaks directly to Quinn, “That leaves you. If you don’t want to do it, it’s fine, I can just take-”
Quinn snaps, interrupting him, “I can handle watching man-hands for ten minutes, Puck. It’s not like it’s hard to miss all of that stubble, anyway. I’ll take the rest of the day.”
Santana and Kurt raise an eyebrow at Quinn but say nothing as the group exchanges high fives and hurries out of the music room to start school.
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Rachel shakes her head over her notes, crossing out Quinn’s name, faulting herself for circling it. I’m sure I’ll just see Noah again. That’s fine, I can ask him about the new solos for Glee anyway, he needs to start pulling his weight as a male lead, again. Rachel has an entire mini lecture planned out by the time she leaves fifth period. She exits the classroom and looks around, seeing no one. Shrugging, she begins to make her way through the crowd when she feels a hand quickly grab her elbow.
She whirls around and holds her binders in front of her face, her breath catching in her throat with only a whimper escaping. The hand drops and Rachel closes her eyes tightly, remembering that her fellow gleeks are stalking her, and suddenly her mini lecture comes back to her. “Noah, you scared me. You shouldn’t sneak up on-” her words die in her throat however as she sees Quinn standing in front of her, confusion painting her features.
“Noah? God Rachel, I may be pregnant but I’m not a tranny like you. How could you think I was Puck?”
Rachel laughs nervously, “I’m sorry, Quinn. I was expecting to see Noah again since I’d already seen everyone else in Glee.”
“You hadn’t seen me.”
“Well, no, but I assumed…”
“Well you assumed wrong, man-hands,” Quinn snapped, grabbing Rachel’s elbow again and leading her to their shared sixth period class. “I got saddled with you for the rest of the day,” Quinn continues. Lie, she shouts to herself in her mind. So she does, “It was as close as I could come to not having to do it at all. And I couldn’t deal with you in the morning, anyway. I already have enough morning sickness as it is.”
“Quinn,” Rachel says in a small voice, “I get it. I didn’t ask you to do this, and I’m sorry that you got 'saddled'", she actually does air quotes, "with looking after me. At least you’re honest about it.”
Quinn slows her pace, “What do you mean, ‘honest about it’?”
Rachel shrugs, not looking at Quinn, “Everyone else seemed hurt every time I got confused about why they were doing this. They all claimed that they cared about me and they were just showing it. At least you were honest with me, it’s refreshing. I know you don’t care about me, but you’re only doing this because you have to, or you feel bad. I assume that’s everyone else’s position on it, as well. You just sort of clarified that ongoing theory for me, so thank you.”
Quinn’s stomach raged with fury as her grip on Rachel’s elbow tightened. She stole a glance at the girls battered face and her anger only grew. “You’re wrong,” she said simply.
Rachel raised an eyebrow at her as they passed through the door to the Spanish room, “I don’t think so, Quinn. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that you blew their secret. I just wish I knew whose big idea this was, and why they did it.” Rachel shrugged again and made her way to her seat.
Quinn sighed and her knuckles went white from the death grip hold she had on her backpack straps. She mumbled under her breath, “Yeah, I wish I knew why I did this too.” She steeled her shoulders and put on her best determined face as she made her way up to Mr. Schuester’s desk. He raised his head and cheerily smiled at her, “Quinn! Have you seen Finn? I haven’t seen him all day.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow, suddenly furious at her good-natured teacher, “Mr. Schue, do me a favor and look at Rachel’s face.” Will’s face scrunched up in confusion, but nevertheless he turned and looked at Rachel, gasping when he saw her. Quinn continued, “that happened yesterday when we got back from sectionals. It was an accident, but it still happened. That’s why Finn isn’t here.”
Mr. Schue’s eyebrows shot up and his mouth opened to speak, but Quinn softly cut him off, “Glee’s going to suck today, Mr. S. We’ve all banned together to take care of her, but she isn’t okay. I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to her, or bring up Finn for that matter. It might cause a riot anyway.”
She didn’t wait for a reply as she made her way back to her desk. Rachel threw a curious look her way but Quinn ignored it. Don’t look at me like that, RuPaul. You don’t need to know what we talked about.
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“Kurt brought me pastries last night.”
Quinn looked up from fidgeting with her hands on her lap. She and Rachel had been sitting in the music room in silence for five minutes, waiting for the rest of Glee to get there now that school was over.
“He also brought over makeup because he said that he was going to try to fix my face in hopes that I wouldn’t cry as much.” Quinn’s right eye twitched in anger, but if you asked her about it later she’d swear it was just her allergic reaction to Rachel’s voice. Rachel continued, “I was just surprised to see him there, you know? He even brought me a Jewish pastry and cookies. Who knew Kurt knew anything about Jewish traditions? Or… cared.”
Quinn cut Rachel off, “Who knew you could still talk so much with a swollen face?”
Rachel’s face fell, and there was a time when Quinn would’ve laughed at the irony that Rachel’s mouth was swollen in the curve of a smile. Instead she just felt sick to her stomach, so she looked away. Damn morning sickness, she thought to herself, even though her morning sickness had stopped weeks ago.
“I was just wondering if you knew anything about it.”
“Why would I know why Kurt brought you Jewish pastries? Maybe he likes you.”
“Quinn, he’s gay.”
“And you’re stubbles.”
Rachel sighed and Quinn smirked, a self-satisfactory smile that stemmed from being in control of something again, even if it was putting Rachel down. Even if that did make her sick to her stomach now, for some unknown and stupid reason.
“Where are you staying now?” Quinn squinted her eyes in confusion, so thrown off by the sudden subject change that she answered easily.
“Brittany’s house, why?” Rachel just shrugged, so Quinn continued, “I couldn’t stay with Puck.”
Rachel nodded, and Quinn was really glad when Rachel didn’t ask why. A minute passed by before Brittany and Santana came strolling into the practice room, sporting a grin and a scowl, respectively.
“Rachel! Does it hurt? It looks worse than it did at lunch.”
Rachel quirked an eyebrow at Brittany but chose to ignore the remark because the girl’s compassion made up for her severely lacking dexterity. “It hurts, yes.”
“Does it hurt your heart, too?”
“Brittany,” Santana snapped, but Rachel shook away Santana’s anger.
“It’s fine. Yes, B, it hurts my heart more than my face.”
“Because you love him?” Brittany questioned, very quietly, almost as if it was a comment more than a question.
Rachel nodded curtly, “Yes.”
“Are you retarded?” Quinn yelled, pushing away from the chair she was sitting on and facing Rachel, “I mean, really, did he do brain damage? Are you a retard now?”
Brittany shrunk into Santana and whispered, “Quinn, that’s a bad word.”
Quinn didn’t take her resentful eyes off of Rachel when she lashed out at Brittany, “Just because your damn little friend is doesn’t mean-” The end of that sentence left Quinn’s lips in a rushed gasp as she found herself sandwiched between a wall (when did that wall even get there?) and one pissed off Santana.
Quinn didn’t even try to struggle, she knew she’d flown off the deep end when Rachel had said she loved Finn. Santana snarled, “I don’t care how fat and pregnant and hormonal you are Quinn Fabray, I would just as soon pop you if I didn’t think it would upset Brittany anymore than you already have. You yell at Brittany, you deal with me.” Quinn nodded mutely, one arm wrapped around her stomach.
A quiet voice broke the girls’ ‘death by glares’ moment , “Santana, the baby.”
Santana took in a breath and let go of Quinn, backing away, she threw one last pointed look at the blond before they both turned to see Brittany with an arm around Rachel. Rachel, who had been the one to speak up, continued, “Quinn has a point, anyway. And if she had kept her inappropriate and unjustified, overzealous anger inside,” she spoke clearly, throwing a look at Quinn, “I could have finished. I suppose you could ironically say that Finn smacked the love out of me, because he did. I could never be with anyone who abused me in any way.” Quinn winced but had no idea why. “But he was - is,” she painfully corrected herself, remembering her conversation with Quinn earlier, “my only true friend. I love him to some extent, I have to.”
Brittany opened her mouth to tell Rachel that she was her friend too, but the door swung open and the rest of Glee club filed in.
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Quinn was right, Glee sucked that day. Rachel refused - or couldn’t - sing, no one knew which and no one pushed. Artie broke a gear off of his wheelchair at some point, so most of the guys were busy fixing it. Mercedes and Kurt were in a heated discussion the whole time about which Lady Gaga song the group should perform. Santana and Brittany hovered over Rachel. Quinn spent the whole time being a raving bitch, and if anyone thought this was abnormal, they didn’t question it. Finn never showed.
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A week passed by before Finn showed again, looking as bad, if not worse, than Rachel.
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Rachel stood in the girls bathroom during lunch, putting the finishing touches on her makeup. She smiled at her reflection, “I think I completed my slushy remedy procedure in record time.” She began putting her blow dryer back in her backpack when the bathroom door opened.
Rachel’s head shot up as she fumbled for the rape whistle that she now carried in her skirt pocket.
“Chill, Berry,” Santana mumbled from the doorway. Rachel eyed her warily from the mirror, but continued packing her stuff away nevertheless.
“If you’re planning on hurling up what little lunch you ate, I would please ask you to wait for me to leave before doing so. I’m already sick enough as it is with being drenched by two slushies in one day.”
Santana’s lips curled into a look of disgust as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but there, “No, God, ew man-handled. I came to warn you that Finn’s back.”
Rachel’s backpack slipped from the sink onto the floor, her blow-dryer and makeup falling back out of it. Santana sighed and rolled her eyes, bending down to pick it all up. She straightened and shifted uncomfortably on her feet because she was standing far too close to Rachel. Rachel, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by this as she had her hand over her heart and was currently hyperventilating.
“Berry, Berry stop. Look, hey, breathe, okay? I don’t care if you pass out, I’m not doing CPR on you, that’s just gross and I don‘t want like, herpes.”
This only seemed to fuel Rachel’s panic attack though because tears started streaming down the singers face and Santana’s chest heaved with anger towards the stupid idiot who did this to her. She didn’t even like Rachel and she wanted to kill Finn.
That’s when it all fell apart. Santana broke an important Cheerio rule by putting her hands on Rachel’s shoulders, actually talking soothing words to the girl, like, “God, shut up you sound like a dying rodent,” and, “no, look if you stop crying I’ll let you hug Brittany tomorrow.”
Rachel had almost calmed down when a thundering “God DAMNIT get off of me, I’m going to see her!” broke through the bathroom walls. Rachel grabbed onto the back of Santana’s Cheerios jacket as the bathroom door slammed open. Finn’s body filled up the entire space of the doorway. Santana tensed and took a step backwards, closer to Rachel, for protection. Rachel, being short, stared wide-eyed at Finn over Santana’s shoulder, keeping her death grip on the Cheerio’s jacket. There were muffled yells coming from behind Finn but no one in the bathroom could really make out what they were saying. That is, until Finn lurched forward into the wall as Quinn stepped into the bathroom, chest heaving and fists clenched.
It was as if the girl’s bathroom door was a door to the Twilight Zone. With Rachel holding onto the back of Santana, Santana protecting Rachel, Finn in the girl’s bathroom and Quinn with some sort of super-pregnant woman strength. Quinn’s eyes widened as she stared at Santana and Rachel.
“Rachel, I don’t want to scare you off, but everyone has been keeping me from seeing you all day and I-I finally got away from the worst of it,” Finn stammered, clearly out of breath from whatever Quinn had put him through in the hall.
“You shit head brute, you’d scare anyone by barging into the girl’s bathroom like this. You better leave before I kick you in the-”
“Santana, it’s okay.”
Finn piped up, “Yeah Santana, I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to Rachel.”
Santana growled, “No, you’re not.”
“I’m talking to her right now, see, hi Rachel.”
“Hi, Finn.”
“Rachel!” Santana and Quinn shouted simultaneously. Quinn finally pried her eyes off of Rachel’s hand gripping Santana’s jacket and brought them up to the back of Finn’s head, “Leave, now. We’re not leaving you alone with her.”
Finn whirled on Quinn, “Since when do you care about her?” He turned to Santana, “Since when do either of you care about her? It was an accident! And yeah I hit her, but what you two have purposely done to her emotionally has been far worse than what I accidentally did to her physically.”
Santana crossed her arms over her chest, “What, did you spend your pansy week in hiding cramming a dictionary up your ass?”
Finn dropped his hands to his sides, Rachel winced, he half shrugged, “I’ve done a lot of thinking.”
Santana shrugged, “I’m not letting you near her. For all you know, she isn’t even in this bathroom right now.”
“She’s standing right behind you.”
“You can’t see her.”
“Look I know she’s short but-”
“Finn,” Quinn calmly spoke, “you’re clearly not going to get anywhere. You might as well leave.”
Finn glared daggers at Quinn, then at Santana, then proceeded to punch the wall and storm out of the bathroom.
The three girls waited until they couldn’t hear Finn’s loud footsteps anymore before moving. Rachel reluctantly released Santana’s jacket and smoothed out the crease. Santana shuddered and stepped away from Rachel, her frown apparent in her brown eyes and her nose scrunched in disgust, “Don’t touch me again, Berry.”
Rachel smiled without showing her teeth, “Thank you. For - you know - protecting me.”
Quinn stood rooted in the same spot, her glass eyes clouded with fury as she watched the exchange. Santana bent over, picked up Rachel’s backpack, and literally threw it at her. Rachel caught it with a grimace as Santana shrugged, “Brittany told me to watch out for you.”
Rachel softly nodded, “She’s lucky, you know.” Santana’s eyebrows raised and Rachel fumbled to finish her thought, “I mean, to always have protection like you. That must be why no one is ever mean to her.” Santana looked at Rachel with exaggerated disgust and a poorly hidden smile before walking away.
She stopped as she reached Quinn’s side, facing the door while Quinn faced Rachel, and said, “You might want to do your job a little better, Preggo.”
Quinn turned her head slightly towards Santana and hissed, “Isn’t Brittany waiting for you in your bed or something?”
Santana briefly considered performing an illegal abortion on Quinn, but then thought better of it before snickering and whispering, “You’re just jealous that she was latched on to me and not you.”
As soon as Santana was gone, Quinn eyed Rachel. Why does she look like she expects me to say something? She looks so vulnerable, Quinn’s breath caught in her throat as she mentally chided herself, don’t make it worse right now. Whatever you do, don’t make it worse.
“You’re lucky Santana was in here.”
“You tried to stop him from coming in here, it wasn’t all Santana.”
“Clearly I did a great job of that.”
Rachel shrugged, “It’s the little things that count.”
“I’m not even going to question that. You just better watch out for Finn, we can’t keep holding him off from you.”
“Then don’t.”
“You can’t handle him.”
“Why do you care?”
“I don’t.”
Rachel put her hands on her hips, “Quinn it isn’t healthy to repress human emotions, even if they are ones of caring. You know, I don’t think that you really hate me. In fact-”
“I do hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
Quinn hissed, “This is pointless and now we’re going to be late for class. Clean up your face so we can go.”
Rachel glared at Quinn, “I can get to class just fine on my own, Quinn. You may feel free to leave and go to whatever class you have.”
“It’s my turn to shadow you.”
“I’d rather you just left.”
“I’d rather you didn’t use stupid words like ‘rather’.”
“I wish you didn’t make fun of me for everything. I’m in a fragile emotional state.”
“I haven’t even made fun of your balloon face yet, you’d think that blimp would’ve deflated some by now, it’s been a week.”
“Classy, Quinn, classy. Do you spend most of your time looking through thesauruses for insults?”
“You wish I wasted that much time on you, I do have a life you know. Wait, no, you wouldn’t know.”
“You should have told Kurt that blueberry strudels weren’t as good as raspberry ones.”
“I didn’t get into specifics with him, it took me long enough to Google the-” Quinn froze, sheer horror coating her face.
Rachel turned away from the mirror and gave a half smile and a nod, walking past Quinn and out of the bathroom. “We’ll talk later, Quinn.”
Quinn stood in the doorway, mouth still open in shock. Son of a bitch. When Rachel’s words caught up with her a moment later however, Quinn’s head snapped up as she sped out of the bathroom, “Wait, we will not talk later!” But the only reaction she got was from a scared freshmen who was late for class. Quinn glared at him and he ran off. She stamped her foot in frustration and cursed the now empty hallway. Damn her and her speed walking.
---------
TBC
Chapter: Three
Author: lifeawakening
Pairing Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray
Rating: PG for now
Summary: An accident happened after sectionals, and then everything changed. Definite angst, but not the kind that makes you super depressed, just the kind that brings out the best in people. AU ish. “Classy, Quinn, classy. Do you spend most of your time looking through thesauruses for insults?”
Three in the morning slapped Quinn in the face as her cell phone started blaring Bright Eyes. She fumbled around the unfamiliar setting before remembering that, not only was she in Brittany’s guest room, but her nightstand was now to the left. She squinted against the harsh light of her phone, silencing it while bringing it close to her eyes to see a text from Hummel.
“Just got home. Since I know you don’t care, I won’t tell you that I got the exact pastries you wanted, and that it took me an hour before Rachel would let me see her, let alone believe that I cared about her, the nerve of-” Quinn moved to the next text. “her, thinking I’m selfish or something.”
Groaning, but suddenly far more awake than she’d like to be, she hastily texted back, “Get to the point.”
A vibrate. “The point is, Quinn, that she isn’t mad at the oaf, per se, but she is terrified of him and everything, really. She flinches at the slightest movement, it’s really quite sad. Anyway, she cried a lot. If you’d told me a day ago that Rachel Berry’s nose could get any bigger I would’ve laughed in your face."
Quinn growled low in her throat and pounded out, “How bad does she look?” while resisting to add, “you vain, inconsiderate little man” to the end.
It seemed like it took Kurt forever to text back when she finally got, “Finn has huge hands, you know. One of them alone is the size of Rachel’s face.”
Quinn growled again, “I’m aware.”
A pause - another vibrate. “She doesn’t look good. Yeah, her face is bad. Her demeanor is worse. The golden star that is Rachel Berry has fizzled out, replaced by someone so small that you could step on her.”
Quinn pondered this before sighing and texting, “Thanks, Kurt.”
---------------------------
If anyone was surprised by Rachel showing up to school the next day, they did a wonderful job at hiding it.
I don’t blame them, Rachel thinks as she makes her way down the hallway that’s parted like the Red Sea, adolescent violence in Lima isn’t actually as prevalent as one would think. And it’s not as if I could apply makeup to successfully cover it, although Kurt offered enough times… She ignored the gawking teenagers, the hushed whispers, it’s not as if they were anything new to her. What was new to her was the outfit she had chosen to wear today (that really, she didn’t even know that she owned anything like this). Jeans and Converse from the Don’t Stop Believin’ performance and a red, faded McKinley High hoodie that was two sizes too big. Rachel Berry was never one to not look her best, after all, one never knows when a Broadway casting director might show up. However, Rachel Berry does believe in being comfortable when going through one of the hardest situations in her life. At least she managed to curl her hair.
As she was putting her books away in her locker, wincing at every locker slam or loud outburst in the hallway, a shadow loomed over her. She gasped and shrunk into her locker before a reassuring, yet heavy, hand rested on her shoulder.
“You aren’t going to be slushied today. I know that’s probably the furthest thing from your mind but it wasn’t in mine and so I made sure of it. Just so you know. I’m sorry,” Puck rushed out, quickly stuffing both of his hands into his denim pockets. Rachel turned and hoped the tears that she felt weren’t horribly obvious in her eyes as she looked at Puck. With his head down, he looked up at her through his eyelashes, hesitant. Rachel smiled, putting his fears aside as she hugged him.
“Thank you, Noah. You’re right, that hadn’t even crossed my mind today but if it had happened I’m sure it not only would’ve hurt my face but also what’s left of my pride.”
“You uhm, you don’t need to be scared, Rachel. I’m going to be looking out for you.”
Rachel’s eyebrows furrowed as confusion flashed across her eyes, actually hurting Puck, “Why are you going to be looking out for me, Noah?”
Puck’s eyebrows also furrowed, but his were in anger, “Damnit Rachel, because apparently you need someone to watch your back, someone who isn’t, I don’t know, gay or in a wheel chair. Not that they aren’t helpful,” he rushed out, quickly looking around for said gleeks, “but it’s just, I just - I care about you, okay? And what happened wasn’t right. So, you know, I’m a stud, so I‘m here for you.”
Rachel just nodded numbly, letting the boy leave before he burst into tears or something. Clutching her books tightly to her chest, Rachel made her way to first period, all the while having the feeling that she was being watched.
-------------------------
In between first and second period, Rachel still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. She occasionally looked over her shoulder, only to see a student cussing or falling into a wall. Right before her classroom door, she managed to turn in time to see Artie quickly wheel himself behind a wall, effectively running over a student’s foot.
She hesitantly made her way to the wall and peeked around the corner, “Artie? Have you been following me?”
Artie flashed a sheepish smile while pushing up his glasses on his nose, “Kind of, yeah.”
“Did you need something from me?”
“No.”
Silence. “Okay, so, why are you following me?” Rachel calmly questioned.
Artie looked around the halls before answering, “I’ve been running over people’s feet behind you.”
Confusion flashed across Rachel’s eyes as she tried to form a response for this. She finally came up with, “I’m sorry Artie, I’m not following.”
“People are whispering behind your back, and every time they get close enough for you to hear I run over their foot so they can’t finish their sentence.”
Rachel looked horrified as she stammered out, “Artie are you insane? You don’t need to hurt people, I always hear what they say about me, I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
Artie squinted his eyes in surprise, “You don’t understand why I’m doing this?”
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this for me.”
Artie couldn’t even reply to that, and the bell for class rang anyway.
------------------------
“Kurt, Mercedes, I see you.”
Two lockers closed simultaneously, revealing a sunglass-clad Kurt and Mercedes to Rachel. Kurt, with his arms crossed and his hand daintily swirling the air replied, “Fine, you caught us. We were spying on you.” Rachel could swear she heard The Pink Panther song playing somewhere.
“Why?”
“To figure out if it was indeed Rachel Berry hidden under those unisex clothes.”
Kurt received a sharp elbow from Mercedes as she replied to Rachel, “We were just making sure no one got near you.”
Rachel huffed angrily and stamped her foot, “Why is everyone suddenly so interested in my well-being? Have you all forgotten that this is ME we’re dealing with?”
Mercedes and Kurt exchanged a look and Mercedes snapped, “Why are you so confused about this? We’re looking out for you, Rachel.”
Rachel shrunk back at the level of Mercedes voice but continued anyway, “but why? I would think, you two especially, that this would be what you’ve wanted to happen for a while. Haven’t you all said that you wanted someone to hit me?”
Mercedes and Kurt shared an astounded look before Rachel turned and walked to third period.
---------------------------
During lunch, Rachel was chewing quietly on her celery sticks and sipping her green tea when suddenly a tall blonde was sitting across from her. Staring at her. Rachel set down her celery stick and stared back.
More staring ensued.
Eventually Rachel calmly folded her hands primly on the table in front of her, “Brittany, why are you staring at me like that?”
Brittany opened her mouth to reply when Santana’s voice came out, “Cool your jets, man-handled. Brittany’s only following orders.”
Rachel sighed as Santana sat down next to Brittany. Brittany immediately grabbed Santana’s arm and began stroking it as Rachel looked at them with tired eyes, “Whose orders?”
Santana smirked, “God’s.”
Rachel quirked an eyebrow, “I’m Jewish.”
Santana glared, “We’re not allowed to tell you, Berry.”
Rachel let out a sound that should have only been coming from a frustrated kitten, “This is ridiculous, you guys are all insane.”
“Because we’re looking out for you?”
“Yes!” Rachel practically shouted. Lowering her voice when she saw that she had caught unwanted attention, she continued, “Yes. Santana you don’t look out for anybody, no offense.”
“None taken.”
“Yet all of a sudden, you and everyone else in Glee are suddenly looking after me like you actually care about what ails me in my daily life. And you say they’re some orders from someone else that you claim is “God” yet I somehow doubt that any of you talk to your god about me.”
Santana scoffs, “Ails?”
Rachel sighs but Brittany interrupts, “Santana can’t tell you who gave the orders because no one did.”
Rachel raises her eyebrows as Santana glares daggers at Brittany, yet Brittany continues, “All of Glee club just decided that we’re going to care about you now.”
Santana closed her eyes and let out a sigh while Rachel’s eyes dropped to the table. She let out a bitter laugh, “I see. So you all had some group meeting that said you were suddenly going to care about me because I was abused.”
Santana’s eyes suddenly snap up and meet Rachel’s, “No. We had a meeting and decided that it was high time we pull the huge stick out of the Glee club’s ass and start treating you the way we actually feel about you.” Santana’s eyes widened in terror as her mouth clamped shut. Brittany giggled and hugged her tightly and Rachel paused in her ministrations of shoveling her lunch back into her bag.
Standing up, and pulling Brittany up with her, Santana hissed furiously, “I don’t know why I said that, Berry. It’s probably Brittany’s fault.”
“Sorry, S,” Brittany whispered with a frown on her face, “I do that to you a lot.”
Santana continued, ignoring Brittany, “You better not tell anyone I said that. Just stop looking so damn confused when someone cares about you, it really pisses me off.” With that, the two Cheerios stormed off, leaving Rachel staring wide-eyed at her celery sticks, wondering what the heck had happened to the world while she was sleeping last night.
-------------------------
When Mike and Matt flank Rachel on her way to fourth period after lunch, she merely smiles at them and hugs them both at her classroom door. When she leaves, they exchange a sad look, both having seen the tears escaping the, now very quiet, diva’s eyes.
------------------------
Tina’s eyes widened as Rachel came out of her fourth period class and immediately looked behind the trophy case, mumbling something about “you guys aren’t as sneaky as everyone gives you credit for.”
Tina questions Rachel on their way to fifth period, “You’re know we’re doing this?”
Rachel shrugs, her arm looped through Tina’s, “You guys are obvious. I just don’t know why you’re all going to such trouble.”
Tina looks taken back, “Because we care about you Rachel.”
Rachel is quiet until they reach her door, “That’s just the thing. I’m not used to anyone caring about me, much less all of you guys that, what, two days ago, hated me.”
“We never hated you,” Tina whispers to the air, as Rachel has already slipped into her class.
------------------------
If my calculations are correct, Rachel thinks to herself while ignoring her fifth period math class, the only two members left of Glee that haven’t stalked me yet are Quinn and… she gulps, Finn. And somehow I doubt they’re even letting Finn near me, if he’s even here… She takes a moment to think about how she hasn’t seen Finn at all that day. Looking at the clock - five minutes left - Rachel turns back to her list of names, circling Quinn’s. Normally I would doubt that Quinn would even go out of her way to help a dying civilian, much less me. Yet after yesterday… Rachel shakes her head, no, she still hates me. I’m sure no one even included her in that stupid meeting.
----------------------------
Six hours before Rachel‘s math class; thirty minutes before school that day.
Quinn paces the music room while the rest of the Glee club - minus Finn - sit in silence. Santana speaks up, “Quinn, you’re freaking us out.”
The pregnant girl glares at everyone, “I don’t care. We need to figure this time frame out.”
Mercedes pipes in, “Look, we all mutually agreed on this meeting, so I think each of us should have a turn in between periods.”
“I’m with Santana!” Brittany says through a smile, while raising her hand.
Kurt raises an eyebrow, “We all know that, dear. But we’re talking about partners in keeping an eye on the golden girl.”
Santana flushes and bites out, “You know what she meant, Hummel. But, yeah. Okay, me and Brittany can take lunch, since we like, don’t eat anyway.”
Puck glances warily at Quinn before speaking up, “I’ll take before school and, I don‘t know… all day. I already talked to all of the jocks and stuff. I’ll just be keeping an eye on her all day, and an eye out for Finn.” That earns him a small smile from Quinn.
Kurt and Mercedes do their secret handshake type thing as Kurt says, “We’ll take after second period. That’s when we go to our lockers to fix our hair, anyway.”
Artie and Tina talk heatedly before Artie raises his hand, “Me and Tina will split up, since we’re assuming Mike and Matt will be partners.”
Mike and Matt fist bump as Artie continues, “I’ll take after first.”
“And I’ll take after fourth,” Tina offers.
“We’ll take after lunch,” Mike offers.
Puck speaks directly to Quinn, “That leaves you. If you don’t want to do it, it’s fine, I can just take-”
Quinn snaps, interrupting him, “I can handle watching man-hands for ten minutes, Puck. It’s not like it’s hard to miss all of that stubble, anyway. I’ll take the rest of the day.”
Santana and Kurt raise an eyebrow at Quinn but say nothing as the group exchanges high fives and hurries out of the music room to start school.
-------------------------------
Rachel shakes her head over her notes, crossing out Quinn’s name, faulting herself for circling it. I’m sure I’ll just see Noah again. That’s fine, I can ask him about the new solos for Glee anyway, he needs to start pulling his weight as a male lead, again. Rachel has an entire mini lecture planned out by the time she leaves fifth period. She exits the classroom and looks around, seeing no one. Shrugging, she begins to make her way through the crowd when she feels a hand quickly grab her elbow.
She whirls around and holds her binders in front of her face, her breath catching in her throat with only a whimper escaping. The hand drops and Rachel closes her eyes tightly, remembering that her fellow gleeks are stalking her, and suddenly her mini lecture comes back to her. “Noah, you scared me. You shouldn’t sneak up on-” her words die in her throat however as she sees Quinn standing in front of her, confusion painting her features.
“Noah? God Rachel, I may be pregnant but I’m not a tranny like you. How could you think I was Puck?”
Rachel laughs nervously, “I’m sorry, Quinn. I was expecting to see Noah again since I’d already seen everyone else in Glee.”
“You hadn’t seen me.”
“Well, no, but I assumed…”
“Well you assumed wrong, man-hands,” Quinn snapped, grabbing Rachel’s elbow again and leading her to their shared sixth period class. “I got saddled with you for the rest of the day,” Quinn continues. Lie, she shouts to herself in her mind. So she does, “It was as close as I could come to not having to do it at all. And I couldn’t deal with you in the morning, anyway. I already have enough morning sickness as it is.”
“Quinn,” Rachel says in a small voice, “I get it. I didn’t ask you to do this, and I’m sorry that you got 'saddled'", she actually does air quotes, "with looking after me. At least you’re honest about it.”
Quinn slows her pace, “What do you mean, ‘honest about it’?”
Rachel shrugs, not looking at Quinn, “Everyone else seemed hurt every time I got confused about why they were doing this. They all claimed that they cared about me and they were just showing it. At least you were honest with me, it’s refreshing. I know you don’t care about me, but you’re only doing this because you have to, or you feel bad. I assume that’s everyone else’s position on it, as well. You just sort of clarified that ongoing theory for me, so thank you.”
Quinn’s stomach raged with fury as her grip on Rachel’s elbow tightened. She stole a glance at the girls battered face and her anger only grew. “You’re wrong,” she said simply.
Rachel raised an eyebrow at her as they passed through the door to the Spanish room, “I don’t think so, Quinn. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that you blew their secret. I just wish I knew whose big idea this was, and why they did it.” Rachel shrugged again and made her way to her seat.
Quinn sighed and her knuckles went white from the death grip hold she had on her backpack straps. She mumbled under her breath, “Yeah, I wish I knew why I did this too.” She steeled her shoulders and put on her best determined face as she made her way up to Mr. Schuester’s desk. He raised his head and cheerily smiled at her, “Quinn! Have you seen Finn? I haven’t seen him all day.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow, suddenly furious at her good-natured teacher, “Mr. Schue, do me a favor and look at Rachel’s face.” Will’s face scrunched up in confusion, but nevertheless he turned and looked at Rachel, gasping when he saw her. Quinn continued, “that happened yesterday when we got back from sectionals. It was an accident, but it still happened. That’s why Finn isn’t here.”
Mr. Schue’s eyebrows shot up and his mouth opened to speak, but Quinn softly cut him off, “Glee’s going to suck today, Mr. S. We’ve all banned together to take care of her, but she isn’t okay. I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to her, or bring up Finn for that matter. It might cause a riot anyway.”
She didn’t wait for a reply as she made her way back to her desk. Rachel threw a curious look her way but Quinn ignored it. Don’t look at me like that, RuPaul. You don’t need to know what we talked about.
--------------------------
“Kurt brought me pastries last night.”
Quinn looked up from fidgeting with her hands on her lap. She and Rachel had been sitting in the music room in silence for five minutes, waiting for the rest of Glee to get there now that school was over.
“He also brought over makeup because he said that he was going to try to fix my face in hopes that I wouldn’t cry as much.” Quinn’s right eye twitched in anger, but if you asked her about it later she’d swear it was just her allergic reaction to Rachel’s voice. Rachel continued, “I was just surprised to see him there, you know? He even brought me a Jewish pastry and cookies. Who knew Kurt knew anything about Jewish traditions? Or… cared.”
Quinn cut Rachel off, “Who knew you could still talk so much with a swollen face?”
Rachel’s face fell, and there was a time when Quinn would’ve laughed at the irony that Rachel’s mouth was swollen in the curve of a smile. Instead she just felt sick to her stomach, so she looked away. Damn morning sickness, she thought to herself, even though her morning sickness had stopped weeks ago.
“I was just wondering if you knew anything about it.”
“Why would I know why Kurt brought you Jewish pastries? Maybe he likes you.”
“Quinn, he’s gay.”
“And you’re stubbles.”
Rachel sighed and Quinn smirked, a self-satisfactory smile that stemmed from being in control of something again, even if it was putting Rachel down. Even if that did make her sick to her stomach now, for some unknown and stupid reason.
“Where are you staying now?” Quinn squinted her eyes in confusion, so thrown off by the sudden subject change that she answered easily.
“Brittany’s house, why?” Rachel just shrugged, so Quinn continued, “I couldn’t stay with Puck.”
Rachel nodded, and Quinn was really glad when Rachel didn’t ask why. A minute passed by before Brittany and Santana came strolling into the practice room, sporting a grin and a scowl, respectively.
“Rachel! Does it hurt? It looks worse than it did at lunch.”
Rachel quirked an eyebrow at Brittany but chose to ignore the remark because the girl’s compassion made up for her severely lacking dexterity. “It hurts, yes.”
“Does it hurt your heart, too?”
“Brittany,” Santana snapped, but Rachel shook away Santana’s anger.
“It’s fine. Yes, B, it hurts my heart more than my face.”
“Because you love him?” Brittany questioned, very quietly, almost as if it was a comment more than a question.
Rachel nodded curtly, “Yes.”
“Are you retarded?” Quinn yelled, pushing away from the chair she was sitting on and facing Rachel, “I mean, really, did he do brain damage? Are you a retard now?”
Brittany shrunk into Santana and whispered, “Quinn, that’s a bad word.”
Quinn didn’t take her resentful eyes off of Rachel when she lashed out at Brittany, “Just because your damn little friend is doesn’t mean-” The end of that sentence left Quinn’s lips in a rushed gasp as she found herself sandwiched between a wall (when did that wall even get there?) and one pissed off Santana.
Quinn didn’t even try to struggle, she knew she’d flown off the deep end when Rachel had said she loved Finn. Santana snarled, “I don’t care how fat and pregnant and hormonal you are Quinn Fabray, I would just as soon pop you if I didn’t think it would upset Brittany anymore than you already have. You yell at Brittany, you deal with me.” Quinn nodded mutely, one arm wrapped around her stomach.
A quiet voice broke the girls’ ‘death by glares’ moment , “Santana, the baby.”
Santana took in a breath and let go of Quinn, backing away, she threw one last pointed look at the blond before they both turned to see Brittany with an arm around Rachel. Rachel, who had been the one to speak up, continued, “Quinn has a point, anyway. And if she had kept her inappropriate and unjustified, overzealous anger inside,” she spoke clearly, throwing a look at Quinn, “I could have finished. I suppose you could ironically say that Finn smacked the love out of me, because he did. I could never be with anyone who abused me in any way.” Quinn winced but had no idea why. “But he was - is,” she painfully corrected herself, remembering her conversation with Quinn earlier, “my only true friend. I love him to some extent, I have to.”
Brittany opened her mouth to tell Rachel that she was her friend too, but the door swung open and the rest of Glee club filed in.
----------------------
Quinn was right, Glee sucked that day. Rachel refused - or couldn’t - sing, no one knew which and no one pushed. Artie broke a gear off of his wheelchair at some point, so most of the guys were busy fixing it. Mercedes and Kurt were in a heated discussion the whole time about which Lady Gaga song the group should perform. Santana and Brittany hovered over Rachel. Quinn spent the whole time being a raving bitch, and if anyone thought this was abnormal, they didn’t question it. Finn never showed.
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A week passed by before Finn showed again, looking as bad, if not worse, than Rachel.
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Rachel stood in the girls bathroom during lunch, putting the finishing touches on her makeup. She smiled at her reflection, “I think I completed my slushy remedy procedure in record time.” She began putting her blow dryer back in her backpack when the bathroom door opened.
Rachel’s head shot up as she fumbled for the rape whistle that she now carried in her skirt pocket.
“Chill, Berry,” Santana mumbled from the doorway. Rachel eyed her warily from the mirror, but continued packing her stuff away nevertheless.
“If you’re planning on hurling up what little lunch you ate, I would please ask you to wait for me to leave before doing so. I’m already sick enough as it is with being drenched by two slushies in one day.”
Santana’s lips curled into a look of disgust as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but there, “No, God, ew man-handled. I came to warn you that Finn’s back.”
Rachel’s backpack slipped from the sink onto the floor, her blow-dryer and makeup falling back out of it. Santana sighed and rolled her eyes, bending down to pick it all up. She straightened and shifted uncomfortably on her feet because she was standing far too close to Rachel. Rachel, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by this as she had her hand over her heart and was currently hyperventilating.
“Berry, Berry stop. Look, hey, breathe, okay? I don’t care if you pass out, I’m not doing CPR on you, that’s just gross and I don‘t want like, herpes.”
This only seemed to fuel Rachel’s panic attack though because tears started streaming down the singers face and Santana’s chest heaved with anger towards the stupid idiot who did this to her. She didn’t even like Rachel and she wanted to kill Finn.
That’s when it all fell apart. Santana broke an important Cheerio rule by putting her hands on Rachel’s shoulders, actually talking soothing words to the girl, like, “God, shut up you sound like a dying rodent,” and, “no, look if you stop crying I’ll let you hug Brittany tomorrow.”
Rachel had almost calmed down when a thundering “God DAMNIT get off of me, I’m going to see her!” broke through the bathroom walls. Rachel grabbed onto the back of Santana’s Cheerios jacket as the bathroom door slammed open. Finn’s body filled up the entire space of the doorway. Santana tensed and took a step backwards, closer to Rachel, for protection. Rachel, being short, stared wide-eyed at Finn over Santana’s shoulder, keeping her death grip on the Cheerio’s jacket. There were muffled yells coming from behind Finn but no one in the bathroom could really make out what they were saying. That is, until Finn lurched forward into the wall as Quinn stepped into the bathroom, chest heaving and fists clenched.
It was as if the girl’s bathroom door was a door to the Twilight Zone. With Rachel holding onto the back of Santana, Santana protecting Rachel, Finn in the girl’s bathroom and Quinn with some sort of super-pregnant woman strength. Quinn’s eyes widened as she stared at Santana and Rachel.
“Rachel, I don’t want to scare you off, but everyone has been keeping me from seeing you all day and I-I finally got away from the worst of it,” Finn stammered, clearly out of breath from whatever Quinn had put him through in the hall.
“You shit head brute, you’d scare anyone by barging into the girl’s bathroom like this. You better leave before I kick you in the-”
“Santana, it’s okay.”
Finn piped up, “Yeah Santana, I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to Rachel.”
Santana growled, “No, you’re not.”
“I’m talking to her right now, see, hi Rachel.”
“Hi, Finn.”
“Rachel!” Santana and Quinn shouted simultaneously. Quinn finally pried her eyes off of Rachel’s hand gripping Santana’s jacket and brought them up to the back of Finn’s head, “Leave, now. We’re not leaving you alone with her.”
Finn whirled on Quinn, “Since when do you care about her?” He turned to Santana, “Since when do either of you care about her? It was an accident! And yeah I hit her, but what you two have purposely done to her emotionally has been far worse than what I accidentally did to her physically.”
Santana crossed her arms over her chest, “What, did you spend your pansy week in hiding cramming a dictionary up your ass?”
Finn dropped his hands to his sides, Rachel winced, he half shrugged, “I’ve done a lot of thinking.”
Santana shrugged, “I’m not letting you near her. For all you know, she isn’t even in this bathroom right now.”
“She’s standing right behind you.”
“You can’t see her.”
“Look I know she’s short but-”
“Finn,” Quinn calmly spoke, “you’re clearly not going to get anywhere. You might as well leave.”
Finn glared daggers at Quinn, then at Santana, then proceeded to punch the wall and storm out of the bathroom.
The three girls waited until they couldn’t hear Finn’s loud footsteps anymore before moving. Rachel reluctantly released Santana’s jacket and smoothed out the crease. Santana shuddered and stepped away from Rachel, her frown apparent in her brown eyes and her nose scrunched in disgust, “Don’t touch me again, Berry.”
Rachel smiled without showing her teeth, “Thank you. For - you know - protecting me.”
Quinn stood rooted in the same spot, her glass eyes clouded with fury as she watched the exchange. Santana bent over, picked up Rachel’s backpack, and literally threw it at her. Rachel caught it with a grimace as Santana shrugged, “Brittany told me to watch out for you.”
Rachel softly nodded, “She’s lucky, you know.” Santana’s eyebrows raised and Rachel fumbled to finish her thought, “I mean, to always have protection like you. That must be why no one is ever mean to her.” Santana looked at Rachel with exaggerated disgust and a poorly hidden smile before walking away.
She stopped as she reached Quinn’s side, facing the door while Quinn faced Rachel, and said, “You might want to do your job a little better, Preggo.”
Quinn turned her head slightly towards Santana and hissed, “Isn’t Brittany waiting for you in your bed or something?”
Santana briefly considered performing an illegal abortion on Quinn, but then thought better of it before snickering and whispering, “You’re just jealous that she was latched on to me and not you.”
As soon as Santana was gone, Quinn eyed Rachel. Why does she look like she expects me to say something? She looks so vulnerable, Quinn’s breath caught in her throat as she mentally chided herself, don’t make it worse right now. Whatever you do, don’t make it worse.
“You’re lucky Santana was in here.”
“You tried to stop him from coming in here, it wasn’t all Santana.”
“Clearly I did a great job of that.”
Rachel shrugged, “It’s the little things that count.”
“I’m not even going to question that. You just better watch out for Finn, we can’t keep holding him off from you.”
“Then don’t.”
“You can’t handle him.”
“Why do you care?”
“I don’t.”
Rachel put her hands on her hips, “Quinn it isn’t healthy to repress human emotions, even if they are ones of caring. You know, I don’t think that you really hate me. In fact-”
“I do hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
Quinn hissed, “This is pointless and now we’re going to be late for class. Clean up your face so we can go.”
Rachel glared at Quinn, “I can get to class just fine on my own, Quinn. You may feel free to leave and go to whatever class you have.”
“It’s my turn to shadow you.”
“I’d rather you just left.”
“I’d rather you didn’t use stupid words like ‘rather’.”
“I wish you didn’t make fun of me for everything. I’m in a fragile emotional state.”
“I haven’t even made fun of your balloon face yet, you’d think that blimp would’ve deflated some by now, it’s been a week.”
“Classy, Quinn, classy. Do you spend most of your time looking through thesauruses for insults?”
“You wish I wasted that much time on you, I do have a life you know. Wait, no, you wouldn’t know.”
“You should have told Kurt that blueberry strudels weren’t as good as raspberry ones.”
“I didn’t get into specifics with him, it took me long enough to Google the-” Quinn froze, sheer horror coating her face.
Rachel turned away from the mirror and gave a half smile and a nod, walking past Quinn and out of the bathroom. “We’ll talk later, Quinn.”
Quinn stood in the doorway, mouth still open in shock. Son of a bitch. When Rachel’s words caught up with her a moment later however, Quinn’s head snapped up as she sped out of the bathroom, “Wait, we will not talk later!” But the only reaction she got was from a scared freshmen who was late for class. Quinn glared at him and he ran off. She stamped her foot in frustration and cursed the now empty hallway. Damn her and her speed walking.
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TBC