Pieces of Her, 2/?
Title: Pieces of Her, 2/?
Author: kagekamay
Rating: R
Spoilers: AU after Special Education
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, Rachel Berry wasn't unbreakable. Now she's broken and the only person who can put her back together is Quinn Fabray. WARNING deals with self harm
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee...oh but did you hear? BRITTANA IS BACK!!! Maybe there is hope for the show after all :)
Rachel slammed the front door behind her and hurried up the stairs to her room, not even bothering to plaster a fake smile on her face. Her dads were probably still working and wouldn't be home until later, so there was no need to pretend everything was okay. After the confrontation with Finn, she just wanted to curl up on her bed, but of course that was too much to ask. As she made her way to her bed, her eyes fell on a picture of her and Finn on her nightstand, laughing and smiling together. Her hands shook as she picked up the picture, taking in the familiar goofy grin on her now ex-boyfriend's face. An unbidden image of the sneer he had directed at her earlier flashed in her mind. You're nothing but a slut, Rachel. Next thing she knew, the picture was sailing from her hand and shattering against the opposite wall, bits of broken glass scattering on the floor. A sob escaped her lips and she instinctively brought her hand to the gold chain around her neck. Her fingers paused as they closed around the familiar small gold "F." Anger still coursing in her veins, she quickly unclasped the necklace and tossed it into the pile of broken glass. It glinted mockingly at her as she collapsed on top of her bed, too exhausted to cry anymore. She felt her eyes closing, and one thought reverberated in her mind before she drifted into unconsciousness. Now I have no one…
Too soon, Rachel's alarm was blaring loudly, and she was pushing herself out of bed. She refused to forego her elliptical routine, even though she had never felt so…empty. TheProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 was no drive in her, no need to prove that she was destined for greatness. She cut her routine short and showered quickly, barely paying attention to what she was throwing on for school. It didn't matter anyway, she reasoned. She would probably be covered in slushy before 4th period. She gave her reflection a passing glance in her mirror, dabbing on concealer to hide the bags under her eyes. Once she was satisfied, she put on her best fake smile and headed downstairs, hoping to avoid her dads at all costs. Unfortunately, James Berry was seated at the kitchen table.
"Good morning, Rachel." He said, glancing up briefly from the paper.
"Morning, Daddy." she smiled rushing past him to grab the keys to her car.
"I thought Finn was driving you to school today." He frowned.
Rachel's smile faltered momentarily as she felt her heart thud painfully in her chest.
"He can't today. He texted me that he slept in."
"Oh. That's too bad, sweetie. Well have a good day at school." He mumbled distractedly, already absorbed in the paper again.
"Okay, Daddy." Rachel called out as she closed the door behind her.
Too easy. Her shoulders slumped as she trudged toward her car, her fake smile already fading from her lips.
Minutes later, she was pulling into the school parking lot, avoiding the stares and whispers that followed her as she got out of her car. She clutched her books tighter to her chest, keeping her head down as she speedwalked through the front doors of the school. Without her usual confident attitude, Rachel felt completely vulnerable, and the whispers seemed to be burning a hole through the fragile shield keeping her from bursting into tears. She tried to salvage what little remained of her inner diva, attempting to march down the hallways like she had always done, but she found herself dragging her feet all the way to her locker. Finn had managed to do what the slushies and name-calling couldn't. He had sucked the life out of her, and she had let him. She had come to rely on him not only as her boyfriend, but as the one constant friend in her life. Now he wanted nothing to do with her. He had a right to be mad; she had cheated on him after all.
"Hey, Rachel!" The diva flinched at the voice and turned to see Brittany beaming at her next to her locker.
"Oh, hello, Brittany."
"Here let me get those," the blonde chirped, taking the textbooks from Rachel and placing them in her locker.
"Thank you," Rachel stuttered as Brittany closed her locker.
"So do you want me to walk you to math?" the blonde asked, looking at the diva expectantly.
"No I don't want you going out of your way for me."
Brittany's eyebrows furrowed, "But I want to."
Rachel sighed as she saw the disappointment in the blonde's eyes, "Well if you really want to - "
"Great!" Brittany grabbed Rachel's hand and led her down the hallway, half skipping in excitement while chattering about her cat.
Rachel did her best to muster a smile for the blonde, but she was too busy wondering why the girl was paying so much attention to her. It must just be out of pity. Before she could come up with a better conclusion, she was in front of her class.
"I'll see you later, Rach," Brittany smiled, hugging the brunette before walking to her class.
The rest of the day went the same way, with Brittany showing up after each of Rachel's classes to walk her to her next one. Rachel was grateful that everyone was steering clear of her, wary of bullying her with a Cheerio hanging around. Still, even Brittany couldn't keep Finn from shooting angry glares her way. Each time he did, Brittany would frown and steer the brunette away, but it did nothing to stop the regret from welling up in her chest. He wasn't the only one who was angry with her. Santana seemed to be constantly lurking in the background, glowering at Rachel and eyeing the blonde cheerleader longingly. All of the attention she was getting had Rachel on edge, and she was relieved when Brittany said she had to leave for a Cheerios meeting during lunch.
Rachel assured the blonde she would be fine, and decided to go grab some sheet music from her car so that she could practice in the choir room. She had just reached her car when she felt a hand grab her shoulder and turn her around. Next thing she knew she was staring into the eyes of a very pissed off Santana Lopez. She took a step back, trying to get out of her grip as she leered down at her.
"What are you doing, manhands?" she growled, anger burning in her eyes.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, Santana." She murmured, fishing around for the keys in her pocket.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about. Why is Brittany hanging around with you?"
"It's none of your concern, and I honestly don't know."
"I don't care treasure trail! The Latina tightened her grip on Rachel's shoulder, causing the smaller girl to shrink against her car, "Just stay the fuck away from her. Got it?"
"She's the one who came to me. I didn't ask her to." Rachel mumbled, too scared to meet the Latina's fiery gaze head on.
"Who would willingly hang out with you? The only one who did was Finn, and even he wised up." Santana said, satisfied when she saw the girl visibly flinch at her words.
"Face it Berry, no one wants anything to do with you."
"You think I don't know that?" Rachel's voice was barely above a whisper.
Santana frowned and shook the girl, "What did you say?"
Rachel raised her head to stare back at the cheerio, eyes alight with pain. "You think I don't know exactly how everyone feels about me? I used to not care, since Finn was able to accept me for who I was in his own way. But now - " her voice cracked and she felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes, "now I'm just done. You're right, Santana, no one wants anything to do with me, and I'm too tired to keep pretending I don't care."
The Latina shrugged and let go of the singer, putting on her best bitch face while Rachel smoothed out her sweater.
"Whatever. I'm not interested in your emo crap. I just want you to stay away from Britt."
Rachel slumped against her car. Of course Santana Lopez wouldn't care how messed up she felt. She was just concerned about her dragging Brittany down to the bottom of the social ladder.
"Okay," she muttered, turning to open the door to her car. "I'll tell Brittany to leave me alone."
"Good, I'm glad we understand each other." Santana smirked, whirling around in a swirl of of red and white, not even bothering to give the girl a second glance as she headed back towards the school.
-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-
Quinn Fabray strode through the halls of William Mckinley, hardly paying attention to the students scrambling to get out of her way. By the way they were acting, you would have never known that the same girl they were terrified of had been the "pregnant girl" a year before. The head Cheerio was almost to her locker when she noticed Santana standing beside it, looking if possible bitchier than usual. Quinn raised her eyebrows at this. Things between her and Santana were still a little tense after the blonde had taken back her old title of Head Cheerio, and the Latina hadn't exactly been talking to her.
"Where's B?"
"How the hell should I know, Q?" she snarled.
"Not having a good day, Santana?"
The Latina growled and crossed her arms, and Quinn sensed the hurt the girl was trying to hide.
"Brittany's been ditching me all day for manhands since Finnocence broke up with her."
Quinn's eyebrows furrowed, "They actually split up?"
Santana snorted in disbelief, "You missed that? People have been talking about it all day. Finn went all crazy on the hobbit's ass and broke up with her. Oh and then destroyed the guy's locker room."
Quinn frowned as she grabbed her Spanish book and slammed her locker. "But why did they break up?" It didn't make sense to her that Finn would just dump Rachel for no reason. She must have done something to upset him.
"Finn probably got tired of her bugging him about our hookup," Santana shrugged, "I really don't give a - okay that's it,"
Santana's growl snapped the blonde out of her thoughts and she looked in the direction that Santana was glaring in. At first all she saw was the usual mass of students flooding the hallway, until she spotted Brittany heading toward the locker of one Rachel Berry.
"I told manhands to stay away from her."
Quinn frowned as she watched Brittany wave enthusiastically at the diva.
"San, don't you think you're overreacting just a little bit? I mean just because she's your girlfr - ."
"Shut it, Fabray! Brit and I are not dating!" Santana snarled and marched over to Brittany, while Quinn followed not too far behind. She didn't want to get involved, but she was still curious about how this was going to turn out.
"Hey, dwarf!"
Rachel's head whipped around toward Santana, fear plastered across her face.
Quinn was more than a little surprised at that. If there was one person who didn't quake in fear when facing the wrath of Santana, it was Berry.
"Yes, Santana?" Rachel asked, hugging her binder closer to herself in a vain attempt to put up some defense between her and the fiery Latina.
"I thought I told you to stay the hell away from her." Rachel shot a terrified look at Brittany, pleading with her silently to stop Santana from murdering her.
Brittany seemed to get the message and she placed a comforting hand on her best friend's shoulder, "What are you talking about, S?"
Santana's scowl softened marginally at the blonde's touch, and she snaked her arm around the girl's waist. Quinn rolled her eyes at the obvious display of affection. Santana was seriously in denial.
"I don't want you hanging around her, okay B?"
Quinn waited for the rant that Rachel would undoubtedly unleash at Santana, telling her that she couldn't tell her what to do before storming off in classic Berry style. Instead, the brunette's shoulders slumped and she hurried away from Santana, who was still staring daggers at her retreating form. As Rachel passed by Quinn, she turned slightly to glance at the cheerleader, before heading in the direction of the choir room. The look she gave her sent shivers down Quinn's spine. The confidence that normally exuded from the girl was gone. Those brown eyes were empty, devoid of the liveliness that normally gave Quinn the inexplicable urge to strangle her.
Shaking off feelings of uneasiness, the cheerio glanced back at her friends, one of whom was stopping the other from chasing after Rachel. She bit her lip and looked in the opposite direction, just in time to catch a glimpse of argyle whip around the corner. It didn't make sense. Quinn had been making Rachel's life hell for years, and she had never seen the girl look like that. Behind her, the argument between Santana and Brittany was getting louder.
"I can spend time with Rachel if I want to, San."
"But she's so annoying! Why would you want to hang out with her when you have me?"
The blonde shrugged, "She needs me."
Santana scoffed and threw her hands up, "since when did she 'need' you? Finn's broken up with her before and she was fine then."
Brittany shook her head, "It's different this time. Rachel's really sad. Like really sad."
The Latina rolled her eyes, "She'll get over it, and I really don't care how treasure trail feels."
Brittany crossed her arms resolutely, "I do. So does Quinn."
Quinn froze as she felt Santana's glare shift to her, and she braced herself for the incoming storm.
"Is that true?" the Latina said aggressively.
The blonde spun around and shifted to HBIC mode, "Of course not. You know I don't give a damn about Berry."
Santana smirked in approval, "I thought so."
Quinn rolled her eyes and smirked, but she couldn't completely ignore the disappointment on Brittany's face, or the guilt she was trying to push away.
Author: kagekamay
Rating: R
Spoilers: AU after Special Education
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, Rachel Berry wasn't unbreakable. Now she's broken and the only person who can put her back together is Quinn Fabray. WARNING deals with self harm
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee...oh but did you hear? BRITTANA IS BACK!!! Maybe there is hope for the show after all :)
Rachel slammed the front door behind her and hurried up the stairs to her room, not even bothering to plaster a fake smile on her face. Her dads were probably still working and wouldn't be home until later, so there was no need to pretend everything was okay. After the confrontation with Finn, she just wanted to curl up on her bed, but of course that was too much to ask. As she made her way to her bed, her eyes fell on a picture of her and Finn on her nightstand, laughing and smiling together. Her hands shook as she picked up the picture, taking in the familiar goofy grin on her now ex-boyfriend's face. An unbidden image of the sneer he had directed at her earlier flashed in her mind. You're nothing but a slut, Rachel. Next thing she knew, the picture was sailing from her hand and shattering against the opposite wall, bits of broken glass scattering on the floor. A sob escaped her lips and she instinctively brought her hand to the gold chain around her neck. Her fingers paused as they closed around the familiar small gold "F." Anger still coursing in her veins, she quickly unclasped the necklace and tossed it into the pile of broken glass. It glinted mockingly at her as she collapsed on top of her bed, too exhausted to cry anymore. She felt her eyes closing, and one thought reverberated in her mind before she drifted into unconsciousness. Now I have no one…
Too soon, Rachel's alarm was blaring loudly, and she was pushing herself out of bed. She refused to forego her elliptical routine, even though she had never felt so…empty. TheProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 was no drive in her, no need to prove that she was destined for greatness. She cut her routine short and showered quickly, barely paying attention to what she was throwing on for school. It didn't matter anyway, she reasoned. She would probably be covered in slushy before 4th period. She gave her reflection a passing glance in her mirror, dabbing on concealer to hide the bags under her eyes. Once she was satisfied, she put on her best fake smile and headed downstairs, hoping to avoid her dads at all costs. Unfortunately, James Berry was seated at the kitchen table.
"Good morning, Rachel." He said, glancing up briefly from the paper.
"Morning, Daddy." she smiled rushing past him to grab the keys to her car.
"I thought Finn was driving you to school today." He frowned.
Rachel's smile faltered momentarily as she felt her heart thud painfully in her chest.
"He can't today. He texted me that he slept in."
"Oh. That's too bad, sweetie. Well have a good day at school." He mumbled distractedly, already absorbed in the paper again.
"Okay, Daddy." Rachel called out as she closed the door behind her.
Too easy. Her shoulders slumped as she trudged toward her car, her fake smile already fading from her lips.
Minutes later, she was pulling into the school parking lot, avoiding the stares and whispers that followed her as she got out of her car. She clutched her books tighter to her chest, keeping her head down as she speedwalked through the front doors of the school. Without her usual confident attitude, Rachel felt completely vulnerable, and the whispers seemed to be burning a hole through the fragile shield keeping her from bursting into tears. She tried to salvage what little remained of her inner diva, attempting to march down the hallways like she had always done, but she found herself dragging her feet all the way to her locker. Finn had managed to do what the slushies and name-calling couldn't. He had sucked the life out of her, and she had let him. She had come to rely on him not only as her boyfriend, but as the one constant friend in her life. Now he wanted nothing to do with her. He had a right to be mad; she had cheated on him after all.
"Hey, Rachel!" The diva flinched at the voice and turned to see Brittany beaming at her next to her locker.
"Oh, hello, Brittany."
"Here let me get those," the blonde chirped, taking the textbooks from Rachel and placing them in her locker.
"Thank you," Rachel stuttered as Brittany closed her locker.
"So do you want me to walk you to math?" the blonde asked, looking at the diva expectantly.
"No I don't want you going out of your way for me."
Brittany's eyebrows furrowed, "But I want to."
Rachel sighed as she saw the disappointment in the blonde's eyes, "Well if you really want to - "
"Great!" Brittany grabbed Rachel's hand and led her down the hallway, half skipping in excitement while chattering about her cat.
Rachel did her best to muster a smile for the blonde, but she was too busy wondering why the girl was paying so much attention to her. It must just be out of pity. Before she could come up with a better conclusion, she was in front of her class.
"I'll see you later, Rach," Brittany smiled, hugging the brunette before walking to her class.
The rest of the day went the same way, with Brittany showing up after each of Rachel's classes to walk her to her next one. Rachel was grateful that everyone was steering clear of her, wary of bullying her with a Cheerio hanging around. Still, even Brittany couldn't keep Finn from shooting angry glares her way. Each time he did, Brittany would frown and steer the brunette away, but it did nothing to stop the regret from welling up in her chest. He wasn't the only one who was angry with her. Santana seemed to be constantly lurking in the background, glowering at Rachel and eyeing the blonde cheerleader longingly. All of the attention she was getting had Rachel on edge, and she was relieved when Brittany said she had to leave for a Cheerios meeting during lunch.
Rachel assured the blonde she would be fine, and decided to go grab some sheet music from her car so that she could practice in the choir room. She had just reached her car when she felt a hand grab her shoulder and turn her around. Next thing she knew she was staring into the eyes of a very pissed off Santana Lopez. She took a step back, trying to get out of her grip as she leered down at her.
"What are you doing, manhands?" she growled, anger burning in her eyes.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, Santana." She murmured, fishing around for the keys in her pocket.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about. Why is Brittany hanging around with you?"
"It's none of your concern, and I honestly don't know."
"I don't care treasure trail! The Latina tightened her grip on Rachel's shoulder, causing the smaller girl to shrink against her car, "Just stay the fuck away from her. Got it?"
"She's the one who came to me. I didn't ask her to." Rachel mumbled, too scared to meet the Latina's fiery gaze head on.
"Who would willingly hang out with you? The only one who did was Finn, and even he wised up." Santana said, satisfied when she saw the girl visibly flinch at her words.
"Face it Berry, no one wants anything to do with you."
"You think I don't know that?" Rachel's voice was barely above a whisper.
Santana frowned and shook the girl, "What did you say?"
Rachel raised her head to stare back at the cheerio, eyes alight with pain. "You think I don't know exactly how everyone feels about me? I used to not care, since Finn was able to accept me for who I was in his own way. But now - " her voice cracked and she felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes, "now I'm just done. You're right, Santana, no one wants anything to do with me, and I'm too tired to keep pretending I don't care."
The Latina shrugged and let go of the singer, putting on her best bitch face while Rachel smoothed out her sweater.
"Whatever. I'm not interested in your emo crap. I just want you to stay away from Britt."
Rachel slumped against her car. Of course Santana Lopez wouldn't care how messed up she felt. She was just concerned about her dragging Brittany down to the bottom of the social ladder.
"Okay," she muttered, turning to open the door to her car. "I'll tell Brittany to leave me alone."
"Good, I'm glad we understand each other." Santana smirked, whirling around in a swirl of of red and white, not even bothering to give the girl a second glance as she headed back towards the school.
-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-
Quinn Fabray strode through the halls of William Mckinley, hardly paying attention to the students scrambling to get out of her way. By the way they were acting, you would have never known that the same girl they were terrified of had been the "pregnant girl" a year before. The head Cheerio was almost to her locker when she noticed Santana standing beside it, looking if possible bitchier than usual. Quinn raised her eyebrows at this. Things between her and Santana were still a little tense after the blonde had taken back her old title of Head Cheerio, and the Latina hadn't exactly been talking to her.
"Where's B?"
"How the hell should I know, Q?" she snarled.
"Not having a good day, Santana?"
The Latina growled and crossed her arms, and Quinn sensed the hurt the girl was trying to hide.
"Brittany's been ditching me all day for manhands since Finnocence broke up with her."
Quinn's eyebrows furrowed, "They actually split up?"
Santana snorted in disbelief, "You missed that? People have been talking about it all day. Finn went all crazy on the hobbit's ass and broke up with her. Oh and then destroyed the guy's locker room."
Quinn frowned as she grabbed her Spanish book and slammed her locker. "But why did they break up?" It didn't make sense to her that Finn would just dump Rachel for no reason. She must have done something to upset him.
"Finn probably got tired of her bugging him about our hookup," Santana shrugged, "I really don't give a - okay that's it,"
Santana's growl snapped the blonde out of her thoughts and she looked in the direction that Santana was glaring in. At first all she saw was the usual mass of students flooding the hallway, until she spotted Brittany heading toward the locker of one Rachel Berry.
"I told manhands to stay away from her."
Quinn frowned as she watched Brittany wave enthusiastically at the diva.
"San, don't you think you're overreacting just a little bit? I mean just because she's your girlfr - ."
"Shut it, Fabray! Brit and I are not dating!" Santana snarled and marched over to Brittany, while Quinn followed not too far behind. She didn't want to get involved, but she was still curious about how this was going to turn out.
"Hey, dwarf!"
Rachel's head whipped around toward Santana, fear plastered across her face.
Quinn was more than a little surprised at that. If there was one person who didn't quake in fear when facing the wrath of Santana, it was Berry.
"Yes, Santana?" Rachel asked, hugging her binder closer to herself in a vain attempt to put up some defense between her and the fiery Latina.
"I thought I told you to stay the hell away from her." Rachel shot a terrified look at Brittany, pleading with her silently to stop Santana from murdering her.
Brittany seemed to get the message and she placed a comforting hand on her best friend's shoulder, "What are you talking about, S?"
Santana's scowl softened marginally at the blonde's touch, and she snaked her arm around the girl's waist. Quinn rolled her eyes at the obvious display of affection. Santana was seriously in denial.
"I don't want you hanging around her, okay B?"
Quinn waited for the rant that Rachel would undoubtedly unleash at Santana, telling her that she couldn't tell her what to do before storming off in classic Berry style. Instead, the brunette's shoulders slumped and she hurried away from Santana, who was still staring daggers at her retreating form. As Rachel passed by Quinn, she turned slightly to glance at the cheerleader, before heading in the direction of the choir room. The look she gave her sent shivers down Quinn's spine. The confidence that normally exuded from the girl was gone. Those brown eyes were empty, devoid of the liveliness that normally gave Quinn the inexplicable urge to strangle her.
Shaking off feelings of uneasiness, the cheerio glanced back at her friends, one of whom was stopping the other from chasing after Rachel. She bit her lip and looked in the opposite direction, just in time to catch a glimpse of argyle whip around the corner. It didn't make sense. Quinn had been making Rachel's life hell for years, and she had never seen the girl look like that. Behind her, the argument between Santana and Brittany was getting louder.
"I can spend time with Rachel if I want to, San."
"But she's so annoying! Why would you want to hang out with her when you have me?"
The blonde shrugged, "She needs me."
Santana scoffed and threw her hands up, "since when did she 'need' you? Finn's broken up with her before and she was fine then."
Brittany shook her head, "It's different this time. Rachel's really sad. Like really sad."
The Latina rolled her eyes, "She'll get over it, and I really don't care how treasure trail feels."
Brittany crossed her arms resolutely, "I do. So does Quinn."
Quinn froze as she felt Santana's glare shift to her, and she braced herself for the incoming storm.
"Is that true?" the Latina said aggressively.
The blonde spun around and shifted to HBIC mode, "Of course not. You know I don't give a damn about Berry."
Santana smirked in approval, "I thought so."
Quinn rolled her eyes and smirked, but she couldn't completely ignore the disappointment on Brittany's face, or the guilt she was trying to push away.