Chapter Two

Russell Fabray was a powerful man, in the outside world and in his own home. In the Fabray household whatever Russell said, his daughters and wife did. In their home his words were pretty much gospel. No one dared say no to him, Quinn remembered one day when she had tried, she had gotten herself in a world of trouble; since then she had pretty much submitted to anything and everything he said. She couldn't wait for the day when she didn't have to anymore.

Judy was something of a doormat to her husband - if Russell said jump, then Judy would surely ask how high? Quinn had seen it all too many times, she hated it, she hated how her mother would bow down to her father. All her life, Quinn had been taught that this is just how a marriage works. That this is how any relationship worked. After all, the bible states that a woman is a follower and a man is the leader.

She had been taught all her life that a woman's role is that of submission, you must submit everything you are and everything you have to your husband. Quinn would often catch herself thinking that she didn't want to and wouldn't submit to a husband. She wasn't going to submit to anyone in her life.

She was a Fabray. Fabrays have the control… unless said Fabray happens to be a married woman, once you're married you must give up your power… to a man. It didn't seem right, that she could only have control until she was married. That her status was only her own as a single woman, and after that, she would have to answer to someone else.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church. (Ephesians 5:22-33)

It was just one of the many scriptures that Quinn struggled with. Oh how she struggled with it. To her it really made no sense. Why should a wife submit to her husband simply because he is a man she isn't? What made men so special? Why would a man be the head of his wife?

She always wondered that if she didn't submit to a man, would that be classed as a sin? Would God really care about women having their own mind and maintaining some sense of control as much as he cared about other sins, could a woman not being submissive really be held at the same level of sin as other things like adultery and murder? Or would it just be frowned upon for her to keep some sort of power in a marriage?

The more she thought about it, the more she realised that, out of all the married people she knew, the women did, in fact, submit to their husbands. The women didn't work, so they had no money in their own right; the husbands dealt with the bills and any spending they did, and the wives stayed at home and cooked and cleaned the house while looking after their children.

She wondered what life would be like if she were to answer every beck and call of someone who was supposed to be her partner.

Partner. The more she heard the word when talking about marriage the more confused she was by everything. Her mother would call her husband her partner, as would all the women in their friendship circle, as would Frannie, none of it made sense to her.

She could already see the power dynamics beginning to appear in Frannie's relationship with Cal, and they didn't even live together yet, but her elder sister seemed more than happy to follow her boyfriend's lead.

Quinn didn't want that. She didn't want to submit to anyone, she'd had enough of that when she had to answer to her teachers at school, and then when she was made to everything her father wanted.

It appeared to Quinn, that when her parents said that a Fabray must be in control, they had meant that she was allowed control around her peers, that she would only ever be allowed to hold a certain amount of power, and that one day, she would even have to give that up all for her husband.

A husband.

She had always thought that your husband was supposed to be your partner, someone you worked with, the one person you could share everything with, not your master, not the person you must submit to. The more she thought about it, and the older she got. The less appealing it sounded to have a husband and be married. She didn't like the idea of having to submit to anyone who wasn't genuinely higher up in the food chain than she was.

She understood having to do as your boss would ask of you, or even as teachers would ask of you, to a certain point. She knew she was going to have to put up with nine more months of submission at school. After twelve weeks of relaxing, and having as much control as she wanted, she really wasn't ready to take on a submissive role again.

It was September first, Quinn's first day of senior year at her new school, William McKinley High. To say she was nervous was an understatement, she'd had to get to school a little early that day in order to be given her locker assignment and her class schedule, as well as having to listen to the 'welcome' talk she assumed all new students got.

That day, it was just her and one other person in the principal's office. Quinn could tell by looking at him that he was a little younger than she was, his face was not yet as defined as some of the boys she had known from back home. He had a boyish charm to him, as he sat bright eyed with a wide smile on his mouth, nodding his head, as if he was interested in everything that their new principle had to say.

"Lastly, welcome to William McKinley High School. Should you need anything, feel free to come to my office or if you prefer you can visit the school's guidance counselor, Miss Pilsbury." There was a beat of silence as he looked between the two of them. "Have a good first day."

With that, Quinn and the boy left the office, as she headed towards her locker, she could feel the boy walking in-step with her, she turned to her right and quirked her eyebrow at him, giving him a questioning look.

"Hi there, I'm Rory Flannigan," he said, his accent caught Quinn off guard, she hadn't really known what she had been expecting him to sound like, but she definitely had not been expecting him to be a foreign exchange student. "I just moved here from Ireland," he informed her.

"I'm Quinn Fabray," she replied, "I just moved here from California." She sighed and looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand with her locker and locker combination on it. "Are you a senior?" she asked.

Rory shook his head slowly. "No, I'm a junior," he replied.

"Oh, it would have been nice to have seen you in some of my classes," she turned her mouth down in thought. She looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand, and then back up at her surroundings. "Well, this is my locker," she said pointing at the locker in question, "I'll see you around?"

He nodded his head slightly, "You will," he replied with a smile. "Goodbye, Quinn Fabra," he said before walking away from the blonde haired girl. Quinn gave him a tight lipped smile and turned her attention back to the sheet of paper in her hand, she used her new combination and opened her locker, feeling thankful that she had one on the top.

In her freshman year she'd been assigned a locker on the bottom row, and she'd soon got sick of crouching down to keep putting her books in and taking others out.

"God you're annoying," she heard a girl chuckle from behind her locker door, the soft raspy voice had caught her off guard, she never heard a voice quite like it. "Seriously, leave me alone," she laughed again. Quinn heard a male voice tell her he'd see her later, before hearing the girl mumble a quiet goodbye.

Quinn closed the door to her locker slowly, and turned her head to see a dark haired girl applying lipstick and looking into a small, magnetic mirror she'd attached to her door. She was pretty, that much was obvious. Her dark eyes found Quinn in the reflection of the mirror. "Can I help you?" She asked.

Her voice had pulled Quinn from her trance, she hadn't realised she'd been staring, but now that she had been pulled back to reality, it was pretty obvious that she had been. She couldn't help it, this girl might have been the prettiest girl Quinn had ever seen in her whole life.

"Uh, no?" Quinn replied, her words coming out as more of a question than anything else.

"You don't sound so sure about that." the other girl snarked, she turned around to face Quinn, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. "Who are you?" she asked in a biting tone.

"I'm Quinn, I just moved here."

The dark haired girl's eyes scanned over the length of her body, taking in every inch of her, "Well Quinn, let me give you some advice," she snapped, "Don't piss me off, and stop staring at people. It's weird, got it?" Quinn nodded her head slowly, "Good." the other girl replied, she grabbed two books from her locker, before slamming it shut and walking away from the blonde haired girl. Quinn watched as she walked away, shaking her head slowly.

"Ignore her." Quinn startled at the sound of a voice coming from behind her, she turned around quickly to see a bespectacled boy in a wheelchair. "Santana's like that with everyone."

"She is?" Quinn asked, her heart rate slowly decreasing from her scare.

He nodded his head, "I wouldn't take it too personally."

"I'll try to remember that." she mumbled as she looked over her shoulder in the direction the dark haired girl had gone, only to see her draping herself off of a tall, blonde haired boy in a letterman's jacket, who she assumed was her boyfriend.

"I'd like to say it goes away, but it really doesn't," the boy said, pulling Quinn's attention away from Santana. "I'm Artie by the way, Artie Abrams," he smiled looking up at her.

"I'm Quinn Fabray," she replied.

There was a beat of silence before Artie spoke again, "I hate to do this but you're sort of in front of my locker," he explained pointing to the locker directly under Quinn's.

"Oh. Sorry," she replied, taking a few steps backwards to let the boy into his locker.

"Don't worry about it, locker buddy."

Quinn gave Artie a tight lipped smile before walking away from him and heading towards her first class, following the poorly drawn map her new principle had given her.

Quinn hated being the new kid; up until now she had never changed schools, she had never even moved to a new house, she had been around the same people since elementary school, and now she was the new girl in town, with only her family around her. It felt weird to walk into a classroom and not know anyone at all.

Every class she walked into all eyes were on her, to say that it was unnerving would be an understatement. Quinn had never liked being the centre of attention, that was more Frannie's pace, she knew that if her older sister was in the same position she would relish in the fact that everyone wanted to watch her.

Quinn would admit, it did give her a sense of power. Knowing people found her this interesting made her feel like she was in control, especially when the kids in her class would focus on her more than they would the lesson.

But then it got hard for her to concentrate on anything when she could feel twenty pairs of eyes boring into her face, she could practically feel their eyes burning her skin, and that was something she didn't like, it was far too distracting.

Quinn had always been so easily distracted, it was just one of the areas she would always find herself losing control in, she was a daydreamer, and in the past it had gotten her in hot water. She knew she couldn't allow herself to be so easily distracted by things like a group of midwestern teens watching her every move.

No. She was a Fabray and she was in control of this situation. Fabray's were the best, and the fact that everyone wanted to watch her and kept trying to introduce themselves to her proved that.

She was in control here.

She would be in control of this situation. They could look all they wanted, she wasn't going to let it affect her schooling, or her attitude, no matter how much she hated it. They were only doing themselves a disfavour.

Control yourself, Quinn.

Focus. Just Focus on what your teacher is saying.

Ignore them.

You're better than them. That fact they're all watching you proves that.

She could hear her mother's voice so clearly in her head, reminding her who she was, reminding her that Fabray's are never less than. They were the best, and always came out on top of everyone and everything.

All her life her parents had never accepted anything less than excellence from her or her sister. Quinn had a 4.0 GPA and had carried that with her through her entire school career, she was determined to maintain it one last time before going off to college and striving for excellence once more.

She remembered the first, and thankfully, only time she had gotten a B, it had been on a math test in her sophomore year of high school. She could still remember the disappointed look on her mother and father's faces; she had never seen them look like that before, and she knew in that moment that she never wanted to see them look at her like that again.

This isn't good enough, Quinn.

Why are you doing this to us, Quinn?

Be more like Frannie, Quinn.

She had done all she could that year to get her B to an A, it had been hard, but she had achieved it, she knew better than to ever let her grades slip again, that's why she took elective classes she knew she would be good at.

She wasn't going to let her parents down in her senior year. She was going to make sure she was the best. She knew she had to control herself more and stop herself being so distracted by some people staring at her.

Control, Quinn. That's all it is. Control yourself.

Thank you to everyone who has read and or reviewed this story so far and to those of you who have favourited and or followed, too. Just a small amount of Quinntana exchange in this chapter, but there is more to come. It's going to be a slow burn story, especially with Quinn thinking she is straight and her parents being so bigoted. Thanks once again.