Chapter 1: Death

It is the first day of the new semester, and Quinn Fabray is the first person to arrive at the McKinley High parking lot. She is not a member of the Cheerios, not anymore, and yet she arrives before any of them. She has arrived there before the sun, and so she sits there in the car and waits.

She waits an hour before another car arrives, taking up a reserved faculty spot. Sue Sylvester exits the vehicle in her signature tracksuit, and Quinn watches as she makes her way to the football field. Quinn's old coach does not see her, which is intentional on Quinn's part; she has parked away in a corner shadowed by a tree overhead so that she and no one will see her.

She continues to wait, watching as the Cheerios start to arrive. Many of them would have called themselves her friend at one time, but that would have been a lie said only to further their own standing. Another time, they would have claimed the opposite: that they had always hated Quinn, and they would have said it for the same reason. Now she does not know what they say.

The truth is that Quinn was never friends with any of them, besides two possible exceptions who now walk toward the field with their pinkies linked together. But it was only possible, not actual. They abandoned her along with the rest. So no, Quinn was never friends with any of them.

The rest of the faculty start to trickle in afterward. Then the first few students. They cluster together, friends meeting up with friends. They chat amicably, poke fun at one another, and otherwise joke around. Quinn watches all of this from within her car.

She looks down at her watch. The glass is cracked, but the underlying gears still tick on. They tell her that it is time, and so she obeys.

The door sticks and scrapes when she opens it, but she is used to it by now, so she doesn't pay it any mind. She is in the middle of forcing it back close when she remembers her books. So she wrenches it open once more, leans over and grabs her bag from the passenger seat, then once again struggles to get the door shut.

It eventually relents, and so she is ready; ready for her first day back at William McKinley High School.

The others turn to look at her as she passes through the parking lot. They are always looking at her, no matter what or when. Once it would be awe and envy on their faces, another time disgust and pity. Now, Quinn cannot decipher their expressions: there are so many conflicting emotions there, all scrambling over each other for the prize of exposing themselves to her. Every feeling she can think to give a name to she sees represented at least a dozen times in a dozen different people.

They act as though they are afraid of her, moving out of her way as she steps through the doors and into the familiar halls. How funny it is, that now is the time they return to such behavior. She could not be more different from the person she was the last time they parted for her like this. She could not care less, either way. Step aside or don't, it doesn't matter.

English is her first class today, her first class of the semester. It is her favorite class, or so she reminds herself. The discussion within the room dies the instant she walks inside. This is good: better for her to pay attention to the teacher. She takes a seat in the front row, removes the necessary materials from her bag and sets them up, and then looks to the teacher. But the teacher is staring back at her, sweat dripping off his brow. She waits, because there is nothing else for her to do, and the teacher eventually begins the lesson.

Her pen makes smooth, methodical movements as it copies down every word the teacher says. The script is tidy and easy to read, and it quickly fills in the lines of her notebook. When the lesson is over, the page looks comparable to a contract or legal notification; so carefully within the lines and precisely written is it. No space is wasted with anything besides the relevant text.

She packs everything back into her bag when the bell rings, gets up out of her chair, and she is then faced with her first encounter of the school semester. It is Brittany, standing in front of her. Her face is a battlefield such as everyone else's, but there is at least one prevailing emotion: concern.

Brittany speaks, and Quinn leaves the room. She attends her next class: chemistry. So few people appreciate the study, but Quinn defies such a statistic. She again jots down every word from the teacher. There is no actual work to be done in class, seeing as it is the first day, but the teacher stumbles over a note that they would begin experimenting and such very soon. Quinn notes the inflection in case it could be important, but the teacher has been doing such since Quinn entered the classroom.

This continues until it is time for lunch. Quinn heads to the cafeteria, takes a few assorted foods from various trays that are currently unattended (only small amounts: a single tater-tot from a pile, a single slice of apple), and then she begins to make her way back to the parking lot. Brittany speaks to her again as she passes by, and then Quinn is back in her car. She eats what food she has gotten, then starts on her homework. There is very little so soon, so she manages to finish most of it before it is time for her next class.

Each room she enters, it is always the same response; the same silence. No one speaks when she is there, but they speak around her. They speak about her. She hears hushed words, but they are irrelevant. She is thinking about her classes.

Her eye starts to sting at some point during the day, so she heads to the bathroom. The contact is dried up, which is no small wonder. She trashes the contact and retrieves her glasses from her bag. She places them on her face, careful not to disturb the stitches, and then she is ready again.

When she turns to leave, Santana is standing there. Her arms are folded across her chest, and her eyes are narrowed. Quinn makes to move past her, but she blocks the way. She tries again with the same result. Santana speaks, and Quinn tries again, Santana shoving her this time. Quinn stumbles back a few steps, and then attempts again. This continues, and Santana's eyes keep widening every time. The shoves grow harsher, then feebler, until Quinn is let past.

She is almost late for her next class, and so it does not occur to her until she is already through the door that this is the first class she shares with her. She is sitting there already when Quinn enters. Her eyes are red and puffy, with dark bags underneath them, and there is a newfound gauntness to her face. Her mouth opens when she sees Quinn, once, twice, before slamming shut.

Quinn takes her seat and writes her notes, but they are less tidy then they were for the other classes.

The end of the school day comes, and it is time for Glee. She debates attending. Extracurricular activities are attractive on scholarships and college applications, but she doubts that Glee club would count for much. It would be a waste of time. She does not think about this, however. She only thinks about the people who will be there when she gets into her car and drives away.

She comes to a stop on the side of some small road in some rural neighborhood. She has nothing to eat, so she will go hungry tonight. She finishes up all of her homework, then double-checks it all. Once she is satisfied, she hops over the center console and into the back. The seats there are ripped and misshapen, but she lies down on them regardless. She picks up a small blanket, soft and light pink, and wraps it around her shoulders.

She sleeps, but she does not dream. For that, she is grateful.