The water cascaded down her back in long strokes, almost comforting but not enough to keep her from wincing as it ran over several gashes on her arm.

Quinn could feel her legs about to give out, making her grab the sides of the tub and slowly sliding down onto the cold floor of the tub. She knelt her head down and lightly sighed to herself.

It was her fault. She drank the wine coolers, she didn't say no. At least, not out loud. She choked back a sob as her pale arms wrapped around her legs, pulling them closer to her chest.

She stayed in the shower until it was past the point of being enjoyable and the water had run cold. After she was sure her legs wouldn't give up on her, Quinn stood up and got out of the shower.

After cleaning the wounds on her arm and slipping into a pair of her cheerio's sweatpants and a hoodie, Quinn made her way to the mirror. The sight scared her. The girl in mirror had blonde hair matted to her forehead, with dark endless circles under her eyes.

Gripping the sink she stared at herself in the mirror, willing the figure in front of her to go away. "Snap out of it, Quinn. You're still in charge, you got this." The girls voice cracked but held strong as she attempted to smile at her reflection.

She sighed softly to herself before sitting gingerly on the toilet after shutting the lid and slid her face into her hands. "What have I done," Quinn whispered.

On the other side of Lima, Rachel Berry was recording a video for Myspace before bed. Belting out the last lyrics of "Taking Chances" before she smiled to herself and taking the camcorder down. She made her way over to her desk where her computer was before sitting down and began to edit the video.

After logging onto Myspace, she saw posts from her fellow glee mates about the party Noah had thrown that night. She rolled her eyes at the thought of a party the night before the first day of school before pushing down a tightness in her stomach at not being invited.

The club only seemed to find her useful for her voice, leaving Rachel out of all the extracurricular activities the others participated in. Rachel didn't mind, she had Broadway to think of and lots of practicing to get done.

After Rachel edited her video and posted it, her feed refreshed revealing a new photo posted by Mike Chang. It seemed to be mostly of cheerios and a couple football players, all holding red cups with dopey drunk looks on their faces.

The part that really caught Rachel's eye was the blonde. Quinn was pressed up against Noah, his arm snaked around her waist and she was looking the other way, clearly disinterested as it looked like the boy was trying to give her a drink.

Rachel bit her lip but just shrugged a little before moving back from the desk and turning her monitor off. Noah had been after Quinn since the moment the girl was in a cheerios skirt and hasn't stopped since.

The look on Quinn's face is what bothered the brunette. She didn't look comfortable with the boy all over her, but Rachel guessed it wasn't her business to meddle in the affairs of her tormentors.

She brushed her hair out before before climbing into bed and pulling the pink sheets up to her chin. The tightness in her stomach seemed to spread up to her chest as the picture kept relaying in her head. Rachel didn't understand why this seemed to bother her so much when she wasn't even invited to the party.

Rachel rolled over on her right side and closed her eyes, already knowing it was going to be a restless night.

–

"Break My Stride" blasted out of the girls iPod as she lay in her bed, still awake. Rachel quickly swatted her hand over the music rather a bit harsh and it stopped. She'd check later to make sure there was no damage before she got up to do her daily routine.

The issue of last night didn't see to come much of an issue in the morning for Rachel. Even with having no sleep the other girl didn't come to mind much. Quinn would be able to handle herself, and the boy was probably trying to get her to have fun at the party, right?

After choosing a dark black skirt with white knee-high socks and a pink sweater to go over, she was ready for her first day.

She splashed a bit of water on her face to look a bit more restful than she was before there was a yell from downstairs.

"Are you ready to go, Pumpkin?" Hiram yelled. Rachel looked into the mirror one last time before smiling to herself and nodding. "Coming, daddy!"

–

The first day was crucial for any high school student. Or, in her position, popular high school student. Santana had picked up Quinn for their first day of junior year, matching cheerios skirts reflecting in the sunlight as they walked up the steps toward the school.

"So, how was Puck's party last night?" Santana grinned, as Brittany came up on her left and they linked pinkies and they both looked in her direction.

Quinn bit her lip but pushed down her thoughts before shrugging and stopping in front of her locker. "Just the same, really. Puck tried to hit on me, Finn drank too much and threw up, the usual."

Santana laughed a bit and Brittany looked confused. "But, what did he throw? Did it break something?" The girls looked at her odd for a moment before going back to their conversation.

"Sorry Brits and I couldn't make it, we were uh, busy." Santana grins a little making Quinn blush. She has known about their secret relationship forever, it was just still weird to hear about it.

"It's fine, like I said, nothing interesting." Quinn nodded a little before reaching into her locker and pulling out her books she needed.

Quinn didn't realize her mistake until the gasp was already out of Brittany's mouth and the latina was grabbing at the blondes wrist. "What the hell is this, Q? Did you turn your arms into knife sharpeners?" Santana whisper yelled at the girl before looking back down at her wrist.

There was only a couple scratches, they were hardly anything serious. "No! Jeez San, no." Quinn quickly shook her head. She couldn't tell them what really happened, not yet anyway.

"It was uh," she had to think of something quick. "My moms new cat, yeah we may have to get her declawed soon." Quinn nodded and hoped her facial expression wouldn't give anything away.

Santana narrowed her eyes a little before backing up with Brittany in tow. "Alright, uh, if you're sure." She nodded at the blonde. "Come on Brits, we will see you at cheerios practice, Q."

Brittany smiled and waved at Quinn before joining the other girl, pinkies linking instantly as they walked down the hallway.

She sighed, slamming her locker door shut and leaning her head against it. Quinn didn't know how she was going to keep it a secret, unless Noah could keep his big mouth shut. She would need to find him, and quick.