AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello, reader! Thanks for clicking on this -- it's my first GLEE fic, and I'm very excited (and nervous) to try my hand at my OTP for this show, Quinn and Rachel. Please review as you feel compelled, and I will try to update as soon as humanly possible! This fic is named with a nod to one of my favorite quotes of all time:

"After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music."

-Aldous Huxley

DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I am not fortunate enough to own GLEE or any of its components. If I did, it would be even gayer than it is at present -- and let's face it, that's pretty gay!

When Rachel Berry had woken that morning, she planned on having a sunny day as perfect as her impeccably-set hair and meticulously-matched outfit. She was confident that her interpretation of Christina Aguilera's "What a Girl Wants" for the mash-up challenge would impress her fellow GLEE-clubbers and Puck's promise to prove himself to her as an eligible male lead would only reinforce her desirability to any and all non-believers. She smiled into the tip of her favorite lip gloss before she was startled by the seemingly instantaneous appearance of Quinn Fabray in the reflection of her locker door mirror -- well, more accurately at the appearance of the 'WMHS' logo on the cheerleading uniforms in her locker door mirror, which technically could have been one of a few people, but she knew Quinn's build well enough to know that it had to be her.

Rachel turned around to face the taller girl. "Oh, hey, Quinn! You know, I wish we had time in class to hear everyone's mash-up ideas, but I really think -"

"Stay away from Puck." The order came abruptly, precise, and followed only by the sound of the blonde's heels clicking down the hall, away from Rachel and toward the bathroom.

And that was the last straw for Rachel.

She had been made fun of, sure. Whispered about, laughed at, defamed on bathroom and locker room walls, but in all of that, she had not once let herself be pushed around. Her dads had always told her that jealousy creates talk and fear creates rumors, but that no one could be pushed around without surrender, and Rachel Berry had no time to surrender. She was, after all, on her way to stardom, and that was a road that held no prisoners.

The brunette made a purposeful descent down the hall, her hair bouncing with every step as she pushed open the bathroom door to find Quinn right where she hoped she would be, standing at the sink washing up.

"Why should you have any say in what I do with Noah? What's your interest in him?"

As expected, Quinn carried on as if Rachel wasn't even there, looking straight ahead and leaving the shorter girl to make eye contact with her in the mirror instead. "Can't you ever stop with the obnoxious questions and take an order?"

"Can't you ever legitimately answer a question instead of retorting with a mean girl cliché?" Rachel countered.

Speaking more quickly than usual, Quinn proceeded to apply unnecessary amounts of soap to her hands before rubbing them together under the hot water. "You want an answer? You and Puck will never work out! He's no good for you, so just back off!"

As an epiphany washed over Rachel, she angled herself against the sink counter as much as possible, trying to demand eye contact that Quinn refused to grant. "Oh, I get it; you can't stand to see anyone other than yourself have a good thing going, so you're trying to destroy this for me! Well, it's not going to work! I think you need to start minding your own business, which should be centered more on Finn than Noah since you are carrying Finn's baby, after all."

And then she saw it; the truth unmistakably spelled out in Quinn's eyes. She always wondered why people always found the impenetrable queen bee hard to decipher, because she could read her like music, effortlessly.

"No," Rachel protested, "Finn's not the father... no, there's no way."

The cheerleader let out a spiteful laugh. "You don't have to believe it now, but when the baby mysteriously comes out tanned with light eyes and a Jewish nose, don't say you were the last to know."

"So, cheating on Finn with his best friend wasn't atrocious enough? You're just going to let him go on thinking that this baby is his as he plunges further into an early heart attack and male-patterned balding? How could you?" the songstress interrogated.

"You don't know a damn thing about any of this, Rachel," Quinn spat coldly, finally turning to face her. "Or about me."

Untainted by the other girl's challenge, Rachel took a daring step toward her. "I know enough to know that I was wrong to give you the benefit of a doubt -- to think that you were more than just some heartless cheerleader!"

Once again, Rachel saw the truth in the blonde's hazel orbs as they urgently tried to mask a look of genuine hurt as she weaved around Rachel and made her way toward the exit. "Good for you, now leave me alone."

Instead of obliging Quinn's request, Rachel stood in front of the door, reaching back over her shoulder to flick the lock shut despite the frantic pulling of female students desperate for entry on the other side.

"One of us is going to tell Finn the truth, and I have a feeling you would rather it be you than me," Rachel's intense brown eyes made Quinn well aware that she was not only speaking a threat, but a promise.

"You can't do that!"

"Can't I?"

Quinn's heart hit the floor of her stomach like an anchor cast away into the ocean, apologizing to God in her mind for anything she had done to deserve this. "I can't believe you! You're sitting here threatening to ruin my entire life, and you don't even know the whole story!"

It was Rachel's turn to laugh spitefully as she could hardly believe her ears. "Well, what part of the story could possibly be missing that could make this any better? Any less of a betrayal to Finn and everyone else that you've been fooling this whole time?"

If Quinn had leaned in a millimeter closer, her rapidly blinking eyelashes would have been tickling Rachel's nose. Her eyes clouded and voice gritty, she for the first time instilled a fear and confusion in Rachel that nearly stopped the performer's heart. "I didn't want to do it with Puck! He made me. He..." her voice strayed down a distant path, unable to complete the sentence, and Rachel's conducive expression indicated that she didn't have to; she more than understood.

"Now, let me go," Quinn quietly demanded, reaching above Rachel's left shoulder to unlock the door and push past the accumulation of girls.

While almost knocked to the floor by the influx, nothing could further dethrone Rachel than what she had just discovered. She stood paralyzed where she was, her eyes scanning the room in the attempt to re-focus on anything that felt remotely safe or normal, but to no avail.

Maybe today wouldn't be so sunny after all.

Thoughts? Chapter 2 is well on the way -- please review as you feel compelled!