"On my own; pretending he's beside me…"

Quinn Fabray heard the music coming through the open doors of the auditorium. She had heard the song at least ten times in the last twenty-four hours, and it had been the same voice singing it. She couldn't quite explain her obsession with Rachel Berry's My Space page. She barely knew the girl. There was something about the brunette's singing voice that just got to her though.

She needed to be more careful, though. She'd been watching the video the day before while she waited for Finn to get out of practice, and Santana caught her red handed.

"Gross," Her best friend cackled, inviting herself to sit on the bleacher behind Quinn. "Is that that Berry chick? She's in my US History class. Did you know that she has two Dads and they paid some woman to have her? I had to peer-edit her paper on alternative conception methods. It read like an uncomfortably informative children's book."

Quinn had worked hard to get Santana Lopez to like her. For some reason, she had thought that there would be a point where she could stop trying to impress the queen bee. Unfortunately, it seemed like she had been wrong. She let out a nervous laugh, suddenly understanding that admitting that she liked Rachel's videos would be unacceptable.

"Yeah, she's totally lame," Quinn agreed. "Look at the way her eyes scrunch up when she hits a high note. She takes herself way too seriously."

"God, she looks like a constipated bulldog," Santana cringed. "You need to leave a comment."

Quinn forced a mean-looking smile as she lowered her hands to her keyboard, "If I were your parents, I'd sell you back".

She felt horrible, standing in the doorway watching Rachel belt out very note passionately (to her Spanish teacher, inexplicably). Rachel was amazing, and Quinn swore to herself that one day, she'd have the courage to tell her.

If there was one thing Rachel loved about herself, it was her determination. If there was something she wanted, she'd go for it, and this year especially, she knew what she wanted. She wasn't a freshman anymore. It was time for her to take the spotlight.

"If Mr. Ryerson isn't coaching, there's really no point in going back," She heard Hank, the previous star of Sandy Ryerson's glee club, saying to his friends at their lockers. "I mean, it's our senior year. Do we really have time to deal with some tragic re-design?"

"Yeah, I heard the Spanish teacher's taking over." Tara Gold agreed. "Does he even have any musical training?"

Hank shook his head. "None…"

"Yeah…" Tara laughed. "We'll let the underclassmen clean up this train wreck,"

After over-hearing that conversation, Rachel was barely able to contain her joy. Her peers were essentially leaving her behind to lead the Show Choir. It only justified her decision to rat out Sandy Ryerson.

Now, it was time to join the New Directions. It was the perfect fresh start. She just had to find the perfect audition song.

"Hello, I'm Rachel Berry and I will be performing a selection from the seminal Broadway classic, Les Mis…"

She knew it was the perfect song. It suited her vocal range better than any other piece the "Young Broadway" song book. Sure, her test run on MySpace hadn't gone so smoothly, but what did a stuck-up cheerleader know about musical theater.

Speak of the devil. As Rachel sang out her last note, she looked up to see Quinn Fabray standing in the doorway of the auditorium. Their eyes met for only a second before Quinn caught herself, and disappeared from sight. Rachel frowned for a minute, wondering why anyone would hate her so much, that they'd follow her around just waiting for her to mess something up so they could laugh at her.

"Thank you, Rachel," Mr. Shuester said in the audience. Rachel re-focused her attention. Quinn wasn't important. She couldn't be distracted by her.

"When do we start rehearsals?"

"Wait…" Quinn said, shoving Finn's groping hands off her. "…Let's pray…"

Honestly, all she'd been able to think about all afternoon was Rachel. She still felt sick about the My Space comment. She sat up and pressed her palms together, closing her eyes lightly. She wasn't sure if she was going to ask god for forgiveness for what she'd done to Rachel, or if she just wanted to do something to distract Finn.

"Seriously…?" Finn mumbled. "Quinn. It's not even like I was trying to touch your boobs or anything. It's been four months. I think I've earned an over-the-skirt butt-touch. Don't be a prude!"

"Would you shut up?" She asked nicely. "You're interrupting my communication with the lord."

"Okay, fine, keep talking to god or whatever…" Finn snapped. "I know for a fact he's going to tell you that butt-touches are okay."

"Go home, Finn," Quinn rolled her eyes. "You really know how to take a girl out of the mood."

She wasn't lying, and her accusation wasn't just based on recent events. She found nothing about Finn sexy. But he was the quarterback. He was a nice guy, for the most part. He made Quinn laugh and knew how to compliment her. Also, he was best friends with Santana's favorite fuck-buddy, Puck, which was a plus because the four of them had a blast hanging out.

"Fine, I'll leave!" Finn snapped. "But I'm making myself a sandwich first. You guys have the good salami."

Quinn watched him get off the couch and walk in the direction of the kitchen. Yeah, he was a classy guy, that Finn Hudson.

Rachel liked Finn. She got good vibes from him. She's asked Mr. Shuester to find her an acceptable male lead and she had to admit, she wasn't disappointed. Finn had charisma, and he would be the perfect duet partner.

"You're very talented," She told him excitedly, as they went through the refreshment line at the Carmel High School auditorium. They'd come to see their competition, and Rachel knew that the field trip was the perfect opportunity for her to get to know her teammate a little better. "I would know, I'm also very talented."

"Thank you," Finn said awkwardly. Rachel could tell that he would have some trouble warming up to her at first. She was used to it. She knew she was sort of a strong personality. "I mean, yeah, I really like your energy and stuff."

"I think we should do a duet," She told him. "Just the two of us…"

"Well, I kind of already have a girlfriend," He said.

Rachel nodded, her eyes widening, annoyed that he just assumed that she was hitting on him. "It's a song, Finn. Our voices go together. It means nothing other than that."

"Right…" He said. But she could tell that he still didn't believe her. She needed to show somehow that she wasn't interested in him. He was a little…tall…for her taste.

"A girlfriend, though…" She said encouragingly. "…That's cute. Is it serious?"

"Yeah, we've been together for about four months. She's cool."

"Nice…" Rachel said pleasantly. "What's her name?"

"Quinn…" He told her. "Quinn Fabray…"

Rachel felt a lump rising in her throat at the thought of the delicate cheerio. If Finn was dating the girl who had been so mean to her this week, maybe he wasn't so cool after all. "Cheerleader Quinn Fabray…?" She had to make sure she wasn't confused. "…President of the celibacy club?"

"The one and only," Finn said proudly. "You know her?"

Rachel shrugged. "We had a class together last year. We were friends on MySpace for a while but…that relationship ended for reasons I won't get into."

"Oh…okay," Finn wasn't even curious enough to ask.

Rachel had to roll her eyes. Maybe Finn wasn't so cool after all.

Quinn stopped in her tracks when she saw them: Finn and Rachel talking together in the hall. She automatically assumed the worst. Rachel was clearly telling her boyfriend what a horrible person she was. The guilt over what she'd said to Rachel was bad enough, and now Finn was going to break up with her over it. Her adrenaline kicked in and she started to act without thinking.

"What are you doing talking to her?" She asked nervously, charging up to them.

Rachel's eyes met Quinn's. They were full of disappointment. "We're partners for a project," She told Quinn coldly. Quinn knew instantly that Rachel wasn't going to talk about her behind her back. All of a sudden, she wished the singer would. All of a sudden, she felt like she deserved it.

Quinn turned to Finn, scrambling for something else to say. "Christ Crusaders; my house; eight o'clock…"

And then she walked away, unable to stand Rachel's presence anymore.

She'd gotten about halfway down the hallway before Santana sprung out of nowhere and grabbed her arm. "Major Mayday, Q."

"It's September…" Brittany Pierce said quietly on the other side of her. Quinn liked Santana's other best friend. She was a bit of a slut, but she was nice. However, her obnoxiously stupid side comments did get annoying sometimes.

"Can it, Brit," Santana snapped, and whipped her head back to Quinn. "Your boyfriend joined the freaking Glee club."

"No he didn't," Quinn shook her head innocently.

"He went on the field trip with them on Saturday! Puckerman saw him get off the bus!"

Quinn looked back down the hall to see if Finn and Rachel were still by her locker. They had disappeared. She couldn't believe they'd lied to her. Really, were they that afraid that she'd judge them?

"This is unacceptable," Santana snapped. "He's hanging out with those charity cases. Who does he think he is? Mother Theresa?"

"Probably…" Quinn mumbled.

She didn't really care that Finn was joining the glee club. All she could think about was how he had the courage to do something she couldn't: treat someone decently.