Chapter 1.

"Alright class, I will be back very soon," Mr. Schuester stated irately, he wasn't necessarily angry at the class sitting in front of him with puzzled looks. More so to the call he had just ended with Principal Figgins, whom told the unfortunate glee director to report to his office with Coach Sue Sylvester immediately. The fuming teacher abandoned his lesson board, "Just stay here," he mumbled hastily as he ran to the choir room door. Mr. Schuester, or as the kids call him; Mr. Shue, paused at the doorway and hesitantly looked back at his 'innocent' class, narrowing his eyes at their cherubic facial expressions. "Please behave yourselves." He sighed. And with that, he was gone.

Three girls exchanged knowing looks with evil grins. Two of them were blonde, and the third was Latina. The trio turned their attention toward the oblivious brunette sitting a row in front of them. Santana, Brittany, and a secretly reluctant Quinn, slowly reached down next their seats; bringing paper ammo they had spent half the class time making, into their laps.

oOOOo

The paper ball flew through the air and smacked a short annoyed girl in the head. Rachel flinched and the girls behind her laughed. It was Friday and the last period of the day. Glee club.

Mr. Schuester had stepped out of the choir room not too long ago, and now Santana, Brittany, and Quinn had taken the opportunity to bully Rachel.

Rachel had wanted to spend Mr. Schue's absence working on the song list for Nationals. But it was so hard to concentrate when wadded up paper balls and pointy paper airplanes were constantly hitting her in the back of her head. Wouldn't you at least find it annoying? Rachel thinks you should, because she is pissed. Now she is at her breaking point! Her grip had grown tighter around the sheet music, causing a crinkling sound to form, but it was the least of Rachel's worries. Her fists balled up so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

Her precious sheet music could suffer for all she cared, because she had to go through this. Every. Single. Day. Ever since she had started freshman year. She was a senior now and the continual abuse from the Head Cheerios had driven her to a point of near nuclear meltdown.

For three years she had endured the onslaught of The Unholy Trinity. She was suppose to be a rising star and everyone was suppose to have praised her for her amazing talent in acting, singing, and dancing. Sure she didn't have the greatest fashion sense, and maybe she could be a little bossy every now and then, and maybe just maybe she sometimes talked everyone's ears off… But did she really deserve the facial slushes, dumpster dives, and horrible name-calling? No. Well, at least in Rachel's opinion she didn't.

It's been ten minutes and Rachel's patience was already running out. Today Rachel had made the mistake of coming to school in her favorite argyle sweater. Now, the white sweater was stained with sticky red syrup. Quinn Fabray had given her a facial slushy this morning, just like all the other days. Thankfully the brunette had remembered to bring an extra pair of clothes, which she was wearing now. Rachel knew that Quinn hated her, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why. Maybe it was because Quinn recognized that Rachel was more talented than her, maybe Quinn wanted to make sure that Rachel didn't steal her crown as Queen Bee at McKinley High.

It was too bad, however, because Rachel really did like Quinn. She wanted to be the blonde's friend but every time she had tried to the previous years, Quinn pushed her away. But there was something odd that had been going on this year that managed to baffle Rachel. There was something different about the way that Quinn acted around Rachel that Rachel had noticed, whether Quinn knew Rachel noticed or not.

Sometimes Rachel would feel as though someone was watching her, not in a creepy way, but in a way that made Rachel feel protected, as if the said person was making sure she was safe.

But when Rachel turned to were the stare was coming from, she didn't see a boy or a teacher or even Finn (The quarterback and most popular boy in school who had a crush on Rachel), no what she saw, or who she saw made her head spin and her heartbeat race (which she figured was racing because of fear…) she saw beautiful hazel eyes, eyes that could only belong to a certain blonde. And that blonde was Quinn Fabray.

Before Rachel could think about it any more, threepaper airplanes were thrown in her direction; two hitting her back and one hit her head. Rachel growled through gritted teeth and before she could stop, she spun out of her seat to face the three girls, two of which had mildly shocked expressions on their faces. Santana not being one of them.

"Stop." Rachel said firmly. Her hands were balled so tightly in fists, that she could feel her nails digging into the palms of her hands. Most of the glee members had stopped their conversations to look at the smaller girl; everyone had wide eyes, including Quinn and Brittany. Never had Rachel been brave enough to stand up to her bullies or maybe never dumb enough to do so either.

Santana just laughed, amused, "Ha!" before she reached down defiantly, taking a paper airplane in her hand and throwing it at Rachel's face. The plane zoomed through the air and hit the brunette's nose. Shocked Rachel stepped back and rubbed the spot the paper touched. "Wow Man Hands, your nose is so big, that that's the only place on your face I can hit!" Santana laughed along with everyone else in the room, except Rachel and surprisingly, Quinn (Which went unnoticed by everyone).

Rachel fumed and she could swear that steam was blowing out of her ears. "I said stop!" Rachel yelled, her voice cracking. Everyone in the room that was watching gasped collectively. Nobody ever dared to yell at Santana; it was like a suicide wish!

The Latina's smile dropped immediately to a deadly glare that made the brunette in front of her shift slightly uncomfortably. "Excuse me?" Santana asked in a low dangerous voice. Two people in the room gulped nervously, Rachel and Quinn.

"Santana-" Quinn started, but Santana didn't hear the anxious voice and rose from her seat staring at Rachel who backed away slowly off of the risers. "Do you know where I come from Treasure Trail?" Santana asked with her head cocked, slowly making her way down the risers to meet a scared brown-eyed girl. She turned and so did Rachel, their sides facing the places they had been sitting in not to long ago. Rachel said nothing, too afraid of what might happen if she did. But it was too late now. "I come from Lima Heights Adjacent. That is the bad side of Lima. And do you know what we do there when people piss us off?"

Rachel gulped her eyes wide, "Exactly, and you know what, you've pissed me off. So this ain't gonna be pretty." Rachel let out a loud squeak as Santana shoved her to the ground. Hard. She didn't know what was happening, but the pain that shot up from her elbows that broke her fall, told her she was on the floor.

Everything happened so fast, she made a small prayer that Santana would kill her quickly and get it over with, something she doubted would come true. But as the Latina got closer something yellow and red blurred from Rachel's left from the risers and Santana vanishes. Rachel watches wide eyed as Santana falls to the ground with a loud thud, and slides to a stop into the black piano.

Perplexed on what just happened Rachel looked to where Santana was standing a few seconds ago and she froze in place with astonishment. Just as shocked as Rachel, the whole classroom stared in amazement, for standing there, in Santana's place, was Quinn. Quinn's shoulders were square and her knees were slightly bent as if she were a predator ready to pounce on her prey. Her eyebrows were furrowed tightly and her teeth were bared like an angry bulldog's would have been. She balled her hands into tight fists and she glared at Santana, and her stare alone seemed like it could've killed.

"Don't you ever touch her like that, again!" Quinn barked. Santana looked deathly afraid, but she couldn't just let Quinn get away with this. She couldn't; no, she wouldn't. The air was knocked out of Santana's lungs and her knees wobbled as she stood up. She used the piano for support, returning the glare that Quinn was giving her. Neither one of the girl's backed down.

"What the hell, Quinn?" Santana yelled when she regained the ability to breathe. She slowly pushed herself off of the smooth piano, and at the same time Quinn moved to Rachel's side. She wasn't going to let Santana get even remotely close to Rachel.

"Move out of the way, Quinn." Santana growled, and Rachel's eyes glimpsed a peek of Santana getting closer and closer to the blonde. Rachel hoped that Quinn wouldn't listen; she was too young to die! And what a way to go!

Quinn didn't move and inch. Santana was getting angrier and she tried to slip past Quinn, but when she did she ended up coming face to face with the angry cheerleader. "I said move it Quinn!" Santana screamed. The Head Cheerleader didn't even flinch; she was the H.B.I.C after all, what made Santana think that she could easily tell Quinn what to do? But then again, Quinn had been bullying Rachel for three years and she didn't even want to. She didn't want to at all.

"No." Quinn whispered, and she held her chin high, so she could look down at the dark-haired girl. "Quinn, what is wrong with you?" Santana asked in disgust, if she couldn't move Quinn forcefully, then she would just have to get Quinn back on her side or get her out of the way by knocking her down a few pegs on the popularity ladder.

Quinn didn't answer; she just bit down on the inside of her cheek, which made Santana smile internally. "Why are you protecting hobbit, huh?" Santana watched as Quinn's protective posture slightly changed to a more anxious one. "Don't call her that." She responded lamely, "Aw, Quinnie what's wrong, huh? Do you not like when I bully the midget the way we've done for the past three years?" Santana asked with a foul smile. Quinn didn't even make a sound. She bit down on her cheek harder, the palms of her hands became sweaty and she clenched and unclenched them nervously. The blonde's offensive stance turned to a more defensive one.

Quinn happened a glance at Rachel on the floor, gathering all the encouragement she needed, before turning her attention back to Santana. Quinn placed her hands on her hips, "I'm done bullying Rachel," Her voice was full of confidence and her head was held high with a smile. The girl in front of her frowned, "Is that so?" She asked, "Well if you're not going to, then who will? You're not the only who bullied Rachel; everyone in the school does. Including me. And how are you going to stop me and everyone else, huh?" Santana asked irritated.

Quinn had expected that response, and she replied to it quickly, "If anyone is going to bully Rachel, they're going to have to go through me first." Santana crossed her arms over her chest and scowled, "Whatever. You won't get away with this. I'll get you back, you and your little dog too." She spat the last words out as though it were made of acid, sneering at the diva on the ground. She stomped her foot and spun on her heel, storming out of the room, anger radiating from her body, as she slammed every kid in the hallway into the metal lockers.

After Santana was gone, and the loud crashing sounds in hallway ceased, Quinn dropped her hands from her hips to her sides, and turned to face Rachel. Rachel saw in Quinn's expression that there was no mask to cover up her feelings, and instead of giving Rachel a cold icy glare, her eyes were soft and warm and something in them made Rachel want to see those everyday of her life. Wait, what? Rachel thought. Did I really just think that? But the brunette pushed it aside when Quinn dropped down to her knees next to Rachel and examined her.

Rachel could feel Quinn's hazel eyes as they looked over the position that Rachel had stayed in the moment she had hit the ground. She had propped herself up with her elbows so her shoulders and head weren't on the floor; and so she could watch what was going on when Santana was suppose to attack her. "Are you okay?" Quinn asked softly, gently taking Rachel's arm and inspected her scraped elbow. Bits of dry blood flaked off Rachel's skin and floated to the ground.

For once in her life, the verbose girl didn't know what to say! Rachel was so stunned; her mouth opened and closed a few times trying to form any thing to answer with. But the way Quinn was looking at her! And how soft and silky her voice was! It made Rachel's body melt and her heart rate picked up speed. Why am I acting this way? She asked herself, I still must be in shock from falling…Yeah that must be it… But for some reason she doubted that that was the real reason heart pounded against her chest, or why it was suddenly so hot in the choir room.

Rachel let out a shaky breath before nodding her head side-to-side, not trusting what would come out if she tried to speak. "Can I take you to the nurse?" The blonde asked, her eyes sparkled with something that left as soon as it came. "Ye-Yeah, sure." Rachel stutters. Quinn smiled and pulled the brown-eyed girl up to her feet. And together they walked out of the door, leaving everyone else in the room to wonder, what just happened?