hearing damage | YELLOWJACKETS

four.

Quinn Galen | 1996
Wiskayok, New Jersey

Quinn Galen was a different type of popular. She was the usual thing that made a girl popular in high school, she was smart, she was cheer captain, and she was unbelievably beautiful. The thing that made Quinn different was the way that she carried herself. She knew she was smart, she knew she was beautiful, but never did she go out of her way to make it known. She didn't put other people down to make herself feel better.

A girl that is popular but points out the insecurities of others, that's something people can cope with because they know that even she has her weaknesses, and she preys on others so she can't be preyed on. But Quinn didn't do that. She was the epitome of the girl that everyone wanted or wanted to be.

"Alright, ladies! That's great work for today!" Quinn says clapping her hands together, "Next week we're going to start prepping for Prom season. I want ideas! And please no honeycombs. Yellowjackets are wasps, not bees."

"What if we did a wasps nest instead?"

A few of the girls on the team snicker at the suggestion. Angela, the freshman who made the suggestion, looks down at the ground, her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. Quinn noticed this and looks at the girls, their laughter coming to an immediate halt.

Quinn makes her way over to Angela and places a hand on her shoulder with a smile, "Make a plan and we'll talk about it."

Angela looks up at Quinn and the embarrassment she felt earlier seems to disappear at the smile on Quinn's lips. She pats Angela's shoulder and sends the girl off. She then focuses her attention on the girls that laughed at the freshman.

"We don't laugh at our teammates. We support them. Laugh again and I'll make sure you girls never cheer again," Quinn says in a kind tone with a smile to match.

"We're sorry," one of the girls says.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Quinn tells them as she nods toward Angela who was walking off the field. The girls quickly rush over to the bleachers and grab their things before running after Angela.

Quinn makes her way toward the bleachers of the football field. She grabs her bag off the ground and sets it on the bleachers as she begins shuffling in it for her keys and water bottle.

"Well if it isn't my favorite cheerleader."

Quinn looks up to see Jackie Taylor, flanked on both sides by Shauna Shipman and her sister, Rosalynn Taylor, but everyone called her Birdy.

Quinn navigated the world doing things when and how she wanted. She did things because she could and no one dared to stop her. The only person that came close was Jackie. In the third grade, Shauna had stolen Quinn's glittery pens, whether it was on purpose or accident, nobody knew, but what was known was that Quinn had plans to beat Shauna on the playground the next morning.

Shauna had come to Quinn with apologies, unaware of how Quinn's pens got into her possession, but Quinn didn't care. She was going to destroy Shauna Shipman. However, that didn't happen because Jackie Taylor stepped in, and she ended up taking the beatdown that was reserved for Shauna. In doing so she'd earned Quinn's respect and as they sat in the principal's office waiting for their parents a friendship bloomed between Jackie and Quinn.

Shauna and Quinn were another story. Quinn always felt that Shauna didn't particularly like her. She wasn't sure if it was because she was going to kick her ass when they were eight or because Quinn was Jackie's other best friend. Quinn had apologized several times for the incident and Shauna had told her she was over it. Either way, there was always some tension between the two of them when Jackie left them alone.