Quinn Fabray: My Story

Chapter 18 - Unexpected Friendship

Kurt was right, everything he sang in the song was perfect for the situation we were in. We shouldn't be dwelling on the fact of where we're performing. It was just a temporary fix. I smiled a bit as Kurt finished his performance and clapped for him. The bell rang as we grabbed our things and headed out the door for the day. Starting tomorrow we would have a new home for the New Directions. I was looking forward to that.

The next day at lunch I was in line when I saw Mercedes faint. I rushed over to her aid. "Is she okay?" Tina asked as she rushed over as well. "I don't know....we should get her to the nurse's office," I said as Tina nodded, helping me get Mercedes to the nurse's office. "Oh my, what happened?" the nurse asked seeing Tina and I helping Mercedes in. "She fainted at lunch," I sighed. "Oh my..." the nurse said as she helped us get her onto one of the beds in the office. The nurse then looked up her emergency numbers and called her parents. I decided to get a granola bar out of my lunch box to give to Mercedes. "Thanks for your help Tina," I smiled a bit. "Of course...just let me know how she is," Tina said. "I will," I smiled as Tina headed back to lunch.

The nurse began to take Mercedes' blood pressure as she soon woke out of her fainting spell. I was relieved that she was awake. The nurse took her temperature as well. "Hmm. Your blood pressure's low. Maybe that's why you fainted," the nurse told Mercedes who looked shocked "Your mom will be here soon. I'll go and get you some ginger ale." the nurse walked off as I then walked up to Mercedes offering her my granola bar. "Thanks. I'm not hungry," Mercedes whispered. "Yes, you are. You're starving," I sighed as Mercedes looked at me "I know. I've been there," I admitted. I then asked "Did all the other kids start looking like food right before you fainted?" "Yeah. How'd you know?" Mercedes asked confused. "Been there," I told hear as I yet again offered her the granola bar "Eat the granola bar."

Mercedes hesitated before she took the granola bar from me. "Why are you being so nice to me? I can't remember the last time you said two words to me that weren't "you" and "suck"," she asked me "'Cause I was you scared," I admitted "Hating myself for eating a cookie. But I got over it." "Yeah, of course you did, Miss Pretty Blonde With the White Girl Ass," Mercedes said snarkily. "When you start eating for somebody else so that they can grow and be healthy your relationship to food changes," I told her as that seemed to hit home more for Mercedes. "What I realized is that if I'm so willing to eat right to take care of this baby why am I not willing to do it for myself?"

Mercedes continued to eat the granola bar, surprised by the fact that was being so nice to her, trying to be a friend. "You are so lucky. You've always been at home in your body. Don't let Ms. Sylvester take that away from you," I told her. Mercedes then got emotional "I'm so embarrassed. This isn't me. How did I become this person?" she sobbed. "You are beautiful," I told her without a doubt "You know that," I told her as she then looked at me "I'm gonna stay here with you until your mom comes, okay?" I smiled as Mercedes nodded seeming grateful that I was there with her.

It didn't take long for Mercedes' mom to come pick her up. "My baby what happened?" Mrs. Jones asked as she worriedly hugged Mercedes. "I fainted," Mercedes sighed. Her mom then looked at me. "Thank you for bringing her into the nurse's office. I really appreciate it," Mrs. Jones told me. "Of course," I smiled a bit "See you around Mercedes," I said as I walked out of the nurses' office feeling like I had done the right thing for once in my life.

I met Puck in his car after school to head to the roller rink. I smiled as I got in the car. "I heard you helped the girl from Glee Club at lunch today..that's kind of cool of you," Puck smiled a bit. "I had to," I said "I knew exactly what she was going through. I've been there." "I remember," Puck said as he looked at me "I never got why you felt you needed to lose the weight. You're by far the hottest girl at school. It wasn't like anyone noticed when you gained weight." "Coach Sylvester did," I sighed "And the other cheerios." "Screw that. You're better than them Quinn," he told me as I couldn't help but smile at him. "Thank you," I said. "I mean it. Everyone knows you were the hottest girl on the team. Trust me, it's their loss not to have you," Puck assured me.

It was times like these where I fell even more for Puck. He always knew exactly what to say to me to make me feel good about myself especially at times when I was at my lowest points. Being pregnant, I hadn't felt good about myself in a long time but just hearing him say those things about me, perked me right up.

The roller rink was actually a lot more fun than I had expected. I grinned skating around with the other members of the New Directions. I was definitely nervous about falling, especially since I was pretty far along in the pregnancy. I skated slowly around the rink not wanting to risk picking up too much speed. "Are you doing okay?" Puck asked skating by me. I nodded. "I just want to be careful," I told him. He took my hand. "I've got you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he told me seriously. I couldn't help but grin. "Do you think you could help me get out of this rink. I'm getting a little tired?" I asked. "Of course," Puck said as he helped me up so I could sit down. "Thanks," I smiled a bit as he sat next to me. "You can go back to skating. I'm okay," I told him seriously. "Nah I'd rather be here with you...I mean if that's okay," he said. "Absolutely," I smiled a bit as I began untieing my skates. I carefully slid off the skates and put my ballet flats back on, returning the skates. "You ready to go?" he asked me. I nodded. We left Rinky Dinks and headed home for the night that way I wouldn't be too exhausted the next day.

The next day was the big pep rally. Coach Sylvester made sure every single kid would be attending the pep rally. I sat on the floor close to where the cheerios practiced. Mercedes had told me she had something special planned and had asked the members of the New Directions to sit on the floor which I quickly spread around. I couldn't help but feel slightly nervous for her. If she hadn't run whatever she planned by Coach Sylvester it could mean the end of her cheerios career.

Mercedes soon walked out and addressed us. "Hey, guys. I'm Mercedes Jones," she said into the microphone as she took a deep breath. "So most of you know Cheerios is about perfection and winning looking hot and being popular. Well, I think that it should be about something different," she said as I couldn't help but feel proud of her. "How many of you at this school feel fat?" Mercedes asked as few kids began to raise their hands, including me. I gave everyone a look that they needed to support wherever Mercedes was going with this. "How many of you feel like maybe you're not worth very much? Or you're ugly, or you have too many pimples and not enough friends?" Mercedes asked as almost everyone raised their hands. "Well, I felt all those things about myself at one time or another. Hell, I felt most of those things about myself today. And that just ain't right. And we've got something to say about it. And if you like what we have to say come down here and sing it with us," Mercedes said as she began to sing Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful'.

I smiled watching Mercedes perform. She was really going to start this revolution that needed to happen. I got up first to join Mercedes as the cheerios joined her singing background for her. Everyone seemed to follow my lead singing background with Mercedes and standing up with her. I was proud of her for putting this out there. I was completely supportive of her, especially since this was a real issue for everyone on the cheerios. As the song ended I smiled and clapped for Mercedes, as did everyone else at the pep rally. We had really started something special and I couldn't have felt more proud to be a part of it.

"Mercedes, what you did was amazing out there," I smiled as I hugged her. Mercedes smiled back at me "If it wasn't for what you said to me Quinn, I don't know if I would've come up with that number," Mercedes admitted. I shook my head "This was exactly what the school needed to hear. If it wasn't for you I don't think anyone would've spoken out about it," I told her honestly. "I just was doing what I felt needed to happen," Mercedes shrugged. We walked out of the pep rally together feeling incredibly close as we headed to lunch together for the first time.

The next afternoon April came to tell the Glee Club some great news, she had bought the auditorium. We no longer had to worry about Coach Sylvester taking the auditorium from us because April owned it. I couldn't have felt more grateful to April. "We're going to do a special number for Mr. Schue when we tell him," April told us. "What were you thinking of?" Rachel asked. "Well I'm going to sing 'Home' from The Wiz. I'm working on an all white production of The Wiz," April beamed. "Isn't that just the Wizard of Oz?" Mercedes asked. April laughed "Aww you're too funny," she said as she then went to break the news to Mr. Schue.

We performed our number of 'Home' in the newly named 'April Rhodes Civic Pavilion'. April was on lead as we backed her up. I stood next to Brittany and Tina, and stood in front of Kurt. Mercedes who was on Brittany's other side couldn't help but smile towards me as we performed. I smiled back at her glad for the meaningful friendship we had started between us. We ended the number feeling more unified as a group than ever before like we had finally arrived back home.