Quinn shouldered her gym bag and stormed out of the locker room, absolutely livid that she hadn't been able to catch either Stacy or Sarah after practice. Santana had bailed, causing Sue to run them into the ground like some drill sergeant on speed. Now, all she wanted was to grab something to eat and then try to speak to Rachel. Not necessarily in that order.
Striding towards her car, she scowled when she saw a certain brunette leaning against the side, arms and legs crossed, the very picture of someone that didn't' have a care in the world. "Where the hell have you been?" Quinn growled, coming to a stop in front of the Latina. "Coach was even more sadistic then usual since her former captain bailed on practice."
Santana continued to lounge against the car, not swayed by Quinn's irritation. "I had something I had to take care of."
"I hope it was important. Now will you please get out of the way, I have more important things to do than stand here talking to you." Quinn pushed the other girl, eager to be on her way.
Santana stumbled slightly before regaining her balance. "See I try to do someone a favor and this is how I get treated," Santana called out as she started to walk away, leaving Quinn with a confused look on her face.
"What favor?" Quinn finally called out. It really wasn't like Santana to miss practice for no reason, and since Brittany had been present and accounted for, the most likely cause didn't apply.
"Since you have proven yourself to be woefully inept at handling your girlfriend troubles, I decided to step in and help you out," Santana declared, a small smile twisting her lips. "You are even more unbearable than I am when you aren't getting any."
Quinn felt an odd mix of curiosity and dread. Santana's involvement could easily turn out to be a curse or a blessing. "What did you do?" Quinn asked, struggling to keep the accusation out of her tone.
Her attempt must have failed because Santana clutched a hand to her chest and adopted a hurt expression. "I'm wounded, Quinn. Truly hurt. Here I am selflessly trying to help you out and you act like I've done something wrong."
Quinn sighed. "I'm sorry," she said with false sincerity. "I didn't mean to make it sound like an accusation. I am just on edge about this whole situation." Quinn drew a steadying breath. "What did you do?" Quinn asked again, less accusingly.
Santana smiled. "Well first I had a little chat with Allison." Santana smiled more broadly when she saw Quinn frown. "Did you learn nothing over the years Fabray? The weak are always the easiest targets." Quinn narrowed her gaze, not really wanting a reminder about her past torment of the school's less popular students. "Anyway, she had some very interesting things to say."
"Such as?" Quinn questioned impatiently.
"Why don't we get in the car? I can tell you the rest on the way to Berry's," Santana hedged, not wanting to tell Quinn the whole story while still on school grounds. The likelihood that she would want to immediately hunt down the two Cheerios responsible was about as likely as Sylvester coming to school in a tracksuit.
Quinn narrowed her eyes at the suddenly fidgety Santana. "Why would we be going to Rachel's? I already told you that her dads' won't let me in to see her."
"Oh did I forget to mention that I also spoke to Berry? Well I did, and after some persuasion on my part, she has agreed to speak to you."
"Persuasion?" Quinn questioned, slightly panicked. "You didn't hurt her did you? Wait. Rachel agreed to see you but not me?"
"Do you want to waste time interrogating me in the parking lot, or do you want to go make everything well in the land of Lilliput?" Santana asked impatiently. She needed to get Quinn in the car and off school grounds, plus the sooner she could drop her off with Berry the sooner she could make things right with B.
"Fine," Quinn huffed, dropping the gym bag off her shoulder to fish for her keys. "Hey!" She yelled when Santana snatched the keys out of her hand. "I thought you wanted to get going. Give me back my keys."
Santana shook her head. "Nope. I want to arrive at Berry's in once piece and I fear that there might be an explosive case of road rage if you are behind the wheel, so you get shotgun," Santana instructed, unlocking the door and sliding in behind the wheel.
Quinn opened her mouth to argue, but realized that she really didn't care; she was still so wiped from practice that not having to drive didn't sound half bad. Walking around the car, she tossed her gym bag onto the backseat before getting into the passenger seat.
As soon as the door closed Santana put the car in gear and drove off. "Okay, first you have to promise to not freak out," Santana requested.
Quinn shot her a look of disgust. "Gee that's a great way to start a conversation and calm my nerves," she said mockingly. "Just tell me Santana, I have been driving myself nuts going over what could have happened. Whatever it is can't be as bad as what I have been imagining."
"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that," the brunette muttered under her breath. Speaking more loudly Santana said, "Right, so you know when Stacy and Sarah said that they wanted to go skinny dipping but Berry freaked out and left?"
"Yes..." Quinn replied dragging the answer out.
"Well, they lied." Santana figured it was best to just rip the band aid off. "Rachel did strip down." Quinn was so focused on trying to process this rather startling piece of information that she totally missed the fact that Santana had actually used Rachel's first name.
"She what?" Quinn asked darkly, a faint stirring of jealousy forming in her stomach. Not even she had seen her girlfriend naked, the brunette always calling a stop before it reached that point, but apparently Rachel had no qualms about baring it all to her squad mates. Shaking her head to clear the image, she tried to focus on what Santana was saying; knowing there was bound to me more to the story.
"Apparently, when you get a little liquor in her, Berry is able to remove that stick she usually has jammed up her ass and actually let loose a little," Santana joked. Noting that Quinn was not amused, she quickly moved on. "Now I didn't get all the details, because honestly I didn't care, but they somehow managed to get Rachel out of the pool, tossed some drinks on her, made fun of her, took a picture and then sent her on her way." Santana finished the list in one breath, not wanting to give Quinn time to interrupt, and knowing that an explosion was going to be imminent.
"They did what!" Quinn thundered, causing Santana to wince at the volume. "Turn the car around. Now." Quinn felt sick, her stomach flipping at Santana's revelation. It was no wonder Rachel was in hiding. The girl had endured countless humiliations, but this one was extreme and she probably blamed Quinn for leaving her all alone with them.
"Christ Q! Blow my ear drum out," Santana grumbled. "I'm not turning the car around; there will be more than enough time to draw and quarter the Cheerios after you make nice with your girlfriend."
Torn between rage and guilt, Quinn shot Santana a sideways glance. "Why do you even care? I mean you seem to be going through an awful lot of trouble for someone you don't even like."
"I don't care," Santana replied, brushing off the question. "If you weren't dating the little freak I wouldn't be here right now, but you are, and since we aren't enemies at the moment and B is pissed at me over this, I figured that it was the least I could do."
"Britt's mad at you?" Quinn asked surprised. "Britt never gets mad at you, even when you act like a total asshole, which is often."
Santana sent Quinn an insincere smile. "Gee thanks," she offered sweetly. "Why am I helping you again?"
"What's B mad at you for?" Quinn questioned, reminding the Latina why she was here.
"Oh she's mad because she thinks my being mean to Berry is part of her wanting to leave," Santana replied.
"Leave?" Quinn asked confused. "Where is she going?"
Santana winced, forgetting that she had left out a few key parts of the events on Friday night. "Look there's no need to panic or anything, I'm sure once you talk to her and set the record straight, she won't be going anywhere," Santana tried to reassure the worried blonde, but only succeeding in escalating her concern.
"Really not making me feel any better Santana." Quinn drew in a steadying breath and closed her eyes. "Just tell me."
Santana sighed, knowing that this was going to suck; Quinn had put a lot of effort into earning the singer's trust and showing her that she wasn't the same person anymore. "There were a few parts of Friday that I may have forgotten to mention." Quinn just looked at Santana, remaining silent. "They may have led Rachel to believe that you were in on the prank," Santana finally revealed quietly, waiting for the fallout.
Quinn felt tears well almost immediately. "She thinks I did this?" She whispered.
"I'm sure it was just the shock of the situation, once she really sits down and thinks about it she'll realize you could never do something like that," Santana reassured the stricken blonde.
"It's been four days Santana, she's had time. She must hate me." Quinn interlaced her hands and folded them in her lap, focusing on them with every ounce of concentration; anything to keep her from falling apart.
Santana cursed herself, she hadn't meant to make Quinn feel worse. "Quinn she doesn't hate you. She just had a really big shock, and yeah given your history, it was probably easy for them to influence her. Her unwillingness to let you in to see her has just made things worse, but I talked to her, and she's willing to hear you out. She wants you to be innocent Quinn, it's not going to take much."
"It's no wonder she didn't answer any of my calls or texts," Quinn continued as though Santana hadn't spoken.
The Latina cringed. "She wasn't ignoring your calls Quinn, she didn't get them, they made her leave without her clothes and phone."
Quinn's head snapped towards Santana to look at her with a shocked expression before she shook her head. "Is there anything else you aren't telling me Santana? It seems every time we have finally gotten to the end you reveal a new and more horrible aspect," Quinn accused crossly, welcoming the anger and using it to drown out the pervasive sense of guilt.
Santana breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled to a stop in front of the Berry house. This emotionally charged atmosphere of the car was starting to wear on her. "Just that we're here." Santana looked past Quinn. Quinn spun in her seat to stare blankly at the tidy two story cape that Rachel called home.
"What do I say to her?" Quinn asked in a small voice.
"Just tell her the truth Quinn, everything will be fine." Santana smirked and handed the keys to her friend, pushing her playfully on the shoulder. "Now stop stalling and go get your girl. Now that I have done my good deed for the decade I should be able to convince B to forgive me."
Quinn smiled gratefully at her friend, but didn't get out of the car right away. Knowing what the other cheerleaders had put her through, she was afraid that the small diva would not forgive her as easily as Santana seemed to think. Drawing one last deep breath, Quinn grasped the door handle with a slightly trembling hand. "Thanks Santana, you're a good friend."
Santana rolled her eyes. "If you try to hug me I swear I will punch you." Santana pointed at the house over Quinn's shoulder. "Out."
With a nod of her head Quinn exited the car and started for the house. She wiped her sweaty palms on the soft cotton of her shorts. She could never remember being this nervous, not even when she had come to pick up Rachel for her first date, knowing that she was going to face the smaller girl's two fathers'; two fathers' that had known all about her past treatment of their daughter.