The piercing sound of the school bell rang through the halls, and moments later, a pool of chattering children began to pour out of the classrooms. Among these teenagers was Finn Hudson. Finn walked towards the choir room for Glee Club practice, smiling at other members of the football team as he walked.
When he arrived, half of the Glee Club were already seated. He looked through them for a sign of Quinn but she hadn't arrived yet. He smiled at Puck and Rachel who were engrossed in a serious looking conversation. They had become a lot closer recently and Puck seemed concerned about Rachel a few days earlier. Finn suspected something going on between them and, strangely enough, it made him feel somewhat angry. He pushed those feelings aside and went to sit on some chairs by himself.
As the minutes past by, everyone had arrived apart from Quinn. Finn began to wonder if she had been sent home. Maybe she was ill, or maybe she had an accident. Just as he began to worry, she strolled through the door with the Queen Bee look on her face that she hadn't worn for a while. She walked confidently to Finn and smiled to him, taking the seat next to him.
"Hey, Honey." She smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Where have you been? You're later than usual." Finn asked, taking one of Quinn's hands and entwining their fingers.
Quinn shrugged casually. "I was just talking with Coach Sylvester."
Finn frowned at Sue's name. He really hated that woman. "What about?"
Before Quinn could answer, Mr. Schuster came walking into the room, instantly grabbing everyone's attention.
"Okay guys, if you could quiet down please." He said, putting his bag on top of the piano and facing the crowd of children. "I'm sorry I'm late but I was talking with Mr. Figgins and I have some good news. As you all know, Prom is in a couple of weeks and the school has been looking for a band to play. Well, Mr. Figgins has asked the Glee Club if we would like to sing at Prom!"
The room erupted into happy cheers and fist bumps. People began to talk about what songs they should sing and Mr. Schuster let them for a while.
Finn smiled and turned to Quinn saying, "I think we should sing Don't Stop Believing. We've always killed that number."
"I don't think a group of high school children are going to want to dance to a song from the 1980's." Quinn stated.
"But that's the first song that the Glee Club sang."
"But it's an old song. If it's not in the charts right now, I don't think they'll want to hear it."
"It's a great song! It's timeless!"
"Finn, what are you getting so upset about?" Quinn asked with a small smirk-like smile.
"Honestly?" Finn asked and waited for Quinn's nod. "You've always loved that song, you even sometimes sing it in the car on the way home. Now all of a sudden it's not good enough?"
Quinn took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm not saying it's not good enough for me, I'm saying that everyone who isn't in the glee club won't see the significance of the song. They'll just be hearing a song that was popular thirty years ago."
Finn looked down and nodded. "I understand."
Quinn smiled and put her hand on Finn's knee. "Are you feeling OK? You seem a little stressed."
"I'm fine." Finn assured her. "I just thought that-" Finn stopped himself from answering, knowing that if he told her the truth, it was bound to start an argument. "It doesn't matter, I just didn't get much sleep last night." He lied.
Quinn nodded and turned to discuss the song list with the rest of the Glee club. Finn looked down guiltily. The truth was, he thought Quinn was dismissing the song because she knew that Finn would want to sing it with Rachel and she still hadn't given him permission to sing with her. Truth be told, it did bother him that Quinn thought she could tell him who he could and couldn't sing with. But he would never tell her, it would only end in tears, and he feared it would be his.
The next day, as Finn walked down the hall, he spotted Rachel opening her locker. He said goodbye to his football friends and made his way towards her. He tapped her on her left shoulder and then walked around the the other side of her so she looked over the wrong shoulder. He then leant against the locker to her right.
Rachel turned around and smiled when she saw it was Finn who had tapped her.
"Hey." Finn smiled back to her. "What's new with you?"
"Not much really." Rachel shrugged.
"Are you excited for prom?"
"Very." Rachel smiled excitedly. "I got hardly any sleep last night because I was trying to decide what solo I should sing."
"Did you decide?"
Rachel shook her head no. "There were too many options to decide in just one night."
This made Finn smile. He always loved how passionate she was about singing. Even if she was just singing for Glee club, the song always had to be great and her vocals perfect.
"Do you think you'll be singing at prom?" Rachel asked as she pulled her books from the locker.
"Probably not." Finn shook his head.
"Why not?"
"Because all the school will be there." Finn said as if it was obvious. "I don't want to sing in front of the football team, they'll think I'm a loser."
"Finn, high school isn't a popularity contest." Rachel assured him, closing her locker door as she did. "If you love singing, then do it! In three years' time, you won't care about any of those guys on the football team, but you will regret not doing what you love because you were scared some stupid Neanderthals would judge you."
Finn smiled down at her as they began walking down the hall. "You know, if you ever change your mind about wanting to be on Broadway, you could always be a motivational speaker."
Rachel laughed at that. "That's a great idea, but I think I'll stick with Broadway for now." They walked in a comfortable silence for a moment. "So, will you and Quinn be going for Prom King and Queen?"
"We haven't really spoke about it yet." Finn said with a casual shrug. "But it's Quinn's dream so I guess so."
Rachel frowned at that and stayed quiet for a moment. Finn picked up on that and assumed it was because she still had feelings for him.
"You haven't spoke about it?" Rachel repeated a few moments later.
"No, we haven't." Finn clarified. "Why?" Finn could see Rachel looking confused, he just didn't understand why.
"It's just, those posters suggest otherwise." Rachel pointed to the wall across the hall.
Finn followed Rachel's gaze where his eyes landed on a poster taped to the wall. He instantly recognised the faces on it to be Quinn and himself. He walked over to it to get a closer look, followed by Rachel.
The writing on it said, 'Quinn and Finn for Prom King and Queen' and it had a picture of Quinn with a Queen's crown photo-shopped on her head and Finn with a King's crown. Finn pulled it from the wall and looked at it with Rachel peering from behind him.
"I should go to class." Rachel said over Finn's shoulder. "I'll see you later, Your Highness."
Finn looked at Rachel who smiled at him playfully before walking away. Finn watched her walk down the corridor in her usual confident stride. Her stride was interrupted when a cheerleader strutted past her, knocking Rachel's shoulder as she did. Unfazed, Rachel carried on walking, but Finn's eyes clung to the cheerleader.
She walked with a confident strut like she owned the school and everyone in it. The bottom of her cheerleading uniform brushed against her thighs as she swayed her hips. Everyone parted like the red sea to make a path for her when she walked by. So, she was just like any other cheerleader but with a lot more attitude.
That's not what got Finn's attention though. Finn stared at her with his mouth hanging open slightly as she walked straight up to him.
"Hey, honey." Quinn smiled when she reached him. She stood on her tip toes and kissed his cheek.
"What's this?" Finn pointed to her clothing in surprise.
"What? Is there something on my uniform?" Quinn asked innocently. She began to brush off imaginary specks of dirt and smooth non-existent creases.
"No, let me rephrase that." Finn corrected himself. "Why are you wearing it?"
"Because I have cheerleading practise tonight." Quinn told him as if he had asked the dumbest question.
Finn frowned in confusion, trying to think back to all his recent conversations with Quinn to make sure she hadn't told him she was on the cheerleading team when he wasn't listening. His mind came up empty so he tried to get answers again.
"I thought you had quit the Cheerios."
"I did." Quinn nodded and began to examine her nails. "But then I rejoined. I told you I went to talk to Sue yesterday."
"You never told me why though." Finn reminded her, still surprised that Quinn was an official Cheerio again.
"Because Glee club started and then you never asked again." Quinn argued, like he was in the wrong.
"Shouldn't we have discussed it before you joined?"
"I don't see why." Quinn shrugged folded her arms across her chest.
"How about because I'm your boyfriend?" Finn said in annoyance.
"How does this even effect you?" Quinn asked, not seeing what the big deal was in the slightest.
"Because when you're on the Cheerios you become Sue's little puppy, and I don't like that."
"You know, I joined the Cheerios for us, not just me."
"How does this benefit us?" Finn asked with a frown on his face.
"Because being on the Cheerios automatically puts me to the top of the social ladder. We have a better chance of being voted for Prom King and Queen if we're both popular." Quinn explained her plan excitedly.
"I've also been meaning to talk to you about that." Finn remembered. "What's this?"
Finn held up the poster asking people to vote for Quinn and himself. Quinn looked at it and then smiled proudly.
"They're to get people to vote for us." She said. "Do you like them?"
"Why are they up?"
"You know, Finn, for someone I'm trying to do a favour for you really do complain a lot." Quinn said with a cheeky smile.
Before Finn could answer, Puck walked behind Quinn, looking at her cheerleading uniform in surprise. He interrupted their conversation by commenting on it.
"Congrats on the return to the Cheerios." He said without stopping to chat.
"Thank you, Puck." Quinn made a point of it as she shouted back, emphasising the point that someone had complimented her, she then turned back to Finn. "Isn't it weird that Puck is happy for me but my own boyfriend isn't?"
Finn's face softened slightly. "I am happy for you, Quinn, I really am. It's just, I think we should discuss these things before you do them."
"But I thought it would be what you wanted." Quinn stepped closer to Finn slightly.
"It would have been if it makes you happy. But, I think one of the major problems in our relationship is lack of communication. When we make decisions without consulting each other, it usually ends in an argument, which, needless to say, isn't healthy."
Quinn sighed and moving closer to Finn so that their bodies were just inches apart. She smiled up at him and said, "I get that, and I'm sorry, I won't make decisions without you again."
"Thank you." Finn smiled and took Quinn's hand in his.
"By the way, I like that you're trying to fix our relationship. I always thought that you didn't really care if we broke or not, and that if we did, you'd just bounce back and be fine."
"Of course I care." Finn assured her as he pulled her closer to him so their bodies were touching. "Because I love you."
Quinn couldn't help but smile at the sound of him saying that. It was nice to hear him say and it made her heart beat faster. "I love you, too."
Finn looked at Quinn's lips that suddenly looked irresistible to him. When he looked back to her eyes, they were looking at his lips. Taking the hint, he slowly leant down to kiss her. When their lips were only centimetres apart, the bell rang, ruining their moment. They both laughed at the inconvenience to try and mask their disappointment. Quinn grabbed Finn's t-shirt and pulled him down to kiss her. When she pulled away, they were both smiling.
"I'll see you later, Finn." Quinn smiled at him and began to walk down the corridor.
Meanwhile, Puck and Rachel watched from behind the corner, each of their hearts breaking at the sight of the people they love loving someone else. Rachel immediately turned to Puck.
"I think it's time for part 2 of our plan."