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It was an odd occurrence for Rachel to miss a day of school. It never happened. The last time she did was when she had gotten appendicitis at the age of eight. It resulted in her having to get her appendix removed because it ruptured. She was out of school for two five day school weeks.
After she had that happen, she swore to never miss another day. While her teacher told her that she didn’t fall behind, and was on the level as everyone else who attended school in that two weeks time, Rachel wasn’t happy with that. She had always strived for being better than her classmates in elementary school when it came to grades. Being on the same level just frustrated her.
Up until now she has kept that promise to never miss a day again. She woke up with a stomach virus, and felt like she couldn’t stop throwing up. Even though she didn’t like her dads telling her to stay home, she knew she had to. It ultimately made her stay home for two days rather than just one.
The day she returned to school she had already fallen behind on the notes for her classes. The only person who she could possibly coax into giving her the notes that she missed is none other than Quinn Fabray.
Quinn wouldn’t refuse to give them to her because they’re possibly on the outs over Finn again, right? Rachel was nice enough to give her the notes that she missed for the classes they have together when she was out with mono. Quinn would return the favor, right?
Guess there’s only one way of knowing.
“Hey Quinn,” Rachel greets politely with a smile as she strides up to Quinn who is standing at her locker, looking into her mirror, and applying a fresh layer of lipstick to her lips.
“What do you want?” Quinn purses her lips before recapping her lipstick, setting it back in her makeup bag in her locker.
“Well, I’m positive that you have knowledge of this, but I was out sick the past couple days-” Quinn cuts her off.
“I know you like to talk in 200 page novels, but can you cut to the chase?”
Rachel let out a frustrated sigh. “I was getting there, thank you.” Quinn smirks slightly at the bite in her tone. “Can I borrow your notebooks, for the classes that we share, to copy down the notes that I missed?”
“Why didn’t you just ask me that?” the blonde chuckles. She grabs the notebooks that she knows Rachel will need and passes them over to her. “There you go. Knock yourself out.” Quinn closes her locker door after grabbing her bag, so she could leave school for the day. “Bye Berry,” Quinn calls over her shoulder on her way out.
“Bye Quinn.”
Never again will she miss a day of school. She, for sure, doesn't want to ever ask someone to borrow their notes for copying again.
Especially if that person is Quinn Fabray.
…
That night, Rachel finds herself already completed the assignments that she missed along with the ones that she had to complete for today, so now it’s time to move onto the note taking.
She absolutely loved when she got to do notes. The color coding with highlighters, the use of fun color pens to make something stick out if it was important. Call her a loser, but she loved being organized and colorful. It brought much joy to her.
Writing down the notes for their AP Chemistry class is simple, even though she’s not good at the math that is required for the class. Turning page after page, in Quinn’s relatively organized notes. It wasn’t at all messy. Everything was neatly in sections, and written in what is quite frankly some of the nicest handwriting that Rachel has ever seen. She can’t help but smile at Quinn’s organization. The only thing about it is that it’s not as organized as hers. Rachel can’t complain though. She could admit that she does go above and beyond from time to time.
She turns the page, and when she does a little drawing catches Rachel’s eye.
It’s a heart written in the same black ink as everything else in the notebook. The shape of it is not at all symmetrical, but is still cute. She has an arrow going through it. The part that truly caught her eye is what the inside of the heart says. In the top left hand corner of the heart the initials QF are written in Quinn’s smooth handwriting. In the middle of the heart is a small x shape. Finally her eyes float to the bottom right, and the initials located there are not at all what she was expecting to see. She expected to see FH for Finn, or SE for Sam. It’s neither one though.
The initials are RB.
Rachel’s initials are RB.
They can’t mean her right? That wouldn’t make any sense if they did. Quinn absolutely despises her. She always has since the day they first met. That was the first day of high school. Rachel was just minding her own business, walking down the hallway with a huge smile on her face when the blonde head cheerleader, Quinn, threw a blue raspberry slushie in her face.
A sudden urge seizes Rachel and she starts looking through other pages of the Chemistry notebook. Throughout her flipping, she finds two more similar drawings. She moves onto the notebook that Quinn has marked as Trigonometry, beginning to flip through the many pages. There is none there. She moves onto the History notebook, flipping through the pages just like with the other ones.
The drawing that she stumbles upon is different though. Instead of the two girl’s initials being there, it has Quinn’s name written in place of the QF and Rachel’s name written in place of RB.
Her thumb runs over the dried up ink that came from Quinn’s pen. She probably drew these subconsciously when her mind couldn’t quite focus on whatever their teachers were saying.
The moment she saw the first heart, there was no doubt in Rachel’s mind that it was in reference to her. As far as Rachel knew, neither one of them interacted or so much knew another RB. The assurance was very much needed though. Quinn is very hidden, she is that of an enigma.
Based on how her parents reacted to her being pregnant the previous year, it was very easy to tell that if Quinn could possibly harbor feelings for another girl, it very much wouldn’t be accepted.
Good thing that Russell Fabray is no longer in her life or her mother’s.
Rachel’s lips curl up into a small smile as her finger traces the shape of Quinn’s handwriting of both their names. She likes her.
The girl, who is still surprised by her discovery, can’t help but feel the blush appear on her face. Quinn Fabray actually likes her. Not just in a friendly way either. You don’t draw hearts with the name of someone who you know inside. You certainly don’t pair them with your own.
Rachel has only just recently discovered herself that she feels a certain way for the blonde former head cheerleader. Completely letting that knowledge slip when she questioned Finn how it felt to kiss Quinn. Thankfully he didn’t catch on.
Her thoughts are interrupted when her phone beeps, alerting her of a new text message.
Speak of the devil.
Hope you’re able to decipher the unorganized mess of my notes. I know that they aren’t as fancy as yours :) -Quinn
She taps out her own response.
While not as organized as mine of course, they are still very neat. Thank you for letting me use them. See you in school tomorrow. -Rachel
She hits the send button. Attempting to shake the new knowledge from her mind so she could copy the notes before her bedtime.
…
The next day, she comes across Quinn alone in the bathroom before their first class of the day. She’s washing her hands at the sink, while also looking at her reflection in the mirror.
“Hey,” Rachel greets with a smile on her face.
“What do you want, Berry?”
Her smile slowly fades as she passes her notebooks down onto the counter. “I was going to approach you at your locker because I wanted to give these back, but you weren’t there.”
Quinn pulls a paper towel out of the dispenser and begins to dry her hands. She notices how Rachel doesn’t take any notion to leave or to so much as enter a stall to use the bathroom. “Is that it? This is a bathroom after all. Either use it or leave.”
“I wanted to talk to you about something I found in your notebook.” Quinn’s movements come to a complete pause. She doesn’t even throw the balled up paper towel in the trash can. Rachel could tell that she knew exactly what she was talking about.
“Crap,” the blonde mumbles under her breath.
“It’s not a big deal Quinn.”
Quinn’s jaw clenches. “Not a big deal?” She whispers. “Not a big deal?” Her voice louder this time. “Not a big deal!” Her voice cracks from the sudden raising of it and the frustration that is building up inside of her. “How is it not a big deal?”
Rachel bites her lip. “Okay fine it’s a big deal, but it doesn’t have to be a thing that you’re terrified of.”
The blonde snorts. “You clearly don’t remember how Kurt was treated here.”
“I mean that you don’t need to be terrified of me.”
The sudden burst of tears flowing from Quinn’s beautiful eyes, that have seen so much hurt, was something that Rachel certainly did not expect to see. “I’m not terrified of you.” She clenches the ball of paper towel in her hand before throwing it into the garbage can. “I’m terrified of my feelings for you. I’m not supposed to feel this way.” She inhales a deep breath, picking up one of the notebooks. Slowly, she begins to flip through the pages until she comes across the drawing that has their full first names inside of it.
“I get that. You come from a family that would surely oust you if you were to have feelings for a girl.”
“I should’ve never given you my notes. I was perfectly fine handling this on my own.”
“By dating Sam, a guy who you have no feelings for, and then cheating on him with Finn. Finn, the guy who you were only with for the sake of your popularity.”
“And that’s my business. Not yours,” she snaps at her. The look of instant regret on her face. Quinn takes a deep breath, then slowly exhales to calm herself down. “I’m sorry.” Her head shook at her stupidity. “I just don’t get how calm you are about this.” She closes the notebook.
“I mean I wasn’t exactly calm when I first saw it. I was searching your notebooks frantically looking for one that confirmed me being RB.”
“You had to confirm it?” Her eyebrow raises in questioning.
“Can you blame me?”
The blonde turns her head to look at her reflection in the mirror once more, her hands resting on the sink. “I shouldn’t have given you my notes. I completely forgot about those drawings being in them.”
“I’m glad you did.” The brunette takes a step closer to the blonde, noticing her eyebrows pinch together. Her hand moves over Quinn’s, their finger’s intertwining once the blonde flips her hand over. Rachel could hear a small gasp fall from Quinn. A smile taking shape. “I like you too,” Rachel mumbles.
“You do?” The blonde asks, her body turning to face her.
Rachel nodded with a huge grin.
The brunette noticed the blonde’s tongue run along her lower lip. “I um…”
Rachel knew what she was going to say so her body just took over and her lips captured Quinn’s.
Finn was right; it did feel like fireworks kissing Quinn. Only thing is, Rachel certainly did not expect the sensational feeling to travel to even the smallest nerves in her fingertips or in her toes.
The two girls separated with huge smiles present. They were about to move in for another when the bathroom door opened interrupting them. The blonde moving away and letting go of Rachel’s hand quickly while gathering her notebooks.
“We’ll talk later, yeah?” Quinn asked. The brunette’s response is a simple nod.
Quinn leaves the bathroom immediately.
Rachel can’t help but feel saddened by Quinn’s hurrying out when they were almost caught.
But she knows that this is a process. It’s going to take Quinn and even herself time to be comfortable with everyone seeing their new possible romance. She’s about to leave the bathroom when her phone goes off with the text sound.
How no one walked in on us, ruining our moment before that, I don’t know. What I do know is, I want to kiss you again and figure this out. Maybe we can talk after school? -Quinn
Sure thing :) -Rachel
Rachel’s face flushing a rosy color as she hits the send button. She didn’t know how this was going to work but something inside her was telling her was the start of an epic romance for her and Quinn.