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Staring at her list of dream colleges is depressing.
Not because Quinn doesn’t think that she won’t get in, because she will.
Her grades are great, she was the head cheerleader for a nationally-ranked team for two years, and she has a compelling personal story.
Quinn knows that she’s practically a shoo-in as long as she manages to charm her way through all her college interviews and talk about how much her past mistakes had caused her grow up too soon, but she’s grateful for the life lessons they gave her.
They’re such blatant lies, lies specially catered to what other people (admissions directors, in this case) want to hear when they find out about Beth and Lucy because she knows that both will come back to bite her. Pretending everything’s fine when they’re obviously not. God knows she’s has years of practice with that. The personal statements and interviews will be a cakewalk.
But she’s not sure it’s worth the crushing disappointment of applying, getting in, and finding out that there’s no way that her mom could afford to pay tuition - not after the divorce.
Quinn is tempted to stuff the list back into her bag and forget it all. Focus on attainable goals, like not getting kicked out of the library by the cranky librarian who always stares at her stomach instead of looking her in the eye. Skim through The Divine Comedy before her quiz later that day. Stuff that she can actually do.
“Quinn?”
She almost jumps; when she looks up Tina’s standing at the other side of the table and staring at her.
Tina raises an eyebrow and Quinn answers the unspoken question; no, she’s not intruding - and she motions for Tina take the chair next to her.
“I was looking for you,” Tina says, smiling. Quinn knows she must look startled (they’re not exactly friends, at least not the type of friends who hang out outside of glee) because Tina explains, “I was thinking about starting a new club and since you were the president of the Celibacy Club, I thought you would know who I should talk to.”
“I’m guessing you’re not talking about restarting the Celibacy Club,” Quinn says dryly. She remembers how Mike and Tina had spent a week last spring studiously avoiding her when she was trying to recruit more people for her reinstated club.
After the stunt she tried to pull with Puck - Quinn’s pretty sure that she would be a complete hypocrite if she tried to start it up again.
“No,” Tina says, shaking her head. “I was actually thinking about starting a Female Activist Club. Seeing Santana encounter that meathead the other day - ” her expression clouds over for a moment and she bites her lower lip. “Well, we could get Figgins and the administration to crack down on sexual harassment at school since it’s also a form of bullying. What do you think?”
Quinn doesn’t miss the way Tina’s looking at her, patiently waiting for her reaction.
It’s strange to think back to the Tina Cohen-Chang she knew two years ago - the one who shied away from attention and avoided everyone’s scrutiny by dressing strangely- when the person sitting in front of her is wearing a really adorable kelly green vintage dress and proposing to start a feminist club at McKinley to help a fellow friend.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Quinn says, finally. She gives Tina a genuine smile. “You’ll need at least three club members to make a good case for Figgins.”
“He still thinks I’m a vampire,” Tina rolls her eyes. She smiles back. “I’m not too worried about him. But hey, do you want to help me run the club?”
“Okay,” Quinn says, after half a silent second, surprising herself a little. But it’s a good idea and Santana was there for her (kind of) when they were in New York and Tina has never been anything but nice to her - she’s not going to throw Quinn under the bus. “Yeah, I think I’d love to, actually.”
“Great.” Tina looks relieved and grateful. “I figured that one - it couldn’t hurt your college application and two - having an ally means that maybe the guys will listen when I call them out on some of their sexist crap.”
The bell rings; signaling the end of the fifth period.
“We can talk about this over lunch?” Quinn suggests, quickly adding,”as long as you don’t mind me reading Dante while we plan.”
Tina beams at her. “Deal.”