Mea Culpa

Chapter 5

For Quinn, the ride to school was over way too fast. Rachel talked throughout the entire ride about what they would be working on in Glee club later in the afternoon, but Quinn was unable to focus on anything but the building sense of dread that was rapidly growing within her. She wanted to run back and hide under the covers, but she knew Rachel was right; she had to get it over with. She could not hide from everyone forever. As Rachel pulled into an open parking space in the school lot, Quinn took a deep breath. Rachel looked at her sympathetically as she shut off the car.

"Remember to close your eyes if you get slushied. I have towels and things in my locker to help you clean up if you need them. I should have reminded you to put some extra clothes in your bag before we left this morning," Rachel fretted.

Stepping out of the car, Quinn replied, "I still have some clothes in my locker that I put there back when I was on the Cheerios."

"Then, you will be all set. The shock will wear off quickly and the embarrassment fades faster when you don't let them see you react. Just walk to the nearest bathroom and start washing it off your face and out of your hair," she advised as the voice of experience.

"Thanks, Rachel. I think the humiliation will be slow to fade, but at least I am expecting it so it won't be such a surprise."

They walked towards the entranceway of the school. Quinn could feel her heart racing in her chest as they got closer and her hands began to shake. She was waiting for her former friends to confront her at any moment and she was not certain how she would reply to their accusations. She knew lying to Finn about being her baby's father was wrong and she knew that cheating on him had been wrong as well. She could not change any of that now, but she would if she could. Not that any of them would care if she wanted to change the mistakes she had made. All they cared about was the fact that they had some amazing dirt on the once Head Cheerio to bring her down even further on the social ladder. She wasn't sure that she had much farther to fall. After her latest scandal, Rachel was probably higher on the ladder than she was! She saw Azimio and Karofsky enter the building and felt her body get more tensed. They were both on the football team with Finn and would hate her for lying to him. They had slushied her once before when she had been kicked out of Cheerios for being pregnant, so she figured they would have no problem doing it to her once again.

Rachel patted her arm sympathetically. "Remember, once they've thrown the slushie, the worst is over. Don't let them see you afraid or looking defeated, just hold your head up and keep walking as if nothing can touch you."

"Sure, nothing can touch me besides several ounces of sticky, cold slush," Quinn stated dryly.

"Once it's done, it's done, and then you just need to clean up and go on. If you let them see that it hurt you, they will keep doing it every day because they will be getting the satisfaction of making you feel bad about yourself. Don't let them have that power!"

"Well, here goes nothing then," Quinn said with a sigh as she opened the main entrance way to the school. She threw her hair over her shoulder and tipped her head up. She was Quinn Fabray and nobody could change-SPLAT! The sticky liquid stung her eyes and ran down her neck.

"What's up, Quinn? Hey, Puckerman! You should have her get a DNA test on the kid! Seems she can't decide who the baby daddy is! What a poster girl for abstinence!" Azimio shouted with a cruel smile.

Rachel grabbed Quinn by the arm to make her start walking again. "Come on, Quinn, let's get you cleaned up," she said quietly while leading the humiliated girl to the nearest bathroom.

Quinn allowed Rachel to direct her through the hallways. It took everything she had in her just to move her feet and keep herself from crying. She wasn't sure she could have found the bathroom if she had to. "Did you see Puck's face after Azimio said that? Does he hate me, too?" Quinn finally managed to say.