Mea Culpa

Chapter 6

Quinn felt like she was in a fog through her morning classes. If anyone had asked her about what the class work had been or what the homework was for either of the classes, she would not have been able to tell them a single thing. She sat through the classes, her back so straight that only halfway through her first class it was already beginning to ache. She kept her eyes on the teacher and the board, afraid to meet the eyes of any of her classmates. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing how miserable she was inside, so she forced her lips into a half smile. When she knew the bell would be ringing to end the class, Quinn would have her backpack already packed up and would be ready to jump out of her seat and begin the rapid walk to her next class. Quinn was seldom late for class, but she had never been so early to all her classes before today. She couldn't believe she was actually counting down the time until she could meet Rachel for lunch! Unbelievably, Rachel was the one person she knew who was not going to judge her for what she had done or humiliate her. Rachel and her dads were the only people who were willing to give her a chance even though they were the people who had the least amount of reason to believe she had changed and was not the spiteful, cruel cheerleader that she used to be. She actually found herself wishing that she and Rachel shared classes other than Mr. Shuester's Spanish, because then she would know she had someone in the classroom with her who had some compassion for the predicament she had gotten herself into. It hurt her to realize that she really had no one that she could consider to be a true friend. All the girls on the Cheerios were constantly battling for position and power. Someone that one considered a friend one day could very well be stabbing you in the back the next. The boys, on the other hand, didn't see her as an actual person, but just a status symbol as a girlfriend. As head cheerleader, Quinn had always had a trail of boys following her everywhere just waiting for a chance to do something to earn a smile from their flaxen-haired goddess. Since her pregnancy became known to all, the only boys who would speak to her were Finn, Puck and the others in Glee club. Now that the truth about the father of her baby had been made public knowledge, she doubted any boy beside Puck would even look at her. She had heard every possible comment thrown her way by the boys in her races through the hallways between classes. They had no problem calling her a slut and a whore and making some rude comment about how she had cheated on Finn. She felt her cheeks redden with shame just thinking about it now. Why were the clock hands moving so damn slow now? She could not wait to race back out of the school and hide in the comforting confines of Rachel's car. Finally, the bell rang, and she was free! She grabbed her bag and hurried out to Rachel's car.

Rachel made her way from the school to her car, hoping that Quinn would be true to her word and show up for lunch with her. She could not let Quinn take chances with her health! She was about two parking rows away, when she saw that Quinn was already waiting outside of her car. Rachel could not hold back a sigh of relief that escaped her lips. She hurried her steps. "Quinn! You're here already! I was worried that you had told me that you would meet me here for lunch just to shut me up, so I am really happy to see that that was not the case!" she called as she got closer. She hit the unlock button on her keypad. "I unlocked it. You can get inside."

Quinn opened the back door and threw her backpack in before getting in the front passenger seat. For the first time since leaving Rachel's house this morning, she felt her body relax. She was overwhelmed by how exhausted she was after being at school for not even three hours yet. She let her eyes close for just a moment.

"Quinn, has it been that horrible? Are you doing okay?" Rachel asked sympathetically.

Quinn opened her eyes and turned to look at Rachel. "Nobody has thrown anymore slushies at me, but I think I've been called every disgusting name meaning slut already. I have no idea what went on in any of my classes because I was so busy focusing on appearing to be unfazed by everything that I couldn't focus on what the teachers were saying."