Quinn O'Connell was the pretty girl in pink, the homecoming queen and all-around straight-A student. Most people saw her as uptight, narcissistic but most importantly... They saw her as a control freak with her perfect blonde hair and patronising sm...
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The world was icy on the next Tuesday morning, like the occupants of Forks were living in a snow globe and as Quinn O'Connell stepped toward the glass of her bedroom window, a swell of steam rose out through her delicate lips and blurred the vision of the trees before her, blocking her out of the world. And she felt it, the disconnection as the cold bit her exposed skin and the realisation dawned on her, as her chapped lips drew in air, that she didn't have a place to call home or a family. She was just her, blonde and pretty and all alone against the world.
When Quinn got to work, painting herself into the character she acted out daily, her scalp hurt as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, ached from where he'd yanked it and her nimble hands stopped. For the first time in years, Quinn O'Connell allowed her hair to tumble around her shoulders in its natural, wonderful curls. It hurt too much to do anything but let her hair lie limply, her clothes covered markings, tracings of his hands and she felt so exposed, even in clothing. Jensen hadn't gone easy on her on Monday evening.
Despite how absolutely hollow her eyes looked, the sparkling blue would fool everyone, the bright smile she practised in the mirror would cover up any suspicion and she could carry on as normal.
Stepping out the purple front door, a smile lit her lips, purely true as the snowflakes caught miraculously in her blonde curls, kissing her skin as they fluttered and flurried. The tarmac beneath her books was slippery, but there was something so humane about the way her feet slid around under her like a foal standing for the first time. The fear of falling was so magical to her as she stumbled along because it promised the harsh bite of the blacktop if you made the wrong move. Feeling human was all that Quinn had left, the little sensations that showed you were alive. It was the only thing that kept Quinn going, the hope of self-preservation and little things proved to her how well she was doing.
And so, with her hair down for the first time in years, a genuine smile on her lips despite the bruises on her lips and the hope of a good day, Quinn O'Connell drove herself through town for another day in paradise at Forks high. With each road she turned, the population carried out menial tasks and it was fair to say that Quinn didn't know any of them and neither of them knew her. Nor did they care to. Quinn O'Connell was a forbidden fruit, she was beautiful and mysterious and that was perhaps the worst possible thing, her beauty kept people away from her at a time when all she needed was a friend...
On her way to Forks High school, Quinn sang along quietly to her car radio, a genuine smile on her face. Something about the day felt different, something she just couldn't put her finger on. Arriving in the parking lot, it was to find that she and a silver Volvo were the only cars there. So, to fill the void of time, she parked up and leafed through a few pieces of paper in anticipation for the day. Quinn O'Connell knew that graduation was approaching and soon enough, she was going to have to go off to college but the truth was that she couldn't afford to go, not on her own and she absolutely despised the idea of asking Jensen for anything. He would be far too smirking and irritating for her liking but the worst part was that he didn't give her any of these toys for free, she wouldn't be given money without some sort of payment. The idea made her positively sick.
When crowds gathered and the bell threatened to ring, Quinn O'Connell was glad to have a distraction from her own thoughts, pulling herself up and out of her shiny car, a smile painted on her lips beneath her tumbling blonde curls, a day in paradise began. The blonde girl was, however, not entirely ignorant to the feeling of a pair of golden eyes glaring holes into the side of her head. Across the lot, beside his silver Volvo, Edward Cullen was staring at her as if he'd never seen her before, despite having spent two years in the same school as her. Tilting her head, she smiled slightly before strutting away into the main building as he proceeded to whisper to his family secretively.
Before that very moment, Quinn O'Connell had absolutely nothing to do with any of the Cullens. She didn't know then that that first encounter would lead to many many more.
By the time the final bell rang, Quinn's entire mood had shifted and gravity pulled down her lips as she trudged through the sludge to the parking lot. The sight of a familiar warm red truck beside her own car warmed her with a sudden familiarity and as she approached where Bella seemed to be waiting, she smiled.
"Hey, are you okay?" she questioned, rounding to stand beside Bella at the back end of the truck.
"Oh, Quinn--hi, I just... I just wanted to see if you wanted to meet up at some point... again." she looked down shyly, her hair swishing around her as if she wasn't quite sure of the blonde girl. Bella had never been friends with a popular pretty girl before, she didn't know how to behave and still, she didn't entirely trust that Quinn wanted to be her friend. Quinn's blue eyes glittered like a crystal ball as she beamed brightly.
"Of course Bella, Saturday was great."
"Great, great... I was--" Bella didn't get the chance to finish the thought, however, as in an instant, the cool calm of the parking lot spiked into something different... Something sinister. Three things happened simultaneously, first, a high pitched screech wailed through their ears and at first, Quinn wasn't utterly opposed to the idea that the scream was human until she noticed the second new development, a giant blue-grey van skidding uncontrollably through the parking lot, directed at their very spot. And the third thing to be noticed, by Quinn's slowly deafening ears, was the scream of her own name merged with her new friends'.
There was no reasonable explanation as to why Quinn O'Connell acted the way she did at that moment. They say that everyone would fight, flight or freeze in these heart-hammering incidents and Bella was very clearly a freezer, staring at the van with wide eyes, almost as if she believed she was imagining it. For some unknown reason, an overwhelming need to protect Bella flooded her senses, the brunette girl to her side. In that last moment, when the van was feet away, Quinn put Bella's life before her own.
Isabella Swan was innocent, utterly untainted by the worries and horror of the world, she had a future. And Quinn had long since come to the conclusion that her life was never going to be normal, she was never going to live a life without struggle and as her brain hastily whirred and matched up the qualities, Quinn chose Bella.
Pushing Bella violently sideways, truly uncaring if she fell because falling was preferable to being crushed to death. Bella fell into space between her truck and Quinn's car, safe from the oncoming crash. But now Quinn was in the firing line and she had no time to do anything except close her eyes and wait. But the pain didn't come from the direction she was expecting, instead, she was slammed sideways, just as Bella had been a moment previous.
Quinn's fall was noticeably harsher, indicated by a violent crack as her head hit the blacktop and a warm sensation that spread through her beautiful blonde hair. Her eyes were agony to open but she needed to see if the danger had been eradicated. In front of her eyes was Edward Cullen and as she took in the worry on his angelic face, she could feel his arms holding her steady. The van had stopped now, dented twice and the screaming continued.
"Quinn? Quinn, stay with me okay" she heard him, and she wanted desperately to listen but the darkness was chasing the light out of her vision, the world around her drowning in white noise as her eyes finally rolled back into her head and she flopped weakly into his strong arms. The last thought that crossed Quinn's mind was the sight of her own car, the bright red paint had been chipped and dented at the back right corner and as she fell into darkness, an overwhelming fear clouded her at the anger she would receive for it.