Take it or Leave it (A Glee Quinn Fabray Story)

Bathrooms and Brawls

After a few laps around the school, I hurry back to the washroom to meet Santana. She's standing right at the door and she grabs my hand, pulling me into the bathroom. "So, Quinn. What was that crying during the test about?" She questions, locking the stall door behind us. I shrug nonchalantly and try to change the subject. "So, did you get the answer for number 4?" She grabs my shoulders and shakes me. "Let up a little. You can trust me! I'm your best friend!" I smile a little bit and cross my arms. "I don't know. I was just thinking." "About?" "Life. Everything. Everything good that's turning bad." She reaches over and softly strokes my arm. "Oh Q..." The tears start streaming down my cheeks like raindrops on a window and she wraps her arms around me in a tight hug. "Oh, Q." She awkwardly pats my back a few times. "Do you wanna talk about it?" She whispers in my ear. "I'm not really sure what to say, honestly." I answer quietly. "Say anything. It always helps to talk about it." I shrug a little. "I'm not ready." She frowns. "Ready for what?" Fresh tears roll down my already wet cheeks. "This. My future. A baby! I can't raise a baby!" I sob. A stall door squeaking makes me freeze. "Hello?" Santana calls out to the stranger. She unlocks the door and a shadow appears. "Girls? Are you okay?" Miss Pillsbury's soft voice echoes through the small washroom. oh no. "Hey, Miss P." I say nervously, wiping away the tear streaks as her heels click across the floor towards our stall. "Why don't you come with me to my office?" She asks uncertainly. Panic flashes across Santana's face, then she stands up and holds her hand out to me. Pulling me up, she wraps her arm around me and we follow Miss Pillsbury down the hallway to the Guidance Counsellor's office.
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"So, Quinn. A-a baby?" My cheeks are burning and Santana is squeezing my hand as hard as she can. "Umm." I try to avoid answering as long as I can. "Quinn," She says quietly. "I'm going to ask you a question. I need a straight answer." She nervously rearranges the pens in her holder. "Are you... Are you..." She stutters a few times. "Yes." My voice breaks on the single word. Her eyes get huge. "You're..." I nod and squeeze Santana's hand tightly. The original shock seems to pass after a moment. "Wow. Okay." Miss Pillsbury wrings her hands together. "Have you told your parents?" I give a small shake of my head and look over at the door, checking that it's shut. "No, they'd kill me if they found out." She frowns a little. "Well, Quinn. I think that you need to tell them. I think you're underestimating the impact that this situation is going to have on your life." She looks sympathetic and I shift a little in my chair. "Well, I'll tell them eventually, but-" She cuts me off. "Quinn, I think you should tell them as soon as you can. I'd start with your mom, if I were you. She might be a little more sympathetic." I smile worriedly. "Thanks, but I can't. I don't know what to say or how they'll react." My eyes start to tear up against my will and I steal my hand away from Santana's iron grip to wipe them away. "Just know that I'm always here. And Mr. Schuester is also available to talk to. I heard that his wife is having a baby." She says, almost wistfully. I nod and slowly rise from my chair. "Thanks, Miss Pillsbury. Should I come back?" She nods and waves goodbye as we leave. "Jeez, that was weird. Eavesdropping and finding out your biggest secret!" I purse my lips and speed up my pace. We finally reach the algebra room just as the bell rings. "Where have you been, girls?" The teacher scolds as we hand in our unfinished tests. I look down at the floor sheepishly. "We were with Miss Pillsbury. She had to ask us a question." "About what?" The teacher pries. "Uh... Pamphlets! Yeah. Pamphlet ideas." Santana exclaims. The teacher seems suspicious, but accepts our lie and lets us go. "At least she bought it." Santana shrugs. I roll my eyes and break apart from her to stop her in her tracks. "Okay. Let's get something straight. You don't tell anyone about me. Anyone." I say, poking her in the chest a few times for emphasis. She holds her hands up in mock surrender. "If you do, I will drive to you house in the middle of the night and shave your head. And I will poison your reputation with lies, like how you slept with JBI for 30 bucks or cheated on Puckerman with a freshman." She raises one finger. "The second one would not actually be a lie..." My nose wrinkles in disgust. "Ew. I really don't need to know that." She shrugs with a sly smile. "Seriously, Santana. Don't tell anyone. Only 4 people know and I would like to keep it that way until I choose. Not you." She nods grimly. "Whatever, Fabray. I can keep a secret." I raise my eyebrow. "You? You couldn't keep a secret if your life depended on it." She laughs. "You'd be surprised at the secrets I've been keeping for a long time." "Okay, say what you want. Just don't speak of my situation. I'm trusting you, San."
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"Hey, baby." Finn says, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. I scrunch up my shoulders and spin to kiss him. "Hi! Just let me grab my homework and we can go." He bites his lip and looks at me. "I can't, Quinn. My mom just texted me and I have to go straight home." My face falls in dismay. "Finn! You promised you'd come with me for this appointment! This is important for me! For us!" He reaches for my arm and I shrug away from him. "Why do you need to be there? Why do you have to go home?" My voice is starting to rise and Finn looks nervously at the people who are staring. "Quinn, don't do this here. Can't we reschedule?" I shake my head in disappointment. "I'll just go alone. Maybe I can convince Santana to skip Cheerio's practice and come with me." I slam my locker door shut and turn to leave. "Quinn, wait. I'll text my mom. Please don't storm away from me." He says to my back. I halt and stand still, waiting for him to continue. The tapping of his keyboard is the only sound as the last of the stragglers clear out of the halls. "What do I tell her, Quinn? Do I tell her that we have a doctor's appointment? She'll definitely suspect something if I say that." I spin and stalk towards him. "I don't know, Finn. Make something up. Tell her you have detention or some shit like that. It's not my frickin' fault that you have to lie to your mother. I really don't want to do this. So suck it up and be a man." He looks take aback by my outburst. "Uh, she said that it's not ideal, she wants me to be there to get ready for our dinner guests. But, if it's detention, then I have no choice." A smile plays on his lips as he looks into my eyes. I try to keep from smiling, but his half- smirk gets the better of me. I run back at him and he envelopes me in a hug. "I wouldn't miss this for the world. I'm just really nervous." He whispers into my ear. "I know." I murmur. "I feel like I'm going to puke. But I'm also really excited." He kisses me and pulls me closer. "We're doing this together, Quinn. We'll get through this." He pulls away from me and smiles again. "Piggyback?" I grin and he spins to let me climb on his back. "Take me away, my prince!" I say dramatically.
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As we pull into the parking lot of the doctor's office, Finn parks the car and reaches over to grab my shaking hand. "Let's do this." He whispers as we clamber out of the car in sync. He holds my hand tightly as we stride towards the seemingly looming building. My breaths start getting faster and shorter the closer we get to the door. Finn squeezes my hand and mutters words of encouragement that I can barely hear. He holds the door for me and I nod in thanks, too nervous to even speak. We join the end of the line and in no time at all we're at the desk. "Okay, just fill out these forms and it'll be your turn soon." I grab the clipboard and a pen and Finn leads me over to a pair of seats. FULL LEGAL NAME: LUCY QUINN FABRAY DOB: 02/01/99
I continue filling out the form, while Finn periodically squeezes my leg. "Could you stop that?" I say, annoyed. He puts his hands in his lap and twiddled his thumbs nervously. When I complete the paper Finn takes it from me and returns it to the front desk. He returns to his seat next to me and his leg keeps bouncing. After a few minutes, the secretary rises from her position behind the desk. "Lucy Fabray." Finn frowns, and turns to me. "Is that supposed to be you?" I nod and look sheepish. "I go by Quinn, but I'm legally named Lucy." He looks flabbergasted, but I break his haze of surprise by grabbing his hand and dragging him down the hall behind me. "Ready?" He asks before we enter the room. I shake my head and mentally prepare myself for the rest of this appointment.