AN:

Hey to everyone reading this. It is slightly AU. Everyone is a sophomore unless indicated otherwise within the story, and while season 1 basically happened the way it did on screen there are some changes. The trio was and actual trio and has never really hated Rachel. They followed the whims of high school but they don't actually hate Rachel, quite the opposite in fact. As I mess with the universe of Glee I'll be sure to warn you ahead of time, and I'll be trying to update regularly but we'll see what happens.

Oh, and please try to be nice, it's my first story ever and I'm kinda shy. Somebody had to talk me into posting and then someone else had to basically post it for me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

PS I don't own anything, pretty much at all unless you count school debt

Chapter 1:

Liquid dropped from a sharp knife into a slowly forming puddle. This time it was water, but earlier it had been an element of life, something far more important.

Red stained the sides of a sink as a girl scrubbed furiously at pinkish spots, trying to make the evidence, and memories, disappear. A bright white bandage stood out on her left arm, the pain reminding her that this was not a dream, and muttering could be heard as she ran through several different excuses. Finding one that was at least semi-believable she finalized her cover story, hoping that anyone who noticed her injury would believe her ramblings.

Frantic scrubbing continued until the girl's hands were rubbed raw and the sink had turned an off white pinkish color from the multiple layers of blood that had been worked into the porcelain.

Later the girl was curled up in bed, arms tight around a dark gold lion, patched and worn, but held together by love and hope. The lion had watched as the girl perfected many routines, but this dance of pain was one that made even stuffed animals wince.

Inky blackness gave way to light as dawn ushered in a new day and the girl drifted off into a fitful sleep.

#RQSB#

Brittany was the first to notice. The only plausible reason for it not being Quinn was because she did not know what to look for. After all, out of their trio, Quinn was the one that spent the most time looking. However, it was Brittany who noticed first, which was probably for the best.

It was a fairly normal day at school. People made their way through the hallways to class while chatting with friends and catching up on everything that had happened over the weekend. The idle chatter of high school, which garnered no more attention from anyone outside the conversations than the annoying buzz of insects did.

Quinn was getting something from her locker while Santana and Brittany were standing a little off to the side, pinkies linked, waiting for the head cheerleader to find whatever she was looking for.

Brittany's gaze wandered from Santana, who was looking at something on her phone, to Quinn, who was still searching for that elusive book, and then down the hall, flitting from person to person before finally settling on Rachel. A frown briefly marred Brittany's features as she tried to figure out what was wrong with Rachel. She wasn't exactly the brunette's friend, but she wanted to be. The frown deepened, she needed to talk to Santana and Quinn about that.

Her eyes were still focused on Rachel, noticing the dark smudges around her eyes and the tense set of her shoulders. But it wasn't Rachel's appearance that gave of the "something is wrong" vibe Brittany was getting, that was nothing out of the ordinary for the small singer. it was more like a slight undertone to the diva's usual exuberant attitude.

Maybe she was just stressed out about a project? That sounded like Rachel, but Brittany wasn't sure, something was off. She shrugged and decided to ask Rachel about it later. Problem shelved until more information could be gathered, Brittany started to turn back to Santana, almost missing the disaster that happened next.

Two freshmen had just made the varsity hockey team and had been given an assignment, an initiation rite, to prove their worth. After being told what to do, they exchanged looks and half-shrugged to show they were both game. Buying two large slushies, they wondered why they had been given such a specific target but passed it off as their teammates getting revenge on the girl for something.

As they made their way through the school, they noticed people either ducking out of their way or smirking at them. They smirked, content that they were part of the elite. If it meant being on top they had no problem throwing these drinks at someone every day.

As they made their way down a hallway they spotted their target, her sweater basically painting a target on her back. Grinning at each other and wanting to impress not only their teammates but the three Cheerios hanging out by a locker just down the hall they picked up the pace, hurrying towards their unfortunate victim.

Rachel was tired. Sleep had been coming less and less frequently since Shelby, she could not think of that woman as her mom, even in her head, had rejected her in favor of Beth. Her thoughts wandered to how Quinn was holding up and then back to the betrayal of her birth mother. Both topics had been chasing each other around her head since the events had happened.

A sigh escaped from her lips as she placed the last book in her bag and plastered on her most famous show face, the Broadway smile.

She turned around and was immediately met with a double slushy to the face. She did not recognize the voices of her tormentors as they laughed and threw a taunting comment at her, and concluded that they must be freshmen from the cracking of their voices, the hallmark of puberty. She sighed again and wiped the ice out of her eyes with the edges of her sleeves before pushing her sleeves up, forgetting why she was wearing long sleeves in the first place, and grabbed her slushy clean up kit before escaping the crowded hallway in favor of the almost always empty bathroom.

The boys barely had time to high five and take two steps before they were pinned to lockers by two Cheerios. Instead of the congratulations they were probably expecting, in their teenage fantasy the congratulations were in the form of kisses, they were faced with two furious cheerleaders. They would have hard pressed to tell which cheerio was more ticked off. Santana looked like she was about to take their heads off while Quinn was literally growling.

"Listen up." Santana barked. "You are never to slushy anyone ever again. Especially her. Comprende?"

Both boys nodded frantically, the tiny parts of their brains that weren't preoccupied with terror trying to figure out how these girls had gotten them at least an inch off the ground. They were quaking in their size 10s, and would be for most of the day as they tried to figure out what went wrong with their initiation.

"If we ever even think that you've slushied someone we will take action and it will not be pleasant." Quinn was in full HBIC mode and her tone reflected it.

This too was met with frantic nods as the boys couldn't look away from the ice cold glares they were receiving. The girls released their victims and shoved them down the hallway.

As soon as the boys regained their equilibrium they took off running.

Santana and Quinn turned to look for Rachel and Brittany, the boys forgotten in their search for the girls. They wondered where the blonde had gone while figuring Rachel was in the bathroom and Brittany was helping her when they couldn't find the dancer.

Brittany had barely caught the slushy disaster. She'd been mid-turn when it happened and had immediately reversed her direction to head toward Rachel. She had seen something in the few seconds it took her to start moving forward that caused her to gasp and pale.

A bandage was tightly wrapped around Rachel's upper left arm. By itself it wasn't a cause for alarm but coupled with the obvious lack of sleep and the look in her eyes Brittany knew that something was going on, and she had a niggling idea of what was going on.

Most people would have shrugged it off or ignored it, thinking that it was a normal occurrence. After all everyone got hurt and had trouble sleeping, that it happened at the same time was nothing to be worried about. That Rachel was actively trying to hide the bandage would have been waved off as the singer wanting to seem stronger than she was or just an accidental cover up considering the well known divatude the brunette sported.

Brittany knew that something was up, not only because of the physical evidence, but also by the diva's somber attitude. So she followed Rachel into the bathroom, barely looking back to see Santana and Quinn taking care of the idiots that had decided to slushy Rachel and smile in approval.

Rachel looked up from where she was standing to see Brittany's reflection in the mirror. She squeaked and tried to cover herself, self conscious and worried that the blonde would comment on the bandage. Her slushied shirt lay on the floor while her fresh one still hung from the back of a bathroom stall. Brittany gave her a small smile and proceeded to help her clean the rest of the slushy off of her. The dancer was extra gentle in her ministrations, having caught the tense set of the brunette's shoulders.

Rachel relaxed slightly and gave Brittany a shaky smile in return as she realized the dancer was not judging and was truly concerned, not just here to further the humiliation.

"How did you get hurt?"

Rachel started at the unexpected question. Most people would have asked on their entrance, rather than helping her before asking invasive questions.

When she gave Brittany a funny look, trying to cover up her nervousness, the blonde ran her hand along the damp bandage. It had been mostly protected from the slushy but their clean up had done some damage and the white was now wet and shaded in grime and slushy residue.

Rachel shrugged as she recalled the story she'd put together.

"The neighbor's cat is a menace and should not be allowed to roam free. It attacked me in my own back yard. I will have to complain once again that the animal be confined to either the house or declawed for public safety."

Brittany nodded slowly but looked at the bandage again. She wasn't going to push the subject, but she didn't quite believe Rachel either. She had cats and there had never been a time in which the claw marks deserved such a large bandage. Maybe Rachel's neighbor had a larger cat. Brittany shrugged off her thoughts, refocusing on Rachel.

Rachel gestured at the door, hoping to get the blonde to leave. She relished the company but realized that Santana and Quinn were not going to be far behind the tall dancer, and she did not want the blonde to be late for class or the other two girls to start asking questions.

"You can go if you want to, Brittany. Santana will be looking for you and Quinn won't be far behind. Thank you for helping me, but I can handle it from here." After all she'd done this same routine so much she had it down to an art and had actually done it while half asleep and sick.

Brittany nodded and reluctantly made her way out the door, knowing that Rachel was right but not wanting to leave the brunette alone.

She walked right into Santana. Luckily, the Latina caught her before she fell. Turning what could have been another disaster into a simple stumble.

Brittany smiled at Santana, thanking her protector.

"Thanks, S."

Santana smiled back, happy Brittany was happy.

"You're welcome Britt."

Quinn smiled at them both, happy to see Santana free with her emotions at school and Brittany happy. The expression became a scowl when Rachel did not follow Brittany out of the bathroom.

"Is she…?"

Brittany nodded at Quinn before she could finish the question, knowing what was going to be asked, and steered the other Cheerios towards the locker room.

"I need to talk to you guys about something."

#RQSB#

Rachel made it through the rest of the day without getting slushied again, something she was extremely thankful for. Rachel was wearing her last set of spare clothes she had brought to school; she made a memo in her planner to bring more. Her arm also hadn't stopped throbbing since second period, not enough to force a reaction but enough to be uncomfortable and distracting.

She was looking forward to the morphine she had "borrowed" from her Dads' medicine cabinet. A long bath was also in her plans, a reward for making it through the Glee club meeting for that day. After all she had to keep up appearances.

As Rachel stepped into the choir room, 30 minutes early, she was surprised to see Brittany, Santana, and Quinn waiting in the risers. She looked at them, curious as to why they were here so early, but shrugged it off as them wanting a quiet place to talk and began her warm ups after returning Brittany's sunshine smile with a shy one of her own.

Rachel felt the trio's stares all throughout her warm-ups, Glee club, and the journey home. The feeling of being watched only disappeared once she'd walked into her house and made it upstairs to her room. She fell onto her bed, tired, but happy to lose the feeling of being watched.

#RQSB#

Brittany had made Santana and Quinn promise to meet her in the choir room during their free period after she'd realized they would be late to class if she explained right after the slushy incident. Santana and Quinn were drained when they finally got to the choir room and slumped into chairs.

They had spent the day enforcing the new Rachel policy, aka the 'leave the girl in argyle the fuck alone' policy. Trying to make numbskull jocks understand the words coming out of their mouths was something neither was ever going to like doing.

Brittany kissed them both, little pecks on the lips, just enough to perk them up. After untangling herself from Santana's grabby hands, Brittany stood in front of Santana and Quinn, hands on her hips.

"Something's wrong with Rachel."

The other two groaned.

"Britt, we just spent the better part of this day beating up jocks, whose ass do I have to beat now?"

Brittany frowned a little, why were Santana and Quinn beating up jocks? Quinn answered her thought and Brittany wondered for a second if the head cheerleader could read her mind.

"Most of them don't want to follow the new 'leave Rachel alone' policy so I think the real question is who do we have to beat up again?"

Brittany smiled at that.

"Aww. You did that for Rachel?"

Santana and Quinn blushed and nodded. Brittany smiled at them, giving both of them hugs. Glad that they were defending Rachel.

"Now who do we have to beat up, Britt?"

Brittany frowned again, not at Santana, but at the question she had asked.

"Nobody's hurt Rachel since this morning's slushy attack."

"Then what's wrong with Berry?" Santana sighed.

Brittany's frown deepened and her voice took on a slight edge, confusion and the hint of a whine.

"I don't know."

Santana and Quinn exchanged a look. Anyone else would have been brushed off or laughed at Brittany while they explained that they must be hallucinating, because while Rachel had off days, there was never really anything wrong with her besides her diva attitude and lack of fashion sense. But this was Brittany and Brittany knew a whole lot more than most people gave her credit for, especially about other human beings. The blonde dancer was not stupid, just a little slow and more in tune with nature.

"What's the plan, Britt?"

Brittany smiled hesitantly.

"Friendship."

Santana and Quinn nodded. They had talked about it before, how they wanted to befriend Rachel but weren't sure when it would be a good idea, and now the plans they had talked about were finally going to be put into action. Hopefully Rachel would realize they were serious and find it in her heart to forgive them for past instances of popularity induced stupidity.

#RQSB#

During Glee, Santana and Quinn paid more attention to Rachel, it was still discreet, but they also weren't as worried about getting caught this time. Now that they were paying attention they too noticed that Rachel was putting on a show for everyone, instead of being herself. The cracks showed in the edge of a bandage barely visible beneath her shirt, the dark purple and blue smudges under Rachel's eyes, and her less verbose speech. Not enough change for most people to even notice, much less to notice that something was wrong.

When she'd seen the smudged make up and what she assumed were bruises Quinn had been beyond furious, thinking someone had given Rachel a black eye. Santana calmed her down with a hand on her thigh as she whisper-explained the differences between black eyes and lack of sleep.

What made all three girls' blood boil was that no one else in Glee club seemed to notice, including Finn, who couldn't stop staring after Rachel like a lost puppy. If the boy had at least noticed that something was wrong they might have been more lenient about his staring, but as he continued to drool the tall quarterback moved to the top of the trio's list of people to kill.

They followed Rachel home in Santana's car and only went back to their house once they had reassured themselves that Rachel was safe in her house. She may not know it yet but the small diva was under the trio's protection and they took that very seriously. Nobody was going to mess with their diva. And if someone did they would face the consequences.

##RQSB##