Chapter Text
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut USA
September 1st, 2012
It’s Moving Day for campuses across the country. Bustling with students stepping into their new beginnings, it’s a day full of tearful goodbyes, awkward first impressions, and collective confusion.
Quinn drops what she hoped was the last of her luggage by her feet and takes it all in. Her shoebox of a dorm is… well, it’s a shoebox. The anticipation of the big move has led her to a rather melancholic conclusion. A mix of relief, then forced optimism, and now disappointment. She has no words to describe her shoebox; she’s used all her grammatical energy on the trip here. Babbling away about her big plans and dreams, all bright-eyed and wide-grinning creepily to her mother, who wore the same face. Quinn masked her true feelings well. To Quinn's dismay, they say a mother always knows, but there have been no questions of concern or uncertainty. She’s lying to herself if she wasn’t completely second-guessing this entire thing and is so ready to pack it up the second her mom smells her fear. Too depressing? Too pathetic? So, out of character for Lucy Quinn Fabray to wimp out, isn’t it? After losing her reputation twice, after Beth, after Skanks, and after her car crash, it would seem that Quinn was 100% ready to start over. As far as she knows, she’s the only recent Lima graduate to make it to New Haven. A gift of a clean slate, just like she prayed every night at her bedside and Sunday service. Thank the good lord.
Well…
The L-shaped dorm is cold and dark. Only fair as this building is centuries old. One light fixture that seems to be hanging by a thread illuminated the centre of the room, leaving the corners in the shadows. Two loft beds are placed on opposite sides of the room, claiming their respective wall as the only personal space the girls will get for themselves. The rest of the dorm surface is either negotiable or reluctantly communal. This is where the elite Ivy League scholars stay in their first year. What a warm welcome to adulthood. At least the closet is a decent walk-in.
Nonetheless, this is it. Quinn is here; she’ll make it homey. A quick stop at Target for some decor, some time, and a space heater will make this comfortable. She’ll be busy in class or socializing; the dorm is only really for sleep anyway.
“Quinnie, help me with this bag!” Judy Fabray called out from the hallway, Quinn snapped out of her trance and hurried to her mother’s aid. “When I fought the airline staff about charging your bags, I had no idea how much you packed!”
“Sorry, Mom. I, I don’t know when I’m coming back to Lima.” She replied between breaths as the two shuffled the comically large suitcase into the room. She hadn’t told her mom this yet, something about how if she came back to Lima, she might never leave again.
“Frannie, Johnathan, and his... parents are coming home for Thanksgiving, honey. Also, didn’t you make a pact with your friends that you would reunite over the holidays?”
Quinn rolled her eyes. If there’s anything that would drive her away from home, it would be Frannie Fabray’s very Christian conservative in-laws at the table discernibly judging her divorced mother and teen mom sister. Adding to the passive-aggressive comments served with mashed potatoes, Santana called it. Quinn is gay. The irony of it all. She loved her ex-boyfriends dearly but learned that it wasn’t the type of love she sought. A small bonus about moving to Yale is that maybe this is the time she can express her sexuality. For the pact, Quinn was torn. She would love to see her friends again; this summer was hard. She knows that Puck needs her to keep him in check occasionally. Sam and Brittany, too. But Quinn feels like she has already said goodbye for good. Besides, she talked a big game about leaving the past behind; she didn’t want to be a hypocrite.
She started her summer with a road trip to Louisville with Brittany and Santana. They toured the campus and left Santana there as she started to cheer camp with the Cardinals. The drive back with Brittany was quiet, poor Britt. She didn’t talk about it much, but Quinn could tell Brittany was unhappy about repeating her senior year without her girlfriend despite claiming she was. She didn’t finish the ice cream cone Quinn bought her, even with extra rainbow sprinkles.
Finn was next to go. Off to the military in honour of his father like he promised. This was a particularly hard goodbye; Quinn couldn’t bear to lose him. Finn, stubborn as always, went ahead anyway. Before he left, he gave her a silver bracelet with both initials engraved on a pendant and a guarantee he’d come home. Quinn hung out with the Hudson-Hummels every day for two weeks after his departure.
Quinn held Tina in her arms as she sobbed, and they both watched Mike’s plane take off on his way to Chicago. A couple of days later, she received a phone call from Tina. The long-distance didn’t work out. She went on a short vacation to Toronto with the Joneses to visit Mercedes’ brother Leon, a McMaster student. Canada was a very nice summer retreat; however, Leon Jones gave the girls very confusing signals about being college students. It was simultaneously the best and worst thing that had ever happened to him. When they returned to Lima, Quinn helped Mercedes pack for her journey to pop stardom. She then said goodbye again, this time to her best friend.
Then there’s Rachel, the first to go. Rachel Berry was special to her in a way Quinn just can’t describe. The same girl she tormented in their freshman and sophomore years. Her goodbye was somehow the hardest. It was too short. Thanks to Finn, she only got a small hug before the young Barbra-to-be boarded the train to her destiny in the Big Apple. Quinn wished that she spent a little more time with her. To make up for the years she bullied her, for when her delusional self tried to get Finn back, or for when she slapped her at Junior Prom.
Quinn made her way to the loft closer to the window. It was more secluded, and it had a beautiful view of the campus. She hoped her roommate didn't mind and is... not a bad roommate. Her mother draped the sheets over the mattress topper while Quinn set up her desk below the bed. After some struggle, she finally pulls the power bar out behind the desk. It’s stained and cracked, and the extension cord is mangled beyond repair. Quinn stupidly pressed the “On” button and ZAP! She fell on her back.
“Quinnie, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Add a new power bar to the shopping list.”
The Fabrays spent their Saturday shopping and exploring the campus. After a few hours, Quinn’s side of the dorm was looking much better. She’s proud of picking her own essentials and going for a fun pastel theme to contrast the dark and depressing. She spent the rest of her day framing and hanging her photos. She wanted to keep these photos pristine as they captured her favourite memories. The New Directions at Nationals both times, posing with a big smile on the top of the pyramid as head Cheerio, Rocky Horror and West Side Story, the Glee club’s first yearbook photo, pictures of her and Mercedes, the “Unholy Trinity,” and her all-time favourite, Puck holding Beth. Quinn made a mental note to call Puck later.
“Okay, honey. This is it.” Judy stretched out her arms, awaiting her daughter’s embrace. Quinn went in with no hesitation, holding in her tears. “Please call and try to find a Jonathan with better parents.”
“Oh, mommy. About that... I’m...”
Judy Fabray smiled softly at her little girl, “I know, I had a feeling. I love you, Lucy Quinn. Look, I’m really trying to be the best mom I can be to you. I regret everything I did wrong by you, I sat and watched as your father threw you out. I’ll never ever forget that day.”
“But you’re here now and were there when it mattered. You changed so much for the better. I may be a teen mom, I may like girls, but you put me above your morals and religion. You still believed in me.” Quinn paused and took a deep, staggering breath. “I wish daddy was more like you.”
“I pray every day he comes around. I reached out to him when you got your admission letter. I know deep down that he is proud of you.”
“I’ll come home for Thanksgiving, mom.”
She walked back to her dorm after helping her mother into the cab. She was officially alone—alone, alone. Here come the waterworks. Her meltdown was then cut short by the slow creak of the door. A cute, tall woman with brown and blonde highlights entered the room—her roommate.
“Oh, hey. Sorry for interrupting. Guessing your folks just left. I’m Jennette, but you can call me Jenny. I’m studying pre-law.”
“Quinn, I’m pre-law as well. Do you need the space to move in with your parents?”
Jenny chuckled, “Nope, it’s just me if you want to help. I said my goodbyes at the airport. I spent the whole summer in London with them.”
So this girl has travelled, would be great to make a friend with a worldly perspective.
“Were you there for the Olympics?” Quinn asked,
“Yep, ceremony and all. My father is a member of the IOC, and my mom is an ambassador. I’m from Montreal, but I was always fascinated by the American Ivy League.”
Quinn smiled. She is rich, too. She is not the best conversation starter, but she could very much help Quinn get over Ohio.