Heuristic: There's No Us In Success

6

One last determined effort from Judy and she and Quinn finally found themselves in the foyer of the dance school Rachel was currently mid-lesson at. Fortunately various types of music were permeating the corridor suggesting that their less that stealthy entrance may yet have gone unnoticed and the element of surprise was still maintained.

"Obviously not expecting many wheelchair bound would be dancers," harrumphed Quinn moderately embarrassed at the huge amount of effort that had been required to scale the concrete steps into the building. Her mother was looking decidedly dishevelled and overheated from her efforts at manouvering Quinn and her chair up the steps and through a set of unwieldy doors.

"Well," puffed Judy sucking in huge gulps of air and mopping her brow with a dainty handkerchief she'd retrieved from her handbag," it's all worth it in the end." She drew in another lungful of breath; maybe she needed to do more exercise?

" After all you haven't seen Rachel for at least 12 hours" Judy added mischievously.

"More like fourteen," grumped Quinn still feeling decidedly awkward that her current circumstances obliged her to be dependent on her mother for help. She'd hoped she could just get her mother to drop her off at the Dance school but one look at the Kilamanjaro of stairs leading up to the entrance had almost forced her to abandon her plans to take Rachel up on her tentative suggestion yesterday that Quinn could always come and watch. It was hard enough to have to ask her mother for a lift and then give a brief explanation of why she needed dropping off. Her mother's only comment of "Rachel, of course" had left her bewildered. Judy projected a knowing air about Rachel, although quite what she thought she knew left Quinn puzzled and the way she sort of half-smiled as she said 'Rachel' just irritated her. So she had looked at the stairs with a sinking heart and a resignation to returning home defeated. Judy however was having none of it and Quinn was still unsure whether allowing her mother to bustle her into things was such a good idea. On the other hand, if you just looked at the bigger picture, she wanted to see Rachel and her mother was enabling that to happen so it was hard to see the harm in letting Judy take charge.

Surely it wasn't a crime to want to be Rachel's best friend? Okay maybe the need to be close to Rachel, have her undivided attention and tight hugs was unusual - unique even for her -but surely it was just a sign of her growing maturity and appreciation of the value of friendships without expectation of some kind of gain. Rachel just made her feel...it was hard to describe other than a warmth in her chest just here and besides Rachel being around just brightened her day. Why waste time being apart when they had more fun together? Quinn suddenly had a confidence crisis, what if Rachel was just being polite when she extended the invitation to see her dance? Maybe the hesitancy wasn't so much about worrying whether Quinn would want to come but was in fact a real reluctance to have Quinn there? After all the Physio had kind of railroaded Rachel into agreeing to help Quinn with her exercises away from the clinic so maybe Rachel was in fact feeling a bit smothered from the amount of her time Quinn was taking up?

Judy could sense that Quinn was beginning to doubt the wisdom of her surprise so she briskly pushed Quinn's chair along the corridor glancing through the spectator windows as she went. She passed the child ballerinas and stopping outside a room where a stereotypical dance instructor - seriously how did anyone get their hair in such a high tight bun, and what was the walking stick about? - was casting a rather critical eye over four performers as she counted time by banging her stick on the floor.

"Three and Four, back straight, eyes forward. Hold it." The woman's voice was clear and authoritative. "Okay, back to starting positions."

The four teenage girls moved back in the room and formed identical starting poses. Finally Rachel's eyes caught a glimpse of the new audience at the window and a huge grin spread across her face instantly dispelling any doubts Quinn had had about whether Rachel really wanted her to be there. Judy took this as her cue to exit stage left, her cupid role over.