Something - Quinn Fabray

Chapter 42

"Quinn, can you stay for a sec?" Shelby held the blonde cheerleader back after class. Ryan looked at them inquisitively, before leaving the room at Quinn's nod. Shelby held back a smile, the two of them were sort of cute.

"What is it?" Quinn asked. "If this is about the therapist -"

"It's not," Shelby said quickly. "Although I'm happy to talk if you need it. I actually wanted to ask you about something else." She paused. "I found Ryan wearing one of those iced drinks on his face and shirt last Friday, and he was really evasive about it when I asked. I've also seen some other students with the same problem. So, I want to know if there's anything going on that I should know about." The teenager looked away guiltily. Aha, so there was something!

"I'm not really sure he'd want me to tell you..."

Shelby rolled her eyes. "Quinn, if there's something going on here, I need to know so that I can do something about it."

Quinn looked at her for a moment. "I don't think Ryan would want me to tell you, but you should ask Mr. Schue." The bell for the next class rang. "I should go, I've got Geometry."

Shelby watched her go. She didn't exactly appreciate having to go on a treasure hunt for information, but she'd been right. Now she had to find Will.

Two periods later, she found him in the teachers' lounge. She sat down opposite him. "I need to talk to you," she said without preamble.

"Okay..." Will put down his newspaper.

"I've seen several students walking around looking like they've spilled those slush drinks on them, you know, the ones from the cafeteria? School's only been in for about two months, but I think I've seen a couple of dozen of them. Now, I really don't think everyone here is that clumsy, but I asked around, and it sounds like something's up. And I heard that you know about it." Shelby looked at him expectantly.

"Wait, you didn't know about that?" Will asked. "I thought Ryan would've told you about it."

"Well, obviously not," Shelby said sarcastically. "What is 'it,' exactly?"

Will sighed. "Well, it's sort of a thing for the popular kids, like the football team and the Cheerios, to, uh, toss slushies in the faces of the less popular kids. The glee kids seem to be popular targets."

Shelby gaped at him. "And you haven't been doing anything to stop it?"

"Shelby, I've tried stopping it, but the teachers can't be everywhere at once."

"So that's it?" Shelby asked disbelievingly.

"Look, I've already gone to Figgins about it, but he says we can't do anything unless we have actual proof. And kids will be kids, we can't really stop them."

Shelby shook her head. "Will, our job is to teach these students, your inaction is simply teaching them that it's okay to throw things in people's faces, it's okay to call other people names, because there aren't going to be any consequences for their actions," she told him. "And it's teaching your glee kids that there's no one who cares enough to do anything about it."

"Of course, I care," Will argued. "But there's only so much we can do."

"That's where you're wrong, Will. We should be able to stop this. And how long will it be until something really serious happens? Those football players are getting away with it, it's just going to get worse and worse. And it's not just them we have to worry about, have you thought about what this does to the victims? This is exactly how school shootings start." She stood up. "You might want to turn a blind eye, but I sure as hell won't."