As always, unless stated otherwise, these are all Not my characters, and I shall give credit where credit is due, at the bottom so as not to ruin the story.
Enjoy!
As a lone yellow cab pulled up in front of the large rolling estate of McKinley Academy for Wayward Girls, a single figure could be seen sitting on the right hand side of the vehicle, head bopping to the beat bleeding from the girls headphones. After the driver called out a gruff we've arrived the girl shoved her iPod in her pocket, and grabbed her duffle bag from the seat beside her before promptly exiting her current mode of transportation. Once she'd grabbed her other suitcase from the trunk she tipped the man and turned away. Slinging her duffle bag over her shoulder and gripping her suitcase tighter she surveyed the large sign outside of the imposing aging Victorian style architecture. All it was missing was gargoyles guarding the campus. The short brunette sighed heavily before beginning the tedious walk up from the road to the large double doors.
"Alright, McKinley Academy, get ready, cause Rachel Berry's going to rock this bitch."
Once Rachel had made it inside the large institution for higher learning she could barely believe her eyes. While the outside had looked pretty outdated and not very well kempt the inside was a total reverse. Someone had painstakingly taken the time in preserving everything inside McKinley Academy's buildings, Rachel was slightly surprised that there was actual electric lighting and A/C instead of torches and candles. Another difference to the outside was the fact that there were students everywhere. Apparently Rachel had arrived right at class change. She watched the different girls milling about, all in variations of the McKinley Academy uniform. The most surprising thing to Rachel was the number of girls wearing feminine cut black blazers with red and black ties, white shirts, and black pants. But they were all vastly outnumbered by the girls in black or black and red plaid skirts, white shirts, with black vests and red ties, or the same ties as the more masculine uniforms. Rachel was genuinely surprised at the possible combinations, nothing like her old boarding school Greenbrooke, a co-ed academy in Lima Ohio where the uniforms were much stricter. After watching several of the different girls walk past her, none paying her any attention, she finally decided to stop someone and ask where the main office was so she could get checked in. She watched out for someone who appeared to know the what's what of McKinley until her eyes finally landed on a girl who was barely taller than her with short brown hair that had been chopped haphazardly into a pixie cut. She was gracefully bouncing through the main foyer, her black skirt flipping around almost provocatively as Rachel grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her to a stop. The girl quickly spun around and before Rachel could say anything was appraising Rachel's outfit. The pixie-haired girl made a clucking sound and shook her head slightly before sighing.
"I swear, you just might be more fashionably challenged then Bella. I mean seriously, it's your arrival day and you show up in jeans and a band t-shirt? Seriously, first impressions are everything. I'm Mary Alice, Mary Alice Brandon, but please call me Alice." Rachel's eyes widened slightly, she knew that she herself could talk someone's ear off but damn, this girl was something else.
"Rachel Berry, as you've already guessed this is my, arrival day did you call it? I was hoping you could tell me where the main office is, and in regards to my clothes, I don't really care what anyone here thinks. I'd rather be comfortable then purposefully make myself uncomfortable to follow todays standards of fashion." Alice's eyebrows shot up and the corner of her mouth quirked into a smile.
"I like that I don't give a fuck attitude. Tell you what Newbie, I'll show you to the office and the dorm and the Caf' and the grounds and all that hub bub. C'mon, Headmistress Corcoran is probably expecting you, the crazy bitch that she is." Rachel chuckled slightly and followed Alice up the staircase in the middle of the foyer and up the corridor just off it and to the right. The hallways were quickly emptying out as other girls got to their respective classes but even in the almost deserted hallways students were yelling out friendly greetings to Alice.
"You seem pretty popular around here, am I in the presence of high school royalty?" Alice laughed like a tinkling bell before shaking her head, her hair bouncing back and forth animatedly.
"Oh no, nothing like that, well actually kind of, yeah. Everyone saying hi to me are the girls in my grade and a few freshman, I'm the Sophomore class president, therefore I'm on the student council. I'm not really part of the royalty per say, at least not yet. Oh! What grade are you in? Silly me, I should've asked that from the beginning." Rachel nodded her head and laughed a bit at Alice's seeming flightiness.
"I'm a Junior. That's pretty cool that your class president. Isn't that normally like a popularity contest? And so there Is a royalty? Ugh, should've known. All boarding schools are the same." Alice giggled as she made another turn leading Rachel farther into the building.
"Awe, we probably won't have any classes together than. But you might with Bella and Rose. I'll look at your schedule and let you know if you do, they're really nice. And of course there's a royalty. It's high school." Rachel nodded, hoping to glean as much information as she could from the rambunctious younger girl.
"Bella and Rose? Your friends I'm guessing? And who runs things around here anyway. Back at my old school, it was the kids in the performing arts department who were the most popular, surprisingly, with the jocks coming in at a close second." Alice's eyes widened as they took the final turn that would take them to the headmistress' office.
"Bella's my girlfriend, and Rose is my adopted sister. They're both juniors. That's actually really surprising because our performing arts girls are the ones who get picked on the most, it would be weird seeing those chicks popular. Around here it's the jocks and the cheerleaders. But, the True people who run things are the Soccer team and the Cheerios, that's what we call cheerleaders. Don't mess with them, Rachel, okay? You have a little bit of protection being friends with me, because Rose is Head Cheerio, but try and stay under their radar. Those girls can all be vicious." Alice stopped in front of a heavy mahogany marked Headmistress Shelby Corcoran. "Alright, good luck, show no fear, and I'll see you when you get out!" Before Rachel could protest Alice rapped on the door three times in quick succession and the plopped down on the bench seat beside the door.
"Enter!" Rachel mouthed the words 'I hate you' at Alice before letting herself into the headmistress' office. She shifted nervously with her bags before locking eyes with the dark chocolate brown eyes of the imposing woman behind the desk. Rachel rubbed her arm nervously as Headmistress Corcoran stood up and came around her desk to stop in front of Rachel. The pair was silent for a few moments before the older woman wrapped Rachel in warm hug and Rachel let out the breath she had been holding, dropping her bags beside her. Rachel held on to the older woman tightly for a few moments, until her elder counterpart pulled away to get a good look at her. Shelby kept a tight hold on the girl's arms and couldn't keep the happy smile spreading across her mouth.
"Oh Rachel, it's so good to see you, I'm so happy you're here. How was the trip? Did you get here okay? Was the flight from Ohio satisfactory? How are Hiram and Leroy? Come, come, sit down make yourself comfortable." Instead of taking the seat in front of Shelby's large desk Rachel was lead to the side of the room where a comfy leather couch was situated in front of a low coffee table. Shelby continued to rattle off questions as she poured some tea in to two cups before joining Rachel on the couch. "You must tell me everything, all of the details that have led to you sitting here in front of me." Rachel let out a laugh and quickly took a sip of her tea.
"Mom, please, calm down. Jeez, you never seem this excited when I Skype you. You haven't let me get a word in edgewise." Shelby sat back and smiled, she couldn't help being excited. Her only daughter had decided to come live with her.
"Well it's not every day that you come to live with me, forgive me for being a bit overzealous. How did you even find my office? This place is like Pan's Labyrinth." Rachel smiled and relaxed beside her mother.
"One of the girls brought me up here, Alice. Alice Brandon." Shelby nodded, very familiar with the young girl Rachel had named.
"Ah yes, Ms. Brandon. Good head on her shoulders that one. Her girlfriend is a bit of a troublemaker and her older sister is the captain of McKinley's National Championship cheerleading squad. The teachers expect great things from Alice Brandon, she's a good friend to have Rachel, I approve." Rachel laughed before nudging her mom's arm.
"You have to approve of all my friends now, huh? When did that happen?" Shelby rolled her eyes.
"The day you got kicked out of school for defacing public property with that mo-hawked boy and the one who constantly looked like he had gas." Rachel rolled her eyes much like her mother before sighing.
"Puck and Finn, Mom. And we were only spray painting that sign in protest. It's quite unfair that Carmel High School got to deface our school sign without any retribution, but when we spray painted theirs all the sudden we become teenage felons, the justice system is biased towards the supposed 'little guy' public school kids when it comes to private school kids." Shelby couldn't help but let out a laugh at her daughters speech before rubbing her hair affectionately.
"Yes well my little convict that's what landed you here none the less. And yes, I am most happy to have you, but if you mess up here you won't have anywhere else to go. So please, for me and your dads, try to keep your nose clean, kid?" Rachel smiled her winning smile before wrapping her mom in a hug. She was most grateful to the older woman for not only handling the incident so well but for taking her in as well.
"Thanks mom. I'm going to do my best not to let you down." Shelby smiled into Rachel's hair and placed a kiss at the top of her head.
"I know you will, sweetheart, I know."
Alice had lost track of how long she'd been waiting for Rachel outside of Shelby's office, but hey, it was keeping her out of gym class, so she considered it a win-win. She was shaken from her thoughts about this year's Parisian spring fashion festival when Shelby's door flew open and Rachel stepped out.
"Now Ms. Berry, I don't want to hear anything about you causing any problems, do you understand me? This is your last chance school, get kicked out of here, and it's on your way to the juvenile detention center. Now, out! Oh, hello Alice, hope you're having a good day of classes today." Alice smiled brightly at the intimidating Headmistress as she grabbed Rachel's wrist.
"Wonderful day, Headmistress. I hope all is well with yours also." Shelby chuckled and winked at Rachel before turning around to head back into her office.
"Have a good day girls, remember, no shenanigans." Alice nodded even though the headmistress couldn't see her as the door was slammed shut. Rachel laughed at Alice's pale face and Alice just rolled her eyes before tugging Rachel towards the dorms.
"Jeez, she had you in there forever! You must have seriously been in need of some attitude adjusting; I didn't realize you were such a badass Rachel Berry. Let me see your schedule, oh and what dorm are you in?" Rachel fished her schedule out of her back pocket and handed it to Alice before responding.
"Um, she said something about a Rose or something like that." Alice nodded, looking over the older girls schedule without really paying attention to where she was headed.
"Mmmm, Rose Dorm, 218. That means it's the second floor on the right hand side. You'll have a nice view of the quad, and it appears you have a roommate. That sucks. It's the upper class dorm so it's a 50/50 chance of being a senior, which can have its perks. Seniors don't have to be back in their rooms til 2am, so when the Dorm RA does room checks your room won't get checked til 2am. At least, if you have a senior room mate." Rachel nodded, easily keeping pace besides Alice as they finally exited the main building of McKinley. Alice continued browsing Rachel's schedule as they walked, calmly pointing out the buildings around them.
"As you can see, the M.A.W.G. is set up on a grid system, with the courtyard here being its center, the main building we just came housing all of the core classes and the like. Then to the left over there you have the Caf', its open 24 hours, all you have to do is swipe your card, but after 11pm on the weekdays it's basically fend for yourself with what's there. To our immediate right we have the performing arts and fine arts plaza, which houses the auditorium, the choir room, the band room, and all of the art studios. This rather large imposing building we are about to pass that makes up the fourth 'wall' of this square around this particular courtyard is the science center, it has all of the chem labs and a rather impressive greenhouse. Now, as we continue down this path on the right we are going to come upon what everyone calls the Quad with three more buildings surrounding it, with the back of the science center being its first 'wall'. Straight across here with have the Lily Dorm, which is all under classmen. To the right is the Indoor sport complex. It has an indoor basketball court, pool, and weight room, and then on our left here is Rose Dorm. Here is where you and I shall rest our weary heads at night after long trying days of academic rigor and boredom. Any questions so far?" Rachel couldn't help but laugh at Alice's long speech and tour thus far of the campus, which was huge in comparison to her old school. She knew her mother's school was well off, she just hadn't imagined How well. Granted it was partly due to the money her mom had mentioned had been donated by several benefactors over the years for keeping their daughters scandals under wraps and for being one of the best "reform" schools in the country.
"I have to say so far, it's all pretty simple. Plus I have a great tour guide." Alice laughed before pulling Rachel into the dorm. Alice waved at the girl behind the front desk and smiled.
"Hey Faithy! How are you doing today?" The brunette behind the desk scowled and rolled her eyes at the exuberant pixie haired girl, barely looking up from her magazine.
"Five by five, kid. What's up, B's not here right now and neither is Bells. Wait, lemme guess, Bella 'forgot her keys' again and you need to unlock her room to get them for her. You know you aren't supposed to be in the upper class dorms when she's not here right? I could get into a lot of trouble letting you up there… Ah fuck it, I don't care, get outta here you little hellion." Rachel and Alice both laughed and the girl, Faith as Alice had named her, grinned goofily back at them. Alice caught her breath before re-addressing Faith.
"I'm actually not here to get into Bella's room right now; we need the key to Rachel's new room. She's moving into 218. By the way, Rachel Berry this is Faith Lehane, one of Rose Dorm's RA's. She's a senior, and captain of the mixed martial arts club." Faith smiled and extended her hand to Rachel who shook it and smiled.
"Nice to meet ya, any friend of Ali's is a friend of mine. 218 you say? Oh man, that's killer. If I'm right, I know Exactly who your roommate is." Faith began moving some papers around the desk before finally finding the one she wanted. "Ah! Here's my room roster. Yep, 218. The Queen She-Bitch herself. Quinn Fabray." Rachel felt her stomach tighten when she saw the slightly scared look on Alice's face and the sad look on Faith's.
"Okay, you guys are really scarring me, who the hell is Quinn Fabray." It was like the name sent chills down both the other girls spines. Alice looked like she visibly began to shake, and Faith nervously ran her hand through her hair before speaking up.
"She's the Queen Bee, the most popular girl at McKinley Academy. She's also the scariest bitch I've ever met, and I've seen my girlfriend and Cordelia both match up cycles. When she's not ruling this school with an iron fist, she's the captain of the soccer team." Rachel's eyes widened as she listened to Faith with bated breath before Alice cut in.
"That's not even the worst of it… The rumors say, she Killed her two best friends." Faith nodded sadly.
"Sold their souls for popularity. Poor saps didn't even know what was coming." Rachel's eyes were wide and terrified; she didn't want to share a room with a popular psychopath. Hell no, she'd rather live in her mom's cottage on the other side of campus then have to share her living space with an apparent homicidal teenager. Before she could say anything Faith tossed Alice the key to Rachel's new room, crypt maybe?, and Alice perked up slightly.
"Hey, at least your roommates a senior. That means we'll get to hang out super late." Rachel watched dumbfounded as Alice skipped off towards the stairs and Faith chuckled beside her.
"We're just messing with you, kid. Quinn isn't to bad, she doesn't even really care about being popular anymore. She did last year, but that was before… well her two best friends really did die, but the whole rumors thing, that's what they are, just rumors. They all got in a car wreck after a soccer game last year. Quinn was out for the rest of the season, and well… yeah, she hasn't truly been the same since, so, give her a break, okay? But you better hurry, it appears Ali waits for no woman." Rachel nodded quickly before taking off after Alice up the stairs. She absorbed all of the information she was learning today before sighing heavily as she reached the second landing. Her first day wasn't even totally over and she was already mentally exhausted. She followed the trail of Alice's giggles before coming across a plaque on the side of the wall that read 218 Quinn Fabray, but the I in Quinn had been adjusted to an E, making the paper read Queen Fabray. Rachel rolled her eyes at the play on words before stepping through the open door, and her new home for the rest of the year.
A/N
Sup guys, its Noah, and it has been a long time since I've posted any new fanfic work of anytime. I know a lot of you are going to be disappointed that I haven't updated The Dancer and the DJ or Orphans, Stars, and High Schoolers but I'm not even sure where this fic came from. I started writing it this morning at about 6am and it kinda just all flowed out of me. I haven't written anything in a while so please feel free to let me know if this completely Sucks or not. A lot has changed over the past year, my life partner and I separated, I got a dog, and I fell in love with a stripper. Fun times. Well anyway, hope you enjoyed this, and remember, review follow faves will determine whether or not this fic gets to live. (:
~Noah