Author's Note: This is based off a book I read called Animal Attraction by Jamie Ponti. There's only going to be a few similarities; the story won't be exactly the same. I don't know how long this story will be, but I plan on it being cute and funny, and I'm really hoping that I succeed. This story title comes from "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by the Simple Minds.
As always, the flashback is in italics. Also, this story takes place in New York, and… yeah. Enjoy!
As I'm sure we're all feeling, prayers, love, and support go out to Cory Monteith, his friends, family, and everyone else affected.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Glee or the novel this is slightly based off of.
"This summer internship is going to be amazing," Rachel Berry declared as she left her advisor's office with her friend, Kurt Hummel.
"Whoever would have guessed that you would spend the summer as a singing mermaid at McKinley Amusement Park?" Kurt teased. "Seashell bra and all."
Rachel rolled her eyes and continued on as if Kurt hadn't spoken. "You need to thank your brother for putting in a good word for us," she said.
"I don't know if I should thank him just yet," Kurt grumbled. "They don't have a definite position for me."
"But they will have something for you. And you could be one of the event coordinators," Rachel pointed out. "You love doing that sort of thing!"
"But I won't know for sure until we get there. If I end up serving food at one of those booths, I'll…" Kurt trailed off and shuddered. "I refuse to wear one of those hats. Or those shirts. Or anything relating to the food service industry."
Rachel wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulder and squeezed. "Relax, Kurt! I'm going to be a mermaid, and you're going to be an even coordinator, and this summer is going to be amazing. Nothing is going to ruin this!"
No. This could not be happening.
Rachel stared in horror at the brown and furry… thing she was expected to wear for the duration of her summer. There was no possible way that this was actually happening. She had to have been dreaming. That was the only explanation.
"Is there a problem, Miss Berry?"
Rachel looked up at her new boss and slowly shook her head. Shannon Beiste grinned at her and handed her the large fiberglass head that was shaped as a beaver. Rachel stared at the wide eyes and somewhat creepy smile with the buck teeth. She tried her best not to wince and instead put her good acting skills to use. She was going to need it to make it through this summer, anyway.
"You're going to be Betty Beaver, Miss Berry," Beiste declared. Then she turned towards Kurt before she studied the rack of heads in front of her. "Now, Mr. Hummel. I think that we're going to give you the character of Alan Alligator."
Kurt blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Alan Alligator," Beiste repeated. "You look like you'd be the right size for the costume." And with that said, Beiste lifted the costume alligator head off the rack and dropped it into Kurt's arms. He staggered under the weight and scowled darkly at their boss.
"Now that the two of you have been assigned your characters, you have to go through orientation. And then you'll have to meet with Dakota Stanley to learn your dances."
"Dances? Excuse me?" Kurt said again. "What do you mean, we have to learn dances?"
Beiste raised an eyebrow, but she seemed otherwise unfazed by Kurt's less than savory attitude. "You've been to McKinley Amusement Park before, correct?"
"Of course I have," Kurt grumbled. He may not have grown up in New York like Rachel had, but his friends had made sure that he had a chance to visit the amusement park during his freshman year at NYU.
"Then you know that our characters dance. You were aware of that fact, weren't you, Rachel?" Beiste asked.
"I was," Rachel mumbled. Given that she had grown up in New York, she had been visiting the local amusement park ever since she was a little girl. There was a time when she had loved the characters of the park. But now that she was going to be one, she didn't know how she felt about it. "But I thought that I was going to be a mermaid this summer."
Beiste gave Rachel a sympathetic look. "Look at it this way, kids. You're still working in the entertainment department of the park. You get paid the exact same. You just won't be a mermaid, Rachel. And Kurt, you won't be working on the event planning."
Rachel tried to keep the sullen look off of her face, but she knew that she wasn't succeeding very well. Kurt, for his part, didn't bother to hide the dark scowl on his face. He hadn't planned on spending his summer dressed as an alligator.
"Don't worry. We have a lot of fun in the zoo crew," Beiste said. "I'm sure that you're all going to have a very enjoyable summer."
"Zoo crew?" Kurt squeaked. "What is a zoo crew?"
Rachel sighed. "It's what they call the group of characters that walk around the amusement park," Rachel explained. She never thought that she was going to end up in the zoo crew. She had just wanted to be a singing mermaid (and yes, she was aware that as far as summer jobs went, a singing mermaid wasn't exactly the greatest one).
Beiste grinned and patted both Rachel and Kurt on the shoulder. "When Finn heard that you couldn't have your original jobs anymore, he made sure that you could still have a spot in the entertainment department."
Kurt groaned and closed his eyes. "I'm going to kill my brother."
Now knowing that Finn Hudson was part of the reason she was on the zoo crew, Rachel was inclined to agree with Kurt.
Both Rachel and Kurt were going to be juniors at the Tisch School at NYU. They were both majoring in theater and hoped to have careers on Broadway one day. After speaking to their advisor, they had managed to get a summer job at an amusement park upstate. They had heard about it through Kurt's older brother, Finn Hudson (he also attended NYU, but as an education major. He was also going to be a senior for the upcoming fall semester).
Rachel had visited the amusement park many times as a child. Her favorite part had always been the group of singing mermaids. McKinley Amusement Park was a very small water park, and the mermaids were one of the main attractions. They had a lagoon in the middle of the park, and twice a day they put on a singing show for a large audience.
The best part was that the mermaids got to stay after the show and do a meet and greet with the audience. In reality, it was pretty much just an excuse for guys to flirt with them. The mermaids at McKinley were known for being beautiful in addition to being very good singers.
Rachel had managed to snag a job as the main singing mermaid. When she had originally auditioned, they weren't going to accept her because she didn't have the right "look" (which was basically just their way of saying that they didn't think she could fill out a seashell bra). But then they had heard Rachel sing, and they had given her the job on the spot. Until now, that is.
When Rachel had arrived at the amusement park with Kurt, they had both been sent to the entertainment office and told that their jobs had been moved. Now, instead of being a mermaid, Rachel was stuck being dressed as a beaver.
She couldn't remember a time when her life had been more unfair.
Rachel stared at the beaver head that was sitting on the bench next to her. She couldn't even bring herself to change into her costume yet, even though she had been told to do so over fifteen minutes ago.
It appeared that Kurt had the same idea. He came out of the bathroom, dragging his green costume behind him. He dropped it on the floor before he sat on the bench next to Rachel.
"I can't do this," he declared dramatically. "I don't have any clothes to wear underneath this monstrosity of a costume. And what do you think that helmet head is going to do to my hair?"
Rachel sighed. "All I wanted to be was a mermaid."
Kurt patted her back sympathetically. "I know, sweetie. I know. And now you're stuck wearing a costume of bad shag carpet."
"This was supposed to be a great summer, remember? Nothing was supposed to ruin it." Rachel picked at the brown, shaggy fur of her costume. "I suppose that I spoke too soon."
Before Kurt could say anything, a short man with curly hair came running into the room. "Excuse me!" he yelled. "I believe that the two of you are my Alan Alligator and Betty Beaver. Why aren't you dressed yet? You were supposed to be at practice ten minutes ago!"
There was no way to get out of this now. They needed this job, and they were just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. Rachel stood up and grabbed her Betty Beaver costume. She had a feeling that she was going to be in for a very long day.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stanley," Rachel said in her most respectful voice. She poked Kurt in the shoulder until he stood up and grabbed his costume as well. "We're getting changed right now. We'll be out in a few moments!"
A few minutes later, Rachel was seriously regretting that decision.
She felt as if she could barely move. The costume was loose in all the wrong places and tight in even worse places. She felt as if the tail was almost as long as her actually body, and it dragged behind her. It completely threw off her balance—and the worst part was, she hadn't even tried on the head yet.
"Kurt, come on!" Rachel called into the bathroom. "We have to get out there and learn our dances!"
It was a moment before she heard Kurt's muffled voice come from the bathroom. "You have to promise not to take any pictures of me before I walk out there."
"Um… alright." Rachel wasn't going to take any pictures (because she knew what it felt like. It wasn't like she wanted anyone taking pictures of her dressed as Betty Beaver), but she couldn't make any promises for the rest of their friends.
She finally heard Kurt's feet shuffling towards her. When he finally came into view, Rachel had to clap one of her gloved hands over her mouth.
"Oh, Kurt…" she said.
Kurt pointed a finger at her, but he didn't seem threatening at all in his alligator costume. "You promised that you wouldn't make fun of me!"
Rachel tried to stifle her laughter, but it wasn't working. "Kurt, I said that I wouldn't take any pictures. I never said anything about not teasing you."
"Well, you're one to talk," Kurt said in a snarky voice. "You are dressed in a hideous brown carpet, Rachel Berry."
Rachel placed her hands on her hips and struck a dramatic pose. "Excuse you, Kurt. I think that I look marvelous in this costume!"
Finally, Kurt cracked a smile. He picked up the head of the alligator that he was going to have to wear and stared at it for a long moment. With a sigh, he tucked it under his arm before he handed Rachel's beaver head to her.
"Come on, Betty Beaver. We have some dancing to do."
Barely three minutes into the dance rehearsal, Rachel realized that she really should have practiced walking with the beaver head on first. The eye slits of the head, combined with the heavy weight of that and the tail made it difficult to maneuver. She barely took two steps before she tripped.
Now, Rachel prided herself on being an excellent dancer. She had been taking classes ever since she was two years old. But according to Dakota Stanley, Rachel couldn't master the art of the Betty Beaver Dance.
"This is ridiculous!" Dakota trilled. "What are you doing?" He clapped his hands to the beat, but it wasn't helping Rachel concentrate at all.
"I'm shaking my tail," Rachel said in as calm a voice as she could muster. "Just like you said!"
"You're not shaking," Dakota snapped. "You're jiggling."
"There's a difference?"
Rachel could hear Kurt laughing off on the side. She whipped around to face him, but she was well aware of the fact that she didn't look at all threatening in her beaver costume. "Don't you dare laugh at me, Kurt Hummel! Your dance was much easier to learn than mine!"
Dakota clapped his hands again, and Rachel tried to figure out a way to trip him with her beaver tail. "Mr. Hummel, you can go and take your break now. And you, Miss Berry. Focus! You can't learn this dance if you don't pay attention!"
She could hear Kurt laughing as he left the room. She was going to trip him next.
Rachel's patience was seriously wearing thin with this man. She was stuck spending her summer working as a beaver character in an amusement park, and now she had to deal with this? She was nearing the end of her rope, and it was only the first day.
Before Dakota could insult Rachel's dancing further, another one of the amusement park's characters came in. This one was dressed as a platypus, and Rachel welcomed the distraction that he brought.
"Dakota, Brittany lost the head to her crocodile costume again. Beiste wants you to go look for it." The character speaking as PJ Platypus, and Rachel was eager to see who played him.
Dakota just gave an overly-dramatic sigh before he stalked off. Rachel sagged in relief and tugged her beaver head off just as her companion tugged his platypus head off.
Rachel's breath caught in her throat when she got a good look at him. He was tall, definitely over six feet. Even in his costume, Rachel could tell that he was broad-shouldered and fit. His amber eyes were kind and warm, and he had a sprinkling of freckles across his cheeks. He had a messy mop of hair hidden under a bandana, and he was watching Rachel with a half-smile on his face. A dimple appeared in his cheek, and Rachel found herself smiling in return.
"You looked like you could use a break," he said. As he spoke, he took the beaver head from her and set it aside, giving Rachel some relief. "I'm Finn Hudson, by the way."
"Oh!" Rachel couldn't keep the smile off her face as she realized how chivalrous he was being. Yet, this was still the man who was now responsible for her part as a beaver. "I'm Rachel Berry. I guess I have you to thank for my new job."
Finn winced and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Did they tell you why you weren't able to be a mermaid anymore?"
"They didn't. But I suppose you know."
"Al Motta, that guy that owns all those car dealerships? Yeah, his daughter, Sugar, decided that she wanted to be a mermaid. So he made a huge donation and pretty much bought her a spot with the mermaids. Since you were the newest hire, they cut you from the spot."
Rachel scowled at the thought that she almost lost her job because some brat's father bought it for her. But then she realized that even though her current job might not exactly be ideal, she had Finn to thank for the fact that she even had one.
"Beiste told me that you recommended us for the zoo crew. While it wasn't my first choice, I really appreciate it," Rachel said. "So thank you."
Finn flashed her another smile, and Rachel felt her heart rate pick up. She certainly hadn't expected to have a reaction like this to Finn, especially since he hadn't been her favorite person not more than fifteen minutes ago. As she looked into his smiling eyes, Rachel realized that she didn't mind it.
"It's not a big deal," Finn said. "I'm glad that I could help out. Let me know if you have any questions."
Rachel nodded her head and smiled as she watched Finn leave the room. This summer might turn out to be very interesting, after all.
Author's Note: So this is just the beginning. Thanks for reading, and I hope that you all enjoyed it! I hope that this could all make you smile. That's my goal with this story. :)
