Finding Rachel Berry
Hi kiddos! So yeah, I am 324B21 (aka Jo), and this is my first ever fanfic, so critiques are welcome, but please be nice. This is eventually going to become a Quinn/OC and it will roughly follow the plot of the show starting from the "Pilot" episode. Now, I say "roughly" because the plot will be handle as I see fit, and some things may or may not change depending on how I felt the writers handled certain situations. Or, in other words, how I felt Glee should have gone. So for right now, as I rewatch the show, this story's plot is a bit up in the air (many apologies in advance).
Now that that's all out of the way, I would now like to introduce the ever lovely, Ramona Corcoran.
Chapter One
"What makes you even think she'll recognize me?" I admit, at this point, I did seem whiney with each question I threw at Mom. She spins her class ring on her left middle finger with quick, swift movements of her slender, pianist fingers. A nervous habit she's picked up in these past few weeks.
"That's the thing, sweetie. I don't know; which is why I need you to do this for me. For her." The day is unusually crisp for a early-September, Ohio morning, I notice as the wind rushes around the car as we idle in the parking lot, not even 20 yards away from the school new to me.
"Mom… honestly at this point, she's probably given up all hope on ever meeting you." I have to tear my eyes away, keeping them glued to the carpeted floor of the car.
"If she's anything like you, then she'd never give up." I had to strain to hear her.
"What am I supposed to say? 'Hi, my name is Ramona Corcoran, and I'm your long lost fraternal-twin sister?'" I snap my eyes back to look at Mom, who now has her eyes locked on the school's entrance.
"Of course not Mona. Just… I don't know."
"Well," I sighed, resting my chin in the palm of my hand. "then I don't know what you want me to do either." The clock nestled into the dashboard reading 8:08, just 12 minutes until first bell.
If I was being completely honest, I really wanted to do this. So much, in fact, that it scared me. I was only 10 when Mom had sat me down in our expansive living room, with such a solemn but heartbroken expression on her face, and told me that I had a twin sister. At first, I had thought she was lying to me, but after pulling up a Google search of 'Rachel Barbara Berry' and several YouTube (and oddly enough MySpace) videos, lo and behold there she was. With my eyes copied into her face.
Though I suppose, now they're eyes we share.
For the longest time, I was actually really confused about it all. And after that talk in the living room, I wandered around the house some nights just thinking 'What if this was supposed to be her life?' or 'Why did Mom choose me?' and sometimes even, 'What if she hates me because I was the one who ended up with Mom?'
As I grew older, the story just grew.
It started as, "You have a twin-sister." And eventually it became, "I was a surrogate mother, for two gay men who wanted a baby. All I had done was answer and ad in the paper. But then suddenly it wasn't just a baby anymore but babies. And as the pregnancy progressed, I became so attached and fell in love with both of my baby girls, and I couldn't bear the thought of losing you both. So, I had the doctors keep it on the down low that I was having twins. And I kept one of you."
"What are you thinking about, sweetie?" Mom's actual voice calling out startled me out of my memories.
I turned and blinked at her for a moment. "Oh, just about back when you told me about Rachel."
"Sometimes I just kinda sit there and think, 'what if?' y'know?"
I smile slightly and fold my very-not-Rachel-like calloused hands in my lap. "I don't blame you either, Mom. She's so much more like you then I ever could be."
"Ramona! I love you just the way you are! I don't want another me running around, one me is already infuriating enough. I want my girls. I love you both just as much as the other, even if Rachel has never lived under my roof." I look up, which was a bad idea, because Mom's big, chocolate brown eyes were swimming with unshed tears.
"You really don't regret keeping me, over keeping her?"
"The only thing I regret, Mona, is giving her up. But I had to, it wasn't a choice. Leroy and Hiram were such good men, who helped me through such a bad time in my life. I had to at least give them a chance at having a beautiful family."
I give, what I hope, is a reassuring smile, and reach across the center console to gentle grip the crook of Mom's elbow. "Hey… no one blames you for what you did. I mean, at the time it definitely wasn't an okay thing, but now… looking at how things turned out… being separated made us who we are. Bringing us back together is only going to, hopefully, make us even more… us."
My little spiel had its intended effect, and I smiled in muted triumphant as a watery smile broke out across Mom's face. "Who are you and what have you done with my smart ass of a daughter?"
"Ugh, shut-up." I glance at the clock again, and take a deep, calming breath.
"Moment of truth, darling." She calls from the side, and I do my best to not give her a sideways sneer. "Get outta my head Mom."
She chuckles. "I'll pick you up at 3:45 this afternoon, and I want you to keep a look out for Glee Club auditions."
I bring the strap of my messenger bag up over my head and settle it on my right shoulder. "Got it." I pull the door handle and step out into the warm wind rushing through the parking lot. Smiling as I relished the feeling of it caressing my sun-kissed skin. It was moment like these where I honestly felt like August Rush. Minus the music-prodigy part.
"Love you Mona." Mom calls out to me, tears now absent—or hidden—from her voice.
"Love you too Mom. Wish me luck." I begin to weave my way through the rows of vehicles; it isn't until my foot meets grass that the first bell rings. I shouldn't be too new, it's only a month into the school year, they more than likely have kids transferring in and out all the time, right?
Stepping through those brightly painted red double doors though… I couldn't have been more wrong.
The air changed from chatty to downright stony, and I could feel every single gaze probing at my skin, demanding to know my secrets. You got this, Mons. I tried to keep my breathing even and my stride straight as I made my way to where I remembered the office being. All around me, teens brushed to the sides and avoided my counter-stare as I pushed through the sea of hormone-filled bodies.
To think that one of those bodies is Rachel… finally getting to meet her after all of this time… it was such a chilling thought. My long lost sister. I almost scoffed aloud at the thought. This is some soap opera shit, right here.
"I wonder who she is…" For some reason, the boyish voice stood out among the sea of whispers as I turned a corner and began down another hall. "Whoever the hell she is, she's reminding me of someone I know but I can't quite put my finger on it; and it's bugging the hell out of me." The second voice was female, and full of muted, but fiery attitude, and it almost caused me to spin around and search for their owners, until Principal Figgins emerged from the mass of people further down the hall.
"Ah! Ms. Corcoran, there you are!" Even more curiosity filled glances were thrown my way.
"Uhm, hi, Mr. Figgins." I gave a small wave as the small Indian man came to a stop at my side.
"I apologize, but I'm afraid you'll have to put up with me as your guide today. I couldn't find any volunteers to take up arm as ambassadors of this school."
I shrug, adjusting my bag strap on my shoulder. "It's fine, sir, really. I'm getting a feeling of… something from all these stares I'm getting anyways."
"I assure you," he begins as he leads me again into the writing mass of bodies. "it's only because of your status as a new student. We are in Lima, Ohio, after all. Not much changes here in the first place. Many of these kids have gone to school together since they were in diapers." We stop in front of a door decorated with an assortment of Spanish phrases, and he takes a moment to smile at me. "This is your first class of the day, Spanish 2 Honors with Mr. Schuster. First period dismissal bell rings at 9:50. At that time, I'll be right here to whisk you to your next class." He steps aside to let a group of kids press through into the classroom. "I have a feeling you will enjoy him."
"Thank-you, Principal Figgins." He nods and turns on his heel, disappearing (due to his height) into the school.
Well, I sigh internally, day one of the official search now-dubbed 'Finding Rachel Berry,' is a go.