Hey Readers!
First of all, I'm so glad to know that there are still passionate Friends fans out there! As a current 17-year-old, I have recently become obsessed with the show, but I have all the seasons of DVD and have seen all episodes! I honestly think it's the best sit-com to be written.
I'm an enormous Chandler/Monica (Mondler) fan, and I love Rachel/Ross and Rachel/Joey just about evenly, so I'm not sure which route I'll take in regards to them in this story.
Anyways, this story is obviously AU, and just about all the changes are explained in this chapter.
I hope you enjoy!
"I don't know, Rachel. Are you sure this dress isn't too short?" Monica Geller, the brunette best friend of fellow senior Rachel Green, asked.
"Monica, stop it! I've told you a thousand times that you look amazing. Now are we going to get out of the car or sit here and miss our first day of running Lincoln High?" Rachel Green, a self-admitted daddy's girl and closeted Weekend at Bernie's lover whined.
"Fine," Monica sighed. "But you have to be sure. You're sure, right?"
"Mon, would I send you into school looking anything less than fabulous? I want to have a career in fashion for a reason! Besides, that dress looks great on you. It's not like you're fat anymore. You're skinnier than I am!"
"I know!" Monica exclaimed in true Monica fashion. "Okay, I'm ready. We can get out of the car now."
"Thank God!" Rachel sighed.
The two attractive girls opened their doors in unrehearsed unison and began walking to the front entrance of Lincoln High to begin their senior year.
"Is everyone staring at me?" Monica whispered anxiously. "It feels like everyone's staring at me."
Taking careful not of her friend's seemingly lingering insecurities, Rachel was quick to cover with, "I'm sure they're just checking out my new nose."
Monica did a quick sweep of the other students watching herself and Rachel as they walked and realized that that very well could be the case.
"Good," Monica said, offering a smile to the obvious lower clansman who held the door for her and Rachel. "Because I didn't lose the weight to make everyone feel like they had to fawn over me. I-"
"-lost it for myself." Rachel finished in a tone that made it obvious that she had heard it a thousand times before.
"Exactly."
They came to a stop in front of their side-by-side lockers, pausing in their conversation to input their respective combinations. Rachel reached into what was sure to be a vastly overpriced messenger bag to place her lunch in her locker. Then, she shut it gracefully.
"Hey, Mon," Rachel began, taking note of how Monica had already purchased an individual binder for each of her classes and was currently placing them in order by period in her locker, "where's Ross?"
Monica roller her eyes at the mention of her dorky, twin brother. "He came in early to meet with his bio teacher."
"Oh," Rachel nodded. "So he's still doing that thing."
"What thing?" Monica asked as she shut her locker delicately.
"That thing where he actually cares about his grades," Rachel explained.
"Please," Monica laughed, "that thing is Ross."
"I guess that's true," Rachel laughed. "Honestly, though, how did you share a uterus with someone that lame?"
Monica squirmed, "Okay. First of all, ew! And, secondly, I have no idea. We have absolutely nothing in common."
"Thank God!" Rachel agreed. "Maybe we'll luck out and he won't be in our homeroom this year!"
Monica rolled her eyes. "Rachel, honey, Ross and I have the same last name. If I'm in your homeroom, he is too."
Before Rachel could respond, the first bell rang loudly and annoyingly through the halls.
"Well," Rachel commented lightly, "I guess we have to go find out."
"And then, then Mr. Tolstoy said that I'll be his best student this year! Can you believe that, Rachel? His best student!"
Rachel smiled politely, but on the inside she was beating her head against the nearest wall.
"Yeah, Ross," she said with feigned interest. "That's great!"
Monica rolled her eyes from her seat. Ross just couldn't take a hint. Then again, Rachel was a pretty convincing liar…
"Ross, do you think you could go be a dork somewhere else? Rachel and I need to talk about something." Monica interrupted.
"Actually I –"
"Go away! My God, I'm going to tell mom about how you're the one that put Dad's records in the microwave!"
Ross's nose twitched for a split second before he shot out a comeback, "I liked you better when you were fat!"
Monica gasped and opened her mouth to retort, but Ross – knowing better than to stick around after "Fat Monica" had been mentioned – bolted back to his own seat in the front of the class.
Rachel watched him run off with an amused smirk on her face. Ross almost had the ability to make being such a dweeb adorable.
"So, what's up?" Rachel asked, turning to face Monica's desk.
"What do you mean?" Monica asked, curiously.
"You just told Ross you had something to tell me," Rachel more asked than stated.
"Oh," Monica nodded. "Right, I only said that to get rid of Ross."
"Monica! I can't believe you would do that!" Rachel exclaimed.
Monica simply raised an eyebrow in return.
"Right," Rachel laughed. "I wouldn't have believed me either."
Once again, the bell rang to signify the need to change to first period. Monica and Rachel both groaned.
"I guess I'll see you at lunch," Rachel said as they stood from their desks.
"How is it possible that we don't have any classes together until fifth period?" Monica whined.
"You'll be fine," Rachel assured. They paused outside their homeroom door, waving half-heartedly at Ross as he fumbled past them.
"Seriously, Mon, you look amazing. You're going to be just fine! Anybody who ever gave you a hard time is going to have to shove their words back up their a—"
"Ms. Green!" a sharp voice cut Rachel off. She turned to fine herself face-to-face with the school's Marine Biology teacher.
"Mrs. Baker!" Rachel squealed. "I am just going to miss your class so much this year! You know, you are definitely my favorite teach—"
"Save your brownnosing for your current science instructor, Ms. Green," Mrs. Baker instructed. If it weren't for Ms. Geller so kindly volunteering to tutor you, you wouldn't have passed my coarse. Now, shouldn't you two ladies be getting off to class? Being tardy on the first day does not a good first impression make."
"Absolutely, Mrs. Baker," Monica replied, seriously. "Being late is completely unacceptable, so I suppose we should get going. Shouldn't we, Rach?"
"I could not agree more, Monica!" Rachel smiled. "It was very nice to see you, Mrs. Baker."
Monica and Rachel watched the older woman nod approvingly before heading down the hall to her own classroom. Once they knew she was out of earshot, both burst into laughter.
"Ms. Green!" Monica exclaimed through her giggles. "Don't use such foul profanity in the halls of this fine establishment!"
Rachel continued to laugh, but knew they couldn't delay the inevitable much longer. "Seriously, though, Mon. We should get to class."
"Right," Monica sobered. "I'll see you at lunch. Usual table?"
"First one there saves the seats!"
Despite Rachel's kind words and assurances, Monica entered her Pre-Calculus class with butterflies in the pit of her stomach. The last time she had walked these halls, she was "Monicow" – the chunky junior who Rachel Green attempted to make popular. Now, however, she was adjusting to her new slim body. And, although she knew it was far better than her old one, she still found herself doubting her image.
Self-consciously, Monica tugged on the hem of her dress for the umpteenth time.
Now or never, she thought to herself. Just remember what Rachel said. You. Look. Hot.
Plastering a smile on her face, she opened the door. She made a quick scan of the filled desks, hoping desperately for a familiar, friendly face. Some of the desks were occupied by juniors with whom she was not familiar, but her saving grace came in the form of a brunette boy sitting in the back left corner with one empty desk next to him.
"Monica!" the boy called in his usual, overly emphatic way. His New York accent was one of the strongest ones Monica had heard, but she loved him for it.
"Joey!" she squealed back, and practically ran to the desk he was not pointing out for her.
"Look at you!" Joey smiled. "You look amazing!"
"Joey," Monica laughed. "You saw me last week."
"Well, yeah," Joey conceded. "But you weren't wearing that! Honestly, Mon, you look great! In fact… How you doin'?"
Monica groaned and shook her head, turning her attention to the teacher who was now taking role.
Surprisingly, Monica's first four classes went much better than expected. She had ended up with Joey in her first and fourth period, and a new girl named Phoebe – who was only a tad bit strange, but seemed very nice – in her second and third. She also hadn't received any negative comments about her change in appearance. All she got was a "wow" or a "you look amazing" every now and then, which really was nice once she got used to it.
"So, we sitting at the usual table?" Joey asked as he watched Monica pull her lunch from her locker.
"Yeah," Monica said. "Rachel said first people there save the seats, so she might be waiting for us."
"Now there's someone I really haven't seen in forever," Joey smiled. "We should never let her go all the way to Paris for the last month of summer vacation ever again!"
"Joey," Monica laughed, "it was Paris! Wild boars couldn't have stopped her."
"Wild bores?" Joey asked in confusion. The skin between his eyebrows puckered in concentration. "Isn't that one-a those oxy… oxy…"
"Moron!" Monica finished exasperatedly.
"Hey!" Joey frowned. "It was just a question! No need to call me a moron!"
"I didn't mean –" Monica paused, deciding explaining things would only serve to confuse him further. "I'm sorry, Joey."
"Apology accepted," Joey said.
By that time they had reached what had been their lunch table since freshman year. It was in the middle right of the cafeteria, and had a good view of the entire eating area. Also, was one of the few round lunch tables the school had in place. Six chairs formed a circle in which only four seats were normally filled – five, if you counted Joey's occasional flavor of the week.
"Where are Ross and Rachel?" Joey asked.
"I know as much as you do," Monica shrugged. "I'm sure they're on their way."
She took her normal seat, leaving an empty attached stool to her left as Joey sat on her right.
"I'm used to Rachel being the first one here," Joey commented as he pulled out what appeared to be three sandwiches from his lunch.
"Me too," Monica replied. "Wait, wait! There she is!" She gestured to where Rachel was making her way to the table, a brown paper bag in hand.
"Joseph Tribianni!" Rachel squealed, not even trying to mask her excitement. She rushed to the table to give him a hug. Then, suddenly she stiffened and pulled back with a scowl on her face. Without warning she gave him a quick slap on the arm.
"Ow!" Joey exclaimed. "What was that for?" His voice let out a tiny crack as he asked the question, and his hand rubbed his arm carefully.
"You didn't call me the whole time I was in Paris! What kind of friend are you?" Rachel exclaimed as she took the seat next on the other side of Joey.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Joey frowned. "You didn't call me either!"
"Well," Rachel said, but soon paused as she realized he was right. "Well, I – I just thought that it would be more special –"
"Save it, Rach," Joey interrupted. "You're forgiven."
Rachel rolled her eyes, but patted Joey's shoulder affectionately, regardless.
"Who's that?" Monica suddenly asked. She subtly made a glance at a boy, who appeared their age, walking into the cafeteria by himself. Monica thought that she knew all the members of their class, but this new face didn't strike her as familiar. Yet, she did feel like she had seen him somewhere.
He was attractive, that much was obvious. His brown hair was much lighter than Joey's – sandier, you could say. It was also cut shorter than Joey's, making it appear far more preppy and thus more Monica's type. He was wearing a seemingly expensive ensemble, his artfully damaged jeans had a blue button-down shirt tucked into them, and what appeared to be a cream, linen blazer covered that. His white tennis shoes where obviously new, not a scratch or stain in site. But, beyond that, Monica could tell, even with the distance, that his eyes were a bright, vibrant blue.
So pretty, Monica thought to herself.
"Oh!" Rachel said. "That's Chandler Bing."
"Why does that name sound so familiar?" Monica asked, finally tearing her eyes away from the attractive stranger.
"His mom, Nora Bing, is a famous mystery author. His dad owns some Fortune 500 advertising company. They live in The City."
"How do you know all of this?" Monica questioned, allowing her eyes to wander back to this Chandler as he appeared to be scanning the lunchroom in search of somebody.
"Mindy blabbered on and on about seeing him in the halls during first period. Apparently, Forbes did a feature on his family last month. I can't remember the exact number, but apparently their net worth is off the charts."
"Then what on Earth is he doing here?" Joey laughed good-naturedly. "And why are we still talking about this guy? With all that money and stuff, he must be a jerk."
"Hey!" Rachel said defensively. "I have money!"
"Exactly!" Joey replied, but was quick to stumble out an apology when Rachel raised her hand to smack him again.
"Thank you," Rachel smiled. "And he's actually a really nice guy, funny too. Maybe a little sarcastic, but when you get used to it it's kind of endearing."
"Okay, now I'm starting to think Mindy's a stalker. How does she know all this stuff?" Monica asked.
"Oh that's not Mindy-talk," Rachel explained. "That's Rachel-talk! He was in my second and third period. We got to talk, and I learned a lot about him. He didn't even try to mention who his family was or anything about how much money he has."
"Well, he's still starting to weird me out," Joey commented. "I mean he's been standing at the head of the room for like five minutes just watching everybody eat!"
Rachel looked as if she remembered something and then stood suddenly.
"Chandler!" she called, not caring when half of the cafeteria turned to look at her. "We're over here!"
Chandler's head whipped around to their table, and it appeared as though he sighed in relief. He offered Rachel a wave and began to walk across the lunchroom towards them.
"What are you doing?" Monica asked quickly.
"I invited him to have lunch with us," Rachel smiled. "Trust me, Mon. You're going to love him."
If only Monica knew how right Rachel would be.
And that's the first chapter! Thank you for taking the time to read it:)
I would love to get your opinion, so reviews are strongly encouraged!
Chapter Two will pick up with a slight time jump!
