Chapter 1- Meeting The Gang
Just yesterday I was on a train out of here, if only it was that simple. My two gay Dad's have sent me away to a little town; away from the bright lights of New York. I'm sure they think that this will help me get back on my feet after my twin sister got killed. It won't. Well gran says I have to start school next Monday. Oh great, new people. She says it might help take my mind off of Grace, my sister. I doubt it.
I sat in my bedroom at grans, just sat, looking. I used to come here all the time when I was younger. Both me and Grace shared this room in the summer holidays away from school. I look at the bare corner of the room where the bunk bed used to be, but now there's just a single bed in the middle of the room and a cabinet and wardrobe to put my clothes in. All of graces pictures have been taken off of the wall and only mine remain there, from when me and grace used to draw pictures in the garden. I got up from the corner of the bed and walked towards the window with the large windowsill to sit on. I can see out for miles, grass, sheep and more grass. I went back to the bed and pulled out the school brochure from my carry bag. The school does look very pretty with old stones different shades of grey, white and brown.
Gran shouted from downstairs that tea was ready, I wasn't particularly hungry but I still went downstairs. The food was on the table and Gran had cooked lasagne, my favourite. I sat on my chair automatically, that I used to sit on when we visited and served myself some. After tea I went out into the large back garden, looked around at all of grans beautiful flowers, then my eyes caught the large tree house that granddad, me and Grace had built in the far corner of the garden, it was now surrounded by long grass and weeds that haven't been cut. I guess they don't like going up there, I thought to myself.
I strode unsurely over to the tree and looked up at the wooden house. I pushed the grass out of the way in order to make a pathway for myself to go through. I started to climb the small ladder. It was a lot harder to get up than I remember. When I got to the top I saw a box named 'Graces stuff' I looked at the box for a few uncertain seconds before I decided to take them out and look at them. I went through the pictures of both of us and pictures of Grace pulling funny faces at the camera. I shook my head letting the tears that were falling down my cheeks sprinkle off onto the wooden floor. I wiped the water from under my eyes and put the lid back on the box, and put it on the shelf in the tree house.
The tree house seemed empty, strange, abandoned. I stayed up there most of the evening just sat looking and reading the old magazines that Grace and I had left up here.
A week had gone by doing near enough the same routine. But tomorrow was the first day of school and I had no idea what to expect. Gran had pre-ordered my uniform and it had come already and I had ironed it earlier today. Granddad had come home from working his away shift and had brought back an old car for me to drive to school in which I thought was awfully nice of him. I did however tell him that he shouldn't have bought me a car, but he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders telling me he wanted to. I got an early night's sleep to be fresh for tomorrow.
Its Monday morning, I got up early and went in the shower then got dressed. I had a bit of breakfast then I was out of the front door by 8:25 giving me thirty five minutes in case I get lost. I followed the directions to the school from the brochure and got to the school ten minutes early. It was hale stoning and raining really fast when I pulled into the parking space. I rushed from my car to the entrance to find the reception to get signed in and was wet through from the rain; my long hair I had made presentable this morning was already starting to go crazy. I just knew it was going to be a bad first day.
I got shown to my locker and handed my timetable and locker pin, then was left to find my own way around. At 9:00 a loud bell was heard throughout the school and the once empty hallway was now packed full with students coming from all different directions. How can a little town like this have so many kids? I thought to myself disconsolately.
I turned back to my empty locker and felt a light tap on my shoulder and turned around to see a very bouncy, smiley girl looking at me. "You're the new girl, right? Rachel isn't it?" she said expectantly.
I smiled at her, "Yes I'm Rachel." "Oh, hi I'm Quinn, you're in homeroom with me." She said smiling widely showing her perfect teeth whilst pointing at the timetable that is in my hand. "Oh, good! Nice to know someone friendly is in there." I replied honestly shutting my locker quietly, then turning back around to look at her. She's just a little taller than me with straight long blonde hair, pale skin and long eyelashes. She has really bright green eyes. Simple makeup, only white sparkly eye shadow, black eyeliner and clear shiny lip gloss. She is very pretty.
She takes my arm playfully linking it with hers and we walk along the corridor together. "So, what's your first lesson?" she asks casually. I look down at the piece of paper in my other hand, "Um, biology." I say smiling. "Oh right! Two of my friends from our homeroom are in biology too" she says excitedly. "Really?" I say looking at her. "I'll introduce you to Finn and Mercedes, I think you'll get along with them!" she claps her hands together smiling brightly.
She lets go of my arm and sneaking quietly behind a guy with spikey brown hair, then tapping him on the back making him jump and turn in one quick movement, he was talking to a girl with shoulder length black hair. Quinn smiles at them both from the guy to the girl then turns to me. She pulls them from where they are sitting on the table with their feet on the chairs, over towards me. I fiddle with my hands nervously, smiling shyly. "Mercedes, Finn, this is Rachel. Rachel, this is Mercedes and Finn." Quinn introduces them.
"Hey girl!" Mercedes says smiling brightly. "Hiya" I reply smiling back. Finn looks at me from under his eyelashes, he is very tall. "Hi." He says smiling then looks at his hands then back at me. "Hey.." I say looking at him and blushing, I'm normally the smallest in class but next to Lucas I look like an ant. "...So I have biology next, and Quinn says we are in the same one." I finish smiling shyly, picking at my nail varnish on my nails. I sit down on a chair nearest to the door then glance back at the three people that are still looking at me.
Finn comes and sits on the empty chair next to mine and starts clicking his pen. "Yes.." he says finally. "You're in the same room as us."
The second bell rang and Quinn left me with Finn and Mercedes. The short walk to the science rooms was in silence. When we got to the room I sat right at the back in the corner, Finn and Mercedes followed me. Finn sat next to me then Mercedes came and sat in the chair next to him.
The teacher came up to our table and stood opposite my chair and looked at me for a while as I sat in my chair shifting uncomfortably under his eyes. Finn spoke up to my relief and said, "Sir, this is Rachel it's her first day." I smiled at him mouthing him a *thank you* he nodded and shrugged.
"Well, hello Rachel, I am Mr Jones and I'm going to be your science teacher for the rest of the year." He said resting his back on the table in front of us. "Looking forward to it." I smile. "Well, let's get started then!" he says clapping his hands together loudly, making me jump. I nod and he gives me a plain notebook. He turned and went back to his desk to wait for the rest of his students to pour in.
Now its break-time and I really didn't want to go outside as I am still damp from this morning and I can slip and fall easily without anything in the way. I went to the door and shivered, thinking I can't believe I forgot my coat. I frown to myself. I see Mercedes, Finn and Quinn next to a tall tree, they are sitting on a bench talking to a few other people I hadn't seen in homeroom or biology this morning. There is two boys one with a weird hairstyle all spikey down the middle, I look at him with a raised eyebrow, and another with longish blonde hair. There are two girls with cheerleading uniforms on both with their hair tied up neatly into a ponytail one with dark brown, nearly black hair and one with blonde hair.
Quinn spotted me at the door looking at them through the window. She waved and called me over. I looked at her a little unsure, and she gave me a look that said *come on don't be silly* she came to the door and took my hand guiding me to their table. I started playing with my now wavy hair as it goes naturally curly when it gets wet. She let go of my hand and moved and sat on the guy with blonde hair's lap so I could fit on the end of the already crowded bench. I looked down nervously at my hands then the guy with the mohawk spoke up, "Hey there, I'm Puck, Finnster here has been talking all about you." He smirks nodding to Finn who was now giving Puck dead eyes. I turned back to Puck, "I'm Rachel, and that can't be your real name, seriously? And I have no idea what Finn has been saying about me but I'd be happy to find out." I say smiling then turning to Finn, who looked up at me from playing with his hands under the table and smiled at me. He opened his mouth, and then shut it again. I smiled at him then turned back to Puck. He has dark, chocolate brown eyes. Puck shrugged telling me his name was Noah but no one calls him that accept his mom, he then asked me the question I've been dreading most, "So, why did you move to this crap town?" My head shot down feeling my eyes start to water, I turn slowly and cautiously back to him letting out a sigh, "My sister died, and my Dads thought I needed to get away for a while." I looked back down again, and a single tear left my eyes and dropped onto the bench. "Oh, I..I didn't know.. sorry." Puck said struggling to find the right words. Mercedes stood up quickly and came and gave me a hug.
A few minutes later the bell rang and we all got up slowly from the bench and started walking towards the door. Finn put his arm out in front of me when I was about to go through the door and pulled me back a little. I turned around with a confused look on my face, waiting for him to say something. "I'm sorry about your sister, and also about what Puck said, I have no idea what he was talking about." He said looking down at his untied shoes and let go of my arm. "Okay, well thank you and I need to get to class now." I replied turning back and walking through the door.
Next lesson is English, I don't know anybody in this lesson, the teacher is called Mrs Strong. A few minutes passed and it seemed like forever, I even caught myself glancing down at my watch numerous times.
That lesson dragged for what seemed like hours. It was then time to go home at last; I got in my car and drove home. When I unlocked the door there was a note on the kitchen table.
Rachel,
Gone to get groceries for dinner. See you soon!
Love Gran xxx
I put the note down and smiled at her neat handwriting. I walked upstairs and changed before I headed out to the tree house. I had decided to re-decorate it. I had already taken all of the pictures and posters off of the walls and moved the bookshelves and the chairs around. I just need a little fluffy carpet and then it'll be perfect, I think to myself.
I heard Grans car pull into the driveway. I climbed quickly down the ladder and went to the front gate to help gran bring in the shopping.
I told Gran I was going out for a while and that I'd be back before tea. I went in search for some shops, I found them a couple of miles away from school. I got to a carpet shop and found this cute little brown and violet coloured one. I went to the till with it rolled up under my arm when I rung the bell for somebody to come and take my order, Finn popped out from in the office. He looked up and saw me, then looked at himself in his work uniform and blushed I laughed and put the carpet down on the counter.
He looked at the carpet then at me, and then started looking around. "Who are you looking for?" I asked him confused. "Who are you with?" he said curiously. "No-one." I blushed. "I'm buying a carpet for my tree house." I smiled, feeling the soft carpet again. "Oh, well fair enough.." he started "..Well this certain carpet is $35, and for a tree house, isn't that quite expensive?" he said raising an eyebrow at me. "No I don't think so, this isn't just a random tree house.. this.. this is mine and Graces." I stated looking down. "Oh, sorry." He said touching my hand slightly, I looked up at him and smiled.
I gave him the money and started to pick up the carpet when he took it. I looked up at him with an amused look on my face as he tried to pick up the carpet that he had dropped half on the floor. He finally got it rolled up again so we headed out of the shop and towards my car, I opened the boot and he laughed loudly, the sound vibrating on the empty street, as the boot made a squeaking sound as it opened.
He placed the carpet cosily in the boot and shut it with a bang I smiled up at him and said, "You didn't have to bring it out for me, you know," I smiled. He shrugged his shoulders and simply said, "I wanted to." He leaned down and kissed my cheek, then turned and ran back to the shop door and then stopped abruptly. He must've known what I was going to do because he turned around and we started walking towards each other at the same time. I kissed him quickly on the lips and then pulled back and looked at him as if I didn't think about what I was doing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm gunna go." He smiled whilst nodding and pulled me into a hug. "See you tomorrow, Rach." he said simply. I blushed scarlet and turned slowly walking back to my car with the biggest grin on my face.
The next day I got to school a little earlier than usual and went to the library. I stayed in the library for about 25 minutes. I then went into the sitting area outside and waited for everyone to turn up.
Quinn was first to come with Sam in her little pink car, then Finn in his truck, and then Mercedes in her shiny little black car. I smiled at Quinn and waved as she turned the corner then stood up to hug her when she got to the table.
Finn then came round the corner and nodded at us and waved he walked on steady feet and turned to hug Mercedes first then turned to look at me and smiled, I looked down biting my lip nervously. He leant down and put his finger under my chin to lift it up and kiss me.
Quinn and Sam stood there looking at us, wide eyed, mouths dropped open, shocked. I blushed and Finn smiled down at me. I didn't know what to tell her so I just laughed a little and Finn took a hold of my hand. Mercedes came and dragged me away from the others and took me behind the tree next to our bench. She started jumping up and down in front of me. "What is going on?!" I said surprised and stamping my foot to be extra dramatic. "Did Finn, did he just… just… just.." she spluttered. "Come on spit it out Mercy!" I said laughing. "Did Finn just… kiss you?!" She shouted excitedly. I heard chuckles from behind the tree where the others were still sitting.
I peeked around the tree and saw Finn chuckling. I motioned for him to come over. He shook his head no and put his hands up in defence. I pouted my lips and he rolled his eyes but then gave in and slowly started walking over towards the tree. I smiled and hugged him to thank him. "Okay… Finn, you tell Mercedes what happened." I said looking up at him through my eyelashes. He tells them all the story and then looked down at me and smiled that amazing half smile.
They were saved by the bell before Mercedes or Quinn could ask any more questions. Me and Finn walked hand in hand to homeroom which turned a few heads in the hallway. When we got to homeroom we all sat at the table in the corner with the most chairs around it. Quinn was so obviously waiting for someone to bring up the *Finn & Rachel Story* or as she calls it the *Finchel* story. I hoped no one would because it's really awkward as I'm not even completely sure of what's going on. After all it did only happen yesterday.
After school I invited them back to Grans house but Mercedes couldn't come so it was just Quinn, Sam, Puck and Finn who came. Gran wasn't home she was out helping at the local shop.
I showed them around the house when Finn saw the tree house out of my bedroom window, and of course he wanted to look around and see his carpet.
So they all followed me into the back garden, I motioned for them to go first as I didn't really want them staring at my butt whilst I slowly climbed the little steps. When I got nearly to the top Finn pulled me up. I thanked him and stood swiftly in front of the box of Graces things. Thankfully nobody realised, they were still admiring the amazing view out of the little windows. You can see for miles and miles out of them. I thought I heard Grans car pull in the driveway but it was a false alarm, I moved the slightest bit to make sure no one was there and the floor creaked and Finn turned around to look at me and saw Graces box behind me.
I looked at the floor then at Finn, I smiled and nodded moving a step to the left I figured they had to find out that she wasn't just my sister she was my identical twin sister sooner or later. Finn took the box and sat on the carpet. I slid down the wooden wall and rested my head on my arms looking at Finn as he carefully put the box on the floor. Quinn, Sam and Puck then realised how quiet we were being and also retreated to the carpet.
Finn looked at me with careful eyes and said, "Are you sure you want us to see?" I nodded and he opened the lid gently as if it was sacred. They all gasped, "You were t-t-twins?" Quinn stuttered picking up a photo of us from the top at our 12th birthday party blowing out the candles of our cake. I nodded again and sniffed trying to keep the tears locked up by swallowing vigorously. Finn instantly moved towards me and folded me up into one of his amazing hugs that make me feel instantly better and kissed the top of my head then my cheeks and then my lips. Pucks head snapped up, and then he turned to Quinn who was still looking at the pictures, "When did they get together?" he said scoffing. "Yesterday" Quinn said simply without even looking from them pictures, Quinn shuffled closer to me and hugged me with Finn. She whispered "I'm so sorry." in my ear. "It's okay, but thank you." I said sniffing again.
We all looked over at Puck who was just staring at Finn. I could tell that he was getting a bit uncomfortable under his glare. "What's your problem, Puck?" Finn says tightening my hand in his. "You met her yesterday and you're already dating?!" Puck spitted out, clearly through gritted teeth. "Is there a problem with that?" I said with a hurt expression on my face. "No, but he could have at least let you settle in first." Puck said. Finn scoffed, "Is it anything to do with you man?" he said kissing me to make he hurt expression go away. I smiled up unsurely and looked at Quinn who was rolling her eyes. Quinn looked at Puck and he didn't look at all amused. He stood up and grabbed Finn by the shirt and pulled him up too. "I like her Finn, I don't want you hurting her." Puck said looking at me and then back at Finn.
I jumped up, "No arguing over my sisters things! They're the only things I have left of her!" they both looked at the box and Puck shoved the stuff to the side with his foot. My mouth dropped and I shouted, "Get out! Get out, just leave right now!" I started to cry, Puck held up his hands like he was being checked by police. I said "Just... Just go." between sniffs. I slumped back down onto the floor in the corner of the tree house and waited for Puck to leave, and then I crawled over to the box and put the pictures back in it, and placed the box on the shelf.
Quinn and Finn stood looking at me. I didn't want them to see me like this. Finn walked over to me and pulled me into a bear hug. "I'm so, so, so, sorry about the way he behaved. So, so, sorry." He said squeezing me tighter. "It's fine." I say into his shirt, snuggling further into his chest.
They stayed for tea and then went home, gran was pleased that I had made such nice friends already.
I didn't get much sleep last night. How could Puck be so rude? I'm going to go and talk to him at school if I can get away from the others for long enough.
Chapter 2- Drama and Dance
When I got to school I saw Puck talking to a bunch of girls all giggling and flipping their hair. They were all standing around his motorbike. I walked up to him confidently with my head held high and gave him the letter that I had written at breakfast.
Then I turned around swiftly on my heel and walked slowly away, very aware that he was still looking at me. I then saw Finn leaning against my car and I smiled at him, he pushed himself off of my car and started strolling over to me. When we met he pulled me up for a soft kiss, I smiled into it before returning the kiss. I pulled away and hugged him hearing his heart beat through his chest. "You know, Puck is still looking at you from when you gave him that letter." Finn said shaking his head. "How did you know I gave him a letter?" I asked taken aback. "He's waggling a letter around, and is still staring at you." He replies sighing and taking my hands, entwining our fingers. I nod and snuggle more into him. He smiles down at me and kisses my hair, "You know that I would never hurt you, right? Not intentionally." He asked lightly squeezing my hands assuredly. I nod into him, "Right." I smiled and leant on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
We then turned and walked to homeroom together, we sat next to Quinn, she wasn't being her normal happy self today. She just sat quietly looking like a fragile doll. I gave a concerned look at Finn and he whispered in her ear and she just nodded.
I put my hand on her shoulder earnestly; she turned her head and looked at me sadly. "My little girl is poorly, I'm scared that I'm not doing a very good job." She said sniffing. It was clear that she had been awake a lot of the night because her eyes were red and she looked tired. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't even know you had a child." I say looking at Finn for answers but his face is blank. "My dad wanted me to give her up and my mum wanted me to pretend like Beth was hers so I left them both and now Beth.. shes.. poorly." Quinn says, my heart breaks for her.
"It's normal for babies to get ill sometimes, trust me. I'm sure she'll be alright soone." I say. She looks up at me from playing with her fingers. "Really?" she asks. "Yeah, really." I said smiling. "Just never bring yourself down, it was such a brave decision for you to make that choice and I really think, even though I've only known you for a little while that you are a great mother." I stated honestly. Quinn sniffed then stood up wiping her eyes and hugged me tightly. "Thank you, you're and amazing, and I mean an amazing friend." She says into my hair, then let go and turned to Finn. "You've picked a great girlfriend here Finny boy." She says hugging him. "I know." He says hugging her back. I smile at them both, and then look around the classroom. "Where's Mercedes?" I ask . "She's in the choir room." She says turning to look at me, and then smiles brightly, looking at me and then Finn.
"Anyway, what are you two doing for the black and white ball?!" "There's a ball here?" I asked confused. "Yes! It's the school dance, and it's in two weeks." She squeaked happily clapping her hands. I looked a Finn and shrugged. "I'm not much of a dancer.. like at all." I confess, looking at Finn. "I'm not either, we're perfect for each other." Finn says laughing. "Do you want to go to the dance with us all? We are going in a limo." Finn says taking my hands and smiling at me. "I'd love to, but I haven't got anything to wear." I said looking down. "That's not a problem! Me and Mercedes are doing dress shopping in the town a few miles away that have a brilliant little shop." Quinn says cheering up smiling brightly. "That's perfect!" I say clapping my hands together whilst still holding onto Finns hand making him laugh. He kisses my cheek, I smile and turn back to Quinn and say, "Long or short dress?" "Long, definitely." Quinn says nodding her head once, turning to Finn to get his opinion. He shrugs his shoulders and says "You'd look beautiful in either." I roll my eyes and push him playfully before kissing his cheek. "You're way too sweet." I say, I then turn back to Quinn who is just smiling watching us and then I look down and blush. "Um, so, Hair up or down?" "Down." Finn says almost instantly, I turn my head and raise an eyebrow. "It looks pretty down." He says simply, I look at Quinn who is also nodding in agreement. "Okay… Straight or curly." "Curly I think." Quinn says and Finn nods in agreement. "Curly and long it is then." I say smiling happily. I can't wait for this dance, I think to myself.
At the end of homeroom me and Finn walk hand in hand to Chemistry. Mr Jones smiled as we walking through the classroom door. We sat at our table as usual; and looked at each other and laughed as we were both are trying to get our books and pens out of our bags whilst holding hands. Mr Jones starts talking about genes and different diseases that you can inherit from your family, I was so engaged in my own thoughts that I had no idea that the lesson had ended and people were leaving. I suddenly stood up making Finn jump I giggled at him and took my hand from his to put my things back in my bag. He stuck his bottom lip out; I smiled at him and took his hand back in mine.
The school dance is tomorrow, I am so nervous. I had bought my dress two days earlier. I just can't stop thinking about Puck and the letter I had given him; he hadn't spoken to me since I gave it to him. This is just another thing I would have talked to Grace about. I haven't brought the whole Puck conversation up with Finn yet.
He has invited me for tea at his house tonight and I just finished getting ready, taking one last look in the mirror before heading down stairs and out to my little car.
When I got to his house he was waiting for me outside his front door, he was sitting on his front step. He stood up when he saw my car coming. I pulled up next to his car and he started walking towards me and by the time I had gotten my bag out of the passengers' foot well he was at my car door opening up for me. "Thank you, how chivalrous of you." I said smiling up at him. He winked and kissed my cheek. We walked to his front door and went inside quietly. The smell of food hit me, and it smelt so good. Their house is beautiful, there are family pictures on all four walls of the front room that looks out onto the large front garden and the cars.
When we got to the kitchen which we go to threw the back room that also had family pictures on the wall. There are a few trophies in a cabinet in the corner along with a big television, and a large sofa that is pointing towards it. His mum and another guy around our age were facing away from us his mum is at the oven stirring something in a pan, and they guy is bopping his head up and down listening to something through his earphones whilst chopping up carrots. Finns mum heard us in the doorway and turned around to look at us both, she cocked her head to the side and smiled brightly.
"Hello, I'm Finns' mum, call me Carole." She said walking slowly over to me not hesitating and gave me a little hug; I hugged her back lightly smiling. "Hey, I'm Rachel." I say giving her my brightest smile, I look over at Finn who was already looking at me; I smiled at him trying to be as confident as possible. He winked and looked at his mum. "What are we having for tea?" he asks her smiling sniffing the air and licking his lips.
"We are having pasta carbonara." She said back without taking her pretty eyes from me. I looked back at her; finn looks like a guy version of her only taller. She has simple mascara and light pink lipstick on. She smiled once again then turned to Finn.
"Can you help me set the table, babe? Burt is nearly home, he's just nipped to get some eggs for the cake." She says nodding her head to the table. "Sure thing." Finn says smiling back at her, he winked at me again and squeezed my hand and then let go. Carole tapped the guy on the shoulder and he pulled out his earphones, he then saw me from the corner of his eye and turned around and came over to me and said in a rather high voice, "Hey! I'm Kurt! I'm Finns' step brother and I also pick out his clothes for him." He says smiling. I giggle and put out my hand for him to shake, "I'm Rachel, nice to finally meet you Kurt, and Finn has told me all about you and Dalton Academy!" Kurt blushes, "I hope only good things! And Blaine wanted to be here today as well but he couldn't make it." Kurt said still smiling before he went back to his carrots quietly humming to defying gravity.
I smiled at him and walked into the kitchen that overlooks the dining room and leant on a cupboard and sniffed in the smell of lovely food. "Mm, it smells so good!" I say licking my lips.
"Thank you Rachel. Well Finn has told us all a lot about you." She says smiling and winked. I guess that's where Finn gets it from, I thought to myself smiling. "Mum! No I haven't!" Finn shouts and tuts from in the dining room. Me and Carole turned around to see a rather red Finn, and we both laughed. He then covered his face with his hands and chuckled too. He huffed overdramatically then turned back around to finish setting the table. "Is there anything I could do?" I asked Carole feeling a little inept.
"Um, you could fill the water filter for us if you like." she said pointing to the fridge. I nodded and emptied out the old water into the sink and filled it up with clean water and put it back in its place. "Could you get the butter out whilst you're there sweetie?" she asked me nicely. "Sure…" I said looking in the fridge. "…Here you go." I say as I close the fridge and put the butter next to her on the counter top
I heard the front door open and shut. "Hunny… I'm home." was what was heard coming from the hallway. A few seconds later a smiley head popped around the door frame of the kitchen. "Hello darling." said Carole. "Hi, Dad!" shouts Kurt. "Hey Burt." says Finn who fist bumped Burt. He then walked through the door and leant on the kitchen table next to me. "This is Rachel." Carole introduces me. He looks at me and walks closer to me and takes my hand and shakes it. "She looks like a keeper, hi there, I'm Burt." He says politely letting go of my hand. "Yes a keeper." Repeats Finn.
"Dinner is ready everyone! Everyone sit down and I'll bring it out." Carole says. Burt and Kurt nod and sits at either end of the table, Finn sits on one of the chairs at the side and I sat down on the left side of Finn on the rectangular table. Carole comes and sits opposite me.
Finn smiles at me; I have my hands under the table, in my lap with my fingers clamped together nervously.
"Everything looks great mum." Finn says breaking the silence. "Yes, it really does, Mrs Hummel." I say agreeing. "Please don't be afraid to call me Carole sweetie." She says with a reassuring smile. "Right yes, sorry." I smile blushing looking down. We all start dinner quietly with the occasional glances at each other.
"It was lovely meeting you Rachel. I hope you both have a good time at the dance tomorrow!" Carole says cheerfully clapping her hands excitedly whilst Finn rolls his eyes. I giggle at him smack his arm lightly playfully. I nod and say "Thank you for having me." "It was out pleasure." Burt says giving me a little loose hug. I hugged him back and then Finn takes my hand and walks me down the driveway to my car. He hugs me at the car and kisses my cheek; he looks over his shoulder the slightest bit, at his Carole and Burt who were still stood at the door. "Sorry about them, they're a little crazy. They like you though, I can tell. They'd be silly not to." He said with a reassuring smile. I kissed him quickly on the lips and he laughed shocked and I blushed. He opened the car door for me, "See you tomorrow night. We'll pick you up from your Grans house at about 5.30pm for the dance in the limo. I closed the door and opened the window. "Thanks again for having me!" I shouted to Burt, Carole and Kurt who is also waving from the window. They smiled and nodded; Burt then pulled Carole inside and closed the door smiling.
I turned back to Finn and smiled, he kissed me for a good couple of seconds parting my lips with his tongue, I allowed him entrance so he could explore my mouth. We pulled away from shortage of breath. We both chucked to each other, I looked away for a second before looking back at him in the eye. I smiled at him again. "See you tomorrow." I said brushing my fingers through his hair. He leant into my car again and kissed my forehead before walking backwards to his house, still looking at me. He blew me a kiss and I grabbed at the air as if I had caught it and brought my hands down to my heart and patted the spot. I started my car and waved and set off home.
When I got home I went in the bath and did all of the pre-dance preparations. When I had finished in the bath I towel dried my hair thoroughly, and then got into my jammers and went straight to bed. Just towel drying my hair will make it easier to curl in the morning I thought to myself. I went to sleep content and happy for a change.
I woke up early and went downstairs to have breakfast with my grandparents as Quinn and Mercedes are coming before dinner with all of their stuff to start getting ready. I go back upstairs to set out everything we might possibly need to get ready with. I heard a knock at my bedroom door and then Quinn and Mercedes came in a few seconds later. "Ahhh! This is so exciting!" squeaked Quinn quietly while pushing a push chair into the corner of my bedroom. "She's asleep at the moment." She says happy that her baby girl isn't ill anymore. "I know, it's so exciting! It's my first dance… ever!" I squeak back in a hushed tone, I look over the edge of the big beautiful pushchair, "Awh, Quinn she's beautiful." "Thank you! Once me and Puck laid eyes on her we fell in love with her, there's no way we could have given her up! Not ever!" Quinn says kissing her daughters forehead softly. "She's Pucks? I had no idea? You and him are so civilised with each other! Is he okay with you dating Sam?" I ask her. "He wasn't at first, but then he saw how good Sam was with her. Puck is a real good dad too even though he doesn't ride a motor cycle and the only reason why she is here is because he got me drunk, but that's not the point. The point is we had her, we love her, we raise her." Quinn says looking at her daughter with eyes full of love. "You are so brave." Me and Mercedes both say. Quinn nods and shrugs.
"Anyway, did you bring everything you needed? Because I have some stuff here too we could use." Quinn and Mercedes looked at each other and shrugged not knowing if they had everything or not. "I'm sure we'll be fine with all of our stuff put together." Quinn gets a box out from under the pushchair and I take it from her, opening the latch. The box pops open and five different layers of makeup and jewellery comes out in all different levels. "Wow! This is a beautiful box! You would've never thought that all that could fit in a little box like that!" I say excitedly.
"Is this really happening, right now?" Mercedes says smiling looking at her phone. She shows the phone to me and Quinn we all *Awhh* at the poem she has just been sent from a guy she met in the choir room the other day.
Not a single day passes,
That I don't think of you.
And wish that I could hug you,
But for now I must make do.
And every day I think,
How heaven-sent our opportunity was.
And we've made the best of it,
'Cause you're the only thing I care this much about.
Sometimes I wonder,
If this is the right way to be true.
Because my words can't begin to express,
How much my heart values you.
Every time I see your beautiful face,
I get a feeling that I can't compare with anything else in the world.
You're so special to me,
You put my heart in a whirl.
I think my aspirations are clear,
You can plainly see.
But now here I go:
Will you save me a dance at prom?
We both hug her and squeal. "Aw, that's so cute! What are you going to text back? Please tell me you're gunna say yes!" I say excited for my friend. "Of course I am! He's gorgeous!" Mercy says typing quickly on her phone.
"Okay!" Alicia claps her hands. "What are we doing first?!" she squeaks excitedly. "I don't know, what do you think? I've never been to one of these things before." I say shrugging my shoulders looking at Zoe and then Alicia. "Maybe we should dampen our hair to make it easier for us to style it?" Zoe says putting her phone down on my bedside table. "Okay! The bathroom is in this room." I say moving from my bed and walking to a door in my bedroom and opening it. I pull the shower head off of the stand and put it down in the bath, turning the water on. They both follow me into the bathroom; they spray each-others hair lightly not getting it wet just damp. Then Alicia tells me to lean over the bath and she does mine too. We all towel dry our hair and then put the towels on the rack to dry.
We blow dry our hair our hair, scrunching it up in our hands to keep the curly waves in it. We then lather our hands with hair mousse and scrunch that into it too. Alicia has brought some really cute hair accessories so we start choosing them next. I picked a black and white flower clip to hold my drooping fringe in at the side of my head so that it is out of the eyes. Zoe chooses a simple skinny silver headband with a butterfly on the side with diamantes on its wings which goes really well with her short hair. And Alicia chose two black bird hair slides to pull her hair off of her face and into a quiff. We all look at each other saying how good we look.
It was already 3.30pm by the time we got to the makeup, which shouldn't take too long because none of us wear a lot. We decide we are going to do each-others makeup for a little fun. We all put a light layer of foundation on, then Alicia puts a small amount of black eyeliner on the bottom of my eyes along with black mascara and light pink blusher and light pink sparkly lip gloss. She then tells me to put the gloss in my clutch bag that I'm taking to the dance. I nod and look in the mirror and gasp. "Wow! Thank you so much, Ali!"
She then turns back to Quinn and starts doing her makeup for her. Mercedes puts grey eye shadow on Quinn first making it go darker at the edges; she then puts black eyeliner on the bottom of her eyes along with mascara and light red lipstick, which she then gives her to put into her clutch bag. Quinn looks in the mirror and smiles brightly moving her head side to side to see the whole of her face. She puts the hand held mirror down on the bed next to her and hugs Mercedes thanking her.
All she does is nods smiling back at her. Quinn turns to me and points at the colours she has picked out just like we all did. I say okay and she starts with my mascara putting it on my long upper eyelashes and then dabbing it on my lower ones. She then pick up the dark brown eyeliner pencil and puts it on the bottom. She then did my sparkly white eye shadow. Then picked the eye pencil again and drew flicks on my upper lids. She picked the sparkly dark pink lip gloss for my lips and puts that on next. She then gave it to me to put it in my bag before I take the mirror from Quinn to see how I look. I look in the mirror and smile I hug her and thank her. I then do Mercedes makeup which isn't much different to ours only she wanted bright pink lipstick on instead of gloss.
"Okay girls! Its 4.15pm we need to get our hands washed and put all this stuff away and get our dresses on!" Quinn pipes up. We all jump off of the bed and into the bathroom washing the makeup off of our hands, and Beth starts whimpering in her pushchair. Quinn finishes up in the bathroom then goes to check on her. She lifts Beth out of her pushchair and goes to sit on my bed with her. "Are you sure your grandparents don't mind looking after her whislt we are at the dance?" Quinn asks for what seems like the millionth time. "Yes, Q, I'm sure, she won't be any trouble." I tell her again. Quinn shushes Beth down and puts a pillow on the floor to put Beths head on whist she changes her nappy. "She should be alright after I change her, she normally just goes straight back to sleep, or wants her milk then goes back to sleep." Quinn says.
After Beth is back down Quinn and Mercedes get their dresses out of their garment bags and lay them on the now clear bed. They both look at their dresses with a big smile on their faces. I unhook my dress from out of the wardrobe it was hung in and unzip it carefully and place it on the bed with the others and smile at them clapping my hands together quietly. "Okay who is gunna get ready first? We might need to help each-other into them; I know I needed help to pull it down in the dress shop." I said laughing remembering when I was in the changing room with the dress over my head and my arms sticking out of the top unable to see walking into the walls until Quinn came and pulled it down for me. "Um, I'll put mine on first, can you close the curtain." Quinn says pointing to the window. "Yes the sheep are very likely to stare at you." I say laughing; they both joined in as I closed the curtain and turned the light on.
She takes her vest top off and her denim shorts to show a cute little strapless bra and underwear set. Mercedes tells her to put her arms up as she drops the dress over Quinn's head.
I begin to pull the white ribbon at the back so that the ribbon goes through all the hoops so it is all crisscrossed correctly then I tie it in a bow at her lower back. She turns around and stares at us expectantly but we are mind blown… again.
She looks absolutely stunning in this dress, well in everything she wears actually, she's just so pretty. The dress is tight at the top with no straps it hugs her in all the right places to show just how perfect her figure is. The dress is white and then the white gets darker until it is completely black at the bottom, the top has black diamantes. The dress goes out at the hips slightly and then goes down to her feet. She twirls around with her hands over her head just like a ballerina. "You look absolutely beautiful, Q!" me and Mercy say in unison. "Thanks guys!" she says excitedly stroking her dress gently.
"Okay Merce, You're turn." I say. She nods and stands up from the bed. She unbuttons her jeans and they fall to the floor, she then takes her black crop top off to show a black lace strapless set. I take her dress carefully off the bed and kneel down on the floor, she puts her hands on my shoulders and lifts one leg up and puts it into the dress and then the other. I pull the dress up her body zipping it up at the back then fastening the safety clip in at the top I step back and sit on the corner of my bed next to Quinn who's standing at the side of me. "Wow you look hot!" Q says taking Mercedes hand and making her turn around. Mercedes dress is finished just above the knee and has black and white flowers all over it with shoulder straps that place on her upper arms. It is tight on top, and goes loose from under the boobs to the bottom of the dress.
They then both turn to me and I stand up knowing what they're going to say. I take my shorts and band t-shirt off quickly, covering my hip where my secret tattoo is that no-body knows about. Quinn leans on my bed and picks up my dress. She tells me to put my hands up over my head like she had to. I reluctantly did as I was told, and she saw the little tattoo I was covering she looked at me and then back at the tattoo and I smiled shyly. "I got it about 2 months ago." I said touching it. My tattoo is of two little blue butterflies that are identical. "For my sister." I said simply smiling down at them. "They're beautiful." Quinn said honestly and Mercedes nodded in agreement looking at them carefully.
I stood up straight again with my hands over my head as Quinn pulled the dress down over me. I held the dress in place over my boobs as she did the zip at the side and Mercedes tied the bow at the back. When they had both finished they both stepped back for me to twirl around like a princess and I looked at myself in my life-sized mirror on my wardrobe my mouth hung wide open. "We've done a great job with picking out these fabulous dresses didn't we?!" I said delighted. My dress is black at the top, with white sequins and diamantes, getting lighter to the bottom but doesn't quite go white, just to a very light grey. It has a black swag on the right side of the dress just below wear my knees would be that drapes the material up, to show a white materiel underneath.
We all put on our shoes that we picked out along with the dress and the bags, we all chose comfortable heels, that aren't too high, mine are silver even though you can't really see them under the dress, they do make me a little bit higher which is good because then I won't seem so small compared to Finn. Quinn's are white silk with diamantes and sequins on the top, you can just see them poking out from under her dress as she walks, and Mercedes heels are black silk with white and sparkly beads on the top. We take a few pictures on everyone's phone and then look at the clock to see that it is 5.25pm I shout gran and grandpa from the top of the stairs to be ready with the camera to take our pictures when we descend the stairs. We all felt like celebrities walking down the stairs like we were in slow motion and having flashes in our faces.
Gran took me to the side and said how beautiful she thought I looked, then handed me a box. I opened it and saw a necklace. "Oh, Gran it's beautiful!" I tell her lifting it out of the box carefully. I look at it and it is a gold chain with a gold musical note hanging from it.
She knows I want to be a singer in New York someday I thought to myself I've talked about it so much. She takes it from me and asks me to turn around; I do so, moving my hair to the side allowing her to clasp it around my neck. I turn back around and touch it with my fingers. I hugged her kissing her cheek. "Thank you so much!" I say. "You're welcome angel." She says back.
The doorbell rings and grandpa opens it, its Finn standing at the door with a box in his hand. He's wearing a smart black suit with a shiny black suit jacket, white shirt and a black tie. He is still standing in the doorway staring at me smiling I walk slowly over to him and then he moves holding the box out to me, still not saying a word. I take it from him and see that's it's a white flower wrist corsage with black ribbons going through it. I take it out of the see through box carefully. Finn takes it gently out of my hands and ties it around my wrist. "You.. you.. y-you look beautiful. S-so beautiful." He says stuttering. I blush and say "You don't look too bad yourself, handsome." I say and he smiles kissing my cheek.
"Okay let's get some pictures of you two together" Grandpa says pulling us back to reality. We smile at each other and then at grandpa who is holding the camera. "Say cheese!" grandpa offers. "Cheese!" we both say laughing at each other. Grandpa clicks and clicks even when we aren't posing, he just clicks.
Now it's group photo time outside, in front of the long black limo that has come to pick us all up. We do some funny poses and some nice poses and then say our goodbyes to Gran and Grandpa and climb into the limo. Quinn says her goodbyes to Beth and says she won't be too long! And to be good for them, even though she is just a baby and doesn't have the slightest idea what she is talking about. Then she kisses her forehead one last time before thanking Gran and Grandad again and climbing into the limo.
Me and Finn hold hands all the way to school, me and the girls all tell him about our crazy pre-prom girly day, and watch him roll his eyes sarcastically.
We got to school there is a queue of fancy cars, old fashioned cars, normal cars and an assortment of motorbikes all waiting their turn to pull up in front of the school to let their passengers out and off.
When we finally got outside the front of the school we thanked the driver and walked down the *Red Carpet* to the main entrance that leads to the hall where the dance is taking place. It is a very big hall, at the far end where the gym apparatus is usually has been replaced by a DJ and all of his equipment.
On the left hand side was a long buffet table with food arranged in all different varieties. At the end of the table was a large glass bowl with punch in and cups all around it. On the right hand side are seats and tables with odd vases of flowers scattered on every other table. The tables also had party poppers and sprinkles on them.
In one of the rooms just outside the hall was being used as a studio for students to have a photographer take professional pictures of you, with your friends and/ or your date. In the hall there are black and white decorations hung from the ceiling where the rope climbing is usually, there is posters on the walls, and funny pictures of some students scattered around the walls too. There are lots of students here already and it is still quite early.
Everyone looks so beautiful in their dresses and suits; you can see how much effort people have put into how they look tonight.
Me and Finn follow Quinn and Mercedes to a table and we are too caught up in our conversation that we hadn't realised that we were at the table with Puck, Brittany and Santana- the cheerleaders. I looked at Finn and he looked back at me and smiled. Lucas sat down on the chair furthest away from Puck and pulled at my hand for me to sit in the chair next to him, I shook my head and bit my lip, and instead of sitting on the chair I sat in his lap. "Aw, Aren't they just the cutest?!" Quinn squealed loudly pointing at us. Mercedes nodded and so did the Brittany, Puck scoffed and turned his head towards Quinn, "How's our little angel doing?" he asks Quinn. "Oh she's much better, that medicine you bought her really helped with that awful cough." Quinn replied, before getting up and sauntering over to Sam, pulling him towards the middle of the empty dance floor they started to dance around energetically they actually looked crzy waving their hands around everywhere. Me and Finn giggled with each other looking at Quinn and Sam being mental. I leant down and kissed his lips for the first time tonight.
The DJ announced what song he was going to play next and I stood up abruptly making Finn jump, I held out my hand and said "Come and dance, I love this song!" he nodded but looked unsure and we walked past Puck and smirked he just scoffed again. We both headed over to the dance floor where a few other couples had stood up waiting for the song to start too.
Do you remember the nights,
We'd stay up just laughing.
Smiling for hours,
At anything.
Remember the nights,
We drove around crazy in love.
"Thank you, for making this night so special for me." I say with my hands around the back of his neck, my fingers playing with the hair there. He leant down and kissed me passionately on the lips and pulled away.
When the lights go out,
We'll be safe and sound.
We'll take control of the world,
Like it's all we have to hold on to
And we'll be a dream
"You have nothing to thank me for, I feel so extraordinary lucky to have you here, with me, right now." He says looking deep into my eyes; I smile and then put my head on his chest and lower my hands down to his waist, rocking side to side to the slow song. I stand on his foot; he pulls it back and laughs loudly pulling away from my grip and laughing. "Ooops, sorry!" I say laughing too. He brings me back to him holding me securely.
Do you remember the nights?
We made our way dreaming,
Hoping of being someone big,
We were so young then,
We were too crazy,
In love,
Finn leans down and kisses my hair, pulling me in closer to him. I start quietly humming along to the song without knowing that he is listening to me.
When the lights go out,
We'll be safe and sound,
We'll take control of the world,
Like it's all we have to hold on to,
And we'll be a dream,
Whoa whoa,
Whoa whoa,
Whoa whoa,
"When you leave school, if you could do anything what would it be?" Lucas asked out of nowhere, moving our bodies so that we could see each-others' faces without stopping dancing. "I want to be a singer in New York, that's been my dream since I was a kid." I say blushing looking down. "Why?" I ask not knowing why he'd asked. "I want to hear you sing, I just want to know everything about you." He says sincerely. I nod understanding, snuggling back into his chest.
When the lights go out,
We'll be safe and sound,
We'll take control of the world,
Like it's all we have to hold on to,
And we'll be,
He takes one of my hands from on his waist and brings it up to his mouth to kiss the puts it back down again. Just that one simple movement made more butterflies fly around in my stomach.
When the lights go out,
We'll be safe and sound,
We'll take control of the world,
Like it's all we have to hold on to,
And we'll be a dream.
I lean up on my tip toes and kiss his lips, we then walk hand in hand back to our table. I notice that Mercedes isn't at our table anymore and I look around and see Santana pointing out into the dance floor Mercedes dancing with James, the guy the sent her the text earlier. I look back at Santana and make a heart with my fingers and pretend to throw it towards Mercedes and James. Santana laughs and nods. "I'm gunna go get some punch. Anyone else want some?" I ask, before getting up from Finns' knee. Everyone shakes their heads so I walk across the room, dodging in between dancing couples to make my way to the punch bowl.
I pour myself a cupful and lean against the table watching Mercy and James dancing. I turn back towards the punch bowl refilling my cup and notice a someone has come and stood next to me, turning around I saw it was Puck, he was looking at me before I realised he was there. I opened my mouth to say hi but he cut me off saying how nice he thought I looked. I said thank you and moved out of his way to head back to the table when he stopped me with his arm. I looked at him with a questioning look on my face he opened his mouth and shut it again.
I sighed pulling my dress from his loosened grip. "What do you want, Noah?" I asked flat out I prefer calling him by his actual name. He sighed taking a few seconds to think carefully about the words he was going to use. "I just want to apologize again, and say that I read your letter, and I agree with you, I should have never started to argue with Finn in your tree house. That wasn't cool. But I meant what I said to Finn, I do like you, and if he does hurt you in any way. I will not stand for it. That's all I wanted to say." Puck said turning towards the punch bowl and pouring himself some. "Well thank you for your concern Puckerman, but I'm sure I can handle that on my own." I said talking to his back, and then I turned on my heel and walked back to Finn, Santana and Brittany leaving Puck standing there.
I sat back on Finns' lap drinking my punch and swirling it around in the bottom of the cup. Finn to the cup from out of my hands and entwined our fingers kissing them both. This simple sentiment made me feel much better.
The rest of the night went on smoothly, Me, Quinn and Mercedes got up and danced a couple of times and so did me and Finn. We were getting into the back of the taxi shattered at 12.30am. I had my head on Finns' shoulder. "I keep drifting off." I tell him, he kissed my forehead and said "It's okay, sleep baby." I nodded snuggling into his shoulder to get more comfortable. In a few short seconds I was asleep.
I woke up in my dance dress on top of my covers on my bed with just a blanket over me. Mercy and Quinn were asleep on their blow-up beds and Beth in her travel cot in the other side of my room. I sat up and stretched. Pushing the blanket to the bottom of the bed with my feet, my shoes had been taken off. I went into the bathroom to take off my dress. I pulled the ribbon at the back loose and started unfastening unhooking the ribbon from the hoops they were in. I unzipped the dress at the side and with one big pull I got it over my head successfully.
I took the clip out of my hair and found a bobble on the side; I put my hair up in a messy ponytail and leaned back against the sink I pulled on a nightdress and walked back into my room, sitting back on my bed. I looked at the pictures and the note that had been left on my bedside table; I hadn't noticed them when I woke up. Grandpa must've gone to the photo shop before it closed yesterday and had them produced I thought to myself smiling at the pictures. I looked at the note.
Soph, when you wake up, come downstairs. J Yours, Finn xxxxxxxx
I read it about 5 times before I ask myself the question; Did Gran let him sleep here? I opened my door slowly trying not to wake anybody up. I crept down the stairs quietly, then into the living room. There he was on the sofa sleeping like a baby. I tiptoed past him and into the kitchen to get a drink when I heard a *yawn* sound, I peeked my head around the corner into the room where sleeping Finn was; he opened his eyes and stretched taking in his surroundings. Then I cleared my throat and he smiled my way. "Morning sleepyhead." I say going back into the kitchen to make him a drink too.
I walk back into the room with the glass in my hand. I hand him the glass and sit next to him on the sofa as he puts his shirt back on from last night. "Here you go." I say smiling. "Thank you." He takes it kissing my lips. "Do you always look this good in the morning?" He says looking at me seriously, I laugh and shake my head "I really don't." "You do." He kisses me again, and takes a big gulp of his drink. "So did Gran not want you to take the taxi home on your own?" I asked him. He shook his head no. "I told her it would be fine, but she was having none of it." I nod saying I understand "She doesn't like driving at night." I say. "How did I get upstairs? I must have been fast asleep to not realised I was being moved." I asked laughing and snuggling into his side with my knees up and feet on the sofa. "Oh that was me, you looked so peaceful, when you fell asleep on my shoulder you gradually slipped down until you had your head on my lap and then you were snoring lightly so I thought it would be for the best if I carried you up and made you comfortable in bed." I blushed and nodded giggling.
"So what's your plan for today then?" I asked him. He looked down at me and smiled cheekily. "Your gran invited me, Quinn, Beth and Mercy to have Sunday dinner with you... If that's alright with you." He says kissing my hair. "Of course it is, and then maybe we could all walk to the park and hang out there for a while?" I ask him. He nods into my hair his nose rubbing through it. "Sure thing, baby. We can do whatever you like." I smile and move positions lying on my side with my head wresting on his stomach. He starts playing with my hair which calms automatically; I smile and start drawing patterns on his shirt. With his other hand he strokes up and down my back, I reach for the TV remote and switch it on, feeling 100% comfortable with him being here. I smile and reach for my drink and take a swig before putting it down.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. I felt a grumble under my head. I looked up at Finn and we both laughed. I sat up and held out my hand for him to take to pull him up, and then we walked into the kitchen. "What should we have for breakfast? What do you fancy?" I asked him, opening cupboard doors and the fridge to show him what we had in. "How about we just get some fruit or something?" He said, I turned to him and nodded "Sounds good to me." I replied pulling my short nightgown down in order for him not to see my bum. He laughed at me and reached to get the bowls out for us and everyone else. We put all the different fruit into a big bowl and stirred it in. "Mm, it looks good enough to eat." I say smiling and taking a big spoonful out of the mixing bowl and into a desert bowl. I got a handful of spoons out of the draw and put them next to the fruit for the others to get. I sat down next to Finn on the kitchen table; he was already digging into his bowl of fruit. "Mhm, so good." He said with a mouthful, I smiled and playfully shoved him.
I heard the creaky stairs so someone else must be awake now, it was Gran and Grandpa. "Hey, kids. How did you sleep?" grandpa asked. "Like a baby." I said smiling. "Very, good thank you." Finn said politely. Gran smiled at us both whilst helping herself to some of the fruit and getting some for grandpa. They sat down at the table with us and we ate in a comfortable silence. "We're going to go to the park after dinner, we think. When Quinn, Beth and Mercedes are up and ready, we're going to ask them if they want to come along too." I say getting a second helping of fruit this time adding some whipped cream. "Mmmm." I let out. "So good!" they all laugh at me.
Quinn comes down the stairs holding Beth in one of her arms whilst feeding her a bottle in the other and Mercedes behind her they join us in the kitchen with a bowl each of fruit, we all gush and gossip about prom and Gran and Grandpa *ooo and ahh.*
I go upstairs and bring back Finn one of my dad's old t-shirts that has a big smiley face on it and he laughs when he sees it, thanking me with a kiss. I then go upstairs and get dressed and put my hair up properly. Not bothering with makeup. I come back down with Quinn, Mercedes and Beth all in clean comfy clothes.
I pull my necklace out from under my top as I reach them bottom of the stairs, I hear Finn talking to my grandpa I follow their voices and see them looking at old pictures of me. I smile and roll my eyes leaning over Finns' back to see over his head and look at the pictures with them, he smiles and moves so I can sit on his knee like last night.
Grandpa smiles at the both of us threw loving eyes. I look back down at the pictures and see a photo album next to the one they're looking at with my mum and dad's wedding photos in. I take that one and put it in front of me. I open it up and see the beautiful wedding gown my mum had on her wedding day. I've seen these pictures millions of times but somehow every time I look at them, I see something different in the photos. I love this album I've got a copy of them all at my mum's house I keep in my bedroom, along with mine and Graces' baby pictures.
I smile and trace her face with my finger. I turned the page and saw the picture of my mum throwing her large bouquet of flowers over her head and all the women crowded round her, with their hands up. I close the book and push it to the side and smile relaxing into Finn, feeling him rub his hands up and down my
I cut out different sized and coloured letters from old magazines to make the words *Friendship Wall* I found some double sided sticky tape from out of my creative box that had all of my drawing stuff in and stuck them on my wall, and then took the pictures from off of my bed and decided where I wanted to put them and the stuck them on to the wall too. I took a few paces back to admire my work and smiled at the pictures of us. All happy and looking beautiful. I can keep adding to the walls, I thought to myself.
I lifted up the edge of my mattress and took out my notebook book, what I write songs in. I have a lot of things to inspire some songs from these past couple of days. I spent the rest of the evening writing lyrics arms soothingly.
Grandpa puts the albums back on the book shelf, and we go out into the back garden to see Mercedes and Alicia on the garden swing with Beth in Mercedes lap, we join them sitting on the grass next to them. They both smile when we sit down. "What're you two talking about?" I asked leaning back onto my elbows on the soft grass. "Nothing much really, we were just thinking about what James is going to be like with Mercedes tomorrow at school." Quinn says catching them up in their conversation. "Hmmm, I don't know but, I definitely know he likes you Mercy." I say. She nods at me and blushes. "I hope so." She says.
After dinner we all walk down the road to the park, we sit on the swings and push each-other messing around like little kids, laughing and making a fool out of ourselves. Quinn goes down the kids slide with Beth.
I jump off the swing when it starts to slow down and head towards the roundabout, putting one foot on I and pushing with the other then letting it carry me around. "Me and Grace used to come to this little park all the time and climb that tree over there..." I say laughing. "I always had to let her get up first because she always needed me to shove her bum up when she got stuck." I smiled at the memories. Finn takes my hands and pulls me over towards the pond; we start to throw little pebbles trying to make them skim the water, I've always been bad at this game but it is still fun trying. I huff playfully throwing a larger stone in right in front of Finn splashing him a little. He gasps, and then turns to me and starts tickling me at the side of the pond. I'm bursting out in laughter and tears I beg him to stop and he eventually does kissing my lips a few times gently before stopping tickling me completely. We lay there next the pond for a few minutes then silently thinking.
When we got back to Grans house from the park we all said our good byes and thanked each-other for the great weekend we had had together. When I closed the door after the taxi had gone I went and found the pictures that Grandpa had taken from yesterday and decided to create a friendship wall to put all of our pictures on in my bedroom.
and singing happily to myself.
One day I will go to New York and make something of myself. I thought to myself as I fell asleep that night, dreaming of what could be.