Chapter 1
Rachel made a list of pros and cons. She needed to show her dads that her decision had been well thought of, and carefully planned. She needed to convince them somehow, and her charms alone weren't enough for the magnitude of what she was asking for.
Pros:
-Have free time to go to auditions
Cons:
-Will not finish BA in 1 year
-Will miss 1 more year of learning at the best school
-Cannot live in dorm, need to find an apartment
-Cannot eat in dining hall, need to cook or eat out
-Will need to take taxis or the subway
"Hmmmm… This isn't going to work. I'll have to rely on charm alone." she thought as she crumpled the list she just made and tossed it in the trash.
It was already April, and Rachel had to convince her dads before registering for the next year. But spring break was just around the corner and it was the perfect time to do it, so she hopped on a train on a Thursday afternoon, and in only 20 hours she would be back home. Breaking the news that she wanted to take a year off college when she only needed one more year to finish would be cataclysmic for her dads. But she was positively sure she would prevail, even though she knew it wouldn't be easy, after all, she learned all about being a drama queen from both her dads.
They had just finished dinner, and after giving the news, she stayed quietly sitting gauging their reaction to see how much more she could push the subject. Leroy's reaction was not good. "I don't understand what you're saying, Rachel Barbra Berry!" he said as he pushed his chair back from the table and stood up dramatically. Meanwhile her other daddy Hiram stayed in his chair covering his face with his hands (also dramatically).
"Please, just try to put yourselves in my shoes for a second! There are four –FOUR- shows that are starting early next year, and I need time to audition, I can sense my break coming! Normally, just one or two shows start in a year, but to have FOUR new shows is a rare event that I must partake of. It probably will be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and if I miss it I'll live full of regret for the rest of my life!" she said full of emotion and –what else- drama.
"But Rachel, honey" said Hiram "you just have to hang in there for just one more year…"
"Daddy, I know, but I don't want to sit by watching the opportunities coming and going just because I have to finish college! It will only be a year, and if I don't get any respectable part within that year, I'll go back and finish college. In the grand scheme of things, a year is almost imperceptible!"
"OK, let's say for the sake of argument that you take a year off, you don't get any parts, and you go back to college, who's going to pay for it? You know that we won't be able to foot the $50,000.00 plus expenses by ourselves…"
"Nothing to worry about, Daddy, I already talked to my counselor and she said my scholarship will grant me a year of sabbatical without any financial or academic consequences since I've maintained a 3.8 GPA for the past three years."
She was sure she covered all her bases before coming home.
"We need to think about this and discuss it among ourselves. We'll give you the answer tomorrow morning" said Hiram thus finishing the conversation.
Rachel never thought it would be so easy to convince her dads, and went to bed relaxed and satisfied, the answer would be yes, she was sure.
The next morning her dads awoke her with breakfast in bed. She had learned the joys of sleeping late in college, and that meant sleeping until 7:30 am, and sometimes even 8:00 am.
"Sweetie, we've thought about it and it seems that you are making a well informed and planned choice, and we trust you completely, but we still need to set some written ground rules to make sure you'll be safe outside of NYU."
Rachel was beside herself and hugged both her dads tightly. "Thank you, thank you… You won't regret this!" She was victorious as always, never underestimating her powerful charming ways. She would be free to audition for a whole year!
College had gone by in a whirlwind for her, and she had managed to make some friends there. She barely kept in touch with her friends from Lima, the only one she spoke with regularly was Finn, and they didn't have much to talk about, since Finn's knowledge of Rachel's new life was limited.
She found out about the four plays that were opening from her best friend from college Mark, who came up with the idea and was also taking the year off. They had met during their freshman orientation and had become inseparable since then. Mark was a blend between Kurt Hummel and Duckie from "Pretty in Pink": very extravagant, very fashionable and a great friend. He was extremely good looking, and Rachel thought of him as a very gay version of Jesse St James. Mark knew that Jesse had broken Rachel's heart, that he was insanely talented, and that he went to UCLA. He also knew that Rachel still had feelings for him, even though she denied it vehemently every time the subject came up.
After the school year ended, Rachel moved out of her dorm and into what could be considered as either a tiny apartment or a big closet, the rent was very high but it was on a good neighborhood and quite close to the places where she'd be auditioning. Mark also moved nearby with two roommates, and he and Rachel planned to go to every audition together.
Rachel knew that she would really take advantage of the coming year: at long last she was one step closer to her dream.