Hi folks. It's been a long time since I've written anything creative...as in anything other than political science research papers. I've really only done one full fanfiction before-that being a Degrassi one about four years ago. I'd like to think my writing style has improved since.
I've wanted to start a Glee fanfic forever now, but have had trouble figuring out what sort of story to go with. I've read A LOT of very similar stories (Rachel pregnant or raped), and while I'll read them I knew I didn't want to write that.
I've really gotten into the series Six Feet Under recently and it somehow inspired this story.
Please review and let me know what you think. Also, I should let you know that I am both a student and someone with a full-time job at the moment so if I don't update at a super speed like some people please don't flame me.
Oh, and if you would be interested in being my Beta for this story I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
Enjoy :)
Rachel stood at her locker examining her reflection in the mirror she had taped to the inside of the door. She had been spending an embarrassingly large amount of time looking at herself in the mirror recently, quietly wondering why it was that people were still making hurtful comments about her appearance on a daily basis.
Sure, Quinn had toned down quite a bit since she had given birth to and given up Beth; but, she was still Quinn, and had never fully accepted Rachel. Santana still scowled at Rachel whenever she could, making snide comments about her clothing, looks, or personality. Rachel wasn't exactly sure what the latino Cheerio had against her, but she was positive Santana hated something about her. Even if Quinn had stopped teasing her and Santana had eased up slightly, the general population of William McKinley hadn't ceased to try and make her feel absolutely horrible about herself.
She thought that perhaps when the new school year had started and she entered her junior year, things would have gotten better. She had been dating Finn for two and a half months now, and things had been going smoothly. She was happy with the way he treated her, making her feel like she could never do any wrong, treating her like she truly was a star.
Turning away from the mirror and shutting the door to her locker, she was startled to find Finn standing there waiting for her. She jumped, "Finn! You scared me. How is it possible for you to be so impossibly tall and uncoordinated, but still manage to just appear out of nowhere?"
He chuckled, "I like to surprise you."
"Well, mission accomplished," she laughed, hitting him playfully on the chest. "Are you ready for practice?"
"Yeah," he nodded, "although I'm not really sure how I feel about a Britney Spears theme."
Rachel grabbed his arm, wrapping her own arm around his, as they walked towards the choir room. "Yes, Britney was a rather questionable music choice on Mr. Schue's part. However, she has had a large amount of number one singles. Plus, it was either this or another ode to the 1980's and I'm not sure I could stomach another power ballad."
They entered the choir room together, going automatically to the seats they had unofficially claimed as their own. Seated next to them was Mercedes, Quinn, and Kurt whose new friendship was a bit worrisome. Taking up their usually upper corner spot were Brittany and Santana, with Mike and Matt sitting in the seats directly in front of them. The boys seemed to be attempting some sort of beat-boxing, as Brittany bopped along and Santana rolled her eyes unimpressed. Artie and Tina came in last, settling in on the other side of Rachel and Finn.
Rachel couldn't help but notice that everyone was there expect for one set of hazel eyes. "Has anyone seen Noah?"
Finn looked over at her quickly, "Noah?" He asked, raising one eyebrow in question at the name choice.
"Yes," she nodded, confused about his question. "It's Wednesday and I couldn't help but notice that he's missed every practice this week."
It was true, she couldn't have not notice. She and Puck were by no means good friends, but she had started to at least have regular friendly conversations with him since he and Quinn had given up Beth. He and Finn had even reconciled, which made for some informal double dates with her and Finn and Puck and Quinn.
"He misses them all the time," Finn offered casually.
"No he doesn't," Rachel argued. "He's only missed one since school started three weeks ago."
"Someone's keeping tabs," Kurt muttered, looking at Rachel with an amused expression.
Rachel rolled her eyes, "I'm simply stating the facts. As co-captain of glee I happen to notice who is and who isn't present at practice. Surely it hasn't slipped everyone else's attention that Noah has been missing..."
"Cut the Noah crap, RuPaul," Santana snapped from her corner of the room. "It's creepy. He goes by Puck."
"Okay, guys!" Mr. Schuester greeted as he entered the room. "Who's ready for some Britney?"
"I'm not doing anything..." Brittany stated confused, looking at Santana.
"He means Britney Spears, Britt."
"Oh," Brittany sighed, allowing time for it to click in.
"Where's Puck?" Mr. Schuester asked, looking to where Puck usually sat beside Quinn.
"Thank you!" Rachel exclaimed, smiling that someone else had noticed his absence.
"He hasn't called me all week," Quinn admitted.
"That hasn't concerned you?" Kurt asked.
Quinn sighed, "It's Puck we're talking about here, he's not exactly known to be the most reliable guy."
"I disagree," Rachel spoke up. When Quinn glared at her in a way that she hadn't for at least four months, she quickly added, "I mean, he usually at least tells one person if he's going to be away."
"He hasn't called me to play Call of Duty since last Sunday," Finn nodded in agreement.
"Okay," Mr. Schuester interjected, "We'll practice today and then someone can call Puck when we're done."
Practice lasted an hour, after they had rehearsed both "Stronger" and "Lucky". Rachel couldn't help but think of Puck throughout the entire hour, but she did her best to keep her concerns to herself. She didn't need anymore weird looks from Finn. Although he and Puck had become friends again, Finn was still reluctant to truly trust him; and, having his girlfriend be so worried about his whereabouts may have been a cause for concern.
After practice Rachel bid goodbye to the group and drove off to her part-time job. Since she was fourteen she had been working approximately three evenings a week at her dad's business. She didn't really talk about it much though, as the fact that she spent that much of her time in a funeral home tended to add to her "freak" persona.
She had learned to be fairly comfortable with the idea of death after awhile though and honestly had trouble understanding why it scared people so much. It was going to happen to everyone eventually. Better to accept that it was inevitably going to happen, rather than live in denial. Granted, being to at least five-hundred funerals in her lifetime and seeing her first dead body at the age of five had made her somewhat immune to the dealings of death, grieving, and funerals.
She arrived at the building at around four-thirty, expecting to be there filing and sorting papers until at least seven. Tonight was her night to get caught up on work, as her schedule was often full of after school activities such as glee, dance class, and singing and acting lessons. Her fathers had agreed to pay for these activities as long as she worked at least ten hours a week and kept her grades at an acceptable level. So far she had managed perfectly, Rachel Berry was extremely good at time management.
Entering through the front door and moving towards the back office she ran into her father, Stephen. Stephen was a tall, strong looking, African-American man in his late forties. He was the more serious out of her two fathers, the other being Hiram, a shorter, balding, Jewish man of the same age. While Stephen was the more serious disciplinarian of the two, Hiram was a bit more eccentric, and a bit of 'a drama queen', as his husband stated.
"Hey, Star," Stephen greeted, pecking the top of her head.
"Hi, Dad," she smiled. "How's your day been?"
She could tell by the look on his face that it hadn't been an easy one. He signed, rubbing his shut eyes. "It's been a long one," he admitted. "We got a young girl in today. She was only nine."
Rachel frowned, she knew that as long as her father had been a funeral director and as many funerals as he had done, the ones for children were still incredibly hard for him. "I'm sorry, Dad," she told him sympathetically, leaning in to give him a quick hug. "What happened?"
"She drowned," he told her. "Apparently she wasn't the greatest swimmer and she accidentally floated into the deep end. By the time she was found she had already been in there for at least ten minutes. It was too late to do anything." He massaged his temples and then gave Rachel a quick smile. "Don't worry, Star. It's not the first time I've had to prepare someone this young."
She gave him a tight smile back, "I know, but I know how much it bothers you."
Sighing, he patted her kindly on the shoulder, "Who wouldn't it bother though?" He asked rhetorically. "I've got to go finish stuff up though," he told her. "A family member should be coming within the next hour to sort everything out for the funeral. Victor is away today, so I need you to do the intake. Can you handle it?" He asked kindly.
"Of course, Dad. I've done it before," she nodded, assuring him. Although she honestly wasn't sure how she felt about helping someone plan a funeral for their young relative.
"Thanks," he said, leaning in again to quickly kiss her on the head before heading back downstairs to the preparation room.
Rachel had been in the back office for about twenty minutes when she heard someone knocking at the front door. Expecting it to be the family member her father had told her about, she got up and smoothed out her dark green plaid skirt and cream coloured cardigan.
She walked to the door and braced herself before opening it up. Before her stood a boy her age, his eyes were rimmed red, as though he had been crying for at least two days. His appearance was disheveled dressed in ripped jeans and a baggy sweater and he has stubble on his face from obviously not shaving.
She could not have prepared herself for this. "Noah?"
