A/N: A lot of this story will be completely created by me, but there will be some moments where I work from whats canon - this first chapter especially. Just as a warning, this is a Westberry fic, but there will be some mention of Finn. Hope you enjoy!

When Rachel Berry was finally unleashed into the big wide world of New York City, it was everything she dreamed. NYADA however…was not. Of course she knew there would be struggles and fierce competition, if her audition was to be any indication. News spread fast around McKinley of her embarrassing choking scenario in front of the one and only Carmen Tibideaux. That's one thing she wouldn't miss about McKinley and Lima: the rumours.

She swiped her keycard through the pad just above the door handle and a small green light flashed. She twisted the handle down and the door opened to reveal her new surroundings. Her new room was bigger than her bedroom at home, but that's because she knew she wouldn't be alone. Her new roommate wasn't in the room at the time, but she knew that she was rooming with another female. She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, she knew how competitive girls could be.

Her dads followed her dutifully into the room, carrying boxes crammed with her belongings. It seemed that her new roommate had already moved in if the amount of photographs were any sort of indication. They lined the walls of her side of the room, so much that Rachel could barely see the less than desirable white painted brick wall. Looking at her side of the room, she knew she had to get to work straight away.

Her fathers continually moved her stacks of boxes and numerous bags into her room while she got to decorating. Out came the numerous Broadway posters, the framed photographs of her fathers and her fellow Glee club members, and her bedazzling kit. She neatly stacked her binders full of sheet music and her guides to Broadway in her admittedly small bookshelf; just managing to fit them all on the lacking shelf space with careful organisation. She placed a large shiny gold star above her desk against the wall – a gift from her fathers to remind her to never doubt her talent no matter how hard it became at NYADA. Something she later came to rely heavily on.

With a teary goodbye for them all, Rachel's fathers left her dorm building ready to begin their drive back to Lima. She figured it would be a while until she finally met her new roommate so she decided to take a walk around NYADA; try and get her bearings a little.

That idea quickly turned into stumbling across the dance studio threshold. It was empty, but it felt familiar. It was just like the one back in McKinley, but twice the size. The light was streaming in through the clear window, hitting one of the many large mirrors at such an angle that a rainbow spectrum to spilled out onto the sprung wooden floor.

'Hey kid…'

A gruff male voice startled her, making her turn back towards the large open doorway leading into the studio. She found a man in well-worn navy overalls standing partly in shadow; tufts of white hair sprouting from underneath an old Yankees baseball cap with rips in the brim. Rachel figured he was a janitor.

'…You supposed to be in here?'

Rachel interlocked her fingers behind her back and half nodded. 'I'm a junior here, I just moved into my dorm room in the Strasberg Building. I was just trying to gain some sense of direction when I was distracted with the beauty of this room…' she began to ramble slightly before she was cut off by the considerably older man.

'Whatever,' he grumbled with a gruff tone. 'Just don't mess anything up.'

He left just as soon as he appeared; leaving Rachel alone once again in the room. To avoid another run in with such a man she decided it best to vacate that part of the building.

She made her way back into the adjacent Strasberg Building and climbed the three flights of stairs back up to her dorm room. She heard muffled noises from the other side of the door as she slid her keycard through the small electronic reader. She figured that must be her new roommate and she smiled to herself, hoping to make her first friend at NYADA. She just didn't expect that her roommate wouldn't be alone. The small green light appeared and she gained entry into her new home.

To say she caught her roommate in a compromising position would be an understatement. The first thing she saw was a mass of dark blonde hair between pale slender thighs. Not that Rachel had a problem with gay or lesbian relationships (of course she didn't, what with Kurt and Blaine, Santana and Brittany and of course her own fathers!) but she couldn't help being a little shocked to say the least at suddenly being confronted by the sight before her.

Her hand still clutched around the door handle, naturally she wasn't quite sure where to look. A small squeak fell from between her lips on witnessing such a greeting by her roommate. It must have been louder than Rachel intended as she planned to just slip back out of the room before the face between her roommate's legs withdrew.

Her roommate shifted back towards the headboard, sitting up against the wall. The previously unidentified head moved slightly and a lightly red female face came into view. She wiped the back of her hand along her bottom lip, wiping away the glistening liquid.

'So I guess you're my roommate huh?' the red-haired girl leaning against the wall spoke with a hint of a southern accent. The blonde girl on the bed shifted to sit beside her.

Rachel nodded, faltering slightly. 'R-Rachel…' she stuttered. She internally shook herself out of her daze and stuck out her small hand. 'I'm Rachel.'

The red-head smirked looking at her outstretched hand then up to Rachel trying her hardest to retain a smile. 'I gathered.'

The red-head reached into the drawer of her bedside stand and Rachel dropped her hand back down to her side. The southern girl fished out a small blue cardboard box and flipped up the lid, revealing half a pack of long white cigarettes. She nodded to the blonde and she obediently left her place on the bed and jumped up onto the red-haired girl's desk. To Rachel's horror, she removed the round plastic casing on the front of the fire alarm and flicked a switch inside the wiring before replacing the cover. She nodded over to the red-head and she finally retrieved the lighter from the same packet, igniting her cigarette.

Rachel's mouth gaped slightly as she turned her attention to the smoker on the bed. The girl smiled with amusement. She got up from the bed and walked towards Rachel next to the wall. She stuck out a slender pale hand. Everything about her is slender, Rachel thought to herself. 'Madison.'

Rachel shook it politely before Madison moved over to the blonde girl who had hopped down from atop her desk. Rachel tried not to stare at their interaction when Madison rejected the unidentified girl's advances.

She kept her voice down. 'I think it's time for you to go soldier.'

Rachel thought it surprising when the other girl asked for no explanation about her seemingly random dismissal. The girl simply nodded and left the dorm room with a small nod of acknowledgement towards Rachel on her way out.

The door shut with a small click, leaving the two new roommates alone. Madison walked over to the window opening it, allowing the small amount of accumulated cigarette smoke to begin to dissipate.

Without even turning around she knew Rachel was watching her. 'Don't look at me like that, all the dancers do it. I'll click the detector back in when I'm done and nothing will happen.'

'So you're a dancer?'

The girl laughed, turning to face Rachel. She braced her hands behind her against the window ledge, flattening her long lithe body. 'Oh like you couldn't tell…?'

'I suspected it, obviously from your build, but I didn't want to make any sort of assumptions.' Rachel responded honestly.

Madison scoffed. 'Oh honey, we've both been making assumptions about each other since the moment you walked in here. Let's not pretend otherwise.'

Rachel could feel moss green eyes examining her. 'Are you homophobic?'

Rachel stumbled over both the bluntness of the question and the accusatory tone. 'Wh- no! Absolutely not! For your information I have been brought up by two dads whom I love very much, and my best friend is in a gay relationship which I have categorically no problem with!'

Something resembling a small smile played against the other girl's lips. 'Then I guess we won't have a problem.'

'A-Are you gay…?'

Madison chuckled to herself before dragging on her quickly burning cigarette resting between her index and middle finger. 'Do you always ask stupid questions? Or was what you just saw not enough proof for you?'

'I just wanted to clarify…'

'Don't worry, I'm not gonna hit on you.'

'The thought never crossed my mind.'

She nodded, taking another drag. 'Of course it didn't.'

She reached behind herself out of the window, stubbing her barely lit cigarette butt out against the brickwork outside the building. She let the ashy end drop from between her fingertips down onto the grass outside the ground floor of the building and shut the window behind her.

'What if that hit someone below?!' Rachel gasped.

'Relax, there was no one there…'

'But there could have been!' she almost squealed.

Madison sighed. 'You seriously need to get laid…'

That shut her up. She kept trying to tell herself the way things were left with Finn before she moved to New York were for the best, that they needed time to figure out what they needed. However, it seemed that in their absence from one another, Finn was one of the only things that Rachel's brain kept dwelling on.

Madison picked up on Rachel's pause.

Rachel snapped out of her sidetracked train of thought to find Madison's green eyes fixed on her face.

'You've never had sex…have you…?'

Rachel's bunched up fists fixed themselves on her hips. 'Yes I have for your information!' she huffed with irritation at the personal question. 'I thought we weren't going to assume things about one another!'

Madison shrugged. 'Couldn't help it. Let me guess…' she left her place by the window and started to lazily pace back and forth in front of the smaller brunette. '…Long-time love, brief sexual dalliance…' she counted on her fingers, as if she'd heard Rachel's story before. '…You knew what you wanted, but he didn't…you split up because you couldn't find a way to make it work with you here in New York and him roaming around somewhere…'

Madison turned to find Rachel looking completely dumfounded, which made her chuckle. 'Sound familiar…?'

Rachel closed her mouth and gave a small cough, suddenly finding her intertwining fingers very interesting. 'Actually, yes…' she replied in a small voice.

Madison nodded knowingly, her eyes sparkling watching Rachel's timid movements. 'Oh we're going to have some fun…'