Brownie Berry & Cub Scout Hudson (Chapter 1)
This was inspired by the Friends episode "The One Where Rachel Quits" because one of the scenes in that episode involves a girl scout meeting and Romy Rosemont (Carole Hudson) happens to play the troop leader in it so then I just adapted that idea and this is what it became. Also I used my own experiences for some of this starting chapter (yes I was a Brownie).
Everyone who already knew Rachel Berry would notice that she had a lot of trouble fitting in and making her own friends. But all that was about to change (or so she hoped) because Hiram had suggested this fun extracurricular activity for her to go to known as "Brownies". As Rachel put on her brand new brown short skirt, bright yellow jumper with the words "Brownie" written on the front in brown letters and her empty sash, she felt a wave of excitement come over her as she looked at herself in her pink bedroom mirror on it was written "Rachel Berry" which happened to have 2 gold stars next to it.
Rachel had always been a firm believer that "being a part of something makes you special", so this was a perfect opportunity to test her theory and besides wearing the Brownie uniform already made her feel a sense of belonging that she was lacking at school.
Rachel walked down the stairs to her two fathers Hiram & Leroy. As she did so she was already smiling like a Cheshire cat.
"Hello Fathers" Rachel said.
"Hey if it isn't my gold star!" Hiram exclaimed.
"Are you ready for your first Brownie meeting?" Leroy asked.
"You betcha, I've never been so excited" Rachel answered.
They drove to the nearest Brownie meeting. Hiram & Leroy got out of the car with Rachel and each of them held onto Rachel's hand.
Eventually they arrived in an enormous hall which was full of other girls who were about Rachel's age running around having fun.
"Are you going to be okay, sweetheart?", Leroy asked.
Rachel shook her head enthusiastically "Yes I'll be fine, thank you for bringing me my wonderful daddies".
Rachel gave them both a kiss on the cheek & a hug then Hiram & Leroy left the room.
"Hello everyone, my name is Mrs Hudson but you shall call me Brown Owl" said the middle aged woman.
She continued to speak "I notice we have a new recruit among us and what's your name dear?"
"Rachel Berry"
Brown Owl gave Rachel a friendly smile and then turned towards the other members of the club: "Now I want everyone in this group to make Rachel feel as welcome as possible, will you all make sure of this?".
"Yes Brown Owl" the other Brownies practically shouted.
"Right so now we can play games" said Brown Owl "Everyone get into teams of two".
They all got into teams of two & started to play football together. Truth be told, when Rachel first heard the words "football" it sent her into an immediate sense of panic because sports had never been her thing at all. She was always picked last for sports in PE because everyone thought she was useless. However, as soon as Rachel started to play football she realised the people who picked her last were actually wrong because she was actually good at football. Rachel ended up scoring 2 goals and as a result gained her team a victory.
Time flew by so quickly and after a while it was time for everyone to go home.
"Goodnight Brown Owl" they all chorused before leaving the hall.
Rachel had to wait a while for her dads to pick her up, so she talked to Brown Owl for a bit.
While they were talking, a rather small, brown haired boy happened to come into the hall at that moment in time. Rachel noticed that he was wearing a cub scout uniform which she now noticed took place in the same building as Brownies.
"I'll be back in a minute Finn, I just have to hand this hat into lost property" Brown Owl said to him.
Brown Owl wandered off and left the two of them alone together.
Finn slumped down onto an available mattress. He started to stare at Rachel and then he looked away a little, knowing that it might make her feel uncomfortable if he continued to do so.
"Finn, that's a nice name" said Rachel.
Finn shifted his feet a little before looking back up again.
"Urm… thanks" he replied "My full name is Finn… Hudson".
Finn started to stare at the ceiling, then he looked down again and asked "What's your name?".
She reached out her hand to shake his "My name is Rachel Berry". They shook each others hand. Finn smiled at her with a lopsided smile and said "That's such an awesome name".
The two managed to talk for what seemed like hours on end before Hiram & Leroy came to collect her. Eventually Hiram & Leroy came to the doorway of the hall. Rachel saw them both, so she turned towards the door & waved at Finn to say goodbye. "Well I better be going, see you again soon Finn".
"Did you enjoy your time at Brownies my little gold star?" Hiram asked her.
"Yes daddy, I've already made so many friends" Rachel responded.
"That's extremely good news, I'm so happy for you sweetheart" Leroy answered.
They continued to chatter amongst themselves on the way out to the car. The last thing that Finn happened to see from the mattress he was sitting on was Rachel jumping up and down with excitement.
On the car journey home, Finn thought a lot about Rachel. His first impression of Rachel Berry was that she was extremely nice, enthusiastic and determined. He then realised that he was probably way too awkward with her on their first meeting and at first this appeared to confuse Finn because he wasn't like this with any of the other people that he'd met.
The more that Finn pondered on his thoughts of Rachel, he couldn't help but feel that there was a lot more to her then he already knew. She was just so… what's the word… beautiful, yes that was it. It was in that moment that Finn Hudson realised he might have feelings for Rachel Berry.