AN: So. This is the first story that I'm doing under this name. I own nothing glee related, but all other characters and ideas are mine. I hope y'all like it :)
Rachel Berry was nothing if not goal driven. And her goal for this summer?
She was going to make sure that she firmly put the drama of the past two school years behind her.
This summer was going to be hers, she just knew it.
She had set everything up months ago, the job, the living arrangements everything. She was going to be spending the next two months at her old summer camp as a counselor. She would be getting payed to sing everyday in their singing program, and the best part of all of it would be that she wouldn't have to run into anybody from Lima.
Yes, this summer is going to be exactly what I need. Rachel thought as she looked around her room going through her last minute check lists to make sure she had absolutely everything that she would require.
She knew what others thought of her, and she wasn't really as impervious to their insults as she always pretended to be. She knew she was pushy and that others often saw her as being abrasive, but she hadn't always been like that.
She blamed it on the pressures of high school and trying to be something that she felt she should be.
But that was last year...and the year before that, but today was a new day, and Rachel Berry had big plans to move forward.
She smiled to herself as she walked to the hallway outside her room and shut the door, seeing it as a metaphor for shutting the door to her past and walking into the future, after all metaphors are very important.
She hummed to herself while skipping down the stairs to where her father Hiram was waiting with her suitcases.
"Ready to go baby girl?" Rachel smiled and nodded, "Of course Daddy, I've been ready since the last day of school. Let's blow this popsicle stand!" Hiram chuckled at his daughters enthusiasm as he opened the front door and picked up the hot pink duffle bag. "I wish your father would have been able to join us, but you know how his clients can be." Rachel sighed as he climbed into the front seat ofHiram's car, she did indeed know how hard her Dad worked, she got her drive from him. "It's ok Daddy, you and Dad can still come visit on the parents weekends." Hiram smiled down at his beloved daughter and nodded in response as he pulled out of the Berry driveway.
The drive was longer than she remembered, but she recognized the gates as soon as her dad turned off the highway.
She was so ready to be back here again.
This was the one place where Rachel felt like she could truly be herself. She was accepted here, people recognized her talent without feeling that they had to put up a fight about it, and there were others here who had talents that could rival hers.
Her grin grew even wider as she got out of the car and breathed in deeply. This was her favorite place in the entire world.
She grabbed her backpack from the back seat and turned to her dad who had her duffel bag in hand. "Thank you Daddy for driving me." Hiram smiled and tucked the bags' strap onto Rachel's' shoulder, he pulled her in for a hug. "No problem princess. Your father and I will come down in a few weeks. Call us if you need anything before then. Be good and stay out of trouble." Rachel smiled and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek "Will do Daddy. Love you, stay safe." and with that, Hiram got back into his SUV and waved once more before pulling away.
The main office was the same and Rachel smiled as she found herself amongst the other dozens of pictures on the wall of 'Future Stars'. She set down her bags and continued to look around the small front office.
"Well as I live and breathe, if it isn't Rachel Berry! I had heard you were coming back this year, but I didn't want to get my hopes up!" cried a voice from behind her.
Rachel turned to see a small redheaded woman making her way toward her from the back offices.
"Ms. Adelaide! It's so good to see you!" Rachel beamed at the tiny woman. Ms. Adelaide Fargo was one of Rachel's idols. This woman had worked in every avenue of the business, if you were lucky enough to gain her respect, there were great chances that your career would do amazing things.
Adelaide reached up and took Rachel by the shoulders "We have missed you these past few years, my dear. We are glad to have you back".
Rachel smiled her widest smile, "It is fantastic to be back Ms. Adelaide." With that Adelaide released Rachel and moved back towards her office. "I have your keys here, along with your schedule and all your other goodies that you'll need this summer. As I'm sure you probably recall, the girls are on the East side of the camp while the boys are on the West. We have group sessions throughout the day, this summer you'll be handling some of the usual voice lessons, and we thought that we might try you out with one of our newer ideas, a session on the art of mixing acoustic guitar and voice."
Rachel looked up at this with raised brows, she didn't know how to play the guitar, she was good but she highly doubted she would be able to magically pick up the skill in time to adequately teach it. Adelaide giggled at this. "Oh don't worry dear, we don't expect you to teach the guitar part of the class. We have found quite the talented little musician for that. He'll be your co-teacher." Rachel nodded, she could easily work with other people.
Adelaide continued, "Let's see. Ah yes. You'll be staying in cabin 2. And we have restricted space this year, so the counselor cabins are different than they usually are. You'll have a roommate, and then in the room next to yours will be two male counselors. It's all very cramped...but what can you do what with such tight budgets, eh?" Ms. Adelaide smiled and Rachel nodded.
"So! I think that's everything. We have our welcome bonfire tonight, so why don't you go ahead and get settled into your cabin?"
Rachel stood and gave Ms. Adelaide another hug before grabbing her keys and packet of papers from the desk and heading out.
Rachel unlocked her cabin door, it looked like she was the first to arrive, which was just fine with her.
She dropped her bags on the bed she wanted, and started to unpack. She had absolutely no idea who was going to be the other counselor that she was going to room with. She hoped that it would be someone she knew from previous summers. She was half way done when she heard the doorknob jiggle as someone struggled to get the door open.
As soon as the door opened, Rachel immediately recognized the tall lanky frame of someone that she hadn't seen in quite awhile. "Ohmigod! Rae? I didn't know you were working here this summer! It's so amazing to see you! It's been forever!" Teasley Mai Howard had been a constant fixture in Rachel's life up until a few years ago when her parents had up and decided that they were going to move to Toronto.
They had tried keeping in touch, but slowly things got awkward. It's hard trying to maintain a friendship when you're young and you live in separate countries.
Rachel dropped what she was doing to help Teasley through the door. Once inside with her bags all situated, Rachel looked up at the girl who she had once considered to be her best friend. She looked almost exactly as she had when they were little; same curly black hair, same wide green eyes, same pale skin with the tons of freckles, but she was definitely a good two feet taller.
Teasley laughed at Rachel's appraisal and pulled the smaller girl into a tight hug. "Lord, I've missed you girl. We have so much to catch up on." Rachel laughed, "Yes. Yes we do." They continued to unpack while catching up on how much life had changed in the past four years.
It turned out that Teasley was also in her high school's version of Glee club, but where she lived, it was much cooler and much more respected than the Glee club at McKinley. Teasley was appalled to hear the stories that Rachel told her, she was frankly surprised that her friend put up with it at all.
Rachel was relieved that it seemed that even after being separated for a few years, the friendship that existed between herself and Teasley seemed to flow as naturally as it did when they were ten, she felt more at ease with herself than she had been in quite awhile.
She looked over at the clock surprised to see that it was already 5pm. "Ah crap, look at the time, we should get ready for the bonfire, we wouldn't want to be late."
Both girls sighed as they got up from their seats on the floor, moving towards their respective dressers.
"Shorts and a tee, right Rae?" Teasley help up her selections.
The tee was an old camp tee, and the shorts were a worn looking pair of Daisy Duke's.
Rachel nodded "Sure. Should...should I wear the same?" She hadn't worn jeans, let alone Daisy Duke's in...a while.
Teasley scrunched her brow, "Rae. You told me that this summer was going to be about you trying to find yourself again. That includes clothes."
Rachel nodded and retrieved the garments in question from the bottom of the drawer. The two dressed quickly, trying to avoid being late. They ran from the room, and towards the edge of the camps' lake where the fire pit was located. It looked like they were the last ones there as the discreetly made their way up to the makeshift stage were the rest of the counselors and Ms. Adelaide were standing.
The girls tried hard not to laugh as Adelaide stopped talking for a second to send them a glare.
As soon as she continued giving her welcoming speech, Rachel started scanning the crowd of kids in front of them, and slowly her eyes made their way up to the stage to inspect the other counselors.
Her eyes immediately met a pair of hazel orbs that looked surprisingly familiar.
"Noah?"
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