"Who is that?"
It's the first day of second year in elementary school and it is chaos, twenty 7-year-olds running and screaming in a classroom full of new toys; most of them have known each other basically since they were born, Lima is not a really large city, -one could say it barely qualifies as a city at all, so it's been the same group of kids since forever and whenever there's someone new its unavoidable that they draw attention to themselves, even when it's obvious that they don't want it (especially if they don't want it, kids don't always understand the concept of "privacy"), and they particularly draw attention to themselves when they are a tiny, blonde little girl wearing a perfect little pink dress with matching ribbon and shoes, who has a very frightened look on her face, more so because since the moment she walked in she had been caught up by a tiny girl with deep brown eyes and long locks that matched the color.
"Britt, who is that?"
A skinny blonde girl with freckles on her nose and her hair up in a loose ponytail shrugged, she was too busy playing with a couple of toy horses to be distracted at the moment.
"Do you know- "
"No, I don't, but miss Davies will let us know when class starts."
An energetic, Latina girl had cut her off before she finished the question, she wasn't trying to be rude though, she was only hurrying to sit next to the blonde girl playing with the horses.
"Just go and ask her, you know you are going to anyways."
A boy with rosy cheeks and a funny hat stood by her, his arms folded in front of him, and his head tilted slightly to the right.
So, the tiny brunette girl raised her chin, wiggled her shoulders and confidently walked up to where the scared little girl in the pink dress was standing. She hovered over her for a few seconds, waiting on her to raise up her eyes to start talking, when she realizes that that wasn't going to happen she cleared her throat before presenting herself, with a perfect –probably too perfect- enunciation for a 7-year-old.
"Hello, my name is Rachel Berry, I like singing and dancing and I have two gay dads and Miss Davis says you can't make fun of me for that."
Rachel Berry waited patiently, or as patiently as a toddler is able to wait before her foot started tapping on the floor. She saw the girl moving the tip of her right foot, slowly and almost imperceptible and thought that maybe she was coming on too strong, being the new kid was probably really difficult, so she tried again, softer this time.
"Hey, I'm Rachel and I'd like us to be friends. Can you tell me your name...? Please?"
The blonde girl slowly raised her head until Rachel was able to see into her eyes, the greenest eyes she had ever seen, but also they kind of had like a honey color, she liked them. She smiled at the girl, waiting until she saw a tiny smile creeping up.
"Hi, I'm Quinn. Quinn Fabray, I uhm… I like to draw and I like bunnies, my mom makes great pies and my dad is a Republican, but I don't know what that means."
Rachel frowns, she knows she has heard that word before and she knows it doesn't make Dad or Daddy happy, but she just raises her shoulders and continues to smile.
"I don't know what that means either, but I think that you and I are going to be good friends."
Quinn smiles so that a row of perfect, white teeth show.
"Hi, kids!"
"Hello, Miss Davis"
All 20 children greet their teacher as loudly and out of synch as possible, making Quinn cover her ears with her hands which made Rachel giggle and grab her hand.
"Come sit with me, Quinn."
Rachel Berry is too small to contain her excitement at having a new friend, her legs aren't long enough yet to touch the floor while she's sitting in her desk and she just keeps swinging them back and forward, she could very well be bouncing from all the excitement but she has been told many, many times that there is a proper way of behaving at school so, she channels all her extra energy into moving her legs back and forward. It's not like she doesn't have any friends, everyone is friends with everyone in elementary school, it's just that she doesn't really have her own friend and she thinks that, maybe, Quinn could be that friend, if she behaves like she should.
"Hey, Quinn? Did you bring any lunch? Because if you didn't, I always have a little bit extra just in case anyone else forgets."
"Rachel, you know you're not supposed to talk during class, right?"
Rachel quickly turned to look at the teacher at the front of the class and blushed a little bit at having been caught talking.
"Yes, Miss Davis. I'm sorry."
Miss Davis smiled at her gently while shaking her head, as a teacher who knows the year has just begun and she will be having a lot of that.
"Okay, we don't want to distract our new friend and make her miss something important now, do we?"
"No, Miss Davis."
"Okay, good. Now, Quinn, honey, let's introduce you to the rest of the class, okay? Come on forward!"
Miss Davis gestured Quinn to go to the front of the class and Rachel could tell she didn't really want to do it so she nudged her with her shoulder just a little bit, hoping to give her a little bit of confidence, and she smiled when Quinn stood up slowly and walked between the desks to get to the front of the class. Rachel thought Quinn didn't look like the type of girl who should be afraid of anything, she was pretty (maybe even prettier than Brittany), and her dress was so pink and pretty. The little brunette girl looked down at her own dress, blue with white polka dots, and to her own little white shoes and smiled because she really thought her clothes were cute, but they weren't perfect like Quinn's.
"So, Quinn, tell the class a little bit about yourself."
Rachel didn't think it was possible, but Quinn looked even smaller when she had everyone's attention, and that is literally everyone, nothing gets children's attention like a new kid in class; she felt a little bit bad for Quinn, she was standing in front of everyone with her head hanging a little bit, her hands on her back and she kept moving her right leg, she looked very obviously nervous.
"It's okay, Quinn. They don't bite…"
Miss Davis looked at a boy sitting on the front row, right in front of her desk, a brunette kid with a look that showed he was trying very hard to look tough.
"Well, only if you get too close to some of them."
They all laughed and Quinn smiled a little.
"Why don't you start telling us your name, your parents' names, where are you from and what is your favorite color."
Quinn shifted her feet again but raised her head when she spoke.
"My name is Lucy Quinn Fabray, my mom's name is Judy and my dad's name is Russel, we are from Cleveland, Ohio, and my favorite color is pink."
Miss Davis smiled sweetly at her, but all Quinn saw was Rachel grinning and nodding.
"So, what do we tell our new classmate, kids?"
"Hi, Lucy"!
They all shouted at the top of their lungs, everyone at their own time so there was an echo for a couple of seconds once the last kid had stopped yelling.
"What is it, Lucy?"
Quinn was pursing her lips and was now playing nervously with her own tiny fingers.
"Uhm, I don't really like being called Lucy."
Miss Davis smiled and put, gently, put her hand on Quinn's shoulder.
"Okay, we'll all call you Quinn then."
Quinn smiled, her biggest smiled so far and nodded quickly.
"Good! Now, go sit down so we can start the class."
While Quinn was walking back to her seat, Miss Davis started writing numbers and symbols on the blackboard.
"Hey, Quinn?"
Quinn had reached her seat and was getting, neatly covered, notebook and a perfectly sharpened pencil, when Rachel whispered the question (as quietly as she could).
"Why don't you like being called Lucy? It's such a pretty name."
Quinn shrugged her shoulders and bounced her head off of her left shoulder.
"My mom and dad call me that when I'm in trouble, so I don't like it very much."
Rachel scrunched up her nose and was about to speak when Miss Davis called out to her.
"Rachel, what did we just say about speaking in class? Don't distract Quinn, okay? She needs to catch up."
Rachel nodded, apologized, and let Miss Davis speak and explain… for about 5 minutes before she turned to Quinn and told her:
"Well, I think it's unacceptable that such a pretty name is related to a bad thing, so I'm going to call you Lucy for ever so it will be a happy name too."
Rachel nodded, mostly to herself, she saw a little smile on Quinn's face and felt satisfied with herself, she had a new friend and it was going to be the best school year ever.