Note: Ok, so I saw this on the finchel-prompts Tumblr blog and something inside me just went crazy, and I cooked this up this morning. I have no idea how it happened; it just came together. I'm just trying it out but if I get enough good reviews, I might keep going. I have no idea where I'd go with it though. Hahaha Tell me what you think.
Coach had been working them hard today. The sweat seemed to drip and evaporate off his skin within seconds. His jersey was soaked, and he could feel the jockstrap riding up his backside like a mother-.
"Hudson!" came a voice from behind. Finn turned and looked as a well-built, slightly tanned guy with a mohawk came running over to him.
"Puck" Finn nodded to him as they made their way back to the changing rooms.
"You coming to watch the game at mine later?" he questioned, looking at up at the lanky quarterback.
"Yeah sure" Finn muttered. He swung his helmet by his side as Puck just nodded. Finn looked up and watched as the barrage of red jerseys in front, disappeared off to the changing rooms. Puck grabbed his arm then, as if he'd just remembered something.
"Ah, dude! We've got to get back quick; I stuffed a stink bomb in Karofsky's locker! I want to see his face when it goes off!" Puck made to run towards the other end of the field, Finn kept his pace.
"I'll catch up dude" he nodded as Puck turned and belted it towards the school.
Finn looked around again, this time, taking in all of the field and the bleachers. He stopped then, and something drew him to the bleachers on the far left of the field. He knew it didn't matter how late he was; he'd just tell his mom that practice ran late. He wandered over to the bleachers and clambered up. His eyes were immediately drawn to a small pink notebook that lay on one of the higher benches. Curiosity got the better of him as he picked it up and judged the cover. It was a self-made cover, littered with gold stars and glitter. Some of it got on his hands, and he had to wipe it off on his jersey. The words on the front read "My Journal" written in beautiful gold script. His curiosity sparked further and he went to open it...
She searched frantically through her backpack, furiously trying to find it.
Where is it? WHERE IS IT? She thought, immeasurable panic rising in her. After finding nothing, she rushed towards her locker as the bell for her final class rang.
Spanish can wait. This is important. She thought as she opened up her locker and rummaged through it. Nothing. No sign of her pink journal which held all of her closest secrets. She felt like she could cry right there and then, but the reminder that she was late for Spanish class helped her fight it. She knew she'd brought it with her to school today; she just had no idea where it was.
As she entered the classroom the curly-haired, rather attractive-looking Mr. Schuester had just been describing Spanish verbs. He looked towards the door where her tiny brunette self, stood.
"Rachel" he said, a tone of surprise in his voice. "You're late?" he questioned more than stated.
"Yes. I'm sorry" she squeaked out, before taking her seat near the back of the class. She still felt like she could cry, but she knew her resolve would rebuild itself soon. As she rummaged through her bag to remove her paper and pen, a part of her still thought she might find the pink journal somewhere. But of course, she didn't and was content to sit, miserably, as she listened to Mr. Schue's lecture.
It struck her, though, during her routine after-school dance-class; she remembered going out to the football field during lunch after practically running from that horrid cheerleader Quinn Fabray. She had written in her diary then. A bubble of hope crept up as she finished her class. She would go tomorrow, before class, and pick it up before too many people turned up.
He had been interrupted by the shouts of Coach Tanaka, who had wheeled by on his golf cart.
"Hudson. Changing rooms. Now" he boomed. Finn jerked up quickly, pulling the journal behind his back.
"Y-yes coach!" he stammered, gulping hard. As the coach drove off he stuffed the journal in his jersey and ran back down the bleachers. He didn't know what had possessed him to take it, but his curiosity had got the better of him.
After getting changed and hearing coach Tanaka's plays for their game next Saturday, Finn had managed to smuggle the pink diary in his school bag, and was about to head out of the changing rooms and out to his truck when he was stopped by Puck.
"Dude" he put his hand on Finn's shoulder. "You still coming round later?" Puck asked nonchalantly. Finn shook his head.
"Nah, sorry dude. Change of plan" Puck didn't seem too put down.
"Not a problem dude. I was going to bring Santana Lopez over anyway" he smirked as he went back to his locker, while Finn marched out of the door to his truck.
At home, he greeted his mom, grabbed a pack of potato chips and ran up the stairs to his closet bedroom with cowboy paper on the walls. But, rather than start up the Xbox like he usually did after school, he rummaged through his school bag, picked out the pink diary and hopped onto his bed. It wasn't until he was inside the confined space of his bedroom that he smelt the scent wafting off of the pages. He sniffed it lightly and his nostrils were immediately greeted with the scent of...berries? He thought as he slowly turned the cover and opened up to the first page. It was blank white paper with the words 'My Journal' repeated in large pink writing. He'd hoped, perhaps, that the owner of the diary had written their name in it, but no such luck. Maybe they say their name later. He thought as he flicked to the next page.
Finn wasn't a big fan of reading. In fact, he thought he hadn't read a book all the way through since kindergarten. But for some reason, he was so curious about this particular 'book' that he couldn't stop himself as he began to read the first entry, which was written in the same elegant script as the front cover.
December 18th 2009
Dear diary,
I suppose I should give you a name now that I'm going to be writing in you for the next, however many months. I think I'll call you Barbara. After my idol, obviously.
So Barbara. You are my birthday gift from my daddy. I would have much preferred new dance shoes, or something, but he insisted that every teenage girl needs a diary. I would have to disagree, but I'll humour him.
So how has my day been? Well we had a nice big meal that my dad prepared, and then we had a delicious vegan birthday cake followed by a round of musical-themed trivial pursuit. It was lovely. Now I'm going to go to bed; school tomorrow.
The entry stopped there and Finn smirked to himself. He had no idea who this girl was, but she was obviously a very girly girl. He was about to carry on reading, but the sound of his mom entering his room caused him to leap off the bed with a start, throwing the pink diary under his bed on instinct.
"Finn, honey" she chimed, not obvious to his flustered nature. "Your dinner is on the side; just stick it in the microwave for 3 minutes. I'll be back late" she reached out and gave him a kiss on the head.
"Ok. Bye mom" he murmured as she left. He was going to reach down and read more of the diary, but his grumbling stomach told him otherwise. He didn't touch it for the rest of the night.
The next morning, she left for school early, rushing haphazardly through the doors of William McKinley High School. She headed straight for the school playing field. Rushing towards the bleachers on the left of the field, she hopped up each step to the seat she had been sitting on at the top. Her heart sank as she surveyed the benches; no sign of her pretty-pink journal. She bent down and looked underneath to try and see if it had fallen; no such luck. She huffed in part annoyance, part sadness, before sinking onto the bench. It was then, with no one around and several minutes before class, that she let the tears flow.
As she made her way back into the school, she passed a couple of the football players close to the changing rooms, causing the smell of sweat to fill her nostrils, making her wince slightly. Then, as she made her way towards her locker, a different scent filled her nose. It smelt like cologne. What high school boy wears cologne? She thought as she looked up. She had to hold back a gasp as she noticed who it was. He was walking side by side with the guy with the mohawk that Rachel knew was the biggest man-whore in the school. But she couldn't pay attention as she glared at the tall boy walking towards her.
The first time she'd seen him was just walking through the school corridors near the beginning of the sophomore year. Something inside her forced her heart to skip a beat as she watched him and it had done ever since. She'd noticed he was wearing a letterman jacket and she'd soon learnt that he was quarterback of the school football team. But that was about all she knew about him. Well that and the fact that she thought he was adorably cute. But of course his reputation as a big-shot football player meant he barely even noticed Rachel "RuPaul" Berry. She looked back down at the floor as they passed one another, and she glanced up quickly to see if he looked back at her; he didn't. She sighed heavily as she made her way to her locker. Nothing went well for Rachel Berry.
He had spent most of the morning thinking about the diary. A part of him wanted to bring it to school that day, but he knew that, if Puck or one of the other guys caught him with it, he would be forever ridiculed, thinking it was his. The thought made him cringe. Instead, he thought about who had written the diary. He was so curious it was kind of driving him insane. That morning, as he sat through his first class, he decided that he would try and find out the identity of the mysterious Diary Girl as he put it. It'd be like a super top secret mission. He smirked at himself.
She was still devastated as she sat through her math class. She had poured her heart and soul into that journal, and now she had lost it. It was now probably in the hands of some dastardly cheerleader who was just lying in wait to use it against her. She had some luck though. Rachel was a top-mark student, so she certainly wasn't stupid. She had made the decision, right before writing in the diary, to never sign her name after each entry. Instead, she used a gold star, which was a metaphor, for her being a star. That gave her some relief. The only people who knew about her gold star obsession were her dads. So if someone did have her diary, they knew all of her deepest and darkest secrets as well as every emotional trauma she's ever been through...but they didn't know whose secrets and whose trauma it was. She sighed as she stared up at the whiteboard where the teacher was dictating some of the most simplistic mathematics that she had ever seen. Then, rather out of the blue, there was a knock on the door. A boy opened it, and Rachel's mouth nearly fell at the sight of him. Him again. She thought, staring up at the Quarterback.
He cursed as he stood outside of the science class, his bag hung loosely over his shoulder. He was at the front of the long line of students lined up at the door, when Principal Figgins came running over, followed shortly by their science teacher, Mr. Allen.
"What is going on here?" Figgins demanded in his thick Indian accent, staring at Finn.
"Uh. Um" Finn stuttered.
"Some idiot left the gas taps on!" Someone shouted from behind him; it was Santana Lopez, who was admiring her own nails. Finn turned to Figgins and nodded stupidly. Figgins sighed heavily.
"Ok. I want you all to make your way to my office, Mrs. Denny-Brown will sort you out new classes for today" Everyone behind Finn groaned as Figgins raised his hands. "No complaints. Go!" he shouted, forcing Finn and the rest of the class to the Principals office.
After what had seemed like hours waiting in queue, Finn had finally been given his replacement class; Math. He groaned audibly as he skulked towards the math classroom. He hated math. He tapped tentatively on the door and opened it up to see Mrs. Halberg giving a speech about something Finn was sure he wouldn't understand.
"Uh, excuse me, Mrs. Halberg" he asked nervously. "I've been told to join you for this lesson" Mrs. Halberg gave him a look. "Our science classroom is filled with gas" he explained, as a couple of the kids in the front row sniggered. She sighed and motioned towards one of the desks.
"Take a seat" she groaned as she carried on dictating the math problems. Finn stood awkwardly for a moment, noticing the only seat available was near the back, next to a ridiculously short brunette girl, who seemed to be the only one not looking up at him. He tentatively made his way over and sat beside her, trying not to sit too close. Only now he noticed she was wearing a cat sweater. He had to stifle back a laugh. She was pretty cute too.
She thought for one moment she might start hyperventilating. He had just turned up in her classroom, completely unexpectedly, and now he was sitting next to her. Part of her thanked whatever idiot left the gas taps on in the science classroom. She tried not to stare at him as he made himself comfortable beside her. She took a couple of glances, trying to pluck up the courage to talk to him, but she never managed it.
"I'm Finn" he said, as he caught one of her glances. She gulped for a second. His voice was so sweet and kind. She could fall asleep to that voice.
"Rachel" she blurted, feeling her face blush heavily.
They sat like that for a while; her feeling ridiculously awkward and him just...being him. After a while he leant over towards her and she definitely thought she might have a panic attack right there and then. She froze as he leant his head close to hers, his face still facing the board.
"Do you understand any of this?" he whispered as she became mesmerised at the sight of his beautiful brown hair that seemed like an organised mess. She whimpered audibly, and almost slapped her hand up to her mouth in reaction. Instead, she bolted her mouth closed refusing to open it again. Then he did the worst thing he could have possibly done and turned his face towards her; mere inches away from hers. His face held a look of concern.
"Are you ok?" he asked carefully. She definitely felt her heart skip at least two beats then. She turned to face him, her face still frozen in a permanent blank expression. She spent a moment staring at his face. His beautiful face. With his adorable hazel eyes, his big-ol' nose, his almost unbearably kissable lips, his cute constellation of freckles on his cheeks and the fine layer of fur that graced his chin. She swallowed hard, trying to bring herself back to reality.
"Um. Yeah I'm fine" She squeaked and turned to the board. "And yes" she said, as he lifted his head up to slump back against his chair again. He looked at her questioningly. "Yes, I do understand it" she explained, nodding, as if to herself, keeping her gaze on the board. She glanced back to see his face stern with concentration.
"Oh well..." he said after a moment "I don't" he seemed embarrassed, but she couldn't say anything in reply as her body had practically seized up with adoration for the tall awkward, not that bright, quarterback sitting next to her.
She seemed a little bit nervous when he sat down next to her, and he could tell she kept glancing at him, but trying not to make it obvious. He was a little nervous himself at first, so he tried to relieve the tension by introducing himself. She responded, which was more than he was expecting. Rachel, huh? He thought. That's a nice name.
As the lesson drew on, he had no clue what Mrs. Halberg was talking about. He sat, wide eyed and thoroughly flummoxed by every word that spilled out of her mouth. He turned to glance at Rachel, who still seemed really uncomfortable next to him. Do I smell? He thought, but he shrugged it off, remembering he'd put on cologne this morning. Maybe she didn't like that? He tried to focus on the math, but still couldn't figure it out in his head. So, taking a chance, he leant down to whisper to the tiny brunette sitting next to him.
When he spoke the first time, she didn't reply, and he could have sworn he heard her make a puppy-dog whimper. He turned to look at her, suddenly realising his face was inches from hers. He didn't draw back though. She looked so pretty. She had these big brown eyes and lips that would be amazing to kiss. He was concerned though; she looked practically terrified.
When he had asked her what was wrong, she took a moment before answering. When she did, she turned her head then, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried he might have creeped her out, leaning in so close, but he knew Mrs. Halberg would go mad if he started talking loudly in class. As he slumped back against his chair, he heard her mutter something that he didn't quite catch. He looked at her, trying to enunciate his question with a look. She seemed to get it because she replied; she did understand all this complicated math. He felt a little embarrassed as she said it. Of course she'd understand it. He thought to himself. I bet she's like really smart. The voice in his head seemed snappy, and he didn't like it. He mumbled a bit, finding himself being strangely honest as he admitted that he didn't understand it. He had no idea why he was telling this to this girl; this girl he actually knew nothing about, other than her name and the fact she seemed to like sweaters with cats on them.
P.S: I think, if I were to carry this on, I'd keep Finn and Rachel separate; it's easier to write the two of them in different places, rather than writing the thought process for the exact same situation, twice. As for the plot, I'm sure it'll get interesting. Reviews if you wanna see more!