A/N: So, after that last episode of Glee I felt I had to write an AU fanfic just to cheer myself up! This was originally going to be a one-shot but I decided if I was going to do this properly I should make it longer. I'm not really sure how many chapters there will be yet but I promise to upload new chapters regularly,once a week at least. As a first chapter this is majorly boring on the Puckleberry front. I couldn't help it but I promise there will definitely be way more Puckleberry in all of the following chapters! Please review if you can, I've never done an A/U before and would greatly appreciate any and all feedback! Thank you so much for reading!
Rachel stared at her reflection in the mirror. She didn't understand. She'd been working her entire life so that she could get to this moment and she felt… nothing. She'd graduated. She had offers to every college her Dads had wanted her to apply to and yet it all meant nothing. Her Dads had cheered and recorded the entire graduation ceremony. She leaned towards the mirror and slicked on some nude lip-gloss. She had to admit she'd been dreading the summer all year. She was going to have to finally decide which college she was going too. Would she follow Leroy's footsteps and go to Yale to study Law? On the other hand should she study medicine in Harvard like her other Dad, Hiram? Neither sounded appealing. She loved her Dad's and she knew, without a doubt, that they loved her and she understood that there were people all over the world that would kill for the opportunities she has ahead of her she just… didn't care.
"Would you move already? Some of us actually intend on getting laid tonight." Rachel blinked and stepped aside as Santana pulled a tube of red lipstick from her cleavage. She studied the Latina in a slinky red mini dress and remembered how they used to be best friends. How did things change so much?
"I look hot, right?" Santana asked. Rachel glanced around the empty bathroom; she had to have been talking to her, right? Then again, Santana is the kind of girl who would talk to herself out loud just to make you feel irrelevant.
"It's just that, the guy I want tonight he's the lead guitarist in the band. Have you seen him? No, I'm sure you've been too busy drooling over Finn to even notice the absolute babe with the Mohawk. Anyways, I've been giving him my 'come fuck me' eyes all night and he hasn't shown any interest." She fixed her boobs in her dress and scowled at her reflection "no one turns me down."
Rachel shrugged; she hadn't really paid the band much attention she thought they sounded pretty good though. "Well, maybe he can't see you, because of the bright lights. Also, he could be really concentrating on the music. I've heard some musicians can zone out and just feel when they play."
Santana studied Rachel for a second before nodding "so long as he 'feels' me tonight it's all good."
Once she was back on the dance floor Finn came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle. "What's up baby, you seem down. Are you nervous about tonight?"
Rachel frowned for a second before she closed her eyes and with an internal groan, remembered what they had planned for tonight. "Oh, yeah, tonight, yes, are we really sure we should be doing that? I mean, in a few months we'll be going to college and who knows where we'll be-"
Finn cut her off by spinning her around to face him. "Rachel, you've been putting me off for the last eight months saying you weren't going to be ready until you'd graduated. We've graduated and I've been patient. Come on baby… You're ready."
Rachel frowned; she knew that at the age of eighteen she was way behind pretty much every other American in the whole sex thing. Still, she couldn't help feeling that sex with Finn, her boyfriend for the past year and a half, would be a huge mistake. She bit her lower lip and looked up into his boyishly handsome face "I know, I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have said I'd be ready by now. I thought I would be… but I'm not. Are you really mad? I'm sorry…"
She trailed off at Finn's frustrated sigh. He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at the floor "Look, Rachel, this isn't working."
She gasped, feeling her blood boil "you can't seriously be breaking up with me because I won't have sex with you."
Finn rolled his eyes up to the ceiling "it's not that it's just, you've been so busy with getting ready for college and stuff and I just, we've grown apart."
Rachel folded her arms across her chest and glared up at him "but you just wanted to sleep with me!"
He shrugged "look, I can't help it; I thought maybe things would change over the summer but now I don't think they will." He placed a hand on her shoulder and grimaced down at her "I'll miss you."
She gaped up at him in complete shock… or was it disgust? She slapped his hand off her shoulder and stepped as close to him as she could before calmly stating "you will miss me, Finn Hudson. You are never going to find a girl that will put up with your drama the way I did over the past two years. I can't believe you're dumping me because I'm not ready to sleep with you yet." She gave him a cold hard look as he began to protest before she turned on her heel and stormed away.
She was in the bathroom- again. This party was not going as well as she'd planned. She smoothed down the flouncy skirt of her pink, strapless pocket prom dress. What a waste of money. The bathroom mirror had seen more of her dress than anybody at this party. She squinted at her reflection. How was she so… not heartbroken? The last time Finn had broken up with her she'd been crippled, well, her heart had been crippled. Obviously she was still fully capable of moving. Now she just didn't care, I mean, she was mad, obviously, how could he dump her for not sleeping with him? She was also a little worried; clearly this was how her relationships were going to go until she was ready. How unfair was it that she would have to have sex with a guy just to keep him? She closed her eyes and tried to cry. She should cry right? It had been an eighteen month long relationship. That's when she heard the vomiting from one of the cubicles.
Worried, she called out "hello? Are you okay in there?" There was a silence followed by some more vomiting and some coughing. Rachel stood outside the stall that had two feet inside a pair of black heels poking out from under the door. Knocking gently on the door she called out "are you okay in there? Do you want me to get you some water? Or can I call one of your friends?"
That's when a strangled "oh god, no, don't get my friends. Fuck. Okay, give me a second" came from inside the cubicle. There was a flushing noise and then the two feet disappeared and the door was slowly opened. There before Rachel stood a girl in a black dress. She had short black hair with pink streaks running through it. Her mascara had streaked down her face and her hot pink lipstick was smudged.
Rachel looked sympathetically up at her "are you okay?" The girl glanced down at her before stomping over to the sink. One look at her reflection and her face crumpled and she burst into tears. Rachel rushed to her side "look, it's not that bad… we'll just wet some tissue and clean of the mascara and then I've some powder you can borrow and you'll be good as new in no time!"
The girl just sobbed harder "no… I-I'll never b-be as g-good as new!" She wailed and blew her nose on some tissue.
Rachel grimaced and wondered what exactly the girl had been drinking. "What? Of course you will sweetie, we'll just clean you up, get you some water, and maybe some fresh air and you'll be fine!"
The girl laughed bitterly "I am not fine… I-I'm pregnant."
Rachel blinked. Wow, Quinn (Finn's ex-girlfriend) and now this girl… Teen Pregnancy was becoming more and more common… Rachel really needed to sort out something she could say in situations like this, they were only going to happen more frequently. Especially considering that everyone else in the world must be having sex besides herself. Rachel bit her lower lip. "Oh… wh-what are you going to do?" She cringed, really? Rachel berated herself internally, what pregnant teenager is going to know what she wants to do with a baby? Rachel couldn't even decide what college she wanted to go to…
The girl wiped her eyes. "I can't keep it."
Rachel winced "well, there's always adoption- if you wanted? I was adopted."
The girl glanced at Rachel and asked "really?"
Rachel nodded enthusiastically "yeah, my Mom gave me up for adoption and now my two gay Dads have me!"
The girl frowned "I don't know though… I mean, how horrible must it be growing up knowing your mother didn't want you?"
Rachel sighed "it's not so bad…"
The girl cocked her head to the side "do you ever wish you could see her?"
Rachel smiled wistfully "yeah… all the time."
The girl stood up straight and beamed down at Rachel. "Right. That's it. I'm going to help you find your mom."
Rachel laughed in surprise "what? I don't even know you! Besides, I can't look for her…"
The girl smiled and stuck a hand covered in rings; with black painted nails out towards Rachel "My name's Alex. Sure you can. We are going to find your Mom and then maybe I might be able to decide what to do about this baby."
Rachel took her hand and smiled weakly "and I'm Rachel. Look, it's really nice of you to offer but she mightn't even still live in Los Angeles. Besides, my Dad's would never let me waste my summer searching for her."
Alex took hold of Rachel's shoulders and stared into her brown eyes "Rachel. I need this. I need a distraction. I need a friend but most of all I need advice; your Mom would be great at the whole advice thing. This whole thing would help me, you know, evaluate my priorities and shit."
Rachel blinked. This was so random. She'd just met this pregnant girl and now she was seriously contemplating looking for her mother with her. "Look," Alex pleaded "I'll sort out a ride and everything. All you have to do is promise me that you'll do this."
Rachel bit her lower lip. She may be a small bit mentally unhinged but she wanted to do take this chance, like, a whole lot. She could search for her mother, use the time to try and figure out what she wanted to do with her life and help Alex at the same time. She felt a little excited as she nodded "okay… let's do this!" What on earth was she agreeing to?
A/N: I know, I know, I'm really sorry there was no Puck in this chapter but I really just needed this chapter without him to set the scene. There will definitely be a whole lot of Puck in the next chapter- I promise! Thanks again for reading!