Chapter One: Who's That Girl?

A cold breeze wrapped around Rachel Berry as the entrance door to the McKinley High school opened. Her thick brunette hair swirled in front of her face as she hurriedly brushed it back with her book-free hand, and continued towards her car. Just then her eyes suddenly caught sight of a new student; well that's what Rachel assumed she was. She was heading towards the doors Rachel had just exited from. It seemed that everyone had pretty much taken notice of this beautiful, elegant, well dressed individual walking towards the school. Rachel stared as the girl disappeared through the doors and realised everyone else was doing the same. Puck came up behind her, laying his hand on her shoulder making her jump. "You shouldn't do things like that Puck!" she stressed, smoothing down the front of her pleated skirt to try and regain her dignity. He just laughed as he side stepped around her.

"Gaping at the sexiest thing on the planet as well are you?" he teased, winking at her which only made her roll her eyes.

"Whilst I cannot deny she is both beautiful and may have more sex appeal than Marilyn Monroe, I am not and refuse to be controlled like the rest of you animals by beauty on the outside of an individual" She stated with pure determination in her voice. It made Puck grin which annoyed her even more as she stalked of to class forgetting that she had previously been heading to her car. Puck was left there grinning before he turned to a group of his mates sitting on the wall which was based at the bottom of the steps leading to the entrance. The question on all of their lips was "who is that girl?" and all Puck could do was shrug although inside he was desperate to see her again and find out what her deal was, the same as every other student.

Meanwhile Artie and Tina were standing by his locker when the new girl brushed through the entrance into the busy hallway; she had smiled briefly looking at a small piece of paper in her hand before walking towards them. Every student in the corridor had turned and looked but she still headed towards Artie and Tina seemingly unfazed by the attention. She paused in front of them "Hi, sorry about this" she smiled softly, her minty breath brushing Tina's cheek. "But would it be possible for you to tell me which way I need to go to get to the principal's office?" she enquired shyly, surprising them with her genuine shyness and cute but intelligent British accent. Artie who was hardly able to do anything but stare gestures down the hall.

"Yeah sure" smiles Tina, politely explaining which way the girl needed to go whilst Artie zones out not really listening, taking in the girl's flawless olive complexion, silky long dark brown hair, high cheek bones and impeccably hot figure, her lips and pedicured nails painted a bright red which tied in with her outfit perfectly. Artie finally snaps himself out of staring when he hears Tina conclude... "So then your there".

"Great, thank you so much.." she pauses a light frown crossing her face for a brief second and Tina quickly fills in the blank.

"Tina, I'm Tina Cohen" she laughs "and this is Artie Abrams" she adds gesturing to him. The girl smiles at them before saying politely,

"Well, thank you for the directions, I'm Taylor Knowles" she smiles gently before carrying on "I guess I'll see you around?" a happy yet slightly nervous expression on her face.

"Yeah sure, it was nice meeting you" says Artie, his voice quivering slightly but mostly under control as Tina nods in agreement.

"You too" Taylor agrees as she backs of down the corridor leaving Tina and Artie to stare after her. From across the hall they notice the Cheerio's staring and quickly shut their lockers before hurrying of in the same direction. Quinn was leaning up against her locker, staring at the new girl trying her hardest to figure out why she seemed so familiar to her and no one else. Santanna and Brittany however were just interested in what she was wearing which appeared to be designer. They were also discussing how she was "totally do-able" which just made Quinn roll her eyes before catching Santana's hand and dragging her of too Spanish uttering a rushed "bye, see you after period two" to Brittany who looked disappointed as her friends deserted her, however within a second she was skipping of down the corridor.

As Quinn sat down in her seat, her mind was going into over-drive trying to figure out how she knew that girl but she just couldn't remember and let's face it, that girl wasn't exactly easy to forget, Quinn admitted to herself. She was vaguely aware of Santanna throwing sarcastic comments across the class at Puck and the teacher rambling on about something Quinn could guarantee she wouldn't be interested in. Just then the door opened to reveal Sue Sylvester with an amusing half grin on her face that filled Quinn and Santanna with nerves. She scanned the class obviously looking for someone in particular, and when she didn't find her slammed the door closed again and stalked of down the corridor with her hands firmly made into fists. Santanna turned from her desk in front of Quinn, "God! What you reckon that was about?" Quinn shrugged "No idea, another one of her schemes probably backfired on her." Half an hour later the bell rang for the end of lesson and Quinn hurried along to English.

Mr Schuester the Spanish teacher was covering for English that period so Quinn took the liberty of moving from her normal seat to a seat on the back row so that she could just think about the subject that had been stuck in her head for the past hour. She desperately wanted to see the girl again and perhaps even talk to her, although she didn't know if she was brave enough to. She knew she was being stupid because after all she was Quinn Fabray and she had no reason to be nervous when she pretty much owned the place, but she had gotten an unfamiliar feeling of nerves and butterflies when she'd first spotted the girl and was now really apprehensive about seeing her again. As if right on cue, the girl walked in. Quinn was unaware that the class had filled up but she noticed along with everyone else when this particular girl walked in.

"Hi, I'm in this class I think" The girl gestured towards the board, a nervous smile across her full lips revealing her perfectly straight, white teeth.

"Ah, I'm guessing you must be Taylor Knowles?" Mr Shoe asked without really waiting for an answer before gesturing towards a seat at the back of the class and carrying on "Take a seat." he smiled.

"Thanks" she breathed before walking to her seat which was two away from Quinn. She flopped her bag down on the floor and sat down taking in everyone in her class who were now starting to return their attention to Mr Shoe. She noticed that one girl was still looking at her; it wasn't the same type of stare as everyone else which was judgemental. It was a soft stare, a look of wondering Taylor thought to herself. She smiled at the girl before turning her attention to Mr Shoe. The girl she'd smiled at was Quinn and it had made Quinn's heart skip a beat when she realised she'd been caught staring but she just hadn't been able to help it. The lesson went slowly for both girls as it seemed to drag on, but eventually the bell sounded signalling for break. Just as Quinn was about to walk out the classroom Mr Shoe's voice cut through all the noise of students gathering their things and moving theirs chairs.

"See you at Glee rehearsal Quinn" he grinned as she nodded and ducked out the class. "Taylor, will you stay behind quickly, I need to talk to you" he then added. Taylor nodded and walked towards the front of the class with her Burberry bag slung over her arm. The class cleared out and Mr Shoe leaned against his desk. "I was wondering if you'd be interested in boosting your image abit" he began, not pausing for her to intercept "I know you've had a tough couple of years, but I think if you participate it will help you rebuild a good relationship with the school. Collages may even be willing to overlook your past decisions" he smiled, keeping his tone light as he didn't want to offend her, he walked behind his desk.

"What are you suggesting?" Taylor asked curiously, apparently not offended, but her tone was soft as if she didn't really want to bring up her past if she could help it, she folded her arms over her chest.

"Well if your free Thursday after school, I would really like it if you could participate in atleast one of our Glee rehearsals."

"Oh, I don't know" she frowned slightly and looked to the door "it's not really my thing" she admitted, her voice gentle but determined "but thank you anyway for the offer".

Mr Shoe was equally determined "it will be good for you to get involved and keep yourself out of trouble, I promise you, you'll enjoy it once you realise how nice everyone is there and I'm sure you'll fit in well. I hope to see you there tomorrow." He gathered the last of his books and walked out, leaving Taylor no time to ask questions, she stood in the middle of the class not knowing what to think. She'd already run into Sue Sylvester who wanted her to join the Cheerio's as part of her extra curriculum. It had confused Taylor as Coach Sylvester had no idea what Taylor's gym abilities were, but the coach had just said it was about appearances and Taylor immediately felt like there was interior motives she had no idea about. Taylor had nodded agreeing to go to Cheerio's practice afterschool as she hated to admit it but Coach Sylvester was pretty scary. Although Taylor could already tell that being a Cheerio was a high position to have in the school hierarchy she was unsure of her abilities but excited to give it a try. She was a happy-go-lucky type of person in many ways and as she left the class to walk to her locker she muttered "oh well, might as well see what happens". It was certainly going to be interesting.