AN: This is the first multi-chapter I've written in years. But I got two ideas in my head (basically everything in this chapter involving Brittany and another idea that will be a few chapters down the road) and finally broke down to start writing it. The flow is different from what I usually do, starting with more of Rachel's world and switching to Puck halfway thru, and I don't know if I'll stick with that in future chapters, but its an experiment in killing my unemployed boredom. Unbeta'd so sorry if there are goofs. And technically, all this disclaimer stuff is nonsense b/c I could claim a derivative work if I really wanted to. Anyway, read, review, alert, whatever. But here's my new baby, hope you like it!
The economy in Ohio was as awful as it was in the rest of the country. Rachel knew that from her daily reading of CNN, DrudgeReport and New York Times' websites. (Despite her laser like focus on Broadway stardom, Rachel did realize that as a public figure she might be asked about current events and it was important for her to stay informed on what was going on in the news so that no reporter could ever make her look uneducated.)
Rachel didn't think that she would have to learn about this national crisis first hand. But there she was, her last month of her senior year, with one arm wrapped around her smaller father on the couch as her taller dad fixed his partner a drink. A strong one. Straight up. Because today her father had been laid off from his law firm.
As a partner in the firm, Rachel had mistakenly assumed that he would be safe from the cut backs she knew would be happening at Baran, Piper, Tarkowsky, Fitzgerald and Theis. It was one of the largest firms in Ohio, but that didn't mean it wouldn't take a hit. And since apparently her father hadn't brought in any new clients recently and had one of the higher salaries, he was considered disposable.
For once in her life, Rachel didn't say much, just rubbing her hand up and down her father's back while he sipped his bourbon. She listened to her parents discuss what they were going to do now that this was a reality. Their reality.
Her father could practice from his home office and try to get clients on his own, but he couldn't take any of his old clients with him as it was part of his termination agreement. Her dad's job was solid, considering the fact that he owned the insurance agency at which he worked. But things would get tighter. The severance package was far less than what her father's normal income had been and it would only last for six months.
When her parents reached a lull in the conversation, Rachel cleared her throat and spoke in a voice that was far softer than her usual tone, "I have an idea that could help some."
Both of the men's heads turned to look at her, brows furrowed as to what suggestion their baby girl could have in this moment.
"I would appreciate your best active listening skills as I fully explain my idea to you before you comment. I know I was accepted to Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, but I also am aware of the fact that I did not receive a scholarship and that our tax bracket makes us ineligible for student loans and grants that could fully cover my tuition for four years, as well as living expenses in the city. I am aware that you have saved a considerable amount of money to pay said tuition, and while your foresight into providing for my education is appreciated, I feel as though you should keep that money to help you through this transitional period. I applied to OSU as a backup, but they do have an excellent Voice program, as well as a Dance and Theatre program. My acceptance came with a scholarship which would fully cover my tuition expenses, as well as lab and book fees. All we would have to cover would be room and board, which are far less expensive in Columbus opposed to Manhattan."
Rachel took a deep breath before setting her shoulders back firmly and giving a nod of her head, "I propose that I accept the position at OSU and become a Buckeye. Tisch has summer and masters programs if I am so inclined to participate, and Broadway isn't going anywhere. But our family needs this more than I need Manhattan right now."
In retrospect, Rachel could hardly believe she was able to get those words out of her mouth. Either her acting skills were far better than even she suspected, or she really was becoming an adult who grasped priorities in life.
When her speech was over, her dads started in on how Rachel needn't give up her dreams for them. Money was only money and they would survive. But she was firm in her resolve and after several hours of discussion, tears and hugging, it was finally decided that it would likely be the best plan for the family given their current situation.
Before going to bed that night, Rachel signed onto her Facebook account. There were a few new status updates, some pictures posted by Kurt from he and Mercedes' shopping adventure that afternoon and a youtube posted by Mike of a cat doing back flips in some random living room which was vaguely amusing. Rachel went to her profile page to edit her information, and added in "Ohio State University, '16" to her education information.
She fell asleep that evening with a small smile on her lips, happy that she could do something to help her fathers after they had done so much to help her. She wasn't abandoning her dream, just changing her path to get there.
Two weeks later, Rachel was sitting in the choir room, studying the sheet music of what she would be performing that weekend at her audition in Columbus for the Voice department. It was merely a technicality, she had met the dean at Regionals the month before and he had assured her a spot was hers in the program if she would only accept. His acknowledgement of her obvious talent was part of what made Rachel's decision to attend OSU easier to accept.
Brittany entered the room and rather than take her usual seat in the back of the class, she sat next to Rachel with a bright smile on her face, "Hi roomie!"
Rachel tried to not let the confusion show on her face. Brittany said off the wall things from time to time and Rachel had learned that if you looked at her in a way that displayed your questioning of her intelligence, she could easily get her feelings hurt and shut down for hours. It seemed akin to kicking a puppy, so Rachel in general tried her best to not let her reactions to Brittany register on her face.
But she did question the statement with a slight tilt of her head, "Roomie? Pardon?"
Brittany rolled her eyes, but kept the smile on her face, "We're rooming together in college because I don't want to make everyone bring their own food, silly!"
Whatever was happening made perfect sense to Brittany, but Rachel was officially beyond lost at the situation, "Wait, what? Brittany, who told you this?"
"S and Q! They just told me in the hall!" And with that, Brittany reached over and wrapped her arms around Rachel in a bone crushing hug, "We are going to have so much fun decorating! I really like the color orange. And I was thinking we could get pet chicks and name them Cluck and Quack!"
Rachel pulled back from the hug, never so happy to see Santana and Quinn enter the room in their matching Cheerios uniforms. She had known that Santana would be attending OSU, but she had apparently missed the memo regarding Quinn and Brittany's attendance.
"Ladies. Brittany just informed me that I will be sharing a living space with her next year so that people don't have to bring their own food. Care to explain?"
Quinn rolled her eyes and gave a wave of her hand, speaking as she walked to her usual seat, "We want to live in Worthington on the South side, but you need four people to live in there."
Santana continued the explanation as she sat down next to Brittany, reaching out and linking pinkies with the girl, "We didn't want to risk getting some freak loser we didn't know by going pot luck for our fourth, so we figured go with the freak loser we do know. So when I saw on Facebook you were going to OSU, we called the housing office and added you to our list. Got the confirmation email today, we're in."
Quinn held up her iPhone, displaying said email, "Room 126 A and B. Which is good because both bathrooms have bathtubs so we won't have to fight over who gets stuck with just the crummy shower. You and me in a room, the lezbots in another."
"Have you not checked your 'berry, Berry? The email came in like thirty minutes ago." Santana rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly before examining her cuticles on her free hand.
Rachel had not been this quiet amongst this group of girls in years. Not since they were torturing her on a regular basis during which she would sit quietly and take it. Since they had joined Glee and been through so much together, she wouldn't say they were friends, but they were friendly and often capable of holding a conversation where Rachel did more than ask the opening question.
Rather than reply to any of this, she checked her phone and sure enough, there was a flashing red light alerting her to a new message. Opening the email, it listed that her dorm request had been filled and her new roommates names. "But I requested North," was all she managed to get out quietly.
"Oh give it up, Stubbles. North is for losers and nerds. So I guess you would have fit in okay up there. But you're going to college and have a chance at a real life and everyone knows if you want any hope of that, you live South. And your living with us will give you major points. Accept your fate," Santana paused and leaned across Brittany, a look on her face that Rachel had never seen on the Latina before. It wasn't a sneer, but it wasn't a smirk. Just as if she knew something evil that Rachel didn't want to know. Santana took her beat before she continued, "Your fate is to be awesome. You're going to be living with the hottest girls on the South side and will be hot by default. Don't screw this up and keep your freak status."
As Santana leaned back into her seat, the rest of Glee slowly filtered into the room, leaving Rachel to read, and reread, the email regarding her living situation. Rather than announcing to Mr. Schuester that she would be performing her audition pieces for them today, she sat in her seat quietly until it was time to get up and run through their numbers for the Graduation performance.
She was paired with Puck for "Good Riddance" and after she stepped on his toes for the fifth time, he stopped and looked down at her, "What the hell is wrong with you today Berry?"
"I'm going to be living with Quinn, Santana and Brittany next year." She said it in such a tone it was clear she was still in shock over the news, and Puck understood why. Living with those three? Not something he was expecting out of Berry. Of course, her going to OSU had been unexpected as well, so it sort of went with the trend.
"Good luck with that one," Puck snorted before spinning Rachel out, rejoining the others in their choreography.
Puck was still on the waiting list for a place at OSU's main campus, but a part of him was hopeful he'd get in just so he could be close enough to watch that shit show on a daily basis. As he thought about the potential situation throughout the rest of practice, he realized it could go a few different ways. There would either be physical violence, a complete conversion of Rachel to the dark side, or everyone going insane. In Puck's mind, all of these potential situations led to scenarios he stored away in the spank bank, so fuck yeah, he wanted to be close by to witness this disaster in person.
Graduation day came and Puck was having mixed emotions. High school was over, and despite everyone saying they were the "best years of his life," he was ready to put them behind him.
In four years, Puck had gone from Cougar-chasing-fuck-machine badass to get-your-ass-kicked-by-your-former-best-friend babydaddy to give-your-baby-up-for-adoption-and-cry-like-a-pussy dude to a guy that was so far under the radar except for Glee, people kinda forgot about his fuckery to senior football captain stud. It had been a ride, but Puck was pretty sure he was ready to get off.
The only problem with that was he was still on the wait list for OSU. He knew that he could go to OSU-Lima the next fall and start getting basic credits done, but that wasn't the same. That wasn't getting the fuck out of Lima. That wasn't going to be him taking any sort of classes in anything he cared about. That would be him living at home, still sneaking around his mom's rules and probably sleeping with the same girls a grade below him that he was now.
Puck wanted to move on but he needed somewhere to move on to.
These thoughts clouded his mind as he stood on that stage, wearing a stupid robe and stupid hat as he spun Rachel around wearing her stupid robe and stupid hat. After this final song they would go back to sitting in alphabetical order, get handed pieces of rolled up paper that weren't actual diplomas, but threats from Figgins about unpaid library and parking fines before the diplomas were mailed out, and then they'd throw their stupid hats.
And then what?
Puck didn't know and that was fucking with his head. But when Rachel smiled that mega-watt smile up at him, he decided to let it go for these few minutes, smile back and enjoy the fact that he would never have to get on a stage and perform something like this again. He liked Glee and all, but some of this shit was having serious repercussions on his man card holdings.
The song finished and things went just as Puck knew they would. After the ceremony, as they had been instructed to do by Rachel repeatedly over the past few weeks, the club members and their families met by a tree on the left side of the school courtyard to take pictures.
He chuckled as he watched Rachel, Quinn, Brittany and Santana take a picture together, smiling with their arms around each other as if they had been friends these past four years. He was sure it had been Rachel's idea so that it could be framed in their new room and give the "appropriate" appearance to visitors. He'd had enough Rachel Berry encounters. He knew how that little brain of hers worked.
As he watched the girls take pictures and moved his gown around slightly because the polyester over dress pants was giving him serious ball sweat, his little sister had apparently snuck up behind him and jumped on his back in a proper sneak attack like he had taught her, "NOAH!"
She had screamed right in his ear and her skinny arms were choking his neck. He had to adjust her into a proper piggy back position before slapping at one of her calves, "Way to make me lose my hearing, twerp."
His sister kicked him in the stomach but continued to hold him, "Bite me. Mom has mail for you, says it's important."
Puck had just graduated high school, a small miracle in itself and his mom was worried about some mail? He looked around for her and saw his mom nearby, holding a large packet. He carried his sister toward her and when he got close, he saw a large "OSU" in red ink in the corner. "Holy fuck," he let out reverently.
"I forgot to check the mail yesterday and looked in the box on our way out the door. This was there waiting." His mom was grinning from ear to ear as Puck literally dropped his little sister on her butt and ripped the envelope out of her hands. It was the big envelope. Big envelopes meant good things.
And sure enough, on top of brochures and pamphlets, was a letter that began, "Dear Mr. Noah Puckerman, we are happy to extend an offer to you for a place in the Buckeye class of 2016…"
He didn't make it much further before he took off running towards the four girls still posing for various cameras, "I'M GOING TO OHIO STATE! I GOT IN! I'M GOING TO OSU!" he whooped, jumping in the middle of the picture and pulling Rachel and Quinn into a hug. The girls were shocked but happy for Noah, hugging him back. Santana and Brittany, not to be left out, joined in the group hug which resulted in the five of them jumping up and down. Puck didn't care at this point how ridiculous he looked or that there would be photographic evidence of his less than badass jumping around moment. He was getting out of Lima. He was going to OSU. Life was good.
After showing the letter to everyone and receiving many hugs, the entire group gathered together to take one last official team photo. Rachel, as usual, had positioned herself front and center in the photo (something she claimed was necessary due to her height), and Puck was behind her, both arms wrapped around her shoulders. Continuing to hold his forced smile, he muttered softly in her ear, "So you gonna let me drag you to a few football games next season?"
Rachel, for the first time somewhat unsure about what her future would hold, held her mega-watt smile perfectly as she spoke back to him, "Of course, I want to get the full college experience."
Puck laughed and squeezed her a little closer to his body, "I have a feeling you're going to be in for more of an experience than you even know living with those three and having me around. Promise you that."