Chapter 1
The First Petal
X
It was already more than two months in to junior for Rachel and so she hadn't been expecting to find anything particularly unusual in her locker. The morning had been like any other for her other than the fact that she wasn't pining over Finn anymore, not after some regrettable things the year prior with her revealing Quinn's baby's real father's identity and other things in between. Finn had been angry and furious with Quinn for lying to him, any human being would really, and Rachel felt bad that she was the one who had done it. Finn tried to get with her a few weeks after the incident but Rachel was feeling too guilty, too ashamed of herself for what she did, among other things, and decided to just take the summer to relax.
She wanted to stress less about the things that had happened at school this last year and she wanted some peace from anything related to school. He had tried to ask her again but she told him that she still needed time to sort her life out before making any commitments about anything. It was all quite simple really. Glee Club had taken over her life, she was still part of the Celibacy Club, as was Quinn though Santana and Brittany were no longer in attendance, and she was also part of the school newspaper, the Muckraker, and she just didn't have time between all of that and her own voice and dance lessons. It was just too much to balance all at once.
On this unassuming day Rachel opened her locker to find something she most definitely did not remember leaving inside of it the day before when she left William McKinley High School to go home. There was one simple but beautiful white flower lying on top of her books as if it had always been there. It opened up in a way that made it look like it was a pinwheel almost and it looked elegant in its simplicity and it made Rachel's heart and mind race with great excitement. Rachel was no expert on flowers but … whoever had left it in her locker seemed to be based off of the note she had almost missed entirely underneath the white flower. The note said in neat cursive: This flower tells of how I dreamed of thee, a Thornapple for the one I cherish most. Sincerely, F, your secret admirer. And that was all there was to the little note left in her locker and it had her more interested in anyone than she had ever been. Not only had this person said that they dreamed of her but that they were her secret admirer as well! She didn't know that someone was secretly admiring her! Well, obviously they were a secret admirer for a reason but still! She, Rachel Barbra Berry, had a secret admirer and she intended to find out who they were immediately!
She wondered when they had been able to sneak into her locker to leave the flower and note inside between last night and this morning. Perhaps they did it after school? Or maybe early in the morning before anyone else arrived to school? They could have an early morning club or one that meets after school and snuck it in then while she was busy with her school newspaper club. They might have done it while she was busy with either Glee Club or Celibacy Club which took up the entire week after school. Or maybe they were a bit of a delinquent and did it while no one was at school and broke into the school at night so they wouldn't be caught. So many thoughts shifted through her mind but she was definitely curious and pondering all of the possibilities of who it could be, who the admirer was.
She was intrigued, her interest more than a little bit piqued from the combination of a flower and note showing interest in her, and she was the kind of person who was confident in herself but she didn't think she had any secret admirers hidden away. It obviously couldn't have been Finn despite the F because not only was his idea of romance going to McDonald's or just Breadstix he also didn't know how to write or read in cursive nor would he ever actually research something like a flower. She was also quite certain that Finn wasn't the type to leave things as a secret admirer considering he just asked people out when he was interested.
Rachel read the note over again as she tried to remember anyone in the school with any kind of F in their name whether it was first or last name. Obviously Finn was out of the equation by default. There was a Flynn Ryder, Rory Flannigan, Larissa Fretthold, Faridah Lawson, Francesco Borgia, Lloyd Flowers, Lindsay Folder, and lastly, but most likely not, Quinn Fabray. Rachel couldn't think of anyone else with an F in their name from the secret admirer's note and only clue as to who they were but she would stop at nothing to find out as her mind continued to race with all of the potential candidates she might not even know.
X
The rest of her day unfortunately went by terribly slowly as Rachel looked high and low for anyone who seemed even more interested in her than usual in case they were the secret admirer. She hardly knew any of the people she thought of earlier with an initial of F in their names other than Rory and Quinn because they were both fellow Glee Club members. She knew Sean in passing because he was in the Jazz Band but it wasn't as if she really talked to him all that much … or at all even. And Finn was already so obvious because despite the fact that they agreed to be friends he often asked her to outings that were just the two of them and would constitute as a date more so than just friends hanging out together. She was almost 100% sure that Finn wasn't the secret admirer in any way whatsoever. She just wished she knew more middle names because the admirer could have used a middle initial to throw her off since not many people liked, let alone told, other people their middle names.
Every class Rachel was in seemed to have a personal vendetta against her. They seemed to go by even more slowly than usual and the ticking of the clock was a constant reminder to Rachel that time wasn't going to move any more quickly no matter how long she stared at it. The seconds seemed to elongate the more often she would glance up at the clock as it continued to tick every second. When half of her classes were over it felt like an eternity had passed and she was quite sure that a good few teachers were confused by her lack of participation and constant hand waving to answer each and every question without fail. She was almost always waving her hand in a 'pick me, pick me, oh pick me,' fashion and the teachers were accustomed to seeing her wave madly to be chosen even if her hand was the only one in the air every time they asked a question. Rachel was too lost in thought for that today though and the teachers noticed. One had even asked her to stay behind in concern to ask her if anything wrong was going on in her life. Though Rachel had said no and assured the teacher she was okay her teacher still told her that she was available if Rachel ever needed to talk about something no matter what it was. Rachel was actually rather touched and gave Ms. Holiday a bright smile on her way out of the empty classroom.
It seemed like every single class that day was everlasting, never ending, and perpetual in every way possible until Rachel was finally free to get her things packed and leave. She couldn't wait to leave the classroom behind in favor of going to her locker to get herself ready for her after school club for today in the form of Celibacy Club. Although there wasn't much Rachel really gained from the club she did appreciate the fact that she could take the time to herself, for the most part, since Ms. Pillsbury was the one running it and she hardly ever actually did anything but push pamphlets on all of them. Rachel decided that she would use that time to brainstorm ideas as to who the secret admirer was and ways of finding out who the secret admirer could be. There were so many ways they could have gotten into the school before or after school was over and put the flower into the locker as well as the lovely note they left. The only other hint she had other than the note itself was that the note had been handwritten in cursive which most people must have forgotten how to read and write in by now. Obviously Rachel had excellent penmanship but … but the cursive she had seen on that note looked so beautifully written, like the writer had had years of practice with a steady hand. The cursive looped and looked so elegant and it was the only other hint to go by.
As Rachel walked through the halls to make it to the bi-weekly Celibacy Club meeting she saw that Ms. Pillsbury was already there but Quinn had yet to arrive. And when she did, she decided that Quinn couldn't possibly be her secret admirer because her face was as impassive as always and she'd gotten the Cheerios uniform back almost as soon as school began again. Even though she'd gotten the uniform back Quinn hadn't reverted back to sophomore year Quinn but that didn't mean anything really. She was still rather aloof about everything as she was before and the only difference was that there were no insults, no slushies with barbed words. And yet there was no way it was Quinn because just looking at her now Quinn didn't look like she was looking at Rachel any differently than before … in fact she wasn't even looking at her at all as per usual. Something had changed over the summer with Quinn because she barely paid anyone any mind now.
Quinn was examining her nails and waiting for the other two members to walk in through the door, though they both knew Finn only came to see Rachel and Puck came because Finn begged him. After several minutes had passed Quinn actually took her notebook out and started writing something with careful consideration as she paused every few lines to think. It was almost as if Quinn was writing poetry to Rachel based on how she broke up the lines but she couldn't be sure. Rachel was actually more than a little curious about what Quinn's writing looked like because she really hadn't ever seen it before and it was almost as if Quinn didn't want anyone knowing what her writing looked like from past experience. Rachel suddenly recalled how when Quinn was pregnant was would often have a faraway look on her face sometimes and just looked off into the distance. Other times though … Quinn would write in something that looked like a journal while Glee Club was in session and she would always try to hide it from others whenever they tried to peek, mostly Santana would do this though.
It was actually another few minutes before some loud laughter could be heard as the last two members walked in as if there was no rush whatsoever even though they were at least a minute late. Puck would never take it seriously and Finn just sat there to stare at Rachel with puppy dog eyes and just stare at her period, which she didn't really appreciate in the least. She actually took this club seriously. It wasn't until they sat down in their usual seats opposite the people they wanted to ogle that Ms. Pillsbury called the club into meeting and began by telling them what their topic for the day was. Despite the fact that the club meeting had already started Finn ogled Rachel while Puck leered at Quinn and she ignored him entirely while Rachel focused her attention on Ms. Pillsbury instead of him. She knew he was watching her as he always did during Celibacy Club and Ms. Pillsbury finally started talking about sexual urges and addressed how sexual desires shouldn't be things people gave into, especially because girls giving their virginity away wasn't something they could take back. A girl's virginity and first time should be special and with someone they love instead of something done in the heat of the moment and a regret to reflect later on in life or even after the fact.
The meeting went on as Ms. Pillsbury talked about the importance of not giving into teenage hormones because they were temporary and it was better to not have any regrets. She, of course, paused every few minutes to ask if anyone had any questions for her or needed one of her many pamphlets set up on the table without a single one out of place. There were several different ones on display with titles from The Big Bad Hormones to Staying Sexually Pure and it caused Quinn to roll her eyes while Puck just smirked. Finn was completely ignoring everything being said as usual while Rachel herself was the only one who was taking any of this seriously and actually taking notes, notes!, in her notebook.
They went on like this for the full hour until the only interesting thing that happened at any point was actually Quinn interjecting once.
"Those pamphlets aren't really going to do anyone any good if there's alcohol involved." And she said nothing more while Ms. Pillsbury just looked on with a flustered expression on her face before she cleared her throat, said it was a good point, and moved on from the subject matter entirely. It did cause a few ripples, Puck actually looked away in shame, Rachel looked guilty, and Finn looked angry and his cheeks were flushed with it. Quinn just looked forlorn, despondent in a way Rachel didn't ever really remember seeing her look except when Finn found out who the father was. She looked like she was lost and so very dejected in that very moment and Rachel felt her heart lurch in her chest, like there was a slight pain in her chest from that look on her face and in her eyes. It was sadder than anything she had ever seen in Quinn before and so heartbreakingly beautiful despite it all.
Ms. Pillsbury dismissed them not long after Quinn's brief interruption and they all packed up to go their separate ways. Finn and Puck left the room almost immediately, as neither of them had bothered to bring any of their books with them, while Rachel and Quinn had to pack their things up before leaving. Rachel could have sworn she was imagining it but for just a moment she thought she had seen Quinn's eyes lingering on her for longer than usual. Just in the blink of an eye though … it was gone and she would never know if Quinn had looked at her at all or not. But before Rachel was able to decide if she was hallucinating or not Quinn was already walking out of the classroom. She sighed and left to go home, surprised that Finn hadn't said anything to her this time or waited around to ask her to talk yet again. She supposed she would just count her blessings.
X
Rachel was almost out of school before she realized something rather important, well important to her at least. She turned right back around and went back into the school and decided to go right to her locker to see if there had been a new flower added to her locker yet or not.
She parked her car in the parking spot as close to the school as she could get without taking any of the teacher's parking spots. She made a mad dash into the building and rammed into none other than Quinn Fabray, who had been walking down the hallway with her cheerleading bag. To Rachel's surprise Quinn didn't say anything scathing to her in the least and actually sounded … nice. She shouldn't be that surprised though because even though Quinn was on top after telling Sue Sylvester about Santana's boob job she hadn't reverted to sophomore year Quinn. She was still kind … well, kinder, to everyone in Glee and was still friends with Mercedes. She was actually still living with Mercedes and working part time to make money to both pay for her Cheerleading expenses as well as for gas and other things necessary for the car she had. Maybe Quinn had finally found some humility or something like that because she still ruled with an iron fist when it came to the rest of the school.
"Hey, be careful Berry. If it had been Santana she would have chewed you out for that." Quinn said softly. "Well, see you around." Quinn added before Rachel could even respond yet again. Rachel wanted to ask her to stop for just a moment but then she stopped herself and continued on her path to her locker with only slight hesitation. Rachel did manage to call out to Quinn to tell her to have a nice evening before she ran off on her original path again.
After walking down the long hallway she finally reached her locker and put in the combination with only the slightest uncertainty, wondering what she would find on the other side. She pulled the lock open and took it out to open her locker and looked inside to see that no new flower had been placed on top of her books. She felt the disappointment acutely as she stared for a moment longer at her books and everything else inside looking the same way as when she left it. But then another thought struck her … how did her admirer know her locker combination to get inside and place the flower and note inside? Rachel hadn't ever noticed someone being close enough to her to ever see her actually put her locker combination in so she could open her locker up.
This last thought actually caused Rachel to waiver in her wonder over who this secret admirer was and how they knew her lock combination. Rachel was sure that she would have noticed if someone unusual was hanging around her locker to see her put the combination in since they'd have to be quite close to see her putting the numbers in and they'd have to do so quite close and with the right timing to see all of the numbers go in. The only person Rachel could think of who might know the combination would be Finn but she didn't think he would be observant enough to actually pay attention long enough to watch her put all of the numbers in considering how easily distracted he was by anything and everything in the world.
"Who would … who could have …? I wonder if maybe … no, no, no, that can't be it." Rachel muttered to herself before deciding to leave things at that and just leave now and go home and perhaps wake up earlier than usual to investigate early tomorrow morning before any other students would have any time to come in. She was sure that if she came at some ungodly hour … perhaps at six in the morning, she'd be able to narrow down the likely suspects with F as any kind initial in their names by seeing them open up her locker and catch them putting a flower in her locker. It was her best bet right now. She nodded as she left the school again.
If Rachel had only just been paying more attention she would have seen that someone had been watching her the entire time and had been waiting for her to leave. If Rachel was only the tiniest bit more observant she would have realized that none of the other Cheerios were actually around and that Quinn had attended Celibacy Club before after school Cheerios practice and that she was the last student inside of the school other than herself. But Rachel didn't and so the mystery continued.
X
As Rachel went to bed that night she wondered what flower she would find in her locker tomorrow if there was any flower at all … perhaps she could look up all of the local flower shops to see if any of them had a customer who had bought a bunch of different flowers recently. Perhaps she could ask if someone had become a recent regular. All of these thoughts consumed Rachel as she felt herself falling asleep to thoughts about who the secret admirer could potentially be.
I just want to know who you are.
X
So here's the first chapter to yet another Faberry story and hopefully there are many more to come~!^^ Please review to tell me your thoughts!^^
姫宮光る
