Defying Gravity

"Something has changed within me. Something is not the same. I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game. Too late for second guessing; too late to go back to sleep. It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap. It's time to try defying gravity. I think I'll try defying gravity. And you can't bring me down."'

Summary:

Shelby Corcoran and her daughter Rachel are well-known Broadway Stars. Their names even reach Lima, Ohio; Rachel and Quinn were BFF's back in the day and Shelby's got her own surprising connections to the small town. What happens when the super-star duo returns to Lima? R&R

Chapter 1: "Something has changed within me. Something is not the same…"

"Brrriiiinnggg!" The bell's shrill cry pierced everyone's ear drums as it signaled the beginning: the beginning of a new day; the beginning of a new school year; the beginning of the rest of their lives. These thoughts, among others, swirled around in Rachel Corcoran's head as she slammed her locker shut and gripped her new coach bag. She scanned the hallway to find who she was looking for and found her. She smiled to herself; this was going to be fun.

Quinn Fabray held her head high as she marched down the hallway of McKinley High. She would soon become this school's queen B, the HBIC, and head captain of the Cheerios, the cheerleading squad. Her two best friends, Santana Lopez and Brittany S. Pierce walked besides her as they elbowed all underlings away. "Out of my way, losers." She muttered, eyes searching for a certain person. They happily found their destination, causing a slight smirk to play upon her lips. She knew there had been a major change in the person her eyes had fallen upon, and much explaining to be done about said changes, but she also knew that they would have plenty of time to catch up and gossip as two old best friends often do.

The person smiled at her with just as much confidence as she had the first time Quinn had laid eyes on her. She marched right up to the girl and grinned brightly back. "Rachel!" She squealed excitedly, hugging her old best friend. She saw Santana and Brittany's confused expressions out of the corner of her eye and knew she had some explaining to do.

After releasing Rachel from her death grip, she took a breath to explain. "S, B, meet Rachel Berry, future Broadway star. Rachel and I went to an acting camp every summer and attended the same private school before daddy let me go to public school! We also lived in the same apartment building when I lived in NYC!" She said excitedly, her face glowing at the old memories.

Rachel smiled at Santana and Brittany, and Quinn knew Rachel was deciding right then and there if they would be friends. Apparently they passed, because Rachel gave them a genuine smile and said "it's great to meet you! And as Quinn said, I'm from NYC and I'll be here for a while so we might as well start to get to know each other now!"

Brittany clapped excitedly and hugged her new friend. Rachel let go of Brittany and glanced at Santana uneasily, knowing just from the look of the girl how tough she was. Santana gave Rachel the once-over and decided to accept the friendship. They did sort of a one-armed hug and knew from then on they had each other's backs. Quinn grabbed Rachel's arm and Brittany and Santana linked pinkies as they walked down the hallway to their first class. Other people scrambled around them to get to class but backed against the lockers to let them pass; the Fab Four, Quinn thought with a smirk.

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. Quinn gave her first slushie to Jacob Ben-Israel. She had told the girls it was because he was a freak; which, well, he was. But it was also because he had been staring at Rachel too long for her liking, and decided he needed to be taught a lesson. She knew she was on her way to being on top; she had a legacy to fulfill after all; her older sisters Gracie and Shannon had both been Queen B's when they attended McKinley, so it was only Quinn's duty to keep up the tradition. They had also both graduated valedictorian of their classes along with being offered full rides from all of their schools. Overall, Quinn knew she had a lot going for her but she also knew she had quite the reputation to keep up.

Rachel met Quinn at her locker as planned. Santana and Brittany had already left, apparently very anxious to get to Brittany's empty house, as Brit's parents were away for the week. Quinn slammed her locker shut and turned to her best friend. "So, your place or mine?" She asked Rachel brightly. Rachel pondered the question for a second and answered, "how about mine? My mom is at her new job and won't be home until late tonight, so it would be just us." She said as she opened the door to leave the building. "Okay, sounds like a plan. I think my mom has her lady's book club this afternoon anyway." Quinn agreed, while putting air-quotes around "lady's book club". The book club was just a cover-up; an excuse her mom used to get her husband out of the house and a time where she could drink with her friends. Of course, she had to use a lot of precaution, as her husband cared greatly about the family's reputation. So Quinn crammed as many activities in to her schedule as possible so she would be at home only to sleep and eat.

The parking lot had already emptied out by the time they reached their cars. Quinn opened her car door and got in, and after checking her reflection in the mirror and waiting for Rachel to start her car, followed Rachel out. When they got to Rachel's house, Quinn was surprised yet pleased to see that it was only a block or two from her own. They walked up to the front door and Rachel put the key in and opened the door.

The largeness of the Corcoran house on the outside was nothing compared to how large it was on the inside. Rachel turned on the lights and the heat kicked on. She checked the messages on the machine and hung up her and Quinn's coats.

"Thanks, Rach." Quinn thanked. "No problem." Rachel replied. "So can I get you anything? Something to drink, eat?" She asked. "Just water would be great, thanks." Quinn said. "Okay, sounds good. Want some popcorn?" Rachel asked. "Sure why not?" Quinn replied.

Rachel got Quinn's water and put the popcorn in the microwave. Light popping could be heard, breaking the silence that fell over the rest of the house. "So how have you been?" Quinn asked Rachel. Rachel sighed, and Quinn realized for the first time how tired she really looked. "Truthfully?" She asked. Quinn nodded. "Tired. That's mostly why we moved. Mom noticed how unhappy I was on Broadway. Don't get me wrong. Broadway was…is…amazing, Quinn; absolutely fantastic. The magic that went behind it and on stage; you would love it! Rachel sighed again, this time almost wistfully. "So why'd you go?" Quinn asked

A sad, longing look crossed Rachel's face and Quinn noticed again the tired glaze held in Rachel's eyes. "I couldn't take it anymore, Quinn. The life on Broadway was not the life for me to grow up in. Mom and I, we had fun. We did. But then everything changed after I met Alex…" Rachel said, her voice trailing off slightly.

Quinn quirked an eyebrow but said nothing so her friend could continue. Rachel paused a minute so she could take the popcorn out and opened it. They began to eat the buttery, salty goodness and Rachel continued on her story.

"Alex played Glinda. She was everything Glinda was- smart, cute, sassy. Working with her was fabulous. We had so much fun together and quickly became great friends. That was when I learned that romance and the stage should never mix.

Quinn had to interrupt at this point just for clarification. "So you're gay." She stated, making sure no air of opinion followed her comment. Rachel shrugged nonchalantly. "I'd prefer to think of it as love has no gender, no labels. It does not know men or women, just what's in the heart. I could like a guy one day yet still find a woman equally attractive the next. If you really want to label it, I guess I'd call it bisexual, but I'd really like to call it love." Rachel explained.

Quinn nodded in understanding. "I think I get that; I guess I'm kind of the same way." Rachel gave her a questioning look but continued on with her story. "Anyway, Alex…Lexi and I really connected. We had something really good on stage and it felt so…right being together. I think maybe that's what I fell in love with- the stage presence." Rachel took a sip of her water before continuing.

"So, after our third performance, Lexi brought me to the cast after-party as her date. We dated a lot after that and pretty soon became a couple. My mom hadn't really noticed that something was going on. I wasn't hiding it or anything, but she just didn't seem to notice." Rachel said. "So, anyway, it was probably about October of last year when the problems began. Lexi was my first girlfriend; I mean, I'd been in relationships before, but they'd all been boys. So anyway, we'd been dating for about 6 months and she began pressuring me…not exactly for sex, really, but just to do some things I didn't feel very comfortable doing; PDA type of things. I mean, I wasn't ashamed or anything, but I also didn't think that it was anyone else's business. But Lexi, she was all about gay pride and waving the big rainbow flag around in everyone's faces. I just wasn't comfortable with that." Rachel took a sip from her water. "So what'd you do?" Quinn asked, wrinkles of concern etched on her face. "Well, I didn't want to lose her relationship, so I figured if I gave her something big, she wouldn't feel so concerned about public display anymore" Rachel answered, quirking an eyebrow to see if Quinn would understand what she meant. Quinn scrunched her face up and wrinkled her nose "so you had sex with her?" She asked. Rachel sighed. "That was the plan, anyway. But then before it happened, she…" Rachel paused, trying to keep her composure. "What, Rach? It's okay, you can tell me." Quinn said gently. "She almost raped me."

Rachel said, covering her face with her hands. Quinn felt a rumble in her chest full of anger and fury, nothing like she'd ever felt before. It was like a monster was inside her trying to crawl out. She wrapped her arms around Rachel and engulfed her in a big hug. "So you see, that's why I left. That's why we moved, along with my mom's job offer. Mom thought it would be good for us to get a fresh start, and I could go to school like a normal kid and learn how to live a normal life. And since mom grew up in Lima anyways…" Rachel said through her tears. Quinn brushed away a strand of hair that was hanging in front of Rachel's tear-stained face. "It's because of my stupidity that this happened, and now everything's ruined." She sniffed. "Hey. You look at me." Quinn said forcefully, but gently, and cupped her hand under Rachel's chin and made Rachel look at her. "Rach, none of this was your fault. You're young, talented, smart, funny-everything that makes a girl or guy go crazy for you. But it's their responsibility to control their emotions, not yours. You keep yourself in check like you should; it's not your fault if they let things go too far. Though you did say almost- would you like to explain that?" Quinn said sternly.

Rachel cracked a small watery smile before clearing her throat so she could go on with her tale. "Well, I mean, almost because she had locked me in my dressing room and was going to do it, but thank the lord that Jake, who played Fiyaro, had left his lucky comb in my room and had key to it, so he found me and saved my life. Lexi tried to play it off as I had wanted it just as much as she did, but I had actually told Jake everything and he knew that this was not what I had wanted. Lexi's in jail now, but it's still-just, frustrating." Rachel said.

Quinn nodded in understanding. "I do know those pressures that relationships have. Guys in high school are complete idiots, and girls are not much better. We are at an age where we think we are invincible, and this is completely and utterly false. Stupid, maybe. But certainly not invincible." Quinn said, giving Rachel a smile. Rachel smiled back, and the monster in Quinn's chest subsided and a warm fuzzy feeling rumbled in its place instead.

A/N: So, hope you've enjoyed this story so far…pretty long first chapter I hope it's good. Review if you want- it might push me to update sooner if you like it. Thanks for reading!