rachel berry was the current star of the glee club. (she didnt find shelby during theatricality) her little sister emily was starting her freshman year and was on the cheerios. emily was genius, starting high school at the age of 11. shelby corcoran was there to help teach the trouble tones at mckinley. she knew that rachel was her daughter, and so was emily. but she couldnt act until they did. but what she didnt know was that the berry men had died years before that, and she had legal rights to them...
chapter 1
Emily berry stared at the sign up sheet in front of her and played with the bottom of her uniform. she couldnt help but feel nervous. coach sylvester would kill her if she signed up, but she wanted to. and she was determined to get in. she looked at the bottom of the trouble tones and signed it, Emily Elphie Berry.
Rachel shook her head as she entered glee practice. she didnt see her sister who had told her she signed up for glee. she also quickly realised that mercedes, santana, and brittany were missing too. she placed her books down and left to find her sister despite mr. shues disapproving glance.
Shelby Corcoran sat at the piano in her new classroom and waited for kids to show up. it was last period and she realised that another person had signed up in a childish script. what highschooler writes like that? shelby rolled her eyes looking back down at the name. emily. Her emily. suddenly she was very excited for this practice. she saw 2 cheerleaders , and from the looks of it a diva, walk in. she sighed. was emily always late? she started talking as she saw the young girl trying to creep in. then shelby realised, how was emily wmhs? she was 11. shelby continued talking as she sat down in a seat, wiping it before doing so. shelby thought of it as weird, but she didnt have the heart to ask why. the old coach Corcoran was gone, no more mean shelby. she couldnt keep her eyes off of her as the door shut again.
"what are you doing in here?" rachel hissed at the 4 girls. "we have glee."
"rach we're in glee." emily said standing up.
"really whos she?" rachel said defensively. that woman was no mr. schue. Shelby just stared at her. that was rachel. her little baby. and boy would that mouth get her in trouble.
"i dont know but she is helping us so please go away?" emily said quite nicely as rachel slammed the door. emily quickly wiped her chair and sat down again.
"midget you realise the chair isnt a jock strap its not bad for you. god youre so weird."mercedes hissed as emily rubbed the handsanitizer on her fingers, hands and wrists. when she was done, she looked up at shelby expectantly. only then did shelby see how young she truly is. the girl didnt understand what mercedes had said.
"okay. warm up time." shelby chuckled as she saw a light breath of air being let out of her lungs.
rachel sat outside on the bleachers watching her baby sister practice with the cheerios. she didnt like the fact that Emily was being tossed and thrown all over the place, but the girl had always loved it, so she hadn't really cared. when practice ended she stood up walking to emily. they would have to wait for Lindsay, their foster mom to pick them up. she was nice to the girls, very sarcastic but nice. she was young and let the girls be kids. except, they really couldnt. emily had changed after the fire. she blamed herself. she always left dirty random things or papers around the house for their fathers to find and one day left it too close to the stove. the girls hadnt been home, and after that emily was different. rachel had decided that she was gonna loathe her sister, and emily was seemingly spiralling downhill .
"rachie did you see that?"emily said excitedly.
"yeah i did. nice work"rachel said , still aggravated about earlier. they waited and waited, until rachel decided they would walk home. it was pretty late, but it would be fine. they were walking and as they passed a restaurant near the house they were living in, emilys stomach grumbled. she sighed and continued walking, maybe another day. once they got to the house, they realised that lindsays car was still there and another one was parked behind it. rachel didnt think much of it. she unlocked the door, closing it behind emily. she and emily walked to their shared room until they heard lindsay shouting something from her room. emily stood up to find her, wiping her foster mom's door knob before doing so. she quickly opened it to see lindsay with a weird stranger dude.
"what are you doing,?"the young girl asked cocking her head to the side. lindsay quickly covered herself.
"get out!"lindsay shouted grabbing her phone. she had been told that if she ever had a problem to call their birth mother. but somehow she had never wanted to. she would get in trouble. "hi are you shelby? "
"yes who is this."
"lindsay, you can have your daughters, i cant handle them."
"are they hurt, where are they shelby asked grabbing her car keys.
"theyre fine," lindsay said getting dressed and packing sone of their things. it wasnt alot but still, she should have it. "137 Livingston drive."she said hanging up.
shelby was fuming, but also bursting with joy when she pulled up to the house. she saw the two girls arguing in the front lawn. rachel was mad and pointing all over the place and emily looked upset.
"its your fault!" rachel yelled.
"no it isnt!"is all shelby heard before grabbing both girls wrists.
"both of you knock it off."shelby said sternly, glaring at the two girls.
"miss Corcoran let me go."emily whimpered starting to hyperventilate.
"emily honey breathe." shelby said as the girl started to pick up her breathing. shelby brought her in close to listen to her heart beat. "breathe. does she have an inhaler?"
"uh yeah here."rachel said, just as panicked. shelby shook it handing it to Emily. she took it but continued to cry into shelbys chest. rachel looked at the woman. she couldnt believe it. shelby Corcoran was her mother.
"rachel? whats wrong?" shelby said looking down at the shorter brunette.
"we have to go and its her fault. she killed our dads, and now she got us kicked out of lindsays. its not fair miss. corcoran. she ruins everything!"shelby swatted Rachel for that statement, seeing how it made her little sister so upset.
"rachel you are wrong. and she didnt get you kicked out, i wanted to have you back. what should've happened when your fathers past away. so rachel get that mouth in check."
"yes miss corcoran."
"now go grab your things." shelby said rubbing Rachel's arm.
"ok."rachel said slinking off defeated.
"miss corcoran, youre our mom?" emily asked playing with the ends of shelbys hair.
"yeah i am baby. and you can call me whatever you want ok? my names shelby, if you wanna call me that."
"ok."emily yawned rubbing her eyes.
"can i put you in the car while i help rachel, ok?"she asked when she felt emily become dead weight in her arms. she put her in the backseat and ran to help rachel with the few bags that were left. once they were done, shelby made sure rachel was secure in the car and started driving to her house on the other side of lima.
"so rachel tell me about yourself." shelby smiled when they stopped at a red light.
"im 16, i sing, well you know that, um i like barbra Streisand-"
"you too oh my god, which is your favorite from funny girl?"
"well mines stereotypical but dont rain on my parade is nice." rachel said looking back at her little sister in the back. "im warning you, i hope you have wipes at your house."
"why? shes not going to do that to everything right." shelby deadpanned. "my favorite is funny girl. favorite food?"
"um, maybe waffles, i dont know, i like peanut butter but i cant eat it."
"why not?"
"emily is allergic. its always emily, emily, emily and im sick of it! she got us in this mess, i dont get why im always dragged into it. if she hadnt been stupid this wouldnt have happened." rachel whined and shelby swatted the side of her leg. she could already tell that this child was never going to forgive her sister, and shelby knew that if the young girl was told she was the reason why hiram leroy died, she would soon come to despise herself. shelby knew the feeling all too well.
they pulled into the driveway and rachel sat looking in awe. it was a beautiful house. from what she could see it was 3 stories. shelby picked emily up and unlocked the door. "rachel come on" shelby whispered taking her up to the second story. "take your pick."the 3 rooms were identical and rachel picked the one next to the stair case. shelby decided that she wanted the younger of the two next to her, because she struck shelby as a nightmare person. but for that day, shelby didnt trust her in her own room. only then was shelby able to look truly at her daughters. rachel was tanner with big brown eyes and dark brown hair that all three of them shared. emily had shelby's green eyes and complexion but rachel was easily more like shelby personality wise. but shelby hadnt seen what Emily's true personality was so she couldnt judge. shelby truly didnt like the cheerleading uniform that emily was wearing, or the fact that she was thrown all over the place, but she knew it was a requirement but emily was not wearing skirts that short except for that if she could help it. Rachel's fashion choices were unfortunate, but they were appropriate. it was early september, so it was still hot, and skirts were fine. shelby couldnt help but feel nervous about the day ahead of them. a friday. shelby had heard of the slushie problem in the school, but she didnt think much about it . she drifted off to sleep until about 4 when she heard yelling and stomping but shelby heard a slap and shot right up.shelby raced down to see rachels room open and emily on the floor. it was obvious that these two would not be getting along anytime soon. "did you just hit her?"
"maybe." rachel smirked watching her mothers left hand start to twitch. her swatting hand rachel realised as she became quiet.
"emily go sit on the couch please." shelby said closing the door behind her. "rachel, you cannot hit anyone." when rachel rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, shelby decided she had heard enough. she quickly grabbed Rachel's wrist, swatting her 5 times. she didnt understand why she hated her sister. shelby personally loved her sister, but she was always emily in this situation, no matter what. "rachel what you did was wrong. why did you hit her?" shelby asked, not leaving her grip on the girl.
"she woke me up. she was only in my room for me and i was so rude to her, im sorry." rachel whispered as she laid down on her bed, turning away from her mother.
"rachel im going to talk to her ok?" shelby said starting down the stairs into the living room to find emily crying with shelby's blanket in her arms. "hey lovebug can you talk to me?"shelby asked sitting next to her, pulling the sobbing child into her lap. she felt emily bury herself into her shoulder shaking her head no. Emily didnt want to talk. not anymore.
rachel ended up back asleep but emily stayed up, waiting for the day to start for her at 5:45. she promptly went up and changed into her uniform. she went downstairs to ask her mother if she had a curling iron. she couldnt find hers. "shelby? i need help."emily whined walking up to the woman. she truly was very short. shelby wasnt even that tall either. she was 5'4, and emily as at least 4 inches shorter.
"what do you need love bug?"
"can you do ny hair? lindsay always did it and i dont know how. " she mumbled,playing with the bottom of her skirt. shelby smiled.
"of course, come on." shelby said taking emilys hand. she felt the small girl flinch, but she didnt care. shelby sat the young girl in her vanity, plugging the curling iron in. emily was pretty, a mini shelby really. down to the barbra nose they all shared. shelby brushed and curled Emily's hair until it was perfect, spraying it with hairspray. "breakfast time come on."shelby said picking the girl up and swinging her around. all she could do was laugh when the young girl jumped on her back. "hey love bug can you tell me what you cant eat?"
"only peanuts."emily said shrugging, putting her socks on.
"do you want waffles?"
"rachel likes them so i guess so."emily said looking in the fridge for water.
"well waffles it is!"
"s-shelby? do i need to quit glee now?"
"no why would you quit?"
"mercedes is going to kill me if she finds out."
"emily. she wont i promise you. not if i can help it."
"you cant always help shelby."emily whispered slipping into a barstool as she watched her mother cook. emily studied her. ahe seemed nice, she was nice to her in glee too, but why had she given them up?