Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"

A/N: I honestly don't know what this is. I started writing it when I couldn't get words to come on "Keeping the Creed". At first I just thought I'd make a little Rucy one shot and now it's just grown and grown. I don't know why she's Lucy here and not Quinn, except that she's very different than the Quinn we all know from the show.

On a side note: Today, May 19th is the six year anniversary of Spring Awakening opening on Broadway, the three year anniversary of Glee debuting on Fox, and it's the one year anniversary of my writing fanfiction. Trippy huh?

Chapter One

Lucy slammed the front door and took off up the stairs as her parents called out behind her. She didn't slow down, wait, or listen. Instead she just raced to her room slamming that door as well, before collapsing onto the bed in body racking sobs. She clamped her eyelids shut in the futile hopes that she could make the tears stop. She listened to the slow deliberate sounds of someone, her father, climbing the stairs. She wanted desperately to get herself composed before she was faced with him. She knew that he would see her blubbering as yet another sign of her weakness, of her being a disappointment, and she really didn't want to disappoint her father.

He knocked but didn't wait for a reply before opening the door. "Lucy Fabray," he said sternly, "You know I don't like slamming doors in my house, young lady."

"I…I'm sorry, Daddy," she managed to choke out.

"I accept your apology," he said, "Don't let it happen again." He moved to sit down on the edge of her bed. "Now, sit up. Tell me what's got my little princess so upset." Lucy did as her father told her to. She always did. She sat up and turned herself so that she was sitting next to her father so that he could slide his arm across her shoulders and pull her against him. It always made her feel safe and warm to be held like this by her father. Lucy had stopped crying and even had a bit of a smile starting but she still kept her head down. She couldn't look at him without him knowing what was going on. "Lucy, look at Daddy."

She took a deep breath because she knew she could never disobey him when he told her to do something. Slowly and barely holding onto her calm, she looked up at him, and there for him to see was the brand new pair of black eyes that she was sporting. "Who did this to you?"

"M-Michelle Slattery," Lucy said softly, "her and Regina Dorset, they were… being mean, and I just got so tired of always being picked on so I said something mean back. Then Michelle hit me."

"How many times did she hit you, once?" Lucy nodded in answer to his question. "Was your nose bleeding?"

"A little," she said, "Earlier."

"Okay, honey, we need to take you to the doctor," he said, "Your nose may be broken."

"O-okay, Daddy."

"And when we get home, we'll look into taking you to some self-defense classes," he said, "I can't stop people from saying mean things, honey, but I won't stand for people hitting my little princess. Do you understand me? We're Fabray's right? No one makes us victims."

"Right," Lucy agreed with a small smile clearly betraying the pain she was still in. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and she smiled even bigger. She loved her father more than anything and the fact that he was standing up for her and not making her feel like she let him down meant the world to her.

That's why when they went to the doctor to have him look at her nose and she found out it was broken, she didn't beg her father to let the doctor change it like she'd been wanting to, because it was her father's nose. That's why when he signed her up for kickboxing lessons at the YMCA, she threw herself into it with such dedication that she really impressed her instructors and they moved her quickly up to the advanced class. And that's why two years later, right at the end of Lucy's freshman year, when her mother caught her father cheating on her, Lucy's world was destroyed.

Suddenly, just in time for Lucy's sophomore year, Lucy and Judy were moving back to Lima, where they had lived when she was little to stay with her Aunt Caroline and Uncle Derek until the divorce could be sorted out.

She'd had a lot of really directionless anger after she'd found out about the affair and she'd expressed it by changing nearly everything about herself over the course of the summer. She cut her hair off short and dyed chunks of it fire engine red. All of her baby doll dresses went up in a huge bonfire in the backyard. She replaced them with a variety of clothes from vintage shops, yard sales, and consignment shops. She replaced her demure, girly wire-rimmed glasses with a pair of thick framed ones. She got her ears pierced again as well as one nostril. Unbeknownst to her mother, she also got a tattoo on the inside of her left leg, just above her ankle that read, "Just Keep Chasing the Storm". She spent most of the summer teaching herself how to play the guitar by watching videos on YouTube. People called her a hipster but she really didn't care what anyone thought anymore.

X X X X X

By the second day of school at William McKinley High, she was still struggling to figure the place out. She'd learned quickly that the cheerleaders were pretty much all bitches (other than her friend Brittany that she knew from dance class) but they were the top of the food chain. The football team was somewhere up there too, although that was confusing since from what she understood, they were more or less the worst team in the state.

She was at her locker dropping off books from the morning's classes before heading off to find somewhere to spend her lunch period because she was absolutely certain that she had no interest in ever going back to the cafeteria, too much clique-y bullshit for one lifetime and nothing worth eating.

Someone behind her cleared their throat. Lucy immediately rolled her eyes preparing for someone else to make some sort of comment about the way she's dressed or try to tell her what her place was. "Excuse me," said a soft, pretty voice, "are-are you Lucy Fabray?"

It was the first time she hadn't been addressed as "New Girl" so far so that was a plus, also it was her actual last name instead of Lucy Caboosey, the nickname that had plagued her existence at her old school, which at first had been to torment her about her weight and then after she'd gotten into shape in kickboxing class and dancing, it was used by crass, asshole boys to drool over her shapely posterior. Lucy turned around to come face to face with an absolutely stunning brunette with big, beautiful, expressive brown eyes and plump kissable lips. Kissing this girl without even saying hello first would probably come off as presumptuous and also rude, so she opted not to do that.

Lucy's friend Brittany had kissed her one night when they were hanging out last summer after one of their dance classes and Lucy knew immediately that she'd liked kissing girls so much more than any of the boys she'd let get that far… which admittedly was only two, but neither of them even came close to making her feel like Brittany had that night. If Lucy wasn't 100% certain of her homosexuality after the hour or so she spent making out with Brittany, she was pretty sure the way she was staring at this petite girl in the sinfully short skirt would be enough to convince her. "Can I help you?" Lucy said.

"Oh my God," the girl said, "It is you. I remember your eyes. I'd recognize you anywhere."

Lucy's brow knitted in confusion, "Do I know you?"

"I'm-I'm Rachel Berry," she introduced herself, "We went to kindergarten together before you moved. We were… kind of friends back then."

Lucy's mind was suddenly flooded with memories of a tiny chatterbox of girl wearing Mary Janes and knee socks, sweaters and skirts, usually with stars on them somewhere (which apparently hadn't really changed much) going on at length about someone named Barbra who Lucy had thought at the time was the girl's imaginary friend, but in retrospect she realized that she was talking about Barbra Streisand, and really what five year old knows that much about her? Back in the present, Lucy said, "The… the star girl?"

An enormous smile quickly spread across Rachel's face, "You remember!"

"Not until just now," Lucy said.

"That's okay," Rachel said, "I didn't really remember you either until someone said your name this morning, but…" She trailed off as she looked Lucy up and down. "Lucy, you look amazing. I guess you outgrew your baby fat. I remember you were always bothered about your weight."

"How on Earth do you remember that?" Lucy asked incredulously.

"I've always had a really good memory," Rachel replied, "Now that I've thought about our friendship all those years ago, it's all coming back to me now."

"Well, thank you," Lucy said, "although, no, I didn't really outgrow it and puberty just made it worse. What you're looking at here is the results of a lot of hard work."

"Wow, really? Congratulations," Rachel said.

A brief, awkward silence followed, until they both went to speak at the same time, "So, I…"

"Go ahead," Rachel said immediately.

"No, I don't even know what I was really going to say," Lucy said, "What were you saying?"

"I was just going to invite you to have lunch with me if you like," Rachel replied, "I mean you certainly don't have to. I just thought we might catch up on the last nine plus years."

"Somewhere other than the cafeteria?"

"I usually eat in the auditorium," Rachel said, "No one ever uses it. McKinley hasn't had a drama club in several years. The show choir is in disarray at the moment so it's empty most days... and apart from my rehearsals, it's mostly quiet if you ever need somewhere to be alone with your thoughts or your emotions."

"Sounds great," Lucy said, "Lead the way."

X X X X X

"So what did you bring for lunch?" Rachel asked. The girls were seated in the second row of the auditorium looking up at the mostly empty stage, save for the grand piano. Despite the school having virtually no arts programs whatsoever, the existing facilities were well maintained. The stage was waxed every month. The piano was cleaned and tuned regularly by Al Motta at Motta's Piano World. The stage lighting still worked.

"It's called a VLT," Quinn said.

"What's that?"

"It's a vegan BLT, with avocado mayo and Smart Bacon instead of real bacon," Quinn explained. Rachel stared at her wide eyed. "I'm-I'm vegan." Still with the staring, "Right, okay, veganism is like being a vegetarian but…"

"I know," Rachel squeaked excitedly, again there was an enormous smile on her face, "Sorry, didn't mean that to be quite so loud. I'm vegan too," she explained, "The only one in all of Lima as far as I know, well until now that is." Rachel sighed with a smile. "Oh, this is very exciting for me. I've never been able to share lunch with anyone before. I mean, I don't wish to assume anything, Lucy, but just so you know I have a black bean salad that is to die for if you would like to share. Not that you have to."

Now was Lucy's turn to smile so widely that her cheeks began to hurt. Rachel's excitement was rather infectious. "Assuming you aren't over selling the quality of your salad, it sounds great, and I even have dessert." Rachel stared at her expectantly. "Homemade vanilla pudding."

"Lucy, you have just made yourself a new best friend," Rachel said as she quickly began retrieving her food and utensils out of her bag. Lucy also began unpacking and soon the two girls were eating and happily chatting mostly about nothing important. All too soon it was time for lunch to end. "What class do you have next?" Rachel asked.

"AP Bio, you?"

"AP?" Rachel said somewhat surprised. She smiled to herself as she dropped her eyes and huffed out a laugh. "Never judge a book by its cover, Rachel." She looked back up at Lucy who had an inquisitive eyebrow hiked. "I, uh, I guess I just saw dyed hair and a nose ring and assumed something I shouldn't have. I was about to offer you my assistance as tutor, but you could probably help me out."

"If you need," Lucy said as they started making their way up the aisle.

"Maybe in Bio," Rachel said, "I'm pretty good everywhere else. I'll let you know if I think I need the help." Lucy pulled open the door back out into the hallway and held it for Rachel who said, "Thank you." As she passed Lucy couldn't help but check Rachel out. It wasn't immediately obvious but Lucy suspected that Rachel had an amazing ass under that skirt to go along with some really killer legs. Very old friend or not, Lucy couldn't deny being attracted to Rachel... and not just physically. Now she just had to figure out if the girl swung this way or not.

She was in mid-thought as to how to figure that out when a voice called from behind them, "Hey, Lu!" She recognized the voice immediately, it was very distinctive. She turned to meet the source of the voice only to be wrapped up in her strong arms and quickly spun around in circles. "I'm so glad you're here!" Brittany exclaimed.

Lucy cackled in laughter through about three revolutions before she started getting nauseous. "Brittany, Brittany, honey," she said still laughing, "You gotta put me down or you're gonna be wearing my lunch." Brittany did a couple more, slower spins and then settled Lucy back down on her feet. "It's good to see you, sweetie," she said leaning in to give Brittany a proper hug, "I was beginning to wonder when I was going to run into you."

"Yeah, sorry," Brittany said wearing a beaming smile, "Coach had us in practice most of the day yesterday. She says the first day of school is a total waste of time."

"She's not completely wrong about that," Lucy said. Suddenly she remembered that she wasn't alone, quickly looking back and forth between Brittany and Rachel. "Do you two know each other?"

The introductions were cut short by the arrival of another cheerleader whose presence made Rachel visibly flinch. She was Latina, penetrating eyes, beautiful black hair pulled back in a high ponytail like all of the cheerleaders Lucy had seen so far. If not for the serious bitch vibe she was carrying and the horrible scowl on her face, Lucy would be tempted call her the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen. "So you're Fabray, huh?" she said.

"Most people call me Lucy," she replied, "Brittany calls me Lu."

"Don't care," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "I'm Santana Lopez, Head Cheerio and Top Bitch around here. My girl Britts, here, says you've got dance moves. So here's what you're gonna do, lose the red shit in your hair, get extensions long enough to pull up in a pony, pull out the nose ring, get contacts, ditch the dwarf, and I'll let you be on my squad." To punctuate her command, Santana crossed her arms across her chest and shot an eyebrow to the sky.

Rachel was slightly terrified of Santana at all times but now she was in serious freak out mode because she felt like she was moments away from losing her friend that she'd just reacquainted herself with. She wasn't dumb, being a Cheerio gave you carte blanche at McKinley. You could do virtually anything and get away with it. So when the sounds of laughter came rolling out of Lucy's throat, Rachel was more than a little worried about what would happen.

"So," Lucy said, "Just give up everything that makes me, me, so that I can fall in line and be another one of your sheep? Pass."

"I'm not a sheep," Brittany said.

"No, Brittany, you aren't," Lucy agreed, "You are a beautiful, unique unicorn, and I love every last piece of you, but the other *scoff* Cheerios are just a bunch of mindless followers."

"Okay," Santana bit out, "So you got a bit of a backbone, do ya? Fair enough, you join up and you and Britt can be my seconds-in-command." Santana cast an eye to Rachel and said, "Why are you still here, Hobbit? Don't you have a like The Tranny Prom to get ready for?"

"You really need to work on your sales pitch, Lopez," Lucy said, "First you tell me to change everything about myself, then you insult one of only two people at this school who's been nice to me and you want me to be one of your Fruit Loops?"

"Cheerios," Santana bit out.

"Right, that," Lucy snarked back, "Like I said before, pass. Come on, Rachel. Let me walk you to class. Brittany, I'll see you at dance tonight, right?"

"Totally," Brittany responded.

As they turned to go, Santana called after them, "You're making a mistake, Fabray."

"Gee, I've never done that before," Lucy called out without looking back, "However will I live with myself?"Rachel and Lucy walked side-by-side steadily down the hallway away from the cheerleaders.

When they were two halls away, Rachel finally spoke again, "She's not wrong, you know?"

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"You just made a very powerful enemy in Santana Lopez," Rachel explained, "You likely just relegated yourself to the bottom of the social pyramid."

"That's nothing new for me," Lucy said, "Everyone at my old school hated me, but the truth is that I'd rather be hated for who I am then loved for trying to be someone I'm not. If I've got one friend here, then that's one more than I had at Bellville and I made it through there okay."

"Well, you definitely have one friend here," Rachel said, "Maybe two if Brittany remains friendly to you despite the differences in your social standing."

"I'm pretty sure she will," Lucy said.

"Pardon me if what I'm about to say sounds like a non-sequitur, you already said, or at least implied, that you can dance but can you sing as well?"

"Um, yeah, I'm pretty good," Lucy said, "I was in the children's choir at church until I stopped attending. Why do you ask?"

"Glee Club needs members," Rachel said, "We currently only have six. We need at least twelve to enter competition. The group we have is very talented vocally, though don't tell them I said that lest they get big heads and start slacking off, but aside from myself and Tina we don't have many strong dancers. I was hoping you'd be willing to help fill that gap."

"So if you need a dancer, why did you ask if I could sing?"

"I'm just trying to gauge your talents."

"Okay," Lucy said.

"Plus if you're a good singer then we'd have you audition with something that suits your voice. I'd be happy to assist you in song selection."

"The club's not even close to full but I still have to audition," Lucy ask incredulously.

"Well, okay, it's not strictly speaking an audition," Rachel corrected, "so much as just an exhibition to demonstrate what you're capable of so that our coach can determine where and how best to feature you."

"What would I have to sing? Because I have to tell you, show tunes aren't really my thing."

"The songs sung in competition are chosen by Mr. Schuester, our coach, which may include selections from musicals, but our week-to-week training assignments we get to choose within certain parameters what to sing," Rachel said.

"When does it meet?"

"Monday, Wednesday, and Friday immediately after school. So tomorrow would be the next one," Rachel said, "If you'd like you come over to my house today and we could work on your presentation."

"I have Jazz Fusion class until 6:30," Lucy said, "But I could come by after that."

"That would be just fine," Rachel said stopping on front of a classroom that was presumably her next class, "That will give me a chance to work on my homework in advance of your arrival. Do you want to put your number in my phone?" She offered up the pink jeweled device.

"You have a bedazzled phone cover?" Lucy asked, "Where did you even find such a thing?" She quickly typed out the pertinent details.

"Didn't find it," Rachel said, "I made it. I have a Bedazzler." Lucy looked at her with doubt on her face. She thought Rachel might be joking. "I don't have a lot of friends either."

Lucy handed Rachel back her phone just as the first bell rang. "So just text me when you have a chance with your address, that way I'll have your number and know where to go when I get out of class."

"Okay," Rachel said with a smile, "Thanks for sharing lunch with me."

"Thanks for finding me," Lucy said.

X X X X X

Twenty minutes later, in the middle of class, Lucy's phone buzzed against her leg in her right pocket. She discretely pulled it out to find a text message that said: 209 Devonshire Dr. Take Hwy 209 east past Eastgate Shopping Center. At the Devonshire exit, go North, it will be on the left. Lucy was grinning at the very detailed instructions when her phone buzzed again and another message appeared that said: This is Rachel, by the way. Just in case you were invited to more than one person's home tonight. This time Lucy had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing at the girl.

Should you be texting in class, Ms Berry?

No, but then neither should you, Ms Fabray, and in my defense, I'm in Mr. Schuester's Spanish class. You are in AP Bio. One of us should be dedicating much more attention to what they are doing and as I seem to recall Mr. Schuester did his undergrad studies in accounting not Spanish.

Is he really that bad?

Put it this way, my Spanish tutor is Dora the Explorer and I learn far more there than here.

LOL, glad I take French then.

So you never said what type of music you do like. Maybe I could make some suggestions as to what would make an impression.

Largely stuff that most people have never heard of.

Oh yeah, try me.

Okay, I'll name artists one at a time and you jump in when I name one you know.

Okay, go.

Gotye

Bon Iver

Passion Pit

Deadmau5

Arctic Monkeys

The Dead Weather

Silversun Pickups

Fun.

Edward Sharp & The Magnetic Zeroes

You're doing this on purpose. Fine, I see your point.

Okay, I'll throw you a bone, The Black Keys, Death Cab for Cutie, Florence and The Machine.

Yes, yes, yes, I know those three.

Congratulations, Pop Princess.

I suppose that makes you what, a hipster? And while I may dabble in pop music, my true love is Broadway and Musical Theater in general.

You're not the first person to call me that. I like what I like and if that makes me a hipster then… whatever.

God, that's such a hipster thing to say.

Okay, ignoring you, paying attention to class now.