So sorry this took so long! I've been without a computer for a really long time, which is why it's taken me three years to update this ^^"
The bonus song for this chapter is Fifteen by Taylor Swift.
Chapter One
Rachel walked through the large metal doors of Carmel Preparatory High School for the first time in her life. She dressed in the classic school uniform of Carmel; a white button up shirt with a blue and black tie, a black blazer with blue marking on it along with the Carmel insignia, and a black skirt complete with black flats. Rachel felt nervous at the idea of starting from the bottom again after making her mark on Carmel Junior High.
The first three days went by in a blur. Rachel went through her usual routine of ballet classes and theater rehearsals. Yet Rachel hadn't quite found her spark as she began her life in high school.
In fact, she tried to blend into the background, which was completely unlike her. She wasn't used to not being the best, which tore her apart inside.
Jaden St. James noticed the turmoil Rachel was in. Even though he was only a freshman, Jaden had a famous last name. His older brother, Jesse St. James, was the most popular guy in school. The difference between Jaden and Jesse was how much Jaden cared about others, especially Rachel. Jaden had been Rachel's childhood best friend. She adored him, though not in the way he wanted her to.
"Guess who?" Jaden asked as he came up behind Rachel and covered her eyes.
"Jay!" Rachel turned with a grin, hugging her best friend tightly. Jaden hugged Rachel back tightly. Rachel was happy to see that Jaden was doing well. Jaden had struggled a lot with his self-image over the years. He'd lost a lot of weight when they were in junior high, but he looked healthier now.
"Are you ready for auditions today?" Jaden asked as he tugged at the backpack on his shoulder. He'd been helping Rachel prepare as much as he possibly could. He'd do absolutely anything for her. It was just a shame that Jaden's feelings for the Jewish girl would remain unrequited.
"Hey sexy, where've you been?" Sebastian said as he appeared out of nowhere. Rachel turned her head to see the taller boy poking at Jaden's side. Sebastian was friends with both of them, though he seemed to enjoy hitting on Jaden. Rachel was pretty positive that Sebastian didn't mean anything by it. Jaden claimed he was bisexual, but Rachel had honestly never seen him interested in anyone. He was always far too busy focusing on school and performing. It was probably why Rachel and Jaden were so close – they were both type A and strived for perfection.
"God Seb, do you need to hit on everyone?" Rachel sighed as she rolled her eyes. She then giggled when she noticed Blaine and Kurt walking down the hall. Now Rachel's little gang of misfit toys were all here. Rachel met Sebastian at performance camp two summers ago. Rachel had bonded with the flirtatious twit somehow and grew used to his personality quirks. Kurt was the Glinda to Rachel's Elphaba, and Blaine was her little gay duet partner. Her and Jaden were friends with everyone, but the other three boys weren't exactly on friendly terms. Sebastian and Kurt insulted each other on a daily basis. Also, there was something really weird going on between Kurt and Blaine. Rachel didn't know the details, but she felt very strongly that she was onto something. She couldn't read minds or anything, but she was a little bit psychic. Her sixth sense hasn't failed her yet.
While the boys chatted, Rachel headed on over to her locker. She looked over and saw Jesse St. James. They locked eyes for a moment, but then he went back to what he was doing. He was talking to Zoe Everhart, who Rachel also immediately recognized – she was the girlfriend of Jesse's twin sister, Jessica.
"Buzz off, Jesse," Zoe said with a roll of her eyes, flipping her long dark hair over her shoulder. She gave a small smirk as she saw Jessica turning the corner. She was wearing her school uniform, albeit with her own alterations. She added a pair of fishnet leggings and black leather boots to the look.
"He bothering you, Z?" Jessica asked as she kissed her girlfriend on the cheek.
Jesse rolled his eyes back. "Why hello Elphaba. Shouldn't you be off playing with your flying monkeys?" he retorted with dripping sarcasm. Jessica simply smiled at Jesse and flipped him off. She took her girlfriend's hand in her own and walked hand in hand with her down the hall.
Jesse then glanced towards Rachel. "Oh. Hey. Berry, right?" he asked, his eyes raking over the girl's form. She was small and honestly didn't have the best boobs, but she was cute. Plus he'd heard her sing, and he knew she was good.
Rachel nodded. "Um yeah…and you're Jesse St. James. Jaden's told me lots about you. It's been a long time since those voice lessons." Rachel had first met Jesse when she was only twelve. He'd given both her and Jaden private voice lessons. Even back then, she had a crush on the elder St. James.
"You're auditioning today, right?"
A small smile tugged at Rachel's mouth. Jesse St. James, the junior male lead of Vocal Adrenaline, was actually interested in her auditioning for Vocal Adrenaline. That had to mean something. She nods her head yes. After weeks of considering her options, she had decided on "A Change in Me" from the Broadway adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. She sang it yesterday to her dads. Rachel loved to use her dads as a tester audience in order to get feedback on her performances. She was trying emulate Toni Braxton's emotional range when she sang it to
Tom Bosley in 1999. "Yeah I am...will you be there?"
Jesse smirked. "Of course. As captain of the team, I help choose who makes it to Vocal Adrenaline. So try to impress me."
"Look Jess, quit trying to scare Rachel out of auditioning." Rachel turned around. Jaden was standing right behind her with his arms crossed. Rachel knew that Jaden had issues with his brother, since he'd never been quiet about it. Still, it sort of surprised her that Jaden was being so protective of her. After all, it wasn't like Jesse was doing anything wrong. Not unless Jaden knew something that she didn't.
"The bell should ring soon. You two don't want to be late," Jesse said. He picked up his bag and walked off.
Jaden rolled his eyes. Jesse rarely ever went to class. He wasn't about to let Rachel become another soulless automaton like the rest of Vocal Adrenaline. All they cared about was performing and crushing the competition. None of them gave any thought to their futures after they graduated Carmel. He and Rachel were going to be different. Jaden was going to make sure of it.
Rachel gave her friend a puzzled look. "What was that about, Jay?"
Jaden paused, chewing on his bottom lip as he tried his best to not look at Rachel. He knew girls here didn't stay away from guys like Jesse until they learned it the hard way, but he didn't want his brother to turn his best friend into an example. It was one of the many reasons why Jesse disgusted him so much. Being the youngest of five children nothing was easy for Jaden. Rachel was his only solace, and he didn't want that to change because his older brother managed to seduce her.
"Rach…look just don't trust him. I know you want to think the best in people, and I know he's my brother…but Jesse's not a good guy." Rachel raised an eyebrow. She was pretty sure that it's not normal for anyone to think so lowly of their own sibling. Jaden may have a strained relationship with Jesse, but this is just strange.
Rachel noticed that Jessica and Zoe were still across the hall, giving Jaden a commiserating look. Rachel knew that there was some weird tension among the St. James family. Rachel had met Jacob, the eldest St. James son. She was well aware that Jacob was the black sheep of the family. Jaden told her about the story about how in Jesse's freshman year, Jacob quit Vocal Adrenaline right before Regionals. Except he was dressed as a woman, claiming he was joining the girl's roller derby team. Since then, Jacob was a topic that didn't get mentioned a lot.
"Jay, we need to get to class." Rachel placed a hand on Jaden's shoulder as the bell rang. Jaden's stern expression softened as he looked back at Rachel, giving her a nod. Rachel linked her arms with Jaden's. It was something she always did whenever she walked with him. Though she had no idea what it did to Jaden whenever she did that.
The pair of them had their AP Lit class. Rachel was looking forward to this class because the entire first semester was dedicated solely to plays. They walked down to Mr. Sheppard's class. Jaden pulled Rachel over so she would join him at the front of the class.
Rachel sighed. Jaden was such a perfectionist. He had dreams of not just being the male soloist of Vocal Adrenaline as soon as his senior year came, but also to be valedictorian. Jaden was the type to freak out about getting an A- and then do extra credit until his grade goes up, trying to get to the point where he was even above a 4.0. Jaden could often be a little ridiculous in the academic spectrum.
"Hey there."
Rachel turned to see where the voice was coming from. Next to her was a pretty girl with shoulder length, bleached blonde hair and brown eyes. She was a lot bigger in the chest department than Rachel was, though that wasn't difficult at all to achieve. She was leaning back against her desk with a friendly smile on her face. "I'm Alexis Ryan."
Rachel blinked. There was a reason why her friends were a trio of gay boys...and Jaden. Throughout her entire life, she couldn't remember ever being friends with a girl. Girls tended to naturally hate something about her.
"Rachel Berry. I don't think I've seen you before. Did you go to Carmel Junior High?" she asked.
Alexis shook her head. "I went to a public school. I practically begged my dad to let me come here. I kinda wanted to go because of Vocal Adrenaline, but dad knows nothing about that."
Rachel was confused. It sounded like Alexis' father didn't want her to join a show choir for some reason. Which to Rachel was really weird, since her dads wanted nothing more than for her to be in Vocal Adrenaline.
The second bell rang, indicating the beginning of class. Mr. Sheppard walked up to the front of the class with a stack of books in his hands. "Hello class, I'm Mr. Sheppard. You are the select few who were good enough to be chosen to take part in AP Literature. We'll be spending each month on a new play for the first semester, and second semester we'll be focusing on actual novels. Your first play is going to be The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare."
Jaden had such a manic grin on his face when he heard that. Rachel stared at her nerdy friend. Jaden was the only person in the world who actually got excited about school. School and performing were the only two things that brought out Jaden's energetic personality. He only came off as a calm person to those who didn't know him well. Especially those who didn't pay attention to him in class, and those who weren't members of Vocal Adrenaline.
Mr. Sheppard passed the books down the row. "Now, Taming of the Shrew is about the relationship between Petruchio and Katherina. Katherina is a headstrong, obdurate 'shrew'. She initially is stubborn about being in the relationship, but Petruchio begins to temper her by psychologically tormenting her – or taming her – until finally she becomes obedient."
Alexis rolls her eyes. "That's disgusting. I'd never get involved with a guy who'd do that sort of shit," she grumbled. She then looked back at Jaden and winked at him. He didn't seem like the type of guy who played mind games. He looked like a good guy...and a cute one too.
Rachel poked Jaden. "I think she likes you," she whispered to him. Jaden gave Rachel a blank stare. Alexis was really pretty, don't get him wrong. Yet she wasn't nearly as gorgeous as Rachel.
"I'd never do that sort of thing to a girl. If you really want to be with someone, you should treat her like a princess." As Jaden spoke, his eyes drifted over to Rachel. "She should be everything to you. You need to respect her for the person she is…no matter how difficult she may be."
Rachel's sixth sense was nagging at her again. Something was going on with Jaden, and she was bound and determined to find out what it was. Maybe he was too shy to talk to Alexis. Wouldn't it be great if she could play matchmaker and set her best friend up? Jaden would be so thankful. Maybe he'd even name their first daughter after her out of gratitude! While Rachel got lost in thought, she was oblivious that Jaden's eyes were still fixed on her.