I'm SO sorry about the slow updates. We got power back on the 5th, but our internet device was destroyed in the storm and I didn't get to a public computer until now. I feel really terrible. I'll admit I was worried no one would review because it's been so long since I updated. And I'm SO sorry that I have fallen behind on your stories, but I'll catch up as fast as I can. I find it a bit ironic that my updates are slower in the summer. Anyway, I enjoyed writing this chapter. I love the idea of Finchel, Kurt and Santana together in New York, and hope that happens in S4. We meet a new character in this chapter, and there will be more of her in future chapters. We'll also get to see more of the current New Directions in future chapters. Hope you enjoy, and review if I should keep going!

Chapter 9: Changes

Rachel stood in the back of the stage, harmonizing with the rest of the chorus. She'd played the lead in community theatre productions, so this was definitely a change. She thought she sounded better than some of the other girls in the chorus, but decided to keep that opinion to herself.
Being a background extra was not something Rachel was used to. She was used to being front and center. But when she looked at Megan and Jesse, she reminded herself that if she was playing the lead, it would have to be opposite Jesse.
Ms. Tibideaux interrupted the song. "Megan, please try that again."
"Why?" Megan asked. "I sound perfect. Are you jealous?"
"You aren't quite keeping up with me," Jesse told Megan.
Megan looked at Jesse. "You are very talented. I think we should be together."
"I'm flattered, but I like someone else," Jesse said, glaring at Rachel. Rachel knew who that someone else was. And the one thing she wanted for Megan was Jesse.
"Enough!" Ms Tibideaux said. "Megan, from the top."

Megan glared, then sang the song again. Megan was good, that much Rachel knew. But she had just about the worst attitude Rachel had ever seen.
Rachel was tired by the end of rehearsal. Even being in the background was hard work. They'd gone over their routines so many times. She was ready to get home to Finn.
Jesse began chasing Rachel down the hall. "You were amazing! You sounded great and you stood out in the chorus."
"Jesse, stop," Rachel said.
"Hey, Jesse!" Megan called, catching up to Jesse and Rachel. "Who is it you're choosing over me?"
"I've always loved Rachel Berry," Jesse proclaimed.
"I thought you were with someone," Megan said to Rachel. "Are you a whore as well as a wannabe?"
"I have no feelings whatsoever for Jesse St. James," Rachel said. "He's all yours, Megan."
"You'll never get anything, Rachel," Megan said. "You think you're a star. You're not and you never will be. You're too afraid. When you see talent like mine, you don't try to catch up with me. You concede."
"Megan, just stop," Rachel said. She'd had enough.
"Or what?" Megan asked. "I win over you in every way. I'm more talented than you. I'm prettier, your nose is horrible. And when it's time for me to have a guy, I'll have a Broadway co-star on my arm, not some lame guy like the one you have."
"Don't talk about my fiancé like that!" Rachel thundered.
"You should ditch him," Jesse said.
"Leave me alone, both of you!" Rachel said. She walked out of the hall. She never imagined that Jesse would have followed her to NYADA. He'd been rejected when he was a senior. How had he managed to get in now? Had Sue Sylvester given him some instructions in blackmail?
Rachel got on the subway to take it home. The bus stopped at the stop she'd get off if she was going to her dads' apartment, and she was still getting used to the fact that they lived here. Burt and Carole still had their house in Lima, so she could go there if she ever wanted to go back to visit. At least Jesse managed to stay out of Lima, and there was no one like Megan there. She sighed as the train arrived at her stop, ready to just be home.
She went upstairs and unlocked the apartment. She saw Finn, Kurt and Santana sitting in the living room with Quinn and Puck.
"Hey, everyone," Rachel said.
"Rach!" Quinn said, getting up and giving Rachel a hug. "They said you might be at rehearsal late."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Ugh, rehearsal was awful."
"What happened, baby?" Finn asked.
"Megan was being especially Megan, and Jesse was trying to hit on me," Rachel said. "Those two are REALLY making me want to leave NYADA."
"You are NOT allowed to leave NYADA," Finn said. "Your whole life, you've worked for this. Don't let them get in the way."
"They look for opportunities to put me down," Rachel said. "I hate them."
"I am so going Lima Heights adjacent on their asses," Santana said.
"Don't, juvie sucks," Puck told her.
Rachel flopped on the couch. "Is there any food left?"
"You can eat when we go out," Kurt said.
"What?" Rachel asked.
"You, me, Quinn and Santana are having a girls night out tonight," Kurt said. "That's what you need."
"So Finn and I get the apartment to ourselves?" Puck asked.
"Yes, just don't eat all the food," Santana told the boys.
"I'm tired," Rachel said.
"You're going out," Kurt said. "You're not tired, you're sad. But this'll help."
Rachel smiled. Her best friend knew her too well. But she did have three good friends to go out with, all of whom had hated her at the beginning of high school.
Finn leaned in and whispered to Rachel, "And when you get home, you and I are going to have some good times in bed, because that always cheers me up."
Rachel smiled and kissed her fiancé. She grabbed her bag before going outside with Kurt, Quinn and Santana.
"Yale actually isn't too hard," Quinn said as they were walking. "Maybe it's just because I've been through a teen pregnancy and a car crash, but I've still managed to do pretty well so far."
"That's amazing!" Rachel said, smiling at her friend. Even though NYADA had been hard for her, she was glad her friend was doing well.
"Yeah, some of my classes are hard, but I've done well on my exams and made some friends," Santana said.
"I've got all As right now," Kurt said proudly.
Rachel tried to smile. She was happy for her friends, she really was, but she wished she were successful, too. "Even though I'm not doing well, I'd pick being in New York with Finn, Kurt and Santana and with Quinn and Puck so close to being all by myself here and doing well."
"That's what I thought!" Kurt said, hugging Rachel and then dragging the three girls into a store. In the corner of her eye, Rachel saw a woman who looked like Shelby, holding hands with a man and laughing. She didn't even know Shelby was in New York. How could this be happening? Jesse was here already. She couldn't handle Shelby, too. She needed this to be a fresh start. Then she told herself that maybe she was taking this too seriously. Maybe it was just someone who looked like Shelby.
"You okay?" Quinn asked Rachel.
"Yeah, I just thought I saw Megan," Rachel lied. She knew Quinn had a complicated past with Shelby as well and didn't want to distress her friend.
"Don't worry, I can go Lima Heights on her ass if we see her again," Santana said.
The foursome laughed as they began looking through clothes. Living in New York had made Rachel realize how unfashionable she'd been back in the early days. She hadn't worn a single animal sweater or pleated skirt since she got here. She was frequently wearing bright colors and patterns. Today, they bought several low cut dresses with short skirts. Quinn and Santana bought similar outfits to what Rachel had bought, but they'd dressed this way forever. This was new for Rachel.
As Rachel, Kurt, Quinn and Santana left another store a little while later, they bumped into the woman they'd seen earlier. Rachel realized this was, in fact, Shelby. She was stunned.
"Rachel?" Shelby said.
"Hi Shelby," Rachel said awkwardly.
"You look beautiful," Shelby said. "I barely recognized you. You're so grown up."
"Well, I am at NYADA now," Rachel said. "I live here in New York now." She knew Shelby was basically trying to suck up to her. She had seen Shelby less than a year ago.
"Sometime we should meet for coffee," Shelby said. "I'd love to hear about all your adventures at NYADA. Any Broadway roles yet?"
"Miss Corcoran…" Quinn began.
"Oh, hi Quinn, I didn't see you," Shelby said. "Hi Santana."
"We have to go…" Rachel said.
"Wait, Rachel!" Shelby said. "At least give me your number."
Rachel sighed and put her number (with a New York area code now) in Shelby's phone before leaving with her friends.
"Why are so many people following me here?" Rachel snapped. "Jesse, now Shelby… will the ghosts of my past follow me everywhere?"
"Who could want to stay away from Rachel Berry?" Kurt said.
Rachel giggled. "There's some people I wish would stay away."
Quinn seemed even angrier than Rachel about seeing Shelby. "She SHOULD leave you – and me – alone. She basically rubbed it in my face that the child who came out of me wasn't mine anymore."
"Some people suck," Rachel said. "She hurt me so much. I don't think I can ever forgive her. She went searching for me, including setting me up with a boy who messed with my head and my heart, and then cut ties after two meetings. I reached out to her at Regionals a few weeks later, telling her to come to McKinley because there was a lot only she could teach her. She said she missed her chance with me and decided to adopt another baby. Then she ended up coming to McKinley and didn't spend any time getting to know me. Instead, she coached a group that was a rival to ours. I thought I'd left her behind…"
"It isn't fair," Santana said. "Kurt and I got away from the homophobes, but you and Quinn didn't get to escape Shelby. And you got followed by Jesse and a female Jesse."
"At least Sebastian isn't here!" Kurt said.
"Shut up!" Rachel giggled.
"Let's not think about people like that," Kurt told the girls, dragging them to the ice cream store at the mall's food court. Quickly, they chatted like they always had, Megan, Jesse and Shelby totally forgotten. If Rachel had been in New York alone, she would have probably spent tonight ruminating. Before they headed back to the apartment, Rachel changed into one of the dresses they'd bought (at her friends' request).
"I almost wish I went to school in New York," Quinn said as they walked back. "I mean, I love Yale, but I wish I got to see you guys more."
"You should come to New York!" Rachel said. "Puck and Finn could go to school together."
"Puck's got several pool cleaning gigs, and two cougars asked him to sleep with them, but he turned them down," Quinn said proudly. "He said I'm the only girl he wants."
Rachel smiled to herself. She remembered Puck's days as a sex shark. "You know, he only dated me to make you jealous," Rachel told Quinn.
"It definitely did," Quinn said.
"Stop it, you two," Santana said. "You're making me miss Britt."
"I'm sorry," Rachel paused. "She'll be with us in a year."
"And so will Blaine!" Kurt added.
"Yes he will!" Rachel said. They got in the apartment and headed upstairs. As they walked into the apartment, Finn and Puck were watching TV and eating junk food. Rachel's heart fluttered as Finn jumped out of his seat and walked over to Rachel, smiling softly.
"Hey beautiful," Finn said.
"Hey handsome," Rachel giggled.
"Rachel, he's in pajamas," Santana pointed out.
"Finn can look handsome in pajamas!" Rachel said. She pulled her fiancé close and kissed him.
"Finn, Rachel, please, you're just making me miss Blaine!" Kurt moaned.
"I'm sorry!" Rachel said. "I'm going to go check my Facebook anyway." With all the stress at NYADA, she hadn't had time to get online. She went into her room and turned on her laptop. She confirmed a few friend requests from other NYADA students and then noticed one from a girl named Erin Greene. She knew that name, Blaine and Brittany had said this girl was a new member of New Directions. Rachel accepted the friend request, and then noticed Erin had sent her a message. I saw the video of you at Nationals. You were amazing! I'm in New Directions now, and I hope I can be as good as you.
Rachel felt a boost of confidence that someone had admired her performance. Thank you so much, that made my night! I'm so happy you're in New Directions. That was the best experience of my high school years.
Apparently Erin was online, because she replied shortly after Rachel did. Yeah, I was really nervous at tryouts. I wanted to try out last year, but I was too shy to.
Now Rachel knew exactly how Erin felt. We could have been in it together last year! How is it?
She read Erin's response. Mr. Schue told me that he thinks I'm good enough to be the female lead this year. He took me aside. Did he do something like that for you?
Rachel's mind shot back to her first Glee rehearsal. At my first rehearsal, he told me I was the best one there. She wasn't surprised Mr. Schue was seeking a new girl to be the new female lead. With Blaine as the male lead, it would probably be easier to have a female lead ready for next year. She continued Facebook chatting with Erin until Finn called her back into the living room. She was glad that she had left a legacy in New Directions.

Chapter 10 preview: A shocking secret about Rachel's past is revealed right before opening night, and Finn must help her through it.