XXXX – The Berry House -Monday, September 3, 2012 - 8:15am XXXX
Rachel had been a complete mess. She never actually thought that Quinn was dead. She thought that she had just ran away with some guy and by now she was living it up on a beach.
She had no idea that she was buried in her backyard. They had all lived within walking distance but no one ever imagined...
Every time she closed her eyes all could see was the black bag. She didn't sleep on Saturday or Sunday until her lay with her and sang Funny Girl by Barbra Streisand.The stage version.
"A fella loves to be with a funny girl.
The evening flies when he's with a funny girl.
Female gigglers do better than wigglers.
Fancy dancers are fast on their feet but slow with the answers.
The boys don't want the tragic and teary kind,
They've got a thousand problems to cloud their mind.
Some ladies find when they've lost their guys,
They should have made faces and crossed their eyes.
Debutantes would give up the social whirl,
To be a funny, funny girl.
The boys don't want the tragic and teary kind,
They've got a thousand problems to cloud their mind.
But if true love should decide to come,
You'd better keep those laughs to a minimum.
And when his lips feel softer than bunnies,
Show him that you'll do more than make funnies.
Tell him it's real, if he ever leaves, you'll die.
I said "No jokes, funny girl."
Even funny girls can cry."Hearing her mother sing the famous words of Fannie Brice always comforted Rachel. She would finally fall asleep and see herself in Fannie's infamous fur hat.
"Rachel?" Shelby asked as she entered into her bedroom. "You're late for school." Rachel didn't even answer. She just rolled over. She didn't care about school. She just wanted to lay in bed and cry. "Come on baby."
"I don't want to go." Rachel said in a quiet voice, tears streaming.
"It'll be ok. Your friends are gonna be there with you." Shelby said, wiping the tears from her daughter's face. "You can't lay in bed forever."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not going to change anything."
"Oh." Rachel whispered.
"You have a guest. She came over to help you get ready for school." Shelby said walking over to the door. When it opened, Vanessa walked in.
"Oh Rach. I'm so sorry." she said climbing into bed with her best friend.
"Thanks." Rachel said hugging her.
"Your mom said you gotta go to school."
"Yeah. I'd rather not but whatever."
"We could always ditch." Vanessa said. "Hit up the mall."
"Maybe." Rachel said smoothing her dark hair.
"Come on. LC would want you to skip." Vanessa joked. Rachel rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"Ok. I gotta get ready." she said as she crawled out of bed.
XXXX
Rachel and Vanessa left the house and headed straight to the Westerville Mall. They couldn't risk being caught in the mall in Lima. Plus the WVM had the most amazing stores. Rachel was almost positive that retail therapy wouldn't get her mind off of what happened but it would definitely distract her; at least for a little while. Vanessa parked her cute Prius and the two of headed inside. They window shopped until Rachel finally found her favorite store. The Peach Pit. Before, when she would go shopping with...her old friends she didn't like how any of the clothes fit on her. She was just puffy. She didn't have curves like Mercedes. But now that she was a perfect size 4 she loved the store and all of their amazing clothes.
She shopped around for sleeveless dresses, pleated miniskirts, knee socks and sweaters with unicorns, hobby horses and carousel horses. The two of them laughed at a group of ladies well into their forties trying on the same styles as them. Rachel and Vanessa separated to try on more clothes and met up again at the table that was covered in an array of make-up.
"You getting anything?" Rachel questioned as she thumbed through the lipglosses.
"Yeah." Vanessa said. Rachel watched her as she picked up a tester bottle of perfume and sprayed it on the back of her hand. "I like that." Rachel gave her a thumbs up, but her breath caught in her throat when she watched her best friend put the tester down and pick up and brand new bottle and slide it into her bag.
"What are you doing?" she whispered harshly.
"I can't get all of this and the perfume too." Vanessa said nonchalantly. "Plus the rush is numbing."
"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked. "That's stealing."
"It's called making me feel better."
"What?"
"Whenever I'm upset. I just swipe something. No big. The adrenaline rush is amazing. It makes me forget why I'm upset. At least for a few hours." Vanessa said quietly as she slide a couple of eyeliners into her bag. "The more I take the better I feel, longer." Rachel couldn't believe it. "Try it Rachel. I promise you'll feel better." Rachel was hesitant. What if she got caught? She still had to pay for her clothes. "You can put it all in my bag."
Rachel took a deep breath, grabbed a bottle of Gold Star, her favorite lotion. She looked around the store and when she saw no one was looking at them she slid it into Vanessa bag. She gave her a thumbs up and wide smile. Rachel couldn't believe it. Vanessa had been right. She felt a burst of energy and it knocked a chunk of her sadness away. She grabbed a few other things and put them into Vanessa's bag. They paid for their clothes and even got a discount. She felt amazing. She was still upset about Quinn but for now, the sadness was gone. She wrapped her arm into Vanessa's and she led her down the walkway toward another score.
XX -William McKinley High School – September 3, 2012 – 8:45am – Journalism Room- XX
Mercedes stood in front of the drafting board vaguely shuffling through papers. Principal Figgins had informed her first thing that he wanted The McKinley Chronicle to run a story on Quinn. He said that as editor and one of her closest friends it was her responsibility to make sure that the memorial for Ms. Fabray was tasteful and not at all depressing. Not at all depressing. How the hell was she supposed to pull that off?
"What are you doing?" a voice behind her asked. Mercedes almost didn't hear it.
"What?" she asked turning to see Devaugh Jacobs. He was tall with chocolatey skin. He had light brown eyes and he was really muscular; too bad Mercedes hated him. "I'm minding my business."
"Well, I need to talk to you." he said leaning against the drafting board beside her.
"About?"
"The Fabray piece."
"What about it?" she asked cutting her eyes at him.
"I think that you should let someone else do it." Devaugh said, crossing his arms.
"Why?" Mercedes questioned.
"Conflict of interest." he said. "You shouldn't editorialize an article like this."
"I don't even know what I'm going to write yet."
"I'm sure it'll be a thousand word piece of fluff bestowing the amazing virtues of one Quinn Fabray."
"It's a memorial." she said annoyed. "Talking about good times and good memories isn't editorializing."
"Maybe not but you're emotional." Devaugh said as he followed her across the room to her desk.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Mercedes asked indignantly.
"You'll let your emotions cloud who Quinn really was a person."
"Like you would know, Devaugh. She never gave you the time of day."
"She didn't what she was missing." he said.
"She knew exactly what she was missing." she said. "Nothing."
"Listen Mercedes. I already talked to Figgins."
"So did I. And he didn't mention you." she said annoyed. "Look, I'm not sharing this with a bitter guy whose editor application essay sucked and now he's the MC's sports reporter."
"That's not what this is about." Devaugh said.
"I don't care what it's about." Mercedes said. "You're being completely insensitive and I don't need this right now." she said before she stormed out of the room. She ran to the only place in the whole building that she knew she could be alone; the library. She found the most secluded spot she could find to hide and think; the reference aisle. She leaned against one of the shelves and slid down to the floor. Mercedes leaned her head back and closed her eyes. All she kept seeing flash before her was the EMTs pushing the zipped black bag on a gurney.
After everyone had gone, Mercedes and her former friends still stood there. She was the first to leave. She couldn't take it anymore. Standing there was causing her too much pain. She wished that she hadn't seen all the emergency vehicles racing toward Dudley Road from the window seat in her bedroom. She pushed her feet into her designer booties and ran downstairs and down the street. When she arrived she spotted Tina and Rachel standing across the road, watching silently.
"What's going on?" she asked as she approached them.
"No clue." Tina said, her face saddened.
"There goes Santana." Rachel said as they watched her run toward the police barricade. The three of them shared and glance and quickly hurried across the street to join her.
"What's going on, Santana?" she had asked.
"They found Quinn." Santana said turning to face them.
"Where is she?" Tina asked.
"Guys, I don't think you understand. She's not ok." the pretty blonde girl said with a stricken face.
"Who are you?" Rachel asked her with an attitude.
"I'm Brittany. I just moved in." she answered. And that's when Mercedes and her friends grasped hand and their world stopped and then came crumbling down. She stood there for as long as her stomach could handle it.
"I have to go." she said releasing Santana's hand, and then out of habit said, "I'll see you guys tomorrow." Mercedes ran all the way home. She burst into the backdoor and collapsed onto the island in the kitchen.
"Mercedes? Are you alright?" Jesse asked her. He had been at the fridge. She couldn't talk. All she could do was sob on to the tiled counter top. "Let's get you upstairs." he said softly. He helped her stand up and she leaned heavily into him. He brushed her fallen hair away from her face and they walked up the stairs. Jesse opened the door to her room and brought her in. Mercedes just flopped down on the bed, face first. He pulled her shoes off, pulled the covers back and slipped her underneath them. "Do you wanna talk about what's wrong?" he asked rubbing her back. She shook her head no. Jesse took a deep breath before leaving the room.
A few hours later, Mercedes was awakened by the sound of her mother humming. Darla was laying next to her sleeping daughter, humming and caressing her hair.
"Are you alright baby?" Darla asked quietly.
"I don't know." Mercedes said hoarsely.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Just be here, mom." she said scooting closer. Darla pulled Mercedes close to her and held her tightly. She began she cry when her mother began to sing her favorite verse from the lullaby Brown Baby by Diana Ross.
"Brown baby, brown baby. Now baby, lie away.
Lie away sleeping. Lie away here in my arms.
While your mommy and daddy protect you.
And keep you save from harm." Darla crooned softly. Mercedes never felt more safe and calm then she did when her mother sang to her.
"It can't be true." she said while her mother hummed. "I didn't see what I saw today."
"I know you don't want it to be true baby, but it is."
"How do they know?"
"The clothing and they already had DNA on file because when she first went missing Judy and Russell gave one of her hair brushes to the police." Darla informed her daughter.
"Mom..." Mercedes whispered.
"I know baby. I know." she said squeezing her downtrodden daughter tighter.
"Mercedes?" a voice said. She opened her eyes and standing before was the all to ready to do her job, Ms. Pillsbury. "Are you alright?"
"Yes." Mercedes said rising to her feet. "I was just thinking."
"Are you sure? I'm here to talk if you want." the pretty ginger said sympathetically.
"Thank you, but I'm fine."
"Well, the bell rang. Here's a pass."
"Thank you." Mercedes said taking the scented pink paper that said HALL PASS FROM THE GUIDANCE OFFICE across the top. She smiled at the petite woman before she headed off toward her locker.
A/N: Thanks for reading you guys. I have multiple update today. I'm not sure when I'm going to update again because I'm going to work on my original stuff. (Close to being published! Yay!) But again, thank you for reading and reviewing. I hope that you guys enjoy these next 3 chapters. Happy reading!
And as always, REVIEW = LOVE!
I DO NOT OWN FUNNY GIRL: FROM THE BROADWAY SHOW FUNNY GIRL, BARBRA STREISAND, FANNIE BRICE, BROWN BABY or DIANA ROSS. I just wanted to put that out there.