His Name is Beloved
"Hi, um, your name is Rachel, right?" Dave asked.
Berry plastered on a fake smile. He knew it was fake, but was she letting him know that on purpose? From what he'd heard, the gelfling diva could make herself cry realistically in an instant. Shakespeare aside, the whole world was this young brunette's stage, or at least she treated it that way.
"Why yes, my name is Rachel. What do you want, David?"
She knew how to play the disappointed-and-strict-parent well.
"I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute." Stay calm.
"Fine." She dragged him to an empty classroom, but she started speaking first. "You know, I don't know why I'm giving you my time of day when you drove one of my best friends out of this school. I know Kurt has told you he's forgiven you for your homophobic outbursts, but I don't think you understand what each of those insults meant to me, seeing as how I have two gay dads. Any sort of bigotry is horrifying, but I take homophobia, antisemitism, and racism very, very personally since all of those apply to my family if not to me personally."
"Rachel -"
"And I hope, David, that this is very, very important, because we are all gearing up for Nationals, and Glee Club is having quite a bit of drama right now, and I am sitting back trying to make sure that not only does everyone get their spotlight, but that they make it the best damn spotlight anyone has ever seen because New York will not be the same once Rachel Barbra Berry has been there!"
"Rachel, I want to talk to your dads."
"Excuse me? You think I would welcome you into my home when you have made it very clear what you think of the people who would be your hosts?" She crossed her arms. The fake smile was back, and her voice sounded unnaturally high. "Kurt may have accepted your apology, but I haven't even heard one."
"Rachel, I'm gay."
"Yes, and that means you have a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card for being homophobic. Having self esteem issues means it's totally okay to treat someone like they're worthless. I want an apology and an explanation of why you want to talk to my fathers."
"Look, I'm sorry I've been making your life hell. I know this is a big year for you with college and all -"
"I'm going to Julliard," she said, as if she could have applied. She was a Junior.
"- and my personal problems don't make bullying okay for any reason. I want to talk to your dads because... Because they're the other end of the tunnel." He shoved his hands into his coat pocket.
"The tunnel?"
"You're not actually gay, so I don't know if you'll understand. From where I am, my whole life looks like this giant tunnel filled with homophobia, potholes like finding decent guys, trying to get equal rights you get without asking, crap that basically sucks. And I have to live through it. Your dads... They have their life settled. I mean, they still have to deal with people, uh, people like me, but they have jobs, they have a home in a nice neighborhood, and they have you. I'm just a kid, Rachel, I'm not ready to look at my future and just decide the course of my life for the next, what, ten, twenty years?" He grit his teeth and sighed.
"You know, some of that stuff you're talking about, the bigotry and the rights? I have to deal with that stuff because I'm a girl, because I'm Jewish, and because I'm black."
"You're not-"
"There is a fifty/fifty chance that I am genetically father James's daughter, and I was raised by an interracial couple, David. At the very least, I have black heritage." Her voice lowered again. "Besides, Daddy James's name is the one on my birth certificate."
"Why?"
"They thought it would help me with financial aid in college."
"See? That's stuff I haven't even thought of!"
"You won't have to think about it until you settle down!" She sat down beside him. "What brought this on?"
"A guy – my boyfriend told me he loved me. I love him, too, but I haven't told him because I freaked out. I mean, when you love someone, you feel like you're going to stay with them forever, right?" She nodded solemnly. "I just pictured my whole life with him, and it looks really hard. I'm not strong enough."
"You're stronger than you think." Hearing someone else – someone who wasn't Sam – say that was a shock. "We all are." She patted him on the back. "So what did this boyfriend of yours do?"
"I don't know. I haven't talked to him, and that was nearly a week ago."
Her jaw dropped. "When you go back, you'd better bring your A-game!"
"Like what? Quote Star Wars at him?"
She grabbed both his hands. "You should serenade him!"
"I'm not singing to him!"
"Why, because singing is lame?" She frowned. Was anyone as expressive as her? Dave wondered if she did it on purpose.
"No, because everyone's doing it."
"You're right. You should get him flowers!"
"Cliche."
"Fourteen of them!"
"Fourteen?"
"And have a note tied to each of them." She clasped her hands together.
"Why?"
"And each note will contain a single line of a sonnet!" Her face was raised towards the heavens.
"I thought a sonnet was a song?"
"And you can recite the sonnet to him and you hand him the flowers, one line at a time!" There were stars in her eyes as she daydreamed about some guy, probably Finn, doing just this for her. "That is so romantic."
"I think I'm just going to say nerdy things to him."
"Who is this guy, anyways?"
"I can't tell you."
"Is he in glee?"
"We're not playing twenty-questions with this, Berry!"
"I won't tell."
"Yeah, so you can lord the fact that you have a secret over everyone else." Dave rolled his eyes.
"Tell me or I won't let you talk to my dads."
"Berry, I swear to god, if you tell anyone, I will slushie you every day, even if we don't have school!"
"Agreed."
"Sam."
"Sam? Sam Evans?"
"Yes."
"Who just got through with Santana?"
"Yeah!" He scratched his head. Was it so hard to believe that Sam would like a guy like him? He's way outta my league, though.
"Oh, wow." She looked up at him. "And he loves you?"
"Yes."
"Okay. When do you want to come over?"
"Uh... Is tomorrow night okay?"
"Absolutely." She smiled, and this time it wasn't fake. This time. It was bright enough to light up the sky.