AU. Rachel is the new girl at McKinley High and Jesse is the Glee Club male lead.

Rachel hasn't found her voice (weird, I know) in this fic. All this means is that Rachel isn't a singer.

This is a possible two-parter. Maybe three. I've not actually decided how this is going to ultimately end.

New Girl – Part 1

Rachel hated being the idea of being the 'New Girl'. She hated the idea of going to a new school and getting to know people and she hated the thought of people judging her because she was so shy. She also hated that her dads were making her move when she was about to start her senior year.

Rachel was raised by two dads and until recently, she'd never known her birth parents, and she'd never cared to. She was loved and cared for by her fathers and they were the only parents she needed. On her fifteenth birthday, however, her fathers decided; without her knowledge or consent might she add, that she needed a mother in her life.

"Every girl needs a mother in their life." They had said when she'd found out what they'd done. She disagreed but before she knew it, her birth mother was in her life. Her biological mother and her husband lived a couple hundred miles away from Rachel and her fathers in a small town in Ohio called Lima. They had two children and eventually, Rachel enjoyed getting to know not just her mother but also her new stepfather and stepsiblings. Rachel would visit them for holidays and sometimes long weekends and that was the way she liked it. She'd go to Lima for a short period and then go back home to her fathers. It made them happy that Rachel was getting on so well with her mother and to Rachel, that was all that mattered.

Fast forward over a year and Rachel, now 17 years old, is packing up her things to move hundreds of miles across the country because it's not enough for Rachel to have a relationship with her mother from afar, they need to live in the same town. Or so her dads think.

Today was her first day in her new school. Today was her first last day of high school and she missed her friends and her home. Her old home, she reminded herself.

"Come on, Rachel, you're a big girl. You can do it." She told herself as she readjusted her bag and walked through the doors of her new high school.

No one pays any attention as she walks the halls of the next school, trying to find her locker. Eventually, she found it and as she started putting things away, and giving the locker a slight customization, a girl came up beside her and opened her locker.

"Hi." The girl said from beside her. "You're the new girl, aren't you?"

She turned to face the stranger and saw someone about her age, with blond hair and hazel eyes. "Yea, I am. My name is Rachel." She said, holding out her hand to shake with the other girl.

"I'm Quinn." The girl replied, shaking Rachel's outstretched hand. "So, what made you come to McKinley?" Quinn asked.

"It's a long story." Rachel started. "My dads wanted me to have more of a relationship with my mom, so they moved me here."

"Your dads?" Quinn questioned.

Rachel immediately felt uneasy. "Yeah, I have two dads. My dads wanted to have a baby, so they got a surrogate and then my mom gave me to my dad for adoption. Is that a problem?" she asked, probably sounding more aggressive than she meant to but she'd heard from her mom before she moved that small towns weren't as accepting as bigger towns. And Lima was definitely a small town.

"No, of course not." Quinn said quickly. "Many people in this school are very accepting of LGBT and it's actually really nice to see some of the older community that have been together so long that they have a daughter in her senior year."

Rachel smiled brightly. "Thanks. Sorry for getting defensive, I was just worried you were going to be rude about them."

"No worries. I'd get defensive too if I thought someone was going to be rude about someone I loved so much." She said.

Before either of the girls could say another word, the bell rang above them, signally the start of class. "What do you have?" Quinn asked.

"I have history." Rachel told her, remembering from memory.

Quinn's face lit up. "Me too. That class is with Mr Shue, he's great. Come on, I'll walk with you." She said and before Rachel could protest, Quinn linked arms with Rachels and dragged her to History.

Quinn asked Rachel to stay with her all day, which Rachel was grateful for. It definitely made her first day a lot easier. During lunch, Quinn introduced Rachel to some of her friends including Santana, Brittney and Finn. Within a few minutes of meeting them, Rachel found that Santana and Brittney were the two that Quinn was telling her about that morning.

Before she knew it, it was the end of her last day. She was surprised by how quickly the day went because of the new friends she'd made and despite herself, she couldn't wait for the next day.

A couple of days later, she was sitting with Quinn, Santana, Brittney, Finn and another one of their friends, Puck, when the topic turned to extra-curricular activities.

She knew that Quinn, Brittney and Santana were cheerleaders and she knew that Puck and Finn were on the football team. "What other activities are there at this school?" Rachel asked. "Other than cheerleading and football?"

"Mostly just your standard one. We have some academic clubs so like math club, history club, there's a science club. Then there's student council and there are some language clubs." Quinn said, trying to list off as many as she could remember.

"There's a lot, basically." Santana said, laughing. "The four of us," she gestured between the other three of her friends. "Are in the Glee club. We joined in our junior year."

"Mr Shue, who does History, is the teacher for Glee club." Quinn said. Rachel nodded to show that she remembered. "You should join with us. It's a lot of fun. We complete in competitions and everything." She said enthusiastically.

Rachel shook her head. "No. I don't sing, I can't sing. Me in a glee club would be a huge mistake." she laughed at the prospect.

"Just come anyway." Finn encouraged. "It's a lot of fun and you can meet tons of new people. I can see you getting on with everyone."

"What part of 'I can't sing' don't you understand? I can't audition." She said.

"You won't need to. And you won't have to sing if you don't want. You can just stand in the background." Brittney said.

Rachel started to think about it. It could be fun. "It's this afternoon after school. Just come by and if you don't like it, you don't have to come again." Quinn told her.

Rachel sighed. "Sure, fine. You wore me down." She said, smiling to show that she was kidding.

Later that day, after school; Quinn, Brittney and Santana all dragged Rachel to Glee. They all told Mr Shue that Rachel couldn't sing but they all vouched for her to join. Mr Shue was happy to have an extra member. She sat down next to Quinn and waited to see what was going to happen.

"Jesse, Quinn, do you want to come up here and introduce to our new member what we do in this club?" Mr Shue said. Rachel looked at her new friend in surprise. Quinn winked at her and stood to go to the centre of the room.

Rachel then noticed the other people that the teacher had mentioned. He was already Rachel's type just from the look of him and when he opened his mouth and started to sing, she knew that she really wanted to meet him. She was also surprised to hear the softness of Quinn's voice.

Rachel could admit that she knew nothing about singing and all the technical jargon went completely over her head but just because she couldn't sing herself, didn't mean she couldn't appreciate Quinn's and Jesse's voices that seemed to work so well together.

She clapped enthusiastically for her new friend when they had finished their song, as did the rest of the class. Both bowed and took their seats again. "You were so good!" Rachel told her friend as soon as she sat down.

"Thank you." She said shyly. "If it wasn't already obvious, I am the female lead of the group. I love singing." She thought for a moment. "When I started this group, I didn't think I'd love it as much as I do. I definitely didn't think I'd be good enough to be a lead but there we are."

"Well, I know I can't sing myself but I still think you are great." Rachel told her friend.

Quinn chuckled and squeezed Rachel's hand. "Thank you."

Rachel was surprised to find that, by the end of the lesson, she'd enjoyed herself quite a lot. More than she'd expected. Everyone in the class had made an effort to introduce themselves to her, except Jesse, and she found that Finn was right when he said that the class was a lot of fun.

As she left the classroom, she said goodbye to her new friends and was about to leave the school building when her name was called. She turned and noticed Jesse was calling her.

"Hi." She answered. "We haven't been properly been introduced. My name is Rachel."

"Yeah, I know who you are. I'm Jesse. If you haven't noticed, I'm the male lead of the glee club." He said. Rachel noticed that he had this air of confidence around him.

"Yeah, I did notice that." She said, smiling shyly.

Rachel felt the immediate chemistry between the two of them and it didn't help that Jesse was staring at her like he was staring into her soul.

"Well, I just wanted to introduce myself." He said, a small smile playing on his lips. "And let you know that I'm looking forward to getting to know you."

Rachel was not used to anyone being so open about their interest in her. Especially not someone that she had had an instant attraction to as well. Before Rachel had a chance to reply to him, Jesse brushed past her and left the school.

"This year is going to be fun." She mumbled to herself as she too, left the school.

It's weird writing Rachel as a non-singer.

So Rachel and Jesse have only just met, hence why there is going to be more than one chapter to this 'one-shot'. I hope you like this part and I hope you'll like the next part too. It should be up soon.