September 4th, 2012

Rachel was filled with nervous excitement. Her classes were finally starting and now she considered herself a real college student. The only problem was, her first class was Calculus I. She had two classes that day and of course the first one was her least favorite of all the classes she was taking.

Rachel had pored over the NYU course catalogue for weeks before finally settling on what she deemed the perfect first semester schedule. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays she had History of Theatre and Intro to Theatre Studies and on only Wednesdays she had a two and half hour long Song Performance Workshop. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she had American Jews and the Media, which she couldn't believe was an actual class, and her least favorite Calculus I.

She walked into the room and was immediately overwhelmed. Rachel was in a giant lecture hall that was already mostly filled. She had arrived about ten minutes early to get a good seat but apparently everyone else had thought along the same lines.

Rachel walked up the stairs searching for an empty seat but it appeared that the only ones left were at the back. Unhappy and annoyed, Rachel sat down in one of the few open seats left and dug out her book, notebook, calculator and pencil. She wasn't sure if they'd actually be doing any real work that day or not, Finn had told her that in his classes on the first day the professors just mostly talked at the class, but she wanted to be prepared for if they did.

"Ugh, I hate math! Why does the school force us to take this crap?" the girl sitting next to Rachel commented aloud. Rachel turned to look at who had spoken. The girl was beautiful. She had long, shiny, almost black hair, a warm brown sugar colored skin tone, which was absolutely flawless, big expressive chocolate eyes, and a nose like a ski slope that gently rounded at the tip and fit her face perfectly. She looked like a Bollywood actress.

Rachel wasn't sure if the girl had been talking to her or just speaking aloud in general. She looked around to see if she could have been talking to anyone else but it appeared that the girl was speaking to her.

"It's so we can have a well rounded education…" Rachel started. The girl looked at her.

"That's such bullshit. I don't need a well rounded education. I just want to take my English and writing classes and be done with it," she grumbled.

Rachel turned to face the girl more, ready to give her own opinion. "I agree. I'd rather just focus on my theatre classes. Calculus isn't going to help me get a part in a Broadway show. It's all really a waste of time."

"You're a theatre major, huh? You in Tisch?"

"Yes, first year. I'm very excited. I know it's going to be so much work but I'm ready. Anything I need to do to get me where I want to be I'm going to do," Rachel explained.

"That's cool. I can't act my way out of a paper bag and forget singing. I sound like a dying cow but I love musicals."

Rachel's ears really perked up at this information. "What's your favorite musical? Mine's Funny Girl. Barbra is one of my idols."

The girl chuckled. "I know it probably seems like an odd choice but I really love The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I've never seen the live musical but I love that movie. Tim Curry as a transvestite? That's a good time." She and Rachel both laughed heartily.

"My junior year of high school we almost did Rocky Horror. It got shut down though. I was set to play Janet." Rachel fondly thought back on what almost was. She still couldn't believe she missed Finn walking the hallways in his undies.

The girl looked shocked. "I would bet it got shut down. That's not exactly family friendly fare. I mean, most of the cast is nude and you have a guy running around in negligee."

"I voiced the same concerns when Mr. Schuester, our glee director, proposed the idea but he insisted. It was fun while it lasted though." Rachel felt a pang of homesickness as she thought back on her glee family. She didn't realize just how much she missed them all until she stopped to think about them.

"I'm Anjali, Anjali Jeeri," the girl said extending her hand out and pulling Rachel from her thoughts.

"Rachel, Rachel Berry."

"I'll have to remember that name for when you become famous." Rachel smile as she looked down, abashed. She didn't even know this girl, yet she thought Rachel was going to be famous. That never happened before.

Deciding to try to make her first real friend - she wasn't counting Éponine as a friend since they really didn't seem to get along - Rachel decided to ask if Anjali wanted to watch some musicals some time. She seemed excited by the idea and the two made plans to meet at Anjali's dorm around four since Rachel only had her computer to watch movies on. Their conversation ended shortly after that as their professor finally walked in and class began.

When Rachel's classes for the day were over and she made it back to her dorm, she noticed she had a missed call from Finn. Immediately she called him back. "Hey babe, how was your first day?" he asked as soon as he answered.

"Pretty dull. You were right, we didn't do much in class; just went over the syllabus mostly."

"Sounds boring," Finn commented. "So did you wanna come over for dinner or something tonight?" Finn was really hoping they could focus on the 'something' part of his question.

"I'd love to Finn, but I actually have some plans for later," Rachel said as she grabbed the case with all her DVD's in it.

"What kind of plans?" Finn asked with interest. What could be more important than food and sex?

Rachel cleared her throat. "I made a friend today in Calculus," she said animatedly. "Her name is Anjali and she loves musicals and I'm going to her room around four to watch some with her. Finn, she could be the first real friend I've made since being here!"

"That's great Rach! I'm glad to see you're finally making a friend. I know you've been stressing about it all week." Finn knew Rachel would have been fine without friends, she said that herself, that she didn't need them, just her dream, but he knew that having friends would make her time at school more enjoyable. She needed to branch out and make new acquaintances; it had really helped her grow in high school and now she needed to do it again since most of her high school friends weren't available.

"I think it'll be nice to have a friend that won't be competition either. I think that's why people in my department don't care for me. We're all competing for the same thing. Based on what Anjali told me, it sounds like she's either an English Lit major or a writer. I don't know, either way, we're different majors."

"That's great. Will you be over there all night?" Even though he had spent the whole day prior with Rachel he really wanted to see her again. Being alone with her without having to worry about scary dads or snoopy brothers was much too enticing to pass up.

"Probably. We can do dinner or 'something' tomorrow after my workshop," Rachel replied hinting at what she knew Finn wanted. "Finn we have the rest of our lives, I think you can make it one night without me. Why don't you hang out with Chuck or something?"

"Chuck's on a date. He's like the New York City version of Puck. He's got a different girl every night. I guess I could see if this guy Nick I'm in jazz band with is free. He lives three floors down," Finn said unenthusiastically.

Rachel smiled. "See, now you have plans too. I should probably get going. It's almost two and I have some math homework I should work on before heading to Anjali's. Ugh, why did I take Calculus?"

"Because you like to make things difficult for yourself? I don't know. But I'll let you go. I'll see you tomorrow I guess. I love you Rach," Finn said with a hint of melancholy. He was really upset he didn't get his way.

"I love you too Finn. I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow. Bye Finn." Finn said a quick goodbye and they hung up. Rachel then started on her homework which was proving rather confusing since the professor hadn't really gone over anything to help with understanding the material. Who handed out homework before teaching how to do it?

For the next two hours Rachel worked on her homework in frustration. Based on the homework alone, she had an idea that Calculus was really going to be the worst thing in the world. At about twenty to, Rachel put the homework aside and headed out to Anjali's. She lived about fifteen minutes away in the Third Avenue North residence hall and Rachel wanted to be there by four.

Rachel took the elevator up to her sixth floor apartment and found her room. She knocked on the door cautiously. Within seconds Anjali stood in front of her. "Rachel, right on time! Come on in, have a seat." Anjali pulled her into the room and Rachel was surprised to see three other girls there as well. "I hope you don't mind. When I told them you were coming over for musicals they asked if they could watch too. Since they all kind of live in here, I had no choice but to agree."

"Oh no, that's fine. The more, the merrier!" Rachel replied in a chipper voice. She was actually quite excited that there were a few others who enjoyed musicals as much as her. Anjali led her to the couch of the little common area and introduced the rest of the girls to her. "Rachel, this is Francesca, who likes to be called Frankie," Anjali said pointing to a dark redhead chewing on her nails seated on a lounge chair to her right, "and this is Erin," she pointed to a chubby brunette with glasses next to Rachel on the couch, "and lastly Sophie." The last girl had bright purple hair and quite a few facial piercings. She smiled at Rachel and gave small wave in hello. "Girls, this is Rachel. She's the one who came up with this idea."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Rachel said nodding at each girl. After that things started picking up. They popped in Hairspray after it won the vote of which musical to watch and they made popcorn to enjoy with it. Ten minutes into the movie, none of the girls were really paying attention however.

"So where are you from Anjali?" Rachel asked her new friend.

"Texas, just outside Dallas and thank the good lord that I was able to get out of there. It's difficult being one of the few mixed raced people in the town I grew up in. You'd think they'd never seen an Indian man and a white woman together before. We're in the 21st century, get over it." Apparently Anjali's mother met her father on a post college trip to India and had been together ever since. She had actually been born in New Delhi but moved to the US shortly after that. Her father had died in a car accident just after she turned ten leaving just her mother, brother and her. She didn't really know much about her Indian heritage as her grandparents had disowned her father for marrying someone they didn't approve of so even though she came from a Hindu background, she wasn't herself raised that way. Her mother was an ardent Christian, especially after her father's death, and raised both of her children that way.

The other three girls had less interesting backgrounds but seemed friendly enough. Frankie was from Long Island and came from your traditional suburban family while Erin was from Brooklyn and a product of divorced parents. She wasn't too upset by the divorce however because she basically got free reign of her house during her teenage years since her mom was always working or dating. As for Sophie, she was a California surfer girl. She was born and raised in Santa Monica and loved it there but felt a change of scenery was necessary for college.

Then it came time for Rachel's background. Rachel explained a little about her childhood and her high school experience and why she was at NYU but all any of them was concerned with was the fact she had a boyfriend.

"None of you have ever had a boyfriend?" Rachel asked with true astonishment. They were all such beautiful girls it was hard for her to believe. They all shook their heads.

"My mother made it impossible for me to date. If a guy ever showed any interest she'd scare him off, not that that happened very often," Anjali explained.

Erin looked down at herself sadly. "Guys aren't interested in girls who look like me. They want skinny blondes who'll put out."

"I've been on dates but none of them ever panned out. They were all weirdoes who wanted to like take me to Comic-Con and stuff. I'm just as big a fan of superheroes as the next gal but I'm not really one for dressing like Wonder Woman and running around a nerd convention for four days," Sophie stated.

"I'm always friend zoned. I think it's because I'm not the typical girly-girl who likes make-up and frilly dresses and giggling, no offense Rachel," Frankie said realizing she might have just offended Rachel. "I'm too much of a tomboy, but that doesn't mean I don't want a boyfriend. I do, I have for as long as I can remember."

"How did you get Finn?" Erin asked with great curiosity.

Rachel took a deep breath and launched into the story of her and Finn. The girls were captivated. Frankie said it was like a romantic comedy but better because it was real, Anjali never took her starry eyes off Rachel while she spoke, Sophie ooh-ed and awed in all the right places and Erin looked like she was about to cry when Rachel got to the extreme low point of confessing to Finn about cheating on him with Puck. They were all extremely heartbroken. When she finally got to their date during Nationals junior year however, they were all overjoyed and couldn't believe how sweet Finn was. They also thought it was crap that New Directions didn't make the top ten.

"Then we kissed in the library and have been together ever since. It hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows, but I wouldn't change it for anything," Rachel finished. All the girls stared at her like lovesick puppies.

"Okay, we need to meet Finn," Anjali said looking at the other girls.

"So what's the sex like?" Sophie asked bluntly causing all the girls to stare at Rachel in anticipation.

Rachel gulped. She barely knew these girls yet they were asking about one of the most intimate and personal aspects of her relationship with Finn. She wasn't entirely sure how to respond.

"It's okay Rachel, you don't need to tell us. That's a very personal question," Anjali said with a warning tone to Sophie.

"None of you have ever had sex either?" Rachel asked just to clarify.

Erin answered. "You need to have a boyfriend to have sex."

"Well, not necessarily. Santana had relations with Finn and they weren't dating. Actually most people Santana has had sex with were not actually her boyfriend…or girlfriend. I'll never tell Finn this but I find it rather funny that he lost his virginity to a lesbian. That's what happens when you rush into sex instead of waiting for the right person." Rachel giggled. "But that doesn't really matter now. We're past it and now we're both only sleeping with each other."

"So, if you don't mind my asking again, what is sex like?" Frankie asked Rachel. "Like, I know the mechanics of it and know how it should work but I still wonder what it's really like." All the girls looked at Rachel expectantly. She couldn't help but give in.

"It's different for everyone. It depends on the circumstances and who you're with. Like with Finn, he said that the first time with me was so much better than with Santana even though she was much more experienced. With her he didn't have an emotional attachment so it didn't really mean anything. He loves me and really wanted to be with me so even though I'm sure I wasn't very good the first time, even though he'd never say I wasn't, it still meant more to him. And now we're both much better at it and it's always so much fun."

"But what's it feel like?" Erin asked.

"Um," Rachel looked nervously at the girls. She had never found herself in a situation like this. If someone had told her she'd be the only non-virgin in a group of girls and the only one with a boyfriend and the girls in that group were asking her about sex she'd never have believed it. Yet here she was. "Again, it's different for everyone. For me, when Finn touches me, it's like every nerve ending is on fire. He moves his fingers over me like I'm the most delicate thing in the world which makes my heart race and gets me all tingly, but at the same time, when he gets rougher I go nuts and just want to ravish him. I love when Finn takes control. When Finn and I have sex it's like we're connected in every way two people can be. When he looks at me while he's inside me, it's the most loving and passionate and thankful look he gives me. It's like he can't believe that I'm allowing him to be so intimate with me." Rachel was so caught up in the feeling she was getting at speaking about Finn so deeply that she didn't even realize how detailed she was beginning to get. "And when he is inside me, every time he thrusts into me, it's like that connection gets stronger and deeper and my body just wants more and I love when he buries himself so far inside me it's like we're one practically and he just feels so good when he slides in and out brushing my spot every time and when I watch him do it, the tension just builds more and I can feel myself gushing around him. Then when he plays with me, I can barely hold on and finally when I let go, it's like the whole world stops and my body just buzzes and I can't believe how incredible everything is and…" She stopped and looked around at the girls who were listening with rapt attention. "And I can't believe I just told you all of that."

"I need a boyfriend," Anjali said in a breathy whisper. Sophie, Frankie and Erin all nodded in agreement. After that the conversation moved onto lesser emotional and erotic topics. Around eleven Rachel decided it was time for her to go. She had classes in the morning and needed to trek back through Washington Square. Anjali didn't want her to walk alone though so she and Frankie escorted her.

They chatted amicably and made plans to hang out again on Thursday as they walked back to Rachel's dorm. When they finally arrived at Hayden, Rachel bid them farewell. "Thanks for having me over. I really appreciate it."

"Anytime Rachel. You're a cool chick. It was nice getting to know you. You should totally invite Finn over for Thursday. I'd love to meet him," Anjali said with a wink. Rachel blushed as she wondered how Finn would react to knowing Anjali and her roommates knew some rather intimate details about their sex life. After all, these girls weren't glee club members that they both knew and trusted.

"Yeah, I'll see if he wants to join us for dinner," Rachel agreed.

"Well, we should head back. It was really great meeting you Rachel. See you Thursday!" Frankie said as she headed back outside.

"I'll see you in Calc, Rachel. Have a good night," Anjali said as she headed in the direction of the outside herself.

"You too Anjali," Rachel called back as she walked toward the elevator. As she rode the elevator up to the tenth floor, Rachel thought about her night. Though she barely knew those girls she felt very comfortable around them. She had never fallen in with any group as easily and quickly as she had with Anjali and her roommates, it was a new experience for her, but she didn't mind. Rachel had a feeling she was going to like this new group of friends, especially Anjali. For once she didn't feel like the odd-man out, for once people were looking at her like she was cool and popular, for once Rachel felt accepted without question. Rachel couldn't wait for Thursday.