Serendipity

Chapter 1 – Acafellas

A/N: This is the original version of my Glee fanfic. I'll be doing the same thing as the earlier version and bring in current songs that I like. My modified story, Changeling, will be posted on AO3 at some future date.

Edited after I noticed some mistakes that slipped past me and my word processing program.

Obligatory Disclaimer: I only own my OC's and anything non-canon. Any canon material or characters belong to 20th Century Fox Television. I'm just enrolled in the school...

I gazed out the window of my mom's BMW M2 as she drove me to my first day of school at William McKinley High. Since it was the middle of September, I had already missed half of a month of what made up this schools curriculum. I watched the people flash by as they went about their lives ignorant of the doom that was fast approaching me.

I adjusted my focus to the ghostly image reflected in the window. The washed out visage did no justice to my copper colored hair or my dark blue eyes much less the light scattering of freckles that adorned my nose and cheeks. Vampire-like, my pale skin tone hardly showed up at all. Well, my reflection perfectly summed up how I felt.

My mother had accepted a job opening up another branch of the law firm she worked for; Bently, Moore, and Robinson. Those worthys thought that opening a branch in Lima Ohio would be a smart thing to do since it was almost smack dab in the middle between the Ohio cities of Columbus, Dayton, and Toledo. As well as the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana - all of which already had branches.

I had left all my friends and a girlfriend behind in Columbus to move here to the sticks. There were no charter or magnet schools I'd be able to go to, and all of the private schools here were Christian based which left me out for several reasons. That left one, William McKinley, the public high school.

I'd never been to a public school before since my mom and dad made more than enough money to send me to private schools. I wasn't a genius, but I was gifted, and this had allowed me to already skip a grade when I was at Merrimont Academy in Columbus. This put me as a Sophomore for my first year at high school even though the placement tests WMHS required had me listed as a Junior.

I had to stay a sophomore since I couldn't jump more than one grade. At least this year should be an easy one, at least I hoped so.

"What's wrong Sweetheart? You've hardly said a word all morning."

"I don't want to be here Mom."

"Sweetie, we've already discussed this. It's a promotion, a raise, and a chance to make partner in a few years."

"All my friends are in Columbus. Felicity is in Columbus."

"You'll make new friends here, and I'm certain that you'll find someone else like Felicity as well. I'm sure the people here in Lima are great."

"I'll never find someone else like Felicity Mom. And they're probably be sharpening their pitchforks, lighting torches, and I bet they even have a bonfire with my name on it."

"Kayleigh, you're being overly dramatic."

"Mom, I'm a lesbian and a witch. I'm a walking, talking, stereotype and these people probably haven't even invented the wheel yet." I said sarcastically. I'd come out to my parents after I turned 12 and had finally admitted to myself that, while boys didn't interest me at all in that way, girls did. I'd also told them that I was Wiccan. Fortunately, they loved me more than their church so I had their full support over my religious choices and my sexuality.

"Look Kayleigh, I'm sorry that you've been uprooted, but this move means a brighter future for us all. Look, just give it a try. If you don't like being here after, say, the first semester, then we'll try and get you into a home schooling program. But you've got to genuinely try okay?"

I sighed. I had no faith that I'd change my mind but I would give it an honest try. I was a girl of my word after all.

"Okay Mom, I'll try."

"That's all I ask."

"And my Sifu?"

"We're looking Sweetie."

I had fallen in love with martial arts when I was 5. My dad loved the IP Man movies and he thought it was cute when I would imitate what I saw on the TV screen. When he realized that I was actually getting better and better at following the moves shown, he'd taken me down to a Kwoon, otherwise known as a Kung Fu gym. There, I was introduced to Sifu Jackson.

My dad explained about how I had been imitating moves from the movies for the last 3 months. Sifu Jackson remarked how that wasn't a good thing as most martial arts movies were more entertainment than defense. Although he did admit that the IP Man movies were closer to real life that most others. Sifu Jackson had me show him what I knew, then he took us into the Kwoon itself and had his student's show me their forms. I really liked the Preying Mantis style, but my whole body lit up when I saw the White Crane technique. And that's how I found myself as a 5 year old in the 8 year old 'Little Dragons' class.

It turned out that I was a natural. I rose through the sashes quickly, mainly restricted by the time requirements needed for each one. Other than the first 4 sashes because, you know, starting at 5 it took me longer to get everything correct because of a lack of coordination at that age. Now, I was a black stripe and stuck in limbo because I was required to be 16 before I could don a black sash. Which seemed unfair to me because I already knew everything I needed to test out.

So, I just started training on everything I needed to make it to 2nd level black sash. I also started training in Preying Mantis style and had just achieved a green sash in it before I was forced to move to Lima, which seemed to have nothing in the way of martial arts.

I was thrust out of my memories as my mom pulled into the student drop off area.

"Do you want me to park and walk you to the office Sweetheart?"

I was horrified. "Goddess NO Mom! That would be tantamount to social suicide!"

Weirdly, my mom chuckled. I suppose she thought my comment funny. I wasn't joking.

"Okay then. Your dad's going to pick you up this afternoon. Call us if you need to and I'll see you at supper tonight."

I got out of the car and shouldered my backpack. I noticed several students watching me as I got out and waved bye to my mom. I surreptitiously scanned the area I was heading into much like a commando entering enemy territory. Almost all of the kids were much larger than I was. At 14, I got the short end of the stick as far as growth went, Literally. I was 4'10" and weighed a hefty 92 pounds.

Almost everyone was wearing jeans except for the cheerleaders bouncing around in their 'Cheerios' uniforms. I didn't really care for jeans all that much since, as a martial artist, I found them restrictive when doing forms unless they were the unpopular loose fit type. That's why you always see martial artists in loose clothing, slacks at the most. I was actually wearing my old school uniform skirt - a black and green tartan pattern that ended just above my knees. I had decided to wear a white, tie-front V-neck blouse and her black ballet flats. My silver pentacle that I was wearing under my blouse completed my ensemble.

I could hear snippets of conversation as I walked toward the front doors. "Lost" and "Midget" were two of the words I caught. No skin off my back because they don't know me and I don't know them so their opinions don't matter I thought. I pushed open the front doors and was mildly surprised that there was no security checkpoint or any cameras in the halls that I could see either.

My ears were assaulted by students walking and talking, standing in groups talking, leaning against lockers and making out, and talking. Add to that the slamming of lockers and students yelling down the halls to each other and I knew one thing - High school was utter chaos.

I walked down the hall toward where the office was supposed to be when I looked over to one group standing next to the lockers. According to their lettermans jackets, the guys were football players and the girls they were talking to were wearing cheerleading outfits, so that was obvious. But it was the cheerleaders that grabbed my attention. Two of them, one blonde that was pretty but not anywhere near the same class as the other blonde, and one good looking brunette who looked like she could be of Hispanic descent, stood close to each other.

I had never believed in 'gaydar' but I would swear those two were involved in some way. Especially when the brunette saw me looking at them and glared at me, edging slightly closer to the one blonde. However, I only had eyes for the other blonde. She was stunning! The most beautiful creature I had ever seen. Don't get me wrong, my last school had girls just as physically beautiful, but this girl just had something that made my heart skip a beat, my breath hitch, and my stomach twist and do flip-flops.

Yeah, I was crushing, and crushing hard. The gorgeous blond peered over in my direction and caught me staring. I was like a deer in headlights, frozen. Even getting caught staring, I couldn't look away. She had the most gorgeous hazel eyes, and I'd never cared for hazel eyes before, green being my favorite color. The blond cheerleader gave me a slight smile before continuing her conversation with the other cheerleaders, making my breath hitch and my heart beat faster and I had to remind myself to breathe.

That smile filled me with hope until I saw this Sasquatch of a boy walk up and put his arm around her. He saw me and gave me a small wave of his hand in greeting before leaning down to kiss the girl on the cheek, hiding her divine features from my gaze. He was friendly enough, but the depths of his eyes showed a dire lack of intelligence. And, when he called her "babe" after kissing her it made my heart plunge into my shoes. I guess I'd read too much into the slight smile the blond angel had given me.

Regretfully, I turned and started walking toward the office again, turning my head several times trying to catch a glimpse of the goddess in a Cheerio's uniform. I was so distracted that I almost bumped into a huge guy walking the other way. Now, in my defense, I was walking on the right side of the hallway like students were supposed to, at least in every school I had been in. Fortunately, I was able to stop in time, but that didn't stop him from commenting about it. And very rudely too.

"Watch it Freshie!"

"My bad, I should have been watching where I was going." I apologized.

The rest of his cronies laughed and whooped it up like a barrel of monkeys while he continued to glare at me. I guess that, being the lead monkey, he felt he had to prove himself by pushing his chest into my personal space. I refused to move and continued to look at him.

"You should have Freshie! Stop checking out the football players, they're all losers."

I had already had enough of this blowhard, he may be bigger than me but I didn't care. "Okay, I can understand how you could misread the situation. First, I'm a Sophomore, not a Freshman. Second, I wasn't checking out the football players, I was checking out the cheerleaders."

Now, I wasn't the type of person to blast my sexuality in anyone's face, but I refused to hide it either. The only two people in my life right now that I cared about their opinions of me were my mom and dad, and I had their full support.

The big Neanderthal reared back with a look of horror on his face and practically screamed "DYKE!". The sounds in the hallway died to nothing as everyone turned to watch the scene play out. Brash and brainless forced his face close to my and growled out "We don't want your kind here!"

I wish he hadn't done that. Not because it scared me, but his breath was horrible and I wondered if he'd forgotten to brush his teeth, in like, the last month. I calmly looked him right in the eyes and said, "Or what? You're gonna hit a girl? One that's half your size? Go ahead and take a swing, but I have to warn you, I'm a black belt. So if you want to have everyone here see you get your ass kicked by a little girl half your size, be my guest."

I know I lied, but it was only a little white one. Technically, I was a black belt, I just had to wait 2 more years before I could wear it. And I'd used the term belt instead of sash as it was more easily recognized by the uninformed. He began growling and I could see he was actually weighing the possibilities in his head. But, before he could take any action I heard a voice quite close by saying, "What's going on here? Mr. Surette?"

Surette stepped back away from me and answered "Nothing Mr. Schue."

"Okay then, I suggest you get to class, the bell is about to ring."

The teacher, Mr. Schue, had brown curly hair, hazel eyes, and a cleft chin. He watched as Surette and cronies left, walking past the football players who watched them as they passed. I noticed that all three cheerleaders were looking at me and my eyes locked on the delightful hazel eyes of the blond beauty that was still trapped under Bigfoot's arm. There was something in her eyes, as if she was uncertain. Maybe. Hopefully.

My attention was pulled from her when Mr. Schue asked "And you Ms..."

"O'Conner, Kayleigh O'Conner Mr. Schue."

"Ms. O'Conner. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I was just on my way to the office when I nearly ran into Kong."

Mr. Schue snorted at my description of Surette, but he didn't correct me so I guess it was all good. He walked me to the office and then headed off to his class. He'd told me that he taught Spanish so we had a fun conversation in Spanish as they walked. It turned out that I knew more Spanish than Mr. Shue did, but it was okay though, because I kept getting distracted by thoughts of that blonde. My heart ached just thinking about her. I wasn't naive to think that it was love at first sight, but I wasn't sure if it was a normal crush either.

I had left a girlfriend, Felicity, back in Columbus which was the major reason I was unhappy with the move here. While I considered myself in love with Felicity, it couldn't hold a candle to the feelings dealing with the blonde that were washing around in my body right now.

I entered the office and stood waiting at the counter for someone to help me. There were some students at desks doing some paperwork of some type. I guess they got extra credit for office work. The counter came up to mid chest on me, which figured. I hated being so small. Then I heard the warning bell ring, at least, that's what I assume it was. In Merrimont, it would have meant that you had 5 minutes to get to class.

As if it were a signal, a middle aged lady sauntered up to the desk and asked "Can I help you Dear?"

"Yes Ma'am." I said as I handed my paperwork to the lady. She looked it over and remarked "Sophomore?"

"They only let you skip one grade."

"Just a moment Miss O'Conner." She said as she left, moving out of my line of sight. A few minutes later she was back carrying some sheets of paper and a small booklet.

"Okay, Miss O'Conner, here is your student handbook." She said as she laid the booklet on the counter in front of me.

"You need to have your parents sign these and then bring them back okay?" Two sheets of paper joined the handbook. "And this is your class schedule. Go ahead and look it over to make sure everything is okay."

I looked over the sheet and saw one item that seemed wrong, so I mentioned it to her, "Ma'am? This shows I'm supposed to take Spanish II with Mr. Schuester in third period. If that's the man people call Mr. Schue, then I already know more Spanish than he does. He escorted me here and I tried talking to him in Spanish but he couldn't follow everything that I was trying to tell him."

"Unfortunately, the School District requires 2 foreign language credits in order to graduate and Spanish is the only language available. On the plus side, it should be an easy 'A'."

I sighed. Pretty much everything this year should be an easy 'A'. Out of the two electives I'd chosen, only Computer Science really held any interest to me. I didn't choose Music because the school didn't have a choir program and, while it did have Band, I had no interest in learning to play an instrument. So, Home Economics it was. I was pretty sure I'd ace that class as well since I'd been cooking since I was 8, mainly by watching shows like The Pioneer Woman and making those dishes.

I headed for my first class, Algebra II, with a Mrs. Hagberg who, incidentally, was going to be my Home Economics teacher as well. I walked in and introduced myself to Mrs. Hagberg and handed her the paper to sign as requested by the office. Then she had me stand next to her desk and my heart sank as I realized that she was about to perform an age old torture ritual and force me to introduce myself to the class.

I noticed the pretty blond cheerleader that seemed to be involved with the brunette, as well as one of Surette's followers, the dark skinned one. There were a couple of football players, but I didn't recognize anyone else.

"Good morning students! We have a new student with us today. Miss O'Conner, why don't you introduce yourself to the class?"

As soon as she finished, the dark skinned kid yelled out "DYKE!".

"MR. LIPOFF! We will not have that kind of language here! See me after class!"

Well, so much for keeping a low profile. By this afternoon, my sexuality will be all over the school, I thought. So I decided to own it and try to get back at the asshole at the same time.

"The proper term is lesbian Lipoff. And what's wrong? Afraid I've had more girlfriends than you?" At that, most of the class started snickering, laughing, and making general dissing noises at Lipoff's expense, so maybe I'd earned some points. It did seem to irk Lipoff a good deal so I counted that as a win. I then took the plunge and continued, "I'm Kayleigh O'Conner, and yes, it means I'm Irish. And I am, as Lipoff so eloquently pointed out, gay. That doesn't mean I'll be stalking any of you so you don't have to hide when I walk into the bathroom. I skipped a grade which is why I'm a Sophomore instead of a Freshman."

I decided not to mention being a martial artist or go into my likes and dislikes, since I had no plans on dating any of them after all. Well, I'd definitely date the other blond I had seen earlier. Then I mentally sighed, I wish. I looked over at Mrs. Hagberg and she nodded, so she took the only available seat which happened to be on the front row. Yay.

Mrs. Hagberg started the lesson and I could see that she was only a mediocre teacher, at least in math. Apparently, whatever joy she once had in teaching had been sucked out of her long ago and it showed. It also didn't help that most of the material had already been covered when I'd been in the eighth grade.

When class ended, I was the first one out the door. I hadn't even gotten my textbook yet, not that I felt that I'd need it. All of my other classes were pretty much the same. Mr. Schuester taught right out of the book and even severely mispronounced some of the words. He seemed a nice guy, but I wondered why he was teaching this course.

Home economics wasn't what I'd imagined. It encompassed a lot more than food preparation so it probably wouldn't be too bad a subject. I queued up for lunch and got what passed for food here, I really missed my old school. At least there you had more choices and the food looked edible. The one bright spot so far was the girl who's name I didn't know and had captivated me from the time I'd seen her.

Looking around now, I could see the jocks table with the football players and the cheerleaders, but I couldn't see her. Maybe she had a different lunch period. I found a spot on one end of a table that seemed to have all the geeky kids, which suited me just fine as I saw myself as one of them, wanting to go to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. They had the best robotics program in the country.

Even then, the geeks were at the far end of the table from where I was sitting, I guess I wasn't part of the group, at least not yet. After finishing what was laughably called lunch, I walked around trying to get the lay of the land as it were, and happened upon a bulletin board that had flyers advertising various clubs. Sadly, there were no robotics clubs so if I wanted one I'd probably have to start it myself. Even then, I couldn't be sure if I would end up being the only member or not.

I ended up coming across one advertising 'New Directions' offering auditions. One of the names on the list was one 'Rachel Berry' with a sticky star next to the name. They must think a lot of themselves. There were some other names, but most of them were ones like 'Hugh Jazz' and 'Mike Hunt'. Guess there were some intellectuals at the school... not. I went ahead and added my name. At least I'd get a chance to sing.

The rest of the classes I had were no-brainers and I spent most of my time doodling in my notebook, trying to draw the face of the blonde. It was with a heavy heart that I had to acknowledge my talents lay in robotics and singing, my drawing was mediocre at best. I also spent time thinking about what song to sing for my audition. There were so many songs that I loved to sing that it was hard to choose one. By the time my last class had ended for the day I had finally chosen what song I wanted to do, On my Own from the movie Les Mis. I didn't care that it was a song about a girl loving a boy, it was a beautiful song and I loved it.

It didn't take me long to find the music room. There were the normal noise absorbing foam pads on the walls along with music stands shoved out of the way. There were wooden risers against the far wall with desks on each level. There was a baby grand piano near the wall on the right with a guy with glasses sitting at the keyboard. My heart sank a little when I noticed that there weren't that many people in the room.

There was a boy with glasses in a wheelchair. Two students, a boy and a girl, that looked to be oriental. The girl was kinda cute. One boy with styled brown hair and good taste in clothes. There was a heavyset dark skinned girl and a girl with curly, dark brown hair and a large nose that actually suited her.

Sasquatch was there along with another football player sporting a wide mohawk. I raised my eyebrow when I saw that the faculty advisor for New Directions was none other than my Spanish teacher, Mr. Schuester.

"Miss O'Conner! Coming to audition for New Directions?" He said with a large smile. He seemed more at ease here than in Spanish. Maybe he was supposed to be the music teacher before they dropped choir from the curriculum?

"Yes Sir." I answered.

"What song are you auditioning with?" He asked, still with a smile on his face. I opened my mouth to tell him when I heard a voice that was soft like honey behind me saying, "Sorry we're late Mr. Schue, Coach Sylvester held us up in practice longer than usual."

I turned, and discovered that voice belonged to none other than my crush, along with the other two cheerleaders. My throat dried and my heart started beating so hard I thought it was going to go through my chest. I couldn't sing a song about a girl loving a boy now. I also couldn't sing Try Everything either as it could come off like I was flirting.

My mind whirled and I blurted "Let it Go, from Frozen."

I wondered if Mr. Schue kept sheet music for all the popular songs when he handed the piano player the music in less that two minutes. I took the opportunity to grab my water bottle from my backpack to sooth my suddenly dry throat. When you sing, you try to make eye contact with the audience, if you can't because of the size of the audience or when the stage lights are in your eyes, you fake it. You make it seem like you're singing to them. This engages the audience and draws them in to you.

I did this as I sang the song and I tried, I mean I really tried, not to make eye contact with my crush. I didn't succeed. My heart skipped a beat every time I looked at her and found her staring back. Everyone else was smiling or bobbing their heads in time to the music. Except for the dark haired girl with the big nose. For some reason she was looking at me like I'd just killed her cat.

After I'd finished, they hooted and hollered, clapping for me. I felt like I was filled with joy, especially when I'd noticed my hazel eyed beauty grinning and clapping for me. Mr. Schue walked up next to me and addressed the club members. "So, what do you think? Do we have another member of New Directions?"

Everyone was in agreement, not that it mattered that much to me. The gorgeous woman sitting next to her boyfriend, the Sasquatch, was the only one whose approval I was craving. Of course, that's when the dark haired girl stood up and said, "I think we already have enough members for sectionals Mr. Schue."

I spoke up, "Let me guess, you're Rachel Berry."

She looked shocked and stuttered "Y... yes, I'm Rachel Berry. How'd you know?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Lucky guess."

But the rest of the group snickered, making Rachel look like she'd just smelt something bad. Mr. Schue spent some time going over the types of music he wanted to do at sectionals. The problem was, while they were some good songs, they were dated. Like, 1970's dated. Practice over, everyone started heading out, Rachel throwing me dirty looks.

I didn't really notice as I was watching my blonde walking out the door, talking to her friends, with Sasquatch hanging on her, when I heard someone next to me speak up. "Don't worry about Rachel, her bark is worse than her bite."

I turned to see the boy that actually had fashion sense speaking to me. The oriental looking pair were there along with the dark skinned girl and the boy in the wheelchair.

"Y... y... yeah! S... she just th... thinks y... you're gonna g... get m... more solos than her. I...I'm T... T... Tina."

"Hi! I'm Kayleigh."

"Yeah, don't worry about Rachel. I'm Arty. You have a wonderful voice." Said the kid in the wheelchair.

I waved since I'd already told them my name.

"Hi, I'm Mercedes." The dark skinned girl smiled as she held out her hand. I was happy to shake it and hoped that, maybe, I'd made my first friend. Or friends even, since this group decided to stay behind and introduce themselves.

"Mike." said the oriental boy, waving his hand. I smiled and waved back.

"Kurt, Kurt Hummel." the cute boy introduced himself. I shook his hand also. We talked for a few minutes, mostly about music. They started to excuse themselves and left one after another until it was just Kurt and I. Kurt kept looking like he was wanting to say something but would stop himself.

"Say what you want to say Kurt. If you're worried about offending me don't be."

He took a breath and decided to take the plunge, "Rumor around school has it that you're 'out'."

I smirked, "Only rumor?"

"I saw how you were looking at Quinn..."

I could feel my face light up as I interrupted him "Quinn? Her name is Quinn?"

I sighed, a unique and beautiful name for a unique and beautiful girl.

"Let me warn you. She's one part of the Unholy Trinity here at McKinley. Santana is the brunette and she lives up to her reputation of being evil, Satan is in her name for a reason. Brittany is the other blonde, she's the nicest of the three."

"Thanks Kurt, but it looks like she's straight so I'll just have to suck it up and hope I get over it sooner rather than later."

He nodded in sympathy and understanding. Which made me wonder who he had a crush on. I made my way out front and called my dad. Turns out, he was already waiting for me. As we drove home in his Porsche Cayman, I was feeling better than I had this morning. Things didn't seem as bleak, I'd made a couple of friends, and I'd met a girl that I'd been warned was a bitch. The thing was, I didn't see it, maybe because I was crushing on her and didn't want to believe it.

"So Princess, how was your first day?" My dad asked as he hung up his phone.

"Ummm, let's see, saw an absolutely beautiful girl that I now have a crush on, almost ran into a bully that wanted to start something, got outed, met my Spanish teacher who doesn't know Spanish all that well and is the faculty advisor for the show choir I joined, all within five minutes of walking in the front door."

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow."

"This girl you have a crush on, are you going to ask her out?" Dad was trying to keep his expression neutral, but he never was much of an actor. He was very much interested in what I was doing.

"She plays for the wrong team Dad. And it's sad too because she could do so much better than the boyfriend she has now. You look into his eyes and it's like looking into the void. He probably has difficulty stringing two sentences together."

"Harsh. Don't you think crushing on his girlfriend is affecting your judgement?"

"Maybe, don't care." I said sullenly.

We spent the rest of the ride home in silence.

A/N: Okay, first chapter of Serendipity finished. I wanted to make Kayleigh a person who is comfortable with herself, who is nice to others, but won't take crap from anyone. In case it's not obvious, I'm shipping Quinn and Kayleigh. There will be Rachel bashing, at least in the beginning. As for side pairings, I think I'll keep it canon with Finn/Rachel and Santana/Brittany. Other pairings may develop in the future.

Blessed Be!