Part 1

Rachel had been lying in bed for almost 2 hours. She would normally sleep around 10 pm so that she can wake up at 6 in the morning for her morning routine. They're pretty rigorous, so she needed to have a good 8-hour sleep. But for some reason tonight, she found it hard to fall asleep. It might be her anxiousness. See, she's turning 18 tomorrow. It's an important number. She's turning to an adult. She can vote now, well, that's what her dad kept on reminding her. It's just that it's her last year in high school and she felt that she has lots of things to accomplish, like making sure that Glee Club winning Nationals, getting accepted into a few colleges and being able to reject some of them, getting high score in SAT, and … she thought it would be a great icing on her cake if she found love too. An artist like her needed a dramatic love story, something to fuel her life. She thought she found it in Finn but she realized, thankfully soon enough, that she just loved his leading man quality, but even that wasn't all that much now. At least they managed to stay friends, which she's grateful for. He can be a really good friend. Why must she think about this now? Thinking about it made her yearned for that … something … for someone that will sweep her off her feet.

She felt restless, so she got out of bed and opened her window. The wind was blowing softly. Even though it's winter, it wasn't that chilly. The sky was clear and the stars were shining brightly. She sang, "When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires, will come to you." The bedside clock beeped to indicate that it just turned midnight.

"Happy Birthday Rachel," she wished to herself. She looked up at the sky and saw a shooting star, so she closed her eyes and made a wish in her heart, 'I wish that my true love will bear their soul to me.' She opened her eyes and smiled to herself, feeling satisfied somehow. She closed the window and went back to bed, and finally managed to fall asleep.

If she had stayed by the window, she would have noticed a few dozen shooting stars lighting up the December sky. Rachel wasn't one to keep herself up-to-date with astronomy news. If she would have, then she would have known that she just made a wish upon a Geminid meteor shower.

Rachel woke up the next day feeling very refresh. She went through her normal routine and felt a wonderful sensation of being an adult. Well, an adult with not much responsibility. She had a feeling that it's going to be a beautiful day.

She came down for breakfast and her dads were waiting for her.

"Here she is, the Birthday Girl!" Leroy was grinning at her.

"Happy Birthday Honey," Hiram gave her a hug.

"So how does it feel to be able to vote?"

"Really daddy, that's all you can think of?"

"Well, it's very important to vote –"

Hiram cut him off, thinking it wasn't a good time to talk about serious stuff, "Honey, we've decided to give you a pre-birthday gift," and handed her a small box.

"Thanks dads!" Rachel hugged both of them. She opened the box and saw a key. "You're giving me your car?" She was excited of that prospect.

"Erm, not exactly, we're giving you free access to the car," Hiram said.

"Which means you can use the car anytime you want, you don't have to ask our permission anymore," Leroy added.

"But make sure to always fill up the tank. I don't want to see the car with an empty tank, okay?"

Rachel just nodded, "So is this for the sports car?"

Hiram and Leroy both laughed, "Oh honey, you have to earn your own sports car," Rachel pouted, "this is for the sedan," Leroy answered.

"Which means you can also do the groceries shopping for us now," Hiram added.

"I'm not sure how this is a gift now," Rachel felt like she's being tricked.

"Oh come here," Hiram gave her a hug. "Well, eat your breakfast, and then you can drive yourself to school."

Rachel thought that maybe it's a not bad idea for her to drive to school, which means she can drive to other places after school. She can see the wonderful potential and she finally smiled.

Rachel was at her locker, in the process of taking out the books needed for the first period. No one had wished her 'Happy Birthday' yet, but she didn't think anyone would either, because she never told anyone, not even Finn. Finn had never asked her the whole time they were together either. That boy was really daft at times. She was rummaging through her locker when she heard the noises in the hallway became an octave lower and the sound of people shuffling to the side. She knew it wasn't the football or the hockey jocks, because then there would be sound of people being shoved to the lockers. So it could only mean one thing, it could be either Quinn or Santana.

Quinn, Santana and Brittany had re-joined the Cheerios and Quinn had become the Head Cheerios again. From what she gathered from other people, they wanted to finish their senior year on top of the game. She had no problem of them joining the Cheerios as long as they're not quitting the Glee Club. She just didn't understand why popularity was so important to them. She saw how miserable they looked after Cheerios practice every time. She knew they were really down when Glee Club lost the Nationals and the Glee Club had again become the joke of the school, but she had faith in it. Well, to each its own, she thought. But the downside was they're back to being mean towards her, especially Quinn. It's like she had reverted to sophomore year Quinn. She thought they're kind of friends. Who was she kidding? After all the mess with Finn and New York, she knew that Quinn was angry at her and annoyed and … she's not sure sometimes.

She held on to her book and closed her locker. She turned around and saw Quinn was about to pass by her locker. Quinn was looking straight ahead with one hand on her hip and she was strutting down the hallway like it's a catwalk. She knew Quinn noticed her. This had been a common thing, Quinn would sometimes just pass without acknowledging her or sometimes she would call her names. She wondered what it would be today.

"Hey beautiful."

Okay, that's not what she expected. Rachel wasn't sure that she had heard Quinn correctly. Quinn had stopped on the spot and stood very rigid. She can't believe what she just said either.

"What did you just say?" Rachel inquisitively asked.

Quinn put on her snide face, turned to face Rachel and said, "I said 'hey beautiful'." She smirked but then she realized what she just said, again, and her face turned to horror. She turned around and quickly walked away from Rachel and disappeared into a classroom.

Rachel was utterly confused. What kind of game is she playing at now?