Disclaimer- I own approximately twelve journals…that's about it. Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy.

Brand New Me

Chapter One: Second First Day…

Rachel leaned her head against the seat of her '69 purple Camaro, staring listlessly up at the large brick building in front of her. Luckily she found herself arriving right when classes were starting so she'd have a little more time to figure everything out but she was finding that it was doing little to ease her worries. Every time she'd think she had calmed herself enough to face walking in there she'd flash back to all of the terrible memories she had of this place from the last time she went here. The mocking, the lewd nicknames, that disgusting drawings in the bathrooms and worst of all the slushie facials. She couldn't take it anymore so when Mr. Shue, the director of the glee club's wife got pregnant and he left to become an accountant or something equally boring and unfulfilling she decided she didn't have any reason to stay. She didn't tell anyone she was leaving; she didn't have anyone to tell. Instead she just transferred to a boarding school in New York within a week, swearing to herself she would never walk back through the doors of William McKinley High School and subject herself to the hell she used to find there every day ever again.

But here she was, sitting in her car and trying to get up the nerve to walk in there and show them all what Rachel Berry is really made of. Not that she looked like the Rachel Berry they knew, or at least thought they knew. No, New York had changed her outlook on things. She made real, honest to god friends for the first time and they helped her break out of her shell and act…well normal. Taking one last deep breath Rachel climbed out of her car. Sliding her black messenger bag on her shoulder and slamming her door, Rachel made her way across the parking lot before taking a deep breath and going through the doors of William McKinley with her head held high and though the school day had technically already started there were still plenty of kids, mostly jocks, still milling in the hall who got the first glimpses of the new girl as she made her way into the office.

"Yo Puck!" Puck turned from where he was having a lovely make-out session with some sophomore Cheerio, whose name he didn't remember and didn't really care if he figured out, to see Mike and Matt making their way up to him with idiotic matching grins. It was obvious something was going on, which was the only reason he didn't just tell them to screw off, because really he may not know her name but that didn't mean that he wanted to cut his make-out session short to talk, even if they were his boys. Instead he gave…what's her name a small tap on the ass he turned to his friends who for their part didn't even let him get a word in.

"Did you see her man?" Mike was practically jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store who'd spit out his Ritalin when his mom wasn't watching and Puck merely raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"New girl man. Sexy as hell and legs up to like…here!" Matt explained to his friend, holding his hand up at chest level.

"Where?" Puck's tone was nonchalant but he was actually quite curious about this new girl. He'd been with practically half the school, the hot half of course, and he was honestly getting bored. His lifestyle was much more exciting when there's some kind of chase, and a new girl would provide him with just that.

Before either of the two boys had a chance to answer him Rachel walked out of the office, schedule in hand and Matt slapped Puck on the back and pointing to her retreating figure, "Right. There."

"Damn, I'll give you one thing, if the front's half as good as the back…" Puck trailed off and instead just let out a low whistle.

"Believe me man…it is." Nodding his head Puck flexed his biceps a few times to get himself pumped and merely nodded at his friends walking away throwing a "Later guys," over his shoulder.

Meanwhile Rachel had made her way to the locker she'd been assigned, surprisingly right next to her old locker, and was quickly turning the dial on the lock when Puck approached her quietly from behind. Puck quickly took in her grey skinny jeans that hung low on her hips revealing a small strip of her flat stomach between her waistband and the bottom of her teal and black tie-dyed tank top before she noticed he was standing there. She wore a black vest that pushed her chest up and had had turquoise sunglasses perched in her wavy chocolate hair. But most of all, Puck was happy to realize that the guys were right. This girl most definitely had legs for days, despite only being a head or so taller than his little sister, and her legs looked even longer because of her teal stilettos.

Puck took his time to appreciate the view before he made a move. She had the earbuds for her iPod in so she was complete oblivious to him and after a few minutes he pulled out one of her earbuds; getting so close to her that he was practically whispering in her ear. "Hey there sexy. What's your name?"

"Seriously? That's the best pick-up line you can come up with?" She raised one eyebrow in his direction before slamming her locker closed and spinning on her very pointy heal and smirking in his direction before walking off, "Believe me, if you want to try and make any kind of impression, other than my laughing at how pathetic you sound, you might want to try harder than that."

"I don't give up that easy. See you later mystery girl."

"Mystery girl? I think I like that." She called over her shoulder without even turning around. He couldn't see it with her back turned to him but Rachel was slightly worried she was going to lose it. Noah 'Puck' Puckerman, one of her biggest former tormentors just blatantly hit on her. But what was really weird was that she kind of liked it. She had run through plenty of scenarios for what would happen when she ran into the people who used to make her life hell. She had worried for a while that they would recognize her, that they would throw slushies on her for being the new girl, that things would go back to the way they were before she left. She'd run through hundreds of situations but she'd never in her life thought that this would happen. The biggest player, and subsequently the hottest guy in school, was hitting on her.

Shaking off that thought and taking a deep breath Rachel knocked on the door to her new homeroom class and was surprised to see that her teacher was Mr. Shue, the glee director who left before she transferred schools. What was he doing here?

"Come on in," He didn't even look up from whatever he was doing at his desk so she walked over to him trying not to feel self conscious that everyone in the classroom was staring at her.

"Uh Mr. Schuester? I'm new…my name's Ray." Most of her friends in New York called her Ray or Ray-Ray and it just came naturally to introduce herself that way. Plus it helped keep her true identity a bit of a secret; for a while at least.

"Oh right E—Ms. Pillsbury told me you were coming." Rachel tried not to giggle at his almost calling their guidance counselor by her first name. She'd always thought there was a bit of a sexual tension between them and apparently she might have been right. Mr. Shue turned to address the class, most of who were out right staring at everything that was happening, "Class this is Ray. She just transferred here from a boarding school in New York City. I'm sure you'll all make her feel very welcome here at William McKinley. Ray would you like to tell the class a little bit about yourself?"

The old Rachel would've jumped into a monologue about herself and her dreams full of five dollar words but the new Rachel just gave a half shrug, "You pretty much covered the basics. I was going to a school for the performing arts in New York and…yeah."

"Alright then. Just take any open seat Rachel, homeroom is almost over."

Sliding into an open seat near the windows in the back of the room Rachel let out a long breath. So far so good, if only it weren't only eight thirty.

Rachel was pulled out of her thoughts by an effeminate voice coming from the seat next to her, "O-M-Gucci I love your shoes! Where'd you get them?"

"Oh these? My friend from New York's Aunt does the make-up for a bunch of the major fashion shows and she scored these for me."

"Will you adopt me?" Kurt asked her without missing a beat and looking up at her with big puppy dog eyes that had Rachel giggling despite herself.

"Yeah sure, why not? My dads would definitely love to have a son. I'm Ray, your new sister."

Kurt's eyes lit up noticeably, "Dads? Like, more than one?"

Rachel shifted uncomfortably at the question. She'd never once been embarrassed about having gay fathers. In fact, she'd always been proud of where she came from but she knew that a lot of people had issues with it. When she was in New York most people were totally accepting of the fact that she had gay dads but in this small town in Ohio it wasn't strange for her to get scathing looks if on rate occasion she was out with both of them or for her to hear whispered insults in the grocery store and she'd lived in Lima her whole life so it wasn't as though it was new gossip. People were small minded and for the most part Rachel felt like that was there problem but this was the first time she was going to have to introduce her background to a place as small minded as Lima. There was nothing she could do if someone wanted to be ignorant though and she wasn't ashamed of where she came from.

And yet still she was worried that her having gay fathers might make it difficult for her to make friends and she didn't want that. Either way she wasn't going to hide where she came from, "Yeah. I have two dads." She tried to sound completely normal and confident about it but there was still a tiny nagging piece of her that was worried this would cause issues.

"Oh my gosh you're so lucky. I'd totally kill to have gay dads. It'd make my whole life so much easier!" Rachel giggled at his outburst and raised her eyebrow at him, urging him to continue, "My mom died when I was eight so it's just been my dad and I since. I love him like crazy and I've known who I was for as long as I can remember but I just recently came out to being gay and it's just hard you know? He's doing his best but I know he's having a hard time dealing with it."

Rachel drew in a breath, realizing that things seemed to be on the right track where friendship was concerned, "That's really gotta be tough. If you want you can always talk to my dads, and I'm sure they'd be more than willing to talk to your dad; try and help him out a little bit."

He looked up at her with moist eyes of gratitude, "You're really sweet." His voice was quiet and it was obvious that things with his father were really tough for him but he quickly shook it off and in no time he was back to his normal self, "Anyways doll I'm such an idiot I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Kurt."

Smiling Rachel stuck her hand out to meet his, "Ray."

They chatted idly as they made their way to their next class.

"Do you sing Ray?"

Rachel had to remember to push down the intense side of herself that used to push people away, "Umm…yeah I was going to a performing arts school. I'm kinda like Coco from Fame, only way less cocky." She felt a bit of pride when Kurt laughed at her Coco joke, this actually seemed like the start of a friendship.

"That's awesome. You totally need to come try out for Glee this afternoon. We don't really have a strong female lead plus we need another person to qualify."

"Yeah that could be fun actually."

Rachel spent the rest of the period being introduced to the "Divalicious Mercedes" and joking around with her and Kurt. As she sat there she couldn't help but think that this might just work.

A/N- Okay so this is chapter one. I really hope you like it and please, please, please review. Seriously reviews are like crack to me. : ) If there's any suggestions you want to make I'd be happy to consider them, but I don't make any promises about things getting in. Thanks!