you belong with me

chapter 1

I'm going to tell you all now, that ENDGAME IS FINCHEL. There is some slight Puckleberry in this story, but it is mostly friendship between them. I just don't want anyone to get the wrong idea in this story.

I don't own glee, unfortunately.

A six-year-old Rachel Berry swung as high as she could on the playground swing set during recess. Being only six, as high as she could go wasn't very high up, but Rachel still felt like she was flying. She pretended to be a bird, floating through the air, soaring through the trees, and leaving the world behind. She closed her eyes, and felt the wind go through her hair.

"Hey!"

Rachel's fantasy was abruptly interrupted by a voice behind her. She opened her eyes, but made no effort to slow down her swinging. It was Dave Karofsky, the school bully. He was a third grader who even frightened the fourth graders!

"Yes?" Rachel asked sweetly, following her daddy's advice of even being nice to the mean kids.

"That's my swing," Dave said. "Give it up."

"I was here first," Rachel replied, not intending on giving the swing up. "And I don't recall seeing your name written on the swing anywhere. It belongs to the school. Wait your turn." She turned forward again and closed her eyes, thinking of the wonderful life of a bird once more. Suddenly her dream of flying became a reality as she felt a large force on her back and she was flying for real. Her eyes shot open just in time to see the ground nearing her face. Before she could react she landed on the hard ground with a thud. She saw that her hands and elbows had deep scratches on them, as well as her knees. Rachel lifted a dirty hand and wiped away the tears that were starting to form in her eyes.

Dave just laughed from behind her and took a seat on the swing, not even bothering to see if Rachel was okay.

Rachel started to stand up when she saw a hand extended towards her to help her back to her feet. She gladly took the hand and stood back up, suddenly standing face to face with two boys from the grade above her.

"Are you okay?" the one who had helped her up asked, looking at her injuries.

"I'm all right," Rachel replied, swiping some of the dirt from her dress. "Thank you for helping me, that Dave is the worst."

"Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't know that was his swing," the other boy commented. "I thought everyone knew not to sit there."

Rachel looked between the two buys in front of her. "I am Rachel, by the way." She smiled brightly at them as she waited for their response.

"I'm Puck, and this is my best pal, Finn," one of the boys said. Rachel looked at the boy called Finn and thanked him once again for helping her up off the ground. She then looked back at the boy called Puck.

"What kind of name is Puck?" she asked with a wrinkle of her nose.

"His real name is Noah Puckerman," Finn told her, "but he likes to go by Puck."

"My older cousin says it's cooler that way," Puck explained further.

Rachel nodded in understanding. "Well, I prefer Noah because it is such a wonderful name, and it's a shame it has to go to waste."

Puck gave her a funny look before finally speaking, "You're weird. I like it. You can stick with us from now on, right Hudson?"

The taller boy agreed and smiled shyly at Rachel, "Yeah. You can stick with us."

Rachel's smile grew even wider. She never had a friend before, let alone two. She had a feeling that being friends with these boys was going to be a good thing, a really good thing.