525,600 minutes

the prologue

He had promised, she had given him underwear! Her real underwear, granted they were her least favourite pair but she had worn them and the disgusting little pervert had run the story anyway!

"Rachel!"

Of course it was Finn and judging from his expression he had already seen the blog.

"Finn, I'm-"

"Save it Rachel! How could you? Do you really hate Quinn that much? Do you have any idea what you've done?" He was yelling at her, red in the face, veins popping in his neck yelling.

"Wait, I didn't-"

"Do anything!" He cut her off. "I noticed, thanks a lot Rachel. I thought you were a better person than this, I thought you were a different but you're just the same as all those bitchy cheerios. Do me a favour and stay the hell away from me and my girlfriend."

He stalked off down the hallway before she could even explain anything, she could feel her own anger simmering beneath her skin; anger that Jacob had lied to her, anger that Finn had believed the worst in her. And now she felt anger at the person who had thrown a slushie in her face, the grape stung her eyes and matted in her hair, Puck was holding the jumbo gulp and smirking in satisfaction.

"You shouldn't have let Jacob run that story loser."

She wiped the cold ice from her face with a tissue her vision clearing enough to notice that Mercedes and Kurt were laughing at her from their lockers. In fact everyone was laughing, you'd think it would hurt less after a while but it didn't. Still cold, wet and sticky she walked robotically down the hall and out of the school, she couldn't stand to be in that hell for another minute.

Her walk home was uncomfortable, the slushie dried against her hair, skin and clothes. Cars tooted at her and yelled out things; she probably did look strange, a high school girl walking with no books or bag and covered in a purple slushie.

"Daddy?" She called out entering her house, it was Thursday, which meant he was home rather than at the office, Leroy Berry owned car dealerships all over Ohio which meant she had a pretty nice car, one that she had no intention of ruining by staining its upholstery with slushie.

"Rachel sweetie what happened to you?" He ushered her into the den, the TV was on but muted some random movie playing.

"I haven't exactly been the most truthful about my schooling experience. The education I am receiving is satisfactory but the social aspect has become detrimental to my health." She breathed in deeply, it was a hard thing to do, tell your father you were a loser. "I'm a freak Daddy, the other kids tease me, they draw horrible things about me in the bathrooms and send me nasty messages online, they throw slushies in my face almost daily. I thought I was strong enough to deal with it but I'm sick of being the outcast, I'm sick of not having friends."

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" Leroy asked hugging his daughter tightly to him not caring that he was staining his shirt; that's love.

"Who wants their parents to know they're the laughing stock of their school?" She replied with a sad smile. "I tried so hard to turn the other cheek but somebody else would just throw another slushie at me! No one cares if I'm a talented singer destined for Broadway!"

"How can I make this better?" He asked, he was a sucker for his daughter and would do anything she asked.

"I didn't tell you or Dad but I applied for a scholarship at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York; I got an offer last week; it's a full ride Daddy! Liza Minelli, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro all studied there!" Rachel said in a rush. "It's the school from Fame and is a guaranteed introduction to agents and talent scouts from all entertainment avenues."

"You want to leave?"

"I don't want to leave you or Dad but this is an amazing opportunity for me, I would be surrounded by peers who share my passion and don't demean me because of it!" She was pleading her case with passion; her realization that her status as a zero was never going to change did much to drive it. "We could all go up next week together and you can help me settle in. One semester, and if my grades aren't top notch and you still think it is a bad idea I'll move back, no arguments."

"You've really thought this through?" He double-checked. "What about Glee Club and your friends?"

"I don't have any friends." Rachel told him willing herself not to cry. "The Glee Club only tolerate me because they know without my voice they won't win at sectionals, they saw what happened today and they laughed!"

"Well if it's what you really want." He agreed reluctantly, it was only one semester, he consoled himself.

"Oh thank you Daddy!" Rachel beamed and it wasn't even forced, she hugged him tightly. "I'll go call the admissions office and notify them of my acceptance!"

Rachel skipped away up the stairs leaving Leroy by himself, he sighed and reached for his phone calling his husband. This was going to be a long conversation.

She hadn't bothered with school the next day, her fathers had booked tickets for them on Friday giving her two days to pack. It was surreal to think this was the last time she would walk to halls of McKinley, at least if she had her way. Her fathers had already informed Principal Figgins of her transfer but she felt compelled to inform Mr Schuester himself, she didn't want him to think it was his fault. It wasn't although he had tried to stand in the way of her career.

"Rachel!" He exclaimed as she appeared in the doorway of the Spanish classroom, the students glanced at her briefly not paying her attention past that.

"Can I speak to you for a moment in the hall?"

She pretended not to feel the eyes of several of the glee clubbers as he followed her.

"I'm not sure if Principal Figgins has informed you or not but I've accepted a scholarship to a performing arts school in New York, I leave tomorrow."

The shock on his face was evident, this was definitely the first he had heard of it.

"But why?"

"It's what's best for me, everyone already thinks I'm a selfish brat so I may as well do something to make myself happy." She answered. "You can tell the club, I'm sure they'll all be excited to take over my solos, I wish you the best of luck."

Taking advantage of his shock she quickly strode away to her locker she needed to empty it finally freeing her from this place. Bag full and bulky she gave one last look to McKinley High, she wasn't sad to leave it, taking that first step out of there felt amazing. She was getting out of this cow town, going to the bright lights of New York City; she'd escaped.