Past Mistake

*Chapter 2*: In Another Life

Rachel went back to the bathroom and stood gaping at herself in the mirror. She turned her head to the left and then the right before touching her nose and frowning.
Her old nose.

Shortly after college she had been one of the final two girls for a show but lost the role because she didn't have the right 'look'. Right after that, she got her nose fixed—it had been Finn's suggestion.
She sighed and leaned back, looking at the clock in the other room. It was nearly seven; if she didn't get ready, she was going to be late.

She walked over and turned the shower on before quickly stripping out of her pajamas and jumping into the warm water. It took longer than most of her showers; she stood there for a while, closing her eyes before opening them back up, expecting to see the dark tile of her shower, not the white tile currently surrounding her.

After getting out of the shower, Rachel got ready in a daze and was only snapped out of it when the doorbell rang and one of her fathers called up to her. She glanced at herself in the mirror one last time, grabbed her bad, and walked out of her bedroom.

Shit.

"Hey, Rach!" Finn greeted, smiling at her from the bottom of the stairs. Of course Finn was there; he always picked her up for school.

"You look great," he said as he went to kiss her, but Rachel turned her head so all he got was her cheek. Rachel was already making a mental to do list. Item one: Break up with Finn.

She was already feeling bad for him; in this lifetime, they were happy together so she was going to have to let him down easy. He hadn't done anything wrong—yet—but there was no way she could pretend to be in love with the boy. Not after everything she knew was going to happen in their future.

For a fleeting moment she thought about trying to fix all that, but something told her that's not what she was here to do. She didn't know why she was here, but it had to be a better reason than not ending up divorced.

Finn was looking at her in concern. "Rachel?"

"Hmm?" She looked up, realizing she'd zoned out. "Oh sorry! I'm ready."

Finn smiled at her with a dopey grin and took her hand in his.

"Senior year; this is going to be great."

Rachel hummed in response as he led her to his truck, opening the door for her; she forgot how sweet he used to be. Finn ran around the front of the truck and jumped into the driver's side while Rachel just stared out the window.

She was vaguely aware that Finn was rambling about something, but she wasn't listening to a word he was saying. All she could think about was what the hell was happening.

When she went to bed, she was twenty-nine years old, and when she woke up, she was seventeen again. That wasn't natural. Time travel only happened in the movies, not in real life.

Maybe she wasn't the only one this had happened to. But how was she going to find out? She couldn't just go up to people and be all 'hey, did you come from the future too?' People would just thing she was crazy. Well—crazier than normal.

"Rachel, have you listened to anything I said?"

Finn asked her and she finally heard him. "No," she replied honestly.

"Why are you acting so weird?" he asked, scrunching his eyebrows in that confused look that he often had on his face. Rachel couldn't help but laugh.

"I've had a bizarre morning."

She suddenly noticed where they were—the parking lot of William McKinley High School. After an involuntary gasp, Rachel opened the door and shouldered her bag.
I can do this.