WOULD YOU BE SO KIND -- glee

ONE; pilot

ALTHOUGH IF ANYONE ASKED FRANCESCA IF SHE LIKED HIGH SCHOOL, she would deny it, she couldn't deny the sense of excitement she felt for her first day of her Freshman year. A normal fifteen year old would be nervous, but Francesca knew she would be fine; her older brother Finn was the quarterback of the football team and he was dating the head cheerleader, Quinn. The week leading up to her first day, she had spent a lot of time with Quinn and her two best friends, Britney and Santana. They had mostly gone to the mall to update her closet, and whilst there they had given her the lowdown on who and what to avoid. The moral of their stories had been to tryout for the Cheerios! and avoid anybody who wasn't either a Cheerio! or a football player. Francesca was hesitant at this; after all, her best friend from middle school was Artie Abrams- a teenage boy who definitely was not a cheerleader or football player, but the trio of girls had insisted she would be committing social suicide if she spoke to him, not to mention the repercussions for Quinn would be deadly by association only.

She had found her locker easily, it conveniently being directly opposite Finn's, and placed her backpack inside, retrieving her notebook for class and walking down the hallway. After only a few paces, she heard her name being called.
"Fran," Artie yelled as she began to walk past him. A smile grew on her face as she approached him, in spite of the previous advice. "How are you finding it so far?"
"The thirty minutes that I've been here have been great," she teased. Artie's face grew red.
"Have you made any friends yet? I've ran over four different people who seemingly have never seen a chair before," Artie stated, a sarcastic tone lacing his words.
"Not really. I know some of Finn and Quinn's friends so that's a start I gu-" Francesca's sentence was cut short. Arms looped hers as she was pulled down the hallway away from her friend. Despite her efforts, she was long gone before she could give Artie a second glance.

"What was that?" The tone that Quinn adopted was sharp, and Francesca saw a large frown on her face.
"Artie is my friend-"
"Not anymore," Santana stated. "Look, you aren't in middle school anymore, sweetie. If you want to be friends with us, ditch the losers." 
"Isn't it dangerous for you to be friends with a robot?" Brit asked quietly, and Francesca shot her a look of confusion. Before she had chance to correct her, the girls began to walk away.
"You have a tryout after school. If you care at all about your reputation in this school, you'll go." Francesca watched  as they left her standing in the hallway, feeling somewhat like a child who had just been told off.

( - # - )

Francesca had been fairly confident going into her tryout for the Cheerios!. Since the age of six, she had attended gymnastic and dance classes and had won several competitions for her routines. She had been training extra hard over summer to be ready, so it did not come as much of a surprise when she walked out of the gymnasium with a uniform on and her hair tightly tied in a high ponytail. Exuding confidence as people parted to let her pass, she smiled brightly. Finn had insisted they go out to dinner to celebrate, and they had both invited their mothers'. Whilst it was unusual for two women to be friends after their partner had been dishonest to them about the other, Carole Hudson and Adele Greenway had done their best to enable the siblings to have a healthy relationship and had quickly become close friends. Both Francesca and Finn were incredibly grateful for that.

( - # - )

To say Francesca was confused when she walked into school the next day to be informed by Santana that her brother had joined the Glee club would be an understatement. Her confusion only grew when she was informed of the other five members; Rachel Berry, an annoying girl from Finn's year who Quinn and the rest of the Cheerios! bullied relentlessly online; Kurt Hummel, the only 'out' gay kid in the school who Francesca knew had been thrown into the dumpster more than once by Finn and his friends; Mercedes Jones, a girl whose personality and attitude were known by everybody; Tina Cohen-Chang, an Asian girl who Francesca had known from elementary school who had somehow developed a stutter; and Artie Abrams, her old best-friend who she had been banned from talking to, but her brother was allowed to be in a club with? 

"Drugs." Finn stated as the pair sat down to eat lunch. 
"Excuse me?" Francesca asked, raising her eyebrow at her older brother who was growing more flustered by the second.
"Mr Schue, they did one of their random locker searches-"
"Wait, they do that here?" 
"I guess. He found drugs in my locker."
"Finn!" Francesca shouted, feeling a sense of anger towards her brother that she had never felt before. Sure, Finn was stupid, but she never expected him to do drugs. 
"They weren't mine, Effy! God, you didn't actually think that did you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, was I not meant to think that when you just told me they were in your locker?" She sassed, stabbing a piece of lettuce with her fork as she did.
"Whatever. They weren't mine. But he said it was suspension and a permanent record which would mess up any scholarship chances for college, or to join Glee club."
"What?" Francesca asked, frowning and she tried to grasp the teachers logic. "You're telling me that a teacher at this school supposedly found drugs in your locker, bad enough to get you suspended, but settled for you joining a stupid singing club instead? That doesn't seem weird to you-"
"Effy, stop stressing the small stuff. My point is I didn't have a choice-"
"What does your girlfriend have to say about it? Because she had a lot to say about me being friends with a member of that club so I imagine dating one of them is going to ruin he-"
"Fran! Please. I already know this. She is going to hate me. I'm going to be a loser at this school." Finn stated with a glum expression as he ate a french fry off his tray. Francesca rolled her eyes at him and laughed.
"Why do you even care so much? You like singing, maybe it'll be fun." Finn sighed.
"Maybe. I doubt it, though." Francesca laughed.
"Stop being a big baby and eat your fries."

( - # - )

Francesca Hudson never wanted people to think she was a bitch, especially not because she was a Cheerio! now. The cheerleaders and jocks in school had exposed themselves as being notorious bullies and, after being bullied herself in middle school by some of the same sophomores who were now trying to befriend her, she made a vow to be different. Being a cheerleader and being kind are not mutually exclusive, she decided. So, as the first good deed of her time at McKinley High, she happily gave Rachel Berry her jacket after watching a slushie destroy the one she was wearing. 
"Why are you being kind to me?" Rachel asked the girl who was looking around nervously at the other Cheerios! and football players in the hallway who were glaring at her as she helped. 
"Because not every cheerleader needs to be a bitch. And bullying sucks. I can't get them to stop throwing slushies, I've only been here a day, but I can be here to help clean you up afterwards." She explained, a small smile on her face as she began to walk to the parking lot where Finn was waiting for her. He smiled, but quickly got into his car and closed the door when he saw who she was with. 

Francesca noticed the large grin on Rachel's face and realised immediately what was happening- Rachel Berry, co-Glee-star, had a huge crush on her brother. 

Fran got in the passenger seat laughing loudly as she did so, watching as Rachel waved frantically at the boy who desperately avoided eye-contact at all costs. 
"Quinn is not going to like that," she laughed, shaking her head in amusement.
"I know,"
"But you're still staying in that club?
"Yeah," he nodded, a half smile growing on his face, "I actually think it may be fun."
Francesca watched him as he smiled and turned the radio on, an old rock song coming on that she recognised from when they were children. The pair sang along together, Francesca much more quietly than Finn.
"Hey, you should join too, you know?" He suggested as they pulled up outside the home of Francesca and Adele. 
"Ha," she laughed, grabbing her backpack and closing the car door, "fat chance of that happening. See you around, big bro."