titanium - glee

twenty-one ; cool, like ice

Rosy was standing in front of her mirror on the first day of school, frowning at her reflection. She glanced down at her phone, which was opened up to the group chat she was on with the other glee girls and scrolled through the photos everyone had sent of their first day of school outfits. They were all wearing clothes that were their own style and they all looked like themselves whereas Rosy looked like a wannabe Santana. Not that there was anything wrong with Santana, she was one of the prettiest girls Rosy had ever seen, but Rosy didn't want to look like her, she wanted to look like herself. She turned back to the mirror and sighed as she tugged at her uniform, trying to make it look different somehow.

"Rosy! Puck is outside! Come on!" Cal yelled from downstairs and Rosy sighed.

"Okay, I'm coming!" Rosy yelled back. She stared at herself in the mirror again before tugging her hair out of its high ponytail and giving it a little shake. She smiled at herself in the mirror, finally satisfied, before grabbing her backpack and hurrying downstairs, blowing her dad a kiss goodbye and grabbing a slice of toast before hurrying outside with Cal to Puck's car. Puck looked at her in surprise as she climbed in and Rosy frowned a little.

"What?" She asked and he shook his head.

"Nothing, but are you allowed to have your hair out of a ponytail if you're a Cheerio?" Puck asked and Rosy shrugged, sighing.

"I don't know, but I just wanted to be different." Rosy said, settling back into the seat and buckling in her seatbelt.

"Okay."

"Okay." They spent the rest of the car ride singing ABBA, of course, getting through four songs before pulling into the school's parking lot. Everyone turned to look as Rosy climbed out of the car and she bit her lip nervously. It was well known that all Cheerios were required to wear their hair in ponytail and Rosy was risking being kicked off the team for wearing her hair down. But this year was going to be different. This year she was going to take risks. But it was really hard to take risks when everyone was staring at her like she was an alien.

"Maybe I should put it back up." Rosy said, reaching for her hair but Puck stopped her hand.

"Don't, you look great, Moons. Come on." Puck said and Rosy sighed but allowed him to lead her into school. Puck was telling her about his vasectomy over the summer when the walked past Jacob Ben Israel and his camera crew just in time to hear Jacob ask Tina and Mike about the rumors on them dating.

"Because we're both Asian? That's racist." Tina spat as she and Mike walked past Jacob.

"Totally racist." Mike added. He didn't seem to see Rosy as he and Tina walked past her but Rosy definitely didn't miss the two of them hold hands as they walked away. She stared after them in silence, feeling tears start to form in her eyes and it was suddenly hard to swallow for some reason. Puck taking her hand and squeezing it made her tear her eyes away from Tina and Mike's retreating backs and she turned and tried to smile at him.

"You okay?" Puck asked and Rosy nodded, trying to blink away her tears and keep the tight smile on her face at the same time.

"Fine." Rosy said and she turned away from him, trying to find something else to focus on and she smiled genuinely when she saw Artie wheeling up the hallway.

"Hey, Artie, how was your summer?" Rosy asked, not missing the look he shot Tina and Mike's hands as they passed him and Puck got behind Artie's wheelchair as the three began to walk to the choir room.

"Oh, you know, same old, same old. I got some new video games." Artie said as they walked through the door and Rosy nodded.

"Oh, cool-oh my god!" Rosy cut herself off with a scream and Rachel let out a similar scream before the two girls ran to each other, Rosy tackling her best friend with a hug.