Author's note: I do not own Glee, any of the characters, or the Bengals.

First Encounters

Five year old Rachel Berry stood outside of her classroom, eyes shut tight and hands fanned out to her sides.

It was the first day of kindergarten, and Rachel had vowed to make her star presence known to her new classmates. She had begged her fathers for curls for this special occasion, and they had so graciously given in to this demand. Although it had been antagonizing and deathly boring sitting in the hair salon for hours on end, Rachel found the end result to be completely satisfactory. She now had an appearance quite similar to Shirley Temple, one of her icons. Rachel knew that one day she too would be adored all over the world by millions of people. Yes, she, Rachel Barbra Berry, would be America's newest sweetheart.

Re-opening her eyes and relaxing her hands, Rachel took a deep breath and stated confidently, "show time."

She sauntered into the room, tight brunette curls bobbing around her face. She moved her chocolate brown eyes left to right, surveying the other children in the room. It took all of Rachel's might not to gasp in horror.

What terrible fashion sense these girls had! They were all in simple t-shirts and jeans, or lazy overall dresses with slouchy tights and Velcro strapped sneakers.

Luckily, Rachel knew she'd be able to make up for these girls' mistakes. She had been wise enough to choose a bright red satin dress, which although meant for her family's Hanukkah celebration from the previous year, would make a wonderful first impression on her peers. Her tights fit perfectly, unlike some girls in the room, and were imbedded with glitter so that they shimmered ever so slightly under the bright fluorescent lights that, Rachel had noticed, made an absolutely infuriating buzzing noise. She had completed this perfect ensemble with a pair of patent red leather Mary Jane shoes, snapped up good and tight. Indeed, Rachel knew that she would rule the school.

As she continued to survey her classmates, none of whom seeming to be suitable companions, she spotted a group of young boys in the back corner of the room. Rachel scoffed. She knew boys were nothing but messes and trouble, not to mention the fact that they were infested with cooties. But despite her knowledge of boys and their ever existent problems, one of the young males caught her eye in a positive way.

He was rather tall for a five year old boy, with short, dark brown hair, and sleepy looking brown eyes. He had a lopsided smile and wore a Bengals jersey, and from what Rachel could see, he had a bunch of freckles on his neck. While this boy may have been covered in cooties, he was cute!

Rachel skipped over to the gaggle of boys, who were all laughing loudly and playfully shoving one another. She parked herself in front of the cute boy, who gave her a strange look. The other boys snickered and backed away a little.

"Hello!" Rachel trilled, her eyes sparkling with sheer joy. The boy simply blinked. "You're supposed to say hello back," Rachel sighed.

"Uh, hi," the boy responded quietly.

"What's your name? My name is Rachel Barbra Berry. I'm an actress, and one day I'll be a big star! Maybe on Broadway, or in movies and TV. I haven't decided yet."

The boy remained silent once again.

"Why don't you talk?" Rachel folded her arms.

"You're a stranger," the boy looked at his feet, "my Mom said don't ever talk to strangers."

"Silly, I'm not a stranger!" Rachel giggled, "I'm your classmate! So you can tell me your name."

"I'm Finn."

"Finn what?"

"What?"

"I mean, what's your last name?"

"Oh. Hudson."

"Finn Hudson?" Rachel grinned, "That's a cute name! It sounds like a celebrity name, just like Rachel Berry! I'll tell you what Finn; you can be my first co-star in whatever big name production I take part in. What do you say?"

"No thanks," Finn shrugged, "I want to be a football player."

"Why would you want to do that?" Rachel wrinkled her nose, "all football players do is hit one another."

"I think it's fun," Finn tilted his head, "I like football. I like basketball and baseball too. But…I like football the best."

"Football players seem so mean though," Rachel placed her hands on her hips, "and you don't seem mean to me."

"I'm not mean," Finn shook his head.

"So, do your parents encourage you to reach your goal?" Rachel brimmed, "mine do. I take all kinds of dance classes, and acting and singing lessons…I'll be a star in no time! So, what about you?"

Finn was quiet for a moment, before responding, "I only have a Mom."

Rachel frowned slightly, but then cheered up again, "that's alright. I don't have a Mom. I have two Dads. They're really fun."

"I play football with other kids," Finn responded, "it's fun, I guess. I like it when we get juice boxes after our games."

Rachel nodded, her curls bouncing some more. Finn gave her a quizzical look.

"What's up with your hair?" Finn questioned.

"My hair?" Rachel turned red, "nothing. I got it curled to look like Shirley Temple!"

"Who's that? Isn't that the red soda they give you at restaurants? I like those. I love how it comes with a cherry."

Rachel furrowed her brow and growled deeply.

"How could you not know who Shirley Temple is?" Rachel thundered. Finn shrugged. His face was still calm as anything, completely unchanging.

Rachel sighed. She knew boys were hopeless. Why had she even bothered wasting her time on him?

"Well, goodbye for now Finn," Rachel gave a bat of her eyelashes and turned on a heel.

Finn tilted his head again, and called back, "bye Shirley Temple!"

Rachel stopped in her tracks. Spinning back around, she hurried over to Finn, who was blinking wildly. Rachel reached into her white velvet backpack and pulled out a sheet of gold star stickers. She peeled one off very carefully, and stuck it on Finn's jersey, over his heart.

"What's this?" Finn pulled his jersey up to inspect the sticker.

"It's a gold star," Rachel responded simply, "they're my thing. They mean something. They mean that one day; I'm going to be a big star. Consider it my seal of approval!"

And with that, she skipped off again, a big smile on her face.

Finn Hudson, huh? Rachel thought sweetly to herself, he's not so bad after all. Maybe one day, I'll just have to make him mine. After all, every big star needs a right hand man.