Jesse St. James woke up in his UCLA dorm room, wondering about the events of last night. An overly tanned blonde lay next to him under the covers, half awake. Hmm, I didn't do too bad this time, he thought.

"Who's Rachel?" the blonde asked.

"What?" Jesse looked at her as if she had just said something incredibly intelligent, which was highly unlikely with the selection of girls he had been spending the night with. The name inflicted a certain sadness upon him.

"You fell asleep last night and kept saying her name," the blonde said, rolling her eyes. He caught a glimpse of her necklace, which said Malina. I guess that's her name…he thought.

"Oh, uh… my step mom. Must've been a bad dream," he shrugged, trying to avoid a flood of memories rushing through his head. He wasn't going to think about her again. He promised himself that it was just a waste of time, and couldn't possibly do him any good.

"Whatever," Malina grumbled, putting her dress back on. "It's been fun, call me the next time you want to hook up. You're okay at it." She walked out of the room, leaving Jesse to sit on the bed all by himself, but not for long.

Kendall Coy, another freshman from Oregon, walked in the room. "Another night with another chick. Man, they should really start getting paid," he joked, plopping down on his own bed. He didn't care much for whatever Jesse did at night. Usually, he was down at the library being quite the student, or staying at his aunt's beach house just a couple of miles away. "Was she a victim of the Rachel dream too?"

"Kendall. Shut up," Jesse snapped at the blonde. Kendall knew about the dreams, but he never knew about Rachel, or the story behind her. Jesse definitely wanted to keep it that way. He liked that his roommate didn't know much about him. That way, they didn't end up hating each other like most roommates did.

"Whoa man, easy there," he said. "Anyway, when you're done with rehearsal and whatnot, my band's doing some lunch music over at Sandstone, if you wanna come and see the light of day sometime."

"I'll think about it," Jesse said, laying back down on his bed while Kendall walked out the door.

"Rachel, honey, we're about to land," Quinn Fabray said, waking up her aisle seatmate. Rachel Berry lifted her head from her golden star-shaped pillow.

Quinn and Rachel were both making campus visits in California. While Quinn was visiting UCLA to talk to their cheerleading coach, Rachel was there to visit USC's theater program. The thought of going to UCLA made her shudder, bringing back memories of a certain high school flame.

As the plane finished landing, Quinn's eyes lit up seeing the California sunshine. Compared to the dreary and bleak Ohio skyline, this was paradise. She might as well just fill out an application now.

"Fine," Rachel grumbled, "But I'm changing. I really don't feel like walking around in 90 degree weather in velour." Quinn looked at her pink sweat suit and understood.

The two got back to the hotel, where Rachel changed from her pink sweats to a yellow strapless sundress. She brushed her hair into a low side ponytail with her bangs braided, and put on a pair of brown gladiator sandals. Clearly, she had done her research on sun attire from reading countless magazines. She didn't want to feel like the outcast like she always did in Lima.

"Whoa," Quinn said, doing a double take. "No animal sweaters?" Rachel rolled her eyes as Quinn looked at this natural Rachel, who actually paid attention to complementing her tanned skin with the right colors. She dressed more like Quinn, who was sporting a red romper, showing some McKinley spirit thousands of miles away.

"Might as well look for some college guys while I'm here," Rachel shrugged. Her and Finn had decided to take a break, keeping their options open. Quinn was being constantly surprised by this new Rachel. Had the sea breeze gotten to her head? This was a more laidback and fun girl. I might enjoy this week, Quinn thought.

"Well then, I say we start at the beach," Quinn smirked.