A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. I hope you'll enjoy this part too.
Chapter 2
By the end of the week, Rachel was already feeling quite at ease with the idea of the Fabray twins, mostly due to the fact that Charlotte was by far nicer than her sister and seemed to genuinely appreciate the brunette's offered friendship. McKinley High's general population, though, had had a much harder time getting used to seeing Rachel Berry joined at the hip with someone who looked disturbingly like the newly reinstated HBIC, Quinn Fabray, and was apparently the petite singer's self-appointed bodyguard and best friend.
When she got over the initial shock of Charlie's unexpected return after three years of being practically exiled in boarding school ("Please, Rachel, I really don't want to talk about that now, but I promise I'll explain later.") and the burning embarrassment at having sprained the girl's wrist on her first day back in school ("Don't worry, Rach, it wasn't your fault I fell on it. It'll heal. And I'm left-handed anyway."), the diva had decided it imperative that the blonde and she try to rebuild their friendship. In order to achieve that goal, the little brunette had initiated various out of school activities, such as shopping ("But only if you promise not to make me try on any clothes.") and movie night, in which Charlie had participated with surprising enthusiasm ("You try being cooped up in that house with Quinn aaaall summer long..."). So as Friday rolled around, Rachel really did feel as though she finally had a best friend and happily let herself be dragged to Puck's first party for the new school year.
The party itself was a mess of all the jocks, cheerleaders and all-around popular kids, together with the whole Glee club, crammed inside the Puckerman house and backyard, and engaging in small talk, drinking games and general promiscuous behavior. And by the time the Fabray twins arrived with Rachel in tow (much to Quinn's obvious displeasure), the merriment was in full swing.
The moment the three girls stepped through the door, Quinn went off in search of Brittany and Santana without a glance back at her sister and the petite brunette, who had opted to hang out with the other gleeks. The duo found them playing (or, some, observing) a game of beer pong around Puck's coffee table. Kurt was the first one to notice them approaching and he broke off his conversation with Mercedes to say hello.
"Good evening, Rachel and... Charlie, right?" he drawled at the newcomers, but his eyes were firmly fixed on the blonde. This attracted the attention of his fellow gossiper, who was sitting next to him on the couch, as well as the players: Mike, Matt, Tina and Artie. All of them waved in greeting and went back to the game.
"Well, I don't imagine my sister would sit and stagnate here with you all night," Charlie quipped with a playful grin and dropped next to him on the couch.
"And I am certain you are aware that my spending any extended amount of time in close proximity to Quinn Fabray would result in serious body harm for me, Kurt," Rachel started, seemingly intent on ranting the boy, and everyone in hearing range, to death. A sharp, well measured tug to her hand, however, had her falling sideways, half on the arm rest of the couch and half on top of the blonde, who proceeded to untangle their hands and wrap her arm around the singer's waist smugly. Charlie winked at Mercedes and Kurt and chuckled quietly at the looks of silent gratitude that crossed their faces.
"Talking about the devil tends to summon her, Rach. Careful," the remark caused everyone around (all the kids had been following the conversation with curiosity, despite the game which was supposed to be going on) to burst into laughter.
"Okay, Miss Witty Twin, since you seem to enjoy talking almost as much as our resident argyle-loving diva does," the male part of the gossiping duo began.
"We're sure you're gonna enjoy tellin' us what the deal with your lil' private school is," the other, more female (but possibly just as feminine) part finished.
Before Charlie had a chance to reply or even consider opening her mouth, a red plastic cup was thrust into her free hand, its contents sloshing gently.
"What she said."
Puck had approached the group unnoticed and was now leaning on the back of the coach above her, leering down at her and Rachel with a lewd grin on his face. The blonde tilted her head back slightly to raise an eyebrow his way, but then lifted the cup to her nose and sniffed the liquid inside. Evidently she was satisfied with the result of her inspection because an answering smirk lit up her face and she took a sip of whatever was in it.
"Rum? Aw, Noah, thank you so much," she said in a voice too sickeningly sweet not to be at least a bit mocking.
"Don't thank me yet, babe. Just get on with the story," the smile slipped somewhat off the boy's face. He obviously did not appreciate the use of his given name.
"There's not much of a story, really," Charlie shrugged. "My dad caught me kissing a girl. Follow a big fight and I'm being shipped off to an all-girls boarding school to avoid the public humiliation of having a gay daughter."
Rachel was the only one who didn't seem completely immobilized with astonishment. She clearly wasn't faring much better than the others, though. The dark-haired girl's hand shot up and plucked the cup out of Charlie's grasp. Then she downed its contents in one go before anyone could realize what had happened.
"Wait, you're gay?" Artie was the first one to find his words. "You're Quinn Fabray's sister and you're gay? Does she know?"
"Yes, I'm Quinn's sister. No, I'm not gay. Yes, she knows," Charlie smiled.
A bemused "Q knows you're not gay?" came from somewhere above her head.
"She knows I'm bisexual," the blonde clarified.
At that Rachel snapped out of her stupor, flinging her arms around her friend's neck. The little brunette pressed herself against Charlie, now fully on the taller girl's lap, and breathed into her ear, "Oh, Char, I'm so, so sorry you had to go through all that."
Said girl, noticing Rachel's distress and feeling the wetness of tears against her skin, couldn't do nothing but wrap her arms fully around the diva and whisper back, "Hey, everything's alright now. I'm here now and mom divorced the bastard. Shhh... Come on, Rach, don't cry."
"Look what we have here. Q leaves you for one second and you get your arms full of hobbit."
That's when the three Cheerios and Finn decided to join the rest of the Glee club.
"And hi to you too. Britt, Bitch, Rainbows," Charlie nodded in acknowledgement. "Oh, and the giant. Hey, Finn, didn't see you there for a moment."
Everyone except Quinn, Santana and Finn chuckled at this greeting. Even Rachel pulled back so she could see the new arrivals. Then Kurt realized what he had heard exactly.
"Oh my goodness, did you just call Santana Rainbows?" he gasped (maybe just a bit overdramatically). The Latina in question glared at him, but he was too invested in the answer to pay any attention to her.
Charlie just smirked and squeezed Rachel's hand in her own before she responded, in a perfect imitation of Kurt's tone.
"Oh my goodness, I don't know. Maybe."
But her eyes were firmly on her twin while she did this.
TBC