Later that day, the evening sky was turning a slow purple as Rachel lay on the grass on a hill in the campus with Puck and Finn. Nearby, Artie sat in his chair, staring up at the sky too. Next to him sat Kurt and Blaine on a red blanket, holding hands and staring into each other's eyes with the purest love she ever saw. In front of them sat Brittany and Santana, who had their legs intertwined and their fingers playing across each other. Sam stood behind Artie, leaning on the chair's handles and keeping the other boy company.

Rachel had walked out of her room a few minutes earlier to see the group walking towards the hill with beaming smiles on their faces. She had asked what the commotion was about. Puck said that it was their tradition that every day, before sunset, they'd cloud-gaze and watch the sunset before going in for dinner, which was always at a considerably late hour. He called it their Sunset Etiquette ritual. It was one of the most peaceful moments of the day, he had said.

She couldn't help but agree.

As the sun started to sink in front of them, slowly being enveloped by the trees, Rachel felt a calmness wash over her. It started somewhere at the tips of her fingers and spread out, causing her to shiver involuntarily as it forced her to close her eyes and relish the moment. A few seconds later, she noticed that the light had changed, and she got off the grass and looked around. Blaine and Kurt had their lips pressed together, and both were smiling into the kiss. Brittany and Santana were just gazing at each other, the fire Rachel had seen in the Latina's eyes replaced with something far less violent. Finn and Puck were stretching, levering themselves off the floor too. And as everyone rose up from the ground, everything seemed like it was going great.

Until a shadow crept up in front of Rachel and blinded her.

She froze, putting her hands up to her face and forcing herself not to scream. She heard a few shouts and then cruel, raucous laughter. She felt a mass press itself against her nose, tightening across her throat. And then suddenly it was gone and she could see again.

"Horatio!"

She noticed the boy then, saw him laughing as he doubled over and almost rolled onto the grass. As he started to calm down, he eyed Rachel with a joking look in his eyes, and moved towards her with his palms out. "Hi there. We didn't get properly introduced. You're Rachel, right?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm Horatio. And what you just experienced, was my power. Sorry." He blushed and shot his thumb over his left shoulder. "They made me do it. As a dare."

Everyone turned their gaze to the other four people approaching, all of them strolling casually forward. Rachel recognized them from earlier. The popular ones, as Brittany had called them.

"So, Rachel, how do you like this place so far?" Horatio continued.

"Go away, ass hole," Finn prompted, stepping forward defensively. Horatio put a hand to silence the larger boy, and Finn seemed to oblige.

"I'm just making small talk here. No need to be afraid." He rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Rachel. "What a Neanderthal."

His four friends had reached him by now, and flanked him on his sides. Ivy was the next to step forward.

"Ivy. And may I say, you could do better regarding your social circle."

Rachel took Ivy's outstretched hand, and looked down when she sensed a weird feeling in her palm. She looked down and noticed that Ivy's ring and pinky finger were missing. Her other hand had no middle finger. Ivy shrugged and pointed at Santana

"Blame that bitch."

Santana growled behind Rachel, stepping in front of Brittany as if she was afraid she would try to be stolen from her again. Ivy laughed and looked back to the diva, smiling as sweetly as she could muster. To Rachel, the smile seemed way too fake, sickly sweet even.

"So, what can you do?"

"I'm a-"

"It's none of your business," Blaine cut in, suddenly appearing at Rachel's shoulder. He grabbed her hand with his own and glared at them. "Look, we get it, you guys are the strongest of your kind. Do you have to terrorize and torture us every waking moment, though?"

The rest of the group gave a collective agreeing shout. Grayson and James looked at each other and smirked at Blaine before holding out their hands. Silently, a spark of fire flew from James's hand, and a gust of wind propelled it towards the boy.

Rachel shut her eyes instinctively, hoping that Blaine would duck in time. When an angry shout came from the twins, she opened her eyes to find that Blaine had somehow made the fire disappear. The twins huffed off, clearly annoyed that they had been bested. Ivy and Horatio followed them, leaving Adamo behind.

He looked at them all one by one, assessing them, before flicking his wrist. A chill descended on them all as frost started to form around their limbs. He smirked and flicked his wrist again, making it all disappear.

"Don't forget what you're up against," he warned before walking away, running a hand through his hair.

As the five figures entered the school building, Rachel turned around to look at everyone. They had all visibly relaxed now, and were walking towards the building when Rachel stopped them by asking, "What was that all about?"

"They're just-" Finn began, but Puck cut him off.

"They're the best of their kind. They've already gotten that status from the Leaders themselves. But the worst part about them is that they're what we call Impure. They have a very conflicted spirit. They're not good, they're not evil, they're just confused. So they tend to do a little of everything. Rumor has it that they're completely evil and that they're always trying to recruit people as their lackeys. What they did to you, they've done to everyone."

"It's a test of strength," Kurt picked up. "They're seeing if you're strong enough to be one of them, or if you're too much of a goodie-two-shoes to be overlooked. It's normal behavior for them with everyone, but they just seem to hate us."

"Why's that?" she asked, feeling just a little bit more confused.

"Because we're Pure, babe," Brittany sang out. "We've got our alliances figured out and we're not gonna turn evil. We're some of the few people in this school who absolutely won't turn over to their side, so they feel like they have to torture us."

"But don't worry. If you just stick with us, we'll keep you safe," Sam assured her, bobbing his head up and down as he walked. "I mean, they wouldn't dare try and kill you. They're bad but…they're not that bad."

It was nearing ten PM, which, according to Tina, was lights out. Rachel glanced at the watch on her wrist. Ten minutes left. She looked around their large room, and smiled to herself. There were the four beds all on the left, a large bay window on the adjacent wall, and a closet and drawer set in front of the beds. Each bed had their own drawer, but they all had to share a closet. There was a small bedside table next to each bed with a lamp on it for reading. Two of the beds had been mashed together, and Rachel figured that that was where Santana and Brittany slept. She had asked Tina if the beds were comfortable. Tina had told her that it wouldn't be the beds interrupting their sleep. Rachel had blushed when realization dawned on her.

She walked out of the room, mumbling to herself about the injustice of there not being a bathroom for each room, but three common ones. As she started to move to the nearest one, her eyes trained to the floor as she watched her feet dance over the tiles, she didn't hear the presence of another human being stepping towards her.

"Hi."

She froze at the melodic voice, and looked up slowly, unsure of what she would find. Before her stood Quinn, dressed in a baggy red t-shirt and grey shorts. She was towel drying her hair, and the small brunette couldn't help but stare at the blonde beauty.

"H-hi."

"What are you doing out of your room? It's lights out in like, two seconds!" Quinn winked at her devilishly. "You don't seem like the type to want to break the rules on your first day here!"

Rachel blushed at how differently Quinn seemed to be treating her now that they were alone. It was almost like they were friends…

"I just want to go and brush my teeth before bed," Rachel explained, holding up the toothbrush she held in her hand. "I don't like to sleep without doing so first."

"Ah."

Silence fell for two seconds before Quinn smirked at the floor, her eyes searching over Rachel's body hungrily. Rachel suddenly felt self conscious, almost as if Quinn had X-ray vision and she was seeing right through her clothes. Before she knew it, Quinn had grabbed the towel and roped it around Rachel's waist, pulling her right up to her chest. They stood that way for a few precious seconds, Quinn's breath tickling the bridge of Rachel's nose. She smirked all the while, boring her eyes into the brunette's. Rachel felt the world go blank, her mind revert back to the fuzziness before, the air in her lungs get heavier and heavier…

The world outside those eyes disappeared. She felt a thread plant itself in her mind, swirling at the back of it, chanting its mantra.

She's so beautiful…she's too good to be true…

Stop!

She screwed her eyes shut and lowered her head. She heard Quinn take in a sharp intake of breath before the towel disappeared from behind her and she was standing alone.

"Huh."

Rachel timidly opened one eye, looking up at the blonde. The taller girl had her arms crossed across her chest defensively, and a scowl painted across her face.

"You're a lot tougher than I thought."

And with that she turned on her heel and walked away towards what Rachel thought was her room. As Quinn's door closed behind her, a bell chimed, and Rachel found herself running back to her own room. She skidded in and closed the door hastily, panting heavily as she lay against the wood.

"You OK there, Berry?" Santana called from her spread-eagled position on the bed. She had on a simple grey tank top and white shorts, both of which complimented her skin tone marvelously.

"Yeah, you look like you've just seen a ghost!" Brittany said from near the mirror. She turned to Tina and smiled sweetly. "No offence."

Tina shrugged the words away and moved towards the brunette. "You sure you're OK?"

Rachel nodded and pried herself free from the door and moved to her own bed, the one farthest from the door. Brittany moved towards her own bed, her hair piled up into a bun, and settled down next to her girlfriend. She was wearing an overly large white t-shirt that said 'LEBANESE' and a pair of trousers with ducks on them. She saw Rachel look at the t-shirt and winked.

"It's an inside joke."

"And my t-shirt," Santana mumbled as she curled up to Brittany and buried her face into her neck, taking deep breaths as if she was trying to inhale the blonde.

Tina rolled her eyes at the two and grabbed a book off the table near her bed. "I'm gonna take a bit of time to catch up on my reading…"

Rachel looked over at her roommates and smiled as she felt a sense of belonging clutch her chest. As she watched Santana and Brittany settle into each other, she noticed how the Latina mouthed the words 'my' and 'mine' to the blonde constantly, almost as if she was affirming a statement. 'My Brittany'. 'My girlfriend'. 'My love'. 'My life'.

"Santana is very…possessive of Brittany, isn't she?" Rachel murmured to Tina, who looked up and smiled.

"Yeah, she is. It's her animal instincts, you know? She's constantly telling everybody that Brittany is hers, and even tells herself that quite a few times. It's her way of showing love, I guess. Once she takes a liking to you, you'll become hers too."

"I heard that!" the object of their discussion pointed out, flipping them both the bird before shooting a toothy grin as a way of truce.

Soft hands splayed across her stomach and then started to roam down, but stopped short of the top of her jeans. Rachel opened her eyes and scowled.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?"

"Just…lemme savour the moment!" the blonde above her murmured in a throaty voice before coming down and planting a kiss on her nose. "I love watching you squirm in anticipation, my little songbird…"

Rachel slithered her hands around the other girl's back and smirked up at her. "You're so damn beautiful."

"Thank you…"

And with that her lips were captured in a kiss so tender, so soft, like nothing she had ever really felt before. When she was freed, she stared back into those green-brown orbs and guided one of her hands down to her jeans again.

"Now, Quinn, you promised you'd give me what I wanted."

Quinn laughed and nibbled at Rachel's neck. "Anything for you…"

Rachel shot up in her bed, wide awake and trembling. The other three girls were fast asleep, and somebody seemed to be snoring a bit. She craned her neck to look out of the window and ghosted her fingers across her lips, feeling for all the world as if the dream had been real.

And god help her, she honestly wished it had been…