Though it was her idea for them to go to the dance, Rachel wasn't prepared at all. Saturday morning she called Blaine, freaking out because she didn't know what to wear or what to do with her hair or anything, really. Blaine came right over, bringing Kurt with him for help.

"Oh thank God you're here," Rachel said as she let the two of them in the front door. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"I hope you don't mind that I brought Kurt. He's better at this than I am," Blaine explained, following Rachel up the stairs to her bedroom.

"Hold on," Rachel stopped halfway up the stairs and turned to face them. "Are you two dating again?"

Blaine looked down at his shoes with a smile that confirmed it, but otherwise didn't say anything. Kurt spoke for him. "Blaine asked me to the dance tonight and I said yes. That's all."

Rachel secretly gave Blaine a thumbs-up before continuing up the stairs. Blaine had been working to fix this for so long and it was finally happening. "Well my room's this way."

"It's… wow," Kurt said upon entering the bright room filled with Broadway posters. "I kind of expected something different from resident badass and womanizer Rachel Berry, but I can't say I disapprove. I didn't know you liked musicals?"

"It was her idea to do Phantom of the Opera at this year's pep rally," Blaine added helpfully.

Rachel shrugged, sitting on her bed. "Everyone has that one thing that completely deviates from their personality."

"True," Kurt agreed. "So where do you keep your dresses? We need to decide on one."

"Um, the only dresses I have are from glee club performances," Rachel admitted. Badasses didn't wear dresses.

"Oh dear. Most of those are atrocious," Kurt shook his head. He knew. He was in glee club with her. "We'll just have to go shopping. Is there anything else we'll need while we're out? Do you own a hairbrush?"

Rachel shot him a glare. "Yes, Kurt, I do. I'm not uncivilized."

"How about makeup? What do you have of that?"

"Um… None?"

Kurt sighed. "We have so much to do. Quinn better appreciate all I'm doing."

"And you think I won't?" Rachel asked.

"No, you won't, because it's going to be painful," Blaine whispered to her as they made their way back down the stairs.

"Fantastic."

Quinn, on the other hand, had a very different kind of freak out that day.

Rachel was going to show up at her house to take her to a dance. Her parents had no idea she and Rachel were friends, much less dating. All they knew about Rachel was that she worked at the country club. They probably didn't even know she lived in Lima.

And Rachel was going to be at her house in just an hour. Her parents didn't even know she liked girls!

Quinn honestly couldn't breathe. She should've just agreed to meet Rachel at the dance. It would've been a lot less troublesome. Maybe if she called now..?

"Quinnie!" she heard her mother call as she ascended the stairs. She appeared in the door. "There's someone here for- oh Quinn. You look absolutely dazzling."

"Thanks," Quinn smiled weakly. She could've sworn she had at least an hour left until Rachel arrived. Guess time flies when you're having an emotional breakdown. "I'll be down in a minute."

"Alright. I'll get the camera ready!" she said excitedly before leaving.

Maybe her mother didn't recognize Rachel? Maybe Rachel didn't show up announcing it was a date? Whatever it was, her mother seemed okay, which put Quinn at ease a little.

"Girls, she'll be down soon," Quinn heard her mother explain. Wait. Girls, as in plural?

Quinn hurried out of her room at this, unsure as to what was going on. Was it not Rachel who was at the door?

Yes, Rachel was there. Rachel was grinning at her as she descended the stairs, and looking extremely beautiful in the dress which she was almost certain Rachel hadn't picked out. It was such a change to see Rachel in a dress, when normally Rachel was a jeans and leather jacket girl.

It was such a shock that she didn't even notice Santana and Brittany were there as well until Brittany was pulling her into a hug. "You look like Cinderella, Quinn!"

"She sure does," Rachel agreed. "Is it my turn to hug the princess now?"

"Oh. Yeah!" Brittany backed off Quinn, going to stand by Santana, who automatically put an arm around Brittany's waist.

"You look absolutely stunning," Rachel whispered in Quinn's ear while they embraced.

"So do you," Quinn whispered back.

"Gosh I hope so after the hell I went through with Kurt today."

Quinn giggled. "I'll have to thank him."

"Make sure to tell him I'm sorry for throwing various objects at his head throughout the day too." Rachel broke the hug then, as Mrs Fabray came back.

"You what?" Quinn asked, wanting to know what could have possibly happened that made Rachel resort to throwing things.

"Another time."

They took pictures then, which Quinn just tried to get them out of as quick as possible. It probably wasn't before 100 pictures were taken though.

Once in Rachel's car, Quinn turned to her. "So why are Santana and Brittany with us?"

"Don't be ungrateful, Fabray. We just saved your ass," Santana said.

"I remembered your parents don't know you're gay, so I thought we would go under the guise of a group of friends going to the dance. Santana and Brittany, well Brittany, agreed to help. Since Santana is Brittany's date, she came along." Rachel rolled her eyes at this, but she was smiling. Quinn knew how bad Rachel felt for completely messing up Santana's life and how much she had wanted things to be alright between Santana and Brittany.

"You think of everything, don't you?" Quinn stated, smiling at Rachel. She had made it out of her house without her parents finding out her sexuality and it was all because of the thoughtfulness of Rachel.

"Well… yeah."

"Still have not gotten my thank you," Santana added from the backseat.

"Thank you, Santana. You too, Brittany."

"You're welcome!"

"I expect a present of some kind within the week," Santana said.

"How about I let you in on the next prank?" Rachel offered, trying to keep Santana and Quinn from getting into an argument that she knew was inevitable if they continued talking.

"The senior prank."

"Fine. But if you mess it up or rat us out to Sylvester…"

"Relax, Berry. I know the drill." And that was how Santana ended up helping with the senior prank.

The dance started off great. The four met up with the rest of their friends when they arrived. Mike had Tina, as usual, and Finn had managed to snag a freshman Cheerio to go with him. Mercedes came with Sam, of all people, so Rachel and Quinn had to politely (in Quinn's case) excuse themselves to go dance.

"Is Puck not coming tonight?" Quinn asked when they got out on the dance floor. He had been noticeably absent from the others.

"He's either late or trying to spike the punch without Sylvester catching him," Rachel explained as they danced. "I doubt he'll make an actual appearance unless he gets caught."

"I'm assuming you normally would help him with that?"

"You would be correct in that assumption, as long as you don't tell Sylvester. She's still trying to figure out who spiked junior prom's punch."

Quinn laughed. "Okay."

They were turning when Rachel saw Gabrielle Avery. She looked happy dancing with whoever she was dancing with, so Rachel decided to investigate.

"Follow my lead," Rachel directed as they started to dance in her direction.

Quinn arched an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Why are we dancing toward Gabrielle?" Quinn said in Rachel's ear when they turned again and she could see where they were going.

"She looks too happy," Rachel explained.

"Why is that a problem?"

"It's not, I just want to make sure no one is toying with her."

She rolled her eyes, but it seemed like this was important to Rachel, so she helped out. Better to help her than let her do it on her own.

Rachel's heart froze when she saw who it was, because she knew him. Nothing good would come of that.

"That's Jesse St James!" she said to Quinn after they quickly left the dance floor.

"Who?"

"He's the leader of our biggest competition in glee club!"

"I thought Gabrielle was a bit smarter than that," Quinn stated.

"I did too! This isn't good… She genuinely looked happy, too. Shit, Quinn, what am I supposed to do?"

"Since when are you the protector?" Quinn questioned, eyebrow raised.

She sighed. "You opened up all these feelings in me and now I feel… guilty about what I did to her." Rachel hung her head, ashamed of these feelings that made her weak.

Quinn kissed her on the cheek. "You're so sweet. Do you need to talk to her?"

"Yeah."

Quinn looked in Rachel's eyes, searching for anything other than the concern they showed at the moment. "Then go dance with her for a song. I trust you."

"You sure you're okay with that?"

Quinn sighed. "Just go."

Rachel nodded, knowing that Quinn wasn't completely okay with it, but she was trying. She hurried back onto the dance floor to find Gabrielle. When Rachel found her, she tapped her on the shoulder.

"May I have this dance?" she offered her hand out.

Gabrielle smiled and took it. "Of course, Rachel. Jesse, I'll be right back."

He glared at Rachel over Gabrielle's head, but said nothing but, "I'll just go get some punch."

"You do realize he's the leader of Vocal Adrenaline, right?" Rachel asked once he was gone.

"Is that what this is about?" Gabrielle laughed. "Rachel, I'm not an idiot. I know who he is."

"Then why are you here with him?" she questioned.

"I'm hoping he'll spill some secrets about his own glee club. Meanwhile, I've been giving him fake info about ours," Gabrielle explained. "So I'm playing the role of his ditzy girlfriend since I've nothing and no one better to do. Unless you're available again?"

"Nope."

"Damn. I thought I saw you and Quinn dance by earlier, but I hoped it wasn't. Speaking of Quinn, where is she?"

"I left her at a table so I could make sure you weren't getting played by Jesse. I didn't want to see you hurt," Rachel said casually.

"You still care about me?"

"Please don't read into that, Gabby. I've just developed a conscience ever since I met Quinn, whom I should probably get back to."

Rachel made to move away, but Gabrielle caught her. "Rachel?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

She smiled. "No problem."

Puck made his appearance right before the crowning of the homecoming court. It wasn't from getting caught spiking the punch like Rachel predicted, but coming in the door with a date like a normal person. Unfortunately, Rachel knew his date.

"Rachel!" Both Puck and his date shouted upon seeing her.

"No no no no no no," Quinn heard Rachel start muttering, each no getting louder as the two got closer. "Quinn let's go."

She tried pulling Quinn away with her, but Quinn wouldn't budge. She didn't see what was so wrong. So Rachel let go of Quinn's hand and ran.

"What's her deal?" asked Puck when he reached Quinn.

"No idea," she sighed. "I'm gonna go find her."

Rachel, meanwhile, was hiding out in the bathroom. The heels that Kurt made her wear ("Quinn will be way taller than you if you don't!") had made her escape both painful and long. She was sure she had blisters developing on her feet, which made her wonder why anyone would choose to wear these death traps.

"Rachel?" Quinn poked her head through the door. Upon seeing her, she came in. "What was that?"

"Sugar," was all Rachel could say.

"What?"

"That girl. That was Sugar, Vocal Adrenaline's girl lead. Also my ex-girlfriend," she explained.

Quinn laughed. "Of course you dated her. Is there anyone you haven't dated?"

"You know, I don't think I ever dated Brittany. She was just too nice to me."

"That was a rhetorical question, Rachel."

"I know. I just thought I'd provide you with an answer." She grinned.

Quinn rolled her eyes before continuing. "So if you've dated all these girls, why are you running away from Sugar?"

"I dated her last year so I could get Vocal Adrenaline secrets out of her, which I succeeded in doing, before dumping her. So I'm pretty sure she'll kill me."

Quinn smirked. "You can't remain scratch-free forever, especially with all you've done over the years."

"Oh trust me, I have plenty of scratches. Literally."

"Didn't need to know that."

"I didn't mean from sex! Though I do have some of those…" Rachel trailed off but caught herself when Quinn glared at her. "I meant from girls who were very angry when I didn't contact them after sex."

"Well you're not hiding out in the bathroom all night. Come on." Quinn took her hand then and practically dragged Rachel out.

"Quinn she's going to kill me!" Rachel whined quietly as they made their way back into the gym.

"Should've thought of that before."

They ran into Puck and Sugar again about a minute after re-entering the gym.

"Rachel!" Sugar cried, running at her.

Rachel braced herself, preparing to take any slaps or punches that might come her way. Instead she was met with a very unexpected kiss. She was shocked for the first second, but then pushed Sugar off of her and looked over at Quinn.

She looked very annoyed.

"Hey, Sugar," Rachel said warily.

"Save the kisses for me!" Puck cried.

"Sorry! I just can't resist kissing Rachie when I see her," Sugar shrugged.

"Rachie?" Quinn asked, all traces of annoyance replaced with amusement.

"Shut up," Rachel muttered half-heartedly. "Puck, why in the world did you bring her?"

"She's hot, and Gabby said no."

"Okay, well we'll see you guys later." Rachel steered Quinn away from the two as fast as she could.

"Look, I'm so so sorry that happened," Rachel apologized once they were out of earshot.

"It's fine. It's not like you were the one who kissed her."

"I know it shouldn't have happened I just…" She stopped herself, running over the words Quinn just said. "Wait you're okay?"

"Yes, Rachel. You obviously love me and not her. Let's just forget it happened and go dance some more?" she suggested.

She smiled. "I'd like that."

A/N: One chapter left, and we're skipping forward to do the senior prank, just like Grease skips from to the end of the year for the race/end of school carnival. I'll post it on Friday as I'm leaving for New York the next day. Hope you've all enjoyed it so far.