She doesn't even know where to begin. But before she can try to get the words out, Claire saves her.
"It's Coach Corcoran, right?" she asks gently.
Rachel blinks, surprised.
"Jesse didn't tell us anything," Katy hastens to add. "He ignored the rest of us the entire night. But the two of you aren't exactly quiet. Jake and I came up to get a drink and heard part of it - enough to piece together. We already knew you have two dads - you called them from the airport. And later you mentioned something about a surrogate ... "
"You do look a lot like her," Shoshandra says, scrutinizing.
"She sings like her," Katy puts in.
Her heart jumps. Her mother sings like her.
"So Jesse found out about it, somehow, and didn't tell you?" Claire asks gently.
"Yeah," Rachel agrees. "Something like that." She doesn't know how much it's wise to let them know about loopholes in contracts and their teacher incriminating their former teammate in something that probably skirts a crime.
The bedroom door creaks open, making them jump. Andrea takes one look at everyone's faces, then shuts the door behind her, deposits the plate of bagels on the nightstand, and briskly crosses the room to settle into a chair. "Well, how badly are we going to have to kick his ass?" She takes in their shocked expressions, then grins. "Please. I know him well enough to know something happened. He sulked all night, and now Berry's holed up in here with you all?"
Claire glances at Rachel for permission, then explains in quick, spare detail. Andrea listens attentively, swearing quietly under her breath.
"I had no clue," she says sincerely. "I knew he was hiding something, and I pushed him, but I never thought it was anything like that."
Rachel laughs a little, humorlessly. "Everyone said he was hiding something from me. Giselle kept saying he was lying, but I never thought it would be that, either."
"I don't think he's entirely lying," Andrea muses.
"I might believe him - but really, Andrea, I'm supposed to believe you?" She's been playing nice for five days, and knows keeping up a front is probably smart to protect herself. But now she feels like letting it all go - blood in the water be damned. "You wanted to get me here to - I don't know, to mess with my head to try to sabotage us at Regionals. Because I was this naive little girl who certainly wouldn't know what was going on, right? I'm not that stupid, Andrea. And your best friend is blatantly trying to get me out of the way so she can have Jesse back, so forgive me if I don't believe you playing nice."
"She's not lying about Jesse," Claire puts in. "I want to kick ass at Regionals as much as the next girl, but I wouldn't lie to someone to do it. I told you - I've never seen him like this."
"We knew Coach Corcoran sent him for something," Andrea explains. "They said it was recon - whether that was a cover or not, I don't know. But then he stopped showing up at Saturday rehearsals, and started letting calls go to voicemail. It didn't take a genius to figure out he actually cares about you. That was why I invited you. I had to figure it out, and figure out what we had to do to get our leading man back - because I sure don't like the idea of competing against him at Regionals."
"And messing with my head?" Rachel demands.
"Just a side benefit." Andrea has the gall to smile a little, incorrigibly. "Look, not to rain on your parade - pun intended - it wasn't about you. Not at first. I was trying to figure out what was going on with Jesse, and get him back to Carmel with or without you. Having you around seemed like the easiest way to do it. And if you cracked or leaked your setlist, that was just a bonus."
Put in those terms - if she wants to believe Andrea - it's actually not so bad. Hank Saunders, Tina, and anyone else she's ever steamrolled out of her way at McKinley would probably say she deserves far worse.
"And Giselle?" she clarifies.
"Oh, she definitely wanted to make you cry and leak the setlist," Katy scoffs.
"Hey, she's not a bad person, contrary to popular belief," Andrea defends. "She's jealous. Everyone knows what that's like." Rachel winces, feeling that one hit a little too close to home. Even though she's found something infinitely better, it still hadn't felt good watching Finn and Quinn for the first half of the school year.
"Giselle's one of my best friends," Shoshandra puts in. "But we all love Jesse. I kind of like seeing him happy."
"He makes me happy, too." The whispered admission is out before she even knows she's spoken.
"Do you love him?" Andrea asks, scrutinizing her carefully. Without having to think about it, Rachel nods. "You mad at him?"
"No. Yes. I don't know."
Angry might be the wrong word, she thinks. She's confused, and more than a little embarrassed, and hurt. Altogether, it feels like something resembling anger - although she doesn't blame Jesse, per se.
Andrea gives her a reassuring smile. "Do you particularly want to talk to him right now?"
Despite herself, she laughs a little. "Not right at the moment. I think ... I have some feelings to think about first."
"Come on," Shoshandra says. She pulls the younger girl up off the bed. "I know just the thing to distract you."
"So. St. James. You fucked up good, huh."
"Fuck off," Jesse snarls.
He's perched on the back steps, still thoroughly cursing himself for agreeing to go along with Shelby's plan in the first place. He should have just dated Rachel, kept his mouth shut, and let the chips fall where they wanted to.
Chris is smart enough to just be quiet and keep him away from the vodka. Ben is plenty smart, but he must just not care at the moment.
"I don't know why you're so broken up," his classmate snaps. "Game over. It's your ticket out of McKinley. It's time for you to forget the sophomore and get back to doing what we do best - winning, and intimidating the competition."
Chris is silent, meaning he agrees with at least part of it. The screen door creaks open as someone else joins them.
"Where are the girls?"
"They're inside." Max weighs his words carefully. "Rachel's hanging out with Claire and them. I think she's okay."
"Well, that's a relief. I'm so glad Rachel's okay," Ben drawls.
"Back off," Jesse snaps.
"Like I'm taking orders from you."
"Actually, you are," he warns in a low voice, climbing to his feet.
Ben is nonplussed, getting in his face. "Maybe I'd be more inclined to fall in line if you stopped moping and remembered who your loyalties were to."
"Maybe if you stopped thinking with your dick and used your head for half a second, you'd realize there's more to life than high school teams."
"Oh yeah? Well, while you're using your head, maybe you could figure out where Rachel put your balls, because you're such a pathetic mess right now, I wouldn't follow you anywhere." Ben shoves him back half a step.
"Yeah? You were happy enough to follow me to the first three national titles - "
Jesse shoves him back. Hard. It would escalate father, but -
"Hey. Hey. Hey!" Chris, who has half a head on both of them, shoves his way into the middle. "We're a fucking team! Lay off."
"Yeah. Some team," Ben snarls. "With our fearless leader bent completely out of shape because of some girl from another district."
"You want to talk about people being neutered, Coach Corcoran is going to have you both singing high notes if anyone comes home with a black eye," Chris reminds them.
Ben shakes the older boy off, glares. "He'd just better get his head out of his ass before Regionals. That's all I'm saying."
"You want to be ready for Regionals?" Jesse snaps, in a tone that makes Chris groan, because he knows what's coming. "Go get Jake and Ryan," he orders Max. "Get your asses out back. Now."
He runs them through the combinations of the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' routine that don't involve the girls, over and over, until even his legs are shaking. Feeling reckless, he pushes them through it again when Ben glares at him, until it doesn't look like he's considering commenting anymore. When he runs out of reasons for them to go through that particular sequence again, he improvises.
In his life, there haven't been many bad moods that he hasn't been able to shake with a hard, punishing rehearsal. It hasn't ever not made him feel like himself to be at the helm of the pack, taking no prisoners - just a little bit better than the rest of them.
But this time, there's not much comfort in it.
It's the role he's always played, but - for the first time, he feels like he's wearing a showface instead of being himself.