A/N: Shorter chapter/scene, but one that needed to be written.

The locker room erupted into loud, derisive voices. Keeping her chin up, Rachel used her years of acting experience to stay looking confident as she clomped up to the space Coach Beiste motioned her towards. Heart pounding in her chest, she stared back at the sea of zombies and Karofsky who stared at her.

"Alright! Listen up!" Beiste barked, clapping her hand down onto Rachel's shoulder, "Meet your new wide receiver."

"Oh hell no," Azimio threw out, "We ain't having no girl on our team!" Many of the other Titans nodded, yelling out protests of their own.

Coach Beiste's whistle cut through the uproar. "Girl?" she barked, pinning each of the dissenters with her eyes, "This girl almost single handedly saved this game! The game that you idiots obviously didn't care enough about. Do you honestly think you even deserve to play? Why should I even allow you back on the team?"

"But you need us," Karofsky protested.

Beiste whirled on him. "Do I?" When he flinched back, she continued, "We were doing pretty well without you."

"Coach," Finn stepped forward, a concerned, furrowed brow expression on his face even through the makeup; Rachel straightened, giving him a shy, hopeful smile. Surely he'd be one of her supporters. But Finn avoided her gaze. "I'm not saying that Rachel didn't help us, and I know we wouldn't have been able to play without her for the first half, but… We have the team now. The real team."

Real team. Rachel stared at her ex-boyfriend. "Real team?" she whispered, "I wasn't part of the real team?"

Finn looked uncomfortable. "Rachel, you know what I mean," he tried to backtrack, "Of course you were part of the team. I'm just saying that we don't need – that you don't have to let Coach tell you you have to play. I know how… Barber-something you think football is."

"I can't believe you, of all people, Finn," Rachel stepped forward, glaring at him, "Would think I'd do something I didn't want to do just because someone told me to!"

"Rache – "

"Don't Rache me – "

Beiste's hand came back down onto her shoulder. "Save it for the football field," she ordered, looking back and forth between Rachel and Finn, thoroughly unamused. Chastened, Rachel took a deep breath, forcing a smile on her face while still staring intently at Finn. "I'm fine, it's fine. Right, Finn?"

"What?" Finn blinked, then shook his head. "No, wait, Coach." Turning completely to the large woman, Finn held up his hands. "This is not a girl thing," girl thing? "Or, or even discrimination," same thing, Finn, "But as the quarterback of this team, I really think the guys – or, uhm, other teammates – wouldn't be able to play their best if, if Rachel was on the field," he finished lamely.

"Oh shut up, Hudson. You're just afraid Berry'll steal your thunder." Puck suddenly burst out. Standing, he walked over to Rachel's other side. Smiling down at her, he looked back up and stared menacingly at his teammates. "I for one, have no problem with Rachel being on the team." He then bumped her shoulder, grinning. "Us hot Jews have to stick together."

Pleasantly surprised, Rachel didn't have any time to thank him before Mike and Sam shrugged and joined her. Rolling over, Artie gave her a supportive smile. "Hey, she scored two touchdowns, yo. Sister has skillz," he explained, putting his palm up for a high five, which Rachel gave him, a wide smile on her face.

"This is crap," Azimio scoffed, "You four lose your Man Cards?"

"Yeah, are you going to turn into girls now?" Karofsky echoed.

Puck lunged towards the two, but Mike and Sam managed to catch him before he could reach them. "You're one to talk," he snarled, "What about your doll collection, Karofsky?"

"Action figures," Karofsky growled, standing up, his face darkening, "They're action figures."

"Okay, enough!" Beiste bellowed, her voice bouncing around the room. "The only one who gets to decide who stays on the team or goes is me. Not any of you. Rachel stays. You don't get rid of a prize bull before the cows come home."

Rachel looked up at her. That one almost made sense.

"In fact," Beiste glared at the Titans still opposing her, "You all have nothing to complain about! Only Jackson might have a claim."

Almost as one, everyone turned to stare at a slim zombie sitting near the back. "Already wide receiver," Mike whispered, and Rachel nodded. She hadn't thought about how her new status would take someone else's position. She started chewing on her lower lip before remembering, once again, the amount of makeup caked on it.

The zombie, Jackson, shrugged. "Actually, I have no problem with her joining."

"What?" Azimio shouted, "Dude, what the hell is going on here? Is there some crap in the water that's making all of you guys girls?"

Jackson glared at the larger boy. "Hey, unlike you, I actually paid attention to the game. She's good. And besides, with her on the team, I won't have to do as much." When he acknowledged her, Rachel realized he was the guy who had actually been into her and Puck's performance of Need You Now before one of his teammates glared at him to stop. She gave him a smile. After this game, she decided, she was going to seek him out and not only ask him about what, exactly, being a wide receiver entailed, but also see if he was interested in formally joining glee. It would be nice to have another male lead. Even more a plus if he had a deeper voice. Sometimes, it was painfully clear only Artie (and every once in a while, Kurt) sang below the key of Justin Bieber.

"And there you have it. Rachel's in. Quit whining and be happy I'm still allowing you to play. Now, we have strategies to go over. You four going to help Rachel understand it?" she looked at Puck, Mike, Sam, and Artie, who nodded. "Good. Now take yer seats! We have a lot to do."

Flanked on each side by her fellow glee members, Rachel walked as stately as she could to a free spot on one of the benches. Sitting down, she managed to hide her wince, as well as ignore Finn's unhappy stare; she would have to figure out how she felt about his conduct later, away from him and this circumstance. Acutely aware of the hot glares she was receiving, she just held her head high, turned her attention to the whiteboard, and tried to understand the Xs and arrows Coach Beiste was drawing on it.

However, a thought nagged at her. She waited until Coach Beiste was busy erasing and redrawing a new plan, "Hey, Puck," she whispered, leaning towards his ear.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you really supporting me?"

An arrogant, wide smirk took over his face. "You're a chick, right?"

"Of course I am!" Rachel snapped, insulted.

"Right. Well, think about it like this." He leaned in closer, "Once you're an official football player, the Cheerios will automatically rally around you. It's their nature. And more Cheerios around you means more Cheerios around me."

That made her groan. Of course. "But what about Lauren?" she quirked her eyebrow at him.

Puck's expression dropped. Then, "The Puckster's still got eyes, don't he?"

Yes. He did. Rachel made a face at him, and turned back when the coach started talking again. She was going to have to get used to more male testosterone than she ever wanted, wasn't she? She couldn't believe she'd ever thought that the boys' locker room was going to be sexy.