The rest of her walk had gone well, people staring at her with envy and a lot of disbelief. Rachel could tell that a lot of them thought the same thing as Puck; that she had lost her marbles and stolen a unifrom. However, the looks turned to awe when she had started walking with Quinn, who was clad in her own red and white uniform.
The rest of the day was mediocre. People stared in the halls; the only difference was that now they did it with respect instead of mocking. She ate lunch with the Cheerios, like Quinn had told her to, and was shocked to learn that they didn't really gossip that much. There was the bored "Hey, did you hear about…" that every group had, but it was mostly about the girls themselves. They talked about their hair and other silly stuff, but they also offered support to the girl who's parents were getting a rough divorce, and consoled the girl who's boyfriend had dumped her for somebody on the soccer team.
Afternoon practice had been brutal. They had gone until seven thirty, and had only stopped then because Sue had to film a Sue's Corner segment, which they were required to watch. Brittany told her absently that the practices frequently went until eight or nine, and it wasn't uncommon to have one until ten at night.
Brittany had then squealed, surprising Rachel and summoning Santana and Quinn over.
"What is it, Brit?" Santana asked absently. It's not as if Brittany was displaying any odd behavior, for her at least.
"Rachels sleeping over with us at Quinn's house!" Brittany said excitedly, hopping up and down quickly. "That means that we-"
"Yes, she's sleeping over." Quinn cut in swiftly and smoothly, taking Brittany away from the other two girls speedily, and then appeared to lecture her.
Rachel turned to Santana. "What's going on?"
"What do you mean? You're spending the night, right?" Santana deflected. "We'd better get going. Q's going to want to get there soon, so we can all shower before we have any real fun." Her eyes lit up. "Quinn's house is huge. They have three bathrooms and a master bath, so we can all shower at the same time. Her mom's usually drunk, so she'll be out of the picture at about eight. Then we'll have free reign until we get bored and go to sleep."
"That sounds like a lot of fun." Rachel said with anticipation, but also with a good dose of trepidation. The way Quinn had pulled away Brittany made her wonder if she was really going to have any fun tonight at all, or if the fun would be at her expense. She shook her nervousness; the girls had said that they were sisters now. Sisters didn't do inexplicably mean things to each other.
After talking to Santana for another minute or so, they all walked to Quinn's car and piled in, Santana in the passenger's seat, with Brittany and Rachel in the back.
Rachel didn't mind being in the back. Actually, she almost prefered it. Her dads had gotten pulled over on multiple occasions for having a child in the front seat, as she was so short and police only got a couple second's view.
They chatted lightly in the car as Quinn drove up to an enormous house, classy and elegant, but monsterous in size. Rachel gaped at it for a minute before getting out of the car and heading inside with the other girls, pulling her white Cheerio jacket tightly around herself. It was much colder than she had thought it would be that morning.
They scurried inside, Santana and Brittany branching off in different directions to find the showers that the other brunette had told Rachel about. Quinn kept walking forward, and Rachel followed her, walking up a few flights of stairs and turning into a pristine bedroom that was obviously Quinns. There were cheerleading posters on the walls, which were painted a stark white. The bedspread was a dark red, darker than the uniforms they had on. The floor was a plush mocha-brown color, and was soft to step on.
"You'll be showering in there." Quinn pointed to a door that led into a private bathroom. "Feel free to use any soaps you find, but don't use my razor."
Rachel nodded. "Thank you for letting me into your home." She said solomly, and smiled as she took off her socks and shoes.
A towel flew at her, hitting the side of her head. A startled laugh came from Quinn.
"I thought that you would catch that!" She snickered slightly before leaving, heading towards what Rachel could only assume was another bathroom, leaving her alone in the room.
She set towards the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her; a force of habit, not of worry. Rachel took a minute to take in everything from around her, gaping at what Quinn had.
Her bag on the floor, she stipped quickly and placed her folded uniform onto the counter before stepping into the shower. After reveling in the water for a brief moment, Rachel used the shampoo and conditioner that rested on a shelf on the side of the shower opposite to the showerhead. She squirted some of the shampoo into her hand, and was hit with the smell of pears. She quickly scrubbed her hair, using some of the matching conditioner as well. Scrubbing herself down with the body soap, Rachel determined that she was clean, and had used enough of the Fabray's hot water. She shut off the faucet and stepped out, quickly pulling her hair into a tight bun and drying herself off with the towel.
Her pajamas were in her bag, so she opened it up and threw on her worn-out shorts and blue slushee-stained shirt.
She stepped out of the bathroom, taking a deep breath of colder air after being in the steam for a while. Brittany was already there, lying on the bed with her hair wrapped in a hair turban. She was texting somebody, but threw her phone onto the bed behind her as soon as she saw Rachel.
"Hey!" She rolled off the bed and bounced over to Rachel enthusiastically. "I'm gonna do your nails." She insisted, shoving Rachel lightly towards a cushioned chair next to a window.
She sat down, and extended her hands.
"You can't look until I'm done!"
Rachel smiled, and made a show of looking anywhere but her nails. After a few seconds, she felt a cool liquid start on the tips of her fingers. She laid back and relaxed, waiting for Brit to finish her nails and the other girls to finish their showers.