Annie rummaged through her locker as she switched out the books for her next class and was surprised to hear her phone begin blasting an "Anything Goes/Anything You Can Do" mash-up that signaled a call from her future sister-in-law. Originally, when Annie had first found out about the sophomore that had reduced the Rachel Berry to tears, she'd immediately hunted the (admittedly irritating) Harmony down and asked for a download of the performance simply to aggravate the diva. However, even now with her and Rachel on decent terms, the song had actually grown on her and she hummed a few bars before answering.

"Annie, hi!" the NYADA student greeted happily. "I know you're at school, but I'm between classes and I wanted to call and congratulate you on your lead in the musical. Everyone here is so proud of you, and I was talking to Finn last night and he said you've been fantastic."

"So he did get back okay?" Annie asked with an amused sigh as she shut her locker and leaned against the metal. "He forgot to call."

"Yeah, he's been a little distracted," the older girl acknowledged in equal tone. "He basically landed and went straight to bed, then raced off to class the next morning. I swear, he's been running non-stop since he got back."

"Then I guess it's good that he came home for a while," Annie said with a smile. "I mean, I knew he couldn't stay the whole run, but he seemed kind of stressed in the beginning."

"I was really worried about him at first," Rachel admitted. "There's so much pressure coming at him from all sides, with school and the culture shock of the city and me and Kurt and Blaine being gone all the time: I really wasn't sure if he could handle it. But something about being back in Lima—I don't know, he's just really focused all of the sudden. He's even leaving notes and sending ideas about the wedding—I've been afraid to even really mention it until now." Annie chuckled at the idea that Rachel Berry would be too nervous to bring up anything she really wanted. "But everything's going so well, and I just know that it had to do with you Annie—so thank you."

"Wow, Rachel—that's really sweet," the sophomore replied. "I'm glad that he's doing better."

"And we all just wanted to wish you a happy Valentine's Day," the diva continued. "Finn also mentioned that there might be a special someone?" Annie could hear her smirking as the sophomore blushed at the phone. "Do you two have anything special planned?"

"Not really," the Cheerio confessed. "We're not official exactly, and he's still kind of gun-shy about the whole thing."

"Then maybe you should make the first move," the older girl advised. "That's what I did with your brother, and look where we are."

Annie didn't comment that the last thing she wanted was the drama that seemed to follow Finchel, but instead thanked the New Yorker before reminding her that she had to get to class. The two hung up, and the brunette remained in place for a moment, pursing her lips as she stared across the hall in thought.

The bell rang signaling passing period, and Liam strode angrily toward his locker, practically ripping it off the hinges as he pulled it open and pulled out a spare battery from his back-up equipment. Normally he'd just borrow one of Drew or Teddy's, but both boys had wisely taken to hanging back after class while the lanky brunette's anger built up on his way to English. He knew it wasn't their fault, but he was finding it harder and harder to stomach seeing the two Perfects together during class, even if they weren't acting any more romantic than usual. It was that Indian punk's insufferable bliss over the party: it was like he was purposely deluding himself over Emma's feelings for him, and making them both miserable for it. God, it just pissed him off!

Second bell rang, and he realized he'd been staring inside his locker with his hand holding the battery for the last five minutes. He sighed in frustration and threw the metal door closed: now the Wonder Twins were making him late.

He was so lost in his own thoughts as he hurried to class that he didn't even see the girl emerging from the supply closet in front of him until he'd already run her over.

"Oh crap, I'm sorry— Hayley?" he interrupted himself in surprise as he recognized his victim. The red-streaked girl also seemed flustered, throwing the door she'd just exited closed as she regained her composure and turned to face him. "Did you just come out of the janitor's closet?"

The rebel glanced warily at the door before shrugging and casually finger-combed her somewhat-unkempt hair. "Well, it was either grab a smoke here or go all the way out to the bleachers, and I have to at least pretend to go to class sometimes."

"You smoke?" Liam repeated incredulously. "You don't seem like the type—or smell like it, either."

"Electronic cigarettes," Hayley told him quickly, hitching her bag up her shoulder and adjusting her jacket. "Anyways, what are you—hall monitor?"

"No, I just…I don't know—everyone's acting completely OOC this week, and it's just throwing me off," he told her.

The Asian girl smirked as she shifted her gaze to the closet. "Don't I know it," she replied, unable to shake the grin taking over her face. "Come on; I'll make sure you get to class."

The AV nerd considered his teammate as they walked. "You're in a good mood," he remarked, arching an eyebrow in her direction. "I thought you hated Valentine's Day."

"I do," she told him. "But that doesn't mean I can't have a good day this week."

"You were weird yesterday too," he pressed, causing his friend to huff.

"Seriously, Liam? What do you want me to say? That I'm having fantastic orgasms in that supply closet and that's what's got me in such a great mood?"

The boy's face blushed bright red as he ducked his face in discomfort. "Okay, okay—shutting up now."

Hayley nodded in satisfaction, and they walked another minute in silence before she finally asked, "So this perpetual tantrum wouldn't have to do with a certain pathetically overreaching brown-noser, would it?" The prankster said nothing, and the girl next to him groaned. "Aw, come on—seriously? Who cares if she gets back with the Moobie Worshipper?"

Liam couldn't answer her—how could he explain why he cared if Emma was with someone that could never really make her happy or not without sounding like he was a hopeless torch-carrier? Instead he glanced gratefully ahead of them and said, "This one's mine."

"Yeah, have fun with that," the trouble-maker told him, waving as he slipped through the door before continuing down the halls alone.

Stassi scoped out the empty hallway thoroughly for good measure as she reached the auditorium; she'd gotten sloppy this morning in her impulsiveness and she wasn't looking to get caught meeting someone she wasn't supposed to. When she satisfied herself that the coast was clear, she slipped inside and up the stairs.

"You're taking some risks, texting me," a voice observed, and Stassi identified Nikki sitting in the dark up toward the top rows. "I thought we were making an effort to stay on the DL."

"Well, a little birdie warned me that you were out to make a mess, and then in third period Bert and Ernie's web page blew up with a story about one Glee-related Chess Hobo stealing his father's credit card so he and a certain twirly Twix could hook up."

"Sounds like a hell of a story," the Asian girl commented evenly as she played with a dark lock in her high pony.

"Not sure how much of it I believe, considering the guy in question only owns three outfits," the other junior noted as she collapsed into the seat next to her friend's.

"Well, our informant was simply a witness, which makes her light on details; so I may have given the Muppets license to embellish," the HBIC smirked. "They tend to have good instincts, as the follow-up interview seems to attest."

"So what's the end-game here Nik?" Stassi asked curiously. "You just trying to stir up trouble?"

"I'm trying to get you home," the Captain replied in earnest, turning to face her friend head-on. "Aren't you tired of this masquerade? The means may be for Coach, but the end is for you and me. I'm ready to be done with these games and start putting the empire back together." The girl took a deep breath and composed her features. "Do what you have to for good press, but let the winds of change blow a level-three storm through the halls and set things back to right."

Stassi shifted uncomfortably, "Should I be worried?" she inquired.

Nikki gave her a look. "Cool your jets—I respect Grannis' value too much to risk our friendship. Trust me—you'll come out with a clean slate on this one."

The strategist watched her friend lean back nonchalantly before shifting her gaze out onto the stage, wondering if it would really be as easy to revert to form as her friend seemed to think it was. Even if she did find herself vaguely concerned about various members of her team, she couldn't help but yearn for the ease of her former life, and if there was no way she was to be implicated, then maybe she could just do damage control until the collapse.

She sighed quietly as she chewed her lip. It wasn't like the strong ones wouldn't bounce back—if all Nikki had was the revelations of the party, there wasn't too much destruction that could be done. It wasn't like the busybodies were really that good that they could dig out entire reputation-eradicators from something as ambiguous as a drunk hook-up.

She steeled herself internally as she straightened up in her seat. Everyone would be fine, and she'd be done playing bodyguard. They were a team anyways, she reminded herself. It wasn't like they couldn't lean on each other to bounce back. They didn't need her. She was going home.

Nina knew her education was important. She knew ditching her business class was not the right thing to do on a normal basis, but she had listened to an entire hour of gossip surrounding Bert and Ernie's Muckraker Vlog about Dylan and Katie, who were already a known couple around school, and a spoiler post promising a breaking story at lunch. She just couldn't handle the trepidation that was overwhelming her as noon approached, so she forged a pass and slipped it to Mr. Duncan before heading out to the lot.

To relieve some of her guilt, she had headed to Between the Sheets—at least she could get some work done on her Glee assignment if she couldn't do real schoolwork. She wasn't really in the mood for romantic, but she wanted something more interesting than "Single Ladies".

A chorus of tittering pulled her from her focus, and she looked up to see a gaggle of girls fawning over something near the piano in the center of the store. She rolled her eyes, wishing they would shut up or at least swoon more quietly, and willfully turned to another row of folders. Despite her best efforts, however, the girls only got more fervent over whatever was drawing their attention, and Nina pressed her hands together against her lips for patience before finally giving up and storming over to the group.

"Excuse me," she whispered shortly. "I know this isn't a library, but if you could be a little less energetic—"

She found herself cut off as the girls turned to glare at her, allowing her a clear view at what was drawing their awe: decked out in a sharp navy blazer and slacks, a ridiculously gorgeous guy was grinning smugly at his fans. He ran a tan hand through his curly locks, a lopsided grin lighting up the stubble along his jaw.

He glanced over at her, his crystal blue eyes training on her as his smile grew wider. The boy stepped away from his fandom, hands adjusting his lapel as his smoldering gaze trained on her—

What a second, she chided herself. Did she just call his gaze smoldering? And why was her heart beating double time while her palms turned sweaty? For Pete's sake this guy wasn't that big of a deal!

And yet now he was standing in front of her, with a seductive smile and a "Hey," and Nina's mouth was dry as the Sahara. In the back of her mind she was screaming obscenities at herself for being struck completely dumb.

"Sorry about the noise," he told her, chuckling. "I'm afraid I can sometimes instigate a bit of a ruckus."

Tool! Tool! Tool! A voice deep in Nina's conscious screamed, but all she could manage was a breathy laugh. "It's okay," she said with a shy smile.

"I'm Billy, by the way," he introduced himself as he extended a hand toward hers. "Here, how about I make up for my disturbance by helping you? Let's see…" He tipped her folder toward him. "Marry the Night? Really?"
"It's a Valentine's Day assignment," she admitted. "Either for or against the holiday—I'm kind of on the fence."

"How can you be against a holiday that celebrates love?" Billy asked incredulously. "Personally, I feel like this is the one time a year where every guy actually remembers to appreciate the amazing women that pass through his life, and that's a beautiful thing. Kind of like you," he added, his fingers delicately grazing over her jaw and he gave a brilliant smile.

The junior chuckled coyly, glancing downward and trying to compose herself. "Yeah, well, some of us are shy of a guy to fawn over us, and the last thing we want is to be reminded of that."

"I find it impossible to believe an exotic beauty like you doesn't have a line of people tripping over themselves to hand you the world," he insisted. The Bulgarian could only shake her head, her heart getting caught in her throat. "Well then we have to remedy that immediately." He began scribbling a phone number onto a flier. "I'm supposed to be handing these out to everyone, but I'm going to add my number to this one so you'll be inclined to come as my date. My show choir team, the Dalton Academy Warblers, is hosting a Valentine's Day Open Mic Showcase this Thursday at BreadstiX, and I would love the honor of escorting you as my date-?"

"Um, Nina," the Cheerio stammered in surprise. "Nina Grannis."

"Nina," Billy breathed back at her. "Perfect. I'll pick you up at seven."

He pressed the paper firmly into her hand and winked before walking away, leaving the New Direction gawking in shock after him.

"Not to doubt your capabilities as a strategist, Stassi," Michelle whispered, glancing around nervously. "But should we really be in plain sight at a time like this?" She pressed her lips in a thin line as picked at her lunch. "I mean, maybe Nina had the right idea—"

The junior investigated her nails critically as she scoffed at her teammate. "Look, if Russia wants to crawl under her desk and try to Duck-and-Cover, that's her call; but if we're getting slammed with a smear campaign, the best option is to stay together. Their best tactic will be to get us alone and hit us from all sides. If we outnumber them, we can stay calm long enough to execute our defense."

"And what's that again?" Annie asked uneasily. She was not happy to be drawn in with the group that thought it was most at risk from the revelations of the party, but she was grateful that she at least wasn't alone.

Stassi sighed. "Silence—if they come at you with gossip, true or not, just say no comment and move on."

"Won't that just make things worse, like we have something to hide?" Caroline rejoined skeptically.

"The fifth amendment may sound like implied guilt," Emma responded, "But without a testimony to twist around, it'll be really difficult to give the rumors staying power."

"Ace is right," the Armenian agreed. "Just look at Hobo Joe and Bubbles—Bert and Ernie caught them alone and by surprise: now she looks like a pay-by-the-hour type."

"Hey!" Caroline remonstrated, as her friend was hiding out with her boyfriend and not available to defend herself. It fell on deaf ears, though, as Stassi pointedly ignored the girl.

"And believe it or not, those two were the softballs. Nikki lobbed that one out there just to test her new toys—her 'anonymous' source and her Muppet minions. It's only going to get worse from here, guys. So we stay together, in plain sight where we look like we've got nothing to hide, and just steel ourselves for whatever comes our way."

The group nodded. "Well, here we go then," Addie voiced, eyes widening as she watched a pair of gossip hounds with a camera pacing toward them.

Lindsay Erne twisted the microphone in her hand as she took a cleansing breath, glancing at her Cheerio bestie ruefully before turning to her counterpart with the camera and nodding.

The group waited with baited breath as they listened to the freshman begin, "Welcome back to the Muckraker's Here and Now, students of McKinley. As promised, we have an exclusive interview for our newest breaking story." The spray-tanned girl angled herself to include the team's table. "Emma Malley—"

"No comment," the sophomore interjected, not even glancing up as she sipped her water deliberately.

"But your peers are eager to know about the status of the Academic Power Couple," Ernie insisted. "Back on or still off?"

Emma scoffed. "Still no comment."

"Could your hesitation be coming from the belligerent sexual tension noted between yourself and your once rival-turned-teammate Liam Stewart?" Emma, caught by surprise at the question, looked up incredulously at the squat girl, who took the opportunity to push, "Or could it be now that Ashwin is on the upswing as McKinley's Most Eligible Bachelor and figuratively tasting all the flavors that the school has to offer?"

"What are you talking about?" the sophomore spat at them, her face contorted in distaste. Stassi coughed pointedly, and the brunette blinked to recompose herself. "I mean, I have no comment. Go away, before I revisit your press rights with Principal Figgins as Student Body President instead of just a student."

Lindsay bit her lip in consideration, but a text apparently changed her mind as she nodded at her Asian cohort and the two thanked the girls and slipped out the cafeteria doors.

"Not bad," Stassi opined, digging into her damaged cuticles.

"Hey guys—looks like I missed the party," Rhi greeted as she slipped into the seat next to Addie.

"More like the ramblings of two idiots," Emma replied.

"Yeah, since when is M. Night Shamylan the Most Eligible Bachelor?" Annie laughed. "No offense Emma."

"None taken," the brunette answered. "I'm still trying to sort out the whole 'tasting' comment."

"Oh, they're just implying since he's slept with both of us he's got a wide pallet," Rhi offered. "The tasting thing is a reference to wine or something I think?"

"Wait, slept with who?" the sophomore sputtered, immediately insisting, "Ash and I never—"

"You didn't? Oh," Rhi shrugged, taking a bite from her pizza. "He told me he wasn't a V, and I just assumed…"

Annie glanced uneasily between the brunette and the blonde, "Well, you know how sometimes guys can exaggerate their experience to cover up their lack of skills," she rationalized.

"But that's not Ashwin," Emma insisted. "Not even with Walt." She fixed Rhi with a critical stare. "You must have misunderstood him, that's all."

"Or maybe he had a fling before you two got together?" the junior suggested.

"In eighth grade?" the academic exclaimed skeptically. "I've been his best friend since third grade—he would have told me."

"Apparently not," the newest Gleek retorted frankly. "But hey, don't take my word for it—if you two are so cozy, ask him about it."

Emma glared at the blonde. "I've just lost my appetite," she announced shortly, standing abruptly and storming from the table.