Yeah I don't buy the Val death for a second and I'll eat crow if it turns out to be her.
Rachel's death is canon. Val is only accosted by Ethan and his goons if she helped fight them earlier. Killing a character based on indirect MC choice (she just helps if you have enough points with her) would be an extremely bad call. A death just for being friends with someone. So if someone has to die, it needs to be someone that dies regardless of MC choices. John fits the bill.
Just wait till Brooke is revealed as the ultimate mastermind who orchestrated everything to get rid of John and have Emily for herself.
Yeah, our interactions don't change Rachel's fate... she finds some other way to get fired and ends up in the same place.
John is similar, no matter if he's the one that comes to the rescue or not... he always gets involved(not to mention probable paternity).
And Ethan always finds out his true identity, no matter if we attacked Ethan at the door or allowed Erynn to go inside.
It does look a like a character whose fate we cannot change.
the Val thing could still be up in the air, no fucking way she dies in that cliffhanger, that's for sure. But it could still happen in future updates for whatever reason. She is definitely not the top of the list, but for me she is still on it.
It must be tied to some other thing instead of the relationship...
Zach asking Ethan to "help" with Valeria is something that happens indepent to we dating Val or not.
