Chapter One

Monday Morning

Santana is late for school. Not unusual since she typically could care less, but she would have been on time today if her 8 year old brother Carlos had not puked all over her new car; a super early graduation gift from her parents. Santana is only a junior at McKinley High. She's used to getting rewarded by her parents. Something has to make up for the fact that they are never around. Santana's father spends 90% of his time at the hospital as the head of Cardio, while her mother works as the city's go to divorce lawyer. When they are not at work, they are usually at some fancy gala honoring some guy that dropped a fortune on a special cause, or they are out of town at conventions giving seminars. Santana gets the pleasure of watching Carlos in their absence. She loves her brother, so it's never really a problem. Sure he snoops through her things, is constantly erasing The Housewives on DVR to replace them with cartoons, and tends to cut into her "mack" time, but the little guy is her heart nonetheless. Santana can handle her parents being absent. That's why she fills her time with other stuff. At first it was cheerleading, then hooking up with girls, and now Glee club fills the void. Sometimes, just sometimes, it would be nice to hear the words "I love you", like she imagines some of her classmates hear from their parents. She wants to feel like she matters to them, like she is actually worth their attention and love. Glee Club is the perfect distraction though. She never admits it outside of her inner happy place, but she loves singing through her frustrations and insecurities. It's the only place she feels safe to express any sort of vulnerability. Outside of that glee bubble, she keeps a strict HBIC attitude. She may not be a Cheerio any longer, but she is no less a top bitch at McKinley.

After doing a Lopez level scrub down of her baby, and taking Carlos back home before their father can leave for work, Santana gasses it to McKinley to catch the last half of class.

She strolls into the room and is pleasantly greeted by Ms. Pratt, her AP English teacher.

"Miss Lopez, just in time for me to inform you that you will be completing the next project without a partner. Consider it a perk of tardiness. Seat, now, take it."

Santana gives a not so subtle eye roll to Ms. Pratt and takes her seat in the back. She quickly pulls out a book by Toni Morrison, completely unrelated to the curriculum, and tunes out.

"As I was saying projects are to be tur—"

The door opens again, and all heads turn to see an unfamiliar face.

"Hi, I think this is where I'm supposed to be. The girl with the neckbrace tried explaining it, but I'm pretty bad with directions. I'm Brittany Pierce. I just transferred in."

"Well Miss Pierce you've picked the perfect day to start. I'm explaining the new assignment which will be due 6 weeks from now. You'll be paired with Lopez, Lopez raise your hand", balks Ms Pratt, and continues to explain the assignment.

Santana, only halfway paying attention, raises her hand while keeping her eyes glued to the pages in front of her. Brittany, only really seeing the hand, and not the face hidden behind the book, begins to walk to the empty seat next to her.

She pulls out a rainbow colored unicorn notebook to take notes, but decides an introduction to her new partner is more important. Brittany turns in her desk to face the reading brunette. She takes a moment to study the girl's profile. Her eyes soak in the long brown hair that is all pulled over one shoulder; how she gives the tiniest hint of a smirk at what Brittany can only assume is a funny part of the novel; and how that tiny smirk produces the cutest dimple Brittany's ever seen.

Wait, did she just think that? She shakes her head as if to clear it of pesky thoughts, and stretches out her hand.

She whispers, "I'm Brittany Pierce, your new partner."

Santana doesn't even take a second to look up, but continues focusing her attention on "Their Eyes Were Watching God".

Slightly confused Brittany tries again. "Lopez is an interesting last name, but I'd rather be on a first name basis with you. Care to share", she says and smiles charmingly.

Santana gives an irritated sigh and turns to face the persistent distraction. She isn't expecting to meet the alarmingly blue eyes that steal her breath, the straight blonde hair she finds herself itching to tuck behind the girl's ear, or the megawatt smile that almost cracks Santana's 'I don't give a fuck' demeanor.

"How about you go with, I'm sorry for interrupting your personal time. I'm just fine with that", she says zeroing back in on the pages in front of her.

"Great, I guess I'll just take the notes on OUR project requirements." Brittany gives one last comment before focusing on what Ms. Pratt is saying.

10 minutes later, the bell rings and all students begin to rush for the door. Not having spoken a word to one another since their initial conversation, Santana and Brittany pack up and prepare to leave. Santana gets the jump on her and heads for the door when Brittany stops her.

"So maybe we should exchange numbers, so we can actually work together on this." No reply. "Lopez?" Huffing, she smoothly swipes the phone that was securely clutched in Santana's hand.

Surprised and impressed, Santana just watches as Brittany punches in her number with a touch of aggression. As she hands back the device, her pinky lightly grazes the other girl's, and she feels an eruption of goosebumps over her arm. Santana's eyes shoot to hers. They stay caught in the moment until the first few students for the next class begin to trickle in seconds later.

Both ladies are snapped out of the trance.

Clearing her throat Brittany speaks up. "I was thinking maybe we could start today after school. I have tryouts, but I should be ho—"

"Hold up Barbie, I fully intend to start this project at the very last minute possible. I'll let you know when that is for me. Cool?" Not waiting for an actual response, Santana walks down the hallway, leaving a dumbfounded Brittany in her wake.

Lunch

Santana sits at a table surrounded by her fellow Glee club members. She twirls a fry in her hand as her friend Kurt animatedly re-enacts the Patti LuPone number he performed in class. Santana inwardly questions why exactly she sits with the gleeks at lunch. She is still welcome at the Cheerios table for god's sake! Then she remembers just how many former teammates she has gone a round or two with in bed, and is okay with avoiding that awkwardness. Still, it would give her a chance to hang with her best friend a little more. Oh well.

Bored to tears, the brunette scans the cafeteria for anything more interesting what was happening in front of her. Her eyes stop on a pair of endless legs that are currently gliding between tables. Those legs just happen to be attached to her English partner. Brittany doesn't notice her at first, but as she passes the Glee table, she feels a pull to look down at the students who occupy it. For the second time that day, blue eyes lock with brown. She brisks by without any acknowledgement of her.

'Can legs actually be that long? Like don't they have to end at some point?' Santana thinks to herself.

She watches on as Brittany takes a seat at the Cheerios table, which confuses her, since Brittany is new and is not donning the official red and white uniform. The blonde greets the surrounding cheerleaders with that damn smile of hers and causes her to internally melt. What catches her off guard is the hug Brittany gives to one Quinn Fabray, the HBIC at McKinley, captain of the Cheerios, and proud member of the Glee Club. Not to mention, Santana's best friend.

"Earth to Satan. Hey we're talking to you" Kurt snaps in her face and grabs the fry she has been twirling between her digits, and nibbles on it.

"Snap in my face again, lose your fingers Porcelain. I tuned out when you started vomiting rainbows. What? "

"I said..are you going to the Noah's party tonight? It's the first time he is actually inviting us too!"

"Correction, it's the first time he is inviting you guys. I've been Puckerman party royalty since 7th grade."

Mercedes is stealing a fry from her plate as she says, "Yeah, because you two dated. Which is whyyyy, you should extend your privilege of residual popularity, to us."

Santana gives an unimpressed frown. She and Puck had dated on and off from 7th grade to Freshman year. Back then she was a Cheerio and scared shitless of the feelings she was having for other girls. It was at 15 that she finally admitted to herself that she enjoyed looking at her fellow Cheerios way more than her boyfriend. At end of season party in 9th grade, Puck walked in on his girlfriend between the legs of her teammate Dani. It was certainly not the first time Santana and Dani had hooked up; it was just the first time they had gotten caught. Puck was crushed. No matter how awesome he claimed it was that is ex was into "lady love", once they had rebuilt their friendship; both he and Santana knew how hurt he was when he walked in on her going down on another girl. After his discovery, Puck ended things almost immediately, but not before Santana admitted that she was in love with Dani, and not just fooling around with her. She worked up the nerve to express her feelings to Dani as well, only to find out that she was horrified of coming out and wanted to break the whole thing off. She claimed it was all a mistake and that she could never be into girls for real. They both knew that was a lie. Santana brushed it off on the outside, but in response to the rejection, did the last thing anyone would expect a head Cheerio to do. She quit the squad. She couldn't be around the girl who ripped her heart to shreds.

Word did travel that she had cheated on Puck with a female, not that he outted her or anything; but it did go down at a small town high school party, so the rumor spread fast. The good news for Dani was that no one could figure out who the mystery lady was. Santana didn't deny it when other students began to whisper about her dabbling with the same sex. She never officially came out, but instead let everyone draw their own conclusions. She was beyond caring how others perceived her. Her aloofness to the gossip made her a hot commodity with her ex teammates. Santana was hot. She was confident. She knew what girls liked in bed, so girls really liked her. Halfway through sophmore year, Quinn requested she stop sleeping with her Cheerios, as the captain noticed the decline of several of the girls' performances due to getting the brush off from her best friend. After the debacle with Dani, Santana not only stopped caring about how others viewed her, but also about how she treated her conquests. She joined the Glee Club to fill her time with activities outside of her bedroom, not expecting to actually like it; then convinced Quinn to join with her so they could still see each other at school. Santana hasn't looked back since.

She knows she is more than welcome at the Puck's infamous bashes, but unless she is looking for a bed mate, she never really attends. She no longer has to fulfill Cheerio social duties.

"You have to go Santana. We need someone who can circulate the crowd and not leave us to make out with Finn, like Quinn will, or spend all night talking about Mike's abs, like Tina is doing right now."

Everyone zeros in on Tina touching her boyfriend, Mike's abs, as she carries on about how he manages to have 8 of them.

"See Satan, we need you to guide us through the jungle of popularity. We want to be amongst the people. All for one right?" says Kurt hopefully

Taking a pregnant second to consider the party, she makes her decision.

"Fine, but I leave on Snix time, aka when the meatheads start banging their fists on their chests and saying dude a lot."

As everyone celebrates the victory in getting Santana to cave, Quinn and Brittany approach the table.

"Did we miss something exciting here? Don't tell me, Rachel decided not to come back from her New York with her dads tomorrow?" asks Quinn in a sarcastic tone.

"She'll be back tonight." Deadpans Kurt

"No, my girl Santana has decided to go to Puckerman's tomorrow night," beams Mercedes, bumping Santana's shoulder.

"Really? S you haven't been to one of those in awhile." Then she gets an idea, "But that's perfect because you can maybe introduce my friend Brittany here to some people while I keep Finn occupied. Guys this is Brittany. We met in cheer camp a couple years ago. She just transferred from Thomas. Brittany this is, well a fraction of the glee club. This is Tina, Mercedes, Kurt, Mike, and Santana.

"Santana, and I have already met", she says looking at her sharply, "Nice to meet the rest of you", and her expression has softened in the blink of an eye.

Quinn glances between her best friend and her cheer friend and something clicks.

"So this is the nightmare partner?" Brittany gives a subtle nod. "Don't mind S, she loses the bitch façade once you get to know her better. Well, kind of", she says glaring down at Santana only to get an eye roll in return.

Brittany notices the exchange. "Right. I think I should head out now. I'm still learning where everything is and I don't want to be late twice in one day. I'll see you at tryouts?"

"Sure." Quinn pauses for a second. "Hey Britt, why doesn't Santana show you to your next period seeing as how you guys need to discuss this project of yours anyways."

Santana whips her head toward Quinn and looks at her as though she is crazy. Then she feels a heel dig into her toes.

"Shiiit, geez Fabray what's your problem?" Santana asks highly annoyed. "And I have things to do, so…no. Barbie can find her own class like the rest of us had to."

"Or maybe you can hit pause on the bitch act today and help her out since this morning was such a rough start." She pointedly regards her friend.

Santana considers Quinn's statement. Brittany had clearly shared their earlier interaction with the short haired blonde. Fine she was kind of snappy earlier, but people just accepted that from her. Besides, Santana knows that letting her guard down around Brittany will inevitably lead to her heart being stolen and most likely trampled, again. She's already starting to notice things the smallest things about her, like those damn freckles that pepper her face, the cute unicorn notebook she used during class, and the adorable scrunch of her nose when she laughed really hard at whatever lame story Quinn was telling only a few minutes before. Santana is in trouble.

Quinn taps her foot and eyes her expectantly.

With no further words, Santana rises from the lunch table and simply nods for Brittany to follow her. They head towards the Junior lockers and first stop at Santana's so she can swap books.

"Thanks, for showing me to my next class. That's really nice of you." Brittany is clearly offering an olive branch.

"Whatever. Which teacher do you have next?" Santana grumbles as she shuts her door. They begin to head down the hallway.

"Peterson for Calculus."

With mock enthusiasm "Oh goody, looks like we share more than English. Come on."

The two walk in silence to their next block. The bell rings and other students begin to swarm and scurry. When they arrive, Santana takes her usual seat in the back while Brittany chooses an open spot in the front row. As she begins to unpack her backpack, Brittany receives a tap on the shoulder from a very blonde and generously lipped, Sam "Trouty Mouth" Evans, asking for a spare pencil. Santana takes notice. Sam makes her giggle with some ridiculous played out impression, and Santana just watches in disbelief.

'So freaking charming. Of course they hit it off. Apparently this chick is the nicest girl in the world, because absolutely no one laughs at Trouty's impressions. Oh my god he's touching her leg. I can't'

The exchanges continue throughout Calculus. Santana observes how Sam throws quick glances at the girl beside him, and how she seems to catch each one, and return it with a bashful smile. What she also picks up is that Brittany is very focused on what is being taught by Mr. Peterson. Her pencil moves back and forth across her notebook in a gracefully efficient way. She only seems to break attention when Sam gawks at her with his blatant googly eyes. Clearly Brittany is serious about actually absorbing differential equations, which somewhat piques Santana's curiosity for her.

When the bell rings, the brunette has heard none of what actually took place in class. Luckily she is the type that never has to try hard to succeed in school. She sees Brittany and Sam making their way out of the classroom and decides that maybe they've talked enough for the day.

"Hey Pierce."

Brittany's laughter dies down as she turns to Santana. She quickly replies "Brittany works just fine, Santana."

The shorter girl inwardly cringes. "Sorry. Brittany. Can I talk to you for a sec? About the project…alone?" She directs her eyes to Sam provides her Lima Heights evil eye. Having fallen victim to this in the past gives Brittany a parting smile and walks away. Turning back to the other girl Brittany waits for her to begin speaking, to no avail. Santana is just gazing at her.

Clearing her throat, "You wanted to talk about the project" she says, feeling her ears heat up.

"Yeah. Starting. Uh you said you wanted to do it. The project, start doing it. Today." Santana rubs her neck, completely embarrassed at being caught, and even more so at losing her inability to form a sentence.

"Oh. No longer on Lopez time?" Brittany replies smugly. "How about after school today. Well not right after school. After my tryout."

"Ok that's acceptable." Snapping back to the version of herself she recognizes. She can't let Brittany have the upper hand. "I know what time tryouts end. Be at my house no later than five. I needs to get my beauty rest. Can't win all the pretty girls over with just my beautiful mind." She winks, and is able to access her flirting abilities to use them on the offensively gorgeous blonde. Santana slips her a piece of paper with her address on it.

Stunned at what she thinks has just been revealed to her, Brittany finally puts words together. "Quinn. She's giving me a ride."

"Perfect. She knows where to find me. See you at 5 Blondie," and with that Santana flashes her famous smirk and triumphantly glides away.

Brittany looks on at swaying hips as she contemplates when exactly staring at a girl's ass has ever been her thing. Santana Lopez will trouble.