Santana Lopez sighed and glanced over her shoulder in annoyance. Her best friend, Brittany, was sitting besides her picking at the grass. On the football field, two teams were currently practicing. One was the football team, which was the reason she and Brittany were sitting on the sidelines and the second was the junior cheerleading squad. Brittany and Santana had decided to wait for their friends on the football team before they went back to Brittany's place for a mini-party. It was the last day of seventh grade and they were going to celebrate. Santana didn't mind that one bit.
Her closest guy friend, Noah 'Puck' Puckerman, was on the team and he had begged San and Britt to wait for him and the others. Santana sighed in irritation, not because she had to wait, she was used to that. She was annoyed because freaking Quinn Fabray had insulted her and Brittany when she saw them on the sidelines. It really pissed Santana off how Quinn and the rest of those cheerleading idiots looked down on her. She could do all that jumping around in a short skirt and cheer like a dumbass; it wasn't that hard. They looked down on her because she played flag football with the boys and didn't mind getting down and dirty. So, she didn't dress like a prima ballerina, so what?
It was no secret that Santana Lopez was a tomboy but it didn't bother her. Her closest friends liked her for who she was right? So, why should it matter to her what Quinn Fabray thought about her? It shouldn't, right? It didn't…
Except…
There was one reason why Santana had let Quinn of all people get under her skin. It was something she was slowly admitting to herself (with much difficulty). It was something that she was struggling to come to terms with and Quinn was just making her feel annoyed about it.
Santana watched as the football couch called it a day and her friends started jogging towards her and Brittany. She watched as Mike, Matt, Finn and Puck took off their helmets and grabbed some water before heading over to them. She noticed specifically how Puck's eyes seemed to be wandering over to the cheerleading pyramid every two seconds. She frowned in annoyance. What was up with that? Why did he have to be such a skeez all the time? She knew Puck would hit on any girl…. and that's what bugged her.
He had never hit on her before.
Did she want him to hit on her? No! Of course not! (…Maybe?)
Lately, Santana had been noticing Puck in a lot of different ways. She noticed the way his eyes lit up when he was playing football or the way he grinned proudly when his sister told Puck about how she beat up a kid that had been picking on her in school. The little things that Santana had taken for granted her entire life were suddenly brought to new life. Every little thing Puck did now brought a smile to her face.
She watched as Puck smirked to himself before he stopped in his tracks, placing a hand on Finn's shoulder. The Latina narrowed her eyes in curiosity and she watched as both boys stared at the cheerleaders who were also finishing their practice. The girls started to walk past them and Puck pinched one of the girl's on her butt and she screeched angrily.
'Well, almost everything,' Santana thought with a frown.
"Noah Puckerman!" She cried out before Puck laughed and ran over to Santana and Brittany. The other guys trailed behind him, apologizing to the cheerleaders for their friend's behavior.
"Hey San, enjoy the show?" he grinned at her as he jogged up. Puck glanced at Brittany and winked at her playfully, which just annoyed Santana more. She snapped her fingers in his direction.
"Hey lover boy, if you're done flirting, can we go now?" Santana asked as she stood up and dusted her jeans off. The girl offered her hand to Brittany who happily took it, lifting herself up.
"What's your beef?" Puck asked as he raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"No beef, I just wanna go," she shrugged and crossed her arms across her chest. Brittany glanced between the two as they had a mini stare down before the others caught up with them.
"Mike!" Brittany called happily. "Santana and Puck look like they're going to make-out, you wanna make-out with me?"
Santana and Puck both snapped out of their contest and looked alarmed. Santana thanked God for her dark complexion because nobody noticed how her cheeks warmed up at Brittany's comment. Puck made a face and pretended to gag. "Please, Brittany. It's Santana!"
Almost all the guys (with the exception of Puck, of course) realized the second the words were out of his mouth that Puck was in horrible, terrible trouble now. Finn smacked his hand to his forehead at his friend's stupidity. Even he knew that you never insulted a girl that way.
"But… Santana's hot…" Brittany muttered to herself in confusion.
Santana glared at Puck and then just grabbed Brittany's arm. "You know what? Forget it. Go flirt with the skanks on the cheer squad and I'll talk to you when you grow a brain, asshole," the Latina hissed over her shoulder as she grabbed her backpack and stomped off towards the parking lot. She was already whipping her cell phone out and yelling in Spanish over the phone.
Puck stared after her in confusion. "What the hell?" he asked out loud.
"You basically insulted her girl-hood, man," Mike said with a shake of his head. "You'll be lucky if she forgives you anytime soon."
"It's Santana, guys. She's one of us…"
"See? There you go screwing up again. Santana's a girl, Puck. We figured you'd be the first to realize that," Matt sighed. "Santana may be totally awesome and like playing sports and stuff but she's still a girl… and you totally just insulted her…"
"Besides, she's super cute…even if she's a little scary. How could you not want to make-out with her?" Finn spoke up as she chugged down the rest of his water.
Puck frowned as he took in what his friends were telling him. "Aw, crap… I have to… apologize and shit don't I?"
"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" Mike laughed.
Puck spent the entire summer trying to talk to Santana and trying to get her to listen to his apology. (He had worked hard on that shit, okay?) However, half the summer she had been away at her grandma's house and the other half he'd been at football camp. That didn't really leave a lot of time for Puck to apologize to her. So, on the first day of eighth grade, he waited anxiously for Santana to arrive. He didn't know which locker was hers now but he waited in the general area as he glanced around for one of her sports tees and sweatpants.
However, when Noah Puckerman laid eyes on Santana Lopez again, she wasn't wearing sweatpants or a sport tee. His eyes almost bulged out of his head at the sight of her. (He knew it had to be her because she was linking pinkies with Brittany…)
Santana was in a cheerleading uniform. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she was wearing one of those tight little skirts that he thanked the Good Lord for. Brittany was in a matching outfit but he couldn't tear his gaze away from his Latina friend. As Santana got closer, Puck caught her gaze and she smirked at him. He thought she was going to approach him but instead, she and Brittany went right by him and walked up to Matt instead.
What. The. Fuck?
He watched in shock as Santana smiled up at Matt all innocently and ran her fingers up his arm. Puck clenched his jaw in anger as he watched Matt grin and look down at Santana with a certain look in his eye. Like they were sharing a secret.
Fuck that shit.
Puck sauntered up to the trio and threw his arm over Santana's shoulder. "Rutherford, Brittany…" he glanced down at Santana. "San."
Matt and Brittany greeted Puck warmly but Santana just crossed her arms and stared up at him, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
"Can I get a moment with Lopez, guys?" he asked. Brittany looked like she was about to say something but when Santana unlocked their pinkies and motioned her to follow Matt, the blonde nodded and left with a small pout.
As soon as their friends were out of sight, Santana removed Puck's arm from her shoulders and stood in front of him. "So? What's up, Puckerman?" she asked.
"What the hell is…."? He motioned at her outfit. "All of this?"
"Brittany wanted to try out for the cheerleading squad cos she really wants to be a Cheerio when we get to high school. She said she needed practice," Santana shrugged her shoulders and smirked. "Why? Don't you like it?"
"I…well, it's not that… I mean…." Puck wanted to smack himself. Puckzilla did not stutter. "What I mean is, this is not you. You're not a cheerleader, you don't dress in skirts and you're not—"
"I'm not what? A girly girl?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "I know you don't understand, Puck. But I like a lot of things and I am a girl. I like girl things; I like wearing skirts and just because I can kick your ass, don't mean that I'm not hot. I am smokin'," Santana told him.
"Hey Lopez! Lookin' good in that skirt… all set for Friday night?" Karofsky called as he walked passed the couple.
Puck looked like he was ready to kick Karofsky's teeth in and he waited for Santana to tell him off only to hear her say, "Sure thing, Karofsky. Seven o'clock. Don't be later," she called off after him while she stared into Puck's eyes.
"The hell? You're going out with Karofsky?"
"It's just one date," she shrugged. "What's the big deal?"
Before Puck could say another word, the Latina rolled her eyes. "Listen Puck, I have to get to class. I'll see you around," she said as she strutted past him. Santana's heart raced as she grinned to herself. She knew Puck was watching her and it gave her a huge thrill. Over the summer, Brittany and her had been practicing how to blow Puck out of the water with her girly-ness. She had gone out on a few dates and she was going to keep it going to make Puck jealous.
Not because she liked him or anything but because she wanted to prove a point. Yeah, that was it.
Puck watched as his friend walked away from him feeling utterly lost, confused and pissed off. What the hell was that? Since when did Santana date? Since when did Santana flirt? Since when was Santana such a girl? He knew she was doing this to show him that she could be girly but it wasn't her right? She wasn't this…this hot chick. She was Santana… his best friend. And why did he have the sudden urge to find Karofsky and beat him to a bloody pulp? Ugh, Santana Lopez was going to be the death of him.
So over the summer something changed
I started reading Seventeen and shaving my legs
And I studied Aveda religiously
And I walked right into school
And caught you staring at me
'Cause I know what you know
But now you're gonna have to take a number
It's okay, maybe one day
But not until you give me my diamond ring
'Cause I don't wanna be one of the boys, one of your guys
Just give me a chance to prove to you tonight
That I just wanna be your homecoming queen
Pin-up poster dream, not one of the boys
