First attempt at FanFiction-please help yourself to reviews, they are greatly appreciated. Feel free to provide constructive criticism regarding my writing (heaven knows I need it (: ) Also, don't shy away from any thoughts or ideas you have/want to see incorporated into the story. Thanks so much-enjoy!


In a perfect world everything in your life would work out. You would graduate high school and college with flying colors. You would get your dream job and never have to worry about financial stability for as long as you live. You would find yourself forever surrounded by your best friends—never imagining your life without them because you simply wouldn't have to. You would find the love of your life, hold on to them tightly, and never let them go. Things would miraculously fall into place without trouble or worry.

Except, the world isn't a perfect place. In fact, it's the farthest thing from it. Instead, school becomes the most stressful contributor to your life. You find yourself working a dead-end job wondering how you got there and where things went wrong. You discover that, over time, you probably lose more friends than you make because people are fickle. And your love life is in shambles. You rack your brain, going over all of your exes questioning everything you did and said to them. You internally flinch every time someone asks you how you are doing, answering with a short "Fine" because they don't expect to hear anything else—even if you are quite the opposite of fine.

But what if I was to tell you, despite all of the fear, sorrow, regret, and pain in the world, despite the fact life isn't perfect and flawless, there is still something to live for? Would you believe me? Probably not. Not until you found the thing for yourself, that is. Seeing is believing, and all that stuff, right? Well, I believe in staying strong and going down swinging; I believe in giving life your all, even when it's throwing everything it can at you; I believe in a higher power, whether that be God or not I'm not sure yet, and I believe in love—not because I have to, and not because I feel obligated to. No, I believe in all of those things because life is too damn hard to go through not believing them.

They say love makes the world go round. They say love is worth it. In spite of the potential, and somewhat inevitable, heartbreak and misery and hardships, people constantly say love makes everything better. Maybe that's true. Because sometimes, you feel like you're at the end of your rope—you feel like you can't handle anything anymore. That's how life goes. But if you are lucky enough to find the person you want to spend the rest of your life with—the person who knows every single little thing about you, both good and bad, and chooses to love you anyway, those times don't seem as difficult. They give you a reason to get up each and every morning and continue with your life. They give your life meaning.

Sometimes people miss out on that one significant, special person because they're not looking for them. They don't exactly care so that person slips in and out of their life with so much as a passing glance. Yet, others don't find that person because they're looking too hard; everywhere they go they examine every person, asking themselves if maybe this time the person standing in front of them is the one. These people—the people who don't care enough to look or the people whose desperation clouds all other elements of life—are the ones the world should have sympathy for. Not because they're terrible people or are the dregs of society, but because they may never know what it feels like to totally and completely be in love with another human soul. They will never be able to thoroughly appreciate the gentle caress of a lover. And they may never know what it's like to be committed to another person, and just how much of a purpose that can give you.

The best kind of love, in a lot of people's opinions, is the surprising kind. The kind that blossoms from a friendship, the kind that no one really sees coming. The kind of love that is found when two people stop looking in all of the hidden crevices and corners of the world and begin looking right in front of them. It's kind of hard to beat that type of love—it's strong and it's pure. It's genuine and it's passionate. And more than that, it has the potential to be unwavering and eternal. A love like that is rare and special—and people need to appreciate it when it comes along.

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The train rattled and clicked along the tracks at a steady pace as Santana Lopez sat in one of the last compartments threading her hands through her hair and letting out an exasperated sigh. She stared at her laptop sitting beside her and crumpled up yet another piece of paper as she threw it onto the ground, watching the pile grow. She glanced around the small room and was extremely grateful to be alone. She didn't want anyone—even if she didn't know the person—to see her beginning to crack under stress and pressure. She was Santana Lopez, goddamit, and stress and pressure were supposed to just slide right over her, leaving no mark of their existence. However, being a college student clearly took its toll on even the toughest, most badass people of the world.

"This prompt doesn't even make any sense," Santana muttered to herself as she looked at her computer again, rereading her assignment for the tenth time since she boarded the train twenty minutes ago. She stuck the end of her pen between her teeth as she read the prompt word for word hoping to make sense of it at the slower pace, but to no avail. In a fit of frustration Santana threw her pen at the screen of the laptop and sat back in the seat, closing her eyes and again running her hands through her raven colored hair.

A few minutes passed as Santana listened to the sounds of the train coming from outside her compartment. She heard muffled discussions of people talking about why they're travelling from New Haven to New York City, or how their youngest kid was sick last week. Santana sighed again and was so lost in thought she failed to hear the door of her compartment slide open as a new person entered the room and took in the sight of the clearly weary girl.

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Santana Lopez beginning to come undone at the seams?" a soft, melodic voice asked, and Santana's eyes snapped open at the familiarity of it. The voice could only belong to one person in the entire world.

There, standing tall with a broad smile, stood Quinn Fabray. The person who changed Santana's view of love literally overnight. The person who made Santana question what she had with Brittany in the first place; the person who, since they went their separate ways, had consumed almost all of Santana's thoughts. The one and only person who had the potential to give Santana everything she wanted, while also possessing the capability to break Santana's heart into a million pieces.


Sorry it's so short, by the way! I kind of just needed a set up chapter to get my foot in the door and get things rolling.