Santana Lopez thought that coming to New York would be the best thing to ever happen to her. New York is where people fulfill their dreams of stardom, either it being an acting career or a singing one. Santana had always loved to sing, it was her passion ever since she was a little girl, but her biggest passion was to become famous and when she dropped out of college to move to New York with her high school 'buddies' Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel she thought nothing could go wrong. That was until reality hit.
Living in New York for almost 6 months now and nothing has happened for her, the closest thing to fame is working at the Broadway diner next to the actual Broadway building were all Broadway wannabe's work in order to get noticed, but the truth is, nobody gets noticed, not unless you audition and you're incredibly talented, like her best friend Rachel Berry who was a Broadway star, well, was going to be when her production of Funny Girl opens on Broadway in a few weeks time. Kurt who too worked in the diner with her wasn't living the dream of being a famous star, he however was studying at Nyada, the top performing arts school in New York lead by Carmen Tibideaux, a stern, strict but very passionate woman about the performing arts. She may be hard on her students but she only wanted the best and when she saw potential in somebody, she knew that they were ready for stardom, that's what she saw in Kurt. Rachel on the other hand, she wasn't too keen on, she knew that she had a talent but at the same time, she knew that she thought that she was better than the rest of them and that's what Carmen didn't like about her. Santana on the other hand was a very talented young woman with a powerful voice and a beautiful face, unfortunately, Carmen had never had the pleasure of meeting her and that was Santana's downfall otherwise she would've been studying at the college and her dreams would be fulfilled.
But no, Santana only worked in the Broadway Diner with her talents going to waste. The only times that she would be able to show off her talents would be when a customer would request a song and she would have to sing it to them, but most of the time, they wanted their star, Rachel Berry. This of course angered Santana because she knew that she had an amazing voice, she was just as good as her but just because she's not a Broadway star doesn't mean that she's not as good as her. Nothing was going right for her in her life after she decided to move here and the only thing that kept replaying on her mind was 'Maybe coming to New York wasn't the best idea after all.'
She stood behind the counter of the diner wearing her button down high collared red and white short dress which cut off half way down the thighs and a pair of white go-go boots. Her long, dark brown hair dangled down her back almost reaching the top of her buttocks with some of her hair dangled over her shoulders and draping over her breasts. The diner was empty as the sound of the clock across the room behind the stage ticked as time passed slowly. The only customers were the regulars who only ordered cups of coffee from a hard days work. Santana gazed off into the distance as her thoughts ran through her head, thoughts about her decisions of coming to New York, about leaving college with her cheerleading scholarship for a dream that she's always had. Ever since she was in high school she'd wanted to go to New York but there was no money for her to go there, her parents were poor and so was she, the only way she was going to New York or any college would be on a scholarship and when she got that scholarship, she bit their hands off, but then she gave it up for her dream that never happened.
Her thoughts were broken with the sound of the kitchen door squeaking as it swung open, the sound of clicking on the black and white checkered lino flooring of the diner was heard behind her. Santana carried on pumping the tomato ketchup from the pumps into the empty bottles as Rachel Berry appeared behind her.
"I can't believe that Funny Girl is almost here," she grinned, "I mean, I know that it had to happen sometime but I didn't expect it to come around this fast."
"I know," Santana replied disinterestedly, "Who knew?"
"And I can't believe that it's the Regional's already," Kurt added as he walked over to the bar holding a notepad in his hand and a black pen behind his ear, "I mean, they have come around so fast, I remember when we were performing, it feels like it was only yesterday."
"Yeah," Santana nodded in disappointment, "Who would've thought that?"
"Santana?" Rachel asked her as she tilted her head to the side, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Santana lied, "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You just don't sound your usual self," Kurt told her, "It's like you're not interested in it, you were so excited when it was us that was performing it."
"Well," Santana replied, "That was us. I was actually gonna win something and besides," she shrugged her shoulders, "It's not like it has anything to do with me." She picked up the newly filled tomato ketchup bottles and placed them onto the tray, she picked up the tray and walked around the diner placing down the ketchup bottles on the table. Both Rachel and Kurt looked at one another before their gazes turned quickly back to her.
"You are going back," Rachel asked her, "Right?"
"Why would I want to do that?" Santana asked her harshly, "Didn't you just hear what I just said?"
"But we need to support them," Kurt told her, "They're our family."
"Not anymore," Santana replied, "Maybe Blaine is family to you because you're engaged to him and all, but it has nothing to do with me, not anymore. None of my friends are there anymore. Quinn and Puck graduated, and Brittany is no longer there, she's off in University being all smart, which by the way, I didn't see coming."
"I don't think any of us did," Kurt agreed with her. He shook his head and both of his hands in front of his chest, "But that's not the point," he said changing the subject.
"What is the point?" Santana questioned him as she placed down the final bottle before turning her body and placing both of her hands firmly on her hips, "Because I would like to hear your theory on this."
"We were a family," Kurt told her, "We were all the New Directions, even though they may have some new members to the group that doesn't change anything we're still the same group."
"And besides," Rachel added, "We won't just be supporting them, we'll be supporting Mr Schue who did nothing but support us back in high school. He believed in every single of us, even you."
"Especially when everybody thought you joining the New Directions was a bad thing," Kurt commented, "Because you weren't the nicest person back in high school and you'll be the first person to admit that."
"You have to be cruel to be kind," Santana admitted, "I mean, if I wasn't so rude to you then you wouldn't have learnt from your mistakes. I was always there to point out your mistakes and you learnt from them. Because of me, Rachel, you're performing as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl."
"How is it because of you?" Rachel questioned her with confusion, her eyebrows knitting together to form a frown.
"Because if I hadn't have bullied you every day," Santana told her, "If I hadn't told you the truth about how annoying you were then you'd still the same annoying person back in high school that I loved to hate, but now you're not, you're not always annoying, like you're 45% of the time annoying but for 55% of the time you're a great person and that's all because of me."
"And me," Kurt added.
"Yeah," Santana nodded, "But mostly because of me. You became a better person because of me, and you're welcome for that."
"And you became a better person because of Mr Schue," Rachel informed her.
"Oh crap," Santana sighed heavily, "I hate it when you're right. Please say something annoying so that I can say something insulting to you."
"No," Rachel laughed, "I'm not gonna do that." She walked around the counter and walked towards Santana, she took a step towards her, she reached up and placed her hand gently on her shoulder. "You're a good person, Santana," Rachel told her, "And I'm pretty sure that the good in you is saying go and support them, support Mr Schue."
"Come with us, Santana," Kurt asked her, "We can go as a group and support them, you don't have to be alone in this, it's not as if we're sending you there on your own."
"Why did I have to have a soft spot for you two?" Santana groaned playfully with a smile on her face.
"Because you love us," Rachel grinned at her, "And because we're friends, we trust one another and we have faith in one another. And yeah," she shrugged her shoulders, "You did make me a better person, the both of you, but it works both ways, we made you a better person. Okay, yeah, you're still a bitch, but if it wasn't for you then I would still be with Brody and he would still be cheating on me being a male whore. You knew that there was something up with him with your psychic Mexican third eye and that's what friends are there for."
"Oh yeah," Santana smiled and pointed to the centre of her forehead, "My psychic Mexican third eye never lies."
"So come with us," Kurt smiled at her, "Come and enjoy the show with your friends."
"All right," Santana exhaled heavily, "I'll come with you if it makes you feel better." She glanced down at Rachel and asked her, "But what about Funny Girl rehearsals?"
"I've already spoken to them," Rachel informed her, "They said that I can go back home and watch my friends perform because I'm already ahead of schedule and they said that I could have a week off so I can go home seeing as it's not often that I do go home."
"So," Santana shrugged her shoulders, "Looks like we're all going back to watch them perform in the Regional's then?"
"Yes!" Kurt cheered, "The three of us all returning back to McKinley High to cheer on the New Directions."
"The three amigos," Rachel grinned.
"Whoa," Santana responded sternly with her hand held up in front of her chest, "Calm down there, I wouldn't go that far calling us the three amigo's, we're just three good friends, don't be going all weird on me again, Berry or I might just have to go back and insult you again."
Rachel shook her head and laughed at the same time, she spun on her white go-go heels and walked back around to the counter as she carried on filling up the empty salt and pepper shakers with salt and pepper. Santana turned her back and the thought of going back to McKinley High hit her hard, the thought of going back to the place that gave her the dream of becoming famous, the place where somebody actually had belief in her, the place where it all started. It made her realise that coming to New York wasn't the best idea because her dream wasn't fulfilled, she was a waitress at a diner where Broadway wannabe's worked, and it came to realisation that she was just like one of them, she was a Broadway wannabe and that wasn't what she wanted to be, she wanted to be a star and heading back to Lima, Ohio was just another way of telling her that she hasn't made it, that she's just the same person that she was in high school even after 6 months of leaving the town. Santana had always thought highly of herself, but now, she had never felt so low about herself and that wasn't a good look on her.