Chapter 1

Santana Lopez had never been in the limelight, it just wasn't her thing. She preferred to live life in the background, without everybody everywhere knowing her business; to put it more simply, she was shy. That's not to say that she was boring; she was a very talented musician, though nobody knew that, of course, except her family and her best friend, Blaine. They had known each other since birth, as their mothers were best friends in high school; and, since then, they'd spent almost every waking hour together, that's not even an exaggeration. To Santana, Blaine was like the brother she never had; which is strange, as she did have a brother, but she didn't think of him as one. He was mean, insensitive and had never been nice to Santana, ever. So, Blaine was and always would be more of a brother to Santana than Miguel ever would be as far as she was concerned. Blaine and Santana told each other everything; he was always there when Santana needed him, and vice versa.

The past summer had been spent in the same fashion as all their previous summers together; a joint family holiday to LA, followed by endless hours of films, games, and one-on-one soccer tournaments, which, to Blaine's disappointment, Santana always won without fail. What could she say? It was another gift of hers. This year's holiday had been even more awesome than all their previous ones, which was mostly due to the fact that they had made some new friends. Quinn, Sam, Kurt and Mike had made their time so much more memorable, and they missed them terribly now that they were back in Lima and their new friends were miles away in Houston. Blaine and Kurt had developed a special bond, and had become extremely close in a matter of days; whereas Santana and Quinn seemed like they had known each other forever. Although they obviously stayed in contact, it wasn't the same as when they were all together, but they vowed to see each other again in the Christmas holidays.

Today was the day Santana had been both dreading and looking forward to all summer, the first day of her senior year at McKinley High. On one hand, she was dreading the amount of studying that she would undoubtedly have to do in order to graduate, even though she secretly loved to study. On the other hand, however, she had a really good feeling about this year and she couldn't wait for it to start. Walking through the halls of McKinley, she felt different. This summer had made her more confident, not that she didn't love spending time with Blaine, but it was great to meet new people, especially Quinn. It was good to finally have a girl that she could call a close friend, it felt like she had been missing someone like that in her life until now. Maybe Santana Lopez was finally ready to step out of her little bubble, just maybe.

Her first class was Biology with Mr. Martinez, which to her was the sign of a great start to the year; she loved Biology and Mr. Martinez was one of the nicest teachers in the school. Just as she closed her locker door, Blaine appeared behind it with coffees in hand. "One vanilla latté for the beautiful lady," he said overdramatically, winking at her. "Still not getting in my pants," she replied sarcastically, "but thanks, you know me too well!" He laughed. "Don't flatter yourself, that'd be wrong on so many levels, you're practically my sister," he said, his face contorting in disgust. "Gee thanks, B, such an ego boost!" He just laughed in response, "Which class have you got first? I've got Spanish with Mr. Shue." "Biology with Martinez, wish I hadn't taken AP, this is the first time we haven't had class together," she said, pouting. "I'm sure you'll be able to handle a few lessons without me, or maybe not, I know how much you looove me," he teased, placing his hand over his heart jokingly just as the school bell rang. "Yeah, I'll deal, laters B," she said, and began walking towards the Biology department. "See you at lunch, San!" Blaine called after her, and headed in the opposite direction.