Hey everyone! So this is my first Glee fanfic, and basically it's a fluffy (sometimes angsty) fic that imagines what would happen if there was a new member that came into glee that took an interest in Santana! This fic takes place loosely somewhere in season 2, but it doesn't follow the plot of the show so this is in my own little universe! I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter :)


The first time Eliza Crane laid eyes on Santana Lopez, she was immediately mesmerized.

"Who in the world is that?" the dark-haired girl breathed to Rachel who was sitting next to her. Eliza watched as the Latina Cheerio crossed the choir room, laughing with a mohawked football player and a blonde Cheerio.

The diva followed Eliza's gaze and almost burst out laughing when she saw who the new Gleek's eyes were following. "You're joking, right?" After a moment, Rachel realized that no, Eliza wasn't joking, and her expression sobered. Her brown eyes becoming almost comically wide, she hissed, "Eliza, that is the physical embodiment of Satan himself! Please promise me that you will not try to get involved with Santana Lopez. She represents nothing but trouble and will tear you apart with her admittedly impeccably manicured nails!"

Eliza's lips curled almost involuntarily into a smile and she arched an eyebrow. "Satan, huh?" she mused, leaning back in her chair. "She looks more like an angel to me." Eliza glanced back at Rachel, who had an look of pure disappointment on her face. The brunette rolled her eyes and knocked her shoulder into her friend's. "Come on, Rach, I'm just trying to mingle like you always tell me I should."

Rachel crossed her arms over her mildly hideous reindeer sweater and shook her head. "I know that, and I am indeed proud of your stronger attempts to socialize as of late. However, I wish you wouldn't choose to 'mingle' with the girl that has been torturing me for years!" Rachel realized that she was speaking a bit too loudly when she noticed Tina and Mercedes pausing from their own conversation to give them a strange look. The diva lowered her voice to a dramatic stage whisper. "I'm being serious, Eliza. Santana is not a person who is known for the kindness of her heart. I know you have an almost masochistic appreciation for cold and heartless women, but I am warning you now that this will not end nicely for anyone." Her eyes softened, "Especially not for you."

Eliza sighed and carded a hand through her hair as a matter of habit, beginning to feel guilty. "I know she's been horrible to you, Rach, but... let me try, okay? The reason why I tend to find myself drawn to HBICs is because they usually have a heart of gold buried under all that superficial crap. You just have to dig a little bit." She offered the girl a reassuring smile and teased, "Besides, it's not like I'm gonna try to have sex with her. Yet." Eliza winked and laughed when Rachel scrunched up her nose in disgust.

"You know that I respect and support your sexuality as the daughter of two gay dads. However, the mental image of you and Santana Lopez in the midst of any type of… physical encounter is not one I would like to envision, ever," Rachel complained. Eliza rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Yeah, yeah," Eliza chuckled, turning her head to look at the beautiful Cheerio sitting across the choir room. The Latina hadn't spared her a single glance since she'd entered the room. Considering that Eliza was new here, she'd expected at least a strange look or two. In fact, no one in the club had been friendly enough to introduce themselves to her. Eliza recognized a few of members from her classes, but Rachel was really her only friend. Still, she didn't allow their non-reactions to disappoint her. There were other ways to call attention to herself. Turning back to Rachel, Eliza asked, "So, tell me a bit about this Santana Lopez. What kind of music does she like?"

Rachel tilted her head to the side and tapped her chin for a moment, thinking. "Well, Santana is historically fond of R&B songs. She has also performed a few Amy Winehouse numbers that were admittedly quite good... Though she does need to continue to work on her-"

"Perfect," Eliza hummed, eyes lit up with excitement as her plan of action rapidly took form in her mind. Lucky for her, Amy Winehouse was right in her wheelhouse. In fact, she already had one of the star's songs locked and loaded for an occasion like this one. There was a reason why she and Rachel were close friends, after all.

Right on cue, the man who Eliza knew was Mr. Schuester stepped into the room carrying a binder of sheet music. "Alright guys, I hope you all had a great weekend. First up on the agenda for the day is-" The teacher's voice cut off when he spotted Eliza sitting amongst the other glee members. Mr. Schue smiled, although he seemed a bit confused as he said, "Oh, hello there." Eliza felt a dozen pair of eyes turn on her and she smiled back, giving a little wave. The teacher, seeing the brunette sitting next to Rachel, asked, "You know Rachel?"

Eliza summoned every ounce of confidence and coolness that she knew she possessed. Smoothing down her black floral dress, she stood up and crossed to the center of the room. "Yeah, I'm a friend of hers," she replied, "Eliza Crane."

The girl turned back to face the other glee kids when she heard a scoff. Eliza couldn't help but smirk when she saw it was none other than the infamous Santana Lopez that made the sound. "Alright, I'll stop you right there," the Latina interrupted, rolling her eyes. "No one would ever be friends with RuPaul here of their own free will because she's frickin' insufferable, so seriously, how much did she pay you to say that?"

A few of the kids snickered, and Mr. Schue immediately glared at Santana. He chastised, "That's enough, Santana, that's no way to talk about one of your team's captains!" Rachel shot her own glower at the Cheerio before making eye contact with Eliza. Her expression clearly read, I told you she was the devil incarnate!

Still, Eliza couldn't help but laugh at the Latina's comment, her reaction surprising everyone in the room. "No, it's alright," she told Mr. Schuester, her blue eyes scanning the group of kids in front of her. "Rach has told me a lot about the people in this club. How they're like her family that she knows she can always rely on." Most of the glee members had the decency to look down almost guiltily at this. Except Santana of course, who had a dark eyebrow arched in a manner that could not be described as anything but 'bitchily', if that was even a word. After a moment, Eliza continued, "If you guys have a place for me, I would love to join this little family."

Mr. Schue looked absolutely thrilled at that and clapped his hands. "Of course we have room for you! The more the merrier, right guys?" He turned to face the group, and their reactions were mostly enthusiastic, except for that of one person in particular.

"Shouldn't she have to audition like the rest of us had to?" Santana pointed out snarkily, her arms crossed over her chest with a particularly irritated look on her face. Eliza didn't know much about the girl yet, but she could tell that she had already begun to grate on the Cheerio's nerves. Eliza guessed that Santana Lopez wasn't used to people not being afraid of her.

Mr. Schue frowned but then nodded, turning to Eliza with an almost apologetic look on his face. "Santana is right, we will have to ask for you to audition. Don't worry, though," he rushed to assure her, "We take everyone who wants to join regardless." Wow, Eliza thought, Rachel wasn't exaggerating, they really are desperate for members.

The dark-haired girl smiled brightly and nodded. "It's okay, I have something prepared right now, actually." Rachel gave her a questioning look, obviously not very happy that Eliza hadn't consulted her about song choice. The girl chose to ignore it. Instead, she crossed to the band and whispered in their ear what song she was going to sing.

Eliza took her place back at the center of the room and waited for the beginning chords of Amy Winehouse's You Know I'm No Good to play before launching into the song. Though the song wasn't exactly one she could fully dance to, she still made a show of it. Eliza swayed and made her way around the room as she sang her heart out. She didn't make her performance excessively sexual, but she didn't hold herself back either as she danced around both the guys and girls. Everyone seemed to be torn between being shocked and impressed. As the song faded to a close, Eliza looked right at Santana and winked in a way that was far less than subtle.

For a heartbeat after she finished, there was dead silence. Eliza had the bad feeling she may have been too "friendly" with her performance. Not only was it her first time performing in front of these people, but it was also the first time she had even met the majority of them. She had the nasty habit of being overly ambitious. But then that moment of silence was broken by enthusiastic cheering, clapping, and whistling as the glee kids' voices overlapped in expressing their appreciation.

"Damn, girl!" The voice of a black girl who Eliza believed was named Mercedes rose above the others. "We all thought Santana was the one repping Amy Winehouse here, but after that performance…"

Eliza grinned and thanked her, her gaze lifting to gauge Santana's reaction to that comment. The Latina looked like she was ready to jump out of her seat and claw Eliza's eyes out any second. The only thing that seemed to be stopping her from doing that was a hand resting on Santana's knee. Eliza was surprised to find out that the hand belonged to the blonde cheerleader sitting next to Santana. Interesting, Eliza thought, filing that away to be analyzed later.

"That was amazing, Eliza! Welcome to New Directions!" Mr. Schue exclaimed happily.

"Thanks, I'm looking forward to having a lot of fun with you all," Eliza replied with a smile. She made pointed eye contact with Santana as she spoke, mock-bowing to the crowd. Eliza made her way back to her seat next to Rachel, Mr. Schue jumping back into his originally planned lesson. "So, what did you think?" the brunette breathed to her friend, already having a pretty good idea of what the diva was going to say.

"Your performance was indeed spectacular as expected. However, I don't see how antagonizing Santana will get her to like you," Rachel pointed out sharply. The diva tilted her head in the direction of the girl in question who still looked incredibly pissed. "You have made an extremely dangerous enemy, Eliza."

Eliza glanced over at the Latina and found herself unable to suppress a small smile. The young woman shrugged and pointed out, "Well, I have to start somewhere, don't I?"

Xxx

The rest of the glee club meeting passed quickly. Eliza held back from sneaking too many glances at Santana, not wanting to be too obvious or come off as creepy. When the bell rang, everyone hopped out of their seats, ready to go to their next class. Schuester reminded them that the next week they would be having a duet competition. Judging by the other glee kids' reactions, duet competitions were pretty commonplace.

Eliza waited for Rachel to briefly talk to her boyfriend, Finn, before the two started to head to the exit. She was stopped, however, by the sound of Santana's voice yelling out, "Hey, midget!"

Rachel instinctively turned around and began testily, "How many times do I have to remind you that referring to someone who is simply below the average height for a woman as a 'midget' is very-"

"Oh, shut it, Man Hands," Santana snapped impatiently. She wasn't even looking at Rachel- in fact, her dark (and very murderous) gaze was laser-focused on Eliza. Her lips curled in a scowl, she jutted out her chin at Eliza, hissing, "I was talking to her, not you."

Rachel and Eliza exchanged glances. The latter brunette simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders. "I am pretty short," she admitted, eyes flickering over to Santana, "I'll give her that. A+ for accuracy, if not for creativity." Santana just glared at her. Without breaking eye contact with the Cheerio, Eliza told Rachel, "Hey, Rach, I'll catch up with you later, alright? Santana here probably just wants to ask me for a few tips after my killer performance." She tossed a saccharine smile at the Latina, getting an almost sick sense of satisfaction at the way Santana looked like she wanted to throttle her.

Rachel glanced between them warily. She clearly did not want to leave her friend with the nasty cheerleader but she had no other choice. "Fine," she eventually agreed. Rachel turned to Eliza and whispered, "But if I don't see you within the next twenty minutes, I will take it upon myself to call emergency services." Rachel shot one last sharp, disapproving look at Santana before turning on her heel. She exited the choir room with Finn who had been waiting obediently for her to return to him.

Santana waited for everyone else to clear out of the room before advancing on the newest glee member. For a moment Eliza thought the girl was going to slap her (or worse) and grew worried. But the cheerleader just evaded her personal space, sticking her finger in the girl's face. Eliza's breath quickened involuntarily at their new proximity, noticing how Santana looked even prettier close up. "Now who the fuck do you think you are, marching in here singing my home girl Amy? You know how we do things in Lima Heights? People who get in our way, we ends them." Santana looked beyond pissed and like she was itching for a fight, but Eliza could tell that the Cheerio was more bark than bite.

The brunette laughed at Santana's threatening, throwing up her hands. "Wow, I'm so intimidated," she teased, her voice light because she really was amused by all this. She knew it was terrible, but people getting angry at her had always had the opposite intended effect on her. "To be honest," Eliza admitted in a suggestive tone of voice as she tilted her head and gave Santana a once-over, "The whole bitch act is preeeetty hot."

The Latina was momentarily speechless, caught off guard by Eliza's blatant flirting. The shock soon wore off, the anger from before making a reappearance. "I fucking know I'm hot, but don't think I won't rip you to shreds with my bare hands just because of some half-assed flattery. You being joined at the vagina with Berry is reason enough to end you, so I'm warning you, freak. Don't get in my way, or Auntie Snixx is gonna go all Lima Heights." Santana sharply jabbed Eliza in the shoulder. The brunette swayed back on her feet but was otherwise unaffected.

Oh my God, Eliza thought, trying not to burst out laughing. Did this girl seriously just refer to herself as Auntie Snixx? That's freaking adorable. The girl settled on teasing, "Well, since I'm not exactly afraid of you, I guess you're gonna want to have to make me be. The Cheerios' usual MO is slushy facials, right? Make it cherry, and maybe I'll let you be my duet partner next week. You can even pick the song." Before Santana could react, Eliza smiled cheerfully and turned. She exited the room, feeling an enormous sense of accomplishment. Sure, she was continuing to piss the girl off more and more and maybe, just maybe, she would live to regret it, but who cared? At the very least she would be taking the heat off Rachel since Santana had clearly picked Eliza as the new enemy number one.

Xxx

Of course, as soon as Eliza met back up with Rachel, the star immediately launched into a rant. How she shouldn't provoke Santana, it wouldn't be good for the team, et cetera. Eliza reassured her friend that she knew what she was doing and that she wasn't intimidated by the Latina at all. Rachel continued to huff and puff about it but eventually told her to be careful and to try not to be too blatant with her flirting.

Over the next week, Eliza maintained her distance from Santana. She settled for sly looks and smiles whenever they made eye contact, which was rare since Santana avoided her at all costs. Instead Santana focused her attention entirely on Brittany, that blonde cheerleader. Eliza wondered if they were dating, remembering how Brittany's hand on Santana's knee had kept the Latina from 'going all Lima Heights'. There had to be at least something going on between them. They seemed to be way too touchy-feely to be just best friends.

Eliza had noticed that Kurt and Mercedes seemed to always be gossiping before glee meetings, so she figured asking them would be the easiest way to get the answers to her questions. But Rachel had asked her to be subtle about this whole 'mission' of hers, and Eliza was determined to keep her word. She had to be loyal to the drama queen if only because no one else in the club seemed to give two shits about her. Eliza truly didn't understand that, but that was a rant for another day.

Lucky for her, Eliza didn't have to wait very long before the two gossip mongers approached her. She was leaving that day's glee meeting and was minding her own business when she felt two arms loop through her own. Glancing left and right, she smiled when she saw Kurt and Mercedes. "Hey, guys, what's up?" she greeted pleasantly. She knew where this conversation would lead them, but she didn't care. Rachel told her to be subtle, but she wasn't going to deny her attraction to Santana outright. She wasn't ashamed of her sexuality or who she was, and she didn't care who knew it.

"Well, Eliza," Kurt began diplomatically, "'cedes and I couldn't help but notice a few… well, a few looks exchanged between you and a certain rage-filled Cheerio in glee. Not just today, but pretty much every day." His tone was that of innocent curiosity, but Eliza knew it was more than that.

"Yeah, but it seemed like those looks were more than Santana hating on you or you hating on Satan- I mean, Santana," Mercedes finished. The girl smiled encouragingly as if she wasn't trying to extract as much as she could from Eliza. "Listen, in glee club, we're a big family like you said. Total no judgement zone, Kurt and I totally have your back."

Eliza thought about all the times Rachel had come literally crying to her about how people in glee were treating her. She seriously doubted that these two actually had her back. Still, she decided to be nice and smiled, musing, "I'm sure you guys do." Eliza tried to decide how to explain her attraction to the Cheerio. She began, "Santana's a firecracker. And, I dunno, I like that." She shrugs her shoulders, trying to explain without words that it really wasn't that big of a deal. She knew it was, though, she could tell by the look in Kurt's eyes. He thought he was the only out and proud kid in the school, but now he might be joined outside the closet door. Eliza knew that must be exciting for him, so she decided not to torture him too much with her vagueness. "The threats, the insults, the whole bravado, it doesn't bother me. As Rachel has lovingly pointed out numerous times, I tend to be drawn to assholes who I know secretly have hearts." Another shrug, this one meaning, It can't be helped.

Mercedes scoffs at that last part. "I'm pretty sure Santana is pure evil," she points out. She glances over at Kurt for his support, but the boy looks to be partly in shock.

"So you're gay?" he bluntly asks, almost as if he couldn't help himself.

Eliza smiles knowingly and replies, "Well, I'm actually bi, though I'm more attracted to women, I'd say."

Kurt nods slowly. "I'm incredibly relieved to finally have someone who understands what I've been going through. But... I have some serious doubts about your choice of girls."

Mercedes hummed her agreement, "Yeah, definitely. Like I said… Santana, she legit has no heart. At all. Besides… her and Britt kinda have a thing." Eliza arched an eyebrow, gesturing for her to expand. Mercedes shrugs, "Well, no one knows much about it, really. Santana isn't exactly an open book. But from what Britt has said, they had some sorta physical relationship going."

"Had?" Eliza asks, pointing out Mercedes' use of past tense.

Kurt and Mercedes exchanged looks again. "Britt Britt is dating Artie now," the gay teen eventually explained. "Which is why Santana's been even more vindictive and bitchy lately. Plus word is she hasn't been getting any from Puckerman, so overall she's been acting rather…"

"Sexually frustrated?" Eliza supplied helpfully, a smirk itching at the corner of her lips despite herself.

Kurt obviously detected the sexual undertones in her voice. He shook his head and waved his hands around, groaning, "Please, no, I don't want those images in my head!"

Eliza laughed, "Funny, Rach said the same thing." After a pause, the brunette continues, "Listen, I'm not about to go up to Santana and ask her out on a date. She would definitely reject me because first of all she isn't exactly out, and second of all she currently wants to 'end' me. But honestly, I like pushing her buttons, and for now that's good enough for me."

Mercedes shook her head. "That's great, but here's the thing. Santana is a major bitch. She is vicious, vulgar, cruel, and no one in glee really likes her. Except Brittany, but she isn't giving Satan a lot of attention right now."

Eliza arches an eyebrow, wondering what the girl's point is. She couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed for Santana's sake in only because the Cheerio wasn't here to defend herself.

"Even though Santana is terrible, she is always better when she has someone, you know? It didn't matter if she was sleeping with Puck or sleeping with Brittany, she was always more tolerable then," Mercedes explains.

Finally Eliza realizes what she was trying to say. "So you think I should sleep with her to make her more docile?" she says incredulously, unsure of what she thinks about the idea. The brunette gets why everyone would benefit from a nicer Santana, but she isn't sure if sleeping with the Latina is the solution to that problem.

Mercedes and Kurt both nod enthusiastically. They have reached Eliza's locker at this point, and the brunette pauses to think. After a moment she tells them, "Listen, I'll think about it. Either way I'm gonna keep messing with her because it's fun. But maybe… If she responds in the right way, I may pursue it, okay? No promises." The two glee clubbers both nod again, happy to receive a 'maybe' instead of a flat out 'no'.

The two divas rushed off to their own lockers. Eliza unlocked hers and deposited her books inside, wondering where this whole Santana thing would lead her.


Will Eliza manage to 'woo' Santana or just further piss the girl off? Will Eliza decide to go with Kurt and Mercedes' plan? You'll have to wait to find out! Constructive criticism is loooved- I'm not used to writing non-OCs so I would love to hear if you guys think I wrote everyone in character or not! :)