***Part of this chapter is taken from the flashback in chapter four of The Pezberry Secret***
Rachel Berry sat in English class. The teacher asked a question and she raised her hand. She heard a sigh from behind her. Rolling her eyes, she turned around. "Do you have a problem, Santana?" she asked. Santana Lopez gave her a fake smile.
"Of course not, Man-hands. Please, continue on with the mindless chatter you're always spewing out your rather large mouth." Santana said. Rachel gasped and her hand flew to her mouth.
"Ms. Lopez!" the teacher yelled.
"Yes?" Santana asked innocently
"Apologize to Rachel now."
"I'm sorry that you have a big mouth Rachel." Santana said.
"Ms. Lopez! Detention."
"What?" Santana exclaimed.
"You will be cleaning out the janitor's closet closest to the choir room." the teacher instructed. Santana sighed. As the bell rang, she picked up her bag.
"Thanks, a lot Man-hands." Santana said before walking out of the room. Rachel watched after the other girl and sighed. She went to her next class, which was, again, with Santana. Every class she had was with Santana. Which made it extremely hard to ignore her growing feelings for the other girl. Santana looked at the door. She opened the door and looked in. "This is disgusting." she muttered. She walked into the closet and started cleaning. Rachel walked by the closet and saw Santana cleaning. She walked into the closet.
"Hello, Santana." Rachel said. Santana sighed.
"What do you want Berry?"
"I need to look for something. I won't bother you." Rachel closed the door and subtly locked when Santana's back was turned.
"Whatever, just find whatever you need and then get out." Santana said. Rachel pretended to pick something up and then tried to open the door.
"Santana? The door is stuck." Rachel said.
"You have got to be kidding me. You locked us in here?" she exclaimed.
"Well, I didn't mean to!" Rachel said. Santana sighed. Rachel walked over to the wall and sat down.
"We could take this opportunity to work on our scales for Glee Club." Rachel said.
"Berry, will you please just shut up so we can both get out of here alive?" Santana growled.
"Santana, my talking won't kill us." Rachel said.
"No, but it may get you killed by me." Santana threatened. Rachel shifted uncomfortably in her seat on the floor. Santana noticed this and decided to make small talk.
"What are you thinking about?" Rachel looked shocked.
"Wha… What?" Santana rolled her eyes.
"What's on your mind Berry?"
"The Britney number. I am so nervous. Last time we performed in front of the school, we almost got the club cancelled."
"That's because you guys sang 'Push It' and practically did it on the stage." Santana laughed.
"And the choreography isn't as risqué for 'Toxic'?" Rachel threw back smiling.
"Touché." Santana could not believe she was laughing with Rachel Berry. The two settled into a surprisingly comfortable silence, which was soon broken by Rachel.
"Are you nervous about your solo in 'Toxic'?"
"You know, ever since Mr. Schue gave me that solo in 'Don't Stop Believing' at Regionals, I haven't gotten as nervous about solos. I mean, I don't care what anyone says about me being in Glee Club anymore. I have fun." Santana admitted.
"Santana, you don't have to convince me. I meant what I said at Sectionals last year. I believe you didn't give Sue the set list and I believe that you love Glee Club." Rachel smiled.
"Thanks, Rachel. Surprisingly, that means a lot to me." Santana said.
"Oh my god." Rachel said.
"What? Did you see a mouse or something?" Santana started glancing around.
"No. You just… you called me Rachel. I don't think you have ever done that before." Rachel said.
"Hmm… you're right." Santana said.
"I mean, you don't have to back to calling me Berry. I was just making an observation." Rachel hurried on. Santana laughed.
"You're kind of funny, Rachel. I never noticed that before because you were too busy making me mad by yelling at us." Rachel looked down. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Santana apologized.
"No. It isn't you. I spent the summer trying to fix my OCD about perfection and stuff like that."
"Rachel, most of the time, the criticism you give is good. But that fact is overpowered by the fact that you spend 99.9 percent of rehearsal yelling at us or fighting for a solo in every competition. If you just chilled out a bit, the others may appreciate what you say." Santana said. Rachel slowly nodded her head.
"I think… I think you're right Santana."
"When am I not?" Santana smiled.
"I assume you don't want to hear my answer." Rachel said. The two girls laughed. Santana, who had been standing on the opposite side of the closet, sat down by Rachel.
"You know, when you aren't being all annoying, you're kind of cool, Rachel." Santana said.
"And when you aren't constantly insulting me, you are too." Rachel replied. Santana looked down towards the girl. Slowly, she leaned closer and the last thing she saw before closing her eyes was Rachel leaning up with her eyes closed. Next thing she knew, the two were kissing. Santana didn't know who pulled away first, but in her head she was cussing them out.
"That was…" Santana trailed off.
"Unexpected." Rachel finished. Santana looked away. "But it wasn't awkward." Rachel continued.
"That it was not. I don't know which scares me more. The fact that it wasn't awkward or the fact that I kind of want to do it again. Did I just say that out loud?" Santana said. Rachel laughed softly.
"Yeah, you did. But I don't mind." When Santana turned her head to look at Rachel, Rachel kissed her. This time, Santana pulled away.
"What about Finn?" she asked.
"What about him?"
"Well, you're cheating on him, Rachel." Santana said.
"Well before I decide anything about Finn, I need to know what this is leading to." Rachel countered. Santana swallowed both to clear her throat and to swallow her pride.
"I'm not so sure that I want it to end." Rachel smiled.
"I feel the same. But I don't want to hurt Finn." Santana nodded.
"There is no way that I can ask you to choose. Not after how horrible I have been to you and how good he has been." She got up to move, with Rachel stopping her.
"Santana, no. I don't want to hurt Finn, but I will if I have to. I know I felt something real there. Something that I never even felt with Finn." Rachel admitted.
"Really?" Santana asked.
"Santana, I'm a lot of things, but I am not a liar." Rachel said.
"Rachel, I think I'm starting to really like you. And, honestly, it scares me." Santana said.
"Hey, this scares me too. Up until ten minutes ago, I couldn't stand you." Rachel replied. Santana looked around.
"Maybe it's all the cleaning chemicals." Rachel hit her, causing the other girl to laugh.
"Santana! That's not funny. This is serious. I like you. You, supposedly," she said giving the girl a pointed glare earning a sly grin from Santana, "like me as well. What are we going to do about it?" Santana nodded.
"OK. Here is what we're going to do. You and I are going to start dating."
"You could try asking me." Rachel said, but Santana did not hear her as she continued.
"But, you're going to continue dating Finn."
"Still waiting to… wait. What?" Rachel asked.
"Rachel, I'm sorry. I think we should keep us a secret, at least for now. I mean, I really do like you, but you get bullied enough. If people know we are dating, anyone who hates me is going to target you." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "And while I would totally fight for you, I can't be around you 24/7. However, that option doesn't sound so bad right now." Santana continued.
"That makes sense, Santana. But I'm still waiting to be asked something." Rachel said. Santana gave her a blank stare.
"What?"
"Maybe I don't want to date you. Maybe I just want to make out. But you wouldn't know, because you haven't asked." Rachel smiled.
"Rachel, will you please be my girlfriend? Please, with a cherry on top?" Santana smiled.
"Well, if you're going to throw in the cherry plea, I don't think I can say no." Rachel smiled and laughed. "Seriously though, I would love to Santana." Santana rolled her eyes and laughed as she leaned in for another kiss. However, Rachel saw her roll her eyes and hit her. Santana laughed.
"Sorry, baby girl." Rachel kissed her new girlfriend.
"Baby girl?" Rachel asked.
"Yea. I mean, if you don't like it, I won't call you that. Do you like it?" Santana asked.
"I love it, Santana." Rachel said. The two girls smiled at each other. Santana leaned down and kissed Rachel again. When she pulled away, Rachel was still smiling with her eyes closed.
"So you want to try to open the door?" Santana asked, grinning.
"Not if we keep doing that." Rachel said.
"Sounds fun." Santana said. Rachel laughed and leaned up to kiss Santana again.
"You know, if you were to not wear those animal sweaters and skirts all the time, so many more people would want to get up on this." Santana said.
"So you would want to watch people hit on me when you know you can't do anything about it?" Rachel asked.
"Well… no. But it would give me some satisfaction, since I can't just mack on you whenever I want." Santana said. Rachel thought about it.
"Santana, I like my clothes. If you want to date me, you're going to have to accept me exactly how I am." Rachel said. Santana nodded.
"I'm not going to force you to change, Rachel. If you're happy, then I'm happy." Santana said. Rachel smiled.
"Thank you, Santana." She kissed her girlfriend again.