Okay, sneaking into Carmel High School is the dumbest thing I've ever done. This place is a maze.
That thought crossed my mind, as I followed Quinn's lead in an empty school corridor. In front of her were Rachel and Kurt, leading the way and checking to see if we were following them. Behind me were Tina and Mercedes, just passing through the double doors of the entrance.
"H-h-how do w-we even kn-know if they're rehearsing t-today? It's a S-s-Saturday!" asked Tina when she caught up, back pressed against a locker. Rachel looked back and shushed her, before replying, "That fleet of Range Rovers in the parking lot tells us that they're here."
"I still don't see why we have to be in here," whispered Mercedes as we turned a corner, keeping close to the wall, "We already saw them perform, remember?"
Kurt stopped abruptly and shuddered, "I can't forget. Their rendition of Rehab still haunts me in my dreams." Quinn caught me rolling my eyes at his theatricality, and I noticed her smirk.
Ugh. As much as I hate her as my competition on the Cheerios, she really is my closest friend. She gets me.
We reached the side entrance of the auditorium. Rachel held up her hand as a signal to stop and turned to us, saying, "We're here because I heard that they recently got a batch of new dancers. Champions from competitions all over the country. That means their routines are going to get a lot better. The team we saw last time is apparently nothing compared to the team we have now."
"Besides, Santana and I haven't seen them perform yet, so we still don't believe they can be as good as you said they are," whispered Quinn as she peeked through the tiny window on the door, "Damn it. The glass is frosted. We'll have to go inside. Ready?"
"In a minute," replied Kurt, taking a deep breath. He looked at me and Quinn with his eyebrow raised, "Did you two really have to come here in your Cheerios uniforms? You'll stick out like sore thumbs in the darkness."
"Shut it, twinkletoes. The only one they'll see glowing in the darkness will be you, because you can't seem to turn off your fairy dust. If we have to run out of this place, they'll just follow your glitter trail," I snapped instinctively, earning instant silence from Kurt and a muffled chuckle from Quinn.
Rachel held a finger to her lips and glared at me. I opened my mouth to tell who she could and could not shush, but Quinn's hand at my arm stopped me. I looked over at her, and she shook her head with a smile, pointing at the door that Rachel had already opened.
All right, all right. The hobbit gets to live for today.
We crept into the auditorium in single-file. We hid behind the last row of chairs and considered sitting in them. It was too risky, so we just hid behind cover and peeked just enough to see what was going on onstage.
Thirty people dressed in dance clothes were assembled onstage, discussing and arranging their formation for a routine. Some of them were practicing at the side, others were chatting animatedly in the back. At the center stage stood someone who seemed to be their choreographer, barking orders and pointing at people who had to change their positions. After five minutes of shuffling the dancers around, he called for a run-through. The member of Vocal Adrenaline briskly took their places and stood there attentively waiting for the music to begin.
"Just how good are they?" asked Quinn, looking over at Kurt and Rachel.
"Very," replied Rachel, not even taking her eyes off the stage, "They've been national champions for three years in a row. They're like show choir royalty. With this new batch of dancers—"
The music started.
Judging from the shocked looks on everyone's faces, this was a whole new routine. Guys were doing somersaults, girls were doing jump-splits—Holy shit. They had more stunts than our last Cheerios routine. Their voices were in perfect harmony with each other. The others were right. Vocal Adrenaline was the real deal.
Halfway through the routine, I noticed a particularly exceptional dancer. While all the girls danced with their hair tied in ponytails, her blonde hair was let loose, moving along as she danced. I wondered if she had started that way or if she had danced hard enough to ruin the hairstyle. It wasn't just her hair that set her apart from the others. She moved with a different kind of grace. While the others danced with a steely sense of control, she danced like a loose cannon, barely holding all her energy in. I was captivated by her sudden aerial as she approached the front of the stage.
"Holy shit, did you see that?!" gasped Kurt, eyes wide and glued to the stage.
"She must be one of the new dancers," said Mercedes, squinting, "I would've noticed her during their last performance."
I glanced over at Rachel. The look on her face was torn between fear and admiration. "I never thought they could get better, but they did. How are we going to compete against that?"
"W-we d-d-don't," answered Tina from the end of the row. I silently agreed with her. I had never seen a team that good—and I was part of the Cheerios for crying out loud.
Quinn nudged me with her elbow. "We should get out of here before they notice us. I think we've seen enough," she whispered. Rachel nodded, and the others filed out of the auditorium quietly. I stayed behind, still watching that blonde dancer, who was partnering up with a guy and doing some really insane tricks. For God's sake, some of it looked like it was wrestling inspired.
I hope he doesn't drop her.
I stopped myself. That was a strange thought. Normally, when I watched other cheerleading teams perform, I'm actually hoping their pyramids collapse or that the bitchy captains sprain their ankles. I don't think I've ever rooted for an opponent before. Weird.
"Santana!" hissed Quinn, calling me from the side door. She gestured me to hurry, and I took one last look at the girl onstage, before taking a step towards the exit.
"DON'T STOP BELIEVING~ HOLD ON TO THAT FEELING~"
All of a sudden, that Journey song filled up the entire auditorium, echoing everywhere. The performers onstage stopped and squinted hard at the audience area. Frozen in place, I looked over at Quinn who was holding the door open. Behind her, I saw Rachel, whose mouth was wide open in shock as her eyes stared at the floor behind me. I turned around and saw a pink phone, lying on the ground where she had been hiding.
"At the back! Side door! Someone's watching us!"
I looked at the stage, and saw the dancers jump off the stage and run in my direction.
Damn it, Berry. You owe me for this.
I spun on my heel and ran, scooping Rachel's phone off the ground. "Over here, meatheads!" I called, as I burst out of the main exit. I paused in my panic—right or left? Right or left?! The footsteps behind me were a lot louder than they'd been five seconds ago. Impulsively, I turned to the left and ran, making sure my footsteps were loud enough for them to follow me.
I don't even know why I'm running. I don't know what they're gonna do to me. But I sure as hell don't want to find out!
Those thoughts raced through my mind, as I sprinted around unfamiliar corridors. I'd lost count of how many turns I'd taken. I looked behind me and saw that five members of Vocal Adrenaline still continued the chase: three guys and two girls, both of whom were brunettes.
Is it even relevant that they're not blonde?!
Mentally scolding myself, I made a sharp turn to the right and grabbed the closest doorknob. Thank God, a broom closet! I jumped inside and hid behind the door. Trying to control my breathing, I listened for them outside. Their footsteps slowed down, and they seemed to be right outside.
"Crap, she got away. Freaking fast cheerleader."
"What was a cheerleader doing, watching our practice?"
"A cheerleader spying on show choir? Cheerleaders don't do show choir."
"I think I recognized her uniform. A team that was national champs last year—"
"The Cheerios? The ones from that public high school?"
Their voices trailed away, and I figured that they had gone back to the auditorium. To pass the time, I looked at Rachel's phone. The damn thing was the cause of this mess. I checked her missed calls. Lo and behold, it was Finn's fault. One missed call and two text messages, one of which said "How's the recon going?" I was tempted to send him a threatening message about how my fist wanted to do some recon in the space between his ears, but I resisted. Quinn would be proud.
I waited a couple minutes and peeked out of the closet. The coast was clear, so I walked out and stood at the corner, thinking of how to meet the others back at the parking lot.
I needed to be careful, so I looked around the edge of the corner and—
BAM. I remember the feeling of someone's forehead colliding with mine so hard, that I was knocked backwards. I landed on my ass with a thud, and the other person fell back as well, with her head in her hands to soothe the pain. Her blonde hair covered her face. She was wearing grey sweats, and a blue tank top that clung to her like a second skin. She looked familiar…
Oh shit, it's the dancer.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going—" She looked up with a strained smile, and I saw blue eyes, with tears at the corners.
She's beautiful.
Bright blue eyes were looking right at me. Her skin was perfect, not a blemish in sight. The smile on her lips looked pained at the moment, and I could see where I had hit her forehead, just above her left eye. Her hair was even messier now that it had been onstage. And that smile…
"Are you okay? Do you need help getting up?" Suddenly, she was on her feet, standing over me and offering her hand. I took it instinctively, marveling at how soft her skin is, and she pulled me up to my feet. She's really strong too.
Once I'm standing, I realize that I was just gaping like an idiot. "I'm really sorry. It was my fault, I was—" I stopped myself suddenly. Oh crap, she knows. She knows I'm not a student here.
She raised her eyebrow at my sudden silence, and looked at me from top to bottom. Her eyes lingered on the WMHS emblazoned on my uniform. I resisted the urge to cover my chest with my arms. For God's sake, Lopez, it's not like she's checking you out!
Realization sparked in her eyes, and she grinned. "You were the one watching our rehearsal, weren't you?" She asked with a lop-sided grin. I looked down at my feet, and considered my options. I could either run away right now or—actually, that was the only option. I was prepared to take and step back, when she suddenly grabbed my arm. I looked up at her in surprise, and she smiled even bigger when she asked, "Where do you think you're going? You don't even know the way out of here."
"I—" She was right. I was undeniably lost. Carmel High School was huge, and I had no idea how to get back or how far I had even run. "Look, I'm sorry. I don't usually do stuff like this."
"Stuff like what?" she inquired, tilting her head to the side.
I cleared my throat and looked to the side, trying not to make eye contact with her. "Sneaking around and checking out the competition."
She paused, deep in thought, and suddenly exclaimed, "So there were others with you! I knew I had heard other footsteps in the other hallway."
"How did you get that from what I just told you?!"
She smiled shyly and said matter-of-factly, "Well, you said that you don't do stuff like that usually. So if it's not normal for you, then someone probably made you do it or brought you along with them." She laughed heartily. "You must be pretty good friends to actually be willing to sneak into another school just for a friend! Anyway… You're alone right now. Where are you supposed to meet the others?"
Damn, she's perceptive. "I think I'm supposed to meet them in the parking lot," I mumbled, still surprised by how she figured things out so easily. Suddenly, she pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and unfolded it, scanning its contents with a finger pressed against it. Curious, I tilted my head to look at it. It looked like a map of the school—the strange thing about it was that it was drawn in crayon.
"You need a map to get around your own school?" I exclaimed in disbelief, almost instantly regretting how loud I had been. Realizing that that might have sounded like an insult, I opened my mouth to apologize but she replied sheepishly without looking up from the map,
"I'm new here, transferred in just last week. So I still need this sometimes. Besides, this place is huge! I don't think I'll ever stop using this. I always get lost without a map anyway."
The honesty in her answer made me grin, so I worked up the courage to ask, "And why is it drawn in crayon?"
Answering that question, she looked me right in the eye. They really are bright blue. "When I toured the school last weekend, my little sister came along. She insisted on making the map." She laughed aloud. "I'm glad I let her do it, because she made it really colorful. I just wish her handwriting were a bit more legible, so I can actually find out where we are on this thing!"
She studied it for a few more seconds and closed it with a satisfied smile. "Figured it out! Follow me, I'll show you to the parking lot." With that, she started walking briskly back the way that she came. Taken by surprise, I stayed rooted to my spot. How can a stranger be this nice…?
She realized that I hadn't followed her and jogged back to me. "Come on, before your friends leave you. My team mates are probably hunting them down with eggs." All of a sudden, she grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me along, picking up the pace to an almost-sprint. I had to quicken my pace just to keep up with her. In a minute, I was already panting, while she didn't seem to break a sweat yet.
After a while, I recognized the double doors in front of us. They led to the back parking lot, where Kurt had parked his SUV behind a shade of trees. She walked beside me, smiling as we reached our destination. We stopped right in front of the doors, and she gestured to them with a bow. "Here we are. The back parking lot. You're free to go."
"Are you sure you can just lead me out of here like this?" Those words spilled out of my mouth. I didn't want her to get into trouble for helping me. "I mean, what if your team mates find out?"
She smiled in a goofy way and answered, "Nothing's wrong with helping lost people."
That simple answer made me feel… something. "Thanks." I held her hand in both of mine, and grinned back at her. "I don't even know your name."
From there, she shook my hand firmly.
"I'm Brittany."
Pretty name to suit a pretty girl.
"Santana."
"Well, Santana, like I said, you better get going before your friends think you were abducted by aliens or something like that." She walked over and pushed one door open, holding it with her arm. From where I was standing, I could see Quinn leaning against Kurt's car, texting furiously on her phone. Kurt was already at the wheel, glancing around for any Carmel High students. I figured Rachel, Mercedes and Tina were probably hiding in the backseat. You'd think they're preparing to get hit by a drive-by.
"I see them outside." I walked through the open door, stopping to smile at her before leaving.
"Thanks again, Brittany. I owe you for this."
She shrugged and simply said with a smile, "I'll see you around, Santana."
With that, I was out and the door was closed behind me.