1Beads of sweat began to trickle slowly down my neck and make their way underneath the collar of my school blouse as I waited anxiously in the office foyer. Was it really this hot? Or was it just my nerves getting the better of me?

I'd been sitting here by myself staring at the floor for around 20 minutes before I managed to gather up the courage to look up and take in my surroundings. There was a large, white reception desk directly opposite me, behind which sat two overly cheerful looking office ladies. The one closest to me, a brunette, was shuffling through some paper work while the other one, to her right, was typing furiously on her computer while her long, grey afro-like hairdo bounced up and down with the movement. A few paintings of simple landscapes had been placed around the place to stop the walls from looking too bare.

Out the huge window to my right I could see the other students filing through the gate and looking for their group of friends who would be somewhere on the front lawn amongst the other 50 or so groups I could see from my spot by the window. Everyone looked excited to see each other and share the gossip from summer break. Some things were the same no matter what school you went to.

"Santana Lopez?" I had been so distracted by the scene outside the window that I hadn't noticed a large man with short ginger hair and a growing bald patch walk up beside me.

"Um, yeah, that's me" I replied vaguely as I stood up.

"I'm Mr Robertson, the Deputy Principle here at Green Valley High. If you'd like to follow me to my office, it's just down this corridor here" he had a deep, gruff voice which I already didn't particularly like. I reluctantly followed him to his office a few doors down the corridor and sat down on one of the seats he motioned to once we were inside.

"So, Santana, I see you're from a much larger school over in California, Valencia High was it?" He asked as he grabbed what must've been my file off his desk.

"Sure thing" I replied with a fake half-smile, wanting to get this day over and done with as fast as I could.

The next thing I heard was the shrill sound of the bell ringing, signaling the start of class for the first day back. This set of a fresh wave of anxiety as I realized that this meant I too would soon be making my way to class.

I shouldn't have been so nervous to start at a new school, I wasn't like I had ever been unpopular. I was the head cheerleader at my old school and had gone out with plenty of jocks including the star quarterback. People had been too scared to cross me back at Valencia, everyone knew I could crush them with just a few simple words from my hateful mouth. I liked it that way, having power over everyone. Maybe the reason I was so scared of starting at Green Valley High was because I knew that this reputation would come automatically, I'd have to work for a while to build it up, until then the other students would have the upper hand over me.

Mr Robertson suddenly spoke up, rudely interrupting my thoughts. "Well, Santana, looking at your timetable here you have Biology first this morning. Here's a copy of your timetable and a complimentary school diary, and I think we should head over to Miss Quincy's room before she gets too far into the lesson"

I roughly threw the things Mr Robertson had given me into my school bag and stood up preparing myself for the embarrassment which surely lay ahead. Being the new kid was definitely going to suck.

As we started to walk through the school Mr Robertson started chatting away about how "one of our students will be sure to show you around and help with finding your classes" and how "they're a friendly lot here" but I was paying much attention because my mind was distracted by the sick feeling that was hanging around right in the pit of my stomach.

We must have reached the Biology lab because Mr Robertson stopped outside a door and knocked on it lightly. As he began to open the door he summoned me in. I took a deep breath and hesitantly took a few steps until I was inside the room. I keep my head down and looked at the ground while a voice which I assume was Miss Quincy's introduced me to the rest of the class.

"So class, who can Santana sit with this morning?"

At this I looked up and took in Miss Quincy's appearance, she was a short lady with a friendly face and short dark hair cut into a bob cut. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a hand sticking straight up in the air. "Alright Santana, looks like you're sitting with Brittany."

Behind me I heard Mr Robertson slip out of the door behind me and shut it tight. I turned to see who this Brittany girl was who had seemed so eager to have the new kid sit by her. I was met by the most piercing blue eyes I had ever seen. She pulled out the seat beside her and motioned for me to sit, so I did.

"Hi" She chirped as I sat down next to her "I'm Brittany"

"Hey, I'm Santana" I replied, "But you probably already know that" This earned a light laugh from her and we both turned our attention back to Miss Quincy. After writing a few notes of what seemed to be some pretty standard Biology we were allowed to have the last ten minutes of the lesson to chat amongst ourselves seeing as it was the first day back at school.

I turned my head slightly to look at Brittany beside me. She was humming some sort of tune quietly, I think I recognized it as the looney tunes theme song, and moving her head in time, flicking her blond ponytail all over the place. She caught me looking and turned to face me.

"You're a cheerleader too, aren't you?" She asked me almost matter of factly.

"Uhh, yeah I was head cheerleader at my old school" I answered slowly.

"Ohhh some competition I see" Piped up the girl on Brittany's other side who I had failed to take any notice of up until this point. She had blonde hair in a ponytail just like Brittany's but the blonde was darker and her eyes were a green color.

"This is Quinn" stated Brittany cheerfully. "She's the head cheerleader here"

"Oh, cool" I replied as smoothly as I could, even though I could tell just by looking at her that she had nothing on me when it came to cheerleading.

"How did you know?" I asked as it suddenly occurred to me that Brittany seemed to know I was a cheerleader.

"Know what?" she asked suspiciously.

"About me cheerleading" I answered.

"Oh, easy. Your ponytail, everyone knows that cheerleaders wear ponytails" She answered and beamed at me like she had just answered the million dollar question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

I snorted a laugh and quickly looked around to make sure I hadn't drawn attention to myself.

"What school did you come from Santana?" Brittany asked politely.

"Valencia High in Santa Clarita, it's kinda near L.A" I replied.

"L.A? Wow, that's so cool! There must've been heaps of people at your old school!" Brittany said excitedly.

"Well there are 400 people in 11th grade alone, so a few more than the 50 in 11th grade here" I answered while wondering how hard it must me to hide in a school as small as this.

"I wish I went to a big school" Brittany replied sadly "Then I'd have more people to talk to my cat Lord Tubbington about when I got home at night"

The bell sounded before I got a chance to reply. "Where's your next class?" asked Brittany,

"Do you want me to help you find it?"

I pulled out my timetable and had a look. "Yeah, that would be nice. I have math with Mr Dudley" I beamed as I replied. I'm not sure what it is about this girl, I thought to myself, but I like her.