A/N: Happy Quinntana Week!
Santana was nervous, an emotion she had carefully tucked away on a restricted list of things she was not allowed to feel. The feeling itself was unsettling, at the very least, but the fact that she could not push it away was even more so. Today, of all days, she needed to harness the bitch-goddess energy she'd built up lording over the middle school herd for three years.
"Freshmen! 99.99% of you will not make this squad. Most of you should probably quit now to save yourself the shame and embarrassment of wetting yourself in fear. Be forewarned that your tears provide the only sustenance I allow myself during summer months, so I will be working extra hard to see you whiny, sloppy little babies bawl your eyes out."
"What in the sweet hell…?" Santana thought, cringing at the screech of her hopefully future coach's voice through the megaphone. She had heard the rumors of Sue Sylvester, how could she not? But this shit seemed absolutely unreal.
She watched as first one, then another, then girls in groups of 3 and 4 started to get up and retreat from the field, evidently too scared to brave the torture required to become a Cheerio. For the first time, doubt began to seep into her bones, but she didn't move from her seated position on the grass.
"That's what I like to see! Weed out the weak before we even get started. How many freshmen do we have left?"
Santana raised her hand, her eyes darting around to count her remaining classmates.
Ten, maybe.
"Wow, this might be the biggest class of quitters we've ever had. Maybe you 2012ers should all just abandon ship, seems like something in the water made you weaker than the average teenager. All of you stand up."
Santana Lopez scrambled to her feet at the command, wanting to be the first one up, wanting to show that she wasn't afraid. Somehow a girl slightly behind her off to the right seemed to be on her feet first, and Santana cursed herself for being slow to the draw.
Not surprisingly, Coach Sylvester's eyes were drawn to the first girl on her feet. Santana canted her head, trying to catch a glimpse, curious as to who had the balls to best her on day one. She knew her classmates. They were all sheep, sad, weak little sheep.
"What's your name?"
"Quinn Fabray."
"Who? We don't have a Quinn Fabray in our class. Great some fucking wild card just showed up." Santana rolled her eyes in frustration. All of her hard work was being impeded upon by some random.
"Well, Quinn Fabray, you are now in charge of your few remaining classmates. Get them warmed up and stretched while I talk to the upperclassmen."
"Yes, Coach. Freshmen, follow me!"
Santana followed, as begrudgingly as humanly possible. When she got to where her classmates were circling up she finally got a good view of her brand new nemesis and felt her breath catch in her throat for an instant.
"A fucking Disney princess. Of course. Great."
"Umm, pair up and hit the track, and then we'll stretch."
Without looking around, Santana knew she'd be paired up with Quinnderella, simply because her classmates were rightly terrified of her and were certainly going to be no less terrified of the apparent new queen bitch.
With a sigh she stepped forward and crossed her arms.
"Looks like it's you and me. Let's go."
Quinn looked at girl in front of her and felt the familiar chill of terror flash through her insides. This was the kind of girl who had made Lucy into an outcast. In Quinn's experience, the prettier the girl, the harsher the treatment they doled out, and this girl was a certified 10. An immediate sense of defensiveness crept up on her, and she simply gave a curt nod before walking onto the track and picking up a steady, moderate pace.
"So what's your deal, New Girl Barbie? Where'd you come from?"
Santana glanced over and was surprised to see an immediate reaction from the new class leader. There was a hesitation, an exposed gap in her bitch armor.
Quinn felt her stomach turn and then caught herself.
"Bitches aren't scared, they're mean," she reminded herself for the hundredth time that day.
"Belleville. What's your story? Are you from here?"
Santana's laugh made Quinn nervous.
"I own this town, Fabray. So yeah, you could say that I'm from here. I'm actually from the shitty part of Lima, but I'm sure you don't know anything about that, do you, Pretty Princess?"
Quinn rolled her eyes at the blatant chest beating going on.
"So far I've caught that you think I look like Barbie and am pretty. Your insults are really heartbreaking...whatever your name is."
Santana sped up slightly before answering. She was on a personal mission now to burn this little out of town wannabe.
"Lopez. Santana Lopez. And I'll see you on the other side of the field, because I just can't run this slow anymore."
With that, she kicked her legs out and started to really push, surprised when the new girl stayed with her for even a moment. Irritated, she pushed even harder, until she could no longer feel Quinn Fabray on her heels.
Quinn watched her go, slightly amused and slightly impressed. The girl was fast, and also for some reason seemed to dislike her already. It wasn't much of a stretch to imagine Santana Lopez as a formidable enemy, which clarified Quinn's priorities greatly.
"Friends close, enemies closer, just like Daddy always says."
When she got back to Santana she held her hands up in surrender.
"You're fast. That was pretty impressive."
"Yeah, I know. Now let's stretch before crazy Sue has us doing God knows what."
Santana felt immediately wary at the compliment Quinn paid her. She knew ulterior motives better than anyone. It seemed like half the time she was doing things just to be able to eventually do things she actually wanted to do. That annoying thought had planted itself in her brain sometime towards the end of the last school year, and she hadn't been able to banish it yet. She shook her head slightly and returned her attention to the 5'6" blonde threat before her.
They stretched silently, studying each other surreptitiously. Santana could feel Quinn's eyes on her whenever she wasn't looking and it drove her crazy. She found it annoying that this new obstacle in her life seemed so damn perfect. She looked like the All-American cheerleader, without a doubt.
Quinn, on the other hand, felt her natural curiosity getting the best of her, and did her absolute best to tamp it down. Santana had an exotic, older air about her. She seemed worldlier than any girl their age that Quinn had ever met. The questions bubbled up until she finally just had to ask Santana something.
"So-"
"OKAY! All of you pathetic hopefuls get your cheerful butts over here. We're going to start today off by building my pyramid."
Quinn and Santana hopped up and ran over, trying to hustle without seeming overeager, but also determined not to let the other ahead of them. Santana gave Quinn a quick glare when they arrived in front of Sylvester well ahead of everyone else, their personal competition pushing them to move much faster than the crowd.
"Perfect. You two will be on top. Quinn Fabray you will take the high point, Latin Heat, you can take her right hand spot."
"Her name is Santana," Quinn informed Sue politely, gaining a more pointed glare from her stretching partner.
Sue looked at them both, bemused, before addressing Quinn quietly.
"Her name is whatever I say it is. Your name, however, will be very well known from here on out. You are my new Head Cheerio. Congratulations, Quinn. Everyone else on this field now hates you."
Quinn felt frozen in place, trying desperately to keep her face blank. She couldn't believe that she had already made herself a target in a brand new school. Her eyes darted quickly over to Santana, who raised her eyebrows and gave her a smug smirk as if to say, "sucks to be you."
"Listen up, Cheerios! Freshman Quinn Fabray is your new Head Cheerio, and her right hand woman is Santana…what's your last name?"
"Lopez," Santana responded automatically, stunned to now be grouped in with the team pariah.
"Santana Lopez. These two are going to lead this team to a national championship. You all are going to listen to them. This is not up for discussion. Start building my pyramid."
All of the girls hustled off to do as they were told, Santana and Quinn trailing behind.
"What the hell, new girl? We've been here for less than an hour and you've already screwed us in terms of making friends on this team."
"Look, sure, this isn't ideal, but it is what it is. Stop whining. We can't give these girls an inch on us."
Santana gave Quinn an irritated sneer before walking towards the pyramid, deftly climbing to her position and standing ramrod straight.
The new Head Cheerio felt the hesitation inside of her even as her body moved forward and she experienced pure relief that she was a pro at hiding her feelings. She joined this team to make friends, she joined this team to be a part of something. Now the only girl who would ever talk to her as an equal hated her guts.
By the time she reached the top, Quinn felt the expansive weight of sheer loneliness and nearly laughed out loud at the symbolism of it all. She stood, wearing the biggest, fakest smile possible, and waited for the endless critiques she knew were coming.
Instead, she felt someone shift violently beneath her, pitching her forward just far enough to send her off her perch. Quinn fought to center herself, but realized it was too late and gave herself up to the fall just as a strong hand grabbed her upper arm and firmly pulled her back to a steady position.
"Everyone down!" A voice next to her announced with authority.
The team scrambled down from the pyramid, and Quinn watched in surprise as Santana grabbed up an upperclassman and carted her off to the side. It was clear that her new 2nd was beyond irate and that she made no attempt to keep their conversation private.
Everyone, including Sue, watched, completely intrigued.
"If you have a problem, you better say it right now, because if you can't hack it on the pyramid then you can't hack it on this team. You could have really hurt her, and I don't give a flying fuck if your feelings are hurt because she already beat you out for Head Cheerio. She's in charge. I'm her back up. If you don't like it, you can get the fuck off this field. Am I even remotely unclear on this?"
The upperclass girl shook her head slightly, and Santana turned her ear to the girl to get a verbal response.
"No," the response was tinged with hate, but the tone went ignored.
"Good, then get that pyramid built back up in a freaking hurry. And know that if Quinn Fabray ever takes a dive off the top, you will reap her injuries ten-fold. Go."
Santana watched the girl run back to the team and took a minute to gather herself. She did anger much better these days, but it wasn't always easy to harness it into simple words. In Lima Heights, anger almost always meant fighting. The Latina put her hands on top of her head and took a deep breath before heading back towards the rising pyramid.
"Thank you," Quinn said softly, her eyes on the ground.
"Don't mention it."
"I-"
"No, seriously. Don't mention it," Santana insisted.
Quinn raised her eyes to study her enemy/competition/defender. Santana was watching the pyramid go up, her gaze attentive and focused. Suddenly, she rolled her eyes and shot a confused smile towards her captain, shaking her head as she began her rapid ascent of the pyramid just like before.
Santana waited for Quinn to follow her up, but her mind was on the odd butterflies in her stomach. The soft "thank you," the careful, guarded eyes studying her—it felt better than it should to defend this girl that she barely even knew, let alone liked.
Finally perched back at the top, Quinn locked her muscles in place and tried not to look over at Santana. Watching this girl come to her defense so vehemently had changed something. She wanted to prove herself in general, all the time, but this was different. She wanted to prove herself worthy specifically to Santana. Her tight fists grew clammy at the realization, and she prayed fervently for Sue to let them down from this damn pyramid, but to no avail.
They stayed in their positions even as their muscles began to quake from exhaustion. Sue took her time critiquing each level, tearing girls down for individual failures, then deriding the group for letting their teammates fail. Apparently, on day one, they should have already been working as a single unit.
Santana did an internal eye roll, the whole thing becoming kind of ridiculous by the time Sue reached her.
"Cha Cha, I'm going to need you to stop looking so damn perfect up there. Same for you Fabray. You're making your teammates look absolutely terrible. That's not very fair of you."
Santana and Quinn both internally flinched at the non-criticism. They were being held up at the very top, no weight on their shoulders, and they'd been left unscathed. Every single girl in the bunch had been personally mocked, and yet Sue had chosen to compliment them.
"Get down and hit the showers. Lopez, Fabray, come see me."
They scrambled down and hurried over to Coach Sylvester, terror in both of their hearts. This could not get better, only worse.
Santana felt a sudden camaraderie with Quinn, realizing that they were both totally screwed together. She instinctively tried to brush the feeling away, but when she glanced at the new Head Bitch and saw an eye roll to rival her own, she knew she was going to give in.
Quinn fought a smile when Santana planted herself firmly at her right shoulder.
"Yes, Coach?"
"Listen here, you two, it was my intention to humiliate and isolate you once young Fabray here felt the need to open her mouth and correct me. It's kind of a tradition for me to see if I can break the toughest girls on the field, and typically I am successful. Your captaincy was intended to drive you from the group so that I could later rip it out from under you when you inevitably failed. However, when you didn't flinch or complain, and when Ms. Salsa Caliente here decided to go all drill sergeant on an upperclassman, I realized that you two are actually quite the duo. Icy Quinn Fabray and Fiery Santana Lopez. Fire and Ice. And since it seems as if you two don't actually even like each other all that much, things just got more interesting for me, which is really all I care about. You will remain the alpha and beta of this team. You will lead us to a championship. You will do as I say. Now go hit the showers."
"Yes, Coach," they replied together, turning to jog off the field and not stopping until they made it to the locker room.
Quinn sat in front of the locker she had claimed and waited, while Santana immediately peeled off her shirt as she walked in the door. Santana was already in a towel and headed for the showers when she noticed her new boss just sitting there.
"Gonna shower, Q? Kind of gross if you don't, so…"
Quinn looked up in surprise.
"What did you call me?"
"Umm…Q. Like, short for Quinn."
Santana was confused by the question. What was the big deal, it was just a nickname.
"Oh. No one has ever given me a nickname before," Quinn admitted reluctantly.
The shock on the Latina's face was clear, so Quinn immediately interjected.
"At least, not one I didn't hate, so…it's a good one, a good, uh, nickname, so um, thanks."
"Wow," Quinn thought, "could I seriously be any more awkward if I tried?"
Santana just shook her head and laughed lightly.
"No problem. So…shower?"
"Oh yeah, be right there. Just taking a minute to process."
Another smile from her Latina counterpart as she walked out, and Quinn felt her head swimming. She had no idea what the hell was happening, just that she was terrified of whatever it was. She quickly changed out of her clothes and grabbed her towel.
The shower room was surprisingly empty considering how many girls were trying out. Quinn assumed a lot of them had gone home to shower or that some had just plain quit. She didn't dwell on it once she heard soft singing coming from a stall at the end. Quinn smiled when she recognized the words, finding herself quietly humming along as she turned on the shower and enjoyed the hot water on her skin.
Santana turned her shower off and could suddenly hear someone humming along with her song. She knew, without knowing, who it was, and felt an immediate draw towards her. Santana kept singing as she walked closer to the only remaining shower still running. Quinn switched from humming to singing along in a soft voice, surprising Santana by knowing the words to a 90's Usher song and actually being a decent singer.
Santana leaned against the wall and tilted her head back as she debated her next move. Sure, the new girl had sort of stolen her thunder and then got them unwanted attention from Sue. But it was also day one and Coach had just made them the leaders of this team, which meant they had obviously already made the squad. Plus, even though it meant being left out of the friends circle, they were automatically the head bitches at school, as freshmen.
Knowing full well that her "friends" from middle school were just a mindless pack who clung to her to leach off of her popularity and hopefully avoid her wrath, Santana found herself hoping that maybe she and Quinn could be friends. On the other hand, she also knew that the odd attraction she felt towards the new captain was completely taboo. Quinn fascinated her in a way other people had stopped doing when she'd outgrown childhood and started calculating the advantages of every action she took.
Quinn jumped when she walked out of her stall, shocked to see Santana standing against the wall in her towel. Her eyes took in the tanned body in front of her of their own accord until she caught herself and snapped her eyes to the floor.
"Hey, uh, didn't think you were still here," Quinn mumbled quickly, completely unnerved.
Santana took in the blush and the roving eyes and the uncomfortable tone, and added up the sum. Whatever weird thing she had for Quinn was evidently not a one way feeling. Either that, or the new girl was just really uncomfortable around her. Santana was immediately pissed off at herself for feeling hopeful for the former and tried to gain her balance with snark.
"Well, I figured since you pretty much ruined our chances of making friends, we might as well hang out if we don't want to be loners for the next four years."
Quinn brought her eyes back up to dark brown ones and stared hard. She was tired of being shit on by girls like this, and being reminded of their situation only made her that much more defensive.
"Yeah because I'm sure there was a line of girls around the block just waiting to get the chance to be your friend so that they could be abused by your weak insults and insane need to push everyone around you down in order to elevate yourself even an inch. If you think I'm another one of the herd who will take your crap just to be popular, you've got another thing coming."
They regarded each other in silence, the flash of surprise on Santana's face long since passed. The Latina was impressed, in truth. No one had gone toe to toe with her in a long time.
Quinn was terrified of what might come back at her, but fixed a calm, emotionless expression on her features.
Both girls knew that a friendship between them served their best interests. Both of them knew that a friendship between them would often be strained. They would battle each other more often than not. They would constantly be competing. There was already a charged air between them, and it would only get worse. They knew, but were still drawn to each other, unwilling to back down from the possibilities this friendship put before them.
Their staring match extended to the point of uncomfortable for both of them, but the idea of backing down went ignored until Santana smiled suddenly.
Quinn kept her icy demeanor until Santana finally spoke.
"Fair enough, Q. I'll give it to you, you aren't one of the herd. So what do you say we figure out how we're going to rule over the peasants together?"
At that, a genuine smile spread slowly across Quinn's lips.
"Sure, but I already know how we're going to do it," she said with a smirk that sent Santana's heart fluttering uncomfortably.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yup. Flawlessly."