A/N: This is the first story of a series of one-shots that go together. You can read them out of order and they'd still make sense, or you can read them all in a row. This series is/will be published separately, so it would be silly to add this to story-alert. Enjoy & thanks for reading!
Special thanks to my beta, Zoie!
Santana was not happy to be going to a new school. Sure, she was only in the first grade, but she still didn't think it was fair. I mean, she had made friends at her old school…sort of. Well, not really. She was more like a little tyrant who put the fear of God into every other kid in her class, but she liked it that way. She crossed her arms in the back seat of the car and huffed. Now she was going to have to start all over, she thought.
Her father, Dr. Lopez, got a new job in Lima, Ohio and moved the family immediately. Sure, the house there was bigger, it even had a pool, but readjustment wasn't exactly her forte. Not that she had any experience with it, but still, she didn't like it.
Her first day of school was just like she had expected it to be. She reluctantly walked into her classroom and glanced around the room, sizing up each one of her classmates. She immediately decided she hated everyone, even her teacher.
"Everyone, this is Santana Lopez. Santana, why don't you tell the class a little bit about yourself?" Mrs. Kingsley asked, motioning towards the class.
Santana rolled her eyes. This was so stupid. But she sighed dramatically and did what she was told. "My name is Santana and I moved here from Florida."
An arm shot up from the front of the class. A little blonde girl was eagerly raising her hand like she had the most important question in the world for Santana. Mrs. Kingsley called on the girl. "Yes, Brittany?"
"Do they have unicorns in Florida?" Her blue eyes sparkled with hope and genuine interest.
Santana cocked her head at the strange question. She wanted to laugh at the girl, but her look was so serious, waiting intently for an answer. Santana tried her best not to offend the girl, so after a few moments of thinking her response through, she finally replied with "Uh…I've never seen one…"
"Don't be so stupid, Brittany, unicorns don't exist!" the voice of a little mohawked boy piped up from the back of the room. He crumped up a piece of paper and threw it at the girl's head. Brittany sunk in her seat, crossed her arms and pouted. It was probably the cutest pout Santana had ever seen.
"Noah Puckerman! That's enough out of you. It's not nice to tease your classmates." Mrs. Kingsley turned to Santana. "Thank you sweetie, you can sit down now."
Santana scanned the room for an empty seat. The only empty seat left was next to another little blonde girl in the middle of the classroom reading a book, not paying attention in the slightest. She walked over and plopped in her seat and sighed.
The blonde girl looked up and stared at Santana for a second, like she was inspecting her or something. "Hi, I'm Quinn," she said, obviously deeming Santana worthy of an introduction. "I'll show you around later if you want." Santana just threw on a fake smile and nodded. It's not like she had anything better to do.
Class felt like it was on constant repeat from earlier that morning. Every time Mrs. Kingsley began teaching a new subject, Brittany would raise her hand asking about something absolutely ridiculous and the mohawked boy, as well as some of the other students in the class, would point and laugh and Mrs. Kingsley would quiet them down again. And every time Brittany would pout from being made fun of, yet minutes later she would be bouncing in her seat again. There was something about her that intrigued Santana. She was just so strange.
Recess couldn't have come any slower. That classroom was giving Santana quite the headache. When they walked outside, Quinn led her all around the school yard, showing her the playground, swings, jungle gym, monkey bars, soccer field, hopscotch corner, and lastly the sandbox. Blonde hair caught Santana's eye, and she recognized Brittany sitting by herself in the sandbox building a castle with buckets and putting sticks in the top like flags. From the way she was motioning with her hands, it looked like she was playing out some kind of princess rescue fantasy. Santana just rolled her eyes and followed Quinn to the swings not too far away.
"Doesn't she have any friends?" Santana asked as she continued to study the strange blonde girl.
"Who, Brittany? Nah no one really likes her. She's weird," Quinn answered with a shrug.
Suddenly, the mohawked boy walked up next to Brittany, pushed her over, and jumped on top of her castle, smashing it completely. "Puck stop it!" Brittany yelled. Puck just laughed and ran away, leaving the girl there next to her destroyed pile of sand. She pouted about it for a minute, then suddenly became happy again and started all over, building the castle piece by piece. Santana just gawked at the scene in front of her. That girl was something else.
The next two weeks were just about the same. Class made Santana irritated, and she spent her recesses sitting next to Quinn on the swings. Honestly, Quinn was pretty boring to be around. She was either reading or talking about something stupid that Santana didn't care about. But who else was Santana going to hang out with? Quinn was the only one who had talked to her. She couldn't honestly be seen roaming around by herself: that was just silly. So during those past few weeks, Santana found a hobby to occupy herself with. She'd sit with Quinn at the swings pretending like she was listening to her talk about her Polly Pockets, but really she'd watch Brittany play in the sandbox. At first, Brittany would look up sometimes and smile, clearly catching Santana staring at her, causing the young brunette to get all flushed and look away. However, it started to become obvious that Brittany knew she was Santana's recess entertainment because she'd try desperately to create something new with her sand every day. She'd make shapes that vaguely resembled flowers, dolphins, ducks, rainbows, and other random things.
Santana grew to adore Brittany's little game. She wanted to talk to her so badly, but Quinn's words haunted her and frankly there wasn't much of an appeal to being made fun of for it. The young blonde seemed to want to talk to Santana as well, but after every recess, Brittany tried to wander towards Santana but the brunette would conveniently find a way to avoid her advances.
About a week went by and Brittany began looking up at Santana when she was done with her creation, like she was looking for approval. Santana would simply nod and smile, earning a huge grin and excited clap from the young blonde. But every day, just like clockwork, Puck would run up and jump all over whatever Brittany had made. Though she wasn't quite sure why, this began to make Santana's blood boil.
This day was no different. Sticking to her routine, Santana was sitting on the swings next to Quinn, who was being extra annoying today, complaining about this awkward tall boy who kept looking at her funny. Santana's stomach fluttered a little with anticipation when she saw Brittany walk to her sandbox and sit down. Just like always, Brittany began her work. Santana gripped the chains of her swing tightly as she watched Brittany grab clumps of sand and put it in a pile, smashing it together and beginning to form some sort of shape. It didn't take long before it became clear to Santana what Brittany was creating. She felt a little giddy as she watched the little girl work. Brittany finished minutes later, anxiously looking up at Santana with her hands out, clearly displaying her slightly lopsided heart. Just when Santana was about to give her stamp of approval, Puck ran up in front of her.
"Is that supposed to be a heart? What a stupid shape!" he teased, stomping all over her creation.
"Puck! Why do you have to be so mean?" Brittany whined. "Just leave me alone!"
"You wanna see mean? This is mean!" he yelled, kicking the pile of sand directly at her face and into her eyes.
Brittany screamed and covered her face, starting to cry. Santana had enough. She shot up out of her swing and marched over to Puck, approaching him from behind and tapping his shoulder. He turned around to face her, but was met with her fist square in his jaw. The boy flew to the ground and she leaped on top of him, striking at his face, which he tried his hardest to cover with his hands. Moments later she was being yanked up by a teacher who was yelling something about all three of them getting detention after school, and she was dragged away.
Santana was led to an empty classroom after school for detention. She took a seat and began to examine her hands, which were slightly sore from beating Puck's brains out earlier. She smirked at herself for her accomplishment. Suddenly the classroom door opened, and in walked Brittany with a teacher right behind her, stopping at the door.
"Girls, I'm going to go check on Noah in the nurse's office. I'll be back in a few minutes. No talking."
Brittany sat down right next to Santana and grinned. "You rescued me," she stated proudly.
Santana quirked an eyebrow at the odd statement. "Uh…yeah…I guess."
"Thanks. He picks on me a lot."
"I see that. He probably likes you. My mom says boys pick on girls when they like them."
This seemed to confuse Brittany. "W-why would he like me? No one likes me…"
"That's not true. I like you," Santana said quietly and flashed a nervous smile.
Brittany's eyes lit up. "Really? You do? But…why? You never talked to me before."
"You uh…seem nice, I guess."
The blonde clapped her hands and bounced in her seat. "Cool, I like you too!"
"What? Why?"
"Because I think you're pretty."
Santana froze at this. She looked at Brittany who was sporting a huge grin. No one besides her parents had ever called her pretty before. Her stomach felt like it was doing flips. "I uh…I mean I guess…thanks."
"Wanna be my best friend?"
Of course she did. This girl was just too adorable. Screw Quinn and the other dumb kids. Santana did what she wanted, and after today everyone would probably be too scared to mess with her anyway. She could use that to her advantage and protect Brittany. God only knows the little blonde needed it.
Just for fun though, Santana pretended to ponder the question like it was a hard decision to make. This made Brittany begin to pout. Santana couldn't keep a straight face at that and giggled. "Sure."
Brittany squealed the highest pitched squeal and leaped at Santana, engulfing her in a huge bear hug. Santana remained stiff at first; she wasn't used to being hugged. After a few seconds though, she relaxed as much as she could in the tight embrace. They parted and Brittany smiled once again. "Wanna play with me in the sandbox tomorrow?"
Santana smiled and nodded. With that, they both sat in their seats, thinking about their new friendship. Santana began to wonder why the other kids made fun of Brittany so much. She was so cute and sweet. Oh well, Santana thought. She would just beat up anyone who said anything mean. For Brittany.
That's when Brittany turned to Santana with a serious look on her face. "You do know unicorns are real, right?"
Santana chuckled lightly…but in that moment she knew one thing: Brittany definitely needed her. And as the years progressed, Santana would come to the realization that she needed Brittany just as much.