AN: Now welcome to my newest fic entitled. I was getting a lot of requests for Charlie/Santana and Charlie/Brittany. As well as Charlie/Santana/Brittany. The next Charlie/Santana/Brittany is shaping up to be an epic in my head and I truly have to many so, you're going to have to wait until Only One is done before I start that. So in between. I'll have one Charlie/Santana and one Charlie/Brittany fic up hopefully.
Song: What is Love – V. Bozeman
Summary: When one girl makes you question it all.
Disclaimer – Don't own Glee.
Santana Lopez knocked on the front door, straightening her clothes out. She needed to make a good impression. If she did a good enough job then maybe she could branch out and start tutoring more of these Dalton Academy kids. For thirty dollars an hour it would help her pay for her university books at least unless she could get some full time work going then she might be able to help pay for rent. She'd have references so she could start up her business again in New York. She was about to knock on the door again, when the door swung open. Santana took a step back in surprise and plastered a smile on her face as she looked at the woman at the door. "Hi, I'm Santana Lopez. I'm here for tutoring for—uh, Charlie?"
Judy Fabray blinked in surprise. She had expected an adult not another teenager. "You're the tutor?" She says in surprise.
Santana nodded realizing it was better to be polite. Judy was probably going to be the one paying her. "Yes ma'am. I'm saving up for university."
Judy smiled at this, someone who was hard working and industrious, "Well, hopefully you'll set a good example for Charlie. Now we've never needed tutors before. It's actually quite embarrassing. The twins are so intelligent. I know that if Coach Washington hadn't threatened to kick Charlie off the soccer team, Charlie probably would have coasted through Spanish Class with a D." Judy said chatting to Santana as she ushered her inside. "So do I pay you now or after the lesson?"
"After is fine," Santana explained as she entered the house. It was the nicest house she had ever been in, everything looked expensive.
Judy nods and motions for Santana to follow her, "Now, I don't mind bringing snacks down. Charlie eats like a bottomless pit all that running around I imagine. Are you allergic to anything?"
Santana blinks and shakes her head shyly. She hadn't expected to be fed as well, Judy was by far the nicest mom that she had met while doing this job. Maybe the rumors she heard about Dalton Academy students weren't true. If Judy was this nice then she wouldn't mind coming over. "No, ma'am."
Judy motioned for Santana to take a seat in the dining room. She was impressed already. Polite, and on time. "One moment let me go get my daughter. You just get comfortable." Judy said watching as Santana took a seat before heading to the living room where Charlie was sitting texting. Judy made a face, she wasn't a fan of her daughter's boyfriend, with his ridiculous haircut. She hadn't minded Puck when he and Charlie were just friends but now that they were dating she wasn't thrilled. "Charlie your tutor is here."
Charlie flicked her eyes towards her mother. "I don't need a tutor. Just like I don't need Spanish. Coach Roz might suspend me but even she isn't crazy enough to bench me until I get my grades up. Let alone ruin my chances with the National team. They're coming to scout me."
Judy raised an eyebrow. She wasn't in the mood for her daughter's attitude today. "Let's try this again. Your Spanish tutor is here and waiting in the dining room. You are currently getting a D in Spanish, which means until that grade rises to a solid B, you're grounded."
Charlie blinked and looked at her mother in horror. "Mom!" She had things to do, parties to attend with Quinn. She needed to make an appearance she was Dalton royalty. Besides Puck through the best parties and this one was going to be awesome.
"Your next test Charlie is at the end of the week. If you can get a B, I'll rethink your punishment," Judy said remaining firm. "Which means that I would do everything in my power to make sure that your tutor spends as much time as necessary with you to make that happen. Right now she's waiting."
Charlie studied her mother for a moment hoping to see her falter for a moment but she actually looked like she was being serious. She grumbled and headed and grabbed her bag. She should have just dropped Spanish like Quinn had done, but it was an easy A even if she wasn't learning. That was until Mr. Schue had grown a backbone and suddenly started to actually mark her tests instead of just giving her a usual A for being the captain of the girls' soccer team. It was the only class where she didn't do the work because Mr. Schue couldn't actually speak Spanish. She headed into the dining room where her tutor was sitting there patiently.
"Hi, I'm Santana." The smile on Santana's face froze when she saw the mess of blonde locks and a pair of hazel eyes staring at her. She had thought Charlie Fabray was a boy. She wasn't expecting someone like Charlie Fabray to enter the room. Especially not dressed like that, that shirt was far too tight and should have been illegal. At least she was wearing shorts which did nothing to hide her amazingly defined legs. Judy had mentioned soccer, well it's no wonder, she looked as fit as she did. Santana's throat ran dry for a moment.
"Of course you're the one tutoring me," Charlie mutters under her breath. At least Santana wasn't a fifty year old white dude who could barely speak Spanish.
Santana blinks and frowns slightly and there went that instant attraction. She scowled at Charlie. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Charlie didn't answer the question, instead she took a seat next to her and turned her bag over. She dumped her books and binders and pens onto the table and tossed her bag onto the ground ignoring Santana staring at her. She found what she was looking for and pushed it to Santana. It was just a few handouts. "That's what I need to learn for my test," she said handing Santana a few sheets of paper. "Verbs or something or rather and some vocabulary."
Santana looked at the mess on the table and Charlie's handouts which had doodles all over it, and then looked at Charlie as she took the hand outs and quickly flicked through them. They had cartoons drawn all over them. "This is how you spend your time in class? No wonder you need my help." She began to look over what was written on the handouts.
Charlie blinked as she realized that she had probably just been insulted. "You're not allowed to insult me!" Charlie snips at Santana crossing her arms over her chest.
Santana blinked this was basic material, she thought Charlie was in Spanish III. She looked at Charlie for a moment, and there was that spoiled rich kid attitude that she had heard about. "What are you going to do? Go complain to your daddy?"
"Dad's dead, so no."
Santana froze and turned to Charlie, hoping that she was joking. But there was just a blank look on Charlie's face. "Shit, look I'm sorry. I didn't mean—" Santana began.
Charlie shrugged she wasn't bothered by it. It had happened five years ago. "You didn't know," Charlie says with a sigh. Now Santana was going to be weird.
Santana studied Charlie for a moment she looked alright. "Well I didn't mean to bring up any sad memories or anything. However the sentiment still stands." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "This is really basic stuff—" Santana turned back to look at Charlie who was staring at her in shock. "So what do you know?" Santana said prodding her gently.
"Si." Charlie said with a shrug of her shoulders. Before she smiles widely. "And I can order food in Spanish."
"Ordering at Taco Bell doesn't count," Santana said tersely. She wondered if Charlie was just shitting with her, or was really just an idiot.
"Oh, well then Si." Charlie says with a shrug.
Santana stared at Charlie for a moment, the soccer player was going to make her earn every penny of that thirty dollars. A D was clearly being generous very generous. "Do you know the alphabet?"
"Uh," Charlie began and shrugged her shoulders. She was sure that they hadn't covered it. Or maybe they had and she had skipped that class.
Every single penny was going to have to be earned. "How did you get to Spanish III, without knowing the alphabet?"
"Mr. Schue has been giving the same lesson plan every class for the past three years and then gives us impossible tests." Charlie said in a bored tone. She opened a binder and flipped through the various tests in them. Till she got to one of her Spanish tests and pushed the binder to Santana so she could see.
Santana blinked and stared and snorted for every answer Charlie had just written Si. She read over the question that was being asked. The questions were hard, even for her, and she was fluent. "Who did you say your teacher was?"
"Mr. Schuester," Charlie muttered. He was out to get her, she was sure of it. Probably because Puck used silly string all over his car.
"Stupid hair? Sweater vest addiction?" Santana asked and Charlie nodded at this. "He's your Spanish teacher? We had him for a substitute once. I doubt he could even answer the questions on this," Santana said frowning. She didn't even recognize the second word on the page. She sighed a bit, well there went her theory that Charlie was a stereotypical jock. "Look, I'll talk to your mom about how the test is unfair, it's something that you'd probably learn if you did a university course and I get that Dalton has fancy academics but still, you'd need like a university professor who had studied this like people study English or Latin to teach you this."
"And you thought I was an idiot," Charlie says smugly.
"I still think you're an idiot," Santana replies, without looking up at the test, squinting at some words.
Charlie blinks and stares at Santana for a moment. "I am not an idiot, you just said that this was difficult even for you." Charlie points out.
Santana places the test back down on the table and looks at Charlie, "Be honest, are you the only one that failed this test?" Charlie nods. "I think you're an idiot because you clearly did something to piss him off, and Schuester is so full of shit, but at least he knows what Si means." Santana pointed out. "At the very least I'll teach you the alphabet and some basic verb conjugation, since I'm here anyway. I don't think you need a tutor, I just think you need a better teacher." Santana sighed there went her thirty dollar an hour gig.
Charlie studied Santana for a moment before looking at her paper. "I need to get a B on my next test or my coach won't stop riding my ass about this and lifts my academic suspension, and so my mom lets up on this grounding that she's doing. So, how about you teach me the alphabet and verb conjugation and whatever else I need to know so I can get that B. Can you come every day this week till the test? After school?" Santana nods. "Good I need something to do now that I'm suspended from practice for the week. Might as well learn something."
Santana blinks, that's still about a 180 dollars for about six hours work. She eyes Charlie suspiciously to see any ulterior motive. "Alright, but you actually have to pay attention," Santana informs Charlie bluntly. She takes out a clean sheet of paper and writes down the alphabet. "Alright let's begin," Santana says surprised when Charlie leans in to give her the proper attention. Santana blinks so maybe Charlie wasn't completely spoiled rotten.
Quinn Fabray stared at her twin for a moment who was busy going over the work that Santana had given her to complete. Charlie had never been this interested in anything before unless that involved a soccer ball and different plays. "So, let me get this straight. This Santana person, basically spent the entire hour calling you a spoiled brat and at different times saying that you were an idiot, and you told mom that you want to make her your official tutor?"
"Yep," Charlie said popping the P.
"Are you insane? Have you taken to many soccer balls to the head?" Quinn asked. She pauses, "Don't answer that."
"I learned more Spanish with her then I have in three years. Besides I think she thinks I'm a brainless vapid jock who only cares about parties and sports." Charlie says with a slight frown.
"Charlie you're popular and you do only care about parties and sports," Quinn points out casually. It's not exactly true. Charlie's grades are impeccable, she needs to keep up her average if she wants a scholarship and her grades with the exception of Spanish are perfect just like hers.
"Well yes¸ but she doesn't need to know that," Charlie points out. She opened the Spanish English dictionary and writes down another vocabulary word that she goes over a few times pronouncing the word over and over again. "Now go away I need to master the present tense and Spanish pronouns," Charlie says shooing Quinn away.
Quinn paused, for a moment watching as Charlie bit her lip in concentration. "Charlie, she's your tutor from McKinley. I don't know why you're trying to impress her. You're a future Olympian, you've already got college scouts trying to recruit you. Plus you have a boyfriend who you are supposed to be seeing later tonight."
Charlie paused and looked up, "I'm grounded Quinn. I know. Trust me I know. Besides tell Puck he can use his hand tonight or you know the person he's currently sleeping with that isn't me." Charlie said with a shrug.
Quinn rolled her eyes and made a face at Charlie's blasé attitude about the whole thing. "I don't know how you stand for it. I mean he's embarrassing you with all that flirting with women and sleeping with people. He's not even discrete about it."
"One, it's Puck. Two, it's Puck. Three, it's Puck. Four, we have an open relationship. Puck doesn't actually care if I do the same. I would if I actually liked anyone else at Dalton." Charlie points out. But none of the other guys interested her. Puck was her best friend and it just made sense that they would be together. She hadn't cared when she had caught him with another girl. It certainly made it easier to avoid having sex with him. She should have gone Quinn's route and just said she was waiting till marriage.
Quinn rolls her eyes and watches as Charlie writes some basic sentences down, "Whatever, hurry up and get this done. Puck's throwing a massive party this weekend and I don't want to go without you." She reaches over and messes her twin's hair up as she gets up and walks away.
Charlie scowls a bit and looks at sheet of paper. Quinn was probably right she was trying far too hard for someone who thought she was an idiot. But she liked that blunt style of hers, she had more than enough people kissing her ass at school.
Santana frowned slightly as she glanced at Charlie's phone that was buzzing nonstop on the kitchen table. The vibrating was irritating but Charlie didn't seem to notice, she was currently attempting to read through some simple sentences. Her accent was awful but it was passable, at least she was putting the effort. The past two days Charlie had seemed attentive though they still squabbled over everything else. Truthfully she hadn't expected Charlie to do the small assignments that she had given her but Charlie had. Though the smug smile on her face when she had been surprised had been annoying. So she had made a few wrong assumptions about Charlie. "Charlie your phone, does it ever stop vibrating."
Charlie glanced at her and grabbed her phone, she was so used to ignoring it when it started to go off like that. Which happened at least once a day. "It's just the latest school gossip. It's nothing important," Charlie said checking her phone and moving to switch it off when she paused at the picture that was just sent. Her lips curled upward in annoyance and resisted the urge to throw her phone.
"Dalton Academy gossip?" Santana asked, it was clear that Charlie was part of the in crowd and Rachel had been attempting to get her to use her connection in Dalton to spy on the Warbler's. "Is it which member of the Warbler's came out?"
Charlie blinked and made a face. "Why the hell do I care what the Warbler's do in their spare time?"
"I thought that the Warbler's were huge at Dalton? I mean my friend Kurt went there for a semester to get away from the bullying at McKinley. He said that Warbler's were huge at Dalton." Rachel and Kurt had sworn at schools like Dalton Academy actually respected the arts, and they had a zero tolerance for bullying. If her family could afford the insane tuition she'd ask to go there.
"We are talking about the same Warbler's who carry around a bird, and haven't won a competition in what thirty years? Right?" Charlie asked and Santana paused for a moment before nodding. "No the Warbler's are tolerated at Dalton. No one cares what they do and no one is in their business." Charlie said as she showed Santana the picture on her phone that had irritated her. There was Puck making out with her co-captain on the soccer team. "This is gossip at Dalton, fresh with pictures and what I assume to be video."
"Dalton must be a boring place if two teenagers making out is gossip worthy news," Santana said shaking her head before deciding to get back on track. She points to the numbers that Charlie was going over.
"Uno. Dos. Tres. Cuatro. Cinco." Charlie said slowly as Santana moved to each number. She finishes getting everything right and looks at Santana. "Two teenagers making out is hardly news at Dalton. However when my boyfriend is making out with the co-captain of the soccer team it becomes news." Charlie said tapping her fingers. She pauses and points at her paper. "We discussed this, when I get everything right you put a happy face on my paper."
Santana blinked and turned to Charlie who tapped the paper and gave her a look. Santana rolls her eyes and draws a smiley face and writes the words good job. Charlie had been irritated that she didn't have stickers to tell her good job. "You're a child." Santana informs Charlie.
"I work best with positive reinforcement," Charlie says with a smile on her face. "Besides, I put this shit on the fridge so my mom can see it." Anything and everything to get out of being grounded.
Santana rolled her eyes and begins to look through the handouts that Charlie was supposed to learn and began to go over them slowly. "I'm sorry that your boyfriend cheated on you," Santana says. "He's an idiot. You definitely deserve better than that." She had never had a girlfriend, but she certainly wouldn't cheat on a girl like Charlie, not with someone like that.
Charlie hums and taps her pen against the table. "Puck is indeed an idiot. But he's a decent boyfriend when he wants to be." Santana looks at her and she shrugs. "We cuddle together all the time, and if he's having sex with those women he's not trying to have sex with me. It's a win-win situation for everyone."
Santana stared at Charlie for a moment. "What I'm hearing is that you aren't going to dump him for cheating on you." Charlie nods at this. Santana mutters something under her breath in Spanish, before shaking her head, this wasn't any of her business.
Charlie was sure she heard Santana call her an idiot in Spanish and she grumbled. "Just say it." Charlie says and Santana looks at her. "You know you want to insult me so do it."
Santana paused for a moment, she was disappointed a bit that Charlie even had a boyfriend. Not that it mattered, Charlie would never ask her out. "Anyone who calls themselves Puck is an idiot. Which is evidenced by that shitty haircut of his. I don't know why you're wasting your time on someone that you don't even really love. If you love someone you'd care that they were caught sucking face with another girl."
"We have an open relationship," Charlie informs Santana crossing her arms over her chest.
Santana paused and looked at Charlie, "Is that what you really want in a relationship? Some dude who sleeps around with other women? It just sounds like he's convenient for you. You deserve someone who will love you and respect you. Cause that right there," Santana said pointing to the phone. "That isn't respect Charlie." Santana informs Charlie before immediately going back to looking at Charlie's sheet. "You made a mistake here. You mixed the imperfect tense with the future tense."
Charlie blinks and looks at her sheet, Santana had given her a lot to think about. She liked Puck being with him was easy. As in she could ignore his antics and just move on with her life. But he was screwing with her team dynamics and that was creating more work for her. "Isn't that what the question was asking me to do?" Charlie asks confused.
"Look I get that he's your cousin and this is a big deal, since we don't usually get invited to these types of things. But it's a Dalton party. It's not like we're going to know anyone there." Santana glanced at Rachel who opened her mouth to say something. "Charlie is one of my students." Another very good reason to not show up this party. Her she had two more sessions with Charlie before her big test. She slammed her locker shut.
"Your only student, who you might not even run into." Rachel points out. "Everyone in Lima knows that Noah throws the best parties. All of his parties are legendary. It'll be the perfect way to decompress Santana. No one will know who you are and we won't have to deal with these brutes. It'll be fun. I can come pick you up. Besides the kids at Dalton are incredibly progressive according to Kurt, no one is going to you know care, so you might find a nice young Dalton Academy girl who will be completely okay with who you are." Santana gave her a look and Rachel sighed. She understood why Santana was hesitant to get involved with anyone. But that didn't mean she shouldn't try at all. "At the very least you can make little business cards and slip it into their pockets so you can grow your business." Rachel points out. "You need to get the word out.
"I don't have business cards Rachel," Santana points out dryly rolling her eyes.
"I thought you'd say that, so I decided to go ahead and take away your excuse and I went ahead and made you business cards. Very professional," Rachel said as she opened her bag and pulled out a stack of a hundred business cards. "So now we can go to the party and you can hand them out. It helps if you say you know a Fabray, I talked to Kurt and he said that they were like royalty at that school. Identical twins, so maybe throw that in your pitch." Rachel suggests. "I mean she is going to pass this test right?"
Santana smiles, "Her pronunciation is awful, but she's trying her hardest and she's doing a really good job. She's got everything that she's supposed to know down, and we're doing vocabulary exercises." Santana explains to Rachel. "She's doing everything I assign to her and she has a really good memory. She should pass, or at least get better than a D." Santana explains. "Hopefully she'll be a good reference point. In a week I managed to get her grades from a D to a B." It was a shame that after this week, she wouldn't be seeing Charlie any more. No more of seeing her all dressed up in that uniform of hers which she wore well. Or seeing her in her workout clothes slightly sweaty after hitting the gym.
The sudden and cold slushy hit her face and Santana groaned as the chilly drink slid down her shirt. Well, that was one way to cool off.
Santana took the money from Charlie as the soccer player walked her to the door, "I know that our sessions are over, but I'd like to know how you did. You have my number so you can tell me. I think you'll do fine, you put in the work and that's the most important thing." She lingers at the door for a moment and looks at Charlie. Her hair is a mess and she's still wearing her uniform that fits her better than should be possible or she has a thing for women in uniforms that she wasn't aware of.
"If I get a B on this, will you finally admit that I'm not an idiot?" Charlie asks after a moment. She had done all that work to impress Santana and Santana still seemed to think she was mindless jock. Which irritated her more than it should.
"If you get an A on this test I'll admit that you aren't an idiot," Santana challenges and smirks when Charlie huffs a bit. She smiles at Charlie for a moment, "Well if you know anyone that needs help in Spanish, if you could tell them about me that would be great." Santana opens the door to the front of the house and groans it's raining outside and she didn't bring an umbrella. It was going to be a long to the bus stop. She hadn't even brought a jacket. She looks at the money in her hand. "Do you think I can wait for a cab?"
Charlie looks at Santana and grabs her keys from the bowl. "Mom, I'm driving Santana home," Charlie yells loudly. She pauses for a moment before taking off her blazer and offering it to Santana for warmth. "It'll keep you dry till we get to the car."
Santana pauses for a moment, "Really I can take a cab Charlie it's no big deal," Santana says quickly.
"Or you can get a free ride, where do you live?" Charlie asks stuffing her hands into her pockets as she pulls Santana towards her car. She opens the door for Santana ushering her into the car before moving to the driver's side.
Santana looks around the car which has Charlie's duffel bag on the back seat and two pairs of cleats just on the ground, Charlie's black and red uniform sticking out. "Lima Heights," she says sticking out her chin daring Charlie to say anything. It's not the best neighborhood at all, but she's still proud of her roots.
Charlie blinks and looks at Santana for a moment and then reaches for her GPS system and turns it on. "Just type your address in," she says with a shrug waiting for Santana to put in her address and she slowly pulls out of the driveway. She drives in silence tapping the steering wheel and stealing small looks at Santana who has her bag on her lap.
Santana shoots a few looks over at Charlie for a moment, "Not that it's any of my business but how'd it go with the boyfriend?"
Charlie shrugs, "Puck is Puck, even when he screws up it's hard to hate him. Because he makes this wounded puppy face and it's like kicking a puppy. I'm not mad at him anymore." Charlie explains and she sees a flash of disappointment in Santana's eyes. "He was there for me when it mattered," she says ending the subject. He's a safety net whether she wants to admit or not. She hums and changes the subject not enjoying the feeling of vulnerability. "So what about you? Any boyfriends?"
Santana snorts at the idea. "No boyfriends. Not that I'm interested in men. I like—women. But I've never had a girlfriend or anything. I guess no one really wants to come out in Lima, Ohio." She says with a smile.
Charlie looks over at Santana, "Well, they're are idiots. Any one of those women would be lucky to have you. Clearly they're blind." Charlie informs her in a matter of fact tone.
Santana raises a brow and tries to hide the smirk on her face as she looks out the window. Well clearly Charlie was a blind idiot. It was good to know, not that it mattered. It was Charlie she was a student of hers, it didn't matter if she was the same age. Besides Charlie was clearly straight and in love with her best friend or whatever Puck was to Charlie. "Thanks," Santana said quietly hoping that was the end of it.
Charlie hummed and looked Santana over, her eyes traveling along Santana's body. She was still wearing her blazer. Santana would probably look amazing in one of the Dalton Academy uniforms, but she pauses for a moment and shakes the thought out of her mind. "So what sports do you play? Soccer? Basketball? Softball? Oh tennis is nice every now and again."
Santana shakes her head, she couldn't play sports. Sports meant changing rooms, changing rooms meant people would find out about her condition. "No sports." Charlie deflates a bit, "But I watch soccer with my dad sometimes." It's almost comical to watch Charlie light back up.
"I'm sure you'd be good at it," Charlie says, she could certainly teach Santana in her spare time the basics.
Santana shrugs, "I don't really have time. Between school, work and the glee club—I don't have time to pick up a sport."
"Well, if you aren't doing anything. After I ace this test and you admit that I'm not an idiot. I have a game at McKinley. If you want to watch sheer brilliance on the field, you should totally come check me out. I look amazing."
Santana shakes her head, "Maybe I will, see if you're the next Lionel Messi." Charlie turns to her in surprise. "Like I said my dad likes to watch soccer, and you pick up a few things."
Charlie smiles finally someone who knew a soccer player. "Well, you'll be amazed and in awe when you come watch me. I'll score a hat trick just for you."
AN: Review tell me what you thin, should I continue should I scrap it and start again. All up to you.