Author's Note: Ok, so this is my first time ever posting a fanfic so I hope you like it! I know absolutely nothing about how school works in America or how the school year works so if there are any inaccuracies, I apologize. This idea was swimming around in my head for a while and so I decided to publish it :) Also this is will be a Klaine fic at some point but for now the focus is on these four.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.
Chapter One:
Senior year and it's a hot, sunny, early-September day in Ohio as Blaine Anderson, Tina Cohen-Chang, Santana Lopez, and Quinn Fabray congregate beneath the bleachers at the football field. It's currently lunch time and as usual the four friends keep themselves separate from the rest of the McKinley High student population.
Blaine and Tina are standing up, resting against the beams supporting the bleachers while Quinn and Santana reside on the couch that they seem to have managed to commandeer from the Skanks, another group of the school's misfits.
"It is disgustingly hot today" Santana moans, taking a drag of the cigarette she's just lit and passing her lighter over to Quinn.
Quinn accepts it, lighting her cigarette with ease. She places Santana's lighter between them on the couch and then stretches out her legs, leaning back into the cushions of the couch.
"That cigarette's probably not helping" Tina says, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow at Santana.
Tina and Santana have always had a weird relationship. Honestly, neither knows how to define it. They're not really friends but they're more than just acquaintances. Whatever that stage of a relationship is, that's what they are.
"Oh it's helping" Santana drawls, taking a long drag of her cigarette and then blowing the smoke in Tina's direction. Tina frowns at her.
Quinn lets out a huff of laughter, Tina's reaction amusing her, before she turns her attention to Blaine who has remained practically silent since they all met up here. He's smiling at Tina but it's more subdued than usual. Quinn knows something's wrong and she's not about to let it go unnoticed. She and Blaine are close, both bonding over similar issues with their fathers, she wants to help.
"Blaine is everything okay?" she asks, sitting up off the couch cushions.
Santana and Tina both look over to Blaine in unison and Blaine's head turns to look at Quinn, confusion evident on his face.
"Everything's fine" he says and Quinn can hear the falseness in his tone.
Santana appears to hear it as well because she now sits forward from the couch cushions like Quinn and she's all but forgotten about her cigarette hanging from her fingers.
"Blaine, what's going on?" Santana asks, concern lacing her tone.
Quinn takes a drag on her cigarette when Blaine doesn't answer straight away. On the exhale she spares a quick glance to Tina who has moved slightly closer to Blaine, away from the beam she's been leaning against.
"It's nothing" Blaine says and he smiles at them as though it'll make them stop worrying.
"No, fuck this" Santana mutters and Quinn hears Tina's sharp exhale as Santana stands up and moves to place a hand on a surprised Blaine's shoulder, "Talk to us B".
Blaine now looks a little scared, eyes flicking between the three girls. Santana gives up on her cigarette, dropping it to the ground and stomping it out with the heel of her shoe as Tina moves to stand next to her. Quinn stays where she is on the couch, taking a drag of her cigarette. She doesn't want to crowd Blaine too much and freak him out. She runs her free hand through her sleek blonde hair, her fingers catching on a knot near the back of her head. As she untangles it Blaine begins to talk, eyes downcast.
"It's just Karofsky and Azimio" Blaine sighs and Quinn sees Santana's posture stiffen.
"What did they do?" Tina asks, eyes filled with worry.
"Nothing" Blaine replies, trying to smile reassuringly at her but Tina doesn't look convinced.
"Bullshit"
All eyes move to look at Santana who looks incredibly pissed off. Her mouth is set in a thin line, her eyes narrowed as she watches Blaine.
"I can handle it" Blaine says, more to Santana than anyone else, his tone conveying that he just wants her to drop the subject.
"No, see, I don't think you can" Santana spits back, raising her voice. Quinn can tell it's about to get ugly so she intervenes before Santana has a chance to say anything else.
"San, stop. If Blaine doesn't want to tell us then he doesn't have to".
Santana turns to look at Quinn now, her expression stony. Quinn raises an eyebrow at her, daring her to not do as she's just said. Instead Santana plasters on a fake smile, turning back to Blaine.
"Of course he doesn't Q" she says, voice full of fake cheer. She squeezes Blaine's shoulder lightly before moving back to sit on the couch next to Quinn.
Blaine throws a grateful smile in Quinn's direction which she returns. Honestly she feels bad because she started this whole conversation. She doesn't dwell on it for long though. She's glad that it got Blaine to open up, even just a little bit.
Tina stays near Blaine, lips curled into her mouth as if she's restraining herself from saying anything. She reaches her hand out tentatively towards him, the fingers of her other hand curling in the black lace of her skirt self consciously. Blaine slips his hand into hers; squeezing it gently and Quinn can see Tina visibly relax.
Santana snatches Quinn's cigarette from her though Quinn doesn't understand why seeing as it's practically out. She doesn't say anything though; Santana's in a pissy mood and Quinn doesn't want to do anything to make it worse.
The tense silence grows between the four of them and no one seems in the mood to break it. Blaine keeps throwing glances in Santana's direction but she's resolutely looking anywhere but at him. Both Quinn and Tina keep looking between them, silently urging one of them to say something. Neither one does.
Santana takes one last drag of Quinn's cigarette before putting it out using the arm of the couch. Flicking the cigarette stub onto the ground, Santana crosses one leg over the other and smoothes down the fabric of her dark blue jeans with her hand.
"Okay look" all eyes turn to look at Blaine now and he takes a deep breath before continuing, "Karofsky and Azimio, they've just been shoving me around. Nothing more than what they usually do".
"Obviously, and that's why you look shaken right now" Santana mutters.
Quinn leans across the couch and shoves Santana's shoulder forcefully to get her to be quiet. Santana glares at her but keeps her mouth shut. Blaine doesn't say anything in reply but his grip on Tina's hand tightens slightly. When it becomes clear that no one else is going to say anything, Quinn takes this opportunity to speak up.
"Blaine, you don't have to tell us everything right now but just remember that you can talk to us".
"I know Quinn" Blaine replies, nodding his head and smiling a small genuine smile.
Santana looks as if she wants to say something but before she gets the chance, they hear the bell ringing in the distance. Santana leans back into the couch cushions with a sigh and Quinn follows suit. She and Santana have a free period now but Blaine and Tina have Chemistry.
"We'd better get to class" Blaine says, letting go of Tina's hand.
Tina just nods in response, waving goodbye to Quinn and Santana. Quinn returns the wave and Santana inclines her head in a way that lets them know she's acknowledged it. Blaine sighs before he and Tina begin to make their way back across the football field.
Santana reaches into the pocket of her white leather jacket that's draped over the back of the couch and pulls out a cigarette from her pack. She lights it using her lighter that's still sitting between her and Quinn and lets her eyes drift closed as she takes the first drag.
"You know, you smoke too many of those you'll get lung cancer" Quinn murmurs.
"Don't fucking lecture me Fabray" Santana hisses, eyes snapping open to glare at Quinn.
"Honestly, you should be more careful" Quinn scolds, "You're daddy is a doctor after all".
With that Quinn plucks the cigarette from Santana's grasp and takes a long drag from it, letting out the exhale slowly. Santana sits there, staring at Quinn in a state of surprise before her expression grows dark.
"Fuck what you'd know about fathers" she says, bite in her tone.
Quinn knows that Santana's angry and that the only reason she would say that is because she knows it'll hurt Quinn so she schools her features into a look of indifference. It does hurt though and Quinn hates that fact.
Santana snatches the cigarette back off Quinn, taking a short drag of it.
"I get that you're angry Santana but you're taking it out on the wrong people" Quinn sighs, running a hand over her face before leaning her elbow on her arm of the couch.
Santana doesn't reply, just takes another drag of the cigarette. Quinn rolls her eyes. It is so hard to deal with Santana when she gets like this. She knows it's only because Santana cares so much about Blaine that she's this upset but Quinn's getting a headache and she's slipping into a bad mood herself.
"What do you want me to do?" Santana huffs, passing the cigarette back to Quinn and beginning to pick at the lint on her arm of the couch.
"Just go easy on Blaine" Quinn pleads. She doesn't think it's too much to ask.
Santana pauses, eyes flicking over to Quinn. Quinn passes the cigarette back to her despite not having taken a drag of it. Santana takes it from her looking at it as though it holds all the answers. Eventually she nods, looking back to Quinn.
"I can do that".
Blaine pulls on his black and white striped sweater before running his hands over the knees of his jeans, taking a deep breath.
He sits on the edge of Kurt Hummel's bed, eyes taking in the room like they usually do as Blaine tries to figure out more about Kurt. He doesn't know much. Finn Hudson, star quarterback and glee club lead, is his stepbrother after Finn's mum married Kurt's dad, though that's kind of common knowledge. What Blaine can see from his half-open closet and the clothes he wears at school, Kurt has a good fashion sense and the Vogue magazines that Blaine's seen stashed under Kurt's bed when he's been searching for articles of his clothing tell him that fashion is something that Kurt enjoys. Everything's always so well organised and neatly arranged that Blaine sometimes wonders if he were to set even one thing out of order would Kurt's world tilt on its axis? He guesses he'll never know.
Kurt exits the bathroom, where he's been washing up, coming to sit next to Blaine on the bed. Neither says anything and Blaine thinks he should just grab his bag from beside the door where he threw it earlier and leave. They've had this arrangement going for a while now but Blaine hasn't managed to find a graceful way to leave yet.
"That was...good" Kurt mumbles awkwardly, drumming his fingers on his knees where the black fabric of his pants are stretched tight and Blaine sometimes just has to wonder whether he paints his pants on.
"Yeah, great" Blaine replies, fingers curling in the sleeves of his sweater.
Kurt just gives a little nod as an awkward silence falls between them and Blaine really wants to leave now. Kurt lets out a little cough that seems to Blaine as a way to restart the conversation so he returns his attention to Kurt.
"You know that this still doesn't change anything, right?" Kurt asks and Blaine can almost hear a pleading note in his tone.
"Yeah, Kurt, I know" Blaine sighs, "Casual sex and then pretend that the other doesn't exist until the next time we do this."
Blaine hears Kurt sigh beside him but doesn't pay him much mind as he moves to grab his bag. As he slings it over his shoulder, Kurt speaks up from behind him.
"Finn has a football game on Friday night and my dad and Carole will be there. Did you want to come over?"
Blaine turns to look at Kurt, mentally trying to remember if he made plans to hang out with the girls on Friday. He doesn't think so so he gives Kurt a nod.
"Ok, I'll see you then" Kurt says, standing up and stretching his arms over his head, his shirt sleeves clinging to the muscles on his arms. Blaine turns back around and walks out of Kurt's room.
As he reaches the front door he feels his phone vibrate in the pocket of his jeans and pulls it out to see a message from Tina.
From Tina: wanna come ovr tonite?
Blaine deliberates as he makes his way out the front door and to his car before he replies.
To Tina: Sure thing
Tina's company always feels like a breath of fresh air for Blaine and after today he kind of feels like he needs it.
Santana sinks into the seat in front of her mirror and just stares at her reflection. Her makeup has been wiped off and now she can truly see how tired she is. Her energy is drained. She feels like a kite desperately trying to escape and fly free only to be tethered and held back. In this case she feels tethered to Lima and she honestly cannot see a way out. She runs a shaky hand through her freshly washed hair and her breath comes in in a shuddering gasp.
She sees Quinn and Blaine and even Tina doing great things with their lives and leaving Lima far behind without a look back. Only trouble is that she feels like they'll be leaving her behind too and she's honestly afraid. Sometimes it all feels like too much.
The scrape of knives and forks against plates is the only noise to be heard in the Fabray family's dining room and its beginning to drive Quinn crazy. All she wants is for at least one of her parents to say something. Ever since last year when she got pregnant and had a baby with Noah Puckerman, her parents have barely said anything to her. Quinn isn't sure how much longer she can take it.
"Mom?"
It comes out in a quiet whisper but Quinn knows her mother heard her. Her head turns slightly towards Quinn as if she's about to answer her. The slight flicker of hope that begins to grow in Quinn's chest is stamped out when her mother turns her head away again, cutting up her steak a little more.
Quinn turns towards her father, opens her mouth to try and talk with him but he merely wipes the corners of his mouth with his napkin and leaves the table with his plate before she can say anything. A sick feeling settles in the pit of her stomach as she realizes that her father's plate still had a substantial amount of food on it.
Feeling a desperate need to escape, she asks her mother if she can be excused from the table. Her mother waves a disinterested hand, the only acknowledgment she's made towards her daughter this whole meal. Quinn pushes out her chair and walks hurriedly away from the table, not caring that she's left her plate there, and makes her way to her room.
Shutting the door behind her, she climbs onto her bed and crawls over to her bedside table. There a picture of Quinn and her sister Frannie when they were younger resides. Quinn picks it up; cradling it like it's the most precious thing in the world. Its then that she lets herself cry, tears splashing against the glass of the picture frame.
"I miss you" she whispers, clutching the frame to her chest and closing her eyes tight.
"I love your parents"
Tina lets out an amused huff, lifting her head from where it's been resting on Blaine's stomach and raising an eyebrow at him.
"Why?" she asks, tone disbelieving.
Blaine shrugs and Tina resumes her position of resting her head on Blaine.
"I guess after having my parents other people's parents always seem so much better" Blaine replies in a slightly wistful tone and Tina lets out a little noise of sympathy.
Both Tina and Blaine are quiet for a while, just enjoying each other's company and Tina just lets herself relax. She feels Blaine's fingers card through her hair, a soothing feeling travelling through her and she stretches out like a cat, letting out a small noise of content. She feels Blaine laugh and smiles despite herself.
"Shut up" she murmurs, closing her eyes as Blaine continues to run his fingers through her hair.
"Never" Blaine replies so Tina smacks her hand into the near vicinity of his chest. She doesn't bother to open her eyes to look.
They're quiet again after that for a while, neither feeling the pressing need to fill the silence with talking. Tina's almost practically asleep when Blaine says out of nowhere,
"I'm seeing Kurt on Friday".
Tina's eyes snap open and she leans up on her elbows away from Blaine's chest. She doesn't say anything; she just stares at him and tries to figure out why he felt the need to tell her that. She guesses it's because, as far as she knows, she's the only person outside of Kurt and Blaine who knows about their arrangement so she's the only one he can talk to about it.
"What?" Blaine asks when Tina doesn't say anything, looking slightly apprehensive.
"Nothing" Tina replies, shrugging her shoulders. She lets herself slump a little but she doesn't go back to leaning on Blaine.
Blaine narrows his eyes at her as if he can tell that there's something she's not saying and he wouldn't be wrong. There is something Tina's not saying, mostly because she doesn't want to sound like a broken record and also because she knows that Blaine won't want to hear what she has to say.
It's no secret to Blaine what Tina's feelings on Kurt and his arrangement with Blaine are. She doesn't like the way that Kurt treats Blaine - as if he's disposable and the whole arrangement feels wrong to her. Blaine deserves the best and that is not what he has right now.
Tina lets out a long suffering sigh, realizing that Blaine's not going to let this go. She readjusts her position so that she's sitting up cross-legged facing Blaine. Fidgeting with her fingers and the duvet, Tina takes a deep breath.
"You already know what I'm going to say" she mutters, eyes fixed on what her fingers are doing.
She hears Blaine let out a huff and looks up to catch him rolling his eyes.
"Tina, how many times do I have to tell you – "
"It doesn't mean anything to either of you, I know" Tina cuts Blaine off, "but that doesn't change the fact that you should have what you have with Kurt with someone it does mean something to."
She reaches over to take Blaine's hand, squeezing it gently. She catches his eyes and gives him a warm look.
"You deserve the best, Blaine" she murmurs, smiling at him.
Blaine squeezes her hand but doesn't say anything. He looks like he's in deep thought so Tina just lets him think. Her own mind begins to wander as they sit there holding hands and she thinks back over the past couple of years. She and Blaine had met when they were both freshmen. Tina had managed to trip up the front steps at McKinley on her first day and spill practically the entire contents of her bag out onto the ground. Not a great impression to make before she's even got through the front door.
There had been one saving grace, however, and that had been Blaine. He'd stopped and helped Tina gather up all her things and put them back into her bag. He'd then walked her to her locker. They'd had lunch together, sat together in their shared classes, and essentially spent the day getting to know each other and helping each other adjust to life at McKinley. They've been best friends ever since.
Blaine squeezing her hand again brings her back to the present and she sees that he's smiling at her. Whatever he was thinking about before he seems to have stopped thinking about now.
"Wanna watch Buffy?" Tina asks, feeling that the time for talking is over and they just need to relax.
Blaine lets out a small laugh but Tina can see that he's glad she changed the subject.
"Sure" he answers and Tina lets go of his hand to go hunt down her DVDs.
It's late when Blaine gets home and he can already tell that his parents are not going to be happy with him.
Sure enough, as soon as he bypasses the kitchen, his mother calls out to him in a sharp tone. Blaine pauses before backtracking and making his way into the kitchen.
"Hey mom" he says casually as though he hadn't just strolled through the door.
His mother ,for her part, just narrows her eyes at him before giving a little shake of her head.
"Where have you been?" his father asks and Blaine didn't notice him there at the kitchen table.
Blaine looks between his parents, his mother at the kitchen counter and his father sitting at the kitchen table, trying to gauge just how angry they are before he answers.
"I was at Tina's" he informs them, not missing the way that his mother seems to relax a little.
"Oh, how is Tina?" his mother asks, tone sweeter than it was earlier and Blaine narrows his eyes.
"She's fine" he answers.
In all fairness Blaine probably should have told them where he was going when he'd left after dinner that evening but he hadn't thought they'd care all that much. Then again, something about the way his mother had reacted when he'd told them he'd been with a girl annoyed him so he didn't feel so bad.
"I've always liked that girl" his mother comments in a slightly wistful tone and Blaine suppresses the urge to roll his eyes because he can tell where this is going.
"Yes, she's got a good head on her shoulders" his father chimes in, "Pretty too".
Blaine feels a little pit in his stomach begin to grow hearing his parents talk about Tina as if they wish that Blaine would marry her and make her their daughter-in-law. In fact they probably do.
"You should invite her around for dinner sometime" his mother tells him, a small hopeful smile on her face.
Blaine looks between his mother and his father before letting out a sigh.
"Sure"
He turns to leave the kitchen, wanting to get away from this conversation as fast as possible when his father speaks up.
"Oh and Blaine?"
Blaine turns back around to face his father, eyebrow raised.
"Next time you go out, you're to let your mother and I know where you're going"
Blaine just nods and then leaves the kitchen, all but vaulting up the stairs to get to his room. Closing the door behind him, he lets out a deep sigh, eyes slipping closed. This day has felt incredibly long and all Blaine wants to do is climb into bed, crawl under the covers, and go to sleep.
Unfortunately he has Chemistry homework to finish so he begrudgingly goes over to his desk, picks up a pen, and picks up where he'd left off.
Santana stands in front of her locker the next morning, her eyes scanning her timetable taped to the inside of the door.
"Spanish. Great" she sighs, rolling her eyes at the thought of having to spend the first period of her Wednesday listening to Mr Schuester try to speak Spanish.
She's just got out her Spanish book and is in the process of closing her locker when she feels the presence of someone standing behind her. Shutting her locker fully, she turns quickly to see Josh Coleman, sophomore rugby captain, standing there.
He crowds into her space with a lewd smirk on his face and Santana narrows her eyes slightly, taking half a step back.
"Thanks for last night" he murmurs, leaning close to Santana's face so that she can feel his hot breath fan out over her face.
Santana doesn't say anything in reply, just stares at him as he pulls away, shooting her a wink as he turns and walks off down the hallway.
She feels sick, something unpleasant settling in her stomach. She barely registers it when the bell rings and an arm loops through one of hers.
"What was all that?" Quinn's voice pulls her back into the present as she turns her head to see Quinn looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing" Santana says, eyes drifting back towards the slowly emptying hallway.
Great; Quinn saw. Santana knows that they'll have to talk about it later but for now neither her nor Quinn say anything more about it.
"Come on, we don't want to be late" Quinn says, gently tugging Santana towards their Spanish class.
Santana draws in a deep breath, before nodding and letting Quinn lead the way.
Feedback is greatly appreciated :)