Author's Note:
Hey all, I'd just like to welcome you to the beginning of this journey. I hope that you enjoy what's in store.
Disclaimer - I do not own Glee nor any of its characters
1. Graduation Day
This is it, the big moment. Every day, every second of the past thirteen years of our pathetic, automaton existence has led to this. What is this? Well, this is where a geeky smart ass gets up on stage and gives a prolonged thirty minute speech about how we will all accomplish our dreams and how life will be filled with cupcakes and butterflies. Well I got news for you, my best friend Alice is terrified of butterflies, and this little picture perfect life that people all think will simply manifest because they will it to is just a formation of our imaginations; it will never come true.
I may seem pessimistic, but wouldn't you be if you had to sit in an uncomfortable wooden chair for hours listening to various speeches about how we made it through school only to go on to more school, and how we will accomplish all of our dreams even though we all know that that's bologna. So sue me if I'm not an optimist today.
Hey, then again, my friends and I are going clubbing tonight as a "So long, goodbye" to high school. So I guess that I can hoot and holler about that. Plus, I won't have to go to math ever again. I don't hate math for the usual reason "math is hard," it's more of a my-teacher-spat-when-he-spoke thing. I guess you could say that math class was like SeaWorld, you know, the first three rows will get wet. So that's another thing to hoot and holler about.
Oh look, Tweedledork is almost done with his speech, yay…I guess. Once the speech was done, everyone stood up, cheered, hugged the person next to them, and walked out of the stadium in an orderly fashion. After all was said and done and I was outside the stadium, I ran to my car, ripped off my graduation clothes and quickly drove to the club.
I know what you're thinking, God, I'm heartless, I didn't even bother to say goodbye to people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, I am going out with the only people that I really care about so I will be saying goodbye. Plus, I don't care too much for goodbyes; they're always sad and usually completely fake. I mean, half the people who were all, "You have to sign my yearbook," I haven't talked to in the past four years of high school. I didn't want to have to deal with that all over again. Plus, that sea of blue and white graduation outfits (my school's colors) would make it impossible to find anyone. So, in the end, I think that my way of doing things is just fine.
It took about twenty minutes to drive downtown to the club that I'm planning to meet my friends at, Club V. It is said that this is the hot spot in town and it's an 18 and up club so we were excited to go. I arrived right on time and I saw my group of friends already outside the club, waiting to get in. I walked up to them in my not-so-high-school-graduation clothes.
"Hey, what's the hold up?" I wondered as I approached Alice, Kendra, and Tori.
Alice rolled her eyes, "The big guy over there says that the club is full and that we have to wait in line just like everyone else, but he keep on letting bimbos with big breasts and blond hair in by the dozens."
"Here, I'm going to go up there and see what's what," I didn't want to wait down here in line while a bunch of other people got to just waltz into the club like they're all that.
I walked up to the front of the line and looked the big-muscled bouncer in the eyes in a "hey look at me, I'm sexy" sorta way. He looked me up and down. I'm not big breasted nor blonde, so I don't know why he let me in, but he did.
"I am meeting some friends here," I explained. "So, when they get here, be sure to let them in too."
The bouncer looked down at his clipboard, "What's your name?"
"Santana Lopez."
"Okay, when they get here, I'll be sure to let them in," he smiled as he handed me his card. "And if you ever want to get together, you should call me."
"Will do," I lied. He was all big and muscular, but otherwise he was butt ugly in the face. All of that didn't matter though because I just go all of us in. I turned and walked into the building.
I pulled out my phone once I was inside and texted Alice, Tori, and Kendra that all they have to do is go up to the bouncer and give him my name and they can come in. I chilled out at the front of the club as I waited for my friends to walk in. I then came to the realization that the bouncer never carded me which means that he never gave me an X that says that I can't drink…SWEETNESS!
I then got a call from Alice.
"Hey, Alice, where are you?" I wondered barely able to hear her over the music.
"The bouncer won't let us in," Alice complained.
"What? Did you give him my name?"
"Yeah, he said that he won't let us in because we're too young. Apparently that thing about this being an 18 and up club was wrong. How you got in, I'll never know," Alice explained.
"Okay, I'll be right out, we'll go somewhere else," I sighed.
"No, no, no, you just got into the hottest club in town with the hottest people in town. You have a good time. We'll go out tomorrow or something," Alice said.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Okay, well, I'll see you later mi amiga mejor," I said as I hung my phone up.
I didn't want to go out on the dance floor alone, so I decided that I would go to the bar. I'm not much of a drinker either, but it was better than the sense of patheticness that would follow dancing alone.
So I sat at the bar which was greasy and waxy and gross. I have squeezed my way into the "best club in town" and ew. Oh well, I don't really know what I was expecting. Then again, everyone in this bar is hot. The boys and even the gals, and I'm not even gay, or bi, I think. Eh, whatever, that's all nit-picky crap anyway. The way I see it, if you like someone, you go for it.
There were plenty of hot guys and two of them have already asked me to dance, but they were both Amber(crombie)-zombies and I totally draw the line at pink shirts. Because, like I said, I believe that if you like someone you should go for it, but I refuse to date a guy who hasn't come out of the closet yet.
A few seconds after I turned down the second Amber-zombie, a girl with platinum blonde hair sat down next to me. The girl smiled at me with the most amazing blue eyes I have ever seen, and said, "Hey."
"Um, hey," I replied.
"My name is Brittany."
"I'm Santana," I replied, wondering where this might be leading.
"Can I buy you a drink?" Brittany asked.
I smiled, but I'm not really sure what to think. I don't think that I'm into girls, but it could be a possibility. "Sure," I replied with trepidation.
"Blaine!" Brittany shouted. The bartender came over to us right away. Brittany held up two fingers. Blaine nodded and quickly grabbed us two beers.
"Thanks," I said after Blaine had placed the beers down.
"I've never seen you here before," Brittany commented.
I shrugged, "It's my first time here."
"You don't really look like you belong here."
"Uh, I don't know what I'm supposed to say to that," I'm not sure if that was a comment or a rude remark.
"No, I didn't mean it in a negative way. Most of the people who fly through here are very superficial. They try so hard to fit in and they're so fake that it practically makes me sick to my stomach. But you…you're different, you're real."
As if fate wished to prove a point, a man in a baby blue button up shirt approached us. "Hey ladies, how 'bout we go to the dance floor and continue this conversation with our hips," the man said trying to be suave.
"I see what you mean," I said to Brittany.
"We'll pass," Brittany then replied. The man walked away from us with a disappointed look on his face. Once the man was a fair distance away from us, Brittany and I broke out into laughter.
I looked up from my drink and into Brittany's sapphire blue eyes, "That was pathetic."
"Yeah, no kidding. I think that Mr. Muscle is getting reality and Hollywood mixed up," Brittany smiled. After a few seconds of silence, Brittany inquired, "Tell me more about yourself."
"I'm really not all that interesting," I commented. I really and truly live a fairly boring existence due in part to high school. I should avoid the topic of age because it would be embarrassing for Brittany to find out that I just graduated from high school.
"I doubt that," Brittany pushed.
I guess that I could just randomly talk and see how things go, "Okay. Well, most people believe that I'm a pessimist, but that's really not true. I just say it like I see it. Most people consider it negative, but if that's the case, then the world is negative, not me."
Brittany laughs, "That's how most people see me. Some people think that I'm hilarious, some think that I'm some sort of ditzy and don't know how to see the world in the right way."
I took a sip of my drink, "I don't really know what else to say. Um, I play the guitar and sing, and the latter still stands that I am a really boring person."
"What about your family, friends?"
"I have the most awesome friends in the world. I couldn't ask for any better. Then there's my family. That's another story entirely. My dad is an abusive ass and my mom doesn't seem to care. I don't feel like I really belong at home at all. I really just need to escape from the choking grasp of my parents. I can't wait until I can start living a life all my own…free. I just feel like this reality, where I live, who my friends are, is all just pulling me down. I don't always feel like I'm my own person, and I'm talking way too much and this is supposed to be a causal conversation not a one-on-one with a shrink," I said a little embarrassed.
"No it's fine. I thought that it was interesting. That's basically how I felt before I was adopted by my family. But my family now is great. I can trust them with anything and everything. I feel like my brothers and sisters are more like best friends than obstacles to overcome. It's pretty nice. I don't feel like I have to try so hard anymore; like I did before I was adopted."
"Maybe your parents should adopt me," I laughed shyly as I took a big drink of my beer.
Brittany did the same, "Maybe."
Brittany seems like a really cool person. She has a similar outlook on life to me and she seems to be the only one that I can truly understand and the only one who truly understands me.
"Do you want to dance?" Brittany asked as she stood up from the bar stool.
How could I refuse? "Sure."
Brittany took hold of my arm and led me out to the dance floor. I'm not a very good dancer, and I wanted to say the disclaimer, but I didn't. I figured that Brittany should like me no matter if I have mad dance skills or not.
Most of the songs were up-beat and didn't require a lot of physical interaction, but then a slower song came on. Then fear rushed through my veins. I figured that this whole slow dance thing can't be much, if at all, different from when I dance with boys. So I just played my part. Brittany wrapped her hands around my waist and I wrapped my arms around her neck. We swayed from side to side. Brittany is a few inches taller than me, which puts her around 5 foot 8. She is extremely beautiful; like one of those girls that you see on TV and complain about their luck in the genetic pool. I tried to avoid staring at her as we danced, but it was hard to know when I was looking at her too much, just enough, or not enough. Usually I just let the boys worry about all of this, but now I have to worry about it too.
I wasn't really expecting this tonight. I was only prepared for a night out with my good friends and for us to just act like idiots and have fun. Nope, that's not even close to what really is happening. I've met someone, not someone that I have to try so hard to be the ideal person around, but someone who seems to understand me. I never really expected for me to develop feelings for another girl, but I guess that things just happen like that. I don't really know how to put everything into words, but tonight seems oddly perfect considering that so many things have gone wrong: having to sit through graduation, the bouncers not letting my friends in, etc.
In the middle of one of the songs, the guy who approached us earlier at the bar approached us again. Except this time, he had different intentions. "Psh, I knew that my moves weren't rusty. You two were just too gay to party with me. If I knew that this was a gay bar I would have gone somewhere else," the guy laughed as he fist bumped his friends.
"Hey! I wouldn't be talking Señor wears a tight baby blue shirt," I yelled back annoyed.
"Ok Ellen," the man rebutted.
"Puck!" Brittany shouted.
A man came running over to where we are. "What is it?" Puck asked.
"Can you throw these guys out please?" Brittany asked.
The guy and his friends had dumbfounded looks on their faces. "Hey, wait! You can't do that!"
Puck, despite not being above average in size, managed to pick two of the three guys up by their shirt collars and said, "Watch me."
Puck then dragged the guys out of the club and threw them on their butts. The third guy just ran out before he got his ass beat by Puck. Puck walked back to where we are, "Do you two need me to kick their asses, because I could do that. Make your decision quickly before they run away."
"No, we're fine, thanks Puck," Brittany replied as she hugged him. "Thanks."
Puck smiled and walked away.
"So, who is he?" I wondered.
"Oh, Puck is one of my brothers," Brittany explained.
"Oh…" I didn't really know what to reply.
Brittany smiled weakly, "I actually have a confession to make…"
Oh crap. That's never good. Whenever someone says that they have a confession to make, something bad happens. Sometimes the world spirals out of control, off of its axis, but whatever may happen, it doesn't end well.
"…my family owns this club," Brittany continued. "My brother Blaine is the one behind the bar. I have a few other family members around here, but I can't see them."
"I think that's cool, nothing to be embarrassed about," I replied. I can tell that Brittany was a little apprehensive about telling me that she owns the club, but I just think that it's cool, nothing more, nothing less.
I feel like Brittany has been nothing but honest with me, but I haven't really been honest with her. So I decided to tell her how old I am. "I have a confession to make too. I'm only 18. I just graduated from RooseveltHigh School, today actually. Sorry, I thought that you might not like me if I told you the truth."
Brittany smiled and smirked, "I'm only 20. Don't worry; I don't think that there is anything wrong with you being 18. I was 18 just two short years ago."
"So…no big?" I wondered making sure that we are on level ground.
"No big."
"Good," I smiled. Even though I feel really comfortable around Brittany, I can't help but feel like I need to try more around her than anyone else. I'm so used to trying to be other people's idea of perfect that I've never really tried to just be myself. It's sad that trying to just be myself has become more difficult than trying to be someone else.
"Do you want to get out of here?" Brittany wondered. "I feel like I'm surrounded by family and…"
"Weirdness levels rising?"
"Yeah, basically. I just feel like if we stay here that I'm going to be constantly scrutinized by my family."
"Okay, where do you have in mind?" I wondered as we walked off of the dance floor.
We walked toward the front door, "I'm thinking that we should walk down to this park that is just a block or so away from here. No one's going to be there this late at night, and it's a good distance away from the family."
"Sounds like a plan to me," I said as we walked out the front door.
The jealous eyes of people waiting to get into the club followed us as we walked out. I wanted to ask Brittany how people get selected to come into the club, but I didn't want to bring up something that she probably has no control over.
It was a short walk to the park. It's a cute, small park for kids. I guess it has to be small though. There's not exactly a bunch of room in the city for huge jungle-gym complexes.
Brittany sat down on one of the four swings. I sat down in the swing next to her. Silence fills the air. There were only a few cars out on the road and, despite the city lights, the stars look like bright flames in the night sky.
"Are you really only 18?" Brittany wondered.
I wasn't expecting the question. I'm not sure if it's an insult or a compliment, "You talk about my age as it's some sort of disease."
"I didn't mean it like that. I need to work on my tone because a lot of what I say seemingly comes out of my mouth in the wrong way, but in my brain it was a compliment. What I mean is that you're not like most people your age."
"Thanks, I guess. The only problem with being 18 is that this age really does suck sometimes," I shrugged.
"Eh. How I see it, even when life seems like it sucks, life is only the beginning for bigger and greater things to come."
I smirked, "It sounds like you're talking from experience."
Brittany was silent for a moment. She then pushed her swing into mine, "Maybe."
The conversation was getting just a little too deep for me. It was ruining the awesomeness of the mood that I was in. "Okay, so want to see who can't jump the furthest off of their swing?"
Brittany seemed like she was caught by surprise. She practically burst into laughter, "Okay, let's do it."
Brittany and I started to swing. Once we were swinging pretty high, I counted off, "Okay, one…two…three!"
Brittany and I both leaped out of our swings. I have absolutely no coordination and landed in a roll. Brittany happened to do the same. In the end, Brittany ended up rolling on top of me.
I gazed into her brilliant blue eyes and she looked back into mine. Brittany moved a piece of hair out of my face and carefully tucked it behind my ear. She placed her hand on my waist. Her face then descended toward mine. Her lips conformed to mine and we kissed. It only lasted a moment though. Brittany then pulled her head away from mine and rolled over so that she is on her back next to me.
"Crazy night, huh?" Brittany wondered.
"Yeah, crazy," I said as we looked up, into the night sky.
"You're a pretty awesome girl Santana," Brittany said.
"You're pretty awesome too, Brittany."
"It's getting pretty late, do you want to start heading back to the club, or home, or something?" Brittany wondered after she had looked at her watch.
"Cute watch. Um, sure, we can start heading back. What time is it?"
"It's about midnight," Brittany stated.
My eyes widened in worry, "Holy crap, yeah, I need to get home."
Brittany stood up first and reached her hand out toward mine to help me up. Once I was back on my feet, Brittany placed her hand in mine and I wrapped my fingers around hers. We then walked back toward the club.
Once we were back at the club, I knew that we had to part ways. I didn't want to, but every night has to have an end. We stopped just outside the club where the line to get in was starting to die down.
"Tonight has been great," Brittany commented as we stood in front of the club.
"Yeah, it was…unexpected to say the least," I replied.
Brittany had a nervous smile on her face, "Um, so I was wondering if I could have your number?"
I smiled and without replying verbally, I pulled a pen out of my purse. I then grabbed Brittany's cold hand and wrote my number on her palm.
"I'll call you later and we can get together again," Brittany said as she looked down at the numbers.
"Sounds like a plan."
Brittany leaned down and we kissed again, but again, it didn't last very long at all. The second that it was over I had to bolt.
"I'll see you later," I said as I practically ran to my car.
Once I was back at my car, I quickly put my keys in the ignition and sped away. Luckily there's no traffic coming out of downtown at this time of night. I live in Hinsdale, which is about fifteen minutes away from downtown Chicago, but in traffic it can be about forty-five minutes away. I was lucky enough to get home in about ten minutes once I hit the highway.
I turned off my lights before I pulled up to my house. My parents would kill be if they found out that I got home this late. That means that getting inside through my front door is not an option. Plan B is to shimmy up to my window and sneak into the house. I'm practically an expert at this because I'm never good at keeping up with curfew.
I stepped out of my car and I walked up to my fence. I used my fence like a latter. I climbed up my fence and up still onto the roof of my shed. I then climbed from there to the roof of my house. It was an easy shot to my room's window from there. I climbed into my room and quickly got dressed into my pajamas.
While tonight was weird, it was fun. I feel like I'm falling for someone that I've just met. I've never had a relationship like this before. I feel bad about ditching my best friends on graduation night, but without doing so, I would have never met this girl who had literally changed my life.
I want to get to sleep quickly so that I can see Brittany again. I know that if time passes by quicker, then she'll call quicker. Then again, I never want for this day to end because I don't want to deal with the idea of such a perfect day coming to a close.
Plus, I am so wired from tonight that I thought that it would be impossible to sleep, but I was wrong. The second that my head hit my pillow, I was out like a light.
The cold of the night air chilled my bones. I let out a breath and I could see a puff of smoke escape from my mouth. I'm only wearing my scantily clad pajamas in the freezing cold air.
I'm alone in a dark place. I don't know where I am. All I know for sure is that I'm in the woods. The smell of musk filled my nostrils and I could hear the loud chirping of bugs and other creatures in the night.
There is no moon out tonight, only the stars lit up the darkness. I just wanted the sun to come out. I'm not afraid of the dark, but I am afraid of the creatures that lurk in the dark.
A low snarl came from behind me. I quickly turned around and backed up. I then backed into something. I screamed and turned around. Brittany is standing there. I wrapped my arms around her.
"What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here," Brittany said. I looked into her eyes. Her eyes are no longer an sapphire blue, they're a midnight black.
"You shouldn't be here either. Where is here anyway?" I wondered a little terrified of what is happening.
"No, I belong here, but you don't have to have the same fate as me. Get out while you still can," Brittany said she pushed away from me slightly.
"What's wrong?" I wondered. I can't figure out what's going on and I just want to know what Brittany's talking about. I hate all of this cryptic crap.
"We're in the world of the night."
"All we need is for the sun to come up and we'll be fine," I said as my heart started to beat faster in fear.
"The sun will never come up."
Brittany placed her arm in front of me and pushed me behind her. I looked at the spot in the trees where Brittany is looking. I can see a pair of glowing eyes in the dark. The creature snarled. Brittany then turned and hugged me, placing herself between me and the beast.
I closed my eyes in terror, but nothing happened. Instead of hearing the snarl of the beast, I can hear the pitter patter of rain on a roof above us. I let go of Brittany for a moment to see where we are.
We're now under the protection of a gazebo. Rain is falling all around us in a rather violent matter. Despite the heavy rain, I can see the sun on the horizon.
"See Brittany, the sun came up. The sun always comes up and always goes down, no matter what. Whatever's happening, it's not the end of the world," I said.
Brittany placed her hands in mine, "I can never give you the normal life that you deserve."
"Don't say that, everything will be fine," I still don't understand what's going on. I looked into Brittany's eyes which are now back to their normal blue.
"You want this," Brittany said as she took a step away from me and turned around to express that I just wanted some normality.
"Yes, this is normal, compared to whatever just happened in the woods, but I still think that we'll be fine."
Brittany smiled weakly and placed her hands back in mine, "This isn't how our story will end. We won't get the storybook ending."
"I don't need a storybook ending, I just need you."
I then heard the snarl of the creature again. I wrapped my arms around Brittany afraid of what might happen next.
Author's Note:
Thank you for reading! Please comment/review this work. I would love to know your thoughts and opinions. =)
In the spirit of Glee, I will be posting songs with each chapter. The song for this one is "Everything's Magic" by Angels and Airwaves