DISCLAIMERS: I do not own Glee.
First, sorry if it sucks; I'm not really that inspired right now, and today my stomach started hurting like a b**ch. So. I hope this doesn't let you completely down.
Santana was having a pretty nice first day at McKinley so far. She had mostly just introduced herself to the students, making them present themselves later.
For the new ones, it was a rather embarrassing action; none of them wanting to bare themselves to the people who would be around them constantly for the whole year, but for the older ones, it was quite fun.
She still had one more class to meet, and suddenly the woman felt the nerves that had faded through her first two classes of the day come again at full force.
There, in the student's list, was the name, clear as day.
Rachel Barbra Berry.
Rachel was in her last class.
With each passing second, Santana's frown faded a little more, until finally it was replaced by a full on smile when she recalled the way the petite brunette's lips quirked up when she cracked a shy smile.
Before that – surely eventful – class, the raven haired woman had to make a stop at the teacher's lounge, having told Principal Figgins that she would acquaintance herself with every part of the building where she would be working; or in this case, relaxing.
When she arrived there, the only two people present there stopped their conversation almost immediately, taking in the image of the Latina standing in the doorway. The first one to react was an undoubtedly attractive man in his early thirties with extremely greased curly hair. Smiling widely, his eyes roaming quite boldly the entire length of the Latina, the man stood up and approached Santana, extending his hand until Santana shook his hand with her – in comparison – little one.
"So, you must be Santana Lopez, the new Spanish teacher" said the man matter of factly, putting his hands on his hips, the broad smile not leaving his face, making Santana a little uncomfortable. The woman just smiled politely and nodded her head, clasping her hands at her back, looking around the room, waiting for the man to return to his own personal space.
"Oh! How impolite of me to not have introduced myself yet. My name's Will Schuester, I'm the geography teacher."
Biting her tongue to prevent herself from saying something that would definitely cause her more trouble than good, Santana answered with a "Nice to meet you", praying to God to end that awkward encounter that instant. The clearing of a throat made them both turn their heads, the tall girl grateful for the distraction.
It looked like the red haired woman with too big eyes and plastic gloves on her hands glaring at Schuester didn't like being ignored.
"Oh! Sorry, I forgot. This is Emma Pillsbury. She's not technically a teacher, but she works here." Emma looked incredibly confronted with the vague introduction given by Schuester, so she carefully removed her gloves, folding them neatly before getting up. Now, Schuester looked nervous.
"I'm William McKinley High School's guidance counselor. I help our students resolve their problems, and I help them get over their puberty insecurities." Santana nodded politely once again and extended her right hand to shake Emma's.
The counselor just looked at the hand, her own jerking lightly at her sides, a nervous smile forming in her lips. Santana tried not to burst into laughter when the red haired woman looked up apologetically at her, and then moved her gaze towards William, asking him for help.
"She suffers from OCD. Sorry." Was his explanation.
"No problem" Was all the Latina could say, her eyes itching with unshed tears as she bit the insides of her cheeks to keep herself from laughing. Hard.
The other woman just continued smiling nervously, her expression not changing even when she hurried towards the table to gather her things and left the room without a word, only a little nasal sound resembling to 'Why'.
At this, Schuester just looked fondly as she left, his eyes softening. Taking advantage of his distraction, the Latina made like she had looked at her watch and morphed her face into an apologetic one. "I should really get going, you know. It has been a pleasure meeting you and…Emma." Said the woman walking backwards; and without giving Schuester time to answer, Santana left the room.
This is it. That was the only thought in Santana's mind when she entered the room in which she'd hold her last class of the day.
As usual, some kids were on their feet, chatting with their friends at another table; others were throwing paper balls at the bin from different distances, and others were writing stupid things on the blackboard. The class was classified as a mildly wild one in the Latina's head. Her eyes skimmed over the sea of students, looking subtly for her. And when finally, Santana spotted Rachel, she didn't expect what she saw.
The girl's bangs were wet, covered in a purple sticky looking substance in some parts. Her sweater was stained by the same fluid, making the dark green material look randomly black.
The girl didn't look much better herself. She had her head downcast, obviously shielding herself from the exterior world, her hair hiding her face. She seemed to be inspecting some notebook, her hand playing with the slightly bent corners of the paper. The petite brunette was sitting alone, in the nearest desk to the teacher's.
Finally, the students seemed to have noticed their new hot teacher, because all of them ran to their seats and a scary silence fell over them. All the faces were turned to the teacher - including the only one she cared about - , so Santana smiled widely and roamed her eyes over the students once more, stopping lightly when her gaze caressed Rachel.
"Well guys, my name's Santana Lopez, and obviously I'm your new Spanish teacher." Greeted them the tan woman, clasping her hands in front of her.
"I really hope that we can have a lovely school year. I like having fun in my classes," continued the teacher, looking pointedly at the more troublemaker looking students in the room, "but my hand doesn't tremble when I have to impart punishment." Finished Santana, her cold stare morphing all the smiles into respect filled faces.
"Okay!" exclaimed soundly, clapping her hands once and startling the students at the first row of seats. "Who wants to start introducing themselves?" asked, her eyes looking for any raised hand.
"Okay, okay, not everyone at once, please" teased the woman, raising her arms in mock exasperation.
"I'll start. Hi, my name is Santana Lopez, I'm twenty four years old and I come from Puerto Rico, but I was raised in Boston." At this new bit of information, several students raised their hand, encouraged by the Latina.
The end of the class was nearing, and almost everyone had introduced themselves to the rest of the class. None of them were who the Latina wanted it to be.
"Anyone else?" asked Santana, looking pointedly at Rachel.
The girl tried to use her hair as a shield to prevent eye contact, but Santana wasn't giving up.
"Rachel? I think you're the only one who hasn't introduced yet."
Under the soft gaze of her new teacher, Rachel sighed to herself and got up from her seat, receiving a few murmured insults by the people closer to her.
When she straightened up in front of the blackboard with her red rimmed eyes, her wet bangs and her stained sweater, Santana instantly felt bad for having forced her. That guilt only increased when a paper ball hit her torso, making a little group of jocks laugh and high five each other, one of them murmuring 'ten points!'.
Santana angulated her shoulders and raised her chin, her freezing stare cutting through the students like a sharp gigantic sword. Everyone straightened up on their seats and some of them cleared their throats, trying to look as innocent as possible.
Turning her head to Rachel at an angle in which only the tiny girl could see her face, Santana smiled encouragingly and made a barely noticeable 'go on' motion with her head. Lowering her eyes, her fingers fidgeting madly, Rachel cleared her throat lightly, wetting her lips in a quick motion before lifting her head; a renewed determination marrying her features.
"My name is Rachel Barbra Berry, I'm seventeen years old, and I was born here, in Lima, Ohio." A few of the snickers and chuckles were silenced once more by the Hispanic teacher. Taking a deep breath, Rachel cracked a little smile and tilted her head slightly down, her eyes roaming the classroom walls.
"My biggest dream is being able to participate one day in any Broadway piece-" "Tell us about your parents, freak!" was heard, the anonymous voice echoing through the whole room until, once again, almost every person present started cracking up. This time, the sharp look the teacher sent the students wasn't enough to shut them up, so Santana got up from her position sitting at her desk and uttered a loud 'Silence!', her voice taking a serious edge that the pupils hadn't heard until that moment.
Rachel raised her head once again, her chin jutting slightly. Blinking a few times, the small girl turned her eyes towards Santana, looking intently at her, before turning her gaze back to the rest of the class, her lungs filling with air and expulsing it massively.
"I have two gay dads." The roaring of laughter could be heard two classes down the hall.
Rachel, however, looked unfazed by all the teasing referring to her fathers, to the Latina's shock, who was still catching up with that tiny bit of information. Rachel had two gay dads? Well, that definitely meant that the girl wasn't repulsed by homosexual people.
Slapping herself mentally for such a stupid thought, Santana slammed her hands against the wooden surface of her desk, making the chatter progressively die.
"I think it's enough." Stated the teacher firmly, looking dead serious.
"Yeah, enough dudes in her family, right RuPaul?" teased another student, making Santana's blood boil. When the teacher looked to her left, she saw the petite brunette that had taken over her mind for the last five hours tighten her jaw, her hands closing tightly, her knuckles turning white.
"Excuse me a moment. What was your name?" asked Santana, her half closed eyes looking directly at the jock that had made the last comment.
"Tom." Was the cocky answer.
"Right. So, do you have any problems with homosexual people, Thomas?"
"It's Tom" replied the boy, his face turning a light shade of red.
"Right. So, do you, Thomas?" continued Santana, her lips twitching into a little smirk, having emphasized the word 'Thomas'.
Looking affronted, the boy puffed his chest and frowned, moving his head to the side, not daring to look at the teacher in the eye.
"No."
"Are you sure, Thomas?"
"Yes."
"Good." Finished the Latina, her face serious again. Turning her head towards Rachel, the girl almost looking in awe at her, Santana smiled kindly at the student, and moved her head towards her seat.
"Come on, Rachel. Very well done." The brunette walked towards her desk, her head ducked the whole way to avoid the hateful looks she was most certainly getting, until she arrived at her desk and sat down, her back straight as ever.
Forcing herself to pry her eyes off Rachel, Santana turned her back to the class, looking at the old clock hanging behind her desk.
"Okay. This class is over for today. Have a good week. " Dismissed them the woman, just as the bell rang. Sitting down and rearranging the papers – that she hadn't used, at all –, the tan girl heard the rustling and chatter leave the room, letting her dive deep in her thoughts.
Rachel was bullied. No, that was clearly obvious. She seemed like the type of girl who would never stand up against other people. And she had met quite a few people like that. The bulling always got worse, and Santana had watched many people hurt silently in her years of High School. Teens could be the worse providers, and certainly were the most sensitive receivers.
Santana had started thinking of ways to act towards students to prevent bulling from happening, when someone cleared their throat in front of her desk. Lifting her head, she was met with none other than Rachel Berry, who was almost smiling down at her.
"Rachel. You startled me." Said the teacher, pressing her hand against her chest and smiling herself. The woman stood up, so that the height advantage was once again of her part.
Suddenly, Rachel's face looked alarmed by the thought of distressing her teacher. "Oh, I'm truly sorry for-" "No no no. None of that. I'm happy that you're here. I just didn't expect it, that's all." At the words, Rachel seemed to blush lightly, but was difficult to tell with her naturally tanned skin.
"So." Santana clapped her hands once in front of her. "What did you want?"
Looking up, the tiny brunette opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out of her mouth. Looking at the blackboard, the girl opened her mouth again. And again, no sound. Smiling, Santana walked around her desk, until she was at arm length from Rachel, and reaching out, the Hispanic woman placed one hand on Rachel's shoulder, squeezing encouragingly. Ducking her head and smiling broadly, her cheekbones raising and jutting deliciously – God, Santana, stop it –, the short girl finally spoke.
"I just… My parents…" Taking a deep breath, puffing the air out at the squeeze she received, Rachel tried again.
"I just wanted to know if you… do you feel uncomfortable about my dads?"
What?
"What?" asked Santana, alarmed. Because, geeze. She didn't know she had sent those signals. She was a lesbian, for God's sake. What kind of problem could she have with the girl's dads? Oh, of course that Rachel didn't know that.
Before Rachel could speak again, Santana raised her hand in a placating manner, making her close her mouth instantly.
"No! Why would you think such thing?" demanded the Latina, her face showing how surreal just the thought looked to her.
Looking like a deer caught in headlights, Rachel started shaking her head furiously, her wet hair hitting her in the face.
I'll have to ask her about the stains one of these days.
"Sorry! I didn't want to imply anything! I just… I've had my fair amount of bigoted teachers who didn't stand the idea of two men together in that way, and I just…" the girl trailed off. Santana ducked her head and smiled, encouraging her to finish whatever she had wanted to say.
"You just…"
"I couldn't stand the thought of you being one of them."
Santana's expression was unreadable. The smaller girl, afraid of having scared her new teacher off on her first day, bit her lip nervously, waiting for the lecture for having used such a bold sentence.
Instead, Santana's face slowly came back to its normal state, smiling kindly at Rachel, even though the student could tell that something else was up.
"There's nothing to worry about" assured the woman, her smile showing her flawless teeth.
Nodding her head slowly, Rachel waved lightly her hand, receiving a little wave from Santana, and silently left the room.
Once the door was completely closed, Santana closed her eyes, leaned her body against the edge of the desk, and covered her face with her hands, taking a deep breath.
This girl's gonna be the death of me.
