Sorry for the slight delay, my English Teacher attacked me with an essay :( So it took me a while to think of a suitable plot for this chapter!

Thanks for the reviews, the faves, and the follows! Here's the next chapter! If you can't understand the Spanish, Google Translate is the best thing ever lol

Also, this chapter is sorta important, because it starts to head the way I want it to, like, towards Brittana/Santittany. So, again, R&R! :)

"Pecador!" Papi hisses in my ear as more painful punches are wrenched into my gut. I wrinkled my nose at the scent of alcohol lingering in his breath as he starts to pant hard, already exhausted from beating me up for an hour. "Your mother hates you! I hate you! Everyone hates you!Dios te odia! You are worthless!"

I let out a groan of pain as he throws me to the ground. He slammed the door angrily behind him.

I swallow back the tears that threatened to spill across my cheeks. He's right... I think to myself. Everyone hates me...

After more thin bloody lines are made, I decide to go outside. I locked my door and quietly walked away from my house. Luckily, I'm on the bottom floor in the smallest bedroom, so I didn't have to climb or anything.

I walked to the park, my park. It was called Spring Lake Park, but nobody came here anymore. Usually it was just me, myself, and I.

I loved it that way, though.

I loved the family of ducks that lived here. I loved the sweet fragrance of the cherry blossom trees that came in the spring. I loved the cool breeze and the sense of tranquility whenever I came here.

Spring Lake Park was just a wide open area with grass greener than a Mountain Dew label-even during the coldest winter months. The lake itself was in a crater in the middle of the park, and uphill was where benches sat and asphalt was paved in to create a two-mile running path around the whole lake.

The sun had set long ago over the horizon, sooner than wanted thanks to winter, leaving a twinkling blanket of stars in its place. The moon was bright and full, illuminating the quiet park.

I sat at my favorite bench-the one directly under the cherry blossom tree I'd carved my initials in all those years ago-and sighed, looking up at the stars. This is my last and only happy place left...

What would happen, I wondered, if I just... gave up? If I let the crushing, aching pain inside and outside of me destroy me completely? If I allowed everyone else to win?

I flashed back to Brittany and Quinn's awestruck faces when they saw me in the bathroom earlier today and inwardly flinched. Great... another thing everyone will know about me. Another thing for them to tease me about. Another thing to crush my spirits... May as well give up, now. Right?

I took out my trusty blade again-immediately beginning to feel the dark, guilty pleasure from watching blood flowing out of me before I even started. I was in public, I couldn't do this now... could I?

I may as well die in some place I'm familiar with and happy in, right?

I was about to make contact with one of my veins when I heard something.

A twig snapping?

A gasp?

A voice?

It was something. Or someone. The thought made me shudder and I froze instantly.

I shoved the blade back into my pocket and looked around.

"H-Hello?" I asked, making sure I sounded braver than I actually was. Maybe it's another dealer? No... I'm in North Lima.

North Lima was the complete opposite of Lima Heights. It was full of rich families who thought they owned the town... which they did, honestly.

I put in a little bit of a Lima Heights ghetto accent into my voice before saying, "I suggest you back the fuck off, aforez I endz you."

"Santana?" A familiar voice made me jump out of my street character immediately.

"Uh... yeah..." I watched as a tall blonde figure with piercing blue eyes stepped a little more into the light of the moon, allowing me to see her beautiful pale features and tied-up blonde hair. "Brittany?"

The figure nodded and sat down beside me, making me stiffen, getting ready to run away.

"What're you doing out here?" She asked after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"I... uh... er... nothing." I stammered.

Why is Brittany talking to me?! Oh god, she has a slushy behind her back, doesn't she?! I gulped audibly.

She chuckled quietly. "Don't worry, Santana, I won't hurt you."

"Mierda..." I muttered to myself.

She looked at me, her head tilted to the side, and confusion written all over her features. "Uh... what?"

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"So... Mr. Schuester said I should talk to you about tutoring for Spanish. I'm failing and you're fluid, so..."

Fluid? Did she mean... "You mean fluent?"

She shrugged. "Same thing. So... will you?"

Her cool blue eyes poured into my mocha ones and I melted instantly.

I didn't notice it before, but now that my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I could see that she was dressed in red short-shorts and a red WMHS skin-tight hoodie. Her legs were pale and seemed to go on forever, which made sense since she was on the Cheerios and rumored to be the best dancer in the school-besides Mike Chang, of course. I didn't realize I was staring at her until she cleared her throat awkwardly.

I inwardly face-palmed myself. Did I seriously just check Brittany Pierce out?! The fuck?!

"I-er-what?" I stuttered, looking anywhere but her blue eyes.

"Will you tutor me?"

"I don't know... I have to ask my-" I stopped myself mid-sentence. Oh. Shit. "Maldito! What time is it?!"

She looked at her phone. "Uh, almost ten, why?"

"Oh God... he's gonna be so pissed..." I almost shrieked, standing up in seconds. "Ay dios mío!"

Brittany caught my arm. "Santana? What's wrong?"

"I-I'm sorry, Brittany, I have to go. Like, now." I started to pull away again, but her grip tightened.

"Santana, look at me." I flinched, but turned around. "Earlier, in the bathroom-"

"What did you see?!" I demanded, finally asking the question that had been eating my mind all day.

"We saw you hurting yourself and all those bruises that I know were not from school." Her voice was a little hard, but with a hint of... sympathy? And something else-caring?-in it. "Who did that to you? And why were you doing that to yourself?"

I laughed a harsh, cold laugh. "Really? Did you really just ask why I do that? Gee, I dunno, probably because every fucking day I go through fucking hell! To begin with, I get splashed with a god-damn slushy! Have you ever been splashed on by a slushy? No. What's it like? It's like getting bitch-slapped by an iceberg! Then, I get called a dyke, freak, mistake, sinner, and many more horrible names every minute. You'd think that after Glee Club I'd have a safe place at home right? Nope! My parents fucking hate me and see me as a mistake! My dad wishes I was never born and constantly shows me how much of a fucking slut I am, and my grandmother-the one woman who I used to look up to and love unconditionally-won't even let me in her house! So, let me ponder this question some more; why do I cut myself?"

Brittany's eyes widened at my outburst, and something flashed in them... was it hurt? Regret? It was too dark to tell, but it startled me nonetheless.

"I-I'm sorry." She whispered. Her expression suddenly changed into something else. Something I haven't stopped seeing on her ever since this afternoon in the bathroom: worry. "Wait... what did you mean your dad 'constantly shows you how much of a slut you are'?"

I felt myself turn pale-which wasn't good, since I was a Latina, and ethnic people don't blush or get pale. "I-I... gotta... g-go." I pulled away from her and ran towards my house, which was only about a half a mile away.

"Where the fuck have you been?!" Papi snarled, throwing a glass of water I had in my room to the floor with a loud smash. "I told you to never lock your door. Yet you do, and when I finally got it open, you were gone." He grabbed my throat and shoved me against my wall. "Where. Were. You."

I couldn't breathe under his stone-hard grip, and let out a choked out groan in pain. He pulled me back and shoved me against the wall. Luckily, my back hit it before my head.

"Answer me!" His voice turned even scarier.

"I... park... sorry..." I finally managed to get out.

He shoved me to the ground, stomping on my ribs. Hard. I sucked in a deep breath of air, immediately regretting it because of the sharp pain.

"If you ever leave this fucking house without me knowing again, you're dead. Got that?" He growled as he picked me up by my hair. I nodded quickly. Not quick enough, however, since he pulled his fist back and thew it straight into my eye.

That was definitely gonna bruise.

"Now get to bed, perra." He walked out of my room, slamming my door behind him.

Gently, I lifted my shirt to assess the damage in the mirror.

Each bone was covered in purple, and a few were sticking out at strange angles. There was nothing I could do, though, except take some aspirin and hope the pain goes away.

The next day, I avoided Brittany and Quinn like the plague. When it was finally time for Glee Club, I almost squealed with joy.

I sat at my usual spot, in the middle, above everyone else with Mercedes on my right with Sam beside her, holding her hand. Kurt and Blaine sat behind them, also holding hands. Mike and Tina were cuddling on one seat, Tina on Mike's lap. Finn and Rachel were cuddled in a similar way, but kept whispering and kissing. Artie, Rory, and Sugar just sat off to the side, conversing about something I couldn't care less about. Puck was flexing for Lauren, who was completely ignoring him, which made me laugh internally.

We all watched as Mr. Schue wrote Sectionals on the board.

"We will have lots of solos!" He announced proudly and the whole room was filled with cheers.. well, almost.

Mercedes-who is the closest thing I have to a friend-and I were silent.

Mercedes scoffed. "Let me guess, half will go to Rachel, and half will go to Finn. I'll belt out the last note." She looked over at me, then Mr. S. "And my girl, San, here won't get a single note by herself and neither will Kurt or anybody else for that matter."

"Yeah, I'm sick of that dwarf getting all the attention!" Glee Club was the only time when I let myself be... me. I could be the confident Santana that I used to be before I came out of the closet.

Mr. Schue shook his head with a sigh. "Guys, this isn't about you-"

"Oh, you're right! It's about RuPaul getting all the freaking attention while we sway in the background!" I interrupted.

"Santana." He said sternly, but I shook my head.

"Unbelievable! There are other voices in Glee Club besides Rachel's!" I looked to Mercedes to give me back up.

"She's right, Mr. S." She piped in. "You know when the last time San and I got solos? When we auditioned. We even stopped following lessons and you never noticed!"

Mr. Schue sighed. "Okay, this week's lesson, then, is Solos. Whoever sings the best solo-and every one of you will vote for someone other than yourself-will get the solo for Sectionals. Got it?"

"Yeah!" Me and Mercedes high-fived each other.

Shortest meeting ever? Yup. But, it was definitely one of the best.

I walked out of the school, only to be caught by somebody grabbing my wrist.

All of Confident Santana faded away and I flinched, getting ready to be hit or slushied.

But I didn't.

"Santana, can we talk?" A soft familiar voice asked.

Brittany stood there, her blue eyes grabbing all of my attention immediately.

"A-About what?" I stammered, my stomach clenching.

"Last night. You never answered."

"Answered what?" Please don't be about the whole dad thing!

"About tutoring me."

I let out a breath of relief that I didn't know I was holding. "Yeah, sure. Uh... when?"

"How about after school?"

I shook my head 'no' instantly. "When do you have Free Period?"

"After lunch, why?"

"Perfect. Meet me in the library."

"The place where all the books live?" She cocked her head to the side.

"Yeah. Sure." I turned around just as Mercedes caught up with me.

"Why was Brittany talkin' to you? I thought she hated you?" She asked curiously.

I shrugged. "I'm going to tutor her in Spanish."

Wait-I just agreed to tutor Brittany Pierce-a cheerleader who's been torturing me since I came out of the closet-without her having to threaten me.

What the hell?

Ooh, what's gonna happen?! Notice how strange Santana is when she's in Glee? Well, that'll be explained later, I promise.

Spanish Translations!

Pecador - Sinner

Maldito - damn

Perra - bitch

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