Once most kids turn 13 and enter high school, they start to claim their independence and stray away from their parents. For some, it happens a little earlier and there are even a few that this shift occurs way later in their life. I wouldn't say that I am included in the latter group – those are the ones that end up living with their parents until they turn 30, but I will say that I am lucky enough that my parents are amazing and seem to know exactly how to let me go, while not losing me completely.
I am not ashamed to admit that I love my parents to death. My mom was unemployed until I turned 12 so that she could stay home with me and although he was a doctor, my dad made sure to be home at 3 pm everyday so that he was always there when I got out of school. There is honestly nothing that I like more than going home to see my parents waiting there for me. Of course I would never admit that to anyone.
"Hola, Mija, how was school?" My mother asked from her spot on the couch. She was reading that Fifty Shades of Grey book that all the old people on TV and radio were raving about. Unfortunately, I have a little idea what it is about and I do not like the thought of my mom reading it.
"It was good," I shrug nonchalantly. I threw my backpack on the floor next to the coffee table and fell, more than sat, down on the couch next to her. "I have some news for you and dad. When will he be home?"
"He's already in his office. What is this news?" She asked, quickly giving me all of her attention.
I rolled my eyes at how fast my mom put down the book and turned to look at me. I swear that she gossips more than anyone I know - even Wheezy and man girl. "I need to wait for dad."
"Oh, you know how your dad loses track of time in there. It could be hours before we see him." We both knew that I wasn't going to give and tell her without my dad. It was just too much fun for me to have her begging.
I patted my mom on the leg and stood up. "Nice try." I could hear her calling up to be as I picked up my backpack and ascended up the stairs to my room. Glancing at my phone, I noticed that I had a text message from Quinn.
Quinn: Hey what did your mom say? I'm so excited. That woman must be too ecstatic to contain. Lol.
My mom and Quinn get along really well. Sometimes I think that Quinn enjoys coming to my house simply for my mom's cooking and the fact that she knows all the neighborhood gossip. We met when I moved to Lima when I was 10 years old and moved in five houses down. Back then, those five houses seemed so large and made the walk take forever. Now I think it is annoying to live so close to your best friend.
I mean, I see her all day at school… I think we could spend a few hours with other people.
Me: Thank God I haven't told her yet. I'm pretty sure that she'll try to hide in my suitcase and come to DC with me.
After I sent the text, I tossed my phone and let it gently land on the other end of the bed. I rolled around on my bed so that I am flat on my back looking up at the ceiling. Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy the quiet of my room. If I close my eyes and imagine really hard, I can almost feel a warm body next to me snuggling into my side as if trying to douse in my warmth.
I know that I sleep with guys and flirt with guys and even date some guys, but it's times like this – when I'm alone, that I imagine a girl next to me. Sometimes, I try to convince myself that it doesn't mean anything, but even I can't talk myself into believing that.
In my head it is easy to imagine us laying in silence. However, there would be some occasions, like when one of us would have a random thought that we would just lay in my bed for hours talking about anything and everything.
I could hear my phone buzz on the bed, but I ignored it; Just like the two of us would in my fantasy land. There would be no need for phones because the only person that we would want to talk to is laying next to us in the bed.
What feels like minutes must have been at least an hour because before I know it I hear my mom knocking on my bedroom door saying that dinner is ready. I begrudgingly get off the bed and follow her downstairs.
The frown on my face turns into a smile when I see my dad sitting at the table with a fork in his hand waiting to eat the enchiladas in front of him. I run up to him and lean down to give him a hug.
"Good afternoon, Princesa." My father has called me that since I was born. I'm pretty sure it'll stick until I have kids that he can make up cute nicknames for.
"Hey, Daddy," I sat down on the opposite side of the table from my parents. "How was work?"
"Same-old, same-old. What about you, I hear from your mother that you have some news to tell us?"
I playfully glare at my mother before putting my fork back down and looking at their impatient stares. "Well, you know how our glee club placed 12th in nationals last year?"
"Yes, we were very proud of you, Mija."
"Well, we have been invited to Washington DC to perform at the white house for the President and his family. Oh, and I got the solo performance." My parents look at me questioningly and I shrug before taking another bite of my food.
"Wait… what?" My dad looks at me confused for a moment before I put them out of their misery and explain the whole deal to them. As expected, my mom tries to ask if she can buy tickets to the show. She didn't go as far as suggest she hide in my suitcase, but I'm pretty sure that she would have if my father hadn't wanted to go as well.
The rest of the night had been spent with us talking about how awesome this trip was going to be and imagining what it would be like if we won the competition and invited to perform at the obviously anticipated birthday party. My parents even made me promise that if I meet the president that I would invite him over for a Lopez style dinner. Overall, the night was exactly what I needed.
The next week flew by very quickly. I spent all my time before and after school rehearsing for the Washington DC competition. During the first glee club meeting after the announcement we all finally agreed on a line up.
Quinn and Sam would start with their duet of Time of my Life, the original from the film Dirty Dancing. I would follow with my solo of Valerie by Amy Winehouse and then Rachel and Finn would us in the new direction's group version of Don't Stop Believing. I'm not a hundred percent sure that this line up is going to be enough to go up against the teams that beat us at nationals, but at least I have a solo. Maybe we'll get lucky and the judges will enjoy Journey as much as Mr. Schue.
The plane tickets that were given to us stated that our flight to DC left at 10 am. However, Quinn called me at 5:30 that morning claiming that Rachel called an "emergency meeting." She said to be at the Starbucks in the airport by 7.
I looked at the clock on the dashboard of my parent's car and smirked a little at the fact that the green lights said it was 7:30. Sure, I am only 30 minutes late, but to the hobbit it is going to seem like hours. I guess that someone forgot to remind her that she was not deemed queen of everything.
When I finally walk into the Starbucks, everyone else from glee is already sitting in a circle listening to the dwarf talk about god knows what. Puck is the first one to notice me and waves me over while lifting a coffee cup in the air. I sat down next to him and sighed in relief when he shuffled the coffee over to me.
"I'm glad that you could finally join us, Santana," Rachel stated a little louder and made sure to drag her voice out. "We have been going over the President's political standing so that we can have an advantage. Not that you want to win since you are not taking it seriously enough to come in on time."
"It's called sleep, Berry."
"Quinn said that you were awake when she called you. You should have had plenty of time to get here at 7 when everyone else did. I don't know if you are deserving of a solo."
As much fun as a battle of the wits was to have with someone whose brain consisted of nothing more than gold stars and Broadway show tunes, I decided that doing so before I have to spend a 6 hour flight with her would not be the best idea. Instead I opted to ignore her and roll my eyes. "Just continue, Quinn will fill me in on the oh so exciting details that I missed before the flight."
Quinn nodded from her seat and motioned for Rachel to continue her speech. I could tell that she had wanted to object, but after seeing the un-amused look on my face continued anyways, "So we were discussing President Pierce's family life. He has two daughters that although he often talks about, he tries to keep them out of the public eyes. The oldest one is turning 18 this months and the younger is 10. His wife appears to be the all American woman. She cooks, cleans and spends times with her family and friends. Whenever the public does get to see his family, they are always riding horses, at the zoo, volunteering, or anything that makes them look like the picture perfect family. He appears to really love his family and thus far in his presidency has not had any negative publicity come out when it comes to them.
"The political issues that he states he is passionate about appear to be more domestic rather than international. He has focused a lot on helping homeless and needy children. Politically, he is considered to be a conservative. Which-"
"Wait…" I interrupted. This is priceless. "A president that hates gays, invites a bunch of glee clubs to sing for children. Doesn't that seem a little ironic to you?"
A few of the other members laughed at my statement and I hear someone, kind of sounds like Kurt, begin to choke on their coffee.
"Santana! That is the worst assumption-"
"Actually, Rach, I agree that it is kind of a ridiculous idea." Mercedes agreed with me. Mentally, I note that she has now sided with me enough against Rachel Berry that I should call her by her actual name… At least through the weekend.
"Just a minute, we have no way of knowing that he hates gays. Hear Rachel out." The giant stood up and moved next to the midget making her look even shorter.
I rolled my eyes at him and was about to respond with a not so nice comment when Rachel spoke up. "Thank you, Finn, but I was commenting specifically on the fact that glee club is not gay. Nor does watching a glee club competition make you gay; Homosexuality isn't something that is caught. However, conservative people in general do dislike the gay community as a whole."
Rachel continued to talk, but I couldn't pay attention. There were too many thoughts going through my head. I always get blindsided when I people mention gay people as if I weren't one of them. I know that I shouldn't since no one at school actually knows, but I do anyways.
I realized that I liked girls in the 8th grade. My math teacher, Ms. Richards, had the nicest rack and I couldn't help but fantasize about what it would be like to touch them. I know it sounds perverse, and trust me I know it is, but I wanted to rowboat them so bad.
After her, I began to notice attractive women everywhere and not just in a I 'appreciate her body' sort of way. When I first met Quinn I had trouble talking to her because of how attracted to her I was. She was the first girl that I wanted to date and thankfully that all went away once I actually could formulate an entire conversation with her. As awesome as Quinn is, we just have no romantic or sexual chemistry and I occasionally wonder how I could have thought we did.
When I first slept with Puck in freshman year, I knew that all of my feelings weren't just a phase that I was going through. It didn't matter how many times I slept with him or how many other guys there were, I just didn't enjoy it half as much as I knew that I should.
As comfortable as I have become with myself, the only people that I have been able to tell were my parents. I haven't even said the words 'I'm a lesbian' out loud. My parents only know because I had a breakdown after being caught having sex in that closet at school. The whole next day I cried in my mom's arms after realizing that I couldn't continue to hide my true feeling by having sex with random guys. I still have the occasional roll with someone to make sure that I don't lose my status, but mentally, the situations are completely different.
"Hey, you want to come with me to get something to eat?"
Rachel must have stopped talking because Quinn is standing next to me, looking down curiously. I quickly glance around us and see everyone else disperse into other little groups. "Yeah, sounds good."
Quinn smiles and I follow Quinn to the line for the cash register. "So you didn't listen to that at all did you?"
"Why should I? They are judging us on our talent, not on how much we know about politics or the President's family."
"Rachel isn't your enemy, Santana. She wants to win just as bad as you or I do. This is just her way of-"
"Trying to control it," I pointed over at Rachel obviously lecturing Finn on his stance. Quinn giggled and rolled her eyes before it was our turn to order. After ordering our muffins, we walked to a two person table away from everyone. Once we felt more comfortable that no one was paying us any attention, Quinn and I allowed the giddiest of smiles to enter our faces.
"Can you believe that we are going to Washington DC to sing at the White house?" She practically squealed it, there was so much happiness seeping out of her.
I shook my head, but smiled at her, "Don't forget the fact that we both got solos."
"How could I forget? I actually requested that we get roomed together so we could rehearse."
"And Mr. Schue is okay with that?"
"Yeah," Quinn nodded, but I could see her smile falter a bit. "About that…"
"What did you do?"
"Well, there are actually only enough rooms for 3 people to a room so I kind of agreed that we'd share with Rachel." The immediate scowl on my face was unavoidable and Quinn noticed. "Come on, we'll share a bed, it's not like we haven't before.
"Oh, hell no, Fabgay… You will share a bed with Rachel and I will get my own."
I knew that this was going to become an argument, so I stuck on my HBIC face and made sure that she knew there was no way that I was not going to win this one. Before she could respond, a hobbit came around the bend looking for a ring.
"Hello, ladies. Santana, I am sorry if I offended you, it wasn't my intention." She started, most likely because I still wore the look on my face. "I just came over here to show you guys a picture of the President and his family that I had Mr. Schue print out on his way here so that you know who to be respectful to."
"I'm sure the secret service surrounding them will be eno-" I got cut off my rant when Rachel sat the paper down in front of me. The second I see the blonde girl in the picture everything around me disappears. I can only focus on her and the way that the dress accentuates her curves. The picture is small and she just fills up a small portion of it, but her blue eyes stick out like black in a sea of white. I don't care what it takes, I just know that I have to meet her. Before I can stop it the words whisper out. "Who's the blonde?"
"Brittany Pierce. The president's oldest daughter."
A/N: Thanks for waiting patiently. I was ecstatic to read all the reviews and overwhelmed by the positive feedback. I know that this chapter was kind of slow, but I really needed to give an insight to on Santana's life and past so that in the following chapters she can figure out Brittany, who will actually make an appearance in the next chapter. I'm off for the next two days, but I am writing a nursing school report for someone. However, I'm still hoping to have the next chapter up by Wednesday.
Let me know what you think!