Author's Note: Hi, guys! So just a reminder from part of my disclaimer, all the songs I will be using throughout this fanfic are used in a fictitious manner, as if the original artists themselves did not sing/write/release them.
Also, starting in the next few weeks, updates will gradually slow down since classes are starting soon, plus I'll still be working and basketball season in October (I will probably post an update once a week). I already have written chapters ahead of time but out of habit, I don't like posting the next chapters if I don't have the chapters ahead of it written (ie. posting chapter 4 means I have chapter 7 already written. I will not be posting chapter 5 until chapter 8 is written).
Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying your summer! :)
Chapter 4 – Opening Act
Backstage, Santana had changed into her stage outfit. Her dancers were already in their outfits by the time she got there and were lining up against the wall to stretch or going over the steps. She starts her routine vocal warm-ups while her team of hair and make-up did some final touches as her hair is pulled back into a high ponytail. After checking the mic pack of her preferred settings, she slips it on the back pocket of her high-waisted black silk shorts, buttoning it close with the help from one of the assistants. The cables of her IEMs are tapped to the nape of her neck just where they split off onto the left and right, before she's helped into a white leather vest to complete her look.
"Ten minutes, boys and girls!" An event staff reminds them, before vanishing down the corridor.
"Alright, guys. It's time to move!" Mercedes announces.
Santana continues to warm-up as they make their way to the stage, just standing off at the bottom of the steps. Everyone files after the person in front of them, shifting onto their routine prayer circle, each person grabbing the other one's hand.
"Okay, is everybody here?" Santana says looking around; everyone replies with a yes. Santana looks over at Mercedes and gives her a nod.
"Alright. Everybody inhale… exhale…" Everyone does so, relieving any tension in their bodies. "Inhale positivity. Exhale anxiety."
A moment of silence before Santana takes over the group prayer. "Lord, I ask You to give us peace. We are all very fortunate and very blessed to be alive and healthy to be able to do what we love to do; these moments are what we live for. Lord, I ask You to give us all confidence and take away anything that is not of You. Let us have fun! We love You, and we thank You so, so much. We thank You for allowing us to see a brand new year. In Your name we pray, amen."
A round of amen are said followed by a round of clapping and chants to hype up the group even more as they get ready to take on the stage.
With the arrival of most of the guests at their tables, the stands outside were beginning to empty out as fans left, most likely to head to another party or witness the ball drop in Times Square or in televisions at the comfort of their living rooms. The rest of the press members who have been given special privileges and exclusivity were already inside the hall, snapping photos.
After Santana had left Brittany, Brittany made her way back to her table joining Kurt and Puck, and the conversations with those who sat at her table. She could easily run a search on Santana with her phone and get the results in less than a second, find out everything about her in numerous webpages but she wasn't going to do that. There was no way she could fully trust the internet knowing first hand that people out there have fabricated news articles about her as well. How do people find the time to do that? It just boggles her mind. So instead, Brittany refrains from opening the search engine. It was best to find out who Santana Lopez was from Santana herself.
The lighting around the hall begins to dim, the stage the only place that glowed the brightest.
As the host of the party, Jay-Z makes his way on stage speaking, grabbing everyone's attention. The band, back vocals and string members also subtly take their places. Jay-Z continues with his speech by thanking everyone for coming out tonight to celebrate the end of the year and the start of the new year.
"One of my other intentions for tonight was to share the love of music," Jay-Z says. "And for that, I've invited some of the brightest and talented artists, relatively unknowns to world stars, and brought them together on this stage." He pauses when the guests cheer in satisfaction with the announcement. "And to start off the party for us is a young woman whom to many of you recently has been hearing her song on the radio, but I've always kept my eye on her. Ladies and gents, Santana Lopez!"
Hearing Santana's name instantly grabs Brittany's attention. A singer, huh? Brittany thought to herself as she kept her eyes on the stage, just as Santana told her earlier. The guests break out into loud screams and applause as the stage dims to dark.
With a breath, Santana carefully makes her way towards the grand piano that was cleverly placed on top of a small platform. She settles on the bench and adjusts the microphone that was held by the stand.
Taking another breath, relaxing, she starts playing the piano. Her fingers caress the white and black keys as the first notes are carried throughout the confines of the hall while the strings follow her lead. A mixture of color lights the stage as a spotlight is pointed at Santana, her voice joining the melody.
You can see there's something in the way
I've tried to show you, my door is open
I don't know how much more I can take
Since you've chosen, to leave me frozen
Am I the only one, who sees what you've become?
Will you drift away?
We're running out of time, two wrongs can make it right
Could I make you stay?
Santana stops playing the piano as the keyboardist takes over, the beat increasing with the snare kicking in. She removes the microphone from the stand and walks off the platform and towards downstage; her dancers emerges from stage right and gradually fill up the empty space behind her.
People making choices they can't fake
Sacrifice it all and maybe say
When the upbeat chorus with its electric undertone and house beats starts, Santana and her dancers move in synchronization.
Something extraordinary
Something real (something real)
To fill my days and nights with something
That I can feel (I can feel)
I'm not gonna compromise
Surely you can sympathize?
Say you feel the same
Feeling the groove of the song, some of the guests had drifted onto the dance floor. Brittany continued to watch from her seat, watching Santana's body move under the bright lights and the husky voice blaring out of the speakers. The first moments Santana began singing, it had captivated Brittany that she strained her ears to filter out everything else but the brunette's voice. When the beat picked up, Brittany found her foot tapping along with the beat.
The funky house track had grabbed everyone's attention by the second verse and more people had filed onto the dance floor. Santana moved around the stage switching between making eye contact with the guests and dancing. Without trying to, Santana finds Brittany behind the blinding light. She smiles seeing that the blonde had taken a liking to her song as Brittany kept moving to the music. She felt extremely proud; Brittany's reaction to her music suddenly mattered more than anyone else's.
The song nears the end as the house beats ceases, but the piano chords that faired similar to the ones played in the beginning of the song. Santana's voice becomes softer as she sings the last few lines.
Just don't say it will be alright
I'm not holding yourself in your arms tonight
Don't say it will all be fine
In only a moment you'll say goodbye
Everyone in the room gave her another loud applause as Santana smiles widely, a soft thank you heard on the speakers. As per the instructions, the dancers exit the stage and the stage crew works on wheeling away the platform with the piano off stage. Santana picks up one of the bottles of water next to the stage monitor speaker for a quick drink.
"How's everyone doing?" Santana asks the guests, their answers joining together. "That's great. Again, my name is Santana Lopez and it is truly an honor to be opening tonight's party."
Another round of applause as a stage crew brings out a mic stand and places it front center. Santana reaches for the stand and leans on it as she spoke.
"That was my single, Extraordinary, which you all have probably been hearing a lot of in the radio," A number of Yeah and I love it, were shouted. "You're probably all sick and tired of it, too." The room suddenly echoes the laughter of the guests. "So I'm just going to change things up and slow things down a bit. This next song is absolutely one of my favorites by one of the most talented female singers out there and one of my influences."
Santana moves behind the mic stand and places her microphone on it, the band taking it as a signal and gets ready. "If you know the lyrics, sing it with me. It goes a little bit like this."
She's just a girl and she's on fire
Instantly, the guests cheer on again upon recognizing the song. Santana smiles and takes a moment, the echo of her voice fading as it reverberates inside the hall before she continues the acapella intro.
Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway
The piano begins as the keyboardist plays a base note, the guests singing along with her.
She's living in a world and it's on fire
Filled with catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away
The lights slowly from pan from the floor and then up.
Ohhhh oh oh oh oh
She got both feet on the ground
And she's burning it down
Ohhhh oh oh oh oh
She got her head in the clouds
And she's not backing down
Another short pause and Santana starts off the chorus as the drums kicks in, her eyes closes feeling the song within her heart.
This girl is on fire...
This girl is on fire...
She's walking on fire...
This girl is on fire...
Santana removes the microphone from the stand and slowly walks around the stage, dragging the stand with her as she continues singing.
Back in the darkness of her table, Brittany's mouth is agape totally blown away with the quality and maturity of Santana's voice. The raw feeling in the way she sung them ate away at Brittany. She had chills running down her spine especially when Santana would keep throwing her glances.
"She's got a voice, alright." Brittany heard Puck say in a low voice next to her. "I wonder what she sounds like under different circumstances, if you know what I mean."
Brittany tears her eyes away from Santana for the first time to direct a dangerous glare at Puck. "You're a fucking pig, you know that?"
The hostility in Brittany's voice only makes Puck grin wider. Disgusted, Brittany fights the urge to land a fist on his face. Sometimes Puck had his moments where she actually liked him, but it was times like these that reminded her he was a douchebag. The only reason why he became her publicist was because Puck was one of the best in the industry that specializes in his expertise. And after signing that contract with Paramount, Kurt had convinced Brittany that she was going to need the best people to work for her from now on.
"You know if I didn't know better, you might actually have the hots for her," Puck says as a fact, grabbing Kurt's attention. "I saw you two talking earlier. Pretty close, if I may add."
"So you spy on me now?" Brittany fires back, looking back at Santana who started singing the chorus again joined by the back-up vocals. "If I remember correctly, that's not what I'm paying you for."
Puck chuckles, taking a drink of his Scotch. "Don't flatter yourself, Pierce. I'm only here to make sure you don't end up shit-faced on the front pages of tabloid magazines."
"That won't be happening." Kurt cuts in.
"I say go for it," Puck pipes as he fixes the cufflink on his sleeve. "She seems to like you, too."
"Please don't encourage her, Puck." Kurt says.
"There isn't much to encourage when Brittany's already made the decision. Isn't that right, Piece?" Puck nudges her.
Brittany sighs. "I'm trying to listen to her sing, guys. If you must talk about my personal life, do it another time, preferably when I'm not around. Or better yet, just mind your own damn business."
Puck laughs at the answer as he turns to Kurt and mouths Told ya at him before finding the stage again. It wasn't like Puck was wrong. Brittany instantly knew that Santana was attracted to her, as Brittany was attracted to Santana. There was no denying it and anybody who had seen them two earlier would have known that. But Brittany had this feeling that it wasn't just all that with Santana. Santana didn't give off that sort of vibe, where she'd just sleep with her and that'll be the end of it. Brittany was sure there was something more she's supposed to have with Santana, because whatever connection they may have, it had her shaken.
The song was reaching its end and Santana had the crowd clapping their hands to the beat like she had showed them while singing.
"Sing it one more time." Santana says in between lines.
Oh, oh, oh, oh ohhhhh oh oh oh ohhh oh oh oh ohhhh...
The drums stop and the back vocals fade; the lone light casting over Santana.
She's just a girl and she's on fire
Guests on the table and those who stayed on the dance floor to watch clapped, cheered, and whistled at the end of the song. Santana thanked them again, before she quenches her thirst.
"So for my last song I'm going to be performing," Santana starts as she moves the mic stand by the band. "I hope you guys will like it because it's a brand new song, a dance track to kick off the New Year. It won't be released for another two days so you guys will be the first ones to hear it. It's called Commander."
The dancers quickly move onto the stage again as the DJ plays the track. The song kicks off with the beats stretching as a man says dance a number of times, setting a knockout tone.
"C'mon put your hands together!" Santana says as the song builds up and in no time, everyone is clapping to the beat.
Heavy bass starts and the dancers hit powerful moves one after the other.
I feel like the DJ is my bodyguard
You see the way he keeps me safe
With the treble and that bass
I feel free enough to party hard
This dress won't go to waste
Feels like I own the place
Santana animatedly moves as she sings.
V.I.P to be the boss
You see the way these people stare
Watching how I fling my hair
I'm a dance floor lover
Baby there's no other
Who do it like I do it, yeah
The song then plunges into a pounding electro-house chorus that commands literally everyone onto the dance floor as the hall is littered with strobe and laser lights. Santana again joins her dancers with the powerful routine she had been rehearsing for the past couple of weeks, still delivering the high notes.
From here on out
I'll be your commander
No fear no doubt
I'll provide the answer
Right now I command you to dance
I'll be your commander
Right now I command you to dance
I'll be your commander
Right now I command you to...
Kurt stands up, grabbing Brittany by the hand and pulls her towards the crowded dance floor. Brittany first hesitated but eventually relented. She couldn't deny that the song really commanded you to move with it. With a sigh, Puck eventually follows behind them and begins grooving to the song, sparking up a dance partner in the process. The chorus kicks in again only further elevating the temperature in the hall.
I-I'll be your commander
I'll provide the answer
Before they knew it, the song ends, Santana receiving a boisterous praise. She and her dancers quickly bow, waving their hands.
"Thank you! Enjoy the rest of your night!" Santana says over the deafening cheers and whistles.
Brittany and Kurt couldn't help let a scream of their own, Puck whistling like the others, totally showing love for the new single. Santana and her dancers exit stage right where the rest of her crew are congratulating her for the amazing performance. Mercedes was the first to envelop her into a bone crushing hug, voicing out how proud she is of her friend for the umpteenth time.
Santana returns the embrace, completely feeling ecstatic as they head back to her room. Performing have always given her a rush, but somehow tonight felt entirely different. Maybe it was because of all the celebrities that were there tonight or the fact that it was New Years. Santana thinks back to a few moments ago when she was still on stage. She smiles widely when she realized why it was different: blonde hair, blue sharp eyes. That was enough of a reason – the only reason why this night was different for Santana.
Author's Note: I tried adding links for the songs within the chapter but I guess it's different here lol Anyways, if you guys wanna listen to the songs to get a feel for them, you can just search it:
• Clean Bandit - Extraordinary (feat. Sharna Bass)
• Glee Cast (Naya Rivera) - Girl On Fire
• Kelly Rowland - Commander (feat. David Guetta)