Zoe's POV:

About 1 week later...

"We should hang out some time."

Santana flicked her brown eyes towards Zoe and smiled, closing her locker. A week ago Zoe had sat down with her at lunch, and they had immediately become friends. She felt like they just... clicked. They had met up and hung out during school at every opportunity to spend time with each other, and she thought that Santana was such a wonderful person. Zoe hadn't made very many friends since she had come to this new school, none that she had become so close with as Santana. Before Santana, Ariana was her only friend. Zoe was never someone who had many friends in the first place. But now, she had someone to call her closest friend. She felt like she had known Santana forever. And the weird thing was, she had heard so many bad things about Santana Lopez, things like how she is an incredibly mean and awful person. Zoe couldn't understand that at all; yes, she could be sassy, but never in a mean way. Santana had been nothing but sweet to her.

Zoe gathered her things and said, "See you on Monday!" Santana waved goodbye, and they began walking the opposite direction. Zoe was in a good mood, so she began to skip happily. She was skipping right by the auditorium when she heard something that made her stop.

She stopped right by the doors. She opened the doors slightly and looked in.

Inside was a boy, around 16 and probably in her grade, and he had spiky, brown hair that shone in the lights. He was pretty tall, just about 6 feet, and he had arms that showed defined muscles through his tan skin. He wore baggy jeans and a sleeveless denim jacket that had a black cotton hood attached, and a black beanie sitting on his dark hair. He was standing on stage, gathering wires and things that looked like they belonged to electric guitars and other instruments that had been plugged in recently. Zoe figured that because it was Friday, he was probably packing everything up.

Zoe blushed. This guy was definitely one of the most attractive guys she had seen at this new school school so far. She was about to stop being creepy by watching this guy and leave when he looked over her way. He must have heard or seen her, because he began to talk in her direction.

"Someone there?" he said. "George? Is that you?"

Her smile quickly faded. Embarrassment quickly filled her stomach.

The guy realized it wasn't his supposed friend George, but in fact someone else. He smiled. "Hey, don't be shy," he said. "Who are you? Are you a boy or a girl? It's so dark out there, I can't se a thing." His voice was smooth and deep, and the more she looked at him and heard him talk, the older he looked. Maybe he wasn't 16... She wasn't sure.

Zoe, still feeling shy and embarrassed, walked through the doors and out onto the pathway next to the sea of red chairs. In glee club, they had come here a few times over the week she had been in it to perform.

The guy smiled just slightly and sweetly. "Now I can see you perfectly," he said.

"Sorry, I promise I wasn't watching you or anything weird like that," she said immediately. "I just-"

"Whoa, slow down! It's okay!" his dark eyes danced in the light. "Besides, even if you were watching me, I wouldn't have minded."

Is he flirting with me? Zoe thought. Not many guys flirted with her very often, but she was pretty sure he was. She had recently changed her look- she guessed this was a sign that it was working for her.

"Come up here and tell me your name," he said, motioning for her to come onto the stage. The stage lights seemed to shine directly on him.

Zoe walked up and stopped next to him. "I'm Zoe. I'm an 11th grader here."

"Really?" he said. "I am too. I'm turning 17 soon." He stopped. "You look..."

"Really young and too small to be an 11th grader?" she finished his sentence. She then laughed softly. "I get that a lot. I skipped 2nd grade. I'm still only 15."

"Oh," he said. "That's actually really cool. That means you must be really smart." He flashed her a cute smile. She hoped he couldn't see her blush.

"What's your name?" She asked. "I haven't seen you before."

He looked at her up and down and smiled, putting his hands in his pockets. "I'm Cooper." He the looked around, then back at her. "Hey, can I show you something?"

"Sure," she said.

Cooper walked over to a black guitar case, and pulled out a sleek, red electric guitar. He plugged it into an amp that he hadn't put away yet.

"Whoa! Nice guitar!" she said. "Do you play it?" After she said that, she realized how stupid it sounded. She immediately regretted saying it.

But Cooper just laughed. "You're funny," he said. He then flipped the amp on and said, "I'm in the band. We usually play for the glee club."

"No way!" said Zoe. "I'm in the glee club!"

He laughed again. "Seriously? Awesome. You must be new, because I haven't seen you yet." He then looked at her with flirty eyes. "You know, me and my friends say that when a pretty girl can sing, it makes them even sexier."

Zoe looked down and her cream floral dress and giggled. Yeah, she thought. He's definitely flirting with me.

"Why don't I" -he gestures towards himself- "play a song on guitar, while you" -he gestures towards Zoe- "sing for me?"

Zoe looked up at him, thought about it, and then nodded. "Sure, why not?"

He began to play the guitar beautifully. Zoe loved the way he strummed the guitar. She immediately recognized the song- Light On by David Cook. It was one of her favorites, and she didn't even mind that it was a guy's song. He had obviously changed the key so it would be singable for a girl.

The song went on. Zoe and Cooper danced around the stage while she sang her heart out. Her whole body felt alive, filled with energy and ready to do anything, just like it always did when she sang. Singing was such a huge passion of hers.

The last note was played, and Zoe found herself only a foot away from his body by the end of the song. She looked at him with big, green eyes

Cooper let out a sigh of amazement. "Damn. You are so incredibly talented. That is one big voice for such a tiny girl."

Zoe smiled and let out a small laugh. "Thanks. You are amazing at playing the guitar."

His face lit up with a smiled. Suddenly, Cooper leaned in. He lightly held Zoe's face in his hand and softly kissed her.

At first, Zoe was in shock. She stood there, not exactly sure what to do. She almost let it happen, but she just couldn't. It was happening too fast. She pulled away, looking down. "Uhm..."

He closed his eyes, as if he were silently punching himself. "I am so sorry," he said, reaching out towards her. "I shouldn't have done that. We just met, like, 5 minutes ago. I'm such an idiot."

"It's okay," she said. "I'm... just not ready." She pointed her thumb towards the door behind her. "I should get going..." She paused. "See you around?"

He nodded curtly and coughed awkwardly. "Yeah, yeah, totally. See you around."

Zoe walked down into the isle next to the red chairs and made her way towards the exit. What had just happened felt like a dream. Although she liked this guy, she didn't think she liked him in that way. She needed to get to know him if she ever even thought about it. But nevertheless she felt bubbles of energy and happiness inside of her.

Just as she got to the doors, she pushed them open, took a sharp right turn, and ran straight into someone.

"Omygosh!" she began. "I'm so sorry, I didn't..." Zoe stopped her apology.

The girl she had run into was Santana. She had obviously been crying really hard- her eyes were red, and her glowing, tan cheeks were glistening with wet tears. She looked down on Zoe with a mixture of sadness, anger, and another emotion she couldn't describe or understand. Zoe had a puzzled look on her face.

"...Santana?"

Santana's POV

"See you on monday!"

Santana watched as Zoe energetically skipped off in the other direction, her wavy ponytail bouncing up and down. Santana wished she didn't have to go the whole weekend without seeing her new friend. She would miss her.

Santana began to walk the other direction. She though about how besides Brittany, sometimes, she had never had such a close friend before. She smiled. She liked it.

After exiting her school and walking for a few minutes, Santana stopped. She realized she had forgotten her sweater in the auditorium. She immediately turned around and began walking briskly towards school again. She arrived and opened the door, feeling the cool air from the hallways chill her skin.

Click, click, click, click. The hallways were so silent and empty that her boots seemed to echo through the whole school. It wasn't until she got closer to the auditorium when she heard music coming from it.

Weird, thought Santana. Usually everyone clears out of here immediately once we're excused. Santana walked up to the doors, opened them quietly, and silently walked in. When she saw who was on stage, she almost gasped.

Zoe was up on stage, with a guy playing a red electric guitar she recognized from band. Connor, was it? Chris? She couldn't remember. She watched as Zoe sang out perfectly-tuned notes and bounced around onstage, her floral dress flowing and spinning around her. Santana smiled. She loved her energy up on stage, and she had a truly amazing voice.

The song was coming to an end when she walked in. She quickly grabbed her sweater before she forgot. Santana was planning on applauding at the end and emerging from her hiding place in the dark, back row. But, by the end of the song, Santana held back her applause. Confused, she realized that Zoe was only a foot away from his face. Santana then knew where this was going, and she didn't like it at all.

"Damn," she heard Connor, or Chris, or whatever his name was, say. His voice echoed in the large, dark auditorium. "You are so incredibly talented. That is one big voice for such a tiny girl."

Why is she here, with this... guy? She felt so confused.

"Thanks," said Zoe. "You are amazing at playing the guitar."

What's-His-Face leaned in. Santana watched, even though she knew she shouldn't be.

The moment his lips touched hers, Santana felt her beating heart shatter into millions of pieces. It was crushed. All of the emotions she had tried so hard to keep bottled up inside of her burst out, flooding through her body and coursing through her veins. She closed her eyes and felt one salty tear race down her cheek. She speed walked, as quietly as she could, to the door, opened and closed it without anyone noticing, and stood there, speechless, with a shattered heart. She felt the tears flooding out by the dozens, and she softly bit her lip to keep herself from crying out.

Shortly, the door opened. Before she could properly turn around and face Zoe, she crashed right into Santana.

"Omygosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't..." Zoe finally looked up, and took in the sight of Santana, standing there with tears and a completely broken heart.

"...Santana?" she said, confusion showing on her face. "I thought you already left school!" Then, she acknowledged her tears. "Sweetie, are you okay?" Zoe attempted to walk up and wipe the tears on Santana's face, but she swatted her hand away.

"Don't even touch me!" she hissed. "I can't believe you. You meet someone for what, 5 minutes? And you kiss him? Are you freaking retarded?"

Zoe held out her hands defensively. "Whoa, hold on. You saw that? I didn't think-"

"No one does that!" Santana continued, as if Zoe had never said anything. "No one falls for someone the second that they see them! No one! No one!"

Santana realized she was no longer talking to Zoe. She was now talking to herself.

Or, more like convincing herself.

"Santana! Calm down!" She grabbed her wrists and looked her in the eyes. "First of all, he kissed me, and I pulled away and said this was moving too fast. Second of all, why does this matter to you so much? He's just some guy. And I told him I wasn't interested. This is no big deal!"

Santana couldn't even let Zoe touch her. It was too hard on her heart. She twisted her wrists out of her firm grip. "Just... Just leave me alone!"

She walked away briskly before Zoe could say anything. Many more tears rushed down her cheeks.

She had never cried so much in her life.