So as I'm from Scotland I'm not familiar at all with the U.S. school system so if any of this seems really incorrect just leave me a review/message about it and I'll fix it asap :) Hope you enjoy this chapter, I've had the idea sitting in my head for a few days now so I'm excited to see you what guys think, tell me what you think especially if you don't like it. I love contructive criticism :)
It was Brittany and Santana's first day in the First Grade, they had remained more or less the same in kindergarten as they had been in pre-school but now that they were starting "grown-up" school Santana's mama had warned her that if she didn't make friends with the other children too they would think she was mean.
"But mama the other children, THEY'RE the mean ones." This wasn't entirely untrue, in kindergarten Santana had been teased and ridiculed because her pronunciation of English wasn't any where near as precise as Brittany's, and by the time her English had improved to the level of Brittany's they had already decided she was stupid and not worth their time.
"Nonsense Santana, you're just being difficult because you don't want to share Brittany with anyone."
"That's not true." This was actually completely true, she glared at anyone that tried to become between her and her special friend, but Brittany didn't seem to mind that her and Santana were once again somewhat separate from the other children in their class.
"It is but I know you mean well, hurry up and finish your breakfast, the school bus will be here soon." At the mention of the school bus Santana's stomach did a somersault, her brothers had told her some pretty grim tales about what could happen to new kids on the ride to school.
"Is Brittany getting the bus too?"
"No, her parents are dropping her off" Santana felt tears fighting their way to the corners of her eyes. "Why can't I go with Brittany?"
"For heaven's sake mija you can't expect them to drive an extra four blocks just so you can ride to school with Brittany, you're a big girl now you need to act like it." Being told off was too much for Santana and she jumped down from the table, grabbed her backpack and ran in to the front garden to cry. Maria covered her face with her hands and sighed, how was she going to teach Santana to be independent when she relied so heavily on a person other than her family at this age?
Santana was standing at the bus stop just outside her house when she heard footsteps behind her, she hurriedly dried her eyes. Her mama handed her lunch to her then knelt down so they were eye-level with each other, but Santana opened her mouth before Maria could speak and asked:
"Why isn't Papa here? He would take me to school, AND Brittany." Maria was stunned and trying to formulate a reply in her head that a five-year-old would understand when the bus came and Santana hopped on without even looking behind her.
As she trailed up the aisle looking for a free seat she felt her cheeks burning as every eye was on her, by the time she reached the back of the bus she realized the only free seat was in the third row next to a boy with brown hair that looked as though he was in the third grade.
Nervously she lay her bag and tin lunch box on the ground and used two hands to haul herself up before turning away to face the aisle so that the boy who was absent-mindedly staring out the window, didn't think she was trying to bug him.
As soon as she was comfortable though the boy turned around and said "Who are you?" Santana's stomach seemed to plummet to the ground as she answered in a tiny voice "San, Santana." The boy simply smiled and extended his hand to her though, "Hi! I'm Finn, it's my first day." Santana shook his hand and gave him a small smile. "Did you move schools or something?"
"No it's my first day ever, I'm in the First Grade" He puffed his chest out proudly as he said this.
"Really! You look way older.. like a Third-Grader or something."
"Yeah my mumma says I'm way tall for my age, but you're REALLY tiny even for the First Grade, this is your first day too right?" Santana's cheeks felt like they were burning again as she replied hotly, "Yeah it is but I'm not THAT small, and anyway my friend Brittany says I'm small and mighty." Now it was Santana's turn show her pride by folding her arms and pointing her chin upwards, Finn just laughed. "Santana the small and mighty, okay I'll try to remember that one." They smiled awkwardly at each other before looking out the window for the rest of the ride. It wasn't so bad, thought Santana, to ride the bus to school.
As it was the first day the school bus arrived early at Lima Elementary, when Santana jumped down off the bus she waved goodbye to Finn and set off to find Brittany. It wasn't long before she spotted her blonde friend at the gates with both of her parents molly-coddling her with anxious expressions on their face while Katya gurgled from her buggy, for a moment Santana felt a pang of longing but she didn't know what it was she was missing, so she shrugged it off and skipped towards the Dutch family with a smile on her face. Brittany turned and saw her almost immediately and her face broke in to a huge grin, "Hola Santana! Mammy, Daddy, Santana's here!" her parents turned too and like Brittany they also smiled when they saw Santana, they always felt Brittany was that little bit safer when she was with Santana. "Hello there Santana."
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, do you like my lunch box?" She turned her lunch box round so that all three of them could see the Hello Kitty design embellished on the front. Brittany squealed and her mother nodded admiringly, "That's lovely Santana, did your mama buy you that especially for today?" At the mention of her mother Santana's face hardened for a moment, but only Brittany noticed such small changes in her expressions and sensed now was not the time to ask.
"No, my Papa gave me it but it was for today yes." Santana was only too pleased when the bell rang and she grabbed Brittany by the hand to drag her in to the playground but Brittany's mother stopped them "Ah, ah!" and she bent down to hug Brittany and kiss both girls on the cheeks. "Behave yourselves you two!"
"We will!" Cried both girls with their fingers crossed in the folds of their pinafores.
Santana's brothers had told her that her first day would be REALLY scary, but mostly she had just found it boring so far, Brittany seemed to be enjoying herself at least, but Santana could tell she was nervous as she didn't let go of Santana's hand for the entire morning and even though Santana could no longer feel any blood circulating her pinkie, she didn't mind. It rained at recess so they stayed inside and chatted animatedly in a corner about Dora the Explorer and how wrong her accent was. As they had expected, none of the other kids spoke to them.
After recess the teacher read some fairytales to the class which bored Santana greatly as they were all about a silly damsel in distress being rescued by a prince with a funny hat. She much preferred the fairytales her Papa read to her before bedtime about dragons and elves, once again though Brittany seemed content enough so Santana kept her distaste to herself. Afterwards the teacher announced they were going to be drawing, Santana and Brittany were both excited by this, armed with brand-new packs of crayons and felt-tip pens they felt more than prepared to tackle any drawing exercises as they had so much practice on Santana's bedroom wall (before her mother had discovered their doodling that is, and sent Brittany home early).
"Now class, I want you all to imagine if you were in a fairytale, what your prince or princess would look like and draw them" all the boys, except Finn and Kurt scoffed but picked up their crayons anyway. The class hurriedly set to work scribbling and colouring furiously. Their teacher walked round the class slowly looking at everyone's drawing, some of them were pretty typical, some made her laugh. Puck seemed to have drawn a princess with a pram. Quinn had drawn your typical prince charming complete with crown and sword, while Tina had opted for a prince with pointy teeth and gray clothing.
When she reached Santana and Brittany's table, she was confused. Brittany had drawn what was clearly Santana singing in to what could only be a microphone. When she looked to Santana's paper she saw a colourful depiction of Brittany in a park feeding a duck.
"Girls, you were supposed to draw your ideal prince." The girls looked up, startled. "You said prince OR princess." Santana pointed out.
"Yes because there are boys in the class, you're girls" (Well noticed, thought Santana) "You can't draw princesses, especially not each other"
"Why not?" Brittany chirped.
"Because if you're a girl you can't marry a princess." Both girls looked highly confused by this point, Santana continued her defiance bravely.
"Says who? My Papa told me you're supposed to marry someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, I don't want to do that with anyone that isn't Brittany."
"It's not the same, Brittany's not a boy Santana." Santana looked up at her teach as if she was crazy.
"I know that! But-"
"No buts, I wont make you start over but if you girls don't do what you're told next time you want get to join in the colouring activities." With that she returned to her desk to write something down.
Santana was shocked by what had just happened, she turned to her left to see Brittany looking down at her hands which were trembling, while obviously trying to hold back tears. Santana took her hand and whispered "I don't like first grade very much so far."
"Me neither."