Santana was dreading school the next day. When she had gotten home the night before and finally charged her phone, there were several missed texts from her friends. She replied to them all and lied in pretty much all of them. So when she got to school, she mentally prepared herself for a bombardment of questions, accusations and demands.

The night before, she and Sebastian had talked and agreed that if the questions get bad, then she might as well just tell them the truth. But she hoped she would be able to avoid it...forever.

When she got to school, she made sure she was a bit late, so she could hopefully avoid anyone before class starts.

But it was pointless because as soon as she sat down in homeroom class, there was a PA asking for her to report to the choir room. If they were meeting during normal class time, it had to be important. So Santana slowly made her way to the choir room. Everyone else was in there already, staring at her with blank, unreadable faces.

"Santana, glad you're here" Mr. Schuester said, motioning for her to take a seat.

She strolled across the floor and sat down, trying to look as calm as possible.

"Well, since you didn't join us yesterday. You missed a very eventful discussion" Will said.

Mercedes leaned over to Santana. "He got so mad at us. He yelled for almost thirty minutes."

Santana almost wished she was there. That would have quite amusing since she would be the only one not in trouble.

"As I had said, I have half mind to disqualify you guys from competition. What you did was awful. Now I hear, Santana, that you were the only one against yesterday's actions?"

"Sure was" Santana replied.

"Well, I admire your courage for trying to stop it. Anyways, after a night of thinking, I've decided that unless Dalton gets involved or Sebastian reports us, we should be okay. And I doubt either of those would happen since we refrained from reporting the salt rock confession. And I assume that an incident of this sort will never, ever happen again, am I correct?" Mr. Schue stared at them.

They all nodded.

"Good. As for the setlist, I have no idea who stole it from us. Sebastian and the Warblers are a possibility, but nothing is proven. I'll do whatever I can to find out, but I think that we should start planning our new and even better setlist. So after school we're having a Glee meeting" Mr. Schuester said.

Santana nodded.

"Can we go back to class now?" Kurt asked. "I have a math quiz."

Will nodded. "Yes, you may." They all got up and made their way back to their classes.

The day dragged on. Santana spent most of it trying to avoid people. She could feel them staring at her with questioning eyes. But she managed to keep to herself all day and no one asked her anything. But she didn't relax at all. Finally, the last bell rang and Santana headed off to Glee club.

All the other members were already there and when she walked in, she knew they were all silently watching her.

As she prepared herself for someone to ask something, Mr. Schuester walked in.

"Take a seat, guys. I have news" he said, facing us.

"You know who leaked our setlist?" Rachel asked eagerly.

Mr. Schuester nodded gravely. "Yup."

"Who?" several people, including Santana yelled.

"Like a few years ago, it was Coach Sylvester" Mr. Schue said.

"Really?" Finn asked. "She did it again?"

"Element of surprise" Kurt said. "We never thought it was her."

"You all jumped to conclusions" Santana said boldly.

"How'd you get her to admit?" Quinn asked.

Mr. Schue sighed. "Well, I called up the Regionals Board of Directors and they hooked me up with who Sue gave the setlist to, and they admitted it. Then I went to Sue and she had to come clean."

There was a mumble of rude words.

"Hey, hey, none of that. We have a second chance here. Let's come up with a brand new brilliant out-of-the-park setlist" Mr. Schue said. "Sam, you said you had a song that was a contender."

Sam nodded and stood up.

Rachel's hand shot up in the air. "Mr. Schue, I have a ton of song ideas."

And that's when Santana knew she was in for a long rehearsal.


"Okay guys, we made some outstanding progress today. I think we can call it a day" Mr. Schue said as they all collapsed into the chairs. "See you tomorrow."

They all grabbed their bags and left the choir room, glad to be free. Santana headed towards the bathroom. She could tell her hair was a mess and her lips needed glossing. The bathroom was empty, as it normally is so late after school. Santana put her bag down and began fixing her hair with a small comb. Then she heard the bathroom door open.

"Hey Santana" Rachel said in an obviously sweet voice.

Santana turned to see Rachel, Mercedes, Quinn, Tina, Brittany and Sugar come in. They all had the same sugary sweet looks that were just dripping with falseness.

"Sup?" Santana said casually.

"We need to talk" Mercedes said calmly. "Girl talk."

"No, I'm not lending you a bra" Santana said with an eye roll.

"Let's talk about boys" Quinn said with a small smirk.

"No thanks. I'm a lesbian, remember?" Santana smiled.

"Yeah. Yeah, we do" Rachel said. "But you see, you were acting really odd yesterday."

"Santana 'Lima Heights' Lopez was standing up for the enemy" Mercedes said. "That was weird."

"And then you refused to come back with us. How'd you get home?" Tina asked.

"Taxi" Santana lied. She had a suspicion about where this conversation was going and she was not liking it. Santana even considered grabbing her bag and making a run for it, but Sugar was near the door and would stop her.

"Yesterday Quinn had this weird theory. It was so crazy, none of us believed it. But the more we thought about it, the more it seemed true" Rachel said, stepping closer and playing with her fingers like she does when she's mad. "Do you know what that theory was?"

Santana didn't answer. She did know.

"Her theory is that you and Sebastian Smyth are dating" Rachel said, whispering the last word like it was forbidden. And technically, it was.

"That's not true, is it Santana?" Tina asked. "You're not dating that scum bag?"

Santana shook her head. "No" she said quickly, feeling tears in her eyes.

They all sighed and looked at each other.

"So why were you acting so weird?" Quinn asked, in a more nicer tone that before.

Santana shrugged. "That's my business."

"Look, Santana, we're your friends" Brittany piped up. "You can tell us anything."

Santana nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

"So just to clarify, you are absolutely not in a relationship of any type with Sebastian Smyth?" Rachel asked.

And that's when Santana lost it. She didn't mean to, but she was at her last straw. She cried.

"Holy cow, Santana, what's wrong?" Mercedes asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"I am" Santana said. "I am dating him."

Sugar gasped dramatically.

"I knew it!" Quinn snapped her fingers triumphantly.

"There goes my theory" Brittany murmured.

Santana wiped her eyes with her hands. "I'm sorry, but I hate keeping this a secret."

No one said anything.

"And you can't tell anyone, okay?" Santana asked, looking desperately at the girls. "Please."

Again they didn't say anything.

Finally Tina spoke. "How long?"

"Since we all sang 'Black Or White'" Santana said.

"That's almost two months" Quinn commented. "So this is pretty serious."

Santana nodded.

"What if he's another Jesse?" Rachel asked.

"But what if he's another Blaine?" Santana replied.

"We don't want you to get hurt" Tina said.

Santana scoffed. "I'm the toughest girl I know."

"Still..." Mercedes said.

"Look, I know you guys hate him, and I understand why. But I believe he's changed. I'm not asking for your permission because I know you'll never give it. I'm asking for your help. Finn and Sam and those guys beat him up based on a suspicion. Can you image what they'd do if they found out I was dating him? All I want from you is to keep my secret. You're my girls. And I need you to help me here. Please" Santana finished firmly and stared at them hopefully.

The girls all looked at each other. Then they nodded.

"If you're sure that he's changed, then who are we to stop you?" Mercedes said.

"If you ask me, I think it's really romantic" Rachel said. "A forbidden love. You're like Romeo and Juliet!"

Santana smiled. "Thank you, guys."

"Oh, bring it here" Sugar said and they all moved in for a huge hug.

Santana breathed a sigh of relief. That could have gone a whole lot worse.


"They were cool with it?" Sebastian asked over the phone.

"Yeah" Santana said. "But like I said, it was just the girls. The guys will be a whole different story."

"Are you going to tell them?"

"No. Not yet."

"I wish you didn't have to go through this" Sebastian sighed.

Santana nodded and sat down on her bed, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder. "I was thinking after Regionals I'd tell the others. I mean, one of us has to win, right? So-"

"The other group could win. You know, our other competition" Sebastian smiled.

"No. I'd rather you guys win. Anyways, after one of us wins, we won't be competitors anymore so it'd be safe to tell them" Santana said.

"If you want to" Sebastian said.

"They're my friends and I don't like keeping this from them."

"I get it" Sebastian said. "And if you want me there with you, I will be. Don't think you have to do this alone."

Santana smiled. "I love you."

She could practically hear his smile over the phone. "I love you too."


A/N

Haaaaaaaaaaaay!

Seriously, thank you to everyone who has left a review on this story. I've gotten nothing but positivity and it's so awesome; I love you guys so much. Only three more chapters after this and I can't wait for y'all to read them! :)

See ya next week!