I'm going to watch Spiderman: Homecoming tomorrow but I'm still going to be a wreck until I get my exam results in less than a week. So, expect upcoming chapters to be really angsty or emotional. You have been warned.
Luckily for her, Santana managed to get through the first part of the day without getting asked any question regarding what happened after Rachel fainted. The main reason was because Quinn and Brittany stuck by her and gave a death glare to anyone who dared to even sneak a glance at them. You know you shouldn't approach when even Brittany is glaring at you. Santana had Glee practice today so she would at least have time to prepare before getting swarmed with questions.
Unfortunately, life had other plans. During lunch, the Unholy Trinity sat on a table far away from the Glee table which most of its members seemed to notice. They were on the receiving end of confused and curious looks. The first one to take action was Finn as he walked up to them while the other Glee clubbers watched closely, trying to be subtle. Great. Here comes Lumps The Clown. Santana rolled her eyes as he neared the table. She really didn't want to have to deal with him right now. She had no idea why Quinn even decided to get back together with him. She was clearly miserable when she first dated him and no one knows how to read Quinn better than Santana.
It was really no shocker that they decided to send Finn. He and Rachel did date but what nobody seemed to notice was that he treated her horribly. Then again, doesn't he do that to all of the girls he dates. He had a right to be pissed when Quinn lied about who the father of her unborn baby was. He had a right to be pissed after getting cheated on. But Quinn and Rachel also had a right to be pissed because of how he juggled them and relentlessly toyed with their emotions. He kept going from Santana's best friend to the Latina's love interest. You don't get off easily after that.
Finn kissed Rachel twice while he and Quinn dated. Once during their picnic in the auditorium and once during their date at the bowling alley. Then, he still acted like the perfect boyfriend to Quinn while Rachel was forced to watch. After he broke up with Quinn, he didn't hesitate before going to Rachel. Out of the blue, he broke up with her a few days later. Sure, Santana played a part in that but that still doesn't change the fact that he crawled right back to Rachel after not getting what he wanted out of his date with Brittany and Santana.
The only reason Santana knew about the times Finn kissed Rachel was because she just happened to use the auditorium as a shortcut to get to cheerios practice when they kissed and she was at the bowling alley with Brittany when it happened for the second time. Santana told Quinn but the blonde constantly told her she needed someone like Finn by her side for the sake of the baby.
The boy didn't even know how to take care of Quinn after she moved in with him when her parents kicked her out. Santana had to sneak in by the window just so she could do that herself. She didn't even stop doing that after the blonde moved in with Puck and then Mercedes. Santana wished Quinn had gone to her but she understood why she didn't. Ms. Jones brought Quinn a lot of food so that the baby could grow properly but what the woman didn't know was that most of it went to Santana when she snuck in. Quinn always kept some leftovers for the Latina to help her through her eating disorder which was triggered by the high expectations for her to live up to Quinn as the new head cheerleader.
"Hey, guys. Um… I just came here to tell you something." said Finn as he nervously stepped from side to side. Ugh. Is he going to do that during this entire conversation?
"Spit it out, frankenteen. We don't have all day." said Santana which earned her a glare from Quinn by the time Artie wheeled his way next to Finn. My friends literally have the worst taste in guys.
"As Finn was saying, Glee practice for today has been canceled because Mr. Schue is sick." added Artie as Santana let out a breath she didn't know she was even holding. Please let it be just that. Please let it be just that. "And…" Just my luck. "We were wondering why you guys aren't sitting with us."
"And what happened to Rachel by the way? I've been worried about her ever since she fainted." added Finn as he put his hands in his pockets.
"Took you long enough." whispered Santana under her breath. She thought no one heard her but that was clearly not the case since Quinn nudged her shoulder.
Santana didn't understand why Quinn didn't just lunge at her boyfriend. Finn showing interest in Rachel again just because she might've gotten hurt obviously pissed the blonde off just as much as it pissed the Latina off. Then again, Santana did do the same thing when she noticed something was wrong with Rachel. The only difference is that, unlike Finn, Santana genuinely likes Rachel.
"Rachel's just resting at home since she's still sick. Just like Mr. Schue. Maybe she contaminated him yesterday. You wouldn't want her to come and get you sick just because you're suddenly worried about her, would you?" asked Brittany as Finn quickly shook his head before walking away with a dopey look on his face.
Brittany shot Santana a subtle wink as the Latina mouthed the words 'thank you' to her with a smile crossing her face afterwards. The tall dancer might not have been the smartest when it came to school but when it came to people, everyone was weary not to ever doubt her. It also helped that you'd have to deal with Santana if you doubted her and no one wanted that.
"Well, you still haven't told us why you're not sitting over there with us at the Glee table." brought up Artie. The three cheerleaders exchanged looks, not really knowing what to say. Santana wanted to sit at another table so that she could avoid talking about Rachel and actually relax with her two best friends but she couldn't say that.
"Why don't you mind your own business, professor X?" Santana looked up to find Puck standing next to Artie. "They can sit wherever they want." added the boy with the mohawk.
"Oh, I know. I was just -"
"You were just leaving. Now wheel away."
Artie looked like he wanted to say something but he decided against it once he saw the look on Puck's face which clearly said 'leave now or you'll die'. So, he wheeled away. Puck followed him back to the Glee table but not before mouthing 'you're welcome' to Santana.
Santana was relieved she didn't have to go to Glee practice later in the afternoon. The sooner she could see Rachel, the better. The three cheerleaders' lunch was once again interrupted when Becky put a crumpled up piece of paper on their table before speeding off. They all wore confused looks on their faces until Quinn picked up and opened the paper. She let out a frustrated sigh after reading it. The two others leaned in to read what was written, immediately recognizing Sue's handwriting.
An extra hour has been added to practice later on today. Be there or you're off the squad. I don't care what other plans you have.
Okay, Santana imagined that last sentence but it was still true. The now canceled Glee Club rehearsal was replaced by another hour of cheerios practice. Great. Just great. She noticed the annoyed looks on the other cheerleaders' faces but no one was as aggravated as her by this. At least I'll get to see Rachel more often now since I'll need to be in the hospital myself after this.
"This is total bullshit." said Santana in a loud tone. "Why do we need extra practice anyway? We're shoo-ins at Nationals this year."
"Coach probably wants to make sure after what happened last year. Looks like she's planning on pushing us to the bone." mentioned Quinn, seemingly just as annoyed as Santana by this news.
"Because she hasn't done that yet, right?" asked Santana with sarcasm evident in her voice. Quinn and Brittany let out a slight chuckle at the comment.
Lunch ended and the day just continued. All three of the girls shared their last period. It was history class and they had a group project to do. Quinn was paired up with Puck, Brittany was paired up with this new foreign exchange student Rory, who just happened to have joined Glee Club the other day, and Santana was paired up with Kurt. The Latina rolled her eyes as the teacher called out both their names. She just hoped the boy wouldn't start asking questions about what happened since he was known to be the gossip type.
Everything was going perfectly fine. They immediately started their work and nothing but their work. Silence took over as they quickly finished because of how focused they were on that one thing while the other students talked about random things when they should be working. Santana didn't want to open a discussion with Kurt to avoid diving into the subject of Rachel. Kurt, however, had other ideas.
"So, what happened to Rachel yesterday?" asked Kurt as Santana sighed, both externally and internally.
"Didn't Finn tell you? She's -"
"Sick? Yeah, I heard." Then why the hell are you asking? "But when are you going to tell me what really happened?" Santana instantly tensed up at the boy's follow up question. It wasn't her place to tell anyone else about what Rachel has been going through.
"Wha-What are you talking about? That is what really happened."
"Oh, please. I noticed how you reacted when I asked you what really happened." Santana was fighting the urge to punch Kurt in the face. Maybe that would shut him up for good. "It was one of her dads, wasn't it?" Santana's eyes widened as her mouth hung slightly open at this revelation. She blinked a few times, trying to process what Kurt just said. She furrowed her eyebrows when she couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation to why he brought up Rachel's father. What she was feeling was a mixture of shock and confusion.
"What? How do you -"
"Let it suffice to say you're not the only who's noticed Rachel stumbling in her steps while dancing and holding her stomach in pain." Santana was still not relieved of her shock and confusion. Kurt quickly picked up on the reason, almost chuckling to himself."Oh, c'mon. You were practically staring at her the whole time." Santana would've blushed, and she rarely ever blushes, if the situation wasn't so serious.
"N-No, it's not that. What makes you think it was her da- I mean one of her dads?" Kurt gave her a confused look after her mistake but quickly shook it off.
"It was Sectionals. Sophomore year. Right after Finn showed up and we started working on the new set list…"
Kurt was making his way to join the group who was already piled together and rehearsing the chosen group song for their very first and what could be their very last competition. That was until he heard a low gasp behind him, inaudible to the rest of the room. Well, he did have a good ear. He turned around to find Rachel gazing at her phone with wide eyes. He didn't even have time to ask her what the problem was since she bolted out of the room faster than the Flash would have.
He knitted his eyebrows closer together before looking back at the rest of the club to see if anyone noticed. Nobody did. So, he left the room but by the time he did, Rachel was nowhere in sight. He was about to go back in when he heard some yelling. Intrigued by this, he walked down the hallway and turned a corner to find himself in front of the almost empty lobby.
There were only two people in the middle of the room; Rachel in front of some tall man with grey hair and a pair of glasses. His nerves were frayed to the quick as he hid behind the wall that separated the lobby from the hallway, eavesdropping on Rachel and who he assumed was one of her two dads.
"This is all your fault!" The older man's loud and harsh tone startled Kurt, making him wonder why he was talking to Rachel like that.
"Dad, I didn't do any-"
"Shut up! I didn't tell you that you could talk." Kurt asked himself who would talk to their daughter like that. It just didn't make any sense. "If you lose today…"
When all he heard was silence, Kurt looked at the scene before him, his eyes widening in horror. Hiram had his arm in the air as Rachel stood still, her eyes tightly closed shut and her clenched fist shaking at her side. Kurt did not want to see Rachel get hit. Especially not by her father. Sure, she could be annoying at times but no one deserved this. He tilted his head to the side as Hiram lowered his arm and maniacally chuckled to himself. Kurt seemed to be just as lost as Rachel.
"You haven't lost yet." said Hiram before walking back to the auditorium.
Once Hiram was finally gone, Kurt looked back to see a single tear roll down Rachel's cheek. She looked so broken and alone. The sight of it went straight for Kurt's gut instead of tugging at his heartstrings. She quickly wiped it away and took a deep breath before walking back to the hallway. Not wanting to be seen, Kurt took off to get back to the room before Rachel could.
By the time Kurt finished his story, Santana felt anger boiling deep in her system. It burned so bad. It was like fire lacing her veins and creeping up her spine. Her face became rigid, jaw clamped tight, teeth grinding. Her skin was a sore looking red but all she could feel was desire to hate. The desire to hate Rachel's father even more. She wanted to spit out foul and vulgar words she would be stared at for screeching out with every ounce of breath she had. But she didn't have time to since the bell sounded to announce the end of class. Kurt got out of his seat and signaled at Santana to call him as he left the class.
Santana just shook off what happened. She didn't have time to dwell on it now since she had a two hour mandatory cheerios practice. She didn't want to have to do extra laps again if she was late. She felt like what coach Sylvester was going to have them do today was enough already. She didn't want to pass out from exhaustion. So, she just took off to the locker room with Quinn and Brittany by her side, making a mental note to call Kurt later.
Cheerios practice was exactly what Santana expected it to be; pure and utter exhaustion. Coach Sylvester put together a new routine which contained moves she didn't even know were possible to execute. Thank god she didn't bring a canon this time. As the Unholy Trinity practically limped their way back to the locker room while panting and gasping to get air back into their lungs, they saw some other girls getting carried out on gurneys. Yikes.
"I… am never… agreeing… to two hours… of practice… again." gasped out Santana as she tried to catch her breath on one of the benches in the locker room.
Despite Santana's protests of wanting to see Rachel as soon as possible, the three cheerleaders took separate showers, Quinn and Brittany finishing first as usual. Santana always took a while when showering, even when there was a rush. They were the last girls in the locker room as Quinn and Brittany eventually got tired of waiting.
"We'll meet you in the parking lot, Santana!" called out Brittany as the two blondes swung their bags over their shoulders and exited the locker room.
Santana huffed once the door closed behind Quinn and Brittany. Why are all my friends so impatient? She picked up the pace in the shower when she remembered Rachel. She stepped out of her stall once she finished, wrapping a towel around her as she dried her hair as much as possible with another one, wanting to look presentable for Rachel. She quickly wore the spare clothes she brought, stuffing her sweaty uniform which now carried a stench in her bag.
Once she felt prepared, Santana carried her bag and put it over her shoulder, turning around to a sight she was not expecting to see; Quinn carrying an unconscious Brittany in her arms.
You guys missed those cliffhangers, didn't you? Don't worry, you'll see how Brittany and Rachel are doing in the next chapter… maybe. On another note, no, I don't actually hate Finn or Artie. That was just for the sake of the story. This is probably the second longest chapter I've ever written. Please leave a review if you enjoyed! That's all I have to say for now. Stay tuned for the next chapter!
