I apologize for the delay. Life has been decidedly unfair to me, leaving my mind completely exhausted. In, other news, I have seen Season 3 of "Glee" and so far I enjoy it. My story, of course, is not keeping with anything that's happened on the show s far, but that's okay. If it were, that'd either be one heck of a coincidence or I'd have a job as a writer for an awesome show.

Enjoy.

Chapter 9

Halfway through Puck's second cigarette, Santana's nerves had gotten the best of her. While heading for the bleachers she debated whether telling Brittany about Artie's betrayal would be the best idea. Despite the fact that she hated Artie for several reasons, she knew her girlfriend still liked the boy and considered him a friend. Santana was fuming inside though, and could barely suppress it. It took everything she had not to punch the metal rod holding up the seats above her. Brittany and Puck were sitting on either side of her, forming a small circle, completely oblivious to the internal scream Santana was emitting. Tension radiated from her body in waves but neither seemed to notice, too wrapped up in whatever stupid joke they were both laughing at.

It was only when Brittany noticed that Santana wasn't laughing too that she tuned in to her girlfriend's emotions. "You all right San?" She asked, placing a calming hand on her forearm.

Santana chewed her lip, eyeing the pack of cigarettes in Puck's lap. "Can I have one?" She finally asked, after a few seconds of silence.

Both Puck and Brittany's eye brows raised simultaneously in surprise. "Are you serious?" Puck asked, his mouth twisting into a mischievous grin.

"But San, you hate smoking." Brittany pouted.

Santana shrugged. It was true. Aside from the occasional cigar to enhance her throaty vocals, she hated smoking. She had seen enough dying patients while volunteering at the hospital to recognize the consequences of long term cigarette addiction. Last year she had even yelled at Brittany for having a cigarette with Puck at one of his parties. Brittany had reasoned that it made the alcohol taste better but Santana would have none of it. She practically ripped the butt from Brittany's mouth and pulled the pack from Puck's grasp, crushing it before throwing it in his mother's pool. She fought with Puck for three hours that night and ignored Brittany for the rest of the evening. It was the first and only time Santana ever called Brittany "stupid" and she hated herself for it afterwards, but she knew that Brittany would never go near another cigarette again.

When they made up a day later, Santana had told Brittany that cigarettes lined the path to an early grave, and that she wanted to make sure that they grew old together. If she knew then...but no, she still wanted Brittany healthy.

"Just gimme a friggen cigarette." Santana snapped before grabbing the back from Puck's lap. She used her nails to pull one from the opening and looked it over before pressing it to her mouth. "Lighter." She ordered, her voice muffled as she tried to balance the butt between her lips.

Puck absently handed his lighter over and both he and Brittany watched in awe as Santana lit the tip and inhaled, taking a long drag before exhaling with a sigh. "Shit." She sighed, feeling her head swim slightly. She calmed almost instantly.

"God damn Lopez." Puck finally voiced, laughing slightly. "You didn't even hack or anything." He leaned in slightly. "And you look so fucking sexy right now." He immediately put his hands up in defense, laughing again when both Brittany and Santana swatted at him. "Just saying!"

"What's going on Santana?" Brittany asked, her face etched with concern. "We made a promise to each other to never smoke."

"I'm sorry. I know, I'm sorry." Santana huffed, taking another long drag of the cigarette, feeling the smoke work its way into her lungs and seep into her brain, dulling her senses before exhaling again. She pulled the butt from her lips and crushed the lit tip against the metal rod beside her before throwing it in the grass. "I just needed to try it. I'm so…" She looked down, fiddling with her forefinger nail before looking up at Brittany. "I know who outed us to Jacob Ben Israel."

"No shit. Who was it?" Puck asked, flicking his own cigarette into the grass. "Whose ass do I have to kick?"

Santana spared a glance Puck's way before turning her attentions back to Brittany. "It was Artie." She watched as confusion marred Brittany's features for a moment before realization with the slightest bit of anger. "Jewfro told me so. I'm sorry Britt."

"Why the fuck are you apologizing?" Puck asked, standing and shoving the pack in his back pocket. "Artie should be apologizing, to the both of you."

"Why would he do that?" Brittany asked as she and Santana stood.

Santana shrugged. She knew exactly why Artie outed them but she wasn't going to give an explanation to her girlfriend. Artie should be the one to explain. Dusting off the back of her pants, Santana sighed. "I have to get to class. I can't cut another one." She pulled Brittany close and planted a firm but chaste kiss on her lips, ignoring Puck's low whistle. "I'll see you in Glee."

By the time fifth period ended Santana's anger had lost some of its steam. That little voice in the back of her head that she used to ignore when she did something rash had echoed all morning that Artie was just upset and jealous. Could she really blame him? When Brittany and Artie first got together Santana purposely broke them up out of anger and jealousy. Why should she expect any different?

As she wandered down the hallway, lost in her thoughts, Santana didn't notice a large hulking form step in front of her. It wasn't until she felt the sharp sting of ice water hit her face that she snapped from her wonderings. She kept her eyes closed and felt her entire body deflate. Get used to it. This is your life from now on.

"It's grape. Figured if you were gonna be a dyke you might like wearing purple." Azimio's familiar voice echoed in her ears, followed by what she guessed was a high-five from Karofsky, who stood beside his friend, silent. "It's a shame you decided to go lezzie on us Lopez. I was set on tappin' dat this year."

Feeling her anger rise again, Santana spit the cold sugar-water from her lips and cracked one eye open, spinning around to face the boys' retreating forms. "It's not something I decided, asshole." She ran a hand across her face, trying to clear some of the slushy away so she could open her other eye. "But based on what I've heard about you, I'm not missing anything special."

Karofsky and Azimio stopped and turned. Some curious onlookers in the hallway whipped their heads between the boys and Santana, wondering what was going to happen next. "I've been performing all summer, and I haven't had any complaints." Azimio gloated while running a hand up and down his chest.

Santana sighed as she watched Karofsky and Azimio high-five one another again. Santana shared a look with Dave. What had happened? They'd been making such progress last year. What happened to cause such a drastic backslide? As Santana stared into the hard, tired eyes of the man she considered somewhat of a kindred spirit when it came to their situations, she knew she had lost him. Whatever happened to him over the summer had sent him spiraling toward the back of the closet and he wasn't coming out. Resignedly, Santana just shook some slushy from her hair and decided to deal with Dave later.

That didn't mean, however, that she couldn't take a few shots at Azimio. After all, she was still Santana. "Your hands don't count, moron."

Azimio bristled as Dave's eyebrows shot up. "Fuck you Chiquita."

Sometimes she just couldn't help herself. "You wish." Santana shot back before turning on her heel, heading straight for the nearest restroom.

Cleaning up took a while and she ended up missing a third of glee club. Trying to wash the slushy out of her weave ignited a new fire beneath her once simmering anger, bringing it back to a full boil. She ripped the bandage off of her head wound and threw it out, hoping that the exposure wouldn't affect the fact that the stitches were due out today. She cleaned it as best she could with hot water and foam soap, hoping for the best. Her dress, her awesome green and white striped dress and cute white sweater were ruined. There was no way the purple was going to come out of that sweater. She would've balled it up and threw it in the trash but then she would've had nothing to cover her shoulders. Besides she wanted Artie to see what his spiteful stunt had accomplished. It sucked that she had to wear it for the rest of the day but she knew that Artie's day was going to suck much worse in a few minutes.

Smirking, she reapplied some make-up and put her best bitch face on, verbal guns at the ready. She picked her purse up from the sink and felt it vibrate. It was only then that she realized Brittany might be worried about her. She pulled her phone out while she exited the restroom and opened it to find more than half a dozen text messages from her girlfriend. With each text Brittany's concern seemed to grow. She sent a quick reply before quickening her pace down the hall. She could hear the club practicing their vocal exercises.

When she rounded the corner into the doorway, most of the club stopped singing. Will sighed. "Santana you're—" He trailed off when he recognized the unusual tint her clothes were sporting.

Brittany practically ran from the seat she had taken and pulled her girlfriend in for a hug. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Santana whispered, smiling slightly at the blonde. "Sorry Mr. Schu but I had to clean up."

"What happened?" Quinn asked.

"I had a run-in with some assholes who think I should only wear purple now that I'm out and proud." She crossed the room, passing a certain shame-faced someone right by. She was only getting started. "Funny how I let you guys know on Monday and by Friday it's all over the school." She sat down in a seat in the front row. Brittany immediately sat next to her and grabbed her hand in silent support.

"If you think it was any of us you're mistaken." Rachel said defensively, irritated by the interruption of her practice.

"That's where you're wrong, Short Stack." She swiveled in her seat to fully face Artie, who had suddenly found his gloved hands very interesting. "This is all your fault. You just couldn't keep your big, fat jealous mouth shut could you? What did you think would happen exactly? That I would crack under the pressure and run screaming back into the closet? That the gay panic would make me break up with Brittany so you could roll in under the radar and sweep her off her feet?"

Artie said nothing.

"Is that true?" Mercedes asked.

"That's not cool." Sam voiced right after her.

"Santana, I think—" Will started but Santana cut him off.

"No, I want to hear what he has to say for himself." She stood and stalked over to him. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."

Artie's head snapped up, his eyes red-rimmed but burning with anger. "I never promised to keep your secret. Why should I have? What would it have gotten me? Nothing. And if I'm going to be honest, I think you deserve it. You deserve everything you get and do you know why? Because you're a bitch. You've been nothing but a bitch to me and everyone else in this room, including Brittany."

"Artie, that's enough." Will warned.

"That's not true." Brittany argued softly. "San's been super sweet to me."

Artie scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah for what? A week? She gets into one dumb accident and suddenly everyone is okay with the fact that she does nothing but cut us down every chance she gets?" He looked past Santana's intimidating form toward the rest of the club, who were all shocked into silence. "She wouldn't do the same for any one of you."

"Knock it off Abrams." Puck warned. "She's going through some shit you can't understand."

"Guys—" Will tried to interject, but it was no use.

"No, you know what? He's right." Santana turned for a moment to face the rest of the club. "I have been nothing but a bitch to everyone in here. So yeah, maybe I do deserve slushy facials every day from here on out." She turned back to Artie and crouched down to his level, resting her hands on the armrests of his chair. "But you've not only exposed me, you've also exposed Brittany. That means she's in as much danger as I am of getting not only slushied, but outright attacked just for loving someone like me." She leaned in closer to him, nearly nose to nose. Artie stiffened, bracing himself as her eyes narrowed. Her voice low, she whispered, "And if something happens to her, you can bet your numb, useless ass that I'm coming for you."

"That's enough Santana!" Will shouted, finally getting the attention of everyone in the room.

Santana stood. "It's cool Mr. Schu. We're done here."

"I think you should leave." Will said to the girl, eliciting several protests from the other members.

"What?" Mercedes and Kurt both voiced simultaneously.

"Are you serious?" Puck shouted.

"Why should Santana leave? She didn't do anything wrong." Quinn voiced angrily, shooting daggers at Artie.

Will put his hands up, silencing them. "Guys, we can't have this tension and drama distracting us right now. We need to focus all of our energy on songs for Sectionals." He turned to Artie. "I think it's best if you left too." Sparing a glance at Santana he nodded. "You can both come back Monday but I want your issues checked at the door. You don't have to like each other but you have to remain professional enough to compete together. If you can't do that, then don't bother showing up."

"Fine." Santana conceded, grabbing her bag and exiting the room quickly.

Artie looked at Brittany, whom he had never seen look so upset. "Brittany—"

Brittany only shook her head. "Don't talk to me." She gathered her things quickly before sprinting for the door. "San wait!"

Artie gathered his things quietly, avoiding all of the eyes trained on him. As per usual, Rachel shot from her seat and tried to refocus the club, chattering about a song she had just recently been reintroduced to. As he wheeled past Will he paused. "I'm sorry Mr. Schu."

Will shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you Artie. I understand you're upset but what you did was wrong. You betrayed Santana's trust. Despite what she's done she's still a member of this club and we're supposed to support each other no matter what. I meant what I said. I would hate to lose you but if you can't work with Santana then you're no longer welcome. Same goes for her."

Artie nodded and exhaled heavily before rolling out.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"San! Santana wait up!" Brittany called after the girl, who was walking so fast she was practically running. "San!" Santana finally stopped by the doorway to the parking lot, turning to face Brittany with a broken expression. When Brittany reached her she was winded. "Jeeze. I forgot how fast you could walk when you're mad." She put a hand on her stomach, slowly catching her breath. "Are you sure you're okay? Don't lie to me."

Santana hesitated for a moment before exhaling. "I am. I am okay. I mean, I'm upset but I kind of saw it coming."

"What? Mr. Schu kicking you out?"

Santana shook her head. "No. I mean, the backlash. The slushies. I was afraid of it but there's nothing I can do about it now. I just," she exhaled, "I hope it doesn't get any worse. Do you know what I mean?"

Brittany nodded, her eyes shining. "You're worried about me."

Santana smiled sadly stepped closer to the taller girl, running a hand up and down her forearm. "I want to be with you Brittany. But I don't want to have to worry about what's coming around the corner, or to look over my shoulder. This," she gestured to her stained clothing, "is nothing compared to what people could do. I don't want that for you or for myself. Please understand what I'm saying."

"Santana," Brittany exhaled, her shoulders drooping just slightly. "I'm going to say it one more time only, okay? I love you. I don't care what happens as long as I get to be with you." When Santana looked down Brittany stuck a finger beneath her chin and lifted her gaze. "We'll get through it together and when we graduate we can get out of here and go live in that lesbian colony in New York like you were talking about."

Santana grinned though her eyes were glistening. "You'd follow me to New York?"

Brittany nodded. "I'd follow you anywhere. New York. China. The Moon. Anywhere and everywhere."

Pressing their bodies together, Santana ran her hand up Brittany's neck and around the back, threading her fingers through her long blonde tresses before pulling her into a kiss. It was long and slow and full of love. For a moment, Santana let the world slip away and lost herself in the sensation of Brittany's lips, of her tongue, of her hands and her body. For a moment, she let herself forget about the fact that she wouldn't get to New York. She wouldn't see the end of senior year. For a moment she forgot all of it and let herself get lost in her ever-consuming and evolving love for the girl she was proud to call her friend, her lover, her everything.

For a moment.

Okay so having Mr. Shue kick Santana out was inspired by the current season, but don't worry. Santana won't stay away for long. Artie...well..I haven't decided on him yet.

Until next time.