Chapter 11: Making Friends (Is Not That Hard)

They had agreed to meet in the choir room after the end of classes the next day. Santana was nervous: apart from Brittany or Quinn, she never hung out with other members of the Glee Club after classes. Alone. She had never been really good at making friends, after all.

When she walked into the choir room, Tina was already here, softly trailing her fingers over the piano keys. She stopped when she saw Santana walking in, offering her a shy smile. She looked just as nervous as her, and for a moment Santana thought she might start stuttering again.

"You came." Tina stated, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. I know it's hard to believe, but I actually sometimes honor my engagements." Santana answered.

To be honest, she had hesitated about coming until the very last minute. Planning to go back home and tell her parents that the impromptu Cheerio meeting she had invoked as an excuse to go back home late had been canceled. Thinking about sending the same text she had sent Brittany 4 hours before the episode of Fondue For Two that would have signed her coming out last year.

I can't.

But then she had pictured the sad face of Brittany during that same episode of Fondue For Two where she had had to interview Lord Tubbington instead of Santana, just because the girl she loved wasn't brave enough to do what she asked her to. She had remembered the hurt her best friend tried to hide on the video, and thought that maybe it was time for her to stop disappointing the ones she wanted to call her friends.

So there she was, alone in the choir room with a Tina Cohen-Chang who looked just as un-at-ease as her. She decided to make things easier for both of them, and slid next to Tina on the piano bench, grabbing the few music sheets discarded on the top of the piano. "So what you got here?"

Tina smiled shyly, grateful to see that the other girl was not going to let her down.

"Well I've been working on this for more than a week but the songs just don't seem to fit together…"

"What do you wanna sing about?"

Tina stayed silent for a while before answering in a quiet voice.

"My adoption."

Santana raised her head and stared at her in disbelief.

"Wait, you've been adopted? How comes I didn't know that?"

"I don't really talk about it." Tina answered. "Mike is the only one who knows, and only because he met my parents and saw we didn't look alike… At all."

"But why would you hide it? I mean it's not like you should be ashamed of it, it's actually pretty cool…"

"I've been picked up on because of this when I was younger." Tina said with her eyes lowered. "The other kids didn't understand why I didn't look like my parents when they picked me up from school, and they liked to make jokes about it and make fun of me. The fact that I'm Asian didn't really help, I guess…"

She raised her head in order to stare into Santana's eyes.

''But I'm more confident now, and I feel like the Glee Club deserves to know it. You guys have helped me through so much these last 2 years that I owe you the truth… Plus it's a surprise for Mike. He's been telling me to tell you all for a while now, and now I'm ready. Anyway, do you think you would be able to do something about the songs?"

Santana stared at her a little longer, still dumbfounded. She had so many questions to ask. So many things she wanted to know about this girl she had known for almost 3 years and still ignored so many things about.

But she shook her head and grabbed the music sheets; they had some work to do. They would have plenty of time to talk at another moment, plenty of time for her to ask questions. And she would have plenty of time to think about that sentence Tina had just said, and that applied to her more than she would have wanted it to: "You guys have helped me through so much these last 2 years that I owe you the truth."

2 hours later, Tina's mash up was perfect. They had mixed Lovesong by Adele and I Will Always Remember You by Sarah McLachlan, and the result overcame their expectations. It was a nice and indirect way to talk about the love Tina had for her parents, the ones who had raised her and gave her all she had.

"It's amazing, Santana! How can I thank you?" said Tina excitedly with a huge smile on her face.

"Just don't tell anyone that I helped you with it. I don't want everybody to ask for my help when they realize I'm a mash up genius!" Santana joked.

Tina laughed, and then seemed to hesitate about something.

"Santana… Would it be too much to propose you to go grab something to eat at Breadsticks? I know we're not really friends and this mash up doesn't change anything between us, but it's not that late and I have nothing planned for the evening..."

Santana thought deeply about it before answering. Usually she would have said no without even thinking about it, and maybe she would have added a vicious comment about how hanging out with the adopted Asian would kill her reputation. But usually, she wouldn't even have bothered to come here in the first place; Tina was being nice and friendly, and Santana thought it couldn't hurt to try and see what came out of it. Since they were 5, Brittany and Quinn had been her only friends, and maybe it could be interesting to get to know someone else. Tina was always a better choice than Rachel Berry, in any case.

"You use the word Breadsticks and expect me to say no? Clearly you need to learn to know me, Chang."

"It's Cohen-Chang." Tina corrected.

"Sure, whatever. It's going to be your name someday anyway." she smirked, making Tina blush furiously.

And that's how they ended up at Breadsticks, sitting at one of the tables Santana had shared with Brittany so many times, and were Tina had succeeded in bringing Mike a couple of times. They soon discovered that they were both addicted to the restaurant, Tina for the "bottomless salad bowls", and Santana for the breadsticks and the food in general.

At the beginning, both of them were feeling awkward, not knowing what to say to one another; but soon the awkwardness disappeared, and the conversation finally started, allowing them to discover some similarities between each other, other than Glee.

They both liked Adele and Florence and the Machine, even if their musical tastes mainly differed. They discovered that they were into the same kind of books: Tina was in fact very surprised to learn that Santana was a reader; she would have never guessed.

Tina wasn't really into Cheerleading, but she loved football and had even played for a while in a girl's team, in elementary school – which could explain her amazing action on the field the year before, during the final game of the season.

They were ordering the dessert when the conversation drifted to something completely different.

"So you've been adopted…" Santana stated. "How old were you, if I may ask?"

Tina blushed softly.

"No problem, I just need to get used to talking about it with someone else than Mike… I was just a few days old. My parents told me when I was very young, and I'm very grateful for that: I didn't look like them anyway, so it would have been stupid to hide it from me. But since we've always been pretty open about it, and we've discussed it a lot, I don't have any problem with it."

Santana nodded, before asking another question.

"Do you have any brothers and sisters?"

"No. I'm an only child."

Just like Santana. Only Tina looked like she had always been loved, which was the opposite of her. She tried to get this thought away by continuing her interrogation.

"Have you ever wondered if your parents were still alive?"

She then realized the bluntness of her question and bit her lips, ready to apologize for overstepping; but Tina didn't seem too bothered by the question.

"No, not really. I mean my parents love me and I love them, so why would I want to go and look somewhere else? I have everything I ever wanted here. I don't need anything more."

Santana nodded again, but she still had one more question to ask.

"So why do you hide the fact that you've been adopted from everybody?"

"Because… Even if I accept it doesn't mean that over people will, you know? I mean it's hard enough to be just Asian without having to be adopted all the more…" Tina was obviously struggling to find the right words to express her thoughts, but her face lit up when she thought about a comparison Santana could understand. "You know just like me what it's like to be a part of an ethnic minority in this country. Why would I want to state that I'm part of another minority, one that might not be obvious when you first see me, but which could increase the chances to make my life even harder than it already is?"

Santana felt a bang in her stomach. Oh yeah, she knew what Tina meant. More than anyone. But Tina kept talking, oblivious to Santana who was shifting uncomfortably in her sit.

"But I'm stronger now. Why would I keep hiding it? I mean I have the Glee Club, and I know they would never judge me about that. Maybe they'll be a little unhappy that I hid it from them for so long, but they will understand, and I know they will be there for me whatever happens. I don't need all McKinley to know, but I think the people I care for and who care for me deserve to know the real me."

These words hit Santana, but she didn't want to think about it for now. She just wanted to enjoy her meal, and focused on the conversation which drifted to yet another topic.

This is a nice evening, she thought while crunching a breadstick.

One hour later, they finally finished eating and parted ways in front of Breadsticks, stating that they would see each other in Glee Club the next day.

While Santana was driving back home, she thought that it was maybe the first time she had gone out for dinner without anything else than friendship involved. It felt good, for once. Not to feel wanted in that kind of way, just spending time and chatting with someone else.

Santana had never really tried to get to know about the other Glee Club members, but she was realizing that maybe they weren't all that bad. Maybe she didn't need to be a bitch to them all the time, after all.

Tina could be a good friend, was her last thought before drifting to sleep that night.

A/N: So what do you think? Do you like this new friendship? I have a lot of things in sight for the next chapter, so stayed tuned!

On a different note, BRITTANA ARE GIRLFRIENDS ! Have you read about the spoilers? I'm very excited for 3x07, and I can't wait to see how everything will happen... As I said, I really hope her parents will reject her, even if it would be sad. I think it's really necessary to see the other side of the young people coming out to their parents, but we'll see what happens.