Skipping A Beat
Chapter 10: Mixed Emotions
Isabella
Monday morning came too slow for Isabella. She had seen Santana disappear the night before, right after she got a text from one Quinn Fabray. She had her suspicions that she wasn't the only one that was contacted in that moment. Why else would her twin drive off with a happy glint in her eye?
Isabella spent the night waiting for her only sister, but when the clock struck midnight she realized she wasn't going to come home that night. She laid in bed for hours, not falling asleep once. When her alarm started blaring at 6:30, she slammed the button and jumped up in a flash.
Isabella was in the kitchen getting all her school stuff together half an hour later when her twin walked in. Santana breezed by her and went to the cooler and pulled out a blood bag like nothing was going on. She knew the girl was pretending to be oblivious to the tension radiating off of her.
"Where were you all night?" Isabella finally asked.
Santana sucked her bag dry before replying, "Out."
"Out where? With who?"
"Why so curious all of a sudden, sister?" Santana smirked. "You've never cared about my whereabouts and the company I keep before."
"Were you with Quinn?"
"Can we have this conversation later? We are going to be late for school."
"We?" Isabella demanded.
She knew in her heart that her twin had been with the blonde last night, and she also knew what she was implying.
"Yep. I've decided to get myself an education," Santana said.
Isabella didn't say anything, she grabbed her bag and stormed off to her car, leaving a smug Santana behind.
….
Isabella sat in the cafeteria waiting for first period to start. She was dreading the minute her sister would walk into the school and cause an uproar. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice when the object of her affections sat down beside her.
"Hello there, stranger," the blondes voice startled her out of her mind.
"Hey, Quinn," she smiled back softly.
Isabella turned to the girl and was reminded of her conversation with her sister earlier that morning. Her lips curved down and she avoided the other girls eyes.
"Isabella," Quinn prodded. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Isabella smiled. "Can I walk you to class, Miss Fabray?"
Quinn's eyes shined as she stood up, taking the arm that was offered to her. They walked in silence to their first period room, both stopping abruptly as they noticed who was present.
Santana
After Santana entered the school, she held her head high as she turned heads. She found the main office and used her compulsion to get access to both her sister's and Quinn's schedules. She put herself in all of Quinn's core classes, but passed up on some of her electives. She decided it would look weird if she was in all of the girls classes, so she put herself in her sisters classes that didn't conflict with the blondes. She noted with mixed emotion that her first period class was shared with both the girls, but was pleased that the two girls only had that one period together.
Santana explored the halls, finding each of their lockers and memorizing all the combinations. She looked at her phone and realized that class started in 10 minutes. She wandered through the school until she found the right room, smiling to herself when she saw the familiar blonde in the corner. The girl noticed her and her face blossomed into a smile as well.
"You kept your promise!" Brittany squealed, running up to give her new Latina friend a hug.
Normally Santana would be really uncomfortable and angry that somebody would dare touch her without her permission, but she found herself unable to be genuinely upset with the girl.
"Hey Brit," she responded, squeezing her arm and stepping out of the hug.
"I knew you would keep your word! Here you can have the seat behind Quinn! You'll have to sit next to the other new girl but she doesn't say much."
Santana chuckled, realizing her tall friend hadn't connected that the two new girls were related. She sat in her delegated seat, not minding that Brittany sat on top of her desk as she went on and on about her cat. She was only half listening, she was keeping one ear out to catch any sign of Quinn or Isabella drawing near. It took little over two minutes for just that to happen.
She heard them speaking of a history assignment just moments before they entered the room, their arms linked with matching smiles. Santana clenched her teeth, not liking the intimacy one bit. She pretended not to notice them enter, instead sliding her hands on Brittany's leg and rubbing her thumb in small circles right at the hem of the blondes Cheerios skirt.
She listened closely for the moment when the girls would notice her, and she was not disappointed when it happened just seconds later. She heard Quinn's near-silent growl, and Isabella's jaw snapping shut.
Santana decided to keep her eyes glued to the blonde sitting just inches from her. She continued to drag her nails along Brittanys thigh, letting the girl capture her fingers and lace their hands together.
"Hey Brit. Santana," a sharp voice came from next to her.
Santana looked up and couldn't control herself as her eyes trailed from the girls toned calves and thighs, up her flat stomach, over her fair-sized breasts, her prominent collarbones, her pink lips, and finally to her green eyes, which somehow looked darker today than yesterday. It took Santana a second to realize she should reply.
"Hey Quinn! Have you met Santana? She's super sweet, she helped me with Lord Tubbington when he escaped before!" Brittany chirped.
"Oh yeah? And when was this, Brit?" Quinn's voice held a dangerous tone.
"Friday! Right San?"
"Uh, right Britt."
"So San, you didn't tell me you've met Brittany here," Quinn's voice couldn't possibly get any lower.
"Didn't think I had to run everybody I met through you first," Santana was getting annoyed.
"Well since she is my best friend."
"Class, take your seats," the teachers voice came from nowhere. Quinn reluctantly sat down in front of her, and Brittany and Isabella took their seats to her right. "We have another new student joining us today, Santana Lopez please stand."
Everybody looked to the girl expectantly, but they were about to be let down.
"I'll stay sitting," Santana responded in a bored tone.
"Santanita," Isabella hissed from beside her.
She gave her twin a careless look and finally stood reluctantly, giving everybody a quick flip of her wrist in greeting. She sat back down and tuned the man out, instead letting her attention fall to the girl in front of her. Quinn held herself in a way that Santana appreciated, she never seemed to slouch, her posture never dropping to anything less than perfect. Her hair was pulled up into a perfect ponytail, with no stray strands poking out. The girl was perfect in general.
Quinn turned around to look at her all of a sudden, startling Santana into dropping her gaze. She flicked a neatly folded paper to her and turned back around as though nothing happened. Santana opened the note, reading the girls perfect loopy handwriting:
Meet me in the second floor bathroom after this period we need to talk - Q
She quickly took a pen out and wrote back a response in her sloppy scrawl:
Anything for you, Princess - S
She leaned forward and placed it on the girls cheerleading skirt before dropping back to her seat and letting her mind wander for the rest of the class. When the bell rang, Quinn packed her things quickly and fast-walked out the door, leaving the 3 girls behind. Santana followed suit, choosing not to talk to Isabella or Brittany in case she lost her chance with her favorite blonde.
Santana grabbed an awkward looking girl and pulled her aside, demanding where the alleged bathroom Quinn wanted to meet at was located. The girl began ranting about how rude the Latina was before Santana gave her a look and finally got the answer from her.
She made her way to Quinn, finally entering the secluded bathroom. Quinn was looking at herself in the mirror and reapplying her lipgloss, it was so innocently seductive that she had to lean against the door to stop herself from throwing herself at the girl. Green eyes flicked to hers in the mirror before she slid the lid back on the tube and turned to the Latina. Quinn stepped forward and reached her hand out toward the brunette slowly. Santana's breath caught in her lungs as she anticipated every move the blonde could possibly make. She wasn't too disappointed when the girls hand slid past her body and locked the door next to her.
"So," Santana said, voice dropping an octave. "Any reason you called me into this secluded space, just the two of us, alone, with a locked door?"
Quinn rolled her eyes and turned her back on her friend, resting her back against the opposite wall of the Latina. "What was that earlier?" the girl demanded.
Santana felt anger seize her, because, honestly, shouldn't she be asking that question? "What was what, Q?"
"Don't play ignorant, Santana Lopez. I saw the way you were acting with Brittany. You were treating her like.." Quinn's voice trailed off.
"Like what?"
"Like how you should be treating me," the steel was back in her voice.
"How was the way I was treating Britt any different than the way you were treating Isabella?"
"What do you mean, San?" Quinn inquired.
"I saw you when you walked in with her. You can't have us both, and I can already tell you won't let either of us go." Santana's voice got dangerous.
"That has nothing to do with anything, you don't know what you're talking about. One day you're talking to me like I'm the most important person in the world, then the next you're ignoring me and flirting with my best friend! I can't keep up with your mood swings, Santana! Are you going to change your mind and act all sweet again tomorrow? I told you I don't play games, and you're making me your game!" Quinn hissed.
"What can I say, Pom-Poms? I don't come in second. Not to you, and not after her. Not ever," Santana replied, eyes cold as ice.
"I never said I was putting her ahead of you!"
"Then why does it feel that way?" Santana screamed in frustration.
She stormed out of the bathroom, and straight outside to her car. She was done with school today, she might try again tomorrow.
Quinn
Quinn was angry. Not just at Santana, but at herself. She felt an instant connection with two very different girls, and honestly, she probably couldn't give up one of them. They each took up residence in her heart in such a short amount of time. Almost like these feelings had been brewing inside her for centuries, and the flame was ignited the second she met each of the girls eyes. She wanted to stop thinking, she wanted to just turn it all off.
Quinn entered the halls and immediately saw Isabella with her head ducked into her locker. She just realized that the twin hadn't said a word during her whole exchange with Santana. Guilt erupted in Quinn's chest but she pushed it out, deciding to just go along with whatever her heart told her in that moment.
She walked straight up to Isabella and slammed the girls locker shut. Brown eyes looked up at her with surprise, which quickly turned to curiosity.
"What's wrong, Quinn?"
"Nothing," she breathed.
The blonde stared at her lips intently, then looked up into her eyes, silently asking her.
"Make a move," Quinn dared.
"Am I allowed?" the Latina inquired.
"Absolutely."
Isabella bit her lip gently before releasing it from her teeth and dragging her eyes down to the blondes lips. She leaned forward, waiting for the brunette to do it, meet her halfway. She closed her eyes, her heart picking up speed as she felt breath tickle her face before she felt Isabellas mouth press against hers so softly. Quinn might have doubted it even happened if she couldn't feel that her lipgloss wasn't perfect anymore.
When she opened her eyes again, the girl was gone.
Both twins had left her confused and hurt in a matter of minutes.
Authors Note: I know it's slow, but we're about to get to the big reveal. I like a build up. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'm sure I'll be able to get another cranked out this weekend. I accept any ideas, criticism, or support. It's definitely appreciated. Thanks for reading!
XOXO, Elisabeth