"Yeah but Quinn's a badass now. I mean a wannabe but still, it's charming right?" I questioned. Quinn nudged me under the table and I gave her a knowing glare. She wanted in Brittany's pants I was just helping the other blonde see the light.

"I think Quinn looks rockin with her new hair cut." Brittany said with a grin.

"Thanks Britt." Quinn said as she reached for her fourth cookie tonight. I smacked the cookie out of her hand and Quinn looked at me like I was crazy. "The fuck Lopez? Or should I say Hoe-pez."

"What's the supposed to mean?" Rachel said defensively.

"Nothing Rach, Quinnie over there is just bitchy. Even though I was clearly trying to help her refrain from weighing down the cheerleading pyramid." It had become so natural for me to rip on Quinn. It was a payoff really because she gladly returned the favor. "What's with that anyway? Why a pyramid? Cheerleading gods have a thing for triangles?"

"Anyone ever tell you that you're an idiot?" Quinn questioned. We'd been in Rachel's bedroom for about an hour now. We were all comfortably relaxing on Rachel's bed, and although I knew Rachel minded having Quinn there, she didn't do much complaining. I'll bet if she just knew the reason why then she wouldn't be so irritated.

"Actually Santana is quite intelligent-."

"Relax dwarf, just a joke." The room suddenly felt so small that I immediately wanted to run, but of course I didn't. Quinn and I were tight, but no one spoke to Rachel like that.

"What'd you say?" I questioned starting to stand up.

"Santana, calm down, it was just a joke. A stupid one at that." Rachel defended for Quinn. "Sit back down, please." I did what she said, mostly because Rachel sounded so calm that I couldn't be that upset. "Does anyone want ice cream?" Rachel questioned.

"Oh I do!" Brittany exclaimed.

"Alright Britt, let me get you some." Rachel offered standing up. I watched her walk down out the room, thoroughly debating the entire time if I should follow her or not.

"Sorry…jeez I didn't think things were about to get all personal with her." Quinn said genuinely apologetic.

"Rachy is really sensitive, I think it's cute." Brittany said.

"Yeah well you're cute too Britt." Quinn said shyly. I winked at Quinn when Brittany wasn't looking, and Quinn blushed even more.

"Let me help Rach with the stuff, I'll be back." I said sensing that now would be the perfect time for Quinn to make a move. I stood up and walked downstairs. I caught Rachel mid-scoop of ice cream and she looked up at me for a moment before returning to her task.

"Hey, need any help?" I asked walking over closer to her.

"No." She responded quietly.

"Look, are you gonna let this go or not? I'm sorry about letting them both into your house…but it's not that bad. That's the whole point of getting close with people; you can now see a new side of them." I said trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah and I'm certainly seeing a new side of you." Rachel said as she grabbed the bowls and brushed past me about to walk up the stairs. I reached out and grabbed her bicep holding her in place. "Let me go."

"No." I said taking the ice cream out of her hands. I placed the bowls on the counter and grabbed Rachel's hand and practically dragging her out to the garage.

"What are we doing out here?" She questioned.

"Hit me." I commanded her.

"What? Have you lost your mind?" Rachel shouted.

"Look you're so pissed at me, it'd just make you feel better. It won't hurt-."

"Santana, shut up, I'm not going to hit you." Rachel said. She sighed and turned away from me for a second. "Look, I overreacted before, let's just go back inside and hang around. I don't mind."

"Really, you don't?"

"Yes, it'll be fun."

…...

"Santana, can I talk to you for a moment?" It was the third time this week that Ms. Corcoran made me stay back in class. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, them looking over their shoulder just to see if I was going to get in trouble. They wanted me to be in trouble. Every since I started hanging around Quinn more, people had been hoping that I'd lose my popularity. I could see it in their eyes.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked right away. I knew that my grades were fine, actually they were perfect, which could only mean that she wanted to talk about Rachel.

"No of course not. I just wanted to ask to you if you'd talk to her about…well…the whole idea of a mother. Have you brought it up?" I didn't want to lie to her, but I didn't want to hurt her either.

"Rachel and I haven't really…she's upset with me to be honest-."

"Why?" Ms. Corcoran asked astonished.

"Long story." I said looking out the window. "Not really your concern."

"Like hell it's not." My eyes shot up and connected with hers. Didn't she understand that this was more than unprofessional? She had another class in 15 minutes until her next class, until there would be another student in my place raising their hand and asking for a translation on what Shakespeare meant by those words.

"Don't talk to me like that." I warned her. It was stupid of me to get so worked up over this but I couldn't help it.

"Like what?" She snapped. As she was saying it I knew I was about to lose control. Luckily she was safe behind her desk, luckily she was so far away, that when I flipped the student's desk over and it crashed into the ground all she had to do was flinch.

The thing that scared me the most was that my anger had been growing since I'd been in Ohio. I'd become more open with Quinn, Sam, and Rachel, but I'd been trying to force the door to close on a whole part on my life. That door was never going to close.

"Santana I think you should go and calm down." I couldn't even look her in the eyes, I just walked over to the book shelf and slid my body down until I was sitting. I wanted to cry but I didn't, I could still feel the anger rising up inside me.

"I am calm." I told her although I knew I could never be sure of that.

"What just happened Santana? Why are you so upset?"

"It's nothing." She wasn't convinced and even though I could tell she was nervous right now, she still walked around her desk just to sit on the ground next to me.

"Bullshit." I smirked because she had guts just to be swearing in front of me.

"Just then…earlier I mean, you sorta sounded like…you sounded like my mom." I stood up because it didn't feel right being so close to Ms. Corcoran. "Which is stupid right? You're Rachel's mom."

"Your problem is you don't talk about your mother enough. You're holding up all this pain inside-."

"Don't try that with me. Don't try and tell me how to feel about this. This is my shit, it's my life." The tears had already begun welling up, there was no stopping them, but I could turn away just so she wouldn't have to see this. "And I know holding it all in is fucked up, but when I let it out…" I glanced over at the desk on the floor, tipped over on its side.

"Is that the reason you and Rachel are at odds?" Ms. Corcoran questioned.

"No I wouldn't…I don't get this angry around Rach." I informed her.

"So then what is it? Why aren't you guys talking? You're neighbors and friends-."

"Look, I don't feel comfortable with this. I know you're her mom and everything, but it just feel like I'm giving away her private information. This isn't stuff you should be learning from me, it's stuff she should be telling you." I wiped my eyes clear of tears but my whole face still felt warm and wet.

"I shouldn't have put you in the middle of this-."

"Yeah but you did…and this is where I am now. Don't worry about it Ms. Corcoran, I care about Rachel enough to care about this."

I took off my helmet and parked my motorcycle in my driveway. It wasn't until the light came on from my porch that I noticed Rachel sitting there, wearing a jacket and her clothes from her dance class.

I, as usual, was only wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I placed my helmet in the seat of my motorcycle and got off. I didn't say anything to Rachel, but I was surprised that she was here. Since the day Quinn and Brittany had come over, Rachel and I hadn't spoken, and that was three weeks ago.

"Long time no see." I said sitting down next to her.

"Well I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Rachel said earnestly. I cocked my head to the side slightly and blinked twice.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be okay?" I asked.

"Because I saw you come out of Ms. Corcoran's room with tears in your eyes. What happened?" Rachel questioned attempting to grasp my hand. I moved it away because I didn't want to feel her touch, not when I had to lie to her right now.

"I got a bad grade-."

"Liar. I know you didn't, because even if you were to get a 97 or a 98 percent, it would never be in English. Did she say something to hurt you? I can have my father's call up and get her fired." I shook my head no.

"No, god no she's the only teacher I like." I explained to her. I turned towards my door when I heard the clanking of glass. What was supposed to be a few days, turned into weeks of having Zander at my house. This night, like every night, they'd drinking for hours and watch sports on the big screen. "Dammit."

"Have you been sleeping?" Rachel asked with concern lacing her voice.

"Not a wink." I said half-smiling. "It's not important, I mean he can't move in, right?"

"You know what this is right?"

"No."

"Your dad must be missing your brother. He clearly is enjoying having a man around." Rachel explained.

"What am I not man enough?" I joked.

"Funny." Rachel deadpanned. "Now come on, you can stay at my house tonight to get some sleep."

"Rach, we haven't spoken for three weeks and you want me to sleep over? Come on that's-."

"I miss you." Our eyes locked briefly before she looked down again. "And please don't make me say anymore because if I do my heart's going to burst into a million pieces, and I can't handle that, not with you here. So just…I missed you and I want you with me at my house, so come on."

"Okay…alright."