A/N:

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Still don't own glee or its characters

Brittany and Santana were in the locker room getting ready to start their day. Everyone hated early Monday morning Cheerios practices.

"So Artie wasn't mad or anything?" Brittany asked.

"No, he was cool about it." Santana explained. "Artie is different than other guys. I just think it would mean a lot to him if we waited a bit…even if I sound like a prude."

"I think that's nice that the two of you will wait till you're ready." Quinn added as she approached them from behind. Santana rolled her eyes before turning to face Quinn.

"This doesn't leave the locker room, Quinn." Santana warned. "I'm keeping things with Artie private."

"I'm not going to tell anyone." Quinn defended. "I was being honest. I think it is smart of you to wait." Quinn had a point but Santana didn't want to admit that Quinn was right.

"Let's go before Sue gets angry." Brittany interrupted while trying to stop her two friends from getting into a fight.

"Fine." Santana shut her locker first and was about to leave.

"Santana, they still didn't fix your broken locker. It won't stay shut." Brittany added as she reopened Santana's locker. "Just put your things in mine." Brittany began to move Santana's things.

After practice, all the Cheerios were changing to begin classes. Those two Cheerios, Six and Seven, that Santana hates were snickering about something among themselves. They stopped once they saw Santana and plastered on two fake smiles.

"Awesome party on Friday, right?" Six said.

"Too bad you had to leave so early." Seven added. "How was the movie?" She asked, fully knowing that Santana didn't make it to the movie.

"I heard Puck and Tina had a rough night. I knew you were up to something to break them up." Six smiled. "Classic Santana." The whole team giggled except for Brittany and Quinn. They knew better.

Santana shoved both girls against the lockers causing complete silence in the locker room. "If you two bitches ever decide to get involved with me and Artie, I promise I will ruin your life in this school."

"Calm down, San." Brittany said while moving closer to Santana.

"I'm pretty sure that these two were behind that text message I supposedly sent to Artie from my phone since they were the last ones in here before practice on Friday. They are the same two bitches…" Santana pushed them again against the lockers, "who have been spreading lies about me trying to get between Puck and Tina."

"Oh please," Six moved out of the way, trying to stand up for herself. "You are way too righteous, Santana. The whole school knows how you really are. We know that you had something to do with Puck and Tina breaking up."

"She slept with him or something…" Seven smirked. "Since you've been hooking up with Wheels, your holier-than-thou attitude is exhausting and completely transparent. No one in this school buys it. We know that underneath it all, you're the same old bitch that gets whatever she wants…"

Santana didn't say anything. She was able to shove one girl. Brittany and Quinn quickly held Santana back as she began swinging at both of the girls and yelling various profanities.

"You girls better leave. Now!" Quinn ordered over Santana's screams. The girls rushed out of the locker room while Santana was trying to get free from Brittany's freakishly strong grasp.

"Calm down." Brittany ordered. "I don't like violence." She loosened her grasp.

"They totally deserve more than me shoving them into lockers." Santana vented angrily.

"That's probably right, but it's not smart." Quinn added.

"I don't get it. They went through your locker without you knowing?" Brittany asked. "You cell phone was in there?"

"Yes!" Santana took a deep breath. "I didn't know my locker was broken until you told me about it."

"Forget it, Santana." Quinn tried to reason. "They learned their lesson and everything is good with you and Artie now. There is no need to take things further."

"I agree with Quinn." Brittany spoke up. "Everyone saw what happened and they won't be getting involved. Just let it go."

"Whatever," Santana said as she grabbed her bag and stormed out. She was frustrated that Quinn and Brittany didn't understand where she was coming from. She left the locker room and was going to find Artie. The bell rang and didn't leave her much time to look for him since she had to go to class.

After her first class, Principal Figgins called Santana into his office to discuss her behavior and how she bullied the two Cheerios earlier in the morning. Sue Sylvester was there and was less than pleased by the behavior of her head Cheerio.

"I have a no-violence policy at this school." Principal Figgins began.

"This is an isolated incident," Sue quickly added.

"Please tell me what those girls told you? I can assure you they are lying." Santana argued confidently.

"I sent them home for the day."

"Call them back." Santana demanded.

"Your teammates confirmed their story." He replied. "You will finish the rest of your day and your 3-day suspension begins tomorrow. You will report back to class on Friday."

"That's such crap!" Santana protested.

"You will watch your language in this school. You should be lucky you are not expelled."

"Coach Sylvester, are you hearing this?" Santana turned to her unusually quiet coach.

"I'm beyond disappointed with your behavior, Santana. This has the work of William Schuester written all over it. What would drive my head Cheerio to act so foolishly?"

"You don't understand what those girls did…"

"I don't want to hear it!" Sue interrupted. "You should know better. Just finish your day today and I don't want to see you until Friday." She lashed out at Santana.

Santana spent most of her second period class arguing with Principal Figgins and Sue Sylvester. She tried to explain to them what happened but it didn't achieve much. Figgins kept stating that there is never an excuse for violence.

"There is nothing more to discuss." He added after having heard enough. "I have other students and issues I need to focus on."

Santana got out of her seat and gathered her things. "Do you really? It seems that you pick and choose your battles, Principal."

"Miss Lopez, I expect you to be on your best behavior today…" he continued while trying to let what she said slide.

"Oh please!" She interrupted quite rudely. "The glee club gets bullied and slushied daily and you turn a blind eye. That's hardly fair and you know it."

"I have never seen…" He began.

"That's because you and the rest of the teachers are in the faculty lunch room, completely ignorant to your students. You didn't see me push those girls, but I'm still suspended." She raised her voice.

"Watch your tone, Miss Lopez!" he demanded in a louder voice.

"Just once, leave your lunch room 5 minutes early and I guarantee you'll see at least one glee club member get a slushy to the face. The reason the jocks do it is because this school has become a joke. They know you won't do anything." Santana really needed to work on her temper and keeping her mouth shut.

"You are excused, Miss Lopez." He stated calmly. "Sue, I'd like a word with you."

Sue nodded and told Santana to wait in her office. Santana knew what that meant. Even though Principal Figgins already punished her, Sue had to also enforce her own disciplinary action. Santana was more afraid of her coach than her principal. A few minutes later, Sue walked into her office and shut the door behind her. She took her seat and arranged some stuff on her desk.

"What did…" Santana began.

"Shut up." Sue demanded and Santana obliged. "He wants me to kick you off the Cheerios."

"What?" Santana was shocked. "Are you going to?"

"I convinced him that my team usually acts like a team and that you are just having a bad day. I told him that a 3-day suspension is an acceptable punishment."

"Ok good…" Santana smiled.

"He wasn't happy. Thanks to your uncalled for tirade about you glee club kids getting bullied, he thinks you need further disciplinary action. I have no choice but to remove you as head captain. Quinn will…"

"That's so unfair..." Santana shot back.

"Santana." Sue interrupted her. "If I was in your position, I would seriously, and I mean seriously, consider your next choice of words because the one thing you need to know about my team is that everyone can be replaced…including you. So now, you will shut up and get out of my office." She demanded.

Santana didn't say anything. She simply got out of her seat and left Sue's office. She didn't really feel like seeing anyone during her lunch break or for the rest of the day for that matter. She snuck off into the glee club's choir room to clear her head. She never imagine she'd be the type to eat lunch alone. She considered taking the rest of the day off, but ruled that out as a bad idea. She knew that all the teachers were watching her today.

After lunch, she sucked it up and finished the rest of her day without a complaint. The highlight of her day was that she had glee club practice and she could at least end her day on a positive note.

Mercedes and Kurt cheered and applauded as Santana walked into the classroom.

"What's that for?" Santana smiled.

"Rachel and Kurt got slushied today." Mercedes smiled.

"So we're applauding that now?" Santana asked with a confused look on her face.

"No, but Figgins saw Karofsky and Azimio do it this time. They're suspended!" Kurt couldn't help but smile.

"The whole school is practically talking about you lashing out at Figgins in his office." Mercedes added.

"Don't get too excited," Mr. Schuester interrupted as he joined everyone. "Santana is also suspended for the rest of the week."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Artie whispered to her as she a seat next to him.

"Not my finest moment." Santana mumbled as she stared Quinn up and down as she practically skipped into the room. Brittany followed Quinn with a sympathetic smile. Santana assumed that both girls knew that Quinn is now the new head Cheerio.

"I'm confused." Mercedes added. "Why are you suspended?"

"Rocky over there beat up two Cheerios." Puck scoffed.

"Shut up, Puck." Santana shot back. "I didn't beat them up."

"She just threatened them…and pushed them a couple of times." Quinn interjected. Santana rolled her eyes, but decided not to say anything else to Quinn. She was in enough trouble as it is.

"That's enough." Mr. Schuester ordered. "I really expect all of you to be on your best behavior in school. We're a team and if one of us is missing, then the whole team suffers."

"I'll be back Friday…that's like 2 practices." Santana countered.

"Sectionals are coming up…" Mr. Schue began.

"And it's so selfish to get suspended." Rachel interrupted. "We need everyone here to practice. How can we do that if you're suspended?" Rachel continued with her little rant.

"Brittany and I will keep Santana up to date." Artie stated calmly.

"Getting in a fight with some Cheerios is not worth us losing sectionals." Rachel stressed.

"We're not going to lose." Finn spoke up. "Santana will just have to work harder when she gets back."

"I agree." Mr. Schuester chimed in. "But since we're talking about sectionals, we will need to…" He drifted off and Santana pretended she was paying attention.

The rest of practice went by smoothly. It was one of their lighter practices- mostly just singing and not a lot of dancing. Afterwards, Santana was walking out of school with Artie.

"So do you want to hang out tonight?" Artie asked.

"I would love to but my mom sent me a text telling me to go straight home."

"She found out about your suspension?"

"She expects me to stay in my room and study all night." She shrugged.

"Why did you do it? Brittany and Quinn filled me in about how you pushed those girls…you should've let it go." Artie reasoned.

Santana exhaled a deep breath and took a seat on a bench. Artie stopped and turned so that he is facing her. "I'm sorry, but I'm just protective…"

"You don't need to protect me." Artie quickly argued back, slightly irritated.

"I was protecting myself." Santana began. "I like what we have and I just don't want my history to ruin things for us."

"I know the real you and you know the real me. Nothing is going to get ruined." He reassured her.

Santana let out a little smile. She didn't feel like dwelling on the issue. "I guess I keep forgetting that."

"We're going to be ok." He added confidently before giving her a kiss.

"Thank you." She whispered as she pulled away. The two of them talked for a short while before Santana had to go home.

Even though she was having a bad day, she loves Artie for always making her feel better. And she loves Artie for being honest with her. Basically, she loves Artie for being Artie.

Actually, Santana loves Artie. Period.

A/N:

So…what did you think? Hope you liked the developments for Artie and Santana! I have the next few chapters mapped out, so I hope I'll be able to get them written and posted soon. Also, I just want to say thanks to my readers for the alerts/reviews…it means the world to me. Have a safe and great holiday season! Remember to review…

R&R, P&TY!