Chapter 5: Protecting Tiny
A/N: Thanks for the review and more follows! I decided to type some more chapters here at school and then do a duo on Sunday. Hope you enjoy the story. (Bold: Brittany, Italicized: Santana, Bold and Italicized: Both)
Rachel's POV:
"M-My secret?" I fumbled over my words as Quinn stood to her feet, grabbing her supplies as well for her next class.
"Mhm. Better hurry though. The offer will end in about ten seconds. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock." Her smile seemed almost feral to me. I thought it over and shook my head. I decided that getting a B in Calculus would be worth it rather than having to admit to Quinn about my feelings. Her mouth made a perfect 'O'.
"No thank you, Quinn. I should really get going now. I don't want to be late for Physics." I said, putting on my best and loveliest show smile. I turned to walk away, but she tugged me back.
"I will find out. Nothing stays quiet in this school for too long." Quinn threatens me and I briefly get shaken up.
"You can try as much as you want, but Santana wouldn't betray me like that. She's my friend." I murmured quietly since the next class was already coming in and I didn't want to make a scene. I left the classroom with a dumbfounded Quinn staring after me. As soon as I stepped out of the door, a tan arm hooks around my left arm, and a toned, pale arm around my right. I already know that it's Santana and Brittany as they are one of the few Cheerios that stay together throughout the day. "Hello Santana, Brittany." I greeted them pleasantly.
"Hey Tiny." Santana smiled and gestured to carry my books. I shook my head, but she grabbed them anyways.
"Santana Maria Lopez! I told you no!" I hissed. She smirked while Brittany gained my attention.
"So where is your beard?" She asked me, positively confused. What? Beard?
"My beard? What are you talking about?" I inquired.
"People are always calling you a dwarf! I looked it up and they are really short, which you are, and they have really long beards. I totes think that you'd look cute with one anyways." Brittany giggled and I just looked from Santana, who just shrugged, to Brittany who was beaming.
"I'm not actually a dwarf, Brittany. People call me that because I'm short and they like to be mean." I explained. Brittany merely frowned as we strolled down the school corridor.
"But...that's not nice." She looked at me with a pout and my smile was gone as well.
"It's not, but I cope." I give her a half-hearted smile and we arrive at my class. I looked at Santana confused. "How did you know I had Physics?"
"I overheard you telling Quinn that. By the way, don't worry about her. I'll straighten that out, okay?" She requested and my eyebrows knitted in confusion.
"Okay...Well, thank you for walking me to class, girls, but you both really don't have to do that." I replied. Santana shook her head as she linked pinkies with Brittany. Hmm, they must have made up. I can't believe that I had forgotten, I pondered to myself. Santana's voice brought me out of my thoughts.
"I told you, Rae. I've got to make it up to you. You're now under the Cheerios protection." She proclaims and I sigh.
"You guys should get to class." I mutter.
"But Sanny! You said that you'd take me into the closet and give me sweet lady kisses." Brittany whined. I smirked and raised an eyebrow at Santana. She had the decency to blush, then she shushed her girl.
"B, what did I tell you about telling other people about our lady kisses?" Santana groaned. I snickered as Brittany mouth drooped into a pout for what seemed the one hundredth time today.
"But Rachie's our friend!" Brittany protested. Santana's lips faltered and she huffed.
"Fine. But don't talk so loud, okay?" Brittany nodded and held Santana in a vice grip. I smirked at Santana and I continued my way into my class. Half-way through the period, my stomach started feeling queasy. My head felt like it was burning. I looked through my bag for the familiar orange bottle, only to stop and remember that I left my anti-depressants at home. I waited for the class to end, but I kept looking around, and my hands trembled so much that I couldn't keep still. When the bell rung, I ran out of the room, leaving behind two confused looking Cheerios waiting outside the door. I rushed out to the parking lot and stopped suddenly when I saw the hood of my car spray-painted in red, saying "FREAK". I sighed and climbed into my car, the tires of my car squealing as I sped out of the parking lot. I drove home as fast as I could, nearly crashing into another car a red light. I can't remember the last time that I was this reckless.
I pulled into my driveway and rushed to the door, fumbling with my keys. I opened the door and searched for my pills in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. I finally found mine and I shakily shake out enough pills to make up from missing them this morning. I sit down on the toilet and practice my breathing exercises that my doctor prescribed to me. I check my watch and discover that a few hours have passed and school is almost over. I take a normal pace to my car, locking my door behind me, and I drive the speed limit to school. If I don't make it to my last class on time, at least there's glee, I thought to myself.
XXX
Santana's POV:
After Brittany and I spent time in the janitorial closet, we walked to Berry's classroom and waited outside. When the bell rung, I saw a blur of brown hair brush past me. I frowned and check the room for the familiar short girl, but my suspicions were correct in that she was the blob the ran out of the room. I considered going after her, but Brittany held me back.
"Rachel forgot something important. It wouldn't be useful to her if we went after her." Brittany convinces me and I nod regretfully, still wanting to go after her. "Do you want to do a song for glee today?" She asks. I mull it over and shrug.
"Do you want to?" I inquired.
"Kind of." Brittany murmured sheepishly and hid her face into my neck. I smiled at this.
"Hmm, okay. What song do you want to do?" I asked as I held her hand down the hall. No point in skipping another class if we can't walk Rachel to her class.
"Honey Honey by Abba!" She practically yelled and I looked around, trying to quell her excitement.
"Okay, Little B. Teach me the song at class." I smiled since she seemed so happy and also since we shared Spanish together this period.
Brittany taught me the words for the song and flickers of emotion appeared on my face, but she didn't notice. She's singing this for me? I wondered. It made me almost jumped out of my seat. She always sings things for me, but not much in front of other people. I suppose that's my fault, though. I always to keep our relationship a secret, but I guess we'll need to come out sometime. Brittany grabbed my hand under the table and looked at me with a knowing smile. I fought to hide mine.
After the bell rung, we headed to fourth period. I said my goodbyes to Brittany and accidentally bumped into Quinn. She stood tall, almost making me cower, but to be honest, I'm not that intimidated by her anymore. "Hey, watch where you're going Tubbers." I huffed.
"Ah yes. Satan, I was wanting to talk to you." She smiled. I rolled my eyes. How original.
"What do you want, Baby Bump?" I asked lowly, almost growling. She laughed and shoved my shoulder.
"Oh, like you don't know! What was Manhands talking to you about?" She dropped the friendly act and grew serious.
"None of your business. Why are you obsessed with the Midget anyways? You don't have a taste for Berry's berries do you?" I teased. Quinn squared her jaw and glared at me. Apparently I pushed a button. Interesting.
"Shut your goddamn mouth. If you ever accuse me of actually feeling anything for that tranny, you'll wish that you would have watched your mouth closer." She insisted. I just shrugged in response.
"Then lay off it, Quinn. She just told me some stuff, and it wouldn't be cool if I talked about it. I'm not a cold ice bitch like you."
Quinn actually entertained me when she took offense to that. She swallowed and cleared her throat. "You know, I wouldn't be saying that your captain." I gaped at her just as Coach Sue appeared behind her.
"Is there a problem here? I don't want my co-captains getting sent to Figgin's so soon." She barked. Quinn looked at her in shock.
"Co-captains?! You told me that I was captain!" Quinn whined.
Sue rolled her eyes. "Save your drama for the losers, Big Mama. Sandbags here did a great job leading my girls to Nationals last year whereas you were fraternizing your ladybits to Mohawk." Quinn was about to interrupt her when Sue held up her hand. "No more griping, Q. I'll make you both run laps until you both won't be able to run after Streisand ." And with that confusing end, the coach disappeared. Quinn turned her eyes back to me with a slight tilt of her head, puzzled just as much as I was. I looked around and the halls were cleared.
"Fuck. See what you've done? I'm late for the umpteenth time now." I sighed and easily brushed past Quinn.
"Watch your back, S. You don't want to make enemies at McKinley." Quinn warned and I shrugged.
"It won't matter. I have friends who watch my back for me." I laughed and I virtually pranced to class.
XXX
Quinn's POV:
I had just came in from spray painting Manhand's car and I was trying to get the paint out from under my nails when I ran into Satan herself. I didn't mean to, but it seemed like an opportune time that bit me in the ass. Santana just made one of the biggest mistakes by betraying me. Sure, I told the coach about her boob job last year in order to become captain, but why would she hold that grudge against me? I arrived to my AP Literature class and noticed that the dwarf didn't make it. I scanned the room again, and I still didn't spot her. I sat down in my chair and began to take notes.
"Late, Ms. Fabray?" Mrs. Tillford asked me. I shrugged and put on my charm.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I was running errands for Coach Sylvester." I lie. She seems to accept that as the truth since I don't see her mark me as tardy. I smirked at that notion and continue to write down the notes, but my mind was elsewhere. Why wasn't Stubbles here? Am I actually starting to obsess over her? No. She just needs to put in her place. I just don't like mutiny in my school. Especially from Berry. Always trying to act like she's better than everyone. Better than me. I'll just order the team to drown her in slushies. Well, maybe next week since Coach doesn't want me getting into trouble in the first week of school. I kept a smile on my face as the bell dismissed us from class. One more class and then glee. I was actually looking forward to it, but the troll would probably be there.
XXX
Rachel's POV:
I made it to school just as the bell rung for the end of school. I had forgotten to wash off the paint, but I figured that it didn't matter since it would be easily replaced with something worse. I grabbed my bag and strolled into school despite the mob that ran out of it. I entered the choir room as soon as Santana and Brittany did. Santana rushed over to me and hugged me tightly.
"Are you okay, Rae?" She asked into my ear.
"I'm fine. I had to go home to get my meds." I whispered back. She frowned and pulled back just enough to see my face.
"You know that you need to keep taking them everyday. You'll get sick if you just stop so suddenly." She sighs.
"It wasn't really much of a choice, okay? I forgot them." I fought back in irritation, and then I saw Santana's frown. "I'm sorry. Today was awful, what with me not getting my notes for Calculus, and the writing on my car, and just everything." I admitted.
Santana's arms pulled back and her hands gripped into fists. "What did the writing on your car say?" She asked sweetly, but she was shaking, and the gleeclubbers that were already in the room were starting to watch the scene taking place. Brittany walked over and grabbed Santana's arm.
"Sanny, you're scaring everyone." She whispered. Santana seemed to be temporarily subdued as she looked at her girlfriend.
"Am I scaring you?" She questioned in a sad voice.
"No, I'm just worried. We'll deal with this later, okay?" Brittany cooed and Santana nodded, her shoulders relaxing and she looked back at me.
"I'm going to protect you, Tiny. With everything I've got." She promised and then she took her place by Brittany in the chairs. I sat down in the middle of the front row since I never really had a place to sit. I saw Brittany whispering sweet nothings into Santana's ear. I smiled because really, they were a match made in heaven. I sat my bag down beside my chair as Quinn, Noah, and Finn spilled into the room, the only members that hadn't shown up yet. They took their place on the right of me, but not too close. I turned my attention to Mr. Schuester who was writing something on the whiteboard.
"Okay, guys. I know last year didn't pan out so well, but this year, we're going to take home the gold!" He smiles. "So for this week's assignment, we're doing duets. But no recent songs, like last year, or the year before. Early 2000's and back is the limit." I could hear some groaning, but I shrugged. Singing was an art, and it deserves to have different categories to make different aspects of beauty.
Mr. Schue's brought me out of my thoughts. "Okay, so to make it fair, you guys will be drawing a name out of a hat." Even more groaning ensued. He called us up to pick a piece of paper. "Alright, so Mike and Tina, Finn and Puck, Quinn and Kurt, Mercedes and Sam, Brittany and Artie, then finally Rachel and Santana!" I smiled at Santana and she walked over to me.
"Knew I'd get matched up with you." She spoke into my ear quietly and I blushed for some unknown reason.
"Couldn't ask for a better partner." I beamed at her until I caught Quinn staring at us in suspicion. I smiled at her as we all took our seats.
"Mr. Schue! Me and Santana want to sing a song." Brittany spoke up and Mr. Schuester gladly allowed it.
Honey honey, how you thrill me, ah-hah, honey honey. Honey honey, nearly kill me, ah-hah, honey honey. Brittany danced around Santana, smiling. I'd heard about you before
I wanted to know some more, and now I know what they mean, you're a love machine!
Oh, you make me dizzy, Santana sang, flowing across the floor with Brittany, while I sat back in my seat, smiling at my friends.
Honey honey, let me feel it, ah-hah, honey honey. Honey honey, don't conceal it, ah-hah, honey honey. The way that you kiss goodnight. (The way that you kiss me goodnight)The way that you hold me tight (The way that you're holding me tight) I feel like I wanna sing when you do your thing.
They sang for what seemed like forever, but in the best way. Everyone was smiling and singing, even Quinn was swaying and grinning. I made my way over to Tina and Mike who openly invited me to dance with them. It made me smile and dance the way I do whenever I see Quinn smile, which only made happier seeing that she's happy right now. The song ended and we all return to our seats. I glanced at Santana and Brittany who were beaming at me. Mr. Schue talked for a bit more and dismissed us. Santana walked me out to my car since she had to be heading to Cheerios practice soon anyways. She saw my car and the anger replaced her smile again. I tried to hide it by laying on the hood, but Santana's nickname held some truth. I really was tiny.
"Don't worry, I'm fine," Santana started, clenching her jaw, and then tried to focus on me, "But, are you okay?"
"I'm alright, Santana. Go before Coach gets onto you, okay?" I smiled, trying to help Santana calm down, and she did, but not much. "Please?" I pleaded.
She finally nodded. "I'll find out who did this." She says vehemently. I sighed and nod, knowing that she wouldn't quit until she did. She ran off to the field as I climbed into my car. "Girls are fucking crazy." I murmured to myself as I drove home.
XXX
Santana's POV:
"Boobs Magoo! Get up here!" Coach Sue yelled at me through her megaphone. I raced up the bleachers and met her gaze. She put her megaphone down.
"Yes, Coach?" I asked.
"Is Barbra okay?" Sue asked with an unfamiliar kind tone of voice. Apparently she shocked me out of my stupor since she waved her hand in front of my face. "Tweedle-fake Boobs, do you copy?" She yells.
She's back and I look at her, forming my words slowly. "Y-yes, ma'am. Why do you want to know?" I ask, taking on a defensive tone. "I won't slushy her or hurt her. I'd rather quit than hurt her." I swear, and it's true. I wouldn't hurt her ever again.
Coach smirks. "Good. Needed to see that kind of fire in ya. Now that that's handled, I want you to tell Quinn to do twenty-five laps."
I openly gape at her. She's never treated someone that harshly. "But why?" I question her.
"I've got this place bugged, S. I'm like a modern-day Richard Nixon." She says somewhat proudly. "I see things. Quinn decided to have a little paint job today on Midget's car." Coach finishes with a grimace on her face, angry and upset apparently. I nod and my own anger takes me over.
"Q!" Quinn looks at me with her hand over her eyes to block out the sun. "Twenty-five laps, go!" I yell. She scoffs and turns her gaze from me to Coach who only nods in favor of my order. Quinn gasps and glares at me, but takes off running anyways.
"Good work, Kim K." Sue smiles.
"Kim K.?" I ask.
"Yes, Kim Kardashian. She's fake. Like your boobs." She smirks. I roll my eyes, but I can tell she's not finished talking. "Since you're protecting Streisand now, I don't want you getting in trouble-"
"But Coach, if someone messes with her, then I gots to beat on them!" I protest.
"You didn't let me finish, Chatty Fake-Boobs. I don't want you getting in trouble, but I don't mind if you cause it don't get caught." She smiles and I grin. I glance at Quinn who's already finished with her second lap.
"I can do that." I smirk.