Monday morning Quinn found herself chirpier than usual as she woke up at 4AM to prepare for Cheerios practise. Usually, she struggles to get out of bed and stay motivated ready for Coach Sylvester's crazy cardio drills. However, today, cardio doesn't seem too bad because she's hoping she will see a certain Latina at some point.
She makes her way to school and meets Brittany at the front gate as usual. She gives her shorter friend a big hug before engaging in conversation.
"What happened to you Saturday? After Finn stormed into the house, nobody saw you again. I was worried. I was coming back downstairs because I'd been with James, you know from the football team, upstairs, and I couldn't find you."
Brittany had always been certain about her sexuality from a young age. Gender didn't matter to her, she lost her virginity at 13 to a boy and after that, she just seemed to work her way through anyone.
Quinn didn't judge her for this, Brittany is always going to be a free spirit and she likes to experiment. She just couldn't be more different in her thought process in the manner of sex.
"Oh my god Britt, you're never going to guess what happened." She begins to explain what happened between her and Finn and then..
"And you'll never guess who saved me.."
Brittany raises her eyebrow, showing that she should reveal and is overwhelmed with shock when Quinn says the name, "Santana."
"You mean THE Santana? As in the one that left years ago? Quinn you're not making any sense, are you sure?"
Quinn eagerly nods and fills Brittany in on what happened between them, whilst on their way to the locker room, all about how she's moved back here, how she has a brother and how she's the new girl everyone is talking about.
When they finally reach the field, walking towards the rest of the team, Brittany breaks out into a wide smile.
"Well that's something I definitely wasn't expecting! I can't wait to see her again."
'Yeah, me either.' Quinn thinks.
The two walk up to the other cheerleaders and Quinn can hear Kitty Wilde, the biggest bitch on the team, talking loudly. They all seem to be looking out at the boys on the far end of the field, who are part of the ROTC programme.
"She can lift me anytime she wants." She says to the group, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
In a state of confusion, Quinn looks in the direction they all seem to be staring and can see a familiar body lifting a tyre. Panic courses through her as she realises who she's looking at, what they're doing and why they're doing it.
After telling me everything about how her Dad broke their family apart when he returned home, why is she doing that?
Another familIar voice, in the form of Bree Watson, brings Quinn back to the present. "Maybe you should ask Fabray for tips Kitty. I heard your girl rescued her on Saturday from Finn. Does this mean he's available now Quinn? You know, since the new girl over there embarrassed him." The other girls begin to laugh.
Quinn feels anger beginning to build in her stomach but is pulled away by Brittany before she's able to respond.
"They aren't worth the pain coach will put us through for fighting okay? Just finish training and get off the pitch as soon as we're done."
Quinn does as she's told and gets through training without any accidents, which is surprising since her mind is elsewhere.
Quinn rushed from the field, into the shower and managed to leave the locker room before most of the girls had even left the field.
She decided that she would make her way to her locker and get her bag sorted for the day before the hallways filled up and the gossip from Saturday night started.
What she didn't expect to see when she turned the corner, was Finn standing next to her locker waiting for her. The look on his face showing displeasure and fury.
He stomped towards her and began screaming, "Where did you go Saturday night then? You let that bitch humiliate me and then I never saw you again? You sneak off with her, huh?"
Quinn begins to walk around him and rolls her eyes, "I don't know if you noticed, but you were the one that left me. I don't know what your issue is with her but you got what you deserved. You were hurting me Finn."
"Hurting you?" He huffs. "I'll show you what it means to really hurt you." He grabs Quinn by the shoulders and pushes her back into the lockers. He pulls back his fist and Quinn flinches, she's never been as scared of Finn as she is now.
However, the connection never comes. With her eyes still closed, she hears the words darkly muttered..
"Don't you fucking dare."
She looks up to see Santana holding Finn's arm back and rage coursing through both of their eyes.
He turns his body to look at her and she looks so tiny in comparison to him. He has at least a foot on her but she isn't backing down.
"You want to hit someone? Hit me. Don't ever put your fucking hands on her. Didn't your mother ever tell you you don't hit girls?"
"Why are you always here? Are you following MY girl or something? I don't understand, you've been here 2 minutes and you're always where you're not wanted, interrupting me."
Before Quinn knows it, Finn has thrown his fist forward but Santana swiftly ducks. She makes eye contact with Quinn and mouths 'Go' but Quinn just shakes her head in response.
"Is that all you got? Come on, show me what you've got? You were willing to punch your girlfriend, show me what you were going to do!"
He throws himself towards Santana and she connects her fist with the left side of his face. He screams and drops to the floor. His next move is to sweep Santana's feet from beneath her, which she anticipated, however loses balance.
He clambers on top of her small body and throws his fist towards her face. She manages to dodge the first few punches but he is able to land one just below her right eye.
Quinn squeals as his fist makes contact and that seems to draw attention to a few boys also making their way in from the field. One of them being Blaine.
Blaine comes running towards Quinn and instantly whips his head in the direction that Quinn is staring. He sees a large boy straddling someone and wildly throwing his fists, however whoever is underneath him seems to be dodging them greatly. It isn't until he sees Finn flip to underneath, he realises it's his sister.
Santana is hammering her fists in the direction of Finns head and had made contact more than a few times. She soon feels arms around her waist and they are dragging her away from the bleeding boy on the floor.
"You come near her again and I swear I won't hesitate to fucking kill you next time." She bellows in his direction.
As soon as he feels Santana stop struggling, Blaine let's go of her and walks in the direction of Finn. He bends down next to his ear and whispers "Next time, I won't stop her, I'll fucking help her, you scumbag. Now I'd get to the nurse if I were you, you're nose is looking pretty bad after you tripped over this morning, didn't you?" He finishes in his most menacing voice.
Finn only nods in reply and gets up, dragging himself in the direction of the nurses office.
Santana slowly makes her way to Quinn, who is still standing still in the middle of the corridor with continuous tears staining her cheeks. "Are you okay?"
Quinn responds by reaching up and stroking the right side of her face. "What were you thinking? He could have seriously hurt you Tana! I don't ever want to see you do anything that stupid again!" She pulls the brunette in tight and pushes her face into her hair.
I'm tired of seeing her crying. Someone this beautiful shouldn't cry this much.
"Are you okay?" Santana asks again.
Quinn pulls back so that she can look into her eyes and chuckles slightly.
"Yes, you idiot, I'm fine. You got here before he did anything to seriously hurt me." She strokes Santana's cheek again, feeling the tears begin to well up.
Santana sees them coming and intercepts them, wiping them away with her thumb. "Hey, it's fine. It's only a black eye. You're really too pretty to cry this much Lucy Q."
Her cheeks tinge pink and she looks down bashfully. "We need to get you to the nurse. Your knuckles are starting to bruise too." She swipes Santana's left hand into her own and runs her thumb across the newly forming bruises.
"It's fine. Your boyfriend is in there anyway, I don't really think it's wise we're in such a confined space at this moment in time." She says with chuckle.
"Whether he knows it or not, he's definitely not my boyfriend after that."
The bell sounds and Quinn lets go of Santana. People begin to flood the corridor and the hustling starts.
Santana looks up, "Come on, let me walk you to class."
Quinn nods and the two walk off towards first period.
By lunch time everyone had heard that the future quarterback had been beaten by the new girl, not once, but twice.
Quinn and Brittany were once again sitting around the Cheerios table, whilst Kitty was telling everyone that she would soon be on the arm of the new girl.
"I'm sure she'll ask me out soon enough, I mean who wouldn't want to take me out? Look at me, I'm one of, if not the hottest girl at this school, the only way I could look better is under her." She winks and the rest of the girls murmur their agreements.
Slut.
"Plus she's on the football team too, so paired with a Cheerio, her popularity will rocket."
"Kitty, you're not even sure if she's gay." Marley, one of the younger Cheerios, explains.
"Please, no one turns me down. I always look smoking but also, she's gay, I can sense it."
Quinn can only feel pure jealousy running through her veins. It's a strange feeling, nothing she's ever felt before. She was never really bothered if people hit on Finn, she didn't want him any way. But this, she was ready to strangle Kitty to stop her talking this way about Santana.
Her Tana.
As if on cue, the Latina enters the cafeteria and Quinn can see that her bruise is starting to swell and colour now. She can't help but feel immense guilt.
"I'm not sure if it's possible but she looks even sexier with a black eye. Someone that isn't afraid to get down and dir-"
"Shut up Kitty! Jesus Christ, she's not even acknowledged your existence." Quinn blurts out. She's shocked by her own outburst but at least Kitty has shut up.
All it's done is raise Kitty's suspicions of Quinn's intentions though.
When Quinn turns around to look for the brunette again, she sees that Brittany has her arms swung around her neck and is hugging her with all her might. When the hug breaks, Brittany grabs hold of Santana's arm and drags her in the direction of the Cheerios.
"Let's see if she acknowledges me now Fabray." Kitty whispers and Quinn just rolls her eyes in response.
"Everyone, this is Santana and her brother Blaine. They're new to school and they're both on the football team." Brittany announces to the table. The Cheerios all respond with 'hi's and 'hey's', all the while, Santana seeks out Quinn's eyes and mouths a 'hey' that makes Quinn smile.
Kitty takes this as her cue to make herself known, she does not appreciate Fabray, of all people, being noticed before her. She approaches Santana confidently and puts a hand on Santana's upper arm.
"I'm Kitty Wilde, Cheerio and surely future head Cheerio. If you need anything, including a date for Friday night, give me a call." She says flirtatiously, as she slips a piece of paper into Santana's top left breast pocket on her flannel shirt. Her hand lingers a little too long and then she turns, winks in Quinn's direction and walks off swaying her hips.
I'll say it again, Slut.
Santana looks genuinely confused and Quinn is seething. She's not sure that this jealousy feeling is going to be a good one for her. It's not something she has much control over, that's not good for a Fabray.
The blonde watches as Santana removes the slip of paper from her pocket and hands it to Blaine. He receives it laughing as she pats him on the back and walks towards the exit.
Quinn can only lust after her.
As Quinn heads into her last period, she realises that for the first time today, she needs to face Finn.
She spots him sitting in his regular seat and his face is a mess. His nose is swollen and both his eyes are going black. There's another bruise forming on the side of his face that looks as though he's been hit by a bat.
Damn, Santana really did a number on him.
Unfortunately for Quinn, her seat is next to Finn. She looks sceptical but decides that, after this morning, only a moron would touch her again.
"So you have a guard dog now then?"
Quinn whips her head around and gives her best HBIC glare towards Finn.
"Don't you dare speak about her like that!"
"And what do you care? Are you gay or something now? Jesus babe, you've known her less than a week and you're siding with her over your boyfriend." He huffs.
That's it. He's really touched a nerve within Quinn and she can't keep it in any longer.
"Don't call me 'babe', I am not your 'babe'. You're not my boyfriend, I'm not your girlfriend, you're nothing to me anymore Finn! Stay away from me and stay away from her!" With that she storms out of the classroom, running past the remaining stragglers in the corridor, towards the bleachers.
Santana is sitting in Spanish, which realistically is pointless to her as she's fluent due to her heritage, when her phone buzzes.
Just seen Quinn running from her class, towards the bleachers, she looked upset. - B
Thanks Bro, I'll go now. - S
"Mr. Shue, I'm really sorry but I have an awful pain shooting through my face. Could I please go to the nurse?"
"Of course, have your assignment in to me by Friday morning though." Santana nods in response, gathers her books into her bag and sets out in search of Quinn.
10 minutes later she finds her curled up on an old couch under the bleachers.
She approaches cautiously, as not to startle the girl and announces her presence with a gentle 'hey'.
The blonde sits up and is relieved to see probably the only person she could stomach seeing right now. She shuffles over on the couch so that Santana can sit on the left side next to the arm and as soon as she makes contact, Quinn buries herself into her right side, much like their position on the hammock.
"How did you know I was here?"
"Blaine texted me. He saw you run through the corridor in this direction, I can go if you want to be alone, I just wanted to check you were okay."
Quinn smiles and only tightens her hold around Santana's waist.
"I don't want you to go."
"Okay. Are you alright though? What happened?"
"Finn, he just said some things that got under my skin and we had an argument in the classroom. Talk about a public break up." She chuckles.
"Do I need to find him? Did he hurt you again?" Santana rambles in response, trying to untangle herself from Quinn.
"No. Sit down will you! I'm fine. I promise."
Santana relaxes back into the couch and pulls Quinn further into her.
"So, what's the deal with that Kitty girl? Is she desperate or something because I've been hit on enough in my life to spot someone who needs to get laid." She laughs as Quinn slaps her stomach, laughing also.
The blonde decides that she may be able to get the information she desperately seeks, without directly asking.
"Yes, she's extremely desperate and that makes you desperate by association if you decide to take her out."
Santana only chuckles in response, "Don't worry, I'm definitely not interested." Just the response that Quinn was looking for.
"I suppose you do have a few questions for me though right? I can hear you thinking from up here." Santana continues.
"I have so many questions I don't know where to start." Quinn replies, she knows some of these conversations are going to be serious and so she reluctantly untangles herself from Santana's side and sits up.
"You can ask me anything, you know that Q."
Q, that's the first time she's called me that. It sounds right coming from her.
"Okay, first off. Kitty is adamant you're gay, is she right?"
"For probably a first in her life, yes, she's right. Is that a problem?"
Quinn sees the worry swirl in her brown eyes and quickly grabs her un-injured right hand as a comfort.
"No, definitely not." She says softly which receives a bright smile from the Latina.
"The ROTC. Why are you in that? Is that why you came back to Lima, because we have the programme available here for you?"
"No, we didn't come back to Lima for that. That is why me and Blaine are at McKinley though. It was the school with the best programme for our training."
"Why are you doing it Tana? After what you told me about your dad the other night. Aren't you scared that'll happen to you? I don't want you to lose yourself." She can feel the tears welling up but is doing her best to force them back down. She doesn't want to cry every time she comes into contact with Santana.
"This is something that I decided long ago I wanted to do Q. Something me and Blaine decided separately. I want to serve and protect my country, the same way my dad did. He was a good man. Blaine, he wants to follow in his parents footsteps, he's proud of them, he wants to honour them. Don't you worry you're pretty little head about any of that, I'll be fine, okay?"
Quinn decides that for now, she'll drop the subject even though she definitely isn't thrilled about it.
"Do you have any questions for me?" She says quietly.
"I have a few but we can save them for another time if you want. I know you came out here to be alone."
"No, I want you to get to know me. The same way I want to get to know you."
"Okay then. What is it about Finn? Why are you with someone who treats you that way?"
Quinn break eye contact and looks down to where their hands are clasped on her lap. She's just realised that she's subconsciously been playing with Santana's fingers. She then feels a gentle hand on her chin, raising it slightly so that eye contact can be remade.
"I don't know. Popularity maybe. I was bullied in middle school and I wasn't going to let that happen here. If I dated the quarterback and became a cheerleader, nobody would mess with me anymore."
"It's okay Q, I'm not going to judge you. I understand. Nobody will hurt you anymore, okay? Not while I'm around. Whether you're dating a football player or not, you'll be alright." She says with a reassuring smile.
Quinn feels a weight being lifted off her shoulders instantly. However, it's piled back on as soon as the other question is voiced.
"And the bruises on your arms you try so hard to hide? They're from Finn too?"
No.
She nods and curls back up into Santana's side.
"Well that'll be the last of them okay. He won't touch you again."
They sit there for another 5 minutes until they hear the bell ring signalling the end of the day.
Santana gets an idea as Quinn moves from within her hold, "I like it here. How about I meet you for lunch in this spot, every day. We'll get to know each other better, plus it get you away from the desperate girl." She says with a cheeky grin.
Quinn nods enthusiastically.
"Okay, well I have to get to practise with your spectacular ex-boyfriend. I'll see you tomorrow?"
Quinn laughs before responding.
"I'll be here. Be careful." And with that she turns and walks towards the car park and Santana heads towards the locker rooms.
AN: Hey guys!
Sorry it's taken six chapters to write one of these. This is my first fic so I'm slightly nervous!
I'm not a writer and I've never written anything before but I just had to get the idea down on paper.
I've been writing it for a while so there's already quite a bit written but I did hit a brick wall so it slowed up but I'm back on track now. Hopefully, I can update regularly for anyone that's interested!
Anyway, let me know what you think!