Role Reversal Chapter 3, a glee fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee :(

CHAPTER 3

Santana walked down the halls and found more people staring at her than normal. She brushed it off and knelt next to her locker, unlocking it and pulling out the books she'd need for her morning classes. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out. A message from Rachel was flashing. She frowned and opened it.

So…there may or may not be a rumour flying around that you and I made mad, passionate love all night long. Just a heads up.

Santana gritted her teeth and quickly typed out a reply.

Yet another example of why I made the RIGHT decision in leaving last night. Thanks so much. As if I don't have enough shit to deal with.

She'd actually woken up in a pretty good mood that morning, but it had all just gone to shit because of Rachel fucking Berry's big trap. Santana wanted to physically slap herself for almost falling for the cheerleader's game. Her phone was buzzing, but she ignored it, grabbing her books and stalking off to homeroom, not caring that she was fifteen minutes early.

Santana flopped down at the back of the classroom and slunk down in her chair, just wanting to disappear. She'd dealt with rumours and means things being said about her behind her back – that was cake for her. She just hated that she was now considered one of Rachel Berry's conquests.

"Santana."

The Latina groaned and dropped her head on her desk. "Take a hint, Berry! Do you really think that I want to talk to you now?"

"I didn't say anything!" Rachel protested, sitting next to the Latina. "Santana, I was serious yesterday. I do want you and I will prove to you that I'm worthy." She stood up with a smile. "For starters, I'm going to find out where the hell this rumour came from. As much as I'd love it to be true, I'd prefer it if the whole school didn't know what happened between us."

Santana scoffed. Rachel wasn't exactly racking up the brownie points.

"No, shit, that's not what I meant," Rachel replied quickly, realising how she'd sounded. "I meant that it's between us. It shouldn't be something that the whole school's talking about."

Rachel looked like she was going to lean in and kiss her, then thought better of it, turned on her heel and walked quickly out of the classroom.

What the fuck just happened?

"B, swear to me you don't know anything," Rachel pleaded, grabbing her books from her locker. "I know we pull shit on each other all the time, but promise me you had nothing to do with this?"

Brittany just stared at the brunette in front of her.

"First, who are you and where's the real Rachel? Second, what are you talking about?"

"I'm serious, Britt. Someone must've seen Santana leaving my house last night and started spinning the vicious rumour mill. Oh…" Her eyes went wide and she shut her locker loudly.

"What?" Brittany asked.

"Uh, if my theory is correct, then this someone may have heard some…interesting things that I may have shouted to Santana from my window whilst only wearing VS."

Brittany closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I swear to God, Rachel. You only think with your vajayjay sometimes." She opened her eyes and they immediately went to a slightly visible mark mostly hidden by her Cheerios top. "What the hell is that?" She moved to pull the top aside, but Rachel ducked out of her grasp and started walking down the hall.

"It's nothing! I…pulled a muscle and it's just bruising."

"Oh, it's a bruise all right," Brittany said knowingly, catching up to her. "But wait, I thought you said that you and Santana didn't-"

"We didn't," Rachel interrupted, "but there may have been some foreplay," she added in a low voice.

"So the rumours aren't completely untrue."

"Yes, they are! Britt, I need this. Please?"

Brittany looked at her friend carefully. She'd never seen Rachel like this. She was panicked. She was freaking out. She'd never seen the brunette freak out. Ever.

"Oh my God!" Brittany said loudly, causing a few people to look over at them, and then look quickly away.

"What?" Rachel asked in alarm. "Did I miss one?" She started to frantically feel around her neck.

"Jesus, how many did she give you?" Brittany asked, arching her eyebrows.

"Just the one," Rachel mumbled, "I think."

Brittany chuckled, pretty sure that she wasn't supposed to have heard that last part.

"What were you OMGing about?"

Brittany stopped Rachel before they went into English together. "You like Santana. You actually like her. That's why you want to find out who started the rumour. She probably thinks you did and you need something to win her over."

Rachel blinked. "You sure you didn't start the rumour? Cos that sounds freakishly like what Santana said to me last night."

They walked in and took their seats at the back and continued their conversation in hushed tones.

"Not that I care about who you get into your bed, but how did you and Santana end up…you know?" Brittany asked curiously. "I thought she'd sent you a big NO vibe."

"She did," Rachel replied quietly, shrugging. "She came over after school yesterday and we got started looking through some music for our duet. I was sitting on my bed and she was sitting at my desk. Oh, then my neck went into spasm because I'm pretty sure you gave me whiplash at yesterday morning's practice."

Brittany grinned. "Told you I'd get you back."

"Oh, yeah, physically injuring the top of the pyramid sounds like a fan-fucking-tastic plan, Britt," Rachel snapped, her hand automatically going to her neck where Brittany assumed the spasm had taken place. "Anyway, I got up to get some ice and Santana told me that putting ice on it was the worst that I could do."

"She's right," Brittany interjected.

Rachel glared at her and the blonde simply smiled. "Anyway, so Santana said she'd massage it."

Brittany rolled her eyes and Rachel hit her lightly on the arm. "She told me to sit on the bed, but my Cheerios top was in the way-"

"Oh my God." Brittany started giggling. "This is like something out of a bad porno."

"Which you've probably seen because the only action you're getting is from your hand!" Rachel hissed angrily.

"Whoa, chill out, Rach. Jesus, I was kidding."

"Whatever," Rachel snapped, a scowl fixed on her face as she faced the front of the class and started taking notes.

"Do I get to hear the end of the story?" Brittany asked hopefully.

Rachel shot her a look.

"Okee, maybe later," Brittany said, rolling her eyes.

It wasn't that she wanted details of Rachel and Santana doing the nasty – ew, really, no – but the whole situation felt like a script of a cheesy soap opera or something. And hey, it was good gossip. Brittany definitely didn't start the rumours – they would've been a lot more juicy of she'd started them. She glanced sidelong at Rachel, scowl still in place. It was kind of cute that Rachel had a crush on Santana. Like an actual, genuine crush. Brittany definitely hadn't ever experienced Rachel crushing on anyone else before. So, because she was actually a good friend, she whipped out her phone and sent a group text to the Cheerios.

Mission: Find out who started the Rachel/Santana rumour and bring them to me. End of day latest.

She unchecked Rachel's name so that the brunette wouldn't know the extent of her involvement until the end. Hey, if Santana was making her work for it, then Rachel needed to show that she was.

Brittany daydreamed for the rest of the class, yawning as the bell rang. Rachel stood up and brushed past the blonde without so much as a word. Brittany rolled her eyes and went after her.

"Rachel," Brittany said, catching her elbow. "Look, I'm sorry, ok? I think it's cute that you wanna make lady babies with Santana. I'm not used to seeing you like this so I don't know if you're being serious or not."

"Well, I am serious," Rachel said, her scowl softening. "I don't know what it is about her. She's completely invaded my senses and I can't get her out."

"Cute," Brittany said with a smile. She released Rachel's elbow and they walked towards their next class. "So, what happened next?"

Rachel looked at her blankly.

"Last night?" Brittany prompted.

"Oh, yeah, so she told me to take my Cheerios top off and I told her that if this was her way of not sleeping with me, then she was doing a great job. She just laughed and said that she had no intention of sleeping with me."

"God, I love this," Brittany grinned. "It's like our own episode of the L Word or something."

Rachel frowned at the Head Cheerio. "I'll try not to take offence to that. Anyway, so she's rubbing out the spasm and I feel the muscle relax so I tell her thank you and she stops and pulls out her iPod, playing me some song ideas. And I'm still sitting there in my bra and skirt."

They arrived at their next class and went to their standard back row seats. Brittany leaned forward eagerly. She found it a little creepy at how into the whole story she was getting.

"So we find this one song, I don't even remember which one, and we start singing it, but apparently I was singing it wrong. So Santana tells me that I have to breathe properly. She puts a hand on my diaphragm and the other on my back and shows me how she wants me to breathe. I'm still like ok, fine, this is still relatively platonic, even though I'm still sitting here in my bra.

"Sooo, I decide to stand up cos of course my breathing's all wrong when she's got her hands all over me. I told her that I could breathe easier. Then she decides to show me-"

"No," Brittany breathed. "Sorry," she apologised quickly.

"She decides to show me how my breathing should look. She doesn't take her shirt off, just lifts it up and, oh my God, she is so sexy, B. Like, seriously. I don't know how she got toned like that, but she could rival even you."

Brittany raised an eyebrow. Her dancing kept her a lot more toned than the other Cheerios. She couldn't help wondering exactly how toned Santana actually was.

"You can imagine I'm like freaking out because this girl's flashing her hot body and I can't do anything about it, so I just turned around and sat at my desk, right, and I keep looking for songs. We find another one and it's actually really good. We get an idea of how we want our voices to sound, and B, we actually sound really good together."

"Hmmm," Brittany mumbled, losing interest in the story.

"Then Santana says that we should come up with a little choreography. She's a really good dancer, too. Maybe we should try and get her to join the Cheerios."

Brittany sat up straight. "Hell no, Rachel. That girl is beyond weird. Having her on the squad, assuming she'd even get on, would bring down the rep of every single girl. You want that on your conscience?"

Rachel looked alarmed. "Uh…no, I don't suppose…Um. Dancing, right. So we were doing some choreography and we looked up, eyes locked and it just…happened."

"What?"

"We kissed."

"That's it?"

"Well, the other stuff happened, too, but…"

Brittany folded her arms and smirked at the short brunette. "You really like her, don't you?"

Rachel just nodded.

"Are you going to ask her out?"

"She says that I have to prove that I can be true to her before she'd be willing to do anything with me."

"So what are you going to do?" Brittany asked.

"Well, for starters, I'm gonna find the asshole who started that rumour and kick his ass and then…I have no idea."

"Well, she's in Glee Club," Brittany suggested.

"And?" Rachel asked in expectation.

"Well, they like songs being sung to them. So sing her a song."

"Sing a song to her? Like serenade her or something?"

"Yeah, something like that," Brittany said with a smile. Damn, she was on a role with this best friend thing.

"That might work," Rachel said thoughtfully. "I wanna ask her to Artie's party on Friday and today's Wednesday, so I have to do the performance tomorrow."

"Artie's party?" Brittany asked uncertainly. "You sure that's a good idea? Those guys have spent the last few months making her life hell."

"On your orders," Rachel reminded her.

Brittany shrugged. She'd washed her hands of that responsibility last year already. It wasn't her fault that the jocks still did it. Brittany felt her phone buzz and checked it, even though they were in class. It was from Sandy, one of the juniors on the squad.

Culprit identified. Sorry to admit that I'm related to him. Locker room? Lunch?

Brittany just replied an affirmative and pulled out a nail file. She looked around. What class was she in, anyway?

Santana was sitting in AP Spanish when a flash of red entered the classroom and knelt down next to her desk.

"What are you doing here?" Santana hissed. "I'm writing a test!"

"Miss Berry, I'm afraid-"

"I'm on official business for Coach Pillsbury," Rachel said in a very firm voice.

The teacher looked like she wanted to argue, but decided against it, simply giving the cheerleader a glare.

"I found the guy who started the rumour," Rachel whispered. "He's being dealt with."

"Oh, well, ok. Thank you, but couldn't you have waited until Glee to tell me that?" Santana asked.

"Well…I just wanted to tell you," Rachel stammered, looking crestfallen.

Santana actually felt quite bad. "Look, don't stress. It's cool. I appreciate it. Thank you."

Rachel smiled. "I'll see you in Glee?"

Santana nodded and watched the cheerleader walk out of the classroom. And maybe, just maybe her gaze had lingered on the flaps of those incredibly short skirts for a bit longer than it should have.

Ai me. Trouble's afoot, Lopez. Be prepared for some stormy seas.

Glee was uneventful other than Santana getting Mercedes to drop Tina and join forces with her to do a duet. Within ten minutes they knew what they were doing and were running through some simple choreography.

"Yo, what's the deal with you and Cherry Berry?" Mercedes asked.

"Nothing," Santana replied. "Just a stupid rumour."

"That's not what the word is in Lima Heights," Mercedes replied, examining her nails.

"And what makes you think I care what the people in that shithole say?" Santana said, her eyes narrowing. She didn't care that the rest of the school whispered behind her back, but it was a very different thing when her Glee friends did it. Especially considering she took the abuse for all of them.

"Watch your mouth, Lopez. Don't forget that you once lived in that shithole and that we saved your ass on many occasions."

Santana rolled her eyes. "It's cute that you think you're all gangsta badass when we all know that you're really just a big squishy teddy bear." She smiled sweetly.

"I will cut you, Lopez. Don't push me."

Santana chuckled. "I have missed our chats, Miss Jones."

The black girl grinned and fist bumped Santana, who thereafter attempted to show her the greeting from Star Trek and failed miserably.

Santana wondered briefly as Thursday drew to a close whether the rumour about her and Rachel had afforded her a small reprieve from her slushie attacks.

That idea was short lived as she walked out of her last class and was met with blue ice flying towards her face. Due to the surprise attack, Santana didn't have a chance to close her eyes and they immediately started to burn as the syrup made her vision swim.

Santana screamed in frustration and stalked off to the locker room. Normally she didn't let this kind of stuff affect her, but when was the world going to wake up and realise that she wasn't a machine, that she actually did have feelings? She couldn't keep her calm, nonchalant exterior forever. What the hell made Rachel so special that she didn't get this kind of treatment? Was it simply because everyone was terrified of Coach Pillsbury?

Santana couldn't be that person – she couldn't walk down the halls of McKinley glaring at everyone who dared look at her. It just wasn't in her nature.

Crap.

She didn't have another shirt with her. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and wiped her burning eyes in frustration. She told herself that it was from the syrup and not because of the tightness in her chest.

You. Will. Not. Cry.

Santana stared at her phone for almost five minutes, fighting with herself. Eventually, self-preservation overruled and she typed out a quick message, sending it before she could change her mind.

Locker room? I need you. Do you have an extra shirt?

She ran into the locker room and looked around frantically for Santana. She heard the shower going, but there was no one there. That was until she heard a very soft sob. Her heart broke. She didn't care that her own clothes would get wet and headed into the steamy area.

Santana was sitting naked on the floor, hugging her knees tightly to her chest, her face hidden by her long dark hair hanging down in wet strands. She knelt down and gently touched the Latina's arm, causing Santana to look up. Her heart hurt at the unfamiliar sight of tears running down Santana's cheeks.

"You came," she whispered, her voice chocking on a sob.

"Of course," she replied softly.

Santana allowed Quinn to pull her out of the shower and into a tight hug as the tears rolled from her eyes uncontrollably.

Rachel was wringing her hands nervously. This whole butterfly-in-the-stomach thing was messing with her. She'd never experienced it before Santana and now she couldn't seem to get rid of it.

"Will you relax?" Brittany hissed from her seat next to her.

They were sitting in the back row of Glee, waiting for Santana and Quinn to arrive. Both were supposed to do their duets that day so Rachel was pretty sure they'd show up, but they were already fifteen minutes late and the cheerleader was starting to wonder of they were going to show. She'd practiced with the band and everything. Santana had to show up.

"She'll be here," Brittany said softly.

"What if she doesn't come?" Rachel whispered.

At that moment, Santana and Quinn walked in and Rachel's eyes went wide. The Latina's hair was freshly wet and her eyes were slightly red. She wouldn't have noticed normally, but over the last two weeks, she'd started to pick up on Santana's little tells. Not that she'd ever seen the Latina cry, but it sure as hell looked like she'd been crying.

"Sorry we're late, Miss Sylvester," Quinn apologised quietly. "I helped Santana get cleaned up."

Miss Sylvester nodded and looked like she wanted to say something, but Santana cut her off.

"Please, Miss S. I really am not in the mood for another lecture. You guys can all act like I'm some kind of hero, but I'm not. I'm just so tired of people's narrow-mindedness."

"It's getting to you," Tina said softly. Everyone looked at her. "Normally you let it roll of your back, but we can all see that the bullying is getting to you."

Santana shrugged and walked to her seat. "What difference does it make? I'd still do it if it meant they'd leave you guys alone."

"We should go to Principal Schuester," Puck piped up.

"Listen, jock strap, you haven't been here long enough so let us give you the low down on how things work around here. Principal Schue doesn't care about us. As long as the precious Cheerios are given the key to the school, the rest of us don't matter."

Everyone blinked at Mercedes.

"Uh," Puck stammered in embarrassment.

"Santana, I will make him deal with this. He can't allow this kind of bullying to go on unpunished."

"Miss S, I appreciate the gesture, really I do," Santana said in resignation. "But the reality of our situation is that it's not Principal Schue that's to blame. They're sitting right over there."

All eyes zeroed in on Brittany and Rachel. The brunette cheerleader immediately felt uncomfortable, but Brittany looked unfazed. Rachel met Santana's eyes and her stomach dropped at the look of disappointment.

Shit! I feel like I've just been thrown five feet backwards in proving to her that I want this with her.

"Quinn and Puck? Are you guys ready to do your duet?"

The two stood up and took the floor. Rachel barely heard their song as she stared at Santana, desperately trying to make the Latina look at her, but she remained stoically focused on the performance in front her. It was some sickeningly sweet cotton candy melt-in-your-mouth kind of song and Rachel really couldn't give a shit.

The song ended and Santana applauded, giving Quinn a smile. Rachel sat back in her chair in frustration.

"This is all your fault," she hissed, crossing her arms.

"Mine?" Brittany asked in amusement. "How on earth do you figure that one?"

"You started this whole attack against Santana. Just tell the boys to stop slushing her."

"First off, she came to us and demanded that we pick on her. Second, are you going to take Santana's place? Because someone will have to."

Rachel frowned, but then her face lit up.

That's it! That's the perfect thing to get Santana to realise that I'm serious about being with her.

Santana and Mercedes took the floor and did an amazing rendition of River Deep, Mountain High. Rachel had to really focus to keep her jaw from dropping on the floor when Santana started shaking her ass in those sexy jeans. All sorts of really naughty thoughts popped into Rachel's head and she had to physically shake it to get them to settle.

The class was wrapping up and Santana seemed in happier spirits, so Rachel decided to swallow these nerves that had sprung up out of nowhere.

"Um, Miss Sylvester, I was wondering if I might have the floor to sing a song? It's not part of our duets assignment, but I do have something I'd like to say."

Miss Sylvester raised her eyebrows, but indicated that the floor was hers. Rachel took the floor nervously and nodded at the band. They'd rehearsed the previous day after Glee so Rachel was confident they wouldn't mess up. Her, on the other hand, she wasn't so sure about.

She squeezed her eyes, took a deep breath and raised her eyes to meet Santana's curious ones. The music started and the Latina's eyes widened in recognition. Rachel took a breath and began to sing.

If you change your mind,
I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know,
Gonna be around
If you've got no place to go,
If you're feeling down
If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie
If you put me to the test,
If you let me try
Take a chance on me
(That's all I ask of you, honey)
Take a chance on me

We can go dancing,
We can go walking,
As long as we're together
Listen to some music,
Maybe just talking,
Get to know you better
'Cos you know I've got
So much that I wanna do,
When I dream I'm alone with you
It's magic
You want me to leave it there,
Afraid of a love affair
But I think you know
That I can't let go

If you change your mind,
I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know,
Gonna be around
If you've got no place to go,
If you're feeling down
If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie
If you put me to the test,
If you let me try
Take a chance on me
(Come on, give me a break will you?)
Take a chance on me

Oh you can take your time baby,
I'm in no hurry,
Know I'm gonna get you
You don't wanna hurt me,
Baby don't worry,
I ain't gonna let you
Let me tell you now
My love is strong enough to last when things are rough
It's magic
You say that I waste my time
But I can't get you off my mind
No I can't let go
'Cos I love you so

If you change your mind,
I'm the first in line
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
If you need me, let me know,
Gonna be around
If you've got no place to go,
If you're feeling down
If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best,
Baby can't you see
Gotta put me to the test,
Take a chance on me
Ba ba ba ba baa, ba ba ba ba baa
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me
Gonna do my very best,
Baby can't you see
Gotta put me to the test,
Take a chance on me
Ba ba ba ba baa, ba ba ba ba baa ba ba
Honey I'm still free
Take a chance on me?

Rachel ended the song on a question and saw something change in Santana's gaze. Her eyes hadn't left the Latina throughout the performance. The Glee Club clapped politely, but it wasn't deafening like the applause that the previous two performances had received. They probably weren't sure of how to deal with Rachel's very open declaration of affection for Santana. Hell, she was pretty sure that Santana didn't quite know how to deal with it.

Regardless, Rachel was glad that she'd sung the song. And phase two began the next day. She smiled at Santana and turned around, walking out of the choir room.

Santana was walking to her class after lunch the next day, her mind whirling with conflicting thoughts, as they had been since the previous day's Glee Club.

Rachel Berry had sung to her. Actually sung a song to her face, never looking away. She'd asked her to take a chance. She'd put herself out there, and now it was up to Santana whether she actually wanted to risk it. Did she? Was it enough?

Santana sat down in her next class and tried to concentrate on what the teacher was saying. It worked sporadically, her mind always returning to Rachel Berry.

Santana Lopez and Rachel Berry. In what universe would she have ever have predicted that to happen?

The bell rang and Santana took her time gathering her things before walking to Spanish.

"Hey, Lopez!" a familiar voice called behind her.

Santana stopped, but didn't turn around. She knew what was coming.

"I've got something for you," Artie taunted.

"Not in the mood for gifts today," Santana replied.

"Did you hear that, boys? Lupus doesn't want our gift," Artie snorted. "Now that's just rude."

"Actually, what's rude is that you're allowed out of the house looking like that," Santana snapped, spinning around. She may as well just get it over with.

"You should really think before you speak, Lupus," Artie smirked, a jumbo cherry slushie in his hand.

Santana sighed. "It's not my fault that your brain can't function as quickly as mine. And I really can't be bothered to speak slowly just so that you can understand me properly."

Artie scowled and thrust his arm forward. At the same time, Santana felt two arms push her out of the way. She crashed into the lockers and looked up in alarm. Her mouth dropped open when she saw Rachel Berry dripping in cherry slushie.

"Oh, shit, dude," one of Artie's friends said in worry. "You fucking slushied a Cheerio. You're a dead man."

Artie actually looked quite worried himself. "S-Sorry, Rachel," he stammered, before dropping the cup and jogging down the hall.

Santana stood up straight and shook her head at the retreating boys. She took Rachel's hand and led her silently to the locker room. She ignored the horrified looks that they got and locked the door behind them once they were inside.

Santana had never been inside the Cheerios locker room, but she was pretty impressed with its spaciousness and modern look. Each shower had its own cubicle with curtain. The Latina wished that the standard showers had curtains. She knew that the girls all felt weird showering with her because they were convinced she was checking them out. Which she totally wasn't. The girls at McKinley were ok to look at, but Santana was very specific, and these high school girls just didn't seem to appear interesting enough.

Well…maybe there was one.

Santana put her bag down on the floor and turned around, facing Rachel for the first time. The cheerleader's eyes were squeezed closed and Santana thought for a second that she was crying, but there were no tear tracks in amongst the slushie syrup.

"Rachel?" Santana asked tentatively, letting her fingers run over the hand she was holding. "Could you open you eyes, please?"

Rachel just shook her head, keeping her eyes closed. Santana dropped the hand she was holding and started using her fingers to clean the excess slushie off Rachel's face. The cheerleader's jaw was clenched tightly and Santana softly trailed her forefinger across it, trying the relax it, but to no avail. She continued wiping until most of the red crap was off Rachel's face, but the rest of her was still pretty covered in it.

"Open your eyes," Santana said.

Rachel shook her head again. The Latina rolled her eyes and pressed her lips to the cheerleader's briefly. As expected, her brown eyes flew open, only to immediately squeeze closed again as her face scrunched up in discomfort.

"Did you get some in your eyes?" Santana asked gently, pulling away.

Rachel nodded, squeezing them tighter as if it would get the syrup out.

"Come on," Santana said, taking Rachel's hand and leading her to the sinks. "Bend over."

"I have to admit that I envisioned you saying those words to me under different circumstances," Rachel mumbled as Santana turned on the tap.

Santana smiled. "Well, continue playing your cards right and you may just hear me say them in those exact circumstances."

Rachel let her face run under the water and she blinked a few times before looking sideways at Santana.

"Really?"

Santana nodded. "You took a slushie for me. That's big in my books. No one's ever even tried to."

Rachel sighed. "I heard what you said yesterday." She stood up from the sink and grabbed one of the face towels.

Santana leaned against the sink, waiting for Rachel to continue.

"Just because I'm a Cheerio doesn't mean that you should take everything those morons throw at you. We're both gay and both in Glee. If the high school hierarchy wasn't so fucked up, we'd both be getting slushie facials daily."

"I may be missing your point," Santana said, crossing her arms and frowning.

"It's not fair. It's not fair to the other Glee members feeling guilty because you're the only one with the balls to stand up to the idiots that runs this school-"

"Uh, you happen to be one of those idiots," Santana pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, which is also why I pushed you out the way. Other than not wanting you to get slushied, I mean."

"Do elaborate."

"Coach Em is gonna go apeshit on those football guys for slushing a cheerleader, and not just any cheerleader. The top of her pyramid. She's going to talk to Schue, or yell at him, and get them suspended or something and she'll probably make them wash this week's uniforms by hand."

"Are you seriously telling me that all it took for them to stop harassing me was for them to mistakenly do it to you?" Santana asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rachel stopped dabbing her face dry and looked at the Latina carefully. "I didn't do this for that reason. I pushed you out the way because I wanted to show you that I can deal with what you deal with. If it means that I have to take all your slushies, then I will. I-"

Rachel was cut off by Santana grabbing the top of her skirt and pulling her to her. The Latina cupped the cheerleader's cheek and leaned down, capturing her lips. Rachel responded immediately and softly kissed her back. The exchanged gentle kisses until Rachel pulled away.

"As much as I enjoyed that, I'd really like to take a shower now. I can feel cherry slushie creeping down my front bum."

"Your front bum?" Santana chuckled.

Rachel smirked and stepped away from Santana. "I would offer you to help me, but I wouldn't want to be another notch on Santana's Lopez's bedpost."

Santana smiled and shook her head as Rachel disappeared towards the showers. She laughed out loud when she saw a Cheerios skirt flying out from behind the shower, followed shortly by a top and the rest of the uniform.

"So I have a question for you," Rachel called out over the noise of the shower.

"I'm listening," Santana called back.

"Am I allowed to ask you out now?"

"You never know till you try."

Rachel's head poked out from behind the shower curtain and she grinned. "Would you accompany me to a party tonight?"

Santana's smile faltered. "A jock party?"

"Well, yeah, but you'd be there with me."

"I'll have to think about it," Santana said carefully, looking down at her hands.

"Santana, I'm not ashamed to be seen with you," Rachel said deliberately.

"Oh, I know that, don't worry. Who wouldn't, right?" she smirked.

Rachel returned her smirk and disappeared behind the curtain again. A small smile crossed Santana's face as she heard the cheerleader sing Take A Chance On Me. Did she dare? She'd be stepping so far out of her comfort zone that she'd probably have to change area codes.

Santana glanced at the shower curtain. Guess there was only way to find out, wasn't there?

A/N: Party's coming next chapter :) And for all you peeps out there living under rocks, the song was Take A Chance On Me by ABBA :)

Feedback is always loved.

-H