A/N: Blown away by all the alerts. Much of love and fluffiness to you all! :D
Sorry about the delay in updating – A Different Life consumed me a little ;)
Many people have asked me if Pezberry is the endgame because I changed the characters. The story is going ahead as I originally planned, so when the relationships change, so will the characters. It was suggested that, seeing as how the current ship is Pezberry, make those the main characters. So I did. Hope this clears up any confusion! :)
Bit of a flashback in this chapter, too…
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee :(
CHAPTER 5
"It's just up here," Santana directed Rachel, sitting slightly forward in her seat.
The cheerleader pulled into Quinn's driveway and Santana opened the door.
"Thanks, Rach," she said, stepping out. "I'll call you tomorrow."
Rachel turned off her car and opened her door.
"What are you doing?" Santana asked with a frown.
"Um, coming with you?" Rachel replied, matching the Latina's frown.
"Definitely not," Santana said firmly, closing the car door forcefully.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm her best friend and you're a cheerleader." Even as she said it, she realised how pathetic it sounded.
Rachel folded her arms across her chest and just looked at Santana expectantly. "Any other reason that might actually make sense?"
"Look, Quinn needs me. We've known each other since middle school. She's going to feel overwhelmed if a virtual stranger rocks up after she's told me something incredibly personal."
"You showed me the text," Rachel countered.
"Yeah, something I'm regretting," Santana muttered, running a hand through her hair.
"Santana, you can't keep blowing hot and cold like this," Rachel burst out, throwing her hands up. "One minute we're moments away from having sex, the next we're fighting, the next we're being all sweet with each other and then we're back to fighting."
"Pretty sure we established that any relationship between us was going to involve fighting," Santana replied, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah, well maybe I misjudged what I want out of a relationship with you," Rachel mumbled, looking down at the ground.
"Jesus, Rachel, I never asked you to come after me. I was perfectly happy by myself until you decided to come throw a spanner in the works by trying to make a play for me. You've never even been in a relationship before. What makes you think that you want one with me?"
"Because I can't stop thinking about you!" Rachel shouted in exasperation. "God, ever since that day I joined Glee everything reminds me of you. I go to the mall and I think how you would hate this or like that or wonder if you'd enjoy watching a particular movie or what your idea of a perfect date would be. It's driving me crazy! Argh!"
Rachel climbed back into her car and revved the Thunderbird's engine loudly before reversing quickly down the driveway with a squeal of the tyres.
Santana just stared after the cheerleader as she peeled off down the road.
What?
Had that honestly just happened? Santana shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. It felt like she'd entered some crazy parallel universe where Rachel Berry liked her – like liked her – and her best friend was pregnant with the head cheerleader's boyfriend's baby.
"Jesus, Quinn. What have you got yourself into?" she muttered.
Santana walked up around to the side of the house where she looked up and saw Quinn's room in darkness. She sighed and started her climb up the wall to her best friend's window. She probably wouldn't be able to make the ascent if it hadn't been for her years in gymnastics, but she'd made the climb enough times since quitting gym to know how to do it without killing herself.
Granted, Santana hadn't needed to shimmy up the side of Quinn's house of late because she'd been there most of the time during summer. Her best friend's parents were a lot stricter that their darling daughter stuck to her curfew during school, and that included weekends.
It made Santana wonder how in the hell Quinn had even managed to have sex with her parents' pre-planned schedules. They accounted for her every second of the day, making sure that she was always doing something that would give her a competitive edge.
After Quinn's mother had failed on Broadway (mostly due to the fact that she couldn't sing and her dancing was average at best – and that was when she was drunk), she and Quinn's father had done everything necessary to all but force their daughter into the arts. Santana knew that Quinn enjoyed the singing and dancing that she did, but she often wondered how much of what her best friend did was for her parents and how much was actually for herself.
Santana was very lucky in that her parents were pretty lax with what she did in her spare time as long as it wasn't illegal and she still worked hard at school. Well, keeping her 4.0 GPA wasn't easy, but Santana had been blessed with a good brain and she kept it challenged at every chance. Yeah, she was the captain of the academic decathlon team and all her classes were AP, but she actually enjoyed it.
Wait, how had she ended up going over what she was doing with her life when her best friend was a hair's breadth away from ruining hers forever?
Santana pulled herself up onto the ledge next to Quinn's window and rapped softly on the glass. It was after one so her parents should be passed out and she knew for definite that Mrs. Fabray would not be waking up until late the next morning. Quinn, however, was a light sleeper, so not soon after Santana knocked, the window slid open and Quinn simply stood back to let the Latina swing inside.
"Hey," Santana whispered.
"Hey."
She didn't think she'd ever heard her best friend sound so defeated.
"Quinnie," Santana said softly, following her to the bed.
She kicked off her shoes and climbed onto Quinn's bed, opening her arms to the blonde, who simply fell into them, her shoulders shaking. Santana just held her best friend as she cried quietly, stroking her back gently. After about ten minutes, Quinn seemed to have settled.
"Is it Puck's?" Santana asked quietly. She didn't believe in beating around the bush. She didn't need to coddle Quinn either – they'd been friends long enough to know that they'd be there for each other regardless.
Quinn just nodded once.
"Quinnie, what on earth happened?"
"It was during summer," Quinn whispered, resting her cheek on Santana's stomach. "Noah was working at the coffee shop next to the dance studio and we ran into each other. He offered to walk me home, but I told him to find his floozy and leave me alone."
Santana couldn't help but chuckle quietly at that. She'd taught Quinn well…or so she'd thought.
"But he kept 'accidentally' running into me as I left the studio. At first it was twice a week, but then he started doing it every day. Eventually I told him to stop stalking me or else I'd empty my pepper spray in his eyes." She sighed. "I don't know how it happened, but the next day when he wasn't there, I realised how much I actually enjoyed the attention."
"Quinnie, you're beautiful," Santana whispered, running a hand through her friend's blonde hair. "Just because a good looking guy started-"
"San, don't patronise me," Quinn interrupted, lifting her head and glaring at her.
Santana raised her hands in apology. "I didn't mean to. I just meant that there are-"
"Really, San?" Quinn said bitterly. "Do you see any guys coming up to me and asking for my number? No, they don't. Because I'm a crazy drama kid who overachieves. It was just nice to be noticed."
Santana didn't really have a response to that. Quinn had never had a boyfriend before. Her parents had ensured that her focus was always on her future and told her that boys were simply a distraction. They actually frowned at Santana's cavalier attitude towards relationships, but the Latina couldn't care less what the Fabrays thought of her. And two relationships was hardly as promiscuous as they made her sound.
"So the next day I went into the coffee shop to order some coffee, like legitimately," Quinn continued, resting her head back on Santana's stomach, "and Puck wrote on my cup that I looked pretty."
Santana rolled her eyes. The Noah Puckerman she knew didn't think, let alone write, shit like that. He was Wonder Barbie's Ken doll and had been just as obnoxious as his girlfriend all through freshman year.
"I know what you think about him, San," Quinn added quietly. "And I knew him as that guy, too. But after that, he'd meet me outside the studio every day with a coffee and a new little message. It…he started to grow on me."
"Quinnie, how is this the first I'm hearing about this?" Santana asked softly, trying to keep her irritation in check. "I was here practically every day after your dancing."
"I know how much you hate the jocks," Quinn mumbled. "And I didn't want to hear a told you so until I'd felt Puck out."
"Guess you did that," Santana muttered before her filter could kick in. "Sorry," she amended quickly. "We'll chalk that one under the Tourette's column, shall we?"
Quinn sighed. "So three weeks before school was about to start, he asked me out. Like, on a date."
"Could I interject?"
Quinn nodded.
"You knew that he was sleeping with Brittany the whole time, right?"
Quinn raised her head to look at Santana in surprise.
"Seriously, Quinn? Before Puck dumped her ass the first week of school, they'd still been going at it like rabbits."
Santana hated how much pain filled her best friend's eyes at the realisation that Puck had probably just been playing her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, pulling Quinn back into a tight hug.
She waited until the new set of tears had subsided before speaking. "So, I'm guessing he took you somewhere secluded where no one from McKinley would recognise you."
"H-he took me out to Gordon's Field," Quinn whispered. "He brought a picnic and everything. He was so sweet and funny the whole time and then he kissed me. It felt really nice and I kissed him back." Her shoulders started to shake again. "One thing just led to another, but he was actually quite gentle. It…it didn't hurt that much."
Santana sighed. "Well, I guess I'll have to take that into account when I'm breaking his balls."
"San, please," Quinn pleaded.
"Are you shitting me, Quinn?" Santana whispered furiously. "This guy leads you on, takes your virginity, knocks you up and you don't expect me to kick his ass?"
"I found out I was pregnant the day before school started up again," Quinn continued, ignoring Santana's question.
"Well, that would expect why I didn't hear from you all day," Santana muttered.
"I told Puck to meet me after dance and I told him. You should've seen his face, San. He was devastated. He asked me what I was going to do about-"
"Son of a bitch, I am going to kill him."
"He asked me what I was going to do about money for doctors and stuff, San," Quinn said.
"Are…are you keeping the baby, Quinn?" Santana asked in disbelief.
"I'm not sure," she whispered. "Noah's been amazing these last few weeks. He's been so attentive and caring. It made me think that maybe he really might actually care about me."
Santana leaned her head against the headboard. If she had to be honest, she had noticed Puck's lack of douchiness around her best friend. It sure as shit didn't mean that she wasn't going to have a few choice words with him.
"You're not going to tell anyone, are you, San?" Quinn asked fearfully.
"You insult me with the insinuation," she muttered.
"I just…I can't have anyone else knowing. Not until I've decided what I'm doing with…it."
Santana nodded. "You can trust me, Quinn," she said softly. "You know that, right?"
Quinn nodded.
"Why don't you try and get some sleep?" Santana suggested. "I'll wait till you're incapacitated before I leave."
"Can't you stay?" Quinn begged.
Santana smiled. "Sure. Just gotta let the battleaxe know where I am. She's probably salivating at the mouth, awaiting news of my impending return after my night of debauchery."
Quinn let out a giggle and Santana gave herself a mental pat on the back. She fired off a quick text to her mom.
"Wait, debauchery?" Quinn repeated.
"Yup."
"With whom?"
"One guess?"
"No."
Santana shrugged. "I decided to give her a try. And she's actually really full of surprises." She frowned, running through the events of the night. She didn't think she'd had such an up and down night in her life.
"So did you…?"
"You want a play by play?" Santana teased.
"Dear God, no," Quinn said quickly, rolling off her friend and onto the pillow next to Santana.
The Latina laughed softly. "We didn't. Not for lack of trying, though. Brittany walked in on us and just stared. Like she was staring. It was weird."
"Do you think she's…?"
"Wonder Barbie?" Santana chuckled. "Fuck no. Straight as William Tell's arrow. Although, she was acting a little strange towards Rachel and me. Maybe it's because she was drunk." She shrugged.
"I wonder if she knows about the huge crush you had on her the first half of freshman year," Quinn teased with a wicked smile.
Santana's eyes widened. "I swear if you ever say anything, I will post that video of you at last year's spring break party that we went to with my brothers."
"You wouldn't!" Quinn gasped.
"Try me," Santana said evenly, holding her best friend's gaze with a smirk.
Quinn sighed. "Fine."
She fluffed up her pillow and got comfortable. Santana settled down to lie flat on her back and stared up at the ceiling. After everything that Brittany had done to her, she'd actually pretty much forgotten about the butterflies that had stirred violently in her stomach when she'd first seen her.
"San?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you still think she looks like the most beautiful girl in all the galaxies?"
Santana grabbed the pillow from behind her head and threw it at Quinn, hitting her in the face. She turned around, facing the window and closed her eyes. She allowed a small smile to cross her face when she heard Quinn giggling softly.
After about ten minutes, she could hear Quinn breathing deeply so she let sleep pull her under too.
Santana grinned when she saw Quinn standing outside of the school. She pushed her glasses up her nose and jogged to her best friend.
"Hey," she greeted with a smile.
"Morning."
"Geez, when did you become your mother?" Santana teased, bumping Quinn's shoulder.
"We're in high school now, San. We need to start acting like adults."
Santana chuckled. "Quinnie, we're fifteen. We've got four years in this place. I'm gonna worry about being an adult when I actually get there."
"Santana, everything we do from here on will affect our future," Quinn said seriously.
"Jesus, what brain drain did your parents put you on over the summer?" Santana grumbled.
"I heard that," Quinn snapped.
Santana rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I plan to enjoy my time here because for the first time in the history of my school career, I don't have four hours of gym every day after school."
"You're seriously going through with that?" Quinn asked sceptically.
Santana shrugged. "My optometrist says that the contacts they make me wear aren't helping me at all. Besides, I'm over the competitions and the bitchiness and the endless cramps and calluses." She sighed. "I just want to be normal."
"You know what the definition is for that, right?" Quinn teased.
Santana raised an eyebrow in response.
"Not you."
"Joke of the day, ladies and gents," Santana said dryly.
"Face it, San, you're a dork. You're a geek and a nerd and a…"
Santana tuned her best friend out as all of her senses were completely taken over by a tall blonde making her way up the walkway to the front door. She was wearing tight jeans with a halter top, exposing a slight sliver of skin at the bottom. She was gorgeously tanned and Santana could see with her trained eye, that this girl was fit. She did something that made her incredibly muscular and toned, but not in a bad way. It was in a very, very good way. She had long blonde hair that sat on her shoulders in waves and she glanced at Santana as she walked past and the Latina felt her heart catch in her throat. No one in the history of all the worlds in existence, fiction or reality, could possess more beautiful eyes. They were a crystal blue that could rival any jewel's brightness and sparkle.
"San!"
Quinn was shaking her.
"What?" Santana snapped, her eyes never leaving the mystery blonde that disappeared through the doors of their high school.
"What the hell?" Quinn asked. "I've been talking to you, but you were totally ignoring me."
"Uh huh," Santana replied. "Come on, we should go and explore."
"Wait, what? Santana?"
The Latina pushed one of the doors open and looked around, spotting a flash of blonde disappearing around the next corner. She walked quickly to catch up and paused before she rounded the same corner. Next thing she knew, she was flat on her ass.
"Watch where you're going, freshman," a jock sneered disdainfully. "Yo, Abrams. Looks like we got your first victim of the new year!"
Santana frowned and pushed herself onto her elbows. Her glasses were askew on her face. As soon as her vision was properly restored, her eyes rested on the mystery blonde. And she was looking straight at her with a pitiful smirk.
Santana frowned.
"Welcome to McKinley, Four-Eyes," a nasally voice said above her.
She looked up and saw red heading for her face. Instinct kicked in and she pushed her feet against the lockers, rolling backwards onto the feet. She was crouched and looked up in time to see red slushie hit the floor that she'd been occupying not two seconds before.
"Whoa, Four-Eyes got some skills," the nasally jock commented with a laugh. "Just as well we have a two for one special on today."
Santana didn't even have a chance to react before she felt the cold slushie hit her head and drip down everywhere – the back of her shirt, into her bra, into her shoes. She shut her eyes and grit her teeth against the cold. Holy shit, it was colder than being hit with a fucking snowball. Probably because it was going everywhere.
Santana took a deep breath and stood up. She smirked at the jocks still standing close by and took of her glasses. Before they had a chance to react, she shook her head violently, sending bits of slushie flying everywhere.
"Bitch!"
Santana felt better when she put her glasses back on and saw the jocks covered in flecks of red slushie.
"Thanks for the shower, guys," she said, using her finger to catch some syrup running down her cheek and sucking it. "But next time could you go for grape? I'm not really a big fan of cherries. And preferably come up with a more original nickname? I'm pretty sure Four-Eyes is about as old as your haircut."
Santana turned and walked towards the mystery blonde who was now laughing openly along with a few other people around. And what a musical sound it was. She was pretty sure that no other laugh could ever sound as amazing.
"Santana!"
The Latina spun around as she was approaching the blonde and saw Quinn indicating that they go the other way. Her friend's eyes went wide when she took in the sight of her.
"What the hell happened?"
"Orientation," Santana muttered, shaking her arms of rapidly melting slushie. Hey, she was Latina. She was hot-blooded. Plus, she was pissed.
"Shit. What do we do?"
"Ladies, follow me."
The girls looked up to see a tall blonde teacher.
"I'm Miss Sylvester. I'll show you where the locker rooms are. And I'll get you a gym shirt to wear instead of that one."
"Thanks," Santana said with a smile.
They turned to follow the teacher and Santana glanced back to the mystery blonde and Quinn followed her gaze.
"Who's that?" she queried.
Santana sighed wistfully. "I have no idea. But she's the most beautiful girl in all the galaxies and I think I may just be in love."
Quinn chuckled. "You're such a dork."
Monday came around and Santana was on a mission. Screw her promise to Quinn. She was going to make sure that Fuckerman realised who exactly he was dealing with. Santana Lopez may get a slushie every day, but when it came to her friends, especially her best friend, shit got personal.
She completely ignored Rachel, who tried to catch her eye, and headed for Puck, who was standing next to his locker with some of his buddies after lunch.
"Hey, it's Lezpez!" one of the jocks cheered. "You and Berry bang yet?"
"So charming," Santana drawled. "And people at this school are so bewildered by my preference to women." She focused on Puck. "You, come with me."
"Uh, why?"
"Did I give a reason?" Santana snapped. "Let's go, Noah."
Puck's friends jeered him as Santana pushed past them. One of them made the worst mistake of their life by attempting a grope. Santana immediately stopped and spun around slowly. She was met with a cocky grin.
Oh, this day was just getting better.
"You know what the great thing about my ass is?" she said sweetly.
"It'd look good under me?" the jock leered.
Santana tried not to throw up.
"Hmmm, close, but no. It looks great because my three older brothers trained me to defend myself when assholes like you try and get frisky."
Santana allowed a few seconds for that to sink in before she raised her knee quickly, hitting him in the groin. She smirked as he doubled over in pain. Not wasting any time, she spun on her heel and grabbed Puck's jacket, pulling him behind her.
"Where the hell is she going?" Brittany commented, looking behind Rachel.
The brunette turned around and saw Santana practically dragging Puck behind her. The Latina pushed the door to the parking lot open and pulled Brittany's ex along with her.
Rachel turned back to her locker and swallowed. She was pissed at Santana, sure, but the secret that she'd been keeping all weekend was eating away at her. She'd never kept a secret like this before, especially when it was fodder for great gossip.
Only problem was, Santana would kill her if she said anything. And as angry as Rachel had been, she'd actually missed her too. Like insanely. She sighed to herself.
"Dude, he's not going to be able to walk for a week!" a voice chuckled behind her. "Lezpez got him good."
"What?" she asked, turning around.
Two football players stopped and grinned at them.
"Hello, ladies," Mike Chang said, swinging an arm around Brittany's shoulders.
The blonde rolled her eyes. "Back off, Chang. I still remember you making out with your sister at my party last year. Gross."
Mike threw up his hands in exasperation. "Christ! She's not my sister! We just have the same surname!"
"Whatever," Brittany replied, smirking at Rachel.
"Who's not going to be able to walk?" Rachel asked.
"Oh, Lezpez kneeled Kyle in the junk," Greg said, laughing. "I think he's still lying on the ground."
"Why'd she do that?" Rachel asked in surprise. Santana had never retaliated before.
"Kyle grabbed her ass," Mike said.
"Idiot," Brittany chuckled. "That's his own fault." She turned to Rachel. "You must've seriously pissed her off on Friday."
"They way I saw it, the opposite was happening," Greg teased.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Seriously, as if I'm going to tell you anything that happened."
"Nothing happened," Brittany said.
"B!"
"What?" Brittany shrugged. "You haven't shut up about it all fucking weekend. You still haven't told me why you guys left so quickly."
"Because you walked in on us and wouldn't leave," she retorted back, slamming her locker closed. "Excuse me."
Rachel stalked in the direction of the parking lot, smiling to herself at the look of shock and embarrassment on Brittany's face.
"Geez, Santana, I can walk, you know," Puck whined, trying to wiggle away from her vice grip on him.
"Nice try, Fuckerman," Santana snapped. "Your tricks may work on the girls who like what you have to offer, but you'll never get lucky with me so drop the act right now."
"What act?"
Santana pulled Puck in front of her and pushed him against the line of dumpsters. She considered it poetic.
"Don't fuck around with me," she said in a low voice. "I know about you and Quinn."
Puck's face showed an interesting myriad of expressions and Santana frowned. He looked scared, the relieved, then concerned.
"Who else knows?" he asked quietly.
"Just me," Santana replied, and Puck breathed out a sigh of relief, "and Rachel."
"What?" Puck barked, eyes blazing. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
Well, hello, Noah Puckerman that we all know and despise.
"She was with me when Quinn sent me the text," Santana said sternly. "Trust me, if I could, I wouldn't have let her see it. Regardless, there's nothing we can do about that now."
Puck ran a hand over his Mohawk and Santana rolled her eyes.
"What do you want with me, Santana?" he asked eventually.
The Latina replied by pushing him back against the dumpsters hard.
"The fuck, Lopez?"
"That was for lying to Quinn," Santana seethed, her eyes blazing.
She pushed him again and he landed heavily against them.
"That was for taking advantage of an amazing girl."
"Wait-"
"Shut up. You don't talk until I'm done," Santana snapped, holding up a finger.
Rage was shaking off her. Since starting high school and undertaking the daily slushies, she'd learned to keep a very tight lid on her temper, but this was about Quinn and she was like a sister to Santana. Family was always first for the Latina.
She pushed him back again, but he stood tall, his eyes narrowing. He took a step forward.
"What, you gonna push me back, Fuckerman?" Santana taunted, itching to beat the shit out of this piece of crap.
"Very tempting," he said through gritted teeth. "Are you done? Am I allowed to defend myself?"
"Answer me this," Santana replied. "When you slept with Quinn, were you or were you not still fucking around with Brittany?"
Puck's jaw tightened. "Yes."
"Great. That means I get to really hurt you now," Santana said with a smirk and clenched her fist, ready to let it fly towards Puck's face.
What she didn't expect was another hand to hold her back.
"Santana, stop it," Rachel said.
The Latina whirled around. "First off, you have no business being here right now. And second, touching me when I'm this pissed is highly ill-advised."
"Calm down," Rachel said firmly, tightening her grip on Santana's wrist. "I'm not letting you go until you unclench your fist. Don't even think about leaving, Puck," she snapped at the jock behind Santana.
She glanced behind and saw Puck leaning in resignation against on of the dumpsters, his hands in his pockets.
"Rachel, what are you doing here?" Santana asked in a low voice, trying to control her anger because she really didn't want to hit a cheerleader. She had no problem hitting jocks, but she refrained from fighting with girls as much as she could.
"I saw you drag him outside and I put two and two together," she replied. "I get that you're probably pissed as hell at him, but I'm pretty sure Quinn wouldn't approve of you doing this."
Santana scowled. "Rachel, you don't get it. He fucking played her the whole fucking time. He was still sleeping with Brittany when he slept with Quinn!"
"What?"
Santana and Rachel both turned and saw Brittany standing a few feet away, a look of disbelief on her face.
"You two-timing asshole. You slept with that fucking loser?"
"Be very careful about your choice of words, Wonder Barbie," Santana said through her teeth.
She felt Rachel tighten her hold on her wrist and part of her was thankful otherwise she'd probably be tearing Brittany's throat out in a matter of seconds.
"Will everyone just calm the fuck down?" Puck yelled in frustration.
"I don't think you get to say anything right now, Fuckerman," Santana retorted. "You're the cause of this whole mess."
"So that's why you dumped me?" Brittany asked, stepping closer to them. "You dipped your dick into a cherry pond and decided that I wasn't good enough anymore?"
"This isn't about you either, Brittany," Rachel said quietly.
"Pretty sure that I'm the one that got dumped here, Rach," Brittany replied. "So, yeah, I definitely think that this is about me."
"Typical," Santana scoffed.
"What was that, Lupus?" Brittany asked, stepping very close to the Latina. "You got something you wanna say to me?"
Santana strained against Rachel's grip, but the cheerleader was deceptively strong. She stepped between her and Brittany, looking up at her friend.
"I know you're not actually taking her side right now, Rachel," Brittany spat. "Because you know what a big mistake that would be."
"I'm not taking anyone's side-"
"Then let me go so that I can finally beat this bitch down to size," Santana said, her hard eyes meeting blue ones that once upon a time she'd claimed were the most beautiful eyes in the world.
The naivety of a freshman. Just as well you got a new prescription a few months later.
"Santana, back off," Rachel said firmly, glancing back. "Let me handle this. Go and talk to Puck."
The Latina held Brittany's gaze until she felt Rachel turn around and release her wrist. She immediately took a step forward, but felt two hands on either side of her face, forcing her eyes down. They met Rachel's and Santana strangely felt herself getting slightly calmer.
What the fuck? Does Berry have some psycho telepathic meditation voodoo shit going on?
"Please?"
It was one word and Santana couldn't understand how Rachel was controlling her actions so easily. What the hell was happening to her?
"You know who this is about," Santana finally said, looking earnestly into Rachel's eyes. "I need you to help me protect her."
"Could someone please clue me in as to what the fuck is going on here?" Brittany shouted.
Rachel nodded and released Santana, leaning up to peck her lips. "Come find me later?"
Santana nodded and met Brittany's icy gaze one last time before turning her attention back to Puck. He looked bored so Santana hooked a foot behind his knee and pulled, causing his legs to buckle.
"Jesus!"
"Yeah, you'd better fucking pray, Noah," Santana said in a low, but very firm voice. "For some unfathomable reason, Quinn actually thinks that you're a decent guy. Me, I'm pretty set on you being the world's biggest douchebag."
Santana glanced behind her and saw Rachel manoeuvring Brittany away from them, but the blonde was still sending daggers her way. Just to add gas to the fire, Santana blew her a kiss.
"Why in the hell did you not use protection?" Santana whispered fiercely, not wanting to risk Brittany overhearing her. "You knew it was her first time!"
"I-I-I honestly didn't expect anything to happen," Puck stammered. "Seriously. After spending a lot of time together, I found out that Quinn is actually a really cool chick that I really like. Plus, she's totally smokin'. I mean, obviously I'm attracted to her, but I don't think either of us meant for things to go that far."
"Yes, and a responsible young lad such as yourself couldn't possibly muster up the self-control to stop," Santana said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Puck shrugged. "Look, I've done my apologising to Quinn already and as far as I'm concerned, her forgiveness is all I need. I don't have to answer to you or Brittany or anyone else."
"See, that's where you're wrong," Santana replied, her voice hitching a little in anger. "Quinn is like my sister. And you knocked her up. Which makes me that really protective older sister. Only I can actually kick your ass. So be very careful about what you say to me. Got it?"
Puck nodded.
"Good."
Santana pushed him back into the dumpsters one more time for good measure.
"You're an asshole, Noah Puckerman, and not much will change my mind on that. Now, you're gonna go and find my beautiful friend and apologise profusely, begging her forgiveness for fucking around with her. She already knows that you were banging Wonder Barbie at the same time you decided to pop her cherry, so believe me when I tell you that she's less than pleased with you."
"You told her?"
"Just because I like girls doesn't mean we don't tell each other everything," Santana smirked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Look, Santana, I really care about her," Puck began.
"Do you want to keep the baby?"
Puck was quiet.
"You'd better be honest with me, Puck. Are you ready to have a kid? The whole nine yards? Waking up every three hours? Crying non-stop? Dirty nappies? Kindergarten? High school? College? Are you going to be there for all of that? Because let me tell you, if you fuck off somewhere at any point, I will find you."
"No," Puck said finally. "I can't have a kid. I'm seventeen. I don't…"
"Then you need to tell her that," Santana said, a little gentler. "I'm pretty sure she doesn't want a baby either, but you guys have to talk about this kind of stuff because it involves both of you."
Puck nodded. "I will. I'll talk to her after school. Cover for us with Miss S?"
Santana nodded. "Don't make me regret not castrating you, Puckerman," she warned.
Puck held up his hands. "Trust me, I think I'm pretty much terrified of what you could do to me. I'm not gonna fuck this up, ok?"
Santana glared at him for a few moments before satisfying her conscience. Puck stepped cautiously around her and headed quickly back inside. Santana turned around and leaned against the dumpster that Puck had been roughed up against. She let herself slide to the floor and dropped her head onto her knees.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that, but felt cool hands resting on her arms. She raised her head and saw Rachel's concerned eyes looking back at her.
"You ok?" she asked.
Santana shrugged. "Tell me that my sixteen-year-old best friend isn't pregnant and maybe I will be." She sighed. "Brittany?"
"I took care of her," Rachel said simply. Her fingers started to make soothing patterns on Santana's arms. "You wanna get out of here?"
Santana looked at her watch. "Yeah, I've pretty much missed all of Spanish, but I have Trig next so-"
"No, I meant get out of here," Rachel interrupted with a smile.
Santana blinked. "You mean skip?"
"You've never skipped, have you?"
Santana just shook her head. "I don't even think I can. I'd feel too guilty."
Rachel chuckled and sat down in front of Santana, crossing her legs.
"What?"
"I just find it so funny that you don't think twice about beating someone up, but skipping class weighs down on your guilty conscience."
Santana shrugged. "I'm a nerdy badass. What do you expect?"
Rachel smiled. "I expect you to live a little. Come on, what's the worst that could happen, huh?"
Santana looked down at Rachel's fingers drawing patterns on her arms, then raised her eyes to meet brown teasing ones.
"Ok," she breathed. "But we're going to the movies and I get to choose. And we have to come back for Glee."
"Deal," Rachel replied immediately with a huge smile.
She jumped up and pulled Santana to her feet.
"I have a feeling that you're going to be a very bad influence on me," Santana muttered, letting Rachel pull her to her car.
"One can only hope," Rachel replied with a wink.
A/N: Not too sure how happy I am with this chapter…Too much? Too fast? Too OOC from what I've already established? Hmmm…would love to know what you guys think.
-H