Chapter One
Arriving in the McKinley parking lot a good 15 minutes after school had started, Santana, despite appearances, was ready to take on the menace to her threadbare heterosexuality.
Lauren Zizes.
She hadn't been able to sleep all night knowing that Puck was fawning after Zizes when her fine ass was right here. It was also kind of stressful knowing that the best cover she had when it came to her occasional (okay, frequent) gay faux pas in the presence of Brittany and the odd very hot teammate was losing interest.
Bonus points for him being easy to please and enough of an annoyance to distract her from the thought of Brittany and her flavour of the week. (She supposed wheels were in lately.)
Having a mere two hours sleep at most, Santana had adopted a more dishevelled look than she was used to that fine morning. Pulling at the hem of her younger sister's t-shirt (judging by the horrendous print and healthy breeze on her midriff) she fixed her bag over her shoulder and stormed the front doors with one thing in mind. Take that bitch down.
Laces being tied were not a requirement for this, nor were matching socks, apparently.
…
Quinn, on the other hand, had started her day with the utmost preparedness, with her ponytail tight and her uniform perfectly pressed, she was determined to have a good day.
Having gotten back onto the Cheerios was a great relief in many ways, being the captain of the team and head of the school's hierarchy helped her to navigate McKinley and manipulate faculty easier than ever. She tried to ignore the occasional pang of guilt she felt as she recalled all the relationships she let fall to the wayside on her trail to the top.
One relationship in particular played on her mind more often than the others. But now was not the time to ponder on that.
It was worth it.
Or so she told herself.
She walked with purpose. To any onlooker that purpose had to have been important, right? Too right, Quinn realised as that walk came to a slow stroll, her eyes shifted down the corridors as she felt the telltale sign of a not-so-good day after all.
She had just gotten her period. Perfect.
With that, her purpose returned. She spun on her heel and headed quickly to the nearest restroom.
...
Santana was in luck. Lauren was already waiting for her when she arrived.
After reading the tweet Santana had posted at 4:53 am that morning saying, "poaching white rhinos isnt a crime taking my manz is" Lauren had had an inkling Santana would have been looking for her and decided to take control of the situation before the day had started.
To Santana's disappointment, she only had only gotten 3 likes.
"Santana," like butter wouldn't melt Lauren spoke in a mockingly sweet lilt. "What a joy to see you this morning. But my oh my," she glanced at the watch on her wrist. "What time do you call this? I've been waiting for you."
Stopping short, a look of surprise quickly flashed over Santana's features before she fixed them into a dazzling smile, "Lauren, a pleasure as always." Two could play at this game.
"Looking sharp this morning, Lopez."
"Oh, this little thing?" Santana dropped her bag to the floor and held her t-shirt out in front of her as she pretended to admire it. "I'll have to lend it to you sometime." That smile slipped into a smirk as she looked back up at Lauren.
"Hm, sure. So you think Puck's your 'manz' now? Didn't realise he was interested, y'know with all the time he's been spending on getting my attention."
"He'll wise up once he realises bestiality is illegal."
"Ouch. Spend all night thinking of that?"
Kind of.
"No," Santana ran her hands through her hair in frustration. The fun of the game they were playing had soon evaporated, maybe she wasn't in the mood for a battle of barbed words. Damn, she really wasn't feeling like herself. Shaking herself out of the unhelpful introspection, she pointed at Lauren, "You need to back of my mans, fors I ends you."
"Are you having a stroke?" Lauren snorted and squared up to Santana looking down her glasses at her with disdain. "Make me, bitch."
Today was not going to be the day Santana had to put her "straightness" to rest. She had to keep this, to have one thing to stay the way it was. Brittany had ditched her and Quinn had fucked her over, Puck's beard status was at Defcon 1. She was going to have to do something drastic to keep this.
God, when did I become so tragic?
Again, with the introspection.
Still not helping.
Maybe she'd have to give something to Lauren to remind her not to mess with her. The thing is, it wasn't like she'd ever fought with somebody stronger or more skilled than her 14-year-old sister (despite her many claims otherwise) and she was running on barely any sleep, so when she clocked Lauren on the nose instead of the slap she'd pictured her eyes widened and she said her prayers, cause she knew she'd fucked up.
"Oh fuck," she muttered under her breath.
Lauren, to her credit, took it in stride as she proceeded to take her glasses off in an eerily calm manner. When she'd safely tucked them away, she grabbed Santana by the scruff of her neck before the other girl had the chance to stop her. Once secure in Lauren's grip, she had little chance of escaping.
Sue's Human Cannon, who?
…Would have been the question on Santana's mind if she was not being launched into the lockers on the far wall. The sound of a body hitting metal reverberated down the empty hallway, reminding Santana that she was alone in this mess.
"What now? Huh?"
Maybe Lauren wasn't on the wrestling team for the undeniable aesthetic of a sweat-stained leotard. Santana stood up to save face, but she knew a losing game when she saw one.
She was a Cheerio after all.
So she did the gracious thing.
Fuck it.
She ran at Zizes only to be knocked on her ass again.
Okay, time to rally Lopez. Don't be a little bitch.
Third time's the charm, or so they say.
Regaining her footing once more Santana took a moment to centre herself. She could do this, David versus Goliath and all that. Taking a deep breath she locked eyes with Lauren who was close to laughing at her. That was enough to launch her into a grappling match with Lauren… for all of five seconds. She was pinned and squirming like a worm before she could blink.
"Ugh, get off me." Santana dramatically gasped out. "I can't breathe!"
Laughing to herself Lauren started to lean back on to her knees to give Santana some space. "Okay, but only if you promise to drop this shit. It's not cute."
God, she must be tired, because she felt tears burning behind her eyes, "Fine. Ruin my life, who gives a shit?"
Lauren wasn't the one to find any sympathy from, she knew this, so it surprised her when Lauren held out a hand when she had gotten up.
"You're messed up, you know that?"
Rolling her eyes, but sparing a defeated smile all the same, Santana finally nodded in agreement, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
"Now get out of here before I change my mind and beat your ass for real." Lauren gave Santana a smirk that told her she was messing with her. She felt a sudden gratefulness towards Lauren, a feeling she hadn't had toward many lately.
"I suppose he could do worse." You could do better. With that Santana grabbed her bag and hurried down the hallway, half in embarrassment and half in the effort to not find out if Lauren was being serious.
In her sense of urgency, she wasn't paying attention to what was ahead of her, and that meant a painful collision with one Quinn Fabray who was in a rush of her own.
Santana bounced backward, twisting with all the grace of Finn attempting a two-step as she fell into the lockers. Smacking her head against the corner of one of them, she felt a sudden searing pain and an immediate throbbing sensation that brought tears to her eyes.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Lying on the floor she sucked in a breath to manage the pain. She was sure she'd spent half of her day down here by now.
Wait a minute, why was she feeling so woozy? She tried to sit up, but felt too sick. Her stomach churned and she pulled a face that suggested she was about to up-chuck, much to Quinn's disgust. But no, she was good as long as she lay as still as she could.
With a groan, she reached for her head, eyes blearily opening before quickly shutting once more, her vision swimming and head banging. It wasn't all that dissimilar to the hangover she had last weekend.
Santana kept her eyes closed and felt the lull of unconsciousness drag her down. She guessed that much needed sleep was coming sooner than expected because it was lights out.
...
Lauren stood in shock and hurried to put her glasses back on having witnessed this dumb bitch go and finish the job for herself. Quinn shared her expression and leapt into action when she saw that Santana wasn't getting back up.
"I think she's concussed. Unconsciousness and nausea are not good signs," Quinn said, mostly to herself, but Lauren clearly heard her. "Can you help me take her to the nurse's office?" A barely suppressed desperation to her voice.
Lauren looked at the girl strangely. Cheerleaders were weird, full stop. That opinion had nothing to do with the wrestling team-cheerleading budget-induced rivalry, but rather due to the fact that the Cheerios were a special breed of insane. She was sure she'd witnessed a Cherrio in a neck brace compete as a flyer before. Like what the fuck?
And now here was Quinn, proving her point once more. Queen of being a cold, unremorseful bitch, playing all concerned over the girl she had no issue with throwing under the bus not so long ago.
She remembered the fallout. Hell, she had front row seats to the throw down in the hallway.
The groan from the dead weight on the floor brought her back to the situation.
"Yeah. Let's go." Lauren lifted a limp Santana as Quinn came to her other side to help to hold her up as they both carried her to the world's most questionable nurse. School budgets for you.
"My face, my beautiful face," Quinn breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of a whimpering Santana. It was a pathetic sight, truly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Santana grimace and Quinn smile.
"It'll stick like that y'know." Quinn murmured in amusement.
"Shh, please." Santana hushed back as she leaned her head nearer to Quinn's. Lauren caught Quinn's eye over Santana's head and rolled her eyes, making Quinn's small smile stretch into a full one as she bit down a laugh.
Once they reached the office, Quinn was quick to leave, mentioning something about the restroom, leaving her with the devil herself. She barely held back a small laugh of her own at the sight of Santana wallowing in despair over her potentially compromised beauty.
Cheerios, man.
...
Brittany had been sitting in the nurse's office watching Santana acting weird for at least ten minutes before she had to say something.
"San?"
"Yes, Britt?" Santana hummed, then laughed lightly as though she'd just told a joke.
"Are you okay? Lauren told me you hit your head pretty hard." Brittany looked on with concern. Santana had been so moody lately so she was hoping she wouldn't get the cold shoulder. Since their "break-up", Santana had been snapping at her and the rest of the club more so than usual. And that was saying something.
Lauren had texted her just before first period that Santana was in the nurse's office. When she arrived she noticed Quinn talking to the nurse briefly from the hallway before leaving, just missing her.
Not that Brittany minded.
"Me? I am... Or I will be, at least," Santana said genuinely, smiling softly as she looked Brittany in the eye before leaning back onto the bed and closing her eyes briefly with a grimace. Lolling her head to the side to look back at Brittany, Santana scrunched her nose. "Hurts."
Brittany gave a sympathetic look. "Well, what was with you wanting to fight Lauren this morning? She told me when I got here."
"Zizes isn't so bad after all."
When Santana said ridiculous things like that she normally had a mischievous look about her that meant she was thinking the opposite. Brittany had known Santana long enough to know the routine, but this time was different. She seemed serious. Did Santana actually… mean it? Brittany pursed her lips in thought as she held contact with brown eyes that showed no sign of naughty (not her favourite kind, anyway) thoughts.
"San, why'd you try to hurt Lauren?" Brittany reached for her best friend's hand, hoping to connect them more so than they had been these past couple of months. Things had been tense between them and they hadn't binged Sweet Valley High together in so long and the new season of The Real Housewives of New York was so good. Ramona was perhaps more insane than Sue. Santana would've lapped it up with her.
She thought back to when she decided to put her feelings first, she just couldn't sleep with Santana without dating her properly anymore. She didn't like pretending that the kisses they shared at parties were for show and she didn't like the way her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest every time Santana vied for some dumb boys affection to hide her true self. It hurt, sure, but it had to be done for her sanity. And now she had that dating kind of relationship with Artie. He was sweet to her and she thought she just might love him, but she loved Santana too. They were friends first, that's what she had to remind herself every time Santana had tried to shut her out.
"I just had a lapse in judgement. Didn't get my eight hours." Santana was avoiding the question, but she didn't understand why. "I don't want to talk about it."
"S, have you been taking that 'vitamin D' Mrs Schuester gave us a while back again? I don't think it's good for you. Tubbs had some too and he was a chimney for three full days. I had to confiscate his cigars."
"Britt, don't worry. I feel okay. I don't know what came over me." She gave Brittany a reassuring squeeze to her hand, her heart fluttering at the closeness they were sharing, but dropping at the thought it was to be short-lived.
"Okay, S. But I'm watching you."
Santana gave a shy smile in response.
"Hey, is that Lucia's?" Brittany said pointing at her top.
…
"Lopez! Heard my lady introduced you to the floor this morning." Puck hollered as soon as she entered the choir room later that day.
"You wish, Puckerman." Santana searched Lauren out and gave her a nod as she went to take her seat at the back of the room. Quinn came to sit next to her but didn't say anything for a while. Santana thought she had escaped any interrogation until Quinn asked if she was okay to which Santana told her to watch where she was going in future.
Quinn had scoffed at her, but she should have known better than to talk to her in any other tone than commanding. Even being at the bottom of the pyramid demanded perfection, or so she'd been told.
So be it, Quinn could be pissed off at her. Sure, she appreciated her carrying her to the nurse's, but that didn't mean they were friends. At least not anymore.
…
When Santana had entered the choir room Quinn's attention was piqued, she noticed Santana had since put on a sweatshirt that she didn't recognise as hers. The doting look from Brittany gave her a hint though. She was reassured... Reassured? She was just relieved when Santana chose to sit by herself near the back because it gave her a chance to talk to her and had nothing to do with the fact that it simply suggested to her that things were not back on with those two.
Quinn quickly moved away from leaning on the piano, deciding whatever Mercedes and Kurt were talking about didn't really need her input and sat herself next to her old friend.
She felt compelled to make sure Santana was feeling alright, she didn't even want to pretend that the reason she wanted to know was for the sake of the pyramid's structural integrity. It was quite the hit to the head and she felt lucky she had escaped unscathed.
When Santana quickly shut her down, she couldn't be surprised, but at least Santana seemed back to herself. Y'know, a bitch.
Thinking better of it Quinn moved a few seats over deciding a bit of space was probably better, she couldn't exactly claim to have the tamest of tempers herself, though by the time Glee had come to a close everything had gone without incident. Santana hadn't chimed in with any snide remarks, she even smiled a little when Sam tried to impress Mercedes with some new and tragic dance moves. When Quinn caught it she had to do a double-take. Santana smiling around here had been few and far between since the whole "Bartie" situation had gone down.
Quinn found herself thinking about Santana's smile on her way home that afternoon.
...
When Santana got home her brat of a sister was in her room, as per usual, rooting through her make-up and tossing items she didn't need onto her dresser. Their mom wouldn't be home until late and it had always been them two in the end.
Two peas in a bitch pod.
Santana pulled Brittany's sweatshirt over her head and threw it on her bed, already missing the smell of it. How sad, she thought. Brittany had moved on so she'd just have to do the same.
"Hey," Lucia looked up and grinned at her big sister, "don't you have your own clothes?" Nodding down at her sister wearing her top she let out a small chuckle.
"What can I say? I'm a fashion icon. A trendsetter some say." She threw her pillow at Lucia's head, successfully distracting her from making her room a mess. Okay… an even bigger mess.
"Hey! No fair, I wasn't looking," she ran at her sister and tackled her to the bed to roughly muss her hair. "How'd you like that?"
Squeaking in surprise from the impact Santana did her best to fight back, laughing between gasping breaths as she pinched at her sister's side to get her to stop. She flipped her hair out of her face and caught her breath. Lucia was the best brat she's ever known.
"I heard you last night y'know. Did you even sleep?" Lucia pulled at her own top on her sister.
"A little." She sighed.
"Is it Puck?" Lucia wasn't dumb. She knew her sister was a raging lesbian, but she also knew that her sister was a stubborn asshole too.
"I guess. I'm over that now though." Santana glanced to the side of her sister's head at her poster of the US women's soccer team that Brittany gave her when she was trying to encourage her to 'embrace her unicorn'. "I don't think it matters anymore."
"Oh? How come? Hit your head and finally come to your senses?" Lucia let out a little laugh at that but was taken aback when Santana laughed along with her. Their laughter was contagious, both of them encouraging each other until Lucia stopped, realising she didn't know what was so funny. "Wh-what?"
"It's just… it's definitely something like that. Not quite the right order though." She looked to her baby sister shaking her head as though that would explain things. "I don't know."
Santana flopped backward, landing on Brittany's sweatshirt, and smiled. She pulled it from under herself and folded it up neatly, tucking it into her bedside table. Out of sight, out of mind. And with that she gave a resolute nod to herself, catching her sister giving her side-eye and a weird smile before she slipped out of her room.
Shaking her head she closed her eyes and let the day wash over her. She supposed it wasn't such a bad day after all. Time to catch that shut-eye that she'd been waiting for all damn day.
