Hello, and welcome back. Sorry about the wait – finals. Here's the 'first' chapter, and since it's an actual chapter, it's a bit longer. In the next chapter, I may broaden the scope of characters that I follow around, since they'll all be returning to school after this one, which means that they'll get even longer. Enjoy!
Chapter One: Sunday Morning Surprise
She was sure that the giggling she heard in her head wasn't her own, until she spotted Quinn out of the corner of her eye, smiling but not giggling as she attempted to walk and remove her shoes in a drunken stumble. But, unable to stop herself from preventing the ridiculous sound coming from her upturned lips, Santana too continued on her way, removing her blouse in one quick scoop while also managing to bump into a lawn table. Stopping it from sliding against the rocked pavement, she turned to see Quinn holding one finger over her lips, laughing slightly. Santana had trekked across the Fabray grounds many times and their backyard pool area was practically her second home, especially during the summer. But the alcohol in her system made her feel like one of those toy ballerinas that twirled around endlessly with a pull from a crazed toddler.
"Come on, Lopez." Now standing in just her matching white bra and panties, Quinn reached behind her back. "This is your ridiculous tradition, and you dragged me all the way home when-"
"When you decided it was a good idea to start drooling over the jolly green giant that is Finn Hudson," Santana finished, trying to carefully undue her skirt. Once the zipper was down and still in tact, she thought it was best to glance in her friend's direction, the girl wasn't exactly the most stable drunk either. Her eyes landed on the back of the now naked blonde, pulling her hair back and pinning it up sloppily with her slender fingers.
The blonde looked over her shoulder. "It's now or never."
Santana started to feel flush as Quinn bent her knees before diving into the pool, her splash gentle and quiet, but it seemed to collide with Santana's stomach as if were an amateur cannonball. Stumbling over to a patch of grass, Santana doubled over-
"Wake up you pack of worthless heathens." Two phones sounded, vibrating loudly against the wooden table top. Santana reached over blindly, only grumbling slightly at the feel of someone's warmth as her arm extended towards the nightstand beside the bed.
Finally, her fingers reached the device, and keeping her eyes closed she turned off her phone, tossing it in any direction before letting her arm fall back onto the bed. When it landed on something solid and warm, and another phone started to sound with even more obscenities, she shot up quickly fumbling backwards until she fell off of the bed.
Rubbing the bottom of her back as she sat up, Santana squinted up at Quinn. "Damn it, Fabray, I told you to sleep on the floor last night."
"This is my room, Santana," the blonde said, attempting to run her fingers through her hair only to find that it was slightly damp and a bit tangled. "Great."
Santana looked around, finding herself in a pastel colored room. "Oh yeah."
"Sunday morning boot-camp surprise, get off your butt, Lopez," Quinn said as she got out of bed, walking into her closet and coming back out in her Cheerios uniform. "I'm so not showering when she's just going to have us sweating like a linebacker by the end of the day, sacred uniform be damned. She only makes us practice in them so we can go home and slave away scrubbing hours into the night," she said, rolling her eyes as she walked into her bathroom to brush her teeth.
Picking up her underwear and grabbing a shirt and some shorts from Quinn's dresser, Santana began to get ready for all the awfulness that was Sunday morning boot-camp. Figuring that she wouldn't be returning home the night before, she had mad sure to leave her Cheerios uniform in the car, thank goodness. "Hurry up, Fabray, I run twenty-six miles for no one, and the last time a freshman was late all the seniors slushied the shit out of her. They say she went blind."
Quinn walked out of the bathroom. "I don't think that's true."
"Whatever, that's what I heard," she shrugged. "You drive, I'll change on the way."
"Pathetic!" the woman yelled through her megaphone. "Each and every one of you." Turning off the object that projected her already too loud rantings, Coach Sue Sylvester began to pace in front of the pyramid of Cheerios, ignoring the ever growing shake of their limbs. "I will not tolerate such a disgrace."
Santana rolled her eyes, trying to stop her arms from shaking but it was impossible. For the past hour they had repeatedly gone into the pyramid formation, finishing up their gruesome practice with the last part of their routine for nationals. She was sure that it was illegal for their coach to demand so many practice hours from them, and she was also sure that all of them moving the woman's office items to a bigger office in the school qualified as child labor, but if there was one thing Santana understood about her extremely insane coach, it was her need for perfection.
The woman was trying to keep an image; she was the best, and the only way for that to be seen was through her Cheerios, so they had to be perfect as well. Santana was okay with that, one of her top goals was to reach perfection, after all. However, as she stood stuck in the middle of the pyramid, holding up one of the seniors that she loathed more than life, all she wanted to do was stick that megaphone so far up her coaches' ass that the woman's intestines would wrap around her vocal cords and put them all out of their misery.
"I'll give you one last chance to get this right," the woman said, finally stopping in front of the pyramid. Once again, she brought her megaphone to her lips. "Everyone, back to your assigned positions." The body of students dismantled themselves from one another, some stumbling a bit while others casually stretched. "Move it."
Putting a bit more pep in her step, Santana made it over to Quinn, who was flustered and sweating but other than that there were no signs of an physical exertion. Where Santana was breathing heavily, Quinn stood tall, her eyes fixed ahead of her. Somehow she was already in complete position, including her stance and as soon as coach gave the ready, Quinn's angelic smile spread across her lips.
"God, I hate you," Santana mumbled, getting into the same stance and putting on a smile of her own. Angelic wasn't really one of her expressions, but coach seemed to like to have a bit of sultry in the mix. Sex appeal was very important in the cheerleading world.
"Alright, here we go," Sue said as her eyes scanned the field. "One. Two. Th—What the?" Her brow creased, and her eyes turned into thin slits of rage. "Dopey," she yelled.
Looking over her shoulder, Santana tried to follow her coaches' line of sight without getting herself into trouble in the process. When she was finally able to spot who the woman was now walking towards, her eyes landed on the new girl picking little yellow flowers in the middle of the field, completely oblivious to the seething woman heading in her direction. Seeing that the woman didn't use her megaphone for once, Santana was unable to hear her coaches' words, but she could clearly see Brittany jump when she finally noticed someone was standing over her.
"If we end up having to run suicides after this, I will make it my personal goal to make that girl's life a living hell," Quinn said calmly, still standing with her in position with that same smile on her face. "I cannot do this for another six hours, my skin feels like it's literally melting, and I'm pretty sure I have a sunburn underneath my uniform."
"It's fucking January, Fabray," Santana said, scoffing at the other teen's complaints.
"My point exactly," Quinn mumbled. "I'm burning up. I'm never drinking again."
Having heard that before, Santana simply ignored her frienemy, continuing to watch as her coach continued to talk to Brittany, who mostly looked confused. Then suddenly the girl was clapping excitedly as Coach Sylvester turned around rolling her eyes, heading back to the head of the group. Turning her head quickly, Santana prayed that her coach didn't see her looking as she passed by. Then, she glanced over her shoulder one last time to look at the new girl, with a frown on her face. No one, no one, walked away smiling and clapping after a talk with Sue Sylvester.
"Lopez!"
Santana faced forward, no look of surprise, guilt, or fear on her face; only that sultry toothed grin as she held her head high, and her coach seemed to except that, calling for the routine to begin and so it did. Santana went through the motions, occasionally glancing over at Quinn to make sure they stayed in exact formation with one another. If there was anyone she could tolerate being at her side when she became the head bitch of McKinley it was Quinn Fabray, and she was sure the blonde felt the same way about her. They hadn't known each other for that long, after all, Quinn was new to the Lima district, and yet they spent more time together than they spent with anyone else. Keep your enemies closer, was the theory Santana went with to explain their friendship, though it wasn't so unpleasant to have someone around just in case she one day decided that the weakness that other girls displayed in front of each other wasn't actual weakness. That seemed very unlikely, but there was nothing wrong with having options.
As the routine was about to finish up, Santana noticed that the new girl was suddenly in her line of sight, which made no sense. She glanced over at Quinn, who also noticed the other blonde but merely shrugged it off and continued on her way. Santana, however, found herself suddenly unsure of her movements as the tall slender blonde twirled and flipped in her direction.
"What the fuck?" she mumbled, her smile falling.
"Smile, Lopez. I know happiness is not your natural state but nobody wants to see a constipated Spaniard in a skirt," Sue yelled.
Ignoring the lack of knowledge of her actual race, Santana quickly recovered her smile, readying herself to go up into the pyramid formation but once again Brittany twirled by her, her long legs stretching into the air as her hands seemed to bounce off the ground before they even touched its artificially green surface.
"Pyramid," Sue sounded. "In three...two..."
Just as Santana did one last kick and started to turn to get her position she found herself face to face with Brittany who was just coming out of a flip and was unable to stop her forward motion. They collided with force, Santana being knocked onto her back with a quiet, "omph." Groaning, she opened her eyes just in time to see the whole pyramid fall apart before it was halfway built, a few of them hadn't realized that one of their key blocks of the pyramid was sprawled out on the ground beneath a giggling blonde.
Realizing that she was in fact hearing giggling, Santana's eyes turned to the blonde who was slowly sitting up with a slight look of pain, mixed with a smile. "Whoa," the blonde. "I didn't see you, sorry."
For once in her life, Santana actually had the urge to except an apology, as those bright blue eyes shined down at her with an innocence she was sure she herself never possessed. The warmth of their tangled limbs threatened to engulf her, and despite her already high body temperature she found it strangely comfortable. Her tired body relaxed for a split second before she regained herself, pushing the blonde off of her. "You will regret this," she said, through grit teeth as their coach approached them.
"Lopez!" she blasted through her megaphone, despite her close proximity with the two girls. "You are exactly seven inches to the left of your assigned position. Unacceptable!" Lowering the obnoxious object, she crossed her arms, glaring down at them. "Now Dopey here seems to actually be able to bend backwards and grab her ankles."
"Totally," Brittany said, nodding. "I can totally do that."
"And though she seems to lack any real brain power, I think she can help us win nationals with all that freak bendiness, and we don't have time for you to-" Sensing that everyone was staring at them, Sue turned to the rest of the Cheerios, lifting her megaphone. "Dismissed."
The object squeaked, and Brittany covered her ears, while Santana took the opportunity to give the girl the look of death, but it only seemed to confuse the other girl, which made the Latina even more frustrated.
"Now," Coach Sylvester said, turning back to them as the rest of the Cheerios left the field. "The two of you owe me ten suicides across the entire field. Enjoy your evening, ladies, I'm going to go home and vaccinate the rodent that trims my eyebrows while I sleep. My assistant will wait for you to finish, seeing that I'm not aloud to leave students unsupervised on school grounds."
Brittany frowned. "My cat's afraid of the vacuum."
It was official. She hated Brittany Pierce. She hated the way the girl had bounced onto the field at the beginning of boot-camp as if she hadn't been out all night partying, drinking, and probably having sex with Puck—which may not have taken much energy, but still—she hated the way the girl twirled her hair and stared into space instead of listening while coach gave instructions, and yet somehow managed to still follow them; and she especially hated the way the girl was basically running circles around her as she finished off her third suicide. No, scratch that, she especially hated the fact that the blonde had managed to steal the attention of all the boys that usually drooled at her feet, and impress Coach Sylvester, though the woman would never admit it. Sue Sylvester didn't just assign anyone the hardest flips and twirls of a routine, and the fact that Brittany had already gained one of the privileges of being a top dog, when she herself had barely made it to the middle of the pyramid was beyond off-putting. It was infuriating.
When the sprinklers began to spray onto the field, she growled in anger. "This has to be the worst day of my life," she grumbled, as Brittany bounced by her squealing with delight as she ran through the water. "You know, this water is full of fertilizer chemicals, right?" Santana asked, slowing to a stop and folding her arms as moved to the edge of the field. She wondered whether it would be better to continue doing suicides and let Coach Sylvester's assistant, Jacob Ben Israel, experience what was probably one the many wet dreams he had about each and ever female Cheerio from his spot on the bleachers, or risk Coach Sylvester kicking her off the team for insubordination for not completing the assigned suicides.
"It looks like water to me," Brittany said, spinning around in the sprinklers. She opened her mouth. "Tastes like water, too."
Santana crossed her. "There's something seriously wrong with you." Suddenly the other teen, who wasn't that far away from her, started running towards her making Santana unfold her arms and take a slight step back. "What are you doing?"
"Come on," the blonde said, grabbing onto one of the Latina's arms.
Pulling her arm away, Santana couldn't believe someone had the nerve to even reach in her direction. "Don't touch me," she said, appalled.
"You know...cooties aren't real."
Santana scoffed. "Of course I know that."
"Then, come on," Brittany said, with a smile. She approached the girl again, quickly tapping the other teen's arm. "Come on."
"Seriously, don't do that," she said, recrossing her arms.
The blonde did it again. "Come on."
"I should warn you, I am capable of murder," Santana said, her eyes slanted as she shot daggers in the other teen's direction, but the girl only giggled. She giggled. Then, she tapped Santana again. "That's it." Ignoring the fact that beating up another Cheerio was forbidden, Santana moved to retaliate only to find herself hitting air as the other girl turned and took off running through the sprinklers. And again, she was giggling.
Fuming, Santana ran after the girl, ignoring just how good the cool water felt hitting her brown skin. "You best be ready, Blondie." The blonde simply continued to run and laugh, she even clapped. "And stop with the giggling, you sound like a horse turned roadkill via mack truck."
There was no way she was going to catch Brittany, every time she thought she was close, the girl would just speed up again. A few times, she even circled around Santana and tapped her on various body parts before taking off again, making Santana turn in circles, confused as to how it was possible for the girl to even do that. The constant giggles began to lose their annoying ring in her ears, and she soon found herself laughing along with the blonde. Sure, they were supposed to be running suicides, and she hated the other girl's guts, but for some reason she couldn't stop herself from laughing and running after her fellow Cheerio. It was strange, the warmth she felt in her cheeks and chest; they were so foreign to her, a rare occasion that she couldn't remember happening just while laughing and chasing someone.
When Brittany finally let herself be within reach of the Cheerio, there was no burst of violence; no punches or insults. She reached back and grabbed Santana's arm, pulling her along through the sprinklers one more time before heading off the field, both of them soaked. "Wow, that was so much fun," she bounced.
Santana was breathing heavily, her laughter making it harder to pull air into her lungs, as her heart pounded hard against her chest. Fun? Was that what she had just experienced? Parties, she found fun; there was drinking, the occasional smoking, and the sex...which was rarely fun. Winning, she found fun; all the cheering, praising, and making the losers feel like shit about themselves. But running through the sprinklers with the new biggest threat to a title she was determined to get; the laughing, the chasing, the smiling – No.
She stopped laughing, took a few deep breaths and straightened herself as best as possible in her soaking state. "Whatever. I'm gonna hit the showers," she said turning towards the school building.
"Cool, me too," Brittany said, following the other Cheerio. "I'm Brittany," she beamed.
Santana kept walking, picking up the pace a bit to see if the girl would leave her alone, but she just continued to follow her. Sure, they both had to hit the showers, but that didn't mean they had to chat or walk together. However, the girl just stared at her obviously expecting her to respond. "Yeah, I know, we've been introduced to each other before and I've seen you everyday for the past week, multiple times a day."
"Hmm, I don't remember your name though," Brittany said, with a frown.
Once again, she hated Brittany Pierce. There was no one, no one, who didn't know the name Santana Lopez at McKinley. Not only was the girl trying to swoop in and take everything that was hers, she was doing it without even noticing that Santana even existed, and that was the biggest insult of all. "Look." She stopped, turning to face the blonde. "Don't think that little run in the sprinklers means that we're friends. I was hot, and when cold water hits my skin, it tickles so I was laughing. But we are not friends. Santana Lopez doesn't do friends."
"But aren't you friends with Quinn?"
"Trust me," she said in an eerily quiet voice. "You want to stop talking now." How had the girl managed to remember Quinn's name, but not hers? With that, she turned to enter the building, sure that Jacob Ben Israel wouldn't rat them out since they gave him a wet Cheerios uniform show. She would make sure to find him the next day, just to be sure, but there weren't many people that had the guts to do anything like telling a teacher on her. That would be suicide.
Before she could finish grabbing her things from her locker, she heard a single shower turn on. Everyone else was gone, so there was only one person who could have been in the showers, humming loudly as the water bounced off skin in various pitches. Santana rolled her eyes, automatically annoyed by the blonde's presence. She made sure she had everything she needed and then headed towards the shower stalls, spotting Brittany immediately. The blonde stood beneath the steaming water, the muscles of her slender back flexing as she moved to run her fingers through her damp hair. Santana gulped, a certain tingling and throbbing building between her thighs as she watched the other girl start to lather her skin with thick soap suds that slowly began to run down her skin with the cascade of water.
Tearing her eyes away, Santana decided it would be better to shower elsewhere. She returned to locker to quickly get dressed, and exited the locker room without looking back. When she walked out into the parking lot, she was surprised to see Quinn waiting for her, thinking to herself, "Pff, Santana Lopez waits for no one."