Emily Fields is late for PE. This doesn't ever happen to the jock, but WMHS is not Rosewood High and Emily is still getting used to her new schedule. She still doesn't know which end of the school is the gym and which end is the cafeteria. A boy's voice interrupts Emily's thoughts.
"Are you lost?" a boy in a wheelchair says.
"Was I that obvious?" Emily says. She hands the curiously dressed boy (he looks like he's been lost in the sales rack of a Brooks Brother outlet store) her schedule.
"Ah, PE, you're going to want to go that way and make a right when you hit the end of the building."
"Thanks," Emily says. She stops and turns around. "I'm Emily." She extends a hand.
"Artie." He smiles before completing an impressive 360 spin on his wheelchair. He waves goodbye as he retreats down the hall wheeling backwards. Emily shakes her head and smiles before realizing again that she's late for her class.
Sue Sylvester's head snaps to attention. A new student, a tall brunette girl, wanders into the edges of her peripheral vision. It's the morning gym class before lunch and several high school girls are currently attempting to play dodge ball. The new girl in question stands before Coach Beiste-not in her PE uniform and apologizing about a mix up in her schedule. Sue grimaces to herself when Beiste kindly points the new girl in the locker room's direction. Sue herself would have demanded laps. A familiar voice rings out through the gym.
"Heads up!" Quinn Fabray yells as a bright red bouncy ball flies towards the tall brunette's head. Sue's eyebrows raise as the girl whips around and catches the ball. She smiles menacingly to herself. Beautiful and athletic, she's found her new head Cheerio. Sue waits until the girl wanders into the locker rooms to pounce on her.
The new girl jumps when her locker door slams shut. Sue's bright track suit and smile flashes menacingly at the girl.
"Hi new girl. I'm Coach Sylvester and you're my new head Cheerio," Sue says.
"I'm sorry? I-. My name is Emily. Do you know where I can find a PE uniform?" Emily asks.
"Well, Emily. You're new here. So let me fill you in. I've decided to give you a chance to have a perfect life here at William McKinley." Sue takes a step back and sizes Emily up. "Tall…but not fat enough to break the pyramid…" Sue mutters loudly to herself before looking a bewildered Emily in the eyes. "Cheer season doesn't officially start til-"
"Wait. I'm not a cheerleader. I'm actually a swimmer."
"No, no, no. You want to be popular here, you become a Cheerio!" Sue says, ignoring the girl's words. Emily glances around the seemingly empty locker room. She starts to wonder what it is that attracts frightening aggressive people to her when she's alone in locker rooms.
"She's not even the Cheerios' coach anymore!" a girl's voice calls from the recesses of the locker room. Flames burn in Sue's irises as Santana Lopez appears from behind a row of lockers. Emily's brow perks in interest when Santana arrives at her side. The girl is gorgeous. "Ex coach Sylvester here got fired because she almost killed her cheerleaders by shooting them out of a circus cannon," Santana says.
"It was a carnival cannon, Silicone Spice." Sue glares at Santana. "You've made a powerful new enemy, racially ambiguous bride of frankenteen," Sue spits outs before turning on her heels and charging through the locker room doors.
"It's cool, she's always like that," Santana says to Emily as they watch Sue tackled various students into lockers while hollering Hungarian war cries. The locker room door swings shut, once again leaving them to a quiet room.
"Thanks for helping me dodge that bullet," Emily says with a shy smile. "I'm Emily."
"And I'm ditching PE. You can borrow my clothes," Santana says, handing Emily a neatly folded WMHS PE uniform. Emily blushes when she realizes Santana is just standing there with her tanned arms crossed over her chest, leaning against a locker, watching her. Emily can feel her ears burning as Santana's eyes sweep up and down over her body. She can't quite tell if she's sizing her up or checking her out. Emily meets Santana's eyes.
"You know, I think I should know your name before you get to watch me change," Emily jokes in an attempt to gain some of her confidence.
"Santana," Santana says quickly with a smirk. Emily blushes into her locker as she loses her confidence again under Santana's gaze. The locker room door opens and a hulking silhouette fills the frame. Coach Beiste's arrival saves Emily from any further embarrassment.
"Ms. Lopez, I hope you're joining us today." Coach Beiste holds up a meaty hand when Santana starts to object. "I know you have a spare uniform. If you don't have a red ball in your hands in five minutes I'm failing you and we'll be having this talk again when you're in PE again next year."
"I'll probably skip half of it again anyways," Santana says, filing her nails.
"We're having a dodgeball tournament and winner gets a free dinner at Breadst"
"Fine!" Santana huffs before Beiste can finish. She pushes off the lockers and disappears into the next row over.
Fifteen minutes later, Santana and Emily find themselves the lone surviving members of their dodge ball team. Brittany, Quinn and an overly muscled senior field hockey player stare at them from across enemy lines. Emily ducks as the spongy red ball sails inches above her head. She quickly stands and whips her ball at the senior. The large girl barely blinks as the ball bounces off her chest. Brittany and Quinn glance at each other as the senior lumbers off the court.
"Wow ladies. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the energy today," Coach Beiste says after blowing the whistle. "Take a water break before you girls finish this."
Emily blinks as Santana drags her off the court to the water fountain at the far end of the room.
"We need to win this," Santana says as she guides Emily to water fountain.
"I still don't get why-" Emily starts. Santana holds up a hand to shush her.
"Girl, let me tell you about Breadstix…" Santana begins.
"You don't think the new girl wants to be prom queen do you?" Quinn asks Brittany as they watch Santana and Emily from the other side of the room. "I mean, she's really pretty and people have been saying she's really nice," Quinn adds. The shorter blonde squints as Emily runs a hand through her hair. "And she has the ethnic card on her side…" Brittany frowns as she watches Emily laugh at whatever Santana's saying.
"…wheelbarrow. So that's why we have to win this. Are you with me or should I just use you as a human shield while you're still standing?" Santana asks after quickly filling Emily in on the joys of dining at BreadStix.
"I'm in…but you should definitely use me as a human shield…" Emily says. Santana cocks an intrigued eyebrow. Emily blushes when she catches Santana admiring the way too small PE uniform on her taller form.
The strategy is simple, really. Santana hides behind Emily's taller form and sporadically ducks out to whip balls at the enemy blondes while Emily bats incoming balls out of the air with a ball in her hands. The girls exchange a violent volley for a few minutes before Emily surprises Quinn. The tall brunette drops the ball in her hands and catches the ball thrown by Quinn and effectively shields herself from the Brittany's incoming throw.
"Fabray is out!" Coach Beiste's whistle pierces the air and echoes around the gym.
Santana and Emily grin at each other and high five. Brittany frowns. Santana hardly ever smiles genuinely while she's on school grounds. It's in the single moment Brittany takes to dissect Santana's body language that Emily's perfectly thrown ball collides with the side of Brittany's head.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Emily is horrified at the accuracy of her throw. Santana scoffs as Emily jogs to Brittany's side, all the while apologizing profusely. This is exactly what she doesn't need, another painfully nice female in her life. Santana shakes her head as she stalks over to Coach Beiste.
"Dinner for two at 8 tomorrow night. Shall I put the reservation under Santana or Emily?" Coach Beiste says before the ex Cheerio can speak.
"Tomorrow? We don't get a gift certificate or something?" Santana asks.
"Well, if you were to ever come to class, you'd know the terms of the dodge ball tournament. Plus, it's a Friday, I'm sure if you can't clear your evening someone else can."
"Santana," Santana replies quickly. "Put the reservation under Santana."
The halls of WMHS bustle with students rushing back and forth between classes. Emily checks the crumpled schedule in her hand as she stands in front of her locker. She sighs when she realizes she has chemistry for the next two hours. She lowers her schedule and looks up to see Santana casually leaning against the locker next to hers.
"So. You, me, Breadstix, tonight at 8," Santana says coolly.
"Tonight?" Emily says. The taller girl looks down at her own outfit and frowns. "I have a swim tryout after school. I'm not going to have time to change."
"Girl, I have Glee Club after school too. And we's be going to Breadstix, not prom." Santana takes the schedule from Emily's hands.
"What's Glee Club?" Emily asks. Santana holds a hand up as her eyes skim across Emily's schedule.
"Honey, I know you's a jock but try to focus," Santana looks up from Emily's schedule. "Breadstix, tonight, 8. You in or out?" Santana asks. Santana reaches into Emily's locker and pulls out her Chemistry textbook.
"I'm-" Emily barely gets a syllable out before Santana cuts her off.
"Go to the auditorium when you're done swimming." Santana commands before Emily can answer. "You can manage finding that can't you?" Emily nods. Santana smiles not unlike a Cheshire cat. Santana opens Emily's tote and slips the chemistry book in before wordlessly walking away. Emily's eyes drop to the retreating girl's derrière and she can't help but admire it for a second before Santana stops and turns to look back at her. "And you don't need to change…your shorts are crunchy toast." Santana adds with a smirk. Emily follows Santana's gaze down to the pair of worn jean shorts she's wearing. Emily smiles at her new acquaintance's aggressive personality. She internally shakes her head at herself as she imagines Spencer's crossed arms and disapproving frown, Aria's gentle slap on the wrist, and Hanna's sigh and eye-roll. It's just so typical of her to be attracted to the hot bitch in charge. Emily stops herself at that thought and hopes that Santana will turn out to be nothing like Allison.
WMHS is nothing like Rosewood High. But water is water and Emily finally feels like she can breathe again as chlorinated waves wash over her. Her last hours in Rosewood were depressing to say the least. All she remembers are her friends' tears and how much it hurt (physically and painfully) when Spencer hugged her too tightly and refused to let go at the airport. Damn those field hockey/tennis toned arms. She's spent the last week numbly walking through the halls, ignoring the stares at the new girl, all while replaying her tearful last hurrah in Rosewood over and over again behind teary eyelids.
But now, she sprints through familiar lanes. The rush of water streaming over her body stills her mind. The welcomed burn of her muscles overreaching heats her from within. Arm over arm, long stroke after stroke, Emily drives herself to push harder. She can feel herself speeding up. Her old coach would say she's finally found her 'zone'. She doesn't even need to look to know she's nearing the edge of the pool. Her body throws itself into a perfected flip turn. Her feet touch the pool wall and a powerful push sends her hurtling back toward the other end of the pool underwater. She doesn't feel the tiles in the pool wall splitting under the balls of her feet. Before she knows it, she's nearing the other end of the pool again. She breaks the surface of the water and pulls herself up onto the edge in one swift motion. She doesn't feel anything at all-not the thumping in her chest, the burn in her arms and legs-it's like her blood is electric and she can't keep up with herself. She does however, jump in her own skin when Coach Beiste punches a large dent in the equipment locker.
"Fields! You just broke the boys' freestyle record!"
"So I made the team?" Emily smiles when she realizes the locker punch was one of joy.
"Made it? You can be the new team captain if you want!" Coach Beiste pats her roughly on the back before sauntering off with a large grin on her face. Emily can't help but smile to herself as she grabs a towel. The large clock on the natatorium wall catches her eye. Emily quickly wraps herself in the towel and heads to the locker room. She's not entirely sure what Glee club is, but she has a strong feeling Santana won't want to be kept waiting. The girl is very passionate about breadsticks.
The auditorium is dark. The stage is lit and Emily can see a few kids dancing around it. As she pushes the door open, Michael Jackson's Dirty Diana fills the air. Emily slips quietly into the back row and watches as Santana starts in on a solo. Emily frowns for a second when the lyrics change to another song. It takes a second to realize they've done a mashup of the chorus of Andre 3000 'Roses' and 'Dirty Diana'. The songs surprisingly compliment each other. Her jaw drops when Santana starts singing. The feisty girl's voice is amazing. Santana prowls across the stage like a tiger on the hunt and the stage is her prairie. A short brunette girl starts singing the next verse and Santana harmonizes far too passionately to be considered a background singer. The fiery girl's dance moves are both sensual and angry at the same time-perfectly in tune with the song's electric guitar riffs. Emily blushes in the dark as she comes to conclusion that she is very much attracted to her angry dodge ball partner. The last notes of the ending guitar solo are still ringing when Emily jumps up from her seat and starts clapping. Her feet carry her to the edge of the stage.
"Oh my God! I can't believe you didn't tell me you're such an amazing singer! And the dancing! I didn't know this what people did in Glee clubs!" Emily's words come out in an excited ramble.
Santana stands shocked on the stage. She didn't think Emily would be ready earlier than her. And she sure as hell didn't mean for Emily to see her angry performance. Quinn narrows her eyes when she recognizes Emily's face. A nerve-racking image of Emily wearing her prom queen tiara flashes through the ambitious blonde's mind.
"Hi, I'm Mr. Shuester. Are you thinking about joining?" Mr. Shuester says to Emily.
"Hi, I'm Emily. And no…I don't know, I can't really sing," Emily blushes, taking her eyes off of Santana to acknowledge Mr. Shuester for a moment. "Seriously Santana, that was amazing," Emily continues. She's too busy looking at Santana to see Tina, Brittany, Quinn and Rachel staring at her.
"Wow, check out the new girl," Tina whispers loudly to Mike, Artie and Brittany. "She's hot." All three of them turn to Tina and give her a strange look. "What?" Tina sighs.
"Santana, I think you should talk your new friend into joining," Mr. Shue says.
"Maybe next time," Santana says. "But tonight we's be going to Breadstix." Mr. Shue nods and backs off. Santana hops off the stage and gathers her bags from the folding auditorium chairs in the front row.
"How was the tryout?" Santana asks as she attempts to guide Emily out of the auditorium.
"Wait, you do this here everyday after school?" Emily asks, pausing in the aisle. Santana rolls her eyes and continues up to the doors out of the auditorium.
"No, we meet in the choir room most of the time," Mr. Shue says.
"Am I allowed to watch?" Emily asks. Santana pauses in her tracks and turns around.
"No-" Santana begins to say.
"Yes! Of course! You're welcomed to sit in any time you like," Mr. Shue says.
"I think I will," Emily says. "You guys were all amazing." Emily smiles at the rest of the Glee club before turning to catch up with Santana, who's at the top of the aisle, waiting to leave the auditorium.
"Hey, so, I don't want to be rude, but…are your Glee Club friends spying on us?" Emily asks. She peers from behind her menu playfully. Santana puts her own menu down and turns around. She catches the top of Puck's Mohawk ducking down behind a planter. Santana parts the plants next to their booth and sees the rest of the Glee Club nonchalantly reading their menus and idly stirring their drinks with bendy straws at a large table across the room.
"Sorry Emily. Believe me when I say that they're not usually like this." Santana glares in their general direction. Puck gives them away again as he cowers away from Santana's deadly look.
"It's ok," Emily smiles. "Do you want to join them?"
"No," Santana answers a little too quickly. She smiles to save herself when Emily's brow furrows. "Quinn, the perfect looking blonde, is only here because she wants to scope out the competition."
"Competition?" Emily says.
"You're the new girl. Word on the street is that you're inhumanly sweet. You already made the Varsity swim team. And you're smoking hot," Santana says. "She's afraid you're going to steal prom queen from her." She looks at Emily like she should already know this
"Oh," Emily says with a relieved smile. "That's not really my thing."
"What about Finn? The one with the dopey gassy infant look on his face?" Santana asks, pointing Emily's gaze towards Finn.
"Also, not really my thing," Emily says with too much conviction. Santana cocks a curious eyebrow at her.
"Then you and Quinn will probably be bffs by the end of next week," Santana says. "So...if Finn's not your type, what about Puck?" Santana makes a shark fin motion over her head. Emily laughs quietly into her drink and shakes her head no.
"Definitely not for me."
"Well, then you won't have any problems with the endangered white Rhino in the corner either."
"Ouch, that was a little harsh," Emily says.
"Well considering that blimp broke three lockers playing shuffle board with me up and down the halls…" Santana growls under her breath. Emily's face fills with concern as she visualizes Santana's last sentence. Her hand shoots across the table and lands on top of Santana's. The girl across from Emily freezes in her seat and fights the urge to turn and check if the spying Glee clubbers noticed the hand touch.
"Sorry, I…Are you ok?" Emily stumbles over her words. Her eyes search Santana's with genuine concern. Santana swallows the harsh (but reflexive) words bubbling up in her throat. She smiles wryly and looks up to meet Emily's gaze.
"I'm fine…it was just a bad time for me." Santana pauses and studies Emily's face. "Look, you're new here and there's something you need to know about me…" It's obvious Emily has come from a place without a harsh, bullying student population. She doesn't want to drag the sweet girl down. Santana's eyes dart to the side. "If you plan on making friends in school, and I mean real, nice friends, you probably shouldn't be seen hanging out with me."
"Why? Do you have cooties or something?" Emily smirks.
"I'm kind of a huge bitch," Santana says. "No, seriously. I'm the top bitch in school. People legit fear me." Santana gives Emily a strange look when she starts laughing quietly. She decides not to mention any thing about her newfound realization that she's a lesbian.
"You're nice to me," Emily says, laughter still in her voice. Emily says. As the words leave her mouth, Emily remembers where her hand is. The taller girl quietly pulls her hand away. She grabs her glass of ice water and her fingers busy themselves with the bendy straw.
"Santana. New girl," Rachel Berry's voice invades their personal space before they have a chance to bask in their first moment of uncomfortable silence. Both girls look up to see Rachel standing in front of their booth.
"Are you stalking us, Man Hands?" Santana snaps.
"Not at all. Kurt invited me to dinner with Mercedes and Blaine," Rachel says. "Oh they're here early and it looks like they've found the rest of the gang." Rachel waves at the growing number of Glee kids seated around the large table on the other side of the room. "I'd invite the two of you to join us, but it looks like you're quite happy with your privacy. Enjoy your date!" Rachel smiles sweetly, oblivious of the animosity pouring out of Santana's eyes. She turns on her heels and walks away before Santana can form a tangible comeback.
Santana Lopez almost-read almost- loses her cool when she thinks for a minute that Emily might have heard rumors about her and her sexuality. She knows she's a hot bitch, but she doesn't want to have anyone, especially Rachel Berry, starting rumors about how Santana Lopez is a gay sexual predator who's trying to take advantage of the sweet new girl at William Mckinley. Across the booth, Emily freezes in her seat. She wonders if rumors of her sexuality have really made its rounds through her new school. She hasn't really talked to anyone, but she did reject advances from several members of the football team.
"Sorry," Emily and Santana say at the same time.
"Why are you sorry?" They both say again in unison. They both open their mouths and find themselves speechless for a moment.
"Ladies. Have we decided what we're having for dinner this evening?" Santana and Emily look up to find their waiter, fully appreciating his impeccable timing. Santana looks at Emily; she staring intently at her menu and can't seem to process a single word on the laminated page. Emily's definitely not ready to order.
"No, but I'll have a vodka club," Santana says without missing a beat. "With lime…and make that a double," Santana adds.
"I'll have the same." Emily smiles at the waiter. Santana cocks an eyebrow at Emily. She has to admit she didn't peg Emily as the type who indulged in underage drinking. Their waiter looks in his manager's direction and quickly decides he's going to serve these two blatantly underaged girls adult beverages if it means he might have a chance at getting with either-or wishfully, both of them.
"Thanks," Santana pauses to read their waiter's nametag. "Josh." Santana gives him a smile with an extra order of eyelash batting. Emily notices this display of what she mistakes for flirtation and frowns behind her menu. Santana rolls her eyes after he leaves with their drinks orders. "What a creep," Santana mutters.
She looks over to the Glee kids' table and squints when she sees Puck texting furiously. The Mohawk clad boy looks in Santana's direction sporadically between rapid keystrokes on his phone. Santana's phone buzzes. She see's a new message waiting for her. She glares in Puck's direction again. Emily follows her gaze and frowns. She slaps herself mentally and berates herself for ever thinking she had even the slightest of chances with Santana. Everything about the girl screams pretty popular bitch-that usually means straight and boy crazy. Puck seems, and looks like the jealous jock ex boyfriend. Emily noticed (but didn't admire) his guns as she passed him in the gym when coach Beiste gave her a tour of the school's sporting facilities.
"I'm, uh. I'll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom," Emily excuses herself from the table and makes a beeline for the bathroom. Puck sees this and immediately jumps up and slides into her side of the booth. Quinn quickly follows and wedges herself into Santana's side of the both.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" Santana asks.
"We should be the ones asking you that," Puck says. Santana glares at him and suddenly there's a sharp pain in his knee. "Ow!" Puck hisses when Santana kicks him.
"Seriously, what are you guys doing?" Santana repeats.
"I just wanted to know how things are going with the new girl. " Puck waggles his eyebrows suggestively. "Ow!" Puck hisses again when Santana kicks his other shin.
"We're only here because we won that dodgeball thing Beiste made us do in PE," Santana says. Quinn opens her mouth but Santana speaks before she can get her first word out. "And no Quinn, she's not even a little interested in Prom Queen or Finn." Quinn smiles at this.
"Well, that's all I need to know," Quinn says. She pats Santana's shoulder with approval before sliding out of the booth.
"Right…Cause her being smoking hot has nothing to-"
"Puck," Santana cuts him off. "I'm aiming in the middle the next time," Santana warns. Quinn frowns as she processes the reason why Puck is curious about Santana's dinner date. She shouldn't, but she feels a tinge of jealousy over the fact that Santana might find the new girl attractive. To Quinn's knowledge, other than Brittany, she's the only other female in WMHS Santana has ever been attracted to. (It's one of the few reasons why they've remained friends throughout their tumultuous relationship).
"Fine, fine! Just…behave." Puck says. He hunches over in the booth, shielding his man parts from a kick that doesn't come. "Text me all the details later," Puck says with a lecherous wink as he slips out of the booth before Santana can kick him again.
Across the restaurant, Emily sees Puck making his quick retreat back to his table. She frowns again as all the evidence points to the conclusion that Puck and Santana have unfinished business. She pauses for a moment and waits for their waiter to deposit their drinks at their table before leaving the bathroom corridor.
"Wow. You were thirsty," Emily says when she reaches their booth. Santana's glass is half full.
"Yep, sure was," Santana says. She winches at the bitchy tone in her voice. "Sorry, my friends are being stupid," Santana says.
"Is that Mohawk guy your boyfriend?" Emily asks before taking a gulp from her glass.
"Ex. Gross, I know," Santana says. Both girls look at Puck then each other and start laughing. "I'm so over guys."
"I'll drink to that," Emily says, raising her glass. Both girls finish their drinks within seconds. Santana scans the room and catches their waiter looking at her. She lifts her glass and points at it and signals that she wants another round. The sleazy waiter grins and gives her the ok hand motion.
"Wow, getting busy already I see," Artie says as he rolls up next to their table. "Hi Emily," he smiles. Santana squints at their interaction. She didn't know they knew each other.
"Hey Artie," Emily smiles. Santana thinks she's blushing but it's really the alcohol.
"Santana," Brittany says as she walks up behind Artie. Brittany smiles and waves at Emily.
"Brit." Santana crosses her arms and looks up at her ex lover, now friend.
"Behave tonight," Artie says, shaking his finger at them before looking up at Brittany. Brittany takes the handles of this chair and starts pushing him to towards the table of Glee kids.
"Ladies, here's another round. Your food should be out shortly," their waiter says, setting down four glasses. "These two are original cocktails my boy Greg made for you," he says, pointing to a grinning bartender. "This round is on the house," he says before leaving them to their drinks.
"Are they always this nice here?" Emily says.
"Only when you're this good looking," Santana smirks. Emily blushes (for real this time) and tucks her hair behind her ear. They both raise their glasses in a toast.
Quinn, Brittany and Puck gawk as Emily and Santana power through another round of drinks. They frown at each other as the other member at their table start laughing about something Rachel says. Quinn, Puck and Brittany love their friends from the Glee Club, but they do miss their days as the popular kids in the school. Alcohol and marijuana fueled weekend parties did get monotonous after a while, but now, as they watch Emily and Santana drinking and laughing the night away, they start feeling the itch of a party building up inside.
"Hey guys, wanna do something fun tonight?" Puck says, ignoring a glare from Rachel for cutting her off.
"Seriously! You'd die in Rosewood!" Emily laughs. She pushes her plate across the table and slides out of her seat. Santana reaches out and grabs her arm as she stumbles to the other side the booth. Emily lets Santana guide her onto the seat. Alcohol has emboldened both girls and the idea of personal space is an idea long forgotten as Emily leans into Santana's side. "Look at this," Emily says as she pulls up photos of Rosewood on her phone. "I literally lived like a five minute drive away from all off my friends," Emily laughs. She barely notices that her leg is draped over Santana's, or that Santana's hand is on her thigh. Her hair falls over Santana's shoulder. The smell of her freshly shampooed hair fills Santana's senses. Silky waves of hair brush against Santana's cheek. Emily throws an arm on the booth behind Santana to brace herself as she reaches across her for her drink. Santana watches as Emily catches the straw between her lips. Emily smirks at Santana as she sucks on the straw. She holds the cup to Santana's lips and watches intently as she drinks.
"Girls," Puck says as he slides into the booth. "Can I?" he looks at Santana's unfinished drink. Santana scowls but pushes the cup towards him. He downs the rest of her drink in a gulp. "So, you girls interested in coming to a party tonight?"
The entire football field is flooded. Thanks to Puck's arsenal of delinquent skills, the entire track and field's sprinkler system is going full force. A pile of discarded shoes and socks sit dry and safe from harm at the top of the bleachers as their owners drunkenly chase each other across the soaked grass.
"No! Santana please!" Quinn shrieks as the tanned girl behind her closes the distances between them. The sound of bare feet slapping into soggy grass fills the air night, punctuated by squeals, shrieks and the occasional masculine whoop. The wind is knocked out of Quinn as Santana tackled her into the high jump landing pad. The blonde looks up to see Santana straddling her torso, knees planted firmly on both sides of her chest, high enough up under her armpits she can't move at all.
"Come on Q, roll," Santana says. The girl on top of Quinn holds out her fist. Perfectly manicured fingers uncurl to reveal a slippery die. Santana drops the die on Quinn's chest and her now free fingers inch towards the buttons on Quinn's drenched cardigan. "Or strip," Santana smirks.
"Perv," Quinn rolls her eyes halfheartedly. She sighs again before reaching down her own shirt and plucking the die out of her cleavage. Santana leans back and watches as Quinn rolls the die onto her own stomach.
"Ladies and un-gentlemen! We gots ourselves the first six of the evening!" Santana yells over her shoulder.
"Watch out for the Asian Sensations!" Mike Chang screams. Santana's eyes widen at the sight of him. Mike's t-shirt is tied around his head ala Rambo. Emily is sitting in one of the Glee Club's spare wheel chairs. Mike has positioned Emily, in the chair, at the start of the vaulting runway. The football player starts running and they're barreling down the thin strip of track. Mike jumps up onto the back of the wheelchair at the last second before the wheels hit the gap between the end of the runway and the beginning of the uncovered long jump sand pit. The chair comes to a near halt and suddenly Emily and Mike are sailing through the air towards the landing pad. They hit the pad next to Santana and Quinn. The sound of Finn and Artie whooping fills their ears as they follow suit. Their dismount is less graceful and they end up flying into the front of the pad.
"My legs! I can't feel my legs!" Artie screams. Everyone stares at him. Rachel stands shocked at the edge of the track. "Just kidding!" Artie cackles. Finn wipes the wet grass off his face and laughs. He picks Artie up and tosses him into the landing pad before leaping in himself. By now, the squishy landing pad is sunken in the middle. All the water from the sprinklers starts collecting in the middle, effectively smothering Quinn and Santana for a moment. Before Quinn can finish sputtering water out of her face, Emily is laying next to her. Emily brushes Quinn's wet hair out of her eyes and grins drunkenly.
"Sip or strip," Emily slurs. At that moment, the stadium speakers crackle to life and Snoop Dogg's 'Wet' starts pumping over the field.
"How appropriate," Santana smirks, watching Quinn take the flask from Emily. The kids count 6 hippopotamuses as Quinn drinks.
"Ack!" Quinn sputters when they hit six. "Your turn treasure trail!" Quinn tosses the die at Rachel, who's made her way to the edge of the landing pad. The short singer looks shocked when the plastic die bounces off the front of her chest.
"Come on! Do it to it Berry!" Finn yells. Rachel tentatively picks the die up and rolls. She rolls a 1, until Artie leans on the landing pad and the die flips one final time, showing a 3. Rachel lifts the flask to her lips. Her eyes meet Tina's. She nods encouragingly. Rachel Berry closes her eyes and throws caution to the wind and kicks back the flask. The raucous applause she receives is suddenly interrupted by the shriek of a microphone turning on. The song playing stops abruptly and the coughs fill the night air. All the heads on the field look up to the stadium-announcing box. The glass windows are almost completely opaque with smoke.
"Boys and girls, I interrupt your usual programming to invite you to the now open hot sky box," Puck's voice says in a smooth, faux late night slow jams dj voice.
Emily starts giggling. A loud, wet slap echoes through the air as she throws a palm against her own forehead. Santana watches curiously as Emily's hand slides down to cover her mouth as she fights to stop laughing. Spencer and Hanna would kill her right now. First the drinking, now the weed. They would threaten to send her off into the woods to feed bears with Maya if she didn't leave this instance. Emily sobers up for a second and rolls to her side. She looks into Santana's concerned eyes and suddenly the feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach evaporates. She might not know Santana that well, and truth be told, Santana might not be the best influence available in terms of a new friend at a new school, but something about the girl makes Emily feel safe. It's like Santana won't let anything happen to her.
"You ok, five foot nine?" Santana asks.
"I'm fine." Emily smiles. "I just can't believe I'm getting off to such a great start here," she says.
"You don't have to jump in the hot sky box," Santana says. She can't help but smirk at how dirty her sentence comes out sounding.
"Oh, no, I'm definitely down to jump in there," Emily laughs. She rolls off the side of the pit and starts jogging towards the bleachers. Santana and the rest of the kids roll off the pit and follow the tall brunette across the field. Quinn stops and waits as Finn helps Artie back into a chair. Rachel is the last one off the pit. She looks at Quinn, and the blonde knows the short Jew isn't quite comfortable with smoking for the first time. Quinn rolls her eyes but grudgingly falls behind to stay with her.
"I just…I don't want to hurt my voice," Rachel says quietly to Quinn. Quinn doesn't tell her that just being in the box while everyone else is smoking will probably do the job.
"Whatever dwarf, let go find some towels," Quinn says. She doesn't really want to be stuck babysitting, but she knows what it feels like to be left out and although she isn't quite friends with Rachel, she thinks the poor girl has suffered enough socially.
Santana walks straight into Emily's back when she enters the announcement box. The smoke is so thick it Santana doesn't even realize it's Emily she's bumped into until she's literally up against the taller girl.
"Where is everyone?" Emily asks quietly. She yelps when Santana pulls her to the side and pushes her up against a glass wall.
"Ow!" Mercedes and Tina yell when they walk straight into Mike.
"Sorry, didn't want you to be road kill," Santana says. Emily looks down to see the shorter girl leaning entirely against her body, effectively pinning her against the wall. Somewhere between the drinking and extreme second hand smoke, Santana has lost the ability to stand up right.
While the girls had the decency to enter by slipping in through a slightly cracked door, Finn has thrown the door wide open to fit Artie's chair.
"Ow ow," Puck drawls. Emily and Santana look around and see that the smoke has cleared quite a bit and everyone in the room is looking at them pressed up against the wall. Santana almost stumbles back, but Emily catches her by the elbow and pulls her back to her feet. The movement is too much and Santana falls against Emily again. Brittany's eyes narrows as she watches Santana lean into Emily. She can't hear what Santana is saying, but she can see Emily shaking her head gently and smiling. Brittany's squint turns into a full on glare when Emily reaches up and pulls Santana's head to her chest. Santana mumbles something else into Emily's shoulder and both girls laugh quietly. A strong gust clears the room completely.
"Shut the front door David and Goliath!" Lauren barks from where she and Brittany are sitting on the counter.
"Sorry," Finn says. He quickly wheels Artie in and parks him next to Brittany. "God, it's going to take forever to get back to zero visibility," Lauren sighs. "Babe, light me," she says to Puck, who's sitting on the floor, ready to light the bong. She positions the monster bong between her knees and takes a huge rip.
"Impressive, Zizes!" Artie laughs.
"Wrestler lungs," Lauren says before exhaling. The resulting cloud completely envelopes Artie. She passes the bong to Brittany. The blonde grips the bong and looks up at Emily and Santana again. Her eyes widen when she sees Emily looking back at her. Brittany panics for a moment. She hopes Emily didn't see her glaring. Brittany actually really likes Emily. She felt really bad after hitting her in the head with the dodgeball when everyone else was laughing and cheering at the headshot. Also, Emily is now in her Chemistry class and she helped Brittany pass her first pop quiz ever.
"Come on babe, show em how it's done," Artie says to Brittany. Brittany breathes a sigh of relief when Emily smiles at her and heads over to where she's perched on the counter. Brittany scoots over and Emily sidles up next to her. The blonde looks up again and this time she smiles to herself before taking a hit from the bong-Santana's attention is all on her. 'As it should be,' a tiny voice in Brittany's head says. She passes the bong to Emily before exhaling an impressive cloud over the tall brunette.
"Yeah yeah, dancer lungs," Brittany whoops. Artie pumps his fist.
"That's my girl," Artie says. Brittany smiles at him. She leans down to give him a peck on the lips.
"Come on Fields, lets see what you got," Puck teases as Emily readies the bong. Artie tosses Santana the lighter.
"Assume the position Lopez," Artie jokes.
Brittany finds herself frowning again when Santana kneels and looks seductively up at Emily from the bong bowl. The blonde's eyes flit between Santana's familiar, devilish smile and the growing blush on Emily's cheeks. Santana suggestively runs a hand up and down the length of the giant bong and waggles her eye brows before sparking the lighter. No one notices as a pout consumes Brittany's usually perky features. The muted sound of a song through the glass walls and bubbling water fills the otherwise silent room as Emily starts her hit. Pair by pair, eyes widen as Emily continues a seemingly neverending toke. Finally the bubbling stops. Emily signals frantically for Santana to pull the carb. In an impressive last hurrah, Emily clears the entire meter long bong. The room is silent as Emily holds her breath. Emily shoves the bong into Brittany's hands and motions frantically with her hands. Santana misunderstands Emily's fanning the air for stand up and take this rip from me through a kiss (it means goddamn this is almost as hard as swimming the entire length of the pool underwater).So without thinking, Santana stands up and pulls Emily into a kiss. Their lips meet and Emily thinks she's dreaming for a second (she's just to high to realize she's not) and she reflexively kisses back. Everyone watches slack jawed as they kiss for a brief moment before Emily starts exhaling into Santana's mouth.
"Oh shit," Mike mouths behind his fist. Tina squeezes Mercedes' forearm until the diva slaps her away in pain.
It takes a good few seconds for Emily to finish exhaling into Santana's mouth. Brittany frowns. She's not sure if it's her imagination or if she actually sees tongue action between the two for a moment before they pull apart. She wonders why she cares. Santana has to watch her with Artie all day, and Emily is
Lauren steps forward and catches Santana as the shorter brunette staggers on her feet.
"Holy shit," Santana gasps, smoke still floating from her mouth. Lauren leans Santana against the counter, next to Emily.
"Holy swimmer lungs New Girl. Emily Fields, you are officially my home girl." Lauren says seriously to Emily. "If anyone, and I mean anyone, fucks with you, they'll have to answer to me," Lauren continues. "We clear?" Lauren looks pointedly at Emily and pushes her own glasses up with one menacing index finger. Emily nods. A tiny pip escapes from Emily's mouth when Lauren gives her a rough hug. Lauren turns to look at Santana. "And you, tiny tots, just for introducing me to this smoky bear, you my home girl too," Lauren says. She reaches out and holds out a hand. Santana shakes her head but smiles as she slaps Lauren's hand, giving her a slow high five. "This is my jam!" Lauren exclaims when a slow song starts playing. Puck nearly falls over when Lauren yanks him roughly into her lap.
"What is this?" Emily says after listening for while.
"Shhh, it's a dirty Glee Club secret," Santana says in a hushed voice. She takes Emily's hand and pulls her just outside of the glass door. "For some strange reason…" Santana drawls. "Playing Justin Beiber is an automatic panty dropper for the Glee chicks." Santana directs Emily's gaze into the room. Tina is on top of Mike, Puck is locked into Lauren's lap, and Brittany is sitting in Artie's lap.
"I'm shocked!" Emily says as she witnesses everyone but Mercedes getting their mack on. Emily slowly turns her gaze to Santana. "What about you? Does the Biebs make the Lopez panties' drop?" Emily teases. She mentally slaps herself and Hanna for even having 'the Biebs' in her vocabulary. She looks to Santana for an answer when she realizes Santana is still holding her hand. The shorter girl holds her hand up and looks Emily deep in the eyes. Emily's heart thunders up into her chest. Santana holds her gaze intently for a moment before she starts singing along to the song playing over the PA.
"…It's a big, big world, and I'm gonna show you all of it…" Santana playfully guides Emily through a twirl. The taller girl obliges and bends down to pass under her arm. A shiver runs down Emily's back as the next line drips from Santana's lips. "I'm gonna lace you with pearls, oh…from every ocean that we're swimming in…" Santana smiles at Emily and encourages the taller girl to sway with her for a moment as they listen to the cheesy song. The swimmer blushes intensely. Images of her and Santana diving through crystal clear Tahitian waters flash through her mind. She can almost feel Santana pouring a pouch of large, smooth pearls over her naked back. As the song draws to a finish, Santana looks down at Emily's shorts. She smirks. "Did those panties drop?" Santana teases. Emily's weed encouraged lack of verbal filter at the moment almost lets her blurt out yes when a small cough interrupts them. Emily drops Santana's hand at the interruption. Brittany stands in the doorway, her phone hangs from one hand. A bewildered look flashes across her face for a moment before the blonde remembers what she wants to say.