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Chapter 2

Oh yeah. And they have a new cross country coach.

Santana quietly followed Sugar back to their seats. Luckily Santana knew the rest of Sue's introductory speeches for this meeting, because all she could focus on was the new blonde cross country coach and her head nod.

Santana vaguely heard Quinn mumble something to Sugar about the way Santana was acting, but San ignored them.

After Sue ended the meeting, Emma, Sue's athletic assistant raised the lights and all the coaches started to file out of the auditorium. Santana absent mindedly followed Sugar and Quinn out when she heard an abrupt, "Miss Lopez" from the stage.

Sugar stopped, but Santana wasn't paying attention and walked right into her. "Umph, sorry Sugs," Santana mumbled under her breath. Sugar and Quinn gave Santana a weird look and continued out of the auditorium with the rest of the coaches.

Santana turned around and put her hands behind her back, "Yeah, what's up?" She tried to look cool after walking into Sugar, especially after noticing that the hot blonde was standing beside Sue.

"Miss Lopez, would you be so kind as to show Miss Pierce to her office? She doesn't know the campus yet." Brittany smiled at Santana over Sue's shoulder and Santana just about melted.

Sue turned to Brittany. "As cross country coach, you get an office. Your team doesn't get a locker room, because you only have one home meet that barely counts for anything, but you're right across from the volleyball locker room and the swimming one is right around the corner, so your team is allowed to use either of them if needed, although I can't imagine what a few nerdy runners will need with an actual sports locker room…" She ended her rant. "Anyway, thanks Santana." Sue smiled at her. "Now I'm off to drink some protein shakes, watch Grease, and make some bad decisions. Have a good night ladies." Sue turned, barked some orders at Emma and was off.

Santana turned to Brittany.

Gosh, she was even prettier up close.

"Hi, I'm Santana. Welcome to the coaching staff." She smiled at Brittany and held up her hand in a nerdy wave.

She was all kinds of off her game in front of this blonde.

She threw her hand down, silently scolded herself for being so lame, and turned around so she wouldn't fall or walk into anyone. She led Brittany out of the auditorium and was met by Sugar and Quinn waiting for her.

"Hey guys, meet Brittany, she's the new cross country coach." Quinn and Sugar both smiled knowingly.

"Welcome aboard, it's good to have another female coach around here." Quinn smirked at her.

"Yeah, too many hunks, I mean men, around here sucks." Sugar giggled and looked at Quinn.

Santana rolled her eyes at the two of them and hoped Brittany didn't pick up on their teasing.

"Ok guys, I have to show Brittany to her office, so I'll meet you tomorrow on campus and we can have dinner before our practices."

Quinn looked at Santana over her shoulder. "Sounds good. Have fun with cross country, Snixx." She smirked and walked away with Sugar.

Sugar smiled and waved at San, "See you for practice manana, head coach!"

Santana led Brittany the opposite way.

"Your friends seem nice," Brittany chimed in and matched Santana's pace, walking side by side with her.

"Yeah, they are pretty great. I've known them both since college." Santana couldn't explain why she felt nervous in front of Brittany. "Anyway, come on. Your office is through here." Brittany followed as Santana pointed out the gym and then as they got closer to the office, the swimming and volleyball locker rooms. Brittany stopped in front of the trophy case.

"Oooh looks like volleyball had a lot of plaques, trophies and medals in here." Her eyes roamed over the case. Volleyball was one of the best sports at this college since before Santana went here.

"Yeah, they have a really good volleyball program here." Santana rolled her eyes at herself. Wow, could she have sounded anymore lame?

Brittany's eyes continued to look around. "I'm not seeing anything related to running though. What's the deal with the cross country team here anyway?"

"I should ask you the same thing. What is the deal with running for sport? I make my girls run when they miss a serve or get aced. I don't get the idea of running for the sake of running."

Brittany looked up at the ceiling, but her eyes seemed distant. "Yeah, not everyone gets it. There's just something about pushing your body to the limit, knowing you're the only person that's holding you back. It's such a mental game. Running just lets out something that I haven't been able to find in any other sport…"

Santana couldn't help but think she wanted to push Brittany's body to some limits herself, but she couldn't disagree more, "Nope, I don't get it at all. I run, but I try to avoid it as much as I possibly can and prefer anything else to it."

Brittany just shrugged, "Suit yourself; thanks for showing me to my office." She turned and put the key in the door and just like that, she was gone, leaving Santana feeling weirdly alone in the hallway.


The next night at dinner the girls couldn't help but give Santana a hard time.

"You were practically drooling over her, San!" Sugar laughed.

"Yeah, did you show Brittany her "office"?" Quinn winked and put her hands up in air quotes.

"Maybe you guys did a few miles on the track?" Sugar insinuated, wiggling her eyebrows at Santana.

Santana blushed and Quinn and Sugar laughed at her red face.

"Shut up, nothing happened!" Santana was used to their teasing and usually let it slide, but seeing how this was probably going to continue all season, she wasn't feeling it today.

"You know what; I don't have to listen to this." Santana got up from the table, feigning sensitivity. "And I'm making the girls do an extra circuit tonight and they can thank you for that, Sugs!" San walked away from the table to put her dishes away but not before she heard Quinn crack another joke at Sugar and they both busted up laughing.


It had been 5 long days since Santana had seen Brittany. Santana knew that cross country usually practiced around 4PM and Santana had the late hours of the gym this week from 6-8PM, so she had no reason to be in her office early. However, the past few days she had been coming in a little early hoping to run into Brittany; not too early as to look desperate, but she hadn't caught a glimpse of her yet.

By Friday, she couldn't take it anymore. She got to her office before 4:00 and was looking through her play book when she heard voices in the hallway.

"Speed work out today!" She heard Brittany's chipper voice.

Santana's heart skipped a beat.

A collective groan sounded.

At least she had more than one person on the team. Santana was happy about that.

"Coach, no, please anything but that! I can't walk from those hill repeats from yesterday."

"Now, now, Captain Marley. We will not get beat in the final stretch to the finish line. Speed work will help with that, especially when your muscles are already tired. Head out to the track and jog a mile warm up. I'll meet you out there in 5."

Santana waited a good 15 minutes before she left her office; she didn't want to look like a stalker.

She made her way out to the track and hid behind the bleachers. She saw Brittany standing with a stopwatch in her hand, near the 200 meter mark, looking adorable.

"Marley, stop turning around! It doesn't matter who's behind you, just keep looking forward! Turning around slows you down and wastes valuable time!" Brittany was scolding the girl who was in the lead. There were 3 other girls on the track; 2 not far behind Marley. The final girl was very, very far behind and she was walking.

"Coach, I don't think I can make it. Do you think I can hold a stopwatch and yell with you?"

"Unique, stop walking! This is your first lap!"

"I can't do this, Coach… Marley is my best friend and roommate and I'll be your biggest cross country fan, but there is no way I can run in a race." The girl had one hand on her chest and was fanning herself with the other.

"Hey VB, I see you over there. Come on down here." Brittany yelled and waved at Santana scrunched under the bleachers.

Santana could have kicked herself for getting caught spying on Brittany's practice. She jogged over to where Brittany was standing. "Hey, just checking in. How's everything going?"

"Girls, take a quick water break, don't drink too much. Then back on the line." Brittany instructed her team before turning to Santana.

"You know, I have 4 girls, counting Unique who was not made to ever run in her lifetime, and I need 5 to make a team and we have our first meet a week from tomorrow. But I'm not stressed, it's fine." Brittany rubbed her forehead and took a breath, putting her hands on her hips and smiling at Santana. "How are you?"

"Good, the team looks ready for the season. I'm making the final cuts tonight and then I'll have my team."

"Must be nice to have enough girls that you have the option to make cuts." Brittany responded with mock jealousy.

"Hey, I might actually have an idea." She bit her bottom lip and looked at Brittany. "The few girls that I cut, I'll send them your way. They're not exactly cut out for playing volleyball. Maybe you'll have better luck with them."

"Yeah, maybe you can casually mention that we need a few more runners." Brittany smiled and walked over to her bag. "Do me a favor, give them this for me?" She handed Santana a packet of papers. "If they do want to join the team, it's just a few forms and the meet schedule."

Santana took the papers from Brittany, "Sure will."

"Any my phone number and email are on there too." Brittany smiled at Santana and San swore Brittany looked like she wanted to say more.

All Santana heard was phone number and while she didn't want to be a creep, she was most definitely going to be saving that in her phone.

"Awesome, thanks!" She smiled at Santana, but there was a devious glint in her eye. "Care to run a few laps with us or can volleyball not hang on the track?"

Santana was never one to turn down a challenge. She put her hand to her chest, "Oh, I would be honored."

"Unique, it's your lucky day! Take the stop watch. We're doing an 800, that's 2 laps. I want you to yell out our 400 split as we pass by you."

The 3 girls were already on the inside of the track. Santana stood next to Marley and Brittany took her place on the most outer part of the track next to Santana.

"On my count. Ready. Set. GO." Unique yelled and they all took off.

Marley and the others were quickly left behind, as Brittany took the lead and Santana ducked in behind her. Santana stayed up with Brittany as they finished their first lap and passed by Unique.

"1:12, 1:13, 1:14," she yelled as they flew past her.

"Not bad, volleyball, "Britt puffed over her shoulder.

Santana felt a small surge of adrenaline rush through her body and wasn't sure it was just from the endorphins she was releasing on this little jaunt around the track.

They rounded the first turn of the track and got to the straightaway, where Britt picked up the pace and left Santana in the dust. Santana tried to stay with her, but Britt's long strides carried her farther and farther away. Brittany looked like she was gliding, never mind sprinting, around the track. She took the final turn and last straightaway easily, crossing by Unique at 2:17.

"Damnnnn, coach! Girl can run!" Unique gave Brittany a high five, clearly impressed.

Brittany turned and yelled down the track, "Sprint it in, VB." Santana pumped her arms harder; her heartbeat elevated for more than one reason and crossed the line in a 2:29. That might have been the fastest half mile she's ever run in her life.

Marley and the other girls crossed the line about 10 seconds behind Santana and Brittany high fived them all.

"Nice work, ladies! Jog to the other side of the track and we'll go from there. This time I set the pace and you have to stay with me." She smiled wide at them and turned to San. "Thanks for joining us, volleyball, hope you'll do it again soon." She smiled at San and took off down the track to meet up with her team.

Santana smiled on her way back to her office, laughing at this nickname she just somehow acquired.


Santana got back to her office, sweat covering her forehead from her quick run around the track. Her mind was elsewhere and her legs were tight from running without properly stretching first. She almost walked right into Sue.

"Ahhh, Miss Lopez, just the person I was looking for." She smiled at her. "So nice to see you take the initiative to work out before your practices. I always admired your work ethic."

Santana smiled and blushed, not at the compliment, but at the fact that she just got to work out with Brittany and hoped there would be more days where she could do that.

"Sure, Sue, what's going on?"

"Well, I've decided to do things a little differently this season. Something to stir up a little Lion team spirit." Santana gave Sue a confused look and shook her head, having no idea what Sue was talking about.

"Ok, you caught me. It was Emma's idea and the rest of the athletic department ate it right up, so I had to agree to it."

Santana waited for Sue to continue. "We're doing this thing called 'Pride Rocks', get it? Because our mascot is a lion? Emma thought that was just so cute. God, I hate her bug eyes and her germ free face and her stupid ideas! Anyway, the idea is that every sports team has another team that goes to watch some of their games or matches and they support each other and help stir up some school spirit."

Santana didn't think it was an all-around bad idea. However, it wasn't something she often thought about, as her team was so good that most of the school came to watch her matches and the stands were full and school spirit was never an issue for volleyball. It probably also helped that Quinn brought her team to a lot of the matches, who then brought their friends and roommates. But Santana lived for those matches when the gym was full and the roar of the crowd fueled her fire for coaching and her desire to win.

"Well, I did you a favor, Lopez. I paired you with cross country. They only have one home meet, so you only have to attend that one event. On the other hand, those scrawny runners will have to come to your volleyball matches, but maybe if they see what a real team is like, they'll have the drive to do something more with their lives than run through the woods and around a big circle like a hamster on a wheel!"

Santana almost couldn't hear Sue because her heart was beating so loud. Brittany was going to get to see her coach. She was giddy and nervous at that thought.

"Work those ladies hard, Lopez. I'm pumped for next week's first home game." Sue slapped Santana on the arm and woke her out of her momentary daze.

Santana could only imagine those clear blue eyes staring at her from the stands.

"Sure, Sue. I can't wait for it either."