Chapter 3
"Friends It Is Then"

. . .

The next week seemed to go by in a blurr. Rachel walked through her classes idly, her chocolate eye's silently scanning in hopes of finding a particular Latina that never seemed to show. The rare times when Rachel did see Santana, it was only when they both shared classes together, such as history and glee.

But even then, Santana never gave her the time of day. The said girl just kept her face focused on the teacher and sat as far away from Rachel as possible.

Even in glee, she would try to corner Santana after practice, but the Latina would just shake her head and say, 'it's better this way'. Those words angered Rachel more than anything, because those were the exact same words her dad said to her. It didn't make any sense as to why they kept saying that, because only she, herself, could.

At home it was worse - if that was even possible. Rachel refused to talk to her dad, Hiram, and he in return, refused to apologize to her. Normally Rachel would come home and give him a big warm hug, but instead the brunette would now just stomp up to her room and lock herself away.

Sure, it was probably a bit over dramatic, but that was Rachel Berry for you – overly dramatic.

Her other daddy, LeRoy, had noticed the day after the incident with Santana and Hiram, that something was wrong. He had gotten both sides of the story only to find himself torn. LeRoy could see his husbands point of view, but also his daughters. He did his best to try and get both Berry's to apologize to one another, but they were far to stubborn for that.

If it got any worse, LeRoy would have to have a serious discussion with the two of them. He'd have to knock some sense into his family.

. . .

Before Rachel knew it, it was already Friday. She was happy that it was the last day of the week. The diva was tired of coming to school only to be shot down and ignored by Santana. It had been two whole weeks since they talked to eachother. Rachel missed the little time her and Santana had, but now she was just frustrated. She was frustrated with both Santana and her father. The Latina had successfully shut her out and Hiram had been the reason for it.

Walking to her locker, Rachel's hand fiddled with the lock as her chocolate eye's slowly searched for Santana's locker. Surprisingly, the said Latina was perched there just a few paces away. Clenching her jaw, Rachel let the lock fall from her fingertips. She didn't feel like being in the same vicinity as Santana anymore, no matter if the sight of the girl tugged at her heart.

If Santana wanted to act like Rachel didn't exist, then she'd do the same to the cheerleader.

Just as the brunette stepped away from her locker, she saw Karofsky standing in front of her with a slushy in hand and a sick smile plastered on his face. Rachel already knew what was going to happen. Closing her eye's and pursing her lips, the jock threw the cold liquid straight at her face. Rachel gasped at the feeling of the icy slushy sliding down her face, as her tan fingers shakily came to cover her face. Even though she had her eye's closed, Rachel could feel some of the slushy working it's way into her eye's, and it burned.

Then there was laughter. It was all around her and it was so loud. Rachel opened her eye's only to see random students pointing and laughing at her, their faces etching their way into her skull. It had been weeks since her last slushy facial, and Rachel had actually believed it was a thing of the past.

How stupid of her to think that.

"Hey!" shouted Santana, making Rachel glance away from the laughing students.

There Santana was, her fists bawled up and back facing the brunette. She wasn't shouting at Rachel, but at Karofsky in the middle of the hallway. At the sound of the cheerleaders voice, everyone grew silent, making the mocking stop.

"Hey, Douchebag! I'm talkin' to you!" she yelled again, grabbing the jocks arm and twisting him around to face her. "I thought I told you that Rachel was off limits."

Karofsky gave her a confused look, his eyebrows scrunching together, "But I thought that since it's been a couple weeks that you'd changed your mind."

"And why the fuck would I do that?" she asked, pushing him roughly up against the lockers. Santana then turned to look at Rachel, her eye's locked on the brunette. In that quick moment, Rachel could see the look of guilt resurfacing in Santana's eye's, something the brunette hadn't of seen in weeks. Before Rachel could say anything, the Latina moved her gaze to the other jocks around them.

"I want everyone to listen to my words. Berry, is off limits. Got it?"

All the jocks and Cheerios nodded, their heads looking like bobble heads, while Karofsky just clenched his jaw. Rachel could tell the over sized boy was pissed.

"Got it?" she warned him again, this time shoving his shoulders hard against the locker. This got him to reluctantly nod his head.

Letting go of Karofsky, Santana shot him a look of disgust. "Good, cuz' if you do it again, you best believe I won't be so forgiving," she hissed, her eye's narrowing dangerously up at him.

Rachel at this point didn't know what to say. The whole situation was beyond her. Santana acting like her knight in shinning armor sent a warm jittery feeling to her stomach, something that Rachel thought she'd never feel again. Then the brunette felt the strong burning sensation in her eye's that she could no longer ignore.

Shoving her way through the crowd of people that were no longer laughing at her (probably scared that Santana would hurt them), Rachel was so wrapped in her own world, that she even didn't notice the Latina following her. Rachel then pulled the bathroom door open, running over to the nearest sink and splashing her eye's furiously with water. The burning slowly fading away.

"Get out."

Rachel immediately stopped what she was doing as she got ready to voice her objection. She lifted her head from the sink and turned around, only to find Santana standing in front of her, clad in her Cheerios uniform and a high pony tail. In her peripheral, Rachel could see all the girls in the bathroom filing out. It wasn't long before they were alone. Something that Rachel wasn't sure if she wanted.

"I'm sorry," Santana finally voiced.

Rachel just frowned, not knowing what to say.

"I should have been more specific with them, or had kept a closer eye on you."

"What?" Rachel asked, her frown still visible on her face. "I'm not a dog, Santana," she retorted. "Besides, why do you even care? You've made it apparent that you do not want to have anything to do with me."

Santana grew quiet as she listened carefully to Rachel. She then took a questioning step towards the brunette, her eye's piercing into Rachel's. "Of course I care. Why else would I tell everyone your off limits?"

Rachel was now just plain confused. "Because you pity me? Why else?"

"Because!" Santana exclaimed, raising her hands out of frustration with the brunette's ignorance. "I care about you, Rachel, I don't pity you. Isn't it obvious?" she inquired.

"No, it's not, because I sure as hell haven't seen you show any signs of it. Actually, this is probably the most we have talked since you decided to shut me out!" Rachel bellowed, feeling the anger seeping through. The brunette then took in a few breaths, trying to calm herself.

"I only did it because I thought it was best for you! Your dad hates me and I see why, I'm a bitch and it's all I'm ever going to be."

Rachel then looked down, her eye brows scrunching up. She didn't think Santana was a bitch, on the contrary, the Latina was Rachel's silent protector. "You're not a bitch," Rachel finally insisted. "You're far from it. My dad, he doesn't see the new you."

"And what's the new me?"

"The new you is someone who keeps jocks from slushing me, and no longer calls me rude nicknames," Rachel answered, but quickly added, "But I'll leave out the part where you don't talk to me for weeks."

Santana was silent, but a smile started to sneak it's way onto her face. "I'm sorry for not talking to you, that was stupid of me," she admitted. "but you can't forget about the part where I'm going to help you rinse that slushy from your hair," she said, reaching over Rachel to turn on the water. "Now come on, let me help you."

Rachel just nodded, feeling the blush start to flood her cheeks from the close proximity of Santana. She turned around and brought her hair near the water. Rachel nearly gasped when she felt soft hands running through her hair, but she calmed herself and relaxed into the touch.

The Latina's hands were amazingly gentle, despite the girls strong demeanor. Rachel even found herself closing her eye's and soaking up the feeling of Santana's fingers softly massaging her scalp.

"All done," whispered Santana, waking Rachel from her relaxed state.

Humming, the brunette opened her eye's as the Latina helped raise her head from the sink. Rachel immediately missed the girls touch.

Letting out a breath, Santana shuffled her feet, awkwardly looking anywhere but at Rachel. "So.." she trailed off, biting her lip. "I think I'm going to stop ignoring you."

"That would be very kind of you. I was actually liking your company," Rachel said matter-of-factly as she began running her own hands through her clean, wet hair.

"Friends it is then," Santana beamed, her smile growing bigger by the minute.

The brunette nodded, a smile on her face, "Friends it is."

. . .

Santana POV:

"So you're lovey-dovey with Man Hands now?"

Santana just rolled her eye's at her best friend, "No, Quinn, we're just friends."

The blonde just raised a knowing eye brow, "That's not what every one's saying."

"Well maybe you shouldn't believe everything you hear."

"Whoa, Lopez, calm down. I could care less about who you like, but whys it have to be Berry? I mean, of all the people you could like.." Quinn shook her head, disappointingly.

Pursing her lips, Santana kept her hands clenched at her sides, because in that instant, she wanted nothing more than to slap the hell out of the blonde. The Latina was surprised that she was so defensive over the little brunette. "Fabray, I don't like Berry that way. Alright? We're just friends," she insisted.

The Latina would never tell Quinn the truth. Hell, she wasn't even sure about it herself. She knew that she was beginning to grow fond for the diva, but Santana also knew that people would ridicule her for it. But since when did Santana ever care about what people thought?

Never.

She knew one thing for sure though, that she did care for Rachel. She just wasn't sure in what way.

Quinn nodded her head, her expression bored. "Look, it's your business. Just don't be surprised if everyone starts talking about it," she warned as she zipped up her cheer leading bag. They were both on the football field and practice had already ended, but as usual, the two of them were the last to leave.

"Whatever Fabray, there's nothing to talk about," Santana spat back.

"Oh yeah, like calling Berry off limits is nothing to talk about," Quinn mocked, raising her eye brow again.

Santana threw her cheerleading bag to the ground, feeling frustrated with her best friend. "Yeah, so what if I care about her?" Crap, she wasn't supposed to say that.

"Care? So you do care about the little Smurf!"

Shaking her head, Santana grabbed her bag from the ground. She needed to get away from the blonde before she blurted something else out that she wasn't supposed to.

"I can't take this right now Q," she answered, giving Quinn another look before she turned away and practically ran to her car.

Santana needed to get home and think. She needed to think about everything, about what Quinn had said, and about how she felt about the diva. The Latina was going to figure out her feelings, even if the thought of actually liking Rachel confused the living hell out of her.

. . .

A/N: The end! haha just kidding, it's just the end of this chapter.
Hope you guys like this one okay. I hit a bit of a road block while I was writing this, but thank goodness I worked through it. All I can say is that there is much more to come!

Review & make me happy (: