"Rachel, we just started senior year!" Santana said, walking down the hall with her girlriend.
"Tana, do you know how fast senior year is going to go? Soon, its going to be over. You can't procrastinate on this! This is your future that we're talking about, not what outfit you're going to wear to Puck's next party." Rachel said.
"When is that, by the way?"
"Santana!"
"I'm sorry! Look, I'll think about it, okay?"
"Tana, why are you so adamant on waiting to apply for college?" Rachel asked in a softer tone. Santana shrugged.
"Look, I know we said we'd slowly ease into being in love, but I just... I don't wanna be that couple that breaks up after graduation and I especially don't wanna be the couple that breaks up after graduation after making a bunch of plans. I guess I just wanna... I don't know..."
"See where we go first?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded. "And that's fine, San, but you can't wait too long otherwise you might not get in anywhere for the fall."
"Well, where do you want to go?" Santana asked.
"Julliard." Rachel said, as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. Honestly, it probably should have been.
"Of course." Santana said, laughing softly. Rachel smiled and leaned into the cheerleader's body as Santana leaned against a locker. "Look, I'll think about what colleges I want to apply to, I promise." the Latina said. Rachel nodded.
"That's all I ask... for now anyway." Santana kissed her softly.
"I'll see you later. I have to get to Cheerios practice. I'll meet you in the choir room after?"
"Actually, I'm going home. Come over later?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.
"Awesome. See you then." she said, walking away. Quinn was waiting for her down the hall and they went to the locker room. As soon as they walked in, a couple of freshmen started talking.
"Her girlfriend is such a loser. She's a senior and she gets intimidated by a couple of freshmen." the blonde one said.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Santana yelled.
"Your girlfriend. RuPaul needs to be put in her place. Just because you went blind and find her attractive, the rest of us think she's hideous. The rest of us would prefer it if you two would stop spreading your gayness around here. Its disgusting. Its probably because of who you chose to be a lesbo with. RuPaul is so hideous it isn't even funny." the brunette baby cheerio said. Santana moved to lunge at her, but Quinn held her back. Ripping from her grip, Santana grabbed the cheerio and pushed her against the wall.
"If you ever say that again, I will personally ensure that not only are you kicked off the Cheerios, but you'll be so low on the food chain that the Chess Team will be embarrassed to have you as a member." Santana said. The Cheerio scoffed. "Once you're out of traction, that is." she hissed. The younger brunette managed to get an arm free and punched Santana's eye as her blonde friend jumped on her back. Santana managed to contact her fist with a nose and a mouth, but she wasn't sure which belonged to who. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Quinn moving over. She managed to get the blonde off of her back as Quinn grabbed the other one.
"You two! If you want to keep your spots, get your asses in the gym. Now!" Quinn yelled. Seeing their head cheerleader, the two freshmen ran. "Oh my god, S. Are you okay?" Quinn asked. Santana touched her eye.
"Damn. That hurt." she said
"We'll go to the nurse." Quinn said.
"No. We're going to practice." Santana said.
"I have to go talk to Coach about some certain freshmen. I don't think they're necessary for the squad to succeed. Not that I'm biased or anything." Quinn said, smirking.
"I'll be at practice." Santana said.
"Take your time. Take care of your eye." Quinn said, smiling as she walked out. Santana waited about five minutes before going to the gym
"Lopez, how's your eye?" Coach Sylvester asked.
"Nothing broken, Coach. Just a black eye."
"What prompted this fight?" she asked.
"They were saying homophobic things about my girlfriend and I." Santana said, giving a vague version of the truth.
"Okay... Just get out there." Coach Sylvester said.
"Yes ma'am." Santana said, moving to join the squad. After practice, Brittany walked up.
"Does it hurt?" she asked, poking Santana's eye.
"Ow! It does when you do that!" Santana yelled. Brittany flinched. "Sorry, B. Yea it hurts. A lot." she said.
"Coach was pissed when I told her." Quinn said.
"At me?"
"No. At them. Kicked them off immediately. Said that you're one of the three stars, and they were easily replaceable." Quinn said. Santana grinned.
"Well, I gots to go. My girl's waitng for me." Santana said, grabbing her bag.
"San!" Santana turned around. "We're really happy you two made up." Quinn said.
"So am I, Q. So am I." the Latina said, walking off with a smile. When she arrived at the Berry house, she saw that only Hiram's car was missing. Taking a deep breath, Santana rang the doorbell, praying that Rachel would answer. 'Damn.' she thought as Leroy opened the door. "Hel... Hello, sir." Santana said, shifting from foot to foot.
"Sant... Stand still." he said. Confused, Santana obeyed as he stood closely to her. "What the hell happened to your eye?" he asked, inspecting the injury.
"I got into a fight." she mumbled. Scoffing, he led her into the house.
"What was the fight about?" he asked harshly. Santana glared at the man.
"Two bitches on the Cheerios were talking crap about Rachel in the locker room and making homophobic remarks. I heard them and told them to shut up, and they jumped me. I tried to defend myself, but it was two against one. I think I may have gotten contact with one of their noses and another's mouth. I really hope that one had had braces in middle school." Santana said.
"You defended my daughter?" Leroy asked softly. Santana nodded.
"I'd do it again in a heartbeat, even if they were holding me down and busting my kneecaps in." Santana said. Leroy's face softened.
"Did you put ice on it?" he asked. Santana shook her head.
"Was I supposed to? I just went straight to Cheerios practice after it happened and then came here." she said.
"When did this happen?" he asked. Santana looked at the clock.
"Two and half hours ago." she said.
"Shit. You need to get ice on that before your eye gets swollen shut." he said, running into the kitchen. Soon, Santana could hear feet running down the stairs.
"Daddy is Santa... Tana, what the hell?" she asked, running over.
"Hey baby." Santana said casually.
"Don't 'hey baby' me when you're sitting in my living room with a black eye!" Rachel yelled. Leroy returned with a cold compress.
"Hold this on there." he said. Santana nodded and took the compress.
"What the hell happened?" Rachel asked.
"Some Cheerios were talking shit about you and I flipped." Santana said, shrugging. Rachel smiled softly.
"You really are my knight in shining armor." she whispered.
"Whatever princess." Santana said, smiling. Rachel reached over and held the compress in place. "Thanks."
"Thank you." Rachel said.
"I'll always defend you, Rach." Santana said. Rachel smiled.
"So... I have a surprise for you." Rachel said.
"Yea?" Rachel nodded. "What is it?" Santana asked. Rachel ran back up the stairs, returning with some papers. "What are those?" Rachel handed them to her.
"They're... well, they're college applications. I thought you might be interested in these schools." Rachel said.
"Colombia... NYU... That's not happening." Santana said, holding up one from Julliard. Rachel laughed.
"Just a suggestion!" she said.
"Rach, these are all in New York City." Santana said. Rachel nodded and held out another piece of paper. "What's that?"
"Read it." Rachel whispered.
Ms. Berry,
We are pleased to inform you that you've been accepted to Julliard for the fall of 2012...
Santana didn't even bother reading the rest. "You got into Julliard?" she asked. Rachel nodded.
"I got into Julliard." she whispered. Santana grinned.
"I'm so proud of you!" she said.
"It came today. I cried for about thirty minutes." Rachel said. Santana kissed her.
"That's nothing to cry about. Not even happy tears. That's full on party celebration worthy right there." she said. Rachel smiled.
"So... I'm going to be in New York. You were saying earlier that you wanted to wait and see where we were going and... I want us to go to New York. As in, together. I really want you to come with me. I want to experience it with you." Rachel said. Santana smiled. "Will you at least consider it?"
"Baby, you had me at 'I got into Julliard.'" Santana said. Rachel grinned.
"You'll come with me?" Santana nodded.
"I'm going to apply to a few other schools, you know as backup. But if I get into either NYU or Colombia, there's no contest. I'm going there." she said. Rachel smiled. "You know, I could get into this whole being in love thing." Santana said.
"Me too." Rachel whispered.