The sound of tires screeching filled the air as Santana sped towards the body. She slammed on the brakes and got out of the car as quickly as she could.

Alex struggled to sit up as she heard the car next to her. Her body screamed in protest, but she ignored it and got into a sitting position. Her head swam and ached, and her vision took a few moments to clear.

"Oh dios mio, what happened to you?" Santana asked, bending down to inspect Alex. She had a black eye, busted lip, and bruises marring her neck. Blood had dripped down from a cut on her forehead, caking onto her face.

"I was trying to get to school, but I got attacked." Alex panted, feeling the sharp pain of broken ribs in her chest as she spoke.

Santana felt a wave of guilt pass over her, but flushed it away. It wasn't her fault that Alex had gotten lost and been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Nevertheless, she wrapped an arm around Alex's waste and helped her into the passenger seat.

Alex bit her cheek so hard that it bled to keep herself from yelling out in pain. Her ankle nearly gave out under her; it was severely sprained and she could barely put any weight at all on it.

Santana shut the door and then hurried around to the other side. She pulled out from the curb back onto the street and drove back towards home.

Alex found it hard to keep her eyes open and she focused on the road in front of her. Santana's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"How many of them were there?" Santana asked. She knew about the gangs in Lima Heights Adjacent. They were very dangerous, and she knew better than to go that deep into downtown.

"Five. Six. I didn't really count." Alex mumbled as her body was jolted by a pothole that they had hit in the road. She groaned quietly and locked her jaw.

Santana arrived at her house fairly quickly and then went around to help Alex into the house. The girl seemed hesitant about accepting the assistance.

Santana was increasingly nervous about facing her mother. She knew Alex would blame it on her, and her mother would explode.

Mrs. Lopez met them at the door and gasped loudly when she saw Alex's state of condition.

"What happened to her?" Mrs. Lopez demanded of her older daughter. She helped Alex into the living room and had her lay back on the couch. Santana was struggling for words when Alex spoke up.

"It's not Santana's fault. I tried to run away this morning, but I had no idea where I was going and ended up in a bad part of town." Alex said hoarsely. Santana looked at her in surprise but decided to play along.

"Why would you want to run away?" Mrs. Lopez had forgotten about Santana and turned her attention back to the youngest one in the room. Santana took the opportunity to slip away unnoticed.

"I don't belong here. Santana is your daughter, not me." Alex croaked, feeling her face ache as she spoke. She averted her eyes from her mother's.

"You're my daughter too Alex." Mrs. Lopez reminded her, gently rubbing her arm.

Alex didn't respond, only stood up and limped away, up the stairs to her room. She pulled a pair of pajamas out, as well as fresh underwear, and went to the bathroom. She quickly undressed and took a long, hot shower. The water lessened the pain, but there was no doubt that she would feel even worse tomorrow. After drying off with a soft towel, she redressed and looked in the mirror.

Alex found Band-Aids in the cupboard and put one over the cut on her forehead. She looked absolutely terrible, and almost didn't recognize herself. But one injury stuck out in particular. There was a bruise where Santana had slapped her earlier that day.

It only took Alex minutes to fall asleep in her warm bed. The blankets were soft against her bruised flesh, and she dozed peacefully.

Santana lay awake in her bed; unable to fall asleep. She couldn't understand why Alex would cover up for her. She had expected the girl to go straight to her mother and say what really happened. But she didn't mention a word of it, not even about Santana slapping her. The Latina grew frustrated and scowled. Alex was just probably trying to get on her good side. Maybe she would use a guilt trip to make Santana be nice to her. Something along the lines of "you got me beat up so you have to be nice now".

The next morning, Santana had a late start and didn't have time to curl her hair, like she had originally planned. She was grumpy, and expected to be further annoyed by Alex down in the kitchen. But the 14 year old was silent, chewing her cereal slowly and not even acknowledging Santana's entry.

Making sure her mother wasn't around, Santana spoke. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, but you aren't going to win. Just by not ratting me out, you probably think I'm going to like you now. But I'm not, so you might as well stop." Santana hissed, making sure Alex looked at her.

The younger girl's face was worse than before. Her left eye was nearly swollen shut, while the right eye was open enough to see out of. Her lip was busted and looked painful. Mrs. Lopez had left an ace bandage in the guest room for Alex's ankle, and she had wrapped it in it. Everything still hurt like a bitch.

Santana noticed the mark from where she had slapped her. She supposed she was kind of lucky that Alex had been attacked, because that sole injury would have been hard to explain.

When the time came to leave for school, Santana watched in amusement as Alex began walking down the street. "Get in the car." She called after her, arching an eyebrow. Alex turned and hobbled back to her, getting into the passenger's side and pulling up her hood. Santana nodded and then drove to the school.

I couldn't leave you guys hanging like that But since I updated twice, I better get double reviews, or I might not update tomorrow. And that's not a threat….it's a promise