Hey again! Updates are definitely not usually this quick, but since three people reviewed within like 12 hours of it being published, I felt inspired to write another chapter. For any Blaine/Kurt fans (Klaine, that is. Blurt is funny but weird.), that'll definitely show up, because it's about both siblings, not just Santana. However, they haven't actually met yet, so the next few chapters will mostly be developing Brittana/ Blaine's character growth. Hope you like it!
- Ryta
Blaine knew that something about Santana had changed. Ever since the night when he came out, she'd been acting differently. She actually talked to people at school, she put more effort into looking pretty every morning, and she was a lot more thoughtful. He watched her do all these things and wondered what exactly his father had said that night. He wasn't sure the change was a good one.
Then, she started going to parties, drinking alcohol, and flirting with boys. Blaine was shocked. He desperately wanted to shake her shoulders and ask her what she thought she was doing. But he didn't, and so her strange behavior continued.
On top of Santana's abrupt change in personality, he had his own problems to deal with. There were only two people out of the closet at their school, and the other person, a girl named Jasmine "Jaz" Lawrence, was one of his closest friends. The two of them were bullied mercilessly for their sexuality, and Santana wasn't always around to interfere on their behalf.
By the time November rolled around, their school was abuzz with excitement over the upcoming Sadie Hawkins dance. It was interesting to see guys worried about whether a girl would ask them out for a change; the girls seemed to be taking advantage of the opportunity by being extremely mysterious. Of course, none of the girls asked Blaine to go with them, and Jaz wasn't daring enough to ask out any of her crushes (whether they were closeted or not), so the two decided to go together.
Naturally, with her recent rise in popularity, everybody wanted to know who Santana Lopez was asking to the dance. Who she would choose to go with was the subject of constant gossip for weeks. She eventually decided on Noah Puckerman, which confused Blaine. Noah, though he was only 14, had quite the reputation of breaking hearts; why in the world would Santana want to take him to the dance? He brushed it off as another one of Santana's concerning choices, and focused on keeping his head down.
After weeks of constant verbal abuse and trying to become as invisible as possible, the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance finally arrived. Blaine had a pretty good time, despite having to ignore the whispers and jeers of the other students. His sister hovered nearby with Noah, effectively acting as a silent shield against the bullies, which Blaine was very thankful for. He and Jaz spent most of the time making casual conversation and joking around. All in all, it was surprisingly fun.
At the end of the night, Blaine and Jaz stood outside waiting for their parents to pick them up. Santana had disappeared somewhere with Puckerman, promising to be back before their parents arrived. Blaine wasn't too worried. It was a warm night, with a slight breeze rustling the bushes around them. The two stood in comfortable silence, just enjoying their surroundings.
Suddenly, a tall, well-built girl burst out of nowhere, and grabbed Jaz's purse.
"Hey, give that back!" Blaine protested. The girl sneered at them.
"You want it, homos? Come and get it." she teased, before running off. Against his better instincts, Blaine took off after her, Jaz not far behind. They followed the girl into a nearby alley, which led into a dead end.
"Just give us the purse back." he said confidently. The girl chuckled darkly. Blaine and Jaz froze in shock as two deeper voices joined her in laughter. They spun around to find two tall boys blocking the exit of the alley, smirking at them.
"I don't think she feels like it, gay boy." one said. All three teens began to advance on them. Blaine and Jaz shrank back, trapped. The girl grabbed Jaz by the arm and threw her to the ground.
"Hey, don't touch her like that!" Blaine yelled. The girl scowled.
"I bet she liked it. Sicko." she spat at a cowering Jaz. Blaine tried to reach for his friend, but one of the boys punched him in the solarplex. He fell to the ground, gasping for air.
"You two are abominations. Do you know what happens to people like you? People like you are punished." the other boy announced. And then, both boys started kicking him mercilessly. The pain seemed to go on forever.
The last thing Blaine saw before everything went black was a figure standing in the entryway of the alley, fists clenched tightly at her sides.
His sister had arrived.
Santana had only went back inside to grab her phone, which she'd left on one of the tables. Puck had followed her, treating her a lot more nicely then he usually treated his dates. She supposed it was because they were actually kind of friends. When she got back outside ten minutes later, her brother and his friend had disappeared.
"Where are they?" she wondered out loud. Puck shrugged.
"I don't know who you're talking to, but I've got to go home. You gonna be okay here on your own, Lopez?" She turned to the boy, nodding.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go ahead." she responded. Puck saluted, and walked off into the night. Santana spun back around, sharp eyes searching the area carefully.
"Now where could you have gone?" she muttered. Some strange sounds reached her ears, and she paused, listening carefully.
"Is someone getting beat up?" Her curiousity piqued, she quickly followed the sound to a nearby alley. The scene that met her eyes caused her blood to run cold and her vision to turn red.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she growled, and the three teens froze. The girl recovered first.
"We were just showing these queers what happens when you choose to be unnatural." she responded. If looks could kill, the three teens would have died on the spot. She stepped towards them threateningly, smirking slightly when they flinched back in fear.
"Leave. Now." she commanded.
"Come on, they're just a couple of f-" one boy stuttered, but she interrupted.
"Finish that word and I'll rip out your tongue." she interjected smoothly.
"Why do you care? Are you gay too?" Santana's fiery gaze snapped to the other boy.
"I am not a goddamn lesbian. However, nothing you say will convince me that these two deserve to have the crap beaten out of them." she snarled.
"They're gay." the girl exclaimed. Santana strode forwards and slapped her across the face.
"So you think that physically assaulting them is suddenly okay because they aren't straight? When their families press charges against you three, will your defense be that they deserved it? Because I think that's fucking stupid." she yelled. The other two boys stepped forwards menacingly.
"But they won't find out we were involved. You're going to keep quiet about this, or else." one said. Santana scoffed.
"Or else what? You're going to beat me up, too? I'd like to see you try." She'd barely finished the sentence when the girl tried to tackle her. She sidestepped, and kicked the girl in the face. She collapsed like a sock puppet. Then, Santana spun, ducking under a punch and unleashing a devastating jab-cross-hook combo on one boy's face. His hands automatically rose in reaction, and she took the opportunity to drive her knee into his groin and then shove him to the ground. The last boy looked a little intimidated, backing up just out of her reach. She sprang forward with a superman punch to his jaw, and then threw a roundhouse kick to his ribs. He fell onto his back, groaning. She immediately whipped out her phone and called 911. Just after she got off the phone with the police, her phone rang. It was her mother.
"Santana, where are you and your brother? And have you seen Jaz? Her parents are looking for her as well." she asked.
"There's an alleyway nearby. It's not hard to find. Come quickly. Bring Jaz's parents." Santana replied shortly, and cut the call. Then, she hurried over to her brother, who was covered in cuts and bruises. Jaz didn't look much better. Santana opened up her purse and extracted a small first aid kit. She started cleaning the cuts as best as she could.
She looked up when she heard footsteps, seeing her and Jaz's parents run into view. All four parents gasped in shock at the scene.
"What happened?" Jaz's mom asked worriedly.
"These three are extreme homophobes. They attacked Blaine and Jaz when I went back inside the auditorium to find my phone. I think they lured the two here first before jumping on them. I might have thrown a few punches upon seeing what happened, which is why they're also on the ground." Santana explained, gesturing over at the incapacitated bullies.
Everything after that was a bit of a blur. The police showed up with an ambulance, and Blaine and Jaz were taken to the hospital. Santana spent the time waiting for them to wake up wondering if it was her fault. Maybe she hadn't proved herself enough, and that's why someone she cared about got hurt. She wasn't certain, but just like before, she wasn't willing to take the chance. She was relieved when Blaine finally woke up and said that he wanted to transfer to Dalton, an all boys school known for it's zero-tolerance policy for bullying. He would be safe there, far away from the bullies, and far from her. Maybe he'd be able to make more friends. She just wanted him to be happy.
Hopefully Dalton would be good for him. She prayed that it would.
The rest of her eighth grade year flew by, and summer arrived. However, it wasn't going to be a relaxing one. Her mother was moving up to Westerville to look after Blaine, while her father stayed in Lima for work. Because of his job, he was rarely home, leaving Santana many hours to do what she wanted. And she knew exactly what she wanted. Since she was going to McKinley High in the fall, she needed to make a plan to be as popular as possible. And she knew that the best way to do that was to join Coach Sylvester's Cheerios. They were the most elite high school cheerleading squad in the country; they won nationals every year. To be a Cheerio meant that you were on top of the food chain at McKinley, which also meant that you were extremely desirable in the eyes of the male students. Also, it looked really good on a college resume.
So the day that auditions were held, Santana walked to McKinley and showed up an hour early to the field, doing a few warm up laps and stretches to pass the time. Once Sue Sylvester finally appeared, she had all the hopefuls stand in a line. She immediately dismissed about three quarters of them after a single glance, and told the eight remaining girls to change into a Cheerios uniform, put their things into a locker, and return within thirty minutes. While the other girls sprinted off as quickly as possible, Santana lightly jogged. She didn't want to tire herself out too early. Upon arriving in the Cheerios locker room, she changed into the uniform, and started to put away her things in a random locker. She glanced to her right, and froze.
A tall blonde girl stood a couple lockers away. Santana watched, captivated for some reason, as she pulled a red water bottle from her bag. The girl must have felt her gaze, because she glanced over at her quizzically. The blonde's bright blue eyes locked onto her own, and Santana swallowed nervously, unable to avert her eyes. Then, she smiled, taking a sip from her red water bottle, her eyes never leaving Santana's. She hesitantly smiled back at the blonde, her heart beating a little faster although she had no idea why.
She walked back out to the field with the taller girl, finding herself hoping that they both made it onto the team. She couldn't explain it; she hadn't even had a conversation with the blonde, yet she already felt attached to her. Santana spent the rest of the audition watching the blonde out of the corner of her eye.
As it turned out, the tall girl was amazing at dancing. Santana was awestruck by the way she moved, fluid as water and full of grace. Another girl caught her eye as well, although not in the same way the girl from the locker room had. She had very good balance and an air of confidence about her. At the end of the auditions, the coach dismissed everybody but the three of them.
According to Sue Sylvester, Santana was the best flyer, meaning that she was the most adept at aerial acrobatics. The locker room girl's dancing was something that the coach admired, a sentiment that Santana agreed with whole-heartedly. As for the confident girl: she apparently reminded the coach of herself somehow personality-wise, and was well-rounded. Coach Sylvester congratulated them on making the team, and then warned them to return at six the next morning for summer practice. They all nodded, and then headed to the locker room to change.
"So, what are your names?" the confident girl asked.
"My name is Santana Lopez." she replied smoothly.
"I'm Brittany Pierce." the dancer chimed cheerfully. Santana decided that she liked Brittany's name. It fit her, somehow.
"Well, I'm Quinn Fabray. Can I get your phone numbers? Seeing as we're the three freshmen Cheerios, I think we should stick together." the now-named Quinn asked. Santana and Brittany agreed. The three of them spent a couple minutes exchanging numbers.
"Great! I've got to go now. I guess I'll see you two at practice tomorrow." Quinn said, smiling at them. Something about her expression seemed calculating. Santana immediately realized that this girl wanted to be on top of the social ladder as well, and like Santana, she had a reason for doing so. She smiled back at the blonde.
"I guess so." Quinn waved goodbye, and left the room.
"She was nice." Brittany commented.
"Yeah, I guess." Santana responded noncommitally.
"You were super awesome at all of those air stunts, by the way." the blonde complimented. Santana found an actual smile spreading across her face.
"Thank you. You're amazing at dancing. I just- it was beautiful." she blurted, feeling heat rise to her face. What was going on with her?
"Aww, thanks. I guess we're both really talented people, then." Brittany joked, and Santana laughed.
"I guess so." she replied, feeling light and carefree. It had been a pretty good day. She'd gotten onto an extremely exclusive cheerleading team that would benefit her life in the short term and in the long run, made a good impression on said team's hard to please coach, and she'd actually made a friend for once.
"I like you." she suddenly told the blonde. She really did; she'd never met anybody who made her feel so relaxed only hours after their first meeting.
"I like you too." Brittany responded immediately, grinning widely.
"No, seriously. You're awesome; I think God has laid a hand. We're definitely going to be good friends." Santana continued.
"Definitely." Brittany stated firmly. She held out her left pinky.
"Just to make it official." she said, and Santana wrapped her right pinky around the extended finger.
"I'm left handed." she explained at the blonde's slightly confused look.
"Well, that's even better, because this can be our thing now." Brittany responded.
"Our thing?" Santana wondered, confused. Brittany laughed.
"Yeah, San. Our thing." she exclaimed as she began to drag Santana by the pinky out of the locker room.
"Now come on! We can totally go grab ice cream or something if you aren't busy." the blonde suggested. Santana smiled.
"I'm definitely not. Lead the way, Britt." she said, following her new friend out the door. She was really looking forwards to all the memories they were going to make together.
Who knew having a friend could be so awesome?
I'm going to cut the chapter here so the next one can focus on Blaine's feelings about the move and going to Dalton, as well as his first days there. See you soon with the next one! And don't forget to R&R! By the way, I don't own anything, except for random civilians I insert to help the story along.