Santana sat in the dining hall that night at dinner. She was sitting with Quinn Fabray, Finn Hudson, and Sam Evans. Sam was from Dallas and Finn was from Chicago. Sam and Quinn were dating and Santana had been with Finn for a few months. Quinn softly poked Santana with her fork. Santana made a disgusted face. "Um... ew. Please tell me you're gonna get a different fork." Santana said. Quinn smiled.
"Are you saying you aren't clean?" Quinn asked. Santana rolled her eyes.
"Was there a reason you poked me?" Santana asked. Quinn nodded.
"Who's that girl with Noah Puckerman? Is she new?" Quinn asked. Santana sighed.
"How the hell am I supposed to know? It's day one." Santana said, though she turned around to look. "Oh... that's Rachel Berry. She's my new roommate." Santana said quietly. Quinn's face immediately grew concerned.
"So... she's really not coming back?" Quinn asked. Santana shook her head. Finn grabbed his girlfriend's hand.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Santana looked up at him and gave him a small smile.
"Yea... I guess." Santana said. Finn squeezed her hand and continued eating. Santana looked back at Rachel and Noah before turning back around.
"So... where's your new rommate from?" Sam asked. Quinn glared and kicked him. "Ow! Damn, Quinn that hurt." Sam said.
"Shut up." Quinn said pointedly.
"It's okay Quinn. Uh... she's from actually from Lima." Santana said, looking at Quinn. The blonde paused with her fork centimeters away from her mouth.
"Lima as in Lima, Ohio?" Quinn asked. Santana nodded. "Huh... that's really weird. Did you say her name was Rachel Berry?" Quinn asked. Santana nodded again. "Never heard of her." Quinn said.
"Quinn, how much time have you actually spent in Lima since your family moved there?" Santana asked.
"Good point." Quinn agreed. After they finished eating and put their dirty plates in the rotating dumbwaiter, the boys said good night and went back to the room they shared. Santana and Quinn walked in the direction of their buildings.
"So... you okay with having a new roommate?" Quinn asked. Santana shrugged.
"There's not much I can do about it." Santana said.
"I know how guilty you feel, but you have to know that if Brittany had wanted you to be the one to get in trouble, she would have just let you get caught." Quinn said.
"I should have said something. I shouldn't have let this happen." Santana said.
"San, Brittany did this because she cares about you. She didn't want you to get hammered by that bitch you call a mother. You know how laid back Britt's parents are. They probably didn't even bat an eye when she told them." Quinn said.
"Yea... but still-"
"If it'd been the other way around, I'd be having this conversation with her right now." Quinn said. Santana looked away. "San, either way you would have been without Brittany. At least this way, you aren't dealing with it alone." Quinn said.
"You mean like she is?" Santana asked. They arrived in front of Santana's building. "Look, I'll see you tomorrow." Santana said, walking into her building and going to her room. Rachel wasn't back yet, so Santana was able to have some time to think.
"So how do you like your roommate?" Noah Puckerman asked Rachel as they were getting food.
"She's... mysterious." Rachel said.
"Who are you rooming with again?" Noah asked.
"Santana Lopez." Rachel answered. Noah nodded. "Why?"
"Some stuff went down last year. Santana's best friend got expelled and she's probably having a hard time dealing with it." Noah said.
"What happened?" Rachel asked.
"She uh... she got caught with pot in her bag and Brittany took the fall so that Santana didn't get in trouble. See, Santana's had a history of getting into trouble around here and the dean told her that if she had another major screwup that was probably against the law, he'd have to call the cops. The only reason he hadn't called them before was because her dad and the dean were friends growing up. Brittany didn't have a history of breaking the rules or the law, so the worst she got was expulsion." Noah said.
"That's still pretty bad." Rachel said.
"Not as bad as it would have been for Santana." Noah said.
"True... is there anything else I should know about Santana?" Rachel asked.
"She's dating Finn Hudson right now, but everyone knows she was in love with Brittany. So watch out." Noah teased. Rachel laughed.
"I don't think that'll be a problem. Santana's not exactly my type." Rachel said.
"Really? Do I fall into that category?" Noah teased.
"No... you're too Jewish." Rachel said.
"Hey! You're Jewish too." Noah said. Rachel laughed as Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones walked up.
"Hey guys." they said as they sat down with the other two.
"So, Rach, how do you like Westerly so far?" Mercedes asked.
"I like it. Its really pretty." Rachel said.
"Who's your roommate?" Kurt asked.
"Santana Lopez." Rachel responded. Both stopped their motions. "Yea, I know about what happened. Noah told me." Rachel continued.
"Just... don't bring Brittany up, okay? That's your best chance at staying alive." Kurt advised. Rachel nodded and the group of friends continued to eat.
Santana looked up from her place on her bed when she heard the door open. Rachel walked in and nodded at Santana, who turned away. She wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to the girl.
"Santana?" she heard from behind. Sighing, she reluctantly turned around.
"What?" she asked.
"I... I'm sorry about prying earlier." Rachel said. Santana nodded.
"Thanks." Santana said.
"I know about the pot." Rachel blurted out, covering her mouth the moment the last word left her mouth. Santana raised an eyebrow.
"Look. Let's get one thing straight. You don't know anything about me and you sure as hell don't know anything about Brittany. And we're going to keep it that way. Let's just get through the next two years and then we'll never have to see each other again. You stay on your side of the room, and I'll stay on mine. The door and bathroom are in the middle and we each have our own closet, so that's not a problem. Just stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours, okay?" Santana said. Rachel nodded and Santana, having already changed into her pajamas, turned back around. "I'm going to sleep. I'm tired and my body is still on New York time. Try not to be to loud." Santana said.