Well here we are, another chapter for my awesome readers. I'd just like to say that this chapter is dedicated to imalemonaddict for always being able to make me smile with a review, you rock! Hope you all enjoy this!
Santana's alarm on her phone rang out into the darkness at 5:30 the next morning. She groaned, quickly reaching her hand down to get her phone off the floor before the alarm woke Mr Schue. It was times like this that she really wondered why she put her body through the torture that her coach called practise. If it was still dark you should be asleep, it was a simple as that. Santana sat up, stretching her arms lightly above her head, listening to the popping sound that came from them. Mr Schue's couch might have been an upgrade from the car, but it still wasn't the most comfortable places to sleep.
She gingerly swung her legs out from under the blanket, goosebumps rising on her flesh as her bare foot came in contact with the wood floor. Walking across the room she grabbed her cheerleading uniform from the day before off the back of a kitchen chair, it would have to do until she got to school where a clean one was safe inside her locker. She pulled the clothes Mr Schue had lent her off her head, subconsciously looking for any fat on her exposed stomach before slipping her uniform on. She grabbed her pristine sneakers from under the table and proceeded to pull the laces tight around her feet in an effort to warm them up. Now that she was fully dressed she stood up and walked back over to the couch where she neatly folded the blankets and left them in a pile at the end, with the clothes on top. With one final glance around the room she quietly opened the door, stepping out into the cold dark morning.
Her breath puffed out in front of her a she started the walk towards the school. She glanced at her watch, 5:50, that left her with 20 minutes to get to school, 10 to get dressed, do her pony tail and apply makeup and 10 to do her warm up before practise started at 6:30. She picked up her pace, if she was late Sue would make her run laps for the hour long practise, something she had learned from experience. She frowned a little as she thought about the nice warm coffee she would have had with her if she left from her own house, she was pretty sure coffee was the only thing that made her survive these crazy morning practises. She let out a sigh of relief as she saw the familiar school building up ahead, she was right on schedule.
Santana spun her combination into her locker inside the Cheerios locker room. Being a Cheerio meant you had two lockers, one for normal school and one for Cheerios. She pulled out her clean uniform and started to get changed.
"Why are you getting changed?" Another Cheerio, a girl named Ella, asked Santana.
"This is my one from yesterday, I need to put a clean one on." Santana explained, gesturing to the uniform that was half off.
"You stayed out all night?" Quinn asked, having just walked into the room as she fastened her ponytail.
"No I just didn't go home, if you know what I mean." Santana said suggestively with a smirk, causing the girls in the room to giggle. Quinn just raised an eyebrow, Santana often used sex as a way to deflect from the real issue, it raised her reputation and got everyone to stop asking anymore questions. Santana continued to get changed, she would have to tell Puck later that she slept at his house last night, well as far as the rest of the school was concerned. The duo often used each other as cover up stories, both had far from perfect home lives so it was the perfect excuse to hide any unwanted secrets.
"Trouble at home?" Quinn whispered as she walked past the Latina who was now applying her make up in one of the many mirrors that lined the room.
"Something like that." Santana replied softly with a roll of her eyes. She recapped her lip gloss and placed it back into her locker before gathering her hair and tying it with a red hair elastic, checking it was perfect in the mirror before turning around. She then walked out of the room, leaving Quinn to wonder what had happened the night before.
It was halfway through practise when the remark came. Everyone had been paired off to practise lifts and Santana and Quinn were placed together. Quinn was lifting Santana when the words had slipped out of her lips.
"Geez San, why do you have to be so heavy?" She said with a laugh, hoping to add some light heartedness to the gruelling practise. She had been completely unprepared for the other girl's reaction. Santana had immediately stiffened at the words and suddenly inhaled in a sharp breath, her mouth forming a thin line. But the strangest thing was Quinn could have sworn she saw her eyes glisten with unshed tears, however before she could say anything they were interrupted.
"Sandbags! If there is not a smile as wide as the Mississippi River on your face the next time I turn around you can stay behind after practise and run another 18 laps around the track!" Sue barked through her megaphone, glaring at Santana. Santana immediately plastered a bright smile on her face, although anyone looking closely could see that it was forced. Quinn took a mental note to ask Santana about what had happened later. Finally once practise had finished Santana and Quinn walked back to the locker room and quickly showered, seeing Brittany already dressed, showered and waiting for them.
"How did you get ready so fast Britt?" Santana asked as she washed her hair, her voice rising out of the cubicle with the steam.
"I did my cool down stretches in the shower." Brittany replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Santana and Quinn exchanged a look as they both stepped out of the showers in fluffy red towels, Santana secretly loving everything Brittany had to say. Once they were all ready they set off towards the choir room for their before school Glee meeting.
As they entered the room the rest of the club was already gossiping amongst themselves, and the three girls went to go find seats. Quinn sat down between Tina and Finn and Brittany sat down on the other side, next to Mike where the two immediately started talking about some new dance move. Santana groaned internally when she realised that the only available seat left was on the end next to Rachel. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before sitting down next to the girl.
"Hello Santana!" Rachel said brightly as the girl sat down.
"Hobbit." Santana said coldly in acknowledgement. She had been hoping that the stupid dwarf could just sit down and be quite for half an hour, she should have known that quiet was not a word in the girls vocabulary.
Rachel dug around in her backpack before pulling out the item she was looking for. "Here, I got this for you. Brittany said it was your favourite." She said whilst holding up a Snickers Bar. Santana's mouth watered at the sight of the candy bar, there was nothing better than chocolate, caramel and peanuts all mixed together and the nougat was just the cherry on top. Snickers were the best food on the entire planet, there was no doubt about it.
"No thanks." Santana replied, trying to be disinterested in the offered candy bar. Her taste buds were practically screaming at her to take the candy, but she remembered what Quinn had said that morning so there was no way she was going to eat that. Rachel frowned whilst giving Santana a knowing look which the girl simply ignored. Just as Rachel was about to say something she was interrupted by the arrival of Mr Schue.
"Oh Santana there you are, I was worried when you left." Mr Schue said as he noticed Santana sitting next to Rachel. Santana quickly looked around, but no one else seemed to have heard, they were all busy having their own conversations. Except of course the midget who was listening to ever word they had to say.
"I had Cheerios practise at 6:30, I didn't want to wake you." Santana said quickly, still scanning for any eavesdroppers.
"Oh okay. And here's your phone, you left it on the table. Remember to call if you need anything." Mr Schue said with a wide smile, before walking to the front of the room to get everyone's attention. Santana zoned out, entertaining herself with her thoughts for the rest of the lesson. Once again she started thinking about what Quinn had said. Had she really gotten that fat? No wonder nobody wanted her, not when they could have someone who was skinny and perfect like Quinn or Brittany. A silent tear made its way down her cheek as she thought about how alone and fat she looked. She reached her hand up and quickly swiped it away, returning her attention back to the front of the class.
Rachel sat watching the Latina girl next to her. Mr Schue was at the front of the room explaining what they needed to do to win nationals, but she was no longer listening after all her suggestions had been ignored. Instead she decided to watch Santana, who by the looks of things also wasn't listening. Her eyes had glazed over and she was staring at the front of the room, except her eyes didn't appear to be focused. Suddenly a tear fell down the girl's cheek and then just as quickly it was wiped away harshly. Suddenly the girl appeared to be focused again, her eyes following Mr Schue's movements as she sat up a bit straighter. All of this was looking to be very curious, what with Santana crying and apparently sleeping at Mr Schue's house for the night. She would have to investigate this further. She was brought back to reality as she noticed everyone standing up to leave, it must be time for actual classes to start she mused as she headed out the door.
Santana walked into her first class of the day, chemistry. It was her favourite subject at school, she loved the idea that you could take one thing, mix it with another and then end with a completely new thing. It was also the subject she got her best marks in, so of course that made it more enjoyable. She looked on the board to see who was going to be her lab partner for the next month. It was a tradition of her teacher's, to every month rotate the lab partner pairings in the class. He felt that it gave everyone an equal opportunity, it meant that if you were ever stuck with someone you didn't like, or someone who wasn't very good at chemistry you would only have to put up with them for a month. And of course, guess who's name was right next to Santana's in big black marker? Rachel Berry.
Santana had to fight to hold back a groan as her teacher said that they would be working on a joint project with their lab partner for the next two weeks. Together they would have to identify an unknown substance using any test methods of their choice and then write a report on the identifying properties of the substance. That meant she would have to spend time with Berry. Outside of school.
"Hi Santana! Looks like we're going to be lab partners for the month!" Rachel said brightly as she took the remaining stool at Santana's bench.
"I know, I can read." Santana replied sourly, glaring at her teacher's back.
"Did you know that when people are grumpy it's normally because their blood sugar is low? Your blood sugar drops when you haven't eaten enough food." Rachel chattered as she rearranged the books on her desk, hoping to get a reaction from the other girl.
"My blood sugar is fine." Santana said bluntly, not looking up from the page she was reading.
"It can also cause paleness. Actually you look a bit pale..." Rachel trailed off, still waiting for Santana to take the bait.
"It can also cause loss of consciousness and difficulty concentrating. And as you can see I'm wide awake and having no problems concentrating. Well at least I wouldn't be if someone didn't keep interrupting." Santana spat out, her eyes leaving the textbook to glare at Rachel. The sudden head movement made a wave of dizziness rush through her and she quickly scrunched her eyes closed, her hands rising to her head as if to steady it.
"Oh yeah, you are fine." Rachel said sarcastically as she watched Santana swaying slightly in her chair.
"Okay listen Berry. If this is going to work you will be quiet. You will not talk to me about anything other than chemistry. You will especially stop whatever weird notion you have in your head about me. Got it?" Santana snapped, her previous bout of vertigo now forgotten.
"Blood sugar is chemistry." Rachel replied stubbornly, staring Santana straight in the eyes until the Latina looked away. Now she knew that there was something wrong with the girl, the old Santana would never have even given her a chance to talk back, let alone stare her down.
"Just stick to what's in the chapter." Santana ordered in what was supposed to be a firm commanding voice, but to Rachel it sounded more desperate than anything. For the rest of the lesson the two girls worked in silence, the only sound was Santana's pencil scribbling furiously across the page. Rachel risked a glance to see what the girl was so busy writing, her face falling into a frown as she noticed the complex equations set out across the majority of the page. So Santana was better at maths and literature, but apparently she was a lot better at chemistry than Rachel as well. It was amazing what you could find out about a person once you started observing them, even if most of the stuff didn't quite make Rachel happy. The bell then rung, signalling the end of first period. Both girls stood and started cramming their notes back into their folders, followed by pens and pencils.
"So do you think we should meet after school and work on this?" Rachel asked Santana before the other girl had a chance to walk out of the room.
"Whatever." Santana replied with a shrug. After a look from Rachel she amended her answer. "Sure."
"Awesome! So your house or my house?" Rachel asked.
"Your house." Santana replied quickly, she didn't want to risk Rachel coming over to a scene like last night. And the chances of that happening were actually pretty high, Santana knew how the cycle went by now. Her Mami would get drunk, then get high, then go to rehab, then turn over protective, then have sex and get drunk, causing the whole thing to start again. She noticed Rachel giving her an odd look at her sudden reply, so she moved to walk out of the classroom.
"Santana wait! How does six o'clock sound? You could stay for dinner."
"Six o'clock sounds great, but I'm going to Brittany's for dinner." Santana replied, she was relieved that she had an excuse to get out of the dinner.
"Cool, cya then!" Rachel smiled broadly as she almost skipped out of the classroom.
"Yeah." Santana echoed "Cya then."
Okay so I'm sorry that this was a bit shorter than normal, but I'm going on a vacation to the city in like 7 hours, all of which I am supposed to be asleep for, and I didn't want to leave you all waiting for ages for an update, coz I honestly have no idea when I'll next be able to update so yeah, it was kinda short or nothing and I decided to give you short. But I can promise you that the next chapter will be filled with Santana/Rachel goodness, how could it not be if they will be chilling together at Rachel's place? So anyway I'm gonna go now, gonna need lots of beauty sleep for all the shopping I will be doing tomorrow! Peace out!