Chapter 2

Sitting on the edge of her new desk, Santana looked around her new classroom approvingly. She was surprised at just how nice it was. The walls were adorned with information posters all on different aspects of US politics, one on the set up of congress, the workings of the electoral college, how a bill was passed etc and on the back wall, staring down over the classroom was a large poster of Barack Obama at his inaugaration speech. There were 20 desks, facing the white board in neat lines of 5 by 5, each with a Government and Politics textbook sat neatly on top. The walls were painted a light yellow, giving the room a warm, sunny feel and the faded wooden floor was much nicer than the awful linoleum that covered most of the hallways outside.

As she wandered over to the wall opposite the door, she was pleased to look out of the large windows and see they looked out onto the football field, where she noticed the cheerios were now running laps. She stared down at them for awhile, trying to find the girl who had been crying earlier but she was slightly too far away to be able to make out their facial features and there were too many blondes to be sure she was looking at the right one. She stood there for awhile watching the cheerleaders race each other around the track and wondered if they were enjoying themselves, heads down, legs pumping, they continued sprinting under the watchful eye of their coach, at the peak of their physical fitness.

The bell rang suddenly and she scanned the room, checking once again to make sure it was ready for her very first class.

Looking down at her self, she smoothed the skirt of her favourite Jil Sander suit against her legs and walked over to her desk, removing her jacket to hang on the back of her chair. She wasn't nervous. Being intelligient and beautiful equipped her to adapt to most situations well, and a bunch of high school kids certainly didn't present any threat she couldnt deal with. As a teenager she had ruled her high school, reigning over the other students with a balance of bitchy wit, good looks and an ability to excel at anything she turned her hand to. As a former homecoming queen, coming back slightly older and wiser only made her more confident.

Reaching into her leather handag she pulled out a gleaming compact and flipped it open, checking her appearance quickly before the students began to arrive. Her silky black hair framed her face perfectly, hanging loose and still slightly wavy from her shower that morning. Regarding her mouth critically, she ran her tongue lightly along her full bottom lip, glad she had chosen a clear lipgloss this morning. Her olive skin glowed in the light from the morning sun pouring through her window and she smiled at her reflection, satisfied she looked nice but not overly made up.

She snapped the mirror shut just as the door opened and a young girl entered, beaming. She had a long curtain of dark hair pushed back neatly from her head with a plaid headband which, Santana noted, matched her skirt and sweater exactly.

"Why hello" the girl said excitedly, flashing perfectly straight and even white teeth. "I'm Rachel Berry"

She advanced towards Santana with one hand out, using the other to clutch her notepad to her chest.

"I'm captain of the debating society, and President of the school's Democratic association" She gave a soft laugh "among other things, so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other"

Santana shook the girls hand, unsure of whether this was good news or not.

"Well..uh..great. I'm Ms. Lopez"

The girl nodded and reached into the satchel hanging from her shoulder, withdrawing a red apple which she ceremoniously placed on the desk. She leant towards a bemused Santana with a secretive smile.

"Just a little something...from me, to welcome you to McKinley"

"Uh wow, thank you Rachel, that's really...kind"

Rachel bowed her head in a show of modesty just as the door opened again and 3 students entered together. They hovered in the doorway, staring at Santana hesitantly before slowly edging in.

"Is this twelth year Government?"

Santana smiled at the handsome, effeminate boy who had asked and beckoned them all in,

"Yes, come in...I'm Ms. Lopez"

The boy regarded her carefully as he walked to a desk in the front, his eyes hovering on her beautifully fitted white shirt and high heeled, black court shoes. He sat down next to Rachel, offering her a quiet "Hi" before returning his admiring gaze to Santana who had positioned herself neatly, legs crossed, back on the edge of her desk. Following him into the room was a tall asian boy who introduced himself as "Mike" and behind him another boy, short and muscley with ridiculous lips and sweeping blonde hair. As they took their seats Rachel looked at Santana expectantly before putting her hand in the air and, without waiting to be called on, asked,

"Shall we begin Ms. Lopez?...Perhaps we could start with a 'getting to know you' session, I have a few ide-"

Santana held up her hand to stop her.

"Wait a second Rachel, let's wait for the whole class to arrive shall we?"

The other students in the class exchanged glances, smirking. The blonde boy spoke up,

"Well, Blaine isn't here today so...this is the whole class"

Santana looked around the four students all sitting in the front row and opened her hands, palms facing the ceiling in an expression of confusion.

"What?..Are you kidding?...This is it?"

The boy shrugged apologetically "Well most people take easier electives..Mr Thomas's twelfth grade cooking class has like, 40 students,, and like, another 20 who didn't even get a place this year "

Rachel, who had been eager to rejoin the conversation, nodded emphatically "Even Mr Schue's spanish class is oversubscribed...I guess some people just find Government kind of...boring"

She half whispered the last word, careful to make it clear that she was not one of those people, that she loved this class and would never try and swap it for something as pointless as cooking. Santana inhaled sharply, raising her eyebrows. She was not completley shocked that most kids weren't interested in her class if she were being honest, but 5 students? In a school as big as this? Really?

Turning to the board she carefully rolled the sleeves of her expensive white shirt to the elbow and picked up a pen,

"Well...I guess we better get started then"

...

"I just don't understand why, if other classes are full, the students aren't being made to attend the lessons with remaining spaces. There are five students in my twelfth grade class" she paused for dramatic effect "Five!"

Principal Figgins watched as his new Government teacher explained her point again, gesturing with her perfectly manicured hands at invisible students. He had been taken aback when she had marched into his office this morning, brandishing a piece of paper covered in messy handwriting and talking heatedly about class numbers and student electives. She had only been in the school 3 hours and she was already causing trouble. He sighed, she was a remarkable woman to behold angry, with her dark eyes flashing and her small frame gesturing dramatically. He had a feeling this meeting would be the first of many over the coming months although he couldnt bring himself to be entirely annoyed at the thought of the beautiful latina woman spending so much time in his office.

"-but then in the staffroom this morning I found that there are at least 15 students who take a free period, instead of just going to an under subscribed class" Santana noticed that the Principal's eyes seemed to have glazed over. "Principal Figgins?..Are you listening?"

With some effort the Principal tore himself away from his thoughts and tried to focus on what she was saying. Only to end up slightly distracted again, as his gaze fell on her tight white shirt and figure hugging, high waisted skirt. She let out an irritated sigh and pressed the printed roster she had been holding in her hands firmly in front of him on the desk between them.

"Principal Figgins." she began calmly "I teach eleventh and twelfth grade. That is a total of only 4 classes and a combined number of only 32 students. As I'm sure you are aware, Junior and Senior electives are 4 times a week, which means I have 16 hours of lessons" She tilted her head and stared directly at him "It seems strange to me that I should have so many spare hours hours a week with no lessons, whilst there are seniors taking free periods because there are no classes for them"

"Okayyy, but what do you want me to do about it Ms. Lopez?" his thick Pakistani accent broke her name in two, pronouncing the 2 syllables separately and placing unessecary emphasis on the 'pez'.

"If you are looking for something to fill up that time, you could extend the hours of the debating society or, well, Mr Schuester could always use more help with the Glee club and yo-" Santana shook her head, her face screwed up in annoyance.

"Glee club? What? No! That's not my point" She pointed at the paper on his desk which she was covered in her own annotations "I wrote down a list of all the students who are on a free when they could be taking my Government class and I really think, even if it's only as a trial, that we should be making an effort to teach these kids something rather than letting them goof around four hours a week"

He looked down at her list and was surprised to see quite so many names. Of course he knew that most of the cheerleaders had numerous free periods, Coach Sue insisted on having at least 1 hour during the school day to train them. Not that she didn't make them come early and stay late most days too, but as she always told him, there was a price for all that William McKinley glory. But looking down at the list of students he had a slight feeling of uneasiness, realising she was right. Alot of these kids were troublemakers anyway, it would probably be better to get them in a classroom for an extra 3 hours a week rather than have them roaming the corridors, graffiting lockers, bullying the freshman.

"Okay, okay. Maybe you are right Ms. Lopez" He held up his hands in a show of mock defeat "I'll get the office to timetable you a few extra classes with these students and you can try and help them get some extra credit"

Santana stood up with a satisfied smile and took the Principal's proffered hand with a firm handshake.

"Great, I'm glad we sorted this out" she stood up and turned to leave "I'll come to collect my new rosters tomorrow"

As she opened the door and stepped assuredly into the hallway, Principal Figgins couldn't help but watch her go, still slightly reeling from the direct effeciency with which she got her own way. Staring down again at the list of 15 or so students he had just agreed to send to her he took a small sip of coffee and said quietly into the empty room "Good Luck", not entirely sure if he was adressing the students, or himself.

...

I think this is probably fairly unrealistic, I don't even know if you get to choose your classes in high school but I guess it doesn't really matter all that much, Brittana is the important thing. I'll introduce Brittany next chapter which I'll start writing now and you can probably expect late tonight, 12.00 maybe? British time.

Feedback really appreciated, thanks :)