The beginning of a new school year is always the same. You walk into the building and it smells the same as it did last year, reminding you that nothing has changed in the three months that you've been away. Santana Lopez roamed the familiar halls of McKinley High School on her first official day of her junior year. As she approached her locker, a familiar figure came into view; Quinn Fabray, her best friend since before she can remember.
"Quinn!" Santana yelled as she picked up her pace, practically running toward the locker Quinn is standing in front of.
"Santana! How are you? Gosh, we haven't seen each other in so long," Quinn pouted as they hugged.
"We saw each other a week ago at the mall Quinn," Santana corrected as they parted.
"Like I said, we haven't seen each other in forever!"
As they exchanged words about the life altering events that occurred since they last saw each other just days ago, a group of jocks down the hall began tormenting some underclassman. David Karofsky, head of the football meat heads and quarterback, knocked some books out of a small freshman's hands. David's right-hand-meat-head, Azimio, laughed with David as the small and terrified freshman geek tried to pick his things back up.
"Hey, welcome to high school, NERD!" David picked the freshman up and placed him in a nearby garbage can.
"Dave, can you please stop doing that?" Brittany Pierce, the queen bee on campus, pleaded. She is the most beautiful girl on campus and is dating the leader of the meat heads. Brittany has long, blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and stands at 5'8". She is the vision that every other girl on campus wishes they were.
"But, it's an initiation thing," David explained as the nerd cowered in the trashcan.
"I thought those were only in cars?" Brittany wondered. Why would he be talking about ignitions?
Yes, Brittany is one of those popular kids who never absorbed anything and never understood what was going on. She also interpreted words in the wrong way and said the most random, nonsensical things. Despite all of this, her status at the top of the McKinley High food chain remains untarnished.
"I can't believe that the administrators let Dave and Azimio get away with that crap," Quinn commented as she watched the tormenting of the underclassman come to a close.
"Me either," a man's voice came from behind Quinn and Santana.
Mike Change and Tina Cohen-Chang stood behind Quinn and Santana. Mike and Tina have been dating since freshman year and they are inseparable.
"Hey, looks like the band is back together," Santana commented as they all stood in the hallway facing each other. Santana, Mike, Tina, and Quinn are all actually in a band together, but they didn't really practice over the summer.
Everyone laughed at Santana's words before Tina chimed in, "We really should practice sometime. I haven't played in months. I probably can't even keep a beat anymore."
"Yeah totally," Quinn added.
Before anything else could be said, the bell for the first classes of the day to begin rang, echoing off the lockers lining the halls. The friends said their goodbyes and were off to class.
Santana trotted off to her first class of the day, Biology. Why am I even taking this class? Santana wondered as she entered the room. She hates biology with a burning passion and still can't understand why she's taking the class. What's even worse is that the class that she wanted to be in the most is taking place during this hour, creative writing, but instead she's taking biology.
As Santana entered the room she looked around, noticing a few familiar faces. One of the said familiar faces is Brittany Pierce. Santana envied Brittany. Brittany had the looks, the all-star boyfriend, the infectious personality, and the popularity. Santana wasn't usually one to be jealous, but she couldn't help herself sometimes. It's probably because she had always wanted to be in that crowd. Santana never wanted to be the nerd. She was more or less forced to be when her parents found out that she was smarter than most kids. Santana just couldn't say no to her parents, she couldn't disappoint them, she forced herself into the current social position that she's in.
Mr. Berkley, the biology teacher with such a big mole on his upper lip that everyone was fairly certain that it had its own little ecosystem, entered the room and placed a seating chart up on the board. Everyone slowly found their new assigned seats. Santana was near the front of the room next to Sugar Motta, Brittany's best friend and queen bitch.
Mr. Berkley was just about to begin class when a student office assistant came and handed Mr. Berkley two passes. Who gets a pass out of class on the first day? Santana mused as she settled into her seat.
"Miss Pierce and Miss Lopez, you're wanted in the principal's office," Mr. Berkley announced holding out the passes.
Santana and Brittany quickly leapt from their seats to retrieve the pass to the office. Everyone in class was making a sound like the two were in trouble. Brittany knew that if Santana is going to the office too that it couldn't possibly mean something bad.
The two walked in silence through the now empty halls of McKinley High. It was awkward to say the least. The head "it" girl in school walking next to the head nerd in school to the same destination wasn't a usual sight. They both entered the office. The principal, Mr. Figgins, was clearly expecting them.
"Ladies," Mr. Figgins greeted as he let Brittany and Santana into his office. He cautiously shut the door behind them and said, "Please take a seat."
Brittany and Santana wearily sat down into the seats opposite Mr. Figgins. The two girls shared a worried glance before Mr. Figgins began.
"So, do you two know why you're here?" Mr. Figgins wondered. Both girls shook their heads no. "You're here because it has come to my attention that Miss Pierce has been just barely passing her classes since freshman year."
Brittany looked down at the ground. Santana looked over to her empathetically, but Brittany didn't look up to meet her gaze.
"You, Miss Lopez are in line to be Valedictorian next year. At registration, you signed up to be a tutor, is that correct?" Mr. Figgins wondered.
"Yeah," Santana muttered under her breath. She knew that this must be super uncomfortable for Brittany. Even if they weren't friends, Santana didn't want her to have to be humiliated like this.
"Well, Miss Pierce's parents have requested that she have a tutor. What I think is that since you, Miss Lopez, have practically all the same classes as Miss Pierce, that you could be the one to tutor her."
Brittany glanced up at Santana, a clear sadness in her eyes. It wasn't sadness from having to be around Santana every day, but sadness from embarrassment.
"Of course," Santana replied trying to keep the conversation from hurting Brittany any more than it already has.
"The Pierces were hoping that you could tutor Brittany full time instead of having others to tutor. I thought that it would be a wonderful idea. If this arrangement works for both of you, then you can head back to class," Mr. Figgins leaned back in his chair proud that he had arranged for the smartest girl in school to tutor the girl who needed the most help at the school.
Once Brittany and Santana were outside the office Santana stopped Brittany from running back to class to ask, "Are you okay?"
"I…I just…" Brittany struggled to find words. "I feel like a rock sometimes."
"A rock?" Santana had no idea what Brittany was referring to.
"Yeah, a rock. Like I'm stuck on the ground, unmoving, unless someone comes by to kick me, you know?"
Santana placed a hand on Brittany's shoulder, trying to comfort her. "Brittany, you're not a rock. It's okay, I'm not going to judge you or anything. I'm only here to help you."
"Yeah right, you're the smartest girl in school, like a robot, or a cyborg, but with boobs."
Santana smirked at Brittany's humor and said, "I promise that I am only here to help, alright? We're going to get through this school year together."
"Promise?" Brittany wiped away a tear threating to stream down her face.
"Promise," Santana held out her pinky and linked it with Brittany's. Brittany smiled for the first time since they left biology class.
The school day went by like any other school day. Everyone attended their usual classes and were bored to tears with talks of how amazing this year was going to be and looking through syllabuses all day.
Then, the final period of the day approached, 8th hour. For a lot of people 8th hour was an hour to catch up on homework or sneak out of study hall to hang out with friends. For Brittany and Santana, this was their tutoring hour. Since Santana is a tutor, both girls get to spend their 8th hour in the library.
Brittany was the first one to the library, waiting nervously for Santana to arrive. Brittany hated that she had to have a tutor because it made her feel like she was worthless, like she couldn't handle school the way everyone else did. Santana walked into the library and Brittany let out a sigh of relief.
Santana walked over and sat next to Brittany at the table she was occupying. "Hey Brittany," Santana greeted as she set her things down.
"You can call me Britt, everyone else does," Brittany said as Santana got situated.
"Alright, well you can call me Santana, or San, I guess…really whatever floats your boat."
"I have a boat?" Brittany tried to recall when she bought a boat.
"Oh, um, it's not a real boat. It's a figure of speech," Santana tried to explain.
"Oh," Brittany looked down embarrassed.
Santana looked at Brittany empathetically, but knew that she wasn't going to say anything that would make the situation better so she just started with, "So, I know that we didn't really cover any new material in class today, but are there any questions that you have so far?"
"Um, not really. I know that I will, but not right now."
"Okay, well since we really don't have to do any work type stuff, we can just talk and get to know each other. If that's alright with you?" Santana offered.
"Sure. Do you want to start?" Brittany was clearly still timid around Santana, but Santana hoped to change that as soon as she possibly could.
"Sure. I am the president of the Speech and Debate team, I practically run National Honor Society, I love participating in Knowledge Bowl, and… wow, I didn't say a word about me just now did I?" Santana laughed at herself.
"It's okay, a lot of people define themselves by the things they do," Brittany said.
"Yeah, and over the past couple of years I've done just that, but I don't want to be the person who is so caught up in other things that I lose myself along the way."
Brittany looked up; her sparkling blue eyes met Santana's chocolate brown eyes. "I know how you feel. I am constantly defined by everything other than who I really am. I don't really understand why, but no one ever really seems to care enough to get to know me."
"I care," Santana added almost under her breath.
"Thanks, but you still need to go first," Brittany's mood lightened up and she smiled up at Santana.
Santana couldn't help but smile back, Brittany's smile is contagious, "Okay, for real this time. I love music. If I could I would listen to, write, sing, and play music all day long. I also love writing. I can sit at my computer for hours and hours writing stories about life, the important things, or nothing at all. I'm not as smart as everyone thinks I am, and my favorite color is red. Oh, and I love to sing. "
Brittany's smile grew and she began her little 'about me', "I love music too. Except I don't really play music, I dance to it. I've been in dancing since I was a little girl. I love it so much. Most people don't know that I dance. It's something that I usually keep to myself. I don't like being in that whole popular crowd. My favorite color is yellow, and I love to run. Oh and I do motocross."
"Yellow? Really?" Santana couldn't help but wonder.
"Yeah, not like the really super AHHHH, in your face yellow, but a nice yellow like what ducks wear. Do you know what I mean?" Brittany clearly has a different way of expressing herself than most.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Santana giggled lightly at Brittany's expression.
"What instruments do you play?" Brittany wondered.
"I play a lot of things. I play the guitar, bass, piano, and trumpet. I love playing them all. I'm actually in a band with a few of my friends," Santana replied.
"That's so cool, I wish I was that talented," Brittany couldn't help but want to be like Santana. Santana had it all, the brains, the talent, the amazing personality, and the looks. Santana had long dark brown hair and warm brown eyes. Brittany didn't understand why Santana didn't have a boyfriend. At least she thought that she didn't have a boyfriend. There is so much that Brittany doesn't know about Santana. Brittany wanted to know so much more about her. She didn't know why she felt like she could share everything with Santana, but for some unknown reason, Brittany felt safe with her.
"I'm sure you are an amazing dancer. I wish I could dance. The only move I have is the sprinkler," Santana proceeded to demonstrate. Brittany couldn't help but laugh.
"I don't just mean like um, like…" Brittany always seemed to be at a loss for words. Santana wanted to finish her sentence and say "music," but she decided to let Brittany continue. "I just mean you're so brainy. You're the…the smartest girl in school."
"I don't know about that. Like I said, I'm not as smart as people think that I am. I just work really hard and study way too much. But, I'm not a super genius or anything," Oh God, the way that Brittany speaks is starting to rub off on me. Santana just shrugged.
"Look, I know that I'm not smart. I know that I don't know. I know that I'm stupid," the light in Brittany's eyes fled with her words.
Santana grabbed Brittany's hand in hers and squeezed it gently. "You are not stupid. Whoever told you that was stupid, but you're not stupid."
"Just wait until we get to actual tutoring, then you'll get it. I just don't understand…anything."
"Maybe it's not that you don't understand. Maybe it's just that no one has ever been a good enough teacher for you," Santana nudged Brittany's arm.
"Maybe…" Brittany pondered Santana's words. "You know what? I think that you'll be an awesome teacher."
"I hope so." Santana blushed. Then out of nowhere, Santana started to think of Brittany's friends and how they act so much different than her. Then she remembered Brittany's earlier words about not wanting to be in the in crowd.
Brittany must have sensed that something was on Santana's mind, "What is it San?"
"Nothing," Santana lied.
"Oh please, I can tell that something's on your mind," Brittany pried.
"Alright, but don't get mad at me for asking," Santana paused waiting for a sign to continue. Brittany simply nodded. "Why do you hang around the jocks and stuff if you don't really want to. Especially since they're so…mean, and well, you're so not mean."
"I'm not like you. I really don't have anything else. You have smarts. All I have are my looks. I wanted to belong somewhere and I just ended up in that crowd. I don't even like that I'm that person, but if I'm not popular, then who am I?" Brittany put everything out there.
"You're Brittany Pierce, a totally awesome person who is very underrated. You don't have to be something you don't want to be if you don't want to," Santana's words weighed on Brittany. She knew that Santana was right.
"Santana…have you ever felt like your lost in the smart people world?" Brittany wondered.
"Of course I do. I actually was one of those kids who always wanted to be popular, but when my parents found out that I was smart it was always about impressing them instead of being me."
"Why do you do it?"
"I don't even know any more. More than anything, I want to be a writer. I want to write stories, movies, screenplays, songs, everything. But I feel like I'm stuck…stuck in a world that I didn't choose."
"We're not so different," Brittany commented, crossing her arms across her stomach.
"No, we're not."
"I was really embarrassed when I found out that I was being forced into tutoring, but I don't feel so icky about it anymore," Brittany played with the hem of her shirt.
"Really?" Santana couldn't help but feel relieved that Brittany was cool being around her. It will make the whole tutoring business a lot easier.
"Yeah, I mean, you're really cool," Brittany began to spin a ring on one of her fingers.
"Ladies, I'm sorry, but the library is closing, you'll have to leave," the librarian said from across the room.
Santana and Brittany both looked up at the clock. School has been over for a half hour. How had the time passed by so quickly? And why was the library closing so soon?
"I'm sorry, but the library won't be open for normal hours until next week," the librarian added like she could read their minds.
Santana was the first to stand up, "I guess we should get going then."
Brittany mimicked Santana's actions and got to her feet, gathering her things to leave. "I can't believe we didn't hear the bell."
"We're both just too interesting," Santana joked with a wink.
"I think we're a good amount of interesting, not too much. Plus can anyone really be too interesting?" Brittany clearly missed the sarcasm.
"You're right," Santana decided to answer her rather than dismiss her.
"Shoot," Brittany said as she looked down at her phone.
"What is it?" Santana wondered concerned.
"Dave was my ride home. He texted me like a gazillion times. He left," Brittany looked up at Santana helplessly.
"I'll give you a ride home," Santana offered.
"Are you sure? I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to."
"I want to," Santana said as the two walked toward the student parking lot
"Thanks San," Brittany hated to just ask people for a favor, especially people that she just met, but she really did need a ride.
"It's really not a problem. I mean, we're friends, right?" Santana tried to lighten the mood.
"OF COURSE!" Brittany yelled thinking that Santana was unsure about their friendship.
"Cool. Well, I have a strict, never leave a man behind policy, so that means you will always have a ride with me," Santana smirked at how loud Brittany had been just moments ago.
Brittany only lived a neighborhood away from Santana. Giving her a ride was really not a big deal. Santana actually couldn't believe that David would just leave Brittany like that. What if she was just stranded at the school? I'll go all Lima Heights on his ass if he does this again. Jerk.
Brittany thanked Santana for the hundredth time as she got out of Santana's car and strutted up to her home. Santana began to think about everything that happened today. It had been an eventless day until she sat down with a girl who she had thought was superficial and ditzy, but she turned out to be anything but those things. Who would have guessed that Brittany was such an amazing person underneath it all?
When Brittany was inside her house she couldn't help but think about everything that happened with Santana. She had no idea that someone so smart could be so genuine and nice. Everyone she's ever encountered who has been smart has also been mean. She couldn't wait to be tutored by Santana, especially if it meant that she had the chance to talk to her every day.
Authors Note:
So I know that I'm taking characters out of context and they aren't behaving 100% like themselves. Mostly I'm just attempting to focus on the relationship between Santana and Brittany if they were in this situation. Also, I'll post songs with every chapter that I feel go with the mood of the chapter. This is about Glee after all =)
"Iris" - Goo Goo Dolls