The Millionaires' Club

GleefullyDivergent

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of its characters because if I did there would be a lot more Santana and a lot less everyone else.

Chapter Two: Perfect Lives

When I was fourteen I was recruited by the famous Sue Sylvester to join McKinley High School's National award-winning cheerleading squad.

Coach Sylvester promised me a life of riches if I joined her Cheerios.

I was promised the popularity that every high school freshmen dreamed about and the privilege of reaping the benefits that my former cheer sisters left to me, and all I had to do was wave some plastic scraps around and scream at the top of my lungs as encouragement for our lame ass football team that couldn't score a touchdown to save their own lives.

Being a Cheerio was like being God at McKinley High School and all I had to do was sign my soul over to the "she" devil herself.

It only took me two months to make my way to the top of Cheerios pyramid and because of that I made it to the very top of the social pyramid as well. I was the hottest, baddest, most popular girl McKinley had ever seen, and I did everything in my power to keep up with my title.

I slept with the hottest boys and shot down the lamest while making the lives of the less "fortunate" a living hell.

It was like held the world in the palm of my freshly manicured hand, and I loved every single minute of it.

My life was perfect, that is, until she came along and turned everything upside down.

Her name was Brittany, and she was the definition of perfection.

Long blonde hair, deep beautiful blue eyes, legs that went on for miles, and one of greatest minds I had ever had the pleasure of learning from.

Brittany was everything I could ever dream of becoming.

Coach introduced me to Brittany at the end of my sophomore year, she was going to become a freshman in the fall, and was to become my successor after I graduated, so coach wanted her to start training immediately.

I wasn't really interested in spending my summer with a thirteen year old, so I did everything I could to make her life a living hell. I pushed her harder than I pushed any of the other summer recruits. I made her run more laps, lift more weights, and drink more Sylvester cleanse. I pushed her past most girls breaking points, but she never complained.

She did more than necessary without saying a single word because she strove to become the best.

Brittany was different, and I felt it from the moment I first laid my hands on her.

It was during the first practice of the school year and coach was making us do long hours of intense stretching to gain back our flexibility, normally while the girls were stretching I would stand on the sidelines making sure that none of them were slacking off, but when I noticed her struggling to stretch her splits I decided since she had been one of my most pleasant teammates that I would go over and give her a hand.

"It'll be an easier stretch if you stand and pull your leg up." I mumbled down at the tall blonde sitting in a half middle split.

She looked up at me with her sparkling blue eyes, and I swear I lost my breath. I knew Brittany was beautiful, but I never knew she was this beautiful.

"I tried that, but I can't hold myself up without a balance bar and none of the other girls will help me."

I frowned, Brittany was one of the more quiet girls on the team, but I didn't know she didn't talk to any of the other girls.

"Why won't they help you?"

She shrugged and stood up brushing the loose grass off the bottom of her skirt.

"They know I'm going to become Captain soon, so none of them want to talk to me. I think their afraid."

"That's stupid."

"I don't like that word." She whispered pulling her leg up past her ear and wobbling as she started to lose her balance, I immediately grabbed her leg and pushed our bodies together.

The shivers that ran down my spine and the goose bumps that erupted on my skin were almost instant.

"Well, when you need any help you can come to me." I whispered feeling her breath against my lips from our close proximity.

"Thanks San." She smiled.

It was in that moment that, in that touch and smile, that I fell in love with Brittany S. Pierce.

From that day on we spent all of our time together. It was like we had lost our individuality and became one while becoming each other's everything.

I spent a year and a half falling in love with her, and I would have given her my whole life if she hadn't been taken from me.

It was five months before graduation, and Brittany and I were fighting. We were suppose to be getting ready for our last high school party together before I needed to start getting serious about school, but instead of having a good time with each other like we usually did I was trying to avoid a screaming match that I was sure was going to happen.

"Come on Santana you're going to graduate in a few months, don't you think its time that we tell your parents, I'm sure they already know anyway." Brittany sighed throwing herself down on my unmade bed.

"We already talked about this Brittany. I'm not ready to tell them yet and you pressuring me isn't going to speed up the process, we don't even know if we're going to stay together after I graduate."

It was harsh, but it was true.

"I want us to stay together San, you're the one who wants to keep your options open."

"Because long distance relationships never last." I whispered applying lipstick in front of my vanity.

"Not even for us?"

"Not even for us Britt."

She gave me one last look before she left my bedroom that night, one last painful look before she left my life forever.

I went to the party expecting to see her there, but when she didn't show up I ignored it thinking that it was just because she was still mad at me. It wasn't until I got home that I found out why she really hadn't shown up.

It was all over the news, "Sixteen year old McKinley High student Brittany Pierce dies after a head on collision with a drunk driver." She died upon impact.

I told my parents that I was gay that night.

I told them that I had been in love with Brittany and had planned on marrying her after she graduated.

I told them every single secret I held because I knew all she ever wanted from me was to be honest with and about myself.

The next day I packed my bag, emptied my bank account, and hopped on a bus to New York. Lima was too painful and I needed a clean slate if I was ever going to live again. Had I known where I was going to end up, I would have probably stayed in Lima and "given" my life to Brittany like I had always wanted to.

"It's good to see you actually working this time," Noah mumbled pulling his glasses down the bridge of his nose while I slipped back into my dress after having spent three hours of my day entertaining a group of New York's Finest Senators on a long lunch break. "I would hate to have to fire you because of your incompetency."

I rolled my eyes and threw my thong into the trashcan just outside of the private booth. One thing I hated about working at V.I.P was that Noah was too cheap to hire a real cleaning staff, so unless one of us girls cleaned the rooms after their use they would stay disgusting until the next night.

"I really don't care Puckerman, I've worked with you for long enough to know you're full of empty threats." I grabbed the hundred-dollar bill the men left as a tip for me off the glass table in the middle of the room and slipped it into my garter before walking out. I had enough of his attitude, and I didn't know how much more I could handle before lashing out.

"There not threats Lopez, they're possibilities." He whispered wrapping his arm around my waist leading me down the dark smoke-filled hallway.

" That maybe so, but we both know that if it wasn't for me taking care of this place while you go on tour it would have been shut down years ago." I pulled out of his arms and walked into the club leaving him in the darkness.

Puckerman had been on my ass since the Dani incident, and I was starting to get fed up with his attitude, it wasn't my fucking' fault that she didn't want to sleep with me.

I sighed and walked over to the empty bar. It was only two in the afternoon so it made sense that the club was pretty much deserted, the only reason Noah kept it open during the day was for the sleazebags who paid extra to slip a quickie in before going home to their wives.

"Jack and Coke Mike, and make it strong I had to deal with Puckerman all day, and I need something to help detox me." I mumbled sitting at the bar stool furthest from the lasers coming from the DJ booth a few feet away. I laid my head on the cool glass counter top of the bar trying to sooth away my oncoming headache.

I could have fallen asleep there if my "peaceful" resting place wasn't interrupted by the sweet soothing voice of my most unwanted visitor.

"I thought you liked Vodka and Coke."

Was she really back after just two days? I thought I would have another month before I had to face the music…or rather musician.

"Though personally I don't think either are appealing," I heard her sit at the bar and it took everything in my power not to look at the young beauty. "Alcohol isn't really my thing."

"Alcohol is everyone's thing." I mumbled barely turning my head to get a peek at the pretty blon...blue. She dyed her hair blue, I didn't think celebrities still did that most of them had as much personality as a sack of rocks.

"After six months of intensive rehab it's not."

Rehab?

That was different, I only knew the girl less than hour, but I didn't picture her as someone who would even be wild enough to take a sip of alcohol, none the less do time in rehab. I was a full blown alcoholic and rehab as still miles away for me.

"You're like twelve, how the hell did you end up in rehab?" I asked pulling my heavy head off the bar to get a better look at the gorgeous girl.

"Again, I'm twenty-one and as strange as it sounds growing up in the eye of the public really isn't as fun as it looks." When Mike brought me my drink she handed him a twenty and asked for a bottle of water. "I had a break down when I was a teenager, drugs, sex, and alcohol were my saving grace until my family intervened."

I frowned and ran my fingers along the rim of the cold glass of alcohol I knew was causing my head to hurt even more, but was completely necessary if I was going to make it through the rest of my shift.

"Drugs, sex, and alcohol…sounds like my everyday life."

"I think at some point it becomes everyone's everyday life."

As sad as it sounds I have to agree with her, but because I didn't want to spend my break with negative thoughts plaguing my mind I decided to be optimistic for one.

"But it doesn't have to be, right?"

"No, it doesn't, I like to think of it as what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, you know?

Stronger (Doesn't Kill You) was one of the most played songs on my iPod. It became my anthem after one of my clients became so aggressive with me that I had a black eye for a week.

"Aren't you a little too young to be quoting Kelly Clarkson." I smiled trying to lighten the mood.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes before a small shy smile made its way on to her pretty pink lips, effectively making me smile harder than I already was.

"Young or old Kelly Clarkson is still a beast."

"Well that's rude."

Kids were brutal today, I thought Kelly Clarkson was beautiful.

"Wow you're really old, huh?

I rolled my eyes and playfully smacked her leather clad thigh. I was not old.

"I'm only thirty-two, thank you very much."

"And I'm twenty-one, not twelve."

I smiled, Dani was one of the most beautiful, funny, and down to Earth people I had ever met. I knew I was risking everything sitting with her after Noah warned me minutes earlier to stay away. I may have seemed confident in that moment, but I knew how much of an asshole Noah could be if he truly wanted to, but I still couldn't pull myself away from the conversation.

"Twenty-one, twelve they're basically the same thing." I smiled pulling a laugh from her lips.

It was the cutest laugh I had ever heard.

"So, how was your concert?"

"It was good, exhausting, but good. Flying into another country is always a pain in my ass, I can never fall asleep on the plane and my mom is my manager so…I never get a minutes of rest."

"I'm guessing moms don't make great managers."

"Not really," I watched her run her palms up her thighs picking at the excess material along her knees.

"So, how long have you worked here?" She asked after a few moments of silence.

"Um, I guess it's been about fourteen years, I started when I was eighteen."

Had it really been that long? I didn't feel like I had lived in New York for more than a few years.

"Have you ever thought of doing anything else? This place is extravagant and all, but it's not exactly classy. I'm surprised I haven't caught anything yet." She laughed.

I frowned, I couldn't believe she just asked me that, did it really look like I enjoyed my time here?

"I don't have many options, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth." I shook my head and downed the rest of my drink. "And not all of us are lucky enough to have our dreams come true."

I wasn't jealous, but I hated it when people talked down to me while visiting my place of work, they were just as sinful as I was.

"Look I didn't mean it like that."

"Yes you did, but that's okay because I know that when I leave here tonight I'm not going to have to sleep on the streets, and that's all that really matters to me." I started to stand but she caught my wrist before I could get anywhere.

"I'm not here to judge you."

"You're not here for sex, you're not here for drinks, and you're not here to judge, just what exactly are you here for kid because if you ask me it sounds like you're really just here to waste my time." It came out harsher than I thought it would, but at least it came out, I needed this job and me sitting here talking to her wasn't doing me any good.

"I told you, I'm here to talk, why is that so hard for you to understand?" Her lips set in prominent frown and her eyes basically screamed confused. "We just spent twenty minutes together and you really didn't seem to mind then."

I shook my head.

"Look kid I get that you're young and that you're curious, but you really don't belong here if you want to talk to someone you should try talk to one of your friends because you're risking everything you've worked for coming in here."

I slipped my hand under my dress and pulled the money the Senators left out of my garter.

"I know you don't need it, but take the money and take a friend out for a couple of drinks on me," I stood up and slid the money down the bar so that it was sitting in front of her. "This isn't the place for conversation and even if it were, I'm not the type of person you should be talking to anyway." I pulled my dress down and ran my finger across my lip fixing my lipstick.

"Are you Bi-Polar or something?" She asked as I walked away.

I felt guilty, but I knew she could find a better and safer conversation somewhere else.

"Ten thousand dollars?" I asked completely pissed off.

There was no fucking' way that I only made ten thousand dollars, I worked forty-eight hours last week. I should have made more than double that.

"There is no way that's all I made."

"I wasn't lying when I told you to stop fucking' with kid Santana, if you're not going to put out don't expect me to either." Noah mumbled not even having the decency to look me in the eye. "Cutting your pay is one thing, but if I catch you not following the rules again don't even bother coming back."

"Really Noah, after everything I've done for you?"

He slammed his lap top closed, and goose bumps spread across my body like rapid fire, I said too much.

"Don't forget who saved your ass Lopez." He growled standing up and grabbing my wrists in one hand and forcing them behind my back. It felt like he was trying to pull them from their sockets. "If it weren't for me you would be spreading your legs on the street for much less than I just gave you." He yanked my arms back one more time before pushing my body into the wall across from us knocking down his framed records.

"I had a job before I met you Puck!" I whispered trying to spare a bit of my damaged dignity.

"Please, you wouldn't have lasted a month working at that shitty diner, making less than fucking' minimum wage. This is New York Lopez not fantasy land! Now get the hell out of my office before I beat the shit out you." He threw the money at me walked back to his desk leaving me shattered and broken.

I kept the tears bay until I walked out of the room, but as soon as I stepped into the hallway I couldn't control it anymore crying was the only thing was going to hold me together.

Thankfully my shift at V.I.P was over for the night and I could go home and sleep. I wouldn't have made it through another minute of overly aggressive clients without breaking down.

"Night San."

"Night Mike." I whispered as I walked to back of the bar where the broken emergency exit was, Noah didn't like us walking out the front door, he said it ruined the appeal of the club if it looked like the homeless were getting in too.

I had just walked outside when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned around quickly thinking that it was Noah coming to apologize, but I was surprised to see it was Dani. I honestly didn't think I'd see her again after the tantrum I threw earlier.

"Hi."

"I thought I told you to not come back Kid."

"You did, but I'm technically not inside, so I'm not breaking any rules. I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier, sometimes I don't think before I talk."

I shrugged.

"It's nothing I've never heard before, but thanks for the apology, I don't get them often." I gave her a small smile before turning back to the street, I really needed to catch a cab before rush hour or else I'd never make it home.

She grabbed my waist before I could step on the side-walk, pulling me back to face her. Normally someone grabbing from behind was something I would never allow but because it was Dani I let it slide.

"A friend of mine gave me some money, do you think I could take you out for some coffee, you look like you could use it."

I did need coffee but I needed sleep even more.

"I don't think that's best Dani, I already told you not to come back to the club, I don't want you to get the wrong impression. You don't belong in there and you shouldn't come back just because of me."

She kicked the sidewalk with the bottom of her shoe before looking up at me with a sly smile.

"How about we make a deal."

"No."

"Come on, you don't even know what I was going to say."

I folded my arms across my chest, she was lucky she was cute, it was the only reason keeping me from walking away.

"Fine, what kind of deal?"

"If you go have coffee with me now, I promise not to come back to the club. I even know the perfect place we can go, you'll like it."

I eyed her for a second. She had a goofy smile on her face and was steadily rocking back and forth on her toes like child waiting to open present on Christmas day. She really was too cute for her own good, but I had willpower and I wasn't going to give in that easily.

"No."

"What?" She asked shocked.

"No coffee, no club, no deal."

"Come on Santana, please?"

"How did you know my name?" I was surprised. I didn't remember ever telling her my name and Noah always called me Lopez around guests. I always made sure to keep quiet about personal information like that, it's why most of my clients called me girly.

"I remember the bouncer calling you Santana the last time I was here."

This kid was unbelievable.

"I'll only agree if you promise never to set foot inside the club ever again, and I'm serious I'll put your name on the "Do not enter list" if I catch you again."

"Deal."

We shook on it before she pulled me in a warm friendly hug. Even through the leather of her jacket I could feel her heart racing in her chest, I wonder if she was actually nervous, or if she was as cocky as she acted.

"Fine, but you're using the money I gave you to pay for the cab."

"Not a problem." She linked her arm with mine and pulled me up the curb.

"Hey, how did you know about the back door?" I asked stopping us for a second, that exit was a secret only employees knew about.

"I asked the bartender."

"Mike?"

"I believe so."

What a sneaky little bastard. I would have to deal with him tomorrow.

"So, have you listened to the iPod I gave you?"

She shook my head sadly and placed my free hand into the warmth of my jacket pockets. It was really could out.

"No, but I have it in my bag, we can listen to it in the cab."

She smiled and squeezed my arm.

Making her smile made me happy and as wrong as I knew it was I couldn't stop myself from doing it.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who followed, favorite, and reviewed this story your encouragement means a lot. I'm completely sorry for the wait, but I started my second semester last week and I completely changed my schedule. I had this chapter written for a while, but I really wasn't happy with the beginning, so I completely rewrote it. I wanted it give some insight on how Santana ended up in working for The Millionaires Club. I really like Dani and Santana together, but I was a Brittana fan first so I wanted my lovely Britt-Britt to be involved somehow. Brittany is important when it comes to Santana's past so she will be mentioned at times, but this story is completely Dantana. I just want to start exploring Santana's past. Again I apologize for any mistakes you might run into while reading, I'm more of science person than an English person, but I do try to make them the best I can. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

GleefullyDivergent.