A/N: Sorry if some if you haven't read the Great Gatsby. I haven't even read it in a while so my information is a little rusty.
My Green Light: Chapter 2
"Mami, I'm home." Santana screamed as she walked through the door.
"In the kitchen!" Maria Lopez screamed back. Santana made her way to the kitchen and gave her mom a hug. "How was your first day mija?" Santana groaned.
"It was okay. We already have to read three chapters of this stupid book." Maria laughed.
"I'm sure it won't be stupid if you actually try. I won't lecture you, honey, but you really need to focus more this year." Santana nodded in understanding.
"So what's that you're cooking?" Santana said as she grabbed a plate eagerly.
"Taco salad."
"Yum." Santana smiled and ate her food.
After she was done, she headed upstairs to get started on her reading. About two pages into the book, and she was already bored. She really wanted to do good, but she just had a hard time understanding and paying attention. Santana had decided that she had done enough reading for the day, because her headache was already coming back. She thought that maybe if she went to Ms. Fabray's class in the morning, her teacher could help her understand more of the book. Her new teacher did seem nice, and she had told the class that she was available to help them whenever they needed it. So it was settled, Santana would ditch Cheerio's practice in the morning to go get help. There must've been something seriously wrong with her, because she never missed a practice.
X.
It was 7:15 am, and there was barely anyone at school besides the football players and the Cheerios. They were all out on the field practicing. Santana walked quickly passed them, and into the front doors of school. She took a deep breath and walked to her English class. She was surprised that Ms. Fabray was actually in the classroom; she half expected her not to be. Santana decided to be polite and knock on the door. Quinn looked up from the papers she was reading and was kind of surprised by the sight, but smiled anyway.
"Hi Santana. Is there anything I could do for you?" Santana felt kind of happy that she actually remembered her name.
"Um yeah, actually." She walked into the classroom and placed her book on her teacher's desk. "I'm having trouble understanding this book." Santana bit her lip as she waiting for her teacher's response.
"Well, there's something I could help you with." Ms. Fabray said as she let out a soft laughed. Santana might have let out a laugh too. "Why don't you pull up a chair, and tell me how far you've gotten." Santana did as she was told.
"To be honest, I've only read like two pages." Santana sighed. "I'm just so bad at reading. It's annoying." Quinn have a sympathetic smile to her student. She could tell that she was actually trying to do good.
"That's okay. Before we get any further, don't you have Cheerios practice?"
"Yeah, but screw that. I need to get this shit." Santana looked up at her teacher's disapproving face. "Oops sorry. I meant crap?" Quinn just shook her head at Santana's straight forwardness.
"Okay, so I'll tell you a little secret. This book really isn't that hard as long as you have the basic theme down." Santana nodded for her to continue. "You know who the main characters are, right?"
"I think so."
"Good. That can help you a lot. Tell you what. I won't have you read all three chapters today. Instead, I want you to read the first chapter and give me a summary of the main characters." Santana groaned. "Hey, I'm only helping you." Ms. Fabray giggled.
"Alright. Thanks Ms. Fabray."
"Of course, Santana. Thank you for asking for help." Santana nodded and smiled. She gathered her belongings and left the classroom. As she was walking to her locker, she thought of how glad she was that Ms. Fabray didn't seem annoyed with her, unlike her other teachers. When she got to her locker, Puck was already standing there.
"Why weren't you at practice this morning?"
"Calm down. I needed help with English." Santana placed her books into her locker. She then looked up at Puck and found him smirking.
"Since when did Santana Lopez ask for help? You sure this has nothing to do with a certain teacher?" Santana playfully punched his arm.
"No. Not all of us are like you, Puck."
"Oh, but you are." Puck followed Santana as they walked to their first period, drama. Santana was secretly glad that Puck and her shared most of the same classes. It definitely made school a whole lot easier.
"Whatever. Where's Britt and Rach?"
"Britt is probably still talking to Coach Sylvester. Some shit about a unicorn routine." Santana giggled. Brittany was really something special. "And Rach, don't know. We'll see her in Drama anyway." Santana nodded. After their little hook up in the bathroom yesterday, they went to their separate classes, and hadn't spoken since. It got a little less sexier once Ms. Fabray had caught them, so they decided to just stop and talk until the bell rang. As expected, Rachel was standing right outside the Drama classroom looking at something on her phone. She looked up as she saw Puck and Santana approaching.
"Hey guys." Rachel said as she out her phone away.
"Sup." Puck nodded, and then noticed his fellow football friends and went to talk to them.
"Hi." Santana smirked. "We have ten minutes until the bell rings." Rachel shook her head.
"Not now. I have to study for this stupid Calc test." Santana groaned.
"Why are you such a nerd?"
"Not a nerd. Just trying to get a good GPA." Santana laughed.
"Sounds like a nerd to me."
X.
Santana was actually excited when the bell for third period rang. It was kind of silly to have a small crush on your teacher, but hey, it was all in good fun, and she was pretty sure almost every student had a crush on her. Santana took her seat next to Puck who, as expected, was already ogling their teacher.
"Snap out of it, dude. You're drooling."
"She's so hot." Puck continued to stare, and Santana gave up.
"Happy 2nd day of school everyone!" Quinn said excitedly. To be honest, her third period class was her favorite. "I'm hoping you all read at least the first chapter of Gatsby. If not, that's okay. I'll let it slide this time." Santana was probably imagining it, but she could've sworn that Ms. Fabray was looking right at her the entire time she was talking. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, she didn't know. "Does anyone feel ready enough to describe one of our main characters and narrator of the novel, Nick Caraway?" Santana almost let out a sarcastic laugh when she saw Adrianna, clearly a teacher's pet, hand go up first. "Yes Adrianna?"
"Nick Caraway is the narrator of the novel. We learn in the beginning of the chapter that he is an open-minded and non-judgmental person, and he moves to Long Island to learn about business." Adrianna stated confidently.
"That was as close to spot-on as it gets. Great job Adrianna." Quinn felt proud of her student. Santana noticed, and it made her mad, even though Adrianna always had this effect on teachers. Santana didn't know what came over her, but she raised her hand. Ms. Fabray looked surprised.
"Yes, Santana?" Oh shit, what had she gotten herself into.
"Um, oh. Well I just think that Adrianna here is missing a great deal of information. You see, she didn't tell us about where Nick was before he moved to Long Island. Uh, she forgot to mention that Nick went to Yale with Tom Buchanan, who's another important character." Quinn was now very impressed, and she was beaming. Santana smirked at Adrianna, and then sat down. Reading the first few chapters in Pre-Calculus wasn't a bad idea.
"Wow. Good point Santana, thank you."
"Damn, where'd that come from?" Puck whispered from beside her.
"Just doing the assignment." Santana shrugged. After a bit more discussion about the characters, Ms. Fabray decided to do a more fun activity. Quinn had all her students gather in a circle.
"Okay guys, what we're going to do now is a little 'getting to know each other' activity. As you can see, I'm holding a ball. I'm going to say something about myself. It can be a like, a dislike, or any other information you care to share. I'm going to pass the ball to whoever says 'Same', meaning that they agree with me, then they're going to do the same thing. Make sense?" Everyone nodded. "Alright. Hm. I really like to go to concerts in my free time." Santana was surprised. That was her favorite thing to do as well.
"Same." Santana blurted out. Quinn smiled and passed the ball to Santana.
"Uh, I really like to dance." The game went on for another fifteen minutes, until the lunch bell rang. Everyone started to file out of the class, and Santana was about to go to, until something stopped her.
"Santana. Can I see you for a moment?" Ms. Fabray said. Santana nodded and turned around to walk towards her. "I just wanted to say that I'm really proud of you for participating and actually doing the assignment." Quinn smiled. "That's what makes me happy as a teacher."
"No problem." Santana smiled back.
"Have a good day. Oh, and just a reminder, teachers use the same bathroom as students." She winked, and Santana's face grew completely red as she nodded and walked out of the classroom.