AN: Honoka'a was my high school that I graduated from :) I'll try and do pronounceations for all the words I can, if you still want some kinda of clarification or anything feel free to message me :)
Also, there will be Pidgin in this chapter. Its like our slang in the islands.
Brittany walked into the classroom, more nervous than ever. She walked to the back corner of the class and took her seat next to the beautiful brunette. The classroom was set up with four rows with about four tables in each row. Brittany slun her backpack on the back of her chair and sat down. Santana was drinking a Arizona Green Tea and eating sour cream and onion pringles.
She caught Brittany staring and held out her pringles can. "You want some?" Her mouth was semi full. It was something that Brittany was never very fond of. She was always taught to not talk when her mouth was full. But on Santana, she found it a bit charming.
"No thanks, I had breakfast at home. Is that your breakfast?" Santana nodded as she put another chip into her mouth. She took a sip of her green tea and then stood up to throw away her trash. Brittany watched as Santana walked over to the door and put her trash in the metal waste basket. She stopped at the end of table to talk to the girl that was looking through pictures on her laptop. The bell rang once again and everyone took their seats. The teacher was giving her introduction to the class. Santana was balancing on the back legs of her chair, rocking back and forth as if it were a rocking chair. There were a few times that Brittany thought she was going to fall backwards but she never did. She tried not to stare, so she attempted to watch her in her peripheral vision.
"Alright your assignment is to get to your know your partner. The person to your right. Take your time, till the end of class preferably." Santana returned all four legs of her chair to the ground and turned towards Brittany. "You have fifty minutes so please use your time wisely and keep the noise level to a minimum. Take turns asking your partner questions about themselves. And since most of you already know who you're sitting next to I assume that you are just going to talk story about what you did this summer."
"Sweet! Now I get a chance to get to know Rachel's new friend." She held out her hand playfully, and Brittany took it in hers. "My names Santana Lopez."
"Brittany S. Pierce." She replied. They let go of each others hands and continued talking.
"So where are you from, Brittany?"
"I moved here from Oklahoma." Santana's eyes opened wide.
"That's super far. Damn. You're far from home, ah? You must have some mean culture shock right now. I know I did when I spent one summer in Arizona with my aunt and her four kids." Santana kept on talking. "I'm from here. Born and raised. Never been to the mainland other than the one summer I spent in Yuma."
"Arizona isn't that bad, I've been there maybe once or twice." Santana smiled. "Where do you live?"
"I actually live down the road that way," She pointed towards the back of the class. "About a five minute walk. It ain't that bad of a walk unless is starts to rain or something la'dat. How bout you?"
"I live in, uhm.. I'm sorry I'm probably gonna butcher this. Kaa... Kamew... Kamewel..."
"Kamuela. Weird name, I know. Just say Waimea (Why-May-Ah). That's what everyone calls it." A boy from the front of the classroom turned around and shouted four three.
"Four three?"
Santana laughed and told the boy to shut up and to turn around. "You're fuckin' stupid, Kai. Four three is the last two digits of Waimea's zip code. If you live Waimea, you rep 43. Honoka'a is 27. And Pa'auilo (Pa-weh-lo) is 76. But no one from there ever says 76."
"Good to know."
"Alright my turn to ask a question." Santana looked up and tapped her chin with her finger. "Ahh. Kay. Do you play any sports? I Paddle and play Softball. Softball being my best sport."
"Rachel told me you're captain of the softball. That's impressive. And you... Paddle?"
"Well, I don't like to brag or anything." And she chuckled a bit. "Yeah. Paddling. In canoes. Here." Santana pulled her binder out onto the table. The front cover had a bunch of pictures in it. She pointed to the picture just to the right of the middle. "I do it for fun mostly, I sit in the first seat. Stroker. I maintain the speed of the strokes." Brittany pulled the binder closer to her to get a better look. Santana was in a rashguard which hugged her bod so tightly that you could see her muscles. It was so hot. She couldn't take her eyes off of the picture.
"That's cool. I play softball. That's the only sport I play." When she finally stopped looking at the picture, she looked up and saw Santana's eyes filling with excitement.
"What?! You play softball?! Eh! Nalani. Nalani!" A girl in the front row turned around and looked back at Santana. "Brittany plays softball. Looks like we going have nuff this season!"
"Rajah! What position does she play?" She crossed her fingers and so did Santana.
"Okay. I'm going to ask this question and I'm praying that you say what I want you to." Brittany was hoping the same. "What position do you play?" Santana closed her eyes, as if she were actually praying. Brittany took a second or two to think of a position that they may need.
"Center." Santana opened her eyes and stood up in excitement. Brittany jumped at the sudden burst of energy that came from her.
"YES! Center!" The girl in the front stood up and they both were celebrating in excitement.
"Santana. Nalani. Sit down. You guys are being too loud." Santana sat down.
"Sorry Ms. It won't happen again." She turned towards Brittany and held out her fist. "Pound it. I'm so stoked now. You're playing this year right? Please tell me you'll coming out for the team."
Brittany bumped her fist with Santana's. "Of course I am. It's my senior year, I might as well right? What did you mean by you're going to have, umm.. nuff this season?"
"Oh, I just meant that we'll have the right amount of girls. Enough. Sorry. Pidgin sort of cuts words down, and tends to leave words out of sentences."
"The school doesn't have a lot of girls that play softball?"
"Not usually, normally we only have two subs on the bench. Not that we need subs or anything, it would be nice to have though. You know?" Brittany shook her head. "You don't talk a lot huh? No need be shy, Brittany. Just relax."
Santana didn't have to tell her. She had been trying to relax the entire class. But the fact that she was sitting next to Santana, let alone talking to her made her nervous.
They continued talking for the rest of class and as time went by, Brittany got more comfortable. The bell rang, meaning it was the end of 1st Period.
"Where you going Nalani?" The girl answered back but Brittany didn't hear what she said. "Oh! Kay I meet you over there. Where you going, Brittany?"
"To the.. covered bleachers? Rachel told me to meet her over there." Santana walked by her as she finished her sentence, placing her hands on her shoulders and lightly squeezing.
"Alright. And eh, relax alright Sooner?" Brittany looked at her in surprise. "Don't give me that, I know a bit about Oklahoma. That's your new nickname by the way. I'll catch up with you later." And just like that Santana was out the door trying to catch up with Nalani.
Brittany was completely attracted to this girl. She hardly knew anything about her. But the fact that she was so outgoing and played softball already won her over. She hoped to get to know her more. It was something about the vibe that the local girl put off that intrigued her. That made her want to learn more about her.
As she walked towards the covered bleachers, she spotted Rachel talking to a blond boy who was in jeans and a hoodie.
"Britt! Yeah! Over here." Rachel motioned her over to where she was standing. Brittany did a slight jog over and stood next to her. "Brittany this is Sam. He's our senior class president. And is also the star running back of our football team. He's in majority of your classes as well so I figured that you two could get introduced now so you wouldn't be alone."
"It's nice to meet you, Brittany." And he kissed her hello as well. "I gotta get going though, I told Whetman that I'd talk to him before recess was over."
"Alright I'll see you later then." And Sam walked away.
"People are so friendly here."
"We're known as the Aloha State. We're pretty awesome huh." Rachel went into her bag as if she was searching for something. "So how was 1st Period?"
"It was pretty awesome, actually. I talked to Santana the entire time." A huge grin appeared on Rachel's face.
"Oh yeah? What did you guys talk about?"
"Just getting to know each other. Her and this girl Nalani got super excited over the fact that I play softball." Her eyes widened just as Santana's did in class.
"Are you serious?! You play softball? What position?" Rachel put up her hand in attempt to stop Brittany from talking. "Actually, let me guess. You look like you can run. And since you're tall, you can get places faster than most. Center. Right?"
Brittany was impressed. "Yes. Actually, center is right. Do you play too?"
"Santana didn't tell you? I pitch." Rachel held out her fist just as Santana did. "We've been looking for a decent center since our freshman year. This is great."
"What position does Nalani play?"
"She's our short stop. Come. I'll introduce you to everyone." Brittany followed Rachel back towards E building. The stairs leading down towards the armory was occupied by about eight girls. "Hey guys!"
The girls each turned their head and smiled.
"Hey Rach." One of the girls got up from where she was sitting to kiss her hi. Santana was now making her way up the stairs and towards Brittany.
"Everyone this is Sooner. Sorry, Brittany. Brittany this is the team. I figured I'd introduce you since I found you." Rachel turned.
"Excuse you, I found her." Santana pushed Rachel playfully. "You can't take credit, I introduced you to her."
Brittany sort of just stood there. "Yeah but I would've met her anyway since she sits next to me in Joaquin's class. Anyway, Britt these are the girls. Nalani, of course you know her from 1st." Santana pointed and named each girl. "That's Wehi (Veh-He), Kama, Kalei (Ka-lay), Jen, Angel, and Tash."As Santana named each girl, they waved.
"It's nice to meet you guys."
"Brittany here is gonna be our new center." Santana placed a hand on Brittany's shoulder and squeezed again. "So if she looks like she needs help around school or anything you guys better help her out."
The bell rang which meant that they needed to get to 3rd Period. Brittany had 3rd period in A building, it was her senior english class.
She was about 20 feet from the door when she felt someone run up next to her. She turned to see it was Sam.
"Hey Sam. You've got English right now?"
"Yup. With Hall." They walked into the class and took the first two seats they could find. "You like it here so far?"
"Yeah. It's nice here. The weather, the people. It was much more than I expected." He laughed.
"What did you expect?"
"I don't know really. It's just a really different scene compared to my old school." He shook his head.
"I know what you mean. I moved here from Vegas about two years ago. I don't miss it there at all. I've made great friends here and I know you will too." Brittany watched as the room started to fill with students. She recognized two of the girls, Kama and Tash. They saw her and sat by her.
"Hey so we hope that are okay with the nickname San gave you. She has nicknames for all of us. It's been like that for, forever pretty much." And the two girls started laughing. "If you get a nickname from, you're already in. Heyyyy Sam."
"Hey Tash. Hey Kama." They seemed completely enamored by him.
"What nickname did she give you guys?"
"Well, I'm knuckles. And Kama is bugs." Brittany had sort of a puzzled look on her face.
"Knuckles because she always cracks her knuckles before a game. And I'm bugs because I love carrots." They smiled.
Class started and the teacher was explaining what would be happening that year. She was also the senior class advisor. English wasn't as fun as Psychology was but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The bell rang and Brittany headed straight toward the opposite of A building where her next class took place. She was a TA and was looking forward to observing a class.
When she walked in, she went to the teacher who was sitting at his desk.
"Hi, I'm Brittany. I'm the TA for this class?" The teacher turned towards her and held out his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Brittany. I'm Mr. Keenan." The bell rang and he walked up to the front of the class and started his introduction. This was a freshman history class, so all the student were super stiff and looked a little bit scared. He introduced Brittany and explained that she'd be there to help them as well. A knock came from the door and Brittany saw Rachel standing just outside.
"Rachel! Come on in. Everyone this is Rachel Berry. One of the smartest students I've ever had the pleasure of teaching." Rachel smiled as she looked down at the floor. "Did you need something?"
"Yes, actually I needed to talk to Brittany real quick. Could I borrow her for a minute?"
"Of course! Go ahead Brittany." Brittany got up from her chair and walked outside.
"Hey. Give me your number." Rachel held out her phone. "You're gonna be bored as fuck in this class and Mr. Keenan doesn't mind if you text as long as it doesn't distract you from helping the class."
Brittany saved her number in Rachel's phone and handed it back to her.
"Okay. I'll text you when I get back to my class."
After about ten minutes, her phone vibrated.
Hey Brittany. Meet me and San by the stairs. We'll all go to lunch together.
She hit reply and wrote back.
That sounds great. See you later.
When the class was finally over, Brittany walked out of A building and towards the stairs.
"Sooner!" Brittany turned and saw Kalei walking towards her. "Hey."
"Hey Kalei." The girl had on slippers (flip flops), basketball shorts and a school shirt on. "You going to lunch?"
"Nah. I don't do lunch, I usually go down to CC Jons afterschool."
"CC Jons?" Kalei nodded.
"Yup CC Jons. It's the little place down the road across the street from school. You gotta go there. Mention CC Jons to Santana and watch what happens."
"What'll happen?" She spotted Santana and Rachel now.
"Sooner! There you are. Ready to go to lunch?"
Brittany looked over at Kalei and smiled. "Actually, I wanted to try CC Jons afterschool?"
Santana's face lit up. She started punching Rachel's arm over and over. "Cut it out, San. Damn. You got her started. She isn't gonna calm down till she gets her Vanilla Sprite and fries now."
"Vanilla sprite? I had never heard of that before."
"Of course you haven't." Rachel explained. "It's regular sprite with vanilla flavoring. The blue one they use in shave ice (snow cones). It's fuckin' delicious."
"I can imagine, Santana hasn't stopped bouncing up and down." Brittany started to laugh at the fact that she really hadn't stopped bouncing. "So we'll all go afterschool?"
"That ain't even a question of course we going. I'll even give you a ride back to Waimea after so your mom doesn't have to come and pick you up and rush you." Santana sat down now, and tapped the empty spot on the stair next to her. Brittany sat and they started to talk.
The rest of the school day was interesting, she finally met the teacher everyone was talking about. She was very sweet and greeted Brittany as if she had known her for years. Ms. Souza made everyone feel welcomed, and it made Brittany feel very comfortable. She texted her mom letting her know that she would be hanging out with friends that afternoon.
When school was finally done, Brittany met up the two girls and they all walked down to CC Jons together. It was a cute little restaurant, run by a family that lived in town. The smell of fries and burgers hit her nose as they walked in.
They all ordered a medium vanilla sprite and fries. Brittany took her first sip and didn't stop. Before she knew it, she was out. And they hadn't even gotten their fries yet.
"Oh my God that was amazing." Santana nodded her head in agreement.
"I told you. Here. I'll get you another." She handed the girl behind the counter $2.25 and in return she handed Santana another medium drink.
They all walked down to Santana's place so that she could get her truck. She drove a lifted Toyota Tacoma, all black everything. Tinted windows, black rims. Even her lights were blacked out. It was beautiful. Brittany stopped to take in what she was seeing.
"I know, it's amazing isn't it? My dad told me that if I kept my grades up- meaning all A's, and excelled at softball then he'd help me get things for my truck little by little. He's in the Army, active duty. So he comes home for only weeks at a time." She ran inside to grab her keys and they all climbed in.
The drive to Waimea in the truck was even better than a car. She was up higher now, and saw further out. Santana and Rachel were goofing around until a song came on the radio and they got excited.
"Brittany, you don't mind if we turn up the radio yeah? It'll get loud though, so I must warn you. I have two 12'' subs back there." Rachel was already singing along to the song.
"Is it just for this one song?" They both nodded their heads. "Go ahead." She smiled. It was they were two little kids. Santana turned the nob and it definitely got louder.
Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life?
Say yes, say yes 'cause I need to know
You say, "I'll never get your blessing 'til the day I die.
Tough luck, my friend, but the answer is no!"
Brittany had never heard the song before, but she was definitely taking a liking to it. But she wasn't sure if it was because it was a good song, or because Santana was singing.
Why you gotta be so rude?
Don't you know I'm human, too?
Why you gotta be so rude?
I'm gonna marry her anyway
Marry that girl
Marry her anyway
Marry that girl
Yeah, no matter what you say
Marry that girl
And we'll be a family
Why you gotta be so rude?
She started to dance in the backseat as Santana and Rachel belted out the lyrics. Santana was hitting Rachel on the thigh, as if she were trying to tell her something.
I hate to do this, you leave no choice, can't live without her
Love me or hate me we will be boys standing at that altar
Or we will run away to another galaxy, you know
You know she's in love with me, she will go anywhere I go
Santana wanted to sing by herself. She had a amazing voice. Rachel chimed back in.
Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life?
Say yes, say yes 'cause I need to know
You say, "I'll never get your blessing 'til the day I die.
Tough luck, my friend, 'cause the answer's still no!"
Santana turned the volume down and looked back at Brittany in the rearview mirror. "Sorry about that, Sooner. We love that song. And I especially love that last verse."
"I didn't mind at all. What's that song called?"
"It's Rude, by Magic." Rachel answered. "It's good right? They play it on the radio down here all the time."
Without even realizing it we were in Waimea.
"So where do you live?"
"In the subdivision behind Parker Ranch Center? Where Foodland is and stuff." They looked at each other, slightly nodding their heads. "What? What is it?"
"That's a nice place to live. We'll definitely be coming over." Rachel told her. "If you don't mind, that is."
"Not at all. Turn here." Santana flipped her blinker on and made the right. "Right there. The one with the Ducati in the driveway."
"Your dad has a super nice bike! Damn." Santana pulled over so that Brittany could jump out. "I'd love to ride that one day."
"Oh the Ducati? That's mine." She turned to Santana and winked. She had a shocked look on her face. "And sure, I'll take you for a ride sometime."
Brittany said thanks for the ride and food, and walked in the house. She watched as Santana pulled away from the curb and drive away.
Her phone vibrated and it was a number she didn't recognize. It had the 808 area code, so she knew it had to be someone from here.
I'm holding you to that ride, Sooner. Don't forget.
A smile appeared on her face. Brittany's mom walked into the kitchen and saw her daughter's smile.
"I'm guessing you had a good first day?"
"Oh mom. You have no idea."