Thanks for the reviews and story alerts! These past few days I have had some free time so the chapters are coming pretty fast, however they might slow a bit due to the fact that I have class and undoubtedly will be starting work soon. Again thank you so much for the reviews. It really does mean so much to me. Here is chapter 3!
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Santana and Brittany had been talking happily for about 30 minutes after Quinn and Rachel had went to dance. They chatted about all sorts of things unrelated to paintball. Everything from where they went to school, what year they were, what sorts of things they liked to do. They each learned that they were both going to be seniors and that Santana was the Commanding Officer and Color Guard Commander in her ROTC program at school. The brunette learned that Brittany was on her schools nationally ranked dance team and that they were personally picked to dance as cheerleaders for an new movie.
They were so captivated by each others activities and were both surprised at how easy it was to keep the conversation moving. No awkward silences or stumbling to try to find things to talk about. Each new topic flowed into the next before they finally got around to their current activities there at camp.
"So how long have you been paintballing?" Brittany asked, very interested to hear the Latina's answer.
"Well, I've played off and on since I was around 12 or so. My older brother and sister got me into it. I didn't officially play on a team until about a year ago when my group of friends joined my cousins, siblings, and I for a day at the field. Since then it's been non stop action with a few tournaments here and there and our normal season matches with the local teams." Santana answered smoothly. "How about you?"
"Oh that's awesome! I've played since I was 8. My dad plays on a professional team with his friends. I would always go watch his matches and got really excited whenever he would let me wear all of his equipment around. I actually think my mom has a whole photo album dedicated to our pretend duels around the house."
Santana laughed, silently wishing she could get her hands on said photo album. She could picture a miniature blonde running around her house in oversized gear, ducking behind couches and crawling underneath tables in her own makeshift arena.
"So what team do you play for?" The blonde asked.
"I'm captain of The Riots. Quinn is on my team as well. She and I are the forward attackers along with my boy Puck." She said pointing out the mohawked boy who had his arm around the red head she had seen him dancing with earlier. He was happily chatting away with Sam, Luke, and two other boys she had never seen before. "Sam and Luke are also on my team." She said pointing out Sam with his ruffled blonde hair and Luke who was about a inch taller then Sam and had spiked jet black hair.
As if sensing the wheels turning in the brunette's head, Brittany answered the unasked question about the mystery boys her teammates were also talking to.
"That's Kurt and Blaine. My teams resident gay couple!" she exclaimed proudly.
Santana turned and smiled at Brittany. "What team do you guys play for?"
"I'm captain of the-"
"YO BRITTANY!" The blonde was cut off.
Both girls turned to see the Asian boy that Brittany was dancing with earlier that evening accompanied by an abnormally tall gangly boy at his side.
"Hey guys what's up?" Brittany asked happily, not thinking anything about the fact that they had interrupted a conversation.
Santana on the other had was a bit annoyed at the intrusion.
"Night match, you down?" The taller boy asked. "We need more players."
"Definitely!" Brittany all but shouted in excitement.
She turned to look at the brunette. "Do you want to play with us?"
Any displeasure she had about the previous interruption to their conversation went away when the blonde grabbed her hand and looked at her with a wide grin shining across her face. Santana nodded without any hesitation at Brittany's question.
God if she smiles like that I don't know how I will ever say no. Santana thought to herself.
Brittany jumped off the stool bouncing up and down with anticipation. Santana had a toothy grin watching the blonde's enthusiasm.
"Oh god I'm so rude, Santana, meet Mike," she said gesturing to the Asian boy, "and Finn." Now pointing to the gangly one.
Santana stood up from the stool and greeted both boys with a small smile.
"How many people do we need?" Brittany asked turning her attention back to the boys.
"Well we just need to find six more people. Coach Schue said he would let more people play seeing as there was so much interest. I just asked Tina. She's going up to grab her gear and will meet us over at the field." Mike answered.
"Yeah we also ran into Drew on the way over and he's getting changed now too." Finn added. Mike and Brittany nodded.
"ARTIE… DAVE!" Santana shouted to the boys who had happened to be walking past the group.
Both boys stopped and turned towards the cluster of people; Santana waved them over.
"Hey you guys up for a night match?" Santana asked eagerly to her teammates. Artie and Dave perked up even more so then they already were. "We need more people for the game."
"You had us at night match!" Dave said eagerly.
"Sweet, we are playing at field 4." Mike said. Both boys nodded.
After short introductions, Santana said she would get some more people to play after spotting most of her group chatting amongst themselves. Mike, Finn, Artie, and Dave left to go change and grab their gear while Santana grabbed Brittany's hand and headed over towards her teammates. Mercedes was deep in conversation with the boy that Brittany had pointed out to be Kurt. Blaine was standing happily by his side talking with the red head Puck seemed to have a thing for. Puck, Quinn, and Rachel were all huddled together in a discussion of their own.
"Hey guys!" Santana loudly enough to be heard over the music.
Everyone turned to see them walking over, all with smiles on their faces.
"Ah, my favorite lezbro! Who is your new friend?" Puck asked with a smirk and wiggling his eyebrows towards Brittany.
Santana rolled her eyes and introduced the blonde to all her friends. Brittany formally introduced Blaine and Kurt, and Puck introduced his red-headed crush as Stacey.
After a numerous amount of handshakes Santana finally stated the reason for their interruption of everyone's conversations.
"They are having night matches and we need more people. They bumped it up to 12 against 12. We need four more players. Quinn looked at Rachel who nodded excitedly.
"You can count us in." Quinn said as she wrapped her arm around Rachel's waist. Brittany caught a glimpse of the blush creeping up the small brunette's face and couldn't help the silly looking smile that happened to be creeping up hers.
"Shoot I'm always in!" Puck said excitedly. He held out his fist and Santana returned the fist bump immediately, happy to have her best friends in on the game.
"I think Kurt and I are gonna stay here if that's ok with you guys. We were just discussing our favorite picks for American Idol and the conversation was getting heated." Kurt nodded furiously in agreement.
"Oh my gosh! I love American Idol! Do you mind if I join you two?" Stacey asked. Both Kurt and Mercedes looked over to her with adoring smiles knowing they had another person to share their passion with. They held out their hands for her to come stand next to them. Santana suppressed a laugh and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah… I'm gonna come play with you guys." Blaine said with a small laugh. "I get enough American Idol from this one at home." He looked at Kurt while giving his had a tight squeeze.
Kurt playfully looked hurt by the statement, trying to mask the smile and failing. Kurt knew that Blaine was a bit more masculine then he was and never thought anything of it. They both had so much in common but Blaine liked to play sports more than talk gossip like the male diva did. Kurt loved him none the less.
"Awesome! Go get changed and grab your gear. We play in 20 minutes on field 4!" Brittany squealed with excitement.
Everyone nodded. Blaine gave Kurt a quick kiss and headed out with Quinn and Rachel. Puck hugged Stacy before he turned to Brittany and Santana who all turned to walk out the door.
"Alright I'll meet you guys over there." Puck said coming to the fork that split the guys cabins from the girls.
"Bye." The two said together as they watched Puck take off in a slow jog towards his cabin.
"I'm in 18C, where are you guys at?" Santana asked looking up at Brittany.
"18B, we are one cabin over from you." Brittany said happily. Santana was a bit disappointed that the other side of the cabin she was in didn't house her beautiful friend and her teammates.
They stopped just outside Brittany's cabin and turned toward one another.
"So I'll see you in a few minutes then?" The brunette asked shyly.
"You will." The blonde answered with a smile. "And I can't wait!"
Santana returned the smile before Brittany engulfed the Latina in a hug. The brunette snaked her arms around the blonde's waist to return the hug.
Santana could smell the lavender in her hair. God she feels amazing. Santana thought.
Brittany pulled away and turned to her door. She looked back over her shoulder just as she cracked the door open, "I'll meet you up at the field." She said with a wink and walked inside.
Santana just stood there looking at the closed door that Brittany had walked into. Nobody could have wiped away the smile she had across her face.
"Hey Romeo, you gonna change or do I need to inform a certain blonde about your love affair with a door?" Quinn's voice rang out behind her.
Santana turned around and saw the smirk on her best friend's face.
"You're funny. Hilarious even! I could say something similar about the fact that you were looking at Rachel with sex eyes when you two we talking to Puck." She replied with a raised eyebrow and a 'what now' look, knowing that Quinn wouldn't have a comeback to that.
Quinn huffed and went back into their cabin to finish getting her gear.
"Santana 1, Quinn 0." She whispered to herself as she followed her friend inside.
In a matter of minutes, Santana had pulled on her camouflage BDU pants and laced up her black high-top boots. She pulled her sports bra on, followed by one of her dark blue practice shirts.
Quinn handed her her pod belt and buckled it around her waist. She grabbed her mask and gun and both girls headed out towards the direction of the fields. Having not had time to explore before dinner, they guessed that all of the stadium style lights would be a good place to look since it was a night match after all.
They walked up the path and heard a group of people laughing and chatting. If anything else failed and they didn't recognize anyone in the group they could certainly make out Finn. They boy really was too tall for his own good. He was at least 3 inches taller than Puck. Santana let out a slight chuckle.
"There they are!" Artie said looking over to the two girls.
Everyone turned around and all eyes were on them making them stop in their tracks about 3 yards from where everyone was standing.
"Could you make the welcome anymore awkward?" Santana said with an annoyed look on her face.
Just as the last word left her mouth an arm snaked around her stomach and pulled her in.
"I think I can make it a little less awkward for you." A seductive whisper came from an unmistakable Brittany who was now resting her chin on the Latina's shoulder. She could feel a hot breath tickle her ear.
Santana practically went limp. Fuck that was hot! What is this girl doing to me? How did I not even hear her come up behind us? Alright Lopez, time to start throwing it back at her. She wants to play dirty… hope she can take it just as much as she dishes it. Santana regained her composure.
With that thought, Santana grabbed the blonde's hand that was comfortably resting across her stomach. She pulled Brittany around in a rather graceful twirl catching her with her free arm and leaning her back. Any normal person would have probably fallen with the amount of strength it took to hold the girl with one arm and had Brittany not been so graceful, she certainly would have been on the ground. But no. She rested safely in the crook of Santana's arm looking up into brown eyes. I praise my parents for making me take so many dance lessons when I was little. The brunette thought, silently patting herself on the back for being able to pull that off.
Santana leaned down just a little closer to Brittany, their faces only inches apart.
"I think I can handle it… but I appreciate the offer." The Latina said just as seductively with a sly smile on her face.
Brittany's breath hitched. She couldn't form words anymore.
Santana slowly brought the blonde back up to an upright position pulling her arm back, never looking away.
"Uh hum" Quinn let out a fake cough.
Both girls finally broke their gaze and turned to the group who was just staring at them. A few with a 'you go girl' smirks while the others had their jaws to the ground.
"Well then, now that that is out of the way, can we start the match now?" Dave said with his smirk still plainly visible.
Santana and Brittany nodded, while their friends chuckled.
Getting the rest of the introductions out of the way, everyone walked over to where the opposing team was huddled.
"Ah finally decided to join this blood bath huh? Don't answer that. I can smell the stench of fear working threw your cores as we speak! I'm Coach Sylvester and I'll be refing this pathetic excuse of a pick-up game."
Everyone gave questioning looks, trying to decide if she was serious or just pulling their chains. Choosing to stay quiet, they let the women continue.
"Since we have larger teams I need two captains from each to come up here so we can get this battlefield laced with bodies!"
Definitely a good choice to stay quiet. This women is either on something or she's off her rocker… and bad. Both teams thought in agreement. Really no words were needed. The looks everyone were giving each other said it all.
The other team huddled together to discuss who their team leaders were.
Puck and Mike just looked at one another and nodded. They stepped forward and simultaneously pushed Santana and Brittany forward.
The two were thrown off guard and caught their footing before turning back to the two boys and the rest of their team; both wearing a matching death glare. Both girls read the expressions on all of their faces, more like looks of fear because their eyes were shooting back from Santana and Brittany over to Coach Sylvester.
Santana turned around, understanding that they wanted them to be the ones getting eaten alive by the creepy ass women. The brunette mumbled under her breath, "Pansies!"
"Ah blondie… sandbags! Good, I'm glad some people take some initiative and take control. That's what I like to see!" Both girls wore a look of disgust at the offensive nicknames.
The two chosen captains from the opposing team stepped forward to meet Brittany and Santana and then looked at Coach Sylvester.
"Alright, red tape and blue tape, one for each team. One strip on the front of your masks and one your backs. Got it? If you don't, too bad. You will just get shot by your own team which I have no objections to. Match is capture the flag. Each team to their respective sides and on my whistle, WAR!" The crazy women said raising her fist in the air at the last word.
Brittany and Santana each made their way back to the group, tearing off strips of tape and helping stick them on everyone's back before turning to each other and doing the same.
The group moved over to their side of the field and began lining up along the wall.
Quinn and Rachel stood side by side as they pulled down their masks. Quinn looked to her right to see Santana with Brittany right beside her.
"Ready to rock and roll Fabray?" The Latina said holding out her hand.
"Kick ass and take names!" Quinn replied returning their personalized handshake.
Santana turned to look at Brittany who smiled at her.
"You gonna be able to keep up with me San? The blonde asked with a challenging smirk.
Santana smiled when she heard Brittany use her nickname. "Oh honey, I was made for this. I just hope you can keep up with me." She retorted playfully, matching Brittany's smirk.
"First one to get the flag then baby. Bring it!"
If there was one thing you never did, it was challenge Santana Lopez.
"You're on!"
Both girls pulled their masks down and looked forward awaiting the whistle.
Coach Sylvester looked left then right, then center. She blew the whistle and backed away to the side of the field holding her shield.
Both teams plowed forward to cover, spraying fire in every direction.
Santana ran forward and slid down onto her knees to one of the lowered bunkers before flinging herself forward to her stomach. She peered around the edge of the bunker quickly and opened fire on an opposing member trying to switch positions and hit him square in the torso with three paint splatters. He raised his gun over his head and ran off to the side of the field. She pulled her head back to take cover almost immediately just as a few load pops indicated that the other team saw her. She stayed low and looked back to see that Tina and Blaine had been hit and were walking off to the side.
"DAVE!" She screamed getting his attention from the Stand-Up bunker he was settled behind stationed diagonally from her position.
He looked over to her, keeping his body behind the barrier.
"SWITCH LEFT, COVER FIRE ON PILLER ONE!" He nodded quickly in understanding before turning positioning himself one the opposite side of his barrier.
"GO!" He screamed opening fire on the bunker Santana had instructed him to.
Santana stood up in a low crouch and took of running forward to the Snake and making it safely. She looked back again quickly to see how her team was advancing. Finn and Artie had been hit already and were off to the side with Tina and Blaine.
Rachel, Drew, and Mike were holding strong in the back field. Quinn was on the other side of the field from Santana more or less in the same position but ducking behind one of the Aztec bunkers. Puck was now on his stomach in Santana's previous position. Brittany… wait where is Brittany? Santana shuffled up and peaked over the bunker she was behind. Brittany was pretty much stuck behind one of the Mini-Bricks in the center of the field. Guessing she didn't have her cover fire after Finn was hit, she was pinned down. Santana's protective instincts took over, she knew immediately she was going to get the blonde out of that position and into a more manageable one.
"K-7!" Artie yelled from the sideline. Indicating that their team had eliminated seven of the opposing players.
Not knowing if Brittany would understand her codes, she decided to try simple jargon that was pretty much universal.
"BRITTNEY!" She screamed hoping the blonde would hear her.
"SANTANA!" Brittany yelled back. Her voice laced with 'I'm a little busy right now Santana.'
Damn, beautiful and fierce… I like it!
None-the-less the brunette had her resolve. I'm not gonna make it that easy to get the flag before her. Gots to have some sort of a challenge don't I?
"SHUFFLE LEFT… PILLER! I'LL COVER YOU!" Santana shouted meaning she wanted Brittany to switch positions to the taller bunker to her left.
Santana realized that they were now more than half way advanced on the other teams territory so she singled out the obvious places the opposing players would be.
"ON THREE!" She heard Brittany yell in reply.
"ONE…TWO… THREE!" Santana screamed. She popped up slightly and shot out countless number of rounds towards three different spots trying to give Brittany enough time to move without getting too much fire in her direction. Santana ducked down quickly, listening for any indication that their plan had worked and the blonde was able to move to her new spot. When she didn't see anyone move to leave the field she knew her plan had succeeded. She was also glad to know that her guess of the opponents positions were correct and she surprisingly was able to knock out another person. She was able to locate the other four peoples positions and got an idea of the rest of her teams status. Dave and Drew were now out, leaving Santana, Brittany, Puck, Quinn, Rachel, and Mike. Scratch that. Puck was just hit with two in the leg and Rachel took one to the shoulder.
Santana poked her head up to check before she moved up to her next position. She popped open her hopper and reached around to her belt to grab a refill pod. She clicked it open and quickly poured in the new paintballs and shut the lid.
With one quick breath she shot up and sprinted forward. As if sliding into a base, she slid along one of the parallel bunkers and past the edge, turning, before firing off a few shots into an opposing player. She quickly recovered and took cover behind one of the Dorito Bunkers on the side as the last three people caught her position and switched their fire.
Quinn was moving up her side just as fast as Santana, and Brittany was pushing forward as well, taking the opportunity of the distraction that Santana had caused. Quinn was able to get a clean shot to the player closest to Santana when they tried to move into an exposed position to catch the Latina off guard.
"K-10! D1... BACK CENTER!" Dave, Artie, and Puck cried out from the side, revealing the positions of the last two rival players.
Either Brittany understood their codes or she was already aware of the positions, but she sprinted forward, unloading on the player that was situated behind the bunker just in front of Quinn on the left side before ducking down into her knew position. Her hard work had paid off and the player stood up and walked over to the side lines.
Alright, one more left.
Trying to hold off Quinn, Santana, and Brittany was proving rather difficult for the lone opponent but surprisingly he was doing rather well. Shifting back and forth trying to keep the three girls away, was working for the moment. Mike held back and watched the whole thing unfold.
Quinn sprinted forward and made a b-line towards one of the center bunkers directly next to Brittany about 10 feet away.
"HAIL MARY!" Santana heard Quinn shout, knowing the Latina would know what she was saying. Santana began crawling forward to get into position to make her move.
"YOUR COMMAND!" Santana yelled back once she was in position.
"NOW!" Quinn ordered a second later and Santana and her best friend sprinted towards the central bunker where the last player was, raining fire from both sides.
The player happened to be facing towards Quinn when the sudden burst started up and kept his fire focused on her, hitting her in the stomach with 8 shots all clustered together. Knowing the sacrifice could have gone either way, Santana was able to shoot him while his attention was away from her. Quinn would have done the same had Santana been the one to be shot at.
Santana smiled at Quinn who was hunched over clutching her stomach and taking deep breaths.
"Way to go Q, nice work!" Santana praised her friend, walking backwards towards the flag. She knew that it had to hurt more than usual considering how close they were to the player who sprayed her with paintballs.
When she turned around she stopped dead in her tracks to a beaming Brittany who had the flag in her hands, waving it slowly back and forth.
Where the hell did she come from? She was behind us the whole time! Is she a fucking ninja or something? Santana thought, her eyes wide in surprise.
"Looks like I won the bet, hot stuff." The blonde said with a seductive smirk.
Santana huffed. "You do know we just did all the work, right?"
"Actually, my statement before we started was, and I quote, 'First one to the flag baby'… You never said anything about who had the last kill." Brittany stated matter-of- factually, the smirk never leaving her face.
Santana just stood there speechless.
The rest of their team ran over cheering at their victory, high-fiving one another and giving hugs.
Rachel ran straight to Quinn who was slowly starting to regain her composure.
"Hey are you alright?" Rachel asked with a worried expression.
"Yeah I'm ok. I just need a minute." Quinn replied, still holding her stomach and scrunching her face up in pain as she tried to stand upright.
Santana turned to Quinn when she heard Rachel call her over and noticed her friend still hadn't fully recovered.
"Q, lay down on your back and let me see." Santana said now concerned. The hits she took were unpleasant but she had taken a lot worse before and from a much closer distance; she always recovered after a few deep breaths. This time she didn't.
Santana ran over and helped Quinn lay down. She noticed that the area on her shirt where she had been hit didn't have as much paint as it should have. She slowly lifted up her shirt to reveal a shockingly large black and blue bruise on her abs, blood starting to trickle down slowly from a few spots of broken skin.
"Geez, what the fuck!" Santana said as her anger started to build up.
Brittany looked at over the Latina's shoulder trying to gauge the severity of the situation. She noticed the bruise and blood, quickly removing her mask and untying the bandana she was wearing on her head and handing it to Santana. The brunette took it from the blonde and pressed it to Quinn's stomach.
"COACH GET OVER HERE!" Rachel yelled. Knowing now what Brittany and Santana had suspected had happened.
Coach Sylvester ran over to the group surrounding Quinn.
"Alright, back up everyone give her some air. What happened?" She said trying to see what was going on.
The fuming Latina stood up and was seeing red. She broke out into a sprint, charging at the last boy they had defeated in the match.
"Santana… don't!" Quinn shouted from the ground, just as the brunette grabbed a hold of the boy pulling him off balance and slamming him to the ground.
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Alright everyone is probably wondering what just happened. Don't worry… you will find out next chapter. Don't hate me. =)