Wow you all are seriously amazing! =D All the reviews made me so happy as well as the story alerts and favorites!
Props to besmart for the close guess at the problem.
Chapter 4 for you! Cheers!
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"Santana… don't!"
The Latina heard her best friend yell out to her as she yanked the boy down and lunged on top of him. She knew she shouldn't let her anger get the best of her. She knew that attacking him would probably get her kicked out of camp and worse, she wouldn't be able to play in the Championship Match. No. This was personal. Not only did this asshole violate one of the rules of paintball, he violated a rule that could potentially cause serious physical injury. The one thing that sent her completely over the edge was the fact that this was her best friend that he had hurt.
Santana Lopez could be a royal pain in the ass and the worst enemy you could ever hope to have, if and when, you were unfortunate enough to be on her bad side. She didn't trust easily. If you were one of the select few to see her with all of her walls down, you would know that Santana Lopez would protect you with her life. Her family, her team, Puck and Quinn especially.
This was one of those moments.
Santana grabbed him firmly by the t-shirt to hold him down before landing a punch across his face, screaming angrily in Spanish. Before she could get in another, soft toned arms lifted her off of the boy and pulled her back. Santana struggled for a moment before another set of more masculine arms restrained her.
"You bitch!" The boy said after rolling on his side and spitting out a mouth full of blood.
The Latina yet again started on another rant in Spanish before Coach Sylvester bellowed out.
"ENOUGH! GET A GRIP AND SHUT UP!" The Latina silenced herself immediately but remained glaring at the boy as he attempted to stand up.
The coach was now looking at Santana with an extremely pissed off face.
"Now, tell me why you just decided to go ape shit!" Coach Sylvester said in a calmer voice then before, yet still wearing an angry glare.
"Why don't you ask the cheater!" The brunette huffed in rage.
Sensing that her anger level had dropped slightly, the two sets of hands loosened their grip on the Latina but didn't completely let her go. She turned her head slightly to see Brittany and Puck, both looking just as angry as Santana, but surprisingly not at her. She followed their gazes to the boy who was now standing waiting to see the Coach ban her for hitting him.
"What are you talking about you psycho? I didn't cheat! I walked off the field after I was hit. You were the one who attacked me!." The boy yelled back.
"You can't just go around accusing people of cheating. I watched the whole last play and he didn't do anything wrong!" Coach Sylvester exclaimed.
"Oh really? So the frozen paintballs he was shooting doesn't count as cheating?" Santana shouted in retort. Everyone that the boy had been playing with gasped and looked at him with shocked eyes.
"What the hell are you talking about? That shit's illegal. I'm not stupid!" He tried covering up.
Santana clenched her jaw and yanked out of Brittany and Pucks grasp. Before they could stop her she picked up the boy's gun, switched off the safety, and pulled the plug out of the barrel. She reached up and crooked her finger around the lock and snapped it back, loading the gun. The brunette swung it around and aimed it to Coach Sylvester's shield that was propped up against a tree and pulled the trigger 10 times. One by one each of the paintballs ricocheted off the shield with a load crack but only leaving trace amounts of paint. Santana walked over the few feet and picked up her gun that she had dropped on the ground when she ran over to help Quinn. She then aimed her gun at the same shield and shot off another ten rounds. All of them shattered, covering the shield with paint. Santana stalked over and handed her gun to Puck before she continued over to the boy who was now looking down at the ground. She opened up his hopper and held her hand out, palm-up, in front of him. She turned the gun over and poured the remainder of his paintballs over her hand while watching most of them fall to the ground. She cupped the few that remained in her hand and reached over, placing the freezing cold paintballs in Coach Sylvester's awaiting hands. Santana stepped backwards a few feet towards Puck and Brittany, before dropping the boys gun forcefully in a push-shove way at his feet. Now that she had completed her demonstration she spoke for the first time, wearing a signature HBIC death glare.
"Let me give you a little bit of advice for future reference. Number one… before you call me a bitch, make sure it's actually me who's in the wrong. Number two… you're right, frozen paintballs are illegal, but not just in paintball. Did you know that if my friend decides to report you, you could be charged criminally for assault with a deadly weapon? And number three… if you are going to lie about it, make sure it's not me you're trying to convince. You better hope to god that those cuts and bruises is all she got because if it's not, I swear to God I will kill you."
Everyone stared at Santana in silence. Nothing more needed to be said.
Rachel helped Quinn to her feet and the blonde slowly walked over placing a hand on the Latina's shoulder. Santana felt her muscles loosen at the touch and turned to see her best friend looking at her with a loving smile. Nobody had ever stood up for her the way Santana did and she couldn't have been more proud of the fact that brunette managed to control her temper even after the boy had shot back all those remarks.
Quinn dropped her hand and reached back to pull Rachel into her side. Santana returned her gaze back to the front.
"What's your name son?" Coach Sylvester asked the boy, trying to stay as calm as possible. You could still manage to catch her anger as she spoke.
"Nick… Johnson." He said softly, his head still dipped down in defeat.
"Mr. Johnson, I will escort you to your cabin and you will pack your things. We are going to call your parents and have them come get you. You are henceforth banned from competition paintball until a hearing is scheduled with the board for a final punishment."
The woman turned to Quinn to address her.
"I want you to head to the nurses station to get looked at and I will call your chaperone to inform them of the situation. I also want to ask if you would like to press charges. As your friend stated it is a criminal offense and must be reported to the police."
Quinn looked at Santana before she glanced at Rachel, who gave her a reassuring smile.
"I will tell the police what happened, but I don't want to press charges. I think your punishment is enough to tell him never to do it again." She finished as she looked over at Nick, who had a look of disbelief.
"Very well. Once your cleaned up, come over to my office and we will get everything sorted out." Quinn nodded at Coach Sylvester who turned to leave with Nick in tow.
Everyone watched them walk off the field and into the darkness of the trees towards the cabins. The opposing team followed with quick glances to everyone, never saying a word. Puck, Brittany, and Rachel walked back over to their group who was still about 30 feet away after Santana glanced at them with a 'can you give us a minute' look.
"Do you want me to help you to the nurses station Q?" Santana asked as she watched the their friends walk out of ear shot, then turning to her friend.
"I'm ok, Rachel offered to go with me. You did more than enough for me today." She said as the ends of her lips curled up.
"Alright, I'll take our gear back to the cabin and I'll stop by and see you after ok?"
"Fair enough… thanks San… for sticking up for me."
"Don't mention it. Rules are rules and that shit is not acceptable."
Quinn rolled her eyes. Santana wouldn't ever give anyone the benefit of the doubt and just accept a compliment or 'thank you.' She always had to turn even the most precious moments into something slightly less sappy with something like, a 'rules are rules' line.
"Oh please, you totally love me or you wouldn't have gotten so crazy." The shorter blonde said with sleek smirk.
"What? No! I just hate it when people try to pull stupid shit like that and try to get away with it!" The Latina said defensively.
"Ok S, whatever you say." Quinn said still wearing a funny smile letting her friend think she won the debate. Santana just gave her a goofy look.
Rachel was walking back over with Brittany right behind her.
"Hey, you ready to head down there now?" Quinn nodded.
"Here I'll take her stuff. I gotta take my gear back anyway." Santana said gesturing to Rachel's filled hands. Rachel nodded her thanks and handed Quinn's gear to her.
Quinn was able to walk so she didn't need to be babied, but she couldn't go very fast because every slight twist caused her to wince. Rachel stuck close by and entwined their arms together and they walked off the field into the night.
"Hey… you ok?" Brittany asked, looking over from Rachel and Quinn's last spot by the tree line and seeing the small glimmer of worry in the Latina's eyes.
"Yeah I'm good. Just tired." Santana answered, straitening up and smiling at the blonde.
"Alright. Do you wanna start heading back?"
"Yeah, I just need to get my gear and we can head out." Brittany nodded and followed the Latina over to the group of their compiled team. Puck turned towards his best friend when her heard her walking up behind them. He wrapped her in a one armed hug and looked down at her.
"Hey, we are gonna start heading back to the cabins. It's getting late and we gotta be up early for our sessions tomorrow."
"Since when do you notice it's late? Aren't you the one who thrives off of 3 hours of sleep each night?" Santana jokingly asked.
"Yeah well all the excitement… has taken a lot out of me. Plus you disrupted my nap with your bitch move this morning before we left so I need to catch up on my sleep."
Santana rolled her eyes. Puck handed her gun that he was still holding and everyone said their goodnight's before heading off the field towards the cabins.
I have a weird feeling like I'm missing something. Santana looked down at her attire trying to figure out what it was. My gun, Quinn's gun, her pod belt, my pod belt, her mask, my… shit! Where is my mask? Santana turned around to see a smiling Brittany dangling her mask by the adjustment strap by her index finger.
"Forgetting something?" Brittany said with a chuckle.
"More like remembering, thanks." She let out a laugh and took her mask from the blonde.
The two started to walk off the field and down the path.
"I'm sorry I lost it earlier." Santana said shyly.
"Why? You were standing up for your friend and you had every right to be pissed off. I was too and I barely know Quinn."
"No I mean I don't normally let my temper get to me like that." Santana said, not bothering to correct the blonde by saying the boy had broken the rules.
"Look San I get it. You don't have to explain."
"You're not mad or scared of me?" Santana stopped walking and looked at the blonde for conformation. Brittany stopped and looked at her confused by the question.
"No, why would I be scared of you?"
"I don't know. It's just that most people don't really stay too close to me after they see me loose it like that. They think I will hurt them or something." Santana said in a lowered voice, almost whispering the last part of the sentence, keeping her head down to the ground.
Brittany heard it though and could see that that was one of the things that terrified the Latina. People were scared of her for fighting and protecting the people she loves. The blonde stepped closer to the brunette. The blonde lifted her chin with her finger so that she could look into her eyes.
"I'm not most people." Brittany said calmly as she smiled at Santana.
Santana stared deep into blue eyes, searching for any kind of doubt in the blonde's words. She found none. Brittany caught the slight flicker in the Latina's eyes when she had glanced down to the blonde's lips and back up to her eyes. They stared at each other for a few more moments. Brittany leaned down slowly, closing the gap between them. She glanced once more into brown eyes before closing hers. Their lips softly touched. The kiss was tender, reassuring. Nothing heated or in haste, just passionate.
Santana's head was spinning. Her worried thoughts disappeared in an instant. She realized she couldn't really do anything with her hands because they both had her and Quinn's gear in them. Somehow this was enough though; the kiss didn't need to be deepened. Brittany slowly pulled back and looked at the brunette, trying to gauge if maybe she had moved too fast or not. Santana let her closed eyes linger for a few seconds before she opened them, still somewhat surprised that Brittany had kissed her.
The blonde didn't want to upset Santana but she couldn't stop herself. She knew she was instantly mesmerized by the Latina when she caught her looking at her earlier that day dancing with Mike. There was something she saw in her that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She wanted to know who she was. What made her tick so to speak.
"Are you ok? Did I do something wrong?" Santana said with a nervous tone.
"What? NO! Oh god… no you didn't do anything wrong," Brittany said realizing she was thinking a little too long. "I was just hoping I didn't upset you by… um… kissing you." She trailed off.
Santana's worried look subsided and she loosened up again.
"No you didn't. I'm glad you did. I-I wasn't sure if I should or not. I mean I wanted to… but I w-wasn't sure if it was too fast or not." The brunette said rather quickly, somewhat embarrassed by the fact that she was stumbling over her words.
Brittany smiled and let out almost a relieved laugh. "I was thinking the exact same thing. I like you Santana, and I want to get to know you better. I don't know, there's just something about you that draws me in and captivates me."
Santana smiled. "I feel the same way about you."
Brittany returned her smile.
Santana looked around shyly. She didn't realize they were already back at the cabins and standing outside the brunette's door.
"So… we're ok then? Santana asked.
"We're perfect." Brittany said grinning from ear to ear.
The blonde's smile really was contagious. Santana caught herself beaming again.
"Do you want to come with me to see Quinn?" Santana questioned after a few moments of comfortable silence.
"I want to, but I think I should give you guys your space and time to hang out for a bit. I need to take a shower and I'm getting kinda tired."
"I understand. So I'll see you tomorrow then?"
"I can't wait!" The blonde said with another growing smile.
"Me either. Sleep well."
"You too. Tell Quinn I hope she's ok."
"I will." Santana stated plainly with a small grin.
Brittany leaned in once more and gave the Latina a chaste kiss before stepping backwards and turning to walk the few extra steps to her own cabin. She twisted the handle and turned to the brunette.
"Goodnight San."
"Night Britt."
Brittany tried to hide the blush she got from hearing the Latina's nickname for her; she pushed the door open and walked inside.
Santana shook her head happily and walked inside her cabin. She noticed Mercedes was asleep in her bunk so she quietly set Quinn's stuff by their bunk beds before shifting to set her own stuff in her bag. She pulled off her grass stained shirt and moved to put on a clean one. She quietly walked out the door and began walking up the path towards the nurses station.
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Shorter chapter but I hope you guys don't mind. I wanted to get the ball rolling a bit. Hope you guys liked it. Reviews and comments are always amazing! Please keep them coming! Next chapter should be up within the next few day! =D