Chapter Text
I am not a particularly nice person. I own that about myself. If anyone else were to say it, I would probably kick them in the knee, but it’s true. I’m kind of a bitch.
Quinn reiterated this fact to me today after cheer practice, when I told her her tits looked uneven.
“You’re such a bitch, Santana.”
She seemed genuinely upset. I wasn’t trying to be mean, her boobs really did look wonky.
“Sorry,” I mumble half-heartedly. She just rolls her eyes and walks to the showers, probably to take my advice and fix her wonky boobs.
I shake my head in annoyance and turn to my locker. As I rifle through my things looking for a tampon, I feel someone’s stare on me. It’s that girl. Brittany.
I’ve never seen her before this year, but she looks too old to be a freshman, so I’m assuming she’s a transfer. She’s really pretty. She’s got these crystal blue eyes that kind of make me shiver whenever I lock eyes with her, something I try my best to avoid doing. And she’s a good dancer, too. Like, really good. She could be a backup dancer for Beyonce or something.
People rarely ever make me nervous, but I am kind of intimidated by her.
To be honest, freshman year was pretty lonely. Nobody from my middle school was here except that Kurt kid, but he’s always being tossed into a dumpster or getting a slushie thrown in his face, usually by Noah Puckerman, and Lord knows I don’t wanna get in the middle of that.
Quinn transferred here in the second semester of school. She was kind of quiet, but we got along quickly because we were the only two freshmen on the cheer squad. After that, everything was a breeze. Being a hot, latina cheerleader definitely gave me some points, but most of all I was just glad to have someone to talk to. We hung out every day after school, I slept over at her house most nights and she slept over at mine all the others. We became inseparable within weeks, and lord, I was on cloud nine. I wanted to be with her all the time. But then during the summer she started dating that frankenteen Finn Hudson, and everything changed. She stopped calling as much, and then she was barely coming over at all. I thought that when sophomore year came everything would go back to normal, but it’s not. In fact, she’s even more moody and irritable than before. It’s so frustrating.
I guess a tiny part of me is jealous, jealous that all Finn had to do to steal my best friend from me was waddle over to the snack shop and buy her a slushy. Or maybe I’m jealous that she and every other girl around me seems to suddenly have a boyfriend, and I don’t. Not that I need one, but it wouldn’t hurt to have something to gossip about with them at lunch.
I realize now that I’ve been staring at Brittany for a creepily long time, and was probably smiling weirdly too. She gives me a kind of perplexed look, then smiles a little, takes a swig out of her water bottle and walks away. I sigh. I’m such a mess.
Quinn comes back, her hair slightly dampened in a way that highlights her angel-like features. I glance down at her chest. “You fixed them.”
She glares at me. “What is your obsession with my boobs you fucking lezzie? You barely even have any.” I purse my lips and ignore her comment.
“Hey, do you have a tampon?” I ask. She turns pale and shakes her head. “Seriously? I thought we were synced.” She makes a strange noise and shoves a quarter at me.
“Guess not.” I frown and walk over to the tampon dispenser. I huff in annoyance and walk back over to her, handing her coin back.
“It’s empty.”
“Here,” a voice says from behind me. I yelp at the sudden noise and turn around. It’s Brittany. Waving a tampon in my face. I chuckle awkwardly and take it from her.
“Thanks.” She smiles. “Hey, do either of you know where the guidance office is? I’ve looked everywhere.”
My breath catches. This is my window. My big opportunity to befriend Brittany, and we can all become best friends and be like the Heathers or the Mean Girls or some other sexy teen rom-com trio.
“We can show you. It’s on our way to the bus stop, right Quinn?” I turn to face her. She’s already pulling her cardigan over her shoulders.
“Finn is driving me home, actually. You can show her on your own. That’s not a two person job.” Then she slings her bag over her shoulder and walks out of the locker room without even saying goodbye. I deflate a little.
“Well, I can still show you,” I say. She chuckles and gestures to the tampon in my hand.
“Don’t you need to take care of that first?” I blush madly, or as much as a latina person can blush, and do that awkward chuckle again.
“Right. Right. Well um, just give me a second.” She flashes a small smile and nods. I smile back and make a beeline for the bathroom stalls.
Changing a tampon in a school bathroom stall is an incredibly difficult task, but it’s even harder to do in a rush. I do my best to be as quiet and odorless as possible, and when I practically sprint back out Brittany is basically the only person left in the locker room, besides some freshman on the other side. I exhale sharply with a tight smile.
“Well, should we go?” She looks up from whatever is in her hand and nods, shoving it in her pocket. “So what is that?” I ask once we’re in the hall, desperately scrambling for conversation. “That thing you were playing with, i mean.”
“Oh this?” she pulls it out of her pocket. “It’s a cat toy,” she says, kind of embarrassed.
“You have a cat?”
“Yeah, his name is Lord Tubbington. I kinda miss him a lot when I’m at school, so I carry this with me because it reminds me of him.”
“That’s really sweet,” I say, absolutely melting because that is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard. “Well, this is it.” We stop outside the guidance office. She turns to me.
“Thanks so much. Sorry to bother you.”
You didn’t bother me at all , I want to say, but she’s already gone inside. I realize now that I have no idea if she wants me to wait for her or not. I check the clock. The bus won’t be here for another 8 minutes, but I don’t know how long she’s gonna be. And then what if she comes out and is totally weirded out by the fact that I’ve been standing out here waiting like a creep when we just met ten minutes ago? What if she already has a ride?
I bite my fingernails anxiously. Okay, if she’s not out in five minutes I’ll leave , I decide.
I hear footsteps coming around the corner. I brace myself for an awkward hand wave to someone I don’t know, or one of my teachers telling me to have a great weekend, but it’s just Mr. Schuester, the cool spanish teacher.
“Santana! Hey!” He reaches up for a high five. I give him one, a huge dorky smile on my face. “Everything okay?” I nod.
“I’m just waiting for Brittany.”
“Pierce? Oh I’m glad you two are getting along. She’s a sweet girl.”
I don’t know what to say, so I just nod again. He smiles widely and walks out. Not ten seconds after, Ms. Pillsbury comes around the curve.
“Oh hi sweetie!” she says in passing before walking out. I completely ignore her. I hate Ms. Pillsbury so much. First of all, she’s fucking annoying. Second, she’s got the most obvious crush on Mr. Schuester which makes her ten times more irritating. And third, she is not good at her job. She caught me trying to make myself puke in the bathroom once last year, and all she did was hand me some dumb pamphlet and tell me that her door is always open. Such bullshit. She never even bothered to learn my name.
Brittany walks out of the guidance office then, holding a stack of papers. She looks surprised that I’m still waiting there. “Oh! You didn’t have to wait for me,” she says. I grin bashfully.
“I wanna hear more about this cat of yours,” I reply, cringing internally at my own comment. She smiles widely then, her eyes lighting up.
“You wanna meet him?” she asks. My eyes widen.
“He’s here?!”
She laughs. “No, I mean at my house. Do you wanna come meet him?”
I gulp. She’s inviting me over? I think this must be some kind of trick, but she doesn’t seem at all disingenuous, so maybe she’s just outgoing like that.
“Uh-um, yeah, yeah sure.” I stammer. She bites her bottom lip, still smiling.
“Cool.”
“Cool.”
I breathe a sigh of relief as we walk outside and I see that the bus has already pulled up. Just been saved from having to stand here in the cold with a girl I hardly know.
We head to a booth in the back and she lets me take the window seat, which makes me grin a little. She sits next to me, and I’m suddenly very conscious of our thighs touching. She has very smooth skin.
“So...what were you in guidance for?” I ask. She waves the stack of papers.
“Transfer stuff.”
“So you are a transfer?”
She cocks her head. “Kind of. I was homeschooled, but my mom thought it wasn’t enough so she sent me here.”
“And what do you think so far?”
She shrugs. “I like it. What about you?”
I hum thoughtfully. “It’s alright. I mean besides the fact that I’m one of like, three latinos at this school.” She laughs at that.
“Yeah. Well this is my stop,” she says as the bus slows to a halt.
“Oh. That was quick.”
She stands up and grabs my hand. My heart palpitates. We run off the bus like convicted felons and up to this eclectic little townhome on the end of the street.
“Mom! I’m home!” she calls as we step inside. Her house is really nicely decorated, and also very cluttered, but I don’t mind. It’s a lot cozier than my house. An young-ish heavyset woman emerges from the kitchen, a plate of warm sugar cookies in her hand. She sets it down on the coffee table and walks over to give Brittany a kiss on the cheek.
“Welcome home darling, who’s this?”
“This is Santana,” she responds before I can say anything. “We’re on the Cheerios together.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I put on my Parent Smile and stick out my hand for a handshake, one she rejects and instead embraces me in a hug.
“The pleasure is mine, dear. You’re very pretty.” I beam and blush madly. Brittany rolls her eyes.
“Alright mom, stop flirting with her,” she says in a tone that I hope means she’s joking, taking my hand and leading me up the stairs.
“Your mom seems nice,” I say quietly, still thinking about those fresh cookies on the coffee table downstairs.
“Don’t worry, we can go down for cookies in a second,” she says, as if reading my mind. “I just need to change out of this outfit.”
AND THEN SHE SHIMMIES OUT OF HER SKIRT like she literally just slips it off, right there in front of me. She’s wearing underwear with little cat faces on it. I don’t know what to do, so I look around her room as she changes so she doesn’t think I’m watching. I notice an empty litterbox next to her bed.
“Where’s Lord Paddington?”
“Tubbington. And he’s right behind you!” I turn around and sure enough, a giant ball of grey fur is rubbing against my leg. I gasp and pick him up.
“Ohhhh my goodddd.” Brittany chuckles and walks up behind me. “He is actually the cutest thing ever.”
“He likes you,” she says, and I can feel her breath making the hairs on my neck stand up. I shiver and set him down.
“So, about those cookies?” She laughs like she knows something, and we go downstairs.
“Sweetheart, do you have any food allergies?” M(r?)s. Pierce asks me as I settle on their memory foam coach.
“Not really, why?”
“Well aren’t you staying for dinner?”
“ Mom- ” Brittany hisses. My heart sinks. She turns to me. “You can totally stay if you want, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”
I smile at her. “I’d love to,” I respond, “but my mom will be waiting for me. We kind of have this Tuesday Family Dinner thing and she’d crucify me if I missed it.”
“Of course! I understand,” her mom says, waving her hands. “Maybe we can kidnap you another night.” I laugh genuinely.
“I’d like that.”