Chapter Text
“I’m not auditioning,” Santana grumbled, crossing her arms.
Her mom looked at with concern on her face. “Why not, mija?”
Santana just huffed in response.
Maribel Lopez shook her head and put the car in drive. “Santana, you love theater, and it’ll give you something to do this summer, especially since you quit dance.”
“I don’t want to be in a silly musical.” Santana watched the passing houses through her window.
“I don’t think it’s silly. I loved watching you perform last summer, and you seemed to enjoy it. I just don’t want you to make a decision you might regret.”
Santana sighed. “I guess I just grew out of it.”
The truth was that Santana did love the theater. She always looked forward to auditions for the Allen County Community Theater’s annual summer musical. This year was different though. Santana had always been picked on in school whether it was for her glasses, the fact that she was a bit of a late bloomer, or even her Wonder Woman backpack. However, the bullying had escalated during her fifth-grade year. Apparently, some of the other kids at her school had found out that Santana was in the summer musical before school started. Santana thought the bullying was bad before, but she soon found out it could get a lot worse. After being exposed as a total theater nerd, Santana started getting slushies thrown in her face left and right. It got so bad that she started packing a change of clothes to bring with her to school because she knew if she didn’t, she would go home covered in red dye number forty.
Santana’s entire elementary school experience had been filled with adults telling her to embrace who she is and be herself. Well, she tried that, and clearly it was not working. Otherwise, she wouldn’t get picked on and mocked so much. By the time summer break approached, Santana had made her decision. The bullies weren’t going to change, so she had to. This was the perfect time to reinvent herself too. Next year, she would be going into junior high. Not only would she be going to a new school, but there would be new students there with her. This was the perfect opportunity to become popular and make the bullying end. All she had to do was change herself, and there would be no more getting slushied. Instead, she would be the one throwing the slushies.
The mother and daughter had finally driven into their long driveway, and Maribel put the car in park but didn’t unlock the door.
Santana yanked on the handle and groaned. “Mami, unlock the door.”
“Escúchame, mija.” Maribel waited to continue until she had her daughter’s attention. “I’m not going to make you sign up for something you don’t want to do, but are you sure? It would make me very sad to see you miss out on something you love.”
Santana hesitated. “Yes, mami. I’m sure.”
Maribel sighed. “Well, you’re going to have to find something to do this summer unless you want to spend it at your abuela’s. Your papi and I have to work, and we’re not leaving you home alone.”
Santana saw her opportunity, and she knew she had to take it. “The Junior Cheerios have summer practices, right? I wanna do that.”
Maribel’s face contorted with confusion. “Really? I heard the coaches are pretty intense.”
Santana nodded. “I can handle it. I promise.” She pleaded to her mother with her eyes.
“Alright, alright. I’ll get you signed up for tryouts.” Maribel was startled by the eleven-year-old’s arms around her neck wrapping her in a tight hug.
“Thanks, mami! You’re the best!” Santana hopped out of the car after Maribel finally unlocked it. Before she closed her door, she grabbed her Wonder Woman backpack. “Oh, and I want a new backpack too.”
—
“Alright, ladies! Water break!”
Santana put her hands on her knees in a desperate attempt to fill her lungs with much-needed oxygen. While she was very out-of-breath, she was shocked at how light the tryout had been so far. From what she had heard, the Junior Cheerio’s head coach Jill Dixon was extremely intense. She had heard horror stories of former Cheerios passing out at practices and sustaining all kinds of injuries. She was right when she told her mom she could handle the intensity.
Coach Dixon blew her whistle. She yelled, “Just kidding! Give me fifty more laps, ladies! Move, move, move!”
Nevermind. As tennis shoes resumed squeaking on the gym floor, Santana wondered what she had gotten herself into. Later, Santana noticed some boys and girls going to sit down on the bleachers. Were they already finished? Santana panicked as she still had five more laps to go. She would not let herself finish last. She would not be a laughingstock again. Santana had to prove herself, so she pushed herself to run harder. She began lapping some of the other kids. She felt the cold air of the gym hitting the back of her throat as she ran, making it difficult to breathe. Her hard work paid off though because she finished the rest of her laps before about fifteen of the other kids.
Santana felt proud of herself, but it wasn’t long before her thirst really set in. She walked to where she remembered putting her bag on the bleachers and looked for her water bottle. Santana started moving some of her stuff around in her bag in search of the water bottle. It didn’t help that her vision was blurry. She didn’t know if that was from the exhaustion from running or the fact that she didn’t wear her glasses to the tryout to avoid getting picked on. Either way, she was starting to panic. She would not make it through the tryout without her water.
Santana’s panic must’ve been written all over her face because a girl sitting nearby approached her. The blonde girl tapped Santana’s shoulder. “Hi!”
Santana looked at the girl for just a second before going back to searching. “Hey.”
“Are you looking for something,” the girl asked.
Santana rolled her eyes. “What does it look like?”
The blonde girl chuckled playfully. “Well maybe if you tell me what you’re looking for, I can help you find it.”
“Fine. I’m looking for my water bottle.”
“What does it look like?”
Santana really didn’t want to answer that. She forgot to ask her mom for a new water bottle before tryouts rolled around, so she had to bring her Wonder Woman water bottle. This girl would certainly make fun of her for carrying around a superhero water bottle. Santana weighed her options. She could either expose herself as a total geek to this potential bully or she could die of thirst right there. It was a hard choice, but Santana chose to live another day. “Um, it has Wonder Woman on it,” she sheepishly replied.
“No way!”
Santana braced herself for the incoming ridicule and mockery from the blonde girl.
The girl exclaimed, “I love Wonder Woman!”
Santana was speechless. There was no way this girl was into Wonder Woman like her. She was too cool and pretty. However, the girl was clearly unphased by Santana’s admission as she began searching for Santana's bottle without as much as a chuckle at her.
Before Santana could reply, the girl popped up from Santana’s stuff. “I don’t think I see it anywhere. Maybe you could ask to use the water fountain in the hall.”
As if on cue, another girl approached Coach Dixon with that same question. Coach Dixon promptly berated the girl. “No, you may not use my water fountain! In fact, pack your stuff up and leave! I won't be having any unprepared slackers on my team!” The girl, as expected, ran off crying. Coach Dixon then addressed the rest of the group. “And that goes for every single one of you! We are winners, and winners come prepared!”
Santana and the blonde girl turned to each other slack-jawed. “Maybe not,” they said in unison.
The girl must’ve read the worry on Santana’s face. “Don’t worry. I can share my water.” The girl took hold of Santana’s wrist and guided her up the bleachers. She searched through her bag and pulled out her water bottle covered in unicorns and rainbows. She offered it to Santana.
Santana hesitated. She was really thirsty, but she didn’t even really know this girl. “I don’t think I’m supposed to drink after strangers.” She looked at her feet, worried that she hurt this nice girl’s feelings.
“Oh. Well, I’m Brittany.”
Santana looked up to find a welcoming smile on Brittany’s face. She couldn’t help but smile back at her. “I’m Santana.”
“Now we’re not strangers!” Brittany handed the unicorn water bottle over to Santana, insisting that she drink it.
Santana couldn’t help but chuckle at Brittany’s interesting logic. She took the bottle and drank from it. After years of loneliness, Santana had finally found a friend, and her name was Brittany.