Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of that good stuff.

Chapter 1

When I was sixteen I got my first job.

I worked at a bookstore.

The bookstore on Fifth and Perry Street became like my second home until I graduated high school. I wasn't a popular kid in high school nor did I fit in with the geeks. I wouldn't label my high school self a loner either. I had friends. I would say I was a pretty much a normal teenage. But then again that depends on what your definition of normal is.

I went to parties when I was invited, hung with friends, and spent quality time with my parents and my big brother. I also had days were all I wanted to do is be alone. I wanted to sit down and get lost in my thoughts or a book.

Amazing Read bookstore was my quiet place. It was the place that I spent hours upon hours sitting…and thinking. On days that I wanted that alone time I would go to the bookstore and find a quiet place to read a book or write my thoughts down.

It wasn't like I couldn't go home and be alone. My bedroom door did have a lock. It was just the quiet that could be hard to find. Noah, my older brother by a year, was a very social person. I would label him as popular. He was on the football, basket ball, and track team all four years of high school. Not to toot my own horn but our parents did make some good looking kids. Noah is very handsome. And just like in high school, he knows it. The girls loved him. They still do. But back to my original thought… Noah loved to socialize. So we often had parties at our house or a couple of his friends would always come to our house after school. So instead of going on home, I'd go to the bookstore.

After one long stressful day of school I walked into the bookstore to buy the latest Harry Potter book. I was planning on getting the book, sitting in the back of the bookstore and reading until it was time for me to go home for dinner. But that day I got to the bookstore and Emma Pillsbury, the manager and owner, said that I spent too much time in her bookstore to not work there. She gave me the book free of charge and offered me a job. I only worked for her Thursday through Sunday. The other days I spent with friends and in the bookstore reading, doing homework and having my alone time.

When I graduated and the end of the summer came, it was hard for me to say goodbye to that bookstore.

And now as I enter Amazing Read for the first time in five years, I feel like that little girl who spent a lot of her time held up in the back of this building with her head in a book. Not much had changed in the bookstore. It just seemed fuller. More people were sitting around at the couple of tables the store provided and more teenagers' frequent store, searching for something to read. When I use to work here the bookstore had a nice amount of customers, but they never had been a real rush. Most days Ms. Pillsbury could manage the store by herself.

"Hi…can I help you?" I jump a little at the sound of someone else's voice. I had blocked everything out as I took in the bookstore. I look up to see a young man smiling at me.

"Um…hi. I was wondering if Ms. Pillsbury is in today?" I glance over at his little name tag as I speak. It reads Dave.

"Oh yeah! She's in her office right now." The kid says excitedly. "I can go get her. Who should I say is asking for her?"He says with wondering eyes.

"Santana." I smile. His positive energy is contagious. "But...I know where her office is. I'll just go get her myself. I kind of want to surprise her."

"Sure." Dave grins and walks over to a little boy that looks lost.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when he walks away. I had set up a defensive wall when he first approached. These days my encounter with people either became completely awkward or upsetting. Since I got back in town my run-ins with people of my past have been nothing but awkward. Meetings with strangers have been upsetting because they don't know me so they can't help put stare. Staring is rude so I let them know that and sometimes that leads to arguments. But Dave, a complete stranger, left me neither upset or unsettled. He never looked down. He talked to me like a normal person. No one besides my family and close friends had been able to make me smile that much. For the first time in a year and a half, Dave made me I feel like the old Santana.

"Come in!" A cheerful voice calls out when I knock on the open office door of Emma Pillsbury. As I pass over the entry I see Emma with her back to me, leaning over a file cabinet.

"What kind of pamphlets are you looking for?" Emma jumps at the sound of my voice.

"Santana!" Before I know it, Ms. Pillsbury is around the desk, squeezing me in a hug. "Oh my…I'm so happy to see you!" She puts her hands up to her face to wipe away the few tears that had escaped.

"I missed you too." I grin.

"I stopped by your house a few months ago…" I know she wanted to look down but she doesn't. Her eyes stay on my face.

"I know."I sigh. "I wasn't ready to see anyone yet. I was still trying to adjust to being home again."

"Well…I'm so happy you came to see me."

"Me too." I move closer to her desk. "Do you…I'm kind of getting tired of looking at my bedroom walls. I was wondering if I could work for you. You don't have to pay me." I ramble out. "I don't even know if you need any help but…"

"Yes." She jumps up from the part of the desk she was sitting on. "Of course you can work here Santana!"

"Thank you."

%*^*%^

"Santana would you like to share anything?"

I'm currently in a support group meeting. I've been attending these meeting since I moved back home with my parent five months ago. My dad insisted that I stopped mopping around the house and become part of society again. His comment had pissed me off. We argued for the tenth time that week. The next day he came back with a number for this support group he wanted me to attend.

The support group meets every Tuesday and Friday night at the Wilson Canter. My first four visits I didn't participate at all. I just sat there and listened to other people talk about their problems. My fifth visit I spoke for the first time. I had come to the meeting after having another argument with my dad. I was angry. Will Schuester, the leader of the support group had asked me, like every time I visited, if I would like to share anything. And I did. I told them about how I was sick of my dad constantly telling me to act like a person. I told him how I don't think he understands what I lost. That he could never understand.

No one interrupted me. They didn't make comments about how I was wrong or how they agreed. They just listened. I needed that. I still need it.

"I got a job today." I smile thinking about my reunion with Ms. Pillsbury. "It's at a bookstore. I use to work there when I was in high school. I think it's a good thing."

"I think so too. Congratulations, Santana!" Will claps and everyone else joins in.

After the meeting Artie, a friend I met at the group meetings, and I have dinner at a diner near the center.

"So…look at what I got us." Artie slams two tickets down on the table. I pick them up and see they are theater tickets to a local play.

"Yeah, thanks…but no thanks." I hand the tickets over to Artie.

"What? Come on San!" Artie pushes his glasses back up his nose. "You loved the play we went to a few months ago. We even had great seats." I roll my eyes at him.

"Dude…you are always going to get a seat near the stage. You're handicapped."I grumble out.

"We." Artie says slowly. "We are handicapped." He doesn't sound angry. Just sad…not for himself but for me. Artie has been in a wheelchair since he was seven. This is all new to me.

"Look Artie…plays are just not my thing. It was fun in all but…"

"No further explanation needed. I'm sure I can find some hot thing to join me anyway." We both laugh in finish up dinner.

%^$&*^

"I read it like five times. Best book ever." Dave and I are in the bookstore sharing with each other what our favorite books are. "You can borrow my copy and then maybe you can tell me what you think."

"Sure." I wheel myself away from the table a little and then put the locks on so I don't roll backwards.
Hey Dave?" Dave looks up from the magazine he is flipping through. "Why haven't you asked me what happened yet." I drop my hands onto my legs as I speak to make sure he knows what I'm referring to.

I've been back working at the bookstore for a month now and Dave is the only one who hasn't looked at me like I'm helpless or asked me what happened to put me in a wheelchair. Instead when we work together we talk about anything and everything else. Like how he's a freshman in high school and how he wishes he could have a dog but cannot because his sister is allergic.

Dave got off of work a few hours ago but stayed behind to keep me company while I rearranged some books.

"I just figured that it's none of my business." He smiles. "If and when you want me to know you'll tell me, right?"

"Right." I nod slowly.

It's crazy how the first person I've formed a good friendship with outside of the support group and my family, is a high school kid. But then again Dave doesn't really act like a kid. He seems far more mature than his age. He has incredible manners, great work ethnics and quiet clam about him.

"Oh man!" Dave says after glancing at his watch. He jumps up and starts to collect the magazines on the table. "I was meant to be home an hour ago. My sisters going to kill me." He rushes to the back to grab whatever things he brought with him. "See ya, Santana!"

$%&*^&89

Remember when I told you my brother was a social butterfly. Well he still is. Noah never moved away after graduating a year before me. Instead he went to community college and moved out of our parent's house and married my best friend. Quinn Farbray.

While a lot has changed about my brother, like his slutty ways, he still likes to party. So when my 23rd birthday comes around I shouldn't be this surprised when my mom drives closer to my house and the street is completely packed with cars.

"Oh…no no no!" I bang my fist against the door.

"Santana calm down. Noah thought…"

"Who fuc...freaking cares what Noah thinks!" This is all too much for me right now. My mom parks the car and turns to me. She places a calming hand on top of mines.

"Santana you've been doing so well. He just thought that being around some old high school friends and a couple of friends from your support group would be good for you."

"Mom…I've been doing great." I nod at my own words. "Great…but at my own pace. I don't want a party. It's…" Before I can get the words out there is a knock on my car door window. Quinn is standing at my door with a concerned look on her face. Noah is standing behind her frowning.

"Tell everyone to go home." I say after rolling down the window.

"San…" Quinn sighs. "Look…I told him it was a bad idea but he wouldn't listen."

"Nothing new." Noah flips me the bird.

"Just come inside and show your face and then we can tell everyone you're not feeling good. You can go to your room and…well the people can stay or go. Whatever you want." I nod and allow Noah to help me out of the car.

Despite all the cars lining the street, not to many people are in my home when I roll through the door. Artie and Will from the support group pop out yelling surprise. Some people that I knew in high school and a couple of people that I know from the neighborhood also greet me as I get further into the house.

It takes me about thirty minutes to go around the room and say thank you for coming to everyone. When everyone has been thanked I make a trip to the kitchen for some alone time.

"So should I tell everyone to get lost?" Quinn follows me into the kitchen.

"No. They look they are having a nice time." I smile thinking about how Artie already has some blonde head girl on his lap.

"It's not about them. It's about you." Quinn washes her hands and starts putting chips and dip onto a plate. "Noah had good intentions. Remember that when you cuss him out, please." Quinn adds a hot dog onto the plate and hands it off to me.

I think if it wasn't for Quinn I'd still be sitting in my room depressed. We've know each other since we were six. Quinn has always been the person I could talk to when I felt like I couldn't talk to my parents or my brother about a problem I was having. She always listens to everything I have to say than give her honest opinion about the situation. She never tells me what she thinks I want to hear, but what I need to hear.

The week before I went to ask for my job back at the bookstore had been incredibly hard for me. That week in support group everyone was talking about steps they had took to achieving some normalcy into their lives. Like how they reconnected with friends or they pursued work opportunities. I had nothing to talk about. For a year and a month I had done nothing. Outside of going to physical therapy, the support group was my only other contact with someone who wasn't part of my family. I was still angry about the accident that turned my life upside down. I had different plans for my life. I was having a hard time facing that I had to reevaluate some of my plans to fit my new life.

So that Friday I skipped the group meeting because I had nothing to give. At the time I didn't want to move on with my life. I felt like there was nothing to move on to. Quinn came over and wanted to watch a movie with me that night, but I bitched at her. I told her I wanted to be left alone. She didn't leave. Instead she told me to stop being a baby. She told me that she loved me and she'll never understand how I feel but it hurts her to see me throwing my life away. Then she told me to just do something that would make me happy. Quinn wanted me to do something that meant something to me. It didn't matter what it was or if no one understood it but me. But to just do something.

So I went to the bookstore.

And the next week I went back to the support group with something to share.

"Thanks,Q."

TBC

Okay…so I know it's crazy that I'm starting another story while I still have so many in progress but I got an idea in ran with it. I'm still working on my other stories so have no fear. If you guys could review and tell me what you think about this beginning that would be great.

Thanks!