Author: J.R. Boone
Chapter One
Rating: It wouldn't be me if it wasn't M.
Disclaimer: Yada, yada, yada, I don't own Glee or any of it's characters. Just borrowing them.

Santana Lopez let out a sigh of relief when she slipped into the choir room to find it empty. Quickly the Latina pulled her lunch out of her bag and sat down at the top of risers. She needed a moment. A moment to breathe, to collect her, and re-fortify her bitch face before going back out into the halls and carrying on like nothing fazed her.

It had been three weeks now since Brittany had basically tore out her heart and Santana was still having trouble processing this drastic change in her life. Enough time had passed to where she could forgive the girl and see her without dissolving into a sobbing mess but it still stung. It was a fresh wound just starting to scab over and every time she saw the blonde sitting on Wheel's lap it got ripped back just enough to render her broken.

The shitty part of it was that she knew it was all her fault. She's the one who hadn't been able to come out and be who she was because she was afraid of what people would think. She kept Brittany her dirty little secret and the blonde had just wised up to that. She regretted it now. There were moments during the day when she imagined doing it differently. Standing up for what she wanted. She knew it would be in vain though. She had waited too long and she was resigned to the fact that Brittany was in love with Artie, not her.

Added on top of all the emotional crap that she was dealing with, since school had started back two months ago Quinn had been on a rampage to reclaim her title as head bitch in charge and she was doing it with a take no prisoners gusto that drove Santana crazy. Less than two weeks into the new school year the blonde had snatched up Sam Evans, the new quarterback, reinstated the travesty that was the Chastity Club, and had practically head butted Santana from her position as head cheerio. And now Santana was at the bottom of not only the pyramid but also dangling precariously close to the bottom of the social ladder.

Quinn had seized upon Santana's obvious emotional upheaval three weeks ago rather marvelously. The blonde knew just how to push all of Santana's various buttons and she had done so with extreme accuracy. Before, having Brittany as a buffer Santana's inherent cattiness had been muted enough for her to function in this lame ass school. Yes she had been seen as a bitch but Brittany had always been around to balance her out. Now with her best friend giving her some space to deal Santana had nothing to offset her unpleasant moods to the general public. And Quinn was capitalizing on this by forcefully setting the Latina off so much that even she knew she was horrible to be around. People were giving her a wide berth now, so much that the only text she had gotten in a week was her Dad asking what she wanted for dinner.

If things weren't so chaotic in her personal life she might be fighting back. Pushing the fact that Quinn had hello? Just had a baby out of wedlock, after cheating on her boyfriend, and then creating an entire Jerry Springer episode of baby daddy drama. But fuck she had a little bit more on her mind right now then Quinn Fabray's pitiful aspirations of High School domination.

Everything just seemed so fucked up right now. It was her senior year and here she was alone in the choir room holding back tears because she had caught a glimpse of a picture of Artie hanging in Brittany's locker where she once was.

Setting her lunch aside the Cheerio bent over and rested her face in the palms of hands to take in a deep couple of breathes. Just when she felt like she wasn't about to cry a noise caught her attention and she looked up to find Rachel Berry slinking quietly into the Choir Room, her hair wet from what Santana could only assume was another slushy bath.

Things with her and Quinn weren't the only thing that had changed since the start of the new school year. While she admittedly did not make a habit out of watching Rachel you would have to be blind to not see the changes.

Over summer the brunette had shed her usual attire and adopted a uniform of jeans and darkly colored hoodies. She had apparently dropped out of all of her extracurriculars that weren't related to her love of theatre and had somewhat turned into a ghost in the halls and classes. Besides in Glee where Santana barely paid attention anymore the Latina could think of maybe one or two times she had heard the diva say a sentence consisting of more than six words.

In Glee she was quieter than normal. She was Rachel Berry so of course complete silence was a non-option but she was considerably with drawn. Now when the brunette spoke up it was shaky, not her at all. Santana had noted on one occasion when she wasn't completely spaced out that the Diva looked like she had to physically hold back her personality to the point of pain.

This wasn't a complete mystery to Santana though. She knew the smaller why in the equation. And the why Rachel Berry looked like a ghost all of the time was the same why that had Santana sitting alone in the choir room for lunch.

Quinn Fabray.

For some reason unbeknownst to Santana, the blonde had been on a fucking tear where the Glee captain was concerned. She was practically waging war against the girl to an almost extreme. Throwing a few slushies here and there were normal but the girl was currently getting two to three a day all of them ordered by Quinn herself.

The bigger why was something Santana really hadn't spent more than a minute of her time pondering. What the hell got Quinn so damned riled up about Rachel? I mean for all intensive purposes Quinn seemed to have the perfect life going. She was Queen Bee of the school again, she had Sam following her around like a subservient puppy dog, and Santana knew that Quinn's home life was all sunshine and mother daughter heart to hearts since Judy kicked Russell out on his cheating ass.

And yah Rachel Berry was a whole mess of annoying, or at least she used to be, but now she barely said four words. She wasn't going after Sam like she had Finn, and she hadn't even looked at Finn once since school started to Santana's knowledge (something that would undoubtedly set off Quinn for some reason no matter what). She was suddenly realizing that there just had to be something more to whatever the hell was going on.

She was pulled out of her musing when Rachel turned into the room and spotted her observing her. The shorter brunette gave a tiny jump at the sight before her and Santana felt a tiny twang of guilt bubble up in her chest. The diva was obviously frightened of her, yet she was surprised by the question that easily came out of her mouth.

"Are you okay Santana?" Rachel asked, her eyes narrowing slightly at what Santana assumed were her red eyes.

Without skipping a beat Santana shot back defensively. "None of you fucking business Berry."

Instantly the singer nodded and eyed the door, obviously considering making a hasty exit. Santana groaned softly at this and shook her head. She really had to stop being such a snarling bitch all the time, and considering the fact that Rachel was the first person in over a month to genuinely show her some common decency she felt bad for snapping at her.

"Fuck," she said throwing her head back and sighing. "I'm sorry. I'm not having a good day," she said crossing her arms.

Rachel turned back to the girl at that and frowned slightly before arching an eyebrow. "You must be if you just apologized to me," she chuckled humorously before cautiously stepping further into the room and sitting down at the piano.

"True that," Santana scoffed shaking her head and watching as Rachel glanced back at the door. "You expecting someone?" She asked nonchalantly inspecting her nails.

"Mmm no. Hiding more like," Rachel murmured shrugging slightly as she pulled an apple out of her bag and started munching quietly on it.

"Ah," Santana replied nodding her head. "Baby Cheerios?" She asked shaking her head.

"Yes," Rachel mumbled pushing back her hoody and chuckling humorously. "It seems they are having a contest to see who can get in the most slushies today."

"They are," Santana said shrugging her shoulders before standing up and stepping down off the risers to sit closer to the diva. "This morning Quinn offered a week's worth of car rides in her new convertible to the girl with the biggest number."

The tiny brunette frowned at this new information and Santana couldn't help but feel sorry and a little confused at the hurt that flashed in the girl's eyes. But it was gone in a second and then the diva's face returned to the same emotionless slate Santana had become used to seeing. "Glad I can help one lucky Cheerio get to school this week, lord knows they need it," Rachel grumbled sarcastically shaking her head and causing Santana to smile a little. Suddenly Rachel looked down at her bag. "Do you want an apple?" She asked pulling out a green one and offering it to Santana.

Santana stared at the apple for a second in confusion. It felt suddenly as if she had been plunged into an alternative universe here. One where she was sitting in the choir room and making idle chit chat with the schools biggest loser. But all things considered at the rate Quinn was going she would be joining Rachel soon…and she did totes love her a green apple. So she simply shrugged her shoulders and caught it between her hands when Rachel tossed it to her. "Thanks," she said staring at it for a second before taking a huge chunk out of it. "So," she said conversationally hoping to avoid an awkward silence. "What did you do to piss off Quinn so bad?"

Rachel seemed to consider this carefully, carefully enough that Santana could pick up on the slight uncomfortable look to her eyes. Finally the diva just dipped her head and shrugged. "Quinn is Quinn. I don't feel I'm getting any special treatment."

"Yah right," Santana scoffed shaking her head. "She's got some kind of vendetta against you lately."

"I hadn't noticed," Rachel mumbled quietly as she wrapped up her apple core in a napkin and deposited it in the trash can. "Wetnap?" the shorter girl asked pulling a small travel sized pack out of her back and offering it to Santana.

"Thanks," Santana said rolling her eyes and absolute absurdity of this entire situation. "You know," the Latina observed. "I think this is the most you and I have ever spoken to each other. Fuck my life has gone down hill."

Rachel smirked slightly as she wiped off her hands. "Sorry to be that particular mile marker, it could be worse though," she chuckled tossing the wetnap into the trash as well.

"Oh god how could it be worse?" Santana asked shaking her head.

"Well," Rachel said taking her seat at the piano again and smiling. "You could be conversing civilly with Finn."

At this Santana couldn't help but let out a guffaw. Rachel seemed to have a slightly sarcastic sense of humor that had gone previously unnoticed by her; it had probably been smothered by her crazy "You know what Berry?" The Latina asked tilting her head to the side.

"Yes I am familiar with Jacob Ben Israel," Rachel laughed tilting her head to the side and smiling.

"Oh snap," Santana laughed throwing her head back and clapping her hands. "You're not that fucking bad sometimes."

"Well I appreciate that," Rachel said pulling a brush out of her bag and running it through her still wet hair. "You're not a horrible person when you're not surrounded by your peers."

"Yah well I'm having an off day," Santana said chuckling and shaking her head. "I do wonder, why are you talking to me?" The Latina asked uncertainly. "I mean these days everyone runs like I'm about to drop a fucking house on them."

Rachel hummed in contentment at the comment and cocked her head to the side. "First off I appreciate the musical reference."

"Well I have to speak so you can understand," Santana jested shaking her head.

"Naturally," Rachel laughed. "And secondly, to answer your question, why not? I have not ever personally hated you despite our past and you don't seem to have a slushy on your person," the girl said narrowing her eyes in faux suspicion at Santana.

"Slushy free," Santana laughed holding up her hands.

"Well in that case I'm sticking with why not. You're talking cordially with me which is something that happens rarely. I don't like looking a gift horse in the mouth," Rachel said shrugging her shoulders.

Santana nodded at this and considered questioning the brunette about her change in appearance and demeanor but decided against it when the bell rang out around them. "And back to the real world," Rachel said shaking her head and pulling her hoody up.

"Yah you know this never happened right?" Santana said standing up as well and tossing her apple core and used wetnap in the trash.

She felt bad when she saw a tinge of sadness in Rachel's eyes but there was not a whole lot she could do about it. Despite not giving a shit about a whole truck load of things Santana did care about her image, or what was left of it at least.

"Of course," Rachel said nodding slightly and picking up her back pack.

Santana warred with herself over what to say next before sighing and looking at the tiny brunettes back as she made her way for the door. "Fuck, Berry wait up," she said striding towards her. "Look you've been decent to me for some godforsaken reason. Let me do you a favor."

"What favor could you possibly do for me," Rachel asked looking over her shoulder, her face barely visible beneath her hoody now.

"Well," Santana said stepping up the girl and staring out into emptying hallway. "Look we both have Chem now. Walk next to me to class. Don't look at me," she stressed quickly. "But walk next to me. No one will be stupid enough to toss a slushy at you with me standing next to you. Deal?"

Rachel seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding slightly. "Deal," she said quickly pulling her hoody around her carefully before following Santana out the door.

Santana's entire theory was blown out of the water a second later when she heard a loud splash and froze up at the feeling of icy liquid sinking into the sleeve of her undershirt. "What the fuck," she shouted staring down at her now yellow sleeve before glancing over at Rachel who was completely covered in slushy. Looking up she saw Quinn staring at them, an almost lethal look to her hazel eyes.

"What the fuck Quinn?" She yelled shaking her arm and sending bits of ice flying across the almost empty hall.

"Don't stand around losers and you won't get slushied," Quinn growled, before glaring at Rachel who was valiantly trying to rub the corn syrup out of her eyes. "Scamper off to the bathroom Manhands," she chuckled.

Rachel looked up at the blonde for a second and Santana swore she saw a hint of real hurt before the brunette turned and quickly headed for the bathroom.

"And you," Quinn said turning to the Latina. "Go change your undershirt. You're still a Cheerio after all," she said before shoulder checking Santana and striding off in the direction Rachel had gone.

Santana wanted to grab the blonde's pony tail and ram her head into a wall but she resisted the urge. While it would be extremely satisfying she knew that it would not help her out in the least bit, and more than that she was suddenly curious. She had seen real hurt in Rachel's and that was strange.

Santana had actively been bullying the girl for as long as they had known each other and never once had she'd seen that look. Usually the girl just shrugged it off and walked away with her head held high. And Santana knew it was because Rachel really didn't give two shits about what people thought about her. In a few years that girl was going to be fucking famous off her ass and the majority of the losers in this town would be flipping burgers. But for some reason Quinn had gotten to her. She had hurt her.

She didn't know what the fuck this was all about but she did know that it could be good for her. Quinn had just about fucked up her social image completely and Santana despite everything still wanted a sense of revenge. Like Rachel said, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Santana managed to make it to her Chem class only five minutes late and the teacher had merely frowned at her before continuing on with her lecture.

Rolling her eyes Santana had quickly snatched up the only unused table and pulled out her notebook. A few minutes later as she was dutifully copying down notes she looked up when she heard a bark of laughter.

Standing in the door looking nervously at the room stood Rachel in a fresh black hoody clutching her backpack. Following the singers eyes Santana frowned when she realized that there were only three seats available in the room.

One next to Jewfro who practically panting at the sight of the brunette, one next to a Cheerio who was eagerly clutching a slushy (like where the fuck were they getting them today?), and the seat next to her.

"Ms. Berry would you mind choosing a spot some time today?" The teacher asked making the shorter girl jump slightly.

Visible resignation passed in Rachel's eyes as she skirted around Jewfro and made towards the cheerio and without thinking Santana reached out and grabbed the brunette by the wrist, pulling her down in the seat next to her.

Large brown eyes looked at appreciatively and Santana nodded in acknowledgment before turning her eyes to the Cheerio who was looking out the window at Quinn's car rather forlornly. Scoffing and shaking her head Santana looked back up to the teacher and subtly slid the first page of notes towards Rachel. "Just start copying them; I'll give you the rest later."

"Thank you," Rachel breathed out in relief and instantly hunched over them.

As the teacher droned lifelessly Santana sat back in her chair and filled out the notes on the board mechanically as she pondered why she had pulled Rachel down into the chair. Letting her sit next to Jewfro was just unfathomable, but the diva wasn't going to. She was going to sit next to the eager Cheerio, who most likely would have slushied her the second the bell rang and something about that didn't sit well with Santana.

Mentally studying her feelings Santana was a little disgruntled to realize that only twenty percent of wanting to find out what was going on with her and Quinn was involved in the split decision. The other eighty percent was because Rachel had talked to her like a human being less than an hour ago where no one else had even bothered for over a month.

Her attention was piqued when the teacher started talking about their midterm assignment and she quickly nudged Rachel and nodded up so the girl would listen.

"Alright guys this is going to be the bones of your first semester grade. All of the homework you have turned in and in-class experiments you have done will count for twenty percent of your grade. This one assignment will be the other eighty percent," the teacher said looking over the class. The irony over the percentages she had just been calculating in her head versus these one were not lost on Santana and she couldn't help but roll her eyes and chuckle. Twenty percent and eighty percent.

"The assignment is to find a major breakthrough in modern chemistry and present it as if it was your original idea. That includes writing a thirty page paper on your "discovery" the teacher continued actually doing finger quotes. "Writing a six page article up that you would be presenting to a publication to paraphrase your discovery, and then presenting the experiment attached to the discovery to support your findings."

All around them people were groaning and Santana chuckled shaking her head. Chemistry was her bitch. Looking next to her she saw Rachel also appeared unfazed by the assignment as she was calmly writing it down.

"Now," the teacher said leaning forwards on her desk. "Quite frankly I believe only a small percentage of you actually have the IQ to become scientists some day if you chose to," at this she glanced over at Santana and Rachel who simply smirked. Santana proudly meeting the eyes of the other student whilst Rachel just nodded her head slightly and continued writing. "So being that as it may this will be a partners project, meaning the person sitting next to you will be your partner. Hopefully that will help."

If the students had been groaning before they were now on the edge of hysteria. Next to her Rachel completely froze up and Santana glanced over at her. So she was partnered with Berry on what sounded like a pretty damn intense assignment. She mulled the taste of that around in her mouth for a second before shrugging. At least Rachel was intelligent enough to keep up with her and it could be worse.

A fact that was confirmed moments later when the teacher teemed up Jew Fro and the lone Cheerio. Seconds later the creepy "journalist" dashed to the seat next to her and the Cheerio unceremoniously dumped her slushy on his head just as the bell rang.

"Looks like she's not getting that ride," Santana chuckled shaking her head as the other students laughed and began packing their things.

"Walking is good for her anyways. Develops character," Rachel mumbled as she began putting her things in her bag.

"Hey wait," Santana laughed before quickly pulling her notes out of her binder and passing them over. "Here's the other half."

Rachel stared blankly at the notes and then back at Santana before smiling slightly and looking around the almost empty room. "Careful Santana, your decency is showing."

"Ha ha," Santana grumbled shaking her head as she stood up. "So about this assignment. You want to what? Meet up at your place tonight and figure it out?"

Rachel seemed to take a moment to ponder that before nodding slightly. "That would be acceptable. Do you know where I live?"

Santana grimaced uncomfortably at the question and rubbed the back of her neck. "Yah…I've been around there a couple of times."

Recognition clicked in Rachel's eyes and the girl nodded sharply. "Right, the toilet paper."

"Yah…" Santana trailed off as the two began making their way to the door. "So what time do you want me to come?" At this Rachel let out a very undignified snort of laughter and Santana felt her face flush. "Oh fuck me," she groaned stopping and banged her head against the wall. Again this resulted in more laughter and Santana began to repeatedly bang her head against the wall.

"Stop that," Rachel managed to say through her laughter and grabbed a hold of the Cheerio's jacket. "If you get brain damage I'll have to do this project by myself."

"Okay," Santana said letting her self get tugged away from the wall. "Alright Chuckles. What time would you like me to come over to your house tonight?"

"Any time is okay," Rachel said still laughing slightly. "I'm free tonight," she said, her eyes smiling at the Latina.

For some reason it made Santana uncomfortable and she realized that Rachel's hand was still clutching her jacket. Quickly the girl flinched away and shook her head as if to clear it of cobwebs. "And that is different from any other night," she asked snarkily.

Rachel instantly flinched away from her and Santana couldn't help but feel horrible as the normal blank look she had been sporting this year replaced smiling eyes. "Point made," Rachel murmured looking down at the floor before making her way to the door.

Sighing loudly to herself and shaking her head Santana followed the tiny girl out only to once again feel an ice cold beverage slap against her skin. Only this time it wasn't just her arm. It was a full on facial slushy. "Fucking hell!" She shouted, her head snapping up to see Quinn clutching an empty slushy in her hand and glaring at her. "What the fuck is your problem Quinn?" She roared as Rachel eyed the two girls nervously and slid off to the side to join the group of gaping onlookers.

"I told you earlier to stay away from her," Quinn said, her voice shaking with anger. "So imagine my surprise when I walk by the door to find you laughing with her."

"Oh fuck you, you crazy bitch," Santana said shaking the flakes off ice off of her self. "We're doing a Chem project together and you're not in charge of who fucking talks to who in this school. I'll chat up Rachel Fucking Berry any time I feel like it!"

"Like hell you will," Quinn said stepping forwards into Santana's space and eyeing her dangerously. "Turn in your uniform to the dry cleaners and don't bother picking it up, you're off the squad."

"Are you kidding me?" Santana shouted, gesturing wildly and biting the urge to full on punch the blonde in the stomach.

"As serious as a heart attack," Quinn bit out harshly before parting the crowd and stomping away with her nose held high.

That right there was what broke Santana's control completely. It was a little know fact but her mother had died suddenly of a heart attack three years ago and she had still not gotten over it. Rage bubbled up in her chest and she raced towards the Head Cheerio's back only to be held back by the arms of a few Baby Cheerios eager to prove them selves. "Let me the fuck go!" Santana yelled furiously struggling against them as Quinn, never breaking stride turned down the hall.

Finally the shouting alerted one of the mysterious beasts known as teachers and Santana felt the fight go out of her body as William Shuester appeared before her and began verbally reprimanding her. "Oh screw this," she said turning around and strutting away from him.

A soft hand on her wrist stopped her and she looked over to find Rachel staring at her. "I'm sorry Santana," Rachel said biting her bottom lip and shaking her head.

"Whatever," Santana grumbled glaring at the students still standing around. "Like you said Quinn is Quinn. I'll see you tonight." With that she stormed off down the hall intent and getting out of her soaked uniform and skipping the rest of the day. When she reached the end of the hall she saw Rachel quickly turning in the direction Quinn had went and arched her eyebrows.

Something was going on and she was going to figure it the hell out. All things considered she didn't have anything else to lose at this point anyways.