So the hiatus is over, I did my
twenty-one ficlets and all... but I didn't want to stop ;) So I'm not! I want to see how long I can keep this up, one every day, so off we go :)
Also, some of them will be series, not related to one another but tied together by a common element. This first series I've called the "Mix Mash" series. I put the names of 18 Glee characters in a box, pulled them out in pairs, some odder than others, to write a ficlet over.
Today: Mix Mash 3 of 9: Sue & Santana
"PASS ON ALLEGIANCE"
Sue & Santana
Quinn had called her the previous night, asking for a favour. She was going in for a sonogram that morning, which would mean she’d miss that morning, which would mean she’d miss out on ‘Cheerio Report,’ which was to say the meeting with Coach Sylvester, to tell her about what was going on in Glee Club. She knew Coach Sylvester would take issue to the absence, so she needed Santana to cover for her.
It wasn’t an easy task to get a lie by the coach. It had to be fail proof, which was why she’d asked Santana and not Brittany. As much as they depended on her, they knew Brittany would crumble under Coach Sylvester’s stare in a heartbeat. Santana would be able to hold her own.
She went by herself, knowing it would be easier to get through it this way. She knocked at Coach Sylvester’s door and waited. “Come in,” she heard a few seconds later. She opened the door and walked in to find the coach writing in a notebook. When she looked up, Santana raised her eyes from the notebook to meet Coach’s eyes, giving a smile.
“Good morning, Coach Sylvester.” Sue took off her glasses, closed her journal.
“I seem to be missing a couple of blondes,” she put her journal away before sitting back in her chair.
“Brittany has to finish an assignment. It needs a lot of work.” Sue nodded. “And Quinn is running late, but she’ll be in later. She called and said she was having car problems.”
“What kind of problems?” Sue asked.
“I don’t know,” Santana shrugged. “She didn’t say.” Coach Sylvester didn’t seem as readily accepting with this excuse as with the fact that Brittany’s assignment needed work. But she indicated for Santana to sit in front of her desk, putting the absences aside.
The meeting went about as normally as it would normally go. Santana could feel though how Coach Sylvester seemed suspicious. Santana played it cool throughout. She didn’t get thrown by any of it. Her only concerns remained the ones she would get recently, that the coach’s tactics against the Glee Club started to bother her now.
When they were done, Santana got up to leave. As her hand touched the knob, Coach Sylvester spoke up.
“Your teammates will be back next time,” she stated, not asking. Santana rolled with it, turning back to Sue.
“Of course,” she smiled before leaving.
Later, Quinn had returned, and Santana informed her of ‘her car problems.’
For a while after that, it seemed they were all in the clear. She could feel Coach Sylvester’s gaze at times, but she ignored it, acted normally.
It wasn’t until after the end of practice with ‘Sue’s Kids’ that the real test came. They had all started to file out. Coach Sylvester was still standing at the piano, looking over notes. Even before she did it, Santana knew she’d call her out. Rather than prove to her that she had anything to hide, she followed the others.
“Santana. Come back.” She’d gotten one foot out the door. She stopped, turned, walked back toward the piano.
“Yes, Coach Sylvester?” she asked.
“I see Quinn’s car was fixed,” she was still looking at her notes.
“Yes, it is.”
“What about Finn Hudson’s car?” Santana frowned, ‘confused.’ Sue put her pen down.
“I’m sorry?”
“And Will Schuester’s car, was it broken down as well?”
“I don’t…” Sue finally looked up, making her way around the piano.
“Let me ask you something, Santana.” She paused. “Are you a cheerleader or a cheerfollower?” She didn’t respond… she wasn’t supposed to. “I don’t know, it’s possible you’ve forgotten. So, allow me to give you a refresher. That uniform you’re wearing,” she took a step forward, making Santana flinch just a hint. “It’s more than a flippy skirt, it’s a vow, to this team, and that includes me. Now what kind of team spirit is it to lie to your team leader?”
‘I don’t know, what kind of team spirit is it to make your team into spies?’ she thought but did not say. Her silence was interpreted as admittance of guilt by Sue, who kept looking at her.
“I know it might be confusing, spending all this time with Will Schuester and his merry band of freaks, but in here it’s not all puppy love and jazz hands.”
“What do you want me to say?” Santana stayed together.
“I want to take us back to that moment, where you told me why Quinn wasn’t in my office this morning, and this time I want the truth.”
“Quinn’s car broke down,” she held her ground. “You can ask her.” Sue watched her, trying to see if she’d flinch or react.
“Is that it then?”
“It’s the truth,” Santana shrugged. Sue held her gaze for a moment before turning back to retrieve her notes.
“Be in my office tomorrow morning, one hour before class,” she breezed past Santana, who remained standing in place, not at all surprised by Sue’s demand. She knew what she was getting herself into by holding on to the lie.
She wasn’t going to tell on Quinn though. No matter what, she was her friend, and if not throwing her under the wheels of the Sylvester Express meant she had to indulge her wrath for a while, then so be it.
The next morning, she arrived to the office five minutes early. Sue didn’t bother looking back from her notes, which she was reading again, just pointed to the large trophy by the door. On the ground by the trophy were some cleaning products.
“Those trophies are so hard to keep shiny.” Santana didn’t argue, simply picking up the things to start cleaning. When it was time for class, Sue waved her off.
A few afternoons later, a change came, as they all sat reunited in the rehearsal room. Coach Sylvester revealed she knew about Quinn and the baby. The whole room was left emotionally affected. The performance they shared afterward truly helped let it out.
After leaving the auditorium, she’d gone to her locker to get her things.
When she shut the door and turned, Coach Sylvester was standing across the hall. Her face was strong, but not so hard as she’d seen in recent days. After a moment, she started down the hall, passed Coach Sylvester.
“The trophies are good now, you sleep in tomorrow.” Santana stopped, turning back. “Good night, Santana,” Sue walked on.
“Good night, Coach Sylvester,” she smiled.
She felt good. She’d stayed with her words, and she was content. Now that Coach Sylvester knew the secret, she imagined it didn’t take long for her to put two and two together.
Coach Sylvester had gone on and on about her needing to be loyal to her team. And she had. She had been loyal to her team.
THE END
PREVIOUS DAYS
[Cycle 1][Cycle 2]
[22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] Suggestion Drop Off