First Competition
JAMfest - November 7th
Walking into the arena, Santana Lopez has a plan. Well actually she has two plans, but one of them is more pressing than the other. First, she and her team are going to win this competition. Second, and most importantly, she is not going to run into her in the hallways, or when warming up, or after competing, or ever. Even just thinking about it makes her angry. She glances down at her phone, buzzing in her hand with texts in her cheer group chat with information about where to meet and what time they are warming up. Pausing in the entranceway, Santana shucks off her slides and pulls on her old, worn cheer shoes. As she stands up, another text comes through, this time from Quinn Fabray, her best friend, and fellow teammate.
Q: Where the hell are you San? Coach's pissed... We go to warm-ups in fifteen!
She curses slightly under her breath. It's not her fault she was late! Traffic was horrible coming into the city and once she arrived she struggled to find an available parking lot. To top it all off, she still needs to change into her uniform. Gathering her bags and making her way towards the restroom, she texts Quinn back.
S: Chillout Quinn. I'll be there in 5, just distract coach for me!
Q: You owe me big time... but okay fine just hurry up!
Shoving her phone in her pocket, she glances up at the signs around her. This is a new venue, one she's never been to before, and she doesn't know where the bathrooms are. Finally, after giving up on finding it on her own, she asks one of the concession workers who helpfully points her in the right direction. As she speed walks to the girls' room, she reaches behind her, grasping at the zipper on her bag before yanking out her uniform. Pulling the door open she's so distracted that she doesn't notice the girl standing at the sink, reapplying her lipstick. Hands full and mind occupied, Santana slips on a puddle of water on the floor, nearly sending herself straight to the ground. She steadies herself with the wall, taking a deep breath to calm herself down.
It's at this point that she hears a slight giggle, a laugh that's unfortunately far too familiar. Grimacing, she looks up at the tall blonde whose the only other occupant of the bathroom. Great, just great. Pulling a phony smile to her face- one that she's sure she can see right through- she greets the girl.
"Well hello, Brittany." She manages to force out from behind gritted teeth.
She raises one perfectly arched eyebrow, those blue eyes staring at her. "Santana. How nice to see you." Her saccharine-sweet expression is offset by the fact that she knows that she doesn't mean a single word of it. "Aren't you competing soon? Wouldn't want you to be late."
Walking towards a stall, Santana bites out a response. "And how would you know that? Been stalking me again, huh Britt?"
Brittany's lips pull up in a small smile, which looks more like a grimace to her. "I just like to keep tabs on my biggest rivals, not that you're much competition anyways." She says with a razor-sharp edge to the words.
Santana merely scoffs. "Whatever, should I remind you whose team fell at NCA last year and whose hit zero?"
Brittany doesn't reply, instead turns away from her and returns to applying her makeup. Santana can't stand the girl. They've known each other practically their whole lives, but even from a young age the two were always pitted against one another. They went to the same gymnastics gym preschool through 1st grade where they were two of the strongest young tumblers. After first grade both girls moved into cheerleading, getting bored with gymnastics. Santana went to the gym closest to her house, Mckinley Allstars, while Brittany traveled a little further away to train at Dalton Elite Allstars. Throughout the years they'd frequently run into each other at competitions. If both teams were there, everyone knew it would be one or the other to win their division.
Last year Brittany had been on a level 6 team, but they failed to get a bid to Worlds- the most elite of competitions for solely the best of the best. Santana on the other hand had stayed on a level 5, deciding to work on her flying a little more before moving up. This year, however, both were on worlds teams and both were slated as some of the top contenders to get bids. JAMfest is their first competition of the season, and while it doesn't offer any chances to get bids of any sort, it is good practice. Santana realizes she's been staring at Brittany far too long and she needs to go meet up with her team or else Quinn will literally kill her.
As Santana heads towards a stall, a coach from Dalton comes in to get Brittany. "Brittany, we've been looking all over for you! You need to come back so we can stretch."
Brittany lets a clueless look drop on her face and she puts on her sweetest voice as she says, "I'm sorry I just got lost. I get so confused in the bathrooms, there are two exits and I never know which one to go out of. Also, I thought I saw a duck fall down the sink and I needed to save it!" Her eyes are wide with innocence as the coach merely stares at her.
Santana grits her teeth, feeling the anger pound through her veins. This is just one of the many reasons she can't stand the girl. Around Santana she's a total bitch, manipulative and cold, but the second anyone else talks to her she acts sweet and pretends to be stupid. Whenever she complains to any of her teammates, such as Quinn or Kurt, they tell her that she's overreacting and 'Brittany's a perfectly sweet girl.' Their coach, Shelby, takes Brittany by the shoulders and gently leads her out of the bathroom. As she heads out the door, she glances back at her, lips pulling upward as Santana can practically see the calculating light in her eyes glimmer. Shaking her head, she finally enters a stall to change out of her sweats and into her two-piece uniform- a dazzling red and white sparkling crop top, with a short red skirt, also bedazzled. Typically she hates this type of stuff- anything sparkly or frilly or just generally girly but her uniform she loves. Red is obviously her color, with the way it contrasts against her tan skin, and the sparkles feel just the right amount of bright.
The whole exchange in the bathroom has taken no more than 5 minutes, but she knows she's going to be rattled for the rest of the day. Gulping, she pushes down the images of Brittany in her tight navy blue top and short skirt that clung to her in all the right places. This isn't the first time she's found herself... attracted to Brittany, but it's not because she's gay and it's certainly not because she likes her. The thought is so ridiculous that she scoffs out loud. Love and hate can sometimes be so close that it's hard to tell them apart. But no, she's sure she only hates Brittany, and besides, she has a boyfriend!
His name is Sam Evans and he's also on her team. He's a strong tumbler and an even stronger base, so he's critical for coed partner stunts. Santana is typically his flyer, which is how they got close despite having been on the same team for several years. She's small and easily one of the best flyers on the team. Sam had finally had a growth spurt and was big enough to lift the girls, so the coaches had paired them together so he could learn. That was a couple of years ago and they hadn't been split up since. They had started dating a year and a half ago and Santana was 100% sure she loved him. She typically tried to ignore the fact that she felt nothing when she kissed him, and instead reasoned with herself that kissing wasn't supposed to feel good, no matter how many times other girls said it did for them.
When changing, she had set her phone in her bag. Now that she was finally all ready to go, she slung her bag over her shoulder and scrolled through the barrage of texts that Quinn had left her.
Q: Santana hurry up I can't keep coach distracted for much longer
Q: Seriously just tell me if you are getting any of these
Q: You better be in your uniform and literally sprinting down the hallway by now
Q: Coach is mad that you're not here yet, but I told him you were in the bathroom
Q: Santana! You better have fallen into the toilet I swear to God
Q: I have to put my phone away now, but you better believe I'm gonna kick your ass if you don't get here in the next two minutes
Santana chuckles slightly at Quinn's text. She was all bark, no bite. Besides, coach loved her! Okay well, maybe not, but at the very least he needed her. She was an important aspect of the routine and featured in almost every stunt. Running up the stairs in the venue, which is a large arena with stadium seating, she sees her teammates lined up, ready to go to warm-ups. As she bounds over, Coach Will calls out without looking up from his clipboard, "Nice to see you finally made it Lopez."
"Aww, thanks coach. I'm so glad to see that you appreciate my presence!" She drawls out, batting her eyelashes at him.
He looks up and merely rolls his eyes, "Alright Santana. Just get in line please, we have to head down to the warm-up area in a minute."
She tosses her bag on a seat next to all the others. This area is sectioned off for each different team, that way they can leave their stuff behind when they go to compete. Santana quickly falls into line next to Quinn, who crosses her arms and looks away from her.
'Seriously Quinn, you can't actually be mad at me! I hurried as fast as I could, but you know how it is. I couldn't find parking and then I couldn't find the bathroom and then I ran into Brittany of all people in the bathroom-"
Quinn cuts her off, finally turning to face her. "I am serious Santana. This is the first competition of the season and you're already setting a bad example. And Brittany? Really I don't know what your issue is with her, everyone else gets along with her."
Santana scoffs, "That girl is the devil incarnate! She's got everyone else wrapped around her little finger, but not me, no me gusta!"
Quinn rolls her eyes and turns to talk to another girl on the team, knowing that once Santana gets started on ranting about Brittany she'll never stop. Santana mumbles about how unfair it all is to Quinn's back- knowing she's not listening, but also not caring- until coach calls out that it's time for them to head to warm-ups. In this particular venue, they are warming up behind the stage as other teams are competing. This is Santana's least favorite warm-up spot because it's hard to even hear yourself think over the blasting of another team's music. Every warm-up spot- there are three of them- is timed by an official working at the competition. As they wait for their turn on the first mat- a long, skinny rod floor to warm up tumbling and jumps- coach has them stretch what they didn't before, so in Santana's case everything. The lady in charge of warm ups calls out to them that it's time to tumble. As the other team filters off the rod floor, Santana and the rest of her 20 teammates separate themselves into two lines on either side of the floor.
"5 minutes!" The lady in charge yells as the timer on the small screen next to them starts. There's a limited amount of time, so everyone knows what they are warming up and in what order. Santana, whose at the front of the line, starts with a round-off handspring layout to warm up. The girls and guys next to her do the same, some starting with back tucks instead of layouts, however. After the line has rotated fully through, Santana finds herself back at the beginning. This time she does a round-off back handspring double full, one of her running tumbling passes. She steps off of the rod floor, having just landing clean when her coach says to her "Santana, you're rotating too early. Wait a little longer."
She nods slightly, tightening her ponytail before heading back to the line. For her third pass, she does her specialty tumbling. It will give her a chance to work on her twisting as Coach Will told her to, and it's also something that she needs to work on. Stepping up onto the slightly elevated floor, she takes a deep breath and focuses on what she needs to do. Starting from a power hurdle, she does a front walkover into aerial before turning directly into a round-off back handspring, followed by a whip which she connects to her double full. As she flips she waits for a few counts longer before twisting. She lands strongly, only stepping back a little bit. Coach just gives her an approving nod before glancing back at the rest of her team warming up.
After everyone has finished their third tumbling pass, they move into standing tumbling. Everyone spreads out on the rod floor as Coach starts yelling out 8-counts, trying to be heard over the music. For standing tumbling they have to warm up two things. They start with jump tumbling, which is a toe touch full before moving places, and doing their standing tumbling, which is two back handsprings into a double. She hears a grunt behind her as she lands, glancing back she sees that Kurt landed on his knees out of the double. "Seriously Hummel," she starts, stepping towards him. "can you get it together? If you fall on this again you're going to be the reason we lose and I will not lose this season-" Coach cuts her off with a sharp, "Santana!" and gestures wildly over all the commotion, as their time dwindles, for Kurt to try again. Santana mumbles an apology to Kurt- sans eye rolls as she knows Coach is watching her- and moves off of the floor. Everyone else follows her as he prepares to throw it again. Santana holds her breath, this tumbling section has always been particularly difficult for Kurt and she doesn't want him to fall during the routine and ruin their chances at winning. She doesn't mean to make him feel bad but their time is the best of the best at their gym and everyone expects them to win.
Speaking of expecting to win, she glances around the divider between the stage and the warm-up area looking for her parents. Her mom was a competitive cheerleader when she was young and would have gone all the way to Worlds with her team if she hadn't torn the ligaments in her knee while tumbling. Sometimes it feels like her mom lives vicariously through her and both of her parents expect her to win, expect her to be the very best. She just doesn't want to let them down. Kurt luckily lands his second attempt at the tumbling pass, which helps to soothe Santana's nerves a little bit. Just after Kurt lands, the lady in charge informs them that it's time to rotate. They walk to the few feet it takes to get to the strip of dead mat on the floor.
The dead mat is for warming up stunting, which is why it isn't springy at all. They separate first into their groups for basket tosses. Santana flies with girls named Ashley and Erin basing and a boy named Liam backing her. As Coach counts she steps up onto their hands, launching in the air, and performs a flawless kick double down. Coach deems the baskets acceptable and allows them to move onto first stunts. Santana isn't in first stunts, rather she does an impressive partner stunt with Sam. Quinn also is in the partner stunts, but her base is a quiet boy named Randy. After first stunts they warm up second stunts, better know as their elite stunts. These are the complicated stunts, with lots of switches and twists and movement. Santana is actually in these, and despite her slightly wobbly scorpion, the stunts go off without a hitch. Lastly, they have to warm up pyramid. Pyramid is Santana's least favorite part of the routine. She hates the idea that if one person falls, everyone will probably topple down as well. Coach makes them run through pyramid twice before deciding it's good enough to move on. They end stunting with 30 seconds left on the timer to spare, so Santana wanders over to Sam.
"Hey babe." she says with a genuine smile.
He grabs her waist and pulls her in, planting a soft kiss on her lips. "Hi there," is his reply, linking their hands together. "You're tumbling looked great today."
"Thanks"
Quinn taps on her shoulders and gestures for the pair to follow the group, as they move over to the other dead floor. This floor is also spring-free but is the size of a full-size floor so they can mark through their routine. Marking is where they perform the routine without any stunts or tumbling, so it's just motions and dance. Coach crosses the floor to the speaker, where he plugs in his iPod to play their music as the team takes their starting positions. Santana starts with her back to Quinn and her arms crossed against her chest. The music starts and instantly counts start running through her head. 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on as she moves her body all around the floor. She walks through the tumbling sections, pretending as if she was actually doing it. Santana has lots of intricate motions and counts to remember, so she tries her hardest to make sure she hits everything at exactly the right moment. As they work through the routine and finish marking the pyramid, they move into one of her favorite parts. Dance. Or what used to be one of her favorite parts. Now every time she thinks of dance she's reminded of Brittany, who she has to admit, even though she hates her, is an exceptional dancer. Thinking about Brittany throws her off count a little bit and she struggles to find her place again, until the very end where she seat rolls into her finishing position.
"Lopez!" Coach Will calls. "You're a few counts behind in that dance section!"
She nods, breathing slightly heavily from all she's been doing. They don't have time to run through the whole routine again, so they step off the mat early to go grab some water from the coolers they leave out. Santana gulps down a few swigs of ice-cold water as she hears footsteps behind her.
"Are you okay San? What happened to your dance?" Quinn asks quizzically, her face questioning.
"Nothing." Santana says, suddenly defensive.
She honestly can't deal with Quinn right now and she certainly can't deal with her questioning, especially since she doesn't know the answer herself. As the next team is announced to go and compete- Carmel Allstars- the DJ announces that Mckinley Allstars are on deck. On deck means that they are next up. The group huddles up as Coach starts to give them a pep talk- which falls mainly on deaf ears, they're all so hopped up on adrenaline. Santana always gets super nervous before competing. She feels like she has to pee or throw up or both. But it's worth it for the feeling she gets the moment she ends the routine. There's nothing like it in the entire world, a sensation so strong that it makes all of the struggle and hardship worth it. She can hear rhythmic clapping from the audience, which must mean that Carmel Allstars is on their dance section, so they probably about 45 seconds before they hit the mat.
As the stadium erupts in applause, this time to applaud the routine ending, she feels the skin prickle on the back of her neck. Turning around she sees her standing in the warm-up area. Her arms are crossed over her toned abdomen and her face is alive with a slight smirk. As they catch each other's gaze, dark brown meeting deep blue, Brittany winks at her. For some reason, it sets Santana more on edge than if Brittany had threatened to punch her. Her cheeks heat for some reason she can't explain and she feels rattled. Taking a few deep breaths to calm her frayed nerves, Quinn grabs her hand.
Booming from overhead is the announcer's voice. "Andddd next up taking the mat, in the small senior coed level 6 division, is the Mckinley Allstars Newww Directionsss!"
Hand clasped firmly in Quinn's, the two skip out onto the floor together, waving their free hands with giant smiles plastered on their faces. They stand clean as they wait for Santana to call the counts.
"5, 6, 7, 8, New Directions!" she hollers, as the group hits their starting positions.