"Um, why's Ms. Pillsbury here?" Finn asked from behind the two Latinas.
"Because she's helping us out with this week's assignment," Mr. Schue said, stepping away from the whiteboard which he had written the word 'acceptance' on. "Now, this is the only club at school that's represented by just about every race, religion, sexual orientation and clique."
"I'm not so sure abo-" Julia started but was interrupted by the teacher, causing her to roll her eyes.
"But many of you are still having a hard time with acceptance," he said.
"That's crazy, Mr. Schue. We love each other," Mercedes said.
"Well..." Julia murmured into Santana's ear, getting a giggle from the girl.
"No, I won't deny that you accept each other, but, you don't accept yourselves," Mr. Schue said as Julia looked down at her hands that rested in her lap. "This week's assignment has two parts; I want all of you to sing songs about accepting yourselves for who you are, the best and the worst parts."
"What's the second part?" Rachel asked.
"Well, we're going to do a group number by the queen of self-love: Gaga," Mr. Schue replied causing the glee club to erupt into cheers. "We're gonna perform her anthem to acceptance: Born This Way."
"Wait, wait, I still don't know why Ms. Pillsbury's here," Finn disrupted the cheers.
"I'm here to help you with your costumes for the big number. Each of you will be issued a beautifully fitted white t-shirt. We will then use this letterpress," Emma took the cover off of the contraption next to her. "To write a word or a phrase that best describes the thing about you that you're the most ashamed of or you'd like to change but you can't since you were born that way, which is super terrific."
Julia and Santana shared a look, both thinking of the same thing.
"I-I want you to love those parts of you, embrace them, wear them on your chest with pride," Mr. Schue said as Julia and Santana both held eye contact.
By the look in each other's eyes, they immediately knew they were thinking of the same thing that both girls refused to admit to anyone other than each other.
"Can you give an example?" Mike raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah," Mr. Schue said, looking over to Ms. Pillsbury. "It's the big moment," he told her, but Julia and Santana could care less, too busy in their own heads.
Emma got up from her stool, taking a deep breath as she stood in front of the class. She then ripped her jacket open, revealing a white t-shirt with six huge letters on it.
"Wow, Emma, I thought the whole purpose of you doing this was to-" Mr. Schue started.
"Being a ginger has plagued me my entire life," Emma said as Julia scoffed.
There were people in that room going through much bigger struggles than being ginger.
"People say that I smell like copper, that I can get a sunburn indoors at night, and according to recent legend, I have no soul. But I'm here to say that this very curse is what makes me unique. Children, I claim my gingerhood before you today," Emma proudly exclaimed as Julia sighed, abruptly flopping down to rest her head on Santana's shoulder, the girl putting an arm around Julia as she furrowed her eyebrows at the counselor before them. "I was born this way...hooray. Hooray! Hooray!"
"Lord, take me now."
xxx
The next day, was glee club was over and Quinn and Rachel had sung their "Pretty/Unpretty" mashup, both Quinn and Julia walked down the hall, their arms linked.
YOU ARE READING
Freckles ➳ Santana Lopez (re-writing)
Fanfiction"I want to be with you. And not just as friends." *** Julia Mendoza appeared to have the world at her feet. She was your cliche, mean, popular cheerleader with a whole lot of sass, completing the Fearsome Foursome which ruled McKinley High and con...
