songbird || santana lopez

1. empire state of mind

Cassie Cohen-Chang never was a Cheerio, but she was always associated with the well-known students at McKinley High through out freshman year. She was even best friends with the Unholy Trinity. But now, she wasn't too sure where she stood with them. Her relationship with one of the members was the reason why she had to leave McKinley in the first place. She couldn't bare the thought of seeing Santana Lopez at school.

Now, she was back. It was her first day back at McKinley after transferring to a boarding school for her sophomore year.

Cassie smiled at herself in the mirror, feeling satisfied with her look. "You've got this." She grabbed her backpack and headed out of her room. "Tina, if you're not downstairs in the next few minutes, I'm leaving without you." Cassie shouted as she passed Tina's room.

The two sisters used to be best friends, but they had grown. It was more of jealously issue than anything else. Cassie envied Tina for being completely herself. Her sister was authentic... she was truly Tina. Everything about Cassie was truly fake.

...

Before opening the doors to the school, Cassie took a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever was to come. She strutted confidently ahead as if nothing had changed since she left.

Quinn shut her locker and turned to see her. "Oh, my god. It's you- you're really back." Quinn said before walking towards her. Quinn wrapped her arms around Cassie. "l can't believe you transferred back."

Cassie shrugged. "Well I can't run from my problems forever even though I really want to."

"You never told me why you left." Quinn reminded.

Cassie shook her head, refusing to reveal any details. "Doesn't matter, I'm here now." Cassie cleared her throat. "Are you still hanging out with, uh, Santana and Brittany?"

Quinn nodded. "Obviously."

...

Santana heard about the news, but she refused to believe it until she saw it for herself. When she least expected to see her, she saw Cassie standing by her locker. Santana watched the girl from afar and felt something she hadn't felt in awhile. But she pushed the feeling away and swallowed hard. Santana walked over to Cassie and slammed the locker shut, making Cassie jump.

Cassie's eyes opened wide when she noticed Santana standing in front of her.

"If you're here to threaten me just to keep me silent, don't worry." Cassie said. "I'll keep my mouth shut."

Santana crossed her arms. "Stay away from the Cheerios, and Quinn and Brittany. Or I'll make sure you regret coming back."

Cassie felt a pit drop into her stomach. Santana was claiming the few things she cared about at this school. Cassie took a deep breath. "Fine."

Santana flashed a fake smile at her. "Well it was nice catching up." She said before walking away.

Cassie refused to let Santana torture her, and she surely wasn't going to listen to her. She smirked as she remembered Tina mentioning something about a glee club.

She spotted Tina in the hallway and walked over to her. "So the glee club..." Cassie stated.

Tina was startled by the fact that her sister was the one starting a conversation with her. "What about it?"

"Who do I have to talk to to get in?" Cassie asked.

...

The glee club waited impatiently for someone... anyone to show up. Finn was waiting for Sam while Rachel was hoping for Sunshine to miss the auditions. Finally, Cassie made her way into the room. "I know I'm sort of late, but I was wondering if I could still audition?" She asked.

"We're actually done." Santana replied quickly. "Better luck next year."

"Why are you being mean to her?" Brittany asked in a whisper. "She's our friend."

Santana scoffed. "Speak for yourself."

Mr. Schue smiled. "You're not late at all. What's your name?"

"Cassie, Cassie Cohen-Chang." She stated.

Mr. Schue turned his attention to Tina. "I didn't know you have a sister."

Tina nodded her head. Tina wasn't happy about this; she was worried this was just a way for Cassie to sabotage this, but she wasn't sure what Cassie would gain from doing that.

"I'll be singing The Life of the Party from The Wild Party." She stated.

The music began and Cassie waited for her turn to start singing. As she sang, Cassie found herself getting lost in the music. She hadn't felt the way she felt in such a long. She felt like she was healing something she forgot had been wounded.

Everyone clapped and cheered except for Santana and Rachel. "Mr. Schue, I just don't think she has what we're looking for." Rachel said, fearing the idea of having more competition. Santana nodded her head in agreement.

"Even Mike Chang sings better than her." Santana replied. "We need talent, not dead weight."

Cassie crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, who are you?" Cassie asked Rachel.

"I'm the leader of this club." Rachel answered.

"I was told by my sister that Mr. Schue was the one making the decision of who gets in." Cassie replied.

"Well, Tina's right." Mr. Schue stated as he got up from his chair and walked over to Cassie. "Cassie, welcome to the team." Everyone but Santana and Rachel cheered. Cassie smirked. "I guess that's it for auditions." Mr. Schue announced. Everyone started to file out of the choir room.

Once everyone was out of the room, Santana walked over to Cassie with her arms crossed. "You're gonna regret this."

Santana was about to walk out, but Cassie spoke. "You can't control me." Cassie stated. "You're just gonna have to deal with the fact that I'm here, and there's nothing you can do about it. And I'm sure as hell not afraid of your threats." Santana proceeded to walk out of the room.

Cassie couldn't deny the pain she felt. The person that used to mean so much to her was now the person she most despised now. It was like nothing they went through mattered. It was almost like their friendship was all in her imagination.

...

author's note:
i'm sorry for the wait. i'm also sorry for the slow pace, i always struggle when it comes to writing the first chapter. i hope you enjoyed it though!