My Escape (Quinntana)

Chapter 02

Quinn was at her locker at the beginning of Cheerios practice, having gotten there early. Right as the bell rang, she saw Santana hurry in. Weird, she was usually early too. Sue blew her whistle, sending a shockwave of sound through the room. The cheerleaders were used to it, but Quinn saw Santana flinch. The Latina's strange behavior didn't stop there, however. She watched as Santana walked up nervously to Sue.

"Coach Sylvester? Can I... can I change in private?" The Coach looked at her incredulously.

"What do you mean 'you to change in private'? What are you, a child?" Sue was speaking at her normal tone, which was yelling. Santana was slowly backing away, into the lockers. "You change out here all the time! So no, sandbags, you cannot change in private." Sue then gave the girl a light shove. She did this often to everybody, and they were all used to it. Santana, however, looked terrified as this happened. Her back slowly slid down the locker, and she sat down on the ground in what looked like a daze. Coach ignored this and went back to yelling, and everyone lost interest and started changing. Quinn hurried over to her friend.

"Santana!" she said, snapping her fingers in front of the girl's face. "What's the matter with you?" Realizing that came out much harsher then she intended, she put her arms gently on her shoulders. "Hey, are you good? You've been acting weird." Santana's head shot up, and there was a pained look in her eyes.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," the Latina replied. That was clearly a lie, but Quinn decided not to press her too much at the moment. She helped her up off the floor, and she realized that her friend was trembling.

"There's a place in the corner of the locker room that's pretty private. I can cover you if you want?" Santana nodded graciously and followed the blonde to the area. Quinn kept her word and stood in front of her friend to mostly block her from the view of others. After standing there for a while, she turned around to see if Santana was finished changing, and what she saw made her jaw drop.

The Latina's beautiful skin was covered in bruises, and some of them looked fresh. There were long red marks on her back, and what looked like small cuts and scars. Santana realized that Quinn was looking at her, and her eyes grew wide. She opened her mouth to try and explain, but Quinn cut her off.

"San... don't bother lying." She gently took her friend's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Who is it?" Santana looked down, and she looked defeated.

"I-I can't tell you," mumbled. "At least not yet... I can't... " Quinn's heart broke a little at the sight of her friend who was so clearly terrified of whoever was hurting her. She also noticed that Santana had lost weight- and she didn't have much weight to lose. Santana finished changing, and Quinn was more determined than ever to figure out who was hurting her.

After Cheerios practice, Quinn went up to Brittany. "Hey, Britt!" she called out to get the girl's attention. "Have you noticed San acting weird lately?" Brittany paused to think.

"Um, now that I think about it... yeah! She's been much more quiet than usual, and she's barely snapped or made fun of anyone." Brittany's expression shifted from curiosity to concern. "Why, what's wrong with Sanny?" Quinn thought about whether to tell Brittany about Santana's injuries or not, and decided against it for now.

"Nothing, just curious." Brit shrugged and waved goodbye. Quinn smiled. Brittany and Santana had broken up a while ago, but they both cared about each other. Quinn left the locker room and started walking to her next class, her mind occupied by Santana.