My Escape (Quinntana)

Chapter 03

(TW: Abuse, Sexual Assault. It doesn't going into any detail, but there are hints at it.)

After school, Quinn walked up to Santana, who was standing at her locker. "Hey! Do you wanna hang out after school?" Santana looked like she wanted to accept, but suddenly something seemed to occur to her. Her face fell, and she looked at her feet. "I want to, but my dad wants me home." Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"Couldn't you just text him and ask him?" Santana shifted uncomfortably.

"Um... I got to go." she hurried past Quinn. Quinn was slightly confused by the interaction. Why had Santana tensed up when she mentioned her dad? Why was she so uncomfortable?

Wait.

Did she just figure out who was hitting Santana?

No. That was a huge thing to assume based entirely off of one short conversation. But it kept bugging her. As she walked to her car, she couldn't keep the feeling that she had just discovered something important.

Meanwhile, Santana was not having a good time.

She had gotten home on time, but her dad still punched her in the stomach just because. She then had to get him a beer, but she was so exhausted from malnutrition, beatings, and school that she had spilled it all over the floor. This made her father furious, and now he was taking it out on her.

"You useless little slut!" He yelled as he kicked her as she lay sprawled on the floor. "I ask you to do one thing, and you fuck it up!" He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a bag of flour and began to carry her up to his room. Santana started to comprehend what was happening, and she tried feebly to escape with the little strength she had left. She felt herself being thrown on the bed, and the last thing she saw was her father looming over her before she blacked out.

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The next day at school, Santana wasn't there. Quinn was worried all day, and couldn't focus. Hell, she even messed up during Cheerios practice, which caused Sue to have a fit. As she walked the halls, she heard a group of girls whispering. Hearing Santana's name, Quinn paused to eavesdrop.

"Santana?" One of them said. "Yeah, I heard she got herself knocked up again." Laughter. "She's been acting like a weirdo lately- roaming the halls like a creep." More chuckles. "If she keeps acting like that, Sue's gonna boot her off the Cheerios." They walked away, still gossiping. Quinn was fuming. They had no idea what was going on with San! Well, neither did she, but she did know that whatever was happening wasn't good.

Santana lay at home in her bed. Her thighs were screaming in pain, and she could barely move. She couldn't believe her dad had actually done that. She had spent the whole morning crying softly, longing for someone to hold her and tell her that it was ok. Longing for someone who loved her. But no one did.

No one could ever love her.

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(Timeskip to about 1 week forward)

Santana had been back at school for a short time, but life was now hell at school as well as home. Rumors had spread, which hurt her reputation. She had started wearing mostly hoodies and leggings instead of her usual short skirts and tops. She had barely talked to anyone- not even the Glee Club, who she was the closest to. The only people she sometimes interacted with were Quinn and Brittany, and even those conversations were short.

Because of all this, the bullies who had mostly avoided her before now went all out. Quinn had barely noticed this, save for a few slushies in the face, which happened to everyone in Glee. Today, though, she did notice.

Santana was walking in the halls with her head down, as usual. Just then, a few hockey players walked by and noticed her. One of them, a tall guy named Lance, grabbed her by the hair. As Quinn watched in shock, Santana froze and her eyes filled with terror. "Please, just leave me alone..." she pleaded. The hockey guys laughed crudely.

Lance pulled her towards them, still by her hair, and got her in what resembled a chokehold. He sneered. "I usually wouldn't hit a girl, but you're not a girl, are you?" He leaned in closer. "You're a dyke." Santana grew pale, clearly shocked on how he knew. Quinn was shocked, too- how did they figure out? Lance shoved her towards another hockey player, one called Henric. They did that a few times, shoving her back and forth between them. Finally, Henric shoved her towards the biggest player- Zain. Zain picked her up easily and threw her into a locker. Santana cried out in pain, and that just motivated him to continue.

He slammed her into the locker again and again, until Quinn snapped out of her daze and stepped in. "Hey, stop!" Zain snorted.

"Stay out of it, blondie. I don't want to hurt you, too." Luckily, Mr. Schue saw what was happening and pulled the large teen off of Santana.

"What the hell, Zain?" Mr. Schue yelled, furious. "Go to Figgin's office- now!" He turned to Henric and Lance. "You too. Go!" They left, giving Santana one last look as they walked away. Mr. Schue turned to Santana, starting to ask her if she was ok, but Figgin's called him in, so he had to leave. This left Quinn to run up to her friend. Everyone else walked by, not seeming to care.

Tears were streaming down Santana's face, and she was clearly shaken up. As she cautiously reached to lay a hand on her arm, she could feel that the Latina was shaking more than ever before. As soon as she made contact, Santana jumped, scared. Quinn put a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Shh... it's ok. It's just me- Quinn." She was still shaking, but she let Quinn touch her. "Let's get you to the bathroom." She helped her friend up, ignoring the snickers from other students. Slowly, they made their way to the bathroom sink.

Quinn helped Santana wash her face. Once that was done, she turned to her. "Ok, San- I have a serious question." Santana looked up, knowing what the blonde was going to ask her. "Is someone abusing you? Someone outside of school?" The girl nodded slowly.

I knew it, Quinn thought. Santana mumbled something that she couldn't hear. "What was that?" she asked, making sure to keep her voice gentle.

"It's my dad..." Santana repeated.

"Oh my god." Even though Quinn had a feeling this was the case, it was still a shock to hear. "Do you... do you want to talk about it?" Santana shook her head.

"Maybe sometime... but I've already said too much." she began to hyperventilate. "He's going to kill me." Something about the tone of her voice made Quinn believe that she wasn't exaggerating. Quinn embraced Santana, and the other girl buried her head in her shoulder. "He's going to hurt you Quinn..."

Quinn held Santana, running her fingers down her friend's back. "No, he won't. He's going to get thrown in prison, and you'll be safe." Santana pulled away.

"He won't!" Quinn tried to interrupt, but Santana continued. "Don't you understand? It's his word against mine. He's a respected doctor, and I'm the girl with anger issues who sleeps around. If I try and get him locked up, not only will he NOT get thrown in jail, he'll be so furious that he'll hurt me more than ever!" She got up and got ready to leave, but Quinn pulled her back for a moment.

"San. We're going to talk about this more another time, but I have to give you something first." Quinn tossed a spare set of keys for her apartment to Santana. "Here- keys to my apartment. If things ever get super bad and I'm not home, you can come in." Santana stared at the keys, and put them in her purse. She resumed walking out, but turned back for a moment.

"Oh, and Quinn? Thank you."