
30 | "the spanish teacher"
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To most people at McKinley High School, the sight of a fuming Santana Lopez would've sent people running off in the opposite direction.
However, to Keilani, she had become less afraid of an angry Santana over the years of getting to know her. After holding her back multiple times from attempting to beat up Rachel Berry, Keilani had gotten used to calming down Santana, and if Brittany wasn't around, her and Mercedes were the best bets to make sure Santana didn't completely lose it.
"You alright, Santana?" Keilani asked carefully as she approached Santana at her locker. "You don't seem like you're in the best of moods."
"I think I'm perfectly fine."
"I think it looks like you're hurting a voodoo doll that looks suspiciously like Mr. Shue." Keilani noticed something on the doll that made her want to burst into giggles. "Is that a plaid sweater vest?"
"I like to make them as realistic as possible."
"Santana," Keilani said with a small laugh, making Santana finally put down the doll. "Tell me what's up."
"You're probably one of the few people here who might actually get it," Santana sighed. "But I just saw Mr. Shue do what was quite possibly one of the worst things I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot since we've seen him rap on multiple occasions."
"Worse than the 'Toxic' performance?"
"Worse than the 'Toxic' performance," Santana nodded, causing Keilani to wince as she thought about that awful performance back at the beginning of her sophomore year. "Think of the most stereotypical Spanish song you can think of."
"Don't tell me–"
"'La Cucaracha'," Santana confirmed in a horrified voice. "Complete with the oversized sombrero, poncho, and even maracas."
Cringing because of what Santana just told her, Keilani glanced over at the teacher in question – who was in the middle of yet another heated conversation with Coach Sylvester – to make sure there wasn't any chance of him overhearing. "Why do you think I took French?" Keilani said. "Keanu was only in the class for a week before he switched out because of how awful of a teacher he was. Our dad's been teaching us Spanish ever since, and my mom ended teaching us Hawaiian language too. Honestly, I think it's so much better than whatever Mr. Shue or McKinley has to offer."
"Oh, but you haven't even!" Santana leaned in and whispered, "Puck was trying to sneak into the school late at night a couple of days ago, and he says he saw Mr. Shue here taking night classes for Spanish."
Keilani quickly became infuriated as she thought about the fact that Mr. Shue appeared to barely have any knowledge of the subject he seemed to teach. "You're joking."
"I wish I was."
"Considering his teaching in the Glee club pretty questionable most of the time and he's been a performer for years and years, I can't even imagine what his Spanish class when he barely even speaks the language."
"Mr. Shue has had a few, rare good moments with the Glee Club," Santana said with am eye roll. "But he has yet to be called out on most of his crap he's pulled over the years. It's infuriating that he's treating education our education like an absolute joke."
"You could file a formal complaint," Keilani suggested. "I filed one against my old bat of an English teacher freshman year who said that dyslexic kids were just 'lazy'."
Santana thought the suggestion over for a moment before grinning. "You know what? I think I just might."
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Despite his frustration over learning that he had a formal complaint filed against him and struggling in his night school Spanish class, Mr. Shue walked into the choir room excitedly and began writing on the white board. "Alright guys! Where do you see yourself in the year 2030?"
"Broadway!" Kurt and Rachel yelled at the same time before turning to each other and singing, "Twins!"
"Walking!" Artie chimed in excitedly.
Puck shrugged and bluntly admitted, "In jail, dead, or both."
Even though he was a little disturbed by Puck's answer, Mr. Shue continued with, "Well wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you're going to need to be able to speak Spanish. The reality is, by 2030, more people on this planet will be speaking Spanish than any other language. The world is changing, and that needs to be reflected in here. So, for our next assignment, we're only doing songs written or performed by someone Latin, or of Latin descent, or English songs performed bilingually."
"I'm bilingual!" Brittany said with a bright smile, and Keilani turned around to give her a small high-five.
"Mr. Shue, while I love that we're finally getting all Lima Sound Machine in here," Santana frowned. "Why now?"
Santana exchanged a small look with Keilani across the room, and both of them were thinking the exact same thing that this likely had not been something he was planning on doing, but instead had something to do with Santana's complaint she filed against him.
Not expecting Santana's question, it took Mr. Shue a few moments to think of an answer. "Oh, Santana, because it's long overdue! The truth is, I love all things Latin. I mean, I love Latin good, Latin art, Latin people..."
"You're the Spanish teacher so I would sure hope so," Keilani muttered quietly.
"You don't even know any Latin people," Santana pointed out.
There was a small knock on the door and then in walked one of the most handsome people Keilani had ever seen in her life – well, not counting Sam. All the teenagers in the room seemed to sit up a little straighter in their seats at the sight of the man who seemed he would fit in better at a model shoot rather than in the McKinley choir room.
"Guys, this is David Martinez," Mr. Shue introduced. "David Martinez, this is the Glee club."
"Oh my God," Rachel gasped quietly. "Cutest..."
"Smile..." Sugar continued.
"Ever," Artie finished off, caught in a little bit of a daze himself before he snapped back into his normal state.
"He's so handsome," Keilani sighed dreamily, resting her chin on her hand as she stared up at David Martinez.
"He's not that handsome," Sam mumbled jealously next to her, but even he was a little distracted by the man in front of him.
As everyone in the room practically drooled over him, David Martinez seemed unaware of this and grinned and waved. "Hello everyone, it's a pleasure."
"David here is one of my many Latin friends," Mr. Shue emphasized, and the way he said it made Keilani cringe a little bit in her seat. "He's interested in starting his own night school Glee club after hours. So, uh, I invited him to come watch us get our duende on."
"Duende?" Finn asked in a confused voice.
With a frown on her face, Keilani raised her hand and said, "That means 'dwarf'."
"Now I'm completely confused," Puck admitted. "So...what's this assignment!"
"To sing in Spanish with duende!" Mr. Shue answered. "Which, yes, technically means 'dwarf', but metaphorically, it means to have Spanish soul. To be filled with Spanish passion."
"Will," David cut in. "Can I – ¿hablar con ellos?"
Mr. Shue didn't quite understand what he had said. "That's...right."
"A performance with duende transforms you," David Martinez explained. "Makes you sing, makes you cry, makes you laugh. Makes you want to kiss a person you love. A song sung in Spanish must have duende or else..."
Smirking, Santana raised her hand and asked in an innocent-sounding voice, "Would you mind showing us?
"Oh dear God, please yes," Kurt whispered.
Not expecting this at all, Mr. Shue awkwardly stepped back and said, "Uh– well...be my guest."
"Okay, well, I'm not a professional like you guys, but I'll give it a go," David mentioned as he began to take off his denim jacket. "Uno, dos, tres, quatro!"
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The New Direction's mashup of 'Bamboleo' and 'Hero' Even though Sam had taken lead on the boy's number because he had thought it was a lot of fun, he was kind of hoping that the song would make his feelings for a certain girl in the room more open.
However, it seemed as if everyone but Keilani had figured out who Sam was singing to during that performance.
"Those shoes are all kinds of awesome," Keilani complimented as Sam sat down beside her with a wide grin on his face. "Your singing was even better though."
"I know I'm not the best at Spanish," Sam admitted, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink over Keilani's compliment. "But I practiced like crazy, and I think it turned out really well."
"It totally did! You sounded amazing," Keilani exclaimed excitedly, and the two became a little distracted for a moment as they grinned at each other, not entirely sure of what to say but not wanting to leave each other just yet.
The sound of the bell ringing interrupted Sam and Keilani, and Sam waved goodbye awkwardly before running off with Finn and Puck. After helping Kurt out of his boots that were surprisingly difficult to take off, Keilani and Mercedes said a quick goodbye before trio went their separate ways as they made their way out of the classroom. "What's up with you?" Keilani questioned when she noticed Mercedes looking at her with a raised brow and a smirk on her face.
"Those looks you and Sam were giving each other were something else," Mercedes teased, nudging her in the shoulder as the pair walked down the hall. "Are you two actually going to do anything about it or are you guys just going to make us suffer for an eternity?"
"There's nothing going on!" Keilani protested. "Sure, I like him still, but I have no idea how he feels about me and I think Sam and I were about to kiss last week–"
"You were about to what–"
"And now we're all nice to each other right now and we're friends, but we haven't talked about it and I'm not even sure if he was going to kiss me so I don't think he was going to kiss and the last time I nearly told him how I felt he left me and–"
"Hold on, hold on, hold on!" Mercedes interrupted, waving her hands frantically in the air to stop Keilani from rambling for too long, as she knew Keilani would probably go on forever if she let her. "Go back to that first part!"
"The part about there being nothing going on between us?"
"First of all, that's a complete and utter lie. Second of all, No! I'm talking about the part about you two nearly kissing last week!" Mercedes exclaimed in shock. "You didn't tell me about that! Did you tell Kurt?"
"I haven't told anyone!" Keilani admitted embarrassedly, and she began to wish that she hadn't let that slip out. "I don't even know if he was going to kiss me, anyways. It's probably just me being crazy."
"So this is the second time he's sung a romantic song to you in two weeks–"
"They were just songs!" Keilani cut in, knowing exactly where Mercedes was going with that reasoning and not being wanting to get her hopes up too much. "I'm pretty sure he just wanted to do a duet with me before, and I really don't think he was singing to anyone in particular today anyways."
"Keilani..." Mercedes sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose out of exasperation. "You may be academically smart, but when it comes to romance, you may be one of the stupidest people I've ever met."
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While Santana's performance of 'La Isla Bonita' with David Martinez had Keilani dancing in her seat, Mr. Shue's song had her doing everything but. Santana and Keilani watched in horror, their mouths gaped open as they took in Mr. Shue's terrible performance.
"I stand corrected," Santana muttered. "I have found a performance worse than 'La Cucaracha'."
The song finally came to a close, and as he watched most of the students in the audience applaud his performance, Mr. Shue focused in on Santana, who was sitting in the back row of seats and shaking her head. "It was you. You're the one who complained to Principal Figgins about me."
"And I'd do it again after that performance."
"You're messing with adult things here, Santana! This is my job. This is my life."
"And this is my education!" Santana shot back. "And it's not a joke to me, although it seems to be one to you."
"What are you talking about?" Mr. Shue argued. "They all loved my performance."
"I hated it," Keilani whispered.
"Because they don't know any better! And it's your fault! You're their teacher. You went from 'La Cucaracha' to a bullfighting mariachi. Why don't you just dress up as the Taco Bell chihuahua and bark the theme song to Dora the Explorer."
"Can I add something, Santana?" Keilani asked quietly as Mr. Shue stood on the stage fuming. When Santana nodded, knowing fully well that she was going to back her up on this, Keilani turned to Mr. Shue , "Mr. Shue, why are you even teaching Spanish?"
"I'm sorry– what?"
"I'm not even taking that class, and I know for a fact that you shouldn't be teaching it. Latin and Spanish culture is so beautiful and diverse, yet you only seem to focus on these extremely offensive stereotypes. The fact that you're supposed to be our Spanish teacher makes it so much worse. Shouldn't you know more than bull fights and 'La Cucaracha'? Shouldn't you be teaching students about all the different cultures rather than reinforcing those awful stereotypes? If Santana and I, the only two Latina girls in the room, are telling you that your performance was offensive to us, then maybe you should actually listen as to why instead of getting all defensive and acting like you're the victim here."
Mr. Shue stood up on the stage in shock, trying to process everything that the two girls had just said to him.
"Why did you become a Spanish teacher, Mr. Shue?" Santana repeated as she stood up and walked towards the stage.
Mr. Shue sighed and admitted, "Because it was the only teaching position open at the time."
"I'm going to remind you of something an occasionally great teacher once taught me," Santana said. "Without passion, you can't ever succeed."
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