I do not own Glee.

Mr Shue was running about ten minutes late for Glee rehearsals and things were getting very intense in the choir room. They had been working for weeks, fine tuning their final number for the Invitationals. Santana wasn't sure if it was exhaustion or nervous tension but everything seemed to be going wrong. People were forgetting steps or singing the wrong harmonies, it was becoming a nightmare. Everyone was noticing that Rachel was finding it harder and harder to keep her temper and Mr Shue's lateness could possibly be the final straw. To alleviate the tension Matt had offered to show them a magic trick he'd been working on. When Mr Shue finally arrived Matt was demonstrating a complicated disappearing card trick. Brittney was watching in utter amazement. As Mr Shue stopped to watch, Santana noticed the gleam in his eye and the clogs begin to turn in his head - here comes another lame assignment.

At the end of rehearsals Mr Shue had them all sit down.

"Now I know Invitaionals are very close," he said, "But I am worried about you guys. We've been making stupid mistakes and I am afraid you'll burn yourself out before the show. So this week you are going to be working on something completely different. I was very impressed with Matt's magic tricks, and it got me wondering what other kind of hidden skills you guys have. I mean we all know you can sing and dance, but what else can you do? This week there will be no singing – instead I want to all to demonstrate a skill that is special to you!"

Rachel put up a quizzical hand,

"No singing?"

"No singing," said Mr Shue, "And no dancing."

Kurt was the next to put up his hand.

"Can we bring props?"

"Bring whatever you need."

Santana was trying to comfort a shell-shocked Brittany after an eventful football game against St. Josephs. Miss Sylvester lost her temper with the whole Cheerios squad after Catlin botched a spin during a routine. She stopped the game and in the hot sun, in front of everybody, ranted at them for an hour on subjects ranging from the Middle East oil crisis,and the difficulties of finding a properly licenced chiropractor to how stupid, ignorant, brainless, thick, oh and really, really, stupid cheerleaders were. Then she axed three members of the squad for fainting. Now, cooling off under the bleachers, Santana tried to calm her temper and think of something to take Brittany's mind off the traumatic experience.

"So what are you doing for your Glee assignment?" Santana asked as she handed Brittany a drink of water. Her friend's face lit up in an instant.

"I thought I'd do my upside down stuff."

"Oh you're good at that."

"I know." said Brittany, proudly puffing up her chest. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not really sure. I did think about playing the piano, but then I heard that's what Quinn's doing."

"You could do it too."

"I don't want to be a copycat." she explained to Brittany, "Do you have any ideas for my special skill?"

"You're good at lots of stuff." said Brittany thinking, "… but no singing, no dancing, no piano … and of course no upside-down." Brittany thought for a moment longer. "How about making out? You're very good at that!"

"I'm not sure that's really appropriate for Glee."

Brittney wrinkled her brow as she tried to think of something else. Santana laughed,

"Don't worry; I think I know what to do."

So the big day came for everyone to do their little skit. Santana was amused to see that everyone was in costume, or clutching some prop or other; everyone but her. She was also confident that her skill, although a risky thing to reveal, would surprise all of them.

Matt came first with his magic tricks. The trick was much more elaborate this time with Rachel's selected card appearing in Finn's pocket and then, much to the blonde's amazement, Brittany's card ending up in Santana's shoe. Santana was determined Brittney would never know that Mike had approached her and Finn before Glee to give him a hand with the trick.

Artie came forward next.

"My skill is the Rubik's Cube."

He handed to the toy to Mr Shue.

"Could you mess it up for me?"

Mr Shue obliged. Artie then proceeded, in under a minute, to complete the puzzle.

Puck came up next and rather disgustingly began to burp the alphabet. Mr Shue stopped him when he got to 'K'.

Tina came forward next with a sketch pad in her hand.

"My skill is caricatures." she explained, "Can I have a volunteer?"

Brittany's hand shot up. So Brittany sat in front of the group while Tina sketched her. After about five minutes Tina showed the group a cartoon of a cheerleading Brittany complete with pom-poms. Brittany was delighted with it and clutched the finished picture to her chest.

"While you're here, why don't you go next?" Mr Shue suggested. So Brittany handed the sketch to Santana for safe keeping before returning to the front. Brittany preformed a handstand. She then began to walk around the room on her hands, avoiding obstacles and eventually climbing up and down the steps of the choir stand.

"I can do this all day." she explained. Brittany then balanced one handed for a while before going back to two hands and gracefully returning to her feet. Everyone applauded.

Kurt came forward next. He was dressed in a boiler suit and after putting on latex gloves proceeded to strip and clean a carburettor. It was not a quick demonstration; the girls tried hard to show an interest while all the boys were leaning in for a closer look. Puck was actually taking notes. Santana thought that if Kurt showed more of this side of himself he'd have a much better chance with the boys.

Mercedes came next with her manicure set. This time Rachel came forward to volunteer and this time it was the boys turn to be bored, well, all except Kurt. Mercedes applied a false nail to Rachel's little finger, painted it a shocking red and then decorated it with tiny jewel stars. When Mercedes was done Rachel proudly showed her pinkie to the rest of the group.

"Rachel I guess you're up next."

Rachel was rather bizarrely dressed, even for her, in camouflage gear. Santana couldn't even guess what her trick was going to be.

"My dads are keen on nature rambles," Rachel explained. "They taught me how to do bird calls."

She then began to in perform a series of whistles and clicks and explaining in turn which bird was which. Santana didn't have clue if she was accurate or not, to be honest she couldn't really tell the difference, but she clapped at the end just grateful it was over.

Mike came forward next. He showed off his origami skill, first making a flapping bird, which he gave to a delighted Brittany, then a butterfly for Tina, a frog for Mercedes, a penguin for Rachel, a swan for Quinn, a fox for Santana and finally a pig which he gave to Puck.

Finn came up next.

"I've learnt to juggle. My mum thought it would be good for me to have something to do with my hands" he explained.

He juggled three bean bags, and even tried out a few tricks. He dropped then once or twice but Santana had to admit that it was a pretty clever skill. Everyone clapped when he was done.

"I guess it must be me next." said Quinn

She sat at the piano and played 'Clare de Lune' with obvious skill. Mr Shue looked very impressed. Santana smiled, it looked like Brad the piano man's days could be numbered.

Mr Shue then came forward,

"So I think that just leaves Santana," he said. "You have a lot of tough acts to follow."

Santana walked confidently to the centre of the room. It wasn't as if her skill was exactly a secret. She had just spent so long nurturing her bad attitude that nowadays that was all anybody saw.

"I am here to prove that cheerleaders are not dumb." she said, "I need a sum."

"Two plus four!" Finn shouted out, she didn't even bother to give him with an answer.

"Twelve times eight." Rachel suggested.

"Ninety-six." said Santana quickly, "Another sum!"

Puck called out,

"How about, five hundred and twenty divided by thirty-two."

Santana glared at him briefly but she wasn't going to let him beat her. While she worked through the sum in her head Santana jutted her hip and bit her lip in what she hoped was a seductive manner. There was no point revealing her smarts if it meant she lost her reputation for being 'the sexy one'. After a moment Santana answered,

"Sixteen with eight the remainder."

Artie took a moment to get the calculator up on his phone; then he nodded.

"Sixteen, point two, five." he said in amazement, "She's good."

Puck's jaw dropped and a sudden wide eyed awe encompassed the group.

"And that," said Santana, giving a cheeky curtsey, "Is just one of my many skills."

Apart from Brittany's applause, there was a stunned silence as she returned to her seat. Puck finally uttered,

"Smart chicks are so hot!"

"Totally." agreed Artie, and then Tina elbowed him in the chest.

After Santana took her seat Brittany leaned over and whispered in her ear,

"It was six."

"What?" asked Santana bemused.

"Finn's sum, the one you couldn't do. Two plus four is six."

Santana was suddenly filled with a warm fuzzy feeling and couldn't help smiling. She affectionately grasped Brittany's hand.

"I'll try to remember that."