Author's note: Introduction time! So, this is my first time writing fiction in a few years, so I'm feeling a little rusty, but I guess I just got so inspired watching the no1 couple on any show right now! (even though we're left in the cold...) I couldn't really help myself.

I've been thinking about this idea for a while now, and would really love to get some feedback!

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it :)

CHAPTER TWO

Adapting

Brittany walked through the egg white corridors of her new school. Trying her best to dodge the oncoming students, she took in the surroundings of hormonal teenagers, grayish lockers and tired looking teachers; each one nursing a cup of coffee in slight resemblance of a toddler. The sight of such broken down grown ups made Brittany even more nervous. She definitely wasn't used to that. Grown ups were supposed to be the ones in charge and not the ones with their heads down looking like they wanted the day to end already. Right?

The blonde clutched her class schedule in her right hand, searching for the right classroom. She was still early, but wanted to find the room as fast as she could so she would have time to settle in. She tried to balance all her books in her left arm that she had yet to put in her locker. Speaking of, where was it anyway? She had tried to find it earlier, but it seemed to be missing. It was like it didn't exist. Maybe they had removed it as a prank on the 'new girl'. That's not very nice. Where would she put her books?

Deep in thought, she kept walking through the corridors, no longer paying attention to where she was going. Which incidentally led to her not successfully dodge the person in front of her and instead collided, making her drop her books all over the floor.

"Hey, watch it!

She instantly jumped back in surprise at the harsh voice and shot her head up to look at her victim. She was met with the same hazel eyes she had seen before: The beautiful bringer of death. Expecting to see a scowl or some kind of angry expression to match the harsh voice she instead saw a gentle expression grace the blonde beauty's eyes and face.

"Hey, it's you. The mystery girl from before. You ran off before I got to apologize, you know." The blonde smiled.

Brittany was once again unable to speak; feeling even more awkward than before. What are the odds of making a fool of yourself twice in front of the same person in less than an hour? She wouldn't know since math has never been her strongest subject, but probably not very likely.

"I guess this makes us somewhat even."

Brittany looked over the blonde that had an amused look on her face. She was dressed in some type of school uniform in the colors of red, white, and black with white sneakers on. Her outfit reminded Brittany of a candy cane. Maybe they sold them to raise money or something. She was a few inches shorter and her hair was pulled up in a perfect pony tail.

"Hey! Are you gonna apologize for being in the way? 'Cause we've gots better things to do with our time than to wait for your mouth to catch up with the rest of you. Or are you just mute?"

There was that harsh voice again. Brittany didn't even dare to look to whom the voice belonged to. Her head sunk immediately and she dropped her gaze to the floor where she saw her books. "Sorry." She managed to mumble and bent down to gather her books. She heard the blonde beauty's voice tell her friend to be nice and heard the offender scoff back. Brittany winced. This was definitely a really bad start. Why can't she just pay more attention. Brittany stood up with her books back in her arms and her gaze still on the floor.

"Don't pay attention to Satan over here, she's just jealous of my compassion." The blonde said gently and then turned towards her friend, "You should try it every once in a while. Maybe then people would actually like you."

Her friend scoffed again, "I don't need people to like me. I'm hot. But whatever, you two lovebirds can be nice to each other all you want, like I said: I have better things to do. I'm out." And with that, she strutted away, leaving the blonde duo alone.

The blonde beauty rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Brittany who was still starring at the floor. "Please don't mind her. I'm Quinn by the way." She said, holding out her hand.

Brittany looked up and saw a sweet smile on the blonde's lips which made her relax a little. Convinced that the blonde was genuinely nice, she shook her hand, "Um, Brittany. Pierce. Nice to meet you."

Quinn grinned, "So you can speak. Nice to meet you Brittany. You're new right? I think I would remember seeing you around seeing how I keep 'running' into you." She winked.

"Yeah, I just started today. I can't find my classroom." Brittany bit her lip, feeling stupid that she couldn't even find a room.

"No problem! I can definitely help you. Why don't we start by putting away your books?"

"I don't have a locker. I think they took it as a prank, but it's okay, I don't mind carrying them and I've got a backpack if they get too heavy. That's what it's for, right?" Brittany said, readjusting the books in her arm. They were kinda annoyingly slippery.

Quinn laughed slightly, she didn't know if Brittany was actually serious with what she had said and didn't want to offend her, but couldn't help but laugh. She was definitely quirky, but likable, "I'll look into that. What's your first period?"

"Math." Ugh.

"Alright, easy enough." Quinn said and started walking, "It's just around the corner so you weren't far off."

Brittany followed Quinn as she led her down the left corridor. They stopped in front of a classroom that was starting to fill up with students. Brittany peaked in and immediately noticed that a seat by the window in the back was still free. Shotgun. She turned back towards Quinn, giving her a smile of appreciation, "Thank you for being so nice."

"No worries, really. It's the least I could do." Quinn smiled back, "Look if you want you can sit with us during lunch. I can introduce you to everyone else."

Brittany swallowed. Quinn was nice. Definitely nice. She liked Quinn, but that other girl honestly scared her a little. She didn't want to impose in fear of pissing her off again. "Um… Well–"

"Great!" Quinn cut her off, not noticing the fear in Brittany's eyes, "See you then."

She watched as Quinn walked off. She even walked like she was a princess or some kind of royalty. Maybe she was. She guessed that would be pretty cool since she's never known anyone like that before. They usually throw the best fancy parties, that's for sure. Brittany turned on her heel and saw that the seat she shotgunned was still free. She rushed over and plopped down on the hard seat, finally letting go of her heavy books.

Not a minute later the teacher walked in; an old woman looking exactly as tired as the teachers she saw in the hall. The teacher immediately started scribbling mathematical equations on the black board which made Brittany immediately zone out. She put her head on the pile of books and looked out the window. She saw a big green lawn outside with a single tree, pretty close to the window. A pair of blackbirds frolicked amongst the branches, bringing a smile to Brittany's face. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad.

Lunchtime came way too slowly for Brittany's liking. Her stomach growled and her mind was too easily distracted; more so than usual. She couldn't really remember what the teacher had been talking about. Looking down at her notes, seeing doodles of unicorns, ducks, and herself as a duck riding on a unicorn made her even more confused. What class was she in? She really wasn't sure, but her teacher was waving her arms in an animated fashion. It was definitely funny, but confusing.

The bell rung loudly in the classroom and all of the students immediately jumped up, grabbing their things while running out the door as fast as they could. Brittany got up and stuffed her notes in her backpack. She smiled thinking of not being alone the first day for lunch, not really believing her luck. Maybe sometimes getting almost hit by a car can be a good thing. She started walking out the classroom, but stopped when she heard her teacher's voice.

"Hey, new girl."

Brittany turned around to face her teacher. She too was a blonde, but had more grayish eyes and long straight hair reaching down past her shoulders. She was a little taller than Brittany and had a slim frame. She was definitely what you'd call a hot teacher. The teacher was collecting her papers when she spoke to Brittany. She smiled friendly, "You doing okay the first day?"

Brittany smiled back and nodded, "Yeah. People are nice."

"Good. You tell me if that changes or if you need help catching up. You seemed a little confused back there and I apologize if that's my fault, I get a little carried away sometimes talking about my one true love." The teacher sighed with a smile.

Brittany looked confused, "Who?"

"History! I'm Holly Holiday, in case you missed my introduction back when, and I'll be the one nagging you about it." Holly said, patting Brittany's shoulder, "Good talk, new girl. Keep up the good work."

Holly walked away whistling on an unfamiliar tune. Brittany turned and stared after her, still a little dumbfounded by the very energized teacher. She was definitely not like the others.

Standing outside the cafeteria, Brittany sighed deeply. She was nervous. What if Quinn hadn't meant it? What if Quinn was gonna take back the invitation? What if she had just been polite when inviting her, but didn't really want her to join them. Sometimes people do that when they don't wanna hurt someone's feelings.

Brittany peaked through the window on the doors and saw a group of girls wearing the same type of uniform, sitting at one of the lunch tables. She saw no sign of the shorter blonde, but maybe she was just sitting in an awkward angle or maybe someone was blocking her from Brittany's view. Brittany pulled back and leaned against the wall next to the doors. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. I can do this. Here we go.

Brittany straightened herself and turned to push the doors open, but instead, was met by the same group of girls she had seen sitting at their table just a minute before. Brittany jumped back in surprise. "Um, hi?"

One of the girls, a redhead, took a step forward. Her face was stern with a fake smile, "Can we help you?"

"Yeah, I was supposed to meet Quinn for–"

The redhead put her hand up to interrupt Brittany, "I'm gonna stop you right there. You're new, so you obviously don't know the rules around here. In this school we're on top and you–" She paused and looked at Brittany from head to toe, "Are definitely not." She laughed and turned her head towards the group of girls who immediately joined in.

Hurt flashed in Brittany's eyes. Her throat felt dry and her chest heavy. This must be some kind of misunderstanding. Where was Quinn?

The redhead turned her attention back towards Brittany, "So know your place or we'll make you. So nice to meet you." She grinned a fake smile and turned on her heel, walking away back into the cafeteria with the rest of the group who was throwing dirty looks at Brittany over their shoulders. The name 'Cheerios' was spelt across their backs. Funny how she didn't really feel cheery from meeting them.

Brittany tried to swallow, but instead her throat just felt kind of lumpy.

"New girl."

Her gaze shifted when she heard her new nickname. The voice was raspy and deep. She had definitely heard it before and recognized it as Quinn's friend.

The group separated to stand behind a dark haired girl with a matching uniform. Her head was cocked to the side and she held herself up high with her hands on her hips. Her eyes, even from afar, looked almost as dark as the night and her lips were full and pulled up in a malicious smile. Her skin had the natural tone of caramel, looking absolutely delicious like the rest of her. Even though she looked shorter than Brittany, she couldn't help but to feel really inferior to the dark haired beauty. She looked powerful and dangerous.

"Welcome to McKinley High. Hope you like it here. " The dark haired girl's smile turned into a vicious grin.

Two jocks suddenly appeared in front of Brittany and just as sudden, something wet, icy and sticky covered her face. The liquid ran down past her chin, past her neck and dripped down into her shirt, making her freeze all over. Her eyes stung and her lips felt like they were molded shut by the stickiness. Tears welled up in her eyes which only made it hurt even more.

The Cheerios broke out in laughter. Brittany's humiliation echoed through out the cafeteria. It was deafening. She needed to get out. Needed to escape.

She ran.