Brittany woke up the next day; she went over to Lord Tubbington's bed and stroked him as he awoke. "Today's a big day Lord Tubbington; I've got try-outs for the Cheerios, that's the school's cheer squad." Lord Tubbington waddled out of his bed and rubbed against Brittany's legs, then continued waddling out of the door. Brittany dressed in a cute top and some floral jeans; she put her gym kit in her bag for her try-out. She ran down the stairs two at a time; she was really excited for the Cheerios try-outs, and she really wanted to make the squad. Brittany may not have understood her geography homework, but she understood that being a Cheerio meant being popular.
Brittany arrived at school (on the bus this time) and headed up the steps and through the doors. She walked for a while until she came to locker 125, her locker. She punched in her combo and pulled it open, it had a couple of magnets in the top and pen pot attached to the door, but other than that it was bare. She put most of books in the bottom, some crayons and lip-gloss in the pot and her gym kit on top. She opened her organiser (kitten themed of course) and checked her schedule she looked up and to her shock she saw…
"Hazel?" Brittany called; a girl with brown hair turned around and squealed
"Brittany? Omigosh!" Hazel replied. The two girls had attended middle school together and had just reunited.
"This is amazing I thought I was the only one coming to here." Hazel said as they walked along the corridor.
"Me too," Brittany replied, "I felt really lonely."
Hazel linked arms with Brittany, "Are you trying out for the Cheerios, I am."
Brittany looked at her friend with a grin, "of course I am!"
The Cheerios try-outs were very tough; a mean looking women in a tracksuit marched into the gym and addressed her try-outees.
"So you want to be a Cheerio, huh? Well this isn't a club or an optional class, this is a sport and like any sport I want the best squad to crush the competition and get me another national championship. When you hear your name stand in front of me and be judged."
She went to sit behind a table and called out a name. Brittany tightened her shoelaces, she was going to perform a routine she'd learned last year, Brittany couldn't help feeling she had an edge. Until she saw Quinn; she danced well (almost balletic), she tumbled well (almost gymnastic), and she knew her cheer chants. The mean women had shown no emotion until Quinn performed, the difference in her facial expression was minute, but Brittany could still see it. Quinn was on the squad. Full stop. A little while later Hazel performed, she was brilliant; almost perfect even though the standard was high. Brittany's name was called a little while later and she took her place. She introduced herself,
"Hi, my name's Brittany S. Pierce and I want to be on the Cheerios."
Brittany flew into the routine, left, right, turn twist, down, up, jump, twist, flip, left, round off, right cartwheel, splits. She felt the adrenaline pumping through her body like a tidal wave, she felt confident, alive and she was sure she'd done well. The mean lady was chewing the corner of her glasses, one eyebrow raised. What did that mean?
When Brittany left the gym, she saw that Quinn had waited for her. A little bubble of happiness built up in her stomach. Maybe this wasn't quite so scary after all?
"What've you got next?" Quinn asked
"I've got Spanish."
Brittany suddenly blurted out "Do you want to come to mine after school tonight?"
"Erm…" Quinn said "I'm busy. Me and my friend Santana are hanging out at the mall"
Brittany stared at her. She had read Lord Tubbington's book on telepathy, so she thought really hard Please invite me. Please invite me.
It didn't work. Quinn flipped her pony-tail and walked on, oblivious to Brittany's thoughts.
Later on, while Brittany was getting her lunch, Louise came up to her.
"You know, you can't be a Cheerio if you eat like that." Louise said
Brittany simply stared at her; she didn't know what to say. She didn't want Louise to hate her, but she didn't see what was wrong with her lunch.
"If you get fat or unfit Coach Sue won't let you be a Cheerio. I mean, look at you, you're not exactly, well, skinny are you?" Louise gave Brittany a withering look and stalked off leaving Brittany staring at her plate feeling the dictionary definition of "loser".
Brittany walked to her next lesson, following the map carefully. She arrived a little late and most people had already taken their seats. Hazel was sitting flirting with a boy from her English class and the seat by Quinn was already occupied by a girl who Brittany assumed was Santana. Brittany ended up sitting at the back next to a shy looking girl. Brittany had always been popular, even in kindergarten; she wasn't going to let this new school crush that.
Brittany awoke with the sun splashing on her face; she felt dazed as she changed. She didn't like this new school and couldn't wait until the weekend came. The walk to school wasn't long, so Brittany could afford to dawdle. She walked along, scuffing her boots on the pavement, deep in thought. She arrived outside the school gates; a car came up behind her, and came to a stand-still. The window rolled down to reveal the driver. Louise. She turned to the Cheerio in the passenger seat and said,
"Isn't she sad?"
"Totally." the other girl replied.
"And kinda fat," Louise laughed. She rolled the window up and drove into the parking lot.
Brittany stood in shock. Louise was supposed to be her friend. Brittany was pretty sure friends didn't call each other names. She carried on walking into school, staring at the ground. When she got into the school she walked past the notice board, which was surrounded by girls. The Cheerios acceptance list! Brittany ran forward to see who was on the team. The first thing she saw was that Quinn was captain, which had to be the first time a freshman had ever been captain. Then she ran her eyes down the page until they locked onto one name, Brittany Pierce. She'd made it! Next to her name she spotted the name Santana Lopez, Quinn's friend.
She felt herself shoved sideways as Quinn pushed through the crowd, pulling a dark-skinned girl by the wrist. They stopped in front of the board.
"Yes! We're both on the team…" Quinn started to say, but then she squealed "I'm Captain! Yes! This is so going to be great."
The other girl, who Brittany presumed to be Santana, looked vaguely annoyed at this. But she brushed it off and hugged Quinn, congratulating her.
Brittany (feeling her confidence flooding back) turned to Quinn and gave her a hug,
"Congrats! You will be such a great captain!" Quinn hugged Brittany back. Brittany noticed the Santana girl tossing her hair at a boy nearby, she didn't seem too bad, and maybe they could be friends too.
"Come on," Quinn said grabbing Brittany's hand, "let's go to Coach Sue's office and pick up our uniforms." When they arrived, Hazel was leaving holding a red box with her name on it.
"We did it Britt," she grinned, "we're on the Cheerios!"
"I know!" Brittany replied, feeling her self-confidence come back.
They entered the office, and saw Coach Sue. She graced the girls with a 'rare' smile and handed them their boxes,
"You two girls are big talents, especially you Captain… now get the hell out of my office."
Quinn and Brittany headed straight to the bathroom to change. As soon as that uniform was on, and their high ponies established they became 'popular'. All eyes were on them as they walked to their first Cheerios practice. The two girls were early and only a few cheerleaders were there, Louise was one of them.
"Brittany!" Louise called, without a hint of friendliness in her voice, "you know my cousin, don't you?"
Brittany didn't know what to say, she wasn't sure whether she was Louise's friend or not.
"Lilac Brown… You know, the girl you picked on in middle school." Louise continued, her voice now dripping with malice.
Brittany did know Lilac Brown; a group of her friends had picked on Lilac having the name "Lilac Brown". But Brittany herself had never teased or bullied the girl.
"I-I've never picked on Lilac, I thought we were friends?"
"You and I? Or you and Lilac?" Louise challenged.
"Urrm… Both?" Brittany replied trying to sound confident. All feeling of power and popularity was quickly disappearing, and Brittany would do anything to hold onto it.
Louise laughed, "Oh, pur-lease honey. You, a fat freshman, and me, the best dancer this school has ever seen, and not to mention pretty and popular."
Brittany felt her heart skip a beat; she knew she could never win against Louise, unless it involved dancing, "Prove it… Dance against me, prove that you're a better dancer."
"I beg your pardon?" Louise asked, "I'm not going to do some stupid dance off like we're in a cringey rom-com."
"Are you afraid?" Quinn's voice came from behind Brittany.
Louise stiffened at these words, "Let's just get this over with then." Louise came down from the stands and stood opposite Brittany, "So… are we just supposed to dance then."
Brittany didn't bother answering and began, Louise was quick to follow, but Brittany could see Louise was watching her, looking nervous. Brittany had taken dance lessons since she was five and loved it. She didn't notice when Louise stopped dancing and she didn't notice everyone staring at her with their mouths open. And when Brittany did realise she felt so embarrassed. How could she have done that? She'd managed to look stupid at her first Cheerios rehearsal.
"Wow!" Quinn said, "You're good."
"Like really good," another Cheerio said.
Brittany's feeling of embarrassment was gone, everyone had loved her dancing, and everyone had seen her beat Louise. She hoped maybe after that Louise would want to be her friend again, but Brittany was wrong. Louise's arms were folded across her chest; her face could've made milk go sour. Their 'friendship' was definitely over.
"Well it appears we have a winner." The two girls turned to see Coach Sue, standing by the doors, smiling slightly; she clearly appreciated rivalry and conflict. "Now, you two can stop dancing like cabaret extras and we might actually be able to do some cheerleading."
After a tough practise, Brittany headed to the locker room. She wrapped a towel round her neck and took out her Cheerios flask (one of the many perks of being a Cheerio was the free stuff.) Santana Lopez was looking straight at her, with an odd intensity in her deep brown eyes. Brittany felt funny, like all of her insides had turned to mush, and her heart was doing backflips. Brittany didn't know anything about this girl, but a part of her wanted to. Brittany smiled shyly, blushed and, drinking from her flask, she turned away. This was the best day ever.
AN: Thanks to everyone who read Chapter one. The next chapter will feature more Brittana.