A/N: Wow thanks for reading and reviewing everyone! Sorry this chapter is so short, I will try to have another one up today or tomorrow. Btw: STILL SPOILERY!

At lunchtime the next day, Santana and Brittany were standing in line with their trays and their Sue Sylvester master cleanse bottles. They got their lunches (with only lowfat and lean protein foods) and went to sit in the cafeteria. Artie and Mercedes and Kurt were sitting together and Brittany waved at them and started walking over to sit with them. Santana rolled her eyes and sighed but followed Brittany to the table, where Brittany sat down next to Artie and smiled at him. Santana tried not to grind her teeth and sat next to Brittany.

Santana was trying to flick little wads of paper into Mercedes's mashed potatoes and Brittany was talking about some show she saw on TV where all the animals would do crazy things like headbutt each other or do weird dances and then have sex and then sometimes eat each other, when Mercedes suddenly asked, "Brittany, you don't really hate Christmas do you?"

Brittany's face turned from sunny and happy to sad and gloomy. "I do," she said dully. "I was a child and I believed in childish things. Now all my illusions are shattered like a cheerleading trophy smashed into a wall."

"Britt, let me give you some advice," Kurt said. "When I was at Dalton, they had this policy-"

Mercedes sighed like she had heard this a thousand times already.

"Fine," sniffed Kurt. "The point is, be true to yourself, Brittany. Don't let other people tell you what to believe."

"Yeah, we all have to believe in something," said Mercedes. "You can still believe in Santa Claus. He makes kids happy, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"And you know Sue exaggerates," said Kurt. "Remember the time she said our competition at Nationals would shriek in fear and wet their Spanx when they saw us?"

"One person did," Brittany pointed out.

"Doesn't count," Santana said. "Sue threatens to have people drawn and quartered all the time, I don't know why that girl took it so personally." She opened her mouth like she was going to keep talking, and sort of looked around awkwardly, but she kept talking. "And you know you always have fun when we open presents together on Christmas morning."

"Don't let Sue get you down, Britt," Artie said. "We all just want you to be happy."

Brittany looked a little more cheerful and Artie patted her hand. Santana noticed this and froze in the middle of reaching across the table pretending to grab the salt shaker. (It was actually to drop a piece of pompom plastic on Mercedes's plate.)

"Hey!" said Mercedes. She slapped Santana's hand and Santana jerked back. Everyone laughed and Santana glared all around her, but she saved an especially angry glare for Artie, just because.

(~)

They went to Cheerios practice after school and Brittany seemed to be feeling much better, acting like her normal self even when someone mentioned the holidays, so Santana was pretty relieved. On they way out, Brittany even smiled as she told Santana that their pyramid was like a big human Christmas tree and that maybe they should get giant ornaments to hold. But she didn't notice that Sue Sylvester heard their conversation as they walked by.

This holiday nonsense is sucking away the killer competitive spirit we need to crush our opposition. Something must be done, Sue thought to herself as she watched the smiling and laughing cheerleaders leave the gym.

A/N; Oops, pretend Kurt went away to Dalton and came back after sectionals. Haha, I forgot about that part...