Chapter 3

When Santana got to school the next day, practically everything was the same as the day before, except that there were no parents around. Ollie was playing with the little boy with red hair, the Asian girl was still playing with Tonka trucks instead of My Little Ponies, and that little blonde girl who liked unicorns and sparkles was still playing with her doll. It was the same one as yesterday: tall, blonde, and wearing a little blue dress. So Santana walked over and snatched he doll out of her hands, just like she did yesterday. But this time, when she sat down in the corner, she looked back and saw the girl watching her. She wasn't making any attempt at getting her doll back, she was just watching Santana with an expression that could only be called curiosity. She stayed that way for a minute or so before going off to play with one of the school's dolls. Santana snapped out of it and kept playing with the doll until the teacher called everyone back to their tables.

"Now, class, can anyone tell me what two plus two is? Remember what we talked about yesterday: this many fingers," She held up two fingers. "Plus this many fingers," She held up two on the other hand. "Equals…"

"Five!" Shouted a boy at the front who's name Santana remembered to be Finn.

"It's four, you dummy!" Santana shouted.

"Santana! Don't be mean!" McLowell said.

"But it's true! It is four, and he is a dummy!" She replied.

That got her 10 minutes in the time-out chair.

Luckily Abuela wasn't called today.

For the next three weeks, every day would go like this: she would get to school, steal the blonde girl's doll and play with it until playtime was over, sit next to Ollie and insult/injure him in some way, get 10-15 minutes in the time-out chair, come back, purposely do the activity wrong, get 20 minutes in the time-out chair, sit alone during lunch, be bitter and mean to everyone after lunch, get another few minutes in the chair, then go home.

But then that all changed.

When her fourth week at school started, Santana arrived at school and headed over to the little blonde girl to take the doll. Every day since school had started, the teacher had always been busy with something when Santana took the doll, and the other girl had never started crying or screaming to get her doll back. She had always gotten away with it.

Until now.

Santana marched over and snatched the doll from her hands just as McLowell turned around and saw.

"Santana!" McLowell yelled, running over. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"I…" Santana was speechless. She had never planned what she would say if she was caught.

"Give the doll back and apologize! NOW!" She yelled. Santana flinched, then turned back to the girl, the doll in her outstretched hand.

"I'm sorry…" She tried to come up with a good insult, but she was blanking. There was simply no way to insult this innocent-looking blonde. Funny, this was the first time that had ever happened to her.

The girl gently took the doll back and whispered, "That's okay."

"No, it's not okay! Santana, go sit in the time-out chair! 10 minutes!"

Santana walked over without protest, which was unusual. What was wrong with her today? Not talking back, and not being able to insult someone? She stared at the girl, trying to think of some way to insult her. She could…no, that was no good. How about…nah, it didn't apply. What was it about this girl who was so perfect she had no flaws for Santana to point out?

When she was let out of the chair, she sulked over to the corner of the room and sat there, feeling lonely without the company of the doll with the little blue dress. It was a minute or so before she felt a slight tap on her shoulder. She turned to find the blonde girl standing behind her the doll in her hand.

"I'm sorry I got you in trouble," she said quietly.

Santana was taken aback. None of the other kids ever talked to her voluntarily. And here this girl was, apologizing because Santana got in trouble for taking her doll?

Santana shrugged. "It's okay. I'm used to it."

The girl stared at her. Her eyes were blue. Blue as the sky on a cloudless summer day. "I'm Brittany."

Santana marveled at this girl – Brittany. The name went perfectly with her face. When she didn't answer immediately, Brittany asked, "Do you wanna play with me? I could bring over my dolls."

Santana considered her options. She knew that she was supposed to be mean to her, but she just couldn't stand to see those pretty blue eyes be filled with hurt like the other kids when she was mean to them. Plus she really wanted a friend. It was no fun being alone all the time. "Okay."

Brittany smiled, and ran back to the other side of the room to collect her dolls. As she was running, Santana called out, "I'm Santana!"

"I know!" She called back. She came back with an arm full of dolls. She had 7 in total. They were all Barbies that were in perfect condition, unlike the school dolls, that were completely chewed up and covered in unknown substances (most likely a combination of Play-Doh and snot). She even had a boy doll, with perfectly styled blonde hair and big plastic muscles. He also had really big lips that reminded Santana of a fish.

"So what kind of story do you wanna make?" Brittany asked.

"Um, I don't know. What do you usually do?" Santana replied.

"Well, usually there's a princess who's locked in a tower, and then a handsome prince comes and rescues her."

"Hmm." Santana liked this idea. "Okay!"

They started choosing which dolls would play what part. In the end they chose the boy doll to play the prince (obviously) and the pretty blonde doll that Santana liked so much to be the princess. Santana controlled the princess, and Brittany controlled the prince. Pretty soon they had reached the part where the prince found the princess, all lonely in her tower, and offered to rescue her.

"But how will you climb up?" Santana asked, imitating the princess' voice.

"If you let down your long hair, I can use it as a rope!" Brittany said in a deep voice. Santana grabbed a spare piece of yarn off the floor from last week's craft and pretended it was the doll's hair. Brittany moved the doll upwards as though he was climbing the "hair". The dolls were both standing on a shelf (the tower).

"It's okay, fair maiden, I am here," The 'prince' said. The princess climbed in to his arms and the both jumped from the tower back on to the ground. When they had both feet on the ground, the princess unexpectedly started jumping on the prince and kicking him.

"What are you doing?" Brittany asked, shocked.

"Now that the princess is free, she can kill the prince, take his money and his horse and run away to a new life!" Santana explained.

"No! That's not how the story goes!" Brittany exclaimed. "Didn't your Mommy ever tell you the story?"

Santana shook her head. Mami never even had time to be at home with her family, let alone tell her any stories.

"When the prince rescues the princess, they fall in love immediately. They share true love's first kiss, then they climb on to his horse and ride off in to the sunset. The next day, they arrive at his castle and they get married and live happily ever after." Brittany explained.

"But what if she doesn't want to be in love with him?" Santana asked.

"She can't help it. She doesn't choose who she falls in love with. Love chooses you."

Santana stared at her. She couldn't argue with that face. She sighed. "So what do I do?"

"You make the princess lean forward, and I'll make the prince do the same."

Santana rolled her eyes, and then leaned the doll forward at the same time as Brittany. Their plastic lips met.

As she watched the dolls 'kiss', she thought about what it would be like to kiss someone. She glanced quickly at Brittany, who was watching the dolls intently. Her lips looked very pink and soft. Ew, no, kissing is gross! Santana thought. Besides, Brittany is a girl, and girls can't kiss other girls…right?

The 'kiss' was over before she knew it. Brittany pulled the doll back and put the princess in her prince's arms as they rode in to the sunset on his invisible horse. She smiled at Santana. "That was fun!"

Santana nodded. "Yeah!" She wanted to say something, but McLowell called out that playtime was over and that everyone should return to their seats. Santana walked reluctantly over to her table with Ollie, who was now terrified of her. She tried to pay attention to the lesson on the alphabet, but she always caught herself staring at the back of the little blonde girl's head. Every once in a while, Brittany would turn around and wave. Santana would wave back.

Why was she being so nice to this girl? Was it because she couldn't insult her perfect face? Was it because she had reached out to her? Was it because she was the first person who made Santana feel as though she wasn't completely alone? She could only guess.

When Santana got home that day, she dropped her bag by the front door, ran up to her room, opened her big wooden chest and pulled out her favorite doll.

"I need help, Snix. I'm confused," She told the doll. "There's this girl in my class. Her name's Brittany. She has blue eyes and blonde hair and she's really nice and pretty. I know I'm supposed to be mean to everyone, even if they're nice…but I don't want to be mean to her. I want to be her friend. I-I'm tired of being lonely."

Santana felt a tear slip down her cheek. She stared at the doll, expecting a reply. Snix's plastic face remained still. Santana felt her sadness and confusion morph in to rage. She threw the doll across the room and yelled, "Why do I even talk to you! You're just a stupid doll! You don't have any answers!" She walked across the room and picked up the doll, whose face she discovered was unmoved by Santana's anger. She threw Snix at the wall again, and again, and again, expecting some sort of reaction from the doll. When there was none, she threw the doll back in to the chest, jumped on to her bed and started to cry.

Snix had been her only friend since she was three. She was someone Santana could confide in and play with. She was someone that she could care for. She was someone who would always be there. But in that moment, Santana realized that Snix was only a doll, and would only ever be a doll. She was made of plastic and put together in China. She would never confide in Santana, she would never talk to her and she would never care for her. She would never do anything other than stare blankly in to space with her painted eyes that held no emotion, and never would.

Santana's only friend had deserted her. Now she was truly alone.