"Santana go! It's your turn up!" I heard Puck yell from a couple of feet away from me. "Go. Go!"

It's my turn up where? I glanced around the area I was in. What the hell is he talking about?

"What are you talking about?" I yelled a little louder since Puck seemed to move farther away.

What the hell is he doing?

"Santana you got this. You were born for this." Sam stated as he walked passed me, entering a long hall way. I stared at him in confusion as he kept on walking, without saying another word.

"Sam- what? Where are you going?" I groaned.

"Your voice is amazing. You are, amazing." I heard a soft voice say behind me. As I turned I saw Quinn's figure fixed there, smiling and nodding at me.

"Wow. When did you get here? I didn't even hear you." I said amused. I didn't get a response, she just continued to stare and smile that smile of hers. "Quinn? You okay?" I stepped a little closer to her, and glanced around the area we were in, again. "Where the hell are we? Did by any chance you happen to see where my two friends went? They were just here a minute ago and now… there nowhere to be seen." I breathed out, trying to spot the guys.

"You like me."

I jolted my eyes toward hers, and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion when she didn't seem to be joking. I blinked a couple of times, trying to understand what just left out of her mouth correctly. "Excuse me?"

"You like me, Santana."

"I don't even know you."

"So? You don't know Brittany Pierce, and you like her. Right?"

"What? How do you know I'm a- Why would you say that?" I croaked, folding my arms to my chest.

"Because I know."

"Well. That's a little weird."

"She'll never love you."

I gulped, "I never said I wanted her to love me."

"Everyone can see you want it. It's all over your eyes."

"You're wrong! Everyone is wrong. No one knows me. No one but Puck and Sam." I burst out, glancing around again for my two best friends. This place is weird; I just want to get the hell out of here.

"I'm here for you Santana. No one else. Puck and Sam left you. They told me to tell you, that you shouldn't go through with this. It's a mistake."

I was growing frustrated. I had to move around, I had to get out of here. "Why would they do that to me? How can they leave me?"

"You're not good enough." She shrugged.

My heart sank. I'm not good enough to do this. I knew it; it's just too much pressure. I can just quit. Yeah I can just quit and forget about all of this. I just need to find Puck and Sam first. I began walking away from Quinn and started walking in a different direction, quickly. There's was nothing, and no one in sight. I felt trapped. Everything around me was just bright lights.

I kept on glancing around, my breath starting to hitch up. Am I… am I honestly fucking dead right now?

"You're the best one in this competition, Santana." I turned at the sudden familiar voice on my right side. Brittany Pierce stood there looking like an angel now more than ever, except her eyes seemed different. They looked upset. "I really don't like that girl." She hissed.

"Brittany? You're here too? Have you seen Puck, and Sam? How the hell do we get out of here?"

"Don't worry, I'm here." Brittany relaxed me, moving closer to me. "You have to know, you are the best one here. You can do this."

I felt my eyes start to burn with unwanted tears due to all this frustration. I shrugged, "How do you know that?"

She rested her right hand on my cheek, and I suddenly didn't care where I was anymore. "Because I believe in you Santana. You have to win this. I need you to win this." Suddenly my whole world stopped when she leaned her head slightly down and closed the gap between our lips, softly. Before I knew it she was pulling back but I kept my eyes closed, not wanting it to end. When my fluttering eyes finally opened, they instantly widened at the sight of Simon Cowell now replacing Brittany Pierce.

"Hi." He said smiling, before leaning in again.

"What the fuck? Oh my god!"

My eyes rapidly shot open, and I used both of my hands to help my upper body up. My breathing was short, heavy breaths. Sweat beads ran down my face and my hands. I looked around the room, wide eyed, making sure I was back in the hotel room. I saw Puck and Sam asleep beside me, and I quickly relaxed. I softly groaned and leaned myself back into my pillow.

That was the third time I dreamt of the same damn dream! What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I just fall asleep! I'm so tired, and tomorrow is going to be a big day. My heart began to beat faster just thinking about it.

"Santana?" I glanced to my right, seeing Sam slowly lift his head off the pillow, trying so hard to open his eyes.

"Yeah?" I whispered.

"Go to sleep dude." He turned away from me and didn't say another word.

Yeah, I'm trying to Sam. I haven't been waking up all night like a psycho for fun.

I positioned myself in the bed as comfortable as I could, and closed my eyes. But again, all I could think about was Brittany Pierce.


The second day of boot camp was like reliving yesterday. I'm staring at the same people, same crew, same camera men following me around every couple of minutes, and my stomach isn't happy.

I didn't get the amount of sleep that I hoped for, but that's normal. I'm just really nervous. I honestly really want this so bad. I can't let anything hold me back now. Except that the only thing I can concentrate on is Brittany Pierce. The way she showed up in every one of my dreams last night, the way she comforted me, and kissed me. It's what pretty much kept me awake. All I could think about was how lucky I was that she's even rooting for me to win this thing. And I do need to win this this. For so so so many reasons.

"Excuse me, Miss Santana?"

I turned at the sound of my name and saw a young camera guy, calling me.

"Yes?"

"Can I interview you really quickly for the show?"

I nodded, and stood from the chair that I was sitting on to walk in front of the camera man. Right now all the X Factors round 1 boot camp winners were backstage getting ready to be face to face with the judges. Except, this time, we have to have a sing off with another contestant. I was picked to sing with a girl name CeCe Frey. A tanned, toned, brunet that paints cheetah prints on the side of her face. She can be a little bit of a drama queen, but I pretty much put her in her place, and now we can tolerate each other a little more.

In some way, she reminds me of the way I was in high school. So sure of herself, confident, beautiful, talented, and bitchy. Yes I can be a bitch here and there, but I've grown a lot since I lost my family. People say I should be even angrier, but… I'm not.

"How are you feeling about this whole thing?" The camera man asked after he got his camera ready, snapping me from my thoughts.

"I'm feeling really confident." I lied.

"Who are you partnered to do a sing off with?"

"CeCe Frey." I nodded, with a little smile.

The camera guy stopped the recording and put his camera to the side. "Hey, can you please answer with like a sentence?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah yeah. I'm sorry." I shook my head in embarrassment. They always have to remind me to put my answers in complete sentences because then it won't make sense when the viewers watch it.

"Okay, cool." The camera guy positioned his camera right again and began recording. "Who are you partnered to do a sing off with?"

"I'm partnered to do a sing off with CeCe Frey." I clapped my hands together softly and smiled.

"How do you feel about that?"

"I feel good… She's a very talented girl. I uh…- It's a little bit tense because we're both going for the same thing, so… the competition is definitely there."

"What song are you girls going to sing?"

"We are going to sing Secrets, by One Republic. I didn't really want to sing that song but we flipped on it, and she won, so…" I shrugged

"Are you girl's good friends now?"

Good friends? We just met, weirdo.

I laughed inside, and shook my head softly, "I'm here to win, not necessarily here to make friends. Now is the time to make it to the next round, and that's what I'm going to try my hardest to do." I remarked

"What would winning this mean to you?"

What would winning this mean to me?... Let's see. I would get the five million dollar check, get a recording contract. I'll have money, Puck, Sam and I would be living stupendously. Maybe Brittany Pierce and I can be really good friends due to it. And most importantly, it'll give me hope in getting my family back.

I felt my eyes start to burn, and my trough close up. "It would mean the world." I choked out.

The camera guy stopped recording again, and put his camera down. "Thank you, that was really good. I got everything I need." He said, sympathetically.

I still felt my eyes burning and I know I had tears threatening to come out. I nodded to him and walked to the closest bathroom. I need Sam. I need Puck. I need them to tell me it'll all be okay. That I can beat CeCe, cause she's just a little brat. A really talented brat, but I can do it.

I entered the bathroom, and silence took over my ears. Finally some peace and quiet. Seems like everyone is out there getting prepared, and practicing, while I'm over here crying about my damn family! I smacked the sink, and stared at myself in the mirror in front of me. I had my curls loosely down, and was wearing a beautiful tight, red dress, but still… I looked so broken. How could I let this happen? I'm making myself look so weak in front of all those people! I'm the best one here! Brittany Pierce said it herself. Before she kissed me, and why did she have to kiss me? Why does she have to keep on showing up in my dreams? She's the one who's doing this to me! I can't concentrate cause of her! Because all I seem to do is think about her face, and the way I catch her stare at me, and how she laughs at the things I say when no one ever does.

I quickly cleaned myself up, and waited until I was sure not to break again to go back outside.

People were already starting to perform, so I sat back down in my chair and began to practice before it was CeCe's and I have to go up.

Most of the performers had already done their sing off, and of course I was one the last ones. I practiced and I practiced. I have this song in the bag. Just on cue, one of the crew members found me and politely told me it was time. My heart began to race and I suddenly got this big adrenaline rush. I gathered my belongings and was led to the side of the auditorium.

I saw the man who had led me here listening closely to his ear piece, waiting for the cue to let me walk to the stage. On the other side of the auditorium I saw CeCe starting at me. When she caught my eyes on her, she smirked. If she thought that would intimidate me, she's so wrong. Just for that smirk, I'm going to murder her out there.

"Okay go ahead." The man tapped my shoulder and I walked to the center of the stage never removing my eyes from CeCe, until she finally backed down and looked away.

"Oh oh. It's show time." I heard L.A. say softly.

When we both arrived in the center, we both turned to face the judges.

I saw all of them look really amused with us for some reason. As if they know something is going to go down right now. I saw the cameras all facing us, so I tried to show less of my nervousness and more of my attitude.

"This is it. The last two." Simon announced, smiling.

"The grand finale." I joked with shaky hands.

"It is the grand finale. You look great by the way. Both of you." Simon complimented.

"Thank you very much." We both said in unison, and I felt her stare at me.

"Okay. So girls how did you end up choosing the song?"

"We flipped for it, and I won." CeCe answered. I gave her an amused look, and she caught me. "I just thought we could do so much with that song."

The judges started writing something down in the journal in front of them. Simon finished and looked back up to us. "Okay. Santana, I'm going to start with you. Why do you feel you should win this competition?"

Awe Shit.

Here I go again with the burning of my eyes, and closing of the trough.

Fuck.

I tried to shake it off, and took a deep breath. I kept the microphone over my mouth ready to say something but nothing ever came out. "I-I don't fit anywhere else except for under the spot light." I croaked. I saw some of them nodding their heads in understanding. "I'm tired of seeing all these artists do things that I know I can do. And I know," I closed my eyes, "I hope that my family will be finally be proud of me." I felt a tear escape and I quickly wiped it off. "I'm sorry I don't mean to cry."

"It's all right. It's okay." Simon reassured, smiling at me. "Alright CeCe?"

I took a quick glance toward Brittany Pierce and when she caught my eye she smiled sympathetically at me. Great. Now she's going to take back everything she said and think I'm a weak ass loser. I turned my attention to CeCe, not returning a smile back to her.

"I wanna succeed as much as I want to breathe. I want this like the very oxygen that's in my lungs. I'm coming out here and I'm fighting for it. I don't know if you believe in me yet," she quivered. "But I will make a believer out of you, and I will not leave this competition until each and every one of you believes that I am your winner."

I shook my head at how fucking badass that sounded. I sounded like such a sap! This is- wow. This is just great.

The judges stayed quiet, until Simon finally spoke up. "Okay," he whispered. "Thank you both. Let's do it."

I took a deep breath and nodded.

The auditorium was silent. The only thing I could hear was my very own heartbeat. I closed my eyes as the track started playing. This is it. Either I knock this out of the park or I'm out of the game. It was a soft piano acoustic version of the song, so it was going to show them a whole different side of my voice now.

"I need another story. Something to get off my chest…" CeCe started singing the beginning like we had planned. She sounded pretty good, but I could tell she was really nervous.

Again I glanced at the judges and they all had their eyes fixed on CeCe. I took a glimpse of Brittany Pierce, and saw how concentrated she was. Then suddenly she fixed her eyes on me. I quickly glanced down.

Britney Spears was making a weird face expression that I couldn't really read, but then again she always does weird face expressions.

"I'm gonna give all my secrets away…" she yelped the last word.

My turn was coming any second now. And my stomach was doing crazy flips. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes.

"Ohhhh! I got no reason, got no say. Got no family I could blame…" I began singing strong. I felt chills go down my whole body. I opened my eyes and saw CeCe wasn't staring at me, she was staring at the ground instead. I turned to the judges and focused my eyes on Brittany Pierce. Fuck it. "Tell me what you want to hear! Something that would like those ears!..." I saw Brittany maneuver in her seat. She didn't want to look at me. I was giving my heart and soul into this performance. Singing with so much passion. Telling myself over, and over how my life could change just by this small performance. "I'm gonna give all my secrets away!" and like CeCe, I yelped the last word… but better.

I brought the microphone down, and waited patiently for them to dismiss us.

"Thank you girls." Simon nodded.

"Thank you" We said in unison and walked off the stage.

As we got to the end of the stage, a camera man was waiting for us.

"How did you feel you did?" he asked.

We both stayed quiet, not knowing who was going to answer first. So I spoke up. "I feel good about it. That song was great. Thanks for picking it out CeCe."

She turned to me and we both gave each other a fake smile, which made me laugh.

"I feel really good about it as well. We'll just have to see what happens." She said, smiling to the camera.

The camera man nodded, and let us pass through.

I went straight for my chair, while CeCe walk off in another direction. I sat down and replayed my performance. It was good. It was really good. I wish Sam and Puck got to see it, so they can tell me otherwise.

An hour went by when the crew finally called the young adults back to the stage. I saw Quinn walking not too far away from me. I haven't really talked to her since the other day, and in a way I kinda feel weird about her being in my dream as well. She was horrible.

It was too late to ignore her, because just as I was about to look away she caught my eyes on her. She beamed and walked towards me.

"Hey. How did you do?" she asked hooking her left arm with my right.

I glanced at our arms and looked away. "I did pretty good. How about you? Who did you compete with?"

"Julia Bullock." She made an angry face. "She was so good! But I think I did pretty well myself."

"That's good."

We walked up the stairs and onto the stage. Quinn unhooked her arm and stood next to me. I glanced around and saw CeCe was somewhere near the end of the line, seeming as nervous as ever. There's about 16 of us lined up right now, and only a couple of us will get picked to move on in the competition.

Everyone was silent. I was going out of my mind. All of these people are so talented; they all deserve to be here. If they don't call my name, I don't know what I'm going to do.

I took a peak at Brittany Pierce but she wasn't looking at me. She doesn't believe in me anymore.

I took my attention to Simon when he cleared his trough. "Out of this group, six of you are going to make it through to the next round of this competition. First person through to the judges home is…" he paused. Staring at each and every one of us. The suspense was killing me! Please let it be me. Please. "CeCe Frey."

My heart dropped. My breath hitched, and my jaw began to quiver. "Oh my god." I whispered, with watery eyes.

The people around me began to clap for her, so I started too as well.

I heard CeCe crying, as she began walking pass me off the stage. I didn't want to look at her, cause my whole world was crumbling down at this very second.

"The next person through to the next round is…" L.A paused as well, observing all of us. "Willie Jones."

Everyone around me began clapping again and I saw Willie, a black country singer, running around in excitement, crying.

All I could think about is how lucky Willie is right now. I bet he's feeling so good, while I feel like shit.

Also going through to the judges homes, is…" Britney Spears began. "Jennel Garcia."

Jennel was standing on my left side, and began to cry instantly. Jennel and I were pretty cool with each other so I wrapped my arms around her and congratulated her, while everyone else began clapping. "Congratulations." I whispered, and she nodded, still crying as she walked off the stage.

"Next going through to the judges homes is…" Brittany Pierce began. She was staring at me and my heart began to race. Is she going to say my name? She never took her eyes away from me as she said, "Quinn Fabrey."

Quinn instantly latched on to me crying as I kept my eyes on Brittany. She never looked away either. It's like we were trying to read each other's expression. I couldn't read hers but I'm sure she could read mine. Quinn let go and walked off the stage.

I lost all hope.

"So we're down to two places left." L.A. announced. Next person to go through the judges homes is…" he paused. And in that pause, all I could think about is Sam and Puck. They came all the way over here with me, believing in me. And it's all for nothing. I felt tears suddenly began to fall from my eyes. "It's Jullian Jensen."

I closed my eyes, and never wanted to open them. I just wanted to walk off this stage and give all the judges a big huge 'Fuck you'. Fuck you for getting my hopes high! And Brittany, you told me I was good. You told me I could win this whole thing! Yet I'm still here! I've lost hope. Thank you so much X Factor for embarrassing me in front of everyone.

"The final place goes too…" Brittany Pierce began. She had her head down, and I… I was lost. Once she lifted up her head I saw she had the biggest smile on her face, which made my heart skip, "Santana Lopez." Brittany boasted.

My heart stopped.

I brought my hands over my mouth in disbelief as I felt my tears falling. I felt numb. I heard the other contestants clapping for me, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't stop crying. I glanced again to the judge's tables thanking them, and saw Brittany do a fist pump towards me. I laughed while I was still crying, and I began walking off the stage with shaky legs. I made it. My family is going to see this, and they're going to be so proud of me! Michael is going to love me again! I was so excited! I couldn't wait to tell Puck and Sam. I began running to the room where they kept all the family and friends in waiting, as fast as I could in these heels. But before I even got far, a camera man was waiting for me.

I stopped and tried to catch my breath. I began wiping away all my tears, "Congratulations! How do you feel?"

I didn't know what to say! I still haven't gotten back all my breath but I still answered, "I feel. Amazing." I ran my hands through my hair, and shook my head, still not believing I'm moving on.

"We're you scared they weren't going to call you?"

"Hell yes!" I answered truthfully, "I was dying not knowing if I was going to stay or go home."

"Well, now you're moving on. Feel good?"

I nodded crying again. "It feels amazing."

After he finally gave me the okay to leave, I began running again in search of my boys. I saw some parents outside of the room congratulating the other winners. Quinn was there and she yelled when she saw me.

"You made it!" She ran towards me, and gave me a huge hug.

"I did!"

"This is so insane!" Quinn let go of her hold on me, and I began moving away.

"I know! But I have to tell my friends! I'll find you in a bit."

"Okay!" she smiled, and walked to the door of the room.

I peeked in through the small window and saw Puck and Sam looking super anxious and nervous. They were practically the only ones left there for the exception of two other parents. I guess the other contestants didn't bring anybody with them, which is sad.

I opened the door and saw both of them look my way, standing up.

"I'm through!" I announced, running to them.

"Yes!" Sam jumped in the air.

"Ohhhh shit, you're in!" Puck picked me up, and spun me around. When he put me down, Sam gave me a huge hug, and I saw that his eyes were extremely, suddenly, really red. I turned to Puck to tell him Sam was crying so we can make fun of him, but instead I saw Puck was already crying even more as well. Which made me cry. So we just stood there hugging each other, crying our eyes out.

"I'm in."


Review! Let me know what you think!:) Btw. Okay. No Quinntana-_-