Brittany was shaking. She could feel the vibrations in her skin like tiny little earthquakes moving her from the inside. She hoped Quinn didn't notice. At least she felt better than she had this morning. Most of that was thanks to Quinn, who was being extra nice to her today. Brittany knew why.

"Want my brownie, Britt?" Quinn asked. She pushed the pudgy hunk of chocolate dessert onto Brittany's tray.

Brittany's eyes bulged. "Really?" She asked, confused. This was one of Mrs. Fabray's famous brownies. How could Quinn not want it?

"Really," Quinn told Brittany. She resumed eating her salad. "Eat it before I change my mind."

Brittany grinned widely and ate the small brownie in two large bites. It was probably the best part of her whole entire day.

"So," Rachel Berry interrupted, "Quinn…maybe we could work on the details of our project at one of our houses? I know I have a lot of great ideas to share…I can even draw up diagrams of them for you. Or, if you're a more auditory learner I can try to describe them to the best of my abilities. I know that you probably have some wonderful ideas too, so I'm excited to brainstorm. I know we will get an A, you can count on it!"

Quinn stared at Rachel. She had no idea where the smaller girl's endless enthusiasm came from. It was just a school project. "Sure, Rachel."

Rachel bounced in her seat. "Excellent. I will write down my address, or…you can write down yours and I'll come to your house?"

Quinn sighed. She really did not want anyone visiting her house. It was stressful enough as it was. "No no, that's okay. I'll come to yours."

Brittany licked the brownie residue off of her fingertips and looked at Finn, on the other side of her. She was sitting in between a Quinn/Finn sandwich. It felt like the coolest place in the world. She sort of felt like royalty. Quinn looked very pretty today and Finn's booming laugh made her feel safe. Even though the three of them were seated at the Glee club table, it was Brittany's favorite lunch experience ever.

Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina had no idea what was going on. They couldn't figure out why three of the most popular students at McKinley were eating lunch with them. Or, why Rachel was so easily able to talk to Quinn. Or, why Brittany was so friendly. Or, why Finn was laughing at Kurt's jokes. Really, they were content with being bewildered…just as long as they didn't get slushied.

"Kurt," I really like your pants," Brittany told the boy across from her. Kurt's pants had tiny little unicorns all over them. Brittany wondered where he got them.

"T-Thank you…Brittany," Kurt answered. He took a bite of his peanut butter sandwich.

"We should go shopping together sometime!" Brittany exclaimed. Surely, if Kurt had pants like those, he would know where to find more cool clothes. "Unicorns are my favorite animals."

"You…want to go shopping…with me?" Kurt asked, skeptically. Brittany was extremely well-known around McKinley. She was the school sweetheart. No one messed with her because Santana would tear them down, and everyone was scared of Santana. But, no one was scared of Brittany. They didn't have any reason to be. She was incredibly sweet and liked to be everyone's friend. Her status as a Cheerio was the only thing that held others back from trying to get to know her more.

"Yea, of course I want to go shopping with you!" Brittany nodded her head enthusiastically. "Why? Do you not want to go?"

Kurt seized up as he saw Finn Hudson, quarterback for the McKinley Titans, look at him, waiting for him to answer Brittany's question. "No! I mean…yes! Of course I want to go with you." He looked at Finn, who went back to snacking on beef jerky.

Brittany smiled. She had never really noticed Kurt before. She had seen him around a few times but it was fun to talk to him.

Mercedes and Tina were trying to talk to one another so that they didn't have to acknowledge the fact that Quinn, Finn, and Brittany were at their table like it was no big deal. Rachel, on the other hand, had no problem asking.

"So, why are all three of you here? I only required Quinn's presence for the project meeting. "

Kurt shot daggers at Rachel with his eyes. Unfortunately for him, she kept talking.

"Not that I don't enjoy your company, but it's entirely unusual for individuals such as yourself to sit with members of the student population such as us."

Brittany scrunched up her nose. Surely Rachel could have said that more simply. Brittany was honestly confused about what exactly Rachel was talking about. Thankfully, Quinn had seemed to understand.

Quinn shrugged. "You and I have a project to work on. I didn't think it would be a big deal if Brittany and Finn came with me." She stared at Rachel, challenging her.

Rachel raised her hands in defense. "I didn't mean it like in a bad way…it's an honor, really."

Finn smiled. He knew that the rest of the football team gave the Glee club a really hard time. He knew Puck and some of the other guys threw slushies at the glee club. If it weren't for the hierarchical structure of high school popularity, Finn wouldn't have stood for it. But, he knew it couldn't be helped. There were bullies and there were the bullied. All he could do was use this small lunch to be nice to the glee club people, even if his football jersey was the ultimate symbol of their differences. "Well it's pretty cool to sit with you guys too. I hear you singing sometimes on my way to practice. You're pretty good."

Rachel all but dropped her heart-healthy turkey sandwich. "Thank you, Finn, that means so much! We are still in our early stages of development but we are hoping to go to sectionals this spring."

Quinn was suspicious of the way Rachel was looking at Finn.

Brittany wasn't paying attention anymore. She was watching the other side of the lunch room. One minute ago, Santana had walked in holding onto Puck's arm. Puck was grinning like he had just stolen something and Santana looked perfectly pleased to be hanging onto him. Brittany didn't know how to feel but she did feel her shaking get worse as Santana sat down at her usual table and Puck followed. How dare he sit in her seat. It was her seat. If there was ever an empty seat next to Santana, it was Brittany's. Everyone knew that. It was just fact.

Quinn had noticed Brittany's sudden stillness. Even more so, Quinn had noticed Brittany's breathing get shorter. "Britt?"

Brittany quickly averted her eyes and stared at her milk carton like her life depended on it.

Quinn had seen what Brittany was looking at.

"I think…I'm gonna get something from my locker…or something." Brittany suddenly stood up. She couldn't be here. Even though lunch was already half over, Brittany couldn't make herself sit in the same room that Santana was in. Not now. Not after what had happened this morning. Just seeing Puck was enough to make her feel sick. Seeing Santana made her stomach churn in a terrible way. There was no way Brittany could face her.

Quinn was startled by Brittany's sudden need to flee. But, she knew the reason behind it. "I'll go with you," She told Brittany, moving to stand up.

"You don't have to," Brittany said.

Quinn knew that she should but she also had a few more things to talk about with Rachel. And, she still had to brief Finn on the situation before Brittany's art class with Santana and Puck. So, Quinn did the next best thing. "Mike!" She called out.

Mike Chang had been filling up his water bottle at the water fountain. He walked over to the table when he heard his name being called. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Mike!" Brittany said, happily. She hadn't seen Mike around much. He was in all honors classes so she didn't get to see him during school. She used to be pretty close with Mike in elementary school. She used to share her candy with him in Mrs. Julius's sixth grade science class.

"Mike," Quinn began, "You're about to go to your locker, right?"

Mike saw something strange in the way Quinn was looking at him. He looked over at Finn.

Finn didn't know exactly what was going on, but he went with what Quinn seemed to want. He nodded slightly at Mike.

Mike saw Finn's nod. He obeyed his captain. "Uh, yea…just about to go to my locker…why?"

Quinn smiled at him. "Good, so is Brittany. You two can go together."

Mike furrowed his brow. Why would they need to go together?

Brittany didn't care that Quinn was trying to use the buddy-system on her. In fact, she sort of appreciated it. Plus, Mike was awesome. He was one of the football players who still spoke to everyone. That's why Brittany had always liked him. "Want to?" Brittany asked.

Mike couldn't help but smile. Who could say no to Brittany Pierce? "Yea, sure, let's go."

Brittany let Mike lead the way. As soon as they had exited the lunch room, she felt her body deflate. "Thank you for coming with me," Brittany told Mike.

"No problem. Is everything okay?"

Brittany nodded as she and Mike walked through the halls to Mike's locker. "Yea, just having a weird day, you know?"

Mike nodded. "Weird days suck."

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One thing that Quinn hadn't thought of was that Brittany and Santana had chemistry class together right after lunch. Art class was covered, as far as Quinn was concerned (thanks to the talk she had with Finn while Brittany and Mike were gone). So, when Quinn passed by Mike and Brittany still talking by Brittany's locker, Quinn panicked. "Britt…I forgot you had chemistry right after lunch!"

Brittany smiled at Quinn in greeting. She and Mike had been talking for a really long time. She had forgotten how much she liked Mike's stories about his little sister's imaginary friends. "Hey, Quinn! Yea…I have chem. next."

Quinn bit her lip. She was on her way to gym class so she couldn't wait around to find a solution.

"What's wrong?" Brittany asked. She recognized Quinn's worried expression easily. It finally clicked in her head. "Quinn, don't worry about it."

Quinn looked at Brittany. "But-"

"I'll be fine."

Mike said goodbye to the both of them because he sensed they were having a private conversation.

"It's just Santana." Brittany said quietly once Mike had left.

"I know, Britt," Quinn said. She put her hand on Brittany's arm. "I just…after this morning, I'm just worried about you. I know you and Santana are fighting too."

Brittany sighed. There was no point in denying anything. "I can sit with someone else. It's all good."

"You can?" Quinn asked, unsure.

Brittany nodded and nudged her friend. "I promise."

"Okay," Quinn said, "Make sure you tell someone if you have any problems. Or even text me…"

"Quinn, you have gym…your phone will be in your locker." Brittany laughed at Quinn's worried eyes.

"I'll keep it in my bra." Quinn replied.

Brittany pushed Quinn off in the direction of the gym. "If you say so. Go. I'll be okay."

Quinn nodded and hesitantly walked away.

Once she was gone, Brittany let out a long sigh. It already felt weird not walking to Chemistry with Santana. It would be even weirder not sitting with her. "Oh well…" Brittany said to herself, walking off in the direction of her Chemistry classroom. If there was one thing Brittany was good at, it was making friends. She knew she could find someone else to sit with.

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Brittany had spent all Chemistry class seated next to someone named Blaine. She had never seen him before so she had gone straight up to him and introduced herself. He had told her that she didn't recognize him because he had just transferred to McKinley from a school called Dalton Academy. Blaine eagerly accepted Brittany's offer to sit with him and the two spent the entire period laughing about their lab report instead of actually doing it. Brittany had been so distracted by Blaine that she only looked over at Santana a record total of five times. Santana had chosen to sit with the Cheerio that had a neck brace on all the time. Brittany didn't know her name.

After that, it was art. Brittany hadn't even had time to panic about having to see Puck when Finn sidled up to her on the way into the classroom.

"Hey, Brittany." Finn said.

Brittany looked at him. "Hey, Finn."

Finn pulled out a packet of gummy worms out of his pocket. "I was hoping we could sit together today? I still have a bunch of gummy worms left from this morning and I was hoping you could help me eat them?"

"Are you hitting on me?" Brittany asked.

The question stopped Finn dead in his tracks. "What? No, I-"

"I'm just kidding, Finn," Brittany said, laughing. "I know Quinn asked you to sit with me today."

"You do?" Finn asked.

Brittany nodded. Quinn wasn't that hard to figure out. "And I accept the offer. But only because you have gummy worms."

Finn breathed a sigh of relief. Quinn had asked him so seriously to sit with Brittany in art today that he was honestly scared of what would happen if he didn't.

Brittany nudged Finn with her elbow. "Thanks."

Finn smiled. "No problem. Wanna sit over there?" He pointed to a table near the window."

"Sure!" Brittany answered. She sat herself down. "I heard today we get to work with modeling clay. Something about the renaissance."

Finn shrugged. "Art isn't my favorite subject." He was timid in admitting this to Brittany. Usually Finn sat next to Puck during art class and the two would spend the entire period complaining how stupid the assignments were.

"Me either," Brittany admitted. "I'm better at writing. Not so much clay."

Finn smiled brightly. He wondered why he hadn't gotten to know Brittany better sooner. "Cool, you like to write? I kind of suck at that too."

"Just short stories." Brittany said as Finn sat down next to her. "I just write them for my own enjoyment, mostly." Brittany didn't tell Finn that she also wrote them so she could read them to Santana.

"I really like playing the drums," Finn admitted. He sheepishly looked at Brittany.

"That's awesome, Finn!" Brittany was impressed. "You'll have to show me sometime."

Finn nodded. "Yea, I guess I will." He found that talking to Brittany was really easy. It was as if she didn't have a judgmental bone in her body. Finn thought it was refreshing.

"Well well well…what's this?"

Brittany heard Puck's voice and felt her heart pound so suddenly that she thought she was having a heart attack. She nervously swallowed, hoping the feeling would go away.

"Hey, dude!" Finn greeted, patting Puck's shoulder.

"That's my seat," Puck said to Brittany.

Brittany tried her best to ignore him. She studied the trees outside the window instead. She couldn't look at him. She just couldn't.

"Britt is helping me with this class, dude. I have to get an A or my mom will kill me. I'm gonna be sitting next to her for the next week or two." Finn didn't know why he lied but the look in Puck's eyes made him do it.

Puck looked at Finn. "Oh really?"

Brittany chanced a look at Puck and stared him in the eyes. Finn obviously didn't know what had happened this morning so Brittany tried to act normal. "Really." She said.

Puck just glared at the blonde before beginning to walk away. "That's cool dude. I'll just be sitting with my lady." He plopped his books down on an empty desk nearby and waited for Santana.

"You okay?" Finn asked carefully. Brittany had started to shake slightly. He could see that her pencil was quivering between her fingers.

Brittany gulped. "I'll be okay."

Finn looked at her. He made a mental note to ask Quinn what was really going on. He hadn't liked the way Puck had looked at Brittany. Finn knew Puck could be mean but never to a Cheerio. It confused him.

Thankfully for Brittany, the teacher walked in and began to pass out hunks of modeling clay for them all. Brittany was able to silently mold her clay and periodically help Finn with his. She caught Santana looking at her only once but it was enough to make Brittany need to take a break with her project. She knew there would be countless more days like this and she didn't know if she could make it. Avoiding Santana was torture enough. Being in a fight with her was hell. But, having Puck looming over her was something so unbearable that Brittany couldn't stand it. Something had to change.