Y'all excited for the season 2 premiere tonight? :) I know I am even though I'm from the UK and therefore wont get to see it straight away! Don't go spoiling it for me too much yankees ;) 3 Anyway, been a really hectic week but I finally managed to find the time to post chapter 11 and so here it is! Read, review, ENJOY :)
It was the day of Santana's first dance class since the accident, her arm had fully healed long ago but she'd held back due to her shyness and her feeling that she needed to help Katya adjust to being audibly impaired. So on the Friday morning when Lena arrived to pick up Santana even Maria was having to push the little girl in to taking her dance bag with her to school.
"Come on Mija, you've been so looking forward to going back to dance class."
"But I've been away so long I'll be rubbish."
"Oh nonsense" chimed in Leon, "Whenever Brittany stays, which is seldom-" he said the second part whilst glaring at his wife but she turned away and pretended she hadn't noticed.
"-you spend half your time watching musicals and dancing along to all the songs in them." Santana smiled at this, it was very true after all. They'd choreographed a routine to almost every song in their favourite musicals.
"Yeah I guess, is Lena here yet?" she asked.
"Yes and Brittany is worried you're not feeling well so get a move on." Leon said this firmly but good-naturedly, pressing a small fold of dollar bills in to her palm as she said goodbye and reminding her about the ice-cream parlour just around the corner from the dance studio. Maria tutted, marking her disapproval of Leon's spoiling of Santana, but for once didn't say anything aloud on the matter.
Down in the car Katya was trying to understand why Santana was so nervous about taking dance lessons again: "Weren't you guys like, the best in the class before the car crash?" she asked.
"Yeah but the other girls didn't like her much for it." replied Brittany. Katya's jaw dropped at this.
"How could anyone NOT like Santana?" she exclaimed. Brittany looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.
"I guess they're jealous because Santana's prettier than all of them."
"You're always talking about how pretty she is, we get the point." Katya rolled her eyes and Lena chuckled. "I'm with Brit on this one, that's probably one of the reasons the other girls are jealous. Santana's a lovely-looking girl, like you two little monsters." she concluded warmly.
"Mooooom, don't go all mushy on us right before school, you'll embarrass me!" Brittany complained, causing Lena to laugh even more. "In front of who? Santana?" Brittany blushed and mumbled something about how Santana would think she was super uncool.
"Well, speak of the devil, here she comes now." said Lena. Brittany's head swivelled in the direction of Santana's front door. She smiled as Santana shuffled to the car, wrenched the door open with surprising strength for a girl of her size, then stepped inside with an anxious look on her face.
"Hey." she said quietly.
"Hey." muttered Brittany in return.
"Hey Santana!" yelled Katya, Lena eyed the two nine-year-olds in the mirror, noticing they were avoiding looking each other in the eye more often than... well, more often than any time. It just wasn't something they did. They drove on in silence for a couple of minutes before Katya asked, "Why are you two so quiet today?"
"We're always this quiet, you just don't notice 'cause you usually never shut up." said Brittany, Santana giggled and even Lena smothered a laugh.
"I'm nervous about dance class after school." Santana confessed. Lena noticed when she said this that a great wave of sadness washed over Brittany's face and the blonde girl gripped her friend's hand tightly; Santana squeezed back without the slightest bit of hesitation, as though it was simply second nature. And with those two, thought Lena, it pretty much was.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Katya suddenly projectile vomiting all over Brittany, causing the older sister to scream out in disgust and Santana to turn slightly green herself.
"Jesus Katya, what was that?" the little girl wiped her mouth and nose on her sleeve (Lena and Santana both winced) before croaking out, "I think the milk in my lucky charms was off after all." Lena cursed silently, "I bloody well said to your father. Brittany can you wear your dance clothes to school today?"
"Mom! I'm covered in puke, no way!"
"I know B but we're almost there now, just run and get changed in the toilets, no one will notice a thing if you're fast."
"Mom! This is so not cool!" Brittany looked as though she was going to be sick herself as well as looking furious.
"Look I know I really suck but I best take Katya to the doctor's just in case." Before they knew it Santana and Brittany were being herded in to the school gates and Lena was speeding off in the direction of their family doctor's practice. Brittany simply stood there in her sick-covered pinafore and started to cry, completely unsure of what to do next. It didn't take long for people to notice and soon everyone within a twenty yard radius of them was pointing and whispering.
Santana could see one girl, that Quinn Fabray, starting to laugh; everyone else in their grade quickly followed suit. Santana grabbed Brittany's hand (despite the fact it reeked of sour milk from trying to claw the congealed spew from her clothes) and dragged her to the nurse's office.
"She needs to get changed." she stated simply, yet firmly to the bewildered school nurse.
"Ohhhh-kay. Does she need me to call her mom?"
"Oh no, it's not HER puke, it's a long story, may we just use the screen in here please?"
"Uhm, I guess. You know the bell rings in five minutes don't you?"
"Yeah, we wont be long." Brittany had stopped crying by now and felt thoroughly humiliated for doing so. Her class mates laughter kept ringing in her ears so that she barely noticed Santana undressing her, washing her hands with warm, soapy water and then... "San, what are you doing?" Brittany snapped back to reality when she realized Santana had also stripped down to her underwear.
"You're going to wear these" she replied, thrusting her own skirt and cardigan towards Brittany.
"San... that's not fair on you, I can't."
"It's not fair on you that Katya was sick all over you either, and did you hear a question in what I just said? Put them on." Reluctantly Brittany pulled on Santana's clothes which, while they were a little short due to the height difference between the girls fitted well enough, and smelt strongly of Santana which made Brittany feel instantly better. Meanwhile Santana was slipping in to her leotard and pulling a pair of shorts on over it.
"Thanks San."
"Why? It's what I'm here for." she smiled and hooked her little finger in Brittany's, and with that they both picked up their belongings and made their way to class.
Throughout the entire school day Santana was pointed and laughed at, but she genuinely didn't care because she'd rather it was her than Brittany any day. During Spanish hour however the whispering and laughing stopped completely as Santana and Brittany more or less took over, even correcting their Spanish teacher's pronunciation at regular intervals.
When they were finishing up for the day Finn came over to Brittany and Santana's table, looking at his feet mostly, seemingly nervous.
"Uh, hey."
"Hey Finn." said Brittany brightly. Santana glared at him, she still hadn't forgiven him for throwing that paper plane at Brittany on the school bus.
"That was really cool what you did Santana, just wanted to tell you."
"What do you mean?" she feigned confusion, not wanting anyone else to know what had happened to Brittany that morning.
"I saw you two going in to the nurse's office this morning, I kinda worked out what you did. It was really nice."
"She's my best friend, I was just doing my job." Brittany blushed and Finn chuckled.
"Sounds like a pretty cool job. See you around." With that he ran off to catch up with Noah and Matt.
"That was weird." said Brittany.
"Yeah it was, Finn is pretty cool though. Mostly." replied Santana.
"I guess, anyway, time for dance class!" Brittany said with a voluminous smile. A lead weight found its way in to the pit of Santana's stomach but she grasped Brittany's hand and ignored it.
It turned out Santana had nothing to worry about, while she had been away it transpired Brittany had told them all about her helping Katya with her signing after the accident, along with Brittany's new hero status for saving Santana from being crushed which Santana had explained to their teacher when she had asked how it all happened both of them were pretty much the most popular girls in the class upon Santana's return.
After class Santana remembered her father had given her money and instead of taking the bus home straight away they made a beeline for the ice-cream parlour. After buying their favourites (raspberry for Santana and chocolate for Brittany) Santana used the quarters she'd received in change to call Brittany's house and explain why they'd be late.
"That's fine, you wanting to stay tonight? I can call your mom and ask." Lena was saying.
"That'd be nice, though you're better speaking to my Papa." replied Santana.
"Okay will do, is Brittany still mad at me?"
"I think she's forgotten about the whole thing to be honest with you Lena." said Santana as she looked over fondly at Brittany slurping her ice-cream whilst swinging her legs to and fro; sitting on the counter next to the pay phone. After saying goodbye to Lena and hanging up Santana tried to haul herself up on the counter next to Brittany but found she was too small.
Brittany laughed and put her ice-cream on the counter and jumped down, "Here, I'll give you a boost." she clasped her hands together and Santana stepped on them, just managing to pull herself up on to the counter without dropping her own ice-cream. Brittany returned to her seating place and the two girls sat in content silence for a full ten minutes while they devoured their desserts.
"San?"
"Yeah Brit?"
"Thanks for today."
"It's okay, I did it because you're my best friend."
"Promise?"
"Of course silly, we both promised, best friends forever and beyond. Remember?"
"Yeah."