CHAPTER 18

At lunch, there was a piano in the courtyard just as Sue had promised. Earlier that morning, Santana had moved a fire extinguisher into the courtyard as a safety precaution but still wasn't sure about how safe this was going to be. Nevertheless, she was ready to go along with it; her water bottle filled with oil to pour on the piano and a match in her pocket ready to be lit.

Santana took a deep breath, preparing to go along with the task Sue had set her and to lose most of her closest friends on the way. As she began to walk towards the piano, Blaine jumped out of his seat and began a lively performance of 'It's Not Unusual' by Tom Jones. Knowing Sue wouldn't accept failure, Santana improvised, throwing the contents of her bottle on top of the piano before jumping up the stairs to where Blaine was and dancing beside him. A couple of other Cheerios joined her as she began performing their most recent routine.

Brittany sat at a table with Quinn, cheering and clapping Santana on, thrilled that she was taking part in the assignment as she thought it would really boost her mood. For this reason, she was surprised when at the end of the song as Santana was walking towards her table, she took out a match and lit it before placing it on the piano which must have been covered with something highly flammable as it immediately burst into flames.

Santana quickly jumped back, not expecting the piano to catch so quickly and shook her arm where the flames had licked her skin. Knowing she needed to get some water on the burn and fast, she turned and ran towards the nearest bathroom; making eye contact with Brittany and gesturing towards the extinguisher as she did so.

Brittany seemed to pick up on what Santana was trying to communicate as she hastily got the extinguisher and put out the fire before heading off in the direction Santana left, leaving Quinn sitting alone, her brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to work out what had just occurred.

Eventually finding Santana in the bathroom, Brittany immediately asked, "Why did you do that Santana? This assignment was meant to bring everyone together and you burning the piano metaphorically meant you tearing us all apart."

"That was the point," Santana winced, holding wet paper towels over her arm which was throbbing painfully.

"You're saying you were purposely trying to break everyone apart?" Brittany asked, stunned.

"Sue made me," Santana exhaled through gritted teeth.

Overcoming her original annoyance, Brittany realised why Santana had come to the bathroom in the first place.

"I'm going to momentarily forget everything you just told me so that I can help you with your arm but after that we need to have a serious conversation." Brittany said.

Santana just nodded, holding her arm out to Brittany who handled it softly, peeling off the wet paper towels that Santana had already placed there causing her to wince.

"Sorry," Brittany quickly stated apologetically.

"Don't worry," Santana responded curtly.

Once Brittany had removed everything and was finally able to get a good look at Santana's arm.

"San," Brittany cooed softly, the sight of the bad burn initiating her instinct of helping Santana which prioritised over the fact that she was mad. "How did you let that happen?"

"Well, when I lit the piano, I didn't realise how effective the oil would be and wasn't prepared for it to flare so quickly or so high," Santana explained, her teeth still clenched tightly.

"You should probably go to the nurse," Brittany said frankly, reminded of what Santana had done by her previous statement. "I'll walk you there," she added.

Santana nodded in agreement and thanks, not trusting her voice.

When they arrived at the nurses office, a thick, slimy cream was immediately applied on Santana's burns which caused her to tense up from pain when first applied but then relax when the immediate effects of the cream paired with the Panadol she had also been given kicked in.

"Why don't you go through and take a seat," the nurse suggested while gesturing to the next room. "Just sit down and rest."

Brittany turned to leave to class when a croaky Santana asked, "Britt, can you please stay?"

Brittany's instinct to please Santana paired with her wanting to understand why Santana did what she had led her to say yes. She moved beside Santana, sitting close but not touching.

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Brittany broke it with, "So why did you do it?"

"Sue forced me," Santana repeated.

"That's not a reason," Brittany responded. "You could've just said no."

"She would have kicked me off the team," Santana explained.

"And?" Brittany began. "You don't need the Cheerios. It was Sue that you got into whole sexuality mess due to the ad and it was all our friends in Glee that helped and are still helping you through it."

Santana understood where Brittany was coming from but she didn't understand the stakes involved with the scholarship. "You don't understand," Santana stated bluntly.

"Then help me understand!" Brittany said, wanting to know Santana's angle so that she could better comprehend the choice and then forgive Santana.

Wanting to tell Brittany but the truth but not willing to let Brittany know how desperate she was, Santana just responded with, "I can't."

Standing up and looking down on her, Brittany said, "You're my best friend Santana; you know that, just like I know that you're a good person at heart. But all of this deception and lying to do with siding with Sue, helping ruin Glee club and not explaining what's happening just isn't you, and I don't like it. When you've worked out everything that's going on with yourself, come back to me, because this isn't you, and I really miss my best friend. Until then I don't want to talk with you." Having said her piece, Brittany left.

-Thank you for reading! I'd really appreciate it if you could follow/favourite and leave a review. Please let me know about how you thought this chapter was and suggest some storylines that you would like to see further on in the au. As of yet I'm not sure how long this will be but if you could leave me some recommendations then I can work on that. I'd love it if you could also go read my new Brittana fanfic: When The Walls Come Tumbling Down. Once again, thank you for taking your time to read this!

Note: I don't own Glee or any copyrighted characters or material that are referred to in this story- Thanks also to my amazing friend and editor Aster