CHAPTER 20
Santana's two weeks of suspension were the longest of her life. She didn't talk or text Brittany once, and her Mexican third-eye didn't sense that Brittany was hoping for her return which made Santana sadder than she'd admit.
The suspension didn't have the desired effect on Santana's parents either. Rather than think of the suspension as a sign of normal teenage behaviour, they thought of it as another negative brought about from loving girls. If anything, it worsened Santana's relationship with her parents and made them think of her as even more of an anomaly that they had to fix.
When Santana did return to school, she was treated with hostility from all the Glee kids, even Brittany, though others members of the school seemed to think that burning the piano was cool and gave her high-fives which she returned with her good arm.
When Santana approached Brittany in an attempt to talk about everything, Brittany walked the other way.
Brittany continued to avoid Santana and wouldn't respond to any of her texts. Eventually, Santana gave up and didn't attempt to talk to Brittany either.
The best friends had lost their tether and been separated, left isolated and lonely, yet both were stubborn enough to think they could overcome the treacherous path back to normality without the help of the other.
More weeks passed like this until it had reached a month since Santana and Brittany had so much as said hi or acknowledge each other.
This avoidance and loss of friendship did not go unnoticed either. All the other Glee kids noticed but didn't particularly care as they were avoiding Santana also. The only exception was Quinn who still talked to Santana voluntarily though less regularly. More concerned by the girls change of relationship was Mr Schue, but compared to Sue, his worry was nothing.
With Nationals for the Cheerios quickly approaching and a seventh consecutive win up for grabs; the fallout between Santana and Brittany was ruining the routine and that was unacceptable.
Calling Santana into her office for the third time in that week alone, Sue needed to discuss how the girls were acting. The fact that they were no longer particularly close had been evident for weeks, but Sue suspected that they would sort out their feelings and become friends again quickly, as happens with most extremely close friendships.
"Santana, what's going on between you and Brittany?" Sue asked.
Hesitant to explain the scenario, with Sue of all people, but knowing that Sue would threaten her about the scholarship and she'd end up revealing the truth anyway, she decided to save both their time and be frank from the start.
"Brittany was extremely disappointed with me when I lit the piano on fire and told me that I should have just said no to you, even though it would get me kicked off the Cheerios. I told her that I couldn't do that. She asked me why. I told her that I couldn't say. She lectured me and said some things that aren't significant, so I'd rather not repeat them. She left saying that she didn't want to talk to me until I've sorted everything out. I haven't and never will be able to, so we haven't talked since." Santana explained.
At the thought of Brittany not wanting to talk to her any more, Santana felt tears welling up, as they had been every hour or so since that speech of Brittany's; and she pushed them away, swallowing hard, as she had been doing so every hour or so since that speech of Brittany's.
"You didn't tell her about your scholarship?" Sue questioned.
"No," Santana stated.
"Because you didn't want to explain to her your situation," Sue continued.
Santana nodded.
"Because you don't want her to know how desperate you are." Sue concluded.
Santana sighed and nodded again.
After a long pause, Sue said, "Well out of everyone on the Cheerios, you two have the most chemistry and the routine is choreographed around it. Now the chemistry is gone and the routine is dying." Sue stated.
"What do you need me to do?" Santana asked.
Sue's response surprised Santana. "Nothing," she said. "I just needed to know the facts." With that, Sue dismissed Santana and set about formulating a plan to stop Brittany from hating Santana.
-Thank you for reading! This is just a short one but there will be a longer chapter coming soon. I'd really appreciate it if you could follow/favourite and leave a review. I'd also 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