CHAPTER 21
After a long night of thinking, Sue thought of the perfect plan and called Brittany into her office the next day to put it in action.
"Brittany, I need you to do something for me," Sue began.
"Okay," Brittany responded. "What is it?"
"I need you to give me the New Directions setlist for the upcoming competition." Sue said. She didn't actually need the setlist, but she knew that by making a big threat to the Glee club, Brittany would refuse, letting her segway into the next stage of her plan.
"Why do you need the setlist?" Brittany asked.
"So that I can leak it to all the other teams and sabotage the Glee club!" Sue responded cheerily. That was a tactic that she had, in fact, used before; though it didn't prove to be successful.
"I can't do that." Brittany said.
"Why not?" Sue responded.
"Because the Glee club is like my family. I'm not going to betray them." Brittany justified.
"How about I tell you that if you don't do it, I'll kick you off the Cheerios." Sue threatened.
"Then I guess I'll be off the Cheerios. But you're not going to do that; not so close to Nationals anyway." Brittany refuted.
"Hmmm… You're not as stupid as everyone thinks you know," Sue responded. "But you're right, I won't kick you off the Cheerios. I'll just get Santana to get the setlist for me because she can't refuse."
Intrigued by why Santana couldn't say no to Sue, especially since she wouldn't tell Brittany herself, she questioned Sue, "Why?"
"Why what, Brittany?" Sue asked, glad Brittany was falling into her trap.
"Why can't Santana refuse?" Brittany inquired.
"Well she can't afford to lose her scholarship. It's the only chance she has of getting into college." Sue responded matter-of-factly.
"Santana has a scholarship?" Brittany asked, surprised Santana hadn't said so.
"Yes, a full Cheerleading scholarship to the University of Lousville."
"Why is it her only chance of getting into college?" Brittany followed up.
"Well you of all people should know how badly Santana's parents have dealt with her coming out of the closet. They don't think she's worth anything and aren't going to provide her with any college funds. In fact, they said they aren't going to help her financially at all meaning as of next year they won't even be paying her school fees. Thankfully, I have arranged for Santana to remain here until she graduates. After that, she'll be 100% reliant on her cheerleading scholarship. In fact, it's probably the most precious thing she owns." Sue explained.
"And you're using that against her!" Brittany said, her voice raising an octave in the process due to rage.
"Yes. If Santana refuses to do something, I simply tell her she'll be off the Cheerios and consequently lose her scholarship to Louisville. She also wouldn't graduate at all as she wouldn't be attending school next year." Sue said.
"That's terrible!" Brittany exclaimed.
"Terrible; but effective," Sue responded, pointing Brittany as she said it.
Not able to deal with Sue any longer and needing to go and find Santana to apologise for treating her so badly when she didn't fully understand the situation, Brittany left.
"Santana," Brittany said, spotting Santana putting her books away and running over to her. "I need to talk to you."
"I'm not in the mood for more guilt right now," Santana responded, "so please go away."
"I just want to say one thing, and then I will." Brittany stated.
Santana was hungry and wanted to go to lunch, but Brittany seemed determined, and if she was being honest, she was glad Brittany had decided to talk with her again.
"Fine; but keep it quick," Santana responded more bluntly than she had intended.
"It's just, I wanted to apologise," Brittany began. "Sue called me into her office today, and she asked me to tell her the New Directions setlist. I said no. She then said it was fine because she'd just get you to do it. I wasn't sure why she had such a big influence on you, and you wouldn't tell me, so I asked why…"
Feeling guilty about pushing for information that was obviously very private for Santana, Brittany paused, took a breath, swallowed hard and blinked a few times before looking up at Santana and continuing.
"And Sue told me," Brittany said, her voice cracking. "I know I shouldn't have asked but I couldn't help myself and I'm sorry. I understand why you did everything now as it was the only viable option for you. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm really sorry, and I forgive you."
There was a part of Santana that was relieved. Brittany had forgiven her. But there was a bigger part of Santana that felt angry.
"You think I wanted to throw away every solid friendship I'd made in the last three years by burning that piano? That I was willing to throw away the trust of everyone that had supported me through the toughest time of my life? Or that I wanted to lose my best friend? Because you were my best friend Brittany and whenever something bad happened, I knew I could trust you to make me feel better." Santana paused to gulp in some air before continuing.
"How fortunate for me that you finally got proof that I'm not a cold-hearted bitch that goes around hurting those close to her simply because she is asked to and can. You know, proof other than my word I mean, but what reason would you have to trust that?" Santana said, forcing a laugh in order to stay nonchalant.
Brittany opened her mouth to speak, but Santana continued talking, unable to stop herself.
"Because it's not like I ever did anything to earn your trust. It's not like I helped you when you got slushied in the face, or that I saved you from copping two slushies the next day by taking them myself. It's not like I taught you how to do your locker combination, or helped you find your classroom every day for over a month. It's not like I defended you whenever someone so much as insulted or attempted to insult you, not only getting me in trouble but also hurting myself in the process. Because it did hurt. When Quinn pushed me into the locker and onto the ground; that absolutely smashed my shoulder, twice! And when Rachel punched me in the jaw; that really hurt too; but of course, I was too busy helping you to worry about it! And why did any of that happen? Because I was fighting for you! But no, that's no reason you should trust me! That's no reason too-" Santana said before her voice cracked and she began sobbing. She leaned against the wall for support but only ended up sliding down as her legs got weak.
Santana felt numb and terrified of her own numbness. Her hands began to tremble, and Brittany bent down and patted Santana's knee before wrapping her arms around Santana, squeezing so hard that it hurt. They kneeled together on the floor, and Santana clutched Brittany as tight as Brittany was clutching her, as she needed to feel Brittany's strength and security to prevent herself from falling apart. To Santana, Brittany smelt like lilacs and warm gingerbread and felt strong, just like she had when they had their movie marathon and when Brittany helped Santana through everything about the commercial; all events that seemed like an eternity ago, but in reality, were quite recent.
Brittany didn't know a word strong enough to describe how broken Santana looked, but seeing Santana hurting so much hurt her heart. And what Santana had said was right; Brittany should've trusted her word.
Needing Santana's forgiveness, wanting to make her feel better, and needing to fulfil her own longing that she'd buried and ignored for so long, Brittany leaned in and passionately kissed Santana.
Wanting so desperately to return the kiss but knowing it would only shatter her further when they had to pretend it never happened so that Brittany could continue her relationship with Artie, Santana pulled away.
"Britt, you're with Artie," she said desperately.
"I don't care about Artie," Brittany responded, planting another kiss on Santana. "You're the one that I want Santana; it was always you. And I'm sorry it took me so long to come to terms with that," Brittany whispered hotly to Santana before initiating another kiss.
This time, Santana didn't back away but kissed back with passion, pulling herself into Brittany and removing the remains of the small space that was between them. They parted only when they were too breathless to continue and in desperate need of air.
"I love you Santana," Brittany panted, a sheepish grin on her face.
"I love you too Britt," Santana echoed before they kissed again.
-Thank you for reading! Only one more chapter and an epilogue and then this will be finished! 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 :)