CHAPTER 4

On the train to Lima, I realize how excited I am to go home and attend the annual Glee reunion! After two intense weeks of rehearsals during which Berry and I have barely exchanged a word, I deserve a break. I can't wait to see my parents, the Gleeks and of course Brittany! Although after Mike's recent message, I'm officially worried about her.

FROM "OTHER ASIAN": Hi San, maybe you were right about Britt, I'm also getting concerned. It's really hard to meet up with her lately, she's too tired to do anything in the evening. She even turned down a night out with me and Tina. We visited her at her apartment but she fell asleep on the couch 10 min after we arrived so we left…

I really can't let this going on any further, I have to do something. Thanks to the reunion, Britt and I can spend some days together in Lima and I will definitely use this opportunity to get to the bottom of this and take action. But in the meanwhile, I put the trip time to good use and already set things in motion.

TO "QUINN" – Hey Q, how are you? Excited to see you soon! Since Mr Schue asked us to do some of our old numbers at the reunion, I was wondering if you were up for reviving the Unholy Trinity?

A few minutes later, my phone beeps.

FROM "QUINN" – Hi San, all good here, I hope you too. Can't wait to see you either, it's been way too long! YAY, definitely up for another amazing Unholy Trinity number, if Britt is OK with it too.

God I hope that Britt will agree to this. I'll ask her tomorrow when we meet.

THE NEXT DAY – GLEE REUNION

Mr Schue told us to meet at 15:00 in the choir room, but I get early to McKinley, to see Britt before everyone else arrives. We said we'd meet by our old lockers but I have been waiting there for 15 min and there is still no sight of her. After searching for her for a while, I finally find her in a class room, doing some sort of math equations on the board.

"Hey!" I say. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

She turns to me and I panick as I take in her appearance: she looks so tired and has lost a lot of weight. How can she lose so much weight in such a little time, I saw her two weeks ago?! Before I can say anything, she runs to me and engulfs me in a hug. I hug her as tight as I can, I feel the need to protect her even though I don't know yet what from. But I will find out.

"I missed you" she whispers.

"I missed you too, Britt-Britt, so much!" I say and kiss her. I quickly glance at the board but I don't ask her anything about it. I decide to get her far away from that math stuff. So I pull her by the hand and as we walk out of the room, I ask her: "What do you say you and I reunite a little threesome called the Unholy Trinity?" She doesn't answer but her smile says everything.

Later, Quinn, Britt and I join the rest of the Glee club in the choir room, the three of us dressed in our cheerio uniforms. The Unholy Trinity is back, bitches! As we start performing one of our classics - "Toxic" - Brittany seems to come back to life and I can't help but smile. So many amazing memories cross my mind, I've missed this room and those people. Our number is an undeniable success and warm applause fill the room.

I immediately go congratulate Brittany: "You were amazing as usual!"

"No, I wasn't. During the bridge, I was out of sync one 16th of a seventh step" she surprisingly replies.

"Britt…what are you talking about? You're the most amazing dancer I've ever met".

"No, no…" she shakes her head. I'm not. I need to focus on what I'm good at: quantitative algorithms".

She leaves the room and I stay there completely baffled by what she said.

I quickly change back into my clothes and start looking for Brittany. I can't find her anywhere, not even in any of the classrooms. Artie suddenly calls my name and starts speaking to me but I cut him off "NOT now, Wheels! Apparently today I'm condemned to run around in heels in this gigantic school, endlessly searching for my girlfriend!".

After what feels like forever, I finally find Brittany outside, in the middle of some kind of human sized chess board and I lose it. God knows I easily get angry at people but it never happens with Brittany, except this time. I pull her out of the game without warning, I don't even care what this chess shit is about. "What the hell Brittany!" I yell. "You have to stop disappearing like this and you must come out of … whatever this is! This is freaking me out, I've never seen you like this!"

I can see that she's taken aback by my yelling.

"Like what?" she whispers.

I can't stop yelling. "Well frankly you look like shit! You look exhausted and you've lost so much weight! What is going on? Talk to me!".

She stays silent, and looks at the floor. She looks like a lost kid.

I sigh and lift her chin to force her to look at me. Tears fall from her eyes and she finally starts to speak, even though I can barely hear her. "I… I don't know… I'm just depressed I guess. MIT is so stressful San, I feel anxious all the time and I feel so lonely. You live far away and I feel trapped in a vicious circle. I can't sleep at night because my life is a neverending math equation. I feel the need to see people but I can't even meet Mike or make new friends because I'm too tired to leave the apartment."

I hate to see her cry but I need to let her get it out of her chest. So I let her speak. "I got a bit better when I took sleeping pills, it used to work in the beginning but not anymore…and… I'm just so tired".

"Sleeping pills? How long have you been taking these?" I say, completely worried.

"I don't know… a couple of months maybe?"

"What?! But I didn't see you taking pills when you were in New York!"

"I didn't need them in New York, it's much easier to fall asleep with you next to me."

I hug her tight as if my life depended on it. "You'll be OK Britt, I promise. But no more pills. You're not at MIT right now, no one is asking you to do equations here. We're at the Glee reunion with all our friends, only people who love you. And I promise that I'll spend every night with you this week."

I look at her before telling her "And I don't know how you forgot but you LOVE to dance, you always look so happy when you do it. It relaxes you! And I know that you think that you're a little rusty right now, but you'll get it back. I'll prove it to you... Let's do a number together".

She shakes her head, much to my despair. "Those days are over, San. This is my life now" she says as she walks away. I know this time that talking more to her wouldn't help so I let her go. But I'm definitely not giving up.

Back in the choir room, Britt is talking to Quinn and I can't stop looking at her. I really wonder what is going on in that pretty head of hers. While she's busy and distracted, I take Mike aside and ask for his help. I'm not waiting any longer. It's time to act.

So just before Puck can perform his number, I speak up: "Sorry everyone but I would like to uphold the tradition of hijacking this glee club and making everyone sit through what is an intervention. Mr. Shue, you said that we could redo some of our favorite numbers, right? Well, then I want to do a dance duet with Brittany." I see Britt getting annoyed but I don't care, I'm going through with this.

"Hit it" I say to the musicians and the first notes of "Valerie" fill the room. I start singing by myself, dancing around Brittany but she doesn't move. Mike joins me on some crazy dance moves. Half way through the song, Brittany finally gets up, sings alongside me and starts dancing with us. Finally! I feel relieved and excited, I clap and smile big to encourage her. She needs to let go of her demons. Soon, everyone else gets up and joins in and we all dance together. I feel so happy in this room, it's insane the power it has over me. And clearly I'm not the only one, judging by the gigantic smile on Brittany's face.

I hug her and say "See? THIS is who you are. This is what happens when you don't think about it".

A/N: This is just an annual reunion, the Glee club is NOT closing down in my story 😊 Next chapter, I'll address the rivalry with Rachel and share a light on Britt and San's future. Reviews are highly welcome.