I bet some of you hate Quinn even more right now, haha. The people kind enough to leave reviews said they felt bad for Brittany, so I'm guessing a good amount of my readers feel the same way. Honestly, as I write this story, sometimes I'm like - :( - when I write stuff for her, and this chapter brings a bit more of that but don't worry, she will definitely redeem herself in the next update.

I hope you all enjoy this one.

If I'm being completely honest, during the summer of '06, I didn't think too much about what had happened with Brittany. My mom and I left to California for a few weeks and I got to visit Disneyland for the first time, so I definitely wasn't thinking much about what happened. I was a kid and got over the whole thing pretty quickly. Or so I thought.

When we got back home, my mom started driving me to the public pools almost every weekend because it got extremely hot. To get to the pools, we had to drive by Brittany's house and every time we drove past it, I'd look out the car window and kind of hope I'd catch a glimpse of her playing in her front yard or something. I never did.

I did, however, see her at the pools one Saturday afternoon. I was sitting at the edge of the bigger pool with my mom. We were only soaking our feet because we had just had lunch and my mom said it was bad to swim right after eating. She has always been extremely motherly.

So I sat there watching my feet move beneath the rippling water and waiting for my food to settle.

My mom was talking about needing to go buy school supplies for me when she stopped mid sentence and gasped a little. "Is that girl going to jump?" She asked with concern. "Should she be jumping? I thought the diving board was only for the older kids."

I looked up at the ten foot diving board, but the sun was in my eyes. By the time I brought my hand up to shield my eyes, the girl had already dove into the water.

"Wow!" It must have been a good dive. My mom seemed impressed.

A blonde head emerged from the water and when she opened her eyes, blue irises shined against the sun's rays. She ran a hand through her wet hair to get it away from her face and swam to the side of the pool to climb out. She was wearing a one piece blue bathing suit and I chuckled when she hooked her index fingers underneath it and fixed it in a way that covered more of her butt.

She began walking back towards the diving board, I think she was going to jump again, but a blonde girl a few feet away from me called for her.

"Brittany!" She yelled.

Brittany turned around and the girl waved her over.

She was coming my way. She was going to see me.

She was getting closer.

I didn't know if I should say hi or pretend not to see her. I thought that maybe she would ignore me if I said hi to her. That'd be embarrassing.

"Are we leaving?" Brittany asked as she came closer.

"Yeah," the other blonde replied.

Brittany hadn't seen me yet. She was going to miss me. I just needed to keep my head down. I was almost off the hook.

"Hey, that was a really good jump!" My mom said. "Very impressive."

I looked over at my mom and saw her looking towards Brittany's direction with a big smile.

"Thank you," I heard Brittany say kindly.

No one said anything for a few seconds, so I looked up to see if she was still there. She was. And she was looking at me.

I gave her what felt like an awkward smile and an equally awkward wave.

She smiled at me. She smiled the same way she had smiled at me the day of our middle school field trip before Quinn had yelled at her.

"Brittany, let's go," the blonde girl said. I guessed that was one of her sisters, but I wondered if she was the nice one or the mean one.

Brittany continued walking and the two blondes hurried away from the scalding sun's heat and into the front office.

That was the first time and last time I saw her that summer. I still passed by her house a few times after that but never saw her. When I casually brought up running into her while talking to Quinn through the phone, she groaned and asked why I still cared about her, but she didn't question me for long because she had just started dating a kid named Noah and that's all she wanted to talk about.

When we started the school year, Quinn stopped hanging out with me and spent most of her break time by the isolated vending machines making out with her boyfriend, which apparently now went by the ridiculous name of 'Puck.'

Luckily for me, I was able to make a new friend the first week of school. She was in both my Math and History class and had the weirdest name ever but was pretty cool for the most part. She also had wealthy parents, which was weird because she went to public school. But anyway, she was cool, except for the fact that she sucked at Math just as much as I did.

"Hey, I know someone who has this class a day before us and she would totally let us copy her homework," Sugar said as we packed up our textbooks and notebooks. "I think she has P.E. right now. Let's go ask her?"

I slipped my backpack on. "I'm not asking her. I don't even know her, but I'll go with you."

We only had a five minute passing period, so we rushed to the locker rooms and waited outside for the Math Girl.

"Maybe she already left," I offered after waiting a little too long. "The bell's about to ring. We need to go." I was watching the last few students scatter to their classrooms when I heard Sugar shout, "Brittany!" The bell rang and I almost snapped my neck as I looked back over my shoulder.

Brittany neared Sugar with a flushed face and a light coat of sweat on her forehead.

"Hey!" Sugar leaned forward and wrapped Brittany in a hug which she gladly returned.

As they pulled back, Brittany made eye contact with me over Sugar's shoulder and smiled. "Hi."

"Hey," I said back with a half grin.

"Ak!" Sugar yelped. "You're kinda sweaty."

"Oh, yeah." Brittany looked back at her and flushed. "I'm sorry. We had to run a lot today."

"It's okay. Hey, we were waiting for you because I want to ask you for a huge favor."

Brittany glanced at me then looked back at Sugar.

"I was wondering if I may borrow your math homework?" Sugar grimaced. "It's just that Santana and I aren't very good at Math, so we just want to... look over your homework and try to understand it that way."

"Oh." Brittany looked at me and I avoided her eyes by looking down and examining the notebook I was holding. "Yeah. You can borrow it." She swung her backpack from her back to her chest and pulled out two sheets of paper. "But I need it back tomorrow morning. I don't want to turn it in late."

"Of course!" Sugar took the homework and slipped it into her binder. "Actually, Santana and I have History next so we can be done with it by lunch time."

"You're going to study during your History class?" Brittany asked confused.

"Um..." Sugar glanced at me. "We're not going to study. Just... glance at it so that we can understand it better."

"Oh." Brittany nodded once.

"How about you meet us at the lunch tables outside the cafeteria during lunch and we'll give it back to you then."

"Okay."

"Cool! We'll see you later then." Sugar looped her arm with mine and pulled me towards our classroom.

"Bye, Santana," I faintly heard Brittany say.

I twisted my upper body to look back at her and waved goodbye.

/

"Sugar, hurry up!" I scolded. "She's going to show up soon and see that we're copying it."

"By what you told me in History class, you know her a lot better than me and you said she's nice, so I don't think she'll get mad if she finds out. Plus, you're the one that got caught doing math homework during History." She spoke as she jotted down messy equations on her paper. "I could have finished it in there if you hadn't gotten caught and forced to put it away."

"Just be glad that I'm brilliant and got caught working on math homework and not copying."

"Hi."

"Oh! Hey, Brittany! I'm almost done cop- comparing..." Sugar corrected herself, "Our homeworks. Sit down. I'll be done soon."

Brittany placed her food tray down on the table with a smile and sat across from Sugar and me. She ripped open her bag of potato chips and dropped one in her mouth.

I tried to keep my eyes down on Sugar's work but was forced to look at Brittany when she spoke.

"You still don't understand math?"

"Oh, um. No." I paused. "It's okay though, Sugar and I help each other out."

Her brow furrowed. "But Sugar doesn't get it either."

"I get it," Sugar defended, "...Sometimes."

"Shut up, no you don't," I said.

"I can tutor you."

Sugar and I both looked at her.

"The both of you," Brittany added. "If you want."

I immediately thought of her offer as a bad idea. The last time Brittany had helped me with math homework things didn't end well. I would have rather failed Math class than go through the whole Brittany thing again.

"Oh my god, really?" Sugar beamed. "That'd be perfect!"

"What?" I looked at her with something close to terror. "Sugar, no." I glanced at Brittany. "I mean, Brittany already has six classes, tutoring us would just add to that."

"I don't mind," Brittany said. "I like Math. And I like to help."

"See, Santana! It's fine." Sugar slapped my arm. "When can we get together, Brittany?"

We got together everyday during lunch unless we didn't have homework. In which case Brittany wouldn't show up. I didn't know where she would go on those days, but I hoped she had a friend or two.

"I'm starting to understand things better now," I said after the first week and a half of getting tutored. "I don't think we need tutoring anymore."

Sugar thought about it for a moment. "Well, I do get the stuff we're doing right now, but I'm pretty sure we won't get the next chapters. Brittany doesn't charge us anything and we've been passing our tests; I think we should keep letting her tutor us."

I groaned.

"Wait. Are you scared she's going to get... attached or whatever, again?"

I shrugged.

"Why does she make you uncomfortable, anyway? I give you hugs and hold your arm."

"Yeah, but you don't try to hold my hand and you have other friends apart from me."

"That's true. I am super popular. But it's a little sad that Brittany doesn't have any friends. If you weren't scared of her, I'd totally invite her to hang out with us 'cause the other day, I saw her eating lunch alone by the track. It was super sad."

I frowned.

I felt really terrible. I knew Brittany was super sweet and could be a good friend. I just wished I could get over the anxiety she gave me and I wished she wasn't so intense.

/

One Friday afternoon, during lunch, we finished our tutoring session early, so Sugar, Brittany and I were chit chatting about random stuff. Sugar and Brittany wandered off into a conversation about movies and I just listened because I hadn't seen any of the movies they were mentioning.

"I haven't been to the movie theater in weeks!" Sugar exaggerated. "I really want to go see the new Harry Potter movie, but Santana refuses to go."

I rolled my eyes.

"Would you want to go with me, Brittany?"

I widened my eyes.

"To the movies?" Brittany grinned from ear to ear. "Yeah. I want to go."

"Awesome! Write down your address." Sugar handed her a sheet of paper. "My mom can drive us. She has a super posh Mercedes Benz."

Brittany finished writing down her address and slid the paper over to Sugar. "Do you think we can watch another movie after Harry Potter?"

"Hmm, I think so. We can sneak in after. What movie did you want to watch?"

"Brokeback Mountain."

Sugar's brow pinched together. "Isn't that one about like, gay cowboys or something?"

Brittany nodded.

I looked at Sugar and anxiously waited for her to say something.

"Yeah, we can watch that too. It's probably rated R though, so we're going to have to be super sneaky, like ninja status."

I was surprised. I thought Sugar was going to grimace and ask Brittany why she wanted to watch a movie about two gay guys. I'm sure that's what Quinn would have done.

That Saturday, Sugar called me and asked me one last time if I was sure I didn't want to go to the movies with them. I answered no. For starters, I hated Harry Potter, and I also wasn't going to watch a movie about some dudes making out. I didn't understand why Brittany was interested in that.

"So. Did you have fun at the movies?" I asked Sugar during math class the following week.

"Oh, yeah! You missed out. Harry Potter was uh-mazing!"

"Did you end up watching the other movie too?"

She nodded. "It was super sad. Those guys really loved each other and it didn't have a very happy ending. I think Brittany teared up. I'm not sure, though. It was really dark in there."

When we had lunch that day, I was feeling relieved because we had a math test the following week so our teacher didn't assign any homework for a few days. I thought Sugar and I would have lunch and not have to worry about equations... or Brittany. But Sugar forgot to mentioned the fact that she had invited Brittany to have lunch with us even if she wasn't tutoring us.

"Are you serious?" I exclaimed as we sat down at our usual lunch table. "You asked her to sit with us?"

"Sorry! She's really nice, I don't get why she doesn't have friends."

"I told you what happened between her and I. That's why she doesn't have friends!"

"Well, I'm the one that hung out with her and stuff. We get along. She probably doesn't even care about you anymore."

I sighed and stabbed one of my fish sticks.

"Hi, guys." Brittany showed up out of nowhere as usual and sat down next to Sugar.

"Hey, Britt! I was just telling Santana how good the movies were."

"Oh, yeah. They were really good. You should come with us next time, Santana," Brittany suggested.

"Oh. Yeah, maybe."

There was next times. They went out a lot, actually. There was always an invitation for me, but I always made up an excuse so I wouldn't have to go. My mom said no. I have homework. I'm grounded.

One day during a passing period, I stopped at a vending machine to get something to drink. I was standing there trying to choose between a Gatorade and a Coke when two warm hands covered my eyes from behind.

"Hi," Brittany whispered near my ear. She pulled her hands away and I turned around to face her.

"Hey."

She hugged me, not like she used to though. It was a quick hug, as if she was afraid she'd hold me for too long.

"What are you gonna buy?" She asked with a smile.

I turned back around to the vending machine and pressed the button with a Gatorade picture on it. The blue drink rolled out and I held it up for her to see.

"I like those," she said and re-adjusted the strap hanging from her shoulder.

"What's with the duffle bag?"

"I made the Basketball team. Today's my first game. Will... will you come?... Sugar's going," she added for support.

I exhale an 'oh'. "Um..." I looked her in the eye and saw how hopeful she was. "Yeah. I'll catch a ride with Sugar."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "Here." I held out the Gatorade for her to take. "Don't pass out during the game."

She took the drink with an enormous grin and pink cheeks. "Thank you."

I've ever been a Basketball fan, but it was pretty entertaining to watch her play. She was as good at Basketball as she was at Volleyball. Her team won and when she finished changing and came out the locker rooms she was so excited that she almost knocked Sugar and I over with a group hug.

"You were so awesome, Brittany! I don't get how you can take on some of those huge girls," Sugar said.

Brittany shrugged and laughed. "Thank you guys for coming." She pulled the both of us in for a second hug and when she subtly turned her face a few inches to the left she kissed my cheek.

I didn't go to any of her games after that.

/

A few weeks later, Valentine's Day came around and Sugar got a secret admirer.

"Oh my god, I wonder if he's cute," Sugar gushed after she found the stupidest and most corny love letter I've ever read taped to her lock. "He has to be cute. I don't think an ugly boy would approach me." She gasped. "Santana, what if he's ugly and that's why he decided to be a secret admirer?!"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure he's a looker, Sugar."

We walked up to my locker and Sugar gasped again. "What is that?!" She peeled off the tape holding a chocolate bar to my locker and turned it over before reading out loud, "I hope you have a sweet day. Smiley face. Heart." Her mouth gaped. "We both have secret admirers!"

"Ugh. You can have the chocolate. Valentine's Day is stupid." I opened my locker and pulled out my English book. "I'll see you in lunch."

I remember walking through the hall to get to my English class and feeling extremely annoyed at all the girls fawning over some stupid stuffed animal or cheap flower. I don't get the point of Valentine's Day. It's clearly just a ploy to get idiots to buy candy and get the even bigger idiots to spend their money on expensive dinners and jewelry. If you love someone, then why can't you just show them your love on a regular day basis? Why do you need a specific date?

After getting through my English class, I was the first one to walk out the classroom because I always sat next to the exit. I pushed the door open and came face to face with a bundle of balloons. I slapped them away from my face and looked down to find a bag of heart candies weighing the balloons down. I picked it up and read the tag hanging from it, 'For Santana Lopez. Thinking of you makes me feel like a floating balloon.' I frowned. I was sure that whichever boy was giving me all this candy was inexperienced with this sorts of stuff.

I picked up the bag of candies and tried stuffing them along with the balloons in my locker, but they obviously didn't fit, so I went out to the quad area and l untied the balloons, allowing the wind to carry them off to God knows where.

During lunch, Sugar showed up with a stupid teddy bear from her admirer and seeing her reminded me of the bag of candies I had in my backpack. I pulled them out and tossed them on the table. Sugar and Brittany both looked at me.

"You guys can have them," I said.

"They're from your admirer, aren't they?" Sugar asked. "Santana, you should keep them. Some sweet boy is spending his money on you."

"He's no sweet. He's stupid. I didn't ask for any candy, so it's his own damn fault that he's money is going to waste."

Brittany and Sugar exchanged glances.

"Well, I'm not going to let them go to waste." Sugar took the candy and stuffed it in her backpack.

After lunch, I had two more classes: Science and a Health class. I always go to my locker during that passing period to change textbooks and that day it wasn't any different, except for the fact that I found Brittany standing at my locker.

"Brittany?" I asked as I walked closer.

Brittany turned around and seemed surprised to see me. She kept her hands behind her back and asked, "What are you doing here?"

My brow furrowed. "This is my locker. I came to switch books. What are you doing here? Isn't your locker down the hall?"

She shook her head. "Well, I mean, yes but I was- I was just." She sighed and let her arms drop back to her sides, revealing her hands to be holding a yellow rose and a roll of tape.

I looked around and made sure no one was watching us. "Brittany, are you the one that gave me all that candy today?"

She looked at me timidly and nodded. "Happy Valentine's Day," she said and before I could react she kissed my cheek and wrapped me in her arms.

"Brittany, no." I pushed her away. "What are you doing? Girls can't be other girl's secret admirers!"

Brittany's face fell. "Why not?"

"Because! That's not how things are suppose to be done."

"But we're friends."

I shook my head. "We're not friends. Look, don't mix things up. Sugar is your friend and that's fine, but I only hang out with you guys because I was already Sugar's friend when you started having lunch with us. We're not friends and we're definitely not best friends, okay? So stop kissing me and hugging me all the time. And stop leaving me stupid candy everywhere."

The bell indicating we were suppose to be in class rang. Brittany and I were the only ones left in the hall.

Her blue eyes turned crystal blue when the tears started forming and her eyebrows pushed together and upwards. "Okay." Her head hung a little. "I'm sorry," she whispered and hurried down the hall and out the door.

/

The following day Sugar came into Math class extremely upset.

"Santana!" She took her sit next to me and slammed her backpack down on the desk. "Why were you so mean to Brittany?!"

"Sugar, I don't want to talk about it, okay? If you want to hang out with her now and not me that's fine. I understand."

"Of course I'm going to hang out with her! She did nothing wrong. I'm not going to stop being her friend because you were mean to her!"

"Are you going to stop talking to me?" I asked. I was worried. I liked Sugar. I liked being her friend.

"No. You're my friend too, but obviously we can't all hang out together anymore, so I have to choose one of you."

I sighed. "I know. It's fine. Brittany needs a friend more than I do."

"I don't understand how you can care about her, but at the same time not want to help her," she said, her voice a little more toned down.

I didn't get it either.

/

For the first time ever, I was a loner.

Sugar and Brittany continued to sit at our lunch table and after a few weeks Sugar said it was okay if I sat with them again. She said Brittany had agreed to inviting me to sit with them, but I denied her offer.

I continued to eat alone for the remainder of the year. It wasn't fun. Not one bit. Once I experienced not having any friends, I felt a million times worse about having deprived Brittany from a friend of her own.

I was only friendless for a while though. During my second and final year at that school, Quinn invited me to have lunch with her and Puck. She said she felt sorry for me and didn't think I should be friends with Sugar because anyone who found Brittany amusing was clearly just as weird. So I took what was offered to me and became "friends" with Quinn again and even Puck. We also walked home together after school. Quinn's mom no longer picked up her up because Quinn insisted on having Puck walk her home since he was her boyfriend. I never understood Quinn's obsession with having a boyfriend. Why would you want one? They smelled and we're immature and just... no.

Towards the end of that school year, Puck let us in on some gossip. "Did you guys hear the rumor about Brittany? He asked with a cheeky grin.

My ears immediately perked when her name was mentioned.

"Let me guess, she's pregnant," Quinn said dryly.

"Nope. Any more guesses?"

"Just tell us, Puck," I ordered.

"Well, I heard that she's bi."

"What?" Quinn grimaced. "As in gay?"

"Not gay. Bi. As in she likes dick and pussy."

"Puck!" Quinn scolded. "That's disgusting! Don't talk like that."

"That's what it means!" He defended. "I think it's hot. Her boyfriends will probably get to have threesomes."

Quinn scowled at him.

"I'm just saying," he said.

I kept my eyes on the floor and didn't say anything, hoping Quinn wouldn't ask for my opinion on this new information. She didn't, but she did say Brittany was not only annoying but gross too.

I didn't know what to think of it. I didn't even know if it was true. But if it were indeed true, then it certainly made some things begin to make sense.