xoxo – Thanks for your lovely reviews :) I understand how you feel reading it, it hurts my heart too to write it all down. But I wanted to tell you that I've got some good happy times to share yet, and I wouldn't be so cruel to lead you guys through this without a happy ending.
Puff614- It totally made my day that you said you wished everyone was a little bit more like Brittany. :D
So here's what you missed on Glee. Brittany has Asperger's but refuses to talk about it and the only person who really knows is Santana who just wants to help and doesn't care that Brittany's different. Other people just think she's weird and aren't so tolerant so Brittany's been getting bullied a lot which isn't cool. Young Brittany seems pretty clueless and also seems to be spending most of her time being obsessed with things and confusing feelings and really confusing the English language, but there's a running commentary from the somewhat mysterious older Brittany happening at the same time and it seems like older Brittany doesn't have those problems as much anymore. How did that happen? Santana on the other hand has been going through some tough stuff, her dad's abandoned her and the rest of her family didn't care much to begin with and on top of all that tension there's um, sexual tension because Santana's growing up. Santana's not dealing with her feelings and is instead focusing on getting popular but Brittany's not really into being popular and just wants to be with Santana because lately they've been getting really close and that's kind of a huge milestone for her. Oh, and Santana has written ownership of Brittany's boobs. Just so you know. And that's what you missed, on Glee!
Chapter 6- For You, I'll Achieve the Impossible.
Brittany S. Pierce, Present
Being outgrown sucks. I think it hurt the worst with my sister Katie. We're five years apart and that was a perfect fit at first.
I think back to all the times we played together when she was really young, building pirate ships out of chairs and bedsheets and turning brooms into make believe horses to ride to islands that had vicious dinosaurs made out of wooden spoons and piles of clothing.
It wasn't just playtime, I used to be able to talk to her and tell her anything. That was before I became 'weird Brittany, the black sheep of the family' as she referred to me to her friends. It wasn't like she was a teenager or anything either, she was only six. She was older for her age and I was younger, and for a little while we met in the middle, but then she surpassed me in leaps and bounds.
It hurt less with Santana. When she outgrew me, it wasn't like it was with Katie. Katie started looking at me with pity instead of admiration like she had before. I used to be the cool big sister that could do more than her, but then quite suddenly I was the one who was limited and who could only do less. I was the one everyone waited on while I slowly figured out how much milk I wanted with my cereal at breakfast to the nearest milliliter. I was the one that was hidden behind everyone at family gatherings in case I did something embarrassing like compulsively try to arrange the pool balls on the pool table in rainbow order in the middle of a heated game. Katie's room was filled with pictures of horses and pop stars, not behavior charts like mine was.
Being the expert on being outgrown, I can tell you that if you're like me… some people will outgrow you and never look back like Katie. Others will outgrow you, then there'll be a transition period where they keep trying but they don't really know what to do with you. But then they come back and appreciate you in a new way.
I've never actually managed to outgrow anything. Not even my childhood obsession with dinosaurs that most kids went through about that time. Santana outgrew a lot of things not just me. All her rage for the unfair things in her life took away much of her innocence and then wore away her hope and optimism for things to get better.
I never outgrew any of those things. Not outgrowing hope and having a heart full of it isn't so bad.
I think that's what people who 'don't look back' like Katie are missing out on, 'cause after a while Santana realized that even though we were different now, that just meant we had more to share with each other. She said I could light up the room with my optimism, so I realized that not growing up has its place because there had to be someone who could show Santana the world isn't as dark as she thinks it is.
Brittany S. Pierce, age 13.
Three hundred and fifty-seven. Three hundred and fifty-eight. Three hundred and… what? Brittany's nose crashed into Santana's front door and was quickly followed by the rest of her body. "Unnngh… ow." Brittany moaned, letting herself in and tearing up the stairs to see Santana.
"Santana! It only took me three hundred and fifty eight steps today to walk to your house and as you know it usually takes me three hundred and seventy-five. What is happening?" Brittany howled and started spinning around in a circle.
Santana peered over her bed sheets and regarded her friend. She had just woken up ten minutes ago, it was only early morning and she'd missed her mother again who had (as usual) left early. Santana had been sick for a couple of days now fighting off a bad strain of flu and Brittany had taken to stopping by every morning before school to check she was okay. She was also getting good at calling in sick for her in a deep throaty voice which was actually a pretty good impersonation of Santana's mother.
Brittany always came over after school too. Santana was grateful of this. Her mom had barely glanced at her at any point in spite of Santana looking very weak and pitiful, staggering from room to room and deliberately walking by several times hoping to be noticed before her mother got ready for work. She'd also asked if Santana was practicing bird calls after she'd thrown up her dinner the other night.
"You know Britts," Santana said, eying her friend spinning around frantically and attempting to do some damage control about it, "your legs are getting longer every day… maybe you're taking longer strides and taking less steps."
Brittany stopped dead and cocked her head on one side considering it and then shook her head, still obviously tense.
"Okay." Santana said patiently. Maybe you had a little hop in your steps like the little bunny you can be sometimes, because you were looking forward to seeing me?" Her eyes became slightly hopeful in spite of the sickness which was clouding them and making them otherwise look glassy and unfocused. "Did you have something to tell me?"
"Yes! That's it. I'm going to make a friend today." Brittany announced, charging closer to her excitedly.
The hopeful look in Santana's eyes disappeared and was replaced by a fleeting moment of sudden yet blinding jealousy. She turned her head away and nodded quickly. "Yeah, that's a good idea Britt, you show 'em what you're made of."
"Yes." Brittany repeated, "I will show them what I am made of. And I'll bring someone onto our team. So you can have a rest. So you don't get sick again."
"Brittany! For the last time I did not get sick because all my energy was drained from producing deadly razor blades out of my hair and equally deadly laser beams from my eyes. I got sick the regular way, from Quinn who got it from that porpoise, Finn." Santana rolled her eyes.
Brittany came over and felt Santana's forehead. You feel better today, not like yesterday when it felt like you were burning up.
"Hey, it wasn't so bad," Santana said smirking a little. "It was a good excuse to have an ice cube fight."
"I got you good," Brittany nodded, "and then I even made you wet."
Santana coughed. "Say what?" How could Brittany know about that little problem she'd been having lately?
"I stuffed a whole bunch of them down your top. And they didn't stay cube-y for long. So you got wet. And then you got extinct and not on fire any more."
"Extinguished, Brittany. I'm not a dinosaur."
"I know that. Because if you were, then you'd be Santana-saurus and you'd eat me out."
Santana coughed again. "That's eat you 'up' Britts."
"That's confusing. Does that mean if you eat me up you'd start with my feet and make your way up to my head, 'cause doesn't it make more sense to eat your food from insides to outsides? You know, because all the good stuff is the insides… like the cream in an Oreo and the banana inside the skin. The outsides are the boring parts."
Santana quit listening at this point. Brittany was wearing that top she liked. It was fairly low cut because Brittany hated things touching her neck and she seemed to figure the lower her top was, then the further it was from her neck and then therefore, the more comfortable it had to be.
"… and it's all in my How to Make Friends Chart and that's how I'm going to make them be my friend so everyone thinks I'm just like you and out of progress." Brittany said triumphantly looking around the room.
Santana followed Brittany's gaze. Her room was sort of plain and boring, she'd always wanted to decorate it but she could never settle on a theme. It did however still have a small alter in the corner from when Brittany and herself had decided they were witches. All they really knew about being witches back then was that you had to light a lot of candles.
Santana's room was still recovering from the shock of Brittany and lit candles being within meters of each other. The number of times she's had to save one from being knocked over in one afternoon of spell casting had surely set a record. They had however, conquered the 'light as a feather, stiff as a board' levitation spell. Brittany had lifted a shocked Santana into the air easily, and as light as she'd been she'd been as tense as could be.
Santana couldn't remember the last time someone had picked her up, maybe it was when she was really really little? Anyway, Brittany couldn't remember the point of the spell beyond making things float, so she'd held Santana in her arms until she was too tired anymore and Santana had made no move to set her straight.
Santana's walls featured some of Brittany's drawings. They were pretty good but they were nearly all of her cat. It wasn't the fat cat with the surly expression that made Santana keep them up, it was the messages beside them. Usually they said something like "Lord Tubbington and I think you're the coolest!" or "Lord T wants you for president." The drawing that was most special to Santana was the picture Brittany drew of Santana as a superhero, front and centre this time with Lord Tubbington as her sidekick. She drew it the day Santana had punched out Finn Hudson of all people for calling Brittany a retard in class when she'd messed up the presidents names.
Santana didn't really want Brittany to draw stuff for anyone else, but at the same time she knew that those pictures, as sweet as they were, weren't going to do much for her social reputation.
Britttany wrapped a blanket around Santana's shoulders and handed her a stuffed duck that she brought her for company in her bag. "I'll see you this afternoon Santana!" she called, running back to her and giving her a squishy in-blanket-hug with the duck wedged between them. She then kissed her lightly on the forehead and skipped off.
Santana eyes were wide. In the moment she felt overcome with wanting to catch Brittany's hand and begging her to stay just a little bit longer.
"I'll bring our friend with me!" Brittany hollered back, and then she was out of earshot.
Brittany had never intentionally tried to make a friend before. She'd never seen the point. Before she had Santana she hadn't really known friends existed, and after she had Santana she had everything she didn't know she'd always wanted.
She spent the better part of the day deep in thought about the whole thing. It was like going shopping, but for people. Which one would she buy?
At the cafeteria she spotted Lauren Zizes sitting alone. She was a larger girl and even though she was new, she just screamed fierceness and dominance. She was probably the only person that Santana couldn't defeat with her special talent of Going Lima Heights Adjacent that she used very sparingly on offenders because it was just that powerful, and maybe even could kill someone. This is a very good reason to have Lauren on our team, Brittany realized, feeling very smart.
Lauren seemed an okay person, so far.
Brittany approached Lauren looking her squarely in the eye, locking onto her target just like her How to Make Friends poster instructed. "Hello Lauren," she said brightly.
"Uh uh uh," Lauren held up her hand and shook her head, "You wanna talk to me, that will be three Sour Patch Kids," she instructed seeing the packet bulging out of Brittany's pocket.
"Um. Okay." Brittany agreed and spread them out on the table, studying them.
"What are you doing?" Lauren asked, eying them greedily.
"Just picking out some for you. You see, I name them all. There's Winston and Jodie and Boris and Morris and…"
"I haven't got all day," Lauren interrupted.
"Okay. You take, Morris, Geordie and Martha. As a single mom I never really attached very much to those three," Brittany shrugged, "adoption is funny like that."
Lauren stopped chewing and her eyes became little slits, "I'm adopted. And I ain't nothing to laugh at."
Brittany smiled at her, "Of course not. I hate it when people laugh when something isn't really very funny at all too. We totally have that in common."
Brittany thought back to the list of direction. Use your manners. Be confident.
"Lauren Zizes, my name is Brittany S. Pierce and you are going to be my friend, please and thank you," she boomed at Lauren, who actually shrank back a bit.
"I will show you what I'm made of. Here are my good points. I can dance. I remember stuff that other people forget. I have a friend named Santana. I have one hundred and ninety three stuffed animals including little ones on keychains. I can hear stuff from very far away. I take really good care of my cat, Lord Tubbington. I can roll my tongue and cross my eyes. See?" Brittany demonstrated.
"You're weird," Lauren commented dryly, "leave."
"I'm not weird. I'm Brittany."
"Leave. I want to be alone with my fishsticks."
Brittany understood that. Sometimes she wanted to be alone with her Sour Patch Kids.
"Okay, well I'll try again later."
"Don't. Don't try again later." Lauren warned.
Brittany shrugged. She couldn't understand her as she was mumbling with her mouth full so she just grinned and waved as she walked away.
Brittany sat by herself at an empty table while planning her next move. She tried to block out all the sounds of the room so she could think, but she couldn't help but to overhear some commotion at the 'popular' table opposite her. Brittany was only allowed to sit there when Santana was there to insist on it, other days like today she was on her own.
"It's awful, it's horrible! Oh god, Anna, I'm so ugly."
"Oh my god Quinn, no you're not!" chorused Anna and a few girls doing the best to reassure their leader.
"Are you sure? Oh god, I never thought this could ever happen to me."
Brittany curiously inched closer to them to see what the fuss was about.
"It doesn't even look like a pimple, more like… a beauty spot," Anna said, as the other girls nodded eagerly.
"Are you crazy?" Brittany giggled, seeing the offending pimple for the first time, "that this is huge and as purple as a Costa Rican Hummingbird and it looks horrible. I look awesome."
"Brittany," Quinn seethed, then paused trying to decide just how to deal with this girl.
Brittany could tell by how red Quinn was getting that she was angry. Or maybe hot. But most likely angry, she thought. She backpedaled quickly, "It's okay," Brittany said, "Purple's one of my favorite colors. If you're embarrassed you could hide yourself under something. That's what I do."
Trying to help, Brittany tipped out the contents of Quinn's duffel bag and put the bag over her head clumsily.
The girls jumped back in shock.
"Brittany's always been weird, but she's now finally cracked," Anna announced horrified as Quinn struggled to get the bag off.
"I have?" Brittany asked, alarmed and began to wrap her hands around her body, looking for where the cracks were.
"Why are you touching yourself like that?" Anna said exasperated with the whole situation, and trying to help a struggling Quinn.
"I'm holding my insides in so they don't fall out of the cracks."
"What is going on?" Mr Bellingham said as he quickly strode into the cafeteria and looked nervously at Brittany. Most teachers always looked at her like that for some reason.
Brittany shrunk back. When a teacher approached her like this it was almost never good. She started to back away closer to the vending machines, her breath coming out in short gasps, her body breaking out into a sticky cold sweat. She pretended she was Lord Tubbington and curled her fingers into protective claws, hissing and arching her back as if to appear almost as large as Lord T himself and twice as threatening. Lord Tubbington jumped on top of high places when he got mad, Brittany thought, edging herself even closer to the vending machine as the top of it was definitely a viable option for her right now. Lord Tubbington also peed on things when he was really angry, Brittany hoped it wasn't going to come to that.
Mr Bellingham stared at her, "What's happened here?"
Enraged, and eager to get Brittany in trouble, Quinn began a dramatic tale of how Brittany had taken away her dignity.
"Is this true Brittany?"
"I was just trying to help."
"Are you being smart?"
"Yes sir!" Brittany beamed. She was glad Mr Bellingham understood that she had just been doing the smart thing.
Mr Bellingham was not amused, "Alright Brittany, I can see we're not going to get anywhere here so I'm going to have to give you an after school detention okay? Report to my office after the last bell."
"You too Lauren, I haven't forgotten that you need to be punished for that graffiti you did in the girl's toilets" he reminded the girl at the other table who was still intent on eating a large plate of fishsticks.
Brittany had spent the whole detention unsuccessfully trying to win Lauren over. She'd used every technique on the poster charts and Lauren had still sat with her back to her the whole time. Nothing in those posters had ever worked on Quinn either.
Usually, Brittany would have gone straight to Santana's but today she went home first and tore up the How to Make Friends poster, and then after a beat, tore up all the posters of handwritten rules that her mother had made.
Rules to making friends.
1. Be friendly and use your manners.
2. Be confident.
3. Be helpful.
4. Tell them about yourself and let them get to know you.
…
Brittany had been friendly. She'd even given Lauren some of her sour patch kids and told her all about herself and she'd been super smart and helpful to Quinn.
From now on, Brittany was going to do things her own way.
By the time Brittany got to Santana's house it was getting dark. Santana had missed her, and she had wondered if Brittany had been so successful in her friend making that she'd forgotten about Santana. The thought made her chest ache. She decided that she'd come back to school tomorrow whether she felt better or not. She didn't want to be forgotten.
Brittany came straight into her room and buried her head under Santana's blanket. It smelled so distinctly of Santana and that fruity kind of scent that was her shampoo.
Santana patted her head under the sheets. "Hey Britt Britt, what happened?" she cooed.
Brittany sat up, but kept her face hidden by the sheets. "I failed my mission," she said. Her voice was muffled, but because they were so close it was still audible.
"Oh. That's okay!" Santana said brightly. Brittany's still just mine.
"Santana, we really are friends right?"
"Of course we are Britt Britt, I thought you were done being confused about that one."
Brittany remembered when she had looked it up in the dictionary.
Friend: A person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.
She'd quoted that back to Santana and asked if that's what Santana felt towards her once.
Santana put her hands up in a gesture of putting boundaries between them, "Attachment and feelings and… god damn it Britt, affection? They're such strong, strong words you know. Friends don't really need those things."
"But what ARE they," Brittany asked.
"You see what I mean? You don't even know what they are, so how important could they be? How could you possibly even have them, right?"
"Right." Brittany muttered sadly. The dictionary was usually right and she felt disillusioned. "But Santana, what makes US friends then?"
Santana shook her head and sighed. "You need me… and I like that you need me. We don't need anything else. Nothing else is important."
Brittany didn't want to upset Santana again today so she changed tactics and told her another thing that was on her mind. "I talked to a whole bunch of people today and I didn't want any of them to be my friends. I didn't even want them to be my sort of friends. I don't even like them at all and I don't think you like them very much either. Why do you want them?"
"I don't know. I just need them somehow. I'm not like you Brittany, I just… it's never going to work with just one person. One person just isn't enough. I don't even know how people get married to just one person. I'm never going to do that. I want to be free. Being tied to one thing makes me feel like I'm caged. I wish everybody belonged to me, especially you, but I never want to ever belong to anybody."
"I've only done five impossible things this week," Brittany moaned as Santana zipped her up into her dress. Instead of following rules on posters, Brittany had decided that achieving impossible things was the only way to go.
"Mmmm," Santana hummed distractedly trying not to look too much while she was dressing up Brittany. It was getting harder to be around her lately, Brittany kept making Santana have an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, but it made her feel tight and tense and it also made her act funny, like it made her leave her hands on Brittany's body just a little bit too long like she was doing now. Brittany had a habit of throwing her clothes off very suddenly because something was too itchy or too tight. She'd then crawl all over Santana if she was in the way looking for the more comfortable t-shirt or whatever it was that she wanted. Santana wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she got in the way on purpose sometimes. She knew this had to stop. Obviously her body was confused and it needed to be set on the right path.
It was the night of the Dalton dance and Santana was going to kiss at least one boy tonight. Part of Santana really wanted to leave Brittany at home so she could do what she had to do without having to worry about her. But the rest of her couldn't stand the thought of going without her. She directed her attention back to Brittany.
"No really. I need to do two more impossible things before we can go. That will make five and five is how many I had to do. It's all Lord Tubbington's fault. I've been trying to teach him Spanish ever since our teacher said it would be impossible, and he's just not interested. He won't even listen to all those tapes I got him," she whined.
"He still knows more Spanish than you, Britt, in spite of how hard I try to teach you the language." Why does it ache so much to look at her sometimes? Santana thought, pondering what seemed one of life's unanswerable questions.
"That's true," Brittany said proudly, "when I brought him out some fondue the other day I know he was totally thinking 'me gusta.' So can I count three and a half?"
"Didn't I see you get that nose, Berry, to shut up for like an hour the other day when you went all moon eyed and prophetic and said that you saw a Razzie award in Barbra's future?" Santana gigged a bit, it really had been hilarious.
"You didn't see it too?"
"Well… no," Santana spun Brittany around in her chair and began applying makeup, trying to be quick because she knew Brittany hated it. She knew she had to keep talking to distract her from the feel of the makeup. "Her face was priceless. I heard her making some calls later about insuring her own future… what did she say…. 'if the brightest star can fall so far, where does that leave me?' It was poetic and pathetic all at once. Hmm…poetic and pathetic. I think I'll edit that a little to suit my purpose and write that on her myspace page, Santana thought and multitasked, flicking open her laptop and expertly hitting a few buttons getting into her 'losers I like to tease' folder in her favorites list as she did the finishing touches on Brittany's eye makeup.
Brittany looked troubled, "I didn't mean to make her sad. I just saw…"
"No matter, it was a brilliant move Britt, and Quinn saw it and I'm pretty sure she was impressed. Impressing Quinn is like another impossible thing," Santana assured her.
"That's true," Brittany nodded.
"So that's two points then. You're at five and a half," Santana held up the mirror to her, "and you look totally hot right now, so lets get going okay?"
"No… it's actually really really cold, San. These dresses are so tiny and your window doesn't close all the way," Brittany shivered.
Santana paused, her face wrinkled with concern, "I'll get you a jacket."
Brittany always seemed so sensitive to the temperatures. She could be shivering violently on a cool day and about to pass out on a mildly hot one. Santana found Brittany a jacket that matched well enough. Santana always made allowances for Brittany. Things with her weren't always perfect and Quinn wouldn't be pleased that they weren't going to be completely identical, but making sure Brittany was okay was more important. Santana hoped she never lost sight of that.
"San? When we come home tonight can we watch the end of Lord of the Rings?"
"Sure we can, Britt Britt."
Lord of the Rings was an insanely long and boring movie in Santana's opinon, but Brittany hadn't seen it and had wanted to watch it this afternoon. All the action scenes hadn't even taken Santana's mind off the fact that she was going to get to first base for the first time tonight with whichever Dalton boy or boys took her fancy.
Quinn had already been kissed tons of times, and she had said Santana was dragging her down because she couldn't possibly gossip with somebody who was so clueless about it. Santana just had to beat out that Anna girl who was Quinn's primary gossip partner right now. Quinn had said that if she wanted to talk to someone who was completely clueless she would just talk to Brittany. As they watched the movie they had snuggled on the couch together with Santana pressed up against Brittany's side while they watched the first hour before they had to get ready.
Santana had thought the girl… Galadriel or something like that was really pretty. Maybe because she looked a little like Brittany? She mentally berated herself for thinking about Brittany again. After tonight she would be initiated into the world of guys like Quinn had said and she would be fixed.
According to Santana, Brittany had spent the whole car ride to the dance talking about 'elves and shit.' She always did this thing where she could watch a movie and get too involved with it and almost become one of the characters in real life. Santana would never forget the time they had watched 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' together.
It was Brittany's first scary movie and she spent weeks afterward looking for evil fishermen, dropping into a fighting stance at the slightest noise and not sleeping in fear of her hair being cut off. Santana was just glad Brittany always seemed to take on the personality of the heroine, she didn't know how well she would have took 'SOON' being written threateningly in lipstick on her mirror had Brittany identified with the villain.
They met up with Quinn outside and walked into the dance in perfect time and rhythm with each other.
Brittany, the one with the most boobs immediately got the most stares from the boys.
Quinn (who had stuffed her bra with tissues to accentuate the small amount she already had) was annoyed and pushed Brittany behind her as they began to socialize. This whole 'socializing with boys' thing was a bold move. Going over to the 'boys side' just wasn't something anyone did at these events. But Quinn Fabray wasn't just anyone, she was going to set a new trend and make sure everyone saw it.
Would you care to dance? Quinn asked airily to the tallest yet least gangly, least pimply and least prepubescent looking boy there. When he accepted, Quinn nodded to Santana indicating that she could have the next pick. Santana turned to Brittany and swallowed hard. Brittany had found a bunch of helium balloons and was happily drawing faces on them with a sharpie.
"Britts, I'm going to go dance with one of the boys. Will you be okay here?" she asked worriedly.
"Yeah," Brittany said adding whiskers to one balloon and handing it to Santana, "take Lord T with you. It's not safe to go alone."
"I'll be fine," Santana snapped, before she realized that Brittany had no idea how nervous she was and wasn't giving her the balloon because of that. She was just off in her own little world again. Brittany hadn't been to a dance before either and it was obviously very intimidating for her to the point where she had lapsed into a fantasy to become more comfortable.
Through Brittany's eyes:
There were Orcs everywhere. Everywhere. Brittany had lost sight of her Lady Princess, Santana, and the Vain Elf Prince, Quinn. There was one Friendly Hobbit, a girl standing by the ale… or was it mead?
Brittany walked up to her, "Hi Friendly Hobbit, I'm not supposed to talk to you because Santana and Quinn said not to but I don't see them anywhere and I like you so I wanted to say I'm sorry for what I said about the fair Barbra."
"It is okay, Brittany," the Hobbit said stiffly clearly not amused to have her species revealed in public like that in front of all the Orcs. "You know, I can't understand anything you girls write on my myspace, anymore. Oh and before you deny it, don't. I know about your group and your personal vendettas against me," she added.
"What do you mean? I write all my comments in hobbit language. I speak hobbit. It's Quinn and Santana that use the confusing words. Like 'poetic and pathetic' whatever that means."
"Yes, some comments are absolute blasphemy, but at least in correct understandable English. Lately, I've just been getting a whole lot of gibberish. I assumed that Quinn was writing them after knocking back a few and whilst I don't approve of underage teen drinking, nonsense is a lot better than the defamation she usually writes."
"No," Brittany repeated, "It's not Quinn and mead. It's just me."
Brittany thought it was so sad. Rachel must be the last Hobbit on earth and therefore have no one to practice her language with to the point where it had been completely forgotten. Brittany would make sure Lord Tubbington learned Spanish for sure now so Santana would always have someone to talk to. "Look, I'll show you how to read Hobbit code," she said getting out her sharpie and writing the code all over another one of the balloons.
After a short while, Rachel had gotten it and Brittany was satisfied.
"Now Brittany, if I've just gone and learned this code only so I can read more petty insults I'm going to be really disappointed," Rachel told her softly.
"It's not mean stuff. Unless Lord Tubbington posted some. He knows the code too and could pose as me if he really wanted to. Oh, and Hobbit, I know you've got the one ring and that's how you sing so good in music class, but the others get kind of mad because you're so powerful so maybe you could let other people borrow the ring once in a while."
Rachel was starting to get a headache with all this Brittany talk, "Okay, she said slowly, I'll try to do that Britt. It was nice talking to you."
Rachel wasn't lying, it kind of was nice to have someone actually talk to her at one of these dances, but if only Brittany would stop calling her Hobbit.
Fifteen minutes later, the Orcs were starting to swarm. They were buzzing around excitedly like something big was happening. Brittany was afraid they were planning their attack and she looked around for her Lady or even for the Vain Elf to protect her. They weren't anywhere to be seen.
An Orc was talking to her, following her and blocking her way as she tried to leave. She heard him laughing and asking her if she was as 'easy' as her 'other cheergirl friends' but she didn't understand that kind of Orcspeak. He called his friend out and pretty soon there was a small army closing in on her, touching her arms, pulling at the hem of her shirt. Brittany screamed and thrashed against them viciously. Why did they have to go to an Orc Social and why did Santana want to be here? Orcs were savage and unkind, not like her Lady at all. She kneed one in its Orblers and it staggered back as the others taunted her telling her she was a 'crazy bitch'. If only she had a translator. Suddenly they backed off in fear of more bruised Orblers and Brittany began to edge herself slowly into one of the back rooms.
As she pulled herself inside and closed the door behind her, she saw something that couldn't possibly be real. Quinn and Santana were both lying beneath the Orcs, with their dresses pulled down to reveal their lack of breasts and their skirts pulled up. Three Orcs were touching them all over with their vile green skin.
One of the Orcs saw her first, "Oh, so our sixth member of this party has finally arrived. Here's your girl Josh."
"Brittany!" her Lady said with her voice taking on a hint of panic, "Go, you shouldn't be here."
The Vain Elf said, "Oh come on, Santana. If she wants to be a part of this group she has to start acting like it."
Brittany stood stunned, staring at the scene. Behind her she could hear the Friendly Hobbit calling her.
"I'm in here," she shouted back, throwing open the door and shouting for the Hobbit, "You need to use the ring… you need to use it now!"
She ran up to the Orc straddling her Lady and thumped him on the head as hard as she could.
"Brittany… Brittany?"
"Mom?"
"Brittany. Snap out of it. I'm trying to ask you a question," said Susan.
Brittany stared at her mom. As Susan was speaking she was gesturing wildly to her and to a teacher standing with her. Her hands were moving up and down and her head was jerking out in sudden movements. That body language could mean a lot of things. Brittany was smart enough to know that sometimes it meant that the person doing it really wanted to get your attention. But then again, sometimes it also meant the chicken dance.
Brittany looked around. The first thing she saw was Santana, now fully dressed but with her hair all mussed up and her clothes not sitting right, kind of like how she would wake up in the mornings after thrashing around all night in her sleep when they were having sleepovers. Santana's eyes were wide and terrified, and Quinn's face was ashen. There were a lot of adults in the room now, and the boys were all gone. Quinn and Brittany were being sternly questioned by some other adults Brittany recognized as teachers from Dalton.
Brittany caught Santana's eye for a second and Santana tried to smile bravely to tell her it was alright, but she couldn't even fake it. A second later she remembered that smiling at her wouldn't do much good, Brittany might not even notice. What she needed was to talk to her, explain what had happened and make sure she was okay.
"Brittany," her mother said, "you hit that boy really hard, you're lucky he's okay and not going to press charges. Why did you do it?"
"He was attacking Santana, mom."
"I don't think he was attacking Santana, Brittany," her mother said stiffly, "surely you know that? I don't want you hanging out with her anymore. She's become a bad influence on you. Mr Bellingham found three boys and three girls. It's not hard to work out what they were all doing, or what you all had planned to do. In the same room, together." Susan looked disgusted, "I didn't raise my own daughter to act like she was going to a house of prostitution, not a kids dance. I'm just glad that Rachel found you and stopped you before you could do anything they had already done. She told me everything. Unfortunately she wasn't there in time to stop Santana and Quinn before they got up to a fair bit of nonsense. I've called their parents and they'll be here soon to pick them up as well. Say goodbye to them now because you won't be seeing Santana outside of school anymore Brittany. Or Quinn. And consider yourself grounded for a whole month."
Brittany just stared at her with her mouth open, then suddenly it clicked as to what her mother had said, "You mean I can't be with Santana anymore?"
"That's exactly what I mean."
"No!" Brittany's voice rose to a higher pitch and Santana noticed immediately and began to tap her feet anxiously wanting the teachers to stop talking to her so she could comfort her, "Santana's my best friend!" Brittany shouted, "You can't keep us apart!"
"What?" Santana exhaled in shock, ignoring Mr Bellingham and Mrs Cook she now rose and made her way to Brittany and looked Susan in the eye.
"What do you mean? You mean I can't see her?"
"No," Mrs Pierce stared down Santana, "go out to the car, Brittany."
Brittany didn't move.
"I said go NOW!" Susan said and shoved her out the door.
Brittany's eyes widened in fear and she did what she was told, numbly running from the room.
"But…Mrs Pierce I made a mistake, I know I let the boys go too far and I'm sorry Brittany saw but it won't happen again," Santana pleaded.
"I might have forgiven that eventually, but I can't forget what I was told about what you and Quinn did… together. It's disgusting what you girls do to get attention from the boys. The boys explained everything to the teacher here, and he told me." Susan's disgust was plain.
Santana's throat ran dry and she felt suddenly lightheaded. She put her hand out to steady herself against the wall. "Me… and Quinn?"
"Yes," Mrs Pierce practically growled thinking of a quote that applied, "He that denies his sin shall not prosper. I can't even say the words, but you are a disgrace Santana, and Quinn is too. I don't want gay people around my daughter. This is the last time you will see her, and that is final."
"I'm not gay," Santana whispered.
"Well, I don't want a slut around my daughter either."
With that, Mrs Pierce turned away from her and strode out to her car, leaving Santana staring after her sobbing with tears running down her cheeks. Santana watched the car start up ready to drive away, and on Brittany's side she could see that Brittany had fogged the glass up. She could see the remnants of an old game of Tic Tac Toe there that they had played on the glass on the way to the dance, and beside it was a new drawing, a heart with an 'S' inside. Brittany's eyes peered around the misted up glass and Santana brushed away some tears, and as they locked eyes, Brittany traced the heart with her finger and Santana traced one in the air. It was the closest they had come yet to saying 'I love you'.
Three things:
1. This is not a Quinntana story at all. "Quinn" is not even gay and wasn't into experimentation for very long at all. Quinntana haters can breathe now. :)
2. I've can forgive a lot of things, but I think that how Susan treated Santana was unforgivable.
3. She really did treasure the superhero drawing I made of her.
Next up: Brittany and Santana start High School! (but there's still a chapter or two until I reach Season 1 timeline)
And as always, leave me a review so I know what you all think of this! :)