For some reason, this chapter published weird before, so I'm publishing it again (hopefully correctly this time). Thank you to everyone who has read this story so far, especially to the reviewers!

Brittany's POV

Even after only two full weeks of knowing her, Santana was my new best friend. Once we were placed in the official Cheerios, we became very close. Each morning, my mom and I would get in the car, and she would drive to Santana's house so we could pick her up. My mom would drop us off at school, where we had practice until school started.

We always walked together after school. That first week, I went to Santana's for the first time. I didn't stay long, though, because Santana kept getting texts. I walked home from her house by myself and though about how nice it was to have a good friend so early in the school year.

Mom had some questions once I got back home, but soon after, Dad came home, meaning it was supper time. Mom sent me to get Jessica, my sister, from her bedroom, then we sat down to eat.

After supper, I went to my bedroom where I gave Lord Tubbington his supper. While he ate, I went through the ballet positions. It was something I often did when I was bored.

Jessica came into my room and asked me to play Candy Land with her. I agreed because there was nothing better to do.

We were about half-way done our second game when my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered before checking who was calling.

"Hi Brittany; it's Santana." Her voice sounded sad.

"What's up?" I asked. I was surprised that Santana was calling; she'd only ever texted me before.

"I went on a date... with Puck," Santana said.

"How was your date?" It was the only thing I could think to ask.

"We ate at Breadstix," she said, kind of avoiding my question. "Then we went to his house. I slept with him."

I didn't know what to say, so I stayed quiet.

"Hello?" Santana asked.

"Are you okay?" She hadn't sounded very happy, so I needed to make sure.

"I'm fine," she replied, but I could tell she was lying.

"Okay. Do you need a ride again tomorrow morning?"

"If that's not a problem."

We said our goodbyes, then hung up.

The rest of the week consisted of early morning practices, school, dance lessons, and Santana. Since I lived between her house and the school, she came to my house after school everyday that I didn't have dance lessons.

Thursday, though, was different. Santana didn't wait by my locker after school like usual, so, after waiting awhile, I went home alone. I was sad, because I didn't know what I had done wrong.

I texted Santana once I got home.

To Santana: Where were you?

I waited for a reply for about 15 minutes, and when I didn't get one, I started dancing around my bedroom. I missed Santana already, and I had seen her that morning. I wondered why she wasn't responding to my text.

My phone buzzed, and I checked it excitedly, hoping it was Santana, but it wasn't.

From Quinn: Have you found a boy yet?

I ignored her text and went downstairs to talk to my mom.

After supper, Santana still hadn't replied to my text, so I decided to call her.

She answered, "Hello?"

"It's Brittany," I answered. "Why didn't you wait for me after school?"

"I had an emergency at home."

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"It is now, but do you think I could come to your house for night?" She sounded less confident than I was used to, so I knew something was wrong.

"I'll ask my mom, but I'm sure that would be fine."

"Okay. I'll start walking right away." She hung up.

I went downstairs and asked my parents about Santana staying over for night. They were fine with it, just like I'd known they would be.

Santana came about 20 minutes later, and I greeted her at the front door. She was standing there with her backpack on.

"Are you okay?" I asked, even though I was starting to expect her answer, even if it wasn't the truth.

"I'm fine," she replied, just as I had thought she would.

The two of us went up to my bedroom where Santana took off her backpack. She sat down beside Lord Tubbington on my bed and didn't say anything.

"You can sleep on the bed," I said. "I'll get a sleeping bag for the floor."

"I'll go on the floor, Brittany," Santana replied. "It's your house."

I didn't want to let her sleep on the floor, but she wouldn't take "no" for an answer, so I went and got a sleeping bag for her. She rolled it out and opened her backpack where she had a pair of sweatpants to replace her jeans.
"What happened?" I tried to talk to Santana again about why she hadn't waited for me after school and had asked to come over for night.

"Just something with my parents; it's no big deal," Santana answered.

I took her hints and dropped it.

"Do you want to go to play a game or something?" I asked. "I'm sure my sister would love an extra Candy Land player."

"Sure."

I picked the Candy Land box up from the floor of my room where I'd last played it with Jessica, then Santana and I went to her bedroom.

Jessica's bedroom looked as though someone had just thrown everything pink and girly in the world inside of it. Her walls were white and pink with pink ballet figures painted on the white walls. Her bed was covered in stuffed animals, much like mine, only all her bedding was pink. She had a Barbie house against one wall and her dolls rested on top of her toy chest. She had the Disney princesses in stickers on her white dresser.

Santana seemed overwhelmed with the girly room. After seeing her bedroom, I knew she wasn't a very girly girl and probably never was.

"Do you want to play Candy Land, Jessica?" I asked my sister, who was playing with a Barbie.

"With her?" Jessica pointed at Santana. The girls had met before, but it seemed as though Jessica had forgotten.

"Yes, Jess," I replied. "With Santana."

"Okay."

The three of us sat down on her bedroom floor to play.

Once my sister's bedtime rolled around, Santana and I cleaned up the game and went back to my room.

"If I ever have kids, I do not want a girly girl," Santana stated.

I smiled, picturing her as a mother. She was good with Jessica, but I understood how overwhelming she could be. My parents could barely handle going into her bedroom at times.

"Her room is a lot to take in, isn't it?" I asked, grinning.

"No kidding."

I paused for a moment, then said, "Didn't you want to go on a date with Puck?"

"Puck's not really a date type of guy," she replied. "Besides, you're better. What about you? Have you found a boy yet?"

"No. I don't know how much I really want to."

"Is it the sex part? I can understand why you would want to wait," Santana said.

"It's not that. I've had sex before anyway." I tried to say those words as if they didn't bother me, but they did. I'd never actually told anyone, unless it was as a joke to some girls at school. "I was raped at cheer camp."

Santana walked over and hugged me, although it seemed unnatural and out-of-character for her to do.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked.

"Nope. I just say it was an 'alien invasion,' then no one thinks I'm telling the truth. So, please don't tell anyone."

Santana swore not to tell anyone, but I could tell she wanted to help me.

"We should go to bed," I said. "Cheerios practice is early enough without staying up late."

Santana agreed, and we went to bed. It felt nice to finally tell someone the truth, and I felt very lucky to have Santana as a friend. She didn't know just how much she meant to me.