Brittany's POV

I really enjoyed having the sleepover with Quinn and Santana. Although Santana and Quinn didn't always like each other, it felt good to become a group of closer friends. I was already pretty close with Santana, so it felt like Quinn was a little left out sometimes, but I tried to include her in everything. The weekend passed slowly. I had dance lessons on Saturday after Santana went back home, but I found that I was almost too sore to enjoy it. On Sunday, I took a rest day from working out and texted with Santana during breaks in "family time."

Monday morning, I was ready earlier than normal. My mom and I went to Santana's house to pick her up, just like we had done every day the week before. She looked a bit upset when she got into the back of the vehicle beside me, but I didn't ask her about it because my mom was right there. I didn't get to ask her at school either, because Quinn crowded us the second we got in the door.

"Triple date tonight," Quinn said, leaving no room for our opinions.

"With who?" I asked. I wondered who Quinn was planning on setting me up with.

"Finn and I, Santana and Puck, and Brittany, you're going with Matt."

I knew who Matt was, since he was on the football team and had gone to middle school with me. That didn't mean I wanted to go on a date with him.

We made our way to the football field where morning practices usually were and started with the daily warm-up: running. During the warm up, no one was supposed to be talking, but we ran beside each other for a while until Coach Sylvester yelled at us to separate and run by ourselves.

Cheerios practice was hard as usual, but after a day of rest during the weekend, I was feeling less sore than I had the week before. I knew I'd get used to the practices, but it was taking longer than I had originally thought it would.

I didn't pay much attention in my morning classes, or any of my classes for that matter. I was going to Santana's after school and I was excited.

We met up in our usual spot and started walking to her house.

"I thought I'd be used to Cheerios practice by now," Santana said casually.

"Me too," I replied.

"I'm starting to think I'm not so fit, plus with Sue's weigh-ins starting soon, I need to lose some weight."

I'd been stuck in the weight loss trap when I started dance. I wouldn't mind being stuck in it again; I had gained weight since I'd started high school.

"We could practice more together," I said, trying to think of other ways we could lose more weight. "And we could follow Quinn's path and stop eating lunch."

Santana sighed as we approached her house and she unlocked the door.

"What would you like to do?" she asked as she closed and locked the front door again behind us.

"Practice?" I asked.

Santana nodded.

The leaves started to change color around mid-October as the air cooled that year. Us three girls were a lot busier as the school year progressed with homework, Cheerios practice, and cheering at sports games many evenings. My parents told me I could only have dance lessons once a week instead of twice so that I wouldn't feel so busy.

I was falling behind in most of my classes already. Quinn tried to help by tutoring me, but it ended in too much arguing, so she gave up. Santana could help with some classes until I stopped caring, then she gave up on me too.

"Triple-date again tonight?" Quinn asked during lunch. We'd gone on a few triple-dates in the past month. They weren't awful, but they were awkward.

Santana agreed. She was still "dating" Puck, even though I didn't think it was good for her. "What about you, Brittany?"

"Sure."

Matt was an okay guy. He hadn't pressured me into anything and he always paid on dates, but I didn't really like him in a romantic way. Still, it was easier to keep hanging out with him than try to find a new popular guy to keep our group's status up. We were the most popular girls in our grade.

After school, Santana and I went with Quinn back to her house. We had planned to meet the boys at Breadstix at 6 pm, and we always got ready together, putting on fashion shows, as cheesy as it was.

"What do you think?" Quinn asked as she came out of her bathroom.

Quinn looked perfect as usual; she wouldn't dare let someone see her with even a hair out of place. She always looked classy, so Santana and I just said her first outfit was good every time because it always was.

"Your turn, Santana," Quinn said, sitting down on her bed beside me.

Santana had a different style than Quinn and basically all the girls in our grade. She still was somewhat girly, but not with her color scheme.

She came out of Quinn's bathroom in a black skirt, tall boots, and a tight, printed shirt.

"I think you could be more girly," Quinn said, eyeing Santana.

"Why?" Santana challenged.

"I think you look great; don't change," I said. "Now it's my turn."

Once all three of us were ready, Quinn's mom drove us to Breadstix. We all sat across from our dates, meaning us girls all sat beside each other. Quinn was on the end, and Santana was against the wall. We'd all figured out that I was the best person to prevent an awful fight between Quinn and Santana.

The boys showed up a few minutes late.

Quinn, of course, had to stand up and kiss Finn for a few minutes longer than necessary before sitting back down. Santana and my's relationships weren't like that, so we stayed seated.

After eating, Santana said she'd be going home with Puck. I knew what that meant and I wasn't too happy about it, but it was her life, so I kept quiet.

"Wanna come back with me?" Matt asked.

Immediately, I felt butterflies rush into my stomach. "Okay," I said. "bye, Quinn."