15

Santana's POV

The Valentine's Day party ended in multiple disasters. Brittany got so drunk that she slept with Puck, and then she puked all over the floor in the bedroom she was in. I couldn't have just left her there, so I brought her to my house. My cousin was kind enough to give us a ride. Even when she was super drunk, Brittany still kissed my forehead before she passed out beside me.

I couldn't sleep. I lay in my bed just thinking about how quickly the school year had gone, but at the same time, I had changed so much that it felt like high school had started ages ago. On the first day of high school, I never would have imagined that I would have a friend as good as Brittany, be as popular as I was, and have "dated" the amount of boys that I had. I would be going to a Nationals competition with Cheerios in a few months, and I couldn't believe it.

But even with all these good things happening in my life at the time, I felt empty. I was alone with my darkest feelings that I didn't want to tell Brittany just yet because I didn't know if I could trust her enough to not accidentally spew them out one day.

Accepting my feelings was always a challenge for me, so I chose to push them down beneath the things I wanted to focus on in life, and then I closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep.

I couldn't move when I woke up, and it wasn't because I was a little hungover. Opening my eyes, I saw that Brittany was lying on top of me and hugging me in her sleep. It was cute, but I needed to go to the bathroom, so I carefully pushed her off of me and left my room.

Brittany was still fast asleep when I got back to my bedroom. She moved quite a bit in her sleep; I hadn't noticed it when she slept beside me, so she must have been dreaming as she kicked the blanket off the bed and punched my pillow.

I walked up to my bed and placed my hand on her arm to stop it from moving.

"Wake up, Britt," I said, leaning closer to her.

She pulled her arm away from my touch and slowly started to wake up.

"My head hurts," she groaned, rolling around in my bed.

"I'll be right back." I ran to the bathroom and got an Advil and some water for Brittany. I knew what it was like to feel that hungover, and I knew how to help her.

Once her headache had begun to fade away, Brittany asked if my parents were home.

"They're getting back after supper," I told her. I paused, then asked, "Do you want to eat some breakfast?"

"Do you have Lucky Charms?"

"We don't; I'm sorry."

"That's okay. My mom's probably worried; I should go home," she said, getting out of my bed. "Whose clothes are these?"

"Mine," I replied, "and it's okay if you don't remember everything, but your Cheerios uniform needed washing, so it's in the laundry now."

"Where's my phone?"

I think for a moment about Brittany's phone, but I can't remember what happened to it. "Crap! I think it's still where we had the party, unless you didn't bring it there."

"I did," she said. "Could I use your phone?"

I retrieved my phone from my dresser and gave it to Brittany.

She called her mom, and then gave the phone back to me. "She'll be here in a few minutes."

"Okay."

"Thanks for helping me last night, by the way," Brittany said.

"No problem," I replied. "I couldn't just leave you there."

"Well, thanks anyway."

I dreaded Monday. Cheerios practice was gruesome; ever since we'd won Regionals, Sue wasn't taking a break from making sure we would win and bring home that trophy.

After practice, Brittany and I walked together to math class. Our teacher didn't care what we did as long as we passed, so most kids just spent the class on their phones unless there was a test coming up. But, even though I knew she was very smart, Brittany wasn't doing well in math, so I tried to tutor her during class.

"I just don't understand," Brittany complained.

I was trying to teach her factorization, and we were getting nowhere.

"You'll get it yet," I said. "I can give you some more examples."

"I'll never get it; I'm not smart enough."

"You're plenty smart enough," I argued.

Brittany shook her head, but I wasn't going to let her give up on herself that easily. I folded in all my fingers except for my pinky and put my hand on her lap under the table. She smiled sadly, but linked her pinky finger in mine.

"You can do it," I said. Then we continued with factorization, our pinkies never breaking the link.

Nationals was in May that year, and the months leading up to the competition went quickly. All of the Cheerios were looking forward to the competition, even though Sue was making it stressful. Mostly, we were all excited to travel to Chicago; even though it was close enough that a lot of the girls had been there before, I hadn't.

When we got on the bus, we prepared for a long, four-hour drive. Brittany and I sat beside each other; I was in the window seat, and she was happily in the aisle. We listened to music together, talked, and studied for our upcoming exams before finally arriving in Chicago.

We won Nationals, which was expected. There was some rush from that, but the best part of the trip was the time in the hotel and exploring the city. We went to the top of the Sears Tower, and we went shopping a lot. It was fun to be a tourist with Brittany because everything excited her. Sadly, we only stayed a few days before it was time to head home.

Fortunately, but not surprisingly, Brittany passed her math exam. She said it was all because I helped her, but I told her that she would have gotten it on her own. School let out for the summer, and I was left home alone most days while my parents worked, so I saw Brittany a lot. I could hardly believe that my first year of high school was already done.