Brittany's POV

The day that Santana took me to her house after I injured my shoulder was the day that I discovered just how much Santana loved me. I had first realized I loved her when I saw her watching me during glee club, and it made my stomach feel nervous but in a good way. Although being with Santana often made my stomach feel that way, those times in glee club were when I realized my feelings for Santana were more than just a crush. And, when I got injured, seeing her care so much showed me that she loved me back, even if I wasn't sure she'd realized it yet. I knew how important school was to her, and she skipped an entire day just to take care of me.

I fell asleep again while Santana and I were watching Cinderella. Leaning against Santana under the afghan was warm and comfortable, even though she was still icing my sore shoulder. I tried to stay awake, but I couldn't and drifted off into dreamland.

When my eyes opened again, I felt cold. My shoulder ached and both the ice pack and Santana were gone. The TV was off, and I could hear Santana yelling in the kitchen that had woken me up. I wondered who she was upset with, since no one was supposed to be at her house yet.

"I wanted to help her!" Santana yelled, seemingly defending both herself and me.

"Well, her mom called a few minutes ago. She's coming to pick Brittany up right away." I was surprised to hear the voice of Santana's mom. She was never done work this early.

"We were going to spend the rest of the day together."

"That's not happening anymore. Brittany's mom is going to bring her to the doctor's, and you are grounded."

"Why?" Santana was practically screaming. I could hear she was trying not to cry.

"You're the one who signed up for a full semester of classes, the Cheerios, glee club, and celibacy club. I am not allowing you to break promises by skipping any of the above unless you're too sick to get out of bed. Do you understand?"

"But Mom…"

"I have to admit, I'm getting worried about you, Santana. Now, why don't you eat something? No excuses," Santana's mom sounded upset. Did Santana always give excuses as to why she's not eating?

I felt a little guilty for eavesdropping, but it was quickly forgotten when Santana came into the living room with the rest of the candy from earlier. She had a piece in her mouth and was chewing very slowly.

"Oh, good, you're awake," she said, seeing me sitting up. "How's your shoulder?"

"It hurts." My voice cracked. I took a handful of candy from the container in Santana's hands.

"Your mom should be here soon."

"Okay."

"I'll see you at school; I'm grounded."

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine."

My mom rang the doorbell right then, so I got up and left Santana's house, feeling more sad than usual for having just spent time with my best friend.

Mom took me straight to the emergency clinic from Santana's house. While we sat in the waiting room, she talked about how I should have just called her instead of skipping school with Santana.

I didn't tell her that I would always pick Santana, no matter how much my family would rather have me pick them.

The doctor said that I had acute tendonitis in my shoulder. "You'll need to rest it and use a lot of ice, as well as take anti-inflammatory pain killers when you need them. Make sure to stretch well any time you need to use your shoulder excessively in the future."

I was happy that I wouldn't need surgery or a sling, but I knew that Coach Sylvester was going to be very upset about my injury.

At early Cheerios practice the next morning, I tried to only participate in activities that wouldn't use my shoulder too much. Coach Sylvester yelled at me when I didn't do the back handspring part of our routine, so I did as much as I could until it felt like the tendons in my shoulder were going to tear. Then, I had to stop.

"Stop being such a baby, Pierce!" was Coach Sylvester's response when I mentioned how I needed to rest my injury.

"Don't yell at her!" Santana practically screamed at Coach. "You're the reason she's injured in the first place!"

"Get back to the routine, Lopez!" Coach ordered.

Santana looked at me with a sad look on her face before begrudgingly returning to the routine.

In glee club practice at lunch that day, Rachel still hadn't returned, and most of the group was getting worried. Quinn sang in place of Rachel, but she ran out of the room in the middle of the song, which confused me. Well, it did until the next day, there were rumors going around that Quinn was pregnant. Santana talked to Puck (who she was "dating" again after her mom continued questioning her about meeting a boyfriend), and he confirmed that Quinn was pregnant. I felt bad for her, but I knew I couldn't talk to her about it. We weren't the type of friends that talked about serious things, ever.

"Do you think that, with Quinn pregnant, I'll get to be captain?" Santana asked while we were leaving the school after our last classes.

"Maybe," I said. I felt horrible for Quinn, and it was making me sad.

"I hope so. Anyway, how's your shoulder? Coach was pretty mean during practice."

"It hurts, but it should be getting better soon. It's barely even swelling anymore. When's your grounding over?"

"In a week," Santana replied before pointing to a car parked by the school. "There's my cousin; he's supposed to make sure I go home right after school. See you, Britt."

"See you."

I continued the walk home alone. It was clear that Santana wasn't happy. I wondered what it would be like if my parents worked all the time, but I couldn't even imagine it. My mom was always home after school. I knew that Santana's parents weren't mean people, even though they worked a lot. Still, I needed to find a way to cheer Santana up. I hated seeing her look so down.

Two days later, on a Saturday, I lay down on the couch to watch TV and ice my shoulder while my mom brought Jessica to her dance class (something I couldn't go to until my shoulder was healed). I ignored the TV, though, and worked on a plan to cheer Santana up.

I left a note for my parents (leaving out the biggest detail) as soon as I came up with an idea, and then I started running to Santana's house. Sure, she wasn't allowed to leave her house, but I doubted that her cousin would stay at her house to make sure. Her parents always worked until supper, so I had some time.

I was out of breath once I arrived at Santana's house. Peeking in the garage windows, I confirmed that there were no vehicles at Santana's house, which meant that she was home alone. I rang the doorbell.

When the door opened, the Santana on the other side was one I barely recognized. She was wearing sweatpants and an old t-shirt, and her face was bare; her eyes were a little red, and her hair was a frizzy mess. Still, she was beautiful.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice tired.

"I was bored because my mom doesn't want me doing anything to hurt my shoulder more. Plus, I know how much you hate being grounded, so I thought I'd come cheer you up."

Santana barely smiled in response, as she let me into her house.

As soon as my shoes were off, she grabbed my hand and dragged me to her bedroom.

"I missed you," she said quietly.

I laughed. "You just saw me yesterday."

"I know, but it's different at school."

"Yeah, it is. And I missed you too." I loved seeing this side of Santana more than anything, so I leaned in to kiss her, and we didn't stop.