All of Santana's texts and messages were the same. Asking where I was and if I made it home OK.

I tried calling Santana back once I got home, but she didn't pick up. Either her phone had died or she was ignoring me because I had accidentally ignored her earlier. On Sunday, I tried again and all I got was a "Busy right now. I'll see you at school" text around 5 pm. Yeah, she was probably ignoring me on purpose. Whatever. I was getting tired of her weird mind games so I just shrugged it off and called Eva.

Eva and I ended up chatting and talking all weekend and it just made me wish she came to McKinley or one of us had a car. I loved how carefree she was about everything and after months of disappointment with Santana, it was exactly what I needed.

When Monday came, I didn't think Santana would pick me up for school but the doorbell rang early morning and she was standing there with a big smile. "Good morning Britt," she said.

I wasn't sure what to think. I really thought she'd be mad at me or in a bad mood, but here she was, smiling and looking happy. "Are you drunk?"

Her smile turned into a short laugh. "What? No. Britt, it's like seven in the morning."

"Why do you look so happy then?"

She playfully rolled her eyes and stuffed her hands in her Cheerio's jacket. "Come on, let's get out of here. This is going to be a good week."

"Are you high, then?" It was unusual for Santana to just be happy. Nope, something happened.

She laughed again and motioned for me to go with her to the car. Once we were on the road, she still had a small smile on her face. "OK, you're creeping me out. Why are you so happy? I thought you were mad at me for not texting you back. I didn't mean to, you know. I just forgot to check my phone Saturday."

Her smile disappeared and she let out a sigh. "I figured. I didn't mean to ignore your messages after. My phone died again…I really need get a new phone. Anyway, I did something and….it's either going to backfire or make things better."

"What did you do?" She made a right turn and the school came into view.

"I…let me see what the aftermath of this is before I tell you," she said.

"Is this about the party? Did you and Quinn kill someone?"

Santana parked the car and turned off the engine. She turned to face me and shook her head. "Nothing that serious." She unbuckled her seatbelt and looked down at her hands. "Speaking of the party….what time did you get home?"

She looked up and had this worried expression and I felt bad for making her worry. "We made it home safe and sound. The next day."

"So, uh, you did stay over that girl's house? Ellen?"

"Eva," I corrected. I unbuckled by seatbelt and grabbed my bag. "We were too drunk to drive so Eva let us stay at her place. That place is huge!"

"Hmmm…so what, is she your girlfriend now?"

I waited for her to get that annoyed or angry, but it didn't. She had no expression and it was another of those times I couldn't tell what she was thinking. "No. We're friends. I did find out that I'm not a lesbian though. So I guess you were right about that."

"What?" Santana's eyes went wide. "What do you mean? What happened? So you didn't make out with her?"

"I'll tell you later." I got out of the car and closed the door before she could ask me anymore questions. I had some questions I wanted to ask her too but I wanted to wait until after school.

Santana caught up with me once we reached the front entrance. "Brittany! What happened at the party?" She must have jogged to me because she sounded a bit out of breath.

I really didn't want to talk about this at school and I knew just what to say to make her stop. "Do you really want to talk about lesbians while we walk to our lockers?" She quickly looked around us to make sure no one was around and heard what I said. She shook her head and I opened the door and went inside.

As soon as I did, that Afro reporter guy, whose name I still didn't know, shoved his camera in my face.

"Brittany S. Pierce! What are your thoughts on McKinley's latest scandal? Do you think it will change the dynamic of the upper class?"

"What?" I could never understand what this guy was saying. He talked too fast and asked too many questions. This school needed a better reporter. "What are you talking about?"

He took the camera out of my face and immediately focused on Santana.

"Santana Lopez!" he shouted, "You made a bold move in shaking up the McKinley elite! Are you not concerned about how your breaking up with Noah Puckerman will upset the balance?"

I froze. Really. I had heard about people not being able to move all of a sudden and that was happening to me right now. I must have heard wrong. Santana broke up with Puck? The news almost made me smile but I didn't want to get too happy in case it was a mistake.

"No comment," Santana said and walked away with her head held high. She came to me and grabbed my elbow, taking me away from Afro hair reporter guy. We stopped at her locker and she opened it and took out some books.

"What was that?" I asked.

"That was the thing I did," Santana said softly, "So far, so good. I think it's time I start making some new rules around here."

"You really broke up with him?" I felt my lips twitch, wanting to smile. Did this mean she missed me and wanted to spend more time with me? Is that why she broke up with him? No. Nope, I wasn't going to get my hopes up. There had to be another reason that wasn't about me. There always was.

Santana smiled and nodded. "You saw how people reacted to me at the party, and if you had stuck around you would have seen how I was top bitch at that thing. Me. Without Puck." She shrugged her shoulders. "So, I don't need him anymore. Quinn's going to be pissed, but I know what I'm doing."

And there it was. It was all about her popularity. "Oh. Well, that's great." I looked at the clock on my phone. "I have to get to class." I turned to leave but she caught my arm.

"Wait," she said, "Let's go back to your place after school, OK? I want to finish our conversation about….what you said in the car."

I nodded and turned to leave. This was going to be an interesting day.

###

I sat on my bed looking through my celebrity magazines and trying to figure out how the photographers always knew when celebrities went out for coffee. They were always there, no matter how random of a location. I wondered if I could be a celebrity photographer. I loved taking pictures and had, like, five photography books and was saving up to buy another one.

I closed the magazine and looked at my kitty clock on the wall. Santana was supposed to be here 15 minutes ago. She was supposed to give me a ride home but said that Quinn was super mad about what she did and wanted to talk. I had just shrugged my shoulders and asked Rachel for a ride. I could always count on Rachel.

I took out my phone and texted Santana that I could only wait for another 15 minutes then I'd have to leave. I didn't have anywhere to go but I wasn't going to just wait here all night like other times. I had promised myself that I wouldn't just keep waiting for her anymore.

I put my magazines away and changed out of my Cheerio's uniform into lose jeans and a shirt with a giraffe. I checked my phone and there was still nothing from Santana. I went downstairs and asked my mom if we could all go out to dinner tonight so that I totally didn't lie to my best friend.

As my parents, sister and I were leaving, Santana arrived. "Oh! Sorry…where are you all heading out to?" she asked.

My sister, Andrea, or Andi as we called her, started to jump up and down at seeing Santana. Andi loved Santana. "Hi Santana! We're going to dinner!"

Santana smiled at my 12 year old sister and winked. "Awesome."

"Santana," my mom said, "Brittany didn't say you were coming over."

Santana smiled and looked at me with her "I'm sorry" expression that I know so well. "I'm…I'm late. Britt, I'll just call you later."

Before I could say anything my mom spoke again. "Nonsense. Come to dinner with us. Unless you have plans with your mom?"

She looked at me as if asking if it was OK and I nodded. "I'd love to go. My mom is working late today and I was just going to order a pizza."

"That's settled then," my mom said.

So, we all headed off to dinner and actually had a good time. My family loved Santana and she loved them. Sometimes Santana's mom would hang out with my parents and some of their other friends. I think Santana loved to hang out with my family because it was just her and her mom. Santana's dad had died six years ago and the rest of her family lived in Chicago. Santana told me that her mom had thought about moving to Chicago but didn't want to add extra stress to Santana's life. I'm glad they didn't move.

After dinner, we went back to my house and Santana and I went to my room.

"Can I borrow some sweats or something?" she asked me, "I need to take this damn uniform off. It was bad enough I had to wear it at dinner. I just don't get why Sue makes us wear it all day at school. Even on days we don't have practice!"

I went to my drawer and took out some black sweats and a Star Trek sweater. "Here, put these on."

"I can't believe you have this sweater," she laughed, "If anyone saw me wearing this…"

"Whatever Santana. I know you love that show and that you're a big nerd," I teased.

Santana rolled her eyes and started undressing. I looked for a bit but then looked away. I wanted to see her naked, but I wasn't sure if it was OK anymore. I was glad when she was totally changed and sitting on my bed.

"Dinner was fun," she said. I just nodded. "I'm sorry I was late. Quinn wouldn't stop talking."

"What did she say?"

"That I made a big mistake breaking up with Puck," Santana sighed, "She's wrong. You saw what happened today at school, I was even more popular. Let's be real here, the girls are the ones that run the school and the boys are just accessories. I told her she should dump Finn, I mean she doesn't even like him."

"Did you like Puck?" I asked. Puck was an OK guy and I always got the feeling he was a jerk just for show. Kurt had mentioned how Puck hand thrown him into the garbage cans and the next day Puck had given him a $50 gift card to the GAP so he could buy new clothes. I really didn't understand popularity.

I looked at Santana and she looked like I had asked her the world's hardest test question. "Umm," she shrugged, "Sure. I mean, he treated me well and we had fun…but…"

"But what?"

She sighed really loud. "I don't know, something felt off."

I bit my lip and and nodded. I wasn't sure what to think right now. This was the most Santana had talked about her relationship with Puck. When I would try to ask her things, she'd get mad and just not talk. "Off? Like with sex? Was he not good?"

That question caught Santana by surprise and she suddenly got really fidgety and couldn't look at me. "It was….whatever." She slid up my bed and rested her back on the headboard. "Besides we didn't even do it that much."

"You didn't? I thought you guys were like, you know, doing it all the time. Isn't that why we stopped practicing? And why you wouldn't hang out with me as much?"

Santana crossed her arms and looked away. "I tried to….you know what? Forget it." She turned back to me and gave me a small smile. "Enough about me. Let's talk about you and that Eilen chick."

"Eva," I said. I scooted up and sat next to Santana. I really wanted to ask her more about her relationship with Puck now that I found out that they weren't sleeping together as much as I thought. "I know you know her name."

"Fine. Eva," Santana said, in an annoyed tone. "So you didn't make out with her?"

"Oh, I totally did." I smiled at the memory and wondered what she was up to right now.

"Hmmph," Santana huffed, "I thought you said you weren't a lesbian."

"I'm not," I said, sounding really confident. "Eva and I had a talk and she gave me some great advice."

"Did she now? Are you sure she's not a psycho?"

"She's nice," I said.

Santana stayed quiet for a few moments before talking again. "So you're finally going to give up this lesbian stuff?"

"I'm just going to go with the flow," I said, "No labels. I'm not anything, just Brittany."

"So…if we, I don't know, started practicing again, you wouldn't get all weird about it?"

I turned to look at her and she was looking down an there folded hands. She always played with her hands when she was anxious or nervous about something. "What do you mean, weird?"

She looked up but still not at me. "I mean, no suggesting love songs or finding girlfriends or anything. That kind of weird. Since you're not a lesbian we can go back to practicing and not make it a big deal."

But it was a big deal, at least to me. I really loved being with her and the last time we were together, where she looked at me, was amazing. I mean before she walked out. I knew I wasn't a lesbian but I wondered if Santana was. "Are you a lesbian?"

She quickly answered, "No! That's ridiculous!"

"Are you like me? Or you don't know?"

"What do you mean, like you?" Before I could answer, she let out an annoyed groan and kept talking. "Can we please stop talking about what we are? It's dumb. I'm straight and one day I'll marry an NFL player and live in a mansion and have lots of money. Until then, I don't see why I can't mess around. I need to get good at sex so I can keep my NFL husband happy."

As I listened to Santana talk, my stomach felt like there was a tornado in there. I don't know if it was the food or hearing Santana talk about her future husband that made me feel like throwing up. I scrunched up my nose and put my hand on my stomach.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I….I think dinner made me sick," I said, "I don't feel so good. Maybe you should go home."

"Are you kicking me out?"

I shook my head and scooted down the bed to lay down. "No. I just…I think I just need to lie down." I turned away from her and hugged one of my pillows. I knew I wasn't the smartest but I knew what Santana was saying. She wanted to use me for sex so she could please her future husband. "I'm just going to go to sleep."

"But it's 7:30," she said. I felt her get out of bed. "I'll go get you some Pepto or something."

"No." I turned to face her and saw that she was almost to the bathroom door. "I just need to lie down and go to sleep."

Her shoulders seemed to slump a little. "I can rub your stomach, that always works." She started walking back to me but I told her to stop. "What?" she asked.

"I just need to sleep," I told her, "I'll see you tomorrow?"

I almost told her to stay when I saw her disappointed look. But I didn't. If she stayed, she'd want to practice and knew I couldn't say no to her. So, she had to leave.

"Uh, OK," she said softly. She picked up her clothes and stuffed them in her backpack. "I guess…I'll see you tomorrow when I pick you up for school."

I nodded and tried to give her a smile. She looked like she didn't want to leave and hesitated but in the end, she left. I turned back to my pillow and tried to sleep but instead just stared out my window.

-tbc-

A/N: Big leaps for Brittany but baby steps for Santana.