Santana was right. She didn't need Puck and was even more popular and powerful without him. She had even passed Quinn as top bitch at school and that made Santana really happy. It had been almost two months since the break up and things were going just as Santana had predicted.

Quinn had dumped Finn two weeks ago and she was still popular but not as much as Santana. I just stayed in the background and watched because I didn't care about being popular or any of its dumb rules. I continued to go out with my Glee friends even though Santana was not happy about that. She had been upset that I went out with them every Friday night, instead of her, but I did invite her to come with me every Friday, but each time she said no. Going out with the Glee club was always so much fun and I had gotten a lot closer to all of them. Especially to Rachel, which was surprising.

Santana and I had been back to normal, minus the sexy times and sweet lady kisses. I missed that. A lot. After that night in my bedroom we hadn't talked about "practicing" again. I don't know what happened but we just got into being just best friends, which was awesome, but sometimes I got the urge to kiss Santana and I knew I'd slip soon.

Eva and I continued to chat online and call each other, and she had even joined me and the Glee Club for a couple of our Friday group dates. She did tell me she got a job and she might have a car this summer and she would come pick me up to hang out more often. We made out a few times but not as intense like at the party, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

Mike continued to flirt with me and I was super surprised he hadn't asked me out yet. I had sort of given up my plan to ask him out, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of having a boyfriend or girlfriend. Someone to go out on dates and be like the couples in all those teen movies. If Eva didn't go to Carmel, I'm sure we'd be dating. Here at McKinley, I liked Mike a lot and I knew that he would be an awesome boyfriend but I hadn't asked him. I was just waiting for something, but I wasn't sure what.

We only had a week before the semester was over before everyone would go on Christmas break. I loved Christmas and couldn't wait for it to get here. I was in my room browsing through Amazon and buying gifts. I had just finished buying my sister her gift and was going to buy Santana's, when Santana came in to my room.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised. Some of the squad and football players had gone to Breadstix after school and Santana said she needed to make an appearance. I didn't expect to see her today.

She laughed and came in, dropping her gym bag on the floor. "What happened to the days when you were glad to see me." She closed my door and sat on the bed, near my feet.

I closed my laptop and set it aside. "I am always glad to see you but I thought you were going to spend the night at Breadstix."

Santana reached for my laptop but I shoved it away. "Were you looking at porn?" Santana teased.

"No, I was Christmas shopping."

"My present?" Santana got up and came to sit next to me, with her back to the headboard.

"Nope." I smiled and looked away because I knew she would be able to tell I was lying.

"Liar." Busted. "Breadstix was boring without you there so I came to hang out."

That news made me smile really big. "Really?"

"Uh huh, and…"

"And what?" I asked.

"I was thinking." She took my hand, palm up, and started running her fingers across it making me feel all tingly.

"Uh, what?" I looked at her, but she was looking at our hands.

"Well, I really missed you and now that I'm making the rules, I don't have to be away from you that much anymore."

The tingly feeling was getting really distracting and I wasn't sure what Santana was talking about but just hearing her say she missed me made me feel all warm inside.

Since she had broken off with Puck she hadn't ditched me. She was always there when I needed her and she hadn't gotten mad at me once. Post-breakup Santana was great and it just made it that much harder to not want to kiss her.

She continued caressing my hand and looked at me. She had the sweetest smile on her face and I swear it was like I drank five beers and had a buzz going on.

I was Santana-drunk.

"I miss you in other ways too," she said softly, looking into my eyes, "Do you know what I mean?"

She was looking at me! Maybe I really did drink five beers and was drunk and was dreaming the whole thing. Then I suddenly got what she was saying. "Oh. Uh, you wanna practice?"

Santana smiled and leaned in and kissed me. It was a really soft kiss and I hadn't realized just how much I missed kissing her until right now. She leaned back and she was still smiling. "Let's not call it practice anymore." she said.

I couldn't talk so I just nodded. I probably shouldn't have said yes, but I missed being with her and now with Puck out of the way, I wouldn't have to share her. My brain was telling me to stop this, that it was a bad idea. But my body and my heart were telling my brain to shut up and go for it. This was such a bad idea.

Maybe if we started doing this again I could help Santana figure out if she was a lesbian. In the last two months, I had figured out Santana was not straight. At all. No matter how many times she would say she was.

Santana got up and went to lock my door. "Just in case." She had the biggest smile on her face. She turned off the lights and started undressing. It was already dark out and the moon wasn't as bright so I couldn't see her as clearly. I wanted to tell her to keep the light on, like last time, but I didn't want to make her mad.

I started to take off my clothes too and soon we were both in our underwear and bra. She walked over and climbed on top of me. Feeling her warm skin against mine again was like a dream. She kissed me again, but this time it wasn't a small soft kiss. This time it was way more intense and she shoved her tongue in my mouth. "Mmmm."

As soon as she kissed me, my brain gave up trying to make me stop.

I don't know if it was because we hadn't done this in months or because it was super dark, but Santana was way more passionate than ever before. I had no trouble keeping up and had her totally naked in no time. I flipped us over and moved to kiss her neck, then down to her right nipple.

"God, I missed you boobs," I moaned. I really wished I could see her better but I was glad that the darkness was giving her more confidence.

She reached behind me and unhooked my bra, took it off and cupped both of my boobs. "I missed yours too," she said really softly, but I heard her.

I moved down her body until I got between her legs. I had wanted to taste her again since the last time and had had so many dreams and fantasies about doing this over and over. I just wished I could see her better.

"Britt…" Santana almost sounded like she was in pain.

"Do, do you not want me to?"

She opened her legs wider and I took that as a yes. I wanted to slowly lean in and tease her and do all that romantic stuff, but I ended up diving right in and taking as much of her in my mouth as I could. She was just as delicious as I remembered.

"FUCK!" Santana's hands went to my head but she didn't push me down, she just keep them there. I heard her breathing really hard as I licked and sucked, and drank her. Santana was so warm, so wet and I wanted more. I dipped my tongue inside her and made her moan really loud. "Britt…umm…that's….good…"

I had watched a lot of videos on how to do this just right and judging by Santana's moans and how she was, like, thrashing on the bed, I was doing it right. If my mouth hadn't been full of Santana's vagina, I would have smiled. Maybe I should call it pussy. I would have to ask Santana what she preferred. I started sucking on her clit and inserted two fingers in and out of her, fast. That drove her crazy and she came soon after.

I took my fingers out but kept licking her because I couldn't get enough. I kept doing it until I was sure she had recovered. "Was that OK?" I asked as I sat up, still between her legs. She started laughing and I pouted. "I've only done this twice, OK? You don't have to laugh at me."

I started to get out of bed when I felt Santana pull me down to the bed, with her on top of me. I was so surprised that I squealed like a chipmunk. She then kissed me and I wasn't so mad anymore.

"I'm not laughing at you," she said, "I'm laughing because of your question. By the sounds I was making and the way I was moving, it's pretty obvious it was more than OK."

I giggled, realizing how silly I was to get upset so fast. She was hovering right above me and again I wished the moon's flashlight was brighter because I couldn't really see her eyes. "Can I ask you something? And please don't get mad. I know you don't like it when I talk."

I felt Santana's body tense and she wasn't smiling anymore. "I..it's not…, you can talk anytime you want."

That wasn't true, but I did't tell her that. "Umm…speaking of noises, you're usually really quiet. But the last two times, you, uh, you haven't been."

"You don't like that?" she asked and I could tell by her voice she was worried about my answer.

"I like it!" I assured her, but I could feel like she was pulling away from me. "A lot. I like hearing you. It's just, am I just better now?" I knew if I changed the focus to me, she would relax more. And she did.

"You've improved," she said and I could hear her smile return, "Practice makes perfect, right?"

"Right." I didn't get the answer I wanted but I wasn't going to push her anymore right now. I didn't want her to leave.

"Now," she said, "How about I get my turn and you tell me how much I've improved since last time."

Before I could say anything, Santana had slid down my body and her mouth found my vagina. No, pussy. I liked that better.

###

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Sue had us practicing routines everyday until the semester ended. She would have kept us practicing during our break but the school said it was against the law or something. When we weren't too tired, Santana and I did more private practicing of our own.

The more we were together, the more comfortable Santana got. I was so happy and hoped that she would open up more in the future. She was looking at me more, talking more and she hadn't gotten mad or left once. I was glad I had let my body and heart win over my brain. Though, I had to prepare myself for this to go wrong again and my brain chanting, "I told you so" in my head all day.

I was being careful but there was definitely a change.

Since I started sleeping with Santana again, I stopped making out with Eva. Sort of. I mean, we sometimes still kissed but not as much as before. I still really like her and with Santana still being…Santana, I wasn't sure if we were official or what. I doubted we were. Aside from the sometimes kisses, Eva and I were still friends and I liked spending time with her.

But back to Santana… I also realized that Santana wasn't like me. She didn't like boys the way I did, which made the whole Puck thing super confusing. Santana didn't talk about guys or say that a guy was hot. She didn't check out any of the guys on the football team, and believe me, some of them had amazing bodies. Instead, I'd catch her checking out some of the Cheerios at practice.

One time, we were looking at a magazine and I caught Santana's eyes lingering on a hot female model's ass. I mean, it was an amazing ass and girls check out other girls' bodies all the time but the way Santana was looking was not PG. Fifteen minutes after reading that magazine, we had sexy times. Plus there was the fact that she totally loved going down on me. I'm sure she'd have her head between my legs all day if she could. So yeah, I was positive Santana was a lesbian. I just wish she'd know that too.

For Christmas and New Year's, Santana and her mom went to Chicago to spend time with their family, including Santana's grandmother who she was excited to see. Santana would never admit it, but family was super important to her. She loved going to Chicago to see her aunts, uncles and cousins. I was glad she loved going, because I sure didn't. I wanted celebrate Christmas with my best friend on actual Christmas and not the day before she left.

This year it was my parents' turn to have family for the holidays so I didn't go anywhere. Instead I had to share my room with two of my cousins while other family members slept somewhere around the house. I loved Christmas, but I didn't love it as much when it was this crazy.

When Christmas was over, I thought I would have Santana back. I didn't. She and her mom had decide to stay in Chicago until four days before the semester started. We texted, Skyped and called each other everyday, but it wasn't the same.

"I miss you," I said to my computer where the image of Santana was smiling at me.

"I miss you too Britt-Britt," she said, "Don't worry though, I'll be home in just three days."

"I can't wait. Are you excited to come home?"

"I'm excited to hang out with you again," she said, "Honestly, you're the only reason I want to go back, otherwise, I'd stay here."

"You really love it there, huh?" I knew she really liked Chicago but hearing her say that if it wasn't for me, she'd stay there, made me a little sad.

She smiled really big and nodded. "It's great here. The city is amazing, Britt. There are so many different people living here. It's like New York or Los Angeles, but not as crowded or flashy. You can be who you want and no one cares. Life here goes by at a much faster pace than Lima. It's like Lima is a snail and Chicago is a, a…"

"Cat?"

"Yeah, Britt," she laughed, "Like a big cat that runs fast. You should come with me next time."

"Really?" The idea of being in a big city with Santana sounded perfect. She really did seem a lot happier there and there was nothing I loved more than a happy Santana. "That'd be awesome." I heard Santana's mom call out to her. "You have to go?"

"Yeah," she said, and she looked disappointed, "My abuela is taking us to see the giant jelly bean."

"There's a giant jelly bean? What flavor is it?"

"Not that kind, Britt," Santana said, "I'll take you there when you come here, OK?"

"Deal." Santana's mom called her again. "You should go. Send me a picture of the jelly bean."

"I will."

We hung up and I already missed her.

###

The night Santana came back, I slept over and we made up for weeks of not being together. I had learned that every time we went more than a week without having sex, Santana got super passionate when we did it again.

A few days later, we started the second half of our Junior year and everyone was talking about college already. I still had no idea what I wanted to do or even if I wanted to go to college. Even Eva had schools already picked out in New York and California.

"Both those states are awesome," Eva said.

We were having lunch at a pizza place that was halfway between Mckinley and Carmel. We always tried to meet up once or twice a week, sometimes with some of the Glee club and sometimes by ourselves.

"I don't even know if I can get in," I said. I tore a small piece of my pizza and ate it. "I wasn't even thinking about college."

"Do you want to go?"

I just shrugged my shoulders. "I don't even know what I want to study. What do you want to do?"

"No clue," Eva laughed, "But the parents insist I go to college or they stop giving me money. So I'm just going to go and see what sparks my interest. Maybe you should do that too."

"I guess I could do that. If I can get in."

Eva reached for my hand and squeezed it. "You'll get in," she said with a smile, "How about I send you the names of the schools I'm applying and you can apply to those to start. I'd love it if we got to go to the same school this time so we can see each other more."

I felt myself blush. Eva always made me feel a little shy sometimes. "That'd be awesome."

She winked at me and we finished our lunch.

###

I was sitting alone in the choir room just thinking about college again when Rachel came in.

"Brittany?"

"Huh?"

"What are you doing in here by yourself?" Rachel asked. She came to sit next to me and patted my knee. "Did you take too much cold medicine again?"

I shook my head. "I wish. I was just thinking about college." Even though Eva had made me feel a little better about college, I suddenly felt overwhelmed.

Rachel's face lit up. "Fantastic! I'm happy to hear that. I'm not going to lie Brittany, I really didn't think college was even in your thought process."

"I'm processing it. It just hit me that we start Senior year this fall. Then next Spring we graduate. It's scary and I don't know what I want to do. Eva said I can just go and decide later."

"Don't worry, Brittany," Rachel said, "Eva is right. You can be undecided for the first couple of semesters. What schools have you applied to?"

I panicked. "What? We're supposed to apply already?" I had no idea what to do about any of this college stuff. "I only got school names from Eva yesterday! Oh God, I'm going to mess this up."

"No, you're not." Rachel took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "There's still plenty of time. I'll help you, OK? What are the schools Eva mentioned?"

"What about my grades?" I asked, ignoring her question, "Don't you need like straight A's to get into college?"

"Don't worry about that," Rachel said, "I know you're doing very well in math, science and history. Especially math."

"Numbers are easy," I shrugged, "And science and history is just about remembering facts, really. It's English and writing that I can't do. It's so confusing."

"Well, that's a problem," Rachel said, "Since you do have to write an essay for your applications."

I groaned. "I'll never get in anywhere."

"I promise you Brittany," Rachel said, "You will get in somewhere because I'm going to help you."

I smiled and squeezed Rachel's hand, grateful I had such a great friend. "Thanks Rachel."

"Of course. Now, first thing's first. Do you want to go to college here in Ohio or out of state? I, myself, am planing on applying to some New York schools to start."

I didn't need to think too hard about my first choice. "I'd like to try Chicago."

"Excellent choice," Rachel said, "We'll start there."

Later that day, I asked Santana if she was thinking of going to college in Chicago. She told me that when she was there, she looked at some schools and had a good idea of where she wanted to go. I just smiled and told her it was awesome. I didn't tell her that it hurt my feelings that she had been making plans to leave Lima that didn't include me. Sure, she had invited me to go to Chicago, but that was just for a visit, not to live there with her and go to school.

It was at that moment that I realized that I needed to make plans of my own. I couldn't wait for Santana to make plans for me. I couldn't let myself be left behind.

###

"LISTEN UP LOSERS!"

I flinched at Sue's loud voice and wished I was in Glee club instead. Sue had gotten meaner and crazier since school started and cheerleading was not as fun as it used to be. Sometimes I thought about quitting but I needed this for my college applications. Well, that's what Rachel said but I wondered if it had to be cheerleading or if it could be something else. I had always wanted to start my own talk show. Maybe I could be the next Oprah.

"BRITTANY!"

I snapped out of my Oprah fantasy and looked at Sue. "Yes?"

"You're looking ditzier than usual," Sue said, "You haven't been huffing glue have you?"

"Eww, no."

"Hmm…Anyway, I have a special assignment for you. You are going to be my secret weapon in the upcoming competition."

"Awesome!" I smiled and hoped this was my chance to create my own routine and teach everyone.

"You, my special child," Sue said, "Are going to be shot out of a CANON!"

My smile dropped. Santana and Quinn, who were standing on either side of me, both let out a gasp. "What?" I asked.

"A canon!" Sue was pacing in front of us looking really proud of her idea.

"Coach," Santana said, "With all due respect, you cannot shoot a person out of a canon."

"She'll be killed!" Quinn said.

"She'll take one for the team," Sue said.

"I…" I shook my head, "I don't want to. I don't want to die. I still have to be Oprah!"

"See," Sue said, "She probably already has a head injury so this might make her better."

"No way!" Santana shouted, "You're insane! You are not shooting her out of a canon."

Sue got really close to Santana, their noses almost touching. "I'll do with my squad whatever I think is right for the team. If you don't like it, you can leave."

I reached for Santana's hand and laced our pinkies together. "Maybe it won't be so bad." I said softly.

Santana stepped back from Sue and shook her head. "I'm out of here then. See if you can win without me or Britt." Santana began to walk away, taking me with her.

"Or me," Quinn said and followed us.

"GET BACK HERE!" Sue yelled, "YOU'RE MAKING A BIG MISTAKE!"

We didn't listen and kept on walking. I had never been more proud to have Santana and Quinn as my friends as I was at that moment.

###

After storming out of the field, the three of us went to the locker room to change out of our uniforms. Since we didn't expect to quit Cheerios today, we didn't bring any clothes to change into. We all ended up wearing McKinley sweatpants and T-shirts.

"This is crazy," I said. We were in the locker room finishing changing. "If you guys go back now, maybe she won't be so mad and you can still be on the squad."

"Fuck her," Santana said as she tied her shoelaces, "She's insane and I was getting sick of her crazy bullshit. She was going to risk killing you for a number!"

"But..what about the rules?" I asked, "Won't this hurt your popularity?"

"I don't think so," Quinn said, "I think if we get ahead of this, we can make this work. I was getting sick of her crazy bullshit too. She's gone off the rails! With Glee Club winning all those competitions, we're more popular being part of that instead. Besides, we couldn't let her kill you."

"Yeah," Santana said, "It's time someone stood up to that tyrant."

I felt like crying, but in a good way. I honestly never expected Quinn and Santana to put their popularity at risk for me. This wasn't part of the rules. "Thank you."

Santana, who had been sitting on the bench, got up and hugged me really tight. "I wasn't going to let her hurt you," she whispered.

I hugged her tighter and felt the urge to kiss her and I almost did until Quinn spoke.

"Can I get a hug too?"

I let Santana go and opened my arm to Quinn. "Come here." Quinn didn't hug me as tight as Santana but that was OK.

"Well, this is quite a way to go into the end of Junior year," Quinn said, as she pulled back, "But I really do think we can make this work." She went to her locker and cleared everything out and hung her uniform in there. "I'm going to go talk to some people and get ahead of this thing. I'll see you ladies at lunch." Quinn picked up her bag and left.

I turned to Santana and took her hands. "Thanks for sticking up for me."

I was surprised when she stepped closer. "I know I can get caught up in this popularity thing," she said, "But it's not worth your life."

Santana was talking so softly and the best part was that she was looking into my eyes. We were so close that I got the urge to kiss her. So I did. I expected her to push me away since we were at school, but she kissed me back. She was breaking one of her rules.

Santana had made strict rules that we were never supposed to kiss or have sex in school. We could only do that in my room or hers, so Santana kissing me in the gym locker room was so surprising. She let go of my hands and wrapped her arms around my neck, kissing me deeper. I put my hands on her waist and pulled her closer.

I heard her moan when I sucked her tongue and I'm sure we would have probably ended up having sex right then and there if we hadn't heard a door slam at the other end of the locker room. Santana jumped back really quick and almost hit her back on the lockers behind her.

We started to hear people talking and knew Sue must have let the Cheerios out early.

"Let's, uh, finish up," Santana said. She threw her uniform in her locker and picked up her bag. I did the same. We walked out of the locker room, neither of us mentioning about what had just happened.

###

By lunch the whole school was talking about how The Unholy Trinity had quit Cheerios. I wasn't sure where that nickname came from but I kinda liked it because it made us sound evil and cool.

That afro reporter guy had tried to interview us but Quinn just handed him an official press release she had typed up in one of her classes. I don't know what Quinn had done after she left the locker room but we were still popular and people actually high-fived us as we walked the halls. It turned out that standing up to Sue was the ultimate wish of every single student at the school.

When we entered the cafeteria, dressed in our McKinley sweats, everyone seemed to stop and look at us. We just stood there with our treys and scanned the room.

"Uh, were do we sit now?" Santana whispered.

I looked at Quinn and she was scanning the room trying to find an empty table but there weren't any. "Follow me," I told them. I led them to the Glee table and I saw my Glee friends' eyes get really big when we arrived. "Hi guys. Do you mind if we sit here?"

I knew they'd say yes because they were cool like that. Even though Santana and Quinn had not been the nicest to them, they would still let them sit at the table. Everyone scooted over and we sat down, Santana and Quinn looking a little uncomfortable.

"Welcome," Rachel said with a big smile. "It's great to have more Glee members sit at the table."

I heard Santana groan so I lightly kicked her under the table. "Thanks Rachel," I said, "I guess you heard what happened?"

"It's all over the school," Rachel said, sounding shocked, "Is it true that Sue wanted to shoot you out on to the field using a giant sling shot?"

"It was a cannon," I said, "And yeah. Santana and Quinn stood up for me and we quit." I turned to look at them and saw they had quietly started eating. I had never seen Santana and Quinn so quiet at lunch.

"That's amazing," Kurt said, "I would have done the same. Sue is insane!"

"She sure is," Mercedes agreed, "And it seems that your little stunt made you guys even more popular."

Quinn finally looked up from her food. "That was the plan and it seems like it worked."

"Does that mean we're going to be popular too?" Artie asked.

"God no," Santana scoffed, "Just because we're sitting here, doesn't elevate you up the social ladder."

"Santana, be nice," I said and she just shrugged her shoulders.

Tina cleared her throat and everyone turned to look at her. "You…you can sit here with us, as long as you want."

"Listen…" Santana began, but I cut her off because I knew she was going to say something mean.

"Thank you Tina," I said, "So, did anyone watch the last episode of Vampire Diaries? How annoying was Elena?"

"So annoying," Kurt groaned.

The rest of the lunch went pretty well. Santana and Quinn joined the conversations here and there and by the end, the Glee table seemed to be on the rise as one of the cool tables at McKinley.

###

I had hoped that Santana and I would hang out after school, but she went home. She said she needed to change and decompress after this life altering event. She hadn't mentioned anything about what happened in the locker room and I knew she wouldn't. I knew that she would pretend nothing happened and that she wanted me to do the same.

Santana pretended a lot of things didn't happen, mainly things we did. In the beginning, it was easy for me to pretend that nothing happened, but the more we were together, the harder that got. I didn't want to forget what we did and it made me sad that she did.

I knew she was scared about what others thought about her and I wanted to help her get rid of that feeling. The way she kissed me in the locker room was so, so powerful, I guess that's the right word. It felt like the times when we were having sex and she totally let go and it was just us. I could still feel her hugging me really tight and her lips over mine. OK, that sounded really corny, but I really could still feel her. It really was the most amazing kiss we had ever had and I figured that had scared her.

I wondered if I could make her not want to forget. I wasn't sure, but I wanted to try.

-tbc-

A/N: We've all gotten used to the confident, happy Santana we have seen that it's easy to forget just how scared and unhappy she used to be.