Here's an extra long chapter- I hope you like it.

Chapter 7

"Santana?"

If the girl could hear him she made no sign of it. Will's heart was still pounding from his sprint down the hallway. One of the seniors coming from lunch had run into his classroom and told him someone was trashing the choir room. Will hadn't even hesitated before running down the hallway leaving his class blinking after him in surprise. The same student had followed him back and now stood wide-eyed in the doorway. Will looked over at him, his face pinched with worry.

"Go tell Principal Figgins that I had an emergency and need someone to cover my class immediately, but don't tell him why."

He didn't need the principal coming down here right now. The boy nodded in understanding. Will called out again just as the boy turned to leave.

"Hey, do you know Brittany Pierce?"

"Yeah."

"Could you get her and tell her to come here right away?"

"Sure."

The boy darted off down the hallway and Will turned back to Santana. He called her name several times, trying to get her attention, but the girl continued to ignore him, sobbing quietly her face in her hands, leaving Will feeling helpless.

He was relieved when he looked up to see Brittany in the doorway taking in the sight of the room and her friend with a clarity and understanding that surprised him. If anyone could get through to Santana the she was it.

She was at Santana's side in less than a second, pulling the smaller girl into her lap.

"San? Hey, it's me, Brit. Can you hear me?" She asked softly, stroking her friend's hair back from her face. She tilted Santana's chin up until their eyes met and Will saw Santana blink in recognition before burying her face in Brittany's shoulder, crying harder than before.

"It's okay, it's okay, shhh," Brittany mumbled into her hair, "I'm here. It's okay."

Will got up to close the doors when he realized there were still a few students loitering in the hallway. Santana didn't need anyone else seeing her like this. He already hoped the boy who'd gotten him earlier could keep his mouth shut.

Santana's sobs had slowed to hiccups, but she made no move to leave Brittany's lap.

"Santana?" Will said softly, sitting next to them again. He saw her freeze for a split second before straightening up and looking at him with red, swollen eyes. She slid from Brittany's lap, but stayed pressed against her, clutching her hand.

Brittany made no move to stop the tears that slipped from down her own face at the sight of Santana looking so completely vulnerable.

She'd known the second she'd walked in that her friend had finally fallen apart. She was a little surprised it'd happened so quickly following last night. Knowing how stubborn Santana was she'd been prepared for her to come back to school like nothing had changed and continue to not talk about whatever was happening for at least another week or two.

She watched Santana's eyes flicker from Mr. Schue back to hers before closing, tears spilling from beneath her thick eyelashes in a movement that broke Brittany's heart.

"San," Brittany breathed out, "please tell me what's wrong."

Santana shook her head slowly, her mouth moving silently. She was so tired of trying to deny what happened, so tired of holding everything in, but she couldn't seem to push any sound past the lump in her throat. She still couldn't say it out loud.

Brittany could see her friend struggling for words, "It's okay, San, just take your time. " She thought back to when Santana had started to push her away, "Does this have anything to do with why you were sick last week?"

Santana nodded, her eyes staring brokenly back at her. Brittany took a leap and pushed again, "Does this have anything to do with the party we went to the night before that?" She remembered how Santana hadn't wanted to talk about it.

Santana nodded again, her eyes now on the floor, her grip on Brittany's hand so tight she was beginning to lose feeling in her fingers. Despite popular opinion, Brittany wasn't nearly as stupid or naïve as people thought, not when it came to her best friend, and the puzzle pieces were beginning to fit together. Brittany asked the next question slowly.

"Did something happen with Brendan? After I left?"

Santana pushed to her feet and crossed the room, pressing her forehead to the wall before turning to sink to the floor again, back against the ruined white board.

Will wisely stayed where he was, watching as Brittany followed her slowly, kneeling before her and taking Santana's hand in hers again. He had a feeling he knew where this was going and he was pretty sure Brittany did too.

"Santana, "Brittany whispered, her voice breaking, "did he hurt you? Is that why you told me to stay away from him?"

"Them."

Santana lifted her head to meet Brittany's eyes, her voice raspy from crying, "I told you to stay away from them. Brendan and his friend."

Brittany nodded at her, encouraging her to continue.

"I wasn't strong enough to fight them, I tried I swear, " her eyes begging her to understand, "Santana Lopez doesn't take shit from anyone, right? I'm supposed to be in control, but …god, they…Brittany…"

This was it, it had to come out. Santana knew keeping it a secret was destroying her almost as much as the act itself.

"They raped me." Santana finished in a whisper.

Brittany wrapped her arms around her friend and pulled her close, wishing she hadn't given up on her plans for a time machine so she could go back to that party and save her friend from everything that had happened.

Santana continued, surprising herself, her voice stronger now, the words easier the second time. "They raped me. I was drunk and mad at you for being with Artie and I…I was only going to make out with him, but when we got upstairs his friend was waiting. I told them I wasn't cool with that and tried to leave, but they…they just wouldn't stop. They said they knew I was a slut and that I didn't mean it when I said no. But I did, Britt. I meant it."

"I know you did, San," Brittany said, holding her even tighter, "they were wrong not to listen."

Will's stomach had gone queasy as soon as Santana had started her story and by the end he was fighting back tears of his own. He hated to see anyone, especially one of his kids, going through something so terrible. He wasn't sure if Santana would welcome the comforting hug he wanted to give her, so he took his time approaching the girls.

"Santana, this was not your fault."

Brittany and Santana had been so caught up in each other they'd almost forgotten Will was still in the room. Santana found herself unable to meet his eyes.

She wished he hadn't been there to hear everything; she really didn't want anyone but Brittany to know. If people knew, they'd know she'd been weak, and no one fears the weak. Who would respect her status as school bitch if they knew? Instead of looking at her with fear and awe, they'd look at her with pity- and that was unacceptable.

But she couldn't take the words back and she couldn't make him forget what he'd heard.

So instead she said, "I know. I'm sorry about trashing the room, Mr. Schue."

"It's fine, Santana, it's just stuff. It's replaceable. You're not."

Santana forced her eyes to meet his and was surprised at what she saw there. Sure, there was a bit of pity, some anger, a lot of sadness, but unexpectedly there was something that almost looked like admiration there as well.

Brittany squeezed her hand and Santana turned to see a similar expression on her best friend's face.

Will could see Santana was nervous about his reaction to all this, so he smiled at her, hoping to reassure her that his opinion of her hadn't changed. "I'm proud of you for having the courage to tell us. So many people never do and it eats them up inside. You're stronger than you think Santana."

Santana looked away. She didn't feel courageous, and she knew that if they hadn't caught her in the act of tearing apart the room, she wouldn't have told them a damn thing. She would have had her private break down and then gone back to what she'd been doing before until she snapped again.

Brittany looked around the room at the damage, "Why'd you break up the glee room, San? Those poor drums never hurt anyone."

Santana lifted a shoulder, relieved to hear Brittany sounding more like herself again.

"I don't know. I ran into Brendan and Steve in the hall and we had words."

Will interrupted, "Did they do anything to hurt you?"

Santana shuddered at the memory of Brendan's lips on hers, "Not really. But they can't say the same about me." She smiled, remembering her foot connecting with their balls, the blood on Brendan's face.

"What do you mean?"

"I might have kicked them both in the junk."

Will couldn't help but smile, glad to see a little of the old Santana again.

"Anyway," Santana continued, "I took off before they could get up off the floor and came here. I've missed this place and when I looked around all I could see were the things that I'd lost and I guess I just lost it myself."

She stopped and took a breath. What was she doing, sitting here on the floor spilling her guts to Brittany and Will Schuester, of all people. Santana didn't talk about feelings, but somehow she couldn't stop. It was like word vomit and now that she'd started it wouldn't quit until there was nothing left.

"I've just been so mad. I thought I could convince myself that what happened didn't matter and getting angry was easier than…everything else. I love Glee, it used to be the best part of my day, but after it happened I was too mad to let myself be happy. I let them take away the things that made me happy." She turned to Brittany, "I let them take you away. You know I didn't mean anything I said last night, right? I'm so sorry I said those things to you. You make it so hard for me stay angry and I couldn't handle it."

Brittany nodded, "I know you didn't mean it. I forgive you Santana. I meant what I said, I'll never stop being your friend- even when you're mean to me."

This time it was Santana wrapping her arms around Brittany. "I love you."

"I love you too San."

Will cleared his throat, pretty sure he was hearing more than he was supposed to.

"Santana, you know you're welcome back in Glee club anytime you want, "Will said, "You haven't lost us."

"Thanks, Mr. Schue, but I'm not sure everyone else would agree with you. I've been pretty horrible to them- especially Puck," Santana cringed as she thought about the afternoon's events in the locker room.

"I think they'll be more forgiving than you think, especially when you explain why you've been acting the way you have."

Santana's eyes went wide. "No freaking way. I'm not telling them what happened. No."

Brittany spoke up beside her, "I think Mr. Schue is right San. You should tell them. We're a family and they can help. Santana, everyone has been so worried about you."

"No! I don't want them looking at me like I'm some kind of victim in an after-school special."

"Santana, they won't think that. You'll still be you, ready to kick ass and lay the verbal smack down. They won't forget that."

Santana just shook her head again and Will and Brittany wisely backed off. It would be up to her to decide who she told.

Will took a deep breath, knowing she wasn't going to like what he was about to suggest. "Speaking of telling people, we need to go to the police." He continued despite the adamant shaking of Santana's head. "We have to, Santana. If they did that to you they could do it to someone else and we need to stop them."

"Mr. Schue, I'm not going to the police. I've watched enough Law and Order: SVU to know how these things work. I washed away all of the…evidence, the bruises have healed and it'll be their word against mine. You know as well as I do that I have a reputation at this school for sleeping around, and there were a lot of people at that party who saw me drunk and making out with Brendan before going upstairs with him- willingly. They'll deny that it was anything but consensual and I can't prove otherwise. I'm not going through that. I can't."

Will could hear the truth in what she was saying, but he couldn't let what he'd heard go unreported. "Well, how about today? We can tell Figgins that they attacked you on school property and at least they'll be expelled."

"There's not a mark on me, Mr. Schue, and I made them both bleed. I don't think that conversation would go in my favor."

It went against every moral he had, but Will couldn't see a way to win. She was right about Figgins and if she refused to come forward and press formal charges there wasn't anything he could do on his own. He sighed in defeat.

"Okay, I'll let it go for now, but if you change your mind I'll support you all the way."

"Thanks, Mr. Schue," Santana said, pulling Brittany with her as she stood up. Her throat was raw and she knew her face must look a mess, but for some reason Santana felt a little bit better. She'd told someone, two people even, and the sky hadn't fallen, lightning hadn't struck and they hadn't looked at her like a freak.

She wiped at the tear tracks on her face and lifted her chin, "Enough sharing, next thing you know we'll be holding hands and singing kumbaya." She moved across the room, righting chairs as she went.

"Well, are you guys going to help me clean up or are you just going to stand there?"