My name is Brittany S. Pierce. I'm seventeen years old and I'm a junior in high school. I just moved to Los Angeles, California from Lima, Ohio after my mom got remarried and my new stepdad got a job out here as a lawyer for a high-end firm.

Lima was my home for the past seventeen years. I loved it. I loved the openness and countryside, the change of seasons, the space, the people. Now, here I am, forced to leave my friends and my school to move to somewhere foreign. And it's not like I can just go and visit Lima. It's about thirty-four hours from here but I had no choice so we sold our house, packed our stuff, and moved into a new one here in LA. It's much different than what I'm used to. It's warm and sunny all the time, even if it is November. It's busy and crowded. The people aren't nearly as friendly.

I had a ton of friends back home. Lima was a tight knit community where everyone knew everyone and everyone looked out for each other. I was top of the dance team bringing us home state championships. I didn't have much experience with dating. I've dated a few guys but nothing serious.

Now here I am, staring at the large building that is my new school wondering what's in store for me behind those doors. Honestly, I just don't want to cause any attention to myself. I just want to do my schoolwork, graduate, and go to New York to pursue my dreams of being a dancer.

School isn't really my forte. I've struggled with keeping up all my life but dancing has always been natural to me. My mom says I've been dancing since I came out of the womb. It's in my blood, it consumes me, it makes me forget about the bad stuff, and it sets me free. Unfortunately, this school doesn't have a dance team like back home. You'd think that they would, considering it's L.A. for crying out loud.

Finding the courage, I walked up the long staircase and through the front doors. My mom had given me instructions to go see my advisor first thing so I could pick out my classes. The school was a lot larger than the one back home. It was like a castle to the one I was used to. All the girls had expensive shoes and purses. The guys all had expensive watches and clothes and then there's me wearing a sweater my mom knit me, converse sneakers, and skinny jeans. It was like a different world and in that moment, I knew this was going to be a struggle. I knew that this was going to be incredibly foreign but I was going to have to deal with it.

I spotted the main office and lowered my head as I weaved through the crowd of fellow students to my destination. I was almost there when you cut me off and I rammed right into you.

"Watch it!" you spat and my eyes instantly darted up to yours.

You were shorter than me, brown eyes, black hair, tanned skin. Your hair was pulled back into a ponytail and you were in a cheerleader uniform.

You scowled at me as I just stood there motionless. "What?!" You snarked when I didn't move. "Get the hell out of my way!" you bumped my shoulder before you stomped away.

I didn't say anything. I stood there frozen, standing out like a sore thumb in a place that I immediately knew I didn't belong.

I spotted the main office and quickly walked into it, releasing a breath I'd been holding. Oh yeah, this was definitely not Lima. The secretary spotted me and greeted me with a smile.

"Can I help you, dear?" The secretary asked.

"Hi. I'm Brittany Pierce. I'm new. I'm supposed to meet with my advisor." I said as I stepped closer to the front desk. The secretary clicked on some things on her computer before she responded.

"Ah, yes. Welcome. Have a seat and I'll let her know you're here." She said pointing to the seats behind me. I obeyed and sat down. This entire school was like any other school but glamorized. Everything looked brand new. It even had that brand new smell. Even the secretaries were all glammed out. I was so busy taking in my surroundings that I hadn't even noticed another woman walking towards me.

"Brittany?" I snapped back to reality and stood from my chair. "Hi. I'm Miss Pillsbury. Welcome to Beverly Hills. Come on back and we'll get you squared away, okay?" She asked.

I grabbed my notebooks and followed her back to her office. It was small but extremely organized. She had rather silly pamphlets laying around offering advice about sex and pregnancy and STI's. She sat down at her desk and pulled out a folder that I'm assuming is my transcripts.

"Okay, well. You've got good grades and you're mostly up to where we are in the curriculum but I would like you to get a tutor by the end of this week to help you get caught up. Other than that I have your required classes set up for you but you need to pick a few electives to fill up your schedule. I have a list, here, for you to choose from. Pick two." The list was short. Only four classes were on the paper. Home ec, media, woodshop, and a business class.

"I guess I'll take home ec and media." Home ec will be easy. It's just like baking stuff and media is basically watching movies. Easy enough.

"Excellent. Okay, so I wanted to ask you because it's your junior year and all what you wanted to do about college. Are you planning to go to college? Do you know what you want to be studying?" She asked.

"I want to dance. I want to go to Julliard." I said confidently.

"I see. Well, academically, you have everything you need but you need more extracurricular activities. I see you did drama back in Lima."

"Yeah and I was on the dance team but you don't have that here."

"No, unfortunately we don't but we have something that's just as good."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Cheerleading. We're the best on the west coast." She said proudly.

I chuckled. "Yeah, um, I don't cheer."

"Why's that?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Because I'm a dancer. I don't want to wave pom poms and yell "go team!" I stated.

"I see. However, it would really help you out with your application." She basically sang. "Just think about it. Auditions are tomorrow."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Alright, well you're all set." She said standing up. I followed suit and stood from my seat. "Oh, and here take this." She handed me a map. "It'll be a lifesaver."

I smiled at her. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. If you need anything, you know where my office is now."

I gave her a nod, left the office, and looked over my schedule. I have English now. Juggling my map, I followed it to the proper location. Class was already in session and my anxiety suddenly shot up because I had to enter the class late and everyone was going to notice. It was best to just get this over with so I slowly opened the door. The teacher was writing something on the board and everyone was taking notes. I thought that I could just slip in and sit in the back somewhere when all of a sudden the door slammed loudly. Everyone looked up. I felt naked even though I was fully clothed. I swallowed hard and tried to move but my feet felt like they were cemented into the ground.

"Can I help you?" The teacher asked, breaking the silence. I silently slipped her the pass Miss Pillsbury had given me. "Brittany. Ah, class we have a new student. Please welcome Brittany." It was dead silent and everyone was still staring at me. "Okay, well, you can take that seat next to Santana." She pointed to an empty seat and the girl next to it was no other than you, the girl I had bumped into earlier. Great.

I slowly made my way to the desk and slid into it not making eye contact with anyone. "Santana, could you please lend her your notes from earlier?" I peeked over at you and watched as you rolled your eyes and slammed your notes onto my desk which startled me. I copied them as quickly as I could while the teacher began discussing something with the class. Just as I was finished, the bell rang. You snatched your notes from me and stood up. I grabbed my notebooks and stood up as well. I was walking out of the row of desks when I almost bumped into you again.

"Jeez, walk much? Seriously, stay the hell out of my way!" You snarled, shaking your head at me. Then you waltz out of the class way ahead of me. I was relieved.

I got through the rest of my morning classes okay. You were also in my history class but I sat at the opposite side of the room away from you. Now it was lunch. I had packed my lunch and had gone to my locker beforehand. Lunch here was different. We got to eat outside if we wanted. I found an empty bench and sat down pulling out my PB&J and going over my notes from my classes. I don't know how long I was sitting there when I saw feet in front of me.

"This seat taken?" I looked up and standing there was an asian looking girl.

"Oh, um, no." I said sliding over a bit so she could have some room.

She sat down and opened her yogurt. "So you're new?" She asked.

"Yeah." I said looking up from my notes and nodding at her.

"Tina." She held her hand out to me and I took it shaking her hand.

"Brittany."

"Nice to meet you. Where are you from, Brittany?" She asked to take a bite of her yogurt.

"Lima, Ohio." I replied.

"Damn, far from home." She said, raising her eyebrows.

I chuckled. "Yeah."

"How are you making out so far?"

"Okay." I shrugged. "My classes are okay but I think I've made an enemy already."

"Who?" She asked furrowing her brows.

"Her name is Santana. She's in two of my classes and I bumped into her by accident and she told me to get the hell out of her way."

"Santana Lopez?" She asked. I shrugged my shoulders not knowing your last name. She chuckled and shook her head. "Sounds like Santana. You should just stay away from her though. Get on her bad side, and she'll be sure to go all Beverly Hills on your ass."

"What's her deal?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Who knows. She's one of the most popular girls in school. Her parents are loaded so she's pretty spoiled too."

I nodded. "What do her parents do?"

"Her dad is a surgeon. One of the best in the country from what I hear and her mom is an agent."

"Wow."

"Yeah." She said stirring her yogurt around. "Beware of Quinn too."

"Who?" I asked.

"Quinn Fabray. That's Santana's best friend. They come in a pair and they don't back down. It's best to just avoid them at all costs."

"Great." I said putting the rest of my sandwich back in the bag. "Miss Pillsbury wants me to try out for cheerleading."

"No no no. You can't. Quinn and Santana are captains. They'd eat you alive." She warned.

I sighed. "I know but that's the only extra curricular activity I can do right now and I need more if I want to get into Juilliard."

She nodded. "True. Are you a musician?" She asked.

"Dancer." I stated.

"Nice! My boyfriend is a dancer. You should meet him. He's really good." She told me. "You should take some classes with him at the studio he goes to."

"Yeah! That'd be good!" Finally, someone I can relate to.

"Cool. Hey, let me see your schedule."

I handed her my schedule and watched as she looked it over. "Decent classes, decent teachers." She observed. "And lucky for you our next class is together." Just then the bell rang. "Come on, I'll show you the way." I grabbed my things and followed her back inside.

Tina helped me around the rest of the day. She dropped me off at my classes and picked me up from them. She showed me routes to take to avoid you and Quinn. I was really relieved to have found a friend. I guess that's what we were.

I had one more class with you. Home ec. Of course. I knew I should have taken woodshop. I suck with tools but at least it would have been away from you. You scowled at me the whole time and it sent shivers up my spine.

My mom picked me up at the end of the day. Tina and I had exchanged numbers and she said that this weekend I could meet her boyfriend. He didn't go to our school. Apparently he went to some fancy arts school. He must be really good then. I was dreading the next couple days but I was quite relieved that I had at least made a friend so I wasn't entirely alone.

The next morning, I drove my non-luxurious white Honda Civic to school parking as far away as possible. Everyone had a Mercedes, a Lexus, a BMW, or some other fancy car and I wasn't in the mood to be ridiculed for mine. I brought a change of clothes for later since I decided to try out for cheerleading after all. Mostly I just wanted to show you up because, and I say this without trying to sound conceited, I knew that I was better than you.

I took a deep breath and walked up to the school, my books and gym bag in hand. I was almost to the doors when someone ran up behind me and tapped my shoulder.

"Hey!" the voice called. I turned around and was instantly relieved to see that it was Tina.

"Oh hey!" I replied.

"So what's in the bag? You didn't bring an ax or anything to kill Santana did you?" She teased as we walked inside together.

I chuckled, shaking my head. "No. I'm staying after school to try out for cheerleading."

"Seriously?" She grimaced.

I shrugged. "It's just for college. Besides, maybe this way I can prove my worth and she'll leave me alone." I replied as we stopped at my locker.

"It's your funeral." She said, rolling her eyes. "Just be careful, okay?" "Okay, mom." I teased, causing her to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey! I'll catch you later. See you at lunch?" She asked while walking away.

"You got it." I nodded.

Today wasn't so bad. You ignored me with the exception of a few rude remarks and I still hadn't run into Quinn which I was grateful for. I headed to my locker, grabbed my gym bag, and went to the locker room to change. I locked my stuff in a locker and had pulled my hair into a ponytail when I was walking out to join the rest of the fellow auditioners when I saw someone open the door in front of me. Yes, once again, you were standing before me.

"Oh hell no." You snarked. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at the ground before looking back at you. "Seriously?" you asked. "What did I

say about staying the hell out of my way?" Okay, this needed to end.

"Why are you so mean to me? I'm sorry that I bumped into you and I'll stay out of your way. God!" I spat walking past you as you let out a tsk and shook your head.

We sat and waited for our numbers to be called where we did a routine that they quickly taught us earlier. It was less than a minute and then we had to show our cartwheels and splits. They had a section for if anyone could do flips or any other gymnast skills. Fortunately I had taken gymnastics for several years so I showed off my skills smirking at you the entire time while you remained seated with a scowl. You and Quinn were co-captains meaning you and her also had a say in who made the squad. Your attitude towards me didn't let up no matter how hard I worked or how good I was.

They had a brief meeting with the rest of the judges and called out the numbers that made it. Anger ran through my veins when they didn't call my number. I marched up to the judges table ready to give you a piece of my mind. You were talking to Quinn when I interrupted.

"Are you kidding me?!" I yelled. It startled you at first but then you smirked causing my blood to boil. "I was clearly one of the best to audition and you cut me?! What the hell did I do to you?!" I was yelling really loudly that other cheerleaders had stopped to watch. You just laughed.

"I told you to stay the hell out of my way but you seem to be everywhere I am. Get the hell away from me." You threatened.

"You don't scare me, Santana. You may scare them." I told her pointing to the other cheerleaders. "But I'm not afraid of you. You may act all tough but I bet deep down, you're just insecure and afraid. You use your tough facade to cover up how truly unhappy you are. I'm not afraid of you. I feel sorry for you." I stated.

"You don't know anything about me." You said through gritted teeth as you stood up.

"Mmkay. Whatever you say." I said as I turned to walk away. Just then it felt like someone had frozen my spine. I felt the wetness seep through my shirt and I gasped. I turned around to see you were holding a now empty slushie cup while smirking proudly at me. I wanted to hit you. I wanted to jump over the table and beat you up until I was too tired. I clenched my fists and began to walk towards you when all of a sudden a loud voice echoed through the gymnasium.

"Santana!" the voice called. A woman came into view. She was wearing a red tracksuit, she had blonde short hair, and she was holding a megaphone. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She yelled. I froze in my tracks afraid to anger the woman. "You." She said pointing to me. "What's your name?"

"B-Brittany." I shivered.

"Brittany." She looked me up and down before smirking at me. "I'm Coach Sue and you're a great dancer."

"Thank you." I said quickly, keeping my head down.

"Santana, I don't understand why you cut her but I'm uncutting her and making her a co-captain alongside you and Quinn."

"What?!" You, Quinn, and I all shouted at the same time.

"You heard me." She said. "Santana!" She shouted. "I'm counting on you to show her the ropes. Any more stunts like what you just pulled will have consequences." She told you as she walked off.

The three of us got changed and you ordered me not to leave yet so I waited. Finally I saw you and Quinn emerge from the locker room and you were carrying a large black bag. You shoved it in my arms and I stumbled backwards a bit.

"Your first task as a Captain." You said pointing to the bag. "Uniforms. Every single piece needs to be hand washed by tomorrow. Don't put them in the washer because they'll be ruined." you warned me. "Have fun." You gave me a snotty smile as you and Quinn rushed off together. I let out a breath and rolled my eyes as I carried the heavy bag to my car regretting parking so far away.

When I arrived home, I instantly got to work taking the uniforms to the bathroom into the tub. I had gotten one done and I still have twenty-four more. I

groaned and felt my pocket buzz pulling it out of my pocket to see Tina displayed across the screen.

"Hello?" I groaned out.

"Hey. Bad time?" She asked, sensing my frustration.

"You have no idea. The good news is that not only did I make the squad, I made co-captain." I explained.

"You're kidding right? Did Santana elect you?" She asked.

"Ugh, no. She cut me and then Sue basically told her to shove it and gave me a spot. She was the one that gave me co-captain." I sat down at the edge of the bed. "Now I have to hand wash twenty-five uniforms by tomorrow." I grumbled.

"Hand wash?" She asked. "They usually just send them to the drying cleaners down the street." I froze once again boiling with anger. She set me up. "They have an account with them. You can have them done by tomorrow morning if you go." Tina explained.

"That bitch!" I exclaimed. "Can you text me the address or at least the name?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure. Sorry that they're bitches but I did warn you." She said hesitantly.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks Tina. I'll see you tomorrow." I said rubbing my neck. "Good luck." Tina said before hanging up.

I stood up and grabbed the bag hauling it to my car. As soon as I started it Tina texted me the address which I plugged into my GPS. It wasn't far and the guy was really nice. He told me he'd have them ready for me to pick up before school tomorrow.

After finishing my homework, I did my night ritual in the bathroom and fell asleep.

/

Your jaw literally dropped as did Quinn's when I proudly hauled the uniforms in this morning. I dropped them off at Sue's office and smirked at you and her when I passed. You didn't say anything to me the rest of the day. I was relieved.

After school, I was supposed to go to the tutoring center to set me up with a tutor like Miss Pillsbury suggested. They were quick and they handed me a piece of paper. The guy motioned for me to follow him where he led us to an empty table. He left for a few moments and came back with someone.

"Brittany, I'd like you to meet your tutor." Oh no. I gulped visibly as the other person's face instantly fell. "Brittany, this is Santana."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." you said, shaking your head.