The next week was Thanksgiving; we had a half day Tuesday and the rest of the week off. I was so glad to be able to get a break and catch up on everything. Unfortunately, Brittany was leaving and going back to Canton for the whole break to see her family. She told me that she'd text and call when she could, and I knew she would.

This Thanksgiving, I was thankful for so much. This past year has definitely been such a whirlwind, full of excitement and triumphs. I was so blessed to have everything that I have. I would write a list, but it would be too long. I just kept in my head.

On Thanksgiving Day, I did some volunteer work with my youth group with Ellie, putting together meals for people who wouldn't be able to have some on their own. Afterwards, we'd go with the family to see my mom's side of the family in Indiana. I asked Ellie if she wanted to go to Lima University to see West Side Story with me the next week. She didn't think a thing of it, she knew it was my favorite musical and so it wasn't like it was out of the blue. I felt like I should tell someone about Brittany and I. I knew that I could trust Ellie. I mean, she's my best friend and we're super close. I knew she would accept me; she is pretty chill about most things. I already knew her stance on homosexuality and she honestly could care less so I was pretty sure that it wouldn't be too much of a problem. I just didn't know how to do it.

The Saturday before break was over; Colby called me and wanted to know if I wanted to have a fun day and go to a party at night. Colby, Jenna, Brooke, and I all loaded into Brooke's car. We went shopping and eating.

While we were waiting for food, Colby asked, "Santana, you signed with BHU right?"

Jenna said, "Colby, we were there. You took a picture of it and put it on Instagram."

"Oh, right! I forgot."

Brooke said, "And she wears BHU stuff like every other day."

"Gosh! I was just checking. I know that Quinn like changed her mind every day before deciding on Tennessee!"

Colby asked, "You know what you want to major in yet?"

"I don't know yet. Everyone wants me to do pre-med like my parents but I don't know if I could last. And I don't want to be like them; always gone and always stressed. Maybe I'll do engineering or maybe business."

"Pre-med? Engineering? Business? I just know that if someone were to pull off an athletic scholarship and a major like that, it would be Santana Lopez," Colby said.

I just grinned. "I guess we'll see."

Afterwards we went to our friend Kyle's party. He always had some of the best parties around. "Best" being a relative term. Much to all of my friend's dismay, I decided not to drink in season. I talked to everyone at the party before chilling on the couch at Kyle's house. I changed the show tunes that Rachel Berry had played to something else, this was definitely not the place for show tunes. Kyle saw me from the kitchen, walked in, and sat down next to me.

"Hey, Santana! I hope you're having fun!" I could smell the beer on his breath.

"Oh, you know, having as much fun as I usually do."

He chuckled, "So why aren't you drinking?"

"Drinking makes my swimming suck. When I drink, I can feel my swimming suffer the next few days. There's a lot coming up and all, it's just easier to stay sober. Besides, all I do when I'm drunk is cry."

"Well that is a very adult decision of you, Santana."

I chuckled. "Thank you. Besides, someone needs to drive these fools home!" I nodded towards my friends who were giggling and flirting with their boyfriends or other boys.

He laughed, "Well, we'd figure something out." He moved in a little closer and put his arm around me. "You know, you're a really amazing person, Santana. I always enjoy your very honest attitude and I really do think you have a great personality. You're freaking brilliant and beautiful. Is there anything you can't do?"

"I can't run a 5k in under 18 minutes like someone else here." I poked his chest. Kyle was an amazing runner.

"Yeah, maybe just 19 minutes for you." he winked. He pulled his arm off from around me. "Look, I know that you just got out of a long relationship, and I know we don't talk that much but I think that you should let me take you out on a date."

I wanted to tell him no and that I was already dating someone but obviously I couldn't. And he was being so nice so I just went for the humorous approach, "Are you drunk?!"

"Absolutely not. You don't have to answer right now but just think about it."

"Alright, I will."

We both stood up and he said, "Just let me know, no pressure though."

I said I would, let him give me an awkward hug, and joined my friends.

"If they could just be delivered to the Lima University Performing Arts Center before 7 tonight, that would be perfect."

"That's no problem, ma'am. Have a good morning."

"You too."

It was an early morning and I was just calling in a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to Brittany for the musical tonight. The card inside said:

Britt-

Break a leg tonight, I'll try not to be too mesmerized by your on-stage beauty.

-S

I was so stoked to go to the production tonight. School and practice went by so slowly in my impatient anticipation. The past few days have been so taxing on my mind and body that I was excited to get away from it all for awhile. I had to make sure I kept my excitement down so Ellie didn't notice too much of a difference in me. As soon as I saw Brittany on stage dancing, my heart just filled up with warmth. She was absolutely amazing. Her dancing, singing, acting, it was so great. If she wasn't such a great teacher, I would tell her that she should think about Broadway or Hollywood!

During intermission, I was browsing the program and I told Ellie, "Oh my gosh, that's so weird, one of the dancers is my student teacher in Hansen's class, Miss. Pierce."

"I thought she looked familiar. She's a really good dancer."

"Yeah, she is."

At the end of the musical, the cast all went to the lobby and mingled with the audience Ellie wanted to leave but I told her that I wanted to find "Miss. Pierce" to tell her good job. She reluctantly agreed.

We finally made our way down the line and I got to Brittany and said, "Miss. Pierce! I had no idea you were in this, you were really great!"

"Well thank you Santana! I'm glad you enjoyed it!" She put a friendly arm around my back for a small side hug. She whispered really quickly, "Thanks for the flowers."

"Definitely, see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night, Santana. You too, Ellie."

We both loaded up into the car. LU isn't too far from our house but I kept driving past the road to our neighborhood and drove around Lima. I decided that I needed to tell someone. Ellie needed to know, she's my sister, my best friend. She would understand.

"Uhh, where are we going?" She asked me.

"Look, I need to talk to you," I said, focusing on the road.

Ellie put down her phone and looked at me. "Okay, what's up?"

"I, uh, I… Can you promise me something?"

"Yeah, anything, Santana."

"What I'm about to tell you, it needs to stay a secret. It can get someone in really big trouble. It's not like really, really bad, but I mean… I just, please don't tell anyone. And please don't think of me any differently because I'm still Santana."

"I promise not to tell or think of you differently."

I decided that I needed to stop beating around the bush and tell her, "Look, I've been dating someone. For awhile now and I haven't told anyone because… because…"

She interrupted me and finished my sentence and said matter-of-factly. "It's your student teacher, Miss. Pierce, the dancer."

I slowed down and pulled into an empty parking lot.

I shifted my car into park and just looked at her. "Whoa. Wait, how did you know?"

Ellie grinned. "Look. Santana, I've known since like day one. First, you talk about your English class so much and you usually don't like English. Second, you're always gone. Third, only half of the time you tell me, usually when it's when you're out with your friends, the other times, you just say 'I'm going out, be back later.' Fourth, one time, I drove by the house with Blair and saw a red bug in the driveway. And I know none of your friends have the right personality to drive a red bug.

"And lastly, at the musical tonight, you tried to play off like you didn't know she was in this, I saw right through that. Then at the end, she knew my name. I've never told her my name, not even when mom and I saw her at conferences. Also, the tension between you two, it was crazy. Santana, I've known you my whole life and we're best friend. You can't pull one past me; I know when you're smitten. You can't get anything past me. And I really am happy for you."

I stalled for a little, soaking in everything she had told me and said, "Well aren't you just a little Nancy Drew."

Ellie laughed, "Yeah, I guess. How long has it been?"

"Almost three months."

"Wow, well, I'm not going to tell anyone. I mean, of course not now, I presume that if anyone found out, she'd be in really big trouble?"

"Yeah." We had talked about it a few times, how we had to be so secretive. She wasn't exactly sure what would happen if LU found out what she was doing. She presumed that they'd probably kick her out of the program and she would have to start all over again. "Once she finishes student teaching in a few weeks then we're out of the woods, I think."

"Are you going to tell mom and dad?"

"I guess I have to, when the right time comes. I'm obviously not going to do it now or anything."

"I love you, San. And I'm here for you, anytime you want to talk."

"I love you too Ellie, you're the best."

By then, I was comfortable enough that I was on our way, driving back home. We pulled in and I parked the car and put my hand on the door handle.

"Hey, wait, I have one more question; do you love her?"

"As a friend? Absolutely." I looked at Ellie, she looked smug, not the answer she wanted. I sighed as I tried to find my words. "As something more… I could very well see myself falling in love, let's just say that."

She smiled, my answer was sufficient enough now.

Brittany's last day of student teaching was closely approaching, so was the first swim meet of the season. My first swim meet was a week before her last day. Besides winning state and crushing state records, I had an underlying goal for this season: continue my 3 year streak of qualifying for state in all 8 individual events. It's not too terribly hard now that it's my fourth year into it and I've gotten so much faster. I just think it's really cool to qualify in all events. Not many elite swimmers who do swim on their high school teams do it that because they focus on their own best events. I do it to mix things up and not do the same thing every meet. Eventually though, I will focus on my state events but I can still have some fun. Quinn also shared this same aspiration and she had the same 3 year streak as me. We were kind of on better terms, we talked more. Mostly about swimming, we didn't fight as much. I think we both accepted that we'd never be great friends but we could try to get along, for the team, we were the captains after all. If either of us made state times in every event, it would be the first time in McKinley High history for a swimmer to do that all four years, let alone two swimmers in the same year!

Since a swimmer can only swim two individual events and two relays a meet, Quinn and I should be able to complete our goal in the first four meets, unless we repeat events. Then we'd focus all on what we swim best and building the fastest relays.

We left school early for the first meet of the season. I was so excited to get into competition mode again. I thrived on it, I loved the race, racing against myself, against the clock, against everyone else; it was the best. The meet today was about an hour away so I snuggled up in my swimming parka and went to sleep. I was awoken just as I was falling into a deeper sleep by another swimmer saying, "Get up, superstar! We've got a meet to win"

I grabbed all my crap and went through the regular motions of getting warmed up and memorizing my lane assignments. I snuck a picture of me frowning with the heat sheet in my hand. You're gorgeous in a swim cap. Good luck baby, you'll be lapping them ;) My first event was a medley relay. I was swimming the last leg, the freestyle leg and Quinn took the first, the backstroke. I was cheering on my teammates, this was a small meet with only three teams and we had it in the bag, but we were still racing against the clock. I stepped onto the block after the third swimmer entered and saw my mom walk in right on time, in true Lopez fashion.

The meet went quickly and the team won easily, so did the boys team. Quinn and I both made state times in our individual events, which was to be expected but still something to be excited about! Before leaving, I made sure to give my mom a kiss and thank her for coming, like I always did. Sometimes I rode home with her but I felt like I should ride the bus home on this first meet and have some team bonding. We stopped for a bite to eat and got home pretty late. Luckily I didn't have much homework. I called Brittany when I got home and we had a small conversation but I had to be up for morning practice.

The Tuesday before Britt's last day, during English, Puck said he needed to talk to me after class. I rolled my eyes but then I heard him telling some other people in the class to that he needed to talk to him as well. When English ended, I smiled at Brittany, she had to make her way out to stand in the hall and watch traffic. I turned around and saw a small group developing.

"What's this about, Puck?" Finn asked.

"Well, I was talking to Mrs. Hansen and we both though that we should throw a going away party for Miss. Pierce, Friday is her last day."

"Whoa, that sounds like a really great idea! I'm already thinking of ideas, themes, and decorations! I think we should pass out a list and sign up for what we want to do to make this the best going away party ever," Rachel Berry said with her best micromanaging tone.

Everyone else was nodding their heads, excited with the idea, and started muttering different plans or things to do.

"How about we meet tomorrow before school and plan this out, I don't want to be late to my next class," I finally interjected.

"Oh, I am actually agreeing with Santana. If I am late 3 more times this semester, my admission to NYADA could be in jeopardy," Rachel said.

"What the hell does that even mean?" I asked shaking my head. "Alright, we'll just meet in the caf at 7:30 tomorrow."

Then I remembered that I was definitely going to be seeing Brittany before then, I had to keep this a secret! I went through practice, keeping my mind busy by conjuring up some great ideas for the party.

After practice, Brittany called me, I told her to come over. Of course, my parents weren't going to be home early and we hadn't been able to really hang out since before her play. I went home and opened up the garage and kept it open, she knew to walk in through there now. We had a three car garage and I saw Ellie's was parked in one of the slots. I hadn't told Brittany that I told Ellie yet. I wanted to tell her in person, not on the phone or anything. I told Ellie that Britt was coming over and to "be cool."

Fifteen minutes passed and she called me.

"Hey Britt!" I said. "Where are you?"

"Hey, scrub. I'm in your garage right now but Ellie's car is here. Is she not home? I'm just checking, making sure and all."

"Right. No, it's fine," I said as I walked towards the entrance to the garage.

I opened the door, walked into the garage, and hung up my phone. She smiled when she saw me and turned off her car. I opened her car door for her and she stepped out. I pulled her in for a long kiss. I was definitely missing my sweet lady kisses. We pulled away after a while; she checked me out and saw I was wearing shorts and a t shirt.

"You must be freezing, babe. Let's go inside, before you lose a toe."

I laughed and grabbed her hand; she was honestly so very adorable. We walked inside and she shed her coat and scarf. I took her into the living room and we sat down on the couch.

I took a deep breath. "I need to talk to you, Brittany."

Her eyes got really wide. "Um. That doesn't sound too great. I hope that you're not…"

I smiled and said, "Well, with the kiss that we just had… no, just, no. It's actually about something else. It's about Ellie, actually."

She situated herself across from me on the couch so that we were facing each other. She grabbed my hands, held them between us, and said, "Okay, spill."

I was trying to find the right way to phrase this. I hadn't ever seen Brittany mad except one time when she was in a heated argument with her mom on the phone. She never loses her temper usually, it's all internalized. I knew she would be chill about this but still, I didn't want her to think I was just throwing around our relationship to everyone.

I guess I was taking a little too long because Brittany started to ramble off her own conjectures, "Ellie's pregnant?" "Ellie's on drugs?" "Ellie wants a boob job?" "Ellie has a crush on me?"

I laughed, she obviously knew it wasn't going to be any one of those and it helped ease my mind that she was trying to lighten it up.

"Yeah, she told me she saw this super hot teacher at school. Too bad I heard she's taken." We both laughed. I finally said, "Okay, for real now. I, uh, after West Side Story, I told her about us. Actually, she told me about us."

Brittany cocked her head. "Wait. She did? What do you mean?"

"Apparently, I'm not very secretive around her and she knows me way too well because she gave me several solid pieces of evidence on how she knew we were together."

"What does she think about it?"

"She's totally cool with it. She said she would be there for me anytime I needed. She was being super sweet. It was such a load off my shoulders, you know? Telling the first person."

Brittany kissed me. "You're so amazing. I'm so proud of you."

Brittany and I made a great dinner together and I told Ellie to come down to eat. In my head, I was freaking out, hoping that they would get along. However, I had to keep up my cool visage in front of them. It turned out that I was freaking out for absolutely nothing, they hit it off right away. I felt like they were both comfortable around each other and weren't afraid to talk about our relationship and joke around about it.

After dinner, I checked the clock; my parents would be home pretty soon. I told Brittany and we walked out to her car. She told me that she had something really special for me for my next meet. When we got to her car, she told me to close my eyes while she reached into her car. A few seconds later I felt her warm lips on my lips and she placed something fuzzy inside my hands. I pulled away and looked at the contents of my hands. It was a small penguin stuffed animal with an exact replica of our William McKinley Titans swim caps on its head!

"Britt! This is absolutely adorable! How did you do this?"

"Oh, you know, I have my resources. And by the way, I named it Tux," She smiled coyly and pecked me on the cheek. "I wanted to give it to you before your first meet but I was a little late. I'm sorry."

"No, it's perfect. Thank you. I love it."

"You're welcome." She got into her car and before she started it she said, "By the way, Santana. I have 3 days left of student teaching and very soon after, I'm taking my super gorgeous girlfriend on a date!"

All I could do was grin as I watched her pull out of my garage and into my driveway.

I went back inside and started homework. When my parents came home, I heated up the leftover dinner and just talked with them. Later that night, I was rounding up everything I needed for practice tomorrow and I heard a knock on my door. It was definitely Ellie's knock.

"You can come in, El."

She walked in, flopped on my bed, and immediately started talking. "Oh my gosh, Santana. I love her. She's great. She's so funny and so nice. And she's like, freaking gorgeous. I can definitely see why you fell for her."

I laughed. "Or is it you who's falling for her? Do I need to tell Bryan something?"

"Oh, yeah totally! But seriously, Santana, she's great."

We went on talking about Brittany for awhile while I finished everything I needed to. I finished packing my swim bag and turned in for the night.

After I got out of practice the next morning, I rushed to get to the party planning meeting. We had planned a seriously great surprise party. There were only a few awkward moments that occurred.

There was one semi-awkward moment.

"I just wish we knew what her favorite color was so we could match everything accordingly," Rachel said.

"Oh, it's purple but she likes turquoise too," I said matter-of-factly.

Everyone around the table looked at me questioningly.

"Uh, I…Well one time, she was checking my essay and I had those color on my nails and she told me it was her favorite color." Woo, I dodged a bullet there.

They all dismissed the concern and accepted it. I think they were happy to have a good color scheme.

On Brittany's last day, all of my English class was excited to pull off our well thought out surprise party. Mrs. Hansen distracted Miss. Pierce with going to get copies or running other errands while we set everything up. I was walking back to the classroom from my locker with some streamers in my hands and I ran into Kyle, who was an office assistant and didn't do anything this hour.

"Santana! Have you thought about it? About my proposition?"

Crap. I had to give it to him; he waited almost two weeks, probably wanting me to talk to him. I was panicking; I didn't know what to tell him.

"Umm, yeah. Sure, I'd love to." WHAT? What did I just say?

Kyle grinned widely, "Alright! I'll text you and we can figure out a night that works with your crazy schedule!"

I smiled, "Sounds good."

We exchanged smiles and I walked back to the classroom. We finished setting up for the party and Brittany was going to walk in any minute. She finally walked in and she was so surprised, legitimately surprised. We all started to form a line and get cake. I declined. Cake wasn't on the Santana Lopez Swimming Diet, except on Christmas, that's a free day.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are so sweet! Ohh, purple, my favorite color!"

Finn was stuffing his face with cake and asked from his desk, "So, Miss. Pierce, now since you won't have to teach us, what are you going to do with all your time?"

"Uhh, graduate and then hopefully find a teaching position for next year!"

"That sounds good; you'll get to spend more time with your boyfriend."

She laughed, "Yeah, I don't have a boyfriend."

By now, the whole class was listening to this conversation.

"Oh, you don't? Are you taking applications? I'll take one," Finn said.

"Finn!" Rachel yelled across the room.

"Uhh…" Finn stumbled.

Brittany laughed again, but it was her fake uncomfortable laugh. "Thanks, Finn. I'm flattered but generally people who don't know how to use 'they're,' 'their,' and 'there' correctly aren't my type."

The whole class erupted in laughter as Finn blushed with his mouthful of cake.

After English, I got up to walk to my next class with Brooke.

"Did I overhear you setting a date up with sexy Kyle in the hallway?!"

Great, not even one hour since…

"Yeah, but I don't really like him like that."

"Why? He's so hot and so nice, Santana. I mean I like my boyfriend but…"

"He's kind of crazy and he drinks a lot."

"So do I and you still date me." I laughed. "And he doesn't even drink that much, really only when he isn't running and it's never like a lot!"

"I don't know, I guess we'll see."

"Be sure to tell me every. Single. Detail."

"You know I will!"

First, I had to figure out a way to tell Brittany. She was busy that night with a few friends and couldn't hang out but we could Saturday after my meet. I went over to her apartment, my parents went from the meet to work.

"Student teaching is over!" She said, overjoyed plopping down on the couch, "And I'm taking you on a date. I have a whole day planned out. It's going to be great. It's during break, and you don't have a meet or anything, I made sure of it. It's perfect."

"What are we going to do?"

"That's a secret." She grinned.

"Well, I'm very excited! I need to talk to you though. Uh, it's about a date actually."

She looked perplexed. I inhaled deeply and forced out the whole story, starting with the party. She listened, trying to take in all the information.

"So basically, you're telling me that you're going to go out on a date with someone else because you couldn't tell him that you were dating me and you're too nice to turn him down?"

"Umm, basically." I couldn't tell if she was angry.

Instead, she smiled. "I'm glad you told me. And I know I don't control you but I think you want me to tell you whether I approve of this or not. And I do. You can go."

"Don't say it like I want to… I'd rather go with you."

"I know. But you still do! Just have fun with Kyle. I've seen him around, he's very good looking, you know. Hopefully I won't have to fight him for you."

I kissed her cheek. "I don't think you have anything to worry about her."

The next few weeks were spent in heavy Christmas anticipation and waiting for break to come. I went to several swim meets, all with Tux, made more state times. Quinn and I both only had two more events to qualify for but there was plenty of meets left, if worse came to worse.

Brittany graduated at the Lima University December commencement ceremony. I made Ellie attend it, much to her dismay, it was two hours long. For the first time ever, I saw Brittany's family. I could barely see them, there were so many people all around, I didn't get a great look at them but I hopes that someday I'd be able to meet them. I saw Brittany's family there from afar and hoped to be able to meet them someday. Brittany snuck past her family as they went to get the car to see Ellie and I. We had a quick conversation before Brittany left to go with her family for a celebration afterwards.

The day after, I went to her apartment for a visit and celebration. I had been less paranoid since her student teaching ended, allowing myself to enter her apartment without my hood on and I wasn't as sneaky. I arrived at her door with my graduation present in tow.

She opened the door and I saw her face brighten. She kissed me and led me inside; taking the flowers I got her.

"So… college grad. I got you something."

She gently pushed my shoulder and saw the gift in my hand. "San, I told you didn't have to. I only want you."

"It's a big deal, Miss. Pierce." I handed her the large bag.

She opened it and pulled out the assortment of items in there; a coffee cup for when she teaches, an engraved pen with her whole name, a few books, and a bunch of desk supplies for when she has a classroom of her own.

"Santana, this was so nice of you. You're the best girlfriend ever."

"Pshh, tell me something I don't know."

"You're astounding modesty always just captures the moment perfectly. But uh, I have to talk to you. I need to tell you something."

"Okay, what?"

"Here, sit down." She pointed to the couch and sat down beside me.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all. I just wanted you to sit to hear this."

"Okay, spill."

"Before I graduated, I had to have a conference with my professor about student teaching and preparing myself for graduation."

I nodded, she already told me that she did this.

"Well, when we were talking, so much guilt washed over me and I had to tell her that when I was student teaching that I wasn't being professional."

I gasped. "You told her about me?"

"…Yeah basically. I mean, of course I didn't say your name or anything."

"What did she say?"

"She asked me if it was worth it. She asked me if I was to have to redo everything that I've done to get to this point if it would have been worth it…" She took a deep breath. "And I said yes because you're worth it." She took my hand and held it in hers.

I smiled weakly, still concerned with the situation, even though she had already graduated. "And then what?"

"Then she told me that it happens a lot in this program but not often do the college students report themselves, it's usually the teachers they're with. She said that apparently I was held in really high regard with all the staff McKinley and at LU. She said that she wasn't going to pull my grade because 'you can't help who you fall for.'"

"Wow, that's incredible of you Brittany. You could have gotten away with not telling her."

"I know, but it was the right thing to do. Also, she asked if we like… had 'sexual involvement' and since we haven't, it wasn't going to be as big of a deal."

"Oh she asked you that? Was that awkward?"

"Um, not really. She asked in a really like blunt way but it wasn't weird."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I asked.

"Because I knew that you would still be worried about it until I had my diploma in my hand."

"God, you know me so well."

We enjoyed each other's company until later on that night.

"I'll see you super soon, our amazing super special date is in a like two weeks!"

"I know, it's all I can think about! And I have that Kyle date tomorrow," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Hey, just have fun. And call me afterwards."

Luckily, I convinced Brooke to come with me and Kyle and bring her boyfriend, Tanner, with her. I told her that it would alleviate the pressure off of me to like him. Brittany was done with student teaching now, I needed to come out. I can't stop hiding. Now wasn't the time for this though. I just had to get through this stupid date. I was pretty sure I'd have zero chemistry with him. He's a good friend but I don't think I could have a deep heart-to-heart conversation with him. Kyle wanted to go to a restaurant, the nicest one in town.

Right when Kyle texted that he was on his way, Ellie asked, "You're going on a date with Kyle? Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Yes, silly. I just… I couldn't turn him down. I'm too nice."

"I've never heard anyone call you 'too nice' Santana. Maybe Brittany is changing you for the better. You told her right?"

"Of course I did! What kind of person do you think I am!?"

She threw her hands up in defense. "I'm just making sure. What if the date goes well?"

"It's not going to, I don't like him, simple as that. I like Brittany. A whole lot. It's going to be hard to think about anything else than Brittany during my date."

"Well, here he is, I'll see you later tonight?"

"Yup, I'll tell you all about it." I gave Ellie a quick hug, grabbed my purse, and left.

Kyle drove a silver charger. I got in and he looked really nice, he was wearing nice jeans, a sweater, and a collared button up under. He smelled pretty good too, not like Brittany though, he smelled like cologne; at least he didn't use too much.

"Hey, Santana. You look beautiful."

"You don't look too bad yourself!"

We drove over to the restaurant; it wasn't too far away, so small talk was sufficient for the ride over. We got there and waited for Brooke and Tanner.

The host asked, "Do you have a reservation?" He obviously thought we were a little too young to be going to such a fancy restaurant.

"Yes, under Kirsch, for four."

The host immediately changed dispositions. "Right this way."

We sat down and there was probably 30 seconds of awkward silence before Brooke finally spoke up, thankfully. "You know, Santana, I was thinking the other day that it really sucks that you swim because you'd be killer on the dance team. You're always dancing around and it's really not that hard to get the hang of our dances. They're nothing like the dancers at those dance studios." I immediately thought of Brittany.

I laughed. "Well thanks. I think you guys do pretty well without me!" I turned to Tanner and asked him, "How's wrestling going?" I was realizing how much my stupid school revolved around sports and Glee Club.

"Oh, pretty good, we just got done conditioning. I think it's going to be a good season, we have some great guys."

Oh my gosh, this is going to be a really awkward date. Our waiter came and handed us menus and asked for our drink orders. The prices at this restaurant were outrageous. I saw a salad that was $15.

"It all looks so good, such a hard choice!" Brooke was kicking me from under the table, she felt the awkwardness too.

"Yeah, it is, what are you thinking about getting, Kyle?"

He flipped through the menu. "Maybe the grilled chicken or the steak, what about you?"

"I'm not sure, the salmon looks good." Salmon always looks good.

Tanner chimed in, "Oh, isn't salmon your favorite food?"

I smiled slightly. "Well, next to anything that my mom cooks. How'd you know?"

"During football, Puck would always…" Then he stopped himself. "Nevermind."

Brooke giggled, it was kind of funny.

"Yeah," I said. "Salmon is pretty good."

I went straight to Ellie's room when I got home. She was in her room on her laptop. I texted Brittany, DAMN. The award for the most awkward date ever goes to…

Ellie looked up and closed her laptop. "Hey! How was the date?"

"Really fucking awkward. Like, no romantic chemistry at all. Thank God Brooke was there. He didn't even try to kiss me when he dropped me back here or ask me out again, that's how bad it was. We are definitely just friends."

"Well, that's what you wanted right?"

"Yes, definitely."

"So when are you going to come out?"

Her question floored me. "I don't know if I'm gay."

"You're dating a woman. You are gay."

"People can like guy and girls."

"Santana, I know you better than anyone and I've been thinking about it a lot. I think you like women. Do you ever want to have sex with a man?"

"Ellie!"

"I'm just saying…"

"I don't know. I haven't even had sex with a woman."

Her eyes widened. "You haven't?!"

"No. We're… it's just not the right time. I want to wait longer too. I want it to mean something unlike Puck and everyone else."

"I gotcha. Well, either way. You need to come out."

I sighed and said, "I don't know, Ellie. Do I have to?"

"Yes, you have to."

"So, if I just one day when mom and dad are home, just tell them 'Oh, hey, by the way, I'm dating a girl, she used to be my student teacher!' and then call it a day?"

She laughed. "No, you need to put a little effort into it. Find a good time and just tell them. I can help you."

"Do I tell my friends too?"

"I mean, yeah, eventually. Maybe not about Brittany though. But you should probably tell mom and dad first, you wouldn't want them finding out not from you."

"When?"

"Santana, I can't do it all for you! But preferably sometime soon, like maybe before state? You don't want to be a liar and hiding who you truly are for the rest of the year."

"Okay. I will. Thank you. For helping me. With everything."

"Just tell me that I'm the best sister ever and we'll call it even," Ellie said.

"You're the best sister ever."

Ellie grinned.

The next week was filled with the wonderful feeling of Christmastime. Brittany was going to Canton to see her family for Christmas; she was going down on the Eve and coming back after New Years. It was all for the better anyway, it's not like we were going to be able to see each other that much for Christmas. We were spending the holidays in Michigan with my dad's side of the family. Brittany was coming back a day after we come back from our Christmas/New Years extravaganza and our super special date that she had planned was for the next day. Unfortunately, all the fun would stop a few days later when break was over; I tried not to think about that.

My dad's siblings, like himself, were able to get out of Mexico and make big names for themselves. One of my uncles was a very successful entrepreneur who had a huge cabin in the countryside of Michigan. It was beautiful, even in the winter, as long as we weren't snowed in. I was glad to get away from Lima for awhile. I was happy that my parents were finally taking a break. It was really relaxing, even though I usually drive in to the city several times to spend some time in any pool that I can find.

We celebrated a small family Christmas together the night before we left for the cabin. It was cute and we all exchanged gifts. It's cozy, all of us in front of the fireplace and the Christmas tree with a mixture of Spanish and American Christmas music playing in the background. And it's nostalgic, we always digress about the years past and all the great memories we've had as a family. It's one of the few times where we can all just settle in together and be a family for once, without stress.

Ellie and I watched as our parents gave each other gifts. It helped reassure us that even after all these years of working together, raising their kids, and their careers, that they were still definitely in love with each other. Ellie and I slowly left them alone to… talk I guess. We went up to my room.

"Man, I'm so excited to go to the cabin tomorrow. I miss Monica and Jasmine so much."

Monica and Jasmine were two of our cousins, Monica was my age and Jasmine was Ellie's age. When us four were together, there was no stopping us.

"Yeah, me either! I hate that we only see them like twice a year, we don't even live that far from them."

"I know." A sly smile drew across Ellie's face. "So what is Brittany doing for the holidays."

"She already left to Canton to spend it with them. I miss her so much."

Ellie rolled her eyes with a giggle. "When do you see her next?"

"Like the day after we come home, we have a date planned. Kind of almost our first official date."

"Here?"

"No, we're going to Columbus. She has this whole thing planned out and she won't let me know anything. It's actually really exciting."

"That's kind of a bit of a drive, what if you guys run out of things to talk about."

"Oh, you're so funny."

"Make sure you tell me all about it. And I can cover for you if you need me to."

"What do you mean?"

She laughed, "Nothing, let's just say I'll keep my phone handy!"

The next day we made our drive into Michigan. I actually didn't mind car drives, I usually get all my homework done and then I am able to sleep. It's an overall win-win. My mom hates to drive long distances and if my dad gets tired, I usually take over. I really don't mind driving.

We arrived in record time and unloaded all of our stuff and made our way to the very familiar, huge cabin.

"AHHHHHHH! SANTANA! ELLIE!" That was definitely Jasmine's scream; Monica was standing right next to her waving her arms.

Ellie and I both dropped all of our stuff and ran over to them and gave them hugs. It was great to see them again, we'd spend most of the week with them. We always shared a room, us four, and stayed up until dawn just talking about anything and everything.

The trip went on as usual, everyone getting along, doing fun family activities. Basically, the women all cooked, drank wine, and talked about Spanish soap operas that they tried to keep up with. The men watched their sports and drank their Mexican alcohol. All of the boys played their video games, and the girls gossiped and talked; what we do best. It's just a lot of Spanish culture, drinking, laughing, an overall great time.

It was our last night and we were all lounging around, waiting for the New Year. I was playing cards with Jasmine and a few uncles and aunts.

"Santana, I hear swimming is going well. I really enjoyed telling everyone that my niece was swimming in the Olympic trials. How's high school swimming going? College?" my uncle Tony said in Spanish.

"Not too bad. I signed with BHU like a month ago."

Jasmine spoke up. "That's code for 'I've already made it to state in 6 events and some relays. And my high school team could possibly win state this year. And I'm going to smash state records.'"

"Whoaaa, we're going to have the next Missy Franklin, ehh?"

I laughed. "Not quite. She's a beast."

"You've met her right?" Jasmine asked.

I nod. "Yeah. We've trained together and I see her at meets during summer league. She's a great person."

They started talking about the Olympics and asked Jasmine about her life. Then the topic came back over to me.

My aunt Diana said, "Jasmine, that's wonderful that you and Trent are still together, you guys are a lovely couple. What about you and that Noel kid, Santana?"

"Oh, Puckerman? I mean Noah?"

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry." She laughed.

I felt a little uneasy. "We're not together anymore. We broke up around homecoming."

"I never would have thought that, Isabella showed me pictures of you and your sister at homecoming, you all looked so cute."

I felt Jasmine sympathetically tap her hand on my leg.

"Oh, well, we just had some differences in our relationship, we still talk." That was a lie.

"Is there someone new in the picture?" My family was always wanting the most up-to-date information.

I didn't know what to say. Part of me wanted to get it over with, come out right then and there. "Yeah, there is actually, her name is Brittany. I really like her and I want all of you to meet her sometime." But then I thought about my parents, I hadn't even told Jasmine and Monica yet, I probably wasn't, not there at least.

So I chickened out and played it safe. "No, not really, I've been on a few dates but I don't think they'll go anywhere. I'm really focused on school and swimming; it keeps me pretty busy anyway."

They finally dropped it and I went back to playing the Mexican card game "Conquian."

"Tell them," Ellie corners me in the huge pantry next to the tortillas.

"No, I can't, we're about to leave. They don't want that on their back, they won't see us again until May but that's graduation."

"They should know, they're like our best friends, even though their family."

"What if they tell?"

"They won't, trust me. They wouldn't do that and you know it."

"Ellie, I can't."

"Santana, if you can't come out to them, how are you going to tell mom and dad? Your friends? You have to start somewhere. You're not always going to get a positive reaction from everyone that you meet but you will from them, trust me."

"Fine. Will you be there with me?"

"Of course I will. Tell them by the end of this year."

I looked at my phone, it was 11 pm. "That's one hour!"

"We better find them then!"

Ellie opened the door and shooed me out of the pantry.

I saw them sitting around one of the TV's watching the boys take a break from Halo to play Mario Kart.

"Oh my gosh, there you guys are. Watching these boys act like driving Yoshi around a track is a life or death situation is exhausting," Monica said.

I laughed, nervously. "We… I.. need to talk to you two…"

Jasmine was perplexed, "So you dated her while she was your student teacher?"

"Umm, yeah, I mean, not on purpose. Totally on accident."

Monica said, "What does she look like? Is she hot?"

"Of course I think so. She's freaking gorgeous." They both laughed. They were taking it really well. So much of a burden was lifted off my shoulders, Ellie was right, I should have believed her. I took out my phone and found a picture I took with her. "That's her."

Monica looked at the picture and said, "Damn, Santana. You went from a hot boyfriend to a hot girlfriend. You obviously know how to work it. She doesn't really look that much older and she already graduated college?"

I laughed. "She's only 21. She's a genius and she had like a million college credit and AP classes in high school that all transferred to she graduated a semester early and her birthday is in March, so she's young for her year."

Jasmine said, "Wow, she's just like you then, that whole motivated thing. She seems like a great girl. I'm guessing she's got a stunning personality as well?"

"Yes, she really does. I'd love for you guys to meet her sometime. Eventually. After I get this all figured out."

"When are you going to tell Jorge and Isabella?"

"When Ellie tells me to."

They both looked confused, Ellie laughed.

"Ellie's been like my lifeline in this whole thing. When Brittany and I were keeping it a secret, Ellie knew like the whole entire time. She gave me the courage to tell you two as well."

Jasmine mocked tearing up. "Aww, Ellie, you're such a great sister."

"Yeah, I know. Santana is totally lucky."

The four of us made it back out to the main area of the cabin in time for the countdown. The past year was behind me, it was a new year. I had never been one to make resolutions. I never really had to. However, I knew that I had one this year.

Not ever a minute after the countdown ended, Brittany sent a picture of her and a few of her friends at a party. The caption said Here's to a great year. I wish I was there to kiss you! ;) Happy New Year! Any resolutions?

Normally, I would be writing a novel back to Brittany but this time, I didn't need any more than five words,

You're gorgeous.

To come out.

Happy Fourth of July here in the USA!

Thanks to the reviewer who caught that embarrassing mistake last chapter :O. And to think that I got an award for exceptional English student my senior year!

And thank you all for reading! This story isn't even close to being finished. I have so much planned! Please tell me what you think!