Hi guys,

sorry this next chapter took so long! Just finished the semester so I have a month to write as much as I like :)

Anyway I hope you all like this next chapter. It's from Brittany's point of view this time

(Brittany's Point of View)

After a grueling hour and a half of hip-hop, I find myself collapsing in the corner next to my bag, completely exhausted. The muscles in my legs are burning and I'm so focused in the pursuit of my water bottle that I don't even hear Mike approach me. "Hey Brit, you really brought it today!" he says with a smile and a pat to my shoulder.

"Thanks Mike" I respond as I continue searching for my water bottle in the mess that seems to have consumed my dance bag. "You were pretty awesome yourself". I like it when Mike compliments me because then I can compliment him back and it's always true. I like saying nice things when they're true.

I've only known Mike for around six months, but it feels like a lot longer. He's one of those guys who you can tell straight away isn't going to put the moves on you. Which was exactly what I needed when I made the move to Columbus and first took up the teaching position at his studio. You see, one of the reasons I decided to move out here was to get away from the people I'd spent my entire childhood with. Most people would consider it a blessing to have grown up in the same place, getting to experience the first day of elementary, then junior high and eventually graduating from high school together. But for me it meant being stuck with the people who had witnessed all of my embarrassing moments- actually that's a lie, not all of them, because some embarrassing things happened at home too, so they didn't see those. But still, there were a lot.

In the second grade, my friend Tanner made me laugh so hard that I peed in my pants. I didn't really care, mainly because I never used to care what people thought of me, but also because hearing something that's funny enough to laugh that hard is worth a little pee in your pants. I can't remember what the joke was about anymore, but I can still remember all the mean names I got called (mainly because they still get used seventeen years later), and I definitely remember the diapers they put in my locker on the first day of junior high. And then again on the first day of High school- you'd think they could come up with something different the second time around, but I guess it had been so successful in educating the kids starting from different schools about my nickname of 'Britt-pee' that it was worth repeating. Why fix what aint broke right?

That's just one example of things I wish I could erase. Those sorts of things never bothered me when I was younger, in fact the only reason they started to bother me was because Tanner, my best and only friend decided on the second day of our freshman year that he wanted to be popular and have a girlfriend, and that he couldn't have that while being my friend. It didn't matter that I had asked him out three days before. I was confused because he had said yes and I was really happy, but he must have changed his mind because on the second day of high school Tanner and his new friend from the football team threw slushies in my face. I knew we weren't friends anymore because Tanner had thrown a grape slushie at me, and he knows I can't stand grape.

That was the first day I cried in the girls bathrooms during lunch, and the first day I realized that everyone had been laughing at me. Before then, I had been too busy laughing with Tanner to hear them.

For the majority of freshman year I was completely miserable. Every time I got laughed at for saying the wrong answer in class I would remember that I didn't have a friend anymore to distract me. It only started to get better when I stopped caring. Since the teachers realized they shouldn't expect anything from me, I started to realize that I didn't have to expect anything from myself either. Instead of thinking about class, I started making up dance routines in my head and when I absolutely had to answer a question or speak at all I made it as short and blunt as possible. I started to learn that if people thought I was stupid, they didn't feel they had to try so hard to hurt me. It was probably the smartest thing I ever learned in school.

At the beginning of sophomore year the new girl, Quinn Fabray, saw me doing somersaults on the bleachers after school and convinced me to join the cheer squad with her. I agreed because she smiled at me and no one had done that in a long time.

Being on the cheerios was both good and bad. Good because no one threw slushies in my face anymore, but bad because I had to work harder at trying to concentrate on thinking up dance routines. My blunt way of responding and my reluctance to speak was no longer considered stupid or weird, but since donning the cheerios uniform, seen as just a typical bitch attitude. It worked well for me, plus I had a new friend in Quinn.

Quinn is pretty and blonde and is still my best friend today, I could never figure out why she decided to be nice to me that day on the bleachers. It was only since she convinced me to move in with her 6 months ago that she admitted that she used to get picked on at her old high school.

In junior year Quinn convinced me to go my first party. I got really drunk and danced a lot, and I kissed a lot of people- It was so much fun. I liked how everyone treated me at parties; I knew how to dance so that boys would cover their crotch with their hands. Everything was going really well until junior prom. At the after party, Tanner decided we should start dating but I told him no and he got mad. He called me a slut and I think that made everyone realize how many people I had kissed- boys and girls. After that everyone thought I was a slut even though I had never had sex. It was half way through senior year before I lost my virginity. Her name was Susie and she was in my algebra class. We were both drunk but I still remember that it felt really good. Susie told her best friend, and her best friend told her brother from the year below us, Luke Hyde. Luke told me that if I didn't have sex with him he'd tell everyone that Susie and I had done it. I didn't really care if people knew, they'd all seen me kiss girls before, but Susie's dad was the local pastor and I knew she'd get in trouble. After Luke, there was Scott and James, and before long, the rumor that I was slut became fact.

I never cared about people thinking I was a slut until I asked Matt, a guy from my gym class if he would go to senior prom with me. I had liked him for a really long time, he always smiled at me and we used to talk sometimes since his locker was next to mine. I though he would say yes since we were friends, but he told me he didn't want to because of how many other guys I'd been with. I was really upset after that and decided that I didn't want people to think I was a slut anymore.

After high school, Quinn got into Yale and moved away so I was back to not really having any friends. I worked at a bar for the next five and a bit years, and spent all my time thinking about dance. It was okay, but I was still surrounded by my old classmates and plagued by my reputation as being a diaper-needing whore.

When Quinn's job relocated her to Columbus she started trying to convince me to move there too. She had a new friend called Tina, whose boyfriend owned a dance studio and was looking for another teacher. Long story short, Tina's boyfriend was Mike, and I got the job.

Mike was the first guy in my adult life that I could call a friend. He didn't know that I had slept with lots of people and I ended up fitting in well with his, Tina, and Quinn's friends. For the first time in my life I think I can truly say I'm happy. The only thing that could make me happier is if I was in a real relationship, with someone who loves me and doesn't think I'm stupid or a slut.

"Britt?" I lose my train of thought as Mike waves his hand in front of my face. "You listening to me?" he asks with an amused smile on his face. I nod and smile apologetically.

"I asked if you were still up for going out tonight?" he asks with a smirk playing at the corner of his lips "One of Tina's friends is celebrating a job promotion or something, and that girl we were telling you about will be there". I can hear the excitement in his voice.

Mike and Tina are the type of couple who like to play matchmaker. Apparently they've set up nine happy couples to date, and are convinced that Tina's high school friend would be perfect for me. They both squealed with joy when they realized I was bisexual. Yes, squealed is the perfect description for the noise they made.

"Yea definitely, I'm looking forward to it actually!" It wasn't a lie. After hearing about Santana, Tina's friend, I couldn't wait to meet her. They said she's beautiful and feisty. After being single for so long, beautiful and feisty sounds akin to perfect to me. Also, it's really hard to meet other girls who like girls, especially in Ohio. Not that I wont date a nice guy if I meet the right one, but I've met so many bad ones lately I've kind of stopped looking. I think maybe I lean more towards ladylove.

"That's great Britt! Just be your usual charming self and she'll love you!" says mike with a smile "Tina and I will be at the restaurant around 6.30, Quinn's been there before so make sure you take a cab with her".

A shower, and make-up later, and Quinn and I are hopping out of the cab outside of a small Italian restaurant. "Listen Britt" Quinn says, "I don't want you to get too excited about Santana okay? She just has a tendency to bail out on us a lot, okay? I don't want you to get hurt".

"Quinn, it's fine. I'm the appropriate amount of excited to meet her," I laugh. Well that's a lie, I think to myself. I haven't been this excited since the limited edition sparkly marshmallow rainbow was added to lucky charms.

"Okay" she smiles and hugs me. "Let's go inside".