A/N: Apparently I lied about not updating until the weekend... This is too fun to write. Again thanks for the reviews and please keep em coming and I promise to keep the chapters coming. I think this is the only long fanfic that I've written that I've plotted out a plan for, known exactly where it's going and how it's going to end ever since I started writing it. So I shouldn't have any major bouts of writer's block. Please enjoy :)

I was a few minutes early to math class the next day because my class before had let out early and as I sat in my seat, staring off into space, I was surprised to see Rachel slide into the seat next to me.

"I am very excited about our lessons today after school," she said, leaning towards me with a huge grin.

I was about to tell her that she better choose a different seat before Santana got there, when Santana appeared beside her with a very angry look.

"What the hell," Santana said with a vicious tone, glaring at Rachel, "move dwarf, you're in my seat."

Rachel rolled her eyes while blowing a puff of air at her bangs and then looked towards me as if I was supposed to stand up for her to Santana. I felt a pang of guilt as I shrugged and glanced away from her, but I had thought she'd known that what we had outside of school was completely different from inside school. When I didn't stand up for her, she quickly grabbed her books off the desk and stormed away.

"That wasn't very nice, San," I said softly and hoped that Santana would not be able to see through the words I spoke. I was pretty sure I was still in 'character', but being so honest with Rachel the night before seemed to change me and I felt the old Brittany beginning to show through whether I liked it or not.

"It's just, Berry, Britt," she reasoned, "She doesn't have feelings."

I wanted to look back at Rachel and tell her with my eyes that I was sorry, but I couldn't find the courage with Santana sitting so close to me. I tried to focus my attention on the teacher when he began to speak, but the entire class the only thing I could think of was if Rachel was alright.

I followed Rachel out of the class after math ended, while Santana stayed behind to chat with another Cheerio and grabbed her wrist lightly as she hurried down the hall. She spun around with an annoyed look on her face and I glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention before I said, "I'm sorry for what Santana said and for not sticking up for you."

Rachel's features softened as she leaned back against the locker behind her, "It's okay. I'm used to it."

My heart broke, the way she accepted it was appalling, "You shouldn't be used to it."

Rachel looked up at me and I knew she wasn't expecting me to say that as she dropped her head to hide her smile, "Thank you."

At that moment, the only thing I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and just hold her. The only problem with that was that I didn't want to hug her to tease her or give her a friendly hug. I had this strange ache in my body that was almost commanding me to hold her close and keep her against me forever.

I swallowed hard as I realized several long seconds had gone by while I had been staring at her intensely and she was staring back up at me. I found myself leaning down towards her, but I skipped past her lips and moved my own next to her ear.

"One day, Rachel, I promise all of this will be worth it," I whispered and quickly moved away from her, taking another look around the crowded hallway as I began to walk away.

I felt someone take my arm as I walked and found Santana beside me. She began to talk about something Cheerios related, but I wasn't listening as I dared a glance back at Rachel. She was still staring after me, but she was biting her lip hard and there was a tear rolling down her cheek. I smiled at her before turning my attention back to Santana.

Santana, Quinn and I had just taken our seats in the lunch room when Rachel, holding a tray of veggies, stepped towards the empty seat beside Quinn and asked, "Can I sit here?"

"Beat it, Berry. The smell of your cologne makes me nauseous," Santana barked back and shooed her away.

Rachel frowned as she looked straight at me, begging me to do something. I wanted to, I really did. If it was up to me, I'd tell her of course she could sit there, but it wasn't.

Quinn surprised me by saying, "Oh, just let her sit there."

We all turned to Quinn in shock, even Rachel, as Santana said, "Have you lost your mind, Q?"

"If we don't let her, she's just going to give us that creepy stare for the rest of the day," Quinn sighed and rolled her eyes.

Thankful for Quinn's acceptance I said, "That look gives me nightmares. I have to check my closet before I can go to sleep to make sure she's not there."

Rachel looked a little hurt by the comment, but her expression changed when Santana said, "Fine, but keep your mouth shut."

She set her tray down on the table and made a motion that her lips were sealed, immediately dropping to the empty seat with a smile that could light up the entire country.

"Stacey Baker," Quinn said pointedly and Santana instantly shook her head and waved her hand.

"Something has got to be done about her," Santana groaned.

"She's acting like she's head cheerleader and her acrobatics have improved so much over the summer, she's become a threat to not just me, but the entire Unholy Trinity," Quinn said.

"I agree," Santana nodded, taking a bite of her tatter tot. "She's making us top cheerleaders look bad."

"At practice this morning, I saw Coach Sylvester pull her aside and she did not look like she was getting a Sylvester beat down," Quinn said, furiously.

"I saw that too," Santana exclaimed, pointing her tot at her, "She must be stopped."

I felt like this was the correct moment to add another 'Stupid Brittany' comment, so I interrupted dreamily, "She tastes like waffle syrup."

Everybody turned to gape at me, but Santana and Quinn's attention was quickly turned to Rachel, who began to cough and choke on the carrot she had been nibbling on.

"You got something to say, Man-Hands," Quinn demanded.

"If you can't handle our steamy topics, go sit at the kids table," Santana added.

Rachel waved her hand, indicating she was alright, but she continued her coughing fit so I said, "Do you need mouth to mouth? I don't know how to do it, but I'm willing to try."

Rachel's coughing ceased immediately and I heard a small, startled cry slip from her lips.

"That's gross," Santana said, disgustedly throwing her half eaten tot back onto her plate.

"I think I just lost my appetite," Quinn groaned, pushing her untouched plate away from herself.

Rachel was still staring at me and, seeing that Quinn and Santana were not focused on me, I winked at her.

She turned a dark shade of red and her eyes dropped to her plate of veggies, but I caught the little smile that tickled her lips before she hid it behind the hand she was resting her chin on.

Santana and Quinn moved on to a different subject, but I just couldn't tear my eyes away from Rachel. That is until Rachel looked back up at me while chewing her lip and it was my turn to quickly glance away with pink cheeks.

Spanish was my last class of the day and another class with Rachel, but one that Santana didn't take since she was already fluent. Somehow, I could feel Rachel behind me as I walked into the class and sat in my usual seat. I opened my books and pretended to be reading them as I could see, out of the corner of my eye, Rachel hesitate at the open seat next to me. She was about to walk away when I whispered, without taking my eyes off my books, "You can sit there, Rachel."

When she didn't immediately sit down, I finally looked up at her and gave her an assuring nod, "Sit down."

She put her books down on the desk and nervous flattened her skirt beneath her before sitting down on the chair. I turned my attention back to my text book, but I could see Rachel stealing glances at me.

"What," I whispered and looked over at her.

She shook her head and turned her attention to Mr. Schue who had just walked in, "Nothing."

Mr. Schue greeted the class and began to start the lesson and I saw Rachel begin taking notes. A minute later however I felt something brush my thigh and I looked down to find Rachel tapping it with a folded up piece of paper. I took the paper from her fingers and carefully opened it, taking a quick glance at Mr. Schue before reading it.

Do I embarrass you?
Rachel Berry

There was a gold star next to her signature and when I should've been finding it ridiculous, I found that I actually thought it was cute.

No, but you need to understand that we're not friends at school. I like you, Rachel, but we hang with different crowds that don't mix well.
B

I pressed the note to her thigh with my index finger and let my middle finger brush against her skin, marvelling at how soft and smooth it was. I told myself it was because I wanted to tease her, but if I was being honest, I really just wanted to touch her.

She flinched as my nail scraped her thigh and instantly snatched the paper up. A few minutes went by before I felt the paper touch my thigh, but the paper wasn't the only thing that touched my thigh. All four of her fingers pressed the note to my leg, just below where my Cheerios skirt fell. I shot a look at her before I took the note and she was staring straight ahead, biting her lip. I swallowed thickly, slowly pulling the note from beneath her fingers and hoping that her warm hand would stay there when it was gone, shooting electric sparks all through my body. They stayed for a couple seconds before she scraped her nails along my thigh as her hand returned to her own lap.

I like you too.
Rachel Berry

I blinked, staring down at the words written in pink pen. It was Rachel's turn to surprise me.

I didn't know how to respond to Rachel's note so I had left it at that and we stayed silent for the rest of class. When Spanish ended and the day was over, we walked silently down the hall together towards my locker, when I spotted Santana by hers. It was too late, Santana caught us walking together and I immediately said to Rachel, "I'll meet you at your car."

I saw Rachel look up and find Santana through the crowd and I pretended not to notice the disappointment in her face as she said, "Sure."

By the time I reached Santana, her hands were on her hips in an aggressive stance as she demanded, "Why is she following you everywhere you go?"

I was going to tell Santana about the tutoring then, but the look she was giving was very intimidating, so I nervously filled the silence with another 'Stupid Brittany' comment, "I don't know, she kinda reminds me of that stray dog that was following me home and got hit by a car."

Santana stared after Rachel, but decided to let it slide as she dropped her voice to a sexy whisper, "So hows abouts you come over to my place and we gets our sweet lady kisses on."

"I thought you still weren't ready to tell everyone about your feelings for me," I said, curious to know if she was finally ready to admit to our friends that she loved me.

"Whoa slow down, I said 'sweet lady kisses' not marriage. You know I'm not ready to march in the Pride parade," she replied in barely a whisper, her eyes darting from one student to the next and making sure I was the only one who could hear her.

"And you know that I don't want to be with someone who hides themselves from the world," I replied, knowing that I was a giant hypocrite with every syllable that I spoke, but I couldn't help it. I could not be with someone who told me they loved me one minute and then declared their love in front of the Glee club for someone like Karofsky the next.

"Whatever," Santana shrugged, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she stormed off.

Santana was my first love, not just my first love with a girl, but my first love with anyone. But maybe it was finally time to move on.