3rd & Lucky

by FloatYourBoat21

Meet Brittany S. Pierce... one of the nicest and most popular girls at McKinley High. However, once Brittany reveals her deepest secret, will that still be true? Follow Brittany as she navigates through some of the pressures of being a teenager, growing up in a small town (with a little help from her best friend, Santana). AU Brittana multi-chapter fic.

15. A Case of the Mondays

It all started with a party...

After all of the craziness that ensued on Friday with meeting my half-brother and then having to talk to my dad about it, I was happy to get back to a little bit of normalcy when we went back to school on Monday.

But, of course... luck was not on my side.

Over the weekend, the gang and I went to Cleveland with Britt's family to cheer her on at the State tournament. My baby definitely did not disappoint as she led her team to victory and captured the first ever State Championship in Volleyball for McKinley High.

I was so proud of Brittany and told her just as much as we made out profusely in our tree house before I had to go back to Rachel's to get ready for school the next day.

Maybe I was a little naïve in thinking that everything at school would be the same, but boy... how wrong was I.

Apparently, winning a State tournament in a sport other than football was HUGE for McKinley, so naturally, everyone was fawning over Brittany like she was a celebrity. I didn't mind initially because my baby worked her ass off and most definitely deserved all of the attention and high praise.

However... some people got butt hurt over the lack of attention they were receiving and decided to do something about it.

At the end of the week, one of Brittany's teammates — whose parents have an insane amount of money — threw probably the biggest party that I had ever been to (not that my list of parties is extensive) and everyone was invited. It was a nice change of pace to be in an atmosphere where I could dance with Brittany and just be close to her.

Don't get me wrong... I still very much enjoyed our weekly movie nights with our friends; however, being the geeks that we are, all of us actually paid attention to whatever movies we watched as opposed to making out with our significant others (no matter how many times we had seen said movie).

Anyways... Britt and I were enjoying a slow dance with our hands in respectable places when she kissed me. It wasn't anything crazy with our tongues hanging out of our mouths; hell, it didn't even last longer than a second. It was soft and sweet. I didn't even think anything of it until we started hearing some stupid guys wolf whistling at us.

If that was the end of it, I would've been fine. But, of course... morons travel in packs.

"So Brittany, how often do you guys fuck?" A drunken footballer asks.

"Yeah! It must be all the time right!" One of his buddies adds in.

"Hey Santana, do your glasses ever fog up when you eat Brittany out?" Another dumbass crudely inquires.

I was at a loss for words.

Just hearing some of the vulgar things those guys were saying really pissed me off. I know that they're all drunken, immature idiots, but still... that doesn't excuse their behavior. It was just plain disrespectful. The way that they just so casually talked about my sexual relationship with Brittany was appalling to me and made me want to throw up and kick each of them in their tiny little nuts.

I hadn't decided on which to do first.

Just as I was about to say something to those imbeciles, Sam, Mercedes, and Mike came over and stood in between us; they must've known that Satan was about to come out.

"Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?" Sam says, addressing the group of drunken fools.

"Not cool guys. So not cool," Mike adds in.

I needed to get some air and fast so I found the quickest exit and made a run for it. Usually, I don't have a problem fighting my own battles, but in this case, I really didn't feel like anything I said would've been retained by those thoughtless jocks.

I was feeling so many mixed emotions in that moment: anger, frustration, embarrassment...

I just needed a moment to wrap my head around the whole situation, but I should've known that my girlfriend wouldn't be too far behind me.

"San, wait up!" Brittany says a little winded. "Jeez, are you planning on running track this year?"

Upon hearing Brittany's voice, I slow down and turn around to face her.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Britt asks more seriously when she sees the look of distress on my face. "Please don't get worked up over what those assholes said."

"It's not..." I start to say, but then stop.

How exactly do I put into words what's going on inside my head?

"As irritating as it is to hear those pinheads say crap like that, it's even more frustrating—"

I cut myself off, feeling like whatever it was that I was trying to say just wasn't coming out right. Thankfully, my girlfriend has the patience of a saint.

I take a few deep breaths to calm myself and then start again, coming at my internal struggle from a different angle.

"Do you ever think about sex?" I ask bluntly, but still treading lightly.

I can tell that Brittany was a little surprised by the question, based on her widening eyes, but she answers nonetheless.

"Sure... doesn't everybody?"

I nod my head.

"We've been going out for a while now and since we haven't taken that next step yet, sometimes it makes me wonder if..." I pause, once again trying to make sure I don't end up putting my foot in my mouth. "Sometimes I wonder if maybe this is too much for you. Like maybe kissing your best friend is one thing, but having sex with them would be too much. Y'know what I mean?"

"Honestly San, I don't. I'm really trying to follow, but I'm a little confused," Brittany earnestly replies. "Where is all of this coming from babe?"

"It's just... I wanna be enough for you, Britt; I really do. But sometimes, I feel like I'm never gonna be able to measure up to your ex," I vaguely respond, refusing to say her name. "I know she had a lot more experience than me — which is none — so I'm just afraid that I won't be able to make you feel as good as she did when or if we ever take that next step in our relationship."

There... I said it. Insecurities and all, out on the table.

I always knew that whenever Brittany found out about my feelings for her, our relationship would be forever changed. At the time, I assumed the worse because I was so afraid of losing her. Once I found out that she felt the same as I did, that momentarily quelled the fears that I had; but… it also sprung up new ones.

Could we successfully transition from best friends to girlfriends?

Would she feel weird touching or kissing me? (Which I actually said out loud!)

Would we really be able to make this work, given the long distance between us (at that time)?

And lastly... would I be enough for her?

"San... why are you even comparing yourself to her?" Brittany inquires, thankfully not using her ex's name either. "You are nothing like her... but that's a good thing."

Brittany steps closer to me, lightly wrapping her arms around my waist.

"What if I can't please you? I mean, with my lack of experience, I wouldn't blame you if you weren't interested in taking that next step," I finally admit to her under my breath, not daring to make eye contact.

"Why do I get the impression that you think that Kelly and I slept together?" My girlfriend questions, leaning back to try and catch my eye.

"Didn't you?" I slowly ask, finally meeting her eyes. I wasn't expecting that response.

"No... of course not," Brittany says with conviction.

"What?"

"I never had sex with Kelly, or anyone for that matter," Brittany clarifies. "Don't you think you would've been the first person I told if I had lost my virginity?"

"I, uh..."

I'm trying really hard to gather my thoughts, but now I'm the one who's confused.

"But Kelly said—"

"Kelly said what?" Brittany probes, abruptly cutting me off and tilting up my head so that she could make sure I understood everything clearly.

"She said that it must kill me that she was the one that got to hold you and kiss you and touch you, and..."

"And?" My girlfriend prompts, urging me to continue.

"Y'know... F you," I reply back, choosing not to repeat the vulgar language that Kelly had used previously.

"When did this happen?"

"You remember when you got the flu during Christmas break?" Brittany nods her head. "Well, when I woke up that morning, I snuck downstairs with the intention of making you breakfast. Unfortunately, I ran into Kelly and words were exchanged. I guess she saw us cuddled up in your bed and she wanted to make it crystal clear that you belonged to her."

Brittany takes a step back from me and begins pacing back and forth. "What else did she say?"

"She accused me of trying to steal you away from her."

"Is that why you left without saying goodbye? Is that why when I woke up, Kelly was the one next to me instead of you?" Brittany asks, stopping in front of me, sounding slightly disappointed.

I slowly nod my head in affirmation, choosing to focus on the ground now.

"I couldn't stand the way she talked about you, like you were some possession; like you were a piece of property."

"Honestly... that really doesn't surprise me," Brittany says with a shake of her head. "I guess she had a way of getting under both of our skins."

"What do you mean?"

Before replying, Brittany takes my hand and leads me over to the sidewalk and further away from the party. As we sit down, she never lets go of my hand.

"The night that we broke up, while we were making out, Kelly's hands started to roam a little more than usual. It made me really uncomfortable, but at the time, it kept her preoccupied from questioning me about my odd behavior earlier at the party," Britt starts to explain, purposely avoiding any form of the word 'jealousy'.

Although I didn't really care to hear about what my girlfriend did with her ex, I knew that Brittany wouldn't have brought it up without a good reason. Instead of interrupting her, I keep my face impassive and indulge her.

"Anyways... what got me through that awkward time was thinking about you," Brittany bashfully states, surprising the hell out of me with that new little tidbit of info. "I know it was wrong, but imagining how it would feel to have your lips against mine instead of hers really did something to me. I guess Kelly thought that she was the one turning me on so she decided to press her luck to see if she could get into my pants. I had to yell at her to get her to stop and get off of me."

I tighten my grip on her hand. "Baby, why didn't you ever tell me about any of this?"

"Probably the same reason why you never mentioned what really made you not like Kelly or all of these thoughts that you've been having lately."

Touché.

"That night, Kelly showed her true colors. She was just using me to get what she wanted," Brittany further elaborates, making my jaw clinch. "If I had slept with her, she probably would've dumped me right after."

I really want to punch her ex in the ovaries right about now.

"I'll probably never know the answer, but I sometimes wonder what was more infuriating for her: not succeeding in 'popping' my cherry or the fact that the real reason why I just couldn't go there with her was because I was in love with you... even if I didn't completely know it at the time."

"I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything; I'm just glad that you know now," my girlfriend replies. "Back then, there were a lot of obstacles that kept us from admitting to ourselves and then to each other how we really felt. Fear was the biggest factor of all of them, but… no matter how long it took, I am so happy about where we are now."

My eyes start to water because she is absolutely right. Although we both had to deal with a lot of heartache and pain during our own struggles, Brittany and I eventually found our way to each other.

Not being able to hold back my emotions, I lean over and connect my lips with hers, trying to convey all of the passion I could in our current setting. I could feel just as much passion pouring back from Brittany's reciprocation. As tears silently rolled down my face, my girlfriend wipes them away, never breaking our kiss until the need for oxygen becomes apparent.

After the intensity of our kiss wears off, I pull back a little so that I can see Brittany's now glistening eyes.

"I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love another person. You will ALWAYS be enough for me, Santana. Always."

"I love you so so much, Brittany."

"Good," my girlfriend simply says as she kisses me softly. "Promise me that we'll both do a better job of talking to each other about these type of things instead of letting them fester until one of us implodes."

She holds up her pinky. I instantly link mine with hers. "I promise."

"You wanna get outta here?"

"Yes, please!" I say without hesitation.

As Brittany stands up from the curb, she offers me her hand.

"Should we at least go back in to tell the others we're leaving?" I query.

"Nah... I'll just shoot them a text," Brittany replies as she tangled her fingers with mine and we begin our trek towards the next street over, where her car is parked.

10 minutes later, we finally arrive at my girlfriend's car. Like the gentlewoman she is, Brittany opens my door, but stops me from stepping inside right away.

"Hey San..."

"What's up, Britt-Britt?"

"Just so you know, whenever we're both ready to take that next step... it's gonna be incredible."

"How do you know?" I inquire, still feeling a bit vulnerable from our earlier conversation.

"Because we love each other," she simply replies. "Because we waited instead of letting our raging hormones dictate our behavior. But mostly, it's because we'll be sharing a part of ourselves that no one gets to have... ever."

My heart instantly soars as my insecurities wash away.

"And here I thought I was the more romantic one out of the two of us," I say teasingly before pulling her into a delicate kiss.

"What can I say... you inspire me."

Of course, I have to kiss her again.

"Such a romantic."

With one last chaste kiss, Brittany playfully pushes me into the car before jogging around to the other side to hop in. We spend the rest of the evening hanging out with her family, eating junk food and playing board games until we could barely move.

---

The rest of the weekend was spent in a similar atmosphere; easy-going and filled with lots of laughter and love.

On Saturday, Brittany and I joined the rest of the gang for our weekly movie night. On Sunday, I took Brittany to her favorite brunch spot and then we went to the park to feed the ducks. After that, we found a nice oak tree to sit under as we alternated from our animated conversation to people watching.

Once we had our fill of the outdoors, we went back to Brittany's house and enjoyed a nice dinner before I kissed her goodnight and made my way back to Rachel's house for the remainder of the evening.

The next day at school was when the shit started to hit the fan.

I had just left my locker and was heading to homeroom when something icy cold hit my face.

"Bloody hell!" I yell out unceremoniously, trying to wipe what I assumed to be a cherry slushy off of my face and out of my eyes.

While my glasses shielded my eyes a little from the direct contact of the slushy, enough of it dribbled down my forehead and into my eyes. It burned so badly.

As I remove my glasses and try to rub this crap out of my eyes as best as possible, I feel someone bump into my shoulder, causing me to drop my glasses. I could tell that this was no accident, judging by the force applied against me and what I heard directly after it happened.

"Watch it, loser!"

"Yeah! Get outta the way, four eyes!"

Seriously, guys? When are you gonna come up with new material?

As I bend down and blindly start patting different areas of the floor in search of my fallen glasses, I hear the indistinguishable sound of glass cracking.

"Oops! Looks like I accidentally broke your glasses," I hear a condescending voice from above me say. I'd know that voice from anywhere.

Kitty fucking Wilde.

"Yeah... I'm sure it was just as much as an accident as that F you made on that Chemistry test last week."

Normally, I'm mild-mannered and usually keep to myself whenever the likes of Kitty or one of her goons messes with me.

However... today, I was feeling froggy.

Let's face it: the first school bell hadn't even rung yet and I was already having a shitty day, thanks to Kitty. Add in the fact that I can't see a thing right now because I can't open my eyes without feeling the sting of cherry-flavored syrup rushing into them and now my glasses are broken...

Yeah... this day has turned shitty pretty damn quickly.

"Shut up, you stupid Mexican!" Is Kitty's brilliant retort.

"I'm Puerto Rican, you dumbass!" I correct her as I stand to my full height, gaining a few gasps from the crowd that had started to form around us. "If you're gonna insult me, at least do it properly... unless maintaining the 23 shades of blonde in your hair leaves you absolutely no room for recreational reading."

Yeah... I was really on one today.

I guess I'm just tired of dealing with Kitty's shit. She's a bully — and apparently a fucking racist — on top of being a homophobe.

Enough is enough!

"You little piece of shit!" Kitty says as she grabs my soaked shirt and steps entirely too close into my personal space.

"What the hell?!"

I hear Mercedes' voice from a distance, quickly followed by fast approaching footsteps.

"Barbie, you need to back the hell up!" Mercedes warns. Soon after that, I feel her release my t-shirt.

"Stay out of this, Jones! My beef's not with you."

"You mess with one of my friends; you mess with me."

Before Kitty has a chance to respond, another voice interrupts us.

"What's going on out here?" Sue Sylvester, the Cheerios coach, ponders as she takes in the scene before her. "And where's the damn janitor when you need one?!"

"Nothing Coach. I was just helping Santana find her glasses," Kitty says in this sickeningly sweet voice that you know is just full of shit.

If I could open my eyes right now, I would... and then roll them out of pure annoyance.

"Riiiiight..." Sue says, sounding unconvinced. "Kitty, you're coming with me. Beyoncé... can you help your friend get cleaned up?"

Assuming that she was talking to Mercedes, since she never calls anyone outside of the Cheerios by their real names, I feel a hand on my back, guiding me away from the hallway.

"C'mon Specs. I'm taking you to the locker room," Cedes informs me.

Once we get inside, she guides me over to the sink and turns on the water for me. As I begin to wash my face and get all of the gunk out of my hair and eyes, I give Cedes my locker combo and ask her to get my gym bag out of it.

"I sent Brittany a text to let her know you were okay and that we'd be late to class," Mercedes tells me. I'm glad she had the wherewithal to do so because I'm sure I probably have a few texts from my girlfriend in my inbox right now, wondering where I am. "She said that she would let our teacher know."

"Cool. Thanks for doing that."

"No prob," Mercedes replies while turning her body away from me, giving me a little privacy so that I could change my shirt. "So, what the hell was that all about?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," I say with a shrug of my shoulders, although she can't see it. "I guess I'm the 'nerd' of the week."

"I don't know, Specs... this feels more personal," Mercedes counters. "I mean, that bitch broke your glasses. That's taking it a bit too far, don't ya think?"

"I guess... but what can we do about it?" I answer nonchalantly. "She's been doing the same kind of shit for years, but all of the adults pretend like nothing's going on. You can look now."

As Mercedes turns back around and faces me, I continue. "To think that we all used to be friends in elementary school."

"Yeah, tell me about it. What happened to her?" Mercedes questions.

"Cheerleading camp happened," I respond knowingly.

"I guess being popular and a superficial bitch is more important than being a good, decent human being."

Looking down at the broken glasses in my hand, I then look at my reflection in the mirror. My hair is down and still a bit damp. It's reminiscent of my appearance after I've just gotten out of the shower.

There's not too many people that have seen me like this, outside of my friends and family. Hell, even after a swim meet, I just do a quick wash up in the locker room before going home to take a real shower... in private.

But this new look was a bit of a departure from my usual ponytail and thick-framed glasses. I would've loved to put my hair up right now but my hair tie broke as I pulled it out of my hair to rinse it out.

I then look back at my broken lenses again.

"Man... I've had these for years with no incidents," I say, shaking my head. "Stupid Kitty."

I wasn't completely blind without my glasses. If you were standing right in front of me or sitting beside me, I could make out all of your features just fine. However, if you were a few feet away from me, then the details would get blurry for me.

"C'mon girl; let's get you to class before Brittany starts blowin' up my phone."

I nod my head and follow her lead.

---

The rest of the school day was pretty uneventful, besides people constantly staring at me. I almost felt like I was an animal at the zoo; just there for people to observe.

It was a little difficult taking notes in class unless I was sitting front and center or had one of my friends in the same class to copy theirs later.

After school, Brittany drove me to see my optometrist. Unfortunately for me, it would be a few days before my new glasses came in. In the meantime, the doctor gave me a sample pack of contact lenses to hold me over. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of sticking something in or on my eye, but Brittany promised to help me.

And to be honest, any reason to be close to my girlfriend was reason enough for me to agree to just about anything.

On Tuesday, after struggling for about 30 minutes with trying to put my contacts in, I finally succeeded and carried on about my day. School was pretty much the same with more looks and stares, but other than that, it was fine. It's weird to think that me not wearing glasses would attract so much attention. The only part of the day when I didn't feel like a spectacle was at Glee with my friends.

When Wednesday, also known as Hump Day, rolled around... things took a turn for the worse.

For the most part, the day was similar to how it was the previous day, up until the last bell rung and I was on my way to Glee Club. Down the hallway, I saw Mercedes and Rachel walking towards the same destination... until they were abruptly stopped.

It all happened so fast. One minute, I'm waving at them as I get closer; the next minute, their faces are covered with cherry slushies.

"Oh hell nah!" Mercedes shouts as Rachel just squeals beside her, bouncing up and down.

As I make my way closer to them to offer assistance while they blindly wipe their faces off, I see something peculiar.

Once the two jocks responsible for this continue down the hallway after completing their task, I spot Kitty standing off to the side by a row of lockers, giving them a nod of approval.

Of course this was Kitty's doing!

Feeling so frustrated and tired of all of this bullying shit, I set my sights on the cheerleader.

Because she probably wasn't expecting me to react, I catch Kitty off guard. I grab her by her shoulders and slam her into the lockers.

"I'm sick of your shit!" I yell in her face.

Normally, I'm not a proponent of violence. However... seeing what she did to my friends and thinking about what she did to me (and what she's done to every nerd in this school), I just felt a light and breezy tone wasn't gonna do the trick.

Maybe she just needed some sense knocked into her... and I was most definitely up for the challenge.

"I'm so tired of you and your air-headed followers treating everyone else like we're less than you; like we don't matter!"

"Oh shit... Satan is here," Mercedes whispers to Rachel.

During all of the commotion, the rest of my friends had gathered around, along with other students, to see what all the ruckus was about.

"What are you gonna do about it, immigrant?" Kitty snarls back at me.

"What did you just call me?" I say in a strangely calm voice as I grip the fabric of Kitty's cheerleading top and slightly lift her off the ground.

Yeah... swimming definitely made my upper body sneaky strong.

Looking dead into Kitty's eyes, for the first time, I saw fear.

"Santana!" I hear my girlfriend's voice say from behind me. "She's not worth it."

I shut my eyes and squeeze them tightly. I know Brittany is right, but I really don't want to listen.

"Baby... she's not worth you getting suspended for," Brittany pleads.

"Yeah... I'm not worth ruining your perfect attendance, Geek," Kitty says mockingly. I can hear the smugness in her voice.

"Kitty! Will you please just SHUT THE FUCK UP before my girlfriend goes all Lima Heights on your ass!"

Everyone immediately goes silent. It's not every day that you hear the perfect, innocent Brittany Pierce use profanity in such a way.

Not gonna lie... I'm a little turned on.

Reasoning with myself, I finally listen to my girlfriend and release the hold I had on Kitty... but not before using my fist to bang against the locker, right next to her ear.

The loudness of the sound causes Kitty to jump, which is exactly what I was going for.

Before any other words could be exchanged, the sound of Principal Figgins' voice filters through the air.

"Miss Lopez and Miss Wilde... in my office now."

With that, he turned around and walked away, knowing that we would dutifully follow.

"I'm coming with you," Brittany says as she grabs my hand.

"No, Britt... I'll handle this," I tell her, leaving no room for questions. "Just take care of Cedes and Rachel. I'll meet you guys at Glee."

Reluctantly, she nods her head and gives me a quick peck before tending to our friends that still have sticky cherry syrup all over them.

As Kitty and I enter Principal Figgins' office, both of us refuse to sit down, choosing to instead stare daggers at each other. After this has gone on for about a minute or so, Principal Figgins finally speaks up.

"Ladies... would one of you like to tell me what is going on here?"

"Nothing, sir... just a little misunderstanding between me and Santana," Kitty quickly answers.

"Is this true, Miss Lopez?" Principal Figgins inquires in his meek tone, looking directly at me now.

I could've easily agreed. I could've just nodded my head and been on my way to Glee Club with no further questions being asked or risking the chance of getting into trouble.

I just couldn't though.

My friends and I have been silent for far too long. This prevalent problem is not going to fix itself; not without a lot of help.

"No, sir... it's not," I retort. "Kitty decided to get two of her jock friends to throw slushies in my friends' faces. In their defense, I grabbed Kitty and slammed her into the lockers. I wanted to do more, but my girlfriend stopped me."

Principal Figgins seemed puzzled by my admission, much like Kitty herself.

Here I was, one of McKinley's most docile students admitting that I had put my hands on another student.

"Miss Lopez, you know we have a strict zero tolerance policy on violence at this school."

"Yes, sir. I do," I answer back. "I also know that we have absolutely no policies on bullying, yet it happens... Every. Single. Day."

I pause and look at Kitty, who actually has the decency to look somewhat ashamed. I then look back at Principal Figgins.

"Every kid at this school that isn't considered 'popular' by whatever impossible standards that Kitty and her friends have set has been a victim of bullying. Any kid that likes math or is short or wears glasses or has freckles is a victim. Every kid in this school that's gay or a color other than white is a victim... and we're all sick of it," I state with conviction. "Teachers and numerous staff members see this crap happening every day and do nothing about it; YOU do nothing about it."

Principal Figgins looks stunned beyond belief. I don't even know if he has begun to formulate a response to my long-winded rant.

But, since I'm already on a roll...

"Did you know that 1 out of every 5 students has experienced some type of bullying before? Or that kids that have been bullied are twice as likely to experience anxiety, depression, or tons of other mental and physical health issues? Or that these same kids are more likely to become bullies themselves?" I ask, rhetorically.

Principal Figgins still looks like he's at a loss for words.

"If you need to punish me for putting my hands on Kitty, then go right ahead," I carry on. "But, if you DON'T do something about this bullying nonsense... I'll find someone who will; even if that means going over your head."

With those last few words, I exit the principal's office and make my way towards the Glee Club, without being excused.

As soon as I enter the classroom, Brittany and the rest of the gang pop up from their seats and begin to bombard me with a million questions.

However, I'm still too fired up from what happened earlier in the hallway with Kitty and the riveting speech I just gave to Principal Figgins.

Instead, I walk over to the band and tell them what song I want to sing as I grab the mic stand.

Baby, I'm preying on you tonight

Hunt you down eat you alive

Just like animals, animals, like animals-mals...

The surprised looks on everyone's face clearly says that they were definitely not expecting this.

Maybe you think that you can hide

I can smell your scent from miles

Just like animals, animals, like animals-mals...

Baby, I'm...

Although this song (and the video) is more of an attempt to 'romanticize' stalking, I'm interpreting it more on the theme of our innate animal instincts.

We all have boiling points.

So what you trying to do to me

It's like we can't stop, we're enemies

Somewhere between the end of eight grade and the start of Freshman year, we all became Kitty's enemies, simply because we just weren't 'cool' enough. Ever since then, Kitty has made it her mission to make the lives of every kid at our school with nerd-like tendencies feel bad for being different.

Normally... Brittany, myself, and most of our friends could avoid being the targets due to our athletic abilities; however, it still didn't make it right for Kitty to prey on us and treat us like shit.

You're like a drug that's killing me

I cut you out entirely

Honestly, the more that I think about it, the more irritated I become. It's like we've all just been pawns in Kitty's little game.

Well... today was different.

Don't tell no lie-lie-lie-lie

You can't deny-ny-ny-ny

The beast inside-side-side-side

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

A change is gonna come.

Just like animals, animals, like animals-mals...

Principal Figgins can be a part of the solution...

Just like animals (yeah...), animals (yeah...), like animals-mals (yeah...)

... Or he can continue being a part of the problem.

Oww...

---

After my impromptu performance, I finally feel grounded again and more like myself. The fire that was burning inside of me has passed and I don't feel as intense.

As I look around the room once again, all of my friends still appear to be in a state of shock.

I don't blame them.

Suddenly, I hear a slow clap coming from the hands of Mr. Schue. "That was a very interesting song selection, Santana."

"I know... and I'm sorry guys," I say to everyone, hoping they can hear the sincerity in my voice. "I just had to get that out of my system."

"So... is it okay to like, touch you now?" Brittany questions as she takes a few measures steps closer to me.

"Of course, silly!"

I meet her the rest of the way and wrap my arms around her, embracing her tightly.

"I'm sorry I got so crazy."

"It's okay, baby... you were just trying to protect us," Brittany says lovingly as she wraps her arms around my shoulders. "Plus... it was kinda hot to see you like that," she whispers into my ear so that no one else can hear.

I wanna kiss her so badly, but we're in front of polite company — and Mr. Schue — so I just settled for a peck on the cheek.

After that, I sat down and explained to everyone what had taken place in Principal Figgins' office.

Mr. Schue agreed that there was more that the school and the faculty could do to help stop the bullying issue that was prevalent at our school. My friends all shared their own frustrations and voiced their eagerness to stop being picked on simply because they were different.

If it came to the point where Principal Figgins was unwilling — or too scared — in fulfilling his duty to protect the students at his school, Mr. Schue said that he would have our backs in going forward to the next step... whatever that may be.

---

On Thursday, my school experience got a lot weirder (for lack of a better word).

As I walked down the hallway with Brittany, people were practically clearing a path for me to walk through. The usual jocks and cheerleaders that heckled us were staying far away, like they were afraid of me.

It was an odd feeling; a very powerful feeling that I had never experienced before.

On the flip side, the non-popular kids were cheering for me and giving me high fives, like I had just won a swim meet. They were thanking me for standing up to Kitty.

To be quite honest, all of the extra attention made me a little uncomfortable. It was a similar feeling to when my glasses were broken and everyone was staring at me.

I didn't want to be feared.

I didn't want to be praised.

Quite frankly... I just wanted to be left alone.

I could tell that the unwanted attention was making Brittany feel a little iffy too... unfortunately, I wouldn't understand to what extent until later on.

---

After lunch, I went to the locker room to clear my head.

Even though I'm super smart, I guess I didn't calculate the effect that my standing up to Kitty would have on the kids at our school.

As I sit down on the bench directly in front of my gym locker, I barely hear the sound of the door open because I'm so deep in thought. I don't even bother to look up to see who has just entered.

"Santana?"

I hear my name being called, but the voice doesn't sound familiar.

As I cant my body towards the door to see the stranger calling my name, I'm a little surprised to see a Cheerios uniform staring back at me.

"I thought that was you," she says cheerfully.

Racking my brain for a minute, I try to remember this cheerleader's name. During my time here at McKinley, I know that I've have a couple of classes with her throughout the years, but I don't remember ever exchanging any words with her until now.

"Um, hi?" I say to buy myself a little more time.

Don't get me wrong... I wasn't going to lose sleep if I couldn't remember her name. I just didn't want to seem rude since she clearly knows my name.

Brunette. Brown eyes. Around Brittany's height.

Elaine! That's her name.

"What's up?" I didn't really know what else to say.

Like I said before, I've never talked to this girl before. But I will say this; out of all of the Cheerios that I've had the displeasure of dealing with before, I've never had any negative experiences with her.

However... Elaine is friends with Kitty, so I'm still a little leery about what her intentions are.

"I saw your performance in Glee yesterday. I didn't realize you could sing like that," Elaine comments. "You're usually so calm and reserved."

I shrug my shoulders. "I had a lot of feelings to express, I suppose."

"You were like the female Adam Levine," she adds on, sitting down extremely close to me. "It was incredibly sexy."

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!

"Okay... I should get to class," I say, quickly rising from the bench with the intention of getting as far away from this girl as possible.

Unfortunately for me, Elaine must've anticipated my 'flight' response because she was up and had her hand posted against the row of lockers with her arm extended, blocking the way that I was going to exit.

Before I knew what was happening, Elaine had placed her other hand against the lockers, effectively holding me in place.

As my eyes dart back and forth at the set of arms currently located on both sides of my head, I'm starting to think that Elaine has ulterior motives. I've never had another female — or any person, in general — flirt with me or pay me extra special attention, besides Brittany.

It's really weird.

"I'm not 100% sure what's going on here, but I'm gonna say it's pretty inappropriate," I tell her as calmly as possible. "I have a girlfriend. Her name's Brittany... you remember her, right?"

"I don't see Brittany in here... or anyone, for that matter," Elaine says in a low, seductive tone, leaning closer to me.

Now, my back is flush against the lockers and I can feel her hot breath against my lips.

"Y'know... just because you can't see her doesn't negate the fact that she still exists," I remind her.

"C'mon Santana..." Elaine continues on, leaning in even closer to me. "You're hot, I'm hot... no reason we can't be hot together."

Is this really happening?

It seems like time has suddenly stalled (or significantly slowed down). I feel Elaine's eyes on me, flickering from my unobstructed eyes and down towards my lips.

"Let's see if we can bring out that animal in you..."

As Elaine tries to close the remaining gap between us, I swoop down towards the floor and sliver away from her.

"Let's not..." I say swiftly, moving further away from her. "Clearly you have some earwax built up in your ears cause you don't hear so well."

"Are you seriously turning me down?" Elaine says angrily. "I'm a fucking Cheerio! And, I'm hot as fuck!"

Yep... definite earwax build up.

"Elaine... you could be Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, or even Gal Gadot and it still wouldn't matter," I explain to her as delicately as possible. "You're not Brittany."

After that, I didn't feel like there was anything else left to say… not that I thought it would be retained anyways.

I stop wearing glasses for a few days and the whole freakin' school loses its shit!

The only thing I want to do is get to my next class as soon as possible and wrap my arms around my girlfriend.

Once I make it there, my eyes immediately zero in on the beautiful blonde sitting at our table towards the back of the room. She was looking at something on her phone so she didn't notice me right away.

"Britt-Britt... am I glad to see you," I say as I get closer to her, putting my messenger bag on top of my seat. "You won't believe what just happened..."

Now that my hands are free, I turn to fully face my girlfriend. I know that I just saw her like 45 minutes ago, but I couldn't resist the urge to hug her and give her a little peck.

"Babe, are you okay?" I ask Britt, placing my hand on her shoulder. She's still looks like she's glued to her phone

I wonder what's so interesting?

"Santana... what the hell is this?" Brittany finally says after a beat, holding up her phone towards me.

As I scrunch my eyes together and bring the phone closer to me, I'm shocked to see the image staring back at me.

The photo itself looks very suggestive, especially if taken out of context. It's a side-profile of the exact moment that Elaine leaned in and tried to kiss me.

Well… that would definitely explain Britt's less than happy demeanor.

I was still trying to wrap my brain around what had just taken place in the locker room with Elaine, but now, adding on the fact that someone was spying on me just completely befuddled my mind.

"What the... who sent you this?"

In hindsight, my first selection of words to my girlfriend — after being shown a picture of myself in close quarters with another girl — could have been better.

A lot better.

To be honest though, I guess I didn't expect Brittany's reaction to be so harsh.

"Seriously?! That's all you have to say?" Brittany demands.

"Uh..."

Even with my above average IQ, I was still having difficulties comprehending this situation.

Brittany was mad, for sure, but somehow my brain couldn't seem to come up with a more intelligible response that had more than one syllable in it.

"Umm..."

I really wanted to say more; to say something to let my girlfriend know that she had the wrong idea about what she had seen on that photo. Although I didn't do anything wrong, I know how badly it looks and at most, I just wanted to reassure Britt that I was hers... and hers alone.

Unfortunately... I never got the chance.

"So that's how it's gonna be?" Brittany inquires, but I'm pretty sure it's meant to be rhetorical. "You get a little popularity and cozy up with the first skank you see?"

Up until this point, the English language had been a struggle for me; but at least I was still trying (although it might not seem like it).

But after hearing the words that just left Brittany's mouth, even if I could speak properly to her right now, I wouldn't want to.

As my mouth drops open in disbelief, the bell rings and our AP World History teacher, Ms. Gibson, tells everyone to take their seats so that class can begin.

As the rest of the students around us do as they were told, I'm glued to my spot.

For Brittany to think that I would ever cheat on her makes me sick to my stomach.

"Santana, are you feeling alright?" Ms. Gibson asks me in her awesome British accent. "You look a bit drab, love."

Usually, I find her accent to be quite lovely and it really makes learning more interesting; however... right now, I just feel numb.

I look over to Ms. Gibson and then back to Brittany, who now has her arms crossed and won't even meet my eyes. Her jaw is tighten and she looks annoyed.

If anyone should be annoyed, it's me... but I digress.

"No, I'm not feeling so well," I answer, looking back at my teacher. "May I be excused?"

"Sure thing, love. Why don't you go see Nurse Nicole?" She suggests.

I nod my head and grab my bag, heading for the door. I pass by Sam and Mike sitting at the table adjacent to where Britt and I usually sit. They look just as confused as I feel. All I could do is shake my head.

As I'm about to pass by Ms. Gibson, she puts her hand on my shoulder and looks at me sympathetically. "Feel better, yeah?"

"Thanks Ms. G," I reply back with a small smile.

Once I left the classroom, I stopped by the Nurse's Office, just to say that I actually went. Nurse Nicole literally took one look at me and knew I wasn't sick... well, at least not physically. She indulged me for a few minutes before releasing me back to class.

I guess she could see my reluctance to go back to class so soon and took pity on me.

"I'm no counselor, but it seems like somethings on your mind?" Nurse Nicole says casually. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

I wasn't trying to be short with her; I really just didn't want to talk about what had just transpired between my girlfriend and me. In fact, I still needed a little more time to digest the whole situation.

"Fair enough," Nurse Nicole simply replies. "You're welcomed to just hang out here until your next class... or until I get another patient."

I considered my options.

On one hand, I could go back to class and sit awkwardly next to my girlfriend. Or... I could just chill in the Nurse's Office with the cool redhead that was basically encouraging me to play hooky.

"You won't tell Ms. G?" I question, making sure she wasn't pulling my leg.

"I won't if you won't," Nurse Nicole says to me, extending her hand. "Deal?"

I eye her curiously before shaking her hand. "Deal."

And so, for the next hour, Nurse Nicole and I chatted about miscellaneous things and played various card games. I also got to learn a little about her, which was nice.

Just before the next bell was about to go off, Nurse Nicole told me that she hoped that I felt better and then excused herself to go to the restroom.

As I gathered my belongings so that I could go to my next class (which I thankfully did not share with Brittany), I saw Nurse Nicole's phone light up.

Hmm... she must've left it by accident.

I didn't want to be nosy so I declined to read the info on whatever alert had popped up on her screen; however, it was impossible to ignore the photo she had set as her wallpaper on the home screen of her phone.

There, in plain sight, was a snapshot of Nurse Nicole and a very giddy Ms. Gibson. While the redhead stands behind my teacher with a dimpled grin on her face, her arms wrapped around the shorter woman, and her chin resting on top of her shoulder, Ms. G has the brightest smile on her face.

They look like they're really in love.

Just as I was about to look away from the photo, another alert pops up on the home screen. It's a text from 'Waves' with a heart emoji next to the name.

Aww… she calls her Waves.

Now I understand why Nurse Nicole was cool about me missing the rest of Ms. Gibson's class; she probably figured that her girlfriend wouldn't mind, knowing that I was in good hands.

Seeing that lovely photo and getting to learn more about Nurse Nicole — whom people probably take for granted around here — made me genuinely smile for the first time today.

With this new, discreet (I presume) knowledge in mind, I attend my last two classes of the day before skipping Glee Club practice and opting to go straight home instead.

I just wasn't in the mood to see Brittany again, which was a first for me. I needed some time and space away from her to really process all of the craziness that's been going on not only today, but what seems like for the past two weeks.

Besides, I figured Britt could use some time to reflect over the situation as well and how badly she hurt me today.

With that thought in mind, I shoot Rachel a text to tell Mr. Schue and the others that I won't be attending Glee today.

---

As Mr. Schue finishes preparing his musical lesson plan for the day, he glances around the room and makes a mental note of the students currently present. Glancing over at the clock, Mr. Schue gets a precarious look on his face.

"Has anyone seen Santana?" Mr. Schue inquires.

Everyone in the room automatically looks towards Brittany, who still has that same sourpuss look on her face like she did in her AP World History class.

Nonchalantly, the blonde just shrugs her shoulders. This odd behavior immediately baffles and worries her friends and their teacher.

"Okay..."

"Actually, Mr. Schue... Santana just sent me a text," Rachel says. "She said that she isn't feeling well so she's just gonna go home."

"Yeah right," Brittany mumbles under her breath.

Again, the offhanded comment struck the others in the room as weird.

"Hey Mr. Schue, would you mind giving us the room for a few minutes?" Mercedes politely asks.

"Uh, sure. I'll just go make some copies of the set list for today," he agrees, leaving the room.

"Yo B, what's up with you?" Mercedes probes as soon as the door shuts behind Mr. Schue. "Sam told me something happened between you and Specs in History class."

Brittany immediately looks over at Sam. "Traitor."

"What? Something's obviously off between you two," Sam explains. "You think I wasn't gonna tell my girlfriend and end up in the dog house?"

"Whatever. I'm not talking about this with you guys, so just mind your business," Brittany says dismissively.

"Yeah, no... that's not how this works," Mercedes states knowingly, taking the vacant seat next to the blonde. "We're a family. Whenever shit happens to any of us, we deal with it... together."

"Yeah, B... you remember when Santana first moved away and how depressed you were?" Mike says, joining the conversation. "We all wanted to help you, but we didn't know all of the details of what had transpired between you guys right before she left."

"And that's because you shut us out," Rachel chimes in. "We had no idea how badly you were suffering because you kept it all to yourself."

Sam then gets up from his seat and kneels directly in front of Brittany. "We just wanna help, Britt. Tell us what's going on."

For a moment, Brittany thinks about just getting up and leaving altogether. On the other hand, she knew how much her friends loved her and were just trying to help.

Feeling her annoyance resolve, Brittany gives in and pulls out her phone. After she unlocks it, she opens up the picture that was sent to her and hands it over to Sam.

"Whoa... that's not what I was expecting," the blonde boy replies.

"Yeah... me neither," Brittany says dejectedly.

"Britt... I know this looks bad, but have you really looked at this picture?" Rachel ponders.

"That's all I've been doing since fourth period," Brittany responds. "I wish I could un-see it."

"But look at how uncomfortable Santana looks; like she's too shocked or scared to move," Little Streisand further elaborates. "And don't you think it's a little too convenient that at the exact moment that Santana casually decides to 'cheat' on you, someone's there to capture it?"

"Rach has a point," Mike adds in. "Assuming that this is the reason why Santana left class, what did she have to say about it?"

No response.

"Britt, please tell me that you had an actual conversation about this before outright accusing your girlfriend over this crap?" Sam pleads.

Brittany's silence on the topic and her inability to make eye contact with her friends spoke volumes.

"Oh, Brittany... you didn't," Rachel hesitantly states.

"I did..." Brittany says barely above a whisper. "I was just so hurt and confused when I saw it. And Santana didn't really help the situation."

"What do you mean?"

"When I showed it to her, instead of defending herself, she asked me who sent the pic to me."

"I admit, that probably wasn't the best response," Mike agrees. "But Britt, who did send you that photo?"

As Brittany takes her phone back, she minimizes the photo and checks the info of the text.

"I don't know... it just says private," Brittany replies. "The number must be blocked or something."

"Is anyone else's Spidey senses tingling?" Sam says aloud, looking back and forth between his friends. "What?"

Mercedes just shakes her head at her boyfriend. "Now's not the time for nerd jokes, babe."

Aside from jumpstarting the initial conversation, Mercedes had been mum up until this point. As she listened to all of the new information and input from her friends, she remained pensive.

Before she had gotten to Glee Club and even before Sam had told her that something was off between Brittany and Santana, Mercedes already had her suspicions. She felt that a plot was afoot; now… she just needed the evidence to prove it.

"Sam is right; there are way too many red flags," Mike says, interrupting his buddy's earlier statement. "Anyone could've taken that photo..."

"But who would have the most to gain by putting a rift between you and Santana?" Rachel questions. "What is the end game here?"

"I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that," Mercedes says definitively, rising from her seat and heading towards the door. "Cover for me with Mr. Schue."

"Wait! Cedes, where are you going?" Brittany inquires.

"To get proof," Mercedes simply says. "I'll let you know what I find."

Sam gets up and walks over towards his girlfriend. "I'm coming with you then."

"No babe, I got this," Mercedes replies, giving Sam a chaste kiss. "You stay here with Britt. I don't know what's going on with her, but she needs as many of us as possible to get her through it."

With those parting words, Mercedes sets out on her mission.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Schue returns to the classroom. He had been done making the copies several minutes ago, but he wanted to give his students a sufficient amount of time to work out whatever issues they had.

Upon entering the room, he looks around the room and finds that Mercedes is now missing.

"Why do I keep losing students?"

---

Later on that evening, Brittany is lying in the middle of her bed, just staring at the ceiling, when there's a light rapping on her door.

"Come in." Her voice comes out a little hoarse, probably from not using it for the past few hours.

"Hey sweetie, you have a visitor," Mrs. Pierce says as she opens the door.

Brittany immediately pops up from her bed. "Santana?"

As her mother steps aside, Mercedes appears in the doorway.

"Oh… hey Cedes," the blonde says, a little less enthused.

It's not that Brittany wasn't happy to see her friend, especially after impatiently waiting to hear back from the diva since she left Glee Club earlier that day; she just would've preferred if there was another brunette standing at her bedroom door.

"Sorry to disappoint," Mercedes says apologetically, not missing the blonde's initial, hopeful inflection.

"It's fine. I shouldn't even be surprised," Brittany says dejectedly. "I've called and texted Santana a thousand times to apologize for my knee-jerk reaction, but she hasn't responded."

"Have you tried going to see her?" Mercedes asks, although she thought it was a terrible idea, given the current situation.

"I thought about it, but then Rachel suggested that I give her some space. I didn't want to, but I figured she was right," Brittany concedes.

"As much as I hate agreeing with Little Streisand, I think you made the right call."

Deflated, Brittany slumps her shoulders. "So... did you find what you were looking for?"

"And then some..." Mercedes says as she takes a seat next to Brittany. "Y'know how after lunch, I like to cleanse my system by staying regular?"

"TMI Cedes... TMI."

"Sorry... I do have a point that I'm trying to make though," Mercedes elaborates. The blonde makes a hand gesture, telling her to go on. "Anyways, I was in the girls' locker room about to handle my business when I heard Santana's voice."

"Wait?! You were in the locker room when all of this took place?" Brittany exclaims.

"Girl, can I tell my story?!" Mercedes snaps back.

"Sorry," Brittany softly says. "Continue."

"So I heard Specs talking to someone. I didn't recognize their voice," Mercedes picks back up. "I only caught bits of their conversation, but it sounded like the other girl was coming on pretty strong. Specs seemed really upset."

Brittany looks down at her hands, breaking eye contact with her friend. She can't help but feel more terrible with how she handled things.

"Right after Santana left, I heard the mystery girl say something along the lines of 'did you get it?'" Mercedes continues on. "The person who answered was Kitty. Unmistakably.

Brittany crinkles her forehead. "Get what exactly?"

"I wasn't sure at first, until you showed me that picture. Then I started putting it all together," Mercedes replies.

"So, what... Kitty purposely got Elaine to hit on San?" Brittany questions. "But why? Like, that doesn't make any sense."

"You're right... it doesn't," Mercedes agreed. "But, it doesn't make it any less true."

Mercedes then pulls out her phone and gives it to Brittany. As she takes it, she sees a photo burst of Elaine trying to kiss Santana.

"When I left Glee, I went to find Kitty," Mercedes explains. "I found these on her phone, along with the text that was sent to you from that private number."

"How did you get these?" Brittany inquires as she looks through all of the photos more thoroughly. "Surely Kitty didn't give these up willingly."

"Let's just say I'm a lot bigger and stronger than she is," Mercedes responds cryptically. "There's a reason why I'm the resident bad ass of this group."

This makes Brittany crack a smile; the first smile since the fallout with Santana earlier that day.

"So... you're not gonna tell me what you did, are you?" Brittany questions, already knowing the answer. This is confirmed by Mercedes imitating a lock and key over her lips. "Well, whatever you did... thank you."

"No prob, B... that's what friends are for," Mercedes says as she gives the blonde a side hug.

In reality, Mercedes had grabbed Kitty and slammed her into the lockers, similar to how Santana did earlier; except for the fact that the diva put her whole body into it and caused a dent. She followed this by telling the cheerleader that even though she was dating a 'geek', she could still break Kitty's ass in half.

"I still don't understand why Kitty would go through all of that trouble of setting Santana up."

"I think it's pretty obvious; she's jealous. And probably wants revenge," Cedes answers simply.

"For what?"

"For all of high school, Kitty and the other dumbasses at McKinley have been at the top of the popular pyramid. She's never had any competition," Mercedes explains. "But then, last week, you started getting a lot of attention because of Volleyball. Rightly deserved, of course."

Mercedes pauses to make sure that Brittany is still following her.

She is.

"Believe it or not, you and Santana are like the Beyoncé and Jay-Z of the geek world. That's why no one really messes with you," Mercedes tries to explain better, causing Brittany to giggle. "With all of this extra attention though, Kitty decided to knock you down a peg, going after your friends; but more importantly... your relationship with Santana. And then, to top it all off… Santana completely embarrassed Kitty in front of the whole school when she called her out the other day. Can you imagine being one of the most feared girls at our school and then you get your ass handed to you by one of the biggest nerds at our school?"

Brittany looks like she's still trying to wrap her head around this puzzle. In addition to that, she's still trying to make sense of the reason why she reacted the way she did towards her girlfriend.

Mercedes seems to sense the blonde's internal battle.

"You're kicking yourself right now, trying to figure out why you overreacted. Am I right?" Mercedes asks, already knowing the answer. With a slight nod from the blonde, she continues. "As long as I have known you and Santana, even before you guys got together, you've never had to deal with someone being interested in her. She's always been your nerdier best friend with the thick glasses and her hair always pulled back into a ponytail, wearing whichever color hoodie goes with her ensemble for that particular day."

"Okay..." Brittany prompts, not really sure where the diva's line of thinking was heading.

"My point is... outside of our little group, no one really knows how beautiful Santana is when you take away that geek exterior. But with the whole slushy incident, now everyone at school knows..." Mercedes carries on. "It might sound superficial as hell, but Santana is a very attractive girl and a lot of people who aren't you are taking notice. And honestly... I think that terrifies and angers you at the same time."

Brittany's mouth drops open as her eyebrows knit together. She can't believe what her friend just said, but before she can defend herself, Mercedes cuts her off.

"Now before you get all offended, just hear me out," Mercedes pleads. The blonde is not happy, but concedes. "You've never had to worry about someone hitting on Santana or seeing her show an interest in someone else, let alone dating someone who's not you. Hell… the one time you thought Quinn was flirting with her while you were dating Kelly, you nearly bit her head off."

Brittany's features immediately start to soften.

"Santana is getting the attention that you practically get every day, but probably don't even realize. You got jealous today, just like you did back at that party nearly two years ago, but that's okay... you're human. Sometimes we can get irrational..."

Mercedes pauses before finishing her thought, which Brittany instantly picks up on. She can sense that the diva has something more to say.

"But?"

Mercedes stands up from the bed, contemplating the best way to communicate her next selection of words as she stands in front of the blonde.

"You know I love you B, but... what you did to Santana was fucked up."

"What the hell, Cedes?!" Brittany exclaims, not expecting those words to leave her friend's mouth. "I thought you came over here to make me feel better, not worse."

"I did. I am, but you know I always keep it 100 with you," Mercedes says, defending her previous statement. "Specs is my girl too, but I can't even begin to imagine how hurt she must be feeling after you accused her of cheating. I know I would be crushed if I was in that situation with Sam."

Brittany has no response.

"When I left Glee earlier, it wasn't just so that I could go confront Kitty. I was pissed at you after you told us what happened and how you were behaving, like you didn't care," Mercedes candidly says, taking a seat next to the blonde again. "I don't know exactly what was going through your mind when you saw that picture, but Santana deserved a better response than what she got. After all of the shit and pain that she's had to endure over the past two years, I would think she would've earned the benefit of doubt."

Mercedes stops briefly to let Brittany interject, but she doesn't. She just continues to avoid eye contact.

"I don't wanna beat you up with the multiple ways that Specs has been hopelessly devoted to you because you already know; no use in beating a dead horse," Mercedes starts off. "However, there is something you should know... and something you should really consider before you even attempt to apologize to her in person."

This finally catches the blonde's attention as she looks meaningfully at her friend.

"If I wasn't able to prove that Kitty was behind this whole scheme, would you have believed Santana? Y'know, if you guys had had an actual conversation about the whole thing first?" Mercedes asks seriously. "I want you to really think about that for a minute, because if the answer is no... then you might want to re-evaluate your relationship."

Brittany buries her head in her hands, trying to hide the tears that are slowly drifting down her cheeks. Everything that Mercedes had said was true. Although it made her feel even more terrible, she was glad that she had a friend that would call her out on her shit and keep her honest.

"When I first realized that I liked girls, I was so scared to tell San; not because I thought she would stop being my friend..." Brittany finally speaks after a few minutes, "... but because I thought she would figure out what I hadn't even realized at the time. Every time I saw a girl that I was remotely attracted to, I always compared them to her, subconsciously. It wasn't until San told me to go for Kelly that I stopped thinking about her as just a friend."

Brittany takes a minute to inhale deeply, harnessing her emotions and thoughts to convey her message.

"To ever think that she would betray my trust like I've betrayed hers today makes me sick to my stomach," Brittany struggles to get out; the genuineness clear in her voice. "I would give anything to take it back and make it up to her; to show her how sorry I am and how stupid I was for even entertaining the idea in the first place."

Mercedes wraps her arm around the blonde's shoulders as Brittany simultaneously rests her head on the diva's shoulder.

"Good... I was hoping that would be your answer," Mercedes says. "But don't call yourself stupid; you know how much Specs hates that."

Brittany lightly nods her head.

"What am I gonna do, Cedes?" The blonde inquires.

"I'm sure that big genius brain of yours will think of something," Mercedes reassures, squeezing her arm.

"Wait! What was the thing that you said I should know?" Brittany abruptly questions, remembering the diva's earlier statement.

"Oh, that..." Mercedes begins, cryptically. "It was nothing; just something I overheard Specs say to Elaine."

Brittany looks expectantly at her friend. "Well?"

"She told Elaine that she could be Halle, Charlize, or even Gal... and it still wouldn't matter coz she's not you."

"She really said that?"

Mercedes nods her head, causing the blonde to dramatically fall face first into her pillow, muffling the sounds of her yells.

"..."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Mercedes questions, unable to interpret whatever nonsense her friend just mumbled into her pillow.

Begrudgingly, Brittany picks herself back up. "I said... I feel like an even bigger jackass now," she repeats. "I mean, she compared me Wonder Woman! And what did I do... I accuse her of cheating!"

Brittany then gets up and begins to furiously pace back and forth in front of the diva, rambling incoherent things to herself.

"Uh, B... could you maybe stop before you burn a hole in the ground?"

"Cedes, this isn't funny!" Brittany demands, trying to impart the seriousness of the situation. "What if she breaks up with me? Oh. My. God. She's gonna break up with me!"

Mercedes is fighting a war with herself, trying so hard not to laugh out loud in the blonde's face.

"You are so cute right now," Mercedes settles on. "Specs is not gonna break up with you."

"You don't know that!" Brittany retorts. "I was so horrible to her."

Mercedes sighs loudly, taking pity on her friend. She gets up from the bed and places her hands on the blonde's shoulders.

"Santana loves you. No matter how upset or hurt she may be... she'll forgive you," Mercedes calmly says. "It might not be today; it might not be tomorrow. But... she will forgive you."

"What should I do?"

"Do what you do best."

Brittany thinks thoughtfully for a moment. "Bake her a loaf of banana nut bread?"

Mercedes scrunched her eyebrows, taken aback by that response. She's utterly befuddled until she sees the little grin on the blonde's face.

"It's good to see that you haven't lost your sense of humor," Mercedes says good-heartedly. "I was thinking more along the lines of a good song and dance routine."

"Ah... of course," Brittany agrees. "Will you help me?"

Mercedes just smiles back at her friend. "Of course, B."

"And thanks… for the tough love," Brittany states. "You were really mean, but I needed to hear it."

"That's what I'm here for," Mercedes replies with a wink.

---

I didn't sleep well at all last night. How could I?

Not talking to Brittany for the majority of the day really sucked balls.

Ever since we started dating, Britt and I have had a tradition of being the first and last person we say good morning and goodnight to, whether it be through text messages (especially during the initial long distance phase) or over the phone.

It was weird not to say 'I love you' to my girlfriend — before I tried to fall asleep last night — and to not hear her say it back. Although Britt had called and sent several texts yesterday, I just couldn't respond.

I don't know what hurts worse: Brittany absurdly accusing me of cheating or Brittany actually believing that I would ever do something like that to her.

I'm not sure where to go from here, but I do know that I don't want to break up. She's my best friend. She's the love of my life. I just don't know how to get past this or how long it will take for this feeling to subside.

I tried talking it out with my dad and Jamie because I figured they would be more objective than my friends would be. They both suggested that I just take a step back from the situation and maybe try to see things from Brittany's perspective.

Maybe seeing that suspicious photo brought up some old memories of her relationship with Kelly. Maybe the fact that her ex was a dog and basically admitted that she had messed around on Brittany multiple times affected her more that she cared to let on (or maybe more than she even realized before).

All I can say for sure is that whatever residual feelings Brittany has about her ex and their relationship are still just as much as a mystery to me.

I don't know how it feels to be cheated on, but if it's anything like being wrongly accused of cheating, then it's got to be one of the worst feelings in the world.

I'd like to think that if the roles were reversed, no matter how damning the evidence might have been, I would've given Brittany a chance to explain; I would've given Britt the opportunity to digest the information in front of her and have an actual conversation about it before jumping to conclusions.

But... what's done is done.

All I can do now is just wait and see what happens.

---

The first part of the school day went by abnormally slow. There was this weird tension in the air and it felt like everyone could tell that something was off between Brittany and I... they just didn't know what.

Although I had my first two classes with Brittany, we didn't sit by each other or even speak. I could tell that she wanted to say something by the sad panda look in her eyes, but I appreciate the fact that she was giving me space. Instead of dwelling on the situation, I sat by Sam while Mercedes sat by Brittany.

I'm guessing that they had planned this before class since we usually all sit together. I was grateful for the barrier between my girlfriend and me. Although we're not in the greatest place right now, I'm glad that she's not by herself.

From what I could tell — not that I was paying attention or anything — it appeared that Mercedes was consoling Britt while discreetly shooting me meaningful looks. Maybe she was taking it harder than I realized.

Whatever the case may be, I tried not to think about it.

Second period was eerily similar with Mike sitting by me and Rachel sitting beside Brittany. I was grateful for the reprieve because as much as I love Rach, I had my fair share of her trying to cheer me up last night. She even got Quinn involved. The two of them spent the better part of an hour singing a medley of Melissa Etheridge songs.

Needless to say, I wanted to jump out of the second story window.

---

When lunch finally rolled around, I went and sat at my usual spot in the quad and waited for my friends. It was a beautiful day outside, but I didn't have much of an appetite. I spent the first couple of minutes picking at my food, mostly just moving it around my plate.

"Hey Santana!" Marley, one of our newest members of Glee Club says. She was a sophomore and such a sweet girl. "Where is everyone?"

As I look up from my plate, I scan my surroundings and realize that none of my other friends have arrived yet.

Sam was in my current class before we got dismissed for lunch; he told me that he had to stop by his locker first. I offered to go with him, but he insisted that I go ahead and he would meet me here.

"I'm not sure," I reply.

"Hey... are you okay?" Marley asks me, placing her hand on my forearm. "You just seem a little down."

Marley didn't know about the drama that took place yesterday. I'm still unsure of who took that photo of Elaine and me yesterday — although I have a pretty good guess — but thankfully, it didn't spread around the school.

I have a feeling Mercedes might've had something to do with that, but I don't know that with certainty.

"Yeah... I'll be fine. Just been having a rough week," I settle on.

"Well, for what it's worth... thank you," Marley says sincerely. I'm not sure what I'm being thanked for. Apparently my facial expression shows it. "Thank you for standing up to Kitty."

"I didn't do anything special."

"But you did," Marley insists. "You stood up for the little guy; you gave us nerds a voice. Maybe now Principal Figgins will finally do something about it."

"We can only hope."

Marley squeezes my arm before releasing it and digging into her lunch.

I turn my chin music up

And I'm puffing my chest

As I hear the sound of Sam's melodic voice, I look up and see him at the top of the stairs with his guitar. Across from him are Mercedes and Rachel.

I'm getting red in the face

You can call me obsessed

Mercedes sings the next lines while the other two clap, starting a simple beat.

It's not your fault that they hover

I mean no disrespect

And then Rachel.

It's my right to be hellish

I still get jealous...

As the three of them harmonize on the last two lines, Sam starts strumming on his guitar. Meanwhile, all of the girls from the JV and Varsity volleyball team make a line going down the stairs, two on each step facing each other while clapping their hands. It's almost like they're forming a makeshift tunnel.

And then, at the very top, I see Brittany and Mike. My girlfriend is looking right me.

It's almost like déjà vu, when I first came back to McKinley… except our roles are reversed.

As Mike dances down a couple of steps, one of the girls on the Volleyball team is staring at him like he's a piece of meat.

I don't like the way she's looking at you

I'm starting to think you want her to

As Brittany begins to sing, she comes down a few steps, looks at her teammate pointedly, and then softly pushes her aside before looking back at Mike.

Am I crazy? Have I lost ya?

Even though I know you love me, can't help it...

Brittany and Mike then begin dancing together as she sings the hook, acting out the words to the song. Meanwhile, our other friends remain at the top of the stairs, providing the back-up vocals.

I turn my chin music up

And I'm puffing my chest

I'm getting red in the face

You can call me obsessed

It's not your fault that they hover

I mean no disrespect

It's my right to be hellish

I still get jealous...

Brittany then faces the crowd, pointing directly at me.

'Cause you're too sexy, beautiful

And everybody wants a taste

That's why (that's why)

I still get jealous...

Brittany and Mike do a double body roll, I guess to put emphasis on the 'sexy' part. Britt leaves Mike behind as she takes the last couple of steps and ends up right in front of me. She then hops up on top of the table and extends her hand to me.

You're the only one invited

Hesitantly, I take her hand and allow her to pull me up.

I said there's no one else for you

Brittany twirls me around and then press her front into my back, wrapping her arms around my midsection.

'Cause you know I get excited, yeah...

When you get jealous too

Brittany spins me around again before dropping down to her knees in front of me. She then grabs both of my hands.

I turn my chin music up

And I'm puffing my chest

I'm turning red in the face

You can call me obsessed...

At this point, Britt's face really is turning red. She is practically begging for my forgiveness in front of the whole school.

It's not your fault that they hover

I mean no disrespect

It's my right to be hellish

I still get jealous...

Brittany jumps down from the table and joins Mike and the others for the final dance steps. As the song comes to an end, all of the other kids applaud the performance. After Brittany and company take a bow, my girlfriend comes back over to me.

"Hi..." she says bashfully.

"Hey..."

"Can we talk, please?"

I see the hopeful look in Brittany's eyes. Although I may not be quite ready to talk to her just yet, those cerulean orbs have always been my weakness. Plus, I'm kinda interested to see what she has to say.

I give her a non-verbal response by nodding my head and rising from my seat. As we walk from the table to a more secluded area, I hear Brittany whisper 'thank you guys' to our friends and the Volleyball squad.

We end up at the football field and take a seat at the top of the bleachers. Again, this is very reminiscent of the time when Brittany came to visit me in Seattle and I revealed my feelings to her.

That day didn't go so well.

As heartbreaking as it was when Brittany didn't say anything at all when I told her (accidentally) that I loved her the first time, I'm grateful that everything worked out in the end.

But now… we're in this weird, untraveled territory.

Brittany looks like she's a little out of sorts. She looks like she wants to hold my hand, but she's trying to respect the boundaries since we're not on the best terms right now. I guess while she was performing, she didn't really think about it. But since we're alone now, she's being a lot more mindful and cautious.

"First off, I just want to say that I am so incredibly sorry about how I acted yesterday," Brittany begins. "I should've never said those horrible things, let alone accuse you of being unfaithful. I don't know what I was thinking; I wasn't thinking… clearly."

I don't know how to respond or if I'm even supposed to right now. Nothing about what happened yesterday (or for the last 2 weeks, for that matter) has been normal.

"I was such an idiot. I know that I hurt you. I wish I could take it back, but I can't," she continues on. "All I can say is that I'll do whatever it takes to win back your trust and hope that you'll forgive me some day." Brittany briefly pauses before adding in, "Please don't break up with me."

With those last pleading words, Brittany pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms tightly around them while a stream of tears falls down her face. It's devastating to see her like this.

I know it's not uncommon for couples to have disagreements from time to time, but I never expected this type of situation to be at the pinnacle of our biggest fight to date.

"Shh… c'mere," I coo into her ear as I pull her into me and embrace her. Her body responds immediately, melding itself against mine.

Brittany begins to sob uncontrollably while her body begins to shake. I wish I could say something more to help her, but I don't really know what that is exactly. And so, I just hold her tighter and let her cry it all out.

We sit like this for a while, until I can no longer feel Brittany's tears soaking through my t-shirt. I can hear her sniffling as she leans away from me, wiping the reminiscence of the tears on her cheeks away with the back of her hands.

"I'm sorry," she says after a beat; her voice sounding a little scratchy. "The last thing you should be doing is consoling me, especially after what I did."

Brittany then gets up from the bleachers and faces away from me. I half expected her to start pacing since it's her default when she's anxious or nervous.

"I'm a terrible person."

Brittany says it so quietly that I almost didn't hear it. This is the last thing that I want her to feel because I don't think that about her. She had a crappy, knee-jerk reaction to a situation. She had an error in judgment.

"You're not a terrible person," I softly state. "You just made a mistake."

At that, Brittany turns around and looks deeply into my eyes. Her eyes are getting a little misty again.

"You mean… you don't hate me?"

I stand up from my seat and raise my left hand up to her cheek. With my thumb, I brush away the tear that was slowly cascading.

"I could never hate you, Britt-Britt."

Brittany squeezes her eyes forcefully as she turns her face more into the palm of my hand. She then grabs my hand with both of hers and presses a delicate kiss to the inside of it.

At this exact moment, the final lunch bell decides to ring, letting everyone know that they had five minutes to get back to their respective classes.

"We can talk more about this later," I say softly, not wanting to break this little bubble that we're in. "Let me walk you to your class."

Brittany nods in response. As I take her hand in mine, I can still feel the tension exuding from her body as we walk.

"I'm not breaking up with you, by the way," I simply state while squeezing her hand. I figured that might be a real concern of hers prior to her actually saying it aloud. Although we clearly had much more to talk about, I wanted to make sure that Britt knew where I stood from a relationship standpoint.

Once those words are released from my mouth, I feel some of that tension from Brittany start to fade away. Soon after that, we make it inside of the building and stop just shy of her class.

"Thanks for walking me."

"No problem," I easily reply. "I'll see you next period."

"Okay. Bye San," she says as she turns to enter her classroom.

Before she makes it fully inside, I gently grab her arm. "Brittany?"

"Yeah?"

"I forgive you…" I whisper out. Immediately, her eyes start to water again. "Baby, please don't cry."

As she wipes her face again, I hear a soft chuckle. "You're the only person in the world that can make me laugh and cry at the same time."

This causes me to giggle a little bit.

"What can I say… I'm gifted," I say back with a smile. "Go learn some stuff."

I give Brittany a soft kiss on the cheek before I head off back to my class. Although there is a lot more that needs to be said and explained, I feel a whole lot better than I did this morning.

---

The rest of the day went reasonably well.

Britt and I slowly seemed to be getting back to normal, sharing laughs and holding hands… but nothing more. I don't think either of us were ready to jump into any further affections, especially when we haven't really gotten to talk in depth about the issue at hand.

School just isn't the best place to have a conversation like that.

I could tell that the whole situation was still weighing heavily on my girlfriend's mind. Although we were doing better and trying to move forward, Brittany still seemed a little distant.

For instance, whenever we were talking, she was engaged and would smile and laugh in all of the right places. However, as soon as we were tasked to read or take notes in class – something that would require our attention elsewhere – I noticed that Britt had a very faraway look on her face.

The same thing happened in Glee Club. Brittany joked around with me and our friends, but when the attention wasn't on her, she totally spaced out.

Like I said before… I didn't want Brittany to beat herself up about the situation. She had apologized and that was enough for me at the moment.

And so, it was no surprise to me when Sam told me that Brittany cancelled on movie night – which was at his house tonight – because she wasn't 'feeling well'.

Physically, I knew that she was okay since I had just seen her a couple of hours prior. However, I had gone to the store after Glee Club to do a little grocery shopping for said movie night and for Rachel's dads. When I stopped by Sam's place on the way home to drop off the snacks, that's when he told me what Britt had told him.

Of course, I found it odd that I didn't even know of my girlfriend's plans to not join us in our weekly gathering... but given the events that had taken place over the past few days, I guess I should've seen it coming.

After I got home and restocked the kitchen, I chilled in my room for a bit before heading back out. In lieu of going to Sam's and hanging out with the rest of our friends, I went to Brittany's. When I got there, I noticed that the porch light seemed to be the only light that was on. Britt's car was parked in its usual spot on the right side of the driveway, so I knew that she was definitely home.

As I made my way towards the backyard, I could see a halo of light coming from the treehouse. I then climb up the ladder as quietly as possible. The closer I get to the top, the clearer the soft music in the background becomes.

Not wanting to startle my girlfriend, I gently knock on the last wooden step before popping my head up for her to see.

"I thought I might find you up here," I say softly, not wanting to disrupt the atmosphere.

As I see a small smile appear at the corners of her mouth, I climb the last step and lay down next to her. Glancing around the treehouse, I see fairy lights hanging from above. Getting more situated on the stacks of comforters and pillows that Brittany must've just recently added, I turn to look at her.

"I like what you've done with the place," I say with a smile before getting more serious. "Y'know... you could've told me you didn't want to go to Sam's tonight. I would've been cool just hanging out with you..."

I look at my girlfriend intently, waiting for a response that doesn't come.

"Unless... you'd rather be alone?"

The thought hadn't crossed my mind until now. Thinking that I may be intruding, I sit up quickly, prepared to leave.

But Brittany stops me, placing her hand on my forearm.

"Stay."

I nod my head and lay back down as Britt leans over to lower the music playing from her iPhone. She then lies down next to me, grabbing my hand and lacing our fingers together.

"Nice glasses, by the way," Brittany compliments, noticing my new specs. I had picked them up earlier while I was out running some errands.

"Thanks... now stop deflecting," I urge her. "What's wrong, Britt-Britt?"

She takes a long, deep breath before speaking again.

"I wanted to go to Sam's, but I didn't think I deserved to..." Brittany starts off with. "To be honest, I don't feel like I deserve anything right now... especially you."

The sound of those words immediately throws me for a loop. I had no idea where this was coming from or that she even felt that way.

As much as I want to put my two sense in, I decide to reserve my comments and let her finish her peace. I'm sure she has more to say, otherwise she wouldn't have led the conversation off like this.

"I've just been thinking about everything that's been happening lately and I feel like such a hypocrite," she continues on. "Just last week, we pinky promised each other that we would be more open and talk about stuff that was bothering us... stuff that made us feel insecure. But, I didn't do that. I ignored it because I didn't think it was a big deal. Obviously, it was... or else I wouldn't have exploded after seeing that picture."

I know this can't be easy for her to talk about so I just squeeze her hand for support, letting her know that I'm still listening and absorbing this new information.

"You've been getting so much attention lately, and... I didn't like it. People objectifying you like a piece of meat... I guess that's how you felt about Kelly and how she treated me," Britt continues on. "I've always known how beautiful you are, but now that other people have started to see it... it makes me nervous. I mean, I had an opportunity to do a little dating before we got together. As much of a mistake that that ended up being, I got to have that experience... but you haven't."

Brittany starts to breathe a little heavily. I can tell that she's trying not to cry by the emotional depth in her voice and by how tightly she's squeezing my hand now. This whole time she's been talking, she's been staring at the ceiling, blatantly avoiding eye contact with me.

"The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. And then, I saw that photo of you and Elaine and... my mind just went to a very dark place. Unfortunately, instead of just talking to you about it, I lashed out," she says, regrettably. "Now, I just feel like a complete idiot for even entertaining the idea that you would ever do something like that. I mean, you moved away from your dad just so that we could spend our Senior year together... and this is how I repay you?!"

Brittany begins to pull her hand away from mine, but I won't let her. Instead, I sit up and cross my legs Indian-style, pulling my girlfriend along with me to mirror my position.

"Britt... when I said I forgave you, I meant it," I say very slowly, looking directly into her eyes as I tuck a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"But how? Why?" Brittany replies as a few tears begin to fall down her face, not believing me. "You were so upset yesterday, rightly so. How on earth could you forgive me so fast?"

"Because I love you," I say simply, shrugging my shoulders. "You made a mistake. You apologized. Period."

Brittany just looks at me with a dumbfounded expression, as if to say 'that's it?' I suppose she wanted me to be a little more specific in the details so I humored her and decided to be completely honest.

"You're right... I was incredibly upset before. I was hurt and confused, trying to figure this all out by myself. But then, I talked it over with my dad and felt a little better. He suggested that I try to see things from your perspective," I start to explain to her. "To be honest, all of that extra attention made me really uncomfortable. And then when Elaine was coming on to me, I completely freaked out and ran away. I was so happy to see you afterwards and all set to tell you about the weirdness that had just taken place, but then you showed me that pic and my brain just froze."

I pause for a moment to make sure Britt is still following me. She is.

"I didn't really understand what was happening. The only thing I could comprehend was that someone was spying on me. It didn't even occur to me how bad the situation looked or that you may have gotten the wrong idea about it," I continue on. "It was probably the last thing on my mind, especially after the rollercoaster of emotions I'd been having recently. It was only after the fact that I figured out why you had gotten so angry and said what you said."

I choose not to reiterate the exact words that Brittany used beforehand. I'm sure that she would like to just forget about them because they don't sound like her at all. In fact, I'm not sure if I was more surprised by the accusation or the actual words that were used in that moment.

Instead of dwelling on it, I chose to lighten up the situation.

"Sometimes jealously makes people a little crazy. I mean, really... who would've predicted that the green-eyed monster would make an unscheduled appearance yesterday? Or that you would sing a song all about it in front of the entire school, just to win me over?" I say rhetorically, making her blush a little. "I've been on the wrong side of your jealous outbursts before. Trust me... it ain't pretty."

Brittany chuckles lightly at my analogy as she roughly wipes the dampness off her cheeks with the back of her free hand.

It's good to see her loosening up a bit.

It's good to hear her laugh.

"Sometimes people get jealous; sometimes people make mistakes. We're human... it happens," I explain while grabbing her free hand so that both of ours are connected. "Couples fight, sometimes over what might seem small and ridiculous to one person, but is the exact opposite to the other. These things happen."

Brittany averts her eyes and looks down, still feeling disappointed in herself, I presume.

"Hey... look at me," I softly demand, briefly untangling one of my hands from hers to tilt her chin up. "No matter what was said or done yesterday, none of it changes how much I care about you. None of it changes how much I love you, Brittany."

Brittany's eyes begin to glisten again. To be honest, I'm sure mine are too.

As I brush away the unshed tear, I gently cup her cheek.

"All I want is to move forward... with you," I earnestly state. "You're the only girl for me... today, tomorrow, and every day after that."

Overwhelmed by my own emotions, I lean forward and chastely connect our lips. Even though it had only been a day since I last kissed Brittany, I missed the feeling so much.

She immediately reciprocates, untangling our hands so that she could climb into my lap. I'm thankful for that because our previous position was not really conducive with how close we wanted — no needed — to be to each other right now.

As Britt uses one hand to play with the tiny hairs at the base of my neck, she uses her other hand to grasp my cheek. As I put my hands on her hips and pull her that much closer to me, I feel her warm tongue swipe across my lips. I eagerly open my mouth and allow her to deepen our kiss.

After carrying on like this for a couple of minutes, I realize that at some point, we'll regrettably need to separate before we pass out from being deprived of oxygen.

But... I don't want to.

Instead, I slow down our intense make out session, occasionally taking in a much needed deep breath so that I can keep kissing my girlfriend. As I hear Brittany begin to pant, I wrap my right arm around her waist and use my left hand to find the comforter below so that I can gently lay us down.

At this point in time, my glasses have completely fogged up so I pause briefly to take them off and toss them aside. As I'm about to lean down and kiss Brittany again, I notice her swollen and slightly bruised lips. I imagine my lips look about the same. Brittany then tenderly cups my cheek as she tries to get her breathing regulated.

I close my eyes briefly, enjoying the solace of this intimate moment... Brittany and I in our own little world. I turn my head slightly and press a soft kiss to the palm of her hand before opening my eyes again.

"Brittany S. Pierce... you deserve EVERYTHING this world has to offer you. Don't ever doubt that," I say earnestly, looking deeply into her eyes.

"I love you, Santana... I love you so freaking much."

Without getting a chance to respond, Brittany pulls me back down and kisses me hard. As we carry on like this for several minutes, our passionate kisses become sloppy, but neither of us care. As I feel Brittany's hot hands underneath my shirt, trailing up and down on my back, I can't resist the urge to do a little exploring of my own, cupping her breasts through her hoodie.

Brittany's hands then leave my back and find purchase on my blue jeans, roughly gripping my butt and creating a wonderful friction between us. I hear my girlfriend moan below me, causing something inside me to stir. I love this feeling and like the direction this seems to be heading, but I want to make sure that Britt and I are on the same page before anything further happens.

"Wait wait wait wait... Britt, hold on a sec," I pant out, pulling away from her slightly. "Should we maybe slow down?"

As reluctant as I was to stop this, I didn't want Brittany to feel pressured if this was moving too fast for her. To be honest, I was kinda terrified myself, but I felt safe in Brittany's arms.

"Do you want to slow down?" She asks incredulously, sounding just as breathless.

See, ladies and gentlemen... consent is sexy.

(Insert winky face here)

"I want whatever you want, Britt..."

I've been reading books of old

The legends and the myths

As I hear the new song playing softly in the background, I can't help but wonder 'is this really happening?'

Achilles and his gold

Hercules and his gifts

"If you want to slow down or even stop... I'm good with that," I reply. "I don't want to go too far too fast, especially if we're not ready."

Spiderman's control

And Batman with his fists

And clearly I don't see myself upon that list...

"Aren't you scared at all?" Brittany tentatively asks.

But she said, "Where'd you wanna go?

How much you wanna risk?

I'm not looking for somebody

With some superhuman gifts.

"Terrified, actually..." I simply say, echoing my earlier thoughts.

Some superhero...

Some fairytale bliss

Just something I can turn to...

Somebody I can kiss

"But with you... everything always seems less scary," I state honestly, linking our hands together. "With you... this feels right."

I want something just like this."

As I look back into Brittany's eyes, they've gone from their usual brilliant blue to something much darker. I've seen her eyes change colors before while we were getting a little hot and heavy, but never to this extent.

Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo...

"I want this, Santana... I want you more than anything I've ever wanted before."

Oh, I want something just like this

My breath catches in my throat, nearly rendering me speechless.

Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo...

"S-s-soooo you want to..." I somehow manage to get out.

Oh, I want something just like this

"You and me, in our treehouse..." Brittany says as she gently tugs me forward, kissing me soundly. "This is exactly how it was meant to be."

It takes me a moment to make my head stop spinning from my girlfriend's words… and that amazing kiss she just planted on me. After all of the serious conversations we've had over the past two weeks, never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that this is where things would lead to tonight.

Although Britt and I suffered through a lot of pain and sorrow, I can't help but think this is the perfect ending to a hellish two weeks.

I nod my head slowly, unable to get the stupid grin off of my face. "Yeah… it is."

I want something just like this

I kiss her gently, not wanting to rush a single second of this journey that we're about to embark on for the first time. As I feel Brittany's hands slide over my shoulders to push off my zip-up hoodie, a key factor dawns on me.

"Wait!" I stop abruptly, pulling away from her. "Where's your family?"

As much as we both have been waiting for this, the last thing I want is for one of Brittany's parents to pop their head in here and see me feeling up their daughter.

I mean, seriously… how horrifying would that be?!

"Relax…" Brittany says calmly as she sits up, tugging the rest of my jacket off of me. At the same time, she starts trailing a line of soft kisses along my neck. "Mom and Dad just left for date night right before you got here. Won't be back for hours."

I'm struggling to keep my eyes open as Brittany's hot breath glides across my skin. I'm literally getting goosebumps all over my body.

"And Lindsay?"

Brittany then scrapes her teeth across my earlobe before whispering to me, "She's sleeping over at a friend's house."

Hearing those last words were all the confirmation that I needed to ensure that we were completely alone and would have no interruptions.

It's about to go down!

As Brittany begins to trail another line of kisses on my neck, I tilt her chin up and capture her lips instead. My hands travel from her face and down the sides of her body before I find her hoodie. Before I get to ask if it's okay to remove it, my girlfriend reads my mind and lifts both of her arms into the air. As I glide the offending article of clothing over her head, I notice that Britt wasn't wearing a shirt under her hoodie. I can't help but stare at her semi-exposed chest, left with nothing but a purple satin bra.

Brittany doesn't seem to mind though. It's obvious by the smirk she has on her face.

"You gonna leave me hanging?" Brittany giggles out, apparently amused by my current condition.

"Huh?"

Brittany just shakes her head at me as she pecks me on my lips. "I'm gonna take this off, okay?"

Feeling her hands around my waist, I assume that she's talking about my t-shirt. I dumbly nod my head in the affirmative, trying desperately to not drool on myself, thus ruining the moment.

After my brain somehow manages to send my arms a signal to raise themselves into the air to assist Brittany, we begin to passionately kiss again once my shirt is discarded. As our bra-covered chests rub against each other, I start feeling tingly all over. Gently, I nudge my girlfriend down so that we can get more comfortable.

As I lie on top of her, I scatter little kisses all across her neck, chest, and abdomen before making my way back towards her face. I kiss her on her right cheek, her chin, her left cheek, and then on her nose before placing a lingering kiss on her forehead. I can hear her labored breathing and feel her chest rise and fall underneath me as the realness of this moment sinks in.

I halt my movements briefly as I wait for her eyes to open and meet mine. And when they do, accompanied by her toothy grin… it makes me fall even harder.

"Do you have any idea on what to do?" I whisper out through short, choppy breaths. I may have Googled some stuff, but reading about sex and then actually performing the action are entirely different things.

"Not really…" Brittany easily replies back as she reaches up and loosely grabs the set of dog tags hanging at the end of my necklace. She then looks at the matching pair attached to her bracelet. "But we'll figure it out… together."

I smile widely back at her. "You wanna be clumsy with me?"

Brittany gently tugs on my necklace, closing the gap between us as she kisses me chastely.

"I would love to be clumsy with you," she giddily replies as we both smile into our next kiss, removing the remaining articles of clothing that stand between us along the way.

I never knew what to expect whenever I started dating, let alone when I fell for my best friend. Our relationship isn't perfect; no one's is. But… it's pretty damn close.

There's no one else in the world that I'd rather argue and then make up with. Everything I currently have or could possibly have in the future… I want it with her.

I want something just like this.

---

Author's Note:

Hello everyone!

I'm very sorry for this way overdue chapter. I hope the length of it makes up for my absence. I know there was a lot of angst in it, but every relationship has its ups and downs; especially when you're dealing with teenagers. I think there's a lot of things that people can relate to, even if some of the things make you feel a range of emotions. And we all have that one friend that needs to give us tough love every once in a while so that we can get our head out of our asses. Hopefully the ending made everyone smile. Again, thank you to everyone that is still reading and keeping up with the Brittana fandom. If you have some time, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The next update I'll be working on is for The Girl Next Door, so stay tuned!

As always, stay classy!

-K

PS – Happy belated wedding anniversary to Brittany and Santana!

Songs Used:

Jealous by Nick Jonas

Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers feat. Coldplay

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the characters used in this story.