Chapter 15 - Glist
(Brittany)
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A/N: Funny fact about this chapter: I was listening to "Mr Know it all" by Kelly Clarkson (who I'm going to in London this october!) and it encouraged and inspired me to write this storyline...
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I wake up by someone licking my armpit - like most mornings.
I giggle and take a hold of Bailey's collar and pull her into a hug.
"Morning Bails." She opens her mouth and grins at me, tounge hanging out like a long, slippery slope. "Already time, is it?" Bailey whines a little, before smiling again, motioning for me to get out of bed.
I groan, stretch and Lord Tubbington starts purring as he wakes up. He gets up from beside my pillow and paws over to where my heads just been. Then just like that, he lies down and falls asleep, all in under 30 seconds.
I purse my lips.
"Enjoy your beauty sleep, your highness." Then I hurry up to get changed into my jogging clothes before grabbing Bailey's things and we're out in the wonderful light of morning - at 6 o'cklock.
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I'd had quite the cold - I was feeling loads better though.
I digged out them out of my bag and stared. 9 yellow and red pills left. Shrugging, I poured some youghurt in a bowl and had a spoonfull - topped with a pill. As I finished up the youghurt, mum came in, all smiles.
"Did you remember to take your antibiotics?" She asked, humming away.
"Yeah." She threw another glance at me.
"You still look a bit down though. You really shouldn't be running already." I shrugged again.
"I'll be fine. Thank you though, mum." I went to give her a kiss before I picked up my bag and my toast. "Bye mum, love you."
"Love you more!" She called over her shoulder as I patted Bailey goodbye, stuck my finger into my sisters ribs and ran out the door with my her squeal and dad's laughter echoing in the background.
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"I'll see you later," Santana leaves me with touch on my shoulder. She seems to be in a hurry. I wake up from my daze enough to touch my shoulder. I'm deep in thought about the Glist, and besides, I feel kind of wierd.
"Number four..." I mumble and try to get up too, but then I just lean back in my chair again.
She gives me a weird, slightly annoyed look, then she rolls her eyes and walks away.
I wonder if she made it. Why would she put me at number 4? Doesn't she like me? Weren't we best friends? My head kept spinning. It all just came back to me. I'd been failing history and spannish. And now I didn't even have my hotness going for me?
And well, one of the biggest issues, the one that was too obvious on the list... I was kind of hot, but no one, not even Santana it seemed... took me seriously for one second.
I thought about the pills.
My doctor had said they were supposed to take away infections. Maybe that was what was wrong with me. I mean, I did feel really bad again. Like something was eating me up from the inside. Santana always made it worse, too. She... It just all became too confusing.
I needed to get better, quickly. And numb myself down. I remembered the pills Puck had offered a couple of weeks ago, that had made us feel out of it for a while. Like it made it all better.
"That's what pills are for," he'd happily told me when I'd asked him.
That's what pills are for. THAT'S what pills are for. I was alone in the choir room now. Mr. Schuester looked at me as he left the room.
"Are you staying for a bit, Brittany?" he asked kindly. I nodded.
"Yeah, I need to talk to the piano." I say it like I want to sing. He nods with a slightly weird look, like he understands, and leaves.
I take out the pills from my bag and my water bottle. I look at them.
And that time we took those sunny pills. I felt sooo good. Just like the colour of these. Sunset red and sunny yellow.
I pushed them out and ate them all. Then I leaned back and closed my eyes. And hoped it would all be better soon.
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"Fellow Glee clubbers. We've called this meeting because our free falling reps have reached terminal velocity. We are def con 1."
Their voices are starting to come to me, but it sounds like I've got earphones on.
"We're 0. They didn't even bother putting us on the Glist." Better not to be on the list than be number 4! That's the number nobody remembers! I'm the nobody. At least they are "the ones that didn't make the glist". I'm in the middle numbers, so nobody remembers.
I stop listening to them, which since this morning seems to have gotten much easier. I wonder if I shouldn't have taken all of those pills at the same time. Marissa did almost die after taking too many, I remember now. Weirdly enough my body doesn't react like it should. I don't get scared.
Artie raises his hand.
"Umm, Excuse me, why is she here?" Everyone suddenly turns to look at me. I realize that it's Artie, Kurt, Tina and Mercedes. Strangely enough I didn't really notice until now.
"I've been here since first period," I say, realizing it's probably not been that long. But then again, what's the time? When did I get here?
"I had a cold and I took all my antibiotics at the same time. And now..." I try moving my legs again, and my toes wiggle. It feels like they've been asleep. "I can't remember how to leave. But I also don't know why I only made 4th on the Glist. I made out with like, everyone in this school. Girls, boys, Mr. Kidney the janitor..." (Okay, that was a lie. I made out with his son who was helping out that one week) "I need to do something to get into the top 3."
Kurt speaks up, looking at me with huge eyes. But still he ignores what I just said.
"Fine, you're in!"
"In what? We don't even have a plan!" I notice Artie looks over at me again while Kurt explains.
"What is the worst thing a student can do at this school?"
"Eat in the cafeteria?" Tina says, and both her and Mercedes crack up.
"No. Be a disruption in the library."
Everyone looks at each other in stonishment. Yeah!
"Wait, will you remind me how to move...?" I ask hesitantly. Kurt's hand goes to his mouth.
"OMG. Did you seriously take those pills?" I nod, at least I remember how to do that.
Tina and him come up to me, looking a bit worried.
"I thought you were just joking," Tina says akwardly. Artie wheels up to us, sliding his glasses up his nose.
"I think we should get her to the nurse. Or maybe Miss Pillsbury..."
"Not her. She doesn't like me since that bird thing," I say, sadly. Kurt shakes his head and takes a hold of my arm. Once he helps me up, I have no problems moving.
"I feel much better." Kurt looks at me. Mercedes speaks up:
"I just googled it on my phone. It looks like... no, I don't want to buy Overdose of Antibiotics on Ebay!" This recieves a snicker from me and Tina.
"It looks like it's not too dangerous. Do you remember how many you took?" I shrug.
"8 something, I think."
"Okay. Are your heart beating fast?" I try breathing in deeply.
"Dunno."
"It says here she could get asphy-ashix-tates... I don't get it." Artie grabs her phone and reads the word out.
"It can lead to asphyxiation. That means she can stop breathing." Everyone looks at me. I don't know what to say except;
"Oh." Kurt pulls me hard.
"Okay, nurse. NOW."
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Sue was standing tall, grinning back at us as the music video finished off.
She's pulled down a big sheet in the gym, and shown us a video of her, another apparently famous lady, and a bunch of naked men.
It was kind of hot -and well, the song was stuck in my head. I looked over at Santana at the very front of the line. She was smiling and nodding.
Then she looked back at me, looked a bit taken aback by me staring, then she smiled slightly. With her eyes. I looked away, her look making me feel... I don't know. It was a weird, strong, fluttering feeling. Like all the hummingbirds had turned into a hurricane.
When most of the girls had left, and I waved goodbye to Becky who had her mom waiting for her by the parking lot, I turned back to Hannah and Santana glaring at each other.
I almost laughed out loud at them - Santana looked ready to kill. Hannah had the exact same bra as Santana, but green instead of Santana's red one (which she of course looked sooo hot in).
"Get out of here, before I cut you!" Santana hissed and Hannah pulled her shirt on, shooting Santana a cold glare, before she hurried out.
Santana looked at me, got a mean look in her eye, and said:
"I'll be right back," and then she went after her. I shrugged.
I was alone. I sat down and put my shoes on. That's when I heard a loud sniffing.
At first I thought it might be Santana, or more likely Hannah, but I had found Santana crying in here before. I stood up, looking around. But she hadn't come back. The shower was going. I walked over and saw Rose standing there, head down, arms crossed over her naked chest.
"Are you okay?" I asked her. Rose looked up, smiled brightly.
"Yup. Just got some water in my nose." I nodded, and then suddenly she made the same noise. It sounded like Lord Tubbington when he was choking on a furrball.
"Rose, are you...?" She still smiled, but she shook her head violently. She turned off the water, then wrapped a towel around her, not looking at me.
"Silly me," she mumbled. Then she suddenly sat down on the floor and started crying violently. I didn't know what to do. She'd been smiling just a minute ago!
"Umm..." I sat down next to her on the wet floor. My panties were most likely getting soaked. Floors were usually not the reason. I giggled in my head.
"She said she doesn't want to..." her high pitched voice errupted with small sniffs and moans. "be with me... anymore!" I really had no idea what to do, with Santana it was mostly just to be kind. So I tried that. I wrapped an arm around her. She froze, but then choked on a hairball again, and pressed closer to me. Her towel fell off, and I stroke her hair a little, like my mom always does when I'm sad.
Thats when Santana came in. She stared at me, mouth open. I didn't know why, but later she told me for a second it had looked like we were making out.
Then Rose's crying reached her, and her shocked expression turned into one of dismay. Santana didn't like mixing bussiness with friendship. She didn't hang out with the other Cheerios - me and Quinn were the only exceptions - and getting involved was too much of a bother. That's what she always said.
She was gone in a flash. My heart sank a little. I really wouldn't have thought she would've left me. Oh well...
"Here you go." She came back with another towel, and wrapped it around Rose's shaking body. We each took an arm and pulled her up. She was still crying, but at least more quiet now that before. And she walked by herself. Wrapped up in two towels, she sat down on one of the wooden benches and sniffed.
"Now tell us what happened." Santana demanded, quite harshly. But she handed Rose a bottle of water and an energy bar, so she was really being nice in her own way. It was probably the thought of someone, anyone, making Rose cry that was the reason of Santana's harshness. Maybe. Rose was the one person who was always smiling. Even that one time when Sue made her do a really hard move over and over again even though her ancle was twisted, because she's the smallest on the team and because of that the lightest flier.
Rose drank some water, then put some of her hair away from her face. It was dripping all over.
"It's Tania." Santana relaxed and gave up a little hum in recognition. I still had no idea what was going on.
"She can be quite harsh sometimes." Santana looked a little guilty - she knew she was the harshest one of all. Tania was like a kitten next to a panther in Santana's company.
Rose didn't seem to think much about it though. She brought the side of one of the towels to her nose and closed her eyes.
"Not to me, usually..." Rose looked up at us. "She said she didn't want to be friends anymore. She said it's because of Jules... that she can't take being jealous all the time..." She sniffed quite loudly.
Santana sighed, looking very bothered.
"Well, she's probably a bit annoyed by suddenly having to share you." Santana shrugged - like she knew the feeling.
"She can't be that possessive! She's got other friends, and I never complain."
I didn't really know what to say, but in a way it made sense to just speak my mind.
"Maybe she doesn't want to be your friend." They both looked up at me.
"That's what she said!" Rose said, her voice breaking. I decided to make it clearer than that.
"No, what I mean is... She wants to be something more than friends. And she doesn't know how to say it because you're spending all that time with that totally hot lesbian rockgirl."
Rose's mouth fell open in shock.
"Jules is not gay!" Santana interfered;
"Have you asked? 'Cuss I'm pretty sure she is." Rose looked at both of us in turns, tiny drops flicking on my nose as she turned her head over and over.
"No! She would've told me- I mean-I-Uh-...!"
"Look, maybe she doesn't want to tell you. Maybe she's scared it'll freak you out or something." Santana said and Rose leaned back.
"Wait- what were you saying about Tania wanting to be more than friends? What does that mean?" Her eyes had grown really big, like on Pancakes.
"That she likes you. Have you ever kissed?" Rose suddenly sat up straight, looking at me while blushing furiously.
"No! No, no, no, no! Why would we? I mean-" I shrugged again.
"It's no big deal. Me and Santana have." She suddenly turned her head towards Santana, who sent me an angry glare. Ops. Right, that was secret. But Rose would probably never tell.
I took her hand in mine.
"It's nice. But you should ask her." I looked at Santana for something more, but she just lifted an eyebrow. I guess I was doing alright.
"B-but I can't just ask her if she LIKES me, likes me!" I bite my lip and look away. That one was tricky.
"Then just kiss her." She seems to have stopped breathing. Santana stands up and takes my hand off of Rose's - I realize she's still only wearing her bra on her upper body. Hmmm.
"Look, Rose. Just call her to talk. Go somewhere you both feel comfortable, preferably where nobody else is around. And just talk." Rose nods.
"What if she says no?"
"Throw rocks at her window!" I suggest, beaming. Santana looks at me again, like she's seeing me for the first time. Then she smiles a little.
"Yeah, why not?" I stare back at her, and she quickly looks away and steps over to pull her shirt on. "Now are you going to be okay?" Rose looks at both of us and nod.
"Mhmm, I think so." San comes back to me and links our pinkies together. I feel a sudden urge to kiss her. But it's not safe. We haven't done that in a while. And it can't just happen... I... Last time I was too scared, and she's not made a move since I slept with Puck... It was so complicated my brain was starting to spin out of control again.
She pulls me along and just as we're about to leave Rose's voice stops us.
"You two make a very cute couple." We both freeze up, and Santana immeadiatly starts denying it.
"It's not like that! We've kissed for fun. I mean, in like, you know- you were there!"
I nod my head.
"The other times were just in front of Finn." She stops and looks at me again. Yes Santana, sometimes I can lie well.
"Oh, I see." Rose shruggs, but smiles like she knows something we don't. "It's almost a shame though." Santana puts on her bitch face, but I can see her cheeks are burning.
"We're just friends, Rose. Unlike you and Tania. And oh, yeah, Jules." She snapps, but Rose doesn't seem to be bothered. She just waves at us, already texting away.
I have to take long steps to keep up with Santana's small, fast ones. She's fuming.
"Can you believe that? She's all upset and then she goes and put her nose into other people's bussiness!"
"She was just trying to be nice," I point out.
"Whatever. I hate getting involved." When we're outside she looks up at the rainclouds that has suddenly appeared.
"I missed you today though. We hardly ever see each other on thursdays. It sucks."
I shrug.
"You didn't miss much. I went to the nurse." She spins around on the spot.
"Why? Wat happened? Are you ill?" I shake my head.
"I took 8 antibiotic pills at the same time." Santana raises an eyebrow.
"Trying to get high without me, are we?" But underneath that she's looks worried.
"No, I just forgot them and then I wasn't feeling all that well... Then I realized what happened with Marissa that time in Tittuana." Santana laugh slightly.
"It's Tijuana." She lets go of my pinky and touches my cheek before pulling away.
"I'm glad they didn't have to pump your stomach. Don't ever do that again!"
"I didn't know it was dangerous. I just thought it would all be over quicker." Santana shakes her head.
"If your doctor tells you to only take 2 a day he means it! No more!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't know it meant I couldn't take the others if I missed. I thought maybe I had to take them in the right order and..." I shake my head. "I didn't want it to hurt so much."
That's when she does something that changes everything. She snakes her arms around my neck and hugs me tightly.
"Thank god you're okay," she mumbles into my hair. My heart is racing, my legs are shaking, my cheeks are blushing and... I smile.
"Me too." I can feel her breathing getting a little heavier as I hug her back. She laughs quietly, before letting me go and taking my pinky again. All I can think is, well...
I guess even a panther can purr.
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A/N: too fluffy? I hope not. Dunno, it feels like they need something like Rose and Tania to come with their own feelings. What do you think?
And yes, I seem to be on a angst roll. But Britt needs an edge - nobody takes her seriously! And that really bothers me! First I wrote it like she just wanted to get rid of them, but then I rewrote it like this. Better?
And does the Glee kids seriosuly not care! What about Tina? If anybody, she feels like a girl who should care!