a/n: Track 18: Glitch

The lyrics from Glitch are in bold and italics.

I highly suggest giving the song a listen at some point before, during, or after reading is up to you.

Chapter 1: Glitch

I think there's been a glitch

What she was feeling about the blonde beside her in the second tier of the pyramid was unexpected to say the very least. After leaving middle school, Santana had spent the past eight years in school navigating the halls alone, and she really didn't care to change that. As a little kid, even up through kindergarten, her parents had set up playdates and she'd gone to everyone's birthday parties, that was just how things went. But she never really connected with anyone. That was until she met Brittany. Well, she'd seen the girl before, but meeting her was a different story. There were very few times they'd interacted since early childhood. They'd never been in the same class in elementary school and Santana was in higher level classes than the blonde in middle school. Even as the Lima Lone Wolf, a self-given title that she preferred over "Lima's Loneliest Loser", she knew that Brittany wasn't known for her brains, not positively anyway. Lima was notorious for bullying, arguably one of the worst districts in the state when it came to it, and so Brittany's name was something you could hear echoing in every hallway. It was kind of a mouthful but that didn't stop nearly every guy in school, and a good number of girls, saying it as they passed by. "Brittany the Brainless and Shameless" they'd tease, the guys high-fiving each other as if they had an ounce of the brain the blonde did. Okay, so Santana felt bad for Brittany and had been watching out for her through middle school, but the blonde didn't need to know that. There was just something about her that always drew Santana in. Maybe it was the way she'd smile even when they called her that, or worse, or the way she would always wave at Santana when they were at their lockers. Santana's locker was right above Brittany's. They never exchanged words besides "excuse me" or "sorry" if they got in each other's way, but that was the only person who even made an effort to notice Santana. To most people she was invisible, and she'd like it that way. She got called a loser less. She focused on her education so that when she graduated high school she could leave behind Ohio and go to whatever university she wanted. That was until the guidance counselor told her, shortly before the end of middle school, that she should look into extracurriculars if she really wanted to be a good college candidate. None of them had interested her but she'd looked through the sign-up sheets anyway. Maybe there was an unlisted academic decathlon team. She found that there was, but there was no one else signed up so she had a feeling it would be disbanded, and it would only make her a visible loser. She was about to flip past Cheerios when a name scribbled in a glittery pen caught her eye. She was going to tell the counselor that someone had written in the wrong color ink when she noticed who's name it was. Brittany S. Pierce was written in a swirly blue glitter pen. She put her name below hers and handed the counselor the clipboard again.

"The Cheerios?" the counselor asked "I wouldn't have pegged you as the cheerleader type. Coach Sue is pretty hard to please. Are you sure you don't want to pick something more suited to your skills? Don't you play piano? What about joining the band?" Santana shook her head. The band was for visible losers. Cheerios, she knew, was for the most popular kids in school. She wasn't that yet, but if Brittany could become one so could she, right? Wrong. They shipped off to cheer camp, which should just be called boot camp, because Coach Sue was a menace.

"Lopez!" she called and Santana meekly raised her hand to make her presence known "Hmm, they said I needed more ethnic girls on the team…but those arms won't get you far. Flier!" Santana had no idea what that meant, but she found out quickly when she was being tossed into the air twenty minutes later. She did her best to do what Coach Sue wanted, but she had no gymnastics experience. She must've done enough right because unlike some of the girls, Sue let her stay at camp after that first day. But she was on an intense training regimen that she noted Brittany was far too talented for. The blonde may not be smart, but she could move. They went to their lockers after tumbling where Santana had done her first somersault and found they were just a locker apart.

"Hey" Brittany said before drinking some water. Santana waved back shyly. She cursed herself for not saying any actual words as the blonde walked off. Stupid. She was stupid.

I took until week 3 when, by some miracle, Santana had made the team. She'd been working hard- she always had. Her parents instilled a hard work ethic in her- you don't get far in life by taking the easy route. So, even when they were given breaks, Santana kept working. She didn't have anyone helping her besides a book, but that hadn't failed her before. She'd figure out how to do the splits, hand springs, flips, and in the meantime built up her upper body strength too. She wasn't close to some of the other girls' talents, but Coach Sue valued how hard she worked. In Week 3 she also said more than a few words to Brittany, not by choice though.

"Blondie" Sue said and a good half of the girls looked at her "No the dumb one she said" and that cut in half again "The dumbest one" she pinched the bridge of her nose as Brittany slowly approached "Yes you. I want you to work with Little Miss Wordless and get her up to par." Coach Sue said. Santana knew that was her. She hadn't said much of anything to anyone the whole time she'd been there, and that was a rarity for cheerleaders. Sue continued to pair everyone off and Santaan waved nervously at Brittany.

"You know eventually you'll have to say something. That's the cheer part of cheerleading." Brittany explained as if Santana was the one who'd just been singled out as the dumbest cheerleader.

"I know." Santana said quietly. She wasn't the most confident in her voice after having barely used it for three weeks.

"So she does talk." Brittany grinned "Just kidding, I knew that. You gave a speech when we graduated eighth grade cause you were the valid…valid…"

"Valedictorian." Santana filled in "It wasn't like anyone could hear it though." Her speech had been silenced by boos. The one time she had been visible in years ruined.

"I tried really hard though, and I knew you were saying stuff cause I saw your lips moving." Brittany smiled "I didn't boo you. Promise."

"Thanks." Santana said as they went to their lockers. The one between them was vacant so they might as well have been right next to each other. Santana never showered at school so she just grabbed her clothes and went to change in the bathroom. She also never changed in the locker room. Too many eyes. She handed her uniform to Coach Sue when the coach motioned for her to close the door.

"Do you know why you're on my team?" Coach Sue asked as Santana shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"No ma'am." Santana answered.

"Good, you can talk. The reason you're on my team is because you worked harder than anyone else in that locker room the past 3 weeks. Do you know why I paired you up with Tweedle Dumb?" Sue asked.

"Because I'm Tweedle Dee?" Santana asked even though that made no sense seeing as she was one of the few not-blonde girls on the team.

"No, but I might call you that. It's because you're the smartest girl on the team and you can benefit her just as much as she can benefit you. She's very good at cheerleading and you're very good at academics. You need each other. I suggest you get used to her because I intend to make it impossible for you to spend a minute apart come the school year." Sue says.

"Isn't she in remedial classes?" Santana squeaked. She couldn't be moved down, no way.

"Not anymore, and you'll still get your honors credits Little Miss Thinks Too Much and Talks Too Little. It's all taken care of. I need you to make sure she doesn't flunk out." Sue assigned her sternly "Can I trust you?"

"I'm not really the tutoring type." Santana chewed on her lip.

"And I'm not the caring type. So figure it out or we'll have a problem." Sue crossed her arms "Now go find her and teach her to read." Santana scampered out of the office and found Brittany still at their lockers trying to button up her shirt but doing it wrong over and over.

"Start from the top." Santana whispered and Brittany looked up surprised to see someone watching her struggle "Like this, see? It's much easier." Santana buttoned the first two and let Brittany button the rest. The blonde undid the first two once she was done, showing just a tiny bit of cleavage that Santana definitely only noticed because she'd thought the girl was flat in their uniforms. Definitely. There was no other reason.

"Thanks." Brittany said "I guess you know by now I'm not so smart."

"Being the brightest crayon in the box is overrated." Santana shrugged.

"But I like yellow." Brittany pouted and Santana raised an eyebrow "Isn't that the brightest color? Or did I get that wrong too?"

"It's a figure of speech." Santana explained and the blonde cooked her head, obviously still confused. She looked like a puppy, and even though explaining something so simple would usually exasperate Santana, she didn't feel the least bit exasperated when it came to Brittany. "Like a saying. 'The brightest crayon in the box' is like the smartest person in the class. If you're 'not the brightest crayon' it means sort of the opposite." For some reason, Santana was compelled not to say stupid. She heard the girl be called a lot of things, including other things that started with S, slut and shit for brains to name a few, but only stupid had ever made the girl cry.

"Oh I get it. So you don't like being the smartest?" Brittany asked and Santana shrugged.

"I don't dislike it, but it's not all that great either. Especially when you get booed." Santana smiled softly "I bet you've never been booed. You're like the best dancer I've ever seen."

"I guess not. But I'm sure you've seen better dancers. I heard that people like you are really good at dancing. Wait…am I not supposed to say that?" Brittany backtracked.

"If by people like me you mean Latina, probably not, but that's okay. Yes, a lot of Latin cultures put a big emphasis on dancing. I was just never very interested. Plus Salsa doesn't transfer so great to what we do here." Santana brushed it off.

"So you do know how to dance?" Brittany asked.

"Yes, my quinceanera is in a few weeks and my Abuela would murder me if I didn't Salsa with my Papi at least once." Santana sighed.

"Wait, I think I know Papi is dad…" Brittany scratched her head and Santana nodded "But what's an abuela?"

"It means grandmother is Spanish." Santana told her "Sorry, I forget sometimes that not everyone knows." That was a lie. Most people knew enough to know that.

"Oh that's cool! I'm German so we call my grandparents Opa and Oma." Brittany smiled.

"We?" Santana asked, "Do you have siblings?"

"Yeah I have a little sister. She's five. She plays soccer." Brittany "Wow, you've said a lot in the past few minutes. I have one more question though. What's a quinceanera and can I come?" Santana laughed as she invited Brittnay to her huge fifteenth birthday party in a few weeks.

Over the next few weeks, they grew closer and closer. Santana taught Brittany a lot to catch her up for school, and Brittany had her cheerleading skills up to par in no time. By the time the quinceanera came around they were more than just forced partners. They were the best of friends. They even danced to a few songs together. Santana didn't think it was weird, even when they did a slow dance together. Her escort was her cousin- that would've been weird. By the time school started they'd been promoted to the second tier of the pyramid together right below their new friend Quinn Fabray. Quinn had just moved to Lima but had quickly climbed the social ladder and the Cheerios pyramid. It only made sense that two other star Cheerios were her best friends. That's what she told them anyway, and neither Brittany nor Santana felt compelled to argue. Besides, Quinn had helped prepare them for hei to be popular, claiming she had been at her old school and that she had no reason to think it'd be any different at McKinley. She told them you had to be mean, you had to look hot, you could only date football players, and you must always abstain from sex. Brittany quickly made it known that she had already broken that last rule, something that surprised Santana. She always thought the guys called her a slut for no good reason but she guessed that there might've been one. In fact it was Brittany's goal to kiss everyone at McKinley, girl or boy, by the end of the first month.

"Well, I can count on you to keep your pants on, right Santana?" Quinn asked.

"I've never dated, it shouldn't be a problem." Santana shrugged.

"Oh honey, it seems easy when you're not with a guy. But I'll tell you right now it'll be hard to keep one without putting out. You have to tease them." Quinn wiggled her hips showing off the Cheerios skirt. "I'm sure Brittany knows a thing or two about that right?"

"I can show you." Brittany smiled "And I can show you how to kiss too. Then I can mark you off my list. Wait, Q, can I kiss you too?" Quinn quickly pecked the other blonde "Oh. I guess that counts."

"It does." Quinn crossed her arms "Now I'm going to scope out the football guys and see who is the most appealing, okay?"

"Sure thing!" Brittany smiled "Come on Santana, there's so much you have to learn about guys and dating them."

"Are you sure I have to?" Santana said as she and Brittany walked home, pinkies linked because Santana had almost lost Brittany at the mall once and was officially afraid her best friend would disappear if they didn't.

"Quinn said that's the way to be popular. And if we want to stay on the second tier Sue said we had to be popular." Brittany sighed "I'll teach you how to deal with guys, it's just like being friends who kiss and stuff."

"I don't want to kiss and stuff." Santana grumbled as they got to Brittany's house, waved hello to her mom and sister and went upstairs.

"You don't know that. You've never kissed anyone have you?" Brittany asked and Santana shook her head "And what, you've never wanted to kiss anyone?"

"Not anyone in Lima." Santana rolled her eyes "Maybe a few famous people" Santana didn't reveal that some of those people were not men. They all had boyfriends. She thought she wanted to kiss their boyfriends and be them, not be with them.

"Well yeah, duh, the guys here are kind of gross but I'm sure Quinn will pick the least revolting ones." Brittany assures, which doesn't give Santana very much comfort.

"Britt?" Santana says after a minute "You said you want to kiss all the guys and girls at McKinley. Why both?"

"Well cause I've kissed girls on a dare before and I liked it too." Brittany shrugged "Is that wrong?"

"Honestly, Britt, I don't know. I guess if you don't label it as anything then it shouldn't matter. I heard that some gay kid got beat up real bad though. I don't want that to happen to you." Santana reveals.

"Kurt isn't gay, he's just fashionable." Brittnay says and Santana looks at her as if she's crazy. "Okay well, maybe he is, but when I asked him after they beat him up why they did he said he wasn't gay, they just thought so."

"You were there?" Santana is shocked.

"I saw the whole thing. Kurt is…well was…my friend."

"Was?" Santana can see that Brittany is upset by that word "Why is he not your friend anymore if you helped him?"

"Quinn said he's too low on the food chain." Brittany said "S'okay. I have you now." Brittany hugged Santana and the Latina tensed. She couldn't recall that last time anyone had hugged her outside of a required dance. "Sorry, I'm a hugger." Brittany pulled away looking embarrassed.

"Don't apologize." Santana assured "I like your hugs. You can hug me whenever you want." Brittany smiled brightly and tacked Santana into a hug.

Over the first few weeks of school that hug turned into kisses and teasing under the guise of training Santana on how to handle her now boyfriend Matt Rutherford. There was also the matter that Quinn introduced during their second week of school- being taken but available. Santana and Brittany really didn't like this, but apparently they were hot commodities. The chaser? Noah Puckerman, who went by Puck. Matt and Mike didn't seem bothered by his chasing or their girlfriend's flirtatious ways. Quinn's boyfriend, Finn, was the only one to tell him hands off which got Quinn off the hook. Puck was Finn's best friend. That was bro code.

Fast forward and the football players lose their first game of the season. Actually, they didn't just lose. They're decimated. Quinn tells Brittany and San it's time to comfort their boyfriends. Mike gladly accepts Brittany's comfort but Matt pushes Santana away. It hurts a little, the rejection.

"I'm sorry babe." He says "I played really hard, and if the rest of the team tried half as hard as I did, maybe we'd have won. I just need to be alone."

"Where's Matt?" Quinn asks to see Santana alone and Brittany making out with Mike in an alcove a few feet away. Finn stands there awkwardly behind Quinn, apparently stopping to talk to your friends was allowed.

"He wanted to be alone to blow off some steam." Santana whimpered. Yeah, rejection hurts. She wasn't attracted to Matt but he was a nice guy. She was sure she would be soon enough. He was already a friend in her eyes.

"Finn." Quinn turned around "Can you go stall with my mom? I've got to take care of my friend."

"Guess so. Wait, are we not hanging out tonight?" Finn asked.

"Of course we are, she's driving us, remember?" Quinn reminded.

"Oh yeah. Okay." Finn mumbled and went off.

"His brain seriously doesn't need to get jostled by playing football." Quinn shook her head "Look San, I hate to say it, but if a guy blows you off, you have to make him see what he's missing. Puck will be on the prowl for a lonely cheerleader any second now. You're that cheerleader. Capiche?"

"But he's so…Puckerman." Santana gagged.

"You have to Santana. Trust me." Quinn strutted off. Brittany and Mike left not soon after. Brittany didn't even look back at Santana.

"Well well well" Puck said as he exited the locker room "Looks like someone is all alone. You're pretty used to that right Lonely Lopez?"

"Shut it, Puckerman." Santana snapped. She had perfected one part of popularity quickly, the only one Britt hadn't been responsible for teaching. That was being a bitch. "Matt blew me off, asshole. Why don't we show him what he's missing?" Santana grinned slyly.

"What exactly are you suggesting?" Puck said eagerly.

"That's for you to tell me." Santana wanted to barf as Puck dragged her outside and into his car. Of course he drove illegally. Santana wasn't surprised. He drove them out to a deserted part of town and pulled her into the backseat. Santana didn't know what to do or how to stop him. He'd asked if everything was okay, which honestly surprised her. She didn't see Puck as the consent needing kind of guy. She couldn't bring herself to say no. It was one of her weaknesses. So she said yes. And that night, Santana lost her virginity to Noah Puckerman in the backseat of his disgusting car. The only plus was that he bought her food afterwards. He dropped her off at Brittany's afterwards. Brittany had texted her with an apology for not saying goodbye and hoping their sleepover was still on. As Santana stated previously, no wasn't really in her vocabulary. Besides, her parents expected her to be sleeping over and they'd kill her if they saw her get out of a car being driven illegally. She felt gross as she waved to Mrs.Pierce and it felt like the elder woman just knew.

"So, what happened with Matt?" Brittany asked after they got upstairs "I saw him storm off."

"He wanted to be alone." Santana shrugged.

"So where have you been this whole time?" Brittany wondered.

"With Puck." Santana wished she had lied when she saw the pity on Brittany's face, the guilt for not protecting her. "It's fine B. He was kind of nice actually. Asked for consent and stuff."

"What do you mean by consent?" Brittany said worried and Santana couldn't hide her discomfort at Brittany's question "San, I thought we're supposed to tease, not please. Puck will tell everyone, just like he did with me."

"You never taught me how to say no." Santana whimpered.

"I knew I forgot something. Sanny I'm so sorry." Brittany said, hugging the Latina who was near tears "Will it make you feel better if I tell you I didn't teach you cause I don't know how?"

"You and Mike?" Santana whispered and Brittany nodded "Was he a gentleman at least?" Brittany nodded again "Good. I uh…do you think I could shower?"

"Yeah, I get it. I couldn't shower enough after Puck took my virginity." Brittany said.

"I guess we have that in common now." Santana said, grabbing her towel and toiletries and heading into the bathroom.

"I guess so." Brittany said to the closed bathroom door. She decided to get changed. She'd lied about Mike, she just wanted Santana to feel better. It was true that she didn't know how to say no, but Mike did. He said he wasn't ready and she respected that. Once she was in her pajamas, she had no idea what to do with herself. Then she remembered what made her feel better after Puck did stuff with her.

"Mom" Brittany said as she barreled down the stairs, she didn't want Santana to be alone when she got out of the shower. Her mom looked at her, intending to scold her but then saw the frantic look on her face. "Do we have ice cream? I think Santana needs some ice cream."

"Yes…we do." Whitney said, grabbing the carton and a bowl. "Are you using our secret code?" Brittany nodded intensely and Whitney grabbed a Plan B package too. She followed Brittany back up the stairs and waited with her, ice cream and Plan B ready for Santana.

"Uh, hi?" Santana said as she entered the room still toweling her hair, confused as to why Brittany's mom was there "What's going on?"

"I told her Sanny." Brittany said and Santana's eyes widened "It's okay. Did Puck, yknow, use a you-know-what?"

"I don't remember so I guess not." Santana was scared now "Mike did though I guess, right?"

"Uh yeah." Brittany said "Sorry Mom"

"As long as you're safe honey." Whitney sighed "I brought you a Plan B and some ice cream."

"Ice cream?" Santana asked.

"Trust me, you'll want the ice cream." Brittany says and Santana nodded.

"I'll leave you two. And don't worry Santana, I won't tell your mother. Unless I need to?" Whitney raised an eyebrow.

"I…no, don't." Santana said and the older woman left. "You always take such good care of me Britt." Santana took the pill and sighed before eating the ice cream which she shared with Brittany while they watched Sweet Valley High. They didn't talk much until after the episode finished and Brittany turned off the TV. Santana didn't get the nerve to say anything until her and Brittany were face to face, lit by the glow of her nightlight, cuddled under the girls sheets, the door closed.

"Hey" Brittany said seeing Santana's eyes looking stormy "What's bothering you? Does your tummy hurt?"

"No…well just a bit but I'm okay."Santana was fighting guilt, that always made her feel sick. "I…I don't think I wanted to do that with Puck. No, I know I didn't. But I couldn't say no. I didn't like it, Britt. I feel so gross. Even kissing him felt gross. It kind of does with Matt too, but at least Matt's a nice guy." Santana muttered.

"I'm sorry. I can't teach you that. Nice guys won't try that so quickly." Brittany admitted.

"You lied about Mike didn't you?" Santana asked and Brittany nodded "It's okay. I understand. I wish I was lying too."

"I'm sorry Santana. I promise that your next time won't be so bad." Brittany said.

"How can you be so sure?" Santana wondered and Brittany kissed her "Britt?"

"Tell me no." Brittany said "Please. If you don't want this, tell me. You know how to say no. You don't even have to say it. Just shake your head. Say anything that isn't yes and I won't do this."

"I'm scared." Santana whispered, and Brittany stopped "But I also want this."

"To clarify, you're okay if I prove to you sex isn't always bad?" Brittany questioned "By having sex with you?"

"Yes Britt. I want to have sex with you just…take it slow." Santana said.

We were supposed to be just friends

That first time together proved something to Santana that she didn't want to accept. And so she didn't, and Brittany didn't have any reason to think much of it. They had fun together and kept their boyfriends as status symbols. When Matt broke things off with her, Puck swooped in and Santana made him less revolting. He stopped wearing Axe body spray and started showering when Santana told him that was the only way she'd put out for him and his ugly mohawk. She still didn't like it but Puck used condoms now and served as the status symbol she needed. Plus he made Matt ultra jealous. She had multiple relationships with both boys over the course of the year, but throughout all of it her and Britt still did stuff together. Mike and Brittany were mostly together for looks and because they were friends it wasn't hard to fake. They went to the same dance studio. It was the summer of freshman year when they were both boy free for the first time thanks to cheer camp. Quinn snuck off to see Finn, or so she said, and they snuck off to see each other. A new school year was on the horizon, and they made every second count before they had to go back to their fake public lives.

A brief interruption, a slight malfunction

I'd go back to wanting dudes who give nothing

I thought we had no chance

And that's romance, let's dance

a/n: Fun fact: I used Genius to help gain a better understanding of the lyrics from every song.