Hey everybody, I hope you're enjoying this story. Have a nice day and I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!

Chapter 2

It's eight ten. The exact time I arrive at school. Same as always.

Quinn, Brittany and I have made a name for ourselves in Freshman year. Now we're called the unholy trinity. That came as a result of Quinn. She wanted to join the celibacy club (hence the 'trinity'). Plus… it's not like we have a very 'clean' reputation (hence the 'unholy').

I don't care about that. As long as I can be with Britt, and people leave us alone, then it's alright with me.

Glee club is a different story, because, again, reputation. It's everything at McKinley High school. It's the reason why the unholy trinity agreed to always arrive at the school doors at eight fifteen. It's a way we can make our famous walk in the school hallways.

Quinn in the middle. Britz and I flanking her left and right side. When I close my car and walk to the doors, I see Quinn already standing aside, waiting for us.

"Yo Quinn, how's it going?" I ask nonchalantly. Like I care and all that.

I see her rolling her eyes at me. Probably the first of many for this day. "I'm alright." Not one to wait around, she becomes serious. "Have you thought about glee club? Did Britt found a way to convince you? We're going to join that club. Whether you like it or not."

I give her a dirty look in response. She's talking like she's the boss of me. I know, from an outsiders perspective, it looks like Quinn is in charge of our little group. However. She is in charge, because I let her. And she knows that… Sometimes.

Me and Quinn had a rough beginning last year. Despite that, when we joined Cheerios together as Freshmans, we saw the potential in each other… reputation wise. Maybe, in a very long term way, friendship-wise too. Not that I'll ever admit that out loud. I never show her my true self like I show Brit that. Nevertheless, I consider her an almost close friend now. Plus, now that we're co-captains of the Cheerios, we have a stronger bond. However, she knows that she can't come between me and Brittany.

Last year she had some trouble understanding Brittany. I get that. With her strange one-liners, her sometimes unpresented mood and naïve way to look at the world… She's not that easy to get. She's the most friendliest person you'll ever meet, you can't say one bad word about her. But to voluntary bond with her? That's another story.

Luckily, it seems like Quinn's getting there. Especially starting this year, she's beginning to see the potential and true spirit I'm seeing in Brittany.

We're meeting more after school nowadays with the three of us. Brittany and I, we were almost always together during the summer. It made our unbreakable band.

Quinn sometimes joined us, if she wasn't at church camp (that she went to voluntary?!). It made us both realise Brittany is completely different when she starts to trust you and is not surrounded by dozens of other people. Plus, if you take the time to ask her to explain some things she says, then there's always a logical explanation to her figure of speech.

It's the rest of us. We are too stupid, 'thinking like society wants you too'. It makes you doubt what she's saying.

Since summer came, Brittany started to talk more. One brick at the time, her walls began to fall down. It made Quinn start to see what potential I see in her too, so she gets it now. Brittany also has such a pure hart! It's a privilege to get to hear some things that come out of her brain.

Quinn and I did talk about the fact that although she seems so open, she's really closed off. She only shows us what she wants us to see. It's such a strange combination. On a superficial level it looks like Brittany is oversharing every little detail about her life. Yet if you look at it more closely … she doesn't share that much, not at all.

Quinn and I are more the same. We make a tough exterior, but translate it into bitchiness. So it's really different from Brittany. We do know of each other what's behind those walls (not at all insecurity), but we have no freaking clue what's behind Brittany's walls. Moreover, don't you blame me being a bitch at school! Quinn is just as bad. I even like to think I'm a lot nicer outside of school.

So yeah, Quinn's a bit the same as me. Maybe a little less bitchy then I am, if I really think about it. Though she does have her moments! She can look like a desperate and mean person, who only cares about her reputation. I mean… she's dating the quarterback for Christ's sake. So yep, we bonded over our 'niceness'.

Plus, the bond between our three is really going somewhere. We (read: Quinn and I, Brittany standing on the side-line) still have our fights quite often… Maybe because we act a little the same in school, and both have a large amount of pride… and like to be on top of everything. Between the both of us, I'm best in executing that. Hence why I'm the one really in charge.

… Or maybe I'm just naïve, and Brittany is actually the one in charge, whilst she lets Quinn and I fight it out for second in command… I don't know, I'm starting to overthink stuff now.

Anyway. Back to our conversation. What did she want again? Oh right, glee club.

I'm starting to feel a bit annoyed. I tighten my jaw a bit. "You do realise I'll only join the Gleeks because I decide to do that." I shrug. "If we do that, I'll do you a favour. We're friends after all… But I decide, not you. Got that?"

She sighs. "Whatever you say Satan." Her eyes are wandering around the parking lot, searching for Brittany probably. "Where's your twin San?".

I give her a half-smile. "I'm going to assume you're talking about Brit, which I don't know… You know we rarely carpool together."

It's not a lie. Besides a few exceptions, we never carpool. That is not my choice, it's her doing. I tried to convince her, since it's much more ecologic (and it's Brittany, she loves nature), but she's very strict if it comes to me coming to her house. She's very private on that part. Plus, the argument we live across town from each other is understandable. It wouldn't make that much sense to carpool. But still. I'd do it, if she wanted too.

Brittany likes to take her time in the morning, so I let her. I don't want to suffocate her with my presence. We're still roughly at the beginning of an unbreakable friendship. I mean we were friends last year, but we never really hung out after school that much. Sometimes in the locker rooms after practice or in the town centre. But that was it.

It's only recent we started to visit each other at home. It's only since a few months we're extremely comfortable with each other's every moves and steps during the day.

Still searching for her, Quinn's answering me. "Yes, I know that. I didn't mean it like that. You know they invented something like a phone a few decades ago, so you can communicate from a distance away? Has she let anything know? It's eight fifteen in a minute. I don't feel like having strange looks our way when we walk in school."

I start to look around too. It is strange she hasn't texted me yet this morning. She usually always sent me a good morning text. It always cheer me up. I'm not really a morning person, and she knows that.

I snap my focus back to Quinn. "You know. Not everybody looks at the clock when they're walking in the school halls, one minute late won't destroy our status." I state.

After not really giving a verbal response, we both look around the parking lot again. There's still no sign of Brittany. I'm starting to get a bit worried.

My worries go away the minute I see her car arriving in the parking lot. I point towards the car. "There she is Q, no need to worry. We'll just have to get the looks of admiration and jealousy our way this morning, instead of slushies in our faces."

She puffs out some air. "Don't pretend like you hate those looks Santana."

We're watching Brittany stepping out of her car. I see she hasn't noticed us yet. She probably thinks we've already walked inside, since it is officially eight sixteen now.

She climbs out of her car. Wait… It takes me a second, I check it twice before I open my mouth …"What's wrong with her? She can barely step out of her car. It's like she has really bad stomach cramps or something?" I ask Quinn with worry in my voice.

Quinn furrows her forehead. "Yeah you're right, she's in pain. Quite badly too! What happened to her?"

I need to withhold myself of running to Brit. Instead, I patiently wait until she sees us. When her attention is towards us, she looks like a deer that got caught in headlights. In a split second, her whole posture looks normal again. There's no visible sign of pain. Not at all.

"What the hell?" Quinn mumbles between her teeth.

Brittany is walking towards us. She acts very cheerful "Morning guys. Sorry I'm a bit late. I needed to bring my little sister to school. However, she didn't want to go to her class, so I walked with her until she felt comfortable enough to be left alone."

I frown. "Is that why you were getting out of your car like you can't stand up straight from pain in your stomach? Do you have your periods or something?" I ask, with a hint of worry in my voice.

Her eyes flicker. "No, I mean, yes! Yes it's that, just period cramps." She tries to brush my worry away. "You're both women. You know how bad they can feel sometimes … So, Glee club right?" She bumps my shoulder once she changed the subject.

"Yeah yeah, smooth change of subject Britz… Does it hurt?".

She shows a negative nod. "Nope, not at all. It just hurt a little because I sat in the car for too lang. Follow that with standing up to fast and all that… no need to worry."

Quinn looks at me, her forehead creased. I agree with her hesitance. Brittany's face didn't tell the same story when she was getting out of her car (before she realised we saw her). It looked like she was in a lot of pain. I don't know what to do. She obviously doesn't want to talk about it. Should I let it go?

Quinn decides for me. "So… you guys will join Glee with me. That's awesome. I owe you two. Thanks."

My head snaps back to her so fast, it almost gives me a whiplash. That's how fast my mind picks up on her arrogance. "Hold up, I never said that. I said it would be my decision and I told B I'd think about it." Brittany seems happy with the change of subject and jumps on it. "You're very welcome Quinn. I already started to think of a choreography to sing to your choice of song. It's going to be awesome." She smiles like an eight year old who just got the news they'll get an ice cream.

Great. Version 'very nice but closed of' Brittany is here.

I cross my arms. "Oh I see. Two against one, means the last one gets ignored. Whatever happened with the saying if two dogs fight for one leg, a third one runs away with it? Doesn't that mean I get to win?!"

I know I don't make that much sense, but they're pushing my buttons a bit. Quinn raises her eyebrows "You know Santana, whether you like it or not, we'll join that glee club. Brittany already put so much work in it. You won't let that be for nothing right?"

I hate Quinn right now. She knows Brittany is my weak spot. How do I save myself out of this situation?

"Shut up Q, I decide… If you would've let me finish my sentence a minute ago, I would've told you that even though I think it's a bad idea, I'll do it. So come on guys, I don't want to hurry to my locker. Plus, we haven't slushied people this year yet. Isn't it time to change that? We don't want to ruin the reputation of the Cheerios right?"

Quinn looks at me sceptically. There's a lot of annoyance hearable in my tone. I guess she's trying to figure out the reason behind it. "Yeah, you're right." She sighs. "I guess it's time to go back to school mode again."

At that moment, the first warning bell starts to ring.

…

God, time is going sooo slow right now. "Come te llamas" Mr. Scheuster's voice is towering through the classroom.

Is he freaking kidding me right now? I'm in high school! This is what he's teaching our class?! I did not sign up for kinder garden Spanish lessons. What's more, you know what sucks the most? I can't sit beside Brittany. No, mr. 'too much gel in my hair' wanted to choose the seats himself. Apparently he wanted to give us a chance to get to know other people in our classes.

You know who I'm stuck with right now? Rachel freaking Berry. Ugh. I should've just skipped this class. I think I can learn more from the freaks who practically live under the bleachers, then sit here in a Spanish class with a teacher who doesn't even know the language.

At least I can focus on Brittany for a bit.

You can't see it, but she's almost fluent in Spanish. She said she wanted to learn the language I grew up with (which is so cute!). Like I said some time ago, she spent this summer vacation learning it. I didn't know it was possible, but I fell even more in love with her for that. Who takes the time to learn a whole language, just because their best friend was raised learning a combination of English and Spanish?

Nobody. Except my Britt Britt.

She must be bored to be in this class too… Oh the lost opportunities to spend our time together if we could just sit next to each other. Pff, I guess I'll just creepily look at her as alternative. Doesn't sound weird at all.

The blonde is seated at the corner of the class, next to Asian number one, Dina or something like that. The girl is in glee club. I try to make eye contact with Brittany, but she looks distracted. She's taking a sip from her water. That's not what stands out though. It looks like she's taking a pill with her water. Wonder what that is for? When she puts her bottle back down, she senses someone looking at her. Of course she knows it's me who's looking. Our eyes meet, and an intensely staring contest has started. She has that 'deer caught in the headlights' look again, what's up with that? She didn't randomly begin to take drugs right? No, she's too smart to do that. Especially on school property. Hmm, strange.

"… And that's it for today guys. Great job everybody. Buenos dias classe."

Finally, classes are over. Couldn't come any earlier. Quinn had a free period, so she's already waiting at our classroom. When she sees me she comes over. "Hey, ready to practice for our audition for Glee club? You can both come over at my house?"

I answer with an attitude like I don't care at all. "Yeah sure, whatever. I'll talk to Britt and we'll be there in half an hour." Quinn ignores my ignorance. "Okay great, I'll make sure I'll have some snacks ready and all that. I need something to keep you occupied." She winks at me and walks away.

To be fair, I don't eat that much. It's not because I like to eat cookies a lot that you can persuade me to do things… I mean, not all things, maybe some. "Hey, San, what are you thinking about?" Britt asks me. She's put all her stuff away and is now standing next to me. "Quinn just asked me to go rehearse at her place for Gleek club. You can come right?"

I ask her, because I know she can't always come. Her parents can be very strict sometimes. However, I'm in luck. She nods, "Yes I can, my sister's staying over at some friends place anyway, so I can come."

"Okay, good. I wouldn't survive such a thing without you by my side." She playfully nudges my elbow "We both know you secretly like this, you can't fool me San".

She's right, but I'm too stubborn to admit it. I look for something to tease her back with, before I remember the strange medication she took. When she starts walking down the hallway, I stop her with my hand, touching her elbow. She flinches for like a microsecond. It's something I ignore for now, she wouldn't answer truthfully anyway. I remember the way she reacted yesterday, when I tried to touch her arm. Better to let it go. For now. "Hey Britt, what was with that pill you took earlier in class? Are you still hurt or something?"

She tries to laugh it off, but it sounds a bit awkward. "You saw that huh? It's just a small painkiller, nothing much… So are you ready to go? We can start with singing some Disney songs, that's always fun to do. " She gives her signature smile and walk over towards the parking lot.

Although I'll never tell another living soul, her childlike side is one of the many things I really love about her. Just letting go of adultness for a second and feeling like a little kid, singing to Tarzan and Moana. It gets me relaxed. Regardless, I still have a reputation to uphold… I put on my bitchface and try to walk on a fast pace through the hallways to my car. It works like a charm. Half the school is afraid of me. Or afraid of my alter ego. It's a better way to explain. She's the one who's going all Lima Heights on someone ass if they piss me off. It's as simple as that. When I don't look happy, you really shouldn't stand in my way.

I see Brittany is opening the door on the driver's side. She smirks at me through her car window. She yells through the window "Don't keep looking that way, one day you'll wake up and you'll look angry for the rest of your life. I once saw a movie about that". After that, she drives away. I'm a really stubborn child, so I open my car door way too aggressively and angry. It makes me almost fall down. Luckily not.

Whilst I'm driving to Quinn, I suddenly remember she never told me why she took the pain killer in the first place. Didn't she say it was just period pain? She never takes pain killers for that. She says it's meant to hurt because her body is sad of losing a small part of herself (which is a bit exaggerating in my opinion. Periods are useless. Couldn't they make an on/off button for when you want to have a baby? What's the point of periods every month for something you only once, twice, … or never need?).

I remember her telling me her theory about pain killers. It's the same explanation for muscle pain. She never takes painkillers for that too. Apparently 'it feels too good to take that sort of pain away.' She says it makes her feel like she did a good job. It shows her muscles have worked enough to make her aware of it.

I sort of get it. It's not like muscle pain from doing sports is unhealthy. It means you did something right. Nonetheless, in my mind, pain is pain. I would easily take a painkiller for muscle or period pain. Apparently not for her. So then … why did she take a pain killer?

Shrugging my thoughts away I focus on my driving, putting my car in park next to Quinn's house. I see Brittany has already arrived at Quinn's place. She's just making herself ready to step out of her car. Looks I wasn't that far behind.

She hasn't seen me yet. I think. I don't get that, normally she has very sensitive hearing. Nonetheless, at the moment she's stepping out of her car. I frown my eyes. She does her best job to hide it, but I see she's in pain again. I notice it in the way she steps out of her four-wheeled vehicle. And yeah, unfortunately, I'm a bit used to signals of Brittany being in pain. As hard as that sounds. I only started to realise that, since we started to meet up a lot more during this vacation.

She's hurt a lot because her number one thing to do, is dance. Although she's freakishly good at it, she's also a really big clums. That's the reason she hurts herself unintentionally a lot of the time. Always small things though. Yet this time, it looks really serious. Thát is something I'm not used to.

I really don't like that she's making so much effort to hide this from me. It's like she's even trying to hide it from herself, letting herself believe she's not in pain by ignoring it. I step out of my car and wave at her "hey Britt, looks like you beat me here".

She smirks at me "When am I ever behind you? I always beat you. The only times you win is because I let you win" That bold statement is followed by a wink. I roll my eyes in response. "I'm not even going to respond to that" I mumble between my teeth.

"Hey San, are you coming, or are you going to keep mumbling to yourself? I already rang the doorbell." She yells from the door.

"Coming Britt." A few moments later the door sweeps open. Quinn's mom is standing there. "Hello lovely girls, Quinn told me you were coming. How are you?"

We've met Quinn's mom a few times before. She works a lot, but sometimes she takes the day off to be with her daughter. Apparently, today's one of these days. She's an awesome mom. She can be a bit timid sometimes, especially when her husband's around. She doesn't really have much backbone, but she loves Quinn endlessly. Isn't that what we all wish from a parent? It's the most important one right? A parent who does everything in their power to be there for their child?

Even though Quinn's mom has a really intensive job, she still looks after her daughter. She'd move the earth for her if she needed to.

I give her my signature parent-smile. "I'm doing fine, thank you. How are you?" She smiles back.

"Really good, I planned a whole weekend with my Quinny, so I'm really looking forward to that. Quinn's upstairs in her room. You girls know the way by now, right? I'll bring something to eat in an hour, but feel free to look in the kitchen if you're hungry or thirsty."

Britt steps in and answers timidly. "Thank you mrs. Fabray". When the door is closed, we walk towards the stairs.

Quinn's home is a really classic house. Just what you'd expect from a Christian family. I'm surprised there isn't a giant statue of Jezus in their hallway. I even asked Quinn someday if she wasn't learning the violin. I thought it would fit the picture perfectly. She wasn't that amused by my question once I explained my thinking process of that inquiry.

We're walking up the wooden stairs, towards Q's bedroom at the end of the hallway. She has a pretty comfy bedroom. There are pink lights, a big desk and a queen sized bed in the middle. Queen sized, because she'll only sleep with her boyfriend when she's married. Ha yeah right, if Quinn's still a virgin, then I'm not Hispanic.

Quinn's sitting at her desk with headphones on, while silently humming the lyrics to the song she chose to perform to. I decide to have a little fun and put my finger in front of my lips to make a hushing sound to Britt. She looks at me and nods, telling me she understands what I want to say. All the same she makes giant gestures to me with her hand, like she's asking me if that's really necessary to do. She 'whisper yells' to me. "She's going to scare herself to death… again"

I only shrug in response. A mischievous smirk is clearly visible on my face. I tip toe my way to Quinn…

"I know you're there S, you've pulled that trick one too many times" Quinn says to me while putting her headphones around her neck. A surprised gasp escapes my mouth.

"How did you know I was here?" She rolls her eyes. "Ever heard of doorbells? Their function is to make people aware there's someone coming into the house. Plus, since you love to scare me, I'm already prepared and aware when you're entering my room. Which by the way, you guys didn't knock."

Britt walks into the room nonchalantly "Like you care if we knock or not."

Quinn looks at Brittany and starts to laugh. "Yeah, you're absolutely right B, I don't care. Still, I do care if Santana here likes to give me a heart attack or not." I grunt defeatedly and jump on her bed to lay down. I hear Brittany laugh behind me. "It's not funny Britt." I say offended. Her eyes sparkle with amusement. "Yes it is, just a little bit."

I roll my eyes and decide to change the subject. "So anyway. Show us your moves Britt". Q steps in, "Yeah B, show us what you got. I'm really curious at what you choreographed for us! I hope it's not too complex for us to learn?" Quinn pauses for a second to think. "We should definitely practice it a bit, while we're singing too." She stops for a second again, hesitant to continue. "I'll never admit it outside this room, but I'm a little nervous about this performance. I mean… I want to impress Finn, and make him look my way instead of that Berry girl."

"Alright, put the music on, then I'll show you guys. I hope you like it." Britt says with a little nervousness in her tone.

…

I'm dead. Quinn's dead. We're all really exhausted. We've just danced for two hours straight. Dancing is like a really intense workout! We lay down on Quinn's bed.

I groan, for multiple reasons. One, my muscles hurt from all that dancing. And two, Quinn's bedroom is too bright. I like it dark, as black as possible. Hers is the opposite. Even her sheets are bright green. And those pink lights, I swear!

Trying to uplift my own mood, I speak up. "I think we're ging to nail that audition Q." I turn my body towards her, giving her a threatening look. "You better hope for yourself it'll be worth the trouble." I say.

Quinn's eyes narrowed: "Yeah yeah, I know. Thank you very much Santana for doing this for me. You too, B. We did amazing. Right Britt? We're good students to learn a dance to?"

Brittany has her eyes closed, but takes a small peek to look at us. "Yeah sure. I mean, my little sister learns quicker than you guys, but you're both awesome. I didn't even need to threaten you with tickles for when you stop pay attention." Brittany tries to hold in her laughter. She's joking (hopefully). Her sister is a horrible dancer, she told us that before.

Quinn looks at me and tries to have a silent conversation with me. She looks at Brittany, her stomach and then uses her hands to make a motion to tickle her. She counts down from five. Britt's unaware of this transaction, because she has closed her eyes again. I'm trying to withhold my laughter, whilst Quinn is counting down with her fingers. Three… Two.. one… "Go" She shouts.

The short blonde grabs Brittanny's arms to hold her down, while I start to tickle her stomach. I know it's her weak spot when it comes to ticklish body parts. However, instead of starting to hear her cute laughter, she yells out in pain. "OUCH!" I immediately stop touching her.

Quinn instantly lets go of her arms and looks shocked. I'm just as stunned, startled to death by her yell. I snap out of my shock pretty fast. Before Brittany has the opportunity to react, I pull up her Cheerios shirt. A huge bruise is visible across her stomach.

I inhale sharply "What the hell Britt, what is that?" I yell out. There's a lot of worry in my voice.

She slaps my hands away. "It's nothing. Just a little bruise." She quickly crawls further away from us. Her shirt is back down before we can take a closer look at the bruise.

"Doesn't look like a little bruise to me B." Quinn says with anguish in her voice.

I try to look at those familiar piercing blue eyes, but she won't let me. "Brittany. I'm giving you one minute to explain to me what happened." My voice sounds commanding. I rarely use that tone if I'm talking to her. I don't want to frighten her. Plus, I know she doesn't like it when I raise my voice. However, I think it's necessary in this situation. I want her to let me help her!

Her eyes get a bit glossy. "I just… I ran into someone in the store because Lord T needed new cheese for in our fondue thingy, but another person took the last cheese before me. I asked if I could get it and I shouldn't have, because the lady was really persistent on keeping it and one thing led to the other and it became a bit aggressive."

Quinn breaths in sharply. "That's assault B. Did the store do something about it?"

I interrupt Quinn. "It weren't period cramps you had this morning was it?" I try to walk a bit closer to Brittany, without invading her personal space. "For goodness sake, I'm going to go all Lima heights on that persons ass. We should go to the police…"

Her eyes flicker towards me. "NO, we shouldn't" Britt says in a panicked voice. "It won't happen again, and I was in the wrong too, so it wouldn't matter anyway".

"Yeah right, the nicest human in this stinking world, who doesn't want to hurt a fly, has challenged someone to hurt her like that." I look towards Quinn, seeing she doesn't believe her either. "That's a lie and you know it Britt." I boldly state.

She shakes her head, likes she's desperately trying to convince us, … and herself? of this.

"No it's not. Leave it be. In a week this will be gone and we can all move on with our lives. Now excuse me. I need to be home before seven." She rushes to gather her stuff and almost runs downstairs. In a flash she's out of the room. She's just slow enough to shout a quick goodbye to Quinn's mother. After that, she's gone.

I am speechless. What the hell just happened? When I look at Quinn, she isn't doing much better. The blonde is opening and closing her mouth like a fish, like she doesn't even know how to properly communicate this moment. I fall down on the bed, lacking the energy of trying to make sense of this situation. Quinn mirrors my movements. Not much else has been said that evening…