The Beginning (Brittana)

3

Santana's POV

Brittany seemed really sweet, unlike Quinn, and she was mega-talented. During Cheerios practice, she took the longest to complain about how exhausted she was; even when she was tired, she never stopped giving all her energy.

Sue made practice very hard on us freshmen. She told us we had to earn our uniforms by proving we were good enough to join the real Cheerios. She made us do flips and tricks and run laps until we could barely move, yelling insults at us. Brittany seemed a little hurt, but she kept working hard, not stopping until we were given a water break.

"Great job out there," I said, suddenly surprised at the ease of which kind words flowed out of my mouth.

"Thanks," she replied. "You too."

After practice, I could barely get off the gym floor, my entire body was aching and covered with sweat.

"Get out of the gym!" Sue commanded. "Big babies!"

I pushed myself off the floor, then made my way to the girls' locker room with Quinn and Brittany.  As I was changing, I listened to all the other girls complain about their exhaustion. Quinn, though, had made it known that we were not to complain to the other girls if we wanted them to see us as superior.

I finished packing my backpack after showering and getting changed, then left the locker room and made my way outside the school. Yesterday, walking home, though a longer walk, hadn't seemed like a big deal. Today, though, I was exhausted, so I barely kept up a paced walk all the way home.

At home, I tossed my backpack on the floor in my bedroom and flopped down on my bed. I thought for a few seconds. If I wanted to be as good as was expected on the Cheerios, I couldn't just rest. I needed to stretch and work on my splits. 

I had gotten my middle split for the first time this summer, which was also when I mastered the back handspring. I wanted to be better than good; I just had to impress Ms. Sylvester.

---

My mom got home just before supper with some takeout that we ate in the kitchen. We rarely ate at the dining room table for anything other than holidays, because it wasn't really worth it for just the two of us.

"Did you make the cheerleading squad?" Mom asked, trying to make conversation.

"I did," I replied, and although she was happy for me, I told her not to make a big deal out of it.

"I'm very proud of you, mija," she said.

I smiled. "Thanks for dinner. I'll be in my room."

---

I sat on my bed, listening to music for close to an hour before my phone buzzed notifying a text.

From Quinn: We're watching the football tryouts tomorrow after practice. Wanna come?
To Quinn: Sure

Watching the football tryouts may not have interested me, but I knew that I needed a popular boyfriend to help with my climb to the top of the social ladder. I was sure Quinn was already on it; Brittany probably would be too.

---

The next morning, the bus was late, almost making me miss attendance in my first class of the day.

"Miss Lopez," the teacher said. "Maybe try being early next time."

I ignored him and sat down in my desk, knowing it wouldn't be a good day.

---

Practice was hard. Not just hard, though; it was totally exhausting, just as it had been the day before, only worse, because I was already sore.

Quinn acted all tough, as though it wasn't tiring to her at all, and Brittany acted as though she was used to it, so she could power through. I felt like a failure.

As decided the day before, after we had changed back into our regular clothes, the three of us girls made our way to the football field. So many boys were trying out, and I knew most of them wouldn't make it. How we were supposed to find the ones that were guaranteed to be on the team?

Quinn pointed to a boy in the number 5 jersey. "Finn Hudson," she said. "He's supposed to be really good... So is that one; his name's Noah Puckerman."

How she knew everyone was beyond me, but I believed her when she said those boys were guaranteed to make the team.

"My eye's on Finn." She looked over at the tall male. And by tall, I mean freakishly tall.

"When will the team be picked?" I asked.

"Tomorrow," Quinn replied. "I'm going to talk to Finn after practice today, though."

I turned to look at Brittany. She seemed to be intently watching the players, but not in a creepy way.

"I think I'm going to head home," I told her and Quinn.

"Me too," Brittany said. "Where do you live?"

"Lima Heights Adjacent," I said. Most people had never heard of it, so I pointed in the general direction of my house.

"I live that way too! Do you want to walk together?"

I agreed, but only because Brittany seemed so excited. We told Quinn we were leaving as she left us anyway to talk to Finn.

"Do you like cats?" Brittany asked. The question came out of the blue.

"I guess," I replied, unsure where she was planning on going with the question.

She said, "I have a cat, if you'd like to meet him. Not today though; I have dance lessons today."

I smiled at her randomness. I don't know why I thought so nicely of her and didn't really have anything mean to say. Normally, people like her would annoy me.

"Maybe after practice tomorrow?" Brittany asked.

"Sure," I replied.

"Well, this is my house. Have a good walk home!" She pointed to a pretty large house across the street from the sidewalk we were on.

I still had a ways to walk, so I picked up a jog and rushed home. Though exhausted, I stretched, did my homework, then tried my best to dance along free-style to some music. I told myself it was because I wanted to be good for the Cheerios, but I may have had other reasons too.

---

When my mom got home, we ate supper in the kitchen like usual. She asked me about my day, and I told her about Cheerios practice.

"You're going to your abuela's after practice tomorrow," Mom said, leaving no room for discussion.

I thought about it for a second, then remembered. "I was actually going to go to someone's house after school. She's on the squad, too."

"But I told your abuela..."

"I'll just tell her I'm busy," I said. "Brittany's my friend."

My mom knew how hard it had always been for me to make friends, so she agreed.

"I'm glad you're making friends, mija," she said.

I just smiled in return. It was weird how I just knew Brittany and I were friends, and it was weird just how much I actually enjoyed spending time with her, even though I had just met her.

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So, I'm hoping to update this fanfiction every Friday. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

-watchingglee3