Brittany was nervous. She was surrounded by a lot of other girls in cheerleading uniforms doing warm-up stretches. These girls all looked like they were the popular ones in the school. The ones that were invited to parties and had a lot of friends and went out on dates. Those kind of girls. They chatted easily with each other, while Brittany was hesitant to open her mouth for fear that whatever she said would make them think she was stupid.
She had a lot of friends when she was little. Her outgoing and optimistic nature made other kids easily drawn to her. But as she got older, her wacky comments and struggles in class resulted in the other kids calling her weird and stupid. Once middle school started, nobody wanted to be friends with the girl who used crayons to take her notes except for Becky Jackson, who had Down Syndrome and wasn't all that nice of a person.
Suddenly, she was no longer invited to birthday or pool parties. People gave her funny looks when she talked about the multitude of thoughts that flitted through her brain on a constant basis. No one really understood her. It was hard to express what she was trying to say through words, especially when she sometimes mixed them up.
The closest friend she had now was her cat, Lord Tubbington. She told him all of her secrets and wishes, and he was always there to listen to her. Brittany could swear that he understood what she told him, and it got to the point where she really kind of thought he was a real person. At least, if she pretended he was real, then it would mean she had someone she could get advice from and who would be there for her when she needed it that wasn't her parents.
Most of the time, the only way she felt truly comfortable expressing herself anymore was through dance. She had always been in near constant motion since she was little. Her hands or feet had to be doing something, otherwise she felt restless. Brittany's mom enrolled her in dance classes at the age of three to help her get some of her energy out, and the blonde fell in love. She found as she got older that she was really good at it. She naturally knew how to move to music. She knew what her body was supposed to do from one motion to the next. It was as easy to her as breathing. And when she learned that she could express her emotions through movement, it became her outlet for everything she couldn't say with words.
As high school was nearing, her parents became worried about her. She was still a sweet and optimistic girl, but she wasn't looking forward to starting at a new school. She was nervous about how big the high school was and how the upperclassmen would treat her, and she still had no friends to help her through it all. So Brittany's mom talked about how she had been a cheerleader in high school and how it had helped her to make friends and enjoy her time in school. She suggested that Brittany try out for the high school squad in hopes that it would introduce her to some girls and give her the opportunity to make some friends.
So here she was, at cheerleading tryouts two weeks before the start of her freshman year at William McKinley High School. Brittany noticed right away that she didn't fit in. Most of the other girls were wearing their Cheerios uniforms with their hair up in perfect ponytails. Brittany was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, her blonde hair loose down her back. She was glad she had brought a hair band with her so she could pull her long locks up before they started so she could at least look like the others. But first, she needed to get some of her nerves out.
So she started to dance.
As Brittany was doing a spin, she noticed a dark-haired girl watching her from across the gym. Brittany couldn't quite tell what the look was on the other girl's face, but it caused her stomach to clench a little. It wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but she didn't know what the feeling was.
She took a closer look at the girl as she turned into another move, taking in the dark eyes and smooth, caramel skin. Brittany thought the girl was the prettiest girl she had ever seen. She really hoped she could meet her and talk to her and maybe be her friend. She thought that she had never wanted to be somebody's friend before more than she wanted to be this girl's friend. She didn't know exactly why she was so drawn to the girl.
She had gotten used to not really having any friends. She was really lonely, but she had moved past the constant yearning for someone to talk to and connect with. This was the first time in years that she had this kind of desire to be close to someone else. She wasn't sure why she was all of a sudden feeling like this for a girl she hadn't even talked to yet.
The next time Brittany looked over at the girl, she had started talking to a blonde-haired girl and was no longer watching Brittany dance. Brittany felt a little disappointed that she had lost the brunette's attention. And for some reason, she felt a little jealous of the blonde. She really wanted the brunette to be talking to her and be her friend, not that other girl.
Brittany had stopped dancing and was paying such close attention to the other two girls that she jumped, startled when the gym doors banged open. She turned to see an older woman wearing a tracksuit in McKinley red and white stride quickly in, holding a megaphone and a clipboard. She had short blonde hair and a scowl on her face, and Brittany was a little scared at the woman's intimidating demeanor.
"Listen up ladies!" Brittany flinched as the woman, who she assumed was the coach, yelled into the megaphone. "If anybody doesn't know who I am, you should leave immediately."
Brittany looked around to see if anyone was leaving, unsure if she should walk out since she didn't really know who the woman was. Nobody else was moving, so she stayed where she was and the woman continued to yell through her megaphone.
"But since I like to make an entrance, I will introduce myself anyway. I am National Championship Cheerleading Coach Sue Sylvester! I may or may not also be an international spy, but you didn't hear that from me."
Brittany was pretty sure the thing about being a spy wasn't true. If it was, then the coach was probably the worst spy ever, since she just blew her cover by telling everyone there about it. She wondered what it would be like to be a spy. She figured it would be pretty cool, but she wouldn't like having to use a gun or be in danger or anything. So she probably didn't want to be a spy.
Brittany really didn't like confrontation or people yelling, which was why she didn't like the way the coach was yelling through the megaphone. It was making her really uncomfortable. All of a sudden, she really wanted to find that pretty dark-haired girl again. She looked around the gym, trying to find the girl as the coach loudly spoke. She was disappointed when she couldn't find her.
"After warm-ups, you will be divided up into two groups to learn a routine. After you complete that group routine, you will then be split into smaller groups based on your capabilities so I can get a more individual look at your skills. Once that is finished, I will make my cuts and post the rosters for the main squad and the alternate squad. And as you older girls know, just because you were on the squad last year doesn't mean that you will make it again this year. So impress me!"
Brittany wasn't really concerned about making the main squad. She just really wanted to maybe get on the alternate squad or something so she could hopefully get to know some of the girls and maybe make some friends. She needed to do well enough to at least impress the coach and the other girls so they might like her. She wanted to meet at least one person who could help her through the maze of hallways at school, not to mention the increasingly confusing homework she was sure to have.
Before she knew it, Brittany was put into a large group of girls to learn the routine that Coach Sue had outlined for them. The routine was fairly simple, in Brittany's opinion. She had been dancing for so long and had so many dance routines choreographed for her or that she choreographed herself that she picked up moves quickly. She found herself mastering the routine after the first run-through, and she really wanted to add her own moves to it, but she held back. She didn't want the coach to think she didn't know what she was doing or that she questioned the coach's abilities.
After running through the routine a couple of times, Brittany looked around the gym. She knew she was looking for the brunette. She spotted her pretty soon. The girl was good, and picked up the moves quickly. She had a confident look on her face, but there was a slight look of uncertainty in her eyes. The girl was doing a really good job of hiding it, but Brittany could see it. Brittany wanted to comfort her and tell her not to worry, because she knew the girl would make the squad. Brittany believed in her, even though she didn't even know her yet.
The girl kept looking around at everyone, comparing herself to them. She watched as the girl seemed to come to the conclusion that she was satisfied with how she stacked up. But then the girl looked around more, as if she was searching for something. A sad look came over her face as she apparently didn't find what she was looking for.
It wasn't long until the larger groups were split up into small groups of five to learn a new routine. She was put into a group with two current Cheerios, the blonde girl who had talked to the brunette, and the girl who had been on her mind all afternoon herself. Brittany was happy to find herself grouped with the brunette. She really wanted to know her name and hoped that the girl would like her. When the dark-haired girl smiled at her, she smiled back. She was happy that the girl smiled at her. She was pretty sure it meant the girl liked her, especially since she hadn't smiled at anyone else in their group. Maybe she had a chance to become friends with the girl, as long as nobody else beat her to it first.
They jumped right into learning the routine. Brittany noticed quickly that the other girls in her group picked up the moves as fast as she had. They all had the routine down after the first time, and they were able to move perfectly in sync. They appeared to be some of the best at the tryout, so Brittany was hoping it meant she had a chance at making the squad. She knew now that the dark-haired girl was really, really good. Brittany hoped that they could be on the same squad. That would be awesome.
Brittany was a little nervous while the coach watched them perform. She had never cheered before, so she was apprehensive that she wasn't going to be as good as the other girls who had cheered before. She wasn't nervous about doing the routine necessarily, but she was nervous that she wouldn't perform that well and the coach would yell some more.
"Jones, Adler, glad to see you guys haven't decided to slack this summer," Sue said to the two current Cheerios. She turned to study Brittany and the other two non-Cheerios for a moment. "You three, front and center."
Brittany and the other two girls moved to stand in front of the coach. The other blonde stood directly in front of the older woman. Brittany and the brunette stood slightly behind the girl, side by side. It felt really natural to her to be in that position, although she didn't know why. She glanced at the dark-haired girl out of the corner of her eye. She could see that the girl was nervous for some reason. Brittany thought that the girl had no reason to be nervous. She was awesome.
Bur Brittany was definitely nervous. She didn't want the coach to yell at them, and the way she was staring at them so seriously made her worry that the words she was going to say would not be pleasant. She clasped her hands behind her back and stood stiffly, waiting for the woman to speak.
"I haven't seen you three before. You all freshmen?" Sue asked.
"Yes, coach," the blonde girl answered first. Brittany was glad someone else spoke first. She didn't want to make a comment that someone would think was stupid about not really understanding what the term 'freshmen' actually meant. She didn't know why they were called that, because they weren't men. And what did being fresh have anything to do with it?
"Yes," the brunette spoke next.
Brittany thought the girl's voice sounded so nice. It was a little raspy, and she thought that it would be a voice she could listen to as they talked for hours. It soothed her a little, but she was still intimidated by the close proximity of the overbearing coach. She managed to nod in answer to Sue's question, however, looking down at her feet nervously before looking back up.
"Names?" Sue asked.
"Quinn Fabray, coach," the blonde replied quickly. Brittany could tell that this girl was a natural leader. She was fine with that, since she didn't like to be in charge. She didn't have any problems letting this girl be in charge here. Quinn taking the lead helped Brittany relax a little, as she took some of the pressure off of her.
"I'm Santana Lopez," the brunette supplied. Brittany thought that Santana's name suited her. She was clearly Latina with that kind of name, and Brittany wondered if she spoke Spanish. She thought it would be cool to speak Spanish fluently. Maybe Santana could teach her. Oh wait, they were waiting for her name.
"Brittany Pierce," Brittany answered the coach nervously. She hated feeling this uncomfortable. The coach still hadn't smiled at them, and Brittany couldn't help but feel restless. She started rolling her foot as she kept her toe on the ground, and clasped her hands together in front of her to keep them still. Sue just continued to scrutinize them, and Brittany fought against the desire to dance to get rid of her nerves.
"Well, ladies, I have to say that for freshman I am impressed." Sue then focused on Quinn. "You may go far under my tutelage."
Brittany felt herself relax fully, relieved that the coach wasn't going to yell at them or criticize them in front of the others. She couldn't help but grin at the other two girls, who grinned back. She ignored the girls in uniform who were scowling at them. They didn't matter at the moment. Santana lit up when she grinned, and Brittany thought she was even prettier than before. She thought that Santana should smile all of the time.
"I knew we would do well," Quinn told them both with a smile. Brittany smiled back at her. She thought Quinn might be her friend, too. She seemed nice enough and it would be great to have more than one friend. That is if Santana wanted to be her friend, too.
It didn't seem like it was much longer before the tryouts were over and the squad rosters had been posted. Brittany wasn't in a hurry to see the lists. She didn't have high expectations coming into the tryouts, so she was fine hanging back to let the crowd thin out before approaching the rosters. She watched Santana as the brunette stood back from the crowd. She had a blank mask on her face, but Brittany could tell she was nervous based on the girl's clasped hands and the tightness around her eyes.
Brittany decided to go up to the lists when Santana did. That way she could maybe be there to celebrate with her. She knew Santana would make the main squad. She was that good. Brittany hoped it would give her a chance to actually talk to the girl. Santana turned to see who had walked up beside her in front of the rosters. Brittany noticed the brunette's shoulders relax a little as she saw who it was before turning back to look at the paper.
Brittany looked at the roster for the main squad, searching for Santana's name. She moved down the list until she saw the girl's name. She smiled, happy for the girl, before she moved down further and saw her name below Santana's. She was even more pleased. They had both made the main squad! They were going to be able to hang out at practice and maybe get to know each other! Brittany couldn't wait.
She immediately turned to look at Santana and grinned at the brunette, who was grinning back at her. Brittany could tell that Santana was really happy. She liked to see the pure joy on the Latina's face. It was much better than the nervousness and uncertainty Brittany had seen before. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of the other girl's shoulders.
"Looks like we're the only freshmen who made the main squad." Brittany reluctantly turned from Santana's chocolate eyes to find that Quinn had made her way over to them. She was glad Quinn had made it, too. She really thought they could maybe all be good friends now.
"I still can't believe I made it. I was just hoping for the alternate squad." She really couldn't believe she made it. She knew she was a good dancer, but she hadn't ever cheered before. And she had learned a long time ago that she was never really at the top of anything, so to make the main squad as a freshman was a surprise.
"Well I knew I was going to make it, and we were all fierce out there," Santana said cockily. "Those other Cheerios better watch out, because we are going to take over this squad!"
Brittany wanted to giggle at the Latina's exuberance. She had to admit she was feeling pretty excited herself.
"I agree that we were fierce together. We should have a sleepover at my house this weekend so we can get to know each other better, since we are going to be spending the next four years ruling this place."
Brittany couldn't believe Quinn's words. She hadn't been invited to a sleepover since elementary school. This was turning out better than she had hoped. She quickly nodded in acceptance, pleased to see that Santana did as well. Quinn left for the locker room, leaving Santana and Brittany alone.
"She seems nice," Brittany said, glad she may be on her way to making her first friends in years. She smiled at Santana, who turned to meet her eyes. Brittany saw the girl get a slightly dazed look on her face as she looked at Brittany. She wasn't sure what that was about, but she kind of found it odd that Santana just kind of stared at her for a minute. The brunette seemed to shake herself out of her little daze and the confident mask came back, which disappointed Brittany a little. She wasn't sure why, though.
"She's alright, but I think she is convinced she is going to be the head bitch in charge here," Santana said. "She's going to have to fight me for it."
Brittany was a little confused. Santana seemed to dislike Quinn, but hadn't acted like that before. "Why'd you agree to do a sleepover if you don't like her?"
"Well, I didn't say I didn't like her. I just don't really trust her. I think I would be better off to keep her close to make sure she doesn't try to stab me in the back or something, you know?"
"No, not really."
Brittany honestly didn't know. She didn't have anyone ever act like that around her before. Everybody either just ignored her or blatantly made fun of her. She didn't understand why you would be nice to someone just to try to keep them from being mean to you. From her experience, being friendly didn't stop someone from being mean if they wanted to be. She was nice to pretty much everyone, and they still said mean things to her.
"Nevermind," Santana told her, as her face softened a little at Brittany's confusion. "We should all stick together though, especially since we are the only freshmen on the main squad."
Brittany could see the nervousness creep back into Santana as she said this. She wasn't sure why, though, because Brittany was ecstatic that Santana wanted to hang out with her. She tried to downplay her excitement, though. She didn't want to scare the other girl off.
"Yeah, I mean I think it would be really nice," she said, thinking about how amazing it would be if Santana would be her friend. "I didn't really have a lot of friends at my old school."
She got a little sad revealing that, but she felt that Santana should know for some reason. Santana looked a little surprised when she said that.
"I think we will be best friends, Brit." Brittany's heart nearly burst with happiness at Santana's words. She grinned at the brunette, her face feeling like it was going to split from the force of the smile. She was going to have a friend! And it was going to be Santana! She couldn't remember ever being this happy. As Santana grinned back at her, she almost couldn't believe this was happening.
"Really?" She just had to make sure this was real. She wanted to be Santana's friend so badly, and it would be the icing on the cake if she could actually be Santana's best friend.
Santana nodded at her, and Brittany couldn't help but throw her arms around the brunette in a tight hug. This was turning out to be one of the best days of her life. Santana hugged her back, laughing a little, and Brittany wanted to jump for joy.
As the girl's arms held her, Brittany's normally frantic mind started to calm down. All of the other countless thoughts and ideas that usually raced through her brain were pushed into the background, and the foremost thought on her mind was Santana. That rarely happened to Brittany, and she was surprised. She figured it was because she hadn't had someone to call a friend in a long time.
She couldn't wait to get home and tell her parents that she actually made a friend. Her dad would be so happy for her, and she knew her mom would be excited. She pulled back from Santana, a little sad at having to leave her new friend, but happy that she could say she had a new friend. Her mind started to race again, and she mumbled something about Lord Tubbington getting locked out of the house because he forgot his keys, which he often did if Brittany wasn't there to remind him.
Brittany left after a quick goodbye to Santana, practically floating on a cloud. She was hopeful for the first time about starting high school. She really thought that this was going to turn out to be a great year for her. And she knew it was going to be because of Santana Lopez.