"Brittany, get your ass out of bed, you're going to be late for school!" Jane Pierce called up the stairs of their split level house. When Brittany didn't respond, Jane rolled her eyes.

"Fine, see what I care. There's breakfast on the table if you decide to do something with your life!"

Drama queen, Brittany thought to herself. She sat up in her bed with a stretch and a yawn. She stood up and rummaged through her dresser before finding an acceptable pair of jeans and a sweatshirt to pull on.

"What's for breakfast?" Brittany asked as she shuffled into the kitchen.

"Soggy cereal."

"Ugh, Mom, why is it soggy?"

"Cause I poured it for you ten minutes ago."

Brittany rolled her eyes. Her mother acted like she was always late. Really she was only late, like, 50% of the time. And she was only ever late to school because you know, school sucked.

"Alright baby, I'm off to work,"

Brittany kept a straight face as her mother kissed her forehead.

"Don't be late for dinner tonight, or that'll be soggy too," the woman chipped as she walked out the front door.

Brittany rolled her eyes again.

"Hey, B, you coming to Cheerios practice tonight?" Quinn asked as she sat down across from her friend at lunch. Brittany looked down at the school lunch that'd been slopped onto her tray. She could never tell what Monday's lunch was.

"Don't think I can, Q. I'm still on uh, 'academic probation'." Brittany used her fingers to make air quotes. "And I'm definitely going to be there for a little longer with that math test I just bombed this morning."

Quinn shook her head. "Britt, why don't you get a tutor? We need you for Nationals. And you should just try and pass your classes, of course."

"You don't think I'm trying? And how the hell am I supposed to afford some braniac who charges god knows what an hour to tutor me. In like, every subject."

"I'll tutor you Brittany," Puck sat down next to Quinn.

Both girls snorted and looked at him with their "this should be good" faces.

"Puck, you're almost failing everything too."

"Almost. And besides, who said I was talking about academics?" Puck waggled his eyebrows and Quinn rolled her eyes while Brittany laughed again.

"Oh shove it, Noah." Brittany said before she took a bite of her chocolate chip cookie. At least that was identifiable.

"Hey, that's what I'm trying to do," he shrugged his shoulders. Quinn slapped him playfully on the arm.

Brittany opened her mouth to say something but lost her train of thought when someone else caught her eye.

"Who is that?"

"Who is who?" Quinn asked, turning around to follow Brittany's line of vision. "Oh. New girl. Rich as hell."

"Hm," Brittany said as she watched the new girl make her way to an open table. Puck popped up in his seat, blocking her view. When Brittany moved to look around him, he followed her, seemingly intent on blocking her view.

"Puck, stop -"

"No, you stop. Don't even try, Britt."

"What do you mean, don't even try?"

"Yeah, what do you mean, don't even try?" Quinn chimed in, looking confused.

Brittany grimaced. She still hadn't told Quinn, who was bound to be pissed Puck knew before her. Or be pissed at Brittany for other reasons, anyway.

Puck cocked his head and gave Brittany a look.

"Fine, fine." Brittany sat back down, still looking in the direction of the new girl before finally looking back to Puck and Quinn.

"Quinn...I'm bi." Brittany braced herself and Puck took a bite of his sandwich.

"Bi? What do you mean, 'bi'?"

"Like, bi as in bisexual as in I like both boys and girls." Brittany eyed the silver cross hanging around Quinn's neck.

"I know what bi means, Brittany, thanks for the sexuality 101 refresher. I mean 'bi?' as in why the hell does Puck know before me?"

"T-That's what you're mad about?"

"What else would I be mad about?"

"I don't know, you're president of the celibacy club and your parents are like, Republicans."

"Just because I value not having sex before marriage, or at least pretending that I do, doesn't mean I'm a homophobe. Or biphobe, in this case. And my parents can get lost, just don't tell them and you'll still be fine to stay over at my house." Quinn smiled.

Puck thought it was safe to rejoin the conversation. "Well now that that's done, you can still forget about the new girl Britt."

"What, why?"

They all looked back in her direction. It looked like she had a salad in a nice plastic container with a can of Diet Coke next to it for lunch. Brittany tried to memorize everything about her and was interrupted by Quinn.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Puck."

"What?" Brittany looked at her friends before looking back across the lunchroom.

"That girl is straight. Capital S." Quinn said. Puck nodded sagely and took another bite out of his sandwich.

"How do you know? You didn't even know I was bi until two seconds ago!" Brittany watched the new girl tuck a loose strand of jet black hair behind her ear.

"She's eating a salad and drinking a Diet Coke. That's like the straight girl meal of champions." Puck said.

Brittany made a face. "That doesn't even make sense. I enjoy salad and Coke."

"Yeah, and you're straight half the time," Puck reasoned.

"That's not really how that works." Brittany rolled her eyes.

"Her name's Santana," Quinn added. "She's filthy rich...and I mean, just look at her, B."

Brittany was definitely looking at her. She couldn't stop looking at her. Santana was maybe the most beautiful girl Brittany had ever seen.

"You still haven't given me any valid reasons why I can't at least try talking to her." Brittany said, still watching the girl across the room.

The bell rang before Quinn and Puck could say anymore, and the three friends got up to clear their trays before heading to their next classes. When Brittany looked back over her shoulder, Santana was gone.

Brittany was walking down the hallway at the end of the day when she noticed the glee club sign up sheet on the announcement board. Well, she didn't notice the sign up sheet, but a name written perfectly on the top of the list.

She read the name 'Santana Lopez' and smirked at the heart that was written instead of the 'o'. Brittany looked up and down the hall. Puck and Quinn would tease her mercilessly, but the thought didn't stop her from picking up the pen that was linked to the sheet of paper.

There were a few other names on the list and Brittany wrote hers down on the next available line. She couldn't really sing, but they danced too, right? Brittany started walking towards her locker. Was being on academic probation going to prevent her from joining the glee club? At least it was free - her mom would throw a fit if Brittany tried signing up for something that cost money. The only reason she could be on the Cheerios was because she got used uniforms from an upperclassmen who quit and gave Brittany her uniforms before Coach Sue could burn them in a bout of rage.

Brittany collected her books from her locker and slipped them into her backpack. The first club meeting was tomorrow, so she figured she could see how it went. She got giddy at the thought of being in the same room with Santana again. All afternoon Brittany had hoped to see Santana in one of her classes, but she'd been disappointed every time.

Once she'd gathered all her books she went to the front entrance where Puck was already waiting for her.

"Another day down the drain," he shook his head and draped his arm around her shoulders as they made their way out the front door. They walked across the parking lot to Puck's truck.

"I'm taking you on the scenic route," Puck grinned.

"Ugh, Puck c'mon I can't be late for dinner my mom will be pissed." Brittany groaned.

"Calm down, it'll take two seconds extra."

As they drove Brittany watched for the alternate route, but it was only after they'd crossed over into Lima Heights that Puck then went down a different street. He stopped in front of the biggest house Brittany had ever seen.

"What the..." Brittany rolled down her window and leaned out to get a better look. There were huge hedges that seemed to go around the property, but the house was still visible, looming ridiculously higher than its neighbors.

"Your lady friend's humble abode," Puck said with raised eyebrows.

"No way..." Brittany kept looking at the house. "Wasn't this where that crazy party was last year?"

"Yeah, but the house was gutted then. Now it's heated and probably filled with shit more expensive than the two of us combined.

"Her dad's some doctor, and I don't know what her mom does, but from the looks of things she probably shits Benjamins."

Brittany only shook her head. "In fucking Lima Heights?"

"The property probably cost 10 bucks," Puck shrugged as he started up the engine. Brittany rolled up her window and watched the house for as long as she could until it was out of sight as they drove away.

A few minutes later Puck pulled up in front of Brittany's house. Brittany frowned at how rundown it looked after staring at that monster mansion. She'd have to cut the grass this weekend too. It was already browning with leaves collecting for the fall, but she'd clean it up nonetheless.

"You wanna stay for dinner?" She offered as she hopped out of the truck.

"Nah, thanks though, got a date with a cougar."

"Gross."

"Hey, she pays for my shit. And hell, maybe you can stop by that mansion and get yourself your own sugar mama!" He winked and let out a laugh when Brittany gave him the finger.

"See you tomorrow asshole."

"Later, Britt."

Brittany let herself inside and dropped her bag on the couch. "Hey mom, I'm home," she called out. When she didn't get a response she went into the kitchen and found a post-it note on the fridge.

-Change of plans, went out with Todd! Fix yourself something from the fridge, don't wait up xo mom

Brittany scowled and opened the fridge, which was sparsely populated. She then opened the freezer and pulled out one of her mom's Lean Cuisines. At least with her mom out she could use the computer, Brittany thought to herself as her dinner turned in the microwave. They had an old desktop between the two of them and were pirating internet from their neighbors. Not the ideal situation, but it was the best they could do for now.

When the microwave beeped Brittany pulled her dinner out and slid it on a plate, grabbing a fork from the dishrack and a soda from the fridge. She settled into the worn office chair at the desk in the living room and booted up the computer. Brittany took a bite of her ravioli and cursed as it burned her tongue. She quickly chugged some of her soda, letting out a burp and a relieve sigh when it cooled her mouth.

After she got logged on, she pulled up Facebook and found herself typing 'Santana Lopez' into the search bar. Pathetic, she did her best to ignore the voice in the back of her mind.

There was only one search result, and her profile was private so all Brittany could see was the small icon that served as her picture. It was her, that was for sure. Wearing sunglasses and a bikini top in what looked like a beautiful location. No boy in it at least, and she felt a flutter of desperate hope in her chest. Closing out of the page, Brittany took another bite of her dinner and checked her email, but she rarely got anything of interest.

Suddenly, she heard a scratching sound in the kitchen. She picked up her microwave dinner, which was now cooling rapidly, and went to investigate.

"Oh, you again," Brittany shook her head with a smile as she opened the glass sliding doors to the porch. A large cat sat back from where he'd been scratching moments ago. Brittany took one last bite before putting the remains of her dinner out on the porch. The cat immediately began lapping at the ravioli.

"Lean Cuisine, Lord Tubbington. To help you watch that figure of yours," Brittany said as the cat meowed its appreciation. "One day I'll buy you real cat food," Brittany mumbled wistfully. She crouched down and scratched Lord Tubbington's head as he ate. When the cat finished he gave Brittany's hand one quick lick before waddling back down off the porch.

"Rude," Brittany said as she watched the cat go. She gave a sigh before she picked up the now empty container and headed back inside. Brittany ignored her bag full of homework and started loading an episode of Friends to watch on the computer, all the while trying not to think of the new girl.