Brittana- Invisible String

Chapter 1

Present Day

Santana stares into space, deep in thought and breathing heavily. One hand rest on her thigh, stroking the creases on her dress in an attempt to self soothe. The other, wrapped around the stem of her wine glass tightly, but not tight enough to shatter the glass.

In just a few moments time she'd be expected to make her eagerly awaited 'maid of honour' speech, and all eyes would be on her as she followed the protocol of sharing precious memories made with her best friend, cracking jokes and entertaining the audience with embarrassing stories from the past, and toasting the happy couple for a happy future ahead, blessing them with lovely words. That was the part she worried about the most.

How was she going to do this?

"Take a deep breath and start at the beginning" Santana told herself "Tell them how we 1st met"

She cast her mind back to that day in Kindergarten

"Santana, this is Brittany, I'd like you to be her buddy and look after her this week." Said Mrs Melvyn, ushering a blonde teary child towards the confident, dark haired Latina.

It was Santana Lopez's 1st day at school, and like everything else she had taken to it like a duck to water. School didn't faze her. Brittany S. Pierce on the other hand was struggling with the adjustment and had started crying as soon as her mother stood up to leave.

Mrs Pierce had reluctantly left her precious daughter crying, and in the trust of Mrs Melvyn, a friendly but firm woman with years of teaching experience. Mrs Melvyn was able to tell immediately which children were going to settle in quickly like Santana, and which ones were going to take a little longer, like Brittany.

As she did every year, she would buddy up a settled child with a struggling one, in the hope the settled child would be able to pull the struggling one out of their comfort zone. Sometimes it didn't work, and the 2 children would clash, sometimes it did, and the children would become good friends. And sometimes, such as the case with Brittany and Santana, fate would lay a hand and a friendship would be built to last a lifetime.

Santana smiled at the responsibility suddenly stowed upon her and smiled at the girl in front of her, who was slightly taller than her.

"Hi Brittany, I'm Santana. Don't be upset, school is meant to be fun, would you like to go over there and play with the princess castle?"

Brittany chewed the sleeve of her jumper and eyed Santana suspiciously for a moment, before turning towards the princess castle in the corner with a hesitant smile. She loved princesses, and fairies and unicorns, and the castle did look pretty spectacular. As if she could read her mind, Santana spoke again.

"I hear they even have the Unicorn Barbie set"

Brittany turned back towards the pretty Latina girl and removed the sleeve from her mouth, as Mrs Melvyn stood behind her looking at the 2 girls expectantly, in hope that her plan had worked to coax Brittany out of her shell.

"Okay" said Brittany in a quiet shy voice.

And with that the two girls headed off to play, Mrs Melvyn heading off with a smile to "buddy up" her next set of children. As the girls sat down to play, Santana turned to Brittany.

"Don't worry Brit-Brit, I will take care of you now"

And with that Santana extended out her pinkie finger to make a promise to Brittany. It is something she always did with her Abuela, and now she was extending the gesture to Brittany, who with a hint of uncertainty reached out to link pinkies with her new friend. As their fingers linked, Brittany smiled at Santana. She believed her.