new directions | glee

21. ALL OR NOTHING ☑️

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE |
all or nothing

***

REGIONALS WAS THIS week and it was safe to say that show choir was the least of Kayla's concerns. Everything was going to shit quickly. She still hadn't spoken to Sam since he admitted that he was kind of still into her. Dave was in town for Regionals and he'd made it his sole mission to annoy the shit out of her and now Brittany was making some grandeur speech in front of the whole club about how she was the most talented member of the New Directions and would no longer perform unless she got every solo. It took Kayla a bit by surprise. Brittany was usually only like this during Britney Spears week.

"Blaine, you're shorter than the average lawn gnome. Joe, you look like a Yucatan spider monkey. Tina is... you know, she's Tina," Brittany rambled on as Sam frowned, getting up from his seat to approach his girlfriend.

"Wait, wait. Baby, you know I love you, but," Sam cut himself off as Brittany pulled out her phone. "Why are you texting? I'm trying to talk to you."

Brittany looked up after she finished her text, grinning at him as he looked down with bugged eyes and a gasp. "Did you really just break up with me over text?"

Kayla's eyes widened and her gaze connected with Brittany who gave her a knowing look. She did not just break up with Sam so Kayla could swoop in. In a way it was sweet, but also she wasn't just going to start hitting on him the second he became single. Brittany made one last hurtful comment to the group before she stormed out Rachel Berry style. God, was everybody in this club going to storm out this year? Kayla sighed, chasing straight after Brittany. Blaine and Tina had already pulled Sam into a hug. She'd deal with that later.

"Britt, stop it." Kayla groaned as Brittany looked back at her and just kept running away. She picked up her feet, cursing herself for having put on her boots today as she went an opposite direction, cornering Brittany in between a water fountain and a classroom.

Kayla panted as she spoke. She might be an athlete, but she was sure as hell no runner. "Why are running from me?"

"Because you're gonna have to get use to me being gone." Brittany answered, ignoring Kayla's eyes.

Kayla's brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about? Graduation isn't for another three months."

Brittany closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before she finally looked at Kayla's face. "I got early acceptance. I leave right after Regionals."

"What?" Kayla mumbled. She wasn't necessarily asking for clarification. She was more just processing the words.

She knew Brittany had been accepted, but there was a difference between a letter confirming the future and early acceptance pushing it closer. The idea that she wouldn't have Brittany with her for the last three months of their high school careers was one she was having a hard time grasping. Sometimes she forgot that she and Brittany weren't immediately best friends. That first year Brittany stayed glued to Santana's side and Kayla did the same with Rachel, but towards the end, there was this agreement that they were friends. They didn't really need to have a conversation about it. They just were. But now Brittany was leaving and it suddenly felt like a part of Kayla was going with her.

She didn't realize she was tearing up until Brittany pulled her into a hug and she felt her friend's nimble fingers carding through her dark tresses. To date, there were only two times Brittany had ever held her like this. Freshman year when she sang Girls Like Girls and Brittany thanked her and sophomore year, right after she and Rachel broke it off and she spent the night at Brittany's because she didn't know where else to go. This year had been hard for them, but in a way, they felt closer than they ever had before. Of course Kayla still had some hanging resentment that Sam chose Brittany over her, but she was getting over it. Somehow, despite the jealousy, they became a team and they loved each other and the idea that that was suddenly over without any kind of warning froze her.