Sam shook his head and rested a tightly clenched fist onto the top of the piano. "No. This is not okay. We should all be together. We should all be singing together, performing together, and competing together. The glee club is a family!"
Mercedes sighed and crossed her legs where she sat on the piano bench. "If you came here to convince me to go back, you can save your breath. From the start of glee club, it's been the Rachel Berry Show. Other people only get solos when she doesn't feel like singing or when she decided to stand back for a while. Heck, even if she does want a solo and someone else gets it…we all had to be subject to her pouting. It's time for the rest of us to have a little bit of the spotlight, with or without her approval." Slowly, she stood. "I really had hoped that you would've accepted our invitation to be in The Troubletones as a male lead. Since Artie joined, the group is not exclusive to girls and we just thought you'd like the opportunity to shine."
He had to give it to her. There was a maturity in Mercedes Jones that was just beginning to show before he'd left Lima that summer. It was easy to see how she had easily stepped up to be the leader of The Troubletones under Ms. Corcoran. It was also just as easy to fall in love with her again. Not that he'd ever stopped being in love with her.
Sam watched her walk to the choir room door and called out, "I didn't come back here to see the club split apart like this!"
She gave a wry chuckle, pausing with one hand on the door knob. "Then why did you come back?"
"Wow. You really have to ask that?"
Mercedes practically spun on her heel to face him. "Yes, Sam, I really have to ask that. Why did you come back? Because your dad has a job again? Because you just missed us here in little ol' McKinley?"
Sam was taken aback by the hostility in her words. "Why are you so angry?"
"Why am I so…?"
She got halfway to him before Mr. Schuester came into the door, followed closely by Finn. They both stopped and looked between Mercedes and Sam curiously, feeling the obvious tension in the room. Mr. Schuester cleared his throat. "Mercedes. It's good to see you in here again."
Mercedes gave a polite smile that almost seemed forced. "Thanks…but I was just leaving." She whispered an apology as she brushed past her former teacher to leave the room.
Finn frowned. "Sam…what was that about?"
Sam sunk down onto the piano bench and crossed his arms on top of his knees, leaning forward dejectedly. "I leave for less than four months and things get this messed up. What the hell happened?"
"Happened…? Oh." Finn glanced back toward the door, suddenly understanding. "I don't know. A lot of things just hit the fan, I guess. We're doing the best that we can under the circumstances. I mean, The Troubletones are incredible but we've got just as much talent as them. Right, Mr. Schue?"
Will Schuester hadn't looked away from the door since Mercedes had gone out of it. He'd made plenty of mistakes when it came to his students. He encouraged some but didn't encourage others nearly as much as he should have. He barely understood himself how he had gotten to the place where he could yell at a student like he did the day that Mercedes had quit. Did he do it out of frustration? Out of annoyance that one of his students presumed to suggest that he didn't know what was for the good of the group?
"…Mr. Schue?"
Will blinked and nodded. "Yes, Finn. We're doing the best that we can." He went over to his music stand, busying himself with organizing the sheet music there.
Sam observed him silently and then stood, walking past Finn after giving the other boy a pat on the back. "See you in glee club. I've got to get to class."
"Sure man. See you later."
Hefting his book bag onto one shoulder, Sam left the choir room. He had wanted to come back to McKinley for one reason and one reason only. And she was actually happy with the way things were. How was everyone okay with all of these changes? Glee club wasn't glee club anymore and everyone was just accepting it. He watched as Santana and Brittany disappeared into Ms. Corcoran's office, probably for a rehearsal. He was glad that the members of The Troubletones were finally able to showcase their talents. Admittedly, when he had heard that Mercedes was one of the group's leads, the first thing he had felt was pride and happiness that she was finally being noticed for the incredible singer that she was. But this separation couldn't be for the best. It couldn't be. He was determined to prove it to everyone and he knew exactly who to start with.