Hello my friends~

This has been sitting on my computer for a while now and I sort of just found it.

I actually like it and plan on continuing so I'd really like to know what you think!

Enjoy.

This didn't happen, she didn't get nervous. So what is going on? The master diva paced a little before heading to the glee room. She was glad to be back in town and was ecstatic to help her friends possibly win a second National's trophy. They definitely deserved it, especially with everything they had been through this year. Every time she visited, it seemed like some different type of drama was going on and then of course, she had just gone through some problems of her own with her record label and stuff, but that wasn't what was making her nervous. Ever since her rendition of Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Now, the diva was used to people staring, I mean with that much talent, who wouldn't stare? What she couldn't stand was the fact that she couldn't figure out who it was, whenever she scanned the room it always seemed like nobody was looking her way.

"Hey, Mercedes. I got you a coffee," Mike smiled as he walked up to her. She continued to stare at the doorway, unintentionally ignoring him because she was so absorbed in her own thoughts. Mike looked at her and then the doorway, a bit confused. He decided to try again.

"Are we just going to stare at the door or are we going in?" He asked a bit louder and his time his voice was able to pull the distracted girl from her thoughts.

"What?" she asked, still a little in her own world. He nodded towards the choir room and smiled.

"We should probably go in, we don't want to be late."

"Right," she agreed. Mike offered a coffee a second time and she thanked him. They walked in together and sat in the back next to Kurt as Mr. Shuester began his lesson.

"Ok, guys," he said as he clasped his hands together. "We won Regionals!" The classroom erupted in cheers. The teacher let them revel in the moment, acknowledging how hard everyone had worked to get to this point. It brought him back to the first time he had helped lead his first glee club to winning Regionals and seeing some of those faces back in the choir room, cheering on the new members, filled him with pride and convinced him that they really could take it all this year. "Alright guys, settle down. We've still got a long way to go, but luckily we won't have to do it alone. Mercedes," he pointed to her and she smiled back at him. "Mike and Kurt," the other two alumni nodded in his direction, "Have all agreed to stay and help us win Nationals."

"And you just know we will," cheered Artie.

"We've got this!" clapped Sam.

"That's exactly the kind of attitude that will get us that trophy," smiled Mr. Shuester. "Alright, for regionals we did original songs. I think we should consider doing at least one for Nationals, the judges love it and you guys seem to have a whole new kind of energy when you perform them. So first, we'll need to get our hands on an original song. Would you consider doing us the honors, Marlee?" The rest of the class nodded and smiled in agreement. The brunette looked a little surprised, but definitely happy. She nodded and her boyfriend, Jake, took her hand to congratulate her. "Ok, while you work on that, I need everyone else thinking about songs they'd like to sing so that next class we can decide which ones are going to win us a second National's trophy." As the class separated into groups, Mike turned to Mercedes.

"Hey, I saw this video of a new dance move that's getting really popular. I think if I can learn it and teach it to Jake, it could really help them at Nationals. Do you maybe want to come over and see if you know a song that would go good with it?" he asked.

"Oh, that sounds cool and if you think it's good, then it must be amazing. Does four o'clock sound good?" she replied.

"Sounds like a date," he smiled. After discussing a few possible songs, Mike got up to go talk to Mr. Shuester. Mercedes smiled to herself but she didn't really know why she was happy. I guess being back here is a lot more fun than I thought… Kurt chuckled loudly to himself. She whirled around so quickly, he almost choked on her hair that whipped in his face.

"What's so funny?" she asked seriously. After regaining his composure, Kurt pointed at her.

"You two," he said, still laughing a little.

"Who?" she asked, not getting the joke.

"Wait, you don't see it?" he asked seriously. She shook her head. "'Cedes, he obviously likes you."

"What? No, we're friends."

"Yea, for now."

"Stop playing."

"Oh, come on, you know you like him." Mercedes raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy," he continued but she kept staring so he shrugged. "Whatever, it doesn't matter to me; I just think you guys look good together."

"Me and Mike?" she asked, pensively. Kurt nodded.

"What about you and Mike?" asked Sam, as he claimed Mike's chair to sit next to Mercedes.

"Um, Kurt," she tried to say. Her ex-boyfriend still made her a little nervous, but she was going to have to learn to get over it. "He said we were funny."

"Why?" continued Sam.

"Uh, no reason," chuckled Kurt. "I've got to go." Kurt got up to talk to go—well, anywhere else, even though Mercedes was practically begging him to stay with her eyes. Please don't leave; she tried to message telepathically. I can't control my mouth around this boy. Kurt! I know you can hear me, please don't leave me! But her friend simply walked off like he couldn't hear a thing.

"So," lingered Sam. "A couple of us are going to hang out after school today, do you want to come?" he asked. Mercedes turned to look at him. His piercing blue eyes where full of anticipation and she knew that there was no way she could lie to him and make up some phony excuse not to go. That's why she was truly grateful that Mike had asked her first, because there was never a way to know what would happen when she was out with Sam, especially if they were somewhere that would bring back old memories. Good memories, but that's all they were, memories, and that's all they'd ever be. He was with Brittney and she was…well, she was focusing on herself right now.

"Sorry, I can't," she said.

"Aw, why not?" he asked, looking a little disappointed.

"I'm supposed to meet Mike later to work on something," she explained. Mercedes noticed a slight change in Sam's aura when she mentioned Mike's name. He looked at her intently. Why did she feel so guilty? Sam wasn't her boyfriend anymore and she was really just going over to work on something with Mike. There is nothing to feel bad about!

"Oh," he understood. "Just the two of you?" Sam asked, looking down at his shoes.

"Yep," she said awkwardly. Then they just sat there, letting the silence take over. Mercedes really wanted this conversation to end, it was excruciating.

"I guess that's cool. Um, I'll see you later," he said, rushing off.

"You probably will," she replied. When he was gone, she relaxed. She never realized how tense things were still between them. It was true that they had been avoiding each other since their break up. In fact, that was probably their first one on one conversation that was face to face since she originally left for UCLA. Of course she had called him a couple of times from their initial split and soon he got involved with Brittney and she got busy with finishing her CD. Whenever she came back, they just never seemed to be in the same room together or they were always talking to different people or working on different things. While thinking over how distant she and Sam had been, Mercedes didn't notice the club meeting end and Mr. Shuester walk up to her.

"Mercedes?"

"I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"Yea, it's time to go home. Mike said that he was going to pull up his car so you could meet him out front." Mercedes looked around at the empty choir room. How did she miss everyone leave? She was getting way too distracted lately.

"Ok, thanks Mr. Shuester."

"Yea, no problem," he looked at her with a face full of concern. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Uh, yea. Why?"

"I don't know. You just seem distracted."

"Nope, I'm fine," she shrugged.

"Ok," he nodded. "You know you'll get another record label, right?" She smiled at him. He was always trying to instill hope in them, convincing them to reach the stars. It was the thing she liked the most about him.

"Yea," she nodded. "I've actually been talking to a couple of people."

"You see that?" he laughed as they left the choir room. "You'll be back in California in no time. Well, I have to get home to Emma. I'll see you tomorrow Mercedes," he waved as he exited the building.

"Yea, bye!" she answered, walking to the front of the school. "I'll be back in California in no time," she breathed, noticing the full weight of the words. They didn't make her as happy as most people might expect. She pushed through the front doors of the school and saw Mike's car almost immediately. She smiled and walked towards the car but slowed down when she noticed that Mike was talking to someone.

"Hey Mercedes, do you mind if Sam joins us?" asked Mike as he unlocked her door. The blond flashed her a perfect smile before he slid into the back seat.

"I guess," she shrugged, noticing that the decision had already been made.

"I thought Artie said something about you all going to Breadstix after school, what changed your mind, Sam?" asked Mike as he drove them to his house. Mercedes kept her eyes forward but she also really wanted to know to the answer to that question.

"Um, I don't know," admitted Sam. "I never get to see you guys, I guess I just wanted to hang out." He shifted in his seat a little, as if he were uncomfortable. Mercedes smiled to herself, he was lying. He always looked uncomfortable when he lied. There was another reason he was here, so what? She felt herself argue. Even if he wanted to spend more time with you, you already promised that you would not go down that road anymore. Being with Sam is an emotional roller coaster, of course you feel great when you're with him but after the break up was one of your lowest depressions, we can't have that happen again. Mercedes nodded as she cleared her thoughts, she couldn't go through that again.

"High school's almost over, do you know where you might go to college?" asked Mike. Sam coughed uneasily.

"I don't know if I am, going to college that is," he admitted, trying to look anywhere but directly ahead. Mercedes turned around to look at him, her eyebrows scrunched up in concern.

"Why not?" she asked. Sam could feel the disappointment in her voice. The summer before she had left for college, Sam had talked about joining her at UCLA and maybe helping Puck out with his pool cleaning business. But now that Puck had moved back and was attending the University of Lima or whatever he was doing there and Sam's test scores were not really California material, he felt like he was out of options. And now, looking at Mercedes' sad eyes, he was kicking himself for not working twice as hard to keep his promise. School had never been easy for him and sometimes he forgot that he had to work harder than everyone else just to get the same grade.

"It's just not for me," he shrugged.

"I don't know about that man," interjected Mike. "What do you want to do?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, we should look up some schools when we get to my house, hopefully we can change your mind and find something you're interested in."

"Yea, there are so few things that truly interest me," remarked Sam. "So when I find something that does, I tend to hang on to it for a while." Sam didn't take his eyes of Mercedes the entire time he talked. Mercedes thanked God for her dark complexion and turned back around before Sam could see her blush. Soon the car was quiet again.

"So, how are things going with Brittney?" asked Mike, trying to keep the conversation going, awkward silence wasn't pleasant for anyone.

"Oh, we broke up," said Sam. This time he looked directly in front, Mercedes could feel his eyes on her and cursed her stomach for fluttering a little at his words.

"She didn't think the long distance could work?" asked Mercedes. Sam was quiet. That was the subject of their biggest and final argument, Sam wanted to try but Mercedes understood that it would have been much too complicated and that they would just drift apart eventually. Sam cleared her throat.

"Actually, we assessed where we were going in the relationship and we both decided that we were better off as friends, together," he emphasized. Mercedes bit her lip; she knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to get her to feel guilty about basically ending their relationship and she couldn't blame him but at the time she honestly felt like she was doing what was right. What right does he have to make me feel bad? He basically forgot about me after the summer. No, Mercedes, don't let him get in your head.

"Well, I'm glad you guys worked everything out. It sounded very civil," commented Mike, who seemed to be oblivious to the private conversation Sam and Mercedes were really having.

"We were," Sam agreed and Mercedes knew his words were directed at her. The car remained silent for the rest of the trip.

A/N: Thanks for reading! :)