Mercedes Jones closed her locker and jumped when she saw Sam Evans standing on the other side.

"Sam!. Why are you lurking there?"

"I wanted to ask if you want to go out for coffee after school." He smiled what he hoped was his most disarming smile.

"Go out for coffee." she repeated after him, frowning. As if the words didn't make sense. "Go out for coffee. Where?"

"Where we usually go."

"No." She said slowly. "I told you I'm not doing that anymore. If you don't want to be seen in public with me-"

"It's not that. It's just..."

"Just what?" She waited for an answer that she knew wasn't coming. "You can be seen with Quinn, you can be seen with Santana. You can't be seen with me." She smiled sadly, as if she had known all along that it would end this way. "How about we leave it like this - you have an image you're trying to project and I don't fit. You need a pretty, skinny cheerleader type, preferably with blue eyes and blond hair, though that's negotiable. I get it."

"Listen," he said shifting his weight from one foot to the other, "do we have to talk about this right now?"

"No, we don't have to talk about it all." The first period bell rang, "I apologize for the blue eyed blonde part. That was uncalled for. I gotta go. I'll miss you, goodbye."

"Mr. Schuester, you said you wanted to hear something different? Reba McEntire." Mercedes sat down next to Brad and started to sing the country song, using just the right amount of twang, something she'd learned from Sam.

She'd said it was "just a song" for this assignment but looked directly at Sam when she sang

"If you don't get drunk on my kiss
If you think you can do better than this
Then I guess we're done
Let's not drag this on
Consider me gone.
Consider me a memory.
Consider me the past.
Consider me a smile in an old photograph, someone who used to make you laugh.
Consider me gone,
Just consider me gone."

"Very good, Mercedes." Mr. Schuester said when she finished. "You see class, that's what I'm talking about."

"Thank you Mr. Schuester." she said sweetly. "And thank you, Brad." That was something she'd learned from Rachel. Brad actually smiled, thought it was hard to tell. She went back to her seat without looking at Sam.

FF_2947886_ - Page 2 of 2 - Word Count: 413