Mercedes looked down at her cell phone when it started playing 'spotlight'. You had better bring you're fat arse straight home this time! No more staying with that Asian girl! It read. It was a text message from her father. Another one. She had been secretly staying with Tina for a day.
How did he find out where she was? She didn't tell anyone! Nobody but Tina knew, and she most definitely didn't squeal. Now she HAD to go home, and there was no doubt in her mind that her father would do any and everything to keep her in the house now.
He wasn't REALLY her father, he was her foster father. She had three other foster siblings; an older brother, Luke who was 16, an older sister, Lupe who was 17, and a younger brother, Connor who was 9. She had been with them ever since she was five years old.
Luke, Lupe, Connor and herself did everything to protect each other. She was really scared to go home. She had to go home because Julius most likely knew where Tina lived, and he might hurt her or her family, and if Mercedes wasn't at home by 3:30, 30 minutes after school let out, he would without a doubt come a knockin' at Tina's door. Luke, Connor and Lupe had run away as well. She remembered clearly why she had even moved out in the first place.
Julius Amadeus had come stumbling into the house at 11:00 pm. He leaned on the doorframe of the kitchen. He saw Lupe stirring a small pot of hot Mac and cheese, Luke sitting at the table counting his earnings, and Mercedes helping Connor with his homework. 'Homework,' he thought. 'Doin' all that school work and getting nothing out of it. School didn't promise success.
"Stop writin' that CRAP boy. School ain't gonna do nothing for you. All yer gonna be is a dealer, if you're lucky." He said, slurring on the last word, because he was drunk.
"Don't tell him that," said Lupe, from her spot in the kitchen stirring the cheesy noodles.
"What did you say to me, lil' girl?" he said.
Lupe sharply turned around, her black, short, crinkly locks bouncing in the process. She narrowed her eyes at him. "I said. Don't. Tell him that!" she said, with a faint Spanish accent. Julius stomped over and knocked the black pot over, spilling hot mac and cheese across the floor.
He turned around to see Luke glaring at him. When Julius met Luke's eyes, Luke lowered his head and hid his face behind his dirty blonde bangs. Julius opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. He watched Lupe cleaning the mac and cheese from the floor. He felt Luke's eyes on him and turned around to see the boy glaring at him for staring at Lupe's butt.
"You eye bawlin' me boy?" he said in a menacing tone. When Luke didn't answer, he slammed his bottle down on the table and got right up in Luke's personal space, still gripping the glass object. Angered that he didn't spark fear in the boy (which he did, Luke almost peed himself, butt to hades if he was going to give this crap wad the satisfaction!), he snatched the small stack of cash away from the boy and ripped every. Single. Bill. In half. Luke's gray eyes flashed in anger.
"Do you know how long it took me to earn that money you douche? We NEEDED THAT!"
"I AM THE EARNER OF THIS HOUSE!"
"Well it's not like it benefits us," said Lupe snidely.
"Pays the bills don't it?"
"Umm…NO! The lights have been off and the phone's been disconnected for almost a month now!"
"You spent all your money on booze," said Connor.
"Shut up faggot! Why ya gotta be such a fairy? Huh? We got candles! Payphone's just down the freakin street you lazy moderners!"
"Well maybe if you got a real job…" said Mercedes.
"Well maybe if you got a real job," Julius mocked.
"Maybe if you'd eat less I'd have money you fat pig. And I do have a real job!"
"No you don't!" said Luke.
"All you do is sell bootleg DVDs, purses, stolen shoes and jewelry, and god knows what else!" shouted Mercedes.
"Yeah and we're sick of having to hide you from the police!" said Connor.
"Well I'm sick of having to pick you up from school because you can't defend yourself boy!" shouted Julius.
"Crack baby," Connor mumbled under his breath, knowing that was a sore spot for Julius. Lupe and Mercedes' eyes met. They slowly and cautiously grabbed Connor and Luke and they all curled themselves up in the corner. They heard a loud roar of anger and heard crashing and breaking glass. Julius had thrown a vase, a stool, and a big mug. Unfortunately Mercedes looked up at the wrong time. Being at the front of the huddle, she was the one who was hit when Julius decided to throw his beer bottle at the hunched up kids. The bottle flew through the air, smashing into Mercedes' face.
"Ow! Oh my god, Julius!" she shouted.
"Now go to bed!" shouted Julius.
The four of them trudged away. Lupe and Mercedes shared a room with a built in bathroom, while Luke and Connor had their own rooms downstairs with a bathroom next to their rooms. While Lupe was cleaning a cut on Mercedes' face and tending to her black eye, Mercedes got an idea.
"Lupe?" Mercedes whispered.
"Yeah?" Lupe whispered back, even though she didn't know why they were whispering. But Mercy probably had a good reason.
"We have to get out of here,"
"how?"
"Uh, duh, Lu, we sneak out."
"Are you crazy?" Lupe whisper shouted.
"If he catches us we'll get killed!"
"Well then we won't let him catch us! We'll scatter!"
"But where will we go?"
"Remember when your friend Ashley said that if you ever needed anything she would help? Well, she works at that hotel on Duval street. "
"she can't just GIVE me a room."
"Yes but she could be a familiar face on the other side of town. I could live with Tina, Luke could go with Andrew Avery, and you could take Connor." Lupe looked down to her lap, playing with the towel. She looked up and nodded. "Okay. Tomorrow night. What's the plan?"
The next night, Mercedes, Luke, Lupe and Connor made sure that Julius was all liquored up and passed out by 9. At exactly 9:00, Lupe and Mercedes skillfully slid two packed duffel bags from under their beds. Mercedes got a text from Luke. Ready. It read.
Since they were on the second floor, they had to go through the window to get past Julius. They got the rope made from jump ropes and sheets from under the bed and draped it out of the window, securing it to a strong titanium hook on the wall. They dropped their bags down and out the window. Lupe swiftly climbed out the window and started down the rope, followed by Mercedes.
Once they reached the ground, all four of them snatched their bags and took off running. They ran three blocks, turned the corner, ran through a dog park, and met next to a bronze (or maybe copper…) statue of an old guy standing loyally next to a collie. They saw a black van, a blue beetle, and a red ford focus parked on the corner. They all hugged out a quick goodbye and hopped into the cars.
That all happened last night. He had probably found out where the others were already. She still had 10 minutes until glee club let out, so she could quickly make arrangements with Lupe on where they would shuffle to next. She barely noticed that glee club was letting out. When she bent to grab her bag, she rose to see Santana in front of her. She gave a shy smile. Santana sat down in front of Mercedes, and she took it as a sign to sit back down.
"Look, wheezy. Preggers, lady face, and Frodo, and everyone else you called your friend who decided to be besties with Berry may not notice, but I do. Why are you wearing sunglasses? It's not sunny. It's April. It's been raining for two days. SOMEBODY gave you a black eye and you need to tell me who so auntie Snix and puckasaurus can take care of it," said Santana. Crap! She was ALMOST THERE! Almost a full 2 days without anyone noticing her eye before she had time to go cover it. Now she had to try to LIE to SANTANA. She had to attempt the impossible.
"Uhm, Santana, I just was in the park and fell and hit my face on a rock," she said.
"But you would tell me if Trouty actually gave you that shiner right?" said Santana.
"Yes I would, and no Sam has Never raised a hand to me," replied Mercedes swiftly. Santana, satisfied, crossed her legs and smirked.
"I'm surprised that porcelain hasn't noticed yet, I thought you guys were like ebony and ivory," Said Santana.
"I guess he just likes Rachel better, for some reason," said Mercedes. "I know right! He'd probably notice in a heartbeat if it were her. When did that happen?"
"When they sang some stupid duet, and then Kurt and Blaine sang a stupid duet, and then Blaine and Rachel sang a stupid duet…"
"And…how many stupid duets did you get?"
"Remember 4 minutes?"
"Yeah,"
"that was the last one."
"Ouch, and that wasn't even glee club. Well you know you got me and Tee and Britt."
"Yeah. And that's all I need." Santana smiled and left. Mercedes looked at her watch. 7 minutes. She had already told Tina, and her and her brothers had moved Mercedes things out and into mercy's car. She sent a quick mass text to her siblings. He's on to us. Go to the Motelongo hotel. You have rooms reserved already. Just tell them my name and they'll give you keys. He's coming for me first, so you still have more time. She got texts back from Luke, Connor, and then Lupe. She quickly grabbed her bag and was headed out the door, when she bumped into a firm chest. She looked up into a pair of green eyes.
A/N: okay so, in this fic Mercedes is fifteen and in her sophomore year. Although this whole thing takes place right before Michael. Don't worry, Sebastian is coming in the next chapter. Yes, this is very AU so many details have been changed.