While this hadn't been the best senior year ever, it wasn't the worst for Mercedes. She stood up for herself and, alongside Santana, led a femme, fierce, phenomenal group of Troubletones through Sectionals and an unforgettable number at Regionals. She's presided over the small but spiritual God Squad, and she's overcome the greatest amount of guilt and heartbreak yet. Taking the time to be alone and figure her heart out did her more good than she could have hoped for. Things were gradually falling into place as she and Sam re-kindled their relationship, but decided to take things slow.

Following Spring Break, the halls of McKinley began filling with prom king and queen campaign fliers. Initially, she didn't care much about the royal court, but as she saw more and more of them, she got to thinking about last year's king and queen outcome. Kurt was her best friend, and while she didn't think he would have to go through potential humiliation again, she wanted to do something to try and make sure history wouldn't repeat itself. Not only that, but she thought she might actually have a chance at winning. Her temporary status on the Cheerios sophomore year, combined with her distinctly powerful voice in Glee club certainly gave her some recognition at the school. Not only that, but the God Squad's singing telegrams turned out to be a bigger hit than any of them expected; people came to know her face, if nothing else, when they approached her with ten-dollar bills in their hands. And while she wasn't particularly proud to admit her, the time she spent dating Shane also gained her some social attention—as dating the football players often did.

The more she thought about her odds, the more her decision to run grew. Once she made up her mind, Mercedes took her phone out and sent a message to Sam: "Hey, meet me in the quad for lunch today. Gotta talk to you."

With a smile, she went to her locker to change her books, and then headed to the cafeteria to get her food.

After his briefly shed tears for Mercedes' infidelity, Shane let his hurt fizzle and burn. Or so he thought. He hadn't made a conscious effort to speak to or see Mercedes since she broke up with him, but earlier that week she nearly ran into his ex, who was walking hand-in-hand with her "new" boyfriend.

Shane knew of Sam, mostly because of the football team. Shane had transferred to McKinley at the start of his senior year with a scholarship to Ohio State already in his back pocket. He joined the football team and soon realized that Sam had left a good impression on the other guys. When the blond returned to McKinley and joined the swim team, Shane never made much of an effort to talk to him but he noticed Mercedes was spending a lot of time around him. She led him to believe that it was all just because of glee club, but he found out the truth the day before Valentine's Day.

Seeing Mercedes walking with him like it was no big deal, ignited a fury in him that decimated any sorrowful hurt he had before. For starters, he wanted to sucker punch Sam. There was nothing "good" about the guy that could be impressed upon him now. If he had the chance, he probably would do it, but the only time he saw the guy was at school and there was too much of a risk for him to lose his scholarship if he got caught fighting. Little did Sam know that Shane's scholarship was the only shield from him getting his jaw shattered.

More than dealing with Sam, he wanted revenge against Mercedes. After all, she was his girlfriend. He'd been good to her; he cared about her and was on the verge of falling in love with her. That made it worse—being on the diving board of stability and nearly head diving into love. Then out of nowhere, being punched back onto the concrete. Okay, so perhaps a swimming analogy wasn't the best choice, but it was how he'd felt about the whole situation. And Mercedes caused it all. She caused the heart-wrenching agony he suffered for the first couple weeks of their breakup, and she flared his fury now.

Sitting in the boys' locker room, he balled up his fist with a hard expression fixed on his face. He concentrated to think of something rewarding to suffice as vengeance. The more he thought about it, the less a feasible idea presented itself. How was he going to get back at her without getting himself into trouble and potentially losing his scholarship? His frustration drove him to punching a slight dent in the nearest locker.

"Um…Shane?"

The burly jock looked over to see Sam Evans standing at the end of the benches. For a blinding second, he was going to forget his scholarship and give Sam just what was coming to him, but a better judgment overcame him and he resisted. Instead, he decided to remove himself from the temptation and gather his things to go.

"Wait, hold on. I came to apologize!" Sam blurted out.

"I don't care," spat a baritone Shane. He picked up his letterman's jacket to slip it on, but before he finished, Sam spoke again.

"Look…I know what I did was messed up. I shouldn't have and I just wanted to say I'm sorry." After a very short pause, he added, "I know what it's like."

That brought Shane up short. He was in the process of snatching up his backpack, but…did Sam just say that he could relate? Shane narrowed his eyes, "Oh you know what it's like, huh? You know what it's like to be played for a fool by a girl you care about? You know what it's like to have the guy she's cheated on you with, walk around like he ain't doin' nothin' wrong with someone else's girl?"

Sam shut his eyes as he firmly sighed, "Yes. It's happened to me before. Last year."

Still narrowing his eyes, Shane's brows twitched closer together. "Hold up…you—" He was at a loss for words. Rather than trying to form a strong enough response, Shane slung his backpack over his shoulder and strode down the opposite direction of the blond.

"Shane—"

"WHAT?" he boomed back sharply, causing Sam to flinch.

After a visibly deep breath, Sam calmly said, "I hope you'll forgive me sometime. I know what I did was messed up, and I really am sorry."

"Whatever asshole," were Shane's last mumbled words before he left the locker room.

I'll be adding some chapters to this over time. This piece will go back and forth on Sam, Mercedes & Shane's POV. Please leave reviews! I'm always very grateful for them!