A/N: So this is another prompt request from erchills…and I was challenged to write a Sam-as-teacher/Mercedes-as-student romance fic. I accepted the task, then immediately began to work through a scenario where I could comfortable with write such a thing. To be honest, it took me awhile.
Nobody in his or her right mind would ever call me prudish…plus, teachers sex students down all the time irl. But they also go to jail for it. And, I'm a mother…so I spun this thing in a way that stayed pretty much true to the prompt without giving me internet creeper feels. I hope you like it Erica!
I am starting this story in the S2 episode Born This Way. It has always been my belief that Samcedes got their true beginnings during that episode, so to me it made sense. It's an AU story, of course...with a lot of canon elements. It will probably span all the way to the S2 finale, and end with the handholding scene. This is gonna be my first and last attempt to write my version of all the Nationals in New York stuff, so I'm looking forward to coming up with some things. You already know I've run Prom Queen into the ground lol.
My plan is to make these chapters shorter than most of my updates; so as to write and publish them faster. I plan to update three a week for the next month or so; for a total of maybe eleven or twelve chapters.
Thank you Annikay! I know it's been a crazy week or so…post holiday work and whatnot. I appreciate how quickly you got back to me. So don't sweat the delay! Besides, I'm looking forward to your updates, too…Take all the time you need!
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the characters of Glee, or their backstories either.
Something New
Immediately following the New Directions performance of Born This Way, the group gathered together in the choir room for a meeting with Mr. Schuester. Their teacher had requested that they stay even later after school, so that they could have a very important talk. The members of the group, all brimming with excitement over the success of the number, moved down the hall hurriedly as a fleet, anxious to get there and resume gushing over how well they'd just done.
Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel led the charge; the newly single girl and gay friend squealing giddily together while they found seats side-by-side in the back of the room. The two discussed the song the choir had just sang, Kurt's recent triumphant return to McKinley, and the rules for obtaining a school charter for the chapter of PFLAG the gay teen was excited to be in charge of putting together…the whole time conspicuously ignoring everyone else in the room.
Then entered Rachel's ex-boyfriend Finn Hudson, and his girlfriend Quinn Fabray. The recently reunited pair walked in hand-in-hand and chose seats on the left side of the room together. Quinn, until about two months ago, had dated Dave Karofsky for most of the school year…they'd shared a deep religious background, in addition to a commitment to chastity and abstinence. However, around Valentine's day, she and Finn –who'd been reeling from his hurtful breakup with Rachel- had reconnected. Quinn cheated on her boyfriend, got caught lying about it, and had subsequently gotten dumped unceremoniously. Eventually, the girl allowed Finn pick up the pieces; and two weeks ago they reestablished the relationship they'd shared the previous year. Though the both of them seemed pleased to have found one another again, Finn and Quinn each took the time to steal several glances at Rachel while waiting for the meeting to begin. Finn did so in order to make sure his ex saw all the attention he now lavished on the girl Rachel always considered a rival. And Quinn, in a truly regal and condescending fashion, shot haughty looks directly into Rachel's face; no doubt gloating on the inside for having managed to get Finn back. Rachel only caught the first of these many looks, and stubbornly made sure to avoid the couple after that…choosing to concentrate on the animated conversation she was having with Kurt, instead of the couple she'd always detested.
Mercedes Jones was the next to enter, followed by her good friends Tina Cohen-Chang and Tina's boyfriend, Mike Chang. The Asian couple smooched as they walked, stopping only to briefly comment on Mercedes' review of their amazing show… before immediately resuming their kisses. When the threesome entered the classroom, Tina and Mike took seats in the center of one of the middle rows of risers, while Mercedes sat right in front of them. The girl glanced behind her right shoulder quite often; she was shocked to see that Kurt and Rachel seemed just as close as they had when Kurt attended another school. In the back of her mind, Mercedes had always felt like the pair was only friends for as long as they had nothing to compete over; assuming that whenever Kurt returned to McKinley…she would become his best friend again. One last glance behind her told Mercedes that the closeness was, in fact, still there. Actually, Mercedes admitted to herself, they now seemed even closer. She sighed heavily, and turned to face the front, with hurt and confusion drawn all over her features.
Next was Lauren Zizes and Noah Puckerman, McKinley's answer to Bonnie and Clyde, who chose seats in the far left corner of the room; i.e. as far away from the dry-erase board as physically possible. Then the couple proceeded to raid Puck's backpack for the pack of Snickers he kept on hand there for his lady. The male delinquent played a brief game of keep-away with the sweets, while his girlfriend pretended to put him in a headlock. Eventaully Puck relented; telling a God-awful joke about only giving Zizes the sweets in order to keep her sweet…after that the couple opened the package and split the first bar between them. They spent the rest of the minutes prior to Mr. Schuester's arrival sharing chocolate and chocolate-flavored smooches.
Artie Abrams and Brittany Pierce followed the pair of bad-asses, Artie sitting contentedly in his wheelchair while his girlfriend pushed him into the room. The girl momentarily tripped on her own feet, because she was paying more attention to the doorway of the classroom than where she walked. After one last glance behind her, Britt wheeled her boyfriend to his spot in the front of the classroom, and sat down beside him to wait for their teacher in silence.
The last student to enter was Santana Lopez, as she was busy planting a kiss to the cheek of her boyfriend of five weeks, David Karofsky. While she bade him goodbye and promised to call him after school…Brittany watched, thinking about the troubled course of the Santofsky relationship. Brittany and Santana had been "friends with lady-kisses benefits" for years…something most of their friends knew about but never addressed publicly. And the arrangement had always worked out for them both. Recently, though, her best friend had decided to make other concerns a priority over time with Brittany. Santana was the one who informed Karofsky that Quinn was cheating with Finn; and had effectively stolen the brawny football player from her rival. The lovely Hispanic girl had flaunted her new relationship in the faces of all the New Directions, at a party thrown by Rachel in honor of Alcohol Awareness Week; and as recently as two weeks ago, the girl Brittany loved sang a lovely tribute to her boyfriend, in the tradition of a jazz lounge singer. Brittany knew in her heart that the song, called "I Love Your Bullying (Lardy) Ass," had been more than likely Santana's negative response to Brittany's refusal to dump Artie and be in an exclusive relationship with her. She also knew the only motivation Santana even had for seducing Karofsky lay in her desire to make Quinn miserable. But still…watching them together hurt.
The members of the group waited for their teacher; some basking in the throes of young love, and others wallowing in loneliness and confusion…so when Mr. Schuester walked in most of them barely registered his entrance. The person who came in right behind him though, made each and every member of the group sit up and listen. Mr. Schuester's companion was a tall, blond young man who appeared to be around the same age as the members of the Glee Club. He had a ruggedly handsome face; bright green eyes, a strong and chiseled jaw, and pink pillowy lips. He wore a red and blue track suit; the jacket opened enough so as to show off a Captain America-themed tee shirt underneath, as well as an abundance of well-developed muscles. The man –or, boy—stood off quietly to the side while Mr. Schuester began the meeting.
"Alright!" the curly-haired man exclaimed. "That's how we do GaGa in here!"
The class members looked around and smiled at the accolades.
"I want you all to know that the performance I just saw was the best one I've seen all year…Mercedes, Kurt, and Tina; your vocals were stellar, and the arrangement you guys did was phenomenal!"
Kurt left his seat, momentarily, in order to slap hands with Tina, then finally looked at Mercedes for the first time since they'd sung. The flamboyant teen offered Mercedes a "gay high five" in congratulations, which she took gratefully…before returning to his seat and beaming under all the compliments and attention.
"The rest of you," Mr. Schue continued. "Did a great job with the choreography and background vocals…I gotta say, I loved all the fancy footwork!"
The rest of the class murmured brief words of appreciation to their choir-mates, before Mr. Schuester took over once more.
"But that's not why I called this meeting," their teacher went on. "I've asked you here to introduce you to someone. Spring is finally here; and for teachers and students that means opening our doors to the seniors at Lima University. Over the next month or so you guys are going to be seeing a few unfamiliar faces around here, and I just wanted to introduce you to one of them. This is Mr. Evans, the student teacher Principal Figgins assigned to my classes."
Mr. Schuester crossed over and sat in a front row seat beside Artie, then gestured for the man to introduce himself "Take it away, Sam…"
"Hi!" the handsome man addressed the room. "I'm Sam Evans…but the first thing you guys should know about me is that I'm really not that much older than you. So right off the bat I'm giving all of you permission to call me 'Sam'."
"Sam?" Finn asked stupidly. He was having trouble absorbing the fact that this guy who looked like one of them could already be a senior in college. "That's your name?"
"Yep," Sam replied. "I am Sam…Sam I am." He jokingly added, "And I don't like Green Eggs and Ham."
A collective groan resounded throughout the room, as some of the class snickered, and others made faces. The more vocal members of the class, namely Santana, had no problem berating the young man for making such a horrible attempt at a joke.
"Okay, see…" the Latina started. "…I was just about to make you feel welcome by giving you a compliment on those soft-looking ass soup-coolers you call lips." She addressed the room at large. "But clearly, this dude is lame and has exactly zero game…so instead paying attention to whatever words of welcome you got planned," she turned back to face Sam. "I'll just roll my eyes and focus all my attention on your Ken Doll good looks while tuning everything you say out, Trouty Mouth!" And she did just that.
"I don't know," Mercedes asserted, before Mr. Schuester could demand that Santana show their guest more respect. "I think it was cute…and I love Dr. Seuss!" The girl felt bad for their new student-teacher, and wanted to make him feel more comfortable. Plus, she'd always had a soft spot for anyone willing to tell a joke…bad or otherwise.
Sam shot a grateful look at the cute girl and nodded his thanks for defending him before going on. "Well anyway…I'm Sam. And I'm about two months away from receivin' my Bachelors Degrees…in fact, I'll be receiving four of 'em. One in Music Composition, one in Mathematics, one in Spanish and the other in Education. When I met Principal Figgins, he was all set to pair me up with Miss Blethium, the Geometry teacher. But the whole time we were talkin' he kept mentioning you guys, and sayin' y'all were his second favorite musical group. I play a bunch of instruments, and I love to sing…so I requested he put me with whoever advises the show choir. When he found out I can speak Spanish, Figgins agreed."
"What kind of teacher are you going to be?" Tina asked, interestedly. She had always been pretty nosy, and usually wanted to know all she could find out about any new people she met, just on general principle. But this handsome, athletic guy with the Southern accent and an obvious love of music had the girl doubly curious.
"I'm not sure, yet…" Sam admitted. "…I have a lot of interests, and I suppose whatever I end up teachin' will depend on what job I find first. But right now I'm lookin' forward to helpin' you all win at Nationals this year!" He looked around excitedly. "Any more questions?"
"Yes, I have a few…" Rachel Berry answered swiftly. She looked extremely determined; something her choir-mates were more than used to seeing, to the point where her expression bored them senseless… but the blond teacher wasn't yet immune to antics of a stubbornly dogged Rachel, and he looked a little frightened my the look on the brunette's face. "You mentioned the fact that you aren't' very much older than us, and I must admit that, to me, you look very, very young. How old are you, exactly, Sam? And how is it that you are already almost finished with college?" She looked him over greedily. "Also, forgive me for saying so, but you don't look very much like a teacher. If you're planning to dress so casually for work, you're going to run into a lot of female students who want to date you…are you going to be allowed to take them up on their offers when that happens?"
Sam chuckled. "Well, the reasons behind me bein' so young are another conversation for another time…" Sam answered nervously, having wanted to avoid this line of questioning for as long as possible; and resenting the pushy teenager for putting him in such an awkward position. "As for the second part of your question…"
"Sam is allowed to date whomever he likes as long as he doesn't flaunt it in school and the girl he chooses is at least 16," Will Schuester answered. "He's not a School Board employee, Rachel."
While Rachel smirked approvingly, Sam continued. "And I'm dressed like this because it's after hours and I officially don't start work 'til tomorrow. Plus Coach Bieste gave me permission to jog on the track, and I just got finished. Anyone else?" He looked around hoping the next thing one of them said was less abrasive, or at least came from someone with a more friendly face.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" Kurt asked. Not because he harbored any interest in the man himself, but because he could see a bottle blonde from a mile away and was curious. For the last two weeks Kurt had been happily ensconced in his new relationship with Blaine, and the blue-eyed boy was obsessed with the relationship statuses of other gay men.
"Uh, no…" Sam stammered. "…actually, I'm not gay; not that there is anything wrong with that! And I'm single, anyways."
"What about us?" Mercedes rolled her eyes at Kurt and interrupted again before the conversation became even more awkward for Sam Evans. "Do you want to know anything about the group before we all start working together?"
Grateful once again, Sam smiled at the kind and pretty Black girl. "Yeah, I do…First of all, why is your teacher wearing a shirt that says 'Butt Chin?" he sincerely asked the class; wanting to find out all the quirks of this new group as soon as he possibly could.
While Mr. Schue quickly started explaining the Born This Way assignment, Tina and Mercedes gossiped between themselves.
"Look at you, girl…" Tina began. "…standing up for Mr. Cutey-Pie and stuff!" The girl gave her friend an approving look before adding "Getting your bid in early…I see you…"
"Girl, calm your nerves…" Mercedes was used to Tina's matchmaking and rolled her eyes at what she could tell was coming. "…that man is a teacher and I'm not interested in sending his ass to jail!"
"Whatever bestie…" Tina rolled her eyes right back. "…I see chemistry, and not the kind he does in college, either! I'm gonna table this discussion for now, because I know how stubborn you are and we're in class; but you already know that I'm planning to get the full back-story on Mr. Sexy. And if I find out he's under the age of 20…"
"Whatever yourself, crazy…" Mercedes turned back to face the front. "Just leave my name out your nosy-ass mouth."
While the two of them traded friendly insults, Puck and Lauren brought around the tee-shirt printer, in order to make a personalized shirt for Sam. Laughingly, he agreed to have the tee shirt emblazoned with the name Santana had just thrust upon him. Then the whole class agreed to meet up later at Breadstix, so that their new member could wear his shirt and show his allegiance to the group.
While eating at the local Italian restaurant, Sam Evans took a little time to interact with all the members of the Glee Club in turn. He'd always been a really good judge of character, and wanted to form opinions about the personalities of the group he'd be spending so much time with as soon as possible. He figured out quickly that there was some kind of tension brewing between the tall, dark-haired guy wearing the shirt saying "Can't Dance," the scary dark-haired Jewish girl wearing the "NOSE" tee, and the smart blonde whose top bore the confusing moniker "Lucy Caboosey." Likewise, Sam sensed a palpable tension between the mean Latina girl wearing the "Lebanese" shirt, the bespectacled boy in the wheelchair wearing the words "Four Eyes" across his chest," and his girlfriend… the tall ditzy blonde who'd proudly shown him her "I'm With Stoopid" tee. Most of the boys were on the football team, and invited him to work out with them in the weight room sometime soon. And the large brown-haired girl who opened her sweater to reveal that she had chosen "Bad Attitude" to wear, as well as the obviously flamboyant boy whose shirt said "Likes Boys," had made it their business to fill Sam in on the exact parameters of all the drama. Lauren and Kurt regaled Sam with detailed explanations as to what prompted the New Directions members to choose what they'd each put on their shirts…and also made Sam feel like a true member of the team. By the time he'd promised to meet Lauren and her boyfriend Puck in the weight room the following day after school, Sam felt as though he really belonged. In fact, the only member of the group who he hadn't yet been able to give a solid identity to, was the same dark girl who'd been so kind to Sam in class. Mercedes, as he found out was her name, sat quietly a table away in her "No Weave" shirt; whispering to Mike Chang's girlfriend for most of their meal.
Around the time that their waitress brought desserts, Sam went to the bathroom and decided to approach the girl named Mercedes upon his return. He figured that it would be easiest time to switch seats, and in doing so, he could finally thank her verbally for her help in the classroom. But before he could slide into the seat Tina had vacated, Sam was beckoned over to where Mike and his girlfriend now sat all alone. Not wanting to be rude, he joined them.
"What's up, guys?" Sam greeted the friendly couple. "Having fun?"
"Yeah, it's been great," replied Mike;
"It was really sweet of Mr. Schue to take us all out to dinner…" Tina agreed.
"So did you have somethin' you wanted to ask me?" Sam inquired, still anxious to speak alone with Mercedes Jones once they'd finished.
"Yes," Tina shot her boyfriend a knowing smile, before going on. "First of all, I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for the way Rachel grilled you about yourself in class. She's pretty much the rudest person on Earth, and was more than likely only doing it because of some ulterior motive..."
"Oh, yeah?" Sam asked, distractedly.
"Yeah, she and Finn and Quinn have had this three-way-drama fest going on for the past couple of years. They date each other, use each other to make one another jealous, then break up and start again. So her wanting to know why you're so young probably wasn't meant to be snarky…not much anyway. If I know Rachel, she was only doing it to see if she could get away with asking you out."
"Tee's right," Mike continued. "Prom is just around the corner, and there's a good chance she wants to use you to make Finn angry. We just wanted to warn you to steer clear of her if she does…"
"Well, thanks…" Sam responded, gratefully. It was nice to have people watching out for him. "…But there's no chance in hell I'd get caught up in that! I can read people pretty well, and I already know she's not my type…"
Mike nodded and shot him a friendly thumbs up.
"So, you'd say 'no' because she's a freak, and not because she's so young?" Tina asked slyly. "I have to admit, I was just as curious about your age as she was…and so was my best friend Mercedes." Tina shared a sneaky look with her boyfriend when Sam Evans visibly straightened in his seat. "But we've got better manners than to ask a teacher about his personal life in school."
"Mercedes?" Sam, who'd involuntarily perked up at the mention of the girl's name, was now interested in whatever Tina had to say. "The girl who laughed at my joke…she wondered about me, too?"
"Yep! Tina nodded, inwardly squealing because she'd seen the curiosity and hopefulness all over Sam's handsome face. "So is it a secret or something? I mean, can you tell me and Mike how old you are and how you're here? I promise if you don't want us to tell, we won't…" Tina lied, knowing she never keep gossip this juicy from Mercedes.
"Oh, no…it's not a secret." Sam shook his head. "I'm 18."
Again, Tina squealed to herself, intending to go on grilling the guy she'd already picked out for her bestie.
"And I don't care if the rest of the class knows…" Sam cut her off. "…But like you said, it's personal and we were at school. If you wanna know, I'll tell you all about it…"
A/N: Notes? Questions? Comments? Let me know…