Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2

Mercy's POV

Mercedes, you are such an idiot! Your first encounter with people your age tonight and you act like a freak! I chastised myself. I couldn't believe I got all weepy eyed in front of the pizza boy. It was just that the picture was so good, and no one had ever done something like that for me. He didn't even know me, and that drawing was worth way more than a ten dollar pizza or the minimum wage he was probably getting paid. On the inside, I was fangirling out. This was definitely something that I would have to post on My Life is Average. I couldn't wait to get to the Na'vi forums and gush with the girls about it.

The minute I sat down at my computer I heard, "Mercedes Jones!" My mom's voice came from the intercom on the wall. Sighing, I got up to press the button and reply.

"Yes, Mama?"

"Shouldn't you be in bed? You have Zumba tomorrow."

I grumbled. "Yeah, Zumba. Got it. That all?"

"Oh and the pool cleaners will be around in the afternoon, so don't be startled by strange hot men around the pool."

"Mama, what happened to that old man that was our pool cleaner?"

"Oh he wasn't much for the eyes, girl!"

That was something about my mother that I could never understand. She didn't care that these people had lives and were trying to make ends meet. She just hired and fired them as if their sole purpose in life was to work for her.

"Uncle Berney had a family and bills. His wife had surgery last week," I reasoned.

"Child, that man is not your uncle," she said passively.

More of a relative than you are sometimes, I thought to myself. "Couldn't you have sent this in a text?"

"Now you know how your daddy is about the cell phone bill."

"If he would stop paying people to tell me what to do, he wouldn't need to be so cheap with the cell bill," I mumbled.

"How would you cope without them?"

I didn't answer. All I was thinking was that when I finally sign online, I would look up how to dismantle an intercom system because unlike cell phones they did not have an ignore option. I loved my mother, but sometimes, I wish she had a mute button. She could kill what little joy I had left in my life.

"Mercedes, don't forget to be on time. Sue Sylvester doesn't play around with tardiness."

She couldn't be as bad as my personal trainer Shannon Biest. I swore it was that woman's personal goal to get me within an inch of my life one day. I didn't want to think about those hellish workout days until they were upon me.

Signing into the forum, I began to gush about my encounter tonight. The girls were all just as giddy as I was about the drawing. Of course the main question they all wanted to know was what the delivery guy's name was and if I would see him again, but honestly I had no clue. Grabbing a piece of pizza, I picked up the receipt. Under the delivery position the name was written in as Sam I Am :). So that was entirely a dead end, but it made me laugh all the same. I was sensing that he was a fan of Doctor Seuss, and he spoke Na'vi. I thought that I'd never meet another person face to face that spoke it.

Yawning, I knew it was time to cut my gab session short.

As I got into bed, I thought over my encounter with Sam I Am. He hadn't even seemed to notice who I was, which was surprising and refreshing. He'd treated me like any other customer, and hadn't made one snide remark about the lengths he'd had to go through to get me the pizza. I was so thankful to him for complying. Had either of my parents found the delivery guy here, or the pizza box, I'd be dead. From my father I'd never hear the end of it. He'd guilt me with words like "don't you care about your image" or "you have to be at your best". Mom would blatantly say what he beat around the bush to express. "Mercedes, size sixteens are not cute. You could be so much prettier and so much more successful if you lost weight" was her go to explanation for why I shouldn't have anything but lettuce for meals. So many nights tears fell on my pillow at their harsh words. Yet here was this complete stranger calling me pretty in a fictional language. Yes, he called me strange too, but I already knew that about myself.

Sam's POV

Sitting in the computer lab at school, I was waiting for the bell to ring. I had so many things to do. I had to see about a second job and then later that night, babysit my siblings. Since this was my day off from the Pizzeria, I would try my hand at singing for donations again. None of my friends knew how bad my home life was, and I refused to tell them. I wouldn't let life get so bad that we wound up on the street. Stacy and Stevie couldn't live like that. Hell, if I had to move out so there wouldn't be an extra to mouth to feed, I would. Between singing, the pizza place, and hopefully this other job, we should be back on our feet soon.

I was playing around on the internet, having already finished my in class assignment and homework assignment for the day. If I was going to work for my family, I learned that lunchtime could be useful for other things besides eating. Flipping through MLIAs I read, "Today, I ordered a pizza, and requested that it not be delivered in the standard pizza box. What did I get? A box depicting a scene from Avatar! Thanks, Sam I Am. MLIA."

"Dude!" I punched Artie in the shoulder. "I got an MLIA dedicated to me!"

"Congratulations, man. And how does that really help you out in the long run? You're still a dork. You've just found a dorkette who admires you."

"Takes one to know one," I shot back.

Artie shot me the finger before going back to his class work. When the last bell rang, he asked. "You wanna hang and play video games after school today?"

"No…I…uh…got something important to do, so maybe next time." I tossed my books into my backpack, racing out the door.

The office I was told to meet the guy at was only a few blocks from school. When I got there, I thought it was a sham. The guy looked no older than me, and even less professional. He had a Mohawk and was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans. He smiled at me, holding out his hand for me to shake. "Noah Puckerman. You must be Sam?"

"Am I in the right place? I was looking for the owner."

"You're looking at him. The pool cleaning business was my old man's, but then he passed away, leaving it in my hands."

"But you're like my age, right?"

"So what? I also did what I had to do to take care of my mom and sister. The company is small, so damn small, I'm the only employee. Now I'm ready to expand. I dropped out of school to help take over this money maker and got my GED, but I've recently been accepted as a part-time student at a community college, so I need some help. That's where you come in. I've heard nothing but praises from your manager Ms. Holliday."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was I getting the job? "So…did I get the job?"

"You're definitely better than all the other applicants. As long as you don't mind cougars gawking at you, I'll say you've got the job."

"I can handle staring."

He told me about a job he was headed out for now and asked if I could spare the time to come out with him. When he said, I'd be getting paid for it, of course I couldn't turn it down. In his truck, we chatted about school and friends. I'd gotten in contact with Puck through Santana, but I never knew they dated. That was mind blowing. "But, dude, she's a lesbian – dating Brittany."

Noah laughed. "I didn't date Brittany, but I did have sex with her."

"You are fucking with me, right?"

"Nope, Sophomore year was wild." Puck must've quit before the beginning of junior year, because we were all seniors now.

"Damn, Noah! I've got to give you props."

We did a fist pump and he said, "Call me Puck. Everyone else does."

I was so intrigued by my new boss that I wasn't aware of my surroundings until I got there. We were at MJ's house. We were cleaning the strange girl's pool. In the light of day, the mansion didn't look any less extravagant. I couldn't for the life of me understand what these people need this big ass house for. The pool house was moderate size, but the pool on the other hand looked bigger than my apartment.

"Two words, Evans, mother load. This is the home of a Broadway legend and very famous record producer."

"It is?" I frowned. I knew they had to be loaded, but MJ seemed so down to earth.

"Don't you watch TV? Use the internet? Listen to the radio?"

"I don't have cable, or a TV, or a computer. My car radio passes personal judgment on the stations, and by that I mean if I hit a bump the radio stops working for an indefinite period of time," I admitted, feeling my cheeks burn with embarrassment. Puck's expression didn't really change. He was curious I could tell, but he didn't judge. "Can I just be honest?" He nodded, so I continued. "My family is close to living in boxes on the street. We had to get rid of all that stuff to afford the deposit for the apartment we live in now. I have a prepaid cell phone and a car. That's about as luxurious as I can live right about now."

Puck put a hand on my shoulder. "Look, man, I've been there. If you ever need anything, I'm here. I wish I'd had someone say that to me back then. Whatever you need, don't hesitate." He looked at me seriously, and I knew his offer was sincere.

"I just need you to keep me working."

With that, Puck showed me how to clean pools efficiently. I thought he was joking when he said that being shirtless was in the job description, but he wasn't. He said the more skin you showed the more you got paid sometimes, and I didn't have a problem with that.

I was wiping sweat from my forehead when I looked up and saw her. Her hair was up in a messy bun like last night, but she was frowning and her mouth was pulled down at the corners. She was wearing a red tank top with a big white heart on the front and baggy red pants with the word "Zumba" going down her left leg. This girl had everything, but in the two times that I'd seen here, she wasn't smiling. Her smile only came when she'd looked at the box, and again when she looked toward the pool. It was only a ghost of a smile though, and I saw her mouth, "Sam I Am." I was grinning then.

"MJ," I said loud enough for her to hear me.

"You know her?" Puck asked in astonishment.

The girl gave a look as if me calling her had startled her and she tripped over equipment Puck had laying near the pool. There was a scream and then a splash. I thought nothing of it until she started flapping around frantically. She didn't know how to swim. How do you have a freaking football field sized pool and not know how to swim?

I jumped in after her – shoes and all. Grabbing her around the waist, I swam back to the edge, pulling her up with me. The girl sputtered and coughed. "Breathe. You're fine. I got you." It took her a few minutes to calm, and she sank against me, resting her head on my shoulder. I was fine with that until she started sobbing. I was bewildered and Puck just shrugged. I cocked my head toward the pool house to signal that I would be taking her there and he just nodded. "C'mon, we have to stand up now and get you home, okay."

When we stood, she wrapped her arms around me and cried harder. This girl was breaking my heart and I didn't even know her. I stroked her wet hair and patted her back, finally getting her to move toward the pool house. Once there, I asked, "Is everything alright?"

She shook her head no, and I saw tears brimming again. "I hate Sue Sylvester!" she screamed, and I jumped back. I had no clue what she was talking about. "I spent all morning being told what a fat waste of space I was who is only good for opening my mouth."

"Excuse me?" I couldn't have heard her right.

"That didn't come out right. I'm only good for singing, but behind a curtain so no one could see me. You know what she called me? XL-Tina! On top of that I'm so clumsy I fall into the fucking pool and freak out. Why is it that I – sorry. I don't even know you, and I'm unloading. Sorry. If you take off your pants I can -"

"What?"

She sighed exasperatedly. "I meant I can dry them, if you would like."

I declined, telling her that Puck was waiting. MJ was officially nothing like anyone I'd ever met in my life. She was so pretty and she couldn't see it. She wasn't fat, she just had curves in all the right places, but then again, it wasn't my place to say things like that to her. What I did say was, "I didn't really thank you last night for that tip. You didn't have to do that."

There was that ghost of a smile. "You didn't have to draw that on my box, but you did." She pointed to the picture that she now had mounted on her wall. I was taken aback by that and speechless at the same time. I watched her wipe the straggling tears from her cheek.

I didn't know what compelled me to, but with my thumbs I brushed them away for her. "MJ, in the two times that I've seen you, you've cried. We've got to break this habit."

She laughed. It was just a short chuckle, but it happened. I liked the sound. It was almost musical. The sound brought a smile to my face until she abruptly backed away. "Ah…I guess I'll see you next pizza delivery or pool cleaning day, Sam I Am?"

"Sure." I took that as my hint to leave and headed back for Puck who had finished up already. He didn't ask what went down in the pool house, or even how I knew MJ.

"You want me to give you a lift home?" he asked.

"No, the library will be fine. I've got something I need to do before I head home," I told him.

Wow! I'm amazed that you all like it. The alerts, favs and reviews had me looking like this :0 !

I know the chapters are pretty short right now, but I'll work on making them longer. I HAVE AN OUTLINE! Right now the story has a cut and dry plan up to Chapter 8. There will be more, just haven't had time to plan it out. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

*Also Mercy may get to meet Ms. Berry and Mr. Hummel next chapter! I promise, the gang is all here in some way.