Nellie groaned as she walked down the stairs to the kitchen of the large house. Absentmindedly, she crumpled up the note that her parents had left informing her that they would be gone for two weeks for various business meetings. Throwing the note away she started the coffee maker and went to get the newspaper from outside.
"Hey, Nells." Blake greeted as she reentered the house, causing the girl to jump and let out a little squeak in surprise.
"Don't do that!" Nellie replied with a glare.
Her frown quickly turned into a smile as he handed her a large cup of the coffee hat had finished brewing. After taking a sip, she smiled and kissed his cheek, "Good morning."
Blake laughed at the quick changed and replied, "Morning."
"Where's Mi-"
She didn't need to finish the sentence as Michael walked in the front door, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. James."
Nellie just rolled her eyes, downing the rest of her coffee, "I'm going to go take a shower."
"Maybe I should join you?" Blake replied, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Nellie just laughed in response and headed back up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, Blake pulled out the groceries he had hidden and began to make the surprise breakfast for Nellie.
Michael just laughed and began helping him.
Thirty minutes later, they had finished and Nellie walked back down the stairs to see Blueberry French Toast, Scrambled Eggs with Cheese and Bacon, and Orange Juice sitting on the table. She smiled at the two boys before sitting down.
"So," Nellie finally said, "What's the occasion?"
"Do I need a special occasion to make my beautiful girlfriend her favorite breakfast?" Blake asked, seemingly offended.
"Yes." Nellie laughed, "You hate cooking."
"My mom told me your parents left last night again." Blake confessed, "So I got up early and went shopping."
"Thank you, Blake." Nellie smiled softly and kissed his cheek.
"I helped too." Michael piped up, not liking that Blake took all of the credit.
Nellie laughed and thanked Michael as well.
As Nellie was clearing the table Dani walked into the house, shortly followed by Shanna. Dani quickly grabbed Nellie and pulled her up the stairs without a word.
"What was that about?" Michael asked as Shanna poured herself a glass of orange juice.
"I don't know." Shanna replied, "Some kind of emergency, no doubt."
"Dani! You cannot be serious right now!" Nellie's voice traveled through the house. It was followed by the excited squeals of the two girls.
The two girls ran back down the stairs, hands clasped together, still giddy; their smiles nearly splitting their faces in two.
"Oh, no." Blake groaned, seeing them. Those smiles usually meant that he was going to lose a night Nellie. That, paired with the squeals, he was betting on losing the weekend with Nellie.
"What?" Nellie laughed, pulling her backpack on.
"Nothing." Blake shrugged, picking up his backpack as well.
Nellie just rolled her eyes as the five friends headed out to Nellie's jeep; and, after the usual fight over shotgun between Blake and Dani, the group headed to school, Dani sticking her tongue out at Blake who was in the back seat between Michael and Shanna. Nellie laughed and turned up the radio.
The rest of the ride was uneventful and, soon enough, she was pulling into her parking spot. Getting out of the car, Blake immediately took his girlfriend's hand, leading the group into William McKinley High School, before separating to go to their lockers.
"What are you so excited about?" Nellie asked, giving Michael, who was bouncing up and down as he "patiently" waited for Nellie to get the necessary books from her locker, a weird look.
"We're learning about advanced functions of-" Michael started to say but was cut off when they heard Ali's voice down the hall.
The two quickly hid Nellie from view, as they always had so she could retain her invisibility, until the blonde passed them.
"Thanks." she muttered, closing her locker.
"You have to get over this invisibility thing you have going." Michael sighed.
"I'm sorry I don't want to make myself a target." Nellie rolled her eyes, "No what were you excited about."
Michael quickly picked up the one-sided conversation about what would be covered in his math class that day, while Blake casually took Nellie's books and hand as they began to follow Michael to their English class.
!
Samuel stood in front of the piano, facing New Directions, mentally preparing himself for the reactions from the rest of the club.
"Mr. Schue and I have come to an agreement on Regionals, the songs and soloists." Samuel began, "We decided to cover Avril Lavigne songs. It's something that no other groups have covered, ever. We also decided that our main soloists should be someone that the club tends to 'neglect'. So, Nellie, we would like you to be our star."
"What?!" Lily Mae exclaimed, "The mouse? Seriously?!"
"Hey!" Shanna exclaimed, as Nellie gripped Blake's hand tightly, effectively cutting off all other complaints.
"What do you say?" Samuel smiled at Nellie, knowing that she wouldn't be able to say no to him, "It's time for you to step out of the shadows."
"Okay." Nellie squeaked.
"Excellent!" Samuel clapped his hands together and rocked on the balls of his feet.
Seeing Lily Mae and Mario about to argue, Schue stepped in, "If you want to voice any complains, I suggest you wait until you can speak to just me."
When no one made a further move to argue, Schue continued, "Nellie, congratulations. You'll meet with me and Samuel after school on Monday to help us put together the set list."
Nellie nodded, still unable to come up with the words due to her shock.
Even when the bell rang, she remained seated in her chair.
Smiling, Dani pulled her up and dragged her out the door. Smiling, the other three followed close behind.