WEDNESDAY:

Mercedes giggled and shook her head in disbelief as The God Squad, with the enthusiastic help of Tina and Mike, delivered their singing telegram—a mash-up of It Girl by Jason Derulo and Keep You With Me by Hot Chelle Rae. They'd ambushed her as soon as she'd made it to the quad that afternoon, telling her 'the secret admirer' had set it up to tell her how happy he was she'd accepted.

She wasn't sure what she'd expected to happen on the quad that day, but this had definitely taken her by surprise. The God Squad hadn't done singing telegrams since that disastrous Valentine's Day that she didn't like to think about. She'd stood on that stage, singing and dancing next to Sam while he bored holes into the side of her head. It definitely wasn't on her list of things she wanted to live through again, but this was appeasing some of the bad taste left in her mouth from that night.

She pushed the thoughts as far out of her mind as she could as she watched her friends sing and dance their way around the entire quad, jumping up on tables—making a big spectacle of themselves while the entire school looked on. The lyrics spoke of burgeoning love that couldn't be quashed even through distance and difficulties and the promise of a bright future. Mercedes only had one person in mind as far as that went.

She let the warmth of the moment wash over her as she tried to make eye contact with Sam. All she'd been wanting for weeks now was to let him know that she'd finally figured herself out—she was done trying to deny that she wanted him. She'd finally admitted that it was him her heart wanted all along and all the ways she'd pushed him away had been a mistake. She understood now that cheating on Shane—while still being a completely awful decision—it didn't define who she was and it didn't make her a bad person. Her heart had been telling her then that Shane was not the right fit—but Sam was. She had no choice in loving him, but she'd been steadfastly trying to do the right thing. She'd been so concerned with not hurting anyone, that she'd let it get out of hand and wound up hurting everyone.

Sam hadn't said anything in weeks, though, even as they'd fallen back into their friendship. She'd thought she was too late, but all of this had to be his way of letting her know she wasn't. More than ever now, she just wanted to talk to him and find out what all of this meant. She had resolved to let this play out, but with every passing moment, the desire to know what was going on—to be certain—ate at her.

Sam hadn't let on about anything, going on about everything like all was normal in his world. He only stared at her blankly when she eyed him at lunch and in Glee. In fact, he steadily avoided any prolonged eye contact with her now, even as he performed. Mercedes couldn't get a proper read on him—but she was on to him just the same. No one enjoyed a grand romantic gesture more than Sam Evans—and as far as those went, this was pretty grand. Who else could it be?

Throughout the performance he let his gaze settle on her only for a few seconds at a time, strumming his guitar, and offering her small smiles before he twirled away to interact with some of the other people on the quad. She couldn't tell if he was happy or anything and it frustrated the hell out of her.

The other members of the God Squad kept her too busy to stay focused on him, however. Tina and Quinn kept her sandwiched between them as they sang before relinquishing her to Mike, who playfully spun her around repeatedly, leaving her giddy, dizzy, and breathless by the end of the performance.

Mercedes tried to speak to Sam then, attempting to make a beeline for him, but Tina and Quinn cut her off with a dramatic reading of the rest of her telegram.

One more token of your prince's affections will await at your locker tomorrow.

With that, Tina and Quinn fell into a fit of giggles as they handed Mercedes another purple rose and pulled her into their giddy embrace. By the time Mercedes looked back toward Sam, she found that he, Joe, and Mike had already started to make their way back into the school, leaving Mercedes to stare after Sam in frustration. She needed to talk to him.

She started to turn her attentions to back to Tina and Quinn, prepared to grill them, when something—someone, rather—caught her attention. She hesitantly waved back to a smiling Shane, before glancing back in the direction where Sam had disappeared.

She took an uncomfortable deep breath before turning back to Tina and Quinn, feeling Shane's eyes on her the whole time.


A/N: Please review? I hope you liked it. The mash-up isn't one I've heard, btw. I just thought it would work and it'd actually make my day if someone would do it. Both are awesome songs! Anyway, what did you think? Let me know? BTW, I laughed so hard in the reviews for the last bit when people actually believed I'd make the random hallway guy Mercedes was singing to in Disco Inferno her love interest. I was kidding...I swears it. Or was I? Lol.