Here's the next chapter. Big hugs for everyone who reads this. I love you all!


Mercedes walked into the Physics room, checking that she was in the right place. Since her trip to the principal's office, she wanted to make sure she made a good impression with her new teacher. The least she could do was show that she'd make an effort. She pulled Puck alongside her despite his protestations that badasses didn't go to class early. She rolled her eyes and responded with "well badassess also graduate on time. Don't forget that promise we made."

He huffed and shoved his hands in his front hoodie pocket. He knew exactly what she was talking about.

FLASHBACK

McKinley High School Library

Mid October

After a particularly grueling economics study session with Mercedes, he was ready to quit. These dates and theories were jumbled together and he couldn't make sense of it. There were all these rich old white guys discussing money and influence. Why should it matter what they said, they benefited from a shitty economy! In fact it was in their best interests to ruin it more. It was making his head hurt.

She watched his expression and pouted. She could tell he wasn't trying, could see him giving up. Closing the book she leaned closer to him, her wooden chair creaking softly in the otherwise quiet library.

"Puck."

He looked up at her waiting for her to continue.

"We've known each other a few weeks now and I consider you my friend. I fight for my friends and I'll fight for you just like I know you'll fight for me." She lifted her pinky and suspended it in the air, hoping he'd return the gesture.

"I want you to promise me something. Promise me you'll fight for yourself. That you'll try your best. Promise that we'll end this year in our cap and gowns, sitting on that stage together."

His eyes softened as he took in the friendly gesture. He had gone through his life thinking nobody cared. Now this girl he barely knew was proving him wrong. She made him want to try, to make her proud. She made him feel he was worth something, could see in her eyes that her concern was sincere.

Leaning forward he hooked his pinky around hers and kissed it lightly. This was one promise he was intent on keeping.

END OF FLASHBACK

Puck didn't realize it at the time but that was the day he fell a little in love with Mercedes Jones. The days following only helped to solidify that.

"Fine but I hope you know all this going to class early is bad for my image."

She nudged his arm with her shoulder and looked up at him. "I'm sure you'll survive."

They sat in the back of the classroom him drumming on the desk and her feverishly writing in her planner. As the students started to fill and converse with no sign of their teacher, Puck's eyes began to droop.

Sam rushed out of the office to his class looking at his watch as if he could turn time back with his mind. Shit. He was going to be late. On his first day. With a huge coffee stain on his shirt. He couldn't think of how this could be worse. To top it all off, he didn't have time to go over the class roster and didn't want to humiliate himself by mispronouncing a student's name. He took a deep breath and turned the knob. Guess he couldn't worry about that now.

"Good Morning everyone." He strolled in and picked up a dry erase marker proceeding to write his name on the board.

Mercedes' father told her a story of how she once walked past a robbery without flinching. She hadn't realized what was going on around her because she was too busy running errands for him. She didn't believe him until she turned on the local news station and saw herself scurry across the screen. It seems that she was so focused it was easy to ignore things around her, easy to be ignorant of the danger that surrounded her. Not this time. She heard his voice clear as day and she knew it was Sam. She knew it in the way her breathing hallowed, the way her pulse quickened, the inexplicable whirls in her stomach. Still she couldn't look up, she wouldn't do anything to confirm his presence here. He was far away living a life without her. She could (try to) deal with that. But his voice meant he was here. And here was a place she couldn't handle him being. So she closed her eyes and slid further down in her chair actually hoping she was losing her mind.

"Before we begin I need to check attendance." He got through the first few names easily, stumbled on one and stopped all together when he was faced with an all too familiar name.

"Mercedes Jones?" His voice cracked. He was sure his students thought he was nervous but he was beyond that. He was frightened. He was already having trouble staying away from her and they were thousands of miles away from each other. How was he going to hide his feelings if he had to see her every day? His eyes scanned the room looking for her, hoping and praying that he wouldn't find her. When he saw her hand raise he knew he was doomed. There she was, sitting with her head down like she were trying to stay hidden.

Sam cleared his throat and moved on to the next name. He had to. He couldn't lose his cool here. He could feel himself unraveling by the second and needed his brain to take control of the situation. Turning around, he focused all of his attention on the board. He never once looked out to the class, never addressed his students. He knew he was starting off horribly but he didn't know what to do. It took everything in him to be in the same room with her and not kiss her.

He read from the textbook all the while piling on unnecessary classroom assignments. The class thought he was being a hard-ass. A first time teacher who felt students needed a drill sergeant to learn. Who was trying to assert himself in a place he was a part of as a student not too long ago. In actuality he was being a coward. He was biding his time and trying to think about what he could say to her. He had to say something right?

Mercedes actually relaxed when the bell rung. If she could make it to the door she could talk to the roster chair about changes classes. There was no way she could stay here.

She was almost out the room when he called her back. "Miss Jones? May I have a word?" Shit. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Puck grabbed her shoulders and she looked up at him, oblivious to the clenched jaw Sam was sporting at their interaction. Puck wagged his finger in front of her face. "Twice in a day, Jones. You're a bad influence. What am I going to do with you?"

She shoved him a little and he dramatically fell forward. "Maybe it has nothing to do with me. Maybe he wants to talk to me about my friend who slept through his class?"

He looked at Mr. Evans a moment and smiled down at her. "Whatever, Jones. I'll grab us a table. Leaning forward he kissed her cheek. "I can't guarantee your food will still be there if you take too long."

She shook her head watching him walk away. She needed that before she stepped into the lion's den. Watching the last student leave the classroom she turned to see Sam lock the door and draw the blinds.

"Mr. Evans?"

He hated that name coming from her mouth. It felt alien, unnatural. "Please don't call me that. Not when we're alone." His whispers seemed to fill the empty room and echo against the walls.

She bit her lip and looked down. She couldn't call him that. The man standing by the window trying to make sure the blinds were completely shut wasn't Sam. At least wasn't her Sam.

"Mercedes, I. You." He blew out a deep breath. "I-I don't know what to do here." He stuffed his hands in his pockets knowing if he hadn't they would roam to her familiar places.

She shrugged still not meeting his gaze. It wasn't like she was an expert in this area either. "I didn't know you worked here." She blurted it out. He needed to know she didn't plan this.

"This is a shock to me too. I thought you went to McKinley?" He scratched his chin hoping she didn't ask how he knew that. She didn't need to know he begged her aunt for her address after he left, finding out not only when her first day was but also her address and school. Luckily Mercedes' aunt didn't know about the age discovery. He suspected she wouldn't have been as forthcoming with the information had she known.

Mercedes frowned thinking headaches, nausea and hallucinations didn't seem so bad right now. "It was condemned."

He heard some teachers talking about it earlier and cursed his ability to tune people out. Maybe he could have prepared himself for seeing her. Although in all honesty nothing probably could prepare him for this.

"I need this class to graduate," she revealed, letting him know she was planning to transfer.

"I'm the only Physics teacher."

Right. Of course he was. It was the only thing that made sense. It seems the universe was conspiring against them. "I don't know what we are going to do. But I do know that I'm happy to see you."

She looked up at him then, this earnest smile both filling and breaking her heart.

It was all in his eyes—she was still his. They still belonged to each other. With no other thought of consequences she cleared the distance between them, grabbed his arms and drew him closer. She wanted to stay angry with him, repeat her mantra of 'you're just a kid to him,' remember how he made her feel when he walked away, but she couldn't. It wasn't real and it betrayed every good memory they had.

She breathed him in. That scent she couldn't get enough of not too long ago. The scent that made her reasoning skills and morality short-circuit. She pressed a fevered kiss to his mouth, remembering the taste of his cherry chap stick and the plump of his lips. Then another. And another. At first she thought she was alone in her feelings, until she felt him retuning her kisses with equal fervor. Short brushes gave way to longer sips where tongues collided and sighs were produced. She was making him melt into her.

And for a moment he let her. For a moment he gave in to his feelings for her, let summer memories wash over him and guide his actions. He missed her. He could lose it all, and he would willingly, just for the opportunity to stay next to her. But this was wrong on so many levels. She was his student. He had a responsibility to be a role model. And he loved her. So he also had a greater responsibility to protect her heart. Going down this road could only lead to heartache, and he wouldn't be selfish with her. This couldn't happen. Grabbing her wrists he stepped out of the kiss and pulled her away. "Mercedes. We can't do this." His breathing was ragged, broken as he tried to restore the breath she took away.

Nodding she stepped further away from him and grabbed her books. Of course they couldn't do this. She felt humiliated, rejected and ashamed. Most of all she was angry with herself. She knew how hard he worked to become a teacher. Knew he had a lot riding on this. And now she completely acted like a hormonal teenager and risked his career. "You're right. I'm so sorry Sa—I mean Mr. Evans. I didn't mean to cause trouble for you."

She smiled sadly at him and clutched her long-forgotten books tighter to her chest as if those bound pieces of paper could shield her from her feelings for her now-teacher. "I'm really proud of you. I think you'll be a great teacher."

He touched his lips as he watched her run from the room. It was still there—the crackle that ripped through his body whenever their lips touched. But it wasn't worth the devastation. He knew what he had to do. He had to let her go, truly. He would have to keep things professional. He would have to work harder to keep her from his heart.


Mercedes kept looking straight ahead and tried to ignore the bouncing girl beside her who was hanging on her arm.

"You are so lucky to be taking a class with 'Mr Lips'." She then wiggled her eyebrows and pursed her lips together laughing as her best friend roll her eyes beside her. "And you get to spend time with him afterschool." Rachel was acting just like a groupie. To be fair most of the girls (and some of the guys) had been acting that way about the hot new Physics teacher.

"Seriously Mercedes could you imagine what those lips could do? How they would feel wrapped around your…"

Rachel's words had Mercedes eliciting memories that made her shut her eyes and clench her thighs. "Rachel! That's disgusting."

The normally polished girl shrugged and smiled lecherously. "Please. Compared to what these other girls were saying, that was innocent." She hooked her arm around Mercedes and kept walking. "I don't know how you can concentrate with him around."

Truth be told, Mercedes didn't know if she could at all. She already felt so out-of-place in his presence. As if someone could see the looks she pretends she doesn't toss his way and know her feelings. She loved him. Still. God help her, she never stopped. But she was getting there. She was getting to okay and all of a sudden he's back in her life, tearing that progress she made.

Mercedes unhooked her arm and waved to Rachel. She barely listened to her friend talk about her first day here. Barely heard anything because she knew she would have to walk into that classroom and pretend Mr. Evans was nothing more than her teacher. Her only saving grace was that there would be other students, buffers that would help her stay focused.