A/N: I have decided on a story title name that fit the story a bit better. Devine Tragedy is now Beauty Devine.

Bet you don't think I can take it

But my mind and body are strong

Bet you don't think I can make it

It won't take long

Now watch me shine

Joanna Pacitti — Watch Me Shine

School. AKA, Samantha Renee Devine's personal hell. She hated it. The jocks were in full-swing with their taunts and it was pissing her off. Instead of scooting around people quietly, she let her infamous Irish temper move them out of her way as she shoved past them. When Karofsky dared to step too close, she shoved him out of the way.

"I said move!" she snapped to him. When the football player loomed over her, she stared him down hotly, her blood boiling in her veins. "What, is English your second language?" Truth be told, Sam was itching for a fight. She wanted him to try to intimidate her because she knew she could deliver it back twice as bad.

"Watch it, pipsqueak," Karofsky said, jumping in her face a little bit.

"Ooh, that the best you got? Pardon me while I run down the halls, screaming in fear," Sam sneered. When he shoved her into the locker, she shoved him back. "You or any other Neanderthal lay another hand on me and I'd happily explain to Coach Beiste just what kind of starter she has on her team, if you could even be called that."

"You threatening me, leprechaun?"

The insult sent her reeling. She hadn't been called that since third grade and it chilled her blood to ice. Sam utterly despised the name. The insult echoed in her ears as she gritted her teeth hard enough to set off an aching in her jaw.

"No, I'm not threatening you, Karofsky, I'm not like you. What I'm making is a promise. You leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. Got it?" she snarled.

"What, you think you got a pair because you're Hudson's beard? You don't got squat at this school, Devine," he spat.

"It's a hell of a lot more than you," she countered before stalking off. She knew she'd be regretting that later, but taking her anger out on the school bullies was helping. She felt a hand slip into hers and she looked up to see Finn walking next to her. "Sorry, I'm not in the best mood right now."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there last week when that cop showed up. It wasn't cool of me to just...stand there," he told her. Sam shook her head as they walked down the hall.

"Don't worry about it. I was pretty crabby afterward, so you didn't really miss much," she replied. His hand left hers to draw her closer into his side. When students walking by started whispering, she rolled her eyes. "You know rumors are flying about you and me, right?"

"Yeah, it's 'cause they've got nothing better to do. Most of the guys are slapping my back and congratulating me," he shrugged it off.

When they passed Pete Harrison in the hall, Finn tucked Sam closer to his side ever so slightly. It was a gesture of protectiveness that didn't go unnoticed. Pete's sharp hazel eyes followed them as they walked by and Sam suddenly felt like a bug under a magnifying glass. A chill ran down her spine as she walked alongside Finn.

"Was Pete one of them?" Sam asked quietly. Her gaze lifted to look at Finn and saw a tense set in his strong jaw. He didn't like Pete.

"I don't want to talk about Harrison," he replied.

Finn hadn't realized how much he had grown to like Sam until he had been asked flat-out by Jacob ben Israel for the gossip blog. Sam stood next to him, her thigh carefully concealing their joined hands. Her crystal-blue eyes were emotionless as she looked at Jacob.

"Is it true about you and Samantha Devine? Are you two on?" the kid asked, shoving the microphone into Finn's face. Finn stepped back a bit and raised his eyebrow. "Rumor has it that you two have become quite the item since Christmas vacation.

"Uh, yeah, we have," Finn replied. His gaze dropped to meet Sam's and her eyebrow arched as well.

"We're just taking it slow and figuring things out before we make things official," Sam said into the microphone.

"According to recent polls, you two are the favorite new couple of the New Year," Jacob told them. Finn hated things like this. Why did people have to follow other students around like the damned paparazzi?

"We stand by our previous comment. As of now, nothing is official," Sam replied hotly. Their hands dropped immediately and Finn used it to run through his unruly hair.

"This is Jacob ben Israel on official "Finnmantha" watch," Jacob said.

"Oh, Jesus," Sam muttered next to Finn. "I'm leaving to go to my car. Let this be a warning: I see Jewfro or any of his little cronies within a ten-foot radius of me, there will be hell to pay." With those words, she walked off.

"She's a feisty little firecracker, isn't she?" Jacob said nervously. With quick composure, he signed off. When Finn went to follow her, he felt someone grab his sleeve. "Do you think she'll hurt me?"

No, Finn wanted to say. Sam was a girl who liked her privacy. This sort of thing paired with everything else lumped together was gnawing at her self-control.

"Honestly, I can't answer that. Sam's gonna do what she's gonna to do," Finn answered. He shifted his black backpack higher onto his shoulder and made his way after her. In honesty, he was thankful for Sam saying what he couldn't. He saw her in her car when he walked out of the school. She was sitting on the hood of her car, her phone tucked against her face. Her expression was one of pure joy, her beautiful smile wide on her face. "There's the Sam I know."

"Yeah, Daddy, I'll see you then," Sam replied, hanging up her phone. A squeal escaped her lips, her blue eyes alight. "Daddy and Uncle Danny are getting out next month and Uncle Danny's gonna buy a house here in Lima. He's been looking into houses with three bedrooms so he can try to petition the court to get custody of his kids."

It looked as if a mountain of tension had been lifted from her shoulders as she looked up at him. Finn felt as if the eggshells he had been walking on had evaporated. It seemed natural to hug her tightly.

"Oh! And my mom was saying that I need things to distract me from what's going on in my life, so I've decided that I'm going to try out for either volleyball or Cheerios," she informed him. That made his eyebrows raise. Sam seemed so much nicer than the other cheerleaders. It would crush her.

"I thought you were afraid of Coach Sylvester?" he reminded her. Sam waved it off with a scoff.

"I'll get over it. Honestly, I could use the extra push," she responded. Her head tilted as she watched him with her intelligent blue gaze. "It was just an idea, anyways. Mercedes and Kurt have also warned me of Sue Sylvester's wicked ways. I've dealt with worse coaches than her."

"She hates the glee club. If she makes you choose..." Finn trailed off, then shuddered. He was afraid of Sue Sylvester himself. He wouldn't want to subject her wrath to his worst enemies, let alone his emotionally fragile girlfriend.

"I'll choose New Directions every time. You guys have been more supportive of me than my own mother; I'm not gonna screw it up," Sam told him. "Besides, we'd be the stereotypical American dream."

"I just don't want you to change. I like you better as you, not some snobby cheerleader," Finn replied. A smile spread across her pretty face as she twisted her mouth in thought.

"I'm Samantha Devine, girl who shushes and talks to inanimate objects, knows more about cars and music than I know about the latest fashions and-" She was cut off at the sound of footsteps. Finn turned around to see Sue Sylvester walking towards them. "Speak of the devil."

"Leprechaun, Herman Munster," she addressed them.

"Hi, Coach Sylvester," Finn and Sam greeted in unison. Sue looked down at Sam, towering over the petite teen girl.

"Your file passed over my desk, little lady. Former cheerleading captain of the Atherton-Menlo High School Panthers in Louisville, Kentucky, co-captain of the Carmel High School Bulldogs in Akron, Ohio in your freshman year, as well as a mid-pyramid participant in at least four other cheer squads. You helped take all of those schools to Nationals to come in a very close second to my Cheerios," she stated matter-of-factly. "Now, why you're not a Cheerio is a mystery to me."

Finn felt sorry for Sam as she had that rabbit-in-the-headlights expression on her face. Finally, she cleared her throat.

"Well, I wanted to get settled in the school before I joined any clubs. I was going to talk to you today about joining the Cheerios, actually," she replied.

"I'll expect you freshly stretched, warmed up, in proper practice gear, and in the gym in an hour," Sue responded. When she walked away briskly, Finn looked down at Sam.

"Is it bad that I'm honestly scared of this?" she asked. Finn tucked her closer to him before kissing the top of her head.

Sam hadn't been this nervous in a long time. Her heart raced in her chest as she dressed in her gym clothes. She secured the white band on her black shorts and bent down to tie the laces of her black Nike sneakers before rolling her shoulders to ease the quickly rising tension. She tied her long hair into a tight ponytail, smoothing her bangs in her face and shook her hands to calm down.

This was the moment she had been dreading. Sam wasn't going to back down from this and she wrenched open the door to the gym and walked out. When she hit the blue mat under her sneakers, she lifted her foot behind her to stretch her legs. Luckily, because she was so small, she didn't need to stretch much. Sam bent over backwards to warm up, her hands touching the mat behind her. She could feel her old cheerleading muscles begin to come alive again as she warmed up. Her favorite move was a one-handed round-off.

Pointing her toe and landing on one hand to lift herself in the air, she twisted her wrist and landed on her feet. She lifted backwards to flip and land on her feet again.

DJ Khaled's "All I Do is Win" played from her iPhone on the corner of the mat and Sam twisted along to the music.

"And every time I step up in the building, everybody's hands go UP!..." She kicked her legs to touch her toes and landed on a bent knee. "And they stay there, and they stay there!"

Her moves were modernized from the Cheerios slightly outdated moves, but the outdated moves were what won competitions. If Sam had to conform to slightly outdated, she would. She hadn't realized how much she had missed this until she heard quiet clapping from the doorway.

"What do you think, Coach?" Sam heard the garbled speech of Becky Jackson ask. Sue eyed Sam critically as she shrugged.

"Good enough," she confirmed finally.