DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE NOR ANYTHING ELSE.
A MONTH LATER / LATE OCTOBER
Jamison Jones- Luke James
Nehemiah Jones- Brandon P. Bell
Mercedes closed the door to her car and locked it behind her, walking up to the building with Moses beside her. It's been a whole month since her first game and she was surprised at how fast the season was going already. They have played four games since then and only lost one. She was thankful for a bye week they had because she had needed some much needed rest before this Homecoming game Friday.
Moses opened the door for her, sending her a smile when she thanked him. As they got in, he groaned loudly when he felt someone come behind him and pick him up, "Put me down."
Mercedes turned around and chuckled once she saw the scene before her, "He's not a kind anymore, you can't do stuff like that. He's a growing young man."
Nehemiah smirked as he put him down, wrapping his little brother into a hug, "He always going to be my little brother."
"Agreed and we're always going to be embarrassing the both of you." Jamison smiled as he went over and hugged his sister tightly, "I've missed you."
"I've missed you guys too." Mercedes smiled as she hugged him back before letting go and going over to do the same to Nehemiah. She was so happy that her brothers were in town. Thankfully, they had their own bye week this week and decided to come home for a few days. Mercedes' brothers also played football. Nehemiah was was a wide receiver while Jamison was a running back. Because of their strength and conditioning training last month, they had to miss her first game but they were so happy that she and her team had won.
"I'm going to let you go now because we went ahead and got you guys some ice cream." Nehemiah said as he let go of her and gestured to their table. He had texted her earlier and told her to bring Moses and meet them at a local Thai ice cream shop so they could have some rolled up ice cream, "Brownie and Vanilla for you, and Strawberry for you Moe."
"Thank you."
Jamison nodded his head as he picked up his spoon and resumed to his ice cream, "How are y'all liking it down here?"
"It's not as bad as I expected it to be." Moses replied as he swallowed some of the ice cream before speaking again, "Don't get me wrong, I miss home, but it actually feels like home here too and I've made a lot of new friends."
"He's not exaggerating about that. They literally get on my nerves every other weekend." Mercedes added truthfully, earning a chuckle from them.
"How about you, Cedes? How are you adjusting?"
"I think after a few weeks of getting use to being here, it's been alright. Still miss home but not as bad as I was at first."
Nehemiah nodded his head, staring at her for a moment before he spoke again, "And football?"
Mercedes raised her eyes to look at him and then Jamison. She wasn't stupid, she knew they knew what was going on. The thing about all three of her brothers, they were very overprotective her. She knew that Moses told them what's really been going on and she couldn't even be mad, "God honest truth?"
"No devil ass lie." Jamison answered back to her as he crossed his arms, waiting expectingly for her to begin to speak.
Mercedes shrugged as she sat her spoon in her cup, leaning back in the chair, "It has gotten better. There's still some tension of course, but I think that they're getting use to the fact that I'm not going anywhere."
Nehemiah cut his eyes at the way she tried to shrug it off, "You better be telling the truth, little girl."
Mercedes frowned as she looked at him, "I am."
"Well, it doesn't matter if you are or not because we're going to find out for ourselves. We were invited to come to your practice tomorrow afternoon." Jamison smirked when he saw her eyes go wide as she began to shake her head, "Oh yes."
"No, no, and no." Mercedes all but screamed, causing everyone to look at them.
Jamison kicked her lightly on her leg before leaning forward, "Shut up before you get us kicked out."
"You shut up, idiot." Mercedes resorted back as she glared at them both, "Y'all better not show up tomorrow or else."
"Or else what?"
Mercedes came up blank as she stared them down before involuntarily giving up when she knew they weren't going to let this go, "I hate you both."
"No you don't."
Moses looked between them and smiled. He didn't regret telling them about what's been going on with Mercedes. He loved his sister and he hated seeing her getting treated wrongly. He knew if anyone was going to shut this down with the team, it was going to be their big brothers.
Sam watched as the kids came back into the room from their restroom break. Every year for Homecoming week and one of the days out of the week, the team went to visit an elementary school in their district. The team would be separated into different groups and go to different classrooms to just sit and hangout with the kids all day. Sam and Mercedes had ended up being together and lucky enough, Sam also ended up being in the first grade classroom his little cousin was in.
Mercedes crossed her legs as she sat beside Sam, smiling at the kids as they grabbed their lunches and made their way back to their seats at the tables. She was pretty excited that this was a tradition they got to do because she loved kids. Although things were obviously still tense between her and Sam, neither of them being cordial since the dinner, she decided that she would ignore the negativity that radiated off of him and focused on what she was here to do.
"Alright kids, we're going to eat our lunches before we watch the movie."
Ansley listened to her teacher, watching as she went and sat at her desk before she stood up and grabbed her lunchbox. Going over to Sam, she smiled brightly as she went and hugged him, "Sammy."
"Hi Ant." Sam called her the nickname her gave her as he hugged her back, feeling her pull back.
"I knew that you were going to be here so I asked mommy if she could make an extra sandwich." She said sweetly as she opened her box and handed him the ham and cheese sandwich, a bag of chips, and a juice.
"Ah, my favorite. Thank you so much, Ant."
"You're welcome." She smiled before her eyes went over to Mercedes, moving closer to the girl and holding out her hand, "My name is Ansley, but you can call me Ant..my cousin Sammy does all the time."
Mercedes smiled at how sweet the little girl was, shaking her outreached hand, "It's very nice to meet you, I'm Mercedes."
Ansley scanned her face for a minute as she continued to smile, tilting her head a bit, "You're really pretty."
"Awe, well thank you but you're way prettier." Mercedes giggled as she watched her cheeks began to turn a faint pink.
"Thank you, ma'am." She said politely before she went back over to Sam, hitting his shoulder before leaning up and whispering in his ear, "Share with her."
"Yes ma'am." He whispered back as she watched her nod and give him a knowing look as she went back to her table. Shaking his head with a smile, he turned to side and found Mercedes looking out at the kids. They haven't said anything to each other since the dinner last month and quite honestly, he felt really bad for what went down. Although he saw where his dad was coming from because that's how he has been too all along, it was just something about hearing it come from him that rubbed him the wrong way, "Would you like some?"
Mercedes tore her eyes away and turned to Sam, seeing him gesture to the food as he sat it on the table, she shook her head, "No thanks."
Sam rolled his eyes as he opened the ziplock bag and pulled one of triangular cut sandwiches and placed it on a napkin in front of her before opening the bag of chips and putting them to where they both could reach it.
Mercedes sighed as she reluctantly took the sandwich, "Thank you."
Ansley leaned back in her chair to look at them, seeing them sharing, she smiled when Sam looked her way, giving him a thumbs up.
Sam chuckled underneath his breath as he leaned back into his chair, taking a deep breath, he decided to start a conversation to break the awkwardness, "I..um, I want to apologize to you..about my dad."
"Don't." Mercedes started as she moved her hair back behind her ear, "This is really not the place nor do I want an apology."
Sam clamped his mouth shut and took his eyes off her just as the teacher got up from her seat and addressed the class.
"Okay kiddies, like I said earlier, this is Sam and Mercedes and they're here to hang out with you." The teacher barely got out before the two teens were being swarmed with questions.
"Are you going to win Friday?"
"We're hoping so."
"Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"No."
"Most definitely not."
Sam and Mercedes voices ran out at the same time quickly, clearing that up right away and not daring to look at each other at the moment.
"Ms. Mercedes." Logan, who was sitting by Ansley spoke up as he looked at her, "My parents said that girls shouldn't be playing football but I think you're really cool for doing it."
"Thank you Logan for thinking I'm cool." Mercedes chuckled along with everyone else in the room, "It shouldn't matter who you are or what you look like, as long as you love what you're doing."
"My dad said it's very, very dangerous for a girl to play football." A girl named Angel said as she grabbed another carrot from her bag and put it in her mouth.
Damn these parents Mercedes thought to herself before she came out of her thoughts and addressed Angel, "It's dangerous for boys too, sweetie."
"Can you sing?" Ansley asked as she looked at Mercedes with a smile.
"I-umm.." Mercedes giggled nervously when she saw all the little eyes on her, "I can carry a note or two."
Sam was quite shocked at the revelation as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Sing something then."
"Yeah." They all yelled out in unison, cheering the young woman on.
Mercedes cut her eyes at Sam before looking back at the children, "Umm..okay..let's see."
"How about a song from a Disney movie?" The teacher suggested, smiling when everyone in the room nodded their head.
"I'm just going to sing a small part because I'm really not that good." She smiled as she thought about what she could sing. When she got the one she wanted, she hummed out lowly before opening her mouth.
Ansley gasped once she realized the tune she was humming, eyes going wide when Mercedes began to sing.
Every turn I take, every trail I track
Every path I make, every road leads back
To the place I know where I cannot go
Where I long to be
See the line where the sky meets the sea
It calls me
And no one knows, how far it goes
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me
One day I'll know
If I go there's just no telling how far I'll go
Sam was stunned into silence once she opened up her mouth. She could actual do more than carry a note or two, her voice was amazing. And the thing about it, it was quiet and powerful, not loud and over the top like a lot of people.
Mercedes stopped it short, laughing when they all clapped for her, seeing Ansley come out of her seat and up to give her a big hug.
Ansley squeezed her before letting go, "Your voice is so pretty. Isn't it, Sammy?"
Sam came out of his amusement when he heard his little cousin's question, looking up at her then Mercedes as he cleared his throat, "It honestly is."
Mercedes stared at him for a minute before dropping her eyes and giving the girl in front of her a smile, "Thank you."
Ansley smiled brightly before she went back to her seat, clearing taking an liking to Ms. Mercedes.
"Thank you for sharing your beautiful voice with us, Mercedes. And thank you both for coming today. I think we're having a lot fun, am I right kids?"
Sam laughed when they all screamed out, causing their teacher to shush them. He had to admit it that he was having a lot of fun.
"Clean up your areas and make your way to the rug for our movie, which just so happens to be Moana."
Mercedes snorted at her as she stood up from her seat, stretching a bit. Feeling her phone vibrating, she pulled it out of her pocket and saw that she had a text from her mom. Her eyes going wide, she began to panic as she put her phone in her pocket before grabbing her book-bag, "I have to go."
Sam didn't get a chance to ask her what was wrong due to her leaving out so quickly. He watched the door for a minute after she left before standing up and making his way to where everyone else was.
Mercedes held onto the bar as Leo stood behind her, making sure she didn't fall. They weren't having practice before the game tomorrow, instead, their coaches had wanted them to go to the weight room. She had to hurry away yesterday to tend her little brother, who had been rushed to the hospital do to a bad asthma attack. Thankfully, he was fine and getting some much needed rest.
Garret looked at the timer on his phone before calling out the time, "Twenty seconds."
Mercedes groaned as she readjusted her hands on the bar, closing her eyes for a moment. This was the only thing she hated doing. It was worse than planks and that was saying something.
"Let her stay up there for another minute. She can do it." Jamison said as he came into the weight room, catching everyone off guard as he went straight to his sister.
Sam put the weights down when he saw the two men come in, one going over to Mercedes. His eyebrow rose instantly as he tried to figure out what they were doing here.
Nehemiah stood beside the coach and crossed his arms over his chest, smirking. He knew Mercedes was pissed that they were here but he didn't care. They were invited and on top of that, a lot needed to be addressed with this team.
"I can't do it." Mercedes said through gritted teeth, watching as her brother stood in front of her as everyone in the room stopped what they was doing to look on.
"You know you can. Keep your legs straight and toes pointed." He matched the glare she was sending him, not backing down from it at all. He knew what his sister was capable of and he was not going to let her doubt herself.
"5..4..3..2..1.."
Leo caught her when he saw her hands slip just as the timer went off, helping her to her feet, he was in total surprise that she could go the extra minute when he knew that this was her weakness.
Jamison smiled as he walked over and hugged her, causing him to get hit in the stomach, "Ouch."
"Some of you may know them already, but if you don't, this is Nehemiah and Jamison Jones." Coach Mac spoke as the young men nodded to everyone in the room, "They play football at Texas A&M, and just so happens to be Mercedes' brothers."
Mercedes frowned as she went over and grabbed her water bottle from the table, bumping Jamison in the process.
"I will not take this abuse, Mercedes Jones."
Nehemiah rolled his eyes at his siblings before walking towards the middle of the room, "Anyways, your coaches had wanted us to come talk to y'all at the beginning of the season but our schedules were hectic."
Jamison nodded his head as he walked to where his brother was standing, "But since our bye week fell right on Homecoming, we thought it would be a good idea to come on down."
"We came with all intentions of giving you guys advice and stuff but one thing we are not about to do is ignore the elephant in the room."
"And that's the problem y'all have with our sister." Jamison eyes went around the room and glared at them all, "We know you've been treating her like trash and I'm not about to continue to let that happened."
"Me either." Nehemiah agreed as he uncrossed his arms from his chest, "Mercedes is a damn good player and we've been seeing this since she been able to pick up a ball. And for not only y'all but media and everyone else who doesn't agree with her playing discredit and try to bring her down because she's a girl really pisses me off."
"Whether you like it or not, she is your teammate and you will respect her." Jamison directed his comment to Sam as he stared him down, knowing all about him and his part, "And let's clear up another thing as well. If y'all ever intentionally try to hurt my baby sister again, I will personally beat your ass."
"Okay brothers, that's enough." Mercedes said as she slid on her jacket, standing up from the bench as she walked to where they were. Out of all of them, Jamison was a hot head and when he was pissed, he was truly without doubt couldn't control his anger, "I think they get it. It's time for you two to go."
"Treat her right and protect her out there because they are going to be people gunning to hurt her." Nehemiah said as he gave them one last look before nodding to the coaches and leaving out the room with Jamison in tow.
"I can't, I really can't right now." Mercedes whispered to herself as she ran her hands over her face before walking out as well.
"It's what we've been preaching all along guys." Coach Mac said as he leaned against the wall, pointing to where Mercedes walked out at, "Her brothers are right about everything and you should sit here for the next hour and think about what you've have done in the last two months."
A/N. The Jones' boys don't play when it comes to their sister, believe that! How are you guys liking Nehemiah & Jamison? How about sweet little Ansley? How about that cute little scene at the school? Weight room showdown ladies and gents, don't come for Mercedes because she has a load of protection! Now, let me just say this, this Homecoming chapter is when things start to get interesting. And let's just say...it's going to be something! Stay tuned, loves :)