Hey all, I know it's a bit late (only by a day but I'm unnecessarily hard on myself)and to save you excuses, life and writer's block got in the way. Anyways, how about that episode of Glee? That was amazing, Mike's parent's are so close to how I wrote them. Okay, mine are a bit less hardcore than their canon counterparts but whatever. Also, I know next to nothing about football so if I messed something up I'm sorry.


Making his way into school, Mike wraps his jacket tighter around his already shivering body and is easily reminded why he should have worn his heavier coat. Next to him Santana gravitates a little closer to him for extra body heat. Mike felt really bad about the fact that she had to wear her Cheerios outfit even in this type of weather; it was too freaking cold for a skirt.

"Remind me again why you had to park so far away from the doors." Santana grumbled next to him.

"Because I had to pick you up this morning. Which reminds me, why did I have to pick you up this morning?" Mike asked.

"My mom was too busy, my dad wasn't home…as usual, and Brittany had already left with Artie." Santana said angrily as they finally entered into the school to be graced with warmth. She shivered and rubbed her hands together as they continued to make their way down the hall.

The hallway was mostly empty given that the warning bell had rung three minutes ago and most people have already made it to their classes. Mike saw Tina walking down the hall opposite of them and went to wave but sighed when she pointedly ignored him and continued on her way.

"Trouble in paradise?" Santana asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Tina is still mad at me." Mike said sadly.

"Still? It's been two days." Santana replied.

"I couldn't find a plausible way to explain why we were holding hands besides telling her the truth." Mike explained.

"You didn't tell her did you?" Santana asked slightly afraid.

"No, I figured you didn't want people knowing you're afraid of the dark." Mike said quietly and watched as Santana relaxed.

"Thanks." She said and Mike nodded. They separated shortly after and Mike was left trying to figure out how to get back on Tina's good side.


Mike was sitting in Spanish gazing off into nothingness as Mr. Shue droned on about who knows what. He had spent most of the morning trying to get Tina to stop ignoring him and find out a way to get on her good side again. Maybe he should ask Santana for her opinion on what to do? Mike sighed and continued to daze off until the end of class.

Mike spent most of the passing period looking for Santana. Just when he was about to give up and just head to the cafeteria and wait for her there, Mike saw Santana quickly walk out of the choir room. Mike caught up with her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"I was looking for you. I need your help on figuring out a way to fix things with Tina." Mike said.

Santana, sighed, "It's already done."

"Wait what?" Mike asked confused.

"I told her the truth. You don't have to worry about anything anymore." Santana said quietly before walking off.

Mike couldn't believe his ears; did Santana really tell one of her biggest secrets just so his girlfriend wouldn't be mad at him anymore? Mike shook his head and smiled, he was beginning to see the sweet girl under her normal hard exterior that Brittany always talked about. It wasn't long before Mike heard angry footsteps heading towards him from behind. Mike turns around and sees Tina storming up to him.

"Do you two take me for some sort of fool?" Tina asked angrily.

"What?" Mike responded.

"Honestly it's a bit insulting to my intelligence. Do you two really expect me to believe that Santana is afraid of the da-" Tina ranted but was cut off by Mike quickly placing his hand over her mouth.

"Tina shhhh." Mike said as he looked around the hall. Thankfully no one was paying them any attention. Mike quickly grabbed Tina by the arm and led her to the empty choir room and closed the door.

"I didn't expect Santana to tell you something like that." Mike said.

"But she did. You could've at least come up with something a little more believable." Tina huffed.

Mike stared at her, "Tina she's telling you the truth. Santana is afraid of the dark."

Tina stopped and stared at Mike, "You're serious aren't you?"

"Yes." Mike replied seriously. They both sat in silence for a moment before Tina burst into laughter.

"Oh this is golden. Of all the things to be afraid of, Santana is afraid of the dark." Tina managed to get out in between fits of laughter.

"It's not funny." Mike started. He had a feeling he was going to regret Tina knowing.

"Just wait until Kurt and Mercedes hear about this." Tina continued as if she hadn't heard Mike at all. Mike could feel the fear for Santana bubble up. This was something that Santana most definitely did not want going around; which is exactly what would happen if Tina told the school's two biggest gossips. He couldn't believe that Tina didn't realize that Santana trusted her with something personal and that that was a huge thing. How could Tina just easily plan to tell her secret and throw away Santana's trust like that? Now Mike was angry.

"Tina!" Mike half yelled. Tina immediately stopped laughing and stared at Mike with wide eyes. He didn't blame her really; it was the first time he had ever raised his voice to someone let alone her.

"Don't tell anyone. Santana only told you because she didn't want you to be angry at me anymore. I can't believe that you would so cold heartedly plan to throw away her trust like that and tell everyone her personal business." Mike stated seriously before he left a shocked Tina in the room alone.


Mike was driving Santana to her house for their tutoring session in a comfortable silence. Mike wondered what to say to get the conversation rolling as he glanced at Santana who was staring out the window.

"Thanks for helping smooth things over with Tina. I really appreciate it." Mike said breaking the silence.

"It's no problem. I just don't want to be the reason for any problems in your relationship." Santana replied. Mike nodded and stayed silent. He couldn't tell her that she's the cause of most of his and Tina's arguments recently. He doesn't want to make her feel guilty about being his friend. Turning into Santana's driveway Mike paused; there was a car in the driveway. In all the times that he's driven Santana home, Mike has never seen a car in the driveway.

"Shit!" Santana said angrily.

"What? What's wrong?" Mike says slightly panicking.

"My mom is home." Santana sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Oh, is that bad?"

"That depends." Santana said wearily before grabbing her things and exiting the car. Mike quickly turned off the car and followed her inside.

"Santana is that you?" Mrs. Lopez asked from somewhere deeper in the house as soon as Santana closed the door.

"Yeah, I brought company over." Santana replied and Mike silently took in Santana's house.

"Oh my who is this?" Mrs. Lopez asked. Mike looks up to see Mrs. Lopez coming towards them from the back of the house via a short hallway next to the stairs.

"Mom, this is Mike. Mike this is my mom." Santana introduced quickly. Mrs. Lopez looked him up and down with a critical eye and Mike had to resist the urge to hide behind Santana.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you." Mike greeted nervously.

Mrs. Lopez nodded as she continued to look him over. She turned to Santana and sighed, "I have to say you didn't do too bad this time. At least he's better than that delinquent you dated last year."

"Umm…" Mike started.

"He's not my boyfriend." Santana growled out at the same time.

Mrs. Lopez raised an eyebrow, "You still don't have a boyfriend yet? You do realize that all the time you spend with that blonde is causing the neighbors to talk."

Santana nervously shuffled as her mother stared at her. Mike couldn't blame her; the woman was completely intimidating. The silence was tense and filled with an underlying hostility that made Mike uncomfortable. He also felt as if he was witnessing something completely personal and decided to clear his throat and remind them of his presence.

"Sorry, what brings you to visit today?" Mrs. Lopez asked as if the previous conversation never happened.

"I'm her to tutor Santana." Mike said simply. He was thrown off guard as Mrs. Lopez stared at him blankly before bursting into laughter.

"Oh my, that was a good one; Santana why are you wasting this poor boy's time?" Mrs. Lopez asked once she regained control of herself.

"I don't think tutoring Santana is a waste of time." Mike defended. How could her own mother act like this? Mike looked over to Santana who continued to stare sadly at the ground.

"This one here is a lost cause. We've given her some of the best tutors money could buy with the same dismal results. As such I've concentrated on trying to get her a husband. The only thing going for her now is her looks and sadly, she needed help with that." Mrs. Lopez stated coldly. Mike saw Santana cross her arms as if trying to cover her chest. Mike decided then and there that he didn't like this woman.

"I don't agree with you. Santana is beautiful even before she got 'help' and I don't think she's a lost cause at all. So if you don't mind we need a quiet place in order for me to begin my tutor session." Mike stated calmly.

Mrs. Lopez stared at him in shock and quietly watched as Santana led him up the stairs to her room. As soon as Santana closed the door Mike deflated; he had never told an adult off let alone someone's parent. They both sat in silence for a moment as Mike took in Santana's room. The first thing he noticed was the black walls; he doesn't think he's ever been in a room with black walls before. Next, was how neat Santana kept her room and the oddly placed collection of stuffed animals. It was such a jarring difference and Mike never expected Santana to be one to collect teddy bears and stuff; he could have sworn he saw a Stitch plushie buried in there somewhere.

"Thank you." Santana said breaking the silence and stopping Mike from inching closer to the stuffed animal collection.

"You're welcome but why did she say all those things about you?" Mike asked.

Santana sighed, "She's always been like that. If she sees a flaw then the whole world has to know about it and then she makes a big show about fixing it. I guess she does it to make her feel better about herself or something."

"But then why is she trying so hard to find you a boyfriend?" Mike asked.

Santana frowned in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Well if the unnecessary cosmetic surgery was supposed to fix some supposed flaw with your looks and the tutor was supposed to fix your grades, then what is the boyfriend supposed to fix?" Mike clarified. It was a bit underhanded he had to admit, but Mike really wanted to see how she would react to his question.

Santana faltered and looked around the room in a mild panic, "Um…"

Mike waited silently, just observing her reaction, which told him everything that he needed to know; Mrs. Lopez suspected Santana of being gay and judging by the hostility directed towards her daughter, she wasn't very happy with the idea. Mike swallowed hard at this realization and decided to save Santana from having to answer his question.

"You don't have to answer that." He finally said and Santana relaxed.

"Okay."

"I do want to know something else though. Why does your mom think you're a lost cause academically?"

Santana sighed and crossed her arms, "My mom thinks I'm stupid and the only thing I'll ever be able to do is to marry someone successful in order to do well in life. My dad thinks I'm just lazy and that if I put half as much energy into studying as I put into cheerleading then I would be getting straight A's. He forgets that I have Brittany to help me out and constantly go over the cheers with me so that I can remember them correctly. It always annoys me when they insult my intelligence and treat me like I don't understand things, I'm not stupid."

"I know you're not stupid." Mike said reassuringly.

"It's just hard you know." Santana sighed, "I try so hard and I keep getting bad grades and then I have to see their disappointed faces every time. Sometimes I don't even know what's worse; seeing my dad disappointed or knowing that my mother has given up and doesn't care anymore."

Mike swallowed thickly and blinked back any signs of tears, "It'll be okay, I'll help you. Let's start with your homework."

They had been at this for fifteen minutes; fifteen minutes full of Mike going over the current chapter that Santana's class was covering, showing step by step how to solve the problems, and Santana giving him blank looks that would have given Brittany a run for her money.

"Okay." Mike said as he finished explaining for a third time, "Let's give you a problem to try on your own."

Santana looked completely lost and unsure but nodded anyways. Mike smiled encouragingly and looked through her worksheet to try and find a problem that would be fairly easy.

"Okay, try this one; solve by factoring." Mike said showing her the problem.

Mike sat quietly as he waited for Santana to slowly work through the equation. Mike was slightly worried at how long it was taking her to move through each step and the fact that most of the time was spend counting on her fingers and using scratch paper. Upon looking closer at the blank sheet of scratch paper Mike noticed something odd; Santana was adding to multiply. He couldn't believe his eyes; he had never encountered something like this. Not only was Santana adding to multiply she had to count on her fingers to add. Mike was at a loss on what to do with this information.

"Santana, what are you doing?" Mike asked quietly and cautiously.

Santana looked up, "I was trying to figure out eight times nine."

"So you started to add eight, nine times?" Mike asked.

Santana bit her lip and looked down in embarrassment, "Yeah is that bad?"

"No, but it takes and extremely long time to figure out the answer that way. Don't you know your multiplication facts?"

Santana couldn't even look him in the eye as she slowly shook her head in the negative. Mike looked at her completely shocked; how did she manage to make it to high school with barely being able to do the basic functions of math? He was pretty sure there was a saying out there about weak foundations but this was whole new level of sucking at math; one that he was not prepared to handle. Mike was starting to reevaluate just how much he would be able to help her.

"Wow, I…" Mike started but was completely at a loss on what to say.

"Maybe I am a lost cause." Santana said sadly.

"No! I refuse to believe that, we just have to keep trying. At least let's try finishing your homework." Mike stated. Santana sighed and agreed.

An hour had passed and they only managed to get through a fourth of the problems assigned and Mike could tell that Santana was becoming more and more frustrated as time went on. Her breaking point was when they came across an equation that had fractions in it. Mike didn't fully understand why Santana seemed weary of the equation until he had her attempt to solve it.

Mike watched quietly as Santana stared at the problem with a deep look of concentration; the girl was thinking so hard he could see it on her face. He was completely thrown for a loop when Santana suddenly burst into tears and threw her pencil down in anger.

"I hate this! Why the fuck do I need to learn this anyways? When the hell am I ever going to use this shit?" Santana cried out in frustration before she ran from the room in tears. Mike tried to follow her but Santana ran into the bathroom and shut the door in his face.

Mike tried the handle but found that the door was locked and he was forced to listen as Santana had, what he would describe as, an emotional breakdown. He rested his head on the door, he could feel his heart aching for the girl; he couldn't imagine how it must feel to constantly fail at something no matter how hard you try to succeed. All Mike wanted to do was give Santana a hug and tell her that everything would be okay and that things would get better but he didn't know if that would help. He doesn't know how long he stood outside the bathroom listening to Santana cry her frustrations out but he was a bit relieved when her tears seemed to finally subside.

"Santana." Mike said hoping to get her to open the door.

"Leave me alone." Was her quiet reply.

"But Santana-" Mike tried.

"Please." Santana said with such desperation that Mike just sighed in return.

"Okay. I'll see you at school tomorrow." He replied quietly before grabbing his things and leaving her house.


Walking dejectedly into his house Mike was met with the sounds of laughter. He looked into the living room to see his parents cuddling on the couch and watching a movie. When they both noticed him and his emotional state their smiles faded.

"Honey what's wrong?" Mrs. Chang asked as she untangled herself from her husband.

Mike walked over to the recliner and sat down with a sigh, "I just got back from Santana's."

"You were tutoring her today right?" Mr. Chang asked and Mike nodded.

"Well, I'm assuming it didn't go well." Mrs. Chang prodded gently.

"It was horrible. She's a whole new level of bad at math and I don't know what to do." Mike said as he put his head in his hands missing the concerned look his parents gave each other.

"Why don't you start from the beginning and explain what happened." Mrs. Chang suggested.

Mike looked up and sighed, "Well, I met her mom but that's a story for another time. Long story short the woman in horrible. Anyways I thought I could help Santana with her homework, explain things, show her a few examples and stuff like that." Mike started and his parents nodded in understanding.

"But that's when things started to go wrong." Mike paused as he tried to think of what to say next. "Santana is in a trig class and she can barely multiply." He blurted out. His parents' reaction was instantaneous as they both stared at him in shock.

"What do you mean she can barely multiply?" Mr. Chang asked while Mrs. Chang looked thoughtful.

"I mean that she was adding on scratch paper and her fingers in order to solve simple multiplication problems. Don't even think about giving her anything harder than that. One problem required her to solve fractions; she burst into tears and ran from the room." Mike explained.

"Is the public school system that bad that something like this could've happened?" Mr. Chang mused aloud and Mike had to stop and wonder the same thing himself.

"I honestly don't think the school system had anything to do with this but they probably didn't help." Mrs. Chang said cryptically. "I have an idea, let me make a few calls and see if you can have Santana come over tomorrow. I need to talk to her." She finished before leaving the room and grabbing the phone.

"Any idea what that was about?" Mike asked his dad who only shrugged in response.


The next day was a bit odd; things with Tina were a bit awkward as he was still mad at her about yesterday and Santana was once again avoiding him. It wasn't to the extent of last time but he could tell that she was still embarrassed about yesterday. Mike made his way to his locker and shook his head; he doesn't understand how Finn does it. Dealing with two girls was hard work and he was only in a relationship with one of them. Most of his day was spent in awkward silences with both Tina and Santana and Mike really didn't know what to do.

Glee was just as bad; Santana didn't even sit next to him, something Tina seemed to be extremely happy about. Mike was only comforted by the fact that Santana was sitting next to Brittany. Maybe some good came out of their awkwardness. Mr. Shue walked into the room excited to start the meeting, given that Sectionals was next week.

"Mr. Shuester I have an announcement. I have picked out the perfect moving ballad for Finn and I to sing to launch our performance at Sectionals." Rachel said happily and Mike had to resist rolling his eyes.

"Me first," He replied effectively dismissing her idea, "Two things; first our competition at Sectionals are your classic school choirs. Great voices but they don't move and if we're going to beat them we need to do what they can't, dance; which is why I've decided to feature Brittany and Mike Chang's sweet moves in our performance." Mr. Shue finishes.

Mike looks up in shock before a large grin appears on his face. Tina congratulates him and kisses him on the cheek. Out of the corner of his eye Mike see's Santana smile brightly at Brittany and give her a high five.

"Wait they're going to dance in front of me while I sing my solo?" Rachel asks and just like that the mood is broken.

"You're not getting a solo for this competition Rachel." Mr. Shue replies calmly and Mike can already see Rachel starting to panic.

"Finally, so what song do I get to sing?" Mercedes asks happily and Mike is slightly annoyed that she assumed she would get a solo just the same as Rachel did.

"I was thinking the winners of our duets competition would take the leads." Mr. Shue replied happily. Everyone but Finn and Rachel turned to give the pair a congratulations or a smile.

"Ken and Barbie? Wait a-a-are you trying to throw this?" Rachel asks rudely and Mike has a strange foreboding feeling in the bottom of his stomach; why could she never be happy for someone else?

"You used to be just sort of unlikable but now I pretty much feel like punching you every time you open your mouth." Quinn states angrily. This was going really bad really quickly.

"Okay listen, I have talked the talk about everyone here feeling special for little over a year now but frankly I haven't walked the walk. I mean we have got a lot of talent here and I'm going to highlight it." Mr. Shue said obviously trying to calm everyone down. Mike was just shocked that he attempted to put a stop to the argument before it escalated to boiling point and start started to relax.

Looking over Mike sees Rachel nudge Finn and stage whisper, "Do something."

Maybe he had started to relax too soon?

"Look I'm all for pumping up the team and making everyone feel special but that's for practice. You don't take the star quarterback out before the big game." Finn states nervously. Mike couldn't believe him, Finn wouldn't be half as good as he was if he didn't have the rest of the team making sure he didn't get sacked.

"Yup." Rachel quietly agrees.

"That's easy to say when you're the star quarterback." Tina said breaking the silence and Mike was secretly proud of his girlfriend.

"This isn't just about me this is about the team." Finn replies and Mike almost snorts. The team? Finn and Rachel don't care about the team; all they care about is being front and center while the rest of them sway in the background.

"You are such a hypocrite." Santana states angrily and Mike couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Like you even know what that means." Rachel says haughtily. Mike's eyes widen in fear; Rachel just unknowingly hit on one of Santana's biggest pet peeves. Mike quickly looked back to see Santana's eyes narrow and her body stiffen up as she geared up for a fight. Mike had heard people speak of those moments when you know that everything is about to go horribly wrong but there is nothing you can do but watch it all happen; this was most definitely one of those moments.

Mike could do nothing as he watched Santana lean forward and sneer at the brunette, "It means your boyfriend is full of crap hobbit."

Mike silently hoped that Rachel would leave it at that but today didn't seem to be his lucky day as Rachel stood up to face Santana, "You know what, ever since the wedding you have been up my butt and I'm sick of it."

"Come on Rachel she's not worth it." Finn says nervously. Mike really wished that Finn had stayed out of it but now he had made things worse; why wasn't Mr. Shue putting a stop to any of this?

"Oh really? 'Cuz that's not what you said last year in that motel room. That's right yentl, your sweetheart, he's been lying to you 'cuz he and I totally got it on last year." Santana said smugly and Mike watched as Rachel's face fell as she stood in front of the group completely stunned.

"Okay enough already! No more conversations about this or anything. This is our plan for sectionals and that is that. Mike Brittany come on up, let's start choreographing." Mr. Shue said finally putting an end to everything.

The rest of the meeting was full of awkward silence and the murmurs of Quinn and Sam as they discussed ideas for their duet. As for Brittany and himself; they were given the solo piece. Most of their time was spent going over choreography wit Mr. Shue.

"Okay now that we got the choreography down, who is going to sing?" Mr. Shue asked.

Mike could feel the fear at the very thought of singing in front of a crowd start to rise and he stared at Mr. Shue blankly, "I can't sing."

Mr. Shue then turned to Brittany and Mike could have sworn that he'd never seen Brittany's eyes get so big.

"I've never sang by myself before. What if I mess up and we lose Sectionals. I don't think I could handle that kind of pressure." Brittany said shakily.

"What should we do?" Mike asked quietly.

"Maybe we could get someone else to sing while we dance?" Brittany suggested.

"Mr. Shue could we do that?" Mike asked turning to Mr. Shue who was writing down their previously discussed choreography.

"Sure, who did you have in mind?" He asked.

"Santana." Brittany said immediately before Mike could even open his mouth.

"Mike do you agree?" Mr. Shue asked turning to him. Mike nodded silently; maybe having a solo could make Santana feel better about yesterday.

"Alright it's settled. You guys practice and show me what you've got on Monday. We're counting on you for our win at Sectionals." Mr. Shue says with a smile before dismissing everyone. The room clears out pretty quickly and Tina makes her way over to him.

"Are you coming or what?" she asks.

"No sorry, I've got to practice with Brittany. Mr. Shue wants us to have something by Monday." Mike replies. They kiss each other goodbye and Mike watches as she leaves.

"So, why are we still here?" Santana asks next to him causing him to jump.

"What?" Mike asks.

"Did the two of you forget that you're the ones that give me a ride home? How come you aren't moving?" Santana asks.

"Mr. Shue wants us to have some of the choreography done by Monday so we have to practice." Brittany says.

"Great so now I'm stuck here with nothing to do." Santana says as she crosses her arms.

"Actually, we need you to help us." Mike stated.

"Yeah, we need you to sing our song as we dance." Brittany explained.

"Wait, Mr. Shue gave me a solo?" Santana asked.

"Well he gave Brittany and I the solo but I can't sing." Mike started explaining.

"Plus we'll be busy pulling of some sick dance moves. I'm not going to be able to sing either." Brittany further explained.

"So you chose me?" Santana asked and smiled brightly when they nodded in the affirmative. "Okay, I'll be happy to help." Mike smiled and Brittany jumped up and down in happiness.

Things were not going as well as planned. Mike sat on the stage floor of the school's dance studio completely out of breath. Brittany lay sprawled out next to him and looked slightly dazed. Mike was worried about the girl given that he had dropped her multiple times.

"I think we should call it a day." Santana said from the stereo as she stopped the music.

Mike nodded in agreement. They had picked Amy Winehouse's 'Valerie' as their song choice fairly easily. It was a good song and fit Santana's voice perfectly but it was the dancing that was giving them problems. On paper everything was perfect but when it came to executing the moves however was a completely different story.

"Here" Mike looked up and saw Santana handing him a cold water bottle.

"Thanks." Mike replies and happily drinks the water.

Brittany yawned, "I'm so tired."

"That's okay Britt we're stopping anyways." Santana says.

"When are we going to practice again?" Mike asked.

"I can't after school tomorrow, I've got motocross practice." Brittany replied.

"And I've got football practice so that's a no go for me also. We got that game coming up Thursday so next week is going to be hectic." Mike states.

"Fuck, I forgot about that game. I'm so used to Coach Sylvester acting like a pissed of demon out for blood that I completely forgot that there was a legitimate reason for it this time." Santana groaned.

"Also before I forget, is it possible for you to come over my house today Santana? My mom wants to talk to you."

Santana drops her bag in surprise, "Why does she want to speak to me?"

Mike just shrugs his shoulders, "She didn't say."

"Okay." Santana replied a little unsure.

Brittany got up and gathered her things, "Well, I'm off. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Maybe we could practice again tomorrow during lunch?"

"Sure." Mike said and Santana nodded.

"Okay." Brittany said before waving one final time and leaving out of the room.


"Are you sure it's not something that I did?" Santana asked him for the third time since they entered into his car.

"I don't know Santana. As far as I know you haven't done anything that would cause her to be upset with you." Mike replied with a sigh. He knew that she was freaking out but this was ridiculous.

"Look I'm sure everything will be okay, just calm down." Mike said reassuringly.

"Would you be calm if I came up to you one day and told you that my mom wanted to speak with you?" Santana asked in return.

Mike's eyes widened at the thought and he swallowed, "Touché."

Mike pulled into the driveway and turned off the ignition. They sat in silence as Mike waited for Santana to collect herself. Mike turned to her, "You ready?"

Santana took a few deep breaths and nodded. They both exited the car and entered the house.

"Hey you two." Mr. Chang greeted on his way to the living room.

"Hey dad." Mike replied while Santana waved.

"Your mother is in the kitchen." Mr. Chang informed them.

"Okay." Mike said as he started to head to the kitchen. He was halfway there when he noticed that Santana wasn't following him. Mike walked back over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be okay." Mike said encouragingly as he led her into the kitchen. His mother was at the sink washing the dished when she noticed them.

"Hello." Mrs. Chang greeted.

"Hey mom."

"Hi." Santana greeted nervously.

"Oh good you came. Have a seat at the table; there are some things that I want to talk to you about." Mrs. Chang said as she walked towards the kitchen table. Santana glanced at him briefly before she sat down next to his mother.

"Mike give us a moment please." Mrs. Chang said and Mike left out of the kitchen. Walking into the living room Mike sits down next to his father. They sat in silence as they both watched an old black and white film on TV.

"Do you know what she's talking to Santana about?" Mike asked after a few minutes.

"All I know is that your mother is trying to help Santana out. You know how important education is for a successful life. Santana is a good girl and we want to help." Mr. Chang replied.

Mike nodded and started to relax; Santana wasn't in trouble, his mother was just looking out for Santana's best interest. Mike was happy that he wasn't alone in handling the situation anymore; if there's one person who can get to the bottom of something, it's his mom. Mike finished watching the movie with his dad and when the credits started rolling Mr. Chang stood up.

"Well I'm off to go take a nap. Are you still watching TV?"

"Yeah." Mike replied. Mr. Chang went upstairs and Mike spent a few moments mindlessly flipping through the channels. He jumped in surprise when Santana sat down next to him, in the kitchen he could hear his mother starting to prepare dinner. Mike turned to Santana who stared blankly ahead.

"Santana?" Mike said as he gently shook Santana out of her daze.

Santana turned to him but remained silent. Mike could tell that she was still trying to process whatever happened in the kitchen.

"What happened? Mike asked; he was dying to know what they talked about.

"We just talked…. Of all the explanations… I would have never thought of that. It all makes so much sense now…. Why didn't they notice earlier?" Santana said distractedly as she once again stared off into space.

"Santana you're not making any sense." Mike said. His voice seemed to snap Santana back to reality.

"Your mom wants to get me tested. She thinks there's a strong chance that I have a learning disability." Santana replied.

Mike stared at her in shock, "A learning disability?"

"Yeah." Santana replied quietly. Mike leaned back into the couch and they both sat in silence. Now that he thinks about it, Santana having a learning disability would make so much sense. There's no way she could be as bad a math as she is when she tries so hard.

"What if it comes back positive?" Santana asks after a moment.

"Then it would prove that you're not stupid or lazy. Your brain is just different." Mike replied.

Santana sighed, "I don't want to be different. I just want to be normal."

Mike glanced at her out of the corner of his eye; he really didn't have a way to respond to that.


Friday, glorious Friday. Mike couldn't have been happier that this day had arrived. Most of school was great; his teachers seem just as impatient for the weekend as their students and had given very little homework. For Mike, most of his classes were spent thinking about Santana and that drama, Tina, and his choreography for his and Brittany's solo.

Lunch came around all too quickly and instead of heading to the cafeteria as usual Mike headed for the dance room. When he got there however, only Santana was present.

"Where's Brittany?" Mike asked.

"I was just about to ask you." Santana replied. Before Mike could open his mouth Brittany bounced happily into the room.

"Hey guys are you ready to start?"

"Yeah." Mike said as he started to stretch.

"Britt why are you so happy." Santana asked.

"Oh, I have a really good feeling about Sectionals. See Artie gave me his magic comb and with that we can't lose." Brittany said happily while placing her bag down and beginning to stretch. Mike narrowed his eyes in confusion. He looked over to Santana and mouthed the words 'magic comb' as Santana looked at him with disgust clearly written on her face.

"Britt you do know that the comb isn't magical right?" Santana asked.

"Yeah duh, I know that but Artie believes it is and I'm not going to ruin that for him." Brittany said as she rolled her eyes. Mike was relieved that Brittany hadn't believed such a foolish thing and was only humoring Artie. Speaking of Artie, Mike knew for a fact that Artie didn't believe in that type of stuff and he was going to have to talk to the guy about how he treated his girlfriend; this was beyond ridiculous and bordering on insulting.

"Okay. Ready to start?" Mike asked and practice began.


Mike lay tiredly in his bed, amazingly enough despite the fact that he was extremely tired he couldn't seem to fall asleep. Looking over at his clock he saw that it was almost one in the morning. Just as he was about to doze off his phone went off, scaring him into wakefulness.

"Hello?" Mike answered. There was only silence on the other end that was broken by quiet sobs.

"Hello?" He asked again.

"Mike." Came the watery reply and Mike instantly recognized the person to be Santana. He immediately became concerned; why was she calling him so late at night in tears.

"Santana what happened?" Mike asked voice full of concern. He was met with sobs as Santana broke down in tears. Mike spent the rest of the call trying to reassure Santana that everything would be alright and trying to get her to tell him what was going on until she cried herself to sleep. Needless to say, Mike didn't get very much sleep that night."


The following week was hectic to say the least. Mike was so busy staying on top of his grades (nothing less than an A was accepted), practicing for their up and coming football game, and practice for Sectionals he hardly had time to sleep. He hadn't even been able to get Santana to explain why she had called him in tears that one night. When he had tried to push the subject Santana had snapped at him and went on a rampage. Mike was slightly upset that she was still ignoring her problems and not facing them but old habits die hard. He had barely even seen Tina this week outside of glee and passing periods in between classes and he felt bad about not having time to spend with his girlfriend. Mike thought of her as he got on the bus full of his football teammates and Cheerios. Wait, he was confused. Why were the Cheerios on their bus? Didn't they have their own?

"Hey Finn, why are the Cheerios on the bus?" Mike asked the tall boy.

"Budget cuts, we're actually on their bus. Sue was pretty pissed about it." Finn replied and Mike nodded in understanding.

"Hey you want the window seat?" Finn offered.

"Sure thanks." Mike replied with a smile as he sat down. Mike was getting comfortable when he heard Artie being loaded into the bus and Brittany's giggle. At least he knew where Brittany was now he just had to find Santana.

"Get up Frankenteen you're in my seat." Santana said standing next to them glaring down at Finn.

"I was sitting here first Santana." Finn replied simply.

"Yeah and quite frankly I don't give a shit, move." Santana said angrily.

"No."

"Yo Puckerman, Finn's been talking shit about your Call of Duty skills!" Santana yelled out over the noisy bus to Puck who was towards the back.

"Hudson what the fuck man, I thought we were cool!" Puck replied back angrily.

Finn turned to Santana and stood angrily, "You're such a bitch."

"And proud of it." Santana said as Finn stalked off to try and calm down Puck. Santana sat down next to him and smiled, "Hi."

"You know you could've just asked him for the seat nicely right?" Mike replied.

"I got him to move didn't I? What does it matter how I did it?" Santana huffed. Mike sighed; Santana had been like this all week. He doesn't know what's going on but it has to be bad if she's turned her dial up to eleven. Mike's never seen her be as mean as she's been this week.

"Santana it wasn't very nice and you won't make friends if you keep being mean to people." Mike said.

"Whatever, people only act like that because they're jealous and they only call me a bitch because they can't handle the truth."

"Is that what you truly believe?" Mike asked.

"It's true, people only call me a bitch because I keep it real and all the other Cheerihoes can't stand me 'cuz all the guys want me. There isn't a guy in this school that doesn't want to date me." Santana says haughtily. Mike's shoulders slumped and he sighed. She really believed this; Mike didn't even know where to begin to explain to her how people really viewed her.

"Why are you looking like that?" Santana asked as she eyed him suspiciously.

"Umm…." Mike stuttered out, caught completely off guard.

Santana's eyes narrow "Spit it out Chang. What do you know?"

Mike sighed again; he really didn't want to be the person to tell her the truth but he was her friend and he was morally obligated to.

"The truth is Santana nobody, with the exception of me and Brittany, respect you. I mean if you heard some of the things the guys say-"

"What do they say?" Santana interrupted.

Mike hesitated, "I couldn't possibly; don't make me repeat it."

"Come on tell me the truth. What are they saying?" Santana asked.

"Okay." Mike took a deep breath to calm himself and prepare for what he was about to repeat; he didn't know if he would be able to do this.

"She's such a stupid stuck up bitch I can't believe anyone in their right mind would date her. The only thing she's good for is a quick fuck, I would never date her. I wouldn't touch that bitch with a ten foot pole if someone paid me to, who know what type diseases she could be carrying. I heard she had sex with Hudson in a motel, who the fuck brags about that shit like it's something to be proud of, it just shows that she's a classless, dirty, cheap whore." Mike stopped when he noticed that Santana was full on crying; it made him feel worse than that one time he broke his mom's favorite figurine when he was six.

"Santana I'm sorry." Mike said as he touched her on the shoulder. Santana shrugged his hand off and ignored him; the rest of their ride was spent in silence.


Mike couldn't believe it; they had won. They had actually won and made it to the championship; Mike jumped around in celebration with the rest of his team before he was nearly knocked over by and excited Santana and Brittany as they hugged him. Mike looked over in the crowd and saw Tina and Mercedes jumping and screaming in excitement. When he caught Tina's eye, Mike waved frantically; he was happy that his girlfriend got a chance to see his team make it to the championship round. Making their way back to the bus Mike was quickly reminded of what happened one their trip here. He hadn't had time to talk to her after they had gotten off the bus but Mike was determined to fix things.

Mike sat in his seat and waited for everyone to get seated; it took a while longer as everyone was excited but Coach Beiste had eventually managed to get everyone to sit down.

"Hey now, we filled our end of the bargain now they have to fill theirs" Puck shouted out over the noise.

"What are you talking about Puckerman?" Azimio asked.

"Don't tell me you guys forgot. Last year Lopez and Pierce promised us a full make out session if we made it to the championship." Puck explained to a surprisingly silent bus. Mike actually remembered that happening but he also remembered that Santana only said that because she was sure they would never win a game let alone make it to the championship game.

"Shit, I'd completely forgotten about that." Santana mumbled silently next to him.

"Puckerman, now is not the time for that." Coach Beiste said.

"Aww come on Coach they promised. It's not like they care." Puck said looking at the two girls in question. Santana only shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's true, I don't mind." Brittany said from her seat in the back causing the boys to cheer in excitement.

"Excuse me but I do." Artie interrupted loudly.

"What? Abrams come on man." Puck whined.

"No, Brittany's my girlfriend and I'm not happy with her making out with someone else even if it is a girl." Artie replied angrily as he crossed his arms.

"If Artie doesn't want me to do it then I won't." Brittany said simply. All of the guys groaned and grumbled in disappointment. Mike noticed that Santana looked just as disappointed as the guys and, oddly enough, David Karofsky looked relieved and happy about the development. Mike started to ponder about that information but decided not to; he had enough to deal with already. The bus ride was mostly silent save for a few conversations between people.

Mike was shaken out of his musings as he looked out of the window when Santana's head fell onto his shoulder.

"I'm not mad at you." She said quietly.

"Good, I felt really bad about making you cry." Mike replied in relief.

"It was just really hard hearing that stuff, especially when it came from you but I think I needed to hear it. But it's moments like this when you really confuse me. I mean out of all the guys in this school, you're the only one who ever really treat me with any type of respect; you don't stare at my chest or my ass, you don't try to grope me, and you just treat me like a human being." Santana said.

"You deserve to be treated with respect and I'm your friend. But Santana you can't keep going around and sleeping with anyone who is willing. It makes people loose respect for you and say the things that they do behind your back." Mike replied.

"But if I stop sleeping with all those guys…." Santana mumbled out.

"Why do you need to sleep with so many guys? What are you trying to prove?" Mike asked quietly. Santana didn't reply, she only latched onto his arm and bury her face into his shoulder. A few minutes had passed in silence and Mike had started to slightly doze off.

"If I stop sleeping with guys I'll have to admit I only like girls." Santana mumbled out sleepily. Her voice was so low that Mike almost didn't hear her; luckily for him Santana was really close to his ear. He looked over at her from the corner of his eye only to find the young Latina to be fast asleep.


Friday morning was one of the best mornings Mike has had in a while. He was still feeling the effects of their win yesterday and received many high fives and congratulations from classmates and teammates alike. To make his day even better, Principal Figgins made an announcement about the team's win and subsequent progression to the championship round that caused a mini celebration in the halls.

Through all the celebration and attention Mike was getting he realized he had yet to see Tina. Looking over the hallway Mike saw Brittany at her locker and walked over.

"Hey Britt have you seen Tina?"

Brittany turned to face him, "Yeah she was just in the choir room not too long ago."

"Thanks, we're still on for practice during lunch right?" Mike asked.

"Yeah. Oh wait!" Brittany said as he started to turn away.

"What is it?"

Brittany reaches into her locker and pulls out some lip balm, "Your lips looked extra chapped."

"Thanks." Mike said as he applied some before giving it back to Brittany.

"Keep it." Brittany replied.

"Are you sure?" He asked and Brittany nodded.

"Thanks." Mike waved goodbye as he went off in search of his girlfriend. Nearing the choir room, Mike finally saw Tina but stopped in his tracks when he saw what she was wearing. Tina had her hair in pigtails and was wearing what looked like the Goth version of the Cheerio's uniform.

Tina smiled as she saw him and walked over, "Hey, do you like my new outfit?"

"Yeah, it looks great." Mike replied; it wasn't exactly a lie, the outfit did look nice.

"I thought I could be glee club's own cheerleader, hence the GC." Tina said but Mike could tell there was a hidden motive to this outfit.

"We'll need all the moral support we can get. I really like the new outfit Tina" Mike stated.

"I knew you would." Tina replied while eyeing Santana as she tripped a student in the hall. Mike sighed; Tina was still jealous of Santana and Santana was still taking her anger out on everyone else. Seeing Santana caused Mike to remember what she said on the bus when she thought he was asleep. Mike decided he would ask her about it later. The warning bell rang signaling that it was time to head to class.

"I'll see you later." Tina says.

"sure." Mike replied before leaning down and kissing her. When he pulled back he noticed Tina frowning.

"Tina?"

"Why do you taste like Brittany's cherry lip smacker?" Tina asked accusingly.

Mike stared at her; how in the world did she know it was Brittany's? Mike was completely caught off guard and took too long to answer.

"I should've known what with all the time you two were spending together recently. Here I was worried about Santana and all along it was Brittany I should have been keeping an eye on." Tina said angrily before storming off. Mike sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before heading to class.


Practice today was even more stressful than it's ever been before; Sectionals were tomorrow and Mike and Brittany were trying to make sure everything was perfect. Their choreography was going good but the last lift was so unstable half the time it didn't even work. It also didn't help that he was currently having relationship issues with Tina.

Mike looked over to Brittany and noticed her frowning, "Britt what's wrong?"

"Artie's gonna be mad at me." Brittany replied simply.

"Why?"

"I lost it. I can't believe I lost his magic comb." Brittany replied sadly. Mike took a deep breath to calm down; she was still concerned about the comb. He really just wanted to shake her and said the comb didn't matter.

"Let's just practice. We'll worry about other things later." Mike said instead.


Mike and Santana sat in silence as he drove her home. It wasn't an awkward silence and it allowed time for Mike to contemplate whether he should bring up yesterday or not. He was pretty sure that Santana hadn't meant for him to hear her mini confession to liking girls but he did hear it and was concerned about the fact that Santana seemed to not like that part of herself.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Santana asked, breaking the silence. Mike paused; well if she was going to ask him about it he might as well as say what's on his mind.

"I wanted to talk to you about what you said yesterday on the bus."

"You mean about me not blaming you for saying all that stuff?" Santana asked slightly confused.

"Not that, the other thing. What you said after I asked you why you had to sleep with so many guys." Mike clarified.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't say anything." Santana replied. Mike glanced at her as she said this and caught the way her eyes immediately looked down.

"You're a pretty good liar but you always give yourself away. I heard you, I wasn't asleep." Mike said and he saw Santana look slightly panicked before hiding behind a stoic face.

"I really don't know what you heard but clearly you were mistaken." Santana said coldly. Mike figured she was trying to warn him to leave the subject but he wouldn't. Maybe this was wrong way to handle the situation but he wasn't going to let her keep running from this. Mike pulled the car over to the side of the road and put it in park.

"What are you doing?" Santana asked.

Mike turned to Santana to give her his undivided attention, "Look, I know you're trying to play it off but I heard you admit to liking girls, only girls. Quite frankly it's not the first time I heard you allude to it and I've let you pretend to be completely straight but Santana you don't have to pretend with me."

"How would you know I'm not straight?" Santana asked and Mike could hear the tremor in her voice. At least he was getting somewhere.

"Because I know for a fact that you slept with Brittany on a regular basis before she got with Artie. Straight girls don't do that Santana." Mike replied bluntly; honesty seemed the best choice in this situation. Santana stared at her hands like they were the most interesting thing in the world and stayed quiet for a long time.

"It's okay y'know. It's okay if you're gay." Mike said quietly.

"But it's not." Santana replied quietly before bursting into tears. Mike reached over to hug her and Santana grabbed onto him and held on for dear life as sobs racked her body. Mike let her cry out her frustrations and rubbed her back the way his mom used to when he was a kid; it always calmed him down. It took a few minutes but Santana finally calmed down and slowly stopped crying. Mike continued to just hold her as they sat in silence.

"I know… I know this is hard for you, I can't even imagine how hard it is but….I'm here for you. I'm here and you don't have to hide from me. Even if I'm the only person, at least you have someone you can be yourself around. I accept you for you, all of you." Mike said to her quietly and he felt Santana squeeze him just a little bit tighter as she nodded her head in understanding.


Today was the day, Sectionals was finally here and all of New Directions, except Rachel and Mr. Shue, were gathered in the green room. They had already seen the other groups perform and Mike felt pretty good about their chances. The only real competition that they had came from the Warblers and that was only vocally; they had hardly moved at all during their performance. Looking around the room Mike could feel the tension in the room; everything that was left unsaid between some members was simmering just under the surface. He didn't like it, usually when this type of tension surrounded them it only took one person to set it off.

"The costumes are causing some unmentionable chafing." Lauren complained to Puck and Mike tried not to chuckle.

"You okay?" Mike heard Sam ask. He turned to look next to him and saw Quinn who looked to be on the verge of a panic attack.

"No I'm freaking out. The last time I performed on stage I went into labor, I think I'm having post traumatic stress disorder." Quinn said as she tried to take deep breaths to calm herself; Sam just continued to rub her back.

"Just FYI, I'm totally available to fill in." Mercedes said quickly and Mike was a bit annoyed that she didn't even look the least bit concerned about Quinn at all.

"No more running, from me or your lies. I hope their judging on dancing and adultery because your ace at both of them." Artie said angrily and Mike looked over in confusion; did he hear that right? What was going on?

"I don't understand how you found out. I'm so stupid, I can't believe I did it, I never felt so bad about anything in my life." Brittany said as Artie wheeled away from her in anger.

"What's Artie all worked up about?" He asked Tina. Mike had a feeling it was about the comb but he did have give Artie a look for not telling Brittany that she's not stupid; because the girl really isn't.

"You're such a jerk." Tina scoffed and Mike sighed. With all the drama yesterday he had forgotten that she was mad at him, again.

"You told Kurt?" Rachel asked as she stormed in. Mike had a feeling that Rachel was going to be the one person to set everything off. He didn't understand why she couldn't just let it die, it's been over a week now.

"I don't remember, maybe?" Finn replied.

"About Finn and Santana? No I think I told him." Mercedes stated nonchalantly.

"Well then who told you?" Rachel asked.

"Me." Quinn spoke up, "I think Brittany told me or maybe it was Puck."

"Yeah, it was me." Puck agreed.

"Everybody knew this but me?" Rachel asked around the room shocked.

"Pretty much, nobody told you anything because: A, you're a blabber mouth. B, we just pretend to like you." Santana replied coldly. Mike looked at her; he knew for a fact that she didn't tell Rachel because she was waiting for Finn to man up and tell her.

"That's not true, I kind of like her." Puck defended quietly.

Finn stood up and faced Rachel, "Look Rachel when this all happened you were dating another guy so you don't really have a right to be pissed at me about it okay? And fine I shouldn't have lied about it, to be honest that isn't what you care about, you care about the Santana of it all."

"Oh who are you right now." Rachel replied angrily, gearing up for an argument.

"Best green room ever." Lauren stated as she munched on popcorn.

"You know what? You guys are going to have to find someone else to mindlessly harmonize in the background because I'm not going on stage with him!" Rachel ranted. Mike almost snorted aloud; mindlessly harmonize in the background? That was rich, that's what she expected them to do for her all the time.

"Make that two subs. I'm not going out there with Brittany." Artie said suddenly.

"Me either!" Tina joined in as she glared at him. Why did everything have to fall apart right before they performed?

"Enough!" Mr. Shue reprimanded as he walked into the room. "Listen to yourselves, I am ashamed of you. Think back to where you were this time last year; no choreography, no set list, and no chance in hell of winning. But you did win because you did it together. Look I don't care if you guys hate each other, all I want is for you guys to go out there and sing together. Get up there and for six minutes remind yourselves that you're not alone." The room was silent as Mr. Shue finished his speech. The lights flash signaling their time to go on stage.

"Alright show time."

After their performance, the new directions stay on stage as the others are brought out to hear the results. They didn't have to wait long as it was soon announced that they would be moving on to Regionals; the only downside being that they tied with the Warblers. It wasn't the best but Mike would take the win and he smiled and chuckled when he noticed Mr. Shue take the trophy and bring it over to their side.


That Monday as he walked down the hall on his way to glee Mike ran into Tina.

"Hey, are you still made at me?" Mike asked.

"No, I talked to Brittany. Why didn't you just tell me that Brittany let you have her lip smacker?" Tina asked.

"You didn't give me time to explain." Mike said before he noticed that Tina was back to the way she regularly dressed. "You changed your look."

"Yeah this is more me. Sorry I doubted you Mike." Tina said as they walked into the choir room.

"Asian kiss?" Mike asked jokingly and Tina smiled.

"Asian kiss." Tina replied leaning over.

"Congratulations guys. It wasn't pretty but we're moving on and I for one am going to be happy to have Regionals and Nationals to focus on." Mr. Shue said happily as he walked over to the group as they were congregating around the piano.

"Mr. Shue we heard the news of Mrs. Pillsbury marrying the finest dentist alive." Santana said and Mike watched as Mr. Shue's smile slightly faltered.

"It's alright. We don't need to talk about it. Now, I know we've had our umm…dramas this week but our family's back in a happy place and I think we should celebrate the best we know how. Rachel so how would you like this solo." Mr. Shue said and it was right back to square one. Didn't this whole thing start because he kept automatically going to Rachel and offering her solos first? Some people never learned.

"Thanks but I don't really feel like a solo right now." Rachel said quietly. Mike had heard about her Finn breaking up and was really shocked that it came to that. "I'd like to defer it to this week's two unsung heroes; Mercedes and Tina."

"Well don't have to ask me twice." Mercedes said as she smiled to Tina and they started to sing 'Dog Days Are Over'. It was a fun performance and it gave everyone a chance to let go of everything and just have fun. Santana even danced with Artie briefly and for those few minutes everything seemed right in the world.


Wow, that was a doozy. Look at how long that is. This has to be my new record for chapter length. So a few things; I'm wondering how many people were surprised about me possibly giving Santana a learning disability. Also, about her somewhat coming out to Mike; I don't think it's too early. I fully believe that Santana knew she was gay way before 'Sexy' even happened and that she was just in serious denial. I figure that with someone there for her and actually forcing her to deal with her feelings and not run away, she would admit to them very easily. It's basically what happened with Brittany when she got tired of Santana's bullshit and made them talk to someone about what they were going through. So with that said, until next time.