"Hey, Cedes, wait up!" Santana jogged up to meet her friend. "Since when do you cancel rides at the last minute? I had to catch the bus this morning. Do you know how disgusting that is? Even now, I can practically smell the dying hopes and dreams of the students who rode it 5 years ago in my uniform."
Mercedes looked at Sam, "Give me one second." She met Santana halfway, shaking her head as they looped arms. "If I could've, I honestly would've. You wouldn't believe the last 15 hours I've had."
"Oh, sounds juicy. What is it?"
"More like who," she said as they caught up with Sam. "Sam, this is Santana. She's one of my best friends, a Cheerio, and she also is not afraid to cut you if you get too close, so keep that in mind and don't make any sudden movements." She half-joked.
"No worries, I won't be making any moves. I'll be still like one of those bronze guys they have all over Nashville. That's my hometown. You know the ones who," he gave his best impression of a living statue.
Mouth agape, Santana leaned to her side. "Cedes, uh, who the hell is this?" She whispered.
Mercedes bit back a laugh. "My new housemate. We'll talk about it later."
"It's nice to meet you, Santana." Sam put out his hand.
"Dude, I'm not shaking your hand, what are you, 35?" Santana laughed before frowning. "You know, I didn't quite notice before because I was too busy being confused by your entire existence, but your mouth is massive." Her eyes zeroed in on his mouth. She heard Mercedes snickering. "Oh, shit. Is that like, an insecurity of yours or something?" She genuinely asked. "Am I not supposed to mention it? My bad."
"It's fine. I'm used to it." Sam tried to shrug it off.
Seeing his feelings may have taken a hit, Mercedes suggested Santana leave them. "Why don't you go save a seat for me in class? I have to take him to the office and show him the way to his classes. If I'm late, let Mr. Callahan know?"
"Sure. See ya, Sam." Santana smiled as she walked away.
The two began walking into the school. "I'm sorry about that," Mercedes said to him "But you shouldn't worry about her. She's just more frank than most. Actually, if she's like that with you from the jump, it probably means she likes you."
"Thanks. I'll try to remember that."
After helping him get organized and showing him the locations of his classes, Mercedes cut him loose. "I've got my own class to get to, but you've got my number so if there're any problems, just shoot me a text. Do you need anything else from me?"
Sam shook his head.
"Okay, then. I'll see you at lunch." She shot him a polite smile and started her trek to her class.
"Hey, Cedes?"
She turned around. "Yeah?"
"Thank you," he said. "For everything. I know this is probably kinda weird for you and it means a lot to me that you're being so helpful."
She went back up to him. "Nonsense." She placed her hand on his shoulder and looked at him for a second. Feeling herself get lost under his gaze, she abruptly removed her hand from him and joined her arm with the one that was holding her books. "You're family now. That's an all-inclusive deal in our house. Have a great first day." She quickly waved at him and sped off to class.
They met back up in the cafeteria at lunchtime where she brought him to a nearly full lunch table outside.
"Sam, this is the crew." Mercedes pointed at each member as she said their name. "Artie, Tina, Mike, Kurt, Quinn, Brittany, and you already met Santana." She took a seat beside Kurt once she was finished.
Santana smirked. "Sup, Nashville?"
"Hey, Santana."
"Sam's going to be living with me for a while, so let's try to make him feel welcome," Mercedes said.
"Well, hello, Sam." Kurt rose from his chair to meet him. "Kurt Hummel, fashion extraordinaire. Welcome to our group." He took his hand and shook it before he could protest. "That's a lovely shirt you're wearing. Mind if I ask where it's from?"
"Uh, thanks." Sam grinned as he looked down at his blue henley. "It's from Wally World."
"Oh, where is that? I'm not familiar. Milan? London? Tokyo, perhaps?"
Kurt's friends laughed behind him.
"No, ah." Sam cleared his throat and stepped closer to him to whisper, "Wally World is Walmart." He tried not to embarrass Mercedes' friend.
"Oh." Kurt pretended not to be embarrassed, but the red in his cheeks as his friends were bursting at the seams behind him gave him away. "Well, it is still a very nice shirt." He marched back over to his seat across from Quinn and sat back down.
"Hey, Sam, why don't you sit next to me?" Quinn asked. "I had a feeling I was saving a seat for someone. Looks like that someone is you."
As Sam sat beside her, Kurt nudged Mercedes a little. "Aren't you going to warn him about her?"
"Um, no." She scoffed. "He may be living with me, but I'm not his handler. He's got to learn to fend for himself."
The crew spent some time getting to know the newest addition to their group but the entire time he was answering their questions, Sam could barely keep his eyes off of the girl across from him. Mercedes had been helping him since he got in town and to see her surrounded by her friends was cool. He had to admit that he didn't think she'd have this many. She was so quiet and reserved, only pitching in when she really had something to say, but she was still a part of the conversation. She would smile at him whenever their eyes met and he'd now come to expect the feeling that arose in him each time. He knew this feeling. He wanted to act on it, but he wasn't sure he should. Scratch that, I know I shouldn't.
"Oh shoot, y'all." Artie smiled excitedly at his phone. "B4 info just dropped. Sending it to the chat now."
Everyone except Mercedes, who rolled her eyes, dropped everything to look at the group text.
Sam, confused, looked at Mercedes. "B4?"
She nodded. "Baxter Bentley's Birthday Banger."
"Whoa. Try saying that five times fast." He smiled at her.
The corners of her mouth ticked up before she could stop them. "He's this super rich, super popular kid whose dad like, owns the city. He has this massive mansion of a house and holds his birthday party there every year."
"And it's the hottest party you'll ever go to in your life," Artie said.
Santana concurred. "It's always at the beginning of the year and it's the talk of the year until the next year. Anyone who's anyone is gonna be there. It's typically invite-only, but other people end up showing up anyways. We've been going since middle school."
"Mercedes, you're coming this time, right?" Tina asked. "You've got to."
Mercedes pursed her lips. "Tina, what do you think?"
Quinn smirked. "You really think Shut-in Susan over here is going to go to B4?"
"You haven't gone since freshman year. I thought that this was going to be the year that you started coming out of your shell?" Tina pointed out.
"Yeah, what happened to our end-of-summer spa session last week?" Asked Kurt. "You said that you were going to work on becoming a functioning member of society for your junior year. And it was supposed to start with you trying out for the Varsity Cheerios."
"Which you never did." Santana added.
Mercedes shook her head. "Guys, don't you think B4 is a little much for my world re-debut? I mean, didn't they call the cops on y'all last year?"
Quinn answered her, "Only because Sarah Klein thought it would be a good idea to get completely blackout drunk and jump from the third story balcony into the in-ground pool." She laughed and placed her hand on Sam's shoulder and looked at him. "We had to call EMS and they called the cops. It was awful."
Everyone else's eyes bounced around, looking at one another to make sure they were all witnessing the same thing. Was she moving in on him?
"Was hella cool, though," Artie said.
Brittany shrugged. "I don't know, guys. Lord Tubbington does better tricks than that when he's had one too many cans of meow mix. Maybe it's just me, but I wasn't impressed."
As soon as she saw Sam's confused look aimed at her, Mercedes shook her head, barely avoiding laughter and silently telling him not to pay attention to what she said.
Artie picked up where he left off. "Apparently, the third floor is off limits this year, so Sarah will have to settle for the second-floor balcony instead."
Sam thought for a second. "Wait. You were invited, no?"
Mercedes nodded. "I was."
"Then why not go? Especially if people who weren't invited are going, too."
"I mean, he only invited me because of my grandmother. We barely even know one another."
"Excusas, excusas." Santana waved her off. "You're going this time. I don't care if I have to drag you there."
"It's our next-to-last one, Mercedes. You have to go," whined Kurt.
"Yeah, because we all know if you don't go now, you won't go next year," said Tina. "And I'm not going to be one of those high school grads who shows up at high school parties. That's just weird."
"I think you should go." Sam shrugged. "I'd like to go and I need to be someone's plus one, seeing as it's my first day here. Who better than you?"
There was that grin again. They didn't even stare off for three seconds before Mercedes gave in. "I'll think about it."
There were cheers around the table.
"I knew I liked you, Sam." Quinn poked him lightly on the shoulder. "Maybe now, our girl will finally break out of that shell she's been hiding in all these years. But if not, you can always come as my plus one." She smiled sweetly at him.
Everyone stared at each other awkwardly for the second time in the last few minutes. Quinn was definitely moving in on him.
Kurt broke the silence. "How about we move on to the next thing we're convincing Mercedes to do?"
"Yes!" Tina thanked him silently. "Glee club."
"Uh uh, no." Mercedes shook her head.
"Oh, come on, Cedes. Junior year." Tina pleaded.
"No! I'm not doing it. I already have two classes with Rachel Berry. If I have to spend any more time with her nasally ass, I'm gonna explode."
"Rachel Berry?" Sam remembered that name. "I sat beside her today in my chemistry class. She said she's taking the non-honors section after acing the honors section to 'make sure she gets the full experience'?"
"Sounds like her." Tina rolled her eyes. "When God was handing out overzealous, overachieving personalities, he gave her the biggest one."
"Exactly. And she's the reigning bitch of that glee club which is why I'm not joining it," Mercedes said.
"But you said you liked to sing last night." Sam was confused once again.
"Okay." Mercedes blew out a quick breath. "Sam, let's go over something really quickly. You're a great guy. I've been really nice to you, which you yourself pointed out. You're staying with us. That's" She searched for the right words, not finding them, "a thing that's happening. Listen, I like you, but you're going to have to learn not to undermine the things I'm saying. Because what that does is allows them," she gestured to her friends around her, "to think that I'm going to say yes to things I've been actively saying no to for the past 2+ years, okay? And as much as I like to try to convince myself and others of the contrary," she shrugged, "I really don't plan on doing that. So, let's cool it with that and," She dusted her hands and put them up, "let me do my thing. Alright?"
"Yeah, sorry," he said despite not showing a hint of regret in his smirk.
"Great. Now, let's get this straight. I am not going to B4 and I'm not auditioning for that glee club. Capiche?"
2 days later
"Well, Mercedes, I'd like to officially welcome you to the McKinley High New Directions!" William Schuester smiled proudly. "If you ask me, it's about time. We have our first official rehearsal later today. Congrats!"
"Thank you, Mr. Schue." She grimaced and walked off stage where Tina and Kurt ran to meet her. "I hate both of you. Sincerely."
They threw themselves onto her for a group hug.
Sam spoke up from behind them. "You could hate me as much as you want if I get to hear you sing like that every week. I mean, I believed you when you told me you could sing, but…"
"Isn't she amazing?" Kurt beamed, happy that his friend was going to finally get the recognition she deserved.
Sam nodded. "A real heavy hitter."
"Okay, thank you again, Mercedes. Next is Sam Evans. Sam, you back there?"
Feeling her face heat up, Mercedes wasted no time in getting the attention off of her. "You won't be hearing me sing every week if you don't audition. Go on, you're up." She switched places with him and patted him on the shoulder. "Break a leg."
By the time she went and joined her other friends in the audience, Sam was beginning.
"Hey there, Sam. Have I seen you around before? You don't look very familiar."
"Yeah, I'm not. This is my third day here. I just moved."
"And already getting involved? I like that." Will took a note. "Alright, the floor is yours, let's see what you've got."
"Okay. I'll be singing 'When Someone Stops Loving You' by Little Big Town." He stepped behind him to grab a guitar.
The lights dimmed and Santana's facial expression could only be described as one of disgust as she stuck a chip in her mouth. "A country song?"
Chuckling, Mercedes slapped her knee. "Be nice. And you're not supposed to be eating in here."
"I, for one, really like country, Santana." Quinn tightened her pony.
"I'm just saying, if I wanted to make my eardrums bleed, I'd jam a toothpick in them and save us all the wasted 3 minutes."
Mercedes shook her head at her friend as Sam started playing. Wow, she thought. He didn't mention he could play the guitar. Then, he started singing and Mercedes found herself mesmerized, not even knowing her jaw dropped until Santana pushed it up for her.
"Drooling on the auditorium seats now, are we?" She raised her eyebrows.
Her words didn't even register. Mercedes glanced at her before turning her attention right back to Sam.
Taken aback, Santana gasped, looking at her friend before shutting herself up with a closed-mouth smile and facing forward. She totally has a thing for him.
Somewhere towards the end of the song, Mercedes swore Sam was looking at her, but it was impossible when the lights were dimmed. She knew it. There's no way he could even make out anything, much less her specific face.
As Sam finished and the lights came back up, Kurt clapped for him, by himself. That and the sound of his friends' laughter echoed throughout the auditorium. He rolled his eyes at them and shot two thumbs up at Sam, who smiled in return.
"Wow, Sam. I must say, I'm glad you've decided to join us here at McKinley. We'd love to have you join the New Directions."
"Awesome, yeah! Thanks, Mr…"
"Schuester, but you can call me Mr. Schue."
"Mr. Schue. Thanks again." Grinning from ear to ear, he ran off the stage.
"Alright, everyone." Mr. Schue closed his notebook and stood from his spot. "That's all for today. For everyone who made it, can't wait to see you in rehearsal. For those of you who didn't, there's always next time. Thank you all."
Mercedes went to go greet Sam offstage but as soon as she saw him, and excited Quinn rushed into view, startling her.
"Sam! That was so amazing. A bonafide country star." She hugged him, giggling.
"Thanks, Quinn," Sam said as he returned the hug that surprised him.
"You were really good, Sam," said Mercedes as they began walking out of the auditorium. "I didn't know you could play guitar so well."
"Yeah, it's just something I picked up in my childhood and couldn't put down."
"You didn't bring one with you to the house." She noticed. "Why?"
"It's kind of complicated. But I'm going to be trying to find a new one soon."
"Well," Quinn piped up, "when you do get one, you should come over to my house and we can jam sometime. I have a few musical talents of my own. Been taking piano lessons since I was four, it's practically in my DNA at this point. Piano and guitar make a really good pair, don't you think Mercedes?"
As Mercedes went to say something, Santana beat her to it. "Oh, my god. Stop being so desperate, it's embarrassing." She looked at Sam and flashed a smile. "We can all jam at her house sometime. No reason your little backyard country duo couldn't use the killer vocal stylings of Sancedes."
"Sancedes?"
Santana turned her head toward Mercedes and scoffed. "Oh, she hasn't told you? She and I singing together is utter fucking magic. You'll see soon enough."
"Anyways, Santana, Q, and I have to get going. English class. Sam, we'll see you in rehearsal later?"
"Will do." Sam waved as they parted ways.
"See you in rehearsal, Sam," Quinn sing-songed as she twirled around, walking backward with her friends.
Sam nodded goodbye. Quinn is... interesting. I don't know who's more "interesting," her or Kurt. He chuckled as he tightened his bookbag straps, jogging to his last class of the day.
When Sam walked into the choir room, Mercedes was already sandwiched between Tina and Kurt, who were discussing how they were going to coordinate their outfits next week. He laughed at them. Santana and Brittany were sitting with Artie, and Mike, who he had been getting to know over the past few days, was nowhere to be found. Not really knowing anyone else, Sam scanned the room searching for a place to sit, until-
"Sam! Hi!" Quinn was smiling wide with her hand high up in the air, wiggling her fingers.
He made his way over to her. "Hey, Quinn."
"Hi! I saved you a seat again. Looks like that's becoming a habit of mine, huh?"
A natural smile graced his face. "Yeah, looks that way, thanks. Hope I can continue to count on you."
"Of course!"
They got a rapport going, with her asking him about Nashville and him asking her about what she liked to do outside of cheerleading. They seemed to have a lot in common. Quinn might give off blonde bimbo cheerleader vibes, but she's really funny and smart. He enjoyed talking to her.
Their first "rehearsal" wasn't much of that at all, just Mr. Schue saying he was glad everyone could make it and talking about how excited he was to go to sectionals in a few weeks. That and Rachel telling everyone that she couldn't wait to lead them 'all the way to Nationals', which prompted the hardest of eye rolls from everyone except her boyfriend, Finn.
Sam was walking out of the choir room to head to Mercedes' car when Mike came up to him.
"Hey, Sam. So, I told you I would talk to our coach about whether or not there was a spot for you on the football team."
"And?"
"Coach agreed to let you try out in our practice on Monday. Right after school. Can you make it?"
Sam's eyes lit up. "Oh, my god, yeah. No, I can totally make it. Thanks, man." Sam gave him a bro hug.
"No problem. Just be prepared and whatever you do, be on time. See you Monday."
Sam finished his trek, feeling like he was on top of the world. Seeing Mercedes walking up to her car with Santana by her side, he rushed up to her, walking backward in front of her. "Guess what?"
She chuckled, noticing his excitement. "Was that rhetorical or do you actually want me to guess?"
"I'm going out for the football team!" He barely let her finish her question, proving that his was rhetorical.
Her face lit up similar to the way his did. "Oh, that's awesome! Good for you, Sam." She frowned at her tone. Why was she so excited? "So, Santana's going to be riding with us everyday to and from school. I took the week off, but she's kind of berating me every chance she gets, so we're going to have to get back on schedule. I hope that's okay."
Sam shook his head as they reached her car. "Oh, that's totally fine. It'll give me a chance to get to know you, Santana."
"Oh, wow. I'm starting to wish I had taken the bus already," she replied. "I call shotgun."
Just as they were all about to get in, a car honked at them as it pulled up. It was Quinn in her way too expensive convertible. "Hey, what do you guys think of some First-week festivities at my place tonight? Artie, Tina, and Mike are already in. Just the crew, no outsiders. I need to let off some serious steam."
"Does the crew include me?" Sam asked, seeing the other girls say okay.
"Well, even if it didn't we can always make exceptions to the rules right?" Quinn shot him a playful smile which he returned.
Mercedes felt… weird watching them. Why does she have to smile at him like that? It usually didn't bother her when Quinn was throwing herself at a guy. More often than not, she'd probably even laugh at or enjoy it. But now it was different. "We'll be there, Q. I've got to get back to the bakery to make sure Grandmother is squared away first, but after that, we'll be on our way."
"See you then. Sam." She nodded at him before speeding off.
Sam watched as she left. He didn't know what it was about her, but there was something that intrigued him. I think I kinda like it. He got into the car, reading himself to see her again at the 'festivities' tonight.
Seems like Quinn is… very interested in Sam, huh? Do y'all think Mercedes is going to make it to this party? We'll find out soon enough. Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you to everyone showing love to this story. As always, I'm looking forward to your thoughts.