Mercedes: POV

Saying goodbye to Mikey (and the others) was incredibly hard. Lucy and I were used to seeing him every day for our whole lives. We were going to miss him.

Lucy made everyone promise to come back for Thanksgiving break. As foreigners, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving but the rest of America does and we get a break for it so we should be back.

Finn and Lucy said a teary goodbye to Rachel, Finn, Blaine, T and I said a teary goodbye to Kurt, Lucy and I just sobbed over Mikey and T was right there with us, we tried to be brave for Lauren, who was going the furthest and Artie, Tana and Britt were hard to break up.

They all left yesterday.

Today is the first day of classes and I was nervous. Luckily, Lucy and I were taking nearly all the same courses and we had two with Marcy, who decided to come to State after all.

I got dressed in my best outfit (after throwing up [I don't know if it was from Rae or my nerves but I threw up]) and looked at myself in my mirror. Luckily, I took after Marcy, who didn't even look pregnant when she was going into labor. Not that I'm knocking Lucy but she got big. I was worried about being completely overweight but I look the same. I know anything can happen between now and December so I'm just praying on it.

Anyway, I was wearing a white off the shoulder shirt with bell sleeves that buttoned at the cuffs and black jeans. I couldn't wear heels anymore so I went with red ballet flats with tassels. I stuck with my intent to make jewelry and all the jewelry I wore was what I made.

I grabbed a jacket and my purse and backpack before leaving my closet and room to go downstairs. Daddy and Marcy were down there with Mrs. Gonzales.

"Good morning, everyone!" I hugged Daddy from behind.

They all spoke so I sat down and began eating. Even though I still had morning sickness, my appetite came back. I tried not to eat like a pig but I couldn't help it. I had cravings.

We talked about things going on in our lives (read: Daddy talked about work and tried to talk up dentistry) as we ate then we heard footsteps.

Mal walked in. "Hey, everybody!"

We spoke to him as he went to Marcy and stole a piece of bacon she was saving. "Hey, you dink!"

He kissed her. "You love me."

"I'll love you six feet under!"

"As long as you still love me."

She made a face. "I'm out. You, you can ride in the trunk."

"Mike could have left me his car." Mal sulked. "At least let me drive Travis. Dad drove me today."

"Nope." She walked out, him on her heels. "Bye, y'all!"

"Bye!" We waved.

Daddy turned to me. "Where's Puckerman with my Cookie?"

I smiled. "Noah's bringing her before he goes to class. He's not taking Nic today so he gets to sleep in."

"He's making my granddaughter watch him sleep?"

Was he serious? "Daddy."

He huffed. "I should get to work."

"I gotta get to class. Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Gonzales." I stood and grabbed my lunch. I got my stuff and went outside to my Cadillac.

Daddy got in his BMW and drove off as I checked my mirrors and turned on the radio. I was ready and went around the block to get Lucy.

I blew the horn and she came right on out. She got in. "Hi, Sissy!"

"Hi, Sissy." I smiled as she put her seatbelt on.

"How's my adorable niece today?"

"You don't even know what she looks like."

"Oh, she's going to be adorable!"

I laughed. "Let's go, crazy girl!"

"I'm not Santana!"

I giggled as I drove off. Why were my sisters so silly?!

MAP

I parked in the parking lot at school and marveled over how many people were up and around at this time of the morning. I would think people would take afternoon classes.

Lucy and I got out and went through the entrance. It was on the fourth floor. Our class was on the third. We took the elevator down and went to the left. There was a board on the wall and I stopped Lucy. "Look!"

She narrowed her eyes as she looked over the large board. "What am I looking at?"

"This." I touched the authorized paper.

"Hmm." She read it over. "Do you really want to join a singing club? We're already in choir."

"Yes! We have to join!"

"Alright." She took a picture of the sign.

I smiled. "This is going to be awesome."

She took my arm and pulled me off down the hall. We went down corridors until we got to room 321.

Someone was inside already but they were packing up to go. We waited outside and a few people showed up.

The people inside the classroom left and we all went inside. Lucy and I sat next to each other near the front. One of the people who was waiting with us went up to the front and started unpacking. Was this our teacher?

She gathered her supplies and sat in a chair.

I looked at Lucy, who shrugged. "Did you hear about Lond?"

"How she broke those brothers' hearts?" Lucy snorted and rolled her eyes. "I'm so glad I'm not playing games like that anymore."

"She needs to stop playing people against each other." I agreed. "I'm glad you're with the same two people."

"I don't know what she's looking for. She keeps saying she wants someone to treat her right but she keeps treating these guys like shoes."

"She'll get enough of that when she's alone when she's older."

Lucy shrugged. "I already told her to get with one guy and try to stick it out but she doesn't want to listen to me."

I shook my head. "She won't even listen to Nat. Natalia told her to stop playing games and now they're not talking."

Lucy made a face. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. Marcy told me after my shower about Lond and Nat called me to tell me the next day that London told her off because she said Nat was "judging" her."

"Oh my goodness." Lucy rolled her eyes. "Lond needs to grow up. This isn't cute."

I lifted a shoulder. "I don't know what to do. Natalia was in tears."

"Poor Nat. You know she feels everything so vividly."

"Yeah." I sighed. "I'm thinking of calling a meeting. Just flying somewhere and sitting down to talk to the both of them."

"Lond needs an intervention. And so does Paris. Rou told me about her dating problems."

"Marcy told me. I think she and Rou need to set Paris down and talk to her."

"Did you know Karou has another girlfriend?"

"Another one?! I thought she had a boyfriend!"

"No, no. She dumped him because he breathed too loudly."

I stared at her in shock. "Who told you that? I hope they were lying."

"Ani told me."

Damn it! Ani never lies. "I can't believe her! She dumped a perfectly nice guy because he breathed too loudly?!"

"Yes! And you know Kari is going to emulate her terrible dating habits."

Dear heavens! Kari was only thirteen and didn't need that in her head. "What does Aunt Kehlani say?"

"About Rou? I have no idea. I haven't talked to her since the shower. I know Ani says he wishes that Karou would just stay single. Dating all these people gives him grey hair."

"Speaking of people being single; Ani needs a girlfriend."

"You know Ani's all about studying."

"I know." Boy, did I! Kerani was as studious as Karou was slutty. "But he needs to settle down. It's time."

"Just because Timmy and Lin married at eighteen doesn't mean everyone wants to marry young." Lucy teased.

I smirked. "You never know. They were soulmates. Besides Phoebe married her soulmate last year. Haro's married."

"Yeah but look at Joey."

I shuddered. "Don't even bring up Penelope!"

"I know. I'm just saying. I hope on all things he doesn't marry her."

"It will be a cold day in hell before we let that happen." I swore.

She giggled. "We can make her go away."

"We've tried. She's like a bur." I grumped.

She laughed. "I meant permanently."

"Ooh, Lucy!"

She did a little dance. "I'm serious. She needs to go."

"Like all of Marc's girlfriends?"

"Yes! We ran them off. We can run off one little Indian girl."

I stuck out my hand. "Let's do it!"

She grabbed my hand and pumped it. "We're doing this!"

The professor went to the door and shut it. "Okay, welcome to Intro to German."

Yeah, I know. It's a little late to be taking German but it is Daddy's first language and Grandpa isn't that good an English speaker but the real hitch is Mikey took it last year and we do everything together so Lucy and I have to catch up.

The professor walked to the middle of the front of the room. "My name is Professor Gretchen. I prefer it over using my last name as a way to be informal. I hope we can be friends."

She seemed friendly. I liked her already.

She outlined the syllabus and went over classroom rules and how to set up with a tutor before telling us that she wanted us to go around the room and introduce ourselves and say a fact.

I learned that a lot of these people were boring. I hate to say it but no one came up with anything fun. They just said their majors. When it was my turn, I proudly stated my name (Mercedes Catherine; please call me Mercy) and cited my lineage.

Professor Gretchen nodded in approval.

Lucy went next and said her name was Lucille but she went by Quinn and then she held up my hand and said we were twins. Everyone stared at us but no one said anything.

I laughed on the inside as Professor Gretchen nodded. "Alright. I'm going to hand out the first study guide. Your first test is next Wednesday. We can go over it until the end of class. Remember to go to the library after class and sign up for the tutor. They go quickly and this course is not easy."

MAP

Puck: POV

I'll admit it. I slept in. Or at least I slept past time for me to go to high school classes. Beth stayed sleep for a while but then she was up and she wanted me up.

So I got up and got us both dressed before feeding her. I ate with her (we both had cereal) and then I sat her in front of the TV while I made sure I had everything for my first day.

When I was done, I called Finn to see if he wanted to ride up to campus together. We had our music classes at the same time.

He said he'd be ready when I dropped Beth off so I grabbed our stuff and we headed out. I drove to Finn's place first and beeped the horn.

He jogged out and climbed inside. "Hey!"

"What's up?" I waited for him to put his seatbelt on before driving off towards the Jones's.

"Hi, Beth." He smiled at her.

She opened and closed her hand.

"Are you ready for this?" I asked.

He blew out a breath. "Man, I don't know. I hope so. I wasn't the best in high school."

"It should be different with college. It's a bigger world." I hoped to hell it was different with college.

"We'll see."

I made it to the Jones house and took Beth to the front door. I rung the doorbell, hoping to see Mama but I remembered as the door opened that she had real morning classes.

Mrs. G was at the door. "Hola, Señor Puck. Hola, Señorita Beth!"

Beth smiled big. "Hi!"

I set her on her feet and let her run in the house. "Here's her stuff. Thanks, Mrs. G."

"De nada! Have a good day at escuela!"

I think that means school so I just nodded before going back to my truck. I hopped in then went back to Lima. The campus was in the middle of downtown.

Finn and I listened to rap songs on the way there and by the time we arrived, we weren't nervous. Not that I was nervous! Puckasaurus don't get nervous!

I shot off a text to Mama and Kick, telling them I loved them and was thinking about them…

I parked in the parking lot and we went across the street to the music building. We rode up to the second floor then split up. He went to the right; I went to the left.

"See you after." He looked freaked out.

Since I was feeling better after hearing from my ladies, I decided to let him in on a secret. "Text Q and Rachel."

"Why?"

"Just say hi." I smirked.

He grinned. "Got it!"

I waved him off and went around the corner to my room. People were coming inside and we all had guitars with us, even the teacher.

I picked a seat and sat down.

A bell went off and the teacher nodded to the students he was talking to and addressed the room. "Hello, new students! This is Guitar 100! I see everyone has a guitar. Good, good! Let's go around the room and say our names and why we want to learn guitar.

I'll go first. My name is Terry Smith and I wanted to impress the ladies when I was fourteen."

This dude was alright!

"Let's start over here." He pointed to me.

I lifted my chin and said as confidently as possible. "The name's Noah Puckerman but I go by Puck. I want to learn guitar because I want to shred like Van Halen."

"Nice!" Smith nodded. "Next!" He went down the line and got everybody. Then he went to the board and wrote three lines on it. He started writing down notes (which I couldn't read). "This is a simple melody that you will be expected to know for your first quiz. For the next two weeks, I'm going to be teaching you each chord and chord progression.

There are even simpler songs that we're going to play in the meantime and it'll all add up to this song. Now, I want everyone to grab a tuner from the cabinet and if you already have a tuner, you're a rockstar."

MAP

Anna: POV

I sat at our lunch table. It looked so weird with only eight people around it. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Anna." They responded.

Tina pouted into her lunch. "I miss Mike."

"Oh, Tina." Blaine patted her hand. "I miss Kurt, too but you'll see him soon. Isn't he coming home next weekend?"

"Yeah." She brightened. "We're making a whole day of it Saturday."

Marcy stuck her tongue out and gagged.

Artie started laughing.

"Marcy, that's not nice!" Blaine admonished. "Tina's going through a lot!"

"I don't know why she misses that bald necked miscreant in the first place. He'll be back." Marcy was so unromantic.

"Wouldn't you miss us if we were separated?" Ellen posed.

"Why are you trying to fight on the first day of school?"

"Is that a no?!"

"Let's put it this way; I can't miss you if you aren't gone."

Ellen's face matched her hair.

Mal jerked his leg, making Marcy jump. "Stop it, devil woman. You'd miss us."

"Won't know if you won't leave." Marcy said.

Artie was near falling out of his chair.

Mal swatted her. "Stop that! You love us!"

She said nothing.

Was this the fight they were about to have? I didn't want Ellen or Mal hurt so I cut in. "I talked to Noah and MercyCat today. They're having fun at school."

"Kurt says he's excited about his classes but hates his roommate." Blaine followed my lead.

"San said the same." Artie stopped laughing. "She already doesn't like the girl and is trying to plot to undermine her confidence."

"And I'm the devil woman?" Marcy scoffed.

"There's a reason I call her "Devil Doll"."

"And the rest of us go with Satan."

"Yeah but you own the official title, Lucifer." Mal told her.

Marcy put up her hands. "Whoa! Did you feel that?!"

I hoped it wasn't mean. "No. What?"

"The real devil just walked in."

We all looked at her confused.

She pointed to the double doors leading to the cafeteria. Coach was striding in.

We laughed.

"So are you guys excited about tomorrow?" I asked when the laughter died down. "Since you won Nationals, everyone wants to join glee."

"I can't wait to be selective!" Artie rolled his neck.

"It's going to be so much fun!" Sugar vibrated.

"It is exciting." Joe admitted. "You guys let me in without a thought. I didn't even have to audition."

"Because you got talent, kid." Marcy frowned as she picked out something in her lunch. "She did it again!"

"Who did what, Boo Thang?" Artie asked.

"Mrs. Gonzales. She put fucking avocados in my sandwich again."

"You must hate avocados." I guessed.

"Worthless fruit!"

"Avocados are fruit?" I frowned.

"Yes and they suck hard. I don't like them but she's been pushing them on me for a fucking year."

"You need color in yo life, BT." Artie teased.

"I am color; I don't need no damn color. I wish she'd stop. In a minute, I'm going to pack my own lunch."

"Well you could." Blaine pointed out.

"What's the point in a housekeeper that doesn't do housekeeper shit?"

"How much money did you put in the swear jar?" Mal stared at her.

"Five dollars."

"You're going to get as much for your money as you can get."

"You're damn skippy."

MAP

Puck: POV

I checked my phone as it went off after my guitar class. I wondered who it could be but hoped it was one of my ladies.

It was not…

It was Mr. Shue. I wondered what he wanted as I hit answer. "Yo, Mr. Shue! What's up?"

"Puck, I need your help."

MAP

I could hear Mr. Shue ream him out in that adult way that I'm learning about in Psyche class. I heard my cue when Mr. Shue said that he wasn't going to get after him. That he called somebody in who would.

I walked in the door and for the first time in ten years, saw my little brother.

MAP

"I'm serious. Call me anytime." I swore.

Jake stared at his phone that I just put my number in. "And you're sure he was an asshole to you, too?"

"He only did two things right. He left us the hell alone and he got me to go to college." I lifted a shoulder.

"He talked you into going to college?" He looked like I called him a bad name.

"Yeah. I realized how shitty he was and I didn't want to be anything like him. He thinks he's too good for college so that let me know right there that college was something to look into."

He nodded. "I don't really know what to do here. I don't even remember you."

"I remember you."

"You do?" There was hope in his eyes before he squashed it.

"Yeah. This little five year old was following me everywhere and I couldn't stand it."

"Man, if I was following you, it was because where I was, was complete shit."

I laughed. He even sounded like me! "You should come over. Get to know Nic."

"And she's my little sister?"

"Yup. She's nine."

"I can't believe I have a little sister."

"She will get on your last nerve but I love her."

He smiled briefly. "What about your mom?"

I knew what he was asking. See my old man cheated on my moms when I was two with this high school chick. It wasn't that bad cuz he was only nineteen but it was bad all around. Jake was born the following year. "She works a lot."

He nodded. "My mom does, too."

"She'd understand though. She'd never take her anger out on a kid. She hates our pops though."

"My mom does, too. She says she was so glad when he walked out."

"He made lives a lot better by leaving." I shrugged.

"I don't want to talk about him." He frowned. "I want to talk about you. What's going on in your life?"

"Not much really. Just trying to adjust to college and being away from my ladies."

"Your ladies?" He elbowed me. "I knew we were just alike."

"So you got the Puckerman charm?" I inclined my head with a grin. "It's gon get you in trouble. Believe that."

"I can handle it."

He just didn't know… "Alright."

"So who are you with? Or are you free as a bird?"

"Aw nah. I'm tied down tight." I shook my head. "I've got two girlfriends, Mama and Kick."

"What?!"

I laughed. "I've got two girlfriends-"

"No, I got that part. Help me out with the names."

"I call Mama "Mama" because it's short for "Hot Mama". I didn't know her name at first. I just knew she was hot. I call Kick "Kick" because she's kickass."

He nodded. "Got any pictures?"

I showed him a few on my phone.

"Damn! She is stacked!"

I didn't have to gloat. I just wanted to. "And she belongs to me. And to Kick."

"This Kick chick is hot as hell, too."

"I know. She's got the sweetest smile. She's so polite. I didn't think I could find anybody as sweet as Mama but they have these nice-offs."

"Nice-offs?"

"Where they try to out-nice each other. It's cute as fuck."

"And you have sex with them both at the same time and nobody gets jealous?"

"Nope. We're all good. Plus it's hot to see them touch each other."

"I bet! I want two girlfriends!"

"Good luck. All the girls that will do that and not be low down and dirty all graduated or are my family."

"Your family?"

"Mama's sister, Mini Mama and her girl, Elle Woods; Kick and Tina. Tina ain't in a thruple but she said she would if Mama, Q or Mini Mama wanted her."

He nodded.

"Mini Mama woulda took her right then but Tina's dating their brother and he flipped out."

"I would have, too!"

"Apparently Mini Mama took a lot of Mike's girlfriends in the past and he ain't never let that shit go. He still watch Tina around Mini Mama even though Mini Mama with Elle Woods now."

"And Elle Woods is?"

"Redhead, brown eyes, skinny but with a shape, real sweet girl but had the bad luck to fall for Mini Mama."

"Why is it bad luck?"

"When you get into glee, you'll see why."

He smirked. "I thought Mr. Shue wasn't going to let me in?"

"He'll let you in. You're talented like me."

He laughed. "It's like looking into an old mirror."

I turned to him quickly. "Who you callin old?!"

MAP

Anna: POV

MercyCat and I blinked in shock. "You have a brother?!"

"Yup." Noah nodded. "He's three years younger than me even though he was born the year I turned four. He's half black. He can sing. He needs me."

"Wow!" We were still in shock.

"What do you want to know?"

"Your dad cheated on Ms. Nadine?!" MercyCat put her hands on her hips.

He snickered. "Yeah. I told you he was scum."

She threw her head with an indignant scoff. "Heathen!"

"Wow." I said again. "Your poor mom."

He shrugged.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" MercyCat asked.

"Talk about what?"

We looked at each other before looking at him. I said it. "Your feelings."

He blinked before standing up. "I should go."

"It's your house." MercyCat pointed out.

"Dammit!"

"Stop cussing."

"Darn it." He rolled his eyes.

"You have to talk about your feelings, Noah." I told him. "It's only healthy."

He sagged and sat back in his desk chair. "Fine."

We sat up straight against his pillows and let him talk.