Sam's POV (Present)

It was Thursday, making it a whole week since I took the specialized reading exam. The test was hard, but then again it's always been hard. However this time I was prepared and I was ready to ace it. At first the letters kept jumping out and rearranging their selves making it near impossible for my eyes to focus and get the job done. Although, after I looked away and closed my eyes for a few moments the words got back in their place. The exam almost took two hours to finish which was longer than it's ever taken me, but it wasn't time wasted.

I was in the Library at four in the afternoon reading one of my flash cards when I noticed that Kurt was behaving weird. He hasn't been as loud and flashy as usual, and I didn't know if it was because he's finally come down from the high of having a new friend to harass or if something was really off. I watched him look at his phone and sigh as he wrote something down on a flash card. He's been sighing a lot lately too.

I didn't know how to approach the subject, so I did what I normally do and just dove right into it. "What's wrong?"

Kurt looked up from a flash card. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

I pointed at him. "You haven't said a full sentence since we got in here."

He cocked his head, staring at me. "So because I haven't been as talkative there's something wrong with me?"

"You're always talking." I inferred.

"True."

I waited for him to continue.

"Alright Evans you got me. There is something wrong."

"Well what is it?"

He tapped his phone meaningfully. "My friends have been ignoring me as of late."

That was it? "How do you know they're ignoring you?" I said instead.

"I've been trying to call them non-stop for the past two hours and I've gotten nothing but voicemails." He told me, clearly exasperated.

"How do you know they're not busy or something?"

"Sam." Kurt said frowning at me. "These are my friends I'm talking about here. They're not busy."

I rolled my eyes. "Call one of them again, maybe they'll pick up."

He tapped on his phone twice, and the sound of a phone ringing filled the space between us. "It's on speaker, just so you can witness them ignoring me."

Kurt was extraordinarily dramatic, I thought. I was going to mention this, but stopped cold.

"Hello?" The voice invaded my ears with vague familiarity. It was low and husky, but definitely feminine.

Kurt clapped his hands together. "Mercy! I thought I'd never hear from you again. Long time no talk, love."

She chuckled, her tone reaching a lower octave. I could feel my face heating up. Where had I heard that voice before? "It's been like, three hours since we last talked."

"That's too long." He decided.

"You're being ridiculous."

Kurt looked at me, but I couldn't turn my intense gaze away from his phone. "Hey Sam I'm gonna take this call outside okay? Oh Mercy, say hi to my friend Sam!"

"Hey Sam." Mercy said.

I just sat there, frozen in place and thought. I know this voice from somewhere, but how? I was jolted from my musing by a swift kick to the knee. My eyes focused on Kurt as I made sure to give him the grimace of a lifetime.

"Err, hi." I blushed at how nervous I sounded.

Kurt gave me a knowing look before getting up from his chair and leaving the library to talk in private.

"Don't worry about him, he seems lame but it adds to his charm. All he needs is a good molding." I could hear him telling her.

It was official. I hated Kurt.

Mercedes POV (Present)

My palms were sweating and I feared that my cell phone might slip out of my hand. I was glad I didn't tell him about my crush on Sam because if I had he would have tried to make me talk to him. Just saying hello to Sam almost reduced my hands to puddles, I don't know what would happen if I actually said anything else to him.

"Mercy, I think something's up with Santana." Kurt said.

"What do you mean?" I asked uneasily. I didn't know who Tana thought she was kidding when she feigned being fine around her best friends. And what's worse was I didn't know how I was supposed to keep quiet when Kurt was so insightful.

"She's acting weird." He analyzed.

"Like how?"

"You know how." He said. "Santana's not acting like herself and you know it."

"Yeah," I agreed. "But what do you want me to do about it?"

"Not you, us. We're gonna do something about it."

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"Yup, that's right. You and I are going to confront Santana soon, but I don't know when."

"Kurt, I don't think that's a good idea." Actually, I knew that it wasn't a good idea. Santana would hate me for even letting Kurt go through with this.

"And why not?"

"Kurt," I said sighing. "You know her. Every time we try this she gets pissed and goes deeper into her shell."

"Sounds like somebody else I know." He muttered.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

He scoffed. "Mercedes, please."

"Please what?" Oh God. What was he talking about now?

"Remember when you said you'd try to go to lunch with Blaine and me last week?"

This time, I was silent.

"Do you?" He asked, impatient.

"Look, I screwed up. I know. And I understand that you're mad, okay? But there's a lot going on right now." Was I in the Twilight Zone? I thought that he called me to talk about Santana and her behavior, not chew me out.

"Sorry, we're supposed to be discussing Santana." I could tell he was shaking his head. "We'll talk about us later; right now we need to get our friend back."

"Kurt, I seriously think we need to leave her alone for a while. If she ignores us because we hounded her we would have only made it worse." I argued, once again.

"Whatever, Mercedes."

I ran a hand through my hair and tugged on it in frustration. "What's wrong with you now?"

"Nothing's wrong with me. I just think you need to stop being so shallow."

"What?"

"It's true, Mercedes." He admitted. "I love you, but it's wrong not challenging Santana on certain subjects just because you don't want to look bad."

I almost started laughing. Was he for real? "Okay, Kurt."

"Don't be mad at me, darling. I'm only being honest."

"Okay."

"Was that attitude I just heard?"

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I gotta go. I'll call you back later."

"Mercedes-" Click. Okay, well, now he'll really be pissed at me this time. But at least I didn't have to listen to his BS any longer.

I walked to my laptop and submitted another application out to a liberal arts college. I turned off the laptop and sat down on my bed. I could the washer machine humming downstairs, and birds chirping outside. I took off my pants and tried to get comfortable. My toes curled, the floor was cool. The air conditioning blasts a precise amount of cold air around the house every thirty minutes, enough to cool down the place, but not enough to freeze it. The silent cycle of my house was loud enough to bust my eardrums. Nobody was home, as usual.

If I were to scream at the top of my lungs in this mansion, not even the birds perched on the roof would be able to hear me. I lay down and turned on my side. Sleep was impossible; I don't even know why I bothered. How could I sleep when there was homework to be done and a hole in my face to be fed? Ugh. I took off my shirt after my arm started to itch. Might as well. I scratched my arm freely without the restraint of clothes. Now I was cold.

Why did my friends have to be so complicated? What the hell was Kurt's problem, anyway? I hang out with him practically 24/7 and yet he still finds something to complain about. I loved him, but if he keeps this up I don't know how much more I'll be willing to take.

I go downstairs to eat something, anything. My hands wrap around the fridge door and I open it wide, peering into the cold space. I'll make some pasta salad. I get out tomatoes, olives, leftover grilled chicken breast, some steamed artichokes mom put in a Ziplock bag, and garden noodles. I retrieve a chopping board and get the vegetables ready. My eyes dart to the chef knife in its holder. If I felt like it might ease my loneliness, I'd make a miniscule cut in the fleshy skin of my left arm. Or maybe my thigh, no one ever looks there. But I know that it wouldn't, and I'm much better off eating my sadness away. Oh wow, that sounded depressing.

After my pasta salad is finished, I pour a large amount into a bowl and head back upstairs. I chew on a noodle absently, not bothering to turn on the plasma screen that's mounted in the wall to the right of my bookcase. There wasn't any point. I had over six thousand channels, and nothing worth watching was ever on.

I thought of Sam, and his bad boy reputation with a lame demeanor to match. Or, at least Kurt said he was lame. He probably was really sweet. He had to be since he didn't punch Kurt in the face after the first two hours of being around him. If he and I were friends, maybe he could come over after school and I wouldn't have to sit around this big house by myself. I was going to need someone to hang out with after Santana leaves in December.

Still, I couldn't believe that she was actually going away to a crazy house because of her sexual orientation. Being lesbian wasn't a curse, and I couldn't believe Santana's grandmother would make her think that. If her grandmother was a person of any integrity, she would accept her regardless of what she believed. Now, because of her inane idea of what normalcy was, I was going to lose my best friend. My eyes watered. I sniffed and shook my head, slipping under my covers. Homework could wait. I needed to sleep.

I think I got carried away… ehehe. Does this chapter seem weird? If I get complaints that this chapter was weird I'll just re-write it, haha. Comments and/or questions? Review please!