Sam couldn't believe he was thinking this, but he was actually sad that it was the weekend. That meant being stuck at home for the next two days. This entire week had been drastically different than he ever could have expected. He still wasn't sure what to think about Brittany, but an entire week had gone by and she had kept her promise to not let anyone know what his father was like; so at the very least he knew that she was trustworthy. It helped that Sam actually had fun yesterday when they had gone to her house to continue looking for the perfect song for them to perform. He was glad that the two of them were getting closer.

The rest of the week had been nothing short of amazing. Running into Blaine on Monday changed everything. Sam was still awkward and felt uncomfortable around everyone, but he didn't feel as lonely as he did before. Thanks to Blaine, he didn't sit alone at lunch the past three days, and the two of them actually talked when they would run into each other in the hall between classes. Sam wasn't surprised when he heard Blaine calling out to him as he left the music room. What he didn't understand was why Kurt and Mercedes were also chasing after him.

"Um, hey," Sam's eyes darted between the three people staring at him. "What's up?"

"It's Friday," Kurt said.

"Yeah," Mercedes added. "Did you forget we were all going back to the mall?"

To be honest, despite the fact that Blaine had talked about it at lunch today, Sam did wish that he had forgotten about it. Things went so well on Wednesday that Sam knew he shouldn't tempt fate by going with everyone again; he didn't want to risk doing something to mess that up. After all, it was better to have one good memory of hanging out with them than a good and bad one.

Sam was about to say no, but he caught sight of Blaine trying to maneuver himself behind Kurt and Mercedes so his face was clearly visible. Sam wanted to laugh, not because of Blaine's actions, but because he was just barely taller than Mercedes. The few times that Sam could see his face, it was clear that Blaine was either trying to guilt trip him into saying yes, or silently beg him to get him to agree.

"Don't worry, it's not going to be all designer clothes," Kurt said, in a tone that left Sam unsure of whether he was being mocked or not. "Blaine already made us promise that we'd all go see a movie afterwards. I guess it's only fair since its what the two of you wanted to do last time."

"O-okay, yeah, I just need to get my stuff from my locker." Sam didn't know what to think or feel. It was one thing for Blaine to want to hang around him, but it was another thing entirely for Blaine to convince Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes to do something he wanted to ensure that he had a good time. No one had ever done something like that for him before.

"So I was thinking about songs for our duet," Rachel spoke quickly as she tried to catch up with Santana. "Over the weekend I'll compile a list of songs and we can go through them next week and see if there's one where I don't outshine you too much."

"Hold up," Santana instantly stopped in her tracks. "First off, we're in public, Man Hands. We're not friends, we'll never be friends, so you don't speak to me in public; second I can sing circles around you any day of the week. So let me break it down this one time - neither of us want to spend any time with each other so there will be no trying to figure out our song. I'll give you a list of songs that I'm willing to sing with you, and you pick which one you think you can keep up with me with."

"Well, I suppose-"

"No," Santana cut Rachel off abruptly. "We're done talking, so this is the part of the conversation where you walk away."

All Santana could do was stand back and enjoy her handy work as Rachel walked away. It was fun torturing Rachel, since for whatever reason, the girl kept coming back for more. You would think that after years of insults, she would finally wise up and quit coming back for more. Even Sam had been able to figure out not to keep subjecting himself to her taunts. She still hated that Sam had stood up to her because, as much as Santana hated to admit it, she needed Sam.

She honestly had no idea why Sam didn't understand that it would have been better for both of them if they had stayed together. No one would have ever figured out that she was in love with Brittany, and for the most part, Santana had retained her level of popularity after quitting the Cheerios which would have made Sam's life easier.

Everything was perfect until Sam decided to end things. It bothered her because Santana Lopez didn't get dumped. Ever. She did the dumping. At least he didn't end things and then start dating someone as far down the social ladder as say Rachel.

Of course the boy was utterly hopeless. Sam had been out from underneath Santana's guidance for about two weeks and now all he did was hang out with Blaine, Kurt, Mercedes and Rachel. There was no way he'd ever become popular if all he did was hang out with the kids most of the Glee Club even considered losers.

To say that going shopping with everyone was an experience wouldn't do it justice. Sam clearly understood why Blaine needed someone to keep him company. If the rest of the guys thought Rachel could be hard to handle in Glee Club, they really should go shopping with her. Watching Rachel, Kurt and Mercedes rip through rack after rack was like watching a real life anime; you couldn't see anything but a cloud of dust and random appendages flying around. Actually, it was pretty fun to watch until one of them accidentally knocked over a display trying to pull something from the back out and all five of them were "asked" to leave.

The next few stores were better, but far more boring. The stores were too loud and crowded to really have any type of conversation with Blaine. It didn't help that practically every five minutes Kurt, Rachel or Mercedes would come running up to the two of them and shoving bag after bag in their hands. All things considered though, Sam was actually having a pretty good time. It still was better than sitting at home all afternoon. Feeling comfortable wasn't something Sam was used to, and unfortunately it didn't last for long.

Once the shopping was over, they had all decided the best way to pick which movie to see would be to vote. The problem was Sam's taste in movies was drastically different from everyone else, and every movie he suggested was shot down by the majority of the group. Eventually they settled on a romantic comedy that Sam had absolutely no interest in seeing. He was a bit of a movie snob; he had no problem admitting it. Yet everyone but Mercedes and himself seemed dead set on watching the movie.

Sam knew that he was taking a big risk of looking like a jerk when he suggested that he skip the movie and hang around in the arcade watching all of their bags. It made sense to Sam though; he didn't want to see the movie and, thanks to Kurt, there were far too many bags to actually bring into the theater with them and no one felt like dragging all of the things out to the car. He was all right when the girls and Kurt thought it was a good idea, but it stung a little when Blaine agreed to it as quickly as he did.

Okay, it more than "stung a little." Despite the fact that Sam had known everyone else longer, he was closest to Blaine. It hurt knowing that Blaine could brush him off so easily. On some level, Sam knew that he was overreacting. None of them had gone out of their way to avoid him or make him feel stupid or unwanted the entire time they had been at the mall, and it was his idea to skip the movie anyway. It just felt odd that he seemed disposable. Sam knew that he was thinking in circles right now. He'd have the entire weekend to sit at home and be miserable - he didn't need to start that today, especially because of a situation that he created. Right now he needed to clear his head the only way he knew how, by saving the world from zombies or aliens.

The arcade had been a good idea. At least Sam was having more fun than if he was watching the movie. He had never liked romantic comedies to begin with; so considering the fact that he had been dealing with not one but two breakups over the course of the past month, so he was no where close to being ready for a sappy love story, hence the mutant space zombies he was currently killing on screen.

"Impressive."

For the first time Sam didn't jump when he heard the now familiar voice. In fact, hearing Blaine's voice brought a smile to Sam's face. "I've had better," Sam shrugged.

"It's still better than what mine would be," Blaine said.

"Mmhmm," Sam really wasn't trying to be rude or to ignore Blaine, but he was still paying on his first quarter. His score might have sucked by his standards, but level 23 and only being down 25 cents was a feat no matter how you looked at it.

"The movie sucked. It's beyond cliché, even for a romantic comedy. Mercedes spent the whole time grumbling about how the movie didn't have enough Denzel, Kurt was crying practically every other scene and Rachel… well, she's Rachel. She kept going on and on about how much better it would have been as a Broadway musical than a movie."

"Awesome," Sam said, still not entirely paying attention to Blaine.

"And then Brat Pitt and Johnny Depp decided to do full frontal nudity for their characters' sex scene. Kurt freaked out so badly that his head exploded all over Rachel's top, and she had to watch the rest of the movie naked. The usher closed off the room and everything. That's why they let me out, so I could call 911."

"Wait… what?" Sam's head instantly tilted in Blain's direction and less than one second later a scream came from the game he had been playing. He didn't have to look to know that his character had just died.

"What?" Blaine asked, looking like he was trying not to laugh. "I just wanted to see if you were listening. I promise Rachel will walk out of the theater fully clothed and Kurt won't be missing his head."

"Well, that's good. It would take forever to get home if Kurt's headless body was driving all of us around," Sam chuckled. It was nice that the comfort level he felt around Blaine hadn't wavered after the movie incident.

"I wasn't kidding about how horrible the movie was though. Next time I'm totally going to back you up with whatever movie you want to see. Unless it's something 'Twilight' related. I'm sorry but the whole sparkling vampire thing is a little too… they just shouldn't sparkle."

"You have no idea how glad I am that you said that," Sam chuckled. "The fact that you understand horror creatures should remain horror creatures and not become star-crossed teen lovers will cut out all the crappy titles at the comic store next week and I can show you the really good stuff."

"So basically taking you into a comic book store is the same thing as taking Kurt shoe shopping."

"Uh, no," Sam smiled. There was something about the way Blaine was speaking that led Sam to believe it was all in fun, and he wasn't trying to make him feel like a dork. "Do you have any idea how many back issues I could get with the amount of money Kurt spent on the cheapest pair of shoes he bought today?"

"Yeah," Blaine said as he picked up half of the bags on the floor by Sam's feet. "Besides, knowing Kurt, he'd only wear them once anyway. At least you'll get use out of your books."

Sam followed Blaine's lead and took the rest of the bags and the duo began walking to the front of the theater. Sam could only assume it was to wait for the others. Sam nodded his head up and down as he followed Blaine, the only thought running through his head was how amazing the past week had been.

The voting trend continued when it was time to decide where to go for dinner and, once again, Sam wasn't happy when he was out voted, and they ended up at Breadstix for dinner. It wasn't because he had always felt uncomfortable eating in public. No, he hated Breadstix because apparently that's where everything goes wrong for him. It was there that he began his relationship with Quinn, and later found out that was where Santana set her sights on him. Sam didn't want to be at this particular restaurant because he had enjoyed spending time with everyone and was honestly having a good time. He didn't want to risk yet another thing being ruined for him because of Breadstix.

Things had been going well though, so Sam made up his mind to enjoy himself for as long as he could. He still felt incredibly uncomfortable in group settings, but he had managed to loosen up a bit today. Every time Sam began to feel uncomfortable, Blaine would zone in on him instantly and say something that brushed it over quickly. It was like the other teen had an extra sense that went off every time Sam panicked, and he was able to do or say something that would ease the tension that apparently only Sam felt.

He was probably reading too much into it. Blaine obviously didn't have a secret sense, but was just picking up on the little things Sam did because they were sitting next to each other in the booth. He couldn't grasp why Blaine would sit next to him instead of Kurt, or even Rachel, since she knew Blaine better than he did, but Sam was thankful. He knew if anyone else was sitting next to him, he would feel more awkward and self conscious than he already did.

The entire conversation was running smoothly and for once Sam managed to focus enough to actually keep up with it. Of course it helped that for the most part they were rehashing everything that they had done after Glee Club. As soon as the group started talking about shopping, Sam could feel himself slipping from the conversation and, even though he hadn't said much the entire time, he still wanted very much to remain included in it.

"You couldn't be any more wrong, Rachel. That salesclerk was flirting with me. He plays for my team. I'm sorry, but he was just flirting with you to make a sale."

"Kurt, dude, I'm sorry but he was so not in to you." Sam regretted jumping into the conversation the instant everyone turned and stared him down.

"I'll have you know that just because I wasn't your cup of tea, I am quite the catch."

Up until a few seconds ago Sam was actually having a good time. The last thing he wanted to do was unintentionally offend Kurt. Sam's mind was moving faster than his mouth could work, and he needed to fix it.

"No. I didn't mean it like that, Kurt. It's just… I had a sales job for a little while before my family moved here – those jobs are almost always commission jobs and people are more willing to spend money with you if you're like super nice to them. If anything, the guy probably liked Mercedes because he actually treated her like a normal person."

"So-" before Kurt could say anything else, Mercedes' hand was covering her best friend's mouth.

"Kurt, let the boy talk."

Sam could feel his face turn red the longer everyone's attention was focused on him. He hated being the center of attention - this was when he would make a stupid mistake and everyone would either laugh at him or just go back to ignoring him. "I just mean… if your job was to kind of flirt with people, wouldn't you feel awkward doing that with someone you actually liked?"

"After dinner, we should all go back to the mall," Rachel said. "Kurt accidentally bought something that was the wrong size."

"No, I didn't," Kurt protested.

"Yes, you did," Rachel's voice grew louder as she spoke. "And the three of us need to help you return it while Mercedes asks the cute clerk out."

"Fine, but tomorrow you're going to go back there and re-buy whatever I return as late welcome back present."

"Come on, guys," Mercedes said nervously. "We don't have to do it. I don't want to go and make a fool out of myself."

"I… Mercedes, I'm not a jerk," Sam began. "I wouldn't have said that because I wanted the guy to laugh at you. I wouldn't ever do something like that. Everybody deserves a chance to be happy. If I'm wrong and he doesn't like you and he can't see how great you are, he's an idiot."

"Trust Sam, he gives great advice," Blaine said. "Plus if you and that guy date long enough, you could probably convince him to let you use his discount."

Sam sat in silence, taking in the complement Blaine had just given him as he watched Mercedes laugh and playfully slap Blaine's arm causing the other boy to lean up against him to try to avoid the physical contact. The best part of the whole thing was the fact that Sam didn't even feel awkward about the scene. He still felt like he was on the outer fringes of the group, but he actually felt like he was being included.

"Boy," Mercedes said laughing. "You know you're wrong."

"What? Stuff at that store was expensive. There's no rule that you can't get a boyfriend and a 50 percent discount," Blaine stood his ground and joined in on the laughter.

"All right, we'll go," Mercedes said, getting up from the table and giving Blaine one last whack in the arm. "I'll be right back. I just need to call my dad and tell him I'll be late."

Everyone at the table got incredibly quiet when Mercedes left the table. Sam thought it was kind of creepy. He was used to being quiet himself, but he was surrounded by people who were well known for voicing their opinions the second they formed them. There was a small voice in Sam's mind that was telling him it was because they were all about to jump down his throat for what he had said, or something even more irrational. The voice only got louder when Rachel reached across the table and grabbed his arm. Sam smiled when he felt Rachel gently squeeze his arm. He wasn't expecting that at all.

"Thank you for doing that for Mercedes; she needed a pick-me-up. It was really sweet."

"Oh please," said a voice coming from behind Sam, causing himself and Blaine to turn to face it. "There was nothing sweet about it. It was charity at best. Trouty probably wised up and felt bad that out of all the losers at this table, Mercedes was the only one to never get a pity date."

"Hello to you too, Satan - sorry… I mean Santana."

"How many booster seats did the waitress need for the Hobbit so he could reach the table?" Santana asked, completely ignoring Blaine.

"Clearly you're jealous of the fact that I'm here having fun with people I care about and you're the one who is alone at a restaurant on a Friday night."

Sam, Kurt and Rachel's heads all instantly turned to Santana's direction. It was like watching a special on Animal Planet; all that was left was for one of the two of them to rip out the other's lungs and eat them or something. Sam didn't know why the other two were watching this closely, but he did. This was now the second time that Blaine had stood up to someone for him. Sam finally had someone who truly had his back, and it felt amazing.

"What possessed you to ever date her?" Blaine asked after Santana growled and stormed off to what had to have been her table.

"It's a long story," Sam said softly.

"The moral of the story is Quinn Fabray is the reason none of us can have nice things," Rachel said, finishing for Sam.

There were very few things that Santana Lopez believed in. Actually there were only three things, and two of them were basically the same. The most important thing went along with how she had chosen to live her life: Anything worth having was worth hurting someone for. That one sentence ruled virtually every move she made. Everyone was expendable because, on the way to the top, it didn't matter who you stepped on as long as you never came back down. And that led in to something she liked to call "pre-venge." If done right, getting to someone before they had the chance to get to you could be a thing of beauty. The art of pre-venge went hand in hand with one of Santana's mottos: "That which does not kill you… wasn't me."

She had been on the warpath ever since Brittany had shot her down. It was bad enough that the one time she had actually made herself vulnerable to someone she had been rejected, but for the only person she had ever loved to walk away from her for Artie? It didn't make any sense choosing the kid in the wheelchair over her hot piece of ass. She knew that Brittany wasn't smart, but she honestly didn't believe that the girl could be that stupid.

Nothing made sense to her anymore. She was clearly the hottest girl in Glee, yet at this point Rachel-fricking-Berry had run through as many members of the Glee Club as she had. She had lost Puck to Lauren, which was a thousand times worse than Finn running back to Rachel after he had a taste of her goodness. Brittany was gone and too stupid to realize that she had managed to do what no one else in all of Lima had ever been able to – she hurt Santana before she could be hurt by her. She had even lost Sam, and that confused her almost as much, if not more than the whole Brittany situation.

The boy was a dork. He should have been on his knees praising her for even acknowledging that he existed instead of pouting like a little bitch every time she said something about his enormous lips. She had every right to complain about it since she had been stuck with him. It would have been different if Sam was a good kisser – well, it would have been better if Sam was Brittany – or if he actually gave it up to her. It was almost a ritual; she slept with all of Quinn's boyfriends when Quinn wouldn't, all of them except for Sam. Whenever sex had come up between the two of them the boy acted like some mutant set of teeth would crawl out of her skirt like in that movie he had forced her to watch. The voice in her head was screaming, "Oh God, he's infected me with dork."

It disgusted her how stupid the boy was. At the beginning of the year, everything he did revolved around being popular; he was like the male Quinn. Yet it was becoming clear to Santana that Sam verged on being too stupid to function. He dates two cheerleaders to be popular, but he won't put out, not that she wanted to be with him but she had wanted their brief relationship to look real. And now the dork jumped on the loser boat. Santana didn't even bother to hide rolling her eyes at that one.

"Yeah," Santana mumbled to herself. "Hanging with the biggest losers in Glee Club is gonna make you real popular, Trouty."

It didn't make any sense to her why Sam was suddenly hanging out with that particular group; with the exception of Kurt, none of them had said more than five words to Sam the entire year. There were just too many things that didn't add up and it left far too many unanswered questions. Why did Sam break up with her last week? Why did Kurt's closest friends suddenly become so welcoming to Sam? Why did the annoying little hobbit stick up for Sam? Then there was the whole clothing thing a few days ago, and now the two of them were sitting together at dinner. Nothing made sense.

She was too far away to hear what they were saying at their table, but she was sure it would bore her to tears anyway. She had only come to Breadstix for two reasons: to con her way into a free meal and to figure out how to get back at Blaine for his comment in Glee Club yesterday. Santana gave the others' table one last look and suddenly everything fell into place.

She watched as Blaine leaned in Sam's direction and said something to him that made Sam smile. That didn't make sense to her either; it seemed like it had been months since the last time Sam smiled. Sam was a completely different person and the only thing that had changed was Blaine being at McKinley.

"Holy crap," Santana said a little too loudly as her brain started to connect the dots.

It was something that Santana knew all too well after having to spend the past few years walking the line between displaying her friendship and relationship with Brittany. The big kicker to the entire thing was that Sam was so pathetically idiotic that he probably didn't even realize what was going on between Blaine and himself. A cruel smile stretched across Santana's lips as she began to form a plan. She knew the perfect way to get revenge on Blaine and, as a bonus, she'd get back at Sam for breaking up with her.