A/N: Yayyy! An update!

Took me long enough, right?

I'm so sorry, y'all. I knew what I wanted to do with this chapter, but I needed to puzzle some things out about how my later chapters will work while trying to still work some canon elements into it. I figured it out, and my updates should be more regular now. Sorry again. I hate making Puckcedians wait.

Also, I got sidetracked writing Prom Night. If you guys are interested in some Puckcedes smut, check out Chapter 2... It may inspire some forgiveness in you.

Anywho, this chapter takes place in the same week as the S4 episode Thanksgiving. It describes Puck and Mercedes road trip, and all of the Glee drama Mr. 'Zilla witnessed.

Thank you so much to ShaLoveD30, LudaNeet, LadiJ, desireelovesyou27, erchills, cmpunkfangurl, and Goalihta-Leigh for reviewing since my last update. I appreciate all of your loyalty and patience.

Also, thank you Illiandyandra for helping me out with this chapter. Any readers who loved the Puck/Sam confrontation have her to thank for the inspiration. And the quick turn-around? ALL HAIL!

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the songs mentioned in this chapter.

Doing Better…

You know, after Junior year, I honestly don't believe I was ever the huge asshole I used to be again. At least, not on the same level. I was still doing stuff and saying things to people that I probably shouldn't have, but even then I realized I was wrong afterward. Sometimes I even apologized for the shit. And if I take a minute to think about it, I can actually see the different ways my attitude was changing. I mean, at least I was starting to think about the people around me before I did any dumb shit. And at the time, I had been letting a couple of girls I dug and respected kick my ass and make me change how I treated people. So I did. But I also know some of my growth was because of how alone and shit I felt that summer. Don't get me wrong, it was completely self-inflicted; but I finally understood all that junk Zizes used to spout off about Jones feeling left out of things. And it made me real sensitive to that kinda shit in other people.

Road Trip

Take for instance, the road trip me and Mama took back to Lima for Thanksgiving. We knew we could have gotten a deal on plane fare if we'd have planned in advance or whatever, and bus tickets were cheap as hell too. But we decided that driving in together would be fun, plus I figured we'd use the time in Mama's truck to talk. She seemed like she needed it, anyway.

We left LA the Saturday before Sectionals, since Jones had the whole week off from work and I'd finished a few big pool jobs the day before and was able to get away. The two of us figured we could eat breakfast everyday, drive until lunchtime, get out and switch drivers, drive some more, then find a hotel somewhere for the nigh. The trip was over 2200 miles long, and would take somewhere in the neighborhood of 36 hours to finish, so we planned on being in Lima sometime Monday afternoon with the breaks and shit. That day I got up at 4am, took a jog around the block, and came back to the condo with breakfast so we could hit the road by 5.

I drove first. Mama and me had fun on Saturday. She was packing snacks and putting shit on her iPod for us to listen to while I was out, so we were ready to get the fuck outta there right after we ate. On the road I was shocked to find out that my girl liked most of my favorite songs. She's into R&B big-time, and she likes gospel music too. Everybody knows that shit. But even though she used to call me "Mr. Top 40," I found out Jones' "Pucky" play list had a hell of a lot of stuff on it that we were both into. Mama loved Bowie…knew all the words to Space Odyssey and Under Pressure. And she had a whole hour of Queen songs downloaded, too. At one point, Mama was singing We Will Rock You so good I had to take my eyes off the road to stare at her for a second, plus the two of us laid some kick-ass harmonies out when we sang We Are the Champions together. She had some AC/DC going on, and all the old-ass hair bands I love. We sang and joked our asses off for pretty much the whole time I drove.

We stopped somewhere in Arizona around 11 -Lawrence Crossings I think- which was like, 470 miles from LA. I patted myself on the back for making such good time; hell, I got us there in less than six hours. We sat down and had lunch in a Chinese place and afterward 'Cedes took the wheel.

Mercedes told me she needed slow music on the radio while she drove long distances, otherwise she got too excited and ended up driving like a bat outta hell. So she played her slow jamz mix. Dude, if I didn't know better, I'd say Mama was a closet freak… since all her music sounded like sex on vinyl. Babygirl was moaning along to some Floetry song called Say Yes, and groaning in time to D'Angelo singing How Does It Feel. She even played this song called Falsetto that was all about some dude fucking his girl so good she started hitting high notes and shit. Every one of her goddamn song choices was fucking horn-inducing. I tried not to let it get to me, but after we'd been driving around 200 miles; I had to beg her to cut that shit out. Mama said something about her not making good enough time, anyway, so she put on her "Crunk Mix" instead so she could get hype. Mercedes hopped and popped her ass against the driver's seat for the next five hours. She shook her tits and tried to body roll while sitting; I watched her getting into the music and laughed my nuts off. Her head was bobbing, and them tatas were dancing underneath her sweater so much swear I thought I was in a fucking strip club. Or a Snoop Dogg video. But that shit helped us make it into New Mexico before 7pm. We found a Holiday Inn and I paid for the room while Mama found a taco truck and bought us some dinner. Then we crashed. Like I said, it was a good day.

Still on the Road

Sunday wasn't so much fun. Mercedes drove first, while tried to catch a little more sleep. I'd had a little having trouble trying to drift off the night before, since Mercedes kept making these sexy little cooing sounds in her sleep and they kept me up. Well, the fact that my dick was so hard kept me up. I must have spanked the monkey like, five times, trying to relieve the pressure. The end result was that I only got about 4 hours of rest before we got out of the hotel around 6am. Mama got her chill play list going, and I snored my ass off, every couple hours waking up to hear her singing Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey songs. Bumpy-ass road notwithstanding, it was pretty good way to rest. Then I woke my ass up about three hours into the trip so I could take a call from my baby bro.

Mercedes cut the tunes and I turned the speaker on so we could both talk after I pressed send. Jake, the baby asshole, was flirting his ass off the whole time we talked. Kept calling Mama "Sexy Miss," mostly because he knew how much I hate it when he did that shit. When I finally called his coffee-colored ass out on it, Mercedes just laughed and reminded me of how I call her "Sexy Mama" to piss off Sam. That shut me the hell up. But the phone call kept us laughing and shit. Jake kept us entertained talking about the drama he'd been having with his girl, Marley.

Remember how I told him to hold off on his natural-born douchebaggery? Made him quit hitting on Marley after she started dating Ryder, since they were bros and all? Well, babyboy did what I told him to and it paid off. Jake told us how he helped Ryder get diagnosed with dyslexia and shit. And that the dude ended up standing Marley up on a date so he could get extra tutoring or whatever. Said Marley got all offended because she didn't know what he was really up to, and that she had Quinn 2.0 in her ear telling her that shit was unacceptable. Jake was able to slip in on Marley; she asked him out, because she felt like Ryder was disrespecting her. So now they were hanging out and kissing and shit. I congratulated my bro for getting next to the girl without fucking over his boy, and Mercedes told him they were a cute couple. Mama even rubbed my hand a little and shot me a smile when Jake mentioned that I'd been the one to tell him he better respect his friendship. Then she asked if Sam was spending any time helping Ryder out with his dyslexia, since he had it too; Jake told her he didn't think so. Something about that didn't sit quite right with me, but I just filed it away to think it over later.

After Jake hung up, 'Cedes and me got off the road in Freedom, Oklahoma. It was around 11:30 and Mama treated me to Burger King for lunch before we took off again. I'd been driving for awhile and singing along to a KISS song, when Mercedes started having this big-ass argument with Sam over the phone. She had the shit on speaker, so I could hear everything, and it all sounded completely fucking crucial. Sam started the shit by telling 'Cedes that he didn't wanna fuck with Britt's plan to get Satan back, by acting like a couple with Jones at school. Dude was talking all calm and shit, like what he was suggesting was fucking normal or something. Evans went on and on about how he'd promised Britt to help her get her girl back, and how it would be wrong to flake out on her now. Even suggested that Samcedes not even speak for real at school, but just hang out afterward. It was completely fucked up.

'Cedes didn't even really seem mad, just hurt. She went on and on to Evans about -how was she supposed to feel watching her man be all hugged up on anther chick while she sat around in Glee class by herself? Said she had enough of that shit before graduation, thank you very much. Then Evans told her she could always hang out with me or Unique. Mama was so sickened and frustrated by him she just hung up on his ass.

Then she got a call from Quinn, who asked us if we'd meet up in the auditorium with the rest of our classmates. We agreed.

When we found a HOJO in Versailles, Missouri around 7pm, and I suggested we just order a couple of pizzas and veg out in the room. So I ordered a couple of pies and she got us all checked in. After a few slices, Cedes wanted to talk.

"Puck?"

"Yeah, Mama?" I looked up from the TV Guide I was reading.

"What do you think would have happened between us if we hadn't broken up Sophomore year?" Mercedes was laying across her bed on her stomach facing me. She was wearing this night-shirt with dollar signs all over it and it was cut low so I could see her cleavage. I had to swallow a little slobber before I could answer.

"Huh?"

"I mean, I realize you and I weren't a real couple, but we got together right around this time of year." Mercedes lifted a hand and started to fiddle with some of her hair. It made me wanna twirl it around my fingers too. "I just wondered."

"What for?"

"Well, Sam and I have been doing this relationship dance for over a year, but not consistently. Our thing has always been so off-and-on, I've never actually been his girl over Thanksgiving and Christmas."

I nodded so she would keep talking.

"I mean, I was with Shane this time last year…but I was never in love with him. Not like I am with Sam. And it looks like I'm still gonna miss out on all the couple-y stuff with him, again..."

I swear I wanted to string Evans up by the balls for fucking with Jones' emotions like this.

"… I figure if you and I had stayed together, we might have still been together for some of that. We've never been separated by distance or whatever, so I guess I'm kind of curious."

I'm not sure if she was asking me because she sort of sees through my little just-friends act, or if maybe the hotel-sharing was making her mistake this for a girly-ass sleepover party. But either way the 'Zilla don't lie, so I lay down on my bed facing her the same way and answered her question the best I could.

"Well, you should know that before you dumped me that day, I was gonna serenade you in Glee and ask you to be my girl for real," I finally admitted.

"What?" I could tell she wasn't expecting that.

"Real talk; I had a song all picked out, planned to hand over my letterman jacket and everything." I smiled and remembered how I'd spent the whole week learning the song by heart.

"What song?" she asked curiously.

"Lady, by D'Angelo." She gave me a look like 'quit lying,' and I defended myself. "Hey, I know I always had some trouble picking songs for all those times I serenaded Zizes, but I never had that problem with you."

She grinned at me and said, "You know, that's one of my favorite songs..."

"I know." I admitted. Shit, that's why I learned it. Shit sounded so good whenever we made out and she played it all soft in the background. But I rallied so I could keep on talking. "After the song I was gonna escort you to my truck, since I brought you to school that day. We were gonna put Quinn's ass in the backseat..." Mama laughed, I guess she was remembering how much I couldn't stand Que back then. "...then I was gonna take you home so we could baby-sit Michelle and update our MySpace relationship statuses."

"But, Puck I wasn't a Cheerio anymo..." Jones started.

"Then..." I interrupted. I didn't want to skip over anything. Plus, I ain't care about that shit. "…I was gonna pick you up the next day, take you to school, and make out with you in my truck until the bell rang. I'd have walked with you hand-in-hand into McKinley, and held the door open for ya. Ate lunch with you, sat with you in Glee..."

"But Puck, your Mo-hawk..." She tried again.

"...Every Friday, we'd have gone bowling or to the arcade or maybe the Stixx, and hung out on your sofa afterward. I would have offered to take you to Temple on my Sabbath; Gone to church with you on yours..."

"But what about Babygate, and Quinn..."

"We'd have spent Thanksgiving together, too Mama. Probably gone to my house first, and I'd have introduced you to my Nana; let Moms show you a bunch of embarrassing ass baby pictures and shit. Then we would have gone to your house and had dinner again. Maybe watched some football together afterward."

That's when she quit trying to interject and just listened to what I was saying.

"For Christmaskah," Mama laughed at that one. "I'd have spent some of my pool money getting you some jewelry or whatever. Maybe this diamond nose stud I saw at the mall one time-it was like, 1/20th of a carat or some shit. Or this pair of dangly ass earrings I saw in a store that had this kind of zebra pattern on it to go with that loud-ass jacket of yours. You probably would have gotten me a gift card or something."

Mama nodded, laughed, and touched her hand to where her nose ring used to be; I guess she was amazed that I remembered she wore one every day back then.

"Then when you went into the birthing room with me and Que, you'd have been there as my girl...not her sister. So when I got finished kissing Beth goodbye, I'd have laid one on you afterward, to make myself feel better."

She smiled, and I did too, remembering how sweet my little girl was that day.

"And that summer you'd have gone with me on all my pool jobs, so the MILFs would leave me the hell alone; and then we'd hang out around your pool so we could make out on the loungers every afternoon. We'd have fun; me laying between your legs when nobody was around and rubbing your naked-ass legs; trying to get in between your tits and swimsuit."

Mama sat up and faked like she was mad at me for being nasty by balling her fist, but I knew she was full of shit. Zizes taught my ass what a girl looks like when she really wanted to punch me. I changed the subject, anyway, though…I was already feeling my dick twitch.

"You and I would have spent a lot of time together, Mama; gone to the mall and hung out with our crew. We'd get closer; talk or whatever. You'd have been good for me; helped keep me from doing so much asshole stuff and more than likely avoid Juvie. I don't know, probably still be together."

I took a minute to catch my breath, and sat up too. Mama broke the silence by asking, "I have to say I'm confused…where's all this coming from, Noah?"

"I don't know..." I told her, truthfully. I honestly hadn't realized I thought so much about the way our relationship could have been. "...I just know you and me could have worked out if I hadn't been such a dick. See, I'm the type of dude that can't be in a relationship with a chick for real unless I'm friends with her first. And you're like, the best one I've got."

She reached over and hugged me hard. "Same here, Puckerman. But you know this is getting kinda heavy... So you wanna go across the street for some ice cream?"

I just looked at her like she was bat-shit. "Fuck no; it's cold as hell outside, Mama."

"Then the line will be short. Come on, Puck...don't be such a pussy!" Jones teased.

Couldn't let that one slide. "I'll show you a pussy, Mama...let's go!"

Are We There Yet?

The next morning we got up around 7 to take the last leg of the trip, which was about 600 miles. We both kind of silently agreed to turn our phones and the music off and just talk while she drove. She gushed about her older brothers, and how much she was looking forward to seeing them after so much time. Said she couldn't wait to see Tina and Unique and Sugar again. Mama brought up Kurt and Rachel, and what they were doing in New York. Kept flipping out about what a change she'd seen in Finn when she went back for Grease tryouts; and how she hoped he'd go get a teaching degree before long.

I agreed with her on the Finn shit, even though I hadn't seen him in action yet. I reminded 'Cedes of that time he came to stay with us for a couple of weeks after he got kicked out of the Army and was scared to go home and admit it. We remembered how lost he'd been looking. I also warned her to stay the fuck away from my horny little bro, just in case his Marley shit didn't pan out…since I knew he'd hit on anything walking. Even admitted that I was looking forward to spending some time with Evans. 'Cause he was still my bro, and I missed him.

Our talk lasted until we pulled into Caldwell, Illinois at around 12 for lunch, then I put the pedal to the metal and zoomed my way into Lima while she slept and I listened to Bon Jovi. It was around 5, so Mercedes took me to my Mom's so I could drop off my shit and take a leak. Then we went to her house so she could kiss her folks and change her change clothes. After that we made our way to McKinley.

That mash-up song we sang -Home or whatever- was fun, and it reminded me of how much I loved performing with these losers. I hadn't picked up my axe much since moving to LA, and I realized that missed it. We were all talented and shit; I don't know why the only ones of us in the clique trying to be performers were Rachel, Kurt, Mike, and 'Cedes. We all probably should have been trying to be famous, auditioning for American Idol or something. But, whatever…

Another thing that struck me was how sweet and shit everybody was treating Mercedes. Satan's evil ass made it her business to run the hell over to her and hug the shit out of Mama like she wanted to swallow her ass up. And Chang never got more than ten inches away from Jones the entire time we sang. Finn had already seen Mama at play tryouts, so he mostly hugged up on Quinn and gave me some dap. And of course she and I rode in together, and didn't need to act all brand new. But Quinn held Mercedes' hand in the backseat the whole time we rode to Breadstix together afterward. It was funny, 'cause I know sometimes Mama feels like she's not appreciated or whatever; but I know I was feeling all the love, even if she didn't see it for herself.

At Breadstix, Finn's wearing-Mr. Shue's-castoff-sweater looking ass asked all us vets to come into class the next day to mentor the newbies for Sectionals. We all agreed, and eventually went home to sleep in our high school beds.

The next day, all of us old-heads were in the choir room and getting to know the new chumps or whatever, and something bothered the shit out of me. Brittany kept mistaking Unique for Mercedes, and calling them by the wrong name and shit. Now, six months ago, that shit would've never registered on my fucking radar. I mean, I'm not Britt, so at least I can tell those two apart. I ain't never been that dense. But calling a she-man by the wrong gender or saying something shitty? I would have been guilty as hell last school year. But see, Mercedes and Unique are tight. My roomie schooled me on all the bullshit 'Ole He-She had been though since transferring to McKinley, and made me promise not to say or do anything offensive when I finally met her. It just tripped me out that Brittany had been in the same fucking class with Unique all damn year, but still hadn't figured the shit out. And from what my lil bro tells me, she's been on that shit the whole time.

Plus, I know Sam's been listening to her spout off all that fuckery, so why in the hell wasn't he schooling her? Evans is supposed to be responsible for her ass; like, that's a cross he willingly fucking chose to bear. Dude knew she was going around school sounding all ignorant and racist and shit, but didn't give a damn about correcting her. Even though Blondie's supposed to be the damn 'sensitive' one. That's when I knew those two weren't about shit together. Even in a fake way. It pissed me the fuck off. And I know for a damn fact that Satan would have never let Britt keep on doing that shit. Lopez may be a big-ass pendeja, but she takes all that gender identity/queer culture/human sexuality shit to heart. If Santana and Britt were still a couple that mess woulda been nipped in the bud with the quickness. Like I said, I was mad…and disappointed.

So Mike started spouting off about boy-band dance tryouts, Sam's Windy City got a roomful of crickets, and Britt won the female dance lead. Puck Jr. is a dance freak, just like Mike…dude's classically trained and everything. But he told me he was backing off the lead auditions so his boy Ryder could get it. Something about bro-code and trying to do right by him; he got the girl so Ryder got the dance, or some shit. I didn't completely understand it but I was proud of him, I guess. Then the Unholy Trinity did a song and we all went roaming in the halls.

Me and Jake were about to go get some grub from the cafeteria when my Baby Mama came up to us all mad at my bro. She was on some bullshit about Marley looking all butt-hurt and not being able to do her best at Sectionals because Jake was pressuring her for some pussy. I knew he wouldn't lie to me, so when JewBrown said he wasn't doing that shit I believed and defended him. Then Que went all "Icy-Queen of McKinley High," wouldn't listen to reason, and tried to say some shit about me pressuring her back when we got it on. I didn't embarrass her ass right then, and say what I wanted to; cause I wasn't trying to be the asshole in the situation one-mo-gain. But you can best believe I schooled her after we left that bitch.

In the parking lot, informed Quinn that I knew her number long before we fucked; and reminded her that she used me to make herself feel better just like I used her to get my rocks off. I let Que know that she could have told me to stop at any time while we were fucking and I would have, which she already fucking knew. I also let her suck on the memory that the only objection she had for me at the time, was that Finn was her boyfriend and my best friend. I said Quinn needed to check her fucking attitude, because chances were that she was getting her info about Jake from somebody as manipulative as she was at that age. Que had to stop and think about that shit after I said it, so I figure she heard the fucking lies from her Mini-Me. Right before I walked away I told her that I'd already guessed the only reason she was coming off all Jesus-Freak and judgmental was because she was probably caught up in some bullshit in college. Trying to justify some fucked up choices she was making by trying to mentor chicks who hadn't made any real mistakes yet, or something. I found out later I was right…bitch was boning her married-ass professor.

We helped the new crew out for the next couple of days and all got dressed up to go to Sectionals after Thanksgiving dinner and cheer them on. Mr. Shue and his fiancée showed up, probably to see if Finn was doing any better than he had, and we all watched the new New Directions perform. I personally liked Gangnam Style even though a lot of folks looked at Finn crazy for picking it; Tina was sexy as fuck performing like a little sex kitten, and the choreography was pretty dope. Special effects were awesome too. They reminded me of Vocal Adrenaline with all the confetti and shit. But when Jake's girl passed out I knew it was over, so I left before I could even hear the bad news.

Black Friday I slept in late and watched some football, then hopped in Mom's Corolla to go to the mall in Columbus. I felt girly as hell going out trying to buy shit on the biggest shopping day of the year, but I was living alone, now. I knew how important saving money was…and the newspaper had some nice shit in it I could get on the cheap. I was just about to go into Toys R Us so I could get Michelle some shit when Evans came out, with his hands full of shopping bags and a sale ad just like the one I had in my pocket. I stopped him with a bro-hug and spoke.

"Hey, man…what you up to?"

He grinned. "Not much man, trying to get Christmas presents."

"Yeah, me too. My little sis is a teenager now, but I wanted to get her some shit to remind her she's still a little girl, too. Maybe one of those Bratz doll heads so she can play in it's hair or some of the dress up clothes they got on sale. She and your girl used to play with that kind of shit together back in the day." I peered in his bag. "You shopping for Stevie and Stacie?"

He fidgeted. "Well, kind of…yeah. I got Stacie a doll head too, ten bucks is a really good price. She and Mercy used to play in each other's hair the same way. And I got some new board games for Stevie and a few Barbies for Britt." Said that last part all fast-like so I would miss it. That's when I decide to have a little chat with my boy.

"Hey, man…you got a minute? Wanna go get a Cinnabon and talk? It's important."

"Oh, I don't know, dude. I'm watching my calorie intake and…"

"Well a pretzel then. You used to come by my place all the time to talk and shit last summer."

Evans rolled his eyes but couldn't argue with that last little bit, so he nodded and we hit Auntie Ann's. After we sat down in the food court, dude tried to head me off.

"Look, Puck…I appreciate that you wanna defend Mercedes, but I'm not gonna have a conversation with you about my helping Brittany and hurting her…"

"Whoa!" I stopped him. "I ain't here about that shit. That's completely none of my damn business and between you two. I'm here to talk to you about Unique."

Sam seemed confused and dipped his pretzel in mustard while he waited on me to go on.

"I know you heard Britt in Glee rehearsal on Tuesday, confusing Unique with Mercedes. Why didn't you say shit?"

"Why would I do that? I'm not responsible for what she says," he said around a mouthful of food.

"Oh, yes, the hell you are." I said, as I finished my cinnamon and sugar covered pretzel.

"How?" Sam asked while he wiped his mouth and balled up the napkin.

"Because you're the person closest to the chick. And you signed on to watch out for her when you agreed to be her fake man" I explained.

Evans was shaking his head, "I don't get it."

"You should." I sat back in my chair and put my elbow on the backrest. "See, you and Brittany weren't ever really good friends before now. The only time I ever really saw you face off with each other was that time you kissed playing Spin the Bottle. But I always used to catch you rolling your eyes and shaking your head whenever she did something idiotic as fuck in Glee. So I guessed you probably figured she was just super ditzy or 'special' or something." I made air quotes to illustrate the fact that Evans used to look at Brittany like she was borderline mentally retarded.

"Yeah, so?"

"So…" I continued. "…that means you never realized that Brittany has always had someone in her corner to explain shit to her when she acts all lost and oblivious." I ticked off my fingers. "Quinn used to school her whenever she approached somebody ugly or really short and asked them did they work for the circus. Artie stopped her from picking up little kids in McDonalds PlayPlace and inviting them home for a play date. Santana let her know she couldn't keep asking Mike and Tina to try and open their eyes a little wider." Trouty laughed out loud at that last one, and I shot him a nasty look to let him know I wasn't playing. "And you should have taught the girl the difference between Unique and your girlfriend."

He quit laughing. "Well, how was I supposed to do that?"

"The fuck do I look like? A Brittany translator?" I was getting mad, now. "You're the one who's close to her! Shit, you ought to know…" Then I tried to come up with some suggestions since Blondie was looking lost as fuck. "…maybe you can explain how every fucking Black person isn't the same as every other fucking Black person! That every brown girl in a dress singing her ass off in Glee ain't Mercedes! Tell her to look at Unique and look at Jones, then point out the differences in their height, their faces, their bodies! Draw the chick a fucking diagram if you have to!"

It looked like Evans was finally getting the picture. "But why me?"

I rolled my eyes again. "Because Britt has latched onto you the same way she's always latched onto everybody who's ever kept her in line. From what I hear, she's been flailing all year long. Going all Britney Spears at school and losing the school elections. And I know you were the one who brought her back from the edge when that shit happened, so you need to go'ne head and do the rest of your damn duty."

Sam looked thoughtful so I pressed on.

"Look, man…I'm sure somebody else already tried to school her on this shit, but she's not gonna listen until you tell her. Until she gets Santana back you're the fucking chosen one. Plus, if you don't do it soon she's gonna fuck around and hurt somebody's feelings, and that shit will be all on you."

"But nobody's feelings were hurt…" Sam blustered.

"No, not this time, but Mercedes doesn't know how long the shit's been going on. She probably thought all that stuff Britt said the other day about clones was the first time." I gathered up all my napkins and shit to toss in the trash on my way back to the toy store. I was all the way thru with talking to this motherfucker...After I said one more thing. "But somebody's likely to tell her ass your blonde chick's been on that shit all year, and your real girl's gonna be hurt."

"But who would tell her?"

"Obviously not you!" I rolled my eyes. What a pussy… "But Unique is crazy about Mama…she and Sugar were the ones who told her you were hanging out with Brittany hardcore in the first place. That shit's gonna come up in conversation some day, then those two and Tina are gonna let Jones know your fake woman's been insulting your real woman all year and you didn't do shit!" Then I pulled my sale ad out of my back pocket and stood up so I could go get Baby Sis some toys and shit.

"But Mercedes will understand… it's Brittany!" Sam got all defensive again. "Everybody knows she says crazy stuff like that all the time!"

"And everybody trusts the person closest to her to eventually get that shit corrected." I told him before I walked the fuck away.

The next day, Mercedes and me took off early to head back to LA. And I was so goddamn ready to bounce it was ridiculous. It was cool being home and shit, but I gotta say… it only felt like home because 'Cedes was there with me. I liked seeing how proud my Moms was for me and Michelle looked like she'd grown three inches since September. Plus, I was digging hanging out with Jake, too. But our relationship was working long distance, just fine. We didn't need to see each other everyday to feel like real bros. And I suppose had a new family, now. Me, Mercedes, her drama, my crush, and maybe one day a dog…that was my life now. So when we headed back I knew I wasn't gonna miss a thing.

A/N: Thanks for the love, you guys! Next up, Season 3...Senior year! God, I love flashbacks.