Hi guys! I first want to thank everyone for all the lovely support, you guys are toooo nice. Thank you for giving my fic a chance, I love you all. Tears, I have tears in my eyes. Enough with the sentimental stuff, who's ready to read? On with the show! lol

PLS PLS forgive any booboos and ENJOY!

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The car ride to school that morning was more than awkward for both Sam and Mercedes.

Sure he flipped out when Mike told him that he hadn't dropped Mercedes off at her house last night. When he asked Mercedes how she got home, she told him a friend gave her a ride. Sam honestly didn't know she had any other friends at school, besides him and Mike, even if she did; she never told him about them. He asked her who this person was, just to make sure nothing funny happened, and all she said was 'he's just a guy'. Sam kept pestering her for who 'he' was, but the short girl wasn't having any of his 'unnecessary' behavior.

He couldn't help that he cared about her.

Sam had no idea what was going on between them, because they haven't had a chance to talk since Sunday, when she kissed him. He really, really liked her, but he didn't want to rush her into anything. The blonde spent most of the school day thinking about how he was going talked to her and let her know how he felt.

It was lunch time and like always he and Mike sat outside and talked about random things.

"Dude, no one plays Halo anymore, it's always been about Call of Duty." Mike said in between eating his bag of chips and drinking his soda.

"No it hasn't, Call of Duty only became popular after Halo stopped dishing out games." Sam quipped. "Besides Halo has better graphics." He said casually as if it were a known fact.

"You're so wrong; Halo would be nothing if Call of Duty hadn't paved the way. Just admit that you suck at CoD and that's why you never want to play." A playful smile tugged on the dark haired boys lips, he knew he had struck a nerve.

Sam punched his best friend in the arm and mumbled a 'whatever' under his breath. Mike gasped loudly and covered the sore spot on his limb.

"Now you're getting abusive?" The blonde gave his friend a look as to say 'seriously you're going to start this again'. "When you asked me all those years ago to be the player 2 to your player 1, the Luigi to your Mario, the Krillin to your Gohan, the Laverne to your Shirley, or the Clint to your Steve, I thought it was because you loved me. I thought we had something special Sam, but I see you were just using me for your own selfish gain. I'm leaving you for player 3, Artie really knows how to treat guy." Mike spoke with a serious tone, eyes concentrated harshly on his comrade.

"Look man, I do-" Sam was cut off by his friends large hand in his face.

"No, don't speak. I think we need some space; one can only take so much mistreatment. I'll stop by you place later and pick up my things. Consider this controller wireless." The dark haired boy motioned to himself before he turned his head away from Sam, pretending to wipe a tear.

"I…I… Did you seriously just compare yourself a wireless controller and us to Laverne and Shirley? You could have at least made us Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction." Mike whipped his head around fast and Sam rolled his eyes bracing himself for more dramatics, but it never came.

Both boys toppled over each other laughing. They had this squabble many times before, and it always ended the same, with heads thrown back in laughter.

After a few seconds of gut busting mirth, Mike's laughter calmed down a bit as he noticed a familiar curvy frame making their way out of the school building. He tapped Sam on the shoulder.

"Hey, isn't that Mercedes? I didn't know she had this lunch period." The dark haired boy inquired. Sam straightened up and looked in the direction Mike was facing.

"Yeah, she's always in the library." He was surprised to see the short girl outside. Sam would try to get Mercedes to eat lunch with him, but she was always studying or doing her homework. He smiled when he saw her walking in their direction, but his face fell when she passed the duo without any acknowledgement.

"It looks like she's headed for the bleachers. " Mike gaged. The boys watched as Mercedes disappeared under the metal seats.

"The Skanks and the Weirdo's hang out there, does she know them?" the taller boy asked his friend.

"I don't know, maybe we should make sure she's ok, I mean not getting into any trouble. I don't want her getting mixed up with the wrong crowed." The dark haired boy gave his friend a knowing look, smirk and all.

"So, you want to stalk her then? I knew you loved her." Sam stood from his seat and started walking towards the bleachers. Mike had this not so false theory that Sam liked Mercedes ever since he saw the two first interact; he would never know where his friend got such a crazy idea from.

"Mike, shut your face and let's go." Mike grumbled something about 'love making him crazy', but he chose to ignore the dark haired boy.

It took the duo less than a minute to cross the courtyard and arrive at the fenced seating area. Everyone knew the bleacher were off limits to anyone who was considered 'normal' or more like 'not troubled', so Sam couldn't piece together what Mercedes could be doing in that area.

The boys peered through the holes in the fence searching for their friend.

Sam's eyes immediately landed on Quinn Fabray, she was taking a drag on her long cigarette. He and Quinn were friend for most of their lives, until she discovered the drug known as popularity. They only spoke on occasion, because their family's still associated from time to time. It had been like this for the past five years. He wondered what happened to the former cheerleader, her new look was a far cry from her old self. Quinn turned into a Skank the summer before junior year, her hair color ever changing for almost two years straight.

Mike nudged his arm breaking his focus from the pink haired teen.

"There she is, but who in the hell is he?" The dark haired boy questioned. Mercedes was sitting next to a spikey haired guy who didn't look like a teenager.

"I don't know." Sam had never seen the guy before. He could recognize all of the other misfits under the bleachers, but not this guy.

The tan skinned boy and Mercedes were sitting close, a little to close from Sam's comfort. Both of them had an ear bud in one ear, listening to music. The guy was bobbing his head and tapping his foot wildly, causing Mercedes to giggle. Whatever music they were listening to he seemed to be really into it, while she watched him in amusement. The spikey haired boy grabbed Mercedes hands and started to swing them back and forth, urging her to move her body with the music. Sam's jaw clenched at the contact.

"They seem pretty close." Mike inquired with seriousness in his tone. He hadn't known Mercedes that long, but he was already very protective of her.

Sam was just about to call out to the short girl when a grunge Quinn stepped in front of the two friends, blocking their view.

"What do you losers want?" Her face was slightly contorted in a scowled, making her look intimidating.

"Nothing, we were just looking for a friend." Quinn twisted her neck and looked at the two teens in the corner that seemed to be in their own little world. She smirked and turned back around.

"Oh, you mean Cedes." Sam cocked his head to the side and gave the pink haired girl an incredulous look.

"You know her?" He asked.

"Yeah we have European History together. She's cool I guess." Quinn said nonchalantly with a shrug.

"Okay, then who is that." Mike spoke up.

"Why should I tell you anything?" The pink haired girl questioned, her interest growing a little.

"Quinn, please." Sam didn't want to beg but it was the only way to keep on the girls' good side, if that were possible. He knew she still cared about him somewhat. Quinn let out a loud sigh and looked to the distracted teens once more before turning back to Sam and Mike.

"His name is Roman, he showed up about a week ago. I don't know much else about him, he kind of keeps to himself, but he's cool." Truth was Quinn was attracted Roman, but he turned her down stating he had someone else in mind. She could see by the way he looked at the dark haired girl that she was that someone.

"I don't like him." Sam indicated, giving Quinn the inclination that he too had a thing for Mercedes.

"So that's what this is about, you can't stand to see your little girlfriend with another guy. Jealousy is sexy on you Evans." She said with humor in her tone.

"She's not my girlfriend." Sam stated, but it came a little harsher than he intended. It's not that he didn't want her to be his girlfriend; he just didn't know how she felt about him yet.

"See, even Quinn can tell you're into her." Mike said, merriment dancing in his eyes. .

"It's that look he has in his eyes, he wants her so bad." She teased.

"And that thing he does with his mouth, you know smile." The taller boy chuckled.

"He's staring so hard you can practically see the hearts in his eyes." If she didn't detest love so much, Quinn might have thought Sam and Mercedes would have made a cute couple.

"Will you two shut up, I do not love Mercedes."

"Whatever you say, man, just remember who your best man's going to be at your wedding." Mike slapped a heavy hand on his friends back. Sam had enough when he saw Mercedes hug the tan skinned boy.

"Mercedes!" He yelled, but she couldn't hear him over all the fun she was having. The bell rang signaling the end of the lunch period. Mike urged Sam to move so they wouldn't be late to their next class; the blond reluctantly tore his eyes away from the chocolate skinned girl and started for the school building.

"Hey Evans!" Quinn yelled causing the pair to stop and turn around.

"Yeah?" Sam asked. Quinn was looking down at her shoes and fiddling with the many bracelets on her left wrist. She looked up and gave Sam a small smile.

"Nothing." Before Sam could query her, Quinn quickly turned around and walked over to her fellow misfits.

"See, you were worried about nothing." Mike said as the pair made their way down the packed halls.

"I still don't like him." Sam griped.

"That's because you love her, but you will never know how she feels about you unless you make a move. And I suggest you do it fast because I don't think you're the only one interested in our girl."

Sam reflected on Mike's words for the rest of the school day, even during football practice. He decided he was going to tell Mercedes how he felt about her later that night.

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It was a clear night, so the Evans children were in their backyard star gazing. Well, Stevie and Stacie were, Sam however, was searching for a different star.

"Sammy, why are you staring at Cedes house if she's not home?" It was a little after seven pm and Mercedes still wasn't home yet. Sam texted her several times, but she never replied.

"I'm not staring at anything." He was staring, but he didn't need to confirm anything with his six year old sister.

"Yes you are. You are staring harder than Stevie when he looks Cedes butt." The middle Evans child looked up from the telescope with a look of horror etched across his face.

"Stacie, what are you talking about?" Stevie nervously questioned looking at his brother who had one brow raised. Sam thought Mercedes had nice ass too, but Stevie didn't need to be looking at it.

"Don't act brand new Stevie, you like big butts, or maybe just Cedes butt. Sammy thinks it's nice too." Stacie said casually. Sam cleared his throat and both he and Stevie averted their eyes; obviously nothing could get past their sister.

"How about we pack up the telescope and get ready for bed." Sam said, and Stevie hurriedly folded the legs of the telescope and rushed in the house. Stacie started after him, but when Sam didn't move right away she stopped.

"Are you coming Sammy?" She asked.

"Yeah, in a minute, I just have to…" He didn't want to tell his little sister that he was going to gawk at Mercedes window again, but she got the message and quickly went inside, but not before shouting a quick message.

"Don't hurt your eyes Sammy." She giggled as she closed the back door.

Sam took a deep breath and gazed up at her window wondering if she was home. He wanted to text her again, but he didn't want to pester her, so he would try in the morning. Hopefully she wasn't mad at him anymore. Tomorrow was Saturday, so they would probably end up hanging out like always.

The teen was about to head inside his house when the lights in the Jones kitchen caught his eye, they were flickering. He thought that maybe the power was acting up, but it was a clear night so the weather couldn't have been a factor. He stared a little longer until he noticed the flickering wasn't steady or random, but calculated, like a code. Sam learned Morse Code when he was in cub scouts years ago, so he recognized it. Yep it was Morse Code, but he could only make out a few words before the lights stopped flickering, 'She will never be yours young watcher'.

"Sam, what are you doing?" Sam's dad was standing on their back porch with his arms crossed over his chest looking at his son. The teen tore his eyes away from the Jones kitchen window and gaped at his father dubiously.

"Huh?" He did hear what his father was saying, but the message swirled around in his brain confusing him.

"I said what are you doing, but I don't think I want to know, just come inside. Oh, have you seen the dog, his food is still in his bowl." Sam shook his head no. "Hmm, he usually eats right away; I sat the food out almost two hours ago." His dad pondered the whereabouts of the dog for a few seconds before he walked back inside.

The blond looked to the kitchen window once more; he decided he must have been imagining the message. He was always told he had an over active imagination. There was no way a house could communicate with him; he chalked it up to being faulty powering. Sam's phone rang in his pocket; he fished it out and looked at the screen. It was Quinn. He was so surprised to see her name on the screen that he missed the call. Sam figured he would call her back when he got to his room.

He would talk to Mercedes tomorrow.

If green eyed teen would have focused a little harder, he would have seen the black shadowy figure staring back at him from the Jones kitchen window, watching his every move.

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Alrighty then, what the hell is going on? I have no clue, lol. I know I promised Samcedes interaction in this chap, I lied, but not on purpose so don't hate me. Reviews are lovely, I should review more too, let's all review at the same time. Lol I don't know what I'm talking about anymore. Again, thank you all for being so damn sweet and kind and just wonderful! Muuuhaaa (that was supposed to be a kissy noise, but I think it's a evil laugh idk)

Xoxo Tammy :D