A/N: The summary should really say, "Click here for random promfic." I decided to go for something more poetic. Lol. I hope you like.

MONDAY:

Mercedes rolled her eyes in disbelief as Mr. Schuester strolled into the room, extra chipper, and scrawled the word 'PROM' on the board. He had to be kidding. Not again.

She fought back a frustrated groan as he started speaking, informing them that they'd once again provide the musical entertainment this year since it'd worked out so well the year before. The man really was clueless.

This was a particularly hellish déjà vu. At the beginning of the year, Mercedes had made so many plans, determined to live out her senior year to the fullest. There would be no goal too far to reach, no stone left unturned. Senior year would be different, she'd thought.

Nothing hurt worse than realizing that it was an entire year later and nothing had really changed. Even with the year starting out with such promise, she was right back where she'd started—struggling to shine behind Ms. Rachel Berry's all-consuming star—and without a date to the prom to boot.

She couldn't wait to get out of Lima. Starting over in a new city, seeing new faces, taking in new experiences—that's where she'd really thrive. Lima was just an endless cycle of the same old tired shit, and Mr. Schuester's recycled theme functioned as the perfect emphasis of that fact.

While she would never trade the memories she'd made with her friends this last year—Troubletones and God Squad had been bright spots in her year—she couldn't help feeling like she was still missing something; like she still wasn't where she wanted to be. Mr. Schuester wasn't helping matters by throwing this in her face at the moment.

Every one of her friends would be attending the big dance that Friday, the one they'd been looking forward to since they were little freshmen, with their significant others—having ultimately figured out how not to fuck up their relationships—and she'd be attending alone—yet another reminder of how she'd had two wonderful boys who cared deeply about her, and she'd somehow managed to damn it all to hell.

She could admit now that she'd had no idea what she was doing then—pushing her feelings for Sam away, and stringing both him and Shane along. After her time apart from them both, she'd finally come to the conclusion that she should have let Shane go as soon as she figured out that she still had feelings for Sam. She was stupid to let things escalate to the point where they did.

She wouldn't have blamed them if neither one ever talked to her again. She deserved it.

That hadn't been the case, however. After his initial hurt had subsided, Shane had been friendly and accepting of the situation—telling her part of him knew her heart never really belonged to him, even if he'd tried to ignore it. They still occasionally spoke. After all, he'd been her only support for a while. Even if she couldn't be with him, she still considered him a good friend.

Even things with Sam had improved. He'd spent some time avoiding her after Valentine's Day, and that had sucked something fierce, seeing him every day and not being able to talk to him, but she needed the time and she hadn't blamed him at all for the cold shoulder.

The shoulder had eventually thawed, however, with shy apologetic smiles and hesitant text messages. Their awkward standoff had transitioned into a comfortable—sometimes awkward—friendship. The two would eat lunches together at school, practice songs for Glee club, and even had a few movie nights with Mike and Tina there to buffer.

With every second they spent together, they reconnected, but both of them were wary, and nothing had ever progressed past gazes that lasted a bit longer than necessary, sometimes unaware handholding and unsatisfying hugs as they got ready to part.

There'd been plenty of times when Mercedes wanted to just let her guard down and be with him, but after everything she'd put them both through, she was scared to make that first move.

Sam hadn't either, and she didn't blame him.

Mr. Schuester's prom theme was an all-too-painful reminder of everything that wasn't right—all that she'd messed up and was too afraid to go about fixing now.

For the second year in a row, she tightened her jaw and walked out of the room to escape all of it. She ignored the calls of her friends, intent on getting to her locker as quickly as possible and just getting home.

She couldn't risk Rachel following her out again. Come to think of it, she probably wouldn't be in this situation if not for that bright prom on a budget idea last year.

As the memories from last year's prom threatened to take over her thoughts, Mercedes walked quicker. The sooner she got home to sing her pain away, the better.

She didn't want Rachel to catch her and offer something like being the fifth wheel with her and Finn and Kurt and Blaine. She could think of about a hundred more appealing options—like sitting through a listening session of Nickelback's discography, or like plucking her eyelashes out one by one.

She certainly didn't want Kurt to find her and get any ideas about setting her up again. He'd put in about 2% effort when he'd been her closest friend. She didn't want to imagine what the .02% he probably could spare for her now would yield.

She sighed at the bitter thought, quickly pulling her books out of her locker before she headed for the exits. She'd deal with the inevitable subject of prom tomorrow.

A/N: In my head this fic will span Monday - Friday. I already have it written through Thursday, but I wanna see what everyone thinks and then edit and finish the rest. Alright, I'm shutting up now. If you'd like some more, please review? I'd love to hear from you. No, really. I would. Review now.