KERMIT THE FROG IMPRESSIONS!

NOAH PUCKERMAN WAS BACK AT MCKINLEY AND DROWNING IN THE APPLAUSE OF THE GLEE CLUB. With Tessa's legs draped across his, he seemed quite content to return to a place where everyone saw him as the biggest badass.

"Puck, I hope your time in juvie has taught you a thing or two about right and wrong." Mr Schue began, raising both his eyebrows.

"Are you kidding me? I ruled that place." Puck boasted, cockily, "all I did was crack skulls and lift weights all day."

"Wow. What a catch, I can't believe I let you go." Quinn muttered, sarcastically.

The conversation was quickly moved past Puck when Mr Schue held a sheet of paper up into the air, pointing at Finn for a drum roll, "I have in my hand, our competition for sectionals next month!" He announced, looking down to read it out, "first, the a Capella choir from the all-boys private school in Westerville, the Dalton Academy Warblers."

Holding her hands up, a smirk came onto Santana's face, "okay, hold up, like a million awesome gay jokes just popped into my head."

Without a word, Mr Schue continued on, "and the other team to beat are The Hipsters, a first year club from the
Warren Township Continuing Education Program. Now, they are a glee club composed entirely of elderly people getting their high school GED's."

Turning immediately to Finn, Tessa's face lit up with excitement, "do you reckon they'd let my Grandad join? He's not getting his GED's but he sure loves to sing."

"If not, he can join us." Finn said through a goofy grin, "April Rhodes could join, right?"

"How are we supposed to compete against a bunch of adorable old people?" Mercedes sighed, throwing her hands up in the air in defeat.

Before anyone could come up with any sensible ideas, Puck was already speaking, "Brittle bones." He stated, confidently, "give one of those old ladies a good luck pat on the rear and it'll shatter her pelvis."

"Why am I attracted to you?" Tessa breathed out in disgust, making Puck wiggle his eyebrows.

Widening his eyes awkwardly, Mr Schue slowly put his hands together to get all attention back to him, "since it seemed to get you guys all jazzed for sectionals last year, I want to make this our second annual boys versus girls tournament. So split up into your two groups and figure out what songs you want to sing."

Everyone had excitedly gotten into their groups, but that didn't stop Kurt from staying unnoticed on the girls team, "Kurt, I'm gonna say it again, boys team."

Frowning, Tessa saw the fed up expression on Kurt's face and quickly came up with an idea, "Mr Schue? If Kurt's more comfortable on the girls team then you should let him. If this is about numbers, I'll happily take his place on the boys team." She offered.

Looking amongst the group of guys, Finn and the rest of the New Directions nodded in agreement, "that works for us." He spoke on behalf of the group.

Taking a sigh of relief, Kurt had already began to move across to the girls side once again, mouthing a thank you to Tessa, but Mr Schue wasn't having it, "no, that defeats the point. Kurt, boys team, Tess, girls team."

Rolling her eyes, Tessa huffed loudly as she moved over to stand with the girls again, disappointed that her attempt to make Kurt feel even more comfortable in the group had failed.

　　　　　　　　☆

WHEN TESSA HAD JOINED SAM AT HIS LOCKER, SHE WASN'T EXPECTING TO BE CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A LOVERS QUARREL. Quinn had marched over at a rapid speed after taking advice from Coach Sylvester to go public with something she'd heard whilst making out with Sam.

Tessa's happy smile at the appearance of Quinn quickly went away as she began shouting. Awkwardly shuffling her feet across the ground, she began to back away, "I'm just gonna go, I'll see you round."

Before she could leave, Quinn's hand had grabbed her wrist, pulling her back, "stay. I need a witness here." She snapped, before turning back to Sam, "just tell me the truth, I won't be mad."

Firstly giving Tessa an apologetic look, Sam let out a breathe of air, "you seem like your gonna be mad either way."

"You said another woman's name while we were kissing, Sam." Quinn hissed, angrily.

Scrunching up her face as she cringed, "that's low Sam." She whispered, causing Quinn's mouth to twitch into a victorious smile.

Flushing red, Sam bit the inside of his cheek, upset at Tessa's disapproval and quickly wanting to explain himself, "I-"

He was immediately cut off by Quinn's yelling, "I get that she's in a position of power over you and that can be exciting and you clearly like women who give you a hard time."

"I'm not cheating on you with my football coach!" Sam finally burst out, filled with frustration. Furrowing her eyebrows, Tessa looked towards Sam, her confusion covering her face, "okay I gave no idea what's going on here." She whispered.

"Look, can we talk about this somewhere more private?" He muttered, nudging his head towards Tessa, "I don't think Tess really wants to hear us talk about this."

Pursing her lips, Quinn bolted her hands onto her hips, "oh, I'm sorry, am I embarrassing you in front your new bestie?" She spat, with a dangerous tone, "we can talk about this in private when you admit that your getting it where you can because I'm not putting out for you. Even in the locker rooms, with Beiste! What's next, huh? Doing it with Tessa in the choir room?"

Holding her hands up in terrified surrender, Tessa mumbled her withdrawal from the conversation as Coach Beiste came over at the sound of her name, "everything okay over here?"

"Yep. Just fine." Sam said, going pink at the same time as Quinn replied, even louder, "no, this is a lovers quarrel. And it's all your fault." She shouted, storming off down the hall, leaving Sam stood, embarrassed.

With Coach Beiste just turning around away from the madness, Mike was making his way back up the hall, pointing a finger straight at his football coach, "stay away from my woman."

Throwing her hands up as Mr Schue whisked the three off to the choir room for a chat, Tessa huffed, "what is wrong with everyone today?"

Sam and Mike had told Mr Schue everything and with their teacher sure that Tessa was somehow involved too, she'd heard everything as well. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Mr Schue was quick to tell them how disappointed he was in them, "what if Coach Beiste were to find out?"

"It's not personal." Sam said, defensively.

Scoffing loudly, Tessa crossed her arms across her chest, "of course it's personal. Imagine how hurt you'd be if you found out someone was using you as a turn off."

Shuffling in his chair, Sam spoke carefully, "we were just thinking about it. We'd never make fun of her to her face."

"That doesn't stop it from hurting if she finds out." Tessa said quietly.

Taking a deep breathe, Mr Schue took charge once again, "I need you guys to stop. And tell everyone else to stop too, and Coach Beiste cannot know about this." He said, firmly, shaking his head as he left the choir room.

"Have you guys lost your minds?" Tessa sighed, standing up from her chair to stand in front of the two guys sat sheepishly in front of her, "thinking about Coach Beiste to cool yourselves off because you don't see her as stereotypically pretty. You two would probably have been the last who I would've guessed to have done something as mean as this. You guys are better than this."

"It was actually Tina." Mike mumbled, an upset pout on his face.

Ignoring him, Tessa shrugged her shoulders with a stern laugh, "so you'd use me as a turn off because I'm not exactly feminine and I'm not one of the pretty girls in school?"

"No that definitely wouldn't work." Sam muttered, without thinking, getting himself a raised eyebrow from Mike and causing Tessa to flush bright red for a moment.

Rubbing her face with her hands, she gave them both a weak smile, "just think about people's feelings next time, okay?"

"Promise." They said at the same time, giving her guilty smiles as they grabbed their bags and followed her out of the choir room.

　　　　　　　 ☆

AFTER TAKING A BREATHE TO PREPARE HERSELF, SANTANA WAS STRUTTING OVER TO TESSA'S LOCKER. Shutting her locker door, she felt a pang of guilt in her stomach before she began to speak, "you need to break up with Puck." She insisted, forcefully.

A frown appeared on Tessa's face almost instantly, "what? Why? We're going to the movies tonight."

"You know he'll end up cancelling on you." Santana tutted, "he always does."

"I still don't get it. Why am I breaking up with Puck?" She questioned, tilting her head onto the side for answers.

"Because — " She breathed out quickly, "after that double date last night, Puck took me home and you can guess what next. And I am so sorry, I really am."

Tessa recoiled slightly, taking a moment to let herself take in the news that her boyfriend had been cheating on her. Looking back up, she saw Santana searching her eyes, full of worry, "it's not just you, is it?" She asked, quietly.

Shaking her head, she held up her phone to show Tessa, "I made one of the girls on the Cheerios send them to me." She explained, sympathetically as Tessa pushed them away, rubbing her hand across her face and furiously blink away her tears, "you're allowed to be upset, Tess."

Burying her face in Santana's neck, Tessa let herself cry for a second as she shushed her gently. Seeing her cry, Santana immediately felt guilty, "I'm so sorry Tess, I really didn't think you liked him that much. I thought I'd be doing you a favour."

"No, you have." Tessa shook her head with a weak smile, "I'm gonna break up with him. I just feel like such an idiot. I knew what I was getting into with him —"

"No!" Santana cut her off, frowning deeply, "this is in no way your fault. Don't you dare blame yourself because he's a man-whore. He's the idiot here, not you."

"I expected this to happen at some point, but I honestly didn't think I'd be this upset." Tessa said quietly, fidgeting with the cuff of her sweater, "I don't even like him that much, it just started as a fling in the summer when we were both not over our exes which we never really ended."

Putting her hand in hers, Santana gave it a hard squeeze, "well we're gonna end it now, okay? You deserve so much better than him." She told her, gently wiping the last tears from her cheeks and holding her at arms length for a moment before snatching a slushy out of Mike's hand as he passed. Shoving it into her hands, she gave her a stern glare, "here — drink."

Taking a sip, the smile returned to her face and Santana smiled back, taking her by the crook of her arm down the hall. Feeling back to herself again, she sent a teasing look her way, "you sure you're not doing this so you can sleep with him again?"

"Nope." She replied, popping her p.

"Liar." She teased, leaning her head onto Santana's shoulder as they walked away.

　　　　　　　 ☆

TESSA WAS ANGERED MORE THAN SHE WAS EARLIER WHEN NOAH PUCKERMAN STRUTTED OVER TO HER LOCKER AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED. Leaning against it, he gave her a cocky smile, "you, me, janitors closet." He suggested, hopefully.

Seeing that he didn't look the least bit guilty, despite knowing what he did, Tessa couldn't stop herself from whipping round to face him with pursed lips, "why don't you go find someone else to go with you? It shouldn't be that hard." His look of confusion only made her more upset, "I know what you did."

"I don't know what your talking about." He denied.

Rolling her eyes, Tessa glared at him, "really? You slept with Santana last night, she told me. And you've been talking to other girls. You cheated on me."

"You know you can't tie me down." Puck defended himself, quickly.

Scoffing loudly, Tessa crossed her arms across her chest and let out a sarcastic laugh, "you, Noah Puckerman, are a hypocrite."

"Excuse me?" He fought back, seemingly offended.

"If I went over there and asked that football player if he wanted to sleep with me tonight, you're saying that that's perfectly okay, you wouldn't be at all jealous or upset?" The silence as he tried to find a way to phrase it to make himself right was all she needed as an answer, "so how's this fair if you're cheating on me?"

"You knew what you were getting into with me, surely." He tilted his head to the side, trying to defend himself once again.

Slamming her locker shut, Tessa turned around to face him, "yeah, I did. And I feel like an idiot."

Hearing her voice break slightly, Puck's expression softened as he saw a vulnerable version of her that no one saw very often, "no Tess, don't get upset."

"I'm breaking up with you, end of story." She said, firmly, quickly turning away to open her locker again, "please leave me alone." She whispered, blinking back her tears before noticing him still there and raising her voice a little bit, "I said leave me alone."

Finally, Puck let out a sigh of frustration, walking away from her locker, leaving Tessa to cheer herself up.

Sam Evans hadn't realised the situation that had gone down at Tessa's locker before he bounced over and peeped around her locker door, "hey everybody! I'm Kermit the Frog," he trailed off his impression, frowning as he saw her red face and going back to his normal voice, "hey, what's wrong?" He asked, softly.

"I just broke up with Puck." Tessa told him with a weak smile, "he slept with Santana."

Clenching his jaw, Sam shook his head sympathetically and opened up his arms for a hug. Snuggling into his chest, she let him trace his fingers along her back, comfortingly, "he's an idiot. Especially if he didn't know how lucky he was to have had you as his girlfriend."

"Thank you." She whispered.

As he held her close to him, Sam couldn't stop a guilty smile from creeping onto his lips. Shaking this off, he released her and held her at arms length, "sorry about the Kermit impression. Probably wasn't the right time."

"Actually it was the perfect time." Tessa grinned up at him.

Grinning back at her, Sam wrapped an arm across her shoulders, "come on, we'll get slushies or something."

"Thanks for being here, Sam." She whispered, gratefully, "I'm lucky to have you as my friend."

"Well, with good friends you can't loose." He smiled, giving her shoulders a shake. Raising her eyebrows through a laugh, Tessa looked up to face him, "Kermit again?" She giggled, feeling her happiness begin to come back to her as Sam nodded enthusiastically and serenaded her with as many impressions as he could to make her smile.

　　　　　　　 ☆

AFTER THEIRS — AND TINA'S — ANTICS HAD CAUSED COACH BEISTE TO QUIT, THE BOYS DECIDED TO DEDICATE THEIR MASH UP TO HER. Dressed up in their blue sequin jackets, they stood at the front of the choir room ready for their performance.

Coach Beiste had reluctantly decided to come along, keeping a straight face as the boys asked for her forgiveness.

"Coach Beiste, we think you're awesome." Finn grinned, "and even though you're all hard and tough on the outside, it doesn't mean you're not the opposite on the inside."

"Like a chocolate turtle." Sam smiled, genuinely. Tessa's thumbs up towards him didn't go unnoticed by Puck, who clenched his jaw for a second, thinking better than to get into a strop.

Nodding his head, Finn turned back to his football coach, "totally, youre nougatty. And we totally get that now."

"This mash up is dedicated to you, Coach." Artie said, sincerely, straightening up his jacket, "hard and badass on one hand, soft and girlie on the other."

"And we hope it makes you smile 'cause when you smile, you're pretty, and it lights up the room." Puck continued, his eyes flickering towards Tessa for a moment before returning back to Coach Beiste with a genuine smile, "seriously."

Finishing with their apology, they sent a nod towards Mr Schue to turn on the music they had prepared.

[SONG- STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE/FREE YOUR MIND, SANG BY FINN, SAM, PUCK, MIKE, KURT & ARTIE]

Their charming performance clearly won Coach Beiste over and a smile crept onto her lips. As they engulfed her in a hug of support, the girls cheered and despite being desperate for a winner after the previous year, they couldn't care less.

　　　　　　　　☆

CREEPING UP BEHIND HIM, TESSA RESTED HER HEAD ONTO KURT'S SHOULDER AND GAVE HIM A KNOWING SMILE. "Ooh! Who's the looker!" She teased, pointing at the new picture on the inside of Kurt's locker.

As he turned around to face her, Tessa's smile was made even larger as she saw him the most genuinely happy she'd seen him in weeks and guessed it was the doing of this one boy whose picture was attached to his locker. "That's Blaine." Kurt sighed, pointing a warning finger at her, "and no, you can't date him. Even if you are the hottest single I know, he plays for my team."

"That is a big win for you." She chuckled, with a genuine smile, "when am I gonna meet this Blaine? It better be soon 'cause I can tell just from that picture that he's insanely cool."

"Soon — i hope." He smiled, giving her a playful poke on the arm, "we'll all go out to the bean together and celebrate you finally dumping Puckerman. But as long as you make me look good in front of Blaine."

Nodding quickly, Tessa waved a hand in the air, "oh of course! I got your back."

"And I've got yours!" Kurt exclaimed, wiggling his eyebrows, "I've been talking you up to Sam since day one!"

Widening her eyes, she quickly went a deep red, "I do not like Sam!" She whispered, repetitively as Kurt put his hand over his ears, "I'm sorry." He shouted, dramatically, "I can only hear lies."

Whilst Tessa laughed loudly at him, the mood quickly went down hill at the presence of Dave Karofsky, who shoved Kurt hard into the lockers, throwing him to the floor. As Kurt just curled up against the lockers, Tessa instantly whipped round, full of fury, "what the hell is wrong with you?" She yelled.

"What the hell's wrong with you? wanting to hang out with homos." Karofsky retorted, thinking he was being clever.

Clenching her jaw, Tessa took a step forward, "say another word against Kurt, I'm not afraid to kick you right where the sun don't shine." She growled, angrily, as he threw his hands up into the air and stomped back down the hall, as she called after him, "screw you!"

Noticing Kurt still huddled up on the floor, Tessa'a expression softened and she slid down against the lockers to sit next to him. After a few moments of silence together, Kurt managed to speak up, "I just hate feeling like this all the time. I'm exhausted."

"I'll do everything I can to help you." She promised, gently, leaning her head onto his shoulder, "I love you, Kurt."

"I love you too," he whispered, staying in silence as he was just grateful to have a friend by his side when he needed one most.