GREEN EGGS AND HAM

WITH A BRAND NEW START TO THE SCHOOL YEAR, THE NEW DIRECTIONS WERE HARD AT WORK AFTER THEIR LOSS AT REGIONALS THE YEAR PRIOR. For their second year as a glee club, they were determined more than ever to climb up the social ladder and finally make themselves popular around McKinley High. And just as he was eager to tear that glee club down, Jacob Ben Israel raced the school hallways to get all the hot gossip and remind them that they were still very much unpopular.

Lavender Whitmore started the year off on the wrong foot. It all started the summer before when her first budding romance with a quiet football player came to a heartbreaking halt when he ended up transferring schools. With her torn apart over Matt Rutherford, Noah Puckerman wasted no time hurrying to pick up the pieces of her heart and shove them together in hopes of her accepting it as is— which she did.

Now the two stood at her locker, already starting off the year with a silent argument with one another that Lavender worked hard to keep only between them. Only Jacob Ben Israel was not as keen on keeping things private and showed up with a microphone extended their way and his camera man just a step behind. "Already we're kicking off the year to another heated argument between one Noah Puckerman and Lavender Whitmore!" Holding the microphone closer, he desperately hoped for a response.

Grabbing hold of the microphone, Puck took it from Jacob's hand without any issues. Rather than give him a response, he harshly shoved the microphone into Jacob's chest causing him to stumble back. "Get out of here, man."

Taking hold of the camera, Jacob seemed to be unfazed by Puck's dangerous look and wiggled his brows teasingly at the camera. "Perhaps Lavender get out of here and make room for one Quinn Fabray. Hubba, hubba!" Forcing the camera back at the couple, he continued his interview despite the lack of response. "Would you say this fight here is because of Ms. Fabray?"

"It's none of your business," Lavender snapped back, however, both her and Puck exchanged knowing looks at one another.

"Does it bother you that you went from the quiet, seemingly unnoticeable Matt Rutherford to the biggest man-whore around?" Jacob's questions were relentless but he also figured the lack of response could very well be just the obvious response he needed to stir up drama.

"Puck is not a man whore," she said quietly until she met Puck's eyes, "Not anymore."

"Boring!" he called out, shoving the microphone under Puck's nose, "Can you tell us what it's like going from someone as hot as Ms. Fabray to... Lavender? An obvious down-grade?"

"Dude," Puck said in annoyance before looking directly into the camera, "Best down-grade ever."

"So you admit it's a down-grade?" Jacob asked curiously, catching a quick glance at Lavender as she crossed her arms at her boyfriend. Shrugging his shoulders and clearly clueless, Puck eventually nodded his head.

Hurt by his words, Lavender kept her eyes away from Puck and with a small huff, shut her locker and turned away from the on-going interview. Heading down the hall, she had one place in mind to find herself some comfort and that was her best friend— Finn Hudson. Over the course of last year, the two managed to go from strangers to an unbreakable connection. It was instant and everlasting.

On her way toward his locker, she kept her eyes down to hide her disappointment in how the year was kicking off. Sophomore year was supposed to be different. The New Directions were better connected and she had made faithful friends in the club and she was dating one of the most popular boys in school. She thought she'd be on top of the world and instead wished she was invisible all over again. In a way she still somewhat was just that— invisible.

Lavender didn't see him coming and he was so caught up in his own nerves of this new school, his eyes stayed glued to his schedule than the hallway before him. The two bumped into one another and Lavender was hit with that instant embarrassment. Her eyes stayed on the blonde boy before her and the rush of anger was quickly replaced with a flutter to her heart. Nervously laughing, Lavender took a step back into another person, only causing further embarrassment. "Sorry." Picking his schedule up off the floor, she extended it back out to him. "I will definitely try and not make it a habit to run into you the rest of the year."

He chuckled as he took the paper pinched between her fingers. "Awesome," he grinned. "Yeah, I'll have to keep an eye out for you. Make sure you don't tackle me down in the halls."

"No promises," she smiled. A silence began to brew between the two with neither sure what to say next. Chuckling awkwardly, Lavender prepared a goodbye as she noticed over his shoulder Finn wrapping an arm around Rachel and leaving his locker. Before he could get too far away, Lavender looked back to the new boy, now returning to her sense of urgency. "Okay, so I'll see you later?" Before he could get the chance to answer or even introduce himself, Lavender was making her way around him and heading off down the hall. Fazed by her sudden departure, Sam Evans sheepishly tried to hide away his smile as he watched her whip past the people in the hall, somehow able to avoid each and every person— he was just lucky enough to have her collide into him.

𖥸

MR. SCHUESTER HAD A PLAN SET FOR THE GLEE CLUB THIS YEAR. And that had involved a performance to get students around McKinley High School excited for the chance that they would make it to New York for Nationals this year if they just joined the team. It was supposed to be that simple and he was certain people would flock to the club that maybe he'd have to start turning people away.

However, some in the club didn't have their hopes set as high as they stood out in the courtyard for what was supposed to be a groundbreaking performance. Crossing her arms, Lavender walked alongside the rest of the club that headed right to the center of the crowd. It shouldn't have been as nerve wrecking as she felt but performing before the school felt like a death sentence while performing on stage felt much easier— in that case, people actually came to see them perform.

Breaking off across the tables littered throughout the courtyard, Lavender took a spot beside Kurt sitting up on the table. He lounged back with his sunglasses propped up onto his head as he looked over to her. "Loosen up, will ya?"

"I really don't think this'll get people to join. I mean, I love this song and I love New York but..."

"But Mr. Schue has this insane idea in his head that this'll get people to finally notice us," Kurt finished for her as he lowered his glasses. "Oh, I get it. This isn't going to work at all." Turning his head toward her, he smiled. "But it's a chance to perform and frankly, I can't turn down a good performance. If I'm going to show Mr Schue I can take on even the most difficult of crowds maybe I'll actually get a solo this year. And if we managed to actually catch someone's attention, we'll just have to hold out hope they're not as much as stars as we are."

Lavender couldn't help but nod her head in agreement. Somehow he managed to take a bleak situation and turn it back around for her. This wasn't meant to be for the school but for the glee club. "Well, you're the star," she clarified with a small nudge to him.

Kurt flashed her back a reassuring smile as he motioned with his head toward Finn and Rachel. One click of a button and New York State of Mind began playing and Kurt and Lavender's conversation was left as is. As the performance carried on and the New Directions spread out across the dance floor, Finn and Lavender found themselves beside one another.

He nearly fumbled over his own feet as his mind found somewhere else to focus on. "Hey, do you see that?"

"You crushing my feet? Yeah, I see," she groaned as she moved over.

"No, over there. That dude is totally tapping his foot." With a nod in a helpful direction, Lavender's eyes followed along as a smile came to her face. "Oh, yeah, that's the new guy." Watching him tap along to the music, Lavender felt giddy with the idea of him possibly being apart of the glee club. He was a cute boy that would have her and Tina gushing over after school. Even with the two having boyfriends, Lavender knew they wouldn't be able to resist at least bringing him up at least once in conversation. 

As soon as the music came to a stop, Lavender's daydreaming was put to a pause. No applause was the silence that was deafening to them. It was exactly what she expected and yet it still hurt and with a glance over to Finn, she could see the evident hurt written all across his face. "What the hell, I thought we were great." Shaking his head, he scanned the courtyard. "Think we could get the new guy to join?"

"And how would we?" she asked curiously, "He probably already knows how much the glee club sucks."

"Exactly why I'm playing the quarterback card," he said proudly before slinging an arm over Lavender's shoulder, "And you're playing the potential girlfriend card." Walking her along with him, he roped her in to what he decided was his genius plan to save the glee club. And with a little convincing, he bet he could get Lavender to play along with his schemes.

Pushing his arm off of her, she sent him an annoyed glare, "I can't do that. How about I play the desperate glee club recruiter and you play the potential boyfriend?"

"Not funny," he stated before a sense of pride came to his face, "I have a girlfriend. You can break with Puck and date the new guy. Take one for the team or whatever!" With a gleam in his eyes, he looked down at Lavender to see a thoughtful look spring across her face. Never did he believe it'd be that easy to convince but he also knew Lavender was growing tired of Puck. However, his hopefulness diminished as soon as she shook her head. "Yeah, no thanks."

Grabbing her arm, he pulled her over to his locker and a serious tone spread between the two. Lavender already rolled her eyes as she tilted her head back with a groan. "Not an intervention."

"Why are you even with him? Puck doesn't even care about you and I don't think you even care about him."

A loud sigh came from Lavender as she brought her eyes back to him. Whenever Finn saw an opportunity to wiggle into hers and Pucks relationship, he took the shot. The moment he heard the two began dating was the very first time he tried to convince her it was a terrible idea. "He's not even nice to you, you even said it yourself."

She gave a shrug, "He's mean to everyone."

"Yeah, but you're his girlfriend."

"And Rachel's so nice to you all the time?"

Her question stung him but he had to persist on. "Don't you find it a little weird that he started hanging around you right after we started becoming friends? He didn't even know your name before."

"Neither did you," she laughed. "Finn this is so lame. I already told you, I don't think Puck is dating me because he's out to get you. You're just super paranoid about him pretty much all the time." Seeing the hurt in his eyes, Lavender reached out and gave a soft punch to his shoulder. "He's not stealing me from you if that's what you think. You're my best friend. And if you really want, I'll help you with this new guy. Not that you need it, but whatever." Raising a finger at him, she narrowed her eyes. "And I'm not flirting with him because you want me to."

"Fine," he groaned but eventually he found himself smiling. His worries may be over nothing but he couldn't help himself. He needed this year to be better than last year. Nothing was going to ruin that. He was dating the girl he loved, he had the very best friend he's ever had and he was going to be the leader of both the glee club and the football team. Junior year was going to be his year.

𖥸

LAVENDER'S PLAN TO HELP FINN STARTED OFF SIMPLE. Today, she was only tasked with the duty of placing his fliers he created around the school. On board with such an easy plan, she headed to his locker to pick up the fliers and start hanging them around. However, today also happened to be the day that Finn had much more weighing on his shoulders and he needed help fast.

Neither Finn nor Artie acknowledge Lavender as she stood before them and continued on with a conversation that was far more important. Artie had himself a plan this year and that was to win back Tina Cohen-Chang after she found herself wrapped up in Mike Chang's arms. Instant jealousy brought him to the brilliant idea of joining the football team and there was no one better to ask for help than the quarterback.

"I figured that if Kurt's gay and he can do it, then why can't I?" Artie's question hung in the air as both Finn and Lavender scrunched their faces up in confusion from his question.

"Being gay isn't a handicap, Artie," Finn explained. "How can you play football in a wheelchair anyway?"

"What's this even about?" Lavender asked curiously.

"I need to get on the football team," Artie groaned, laying his head back, "Tina dumped me for Mike Chang. They fell in love over the summer at Asian Camp." Keeping quiet, Lavender shut her lips tightly on not to speak out against Artie. Though she had loved him as a friend, there was something special in Mike and Tina's relationship that she just didn't see between him and Tina.

"Are you even allowed to be on the team?" Finn asked, seeing that as a clear way to beat Artie. As long as the rules kept him off the team, he wouldn't have to be the one to personally bring down Artie's feelings.

"Yes!" Artie beamed, "I checked. It's totally legal. Just imagine you were pushing me in this big hunk of metal down the field at full speed. The centrifugal force would be too much to stop. I'd be like a medieval battering ram."

Lost in visualization, both Finn and Lavender let out a collective laugh at the brilliant idea. Nodding his head, Finn did not hold back on his grin, "Dude, you'd be like a human cannonball! That would be awesome!"

"I'd definitely be going to your football games," Lavender agreed, "Honestly, I'd be your biggest fan out there."

"So, you'll help me?" he asked hopefully to Finn. When a look of thought spread across his face, Finn motioned for the two to follow his lead. Lavender grabbed onto Artie's wheelchair handles as the three began to walk down the hallway.

"Sure. But you gotta help me with something first," Finn said, lightly nudging Lavender in the side. "So, there's this new guy. I heard him singing in the showers. He was totally amazing. I think he'd be great in the glee club and since Lavender doesn't want to try and woo him..."

"Why no woo?" Artie pouted.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Lavender caught sight of Sam standing at his locker and had a moment of giving in to Finn. That was until she thought the idea was just too ridiculous, "I don't have any woo in me, I guess."

Catching sight of the trio making their way to him, Sam slowly placed his belongings into his locker when they came to a stop in front of him. Sticking his hand out, Finn's eagerness showed as he gripped Sam's hand tightly in his, "Hey, Sam. My name's Finn," Placing his now free hand on Artie's shoulder and a gesture of his other to Lavender, Finn introduced his other friends, "This is Artie and Lavender."

"Hey," Artie said quietly, with a gentle wave of the hand.

Sam's eyes shifted over the three before landing in Finn's nervously. "Yeah, I know who you are. You're the quarterback."

"Which he thinks makes him very cool," Lavender said with a teasing glance at Finn. It got under his skin and after all his attempts at trying to convince her to win over Sam for him, she needed that tiny bit of revenge.

"We wanted to talk to you about Glee Club," Finn continued on with high hopes. "We're actually looking to get some people to join and... well, we talked and we think you'd be a great fit for the team. You just have to audition with a song."

"And we won't make you eat green eggs and ham," Lavender piped up. Glancing over to Finn and Artie, her smile quickly faded to see that her joke didn't land as she hoped. "Sam-I-Am," she whispered. "Dr. Seuss."

"So lame," Artie whispered with his head bowed down.

"I didn't think it was lame," Sam spoke up. Lavender's eyes turned over to him and she could see the amusement on his face and a glint in his eyes. Her awful joke landed with the exact person she needed it to and it was enough to make Finn's smile grow wider. "We're all in the glee club so you'll probably hear a lot more of Lavender's lame jokes if you're into that."

"You're all in glee club?" He questioned. It was a strange trio of friends to be lumped together but new in school, that's what Sam needed. He was in search of friends and so far football wasn't really cutting it. The guys in there already had their groups they hung out with and Sam wasn't even sure if he was on the team yet. Glee Club just felt like a sure way to be apart of something. "Yeah, I mean, I'll give it a try, I guess."

"How about right now?" Finn asked hopefully, but as soon as he saw a wide smile spread across Sam's face, he knew he had him hooked. "Artie and I can go find the rest of the guys... Lavender, you can show Sam the choir room." Looking down to her, he raised his brows with an eager look in his eyes.

"I guess," she said quietly but Finn gave her no choice as he wheeled Artie away and leaving the two to themselves. "And it's just us," she said with a tight lipped smile at Sam. "Come on."

Placing his hands in his pockets, Sam walked beside her. "So, are they gonna give me a hard time in there?"

"The guys are pretty harmless," she chuckled.

"Just no Dr. Seuss jokes?" He raised a teasing brow at her.

Lavender scoffed as she gave him a small shove. "I'm hilarious, actually. All you have to do is woo them."

"Woo them?"

Sighing, she nodded her head. "Finn is all about wooing people lately. So, you know, just be cool. Why don't you, I don't know, tell me about yourself and I'll see if it's woo worthy."

Sam grew nervous as he cleared his throat. He thought he had a pretty decent personality but he wasn't used to what was considered cool at McKinley yet. Coming from an all boys school, he hoped it'd be easy connecting with the guys. Lavender could see the worry on his face and jumped right in to save him. "If it was me, I'd just say... um... My name is Lavender Whitmore, I'm a sophomore. I've been dancing pretty much my whole life— I'd love to be on the Cheerios but none of the girls in it actually like me. And I absolutely love watching movies— doesn't matter the genre, I'm down to watch especially if there's candy involved. I'm a sucker for Sour Patch Kids and Ring Pops."

"Awesome," he glowed in response. "Well, uh, I'm Sam Evans, sophomore too. I like comic books and football. I tried out for the team but, uh, I don't know if I'll get in. I'm dyslexic so my grades aren't that good. I went to an all boys school last year and I know how to play guitar."

With her smile growing, Lavender grabbed a hold of him to stop him before the choir room. "I think you got this. Ignore anything Puck says and..." holding her breath, she looked down the hall to see the group of boys making their way closer. "I'd wish you good luck but if Finn has faith in you, then you'll do great."

"You're not gonna stay?"

Shaking her head, Lavender dropped her hand down and took a step back. "No, I don't want to intrude on the guys thing and besides, I'm studying with some of the glee girls anyways."

"And studying is much more fun then glee?"

Lavender narrowed her eyes at him as his grin grew. "Don't tempt me," she warned. "Maybe if you're lucky, and you decide to join, I'll allow you to join this study group."

"Join an all girls study group?"

"It's not all girls," she explained with a small laugh. "Mike and Artie join in too. Finn comes when he remembers... so practically never but I can forgive him. He's sorta my best friend so I really don't have a choice." Turning her eyes down the hall, Lavender suddenly felt embarrassed as the boys approached with even brighter smiles. Taking a step back, Lavender ducked out from Mike's arm as she gave a quick goodbye and dismissed herself before anyone lured her in. Giving a smack to Sam's back, Finn glowed as he pushed him into the choir room with no option to give Lavender a wave goodbye.

𖥸

THE NEW DIRECTIONS HAD SAT IN SILENCE AND MISERY AS THEY WATCHED THE CLOCK ABOVE THEM. It was deathly quiet, not even a shuffle of clothing could be heard through the silence. Lavender's eyes started to droop as she watched the clock with tired eyes. Her hopes for Sam to walk through the door quickly diminished as time drew on and her faith in Sunshine was never there to begin with— Rachel Berry already had her claws in her and Lavender was certain Rachel had her shipped far away from Lima.

Resting her head on Finn's shoulder, Lavender finally let her eyes fall closed. He stayed very still with worried eyes. His eyes stayed locked on the clock and his fingers ached from being crossed for so long in hopes of seeing Sam waltz in last minute.

With only two minutes left, it looked to be that no one in their right mind would find themselves in the choir room. Giving up all hope for the group, Rachel shot up from her seat with a huff of annoyance. Snapping out of his trance on the clock, Finn moved enough to startled Lavender back into an awake state of mind. Looking around the room, Rachel was pleased to see all eyes (even tired and upset) on her made her almost glow through her act of annoyance. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but it doesn't look like anyone's going to be joining us. I think we should just call it a day."

Without even questioning the time, Lavender rose from her seat and grabbed her bag from the floor to head on home. Holding out an arm to stop her, Mr Schue shook his head. "We said three to five."

Lavender's eyes narrowed at the clock as she readjusted her bag on her shoulder. "There's two minutes?"

"And we should give them the chance... no matter how small of a window they have," Mr. Schue said half heartedly. He didn't even believe it himself that anyone would show. His confidence earlier in the week was at a high but with two minutes on the clock to gather new members, his confidence became almost nonexistent. Dropping his arm and his head down, he allowed for the glee club to disband.

The others were quick to gather all their belongings and race to the door. Finn, on the other hand begged for them to wait and give Sam the chance to show. Even with time almost up, he held out hope.

Before Finn could get to Lavender with a pleading speech on why he needed her support in staying, Mike Chang ran past him in a chaotic mess. Stumbling over himself while dragging Tina along by the hand, he managed to get to Lavender before Finn and direct her back around to the door.

"Study group!" Mike called over his shoulder.

Pouting, Lavender looked up to Mike sadly. "But I don't want to."

"By study group, I mean we go back to your house and order pizza. I just don't want Rachel tagging along," Mike clarified. Dropping his arm down from around her, he exchanged a strange look between Tina and her as they headed out of the choir room doors. "Am I the only one who wants this?"

"I need pizza," Lavender moaned and soon forgot all about Finn's pleads. They could wait there all night and nothing would come of it. At this time, it was pointless waiting around for Sam Evans. The glee club would do just fine for now, Lavender's stomach on the other hand, couldn't wait to get out of the choir room and fill her belly.

𖥸

IN A BLINDED FURY TO NOT LOSE THE SPOTLIGHT, RACHEL REACHED RASH DECISIONS. Sending who could have been their newest member of the New Directions, Sunshine Corazon, to a crack house, there were officially no new glee members. The only argument Rachel held on to was that it wasn't an active crack house and Lavender was stuck at her locker listening to her explain herself. Shutting her locker and holding her books tight against her chest, Lavender just gave a small shrug as Rachel had finally taken a breath of air, "I kinda don't understand the whole idea of the crackhouse. You literally could have just told her we weren't accepting new members and left it at that."

"At least you agree she shouldn't be apart of the glee club. Some just don't understand..."

Cutting her off, Lavender corrected her. "Oh, no, you're crazy, Rach. We needed Sunshine especially after Sam let us down." Looking over to her, Lavender winced at the anger and disapproval on Rachel's face. "Please don't send me to the crackhouse next," she whispered. Rachel's eyes immediately darted over to her but to see a smile cracking on Lavender's face, she couldn't help but find the humor in it all. "I am crazy, aren't I?"

"Completely. But, hey, I really don't expect anything else."

Sighing, Rachel accepted her craziness got the best of her once again. Wanting to let the conversation go, she motioned down the hall as Quinn Fabray made her way down in a high pony and a perfectly pressed Cheerios uniform. "Can you believe that? After everything, she went back to the Cheerios."

Lavender rested her back against the locker as she watched Quinn make her way passed them. Not one glance was sent their way as if the two never existed. "She's great at cheerleading," Lavender sighed. "Her not being on the Cheerios would be like you turning down the lead in a musical."

"I'd never turn down the lead," Rachel scoffed. "You do know this means she'll never even look at us again. Not that she even does now, but you know what I mean." Grabbing ahold of Lavender, she forced her up from the locker and dragged her along down the hall. "This is why I'm so glad you and Finn are such good friends, otherwise we wouldn't be as close as we are. Though I do think you'd come around to liking me once you realized I wasn't all that bad. But this year will be completely different now that Finn and I are together... it'll bring us closer together. Like sisters!"

Lavender gave a half hearted smile. Rachel was very optimistic about a truer friendship blossoming between the two but to her it sounded that Rachel believed that Finn was the thing that tied them together. "Just don't send me to a crackhouse when I get a solo this year."

Rachel blinked in surprise before she came to the realization it was just a joke— the thought of Lavender getting a solo over her felt absurd. However, working on building better friendships this year, Rachel laughed and gave a squeeze to Lavender's arm. "Of course I wouldn't send you to a crackhouse. Finn would never forgive me."

As Rachel's hand fell from her arm, Lavender gave a small sigh as she saw Sam Evans grabbing a drink of water from the water fountain. Watching him, she gave a frown that he had completely ditched them for popularity. Rachel however, glowed with excitement. "Oh, he is so cute but it's a shame he'd rather play football than hang out with us. I'm glad Finn's better than that. I mean, if he was in glee, I'm sure Quinn and Santana would pounce on him the second he sat down but Finn said he seemed to really like you. You know, now I kinda wish he was in Glee to drive them nuts that he'd rather have you than them."

Lavender took her eyes off Sam and whipped her attention back to Rachel. "You think that'd be too insane for someone like him to like me?"

"No! No, I'm just saying that most boys like him don't really pick girls like us and..." letting her voice trail off, Rachel picked her head up and held her ground. "You're dating Puck anyways so why do you care?"

Lavender's face fell as she looked down as they continued walking. It hadn't mattered to her who she was dating, it was the fact that Rachel thought Lavender couldn't be good enough, that she'd forever be bottom of the barrel pickings for boys. "Maybe that's why Puck's with me... just so easy to snag."

"That's not what I meant," Rachel scoffed. Lavender knew she was about to grow defensive and explain herself once more on why she's technically in the right, she didn't want to hear it. She wished for anything or anyone to drag Rachel away or pull Lavender off. And a simple collision easily did the trick.

Turning around from the water fountain, Sam didn't wait for the hallway traffic to pass before stepping away and running right into Lavender. Instant relief filled her as she ignored Rachel and tucked her hair behind her ear as Sam profusely apologized. "And here you thought I'd be the one running into you all the time."

"Yeah, well, I had to get your attention somehow," Sam chuckled. Looking behind her, he watched Rachel with an angry pout but brought his attention back to Lavender with a nervous grin. "So do I need to prepare a speech on why you shouldn't beat me up right now for not joining?"

She gave a shrug and spotted out of the corner of her eye, Rachel march herself away. "It's fine, actually. Rachel sort of opened my eyes on why we didn't get any new members this year."

"Yeah, she looks like a ball of sunshine."

Lavender cracked a smile. "Like you wouldn't believe." Shaking off her disappointment in the conversation with Rachel, Lavender gestured to Sam. "So Finn told me you got on the football team. Congratulations. I go to pretty much every game now but I still have no clue how the game even works... I just know you throw a ball."

"Well, you got the idea," Sam chuckled. "Sure you're not mad I'm the new quarterback? Sorta stole Finn's spot and I think I already made an ass of myself enough this week."

"Eh, you could do worse," she shrugged until a small smile appeared on her lips. "I don't really mind. Ass or not, you laughed at my jokes so you're my new favorite person."

"So does that mean you'd let me walk you to your next class?" He asked hopefully.

Lavender hesitated but eventually flashed a sheepish smile and nodded her head. Sliding to the spot next to her, the two headed off down the halls together. Each of their hearts beating in sync, holding their books tightly from pure nerves. Whatever it was, foolish or not, something between the two bloomed brightly.