WE CAN ALL BE AWESOME AND IN LOVE!

AFTER HER APPEARANCE ON FONDUE FOR TWO, MARLEY WAS TELLING TESSA EVERYTHING. Listening in intently about her worries about her feelings for Jake, Tessa offered the best advice she possibly could, secretly delighted for two of her best friends to admit they were in love.

Turning into the next hallway, they spotted Tina and Blaine go from discussing shopping trips to their mouths dropping open in shock.Not sure what to expect, they approached them with an open mind, looking to each other with a silent shrug until they turned to follow the direction of their eyes where both their mouths dropped open at the same time.

Sam Evans had taken his role for the calendar very seriously, strutting straight through the front doors wearing nothing but his swim shorts and some sunglasses, surprising everyone around and creating quite a sight for everyone passing by.

"I wasn't expecting that." Marley whispered, eyes widened, concerned.

From the sound of her voice, Tessa was knocked out of her trance, widening her eyes in shock before covering Marley's out of fear, "me neither." She replied, pushing her lips together and making a mental note to pull herself together, she'd seen this sight many times before.

Pushing his sunglasses down, Sam locked eyes with Tessa, shooting her some finger guns, which she naturally shot back before he finally reached the four of them, who had floated towards each other as they were all keen to find out what was going on with Sam Evans today. Taking the first approach, Blaine looked either side of him to make sure he wasn't the only one who was shocked at the sight, "Sam, what are you doing? It's January."

Shrugging him off, Sam put his hands on his hips, "what are you talking about it's hot out there, you know? The sun's out it's like way above freezing." He shot back, denying the fact that Marley was stood in front of him, snuggled up in a scarf to keep herself warm and Tessa was wearing his letterman jacket over the top of her own Cheerios letterman.

Quickly realising what this could be about, Blaine's expression softened, sympathetically, "are you sure you're not overcompensating a little?" He asked, carefully.

"Overcompensating for what?" Sam asked, defensively.

"Your SAT scores." Blaine replied in a quiet tone, looking between the girls, "we all heard you tanked."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Tessa quickly came to Sam's defence, not wanting him to feel any worse about it than she knew he already did, even if he hadn't admitted it yet, "okay, tanked is harsh." She said loudly, before turning to Sam with a supportive smile.

Tessa's hand landing on his shoulder helping him to move his focus back up to Sam's eyes, Blaine shook his head, "I didn't mean it like that. Don't worry dude, there are re-tests you can take."

Not wanting to face the problem in hand, Sam pushed his sunglasses up onto the top of his head and looked Blaine right in the eye, "you know what dude? If you choose to be jealous of my hardcore, rockin' bod, then that's on you."

Immediately taking a step forward, Tina held a hand up to come straight to Blaine's defence, raising an eyebrow, "uh, for the record, Blaine has an awesome body and a perky and delicious behind that looks like it got baked to perfection by some sort of master chef."

An awkward silence coming over the group as Tina glared forwards. Leaning into Tessa's side, Marley had a look of confusion on her face, "why's she so defensive about Blaine's butt?" She whispered.

"Because it's perky and delicious." Tessa whispered back, both girls now biting their lips to stop themselves from laughing out loud.

Growing even more awkward as the silence just seemed to ring on and on, Blaine cleared his throat, "thanks Tina." He said, shooting Tina an awkward smile and patting her shoulder gently, "Sam, I'm just trying to look out for you and be a good friend. We all are."

"Okay, well then put down the hateorade and come to my seminar this afternoon for the Men of McKinley calendar." Sam requested, flicking his sunglasses back down onto his eyes, "it's an hour session of broga called 'techniques that work for today's hot young posers.' Three-thirty. Locker room. No chicks... sorry Tess, Marley... Tina." He finished off with a smile towards Tessa, wiggling his eyebrows at her before turning to Marley and then Tina, who was looking slightly offended at the pause before her name. With that, Sam was ready to get straight on with his 'broga', spinning right round past them all on his trip to the locker room to prepare.

As the others were unsure on what to say, Tessa let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I knew it would end up in chaos when we started doing yoga together." She shook her head with amusement, the smile coming to her face quickly dropping as she caught sight of a group of Cheerios staring Sam up and down. Plucking up the courage as she felt a surge of jealously, she crossed her arms over her chest, shouting, "if you don't stop giggling over my boyfriend, I'll have you on the bottom of the pyramid, clear?"

Nudging her in the side with her elbow, Marley couldn't help but smile, "it's actually kinda cute seeing you jealous."

"Well it's kinda cute seeing you totally in love with a certain Jake Puckerman." Tessa retaliated teasingly, poking Marley in the side with a playful smile as Blaine and Tina's attention pricked up at the idea of relationship drama that wasn't theirs.

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IT'S NEVER USUALLY QUIET WHEN TESSA AND JAKE ARE IN THE DANCE STUDIO TOGETHER BUT HE CLEARLY HAD SOMETHING ON HIS MIND. The latest song they'd been choreographing for coming to an end as they finished running through the moves together, Tessa was breathing heavily as she strolled over to where the CD player was and slammed her hand down on the pause button so the next song wouldn't start playing without warning. Turning back round, she was faced with Jake who had sat himself down by their backpacks and rummaging around for their water bottles.

Grabbing Tessa's, he chucked it her way as she plopped herself down opposite him, taking a swig of water for herself. Sensing something was up after the love song in glee club and his speech, Tessa could only hope it was what she was guessing it was, for both Jake and Marley's sakes.

Flipping his water bottle nervously, Jake let his mind win it's internal battle and met Tessa's eyes, "I hate that I'm asking you this. But do you have any advice for me?" Looking round, he assured himself that no one was listening in, "you know, like Marley advice?"

"I'll try my best." Tessa chuckled lightly, following his actions and flipping her own bottle after him, "what's going on?"

Taking a moment to consider how he was supposed to word his problem, Jake shrugged his shoulders to try and make it seem as though he was unbothered by it all, "the other day, Marley sang with me and i thought she was going to tell me... you know... 'the L word', but she didn't. So Ryder told me to tell her first so I sang her that song but i chickened out basically. And I feel a bit crap about it."

Hoping to reassure him, Tessa thought back to 'the L word', taking a sip of her water, "I chickened out too when I first tried to tell Sam I loved him. And I tried to do it the exact same way as you, I sang a duet with Santana and ended up telling him that I loved disco... which I do by the way. You should've seen the look Santana gave me."

"I can imagine and I've only met her twice." Jake shuddered, chuckling through a breath of air.

As his chuckles turning into a loud laugh, Tessa quickly joined in, "two of McKinley's biggest badasses have been scared by 'the big old L word'" she laughed as loudly as ever, "so don't feel bad about it, it's normal to feel nervous about saying I love you. And it'll come around naturally, I promise, especially if you really feel that way, which I can tell you totally do."

Nodding, Jake seemed to be pleased that it wasn't just him that's been in the position that he was in, "Yeah, I really do." He confirmed, before clearing his throat and rubbing the back of his neck, "well thanks. It makes me feel a bit better that we've both done it. Sometimes I think we might even be the same person."

"Probably." Tessa agreed, nodding her head and sticking her bottom lip out, "I mean I'm in love with Marley too so..." trailing off, a teasing grin came to her lips as Jake reached over to shove her in the side, a blush rising on his cheeks.

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TINA WAS IN HER ELEMENT AS THE PHOTOSHOOT FOR THE CALENDAR WAS IN FULL SWING. With a clear vision in mind, she was evidently in charge, making sure everything was exactly as she wanted it and demanding the boys to bring their sexiest poses.

Moving past Artie as he sat holding a bounce board rather than posing for the camera, Tessa made sure to give him a pat on the back and a smile, hoping to make sure he still felt part of the team as Sam was brought forward ready for the August page shoot. Creative cogs working on her mind, an idea sprung into Tina's head which she was keen to share with the group, "why don't we do August with a few of the guys?" She suggested, eyes locking instantly on Blaine, "Blaine why don't you jump in with Sam? You're looking particularly cute today."

"Blaine always looks cute." Tessa added on, with a wink towards one of her best friends, to which Tina agreed quicker than anyone.

Feeling confident, Joe put his hand up to volunteer himself as well, "I'll do it too."

Quick to stand in for fear of not getting his moment in front of the camera, Sam was eager to do the shot on his own, holding out his hand to stop Joe in his tracks, "no offense dude, but I don't really think you'd wanna be in a shot next to me. My washboards are gonna make you look like bloated, white Bob Marley."

A deep frown coming to his face, Joe now wasn't so keen on jumping in on the photo shoot besides him thanks to his attitude, "I'm as God made me dude."

Coming to his defense, Tessa slapped him on the back reassuringly, "you look amazing dude, just ignore him."

Still fed up, Sam threw his hands up in the air, "look, the reality is that we probably should've done a Sam Evans calendar."

Feeling the need to step in, Tessa took a step forwards, furrowing her eyebrows in concern, "as much as I'd totally spend all my money on that, babe, you need to calm down."

"You're being a massive jerk." Artie whispered loudly, cupping his mouth with his hands to add to the effect.

Overwhelmed, Sam looked down at himself and wrapped his arms around his body, "guys, we've waited too long! I lost my pump, I need five minutes."

Frowning at one another across the locker room as Sam stormed out of the shoot to regain his pump, Tessa nodded her head at Blaine as they exchanged a worried look, gesturing to follow on behind him. Moving round the corner, they were faced with the sight of Sam frantically lifting weights, muttering words of encouragement to himself as he did so. Taking the lead in the intervention, Blaine didn't hold back, "you're kind of out of control."

Shrugging, Sam didn't look up from his weights, muttering, "yeah, well, haters gonna hate."

Frowning deeper, Tessa crossed her arms over her chest and spoke up quietly, "we're not haters. And we're certainly not hating. In fact we're your biggest fans." She told him, trying to bring a smile to his face and faltering when it failed, "what's going on?"

With Sam not replying, Blaine and Tessa looked to each other once more. "Will you please stop lifting?" Blaine asked through a deep sigh, "this isn't who you are Sam, you're not some body-obsessed meathead."

"You don't know what it's like." Sam said, quietly but firmly, putting his weights down and taking a seat on the bench, not meeting either of their eyes, "you can both sing and dance and you kick butt in school. I have to announce my presence with authority every time I walk into a room. People have to notice me or else they never will. People laugh at my impressions because how I look already has them on board."

A wave of sadness coming over her at Sam's confession, Tessa swallowed back a lump that had come to her throat, "do you really believe that?"

Looking up to meet her eyes for the first time since they'd all congregated in the locker room, Sam simply shrugged his shoulders, "it's just a fact, babe. If you want to make it in the world, you have to be special."

"But you are special." Tessa replied without skipping a beat, hoping that the look on her face showed how much she truly meant this, "to me, to Blaine and to everyone here. But especially me."

"So special." Blaine elaborated instantly, nodding his head in Tessa's direction, "even without your body."

Despite their reassurance, Sam was still convinced otherwise, trying not to let the tears come to his eyes, wiping them away furiously with the back of his hand, "no I'm not. It's all I have and I'm exhausted." He told them, voice cracking slightly, "watching what I eat all the time, my two-a-day workouts."

"Then let it go." Tessa breathed out with a comforting smile, taking a seat besides him and putting a hand on his leg, rubbing circles on it, "eat a bag of Cheetos, skip your workouts sometimes, do whatever makes you feel happy. That's what the people who love me told me at my lowest and I love you so much just the way you are so I'm gonna tell you the same thing."

A feeling of guilt coming over him, Sam put his hand over hers, "I'm sorry. You've had to deal with this way longer than I have."

"Don't be an idiot." Tessa waved him off instantly, slipping her hand inside his, "It doesn't matter how long we have to deal with these things. You can always talk to me about these things and I'll always want to listen to you and help you. Just the way you've done me over the past years."

Nodding along, Blaine took a seat opposite the two of them and smiled at them both, glad to see that Sam was beginning to open up to them, "she's right. And I promise you that even if you have what? Seven percent body fat? You're gonna see that all of us still love you the same. And of course, we'll still laugh at your impressions... it's kind of hard not to."

Pointing a finger towards him, Tessa let out a laugh, "exactly. I'd never met anyone who appreciated a good impression before you. And I've always said that I'll laugh at yours as long as you laugh at mine, right?"

Laughing himself as a small smile finally managed to appear on Sam's face, Blaine stood up from his seat, despite seemingly only just sitting down, "Kurt even told me you guys met doing impressions."

His smile only getting larger, Sam was eager to tell the tale, "Tessa did her infamous Keira Knightly impression."

"And Sam laughed." Tessa finished, her cheeks going slightly pink, "which I kind of thought was the coolest thing ever."

Shaking his head affectionately, Blaine, crossed his arms over his chest, "you two are such nerds and i love it." He complimented, finding himself immediately bombarded with their favourite impressions, thanking him. Seeing Sam laugh and smile once more, Blaine saw the timing to be alright to point over his shoulder where the photo shoot would be, "should we head back to the shoot? Would be an absolute shame if Tina has to miss out on seeing sexy claus." He chuckled.

"Lead the way sexy claus!" Tessa giggled.

Once Blaine was out of sight, Tessa took in a deep breathe before reaching out for Sam's hand, part of their conversation rushing through her head making her think that she should finally get something off her chest that she would feel guilty keeping from him any longer than she already had, "Sam can I talk to you about something real quick?"

Nodding, Sam took back his place besides her on the bench with a concerned frown, "what's going on? Is it about my SAT score? I know I did bad but you know I tried my best —"

Stopping his rambling, Tessa shook her head with a weak smile, "it's not about that, don't worry. Though, I know you did your best and I'm still proud of you whatever." She reassured him, playing with the hair band on her wrist, "it's about me. Since you've been so open with us just now I feel it's only right that I tell you how I've been feeling lately."

Sensing the nerves come to her, Sam squeezed her hand gently, "you can tell me anything."

"I know. And I know I should've told you about this sooner and I'm sorry that I haven't told you about it."

"It's okay, take your time." Sam encouraged her gently, knowing the ways to calm her in these situations.

Smiling back at him, Tessa felt safe, "There's this girl on the Cheerios who I used to know when I was a bit younger called Bree. And she's been giving me crap for a while now and making sure others on the team and on the football team do too. Mainly targeting me for my position on the Cheerios and my eating disorder, basically just being a manipulative bitch towards me." Looking up, she saw Sam clench his jaw but stay completely quiet, listening carefully to what she was telling him, "and just as I thought I was getting better and starting to feel better about my body, its been getting worse and I seem to be having more and more of those bad days. If you get what I'm saying."

"Come 'ere." Sam whispered softly, pulling her right into his arms and running his hands through her hair as Tessa squeezed her eyes shut, holding him close to her and rubbing her hand on his back in comforting shapes. She felt all the better for telling him how she was feeling and could only hope he felt the same for opening up to her. Pulling apart finally, Sam furrowed his eyebrows, "have you told Coach Sylvester? Is she gonna do something about it?"

"Kitty forced me to tell Coach Sue the other week and told her everything. Kitty's been put on a warning for what she did to Marley and Bree's been put on a warning too after Kitty managed to film her being a bitch to me in practice." Tessa explained.

Taking a moment to let it all sink in, Sam eventually nodded his head, "good. I'm glad she's done something about it."

Agreeing, Tessa let a smile creep onto her lips as she looked at him, "me too. But i wanna say that I'm sorry for not telling you about this all sooner, I just didn't want you to worry."

"I get it." Sam reassured her quickly, leaning his head on top of hers as it fell onto his shoulder, "the same reason why I didn't tell you about how I was feeling after this week. But i say we make a promise always to tell each other everything and anything from now on, for our own good... well except surprise parties and that sorta thing."

Taking his pinkie in hers, Tessa agreed to that promise. They both felt very safe sharing all kinds of things with each other but it would sometimes end up becoming hard with the difficult things, with the last thing either of them wanting to do bring worrying the other one. Wanting this fear to change though, Tessa shook her pinkie in Sam's with a light laugh before jumping apart as they heard Tina demanding orders at Blaine in an attempt to make a Blaine Anderson calendar, which was quickly followed by a loud groan of irritation, which Tessa recognised to be Kitty and a loud slam against the lockers, which she suspected to be a fed up Jake's head.

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AFTER SAM HAD MADE AN APOLOGY TO ARTIE AND MADE THINGS RIGHT, THE 'MEN OF MCKINLEY CALENDAR WAS READY FOR RELEASE. After hearing Tina go round school gushing and spreading rumors over the calendar — especially the months Blaine was involved in — the whole school seemed to be keen and curious to buy it to see what was inside for themselves leading to a rather large queue being formed in the choir room for their copies to be bought and signed.

Rushing over as she spotted a space in line out of the corner of her eye, Tessa slammed down her copy of the calendar in front of Sam with a grin, "told you you look hot whatever you wear." She wiggled her eyebrows, opening the page to where Sam was posing for the camera and pointing at it proudly, "I'm a lucky girl."

Looking down for a moment with a growing smile on his face, Sam moved his eyes back up to meet hers, "I saved you a space." He told her, pulling his backpack off the chair besides his, "I managed to save it when Finn ran off to speak to Sue about a magazine or something."

Shuddering, Tessa had known exactly what Sam was on about from the very detailed description Finn had given her when he'd managed to rope her into the search party for said magazine. Luckily for her, they never found it. Shaking her head, she gave him a strained smile as she sat down besides him, putting a hand on his leg, "let's not talk about that." She breathed in, "you honestly don't wanna know."

Smiling back at her, Sam licked his lips, "you're gonna end up telling me anyway, right?"

"Yeah." Tessa laughed loudly, "and you're not gonna like it."

"Great." Sam rolled his eyes playfully just as the next person appeared in line hoping for him to sign her calendar.

Just as that happened, Marley came bouncing up to Tessa with the biggest smile on her face, which only made Tessa's own smile almost double in size in response. Without saying a word, she opened her calendar to October where Jake was posing and waited excitedly as Tessa leaned in to get a closer look at what she was showing her. Noticing the 'I love you' in silver ink, Tessa gasped and clapped her hands together, completely delighted for her friends, knowing how much they meant it. Grabbing Marley's hand and squeezing it, Tessa met her eyes, "you said it back right?"

Nodding frantically, Marley was keen to reply, "duh!"

"I told you it'd all be alright, didn't I?" Tessa beamed making Marley nod filled with delight, "I'm so happy for you." She exclaimed, genuinely, giving Marley a quick wink and squeezing her hand once more before looking over to Jake who was approaching them, "both of you."

Leaning against the back of the chair that Marley had brought round to sit on, Jake grinned proudly, "we don't need to be scared of the big old 'L word' anymore."

"Leprosy." Tessa muttered under her breathe, causing Sam to start giggling behind her from the reference to the film they'd watched together only the other night.

Pretending he hadn't heard her, Jake continued on with the little speech he'd found himself making, "we're badasses we say it all the time now." He announced, turning to Marley, "i love you." He told her with a grin, before turning to Sam and Tessa, "don't worry, I love you guys too."

Putting her hand on her heart, Tessa pouted, "we love you too Just-Jake."

"Well I love all of you." Sam announced loudly, throwing his arms around Tessa and an unsuspecting Artie, who had been sat chatting with Kitty besides them, "you're all awesome and I'm looking forward to the New Year so we can all be awesome and in love."

Leaning into his embrace, Tessa looked round to meet the eyes of the rest of the group, seeing their smiles and smiling out of amusement, "sounds like a plan to me."