LISTEN TO STACEY, SAM!

THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER WAS BACK AND RUMOURS WERE BEING WHISPERED EVERYWHERE. Tensions were high in the glee club, with so many of the rumours about them, leading to a suspicion than anyone could be doing anything behind their back.

With his relationship on the line, Finn stormed into the choir room with the Muckraker crumpled up in his hand and Rachel following sheepishly behind him. Approaching Sam, where he was quietly talking to Tessa and Quinn, he shoved the paper in his face, "what the hell is this, dude?" He yelled, "what blonde former cheerleader is having a secret moonlight motel rendezvous with another big lipped blondie?"

With an alarmed glance towards Tessa and Quinn, Sam stepped forward to look at the paper, "where does it say that?"

"Right on the front of the school newspaper!" Finn yelled, making a crease in the paper where he'd poked it.

Quickly trying to diffuse the tension, Tessa stepped in, grabbing the newspaper from Finn's hand and giving him a stern glance, "you don't seriously believe this do you?"

"Well why shouldn't I?" He argued in reply, "why shouldn't he do the same thing that I did to him?"

"Because it's gossip Finn!" Quinn hissed, attempting to pull some sense into her boyfriend as he scowled angrily at Sam.

Strutting into the room, Santana was next to unleash her anger, screaming at Brittany over something she'd said on Fondue for Two. With a glance behind her, Tessa resisted the urge to calm them down and stayed close to Sam, gently linking his hand in hers, "you're okay." She whispered comfortingly.

"No, he is not okay!" Finn shouted at her, rushing forward and giving Sam a hard push as he opened his mouth to defend Tessa, "I swear I'm gonna punch your face off!"

"You've got a lot of nerve to accuse me of cheating, when you were the one who snuck in and stole Quinn. What you gonna do now, huh? Steal my girl from me?" Sam yelled, moving Tessa behind him before shoving Finn back.

As the shoving got harder, Tessa and Quinn tried to break them apart until Mr Schue finally stepped in, placing a hand on Finn and Sam's chests, with a warning glare. Letting out a huff of irritation, Finn threw his hands up into the air and marched towards the door.

"Finn, where you going? We've got rehearsal!"

"Not today!" He shouted, not forgetting to kick a music stand to the floor as he left.

Looking to Tessa for some reassurance, Sam let out a long breathe and ran his hands through his hair as he sat down. Picking up the Muckraker from the floor, Tessa shook her head and proceeded to rip it up, throwing the pieces to the bin besides her, "full of crap." She muttered to herself, angrily and leaning her head onto Sam's shoulder.

　　　　　　　　 ☆

KURT WAS ONE OF TESSA'S CLOSEST FRIENDS AND SHE'D DEFINITELY MISSED HAVING HIM AROUND. Opening her locker, which was a few down from his, she let out a contended breathe of air and placed her hands on her hips.

Now looking at the pictures of Blaine Anderson in both of their lockers, Kurt laughed loudly, "stop falling in love with my boyfriend." He chuckled, "I know he's adorable but you have your own cutie right here." Pointing to the picture of Sam and then giving her a poke, Kurt wasn't finished the teasing he'd started before he left for Dalton Academy.

Rolling her eyes and cursing as she felt the blush come to her cheeks, Tessa gave him a light shove, "you're making me wonder if I missed you."

"He talks about you a lot when I'm there." Kurt told her, with a smirk, "I'm working on getting him to ask you to prom."

"He doesn't have to." Tessa said, softly, "I know he's got a lot more to worry about than prom. We can do something else."

"But you want him to, don't you?"

Sighing, Tessa turned around to lean against the lockers, "I just want him." She admitted, quietly, fiddling with her fingers self consciously, "I don't want the corsage or the dress or anything like that, I just want to go to prom with him and sing and dance and laugh with him until we've run out of energy."

Lost for words for a second, seeing a completely different side of his friend, Kurt gave her a gentle smile, which quickly turned to disgust as he noticed Rachel storming towards them, "I really thought she'd stopped going crazy." He breathed out, shaking his head.

Spinning around, Tessa saw who he was talking about, forming an oh with her mouth and chuckling to herself, "hello, Rachel."

Ignoring her, Rachel cut straight to the chase, pointing a finger right in Kurt's face, "stop it."

"Stop what?" Kurt questioned, with a bored, wide eyed look to Tessa.

"I am begging you, Sam is cute but he's not worth losing Blaine over. Especially when you know how Tessa feels about him." Rachel said, sternly, taking Tessa's arm and linking it with hers.

Rescuing Tessa from Rachel's grip, Kurt raised his eyebrows at her, "oh how I've missed your insanity."

"He was wearing your jacket. I remember that jacket. You wore it April of last year. You said it was your Earth day jacket because it was made from recycled hemp." She stated, surprising Tessa with her knowledge of Kurt's clothing.

Shaking her head, Tessa gave her a reassuring smile, "you're overthinking this, Rachel. Just chill out."

"No. I know how these things work. When Finn and I used to date, sometimes he would leave his letterman jacket at my house and I'd wear it to school the next day." Rachel insisted, gesturing to Tessa to prove her point, "Tessa has worn Sam's jackets many times, I've seen her."

Fed up with Rachel's meddling, Kurt took a step forward to confront her, "okay, you need to bone up on your Fleetwood Macology. When they made Rumours, they weren't even speaking to each other. Not even 'pass the nondairy creamer', they only spoke about the music. And it was that focus that allowed them to create their masterpiece."

Squeezing her eyes shut, Rachel was quick to shoot him down, "you're deflecting —"

"No, I'm being a team player. Any moment more spent on this vicious, hurtful and hateful gossip is a moment taken away from preparing for nationals. So just leave it alone." Kurt said, firmly, shutting his locker door with a slam, giving Rachel a glare before linking his arm in Tessa's and leading her away from Rachel and her gossip.

　　　　　　　　 ☆

SAM EVANS WAS WORKING TWICE AS HARD AS EVERYONE ELSE AT THE MOMENT. With his family situations a secret from everyone except three, he felt as though he had to struggle on his own and the rumours going round at school that week weren't helping.

He was conflicted, he knew that glee club would help him if they knew, and hearing them accuse him of cheating with Quinn and Kurt made him want to tell them more, but he also knew how the rest of the school would see him. He didn't want to be more of an outsider than he already was.

Sam was grateful to have Tessa, Quinn and Kurt to help him out when things were getting too much. From helping looking after his siblings to helping him get the homework done that he struggled to find the time to do, having them know and understand took a whole weight off of his shoulders.

It was another one of the exhausting days where Sam had school all day and then working a longer shift at the pizza deliveries, making his way through the door of the motel, he threw his bag to the side and let out a tired sigh. Looking over, a smile came to his lips as he saw Tessa, Stevie and Stacey cuddled up, asleep on the bed.

Tilting his head to the side, affectionately, he quickly felt at peace. He loved that Stevie and Stacey loved Tessa, they meant the world to him and so did she, but seeing them get on so well with her only made the feelings he had for the girl get stronger.

Realising how long he'd been staring, Sam shook his head, pulling his jacket off from over his head and throwing it to the side as he made his way towards the bed. Climbing in next to her, he carefully placed an arm around her, holding his breathe as Tessa readjusted herself so she was comfortable. Letting go of his breathe, he smiled, leaning down and placing a soft kiss on the top of Tessa's head before falling asleep himself.

　　　　　　　　☆

FINN AND RACHEL HAD BEEN STAKING OUT TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON. Watching the motel where the Muckraker had caught them before, they'd first seen Kurt come out with Sam, prompting Rachel to bombard him with questions, the next night they'd seen Tessa there, wishing she knew what they did as she'd given him a tight hug.

But when they saw Quinn at the motel with Sam, Finn was all fired up, convinced she was cheating on him once again and gritting his teeth with irritation as he watched Tessa, Quinn and Sam all sat together, chatting amongst themselves as if nothing was happening.

Of course, Rachel had to perform a song from the assignment that portrayed her feelings at the moment and after announcing this to Mr Schue, she'd stood from her chair and began singing 'Go Your Own Way' to Finn as he played the drums for her.

Flickering her eyes up to where Quinn was sat behind her, Tessa widened her eyes as she saw her pursed lips, ready to confront Rachel the second she'd stopped singing, but deciding to enjoy the song none the less, dancing along in her seat, between Sam and Artie.

As the clapping came to an end, Quinn sat forward in her seat, sending Rachel a warning glare, "don't you think it's a little inappropriate to be singing a love song to my guy?"

"You're such a hypocrite!" Rachel burst out, "you little Miss perfect prom queen! you're a cheater, who cheats in cheap motels with Sam!"

"Nothing is going on between Sam and I!" Quinn yelled, filled with frustration as Sam kept his eyes glued in his lap, fed up of confrontation.

"You know, I blame Sam for all this." Santana spoke up, getting a pleading glare from Tessa, pausing for a second, "and Rachel, I blame her too. I'm sure she did something."

"See, I'm with Santana." Lauren agreed, as everyone began staring over at Sam, who was bouncing his knee up and down, hoping that someone would speak up in his defense before he snapped, "why doesn't Sam have anything to say about this?"

"He doesn't have to." Tessa stated, firmly, taking Sam's hand in hers and squeezing it comfortingly just as Mike spoke up in a whisper, "guilt."

Next to state his opinion, Puck shrugged his shoulders and gave Sam a raised eyebrow, "seriously dude, what you're doing is not cool. They both have boyfriends. And you're practically dating Tess."

"And you say that like you've never cheated before." Tessa muttered, loudly.

Holding his hands up in surrender, Puck backed out of the argument, "I had that one coming."

Finally fed up with everyone shouting at him, Sam snapped his head up to face them all, "shut up! I'm not messing around with Quinn or Kurt or anyone. They're just helping me."

"Oh is that what we're calling it now?" Mercedes scoffed, skeptically crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hold on, helping you how?" Mr Schue asked, worriedly, putting his arms out to get everyone to quieten down.

Squeezing his hand again, Tessa looked Sam's way as she heard him take a steady breathe to prepare himself, "you don't have to, Sam."

"Kurt was bringing me clothes and Quinn was helping me babysit my little brother and sister." He told them.

"Then why were you in that motel?" Finn asked, still a bit suspicious.

"Because that's where I live now." Sam raised his voice slightly, silencing the whole glee club, "my dad lost his job a few months ago, then we lost our house and now we all have to live in a motel, in one room." Seeing them all filled with embarrassment, Sam jumped up from his chair, getting more angry by the second and letting his feelings out, "are you all happy now? The truth's finally out." He shouted before storming out the choir room and leaving the glee club in sheepish silence.

Getting out of her chair, Tessa turned back to the glee club, shaking her head angrily at them, "i can't believe you guys." She whispered, disapprovingly, resisting the urge to scream at them and racing after Sam.

　　　　　　　    ☆

THE GLEE CLUB KNEW THAT HAD TO MAKE IT UP TO SAM, ESPECIALLY FINN AND RACHEL. Making their way to the motel, they knocked on the door and stood back, waiting for him to answer.

Opening the door slightly, Sam saw who it was and looked back to where Tessa was frowning over an attempt at braiding Stacey's hair, clearing his throat for her attention and pleading for her to come and help him. Finishing off the braid in her hair, Tessa passed Stacey a magazine and left her on the bed to go and join Sam.

"Dude, please let us in." Finn pleaded, softly, holding the door as Sam attempted to shut it.

"We're trying to get Stacey to sleep." Tessa told him, meeting Finn's eyes and flashing him a small smile.

Squeezing in front of them, Stacey clearly wasn't any closer to falling asleep as she gave Finn and Rachel the biggest smile, "hi, I'm Stacey!" She grinned as Sam squeezed his eyes shut, knowing he'd have to let them in now.

Quickly glancing up to Tessa, Rachel took the lead on introducing herself to Stacey, "hi Stacey, I'm Rachel, and this is Finn."

"Well she's up now." Sam groaned, opening the door and letting them into the motel room. Shifting around embarrassed, he shoved his hands into his pockets as Tessa took a seat on the bed with Stevie and Stacey, watching the interaction very carefully, "it sure beats a cardboard box underneath an underpass, right. We keep the rest of our stuff in my dad's car."

"This is everything you own?" Rachel questioned, sadly.

Sam nodded, "we sold everything else."

Jumping off the bed and rushing over, Stevie gave his brother a tug on his sleeve to catch his attention, "can we watch TV?"

Looking down, Sam's expression softened as he ruffled his brothers hair, "yeah, sure. Keep it on the low though, Mr Jensen next door is on the night shift again." He smiled, throwing Tessa the TV remote and giving her a quick wink as she pulled Stacey up on the bed next to her.

Turning back round, he saw Finn and Rachel still looking round in confusion and began to bite down on his cheeks. Furrowing her eyebrows, Rachel spoke up quietly after a moment of silence between, "I don't understand, what happened?"

"We moved up here from Tennessee 'cause my dad got this great job offer. And the economy went to hell and it's last ones in first ones out." Sam explained swallowing the lump in his throat, "we spent all our savings on the move and the down payments of the house. When the bank takes your house they literally just take it. They come by one morning and just kick you out of your own house, they just lock you out."

Rachel stood back for a moment, a sad frown across her face, feeling terribly guilty for the way she'd acted that week. Exchanging a look with her, Finn turned back to Sam, "why didn't you tell us what was going on?"

"You see how information flies around that school, right? You think everyone would just treat me the same after they found out? I'd be even more of a freak." Sam explained, "Kurt found out because I got a job delivering pizzas and I happened to deliver one to Dalton."

"Yeah, he told us." Finn said, awkwardly, reaching for a bag behind him and passing it to him, "look, I brought these for you, I know Kurt was trying to help out, bringing some of his old clothes but I don't really think that sequinned riding pants are really for you."

With a grateful smile, Sam let out a small laugh. Still wanting to get to the bottom of the story, Rachel shifted around nervously, "and what about Quinn?"

"We go to the same church, I couldn't really hide it from her. Besides, I like having her around to do some girl stuff with Stacey when Tess can't be here. Mom and Dad are out all day pounding the pavement looking for work but nothing." Looking down at the floor, things felt helpless for Sam and he had to let out the nagging feeling that was at the back of his mind, "I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to keep going to glee club."

Widening their eyes, Finn and Rachel desperately tried to persuade him out of it but Sam just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, "you guys don't understand."

Giving him a sympathetic smile, Rachel nodded her head, "yes we do." She whispered, looking behind her as Finn left the door for a moment and returned for a brief moment with a guitar case, handing it to Sam, who immediately spun round to Tessa, with a sparkle in his eyes as he opened the case, "Tess told us you hocked your guitar."

Still in shock, Sam knelt besides the guitar case and let out a deep sigh as he gazed at the guitar inside, "did you guys buy this back for me?"

"The whole glee club did." Rachel nodded softly, "look Sam, we'll do whatever we can to help, anything to keep you in the glee club until you get back on your feet."

She trailed off as she noticed the tears coming to Sam's eyes. Sighing sadly, Tessa hopped off the bed and knelt down besides him, letting him lean his head onto her shoulder as he cried, gently placing a kiss on his temple. Running after her, Stacey jumped onto her brother's back, engulfing him in a tight hug, "don't cry Sammy."

"We need you Sam." Rachel whispered after a moment, "and you need the music."

　　　　　　　 ☆

RACING DOWN THE HALLS TO THE CHOIR ROOM, TESSA CURSED HERS AND SAM'S AWFUL TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS. Laughing as Sam tried to bribe his sister to move quicker with ice cream, Tessa shook her head in amusement and just offered her hand out for Stacey to take. Mouth hung open in shock as Stacey easily obliged, he rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Tessa's smug grin.

Strutting forward, Stevie pushed in between the two of them to take hold of Tessa's hand, "you know, if Sammy won't take you to prom, you can go with me!" He offered, with an enthusiastic twinkle in his eyes.

"No!" Stacey yelled at her brother, "she has to go with Sammy!"

"But Sammy's not asking her, I am!" Stevie emphasised.

"Well we have to get him to ask her dummy!" Stacey hissed, tutting loudly, full of irritation with her brother. Turning to her older brother, she fluttered her eyelashes, preparing to bombard him with questions, "Sammy, when are you gonna ask Tess to prom?"

Taken by surprise by the bluntness of her question, Sam's eyes locked with Tessa's and he began to blush red as she bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. Rubbing his hand against his neck, he tried to come up with an answer that would please his pouting sister and the girl he really did want to ask to prom, "well, Stace, it has to be special, you know?"

Rolling her eyes as they came through the choir room door, Stacey obviously knew something Sam didn't, "Tess doesn't care about all that stuff, dummy." She sassed, running straight over to Quinn and jumping onto her lap.

"She's gonna be a mini Santana." Tessa laughed, affectionately as Sam gaped after his sister, embarrassed. Feeling a wave of Stacey's confidence come over her, Tessa held him back slightly, giving him a genuine smile, "she's right though, you know."

Watching as he smiled back at her, his blush growing by the second, Tessa left Sam to his thoughts, throwing herself down on the chair besides Quinn and giving him a thumbs up to introduce the song he was desperate to sing to his siblings.