MIKE WANTS TESSA TO DANCE!

MR SCHUE HAD FINALLY REALISED THAT FINN AND RACHEL WEREN'T THE ONLY TWO IN THE CHOIR ROOM WITH TALENT. With this knowledge, he had decided to feature Mike and Brittany's dancing in the upcoming sectionals.

Lifting her hands to either side of her, Tessa beamed as she gave Mike and Brittany an enthusiastic high five, celebrating with them for a moment before Mr Schue spoke up again, "I was thinking the winners of our duets competition would take the leads." He gestured towards Sam and Quinn.

Leaning his head onto her shoulder, Mike sighed deeply as he whispered into Tessa's ear, "we all know you won that really." He stated, getting a soft laugh from his friend, who in response just leant her head on top of his.

"Ken and Barbie?! Are you trying to throw this?" Rachel shrieked, being the only one upset about the change in soloists because it meant she didn't get to shine. Giving Finn a hard nudge in his side, she gave him a look that told him to stand up for her too, "Mr Schue? I'm all for pumping up the team, making everyone feel special, but that's for practice. You don't take the star quarterback out before the big game."

"Easy to say when you're the star quarterback." Tina retaliated, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Even when he wasn't he prayed to grilled cheesus to get his position back." Tessa added in a whisper only heard by Mike, who lifted his head to give her a confused frown before setting his head straight back down onto her shoulder.

"This isn't just about me, it's about the team." Finn defended himself, clearly embarrassed.

"You are such a hypocrite." Santana called out.

"Like you even know what that means!" Rachel shot back, instantly coming to her boyfriend's defense.

Rolling her eyes, Santana didn't seem as bothered by the rest of the room about the argument that was brewing between them, "It means your boyfriend's full of crap, hobbit."

Jumping up from her chair, Rachel had had enough and had finally stood to face Santana, "you know what, ever since the wedding you've been up my butt and I'm sick of it!"

Bouncing his leg up and down nervously, Finn had a secret he wanted to keep and gently pulled on Rachel's sleeve to get her to back down, "come on Rachel, she's not worth it." He whispered.

Overhearing this, a wicked grin came to Santana's lips as she leant forward in her chair, "oh really? Cause that's not what you thought last year in that motel room." She said, directing her clarification straight at Rachel, "that's right Yentl. Your sweetheart — he's been lying to you. Because he and I totally got it on last year."

The room came under an awkward silence as they all glanced from Santana's smug grin over to Rachel, who was opening and closing her mouth looking like for once, she had nothing to say back.

"That's enough." Mr Schue called out, sternly, "no more conservations about this, or anything. This is the plan for sectionals and that is that. Mike, Brittany, come on let's get choreographing."

"Tess too." Mike insisted, getting up and taking hold of Tessa's hand, not even looking to Mr Schue for an answer. Nodding his head at her confusion, he gave her a tug and a wide smile, "come on, you're an insane dancer. Mr Schue and everyone else needs to know that."

"You're quite the charmer, Mike, I can see why Tina's into you." She laughed in return, a smile appearing on her lips as Tina came over to join them, shrugging her shoulders in agreement, deciding to have a bit of fun to ignore the tension in the air.

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THE GLEE CLUB COULDN'T BE IN A WORSE PLACE FOR SECTIONALS. With Rachel and Finn fighting over his confession, Artie and Tina accusing Mike and Brittany of adultery and Quinn silently freaking out, the New Directions seemed to be falling apart.

Hoping to escape the tenseness of the green room, Tessa had snuck out and was minding her own business at the bar, chuckling slightly as she watched Rachel desperately beg the bartender for candy for Lauren Zizes from afar.

Breaking her out of her daydream was Blaine, who sat down next to her with a beaming smile and gave her a firm pat on the shoulder. Turning round to face him, Tessa flashed him a weary smile, to which he raised an eyebrow, "rough green room?"

"How did you know?" She teased, giving poking his side lightly.

"Lucky guess." Blaine shrugged, pausing for a moment before giving in, "I'm kidding. This girl — Santana — managed to get my number somehow and she messaged me asking me to get you a candy bar or something, so here." He smiled, holding out a candy bar, seeing her hesitance to take it and pushing it into the palm of her hand, closing her hand around it, "I have one too, we'll eat it together."

Giving him a smile of thanks, Tessa carefully opened the wrapper and took a bite out of it, letting out a contented sigh as she began to feel more and more comfortable around the boy in front of her. 

"You excited about performing?" Tessa asked, curiously.

"Yeah, I love it. Performing with the Warblers means everything to me." Blaine told her, excitedly, his smile faltering for a moment as he glanced over to where Kurt was talking to Rachel, "I kinda wish Kurt got the solo though. He deserves it."

Nodding her head in agreement, Tessa was quick to assure him that he wasn't bursting Kurt's confidence just as it was starting to blossom again, "he'll get one another time. Kurt knows things are different at the Warblers and he's insanely talented, as you know. He'll get that solo soon enough." She reassured him, a smug grin coming to her face as she saw the smile creeping onto the corners of Blaine's lips, "come on, you know I'm right."

"Yeah. I do." He laughed, "what about you? Are you getting featured this year?"

Tessa let out a small laugh as if this were impossible, "nope. Background singer. Background dancer." She told him, with a hint of sadness in her voice behind her defeated smile, "Mike and Britt tried to convince Schuester to let me dance up front with them but he said it's best only to have two. I'm an understudy though."

"Well you'll be great." Blaine beamed, getting up from his seat to find Kurt and pulling her into a tight hug, "good luck!"

"Good luck to you too!" She called after him, holding up a heart with her hands as encouragement for him and Kurt as they passed her to get ready.

Taking in a breathe of air, Tessa made her way over to Rachel, placing both of her hands on her shoulders and giving them an encouraging squeeze as she saw the slightly downcast look on her face.

Turning round to face her, Rachel pouted, irritably, "did you know about Finn and Santana?" The apologetic look on Tessa's face was all Rachel needed as an answer. Snatching the candy from the counter, she huffed loudly giving Tessa a weak smile and a nod of her head for them to go back to the green room together before having to perform.

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ALMOST AS SOON AS SHE'D ENTERED THE GREEN ROOM, TESSA WAS PULLED TO THE SIDE BY SAM. Finding herself faced with the blonde, she gave him an excited smile, ready to hype him up for his first big solo at a competition, "you got your Swayze impression ready for yours and Quinn's big moment?" Tessa asked, excitedly, frowning slightly as she noticed Quinn wasn't stood with him, "where is Quinn anyways?"

"You need to sing the duet with me." Sam eventually told her, taking hold on her arms as he saw her eyes widen in shock, "Quinn's terrified. She said she feels like she's going into labour and she said you know her part."

"Well is she okay? Do you want me to talk to her?" Tessa asked, worriedly, catching Quinn's eye and turning round ready to talk to her. Seeing Quinn wave her off with a weak smile, she realised that she was going to have to step in whether she liked it or not.

"She wants you to sing her part for her. You know the words right?"

Becoming suddenly anxious at the thought, Tessa shook her head, looking back over her shoulder for Quinn's approval once again, "I can't take Quinn's part! are you sure she's okay with this?"

"You'll be doing us all a favour." He insisted, giving her hands a squeeze as they fell into his and forcing her to look straight into his eyes, "trust me."

Nodding, Tessa let out a shaky breathe but allowed a smile to come onto her lips, "I'll do it. Or at least i think i can."

"I believe in you. We always sound great together when we sing, why shouldn't we now, huh?" Sam smiled, encouragingly.

"I believe in you too." She said softly, pulling him in for a hug, which he gladly accepted, shutting his eyes contentedly as he held onto her.

Watching from afar, Quinn licked her lips lightly. She knew that she wouldn't be able to perform to the best of her ability, and she knew that with the duet going to Tessa, a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders. But that didn't stop her from feeling a pang of envy at the purely happy expression on Sam's face as he reached out for Tessa's hand, ready to go on stage.

Ready to perform, Sam and Tessa took their places backstage. Gazing at her for a moment, with his nerves about performing behind him, Sam couldn't ignore the way he felt as he got a chance to admire the girl stood next to him. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he managed to grab her attention, "you look nice." He smiled, going red in the cheeks.

"Double nice?" She teased slightly, looking down to the floor for a moment out of embarrassment, "you look nice too. Now go out there and kick some ass."

"Hell yeah, we're gonna kick some ass." Sam agreed enthusiastically, holding out a hand for a high five, which she excitedly accepted.

Rushing to their starting positions, Tessa and Sam gave each other one last lucky smile before pushing through the curtains for their duet of 'I've Had The Time Of My Life.'

As they got further into the performance and their nerves were allowed to disappear, the pair only focused on each other. And for Sam, the guilt over not getting to sing the duet with Quinn had slipped out of his mind and the only girl he was thinking about singing with was Tessa.