Picture Perfect - Book 3 - Q.F.

Asian F

A/N: Not sure how I feel about this one, but oh well... I hope you enjoy it!

"Five, six, seven, eight."

The kids were all practicing their dancing again, having Mike and Mr. Schue as their instructors. They were all dancing and having fun together until Mercedes walked in, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and turn to look at her instead.

"You're late." Mr. Schue said, as Mercedes sighed.

"I know." She said. "I overslept."

"It's 4:30 in the afternoon." Quinn frowned a bit.

"My alarm clock went off 30 minutes late this morning." Mercedes said. "Kind of shifted my whole schedule. Anyway, what's Santana doing here?"

"I've re-sworn my allegiance to the Glee Club, without telling Coach Sue." Santana shrugged, as if it was obvious.

"Mercedes, I'll catch you up." Mike said, guiding Mercedes to the center of the stage to help her with choreography. "Five, six, seven. Five, six..."

After a few seconds of dancing, Mercedes suddenly rushed over to a trash can, short of breath. Piper frowned at her friend, worried and confused as Mr. Schue walked over to the girl.

"Mercedes, you okay?" He asked, as Mercedes frowned, in pain.

"My stomach hurts." Mercedes whined, as Piper walked over to her best friend and placed a hand in her back. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Why are you babying her?" Santana scoffed. "I mean, she can't do three steps without puking 'cause she ate at Quizno's before she showed up in this joint."

"Mr. Schue, you have us scheduled to the second right now." Mercedes argued. "With school, Glee Club and Booty Camp, when else am I supposed to eat?"

"When the rest of us do." Santana said.

"Oh, like you eat!" Mercedes snapped, causing Piper to roll her eyes at the implication.

"It's not about eating. It's about attitude." Mr. Schue argued. "Sectionals are coming up, and if we don't give it our all..."

"I am doing my best." Mercedes said, as the teacher shook his head.

"No, you're not." He said, as Mercedes frowned. "It's not about doing your best anymore. It's about doing better."

***

Piper sat alone at her usual table for lunch, waiting for Mercedes to join her as usual. Before she could, however, she stopped to talk to Rachel and, instead of Mercedes sitting down beside her, it was Shane who did.

"Hey, P." He greeted as the girl smiled at him. "What's Mercedes doing?"

"I don't know." Piper shrugged, spinning in her seat just in time to see Mercedes hugging Rachel. "Probably something to do with their auditions."

"Isn't that the girl she was going against, though?"

"Yeah, why?"

Shane frowned then, but before she could say anything else, Mercedes walked over to them with a smile, sitting down in between the two of them as she leaned over to Shane to give him a kiss.

"Baby, what was that?" Shane asked, causing Mercedes to frown.

"What?"

"You just hugged your arch-nemesis right before the audition." He said, as Mercedes and Piper exchanged a surprised glance. "You think before I cleat some dude I hug him? You think Wonder Woman hugs the Cheeta before the Amazonian smackdown?"