Yes or no - Book 4 - S.E.

City of Angels

"Hey, you wanted to see me?" Sam asked, as he walked into Mr. Schue's office after being summoned there.

"Yeah. Have a seat." The teacher said, moving to stand in front of Sam as the boy sat down in front of him.

"Hum, I just want to let you know that even though I've kind of, like, checked out of school since I'm not going to college, I'm totally committed to Glee Club, you know?" Sam started as Mr. Schue smiled softly at him "I've had Artie and Blaine drilling me, like, nonstop on the rights and lefts of the choreography, and Em and I recruited two Cheerios to get us to 12..."

"You don't have to prove yourself to me, Sam." Mr. Schue interrupted the boy before sighing as he tried to find the words to say what he had to say. "Finn transformed this club when he joined up. He wasn't just a male lead, he was the captain of the football team. He was the coolest kid in school. I mean, a real dude, you know? He was our secret weapon at those competitions. Other schools might have had their version of a Rachel or a Kurt, but no one had a Finn."

"Yeah, he... He made it seem pretty cool." Sam chuckled a bit as the memories of Finn trying to get him into glee club replayed in his head.

"When he recruited you, he wasn't just looking for another voice in here." Mr. Schue said then. "He was looking for someone to take his place after he graduated. Someone to help lead all of these wonderful misfits."

"I'm not Finn, Mr. Shue." Sam shook his head. "Finn was, like, a real leader, you know? Before he left, he talked to Em and I, actually, asking us to take care of the glee club for him, but I... I'm not a leader."

"Yes, you are." Mr. Schue nodded his head with a small smile as Sam sighed before raising his hand to look at him. "And I'm gonna need you to be that guy when we get to L.A. The kids want you to be that guy. They're all waiting for you to see yourself the way they see you. The new kids love you, and so do the older ones. I'm sure that everything is gonna be fine once we get there. But if the time comes, and you need to step up, I'm gonna be counting on you to get it done."

Sam sighed a bit at that, unsure of what to do. Sure, he remembered when he first joined wanting to be the leader of this club and the quarterback of the football team. He wanted what Finn had, really, and that year — his senior year — he had it. Apparently everyone could see it. So why was it that he couldn't?

Before he could even dwell too much on it, however, the door to Mr. Schue's office was pushed open and Tina appeared, with a smile on her face as she looked at their teacher and at her friend.

"They're here." She said, and without another word, the two men were up on their feet and walking into the choir room where the rest of the kids and, now, Burt and Carole, were.

"Hey, guys." Carole smiled at the kids as soon as she walked in, trying to hold back all the emotions she was feeling just for stepping into that choir room.

"Good morning." Burt smiled as well, as Mr. Schue walked toward him to greet them both. "How's it going, man?"

"We just wanted to come in and say that, uh, Finn really cared about you guys." Carole said as Emily smiled gently, reaching for Sam's hand, now that he was back to her side. "More than you know. Finn always said that winning Nationals was the greatest accomplishment of his life. But I honestly believe that coaching you guys to winning would have meant even more to him."

"Now, now we're not saying go out there and win it for Finn. That wasn't his style." Burt continued. "Hum, what Finn would have said was this is the time of your lives right now. You're never gonna forget it, and in a moment, it's all gonna be over."

"So no sad faces." Carole smiled. "No regrets. Just go out there and have a blast, and, you know, it'll be okay if you won the damn thing."

When the woman laughed, they all did as well, happy to know that, in spite of everything, she was healing.