Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, or any of the characters or songs included in this fanfiction at all.

A/N: The penultimate chapter! D:

Sam shuffled awkwardly. "I like the suit, but I don't think I can work the whole bow tie look."

"Nobody can," Leroy laughed.

"Hey! Don't knock bow ties. Bow ties are cool. Right, Sam?" Hiram asked.

"They're cool on you," he smiled. "Just not on me. Wait a second!" He saw the bolo tie on the chest of drawers. "Mr Berry, do you think I could pull off a bolo tie?" he asked, grinning.

"Rachel isn't too fond of the bolo tie," Hiram smirked.

"Hey! She told me she loved it!" Leroy argued.

"She would," Hiram rolled his eyes. Sam laughed.

"I think I'll go with a tie." He got his phone out from his jeans and texted Kurt.

Yo, Kurt, what color is Rach wearing? Idk if I should wear a matching neck tie or a bolo.

Sam, for God's sake, don't wear a bolo tie. She's wearing light pink. Go with that. See you there ;)

Luckily, there was a light pink tie there. He put it on (with help from Hiram) and rand down the stairs. "So, what do you guys think?" he asked his family.

"You look very…Smart." Stevie stated.

"You look handsome, Sammy. Rachel's lucky," Stacey grinned.

"Look at you, you're so grown up!" His mother was close to tears.

"Mo-om," he rolled his eyes and went over to hug her.

"Hey, Sam," Leroy said, standing on a step halfway down the stairwell. "Ready for your date?"

Sam stood there and smiled, butterflies swimming (can butterflies swim? Sam thought) through his stomach. Rachel came down the steps, and everyone gasped in admiration. She smiled shakily and walked over to Sam. "Well?" she asked.

"I-I-I…Wow," he sighed. "You're-I'm-I'm speechless. You look absolutely breathtaking," he smiled. He took her hand and twirled her round, making her giggle. "How lucky am I, guys?" he asked his brother and sister.

"Rachel, you look so pretty! When I grow up, I want to look like you," she smiled. Rachel tried to fight back tears.

"You do look nice, but you're Sam's girlfriend, so you look nice in a Mom way." Everyone laughed. Stevie sure had a way of making sure people knew his opinion.

"Thanks, Stevie," Rachel smiled.

"Rachel, you and Sam look stunning," Mr Evans smiled.

"Yeah, and you two make such a cute couple," Mrs Evans cooed.

"We should go," Sam said, trying to save himself and Rachel from any further embarrassment by his parents.

"Wait, photos!" Hiram pulled out his camera. They had photos of just Rachel, just Sam, the couple together, Rachel with her dads, Sam with his parents, Rachel with the kids, Sam with the kids, and one with both families.

"Okay, we really should go now, the driver's waiting," Sam laughed.

"I have my camera too, Daddy, so you can still expect lots of photos," Rachel beamed.

"Good, I want to see how good all of your friends look! We've already taken your sleepover thing to the Hummels' household, so you can go straight there. Have fun," Hiram kissed his daughter.

Rachel then had to kiss Leroy, and hug Stacey again, and Sam had to kiss his mom and sister, and shake hands with his dad, his brother and the Berry men.

"You take good care of my baby, Evans," Hiram warned as they shook hands.

"I always do, Mr Berry," Sam smiled.

"Yeah, I know you do. You kids have fun."

When they got to Breadstix, Kurt, Blaine, Mercedes and Jeff were already there.

"Oh, thank God you took my advice!" was the first thing Kurt said.

"Sam asked Kurt if he should wear a bolo tie or not," Blaine answered Rachel's look of confusion.

"Oh, thank God you took his advice!" Rachel laughed.

"Bolos are cool," Sam said defensively. They took their place opposite Mercedes and Jeff.

"Jeff, this is my friend Rachel, and her date Sam," Mercedes introduced.

"Pleased to meet you both. I've heard about all of you from both Mercedes and Blaine. And may I add, Rachel, you look very pleasant this evening."

"Thank you," she blushed.

"Yeah, 'Cedes, you look great, too!" Sam explained.

Rachel laughed in slight embarrassment. Her boyfriend didn't quite have the same air of etiquette as any of the Dalton boys did.

"Thank you, Sam." Mercedes couldn't stop smiling. As much as Rachel admired Mercedes' usual 'I don't need a man' motto, she knew that even the most independent of women liked to be the centre of men's attention sometimes.

Artie was the next to arrive. His hair was in a quiff and he was wearing a dark red suit with a white bow tie.

"Hey, Artie!" Rachel waved him over.

"Rachel? Wow, you look h-" He looked at Sam and cleared his throat. "You look good."

Rachel laughed. "Thanks. Hey, so do you! Someone's gonna break some hearts tonight," she smiled.

Sam only just realised that his girlfriend was talking to his friend. "Artie! You're looking good!"

"You do realise that Artie used looking 'good' as a substitute for hot, right?" Rachel laughed. Sam's eyes narrowed, and she put a hand on his arm. "Come on, like I'd leave you for Artie. No offence, obviously, Artie," she apologised.

"No prob," he waved her off. "You probably couldn't handle all this anyway," he smirked. "Kurt, you look…Scottish," Artie tried to compliment.

"You like?" Kurt asked, showing off his kilt. "Blaine doesn't, but he's just a killjoy. No, not in the My Chemical Romance kind, Jeff," Kurt laughed as Jeff's head snapped round to see what they were talking about. "Jeff's a die-hard MCR fan," Kurt explained.

"I wouldn't say die-hard…" Jeff mumbled, embarrassed.

Mike and Tina were next to arrive. There were 'Oh my God!'s here there and everywhere from the girls, while the guys just nodded at each other. Puck and Lauren arrived, the same happened.

When Brittany and Santana arrived, Artie looked down at his feet. He still wasn't comfortable with his girlfriend leaving him for a girl. Rachel patted his knee, then stopped, realising he couldn't feel it. He saw, and thanked her silently for the gesture.

"Remember the deal, man," Sam smiled.

"What deal?" Rachel whispered.

"Oh yeah, I was gonna tell you. I'm gonna get all the girls to dance with Artie and, y'know, flirt with him a little, make him feel better about the whole Brittana thing going down."

"You're the best," she smiled, and she kissed him.

"Whoa there! Let's keep this PG, shall we?" Finn smiled, Quinn on his arm.

"You both look…" Rachel began.

"Wow." Sam finished. They both silently forgave each other, naturally. I mean, they were admiring their own exes, so it wasn't like one was doing more damage than the other.

"Wow Rachel, you look beautiful," Quinn exclaimed, and Rachel looked up at her, surprised that Quinn Fabray would say such a thing to her.

"Thanks, Quinn," she blushed.

"Quinn, can I talk to you a sec?" Sam asked, and he led her away from the table.

"I don't like the look of that," Finn glared at Sam.

"Don't worry, he's asking her to dance with Artie to make him feel better about not having a date," Rachel whispered to him.

"Oh," Finn nodded in understanding. "You look gorgeous tonight, by the way."

"Thank you, you clean up nicely, too," she smirked.

Once everyone had arrived, they ordered, and they were talking animatedly about the night to come, Sam rushing to all the girls (except Brittany and Santana, naturally) and filling them in on "Operation Art-Breaker" as he liked to call it. Every time he did, he also decided to say it in a British accent. Rachel shook her head, laughing. Nothing could ruin tonight, she thought.

Until she saw Jesse St. James skulking in the shadows.

Next chapter: Prom part 2! What's Jesse planning to do this time? Will Operation Art-Break work? Who will become Prom King and Queen? (Btw, let me know who you'd like to be King and Queen in the reviews! :D)