Chapter 1: The Fall From Grace
Math had always been boring for Kurt. Ever since day one. So instead of paying attention, he usually took to doodling in the margins of his notes. Or writing in his journal. Or writing in the margins of his journal. Today, he chose the latter.
He chose wrong.
It was the worst mistake of his life.
Let me tell you why. Azimio Adams sits to the left of Kurt. However, the two do not get along very well. Azimio was rather large, and Kurt was rather small. Kurt was a closeted gay in glee club and Azimio was football player. They just were not compatible.
So naturally, when he got a hold of Kurt's precious journal, all hell broke loose.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Azimio snatched the precious notebook off of Kurt's desk and started to flip through the pages. "Interesting. Very interesting."
"Give it back!" Kurt shouted, as loud as he dared while the teacher was lecturing.
"Finders keepers." The football player teased. "This little diary of yours is a gold mine. I'm never giving it back."
It was then that Kurt noticed the teacher standing there. They had interrupted her class. And this particular teacher did not like to be interrupted. "Excuse me boys, but if you hadn't noticed, I am trying to teach a class here. I would appreciate it if you stopped passing notes like little schoolgirls."
"With all due respect, Ms. Pearce, we weren't passing notes." The ever polite Kurt clarified. "Mr. Adams stole my journal."
Ms. Pearce was definitely not one of Kurt's favorite teachers. In fact, he doubted that she was anyone's favorite teacher. She was cruel and unforgiving. And don't even get me started on her horrible fashion sense. That bitch needs a gay best friend to go shopping with. Right now, she wore a sneer on her wart-filled face. Her belittling demeanor was intensified by the way she looked down at you and the way her glasses sat on the edge of her crooked nose. "In the future, Mr. Hummel, I would advise you not to bring such personal items to school. If you don't want something stolen, then you should keep it somewhere safe. Keeping a valuable item on your desk, out in the open, does not count as a safe place." Here she turned her wrath to Azimio. "As for you, Mr. Adams, I would advise you to return the notebook back to its rightful owner before I decide to send you to the Principal's office. Let this be a warning: If I catch either of you passing notes again, I will not be so lenient. So we all agree that I shall be seeing you both after school today, tomorrow, and for the rest of the week?" She didn't give us time to respond before she continued. "Good. Now pay attention! I feel in the mood for a pop quiz."
Kurt flipped through the pages of his journal, just to make sure none of them were missing. He was about to put it away when he noticed that the ending of his most recent entry had been omitted. He flipped back to the start of the entry and began to read. The more he read, the more he remembered that that final page had held a secret that could potentially destroy his life, if it fell into the wrong hands. He snuck a peak over at Azimio, who was reading a piece of torn paper intently. Seeming to feel the weight of Kurt's gaze, he looked up, and smiled.
Kurt's life was officially over.
It only took until lunch for the whole school to know about his secret. At first, he hadn't thought anything was wrong. That it was just going to be a normal lunch with his best friends, Rachel Berry and Mercedes Jones. He thought wrong. They were in the middle of a debate about what Rachel should wear on her theatre date with Quinn. Wicked was currently playing in Columbus and Quinn had surprised her with the tickets as a "just because" gift. Quinn could be nice when she wanted to be.
"Hey there, faggots." Kurt looked up from his heated discussion at the mention of the offensive word. The voice, harsh, yet familiar, belonged to none other than Dave Karofsky. Oh God, if you exist, please kill me now. Kurt thought to himself as his cheeks reddened with blush. He had had a crush on Dave since the fourth grade. Dave had been nicer to him back then. Back then everything had been innocent. Kurt could recall the day very clearly.
Kurt had forgotten his lunch at home, and refused to eat the atrocious slop they served in the cafeteria. So Dave, being the sweet little boy he was, had shared his lunch with the starving Kurt. It seems as if Dave had forgotten that day. But Kurt hadn't.
"Heard you had a crush on me." Dave snarled. "I just came over here to tell you to stay the fuck away from me. I have an important game coming up and I can't risk catching faggotitis."
Mortified by the barrage of insults, Kurt sat there, unable to speak.
Mercedes, however, wasn't about to take any bullshit from these football players, whether they were popular or not. "Now I know, now I know, you did not just insult my man Kurt here. You better back off Karofsky or else we gonna have some problems. Understand? You leave Kurt alone. He ain't never done nothin' to you."
Dave looked a little frightened. He composed himself quickly. "What makes you think I'd be afraid of a nigger? This is America. For the longest time, the law was biased against your kind. And just because the laws have changed, it doesn't mean the people have."
Mercedes stood up suddenly, the swift motion knocking her chair back on the floor. "Oh you're asking for it now, Karofsky." She took out her gold hoops and handed them to a startled Rachel. "Hold these. This boy needs to be taught some manners."
"Umm, Mercedes." Rachel quivered. "Don't you think we should tell a teacher?"
"The teachers ain't gonna do nothin', Rachel. I've been putting up with all this crap about Kurt being gay all day long and I'm tired of it. Why can't people just accept people the way they are? Beating the crap out of him isn't going to change who he is! And everybody already knew anyways. All the signs are there. I don't get why it's such a big deal." Mercedes turned back to Dave, who stood there, arms crossed, scowl permanently etched on his features. "And you! Nobody ever threatened to beat Rachel or Quinn up and they're gay. Why should it be different for guys? Now I'm going to give you a fair warning. You can leave right now and forget this ever happened or we can hash it out, right here, right now. I ain't afraid of no white boy."
"It's hot when two girls make out. But watching two guys make out is just disgusting."
Mercedes closed her eyes for a moment and moistened her lips. She tried to ignore the constant roaring of the other students encouraging their fight. Once opened, her eyes found the face of her savior.
Mr. Schue.
And once he realized what was going on, he ran up, and did what did best. "What is going on here?" He yelled, voice echoing across the now silent cafeteria. "Mercedes, I know I've taught you better than this. Violence is never the answer."
"But Mr. Schue, I had to do something. The football players were going to beat the crap out of Kurt if I didn't step in and do something about it." Mercedes explained, after taking a few deep breaths.
Mr. Schue shook his head and turned to Dave. "Is this true, Dave? Were you planning to beat Kurt up?"
Dave seemed a little flustered, now that he had gotten caught. "Well, I, umm…"
"It's a simple yes or no question, Dave."
"I, uhh…"
"I'll take that as a yes." Mr. Schue sneered. "Now because you haven't yet laid a finger on Kurt, I'm going to be nice and only give you detention. But if I ever hear of this again, you can expect expulsion. Do I make myself clear?"
Dave nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Get to class. All of you. Or else Dave won't be the only one serving detention with me later today."
At Mr. Schue's order, the cafeteria cleared out. He turned to talk to Kurt, but he wasn't there. So he turned to Rachel instead. "Where's Kurt?"
She looked around, still a bit shaken from the whole scene. "I think he went to the bathroom. But I can't be sure."
With Kurt in the fragile state he was, the bathroom was not a very safe place to be.
