Prologue
Ask any of Dave's old friends and they'd all tell you the same, they had no idea what happened to Dave over the summer. He contacted no one, made no public appearances, almost like he vanished completely. Now, as Dave Karofsky and he'll tell you he had better things to do this summer.
Dave spent the summer at his grandparent's lakeside cabin, Lost in his thoughts. Thoughts of the awful year behind him. The horrible person he became. Not just the gay part but the all of it. Dave wasn't a bully and he wasn't the meat-head he seemed to be. No old Dave, as he came to call him was a model student. He made straight A's, honor's classes, Hell he was 2nd in his class behind Kurt. So that was the first step, finding old Dave meant renewing his love of learning.
That's how he found himself in the local book shop once a week. He'd buy up old classics and read them in the small coffee shop across the street. He started with Jeklye and Hide. It seemed appropriate, until he read the ending. No, Dave would not end up that way. He wasn't one to off himself. After that he stuck to safer books. One day while reading he Treasure Island in that coffee shop he found him. Daniel. Daniel, the burista who made his order everyday. Daniel with messy blond hair and coco brown eyes. Daniel who send Dave's thoughts reeling and haunted his dreams. The crush he developed for him helped Dave accept who he was, gay.
In fact not a week after accepting himself fully Daniel slipped a phone number to Dave along with his coffee. Dave never called him but that slip gave him the courage to do what he wanted to for so long. With slip heavy in his hand Dave called his Dad. That's when he did it. He told his father everything, the kiss he gave Kurt, running out of prom, bearding with Santana and why he was so angry. He even told him of the number currently crumbled in his hand. And to Dave's surprise the world didn't end. His dad still loved him, he was still Dave, only...lighter, a lighter Dave no longer carrying a secret. A FREED Dave. He ended the call and cried. He cried because the freedom only lasted long enough to let the guilt in.
NOOOOOO! That horrible bully from last year crept into his mind. That wasn't him! Be wasn't the monster who terrorized the halls anymore. No, he had to fix this. He HAD to. Dave collected his things and went out to the lake, pulling out his pen and notepad he poured out everything he kept in. He wrote to all of them, the glee kids he tormented. He wrote them all why, why he picked on them. Why he threw the slushies and the slurs. What he was hiding and asked for, if possible, forgiveness.
After freeing himself Dave made his last discovery of the summer. While now his mind was free from his guilt and confusion he was now painfully aware of the silence of the cabin. It drove him crazy to read in the intense quiet. One day he had had enough, Dave searched the cabin for noise of any kind. What he found was pleasantly surprising, his Grandma's vast collection of vinyl records. Some were familiar, the Beatles for example,but the collection consisted most of A man named Frank Sinatra. Made adventurous by boredom Gave dove into the records. Something about this man's smooth voice and meaningful lyrics touched Dave. Soon he found the lyrics engraved in his memory.
The best surprise came on a hot afternoon while listening to The Coffee Shop Dave's week of glee club kicked in and he found himself easily harmonizing with the music legend. Suddenly he was singing everywhere. Once while singing outside that local coffee shop, passers-by even threw change his way. This was his first clue that he was pretty good a singing
So as his summer wound down and Dave drove he thought of all he discover during his time by the lake. His new love for books, boys and singing and how he became the Old Dave again. That happy, kind, smart boy hie used to be. And everything fell into place. With his mind made up Dave smiled, vowing he'd to everything in his power to make senior year fabulous