Ok, some of you are really going to hate me...
2.33pm
In his office, not that far away from the main staircase, Aaron Carmichael sat quietly, a pile of papers in front of him, documents that he needed to read for a governors meeting that he was due to attend the following day. He wasn't seeing the words in front of him, his mind instead dominated by the way that tragedy could intrude so suddenly and so brutally into our lives. He knew that from experience, and now it had unfolded again at his school. He had a soft spot for Kurt Hummel; not just because of the way that he had dealt with the traumas of his life; not just for his voice; or indeed for the way that he had transformed the life of Blaine Anderson, and the way the two of them were together. He liked him because he was strong, and loved all of his family and friends equally. His time at Dalton might have been shorter than he would have liked, but he had made such an impact, making so many friends, and not just within the Warblers. He knew that Kurt kept in touch with Wes, David and Thad, the council of his day; with Beats and Flint; with the rambunctious Niff and the strong, deeply moral Trent. He even had time for Sebastian these days, which given all that had taken place between the two of them, was nothing short of a miracle. He wondered if he should take it upon himself and let Wes know what had happened; but then he realised that he would no doubt be told soon, if he hadn't been already, by one of the boys. He wouldn't be surprised either if the former Head Warbler appeared in Ohio sooner, rather than later.
He also felt for Burt Hummel and his wife, Carole. When he had first met them, he had reservations. The tyre shop owner in a baseball cap and his nurse wife were not the usual sort of parents that you saw at Dalton after all. But Kurt had needed the sanctuary that the school could provide. In time, Burt had grown upon him as he proved what a decent father and man he was; and nobody could fail to like the loving mother that Carole was. When he had heard the following year that Burt was standing for Congress, he had ignored his scoffing colleagues and called to offer his backing and any help he could give. His campaign was the most just after all. He had even managed to convince several parents to back him.
Now Congressman Hummel was back in his school, and what should have been such a happy moment had been turned upside down, as Burt had to deal with the death of his stepson at such an early age. He had first hand knowledge of the pain that the death of a man that was barely an adult could cause - his eyes alighted on the photo of his own son Jamie on his desk. He would make time to see Burt as soon as he could to offer friendship and support. But not yet - he had to allow the man time to grieve with his wife and Kurt first. 'Such a happy day, turned so sad in a few words,' he thought. 'But life has to go on.' The phone began to ring in the outer office as if to prove his point. It had to do so, or they would all go mad very quickly.
As he pondered this, the phone on his desk began to ring. Without thinking, he picked it up and listened. He wondered briefly why the gentleman in question was calling him, failing to notice that his loyal secretary, Agnes Hamilton, had a tearful note to her voice as she spoke to him in the process of transferring the call. It was only as he greeted Mr Sterling that Aaron Carmichael suddenly realised that as he had observed the proposal discretely from a doorway, he had not seen the tall boy with the mop of blond hair. It was not like Jeff to miss something like this - in fact, he would go so far as to say it was completely out of character. As he listened to the voice on the other end of the line, he first felt his heart sink and then shatter altogether. After he had rung off, he sat for a while, staring out at his office. It was so silent, apart from the faint sound of sobbing coming from the next room. It was unthinkable. What he had just been told was horrific. The probability of something like this happening had to be minute, and yet, it had. He knew what he had to do, and he knew that he could not delegate the task to anyone else. He wished so much that he could, particularly as he knew that it would be accompanied by a meltdown. He could not put it off, that would be unfair. He rose, and after a brief word to his secretary, still crying so hard, he headed off to find three people.
It was only by luck that he found Sebastian, Trent and Nick together. Trent had returned to find Nick on his own with the New Directions; Sebastian had decided to check up on the Haverbrook kids and Vocal Adrenaline. He had in all the chaos forgotten about them. They were still on the premises, and he went to speak to them. He had promised to pass on their regrets and shock to New Directions, before he had, with the help of some of the younger Warblers, seen them on their way. Trent had returned to see Blaine with coffee, and had actually spoken to Kurt; he had barely seemed to be aware that he was present, so deep in shock he remained. Then he had watched silently from the window as Will Schuester had escorted Rachel home to her dads, the young woman barely able to stand on her own.
Sebastian had barely stepped back into the room when the Principal had knocked gently on the door and beckoned him over. He made his way over, not failing to notice the pain etched on the man's face as he did so. "Sebastian, I need to see you, Trent and Nick in my office right away. I am sure that the younger boys are more than capable of looking after our guests for a short while. How are Mr Hummel and Kurt, by the way? Have you seen them?"
"Trent has, sir. He says that Kurt is still in a state of shock, and that Blaine seems to be in a pretty bad way too. Can I ask what this is about sir? Does it require all three of us to be in attendance?"
"It does, I'm afraid… It will not take long, but when we get to my office, I will need to see Trent and yourself alone first. For a short period, we shall have to ask Mr Duval to sit outside…"
Five minutes later, Nick found himself sitting in the secretary's office, entirely on his own. The redoubtable Mrs Hamilton was nowhere to be seen. He had sat in this room once already this year, whilst he waited to see the principal after the whole steroid scandal had erupted. This felt different. Then he had known exactly why he had been summoned. Now he had no idea, and from what he could gather, neither of the other two knew either. As he waited, he pulled out his phone, and sent another anxious "Where are you Jeffie?" text. He supposed that after the big accident, traffic would be snarled up, but that was no explanation as to why Jeff was not answering his messages.
On the other side of the sound proofed door, his two friends sat in silence as the Principal fussed about. He had offered them coffee, or a glass of water; he had even brought out a box of mints. He had however not met their eyes once in all that time. "Sir," said Sebastian, "Whilst we both appreciate your hospitality, I am assuming that you did not invite us in here for this? We do have a bit of a crisis on our hands at the moment…"
"Yes, yes we do… You are quite right, Mr Smythe. I have been guilty of prevaricating to try and put off what I must inevitably do. The accident on the freeway was quite substantial. Over 30 vehicles were caught up in it, so I believe. Mr Hudson was not the only fatality. Which is why, I'm afraid, I have had to ask you in here - and why I have asked Mr Duval to remain outside at first…"
At those words, Sebastian felt more confused than he had been before. It was a different story for Trent. He had always been observant. Although Wes would never admit it, he had been the one to point out the chemistry between Blaine and 'the spy' on that day when two worlds had collided on a staircase at Dalton. He had been the one to spot that Hunter was up to no good, even before he had produced the steroids. Now, in the Principal's study, all the little clues began to come together in his mind.
Firstly, the fact that he and Sebastian, the two Warblers closest to Nick, had been brought into the room first, whilst he was asked to remain outside; all this whilst the New Directions, guests at the school, had been left in the charge of a group of very junior boys in the Senior Commons. The number one rule at Dalton was that guests were never left without the supervision of a Senior. And the Principal had just asked them to do exactly that.
Secondly, as they had approached the office, the school secretary had bolted from the room without so much as a glance in their direction; in fact, she had looked anywhere but in their direction. Agnes Hamilton was a friend to all of the boys, and she always had so much time for the Warblers; today, she couldn't even look at them.
Thirdly, the Principal himself had been hedging around the reason why they had been summoned, and he was always so organised and direct. Today - well, he would be a perfect candidate for Principal at McKinley, the way he was acting. He had admitted that much too, whilst moving on to talk about the accident…
Then, the penny dropped.
Trent felt his blood run cold, the bile rise up in his throat. He knew why they were here; why Nick was sitting outside; why Mrs Hamilton had run away (and yes, she had been using her handkerchief as she did so, now he thought about it.) He knew why Principal Carmichael could not meet their eyes. He knew that there was one Warbler missing. A Warbler that he been at the mall, and would potentially have been on the freeway. A Warbler that was not answering his phone….
"Oh God, please, please, no…" Trent gasped out, as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. He looked straight at the Principal, who now looked straight back at him. Trent instantly saw the heartache and pain in his expression, and he knew that his worst fears had just been realised; that a nightmare had begun. It all made so much sense to him now…
"Ok, will someone just tell me what is going on!" said Sebastian in exasperation, caught between the grief stricken face of his principal and that fact that Trent had begun to cry. "Maybe I am missing something important here, but I still fail to see what is going on."
"Oh, for God's sake, Sebastian, use your head for once! Who would have been on the freeway at the right time? Who isn't here? Who isn't answering their phone, not even for Nick!" snapped Trent, his tone harsh, but his voice low. He saw at once that his words had scored a direct hit.
Sebastian's eyes suddenly widened, his face started to crumple, and his hands began to shake. "Please," he said to Principal Carmichael, in a begging tone, "Trent's got it wrong! He has to have done. He can't be… he just can't…"
"I received a call from his father about fifteen minutes ago. He had just been visited by the Sheriff. He was told that his car was in the centre of the pile up, probably just a few feet away from that of Mr Hudson. It was a complete right off. After the crash, there was an explosion and fire, which engulfed several of the vehicles, including his. As for…he had doubtless suffered severe and fatal injuries in the collision, such was the force of the impact. He would not have suffered. That is at least something that we can all be thankful about. That sounds wrong, I know, but at least he was spared pain. I was asked to tell you all what had happened, and I can tell you now that this is the hardest thing I have had to do in over forty years of teaching. I have told you two first because what is about to happen is going to be so much worse than this. Between us we have to tell Nick that Jeff is dead…"
It was the use of his name that sent Trent over the edge. He started to sob, still conscious of his need to do so as quietly as possible - the door was pretty soundproof, but he could not risk Nick hearing his tears. He knew that if he did, his friend would burst in and demand to know what was going on and none of the three of them were ready to tell him yet. Principal Carmichael, that strong beacon of dependability to all his boys was staring out of the window again, not even able to glance at them once more. Tears had begun to pour down Sebastian's face, his expression just so lost. All Trent could do was sob for his best friend, his oldest friend here at Dalton. That the life of such a cheerful, smiling, exuberant and above all good young man could be snuffed out in a moment made him so angry. And then, there was Nick. After all, it wasn't just Jeff that had died, it was Niff. What was it they had all said, every Warbler from Wes onward - No Nick without Jeff, No Jeff without Nick. That implied that now there would be no Nick - and Trent could well believe that. He realised now that Sebastian had placed an arm around his shoulders. He looked up at him, at the look of absolute horror on his face; the helplessness that they both felt so apparent, and Trent could bear it no longer. He buried his head in Sebastian's chest and let his sobs come. He felt himself being pulled in closer, and then he felt Sebastian's head on his shoulder; could feel the other boy's wet salty tears falling on his neck. And very quietly, he could hear him saying "Fuck, fuck, fuck" under his breath.
