A/N So I'm completely astounded by the number of hits I've received! :D This is so amazing! AHHHH! Thank you to those who favorite-d and followed and I even received my first reviews! I'm on cloud nine :) And this is the third time I've tried with this chapter, FFN really feels like screwing me over today.

Alrightie then, I had forgotten the disclaimer last chapter, so I'm putting one up now and it will stand for this chapter, last chapter, and other chapters from here on out.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any recognizable characters or content, they belong to Ryan Murphy and co. And the songs mentioned are "Close Every Door" by Andrew Lloyd Webber from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and "Daydreamer" by Adele.

This is where a few of my trigger warnings on the summary start to play in. Be ready for more intenseness as the story reveals itself. Even I'm not really sure where it's going! Enjoy and review/comment/critique/favorite/alert. By the by, I'm considering upping the rating to M, so let me know what you think.

Whew, that was a lot... Sorry! :)

Kurt was shocked by how well Mr. Schuester had adjusted the group within the time he'd been there. It had taken him three weeks to get used to singing with the others, but a month and a half in and no greater repercussions from joining glee club or deviations from what he normally endured than a few slushie facials here and there. That's not to say that they didn't sting like a bitch, but it wasn't ante'd up like he had expected. The first few weeks were rough, Kurt had easily pulled Mr. Cellophane out of his repertoire for auditions, but Mr. Schuester kept testing his patience.

Kurt was having a bad day.

It started as most days did: he was ambushed and tossed into the dumpster in the parking lot. Unexpectedly, he was able to catch his breath and stumble out of it before the jocks had made it inside the school building. That of course prompted them into picking him up and slamming him into it even harder. He easily lost his breath again, this time gasping at the sensation of slitting skin. His upper arm had been cut by a broken sweet tea glass bottle. Kurt went dizzy from the rush of adrenaline he felt in his head, grasping onto the edge of the garbage receptacle. He was so out of it that he didn't realize what he was touching. He vaguely recognized the need to disinfect the wound as he tried to put some pressure on it. The sting made the rush even stronger and his eyes slowly slid shut. The tardy bell pulled him out of his haze; he meandered into the building, making his way towards the nurse's office.

Kids were rushing to their classes, so when Kurt was pushed into a locker, he thought it was an accident. Then he saw the satisfied smirk that made up Karofsky's visage. He was pushed down, his head viciously slamming on the locker on the way. Kurt pulled his limbs into a little ball, trying to protect as much of his body as he could. He expected the hard swipe to his head, but not the double teaming that Karofsky's crony, Azimio Adams, made possible. Stringing along words like 'homo' and 'our halls' they kicked him until he was gasping for breath then ran on to their classes, sweet-talking themselves out of tardies.

Kurt decided that going to the nurse would be a bad idea, he didn't have any ibuprofen in the office, and the nurse didn't have the soft-spot expected to be saved for injured kids. In fact, he'd probably be turned away for being one of 'his kind'. It was like the people around here thought that they would 'catch the gay' if they spent too long around him. Kurt hid in the boy's bathroom by finding a piece of paper and writing "OUT OF ORDER" on it. He sat on a layer of toilet paper on top of the toilet seat, minimizing contact with germs. His whole body ached and he couldn't wait for this day to be over. Kurt wouldn't even leave to eat lunch. He was wont to not eat lunch most days, but normally he at least put up appearances. It was a good thing that he was skipping football practice for glee, even though it wouldn't earn him any favors with Coach Tanaka. He couldn't handle much more time with those Grade-A Neanderthals. Kurt started stretching about five minutes before the final bell would ring, figuring that when everyone scrambled from their classrooms would be the perfect time to try to evade the lumbering hazards that were his team-mates.

After he ran to each of his teachers to ascertain what his assignments were, Kurt was able to make it to the choir room, thankfully unmolested.

"Kurt! I'd like you to do something for me today," Mr. Schuester said as soon as Kurt stepped through the door, absolutely oblivious to his emotional state.

Schue didn't even notice the inflected sarcasm when Kurt answered in a mock-cheery voice, "Sure Mr. Schuester, anything for you!"

Schuester was thrilled by Kurt's response and immediately started telling Kurt what he wanted, "I want you to sing me two different songs, showcasing your lowest and highest registers. You think you can do that?"

Kurt scoffed, of course he could do it, and he had the perfect songs within his repertoire. After checking with Brad and telling him the two songs, Kurt started out with the lower.

Close every door to me,

Hide all the world from me.

Bar all the windows

And shut out the light.

Do what you want with me,

Hate me and laugh at me.

Darken my daytime,

And torture my night.

If my life were important I would ask will I live or die?

But I know the answers lie

Far from this world.

Close every door to me,

Keep those I love from me.

Children of Israel

Are never alone,

For I know I shall find

My own peace of mind,

For I have been promised a land of My own!

Rachel and Tina joined in on the children's choral part, keeping everything on time.

Just give me a number

Instead of my name.

Forget all about me

And let me decay.

I do not matter,

I'm only one person.

Destroy me completely,

Then throw me away.

If my life were important I would ask will I live or die?

But I know the answers lie

Far from this world!

Close every door to me.

Keep those I love from me.

Children of Israel

Are never alone!

All the other members joined in for the harmony of the last few lines.

For we know we shall find

Our own peace of mind,

For we have been promised

A land of our own!

Kurt couldn't quite believe how well he'd executed the song! He could go up against Donny Osmond himself with that rendition! He'd hit all the lows that nobody expected from someone with as high of a speaking voice as his own.

"Wow, Kurt, just Wow! I have to say, amazing performance! First of all, Broadway? Bravo! Also, you hit all of the notes and were on pitch perfectly, a truly amazing job!" Frankly, Mr. Schuester was surprised by the gem he had unknowingly caught. He was so glad that he had decided to claim he'd found the marijuana in both Finn AND Kurt's lockers. He'd caught lead-male gold and a voice he could easily feature.

Kurt was relishing in the fact that he was receiving praise over a Broadway number while Rachel sulked in the back corner, conceding to herself that she never could have power-housed that song the way he just had. Next, he decided to sing "Daydreamer" by Adele. A very different style and it had all the high notes that no one expected him to be able to reach, too. Even with his raving reviews, Kurt thought that he was about as tired as he could get. He just wanted to go barricade himself in his nice, clean, stream-lined, monochromatic room, to burrow into his sheets and comforter.

"With all due respect, Mr. Schue, I think that is probably the best performance you are going to get out of me, today. Is it alright if I go ahead and leave?" Kurt was so ready to get out of there.

"Oh, yeah Kurt, whatever you need to do," Schuester was still kind of out of it, thinking about what uses he could put Kurt's voice up to. Maybe there'll be a solo for Sectionals waiting the next time he came to glee practice.

Kurt sped out of the choir room as best as he could with all of painful aching and throbbing throughout his body. He was preoccupied with thoughts of distracting his mother as he walked through the building but, once he got to the front, Kurt noticed the football players streaming out of the locker rooms. He stopped himself from pacing or freezing up, adopting a careless posture as their words made their way through the warm air towards him.

"…an't believe they'd keep a gay…"

"…Yeah, he's just shamin' the rest've us. We work hard and he kills it all…"

"…I don't like the idea of a homo on our team…"

"…Yeah, like, I mean, he could be watchin' us or somethin'…"

"…I bet that's how the little freak gets's kicks…"

"…od, I don't want some little fag lookin' at my junk. That's just wrong man…"

"…I say we kick him out of the locker room, no homo's gonna come in and infect our place…"

The little snippets that Kurt could hear just crushed him, his residual high from doing so well in glee completely disappearing. The voices of Karofsky, Azimio, and two others were fading in and out. He knew he hated these guys, but he didn't expect them to be to devastatingly blatant with their dislike. They didn't even know he was there! Kurt backed himself up to the school wall, his wrist grazing a rough part. And then the adrenaline was rushing through his head again; it hurt, but his mind didn't. He couldn't think enough about the emotional pain with that feeling flowing through his veins. By the time he came back to his surroundings, the football players were gone and he could see his mom's car making its way towards the front of the building.

Elizabeth could tell something was wrong with Kurt by the drained way he was working; so when he was putting his bag in the backseat, she was formulating a way to cheer her baby up. "Hey, Kurt, how did the day go?" She could tell he would deny everything if confronted, so she wouldn't ask about the blood on his sleeve or the purpling bruises on what she could see of his forearms. Not yet, anyways.

"It was fine mom," Kurt lied through his teeth with false cheeriness.

"Well, I'm here if you need me," she said, immediately showing that she didn't buy it without pushing him. "How about we go out and do something? Hollister has a new bag in; we can go get a few tank tops or something." Elizabeth knew that one of the best ways to her little boy's heart was shopping. Retail Therapy would help with the hurts she could see him nursing without maiming his probably aching pride.

"I don't know mom, I'm tired and all I really want to do is go lie down," Kurt was really upset if he was going to hesitate on getting the Hollister bag. He'd been collecting since he was fourteen and it was stashed away in some hidey-hole that she couldn't find and Burt would never be able to.

"Come on Kurt, we can even pick up some Chinese to go for dinner. You know your dad will be okay with that." It sounded tempting, oh so tempting. He couldn't help but start counting the calories he'd already eaten at breakfast that day and the ones he'd be sure to eat tonight. They were too high, the numbers were too high… but it sounded so good just to be with his mom and not worry. His mom knew him so well.

"Fine, get in, get the back, get out, and then we can have a mini feast on Chinese. But please mom, nothing too fattening tonight, alright?"

"Deal," Elizabeth couldn't help but grin at the idea of getting him to eat something even slightly substantial. The bag would make him so happy, too. She knew her son so well.

It was a wonder how well browsing around a store with his mom affected his mood. He told her about thrashing the songs for showing off his range and she laughed at the idea of their flabbergasted expressions. They were joking and laughing and Kurt was looking around for something big enough, but worth the price of the new Hollister bag. That was when Kurt saw him. He had to be the most handsome boy in the whole world, walking around with some sort of suit on and bright pink sunglasses. He looked lost and his big hazel puppy dog eyes absolutely ensnared Kurt.

Elizabeth looked over when her son had gone silent, following his gaze to a dapper young man in a private school uniform. She nearly had to laugh at how cute her son and he were, avoiding eye contact, but catching quick gazes when they thought the other wasn't looking. Kurt saw his mom looking between him and the other boy and turned absolutely red. He grabbed a dark T-shirt he had been looking at and a bright blue and red striped belt to complement it and then dragged her to the check out. He didn't notice that the other boy was looking at him as if he were fascinated. Elizabeth didn't say anything about it, but she could tell Kurt was absolutely dying to meet this boy. She mentally patted herself on the back for distracting her son so thoroughly from the disparity he seemed to have been falling into earlier.

They snagged some Chinese food on the way home, with Kurt even ordering fried rice, his guilty pleasure, instead of white. He knew he wouldn't be able to eat lunch tomorrow with such disgustingly high levels of fat in his veins, but it tasted so good and he'd had a rollercoaster of a day.

Finally, Kurt sought the refuge of his room and was granted access. He breezed through his skin-care routine and decided that sleep was a necessity. He groaned when he realized that he'd have football practice the next day. High School: 987 Kurt Hummel: 000

A/N Well, there you go folks, we have ourselves a Blaine sighting! YAY! Poor Kurtie, won't he ever get to catch a break? I guess we'll find out in the next installment of IBHTC.

Serious time again, I think I'll be changing the rating to 'M', so please let me know your thoughts. I think that's all for now... Don't forget to review/favorite/alert/etc. :)