Author's note: Shorter chapter here. I was considering making it longer but decided it best to break it up instead so the next chapter will probably be up pretty soon. Looking forward to everyone's feedback!

This is a subject that hits a little close to the heart for me and I've been so paranoid about its reception, so if you have a moment please just tell me what you think so far.

Enjoy!

Caught In The Lie

Chapter 2: Monster

"Guys, let's give a warm welcome to our newest member of Glee Club, Blaine Anderson."

The words rang through Blaine's head for the rest of his time in Glee club, for the rest of the night even. As he lay in wait for sleep the smile on his face was far too broad to allow him to relax enough to drift off.

Acceptance had been a foreign concept the past few years. To have been so easily taken in by these strangers who asked no questions, who hadn't stared at him in disgust… he was afraid the entire day had been a cruel and teasing dream of a life he might never have.

Kurt couldn't stop smiling at him after he had performed. An enthusiastic toothy grin that Blaine couldn't stop himself from mirroring now that he was alone at home. He kept relatively quiet as Mr. Schue spoke during the duration of the meeting, unsure of his place even though it seemed as though he had finally found a place to be himself.

The paranoia refused to vanish though.

But for the moment he had Thursdays to look forward to. This was both a blessing and a curse, however, because the rest of the week now seemed to move twice as slow.

The next day Kurt flashed him a knowing smile, one that could only be translated to "I know exactly how you feel, I've been there." And perhaps he had been, perhaps Blaine wasn't giving him enough credit. Kurt seemed to be the only other gay kid in the school and Blaine was cautious but he wasn't an idiot. He was starting to realize just how foolish it would be to disregard Kurt's friendship, especially now after he had introduced Blaine to something he foresaw as quickly becoming his salvation.

"Nice" was too weak of a word to use to describe his feelings towards there being others who understood his reliance on music, but it was the only word coming to mind. It was simple and explained all that it needed to. He was never really one for many words, it was far easier for him to express himself through song, and so the blunt word his mind kept settling on seemed fitting.

Blaine slid into his seat beside Kurt in French, a dazed smile plastered on his face. There was no way he would be able to pay attention today, his head was buzzing with ideas for the assignment Mr. Schue had given them for the week.

"Find a song to express inspiration."

"Ahem," he heard to his left. He turned his head to face Kurt; the same toothy grin from the previous day greeted him. "So, I take it you enjoyed yourself yesterday. You have any ideas for the assignment this week?"

Blaine shook his head, regardless of the fact that the only things filling his head currently were ideas.

"It's all I've been thinking about, I think it's perfect for this week actually," Kurt opened his notebook and began copying the homework assignment off of the board.

Blaine's curiosity got the better of him and he blurted out, "Why do you say that?"

"Well, because you joined. A bit of inspiration might be helpful, don't you think?"

Blaine wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel in regards to the response. "I'm just like everyone else, Kurt-"

"I know," Kurt smiled.

Blaine felt an uneasy flutter in his stomach, the same he had felt when he actually paid attention to the way Kurt looked, the first time their eyes met and he was faced with that brilliant smile.

"So then why would I need inspiration?"

"I just thought it might be nice. I saw the way you looked when you were there… that's the happiest I've seen you since we met. A little inspiration… well, I figured you could use the boost. You seem so sad all the time."

"What's your angle, Kurt? Am I some charity case for you or… what?" he snapped, sounding angrier than he intended.

The question had left his lips before he had time to think the words over. He knew he sounded cruel and accusatory, and Kurt had been so nice with only the pure intentions of helping.

"I mean, fuck I'm sorry. I didn't mean to- just… just ignore that. Please," he felt mortified and quickly created a barrier between the two of them by propping his head up against his hand, facing away from Kurt.

"Blaine-"

"Settle down and take out your homework from last night, class. Pass it forward so I can collect them," for once Blaine was thankful Mr. Moreau had interrupted.

He knew Kurt wouldn't leave the conversation Blaine didn't want to have to silence. For now he refused to even acknowledge Kurt's presence though, sketching stars in the margin in his notebook. Class was going to feel twice as long without Kurt's mocking facial expressions and whispered remarks.

Blaine could feel Kurt staring at him for the entirety of the lecture. Even though he was bearing the heat from Kurt's eyes on the side of his neck, Blaine knew there would be little he could do to avoid his friend during lunch the next period. Unless he elected to have his lunch somewhere else, but he had no idea where in the school he could even do that. Safely, at least.

He wouldn't be allowed to eat in the library or his music classroom, he wasn't allowed to leave school grounds due to his junior status… his only real options were the cafeteria or one of the bathrooms.

The thought of spending an entire period, especially with his lunch, in a bathroom both terrified and disgusted him… but right now he felt he needed to do anything to avoid confrontation from Kurt.

Suddenly, a thought struck his brain like lightening.

Maybe he would be able to eat in the choir room where Glee club at taken place.

He took to studying the clock in eager anticipation of the end of class. As soon as the bell rang he gathered his books in his arms and bolted straight for the door, leaving Kurt, neatly packing his things, behind. Upon noticing Blaine's sudden departure though Kurt hastily shoved his books wherever they would fit and called after Blaine, but he was too late: Blaine had already disappeared.

After the initial incident with Karofsky, Blaine had learned to carry his lunch with him rather than make the stop at his locker after French. But, still being in a dreamy daze from the previous day's events, he had completely forgotten to take it with him after his English class (just prior to French) and would need to go back there now.

He swallowed, hard, and only hoped other students would still be lingering in the halls by the time he had reached it. His locker was located on the complete opposite end of the school from Mr. Moreau's classroom, which meant he usually made it there just as the bell signaling the start of the next class sounded off.

Despite his speedy pace, he still arrived just as the bell rang and the hall looked significantly vacant. With a quick glance around and a heavy pounding in his chest he quickly spun the dial on his combo lock, panicking when he pulled and discovered the lock wouldn't budge: he'd spun the wrong combination.

"Calm down, slowly now," he whispered under his breath and tried again.

He pulled the lock free and just as soon as he stuck his hand inside, the door of his locker was forcefully slammed shut, pinning his hand. He cried out in sheer agony and Karofsky, materializing out of thin air to his right, merely smiled.

"Hummel is enough of a faggot for this school, we don't need two of you here," his voice was laced with pure disgust, such disdain that Blaine felt queasy.

'Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to any of you?' Blaine thought bitterly as he tried to extricate his hand. Tears were streaming freely down his face; some part of his hand was definitely broken and the harder he pulled the more it hurt.

"Help! Please, someone!"

"I'll fucking kill you if you talk. Remember that."

Karofsky vanished just as Mr. Schuester rounded the corner in a full on sprint. He took one look at Blaine before his eyes shifted to the locker and he seemed to be at a loss regarding what to do. After only a second's worth of consideration he ran into a nearby classroom and returned with a metal ruler.

Blaine thought it looked too flimsy to be of much use but Mr. Schue wedged it between the small opening Blaine's hand was creating and pushed on it, carefully placing himself in front of Blaine's face to shield it in case the ruler snapped. The extreme way the ruler seemed to be bending led Blaine to believe it was dangerously close to snapping, that he would end up stuck and on display for other students passing by to gawk at.

As he was envisioning a booth charging admission to stare at him the locker door finally flew open and Blaine staggered backwards, nursing his injured hand closely to his chest as he fell onto his ass.

"Blaine, are you okay? What happened?" Mr. Schue kneeled down beside him, concern swimming in his eyes. He tried to take Blaine's hand between his own to examine the extent of the damage but it only made Blaine flinch away and hold his hand tighter to his chest.

Blaine couldn't focus on Mr. Schue's questions. He knew that something had been said, figured it must have been directed at him because of the expectant look he was being given, but for the life of him he could not guess what he had been asked.

The pain in his hand was far too much to take, his vision was blurred and he felt sick, not only from the excruciating ache in his hand but from the weight of Karofsky's threat.

On top of it all he noticed heads poking out of the door frames all down the hall. He was starting to wish he hadn't abandoned Kurt right now.

"Blaine, are you alright?" Mr. Schue's voice had dropped down to a whisper, more concerned than it had been a moment ago.

Blaine sniffled and nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm- I'll be fine. Thanks. Can we…" he glanced down the hall again, "There are people staring."

Mr. Schue looked behind himself before helping Blaine to his feet, "Let's head to the nurse to get your hand looked at."

Blaine bent down to pick up his satchel but Mr. Schue beat him to it, scooping it up by the strap and placed a hand on Blaine's back, "Come on." Before they left Mr. Schue closed his locker and clicked the lock shut.

They walked in silence until they had left the hallway, away from prying eyes, and Mr. Schuester couldn't contain himself any longer, "What happened, Blaine?"

"Someone must have bumped into my locker door when they were trying to get to class…" he knew he should say who it was, explain that it wasn't an accident but an act of malicious hate because if any teacher at this school was going to help him it would have definitely been Mr. Schue.

But past experiences with bullies and teachers in the other schools he had been to led him to believe this situation would somehow become so warped that the blame would end up being placed on his shoulders.

"If you would stop trying to get attention by acting like a boy and flaunting it."

"If you tried harder to fit in."

"You're making waves to get a reaction out of people."

"You're being inappropriate."

He shut his eyes to block out the voices sounding off in his head, belonging to past principals and teachers who were supposed to protect him. It was starting to overwhelm him so much that he had to stop walking and lean against a set of lockers close by. He'd completely forgotten about Mr. Schue's presence until his voice startled him, "Did you see who it was?"

Blaine's mind instantly presented him with his initial encounter with Karofsky. The threatening look that he had been given caused Blaine to shake even now as he recalled it. Adding the most recent threat, one he had actually made vocal now, and he was about ready to faint.

If Karofsky wouldn't kill him, as he had suggested, he certainly proved he wasn't afraid to seriously injure him at the very least.

"No," he whispered, voice as shaky and vulnerable as he felt. He opened his eyes and pushed off of the lockers then started walking past Mr. Schue on his way to the nurse. "I think I can handle it from here now, thanks for your help," he held his hand out for his satchel.

Mr. Schue reluctantly handed it over, still filled with a thousand more questions burning the back of his throat. "How about I go find Kurt and send him your way?"

Blaine hesitated before nodding, "He should be in the cafeteria right now, we have lunch together."

Despite the inevitable conversation the two of them were most likely going to have he was more afraid of being alone right now; he just wanted a friend, his only friend.

"Sure, Blaine," Mr. Schue turned to leave but Blaine suddenly remembered what had been on his mind right before the locker incident.

"Oh, Mr. Schue, I was wondering… for future reference, are we allowed to eat lunch in the choir room?"

"Something wrong with the cafeteria?" Mr. Schue asked, curious.

"I uh… I just wanted to… work on some things," Blaine offered tentatively.

"Well, you would need someone to supervise you-"

Blaine's face fell, "Oh, alright."

"I'm usually in there for my lunch right now so it shouldn't be a problem if you want to hang out there."

"What's wrong with the staff room?" Blaine joked and Mr. Schue smiled. "Thank you."

"Sure, Blaine. I'm going to go find Kurt, take it easy," Blaine nodded and Mr. Schue vanished, leaving him to stare at the door of the infirmary. He didn't want to go in alone and decided to wait a little longer for Kurt.

He glanced down at his hand and winced at the sight of it; it was swollen to the point where he couldn't even see the veins on the back of it and the center was bruised a deep purple from having been stuck between the locker door.

Seeing it seemed to amplify the pain and his eyes were tearing up again; he hoped Kurt would show up soon.