Disclaimer: I truly wish I owned Glee. That would be so much fun, don't you think? But alas, I don't. Big shame.

Chapter 3—Confrontation

After assuring me multiple times that he was fine to drive back to Lima alone, Kurt left Dalton. We had made plans for me to drive to Lima tomorrow so I would get there right before his lunch period. He would meet me outside, then we would find Karofsky and try to talk to him.

A few minutes after Kurt left, Wes and David came back into my room.

"Soooo, what happened?" David asked as he plopped down on my bed.

"To Kurt? I-I think he should be the one to tell you, if he chooses to." I decided.

"No, after we left." Wes clarified.

"Umm, well, we talked, and he told me more about what's been going on at his school."

"That's all?" David looked disappointed.

"What else would we do?" I asked, confused, but Wes cut me off.

"And his glee club, what's their name, the New Directions. Aren't they doing anything to help him?"

I considered what Kurt had told me. "I don't think they've really noticed. I mean, he seemed really surprised when I told him the Warblers were considered cool here. I think his club has been so absorbed in their own problems to really notice. And you guys both know how much public schools let homophobia slide."

They nodded.

"Is he really a countertenor?" Wes asked hesitantly.

I looked at him as if he was insane.

"I don't know, I've never heard him sing, remember? But just from him speaking voice, there's a good possibility he's a real countertenor, not just a tenor who can reach a few high notes."

"We thought you might have had him sing, you know, to relieve stress or something." David explained.

I felt stupid. Why hadn't I thought of that?

"Regardless," Wes cut into my thoughts, "if he has that rare a voice, why isn't his glee club taking better care of him. For that matter, why wasn't he featured at Sectionals last year? I mean, imagine if we had a countertenor! We could do so many more songs, it would help the Warblers immensely! And if we did, I'd never let anybody so much as look at him the wrong way, he'd be so important! And at his school, he's being bullied? How does that work?" he finished indignantly.

David and I considered this thoughtfully. "Public schools are hell, and full of self-absorbed vain kids." I decided.

"At least his school." David added.

Wes seemed to be contemplating something. "I don't suppose there's any hope for Kurt transferring here?" he directed this last question to me.

I shook my head regretfully. "I don't think so. With the level of caring at his school it would take something even more to qualify him for an emergency transfer, I think. Besides, his family probably couldn't afford it."

Wes and David sighed regretfully. I was glad to note how much they seemed to care for Kurt, even though they'd only met him twice.

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to his school tomorrow to help him confront his bully." I replied.

They exchanged a cautious look. "Is that a good idea?" Wes asked carefully.

"I mean, how big is this guy? You may be a boxer, but, no offense, you're still on the shorter side." David explained.

Before I could speak up about my height and capability to look after myself, Wes spoke up.

"And even if you could take this guy down in a fight, could you? I mean, when you came here, you were half-broken. If you put yourself under that kind of pressure, you could get yourself hurt."

"I can handle myself." I told them stiffly, not wanting to admit how rattled up I was about this.

"Sure, yourself. But what about Kurt?" Wes pointed out.

Waving my arms in the arm to silence them, I put this discussion to an end before it could escalade into a full-blown argument.

"I have to do this, okay? If I don't, then things could get worse for Kurt, and if something serious, more serious happened to him, I would feel guilty, because I hadn't done everything I could've when I had the chance! I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

David remarked quietly, "Isn't this all fairly extreme for a guy you met...yesterday?"

Wes nodded silently as I considered this.

"No." I said simply. "Not if this escalades further. Not if Karofsky r-not if another teenage gay is harassed and seriously hurt. And besides, Kurt...I feel like I know him. I get him, I've been exactly, well, kind of, where he's been. We could be great friends," I stopped here, realizing what I said was true. We were so alike, we both sang, loved fashion (him more than me, but still), and seemed to connect well. "But not if he gets broken. So I am going tomorrow. Whether you cover for me or not is your choice, but I would really appreciate it if you guys supported Kurt and me in this."

Wes and David seemed to be taken aback at this rant, and thankfully hadn't caught my slip concerning Karofsky. Wes put his hand on my shoulder. "Of course we'll cover for you. You don't have to ask."

With that, he and David trooped out of my room, and I laid on my bed, exhausted from our conversation.

The next morning I got up as usual, pulling on my uniform, and going downstairs for breakfast. As I carried my bagel and coffee to my usual table, Wes and David gave me a look.

"I thought you were going to McKinley today." Wes told me cautiously.

I bit into my bagel, chewed, and swallowed. "I am, I'm going to fake sick during first block."

David nodded understandingly, while the other Warblers, mainly Nick and Jeff looked on in confusion.

"Why's he going to McKinley?" Jeff asked, while Nick gave me a fist bump.

"You go Blaine, playing hooky!"

"I am not playing hooky!" I exclaimed testily.

"No, you're just skipping school by playing sick to go to another high school. Hey, isn't that where Kurt goes? Are you guys dating or something?" Nick asked suddenly.

At this I choked on my coffee. "What? No! Why would you think that? We're just friends."

"Righhhhht." Jeff smirked. "But you're going to his school to see him."

"I'm helping him with something." I replied vaguely. At this, Nick, Jeff, and Trent seemed to understand, while the rest at our table had no clue.

"Good for you, Blaine." Trent praised me.

I gave him a small smile and nod in acknowledgment.

"How bad is it?" Jeff asked me gravely.

"Bad. Really bad." I said, still trying to keep it vague for Kurt's sake.

"Well, we'll all cover for you and make sure you don't get in trouble. And tell Kurt that he has all of us to support him if he needs it. Even if it is to come beat up some creep." Nick told me stoutly.

I winced at the word creep, but luckily none of them noticed.

"Thanks." I told him. "Now I've gotta go, or I'll be late."

With that, I threw out the remainder of my bagel, suddenly not hungry, and went back to my dorm to grab my schoolbag.

When I got to math, I made sure not to seem too chipper or awake, and instead slouched slightly, and only mumbled a hello to Mrs. Hunt.

"Are you feeling alright, Blaine?" She asked me, concerned.

I shrugged slightly. "I don't feel so great, but I may just be tired."

She gave me a supportive smile. "Okay. Well, if at anytime you need to go to the nurse, just tell me."

I thanked her, and walked to my seat, which I sat in heavily. The bell rang, and a few people ran in and settled down. As Mrs. Hunt began a lecture on the different formula's for graphing ellipses versus hyperbolas, I kept my eyes unfocused while still trying to pay attention. I half-succeeded, but knew it didn't really matter-I was really good in math, and could always consult my textbook later.

At about nine o'clock, when we were doing practice questions, I raised my hand.

"Yes, Blaine?" she asked worriedly.

"Umm, I don't feel so great. Can I go back to my dorm?" I asked.

"Of course. Here, Jeff, why don't you go with Blaine, just to be safe." she pointed to Jeff.

He stood up agreeably, and took my arm, leading me out of the room. Once we had turned the corner into a new hallway, he let go of my arm, and I straightened.

"Thanks for doing this."

"Oh, no problem. Anyway, it gets me out of math for a little while!" Jeff answered happily.

He walked with me to my dorm, and watched as I threw my car keys, cell phone and wallet into my pockets.

"Aren't you gonna change into casual clothes?" he asked curiously.

I shook my head. "No time. Besides, Kurt's a fashionista. I don't want to wear the wrong thing. I figure the uniform is a safe option."

Jeff chuckled to himself, then turned serious. "Okay, but if you get beaten up, or in a fight, blazers aren't cheap." he warned me.

I gave a humorless laugh. "Thanks for the advice."

"No problemo, man." He threw back at me, then started back towards math.

"Hey, Jeff!" I called out, acting on an impulse.

He stopped, half-turning towards me. "Yeah?"

I hesitated. "If you haven't heard from me by 2..." I trailed off.

He nodded slightly. "Freak out. Got it. Just...be safe, man."

With that, he turned and walked away.

I took a deep breath, glanced around my room for anything I'd possibly need, and my eyes landed on my iPod. Grabbing it for the car ride there (god bless bluetooth!), I hurried out of the building.

The drive to McKinley took about an hour and a half, what with there being no traffic, and virtually no one on the highway. In that time, I'd run through a million options of what to say when confronting Karofsky. What approach I wanted to take: hard, easy, supportive, withering? I settled on supportive after a while, and decided to take the 'you're going through a hard time, let me help you, and by the way, stop bullying Kurt' road. I hope this works.

It was almost 11 o'clock when I pulled into McKinley's parking lot. Locking my car, I hurried to the front door, and stepped into the lobby. Looking around, I saw long hallways with rows of lockers, dirty floors, and basic architecture. Ah, public school. Suddenly, a bell rang, and all the doors banged open instantly, pouring forth masses of kids. I got quite a few weird looks from kids, probably because of the uniform. After about a minute, I saw Kurt walking out of a classroom. The first thing I noticed was the jock who had his hand on Kurt's shoulder. He had blonde hair, and set my gaydar off a bit. Kurt smiled at the guy briefly, and my stomach clenched. Then the jock walked the other way, and Kurt began walking towards me. Without the jock on his arm, he seemed tense, agitated, and almost seemed to fold in on himself. Trying to make himself into a smaller target, I realized. I had done the exact same thing. When he saw me, his face broke out into a relieved smile, which loosened my stomach.

"Hi." he said, arriving in front of me.

"Hi." I replied back, and made a move to hug him. He, however, moved slightly away.

"First rule of McKinley-don't get caught talking to, holding hands with, hugging, or touching in any way with Kurt Hummel." he explained.

I looked at him, then hugged him. After a second, he hugged me back.

"I don't go here. I don't care what people think of me." I informed him.

He smiled slightly.

"So where would Karofsky be right now?" I asked.

His smile faded. "Probably either outside eating lunch with the other jocks, or somewhere in the gym or-" here Kurt hesitated slightly, "-locker room."

I nodded encouragingly. "Why don't we try outside first?"

He nodded at my suggestion, and began to lead me through the halls. When we reached the outside area, Kurt saw him on the stairs, so we headed that way. As we walked up the stairs, I assured Kurt, "Don't worry about it. Just let me do the talking." I didn't want Karofsky to be paying attention to Kurt in any way.

"There he is." Kurt told me, and I saw a large jock wearing the McKinley sports jacket coming down the stairs. He looked huge compared to Kurt, and I could imagine him pushing small Kurt around easily. He didn't look gay though, and if I didn't know better, I would swear he was straight. But he wasn't.

"I got your back." I reassured Kurt, then stepped up to Karofsky. "Excuse me?"

Karofsky looked contemptibly at Kurt and me. "Hey lady boys," he insulted us, then went on to disparagingly ask, "This your boyfriend, Kurt?"

Was it just me, was there a slight undercurrent of jealously in his voice? I shook that thought aside (along with the boyfriend comment). "Kurt and I would like to talk to you about something." Simple, calm, to the point.

He shook his head. "I got to go to class."

He shoved past us, and I said the first thing that came to my mind. "Kurt told me what you did." I informed him.

Karofsky stopped and looked up at us. "Oh yeah?" he challenged, shrugging his shoulders. "What's that?"

Kurt cut in breathily, obviously scared out of his wits. "You kissed me." he threw out.

At this, Karofsky started shaking his head, glancing around to make sure no one could hear us. "I don't know what you're talking about." he denied.

After this denial, I tried to pacify him slightly. "It seems like you might be a little confused, and that's totally normal." I reassured him confidently. "This is a very hard thing to come to terms with, and you should just know that you're not alone."

Imagine my surprise when at these words, he shoved me up the stairs into the fence, practically growling. "You do not mess with me!"

I tried to keep my composure, but before I could talk, Karofsky was shoved off of me...by Kurt of all people. "You have to stop this!" Kurt yelled shrilly at his bully.

Karofsky looked from me to Kurt, glancing around nervously, then half-ran away from us. Kurt seemed to be broken up inside. Trying to lighten the atmosphere, I glibly said, "Well, he's not coming out anytime soon." as I readjusted myself on the fence so I was leaning on it. Kurt sighed and looked devastated as he sat down on the stairs.

"What's going on?" I asked him as I took a seat next to him. "Why are you so upset?"

Kurt's eyes were bright with unshed tears. He explained it in a sentence. "Because up until yesterday, I had never been kissed...or at least, one that counted."

This confession made the whole situation worse. Karofsky had been Kurt's first kiss? Or...what did he mean, 'one that counted'. I shook my head, trying to rid my curious thoughts. "Come on, I'll buy you lunch." I told him, smiling before standing up.

He stood up too, and together we walked down the stairs.

A/N: Here we go, chapter 3! I hope you guys enjoyed it! I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions, so please review! I really do love Wes and David, especially how Wes would do anything to get a countertenor. Makes you wonder why he never treated Kurt that well when he was actually at Dalton. Oh well. Next up, lunch with Blaine, which I just love! Let's just leave it at Kurt telling Blaine a whole lot about McKinley. Thanks for reading, and please review!