Chapter Four - It's a Hard Life
Kurt was happy. Not over the moon happy, but he was content. It was the last week of school before their winter break, and it wasn't even a complete week. It was a measly three days, and the third day was optional for seniors seeing how a lot of them were going off to go tour Ohio State. And then he would have a blissful two weeks of no school, along with an empty house. His father and Carole were taking Finn to bunk up with an old friend who was on the football team at OSU, and then going on a mini honeymoon for the holidays, leaving Kurt alone for the holidays.
His father had been adamant on Kurt coming with him and Carole on the cruise, but Kurt pointed out they never had the opportunity for their own honeymoon because of his time at Dalton, and they deserved a honeymoon. Then his father tried to have Finn stay home, and when that failed, tried to get Carole to cajole Kurt to come with them or go with Finn. Luckily, his step mother could tell when they were going to be defeated by Kurt's stubborn streak, and had stepped in, suggesting that they celebrate Christmas the weekend before they left.
Burt had been stubborn at first, but Carole hadn't paid much mind to it; They all knew Kurt would win the battle in the end. Which was why they had their Christmas dinner Saturday, and exchanged presents the following morning. Laughing at the memory of his father giving in, he watched his breath come out as a puff of smoke in the cold, winter air.
Snow collected delicately in his hair and black pea coat as he made his way to the front doors of McKinley, and he was a bit more than surprised to see Olive, Tilley, and Sugar hanging outside.
"Sugar, you don't smoke it like that," Tilley snickered, moving to switch the ends of the cigarette the sophomore had just put in her mouth. Sugar's mouth opened slightly, and her eyes widened.
"No wonder I keep burning myself," She mused out loud, before seeing Kurt. She quickly pulled the cigarette from her mouth, and Kurt just looked at her, mouth in a tight line.
"Kurt you look fabulous and all but you should totally just like bum one with us and not have a stick up your ass," Sugar said, waving her hand in her usual flippant manner. Kurt looked at her with a hard glare, and she lifted her arms up in defeat, and tossed the cigarette in the bin before walking inside. Tilley grinned.
"You're the only one who can shut her Aspergers ass up," Tilley commented, expertly blowing out smoke rings. Kurt grimaced and waved his hand around to make sure he didn't breathe in much of the second hand smoke, and Olive did the same, her face scrunching up.
"Get inside," He said, and Tilley just huffed before she put out her cigarette and headed inside.
"Alright daddy," She called out lamely, before murmuring something about how she wouldn't mind it too much if she could call Kurt daddy. Olive looked at Kurt with a small apologetic smile.
"You know how Tilley is-" She started to say, defending her best friend. Kurt just put his hand up.
"Not judging. Just make sure she's not all out in the open next time? This may be the back entrance, but Sue's known for scouring the grounds for poor students to torture when the weather doesn't allow her to be as content as she is with torturing the Cheerios with the forces of nature," Kurt said, before looking at her white and red uniform. "Something you're well familiar with."
Olive nodded, moving to open the door for Kurt. He quickly opened it himself first, and waited for her to go in first.
"I don't feel like going inside quite yet," She said with a small smile, and Kurt tightened his grip on his coat with the hand that wasn't preoccupied with letting out the heat from the school corridor.
"You sure? It's cold out here," He said, and she nodded.
"Building up my endurance," Olive said with a wink, and Kurt just laughed.
"Try to not get hypothermia," Kurt said before walking inside. He could hear her call out something akin to 'Hypothermia my ass'.
Shaking his head with a small grin on his face, he walked through the all too familiar halls of McKinley. Turning the corner, he saw Blaine and Rachel next to his locker, huddled up and whispering loudly.
"Blaine," Rachel hissed softly, and the junior just sighed.
"I'll see you after school today," Blaine said with a small nod, before looking up to see Kurt looking at them, confused.
"Hey Kurt. Nice weather we're having, right?" Blaine said with his usual chipper tone, turning to Rachel before Kurt could even respond, or even tell them to get the hell out of his way to his locker.
"Alrightie then, Ms. Berry, me and you have a date with destiny later," He said before wagging his eyebrows, and Rachel cracked a smile.
"You're an idiot," She said before pushing him gently, and he laughed.
"Bye guys, see you in the choir room!" He called out as he, Kurt assumed, made his way to his own locker next to Rory's in the junior's corridor. Kurt looked at Rachel expectantly, and she just jumped up and clapped.
"So I know the performances last week were amazing and all, but we have to buckle down this week and get things ready for Sectionals. I'm kinda of happy they put it off till January this year, although it does make focusing harder than if they would have been in late November, early December as per usual," Rachel began to rant, before launching into a full on speech about how she wrote a few songs and how she thinks they would be amazing to use. Kurt could only stare at her, and after about five minutes of her talking, she looked up from the mini notebook she had taken out three minutes ago to see Kurt's face.
"What?" She asked bossily, and he just shook his head.
"I will miss your insanity over break," He said, and she brightened up.
"Are you sure you don't come with me and my dads to New York?" She asked, and Kurt shook his head.
"I'm sure. My dad and Carole are leaving the country to go on some cruise in the Bahamas or something, and Finns going to OU to check the campus out," Kurt began to explain, and Rachel just nodded impatiently, obviously waiting for his point. Carefully he went on to say, "Someone has to be home to watch the house. Besides, I think Leroy and Hiram were hoping to bond with you, and not have you drag along one of your friends."
Rachel just waved her hand to ignore his last comment.
"Dad and Daddy love you," She said, and Kurt just laughed.
"Still doesn't mean they want me tagging along with you guys. Seriously, Rachel, I'll be fine," He said, and Rachel pouted.
"If you say so. Although, I'll be sure to bring you a souvenir! Oh, maybe a pride shirt saying 'I can get married here now'. Or maybe I could get you something with a bow on it. Or-" Rachel said quickly, before being shut up by Kurt's hand on her mouth.
"Leave the souvenir buying to your dads Rachel," He informed her, and she pouted even more.
"Fine," She mumbled, and crossed her arms.
"It's a good thing your fashion changed for the better after Nationals last year, or else you'd look like a bratty wool nightmare," Kurt told her, and Rachel just stuck her tongue out at him before going to her own locker, which was only a few down from Kurt's.
He took off his coat and put it away after shaking off the excess snow from it, and unwound the scarf from his neck onto the little hook next to his coat. Bending down slightly to look at the mirror he had, he lightly touched his hair to get it back to the perfect shape it had been before. Satisfied with it, Kurt sprayed a small amount of hair spray on to his hair, and closed his locker with a small thud. Humming to himself, he made his way to the choir room, where a small crowd had accumulated. He raised a delicate eyebrow, and Rachel frowned.
"Noah's not here yet," She explained to him, and before he could reply, a small thud rang through the hallways.
Kurt's heart sped up; school didn't start for a good hour, and none of the janitors in the building actually cleaned in the morning. Finn took a few steps forward, and turned around the corner.
"Hey, Sam, Mike, come over here," He called out after laughing a bit, and the two just looked at each other before shrugging. They soon disappeared from view, and came back with arms filled with presents.
"Presents!" Brittany said happily, tugging on Santana's arm. Santana smiled at the girl.
"I see Brit," She said, before turning to look at Sam.
"Fish lips, where those come from?" Santana asked, and Sam rolled his eyes.
"The garden of sunshine and happiness Santana," He said gruffly as he struggled to juggle all the presents he had, with Mike trailing behind him doing the same. Finn followed after with less presents in hand, and soon enough Noah rounded the corner with a small plastic bag that Kurt saw held even more presents.
"Sorry guys, it took me a lot longer than I expected to get these inside from my car," He said sheepishly, before throwing the keys to Artie. Artie caught them easily, and turned slightly to open the door. Everyone moved out of his way as he maneuvered his chair to face the door, and the small click of the lock being undone made Sam let out a sigh of relief.
Artie quickly moved his way inside, and frowned when he heard something crack from under his chair.
"Who left something in front of the doorway aga- And oh, what da hell?"
The room didn't look at all how they had all left it Friday afternoon, decorated for the holiday season. It looked as if a small hurricane had ravaged the room, leaving only a few things untouched.
Shattered tree decorations were sprinkled across the ground, tauntingly still as shiny and colorful as they had been before they were shards of themselves. The garlands had been stripped of their tinsel, and their skeletons were lying lazily in the trash along with many of the gifts the glee club members had gotten each other the week before. The tree they used to have in the center of the room was gone, and the only thing left of it was the tree skirt Tina had brought from home. The chairs were knocked over and laid all across the room, and most of first through third periods sheet music and assignments had been thrown about carelessly around the room.
"Oh my God," Collins whispered, a hand over mouth in shock. The sophomores shoulders shook slightly, before shaking her head and screwing her eyes close.
"This looks even worse than my farm after the 100 mile winds blew through and took away Bessie," Rory said quietly, and Blaine squeezed his hand. Kurt could only close his eyes from the scene of destruction within the room, and took a deep breath.
"Alright, everyone inside. Collins, you mind getting some trash bags from the janitors for us?" Kurt said loudly, and Collins shook her head.
"I'll be back in a few, they're probably still in the janitors closet turned bro cave watching sport recaps," she said before walking down the hallway and turning the corner, smoothing down her Cheerios uniform. Mercedes could only shake her head before picking up a chair and standing it back upright before sitting down, with Olive following suit.
Brittany immediately zipped to the trash can, and Santana went after her girlfriend with a sigh. The two scavenged what presents they could slowly, and a small pile was slowly beginning to accumulate as they dug deeper and deeper in the bin. Noah could only grit his teeth before bending down to pick up the sheet music that had been scattered everywhere, resisting the urge to yell whenever he saw shoe marks on some of them.
Kurt leaned on the wall as he watched everyone begin to talk amongst themselves quietly while cleaning up the wreckage. Of all the days, this just had to happen today, Kurt thought bitterly as he felt his good mood begin to spiral downwards.
"Most of the presents are ok, except for my present to Noah," Brittany said with a sigh, and Santana put her hands on her hips.
"Most of them are a bit crushed, but nothing too big. Puck, yours from Britts was kind of... Alive to begin with, and it chewed itself out after what I'm guessing was the impact breaking the cage wire inside of the wrapping paper," Santana said, and Kurt watched as Noah raised an eyebrow from where he was picking up papers.
"Alive?" He asked after a moment of hesitating, and Brittany frowned while nodding.
"Yeah, it was one of Lord Tubbington's bestest friends, Stuart Biggie. He was supposed to have been in here, but I guess he just couldn't stand being in the trash," Brittany sniffled, and Santana just wrapped an arm around Brittany.
"It's ok. Right?" She said, looking at Noah.
"Yeah, no, seriously. It's alright Brit, no big deal... He's probably still in here, waiting to make an appearance," Noah said, hiding his grimace from the blond cheerleader. Kurt shivered at the thought of a mouse or rat visiting them in the middle of class, and practically skipped over to the door when Collins finally came back with the trash bags, taking two from her with a small 'thanks'. She barely quirked a smile in his direction before heading straight for Finn, and getting on her tip toes to whisper in his ear. He stood straight up, and Kurt looked at his step brother.
"Something wrong?" He asked, and Finn cleared his throat.
"Um, Quinn's coming in a few. She's got some news," He said awkwardly, and Tilley fidgeted.
"News?" She asked, and Finn nodded. With a shrug, he took a trash bag from Kurt and began to pick up tinsel from the ground. With a grin, Collins tapped his back and pointed to the broom leaning against the doorway.
"Oh. Right. Thanks babe," He said blushing, kissing Collins on the cheek before going to get the broom. Collins just shook her head and laughed, before distributing trash bags to everyone.
"Hey Finn, I'll handle the broken shards. You guys aren't allowed to touch anything too sharp," Puck reminded Finn, and Santana snickered from the other side of the room.
"You mean Finn the overgrown oompah loompa isn't allowed to touch anything too sharp," She said, and Noah rolled his eyes.
"Grow up Lopez," He warned, and Brittany nodded.
"San, be nicer," She reminded the girl, and she just shrugged.
"It's called fun. And humour. Hell knows we need some right now," She said, and Kurt could tell Finn was about to retaliate with some off handed comment when Quinn came storming in.
A collective gasp hushed all other noise in the room; Quinn was dressed in a navy blue knee length skirt, with a thin white shirt on top, and a tan belt complimenting her slim figure by cinching the two pieces of clothing together. Her tan wedges added an extra inch or two that her running shoes had never provided, and Kurt was quick to note that navy blue complimented her well.
"Q, what the hell?" Santana said, and Quinn blew her hair out of her face.
"Sue was the one who destroyed the choir room," she said, and instantly, the room exploded. Shouts and exclamations of foul play were heard, and the Cheerios in the room instantly grouped themselves around Quinn. Kurt could only see their lips moving, and a few of their jaws were set tightly as Quinn explained. Noah was by his desk going through papers when Quinn made her announcement, and his head instantly snapped up when he heard.
Collins, Brittany, Santana, and Olive were all surrounding Quinn, and no one could hear what was being said for a few seconds as their outburst died down.
"What do you mean Sue did this?" Olive asked, and Quinn just laughed coldly.
"Did you really think the hockey team had the keys to this room?" She said dryly, and Collins shook her head.
"That's it. I have put up with her bull shit since freshman year, and I'm sick of it," Collins growled out, and Brittany looked down at the ground.
"Col," She said quietly, reaching her hand out to grab the girl, but Collins side stepped out of her reach.
"I thought I would have dropped out senior year, but whoops. There goes my stellar college application," Collins said sarcastically, before running out of the room. Turning, Kurt looked at Finn and tilted his head towards the door, and it took Finn a couple of seconds to realize what Kurt had meant.
He must have understood Kurt was thinking 'go after her', because he awkwardly handed Sam the broom.
"Hey bro um. Yeah. Thanks?" Finn said to Sam before running out after Collins, and Sam looked a bit amused.
"Words were never his forte," Rachel commented, before looking at Quinn.
"She took you off the Cheerios?" She asked, her tone full of surprise. Quinn was the head cheerleader of the Cheerios with Santana, and it was obvious that she was the favorite of the cheer coach. She, along with everyone else, was surprised when Quinn adopted a growing smirk on her face.
"I quit."
"Correction. We all need some damn drinks right now." Santana said while tightening her ponytail, a nervous habit of hers. Brittany's frown steepened as she tugged on Santana's shirt hem.
The Latina turned to look at her girlfriend, who was currently frowning, and looked to be deep in thought about something.
"Well, Q, if you quit, then me and San will quit too. Right San?" the blond asked, and Santana looked conflicted for a few seconds, before lifting her chin and standing straight.
"Hells yeah. We Lopez's don't get bitched like this," She said with pride, and Noah snorted.
"No you guys just bitch each other," he mumbled, snickering, obviously remembering the dildo incident. Santana glared at him, but he waved her off. He stood straight up and leaned on his desk, studying the cheerleaders in front of him.
"Girls, if you want to stay on the team, I won't penalize you," Noah said carefully, and Olive shrugged.
"I never had fun in it anyways," She said as she began to take off her cheer shirt, showing a blue camisole underneath.
"I'm gonna go find Col, she has my change of clothes," Olive said, tossing her cheer shirt to the side before walking out. Tilley smirked.
"Hey Olive, way to give us a preview of your future," Tilley called out teasingly, and suddenly Olive's hand was in the doorway, in a rude hand gesture. Tilley just chuckled before turning to talk to Artie, who was in the middle of trying to figure out what to do with Olive's shirt, which had fallen on him.
"Well... This is a great way to leave for break," Kurt said quietly, and instantly Tina laughed.
"The only way it could get more interesting is if the guys all quit basketball," She pointed out, and Sam smirked.
"If I weren't in swimming-," He started to say, before Santana interrupted him.
"Trouty Mouth, we know you're way into seeing the outlines of dick in those speedos and diving face first into cold chlorinated water in hopes of shrinking those huge lips of yours to quit," She rattled off as she began to throw presents at people, and Sam looked mildly offended before Brittany handed him a present.
"Don't mind her," She said with a wink before going back to the presents, and Santana just looked at Sam while mouthing 'best mind me'.
Kurt just shook his head, and ducked when Santana threw a present towards Mercedes, who was sitting behind him. She flashed the countertenor a smile, before apologizing.
"Sorry baby face, I keep forgetting you've grown like a foot since freshman year," She said before throwing one directly at him.
"It's okay Satan- Santana," He said, and Santana did a little shimmy and winked before turning to throw a particularly heavy present at Artie. Kurt caught his own present easily enough (unlike Artie who had nearly toppled over from the force of his present) and looked at who it was from.
From : Noah
Tightening his grasp on the small package, he quickly slipped it into his bag before stepping out into the hallway. He hadn't expected to see Finn and Collin kissing, and certainly didn't expect Rachel to follow him outside. He cringed, ready for the shouting match to begin between the two ex-lovebirds.
Rachel cleared her throat, and Finn looked up, and smiled sheepishly.
"H-hey there Rach," he sputtered out, while Collins took a step back and blushed.
"Hi Rachel," She said quietly, and Rachel just looked annoyed.
"Go make out inside the room, I need to talk to my fellow co-captain here," Rachel said, clearly a bit aggravated, and Collins nodded before blushing.
"Right. Or. Well. No. I mean, we're not going to go make out, just-" She stuttered out, before Finn just took her hand and dragged her back into the room. Rachel rolled her eyes at the pair, before looking at Kurt. She began to fiddle with her skirt hem, biting her lip. Kurt raised an eyebrow.
"Rachel are you alright?" Kurt asked slowly, and Rachel continued to bite her lip. She looked up at him slightly, before sighing.
"I.. I think-" She started off with, before shaking her head. She stepped back, and allowed herself to allow the wall behind her support most of her weight. Her head bowed for a couple of seconds, before Rachel looked up at him, her eyes wide. He took a small step back. She looked... Worried. Concerned. Scared.
"Rachel, honey, what's going on in that little mind of yours?" Kurt asked quietly, and Rachel looked at him through glazed over eyes, before shaking her head. She bit her lip, and opened her mouth multiple times.
"I-" She started to say, when she retreated in on herself.
"Rachel?" Kurt asked softly, tipping the girls chin up with his index finger. She looked at him, before sighing. Something in her immediately changed, and Kurt couldn't help but feel like she was hiding something from him.
"Nothing of importance. I- Well, it's just that I was by the choir room last week, and saw you and Puck-" Rachel whispered, and Kurt slumped forward slightly. He immediately forgot all about his suspicions of her changing the subject of the conversation, and rubbed his arm. She broke off, and shook her head.
"Do you love him?" She asked in a hushed whisper, and Kurt looked at her shocked.
"Rachel Barbara Berry, I've known the man for a month and a week at most," He whispered yelled at her, before composing himself. The only word to describe him at that moment would be 'defeated'.
"But to say I'm not attracted to him would be a lie."
Rachel's face broke out into a grin then, and Kurt just stared at her. She shrugged.
"Good, so my observation skills are still on point," she said, humming her content at the end. Kurt just shook his head.
"Anything else you want to talk about?" He asked her, suddenly remembering how scared she had been before about something that could not have had to do with him liking their choir director. She wrinkled her nose, and opened her mouth as if to say something, but shook her head and adopted a small smile on her face.
"Not at the current moment, no," she said, before straightening up and taking his hand.
"Come on, let's go back inside," she sing songed, skipping back into the room before Kurt could ask her what was up. Rolling his eyes at her antics, he let out a small laugh as he was dragged back into the choir room.
The room was slowly being shaped back into its original form. The chairs were all back in their places, upright and ready to be sat in. Rory and Sam were picking up the tinsel and sharps with Noah, while Rachel joined Blaine, who was looking through the beaten up sheet music and smoothing papers out.
Mercedes was talking to Sam, and Kurt smiled. At least they're on talking terms again, he thought to himself as he looked at the small pile of presents left on his chair, where his messenger bag also resided. Most of them were small, although two of them were big.
Like everyone else, he stashed them in the glee club cabinet, along with the many wigs and mics they kept in there year round.
"You guys can just chill today. I don't think we'll meet after today. Tomorrow morning good with everyone?" Noah asked as he disposed the last of the broken glass and plastic shards. Everyone nodded and voiced their agreements.
"Alright, cool," He said, and met Kurt's eyes. He smiled, and Kurt could feel his heart skip a beat. Cursing himself, he looked away with a scowl, and began to fiddle with his bag. He felt a light tap on his shoulder, and whirled around quickly.
Quinn backed up quickly, and put her hands up.
"Kurt, it's just me," She said, and Kurt laughed haggardly.
"Yeah, sorry Quinn. Just a bit shaken up," He said, and she nodded.
"Understandable. I'm actually waiting for someone to slushy me out of nowhere," She replied with a sad smile on her face. Kurt tilted his head to the side.
"I don't think you'll have that problem. Slushies have been rare since Ms. Dubois went crazy last year when Rory came in dripping green," Kurt reminded her, and Quinn looked at him seriously.
"Kurt, you don't get to be head cheerleader without being a bit of a bitch," Quinn pointed out, before looking down at her clothes.
"I just hope it's blue, I'd prefer this skirt to be salvageable," She noted, before sighing.
"Hey, so, seeing how we don't have practice today, mind going out for coffee with me after school?" She asked quickly, looking at the ground. Kurt frowned.
"Something the matter Q?" He asked, and she looked up at him. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the tears welling up in her eyes. She bit her lip, and shook her head.
"Nothing. It's nothing, never mind" She mumbled, turning to leave. Kurt quickly caught her wrist with his hand, and looked at her.
"Quinn, seriously. I don't know what's going on, but I'll be there. Did you want me to drive you, or do you have your own ride?" He said with a small smile, and the senior took a deep breath.
"I've got my own car," She said with finality, and smiled slightly at Kurt.
"Thanks... A lot," Quinn said, before nodding and leaving.
"This is turning out to be very interesting. Girls, I swear," Kurt mumbled under his breath as he heard the hallway slowly come alive with the voices of other students, and decided now would be a good time to disappear out of the room. Bag slung over his shoulder, he left for his first period, Calculus.
"So everyone understands the two theories that the video discussed, right?"
Kurt looked down at his notes while the rest of the class nodded. Mr. Brandon grinned.
"Alright, good. So who thinks that dogs rose from wolves because of forced domestication from being adopted at an early age by humans?"
A quarter of the class put their hands up, and the teacher nodded.
"Interesting. Ok, who thinks that dogs rose from wolves because of carefully calculated domestication to benefit from humans?"
The rest of the class put their hands up, including the teacher.
"Good, good, we'll have an interesting discussion when we come back from break about this. So, class will be in the library tomorrow and canceled on Wednesday. Roll will be taken tomorrow, but if you have something better to do than sit in a room and do homework, which is what you'll be doing tomorrow, just talk to me before hand. As for Wednesday, this class is all seniors but for five of you. Meaning don't show up," Mr. Brandon clipped out, and the class cheered.
"Happy Holidays, everyone," the middle aged man told the class, right when the bell rang. Students filed out, and Kurt was quick to get to his locker before Rachel or Mercedes could pin point him down and talk his ear off with gossip and talks of Sectionals. Stuffing his books in his lockers, he retrieved his AP Language book to take home, as well as his journal filled with sheet music, and carefully put them in his bag.
Taking his coat and scarf, he shrugged on his coat and walked outside, buttoning his coat while blinking his eyes rapidly to make sure he could see through the snow that was falling steadily all around him. Wrestling with air in his pocket, he finally fished out his car keys and quickly made his way through the snowy parking lot to his Escalator. Unsteady hands caused him to drop his keys several times before he finally managed to unlock his vehicle, and he began to mentally scold himself for not bothering to wear gloves today.
Letting the car warm up, he resisted the urge to look in the back seat, where his presents were sitting. He had managed to stuff them in a small plastic bag during his lunch period while Noah was out at a conference with Figgens, and had quickly stuffed them in his car before running back inside to eat his lunch. There were presents in there from everyone in glee club, but he couldn't help but fixate himself on thinking about the present from Noah.
Well, you'll find out what it is soon enough, he thought to himself with a bit of a sadistic smile on his face as he took his baby out of park, slowly making his way to the Lima Bean.
Ta-da! Hope you guys had a lovely Christmas / Hanukkah if you celebrate, and are currently not worrying about school. Like me. Whoo! Will probably end up pumping out another chapter before I head back to school, which will be mainly the Lima Bean scene with Quinn and Kurt, and some fairly great scenes that will remind you of BIOTA. Fun stuff, right? Anyways, hope you guys like this chapter. Feedback would be appreciated. I also don't own Glee. Like. At all. Just so you guys know. Also, sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and I suck at grammar even when I'm nice and healthy. And. Ok, yeah done with my A/N. Also, another apology is in order for no sex yet. Be patient, my fellow puckurtsies. It will all come soon enough.
-Lori