Chapter Four
After Glee had finally let out that afternoon, Dave shuffled to his locker and began to shove his textbooks into his bag (maybe if he could do his homework well enough until the end of the year, then he wouldn't need the extra credit from Glee), slamming his locker door and turning around only to receive an ice-cold splash to the face. He yelped and gritted his teeth against the frigid mix of ice, syrup, and Blue Dye number four that was now seeping into his shirt and dripping down his chest. He wiped the slushie out of his eyes and saw Azimio standing there with an empty slushie cup in his hand and a smug grin on his face.
"What the hell was that for?" Dave demanded, shoving Azimio by the shoulders.
Azimio didn't look apologetic in the least. "That was for joining the damn Glee club," he said cockily. "You don't get it do you? Just 'cause you're a football player does not make it okay for you to do whatever the hell you want. People are gonna start talking about Dave Karofsky, the latest victim of Homo Explosion."
Dave pushed him again. "I'm not gay."
"Yeah, whatever, dude," Azimio rolled his eyes. "You really wanna convince me of that? Quit singing showtunes."
"I haven't been—"
"Whatever," Azimio said again, flipping Dave off as he sauntered back down the hallway.
Dave swore loudly and drove his fist into his locker.
Later, after changing into a clean-ish sweatshirt that had been sitting in his locker for several months, Dave was walking through the parking lot on his way home (his dad refused to by him a car, and he didn't live that far away) when a sleek black Navigator pulled up beside him, the window rolling down.
"Hey, Dave," greeted Kurt from the driver's seat. Mercedes was sitting in the passenger seat, and he could hear a bunch of the others talking in the back seat. "We're all heading out to the mall to look for props and costumes. You want to come?"
Dave hesitated, looking back and forth between the direction of his house and Kurt's car. He considered the fact that he didn't really want to go shopping with a bunch of kids who hated him (he was pretty sure that Kurt had coerced the others into inviting him), but also that he didn't want to spend the afternoon stuck in his room with a bunch of textbooks. He sighed. At least hanging out at the mall would be somewhat social. Making a mental note to text his dad later, Dave pulled open the back door and squeezed in beside Finn, who looked disappointed that Dave had decided to come along.
The ride to the mall was loud. The others (Finn, Puck, Mercedes, Kurt, Santana, Brittany, Tina, and Mike) constantly alternated between gossiping, bickering about random things, and singing along whenever a song they liked came onto the radio. Dave kept his mouth shut, and no one else seemed to notice or care, but he had to admit that he found the impromptu singing entertaining (he was shocked to hear Kurt's voice drop to a bass when Golden Years by David Bowie started playing).
When they finally pulled into the Southwest Lima Mall parking lot, the kids piled out of the car and headed into the building, deciding to head for the mall's costume and party store first to get the wigs they were still lacking. Dave followed a step behind, his hands shoved into his pockets (he'd left his backpack in the car). At the party store, Mike immediately pulled a giant rainbow clown wig onto his head and stuck a red nose over his real one. Tina bopped it, making it honk.
"We're going to go look for face paint," Kurt announced, walking further into the store, his arm linked with Mercedes.
Santana suddenly laughed, picking a wig off the shelf and handing it to Puck. "There's your hair, Weasley."
Puck wrinkled his nose at the thing, which looked like a dead fox. "You've gotta be kidding me."
"Try it," Finn encouraged.
Puck grumbled but fitted it over his mohawk. There was a moment of silence, and then the entire group, including Dave, burst into fits of giggles in unison. Puck yanked the wig off and told them to suck it.
"You didn't have a problem with the Bieber wig," Mike observed, trying not to grin and failing miserably.
"Wait," Dave cut in. "…Puck wore a Justin Bieber wig?"
"The boys went through a very…sad phase," Santana said.
"Shut up," Puck said. "I was willing to do anything to get Lauren's attention. I probably would've worn a tutu if she told me to."
Dave gaped at McKinley's resident macho-man until Puck threw the wig at him.
Kurt and Mercedes reappeared with a basket filled with face paint kits and produced a pair of round plastic glasses, which Finn snatched and tried on. "How do I look?" he asked, grinning widely. "Fit to be Harry Potter?"
Mike grabbed the glasses off his face. "No way, dude," he said. "Those are mine. You're just the spare."
Finn made a face. "At least I'm a good finder," he retorted.
"That means nothing," Mike deadpanned, pushing the glasses onto his own nose.
"Tina, let's try to find a Halloween costume or something that'll fit you," Mercedes said. "Bellatrix is going to be hard to find clothes for."
"No need. I got my costume from my own wardrobe – you can come home with me after this and see if you like it," Tina replied. "I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about my almost-sex scene with Sam."
"Ah, one of the joys of being an actor," Kurt recited, grinning ear to ear. "Having fake sex onstage in front of hundreds of people."
Dave made a face and hoped he'd never have to do that.
"I think I found the robes we were looking for," Brittany called from down the aisle.
"Britt, these are for little kids," Santana said, holding up a Harry Potter costume that looked like it belonged to an eight year old. "Let's get one for Rachel."
Half an hour later, their arms full, the group paid for their merchandise and headed for the arts and crafts store on the mall's second floor to look for materials to complete the giant dragon puppet. "Hold these," Mercedes said, shoving her bags at Dave and rushing off to look at bolts of fabric. Mike and Tina disappeared in search of hoops to form the dragon's skeleton, and Puck and Finn went to look for cloth that could serve as Voldemort's hooded cape. Santana and Brittany linked pinkies and announced that they were going to find an invisibility cloak, leaving Dave and Kurt by themselves.
Kurt laughed at Dave as he struggled to balance the bags that Mercedes had thrown at him and the bags he'd already been carrying. "Come on," Kurt said, heading for the back of the shop. "We need to find something to make our school robes out of." Kurt led him to an aisle where bolts of cloth lined the shelves and immediately began to pick through them.
"It was your idea to invite me with you guys, wasn't it?" Dave asked after a few minutes of silence.
Kurt frowned and turned around. "Does it really matter? You seem to be enjoying yourself."
Dave shrugged.
Kurt sighed, turning his attention back to the rolls of cloth. "You just need to give them a chance to warm up to you, Dave. And stop being so tense."
"I'm not tense."
"Yes, you are," Kurt countered, yanking a thick roll of black cotton out of the stack. "Here we go. I can tailor some good stuff out of this one."
"You know how to make clothes?"
"Sure. I made my prom outfit."
"I thought it was store-bought."
Kurt quirked an eyebrow. "What store in Ohio would sell a kilt?"
"What's a kilt?"
"Never mind."
After their mall escapade was finished, the group squeezed back into Kurt's Navigator and drove to the Lima Bean to grab a coffee and meet Blaine. Dave was nervous about just hanging out with a guy he'd shoved around more than once, but said nothing. Maybe Kurt was right about him being tense all the time.
When they got there, Blaine didn't seem at all surprised or bothered by Dave's presence. Dave guessed that Kurt had probably told Blaine ahead of time that he'd be there. They all retrieved their orders and gathered around two small tables pushed together in the back, Dave sitting quietly between Puck and Mercedes and feeling like he shouldn't be there as the others exchanged news and gossiped about whatever had gone down at Nationals.
"I wish we'd gotten your freak-out on tape, Santana," said Mike. "Once we got over the initial shock, it was really kind of hilarious."
Santana said something in Spanish that, even though none of them had any idea what she'd said, still managed to sound threatening.
"So how's AVPM coming along?" Blaine asked.
Kurt frowned in surprise. "How'd you know about that?"
"Mr. Schuester called me. He wants me to play Dumbledore."
"Really?"
Blaine smiled. "Yep. I'll be at rehearsal tomorrow."
"So that's why Mr. Schue didn't seem at all concerned that we didn't have someone to play Dumbledore…"
"But… don't you have school?" Tina asked.
Blaine shook his head. "Private schools get out several weeks before public schools. I'm on summer vacation."
"Lucky bastard," Puck muttered.