A/N: Another chapter, yay! I actually had most of this written after I posted the last one, but alas, the siren and unyielding call of homework kept an early finish of this chapter at bay. Believe me, I would have much rather been writing this than reading about ancient pollen samples and what that meant for archaic societies in Ohio. Nevertheless, it's here now, so I hope you enjoy! Things should start becoming more interesting now that Kurt is at school. Things will be happening. Yes. *shifty eyes*
As always, thanks for the alerts and reviews! You people are so awesome, I love you all. I get all warm and fuzzy inside whenever I get such lovely reviews. 3
Oh, and I know I promised a Warbler's meeting but this chapter wouldn't quite let me get that far yet. Next time, for sure! ;)
On with the show!
The first day of class was… interesting, to say the least. Kurt knew the day was going to be a disaster when he got to his first class and couldn't even remember the teacher. Thankfully he was understanding (Kurt had no doubt that every single one of his teachers had been briefed on his 'issues').
He discovered a new problem when the class began and he tried to start taking notes. Being right-handed and having his right arm in a sling made writing anything quite the challenge. He awkwardly held his pencil in his left hand and tried to write down the chemical formulas that were on the board but it was slow going and moderately illegible. The boy sitting next to him noticed his dilemma and offered to scan his notes every day and give Kurt copies. Kurt thanked the boy, whose name turned out to be Andy (was he supposed to know who he was?) profusely.
But the day didn't seem to improve much after that. He took a wrong turn on the way to his next class and was fifteen minutes late to trigonometry. The fact that he had to hobble down the hallways in the first place was bad enough, but getting lost along the way just made everything worse.
The next two classes (World History and French) were relatively uneventful, although Kurt couldn't shake the feeling that every student was staring at him. It made him really uncomfortable. He wanted to yell at every single one of them. He didn't exactly enjoy feeling like he was some sort of interesting specimen under a microscope.
He also found it odd that, after his first class, someone in each of his following classes offered to send him copies of their notes before class even started. It was helpful, of course, but he hated the fact that he needed their help in the first place. Not only that, but after his incident of getting lost on the way to his second class, someone always offered to walk with him to his next class. By the time his fourth class was over and he was shuffling to the cafeteria with classmates Ronald and Keith, he had the sneaking suspicion that there was someone in each of his class was passing along updates on him to everyone else. Not exactly a comforting thought.
"Hey, Kurt!" greeted David enthusiastically as he sat down heavily with a tray of food. "How's your day been so far?"
"Miserable," muttered Kurt, moving his food around with his fork unenthusiastically. "I completely forgot who Mr. Cobbs was, can barely even take notes, got lost on the way to history class and my leg is absolutely killing me."
"We can leave lunch early and get some of your pain meds from my room if you want," offered Blaine, munching thoughtfully on an apple.
"Why are Kurt's meds in your room?" questioned Keith curiously, shoving some potatoes into his mouth.
"My dad is worried I'll swallow the whole bottle when no one's watching," answered Kurt bluntly, noticing the looks that Blaine, Wes and David gave Keith upon the other boy's question.
Keith suddenly looked extremely embarrassed and ashamed for even bringing up the question and just let out a meek 'oh' in response.
There was an awkward silence for a moment before Wes cleared his throat and looked over at Kurt. "So the first Warblers rehearsal of the semester is on Wednesday," he reminded.
Kurt looked down at his tray in thought. "Warblers… that's the singing thing, right?"
Blaine gave a patient nod. "Yup. We're all pretty much amazing," he said oh-so-modestly. Wes chuckled.
"And you've got the best range out of the whole group," added Wes, pointing his fork at Kurt. "You're pretty valuable. We're gonna start working on our setlist for Regionals. We're probably gonna be going up against Vocal Adrenaline so we've really gotta step up our game," he said, looking at all of the members present.
"It'll take a miracle for us to beat Vocal Adrenaline; they're legendary," commented David.
The talk at the table turned to strategies and song suggestions. Kurt tuned out and continued to stare at his untouched food. He knew he was supposed to be excited about rehearsal, but he just didn't feel it. Hell, he was unsure of how well he could even sing to start with.
He felt someone nudge him and looked up to see Blaine staring at him. "You need to eat something, Kurt," he said, gesturing toward his tray. "Then we head back to the dorms real quick before the next bell rings and grab your meds."
Kurt sighed and stabbed at his vegetables. "I'm not really hungry," he muttered.
"Kurt, you should really eat at least something," pressed Blaine.
"I'm not sure I asked you to be my mother, Blaine," snapped Kurt, glaring at the older boy. Blaine had a look of shameful surprise on his face and Kurt found himself not caring in the least if he had hurt his feelings. "I don't need you to be my caretaker."
"I'm not trying to be," replied Blaine, trying to keep a calm composure but rapidly losing it as he quickly tried to fix his mistake. All other conversation at the table had stopped as everyone became aware of the impending argument. "I just—"
"No. I don't need you trying to take care of me," he said angrily, gathering his things and starting to get up from the table. "I may be a little broken but I am not helpless and I wish everyone would stop treating me like I am!" Kurt swung his backpack over his good shoulder and grabbed his lunch tray in his left hand, turning away from the table and walking away. He heard Blaine call out to him as he dumped his tray, heard someone else at the table hiss What did you do?, but he ignored it all and walked out of the cafeteria, intent to head toward his next class. At least he would get there early this time.
As he walked down the hall, he slowly began to regret his little spat. He should have at least gotten his meds from Blaine. Walking around on his leg all morning was making it hurt to the point where he thought about just skipping the remainder of his classes and spending the rest of the day in bed. He briefly considered turning back but knew that he couldn't do that, not after his little episode just now.
He was just so sick and tired of putting up with everyone! They all treated him like he was a three-year-old who was completely incapable of being self-sufficient. He was aware that he had a gimp leg and an arm that didn't work and knew that his head trauma apparently confused the hell out of everyone else, but that was no reason to treat him like this.
He took a left turn down a hallway, heading toward his physics class, and let out a grunt of surprise when he walked straight into someone else. Kurt stumbled a bit and took a step backwards to regain his balance.
"Woah, sorry man, are you okay?" asked the other boy, reaching out to touch Kurt on the shoulder.
Wrong move.
At the contact, Kurt felt a sudden and alarming rush of… something. "Don't touch me," he said sharply, slapping away the other boy's hand. The boy (who he didn't recognize) raised his hands in front of his chest in surrender, his eyes wide.
"Sorry, I'm sorry," he replied, taking a step backwards. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt."
"I'm fine," Kurt retorted. "Just don't… don't touch me." He kept his eyes on the ground and gave the other student a wide berth as he continued down the hall, leaving a very confused boy standing behind him.
Kurt could feel his heart pounding in his chest. His breathing came rapidly as he opened the door to his physics classroom. It was empty; everyone was still at lunch. He hastily sat down in a seat, dropping his backpack on the ground and staring down at the desk. He put his head in his hand and breathed heavily, trying to calm himself down.
He had no idea why he was suddenly so freaked out. This exact same thing had happened when Finn grabbed him at home one time. It had been an instant reaction; Kurt had no idea where it stemmed from. He didn't have a clue as to why being touched or grabbed unexpectedly apparently terrified him.
Kurt practically jumped out of his seat when the door opened. He looked up to see Mr. Hume standing in the doorway, obviously surprised to see him sitting in the room by himself.
"Kurt! Good to see you back, son. You're a bit early, though," he commented, checking his watch. Classes didn't resume for another fifteen minutes. "Are you alright?" he asked after a pause. "You look kind of shaken."
Deciding to go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity, Kurt shook his head. "I'm… I'm not feeling well."
"Well," replied Mr. Hume, "you should probably head back to your room then. You won't be penalized, I can assure you. You just go take care of yourself, alright?"
Kurt gave a numb nod, retrieved his backpack from the floor and muttered a thanks before hobbling out the door. He managed to make his way back to the dormitory before the bell rang signaling the end of the lunch period. He heard the muffled sounds of students moving about in the halls as he trudged up the single flight of stairs to his room. He tried to ignore the mounting pain in his leg as he dropped his backpack to the floor and sat down on his bed. Kurt allowed himself to fall backward onto the mattress, wincing slightly as his right arm protested the sudden shift in orientation. He closed his eyes and just lay there, trying not to think about anything. He didn't want to think about yelling at Blaine or freaking out in the hallway or how excruciating his leg felt. Kurt just focused on his breathing, trying to steady it.
Inhale. Pause. Exhale.
Inhale. Pause. Exhale.
He wasn't aware that he had fallen asleep until his eyes fluttered open.
"Hey, Kurt?"
When did his room get so dark? Kurt moaned and rubbed his eyes, forcing himself to sit up. He looked over at his door where he saw Blaine's figure silhouetted against the light in the hallway.
"It okay if I turn the light on?" he heard him ask. Kurt mumbled something in the affirmative and shut his eyes as bright light suddenly filled the room.
"What time is it?" asked Kurt groggily, opening his eyes and looking over at Blaine. The other boy remained by the door, hands clasped behind his back, as if he didn't want to get too close. Great, now I've scared him off, he thought with a mental roll of his eyes.
"About quarter after six," he replied. "I came and checked on you earlier but figured you could use some extra sleep."
"Oh." Had he really been asleep for almost six hours?
There was an awkward pause before Blaine spoke up again. "I want to apologize for earlier," he said. Kurt met his gaze and tried to recall what had happened. There were classes and then he went to lunch and… oh. "I was insensitive and rude and shouldn't have been trying to mother you."
Kurt let a small sigh escape from between his lips. "No, I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have snapped." He scooted to the edge of the bed and made to stand up. His leg protested painfully and Kurt had to grab the bedpost to keep from falling over. "Goddamnit," he hissed through his teeth, letting himself sink back onto the mattress.
Blaine crossed the room in a couple of strides. "Here," he said, holding out his hands. In the palm of one hand was a beautiful little white pill and the other hand held a water bottle. "Figured you might want this," he said, the corners of his mouth tugging up in a concerned smile.
"Very much so," replied Kurt, grabbing the pill and popping it in his mouth, quickly following it with a long drink of water. "Thanks," he said after a moment, exhaling heavily.
"Of course." Blaine sat down next to him on the bed. Kurt noticed the foot of space he was careful to leave between them. There was an awkward silence where neither of them knew what to say next. Kurt was at a loss for words. In all honesty, he had a lot on his mind, but nothing he felt that should be brought up at this particular moment.
Suddenly, Blaine spoke up. "So do you have a lot of homework?" A typical fall-back question for students when there was a lull in conversation. Kurt didn't know if he should feel glad for the neutral topic or disappointed that nothing else came up.
In response, Kurt shook his head. "No, not really. Only made it to a handful of classes, anyway," he said with a snort and a roll of his eyes.
Blaine gave him a comforting smile, fingers twitching as he started to move his hand but then thought better of it. He's afraid to touch me, realized Kurt. Probably heard about what happened in the hallway with that other kid. "No one is going to think any less of you if you need to take a day or two off from classes," he heard Blaine say.
Kurt closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. "No, I need something to do. I'm tired of just sitting around and taking up space."
Blaine gave an understanding nod. "Just try not to push yourself and do more than you can handle," he advised. Kurt gave a half-hearted nod. "Are you going to be coming to Warblers rehearsal on Wednesday?" he asked, raising a brow at him.
He hadn't really given much thought to that just yet, so Kurt gave a shrug in response. "I don't know. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole singing thing," he replied. Everyone had told him that he sang, but he honestly couldn't remember it. Was he any good? Did he enjoy it? He let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed his forehead. Why couldn't anything be simple? Why couldn't he just remember anything? He couldn't stand having to question himself all the time.
"Y'know," he said, not raising his gaze. "I think I may get started on some of my reading for class." Kurt really just wanted Blaine to leave (did that boy always have to be around?). He was tired of feeling his pitying and concerned gaze all the time.
Blaine got to his feet. Kurt could feel his eyes on him but refused to look up. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, then," the other boy replied. "Text me if you need anything." Kurt nodded in acknowledgement and heard Blaine slowly exit the room, closing the door softly behind him.
Kurt let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He could feel his medicine kicking in (oh the wonders of Vicodin) and knew that he wouldn't be getting any real work done. The meds worked amazingly for his pain but also made him fairly drowsy. He felt no guilt in the fact that he left his schoolwork abandoned in his backpack as he curled up on his bed and rested his head on the pillow. His teachers couldn't possibly be angry with him.
In fact, the only thing that went through Kurt's mind as he slipped into a drug-induced slumber was the fact that he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and was starting to feel hungry. But that problem would have to wait until morning.
Next time: While doing 'research', Kurt finds some old performances from WMHS on YouTube. Will that sway his decision to re-join the Warblers?
