I'm very tired. I hope this doesn't suck.
Sorry for the long time between updates! I have school etc.
It's also quite short, but I shall try and get chapter 9 out as quickly as I possibly can and I don't think that is going to be very long.
I guess I should put a warning in for the bit of cheesy Klaine that I shoved at the end of this chapter. It's very brief, but could annoy the hell out of a Klaine-hater, so there you go.
Rory had no idea how he had not yet managed to flunk English. The once awkward silence that had resounded between them after Rory's first day had developed into perpetual playfighting, which had then turned into holding hands, cliché note-passing and giggling to each other. The classes had begun to feel like the highlight of his week, despite the fact that he never learned anything. He'd been staring at the clock all day, waiting for the final period English class. He hadn't seen Sugar since he'd spoken to her parents, and he was desperate to gossip about what they both knew about their parents' past and piece something together. Rory was usually late to English, as he had to stop at his locker several times a day due to his preference not to have to carry heavy books around (or, as Sugar called it, laziness) and so he realised straight away when Sugar hadn't turned up. He absent-mindedly took his books out, not listening to a word that the teacher was saying and gazing around nervously, waiting for Sugar to walk in.
Rory could feel his heart beating in his throat by the time the bell rang signifying the end of the day. He knew that something had to be up, Sugar didn't skive classes. She may not be a perfect student, but she at least showed up to every class. She wasn't sick, he also knew she wasn't sick, he'd seen her the previous day and she'd been fine. Something had to be wrong. His mind went back to the first day he had seen her, when she'd been violently shoved into that locker. She'd looked so scared and hurt that day. Rory's heart was beating through his chest by the time he reached the entrance to the library. Luckily, he knew exactly where to look.
He found her sitting on the same couch where they'd first had a real conversation, right behind the self help section. She was sitting with a notepad, doodling quietly and she looked so peaceful he almost didn't want to disturb her.
"Sugar?"
The notebook slammed shut, and Sugar looked up in surprise, her eyes wide. On seeing who it was, she relaxed a little, but Rory could tell she was still wary.
"You found me." She stated. Looking him straight in a way that made Rory feel like he was the one who was being confronted.
"You didn't show up to English?" Rory said, with obvious panic in his voice. "Did something happen?"
Sugar shrugged nonchalantly "No, I'm fine. You worry too much." She gave him a sweet smile and Rory felt a rush of relief flood over him. Of course, he was overreacting. Sugar was a big girl, she could defend herself. He smiled back at her and sat down, watching her draw in a comfortable silence. Comfortable, at least, until he noticed the bruise forming on her upper arm and down her shoulder. An icy cold fist closed around his heart.
"Sugar?"
"Mhm?" Sugar wasn't paying any attention to him, she didn't look up. Rory reached out his hand slowly to run his fingers over her purpling shoulder and she flinched away from him, leaping to her feet with a high pitched noise of protest.
"Don't!" She covered up the bruising with her hand, as if she could pretend he hadn't seen anything. Rory saw tears begin to tell up in her eyes as she turned her head away.
"What's happened to you?"
Sugar wanted to tell him. She wanted to cry to him and have him wrap his arms around her and shush her and tell her that everything was alright. But everything wasn't alright, and she wasn't a damsel in distress and Rory had his own problems.
"Fight with a door." Sugar said bluntly. "Door won." Her choked voice and the tear running down her cheek gave her away, however much she tried to hide it and Rory came and stood next to her, acting with caution.
"It looks bad, does it hurt?"
Sugar felt her heart melt a little "It doesn't hurt, not really." He saw the worried look in his eyes and sighed with surrender, "It was the same guys who you saw a few weeks back, they like to knock me around between classes."
Rory had seen his fair share of violence, he'd grown up in children's homes after all and he'd received the odd black eye himself, even been the cause of a couple. He stilled failed to understand, however, how anyone could want to hurt someone like Sugar because of some stupid prejudice.
"Harmony was watching," Sugar continued. "She didn't join- but she was watching. God, I hate her now." She could feel a headache throbbing at the inside of her skull from holding her tears back and she gave in to Rory's comforting presence, pulling him into a hug and burying her head in his shoulder. "I wish I wasn't like this."
Rory was slightly taken aback by the gesture, considering that Sugar had flinched away from him not two minutes ago, but he happily wrapped his armed around her and squeezed tight. "I think you're perfect like this," he said with conviction "Don't let them convince you otherwise."
Sugar sniffed a little and gave him a meek smile, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek "Take me home?"
Blaine was slaving over the stove when Rory got home, so he settled beside his other father, who was pouring over a magazine and frantically scribbling notes. "Can Chloe Moretz wait for five minutes?" Rory asked sheepishly, his father at work was rather intimidating.
"Chloe?" Kurt looked up at him with a furrowed brow "Is she still cool?" He cleared a pile of magazines out the way so that Rory could sit down next to him "Last time I shot Chloe she hadn't had kids yet."
Rory shrugged "She's hot."
"Good enough!" Kurt exclaimed, scribbling something down in his notebook "Now, what's up?"
Rory suddenly felt a pang of guilt. It wasn't that he didn't trust his father, but he knew very well that Sugar would hate for her secrets to be passed on so easily. He couldn't help it, though. His thoughts were so mixed up. He was used to confusion, he was used to feeling lost, but the tug that he could feel on his heart had a separate entity. This feeling was nothing to do with himself, it was all for Sugar. All he could think about was finding ways to protect her, to help her, to keep her safe and put a stop to all the things that were making her cry and he knew he'd happily endure all the knocks she had taken if it meant that she didn't have to. The thought scared him. This entire feeling scared him to death.
"It's about Sugar."
"Uh oh. Stop right there. I'm not good with girls. Ask Blaine, he went on a date once with a girl. Granted it was a revival of Love Story, but still a date, right?"
"It's not that kind of problem," Rory shuffled nervously. "It's a school thing. There are some guys, they're kinda ganging up on her."
Kurt looked up at him, and Rory saw an emotion he wasn't familiar with flash across his face "Oh." Kurt fell quiet, and Rory began to worry that he'd said something wrong. Maybe Kurt didn't want him to open up like this just yet? He wasn't his real father, and he had to work hard enough as it was without Rory coming to him with problems he couldn't do anything about.
"Is she gay?"
Rory raised an eyebrow "No."
"How do you know?"
"She's my girlfriend!"
"Since when?"
"Since she is!"
"Okay..." Kurt looked troubled. "I'm sorry I just... I have experience in that area. I used to get knocked around a lot when I was your age and it didn't end well. I don't want that to happen to her- especially since she's Brittany and Santana's kid. They don't deserve it."
"People don't care so much as they used to," Rory reminded him, and Kurt felt joyous for a moment, thankful that he could finally bring up his son in a world where he could be whoever he wanted "At least not around here. Look, I can't tell you why is, alright? She's really sensitive about it and I can't have her mad at me. You should see her when she's mad at people, it's terrifying."
"Sounds like her mother's daughter," Kurt said with a sparkle in his eye as he recounted memories of Santana. Her cutting insults were something he never thought he would miss, but then again he didn't think he'd ever miss high school. There was something about having a teenager of his own that made him realise how valuable a time it was. High school was when he had found himself. He'd hated himself at first, of course- everybody does, but he had accepted himself eventually. He'd met the love of his life, made wonderful friends. Though he would never volunteer to go back to those days, he was glad they'd happened.
"They're hurting her." A small voice interrupted Kurt's reminiscing. He was taken aback
"Physically?" He asked, panic setting in. A nod. "How badly?
Rory swallowed "I don't know." He felt his father put an arm around his shoulders, and leaned into the comfort of a parent for the first time in his life. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
"Just look out for her." Blaine's voice sounded from the doorway, making the other two look up. "Be there for her, talk to her, care for her and-" he kissed his husband's cheek and gave them both a sad look "Never tell her to confront them. Some people don't have the choice when it comes to being the victim, but that doesn't mean they have to run."
The next day Sugar found a note in her locker.
S-
Courage.
-R x
