The Cheerios bus arrived at the arena at 9:00. Even though it had only been a two and a half hour ride, it felt so much longer because Kurt was really nervous. He had brought a small pillow and had hoped to get some more sleep on the ride, but that didn't happen, although he did pretend to be asleep.
They filed off the bus and headed inside. Coach Sue got the team checked in and led them to seats where they could watch the other teams perform. They weren't scheduled to perform for another two hours, which made Kurt even more nervous.
Even though he didn't feel like eating, he knew it was a good time to have a snack to keep from getting too hungry or thirsty, but not have anything sloshing around in his stomach when it came time to perform. He had brought a couple of cereal bars and a small bottle of water with him in his Cheerios jacket.
After watching for about an hour, he spent some time texting back and forth with Dave and tried to relax. He wasn't singing in this competition, but he was afraid that he would mess something up and make Coach Sue mad. He closed his eyes, put his earbuds in, and listened to some music for a while until he heard Coach Sue's voice. He put his phone and earbuds back in his coat pocket and got in line. They went to another area where they warmed up, and then lined up to perform.
The routine went smoothly and Kurt was relieved to exit the performance area having made it through the whole thing without messing up. When they got close to where they had been sitting in the audience earlier, Kurt saw his dad and Dave. His expression changed immediately when he saw Dave moving toward him while his dad was talking to Coach Sue.
"Dave!" Kurt practically jumped into his arms when he got close enough. "What are you doing here?"
"Watching you, of course."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Your dad thought it might make you even more nervous if you knew we were here."
Kurt reached for his hand. "Come on. Come sit with me. You're wearing your letterman jacket, you'll fit in." Kurt led him to the section where the rest of the Cheerios were sitting. He sat in the next-to-end spot giving Dave room to sit in the end seat. "So, what did you think?"
"You guys did great. I only saw a few other squads before you, but the Cheerios were definitely better than the ones I saw."
"So, you were already here when we were texting."
"We were."
Burt came down to where they were sitting. He leaned over and spoke in Kurt's ear. "You were great, kiddo. I'll be back in a couple of hours. I got the awards ceremony time from your Coach."
"Okay, Dad."
Kurt leaned over and put his head on Dave's shoulder.
"You tired?"
"Yeah. I tried to sleep on the bus, but it was too noisy."
"I'm betting that you're supposed to be watching. Won't Coach Sue give all of you some kind of quiz about which team's back flips were the best or something?"
"I hope not."
They chatted quietly back and forth during the rest of the competition. About 15 minutes before the awards ceremony was about to start, Dave's phone buzzed letting him know that Burt was back and gave him the details of where he had parked.
The top five teams were called down to the performance area. Kurt and the rest of the Cheerios moved to take their place with the other four groups. Much to Kurt's relief, they came in first. They stayed and repositioned the group in the center of the area for a team photo with the trophy. Once they were done, the team headed back to their seats. Coach Sue congratulated them in her own weird condescending way and told them to grab their stuff and head to the bus.
Kurt hung back at the end of the line. Dave followed along walking next to Kurt. When they got out to the bus, Coach Sue stopped him when started to get on the bus. "Get whatever you left on the bus and get back out here."
Kurt was confused, but did what she said, grabbing the small pillow he had brought with him.
"See you Monday, Hummel."
Kurt was still confused, but saw that Dave was still standing there.
"Well come on."
"What's going on?"
Dave laughed. "I thought your dad told you. You're coming back with us."
"Excellent. Let's go."
Dave reached for Kurt's hand and he started to lead them toward where Burt had parked. They only made it past a couple of buses before Kurt heard his name. He looked around, and then turned back toward the Cheerios bus. He saw two girls jogging toward them, one much closer than the other.
When she caught up, she said, "It is you. I told Nadine that it was you."
Nadine caught up to Clarissa. "I thought you two were football players."
"We are. I'm a cheerleader too."
"We saw," Nadine said. "Congratulations on winning. The Cheerios always win, but we try anyway. At least we won our Sectionals. We compete in Dayton to stay away from the Cheerios as long as possible."
Kurt laughed. "I see."
"Are you two coming to the next line dance night?"
"We might."
The two girls heard their names being called. Clarissa said, "We gotta go. Give me your hand."
Kurt stuck his hand out. Clarissa pulled a pen out of her pocket and wrote on his hand.
"That's my last name. Friend me on Facebook. Bye!"
The two girls ran off.
Kurt started laughing. "Are they flirting with us? I mean we were holding hands when she started yelling my name."
"Maybe they just want to go out with boys who will dance with them? I mean they did say they had boyfriends."
"Who knows?" Kurt pulled his phone out and put her full name in his notes app. "I'll add her later."
Once they reached the Navigator, they hopped in the backseat together.
"Congratulations! You were really good, Kurt. It's been ages since you took gymnastics. I didn't know you could still do flips and stuff."
"I had to really work at it. Getting taller does not make it easier."
"Speaking of taller, how much have you grown?"
"A couple of inches since the beginning of the school year. Thanks for coming and bringing Dave."
"No problem, kiddo. I feel like your chauffeur with both of you sitting back there."
"Do you want one of us to move?"
"Nah, it's fine. Dave packed a bag for you last night when you were in the shower. You're pretty flexible. Even as tall as you are now, you can probably still change back there. The back windows are tinted and Dave can hold your coat up to block the view from the front and side."
Kurt got up on his knees facing the cargo area and found his bag. He took out the outfit on top, which was a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved, button-up shirt, and a sweater. He managed to get them on, but couldn't tuck the shirt in. He switched his socks, folded his uniform up, and put it the duffle. He grabbed the boots and put his cheer sneakers in the back. He took his coat back, put it back on, and then slipped his feet into his boots.
"I forgot a belt. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. The sweater covers over the belt loops and these pants have no chance of falling down."
Burt laughed.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm done. We can go do whatever you had planned."
"I didn't bring a different coat either. Your dad said to pack as light as possible because he needed the cargo area." Dave took his hand and slid his sleeves up enough to put Kurt's bracelet back on him.
Kurt smiled at Dave. "It's fine. I have no clue what we're doing though. What are we doing, Dad?" Once Dave had finished fastening the bracelet, Kurt took his hand and interlaced their fingers.
Burt pulled out of the parking lot. "Well, today we're going to a couple of small car museums."
"Alright, but the way you said that was weird. Why did you say 'today'?"
"Because tomorrow we're doing something different. I'm going to a place that's having an auction tomorrow. They have parts listed I need for some of those junkers I have sitting behind the shop. Plus, they're selling off stuff from a couple of auto dealers back stock. That's why there's some flattened boxes in the back and a tarp. Plus, there's a good junkyard nearby. I'm going to drop the two of you off at the Newport Aquarium and you can spend the day looking at fish and whatever. Paul said Dave's wanted to go for a long time, but he never managed to take him."
Dave had a huge smile on his face. "Really?" He knew they were spending the night, but he had no idea what had been planned for that afternoon or Sunday.
"Yeah. So, tonight we're staying in a hotel not that far from the aquarium, but far enough from downtown to be reasonably priced."
"Sounds fun." He squeezed Dave's hand.
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After they went to see the Wyler Collection and to the Salty Dog Museum, they discussed where to eat dinner before they left the museum parking lot.
"We're in a big city. How about Chipotle? I see ads for it, but we don't have one. It seems like the kind of place you could follow your diet without it being incredibly boring."
"Fine by me. Just tell me which way to go."
Kurt looked it up and gave him directions. After they found a place to park, they went inside and got in line.
"This place is pretty cool," Kurt said. "If you don't overdo the sour cream, it all looks fine."
"This might be my new favorite place," Burt said, teasing him.
They all ordered and took their food to a table. Kurt excused himself to the bathroom and came back a few minutes later with his shirt tucked in, his hair straightened out, and his pants tucked in his boots the way he liked them. He grabbed his cup and Burt's. Dave grabbed his and followed him to fill their cups with water. Dave saw the bottles of hot sauce and chose one. Kurt picked up a stack of napkins.
When they sat back down, Burt had already taken a bite of his. "This is good. We need one of these in Lima if I'm allowed to eat here."
Kurt just laughed. He unwrapped his own burrito enough to take a bite. "You're right. It is good. I like it too."
Dave offered Kurt a bite of his since they had gotten different meats. Kurt did the same.
"They're both good," Dave said. "It's definitely on my 'Eat Here Again' list."
They talked about the cars they'd seen, with Burt doing most of the talking while they finished eating. Once they were done, Dave grabbed everything and cleared the table. Kurt went back up to the register and bought one of the drinks out of the case that he had been eying while they ate, and opened it. He drank part of it and handed it to Dave.
"Mmm. That's really good."
"I think so too. I wonder if we can get it in a store in Lima." He showed the bottle to Burt. "Even you could have one. It's just carbonated fruit juice, but it's really good. No added sugar or anything."
"Izze, huh? Well, you see if you can find them in Lima and you can put them on our shopping list. I've missed having a soda now and then."
Kurt and Dave finished it and left the bottle in the glass recycling bin. Dave took Kurt's hand and followed Burt out to where they'd parked.
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At the hotel, Dave put his bag on the dresser, opened it, and pulled something out. He turned and said, "Catch!" as he threw it to Kurt.
Kurt turned quickly enough to catch it, but looked completely confused. "Swim trunks?"
"Yeah. Put them on. They're my old ones. They were in my dresser, not my closet, so they missed the closet purge. I have my newer ones. Go put those on."
"I'll go change, and then you can." Dave grabbed his and headed into the bathroom.
As soon as the door closed, Burt spoke quietly. "You love him, don't you?"
"I do."
"I thought so."
"Does that bother you?"
"No. To be honest, I thought it would. I thought it would be really weird for you to be in love with another guy. But it's not. I'm glad for you. I want you to be happy and being with him makes you happy. Anyone with eyes can see that."
Kurt smiled. "He's super sweet."
"I know. Never in a million years would I think I'd see a 16-year old guy trying to impress you by learning to cook and building you furniture."
Kurt laughed. "What he made was delicious, and even if it hadn't been, he's a keeper."
The bathroom door opened and Dave came out. Kurt went in. This time Burt questioned Dave.
"You're in love with my son, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Good. You're really sweet with him without treating him like he's a girl. I like that."
Dave laughed. "Just because he's smaller than me doesn't make him less masculine. He's still growing. Even if he never gets as tall as me, he'll still be man, even in that crazy kilt thing he wears sometimes."
Burt laughed. "You're alright, kid."
Kurt came out carrying two towels in addition to his clothes. He put the clothes on the bed.
"Come on. It will be fun." Dave grabbed his hand.
They got down to the pool and found that they were alone. Dave walked down the stairs into the water. Kurt didn't let go of his hand. "I can't believe I let you talk me into getting in a pool. I can't swim."
"How about if I teach you how to swim?"
"I know the how in a conceptual way. Kick my feet, move my arms. It's just … never mind. You're right. The pool is only five feet deep. I can't drown if my head is out of the water when my feet are on the bottom. I'll give it a try, but don't tease me if I panic, okay?"
"I won't." He turned and faced Kurt. "Look at me."
Kurt swallowed hard and looked at Dave. He could see the genuine care and concern in Dave's eyes.
"I love you. I would never intentionally hurt you or let you get hurt if I can prevent it."
Kurt nodded and followed him out to where the water was a little deeper. Dave held onto the side and showed Kurt how to kick and got him to imitate him. He gradually moved Kurt to trying the arm strokes. He saw Kurt trying to overcome his panic every time water got splashed in his face.
"I have an idea. I'm going to teach you a different stroke – one you can do without putting your face in the water." He took Kurt back over to the edge of the pool and taught him the kick for the breast stroke. Kurt was a good mimic and learned it quickly.
"I like that better. It feels more controlled."
"Good. Turn sideways." He showed Kurt how to move his arms and turn his hands at the right time. "Okay. If you'll let me, I'll hold you up. I'm going to put my arms under you, sort of like a table. Your head is supposed to go under during this stroke, but it can be done with your head out. You won't get to where you're going as fast, but you'll still get there."
"Okay." He let Dave hold him up and walk alongside him as he got the hang of coordinating the arm and leg movements.
What neither of them saw was Burt watching from the hallway through the glass in the door with tears streaming down his cheeks.
"You've got it. I'm going to let go of you, but I will keep my arms below you. And remember, you can reach the bottom. You can always just stand up."
Kurt worked at and did it without Dave touching him.
"Perfect. This time, I'm going to just walk along next to you. You've got this. Just stand up if you feel like you can't keep going." Dave stayed by his side. When they got to the edge, Dave took his hand under the water and squeezed it. "This time, let's swim together from this side to the other side."
Kurt nodded.
Dave swam slowly alongside Kurt, doing the stroke without putting his face in the water either. He kept his head facing Kurt so he could keep an eye on him. When they got to the other side, Kurt threw his arms around Dave's neck, disregarding the fact that they were in public, and hugged him.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. I just grabbed the trunks from my house this morning because I didn't find any in your dresser last night when your dad told me to pack your stuff quickly. I wasn't trying to force you to go swimming with me. I didn't know that you didn't know how to swim. You never said anything when we were out on the lake."
"I wore the life vest the whole time, remember? I don't tell people I can't swim. That's how I became so afraid of the water to start with. Let's try it again. I'm going to get better at it so I can go faster. Oh, and I don't own any swim trunks, well I guess I do now that you gave me these."
They swam back and forth several times, never noticing that Burt was watching them. After a few more minutes, Burt wiped his eyes and went back up to their hotel room. They stayed down in the pool for a while with Kurt practicing until he could do the stroke evenly and he felt comfortable.
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Kurt knocked on the hotel door and Burt opened it.
"Hey, Dad. Dave taught me how to swim."
"Really? That's great. Congratulations."
"I'm going to go shower. Maybe you two can find a movie we can watch." Kurt grabbed his pajamas and toiletries from his duffle and went into the bathroom.
Dave sat on the towel on the vinyl chair at the small table so he wouldn't get the bed wet. He saw Burt wiping his eyes.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all. You just … did what I've never been able to do. And I can't thank you enough."
"Something happened."
"Yeah. But I'll let him be the one to tell you that whenever he's ready. I'm just so glad to know that he can swim." He started flipping channels. "Oh, how about this? Not my cup of tea, but you and Kurt might like it. It's that Jamie Olive or whatever making something."
"Sure. Kurt's probably just going to go to sleep. After cheering and then swimming, I'm sure he's tired."
Kurt came out of the bathroom and sat down on the end of the bed. "Once you're in the shower, I'll use the blow dryer."
Dave got in the shower. Kurt dried his hair quickly and got in bed before Dave finished.
"I'm really glad for you, bud. I think you're right – he's a keeper."
Kurt smiled and covered up. Burt turned the lamp off. The light from the TV was enough for Dave to see to get to the bed when he got out of the shower. He took the remote from the table between the two beds and propped his pillow up and watched the show for a bit before he turned the TV off and snuggled up with Kurt.
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The next morning, Burt dropped Kurt and Dave off right as the aquarium was opening. He gave them money for their tickets and $10 each for lunch figuring that the restaurant inside would be pricey. They got in line, which moved quickly since they were there so early.
Once they had their tickets they went in. They were instantly drawn in. They touched sharks and other sea creatures, and enjoyed all of the interactive areas. Kurt figured out how to get his camera settings to allow him to get good photos of the sea creatures in the tanks. He especially enjoyed watching the jellyfish and got some cool photos.
"I'm glad my dad told you to grab my camera. I'm going to print some of these and make a collage."
"It's really cool in here. I've wanted to come for a long time. I saw some of the sharks that are here on a video once. It's totally as cool as I thought it would be."
"I like how peaceful watching the fish swim around makes me feel. Thanks again for last night."
Dave just squeezed his hand. "Let's sit over there and watch." He led Kurt to a recently vacated bench up against a wall near the corner.
Kurt sat close to him and leaned his head on Dave's shoulder and they sat and watched for a while in silence.
Kurt was the one to break the silence. "I'm sorry I sort of lied that first day we talked. You mentioned that you liked swimming and some other stuff. I said I did too, but that I'd never been golfing. I didn't know you at all, and I never told anyone I couldn't swim until I told you yesterday. It was my Uncle Andy. I was 9. It was the summer after my mom died. We were out on a boat – me, my dad, my aunt Mildred, and Uncle Andy. He stopped the motor so they could fish in the area. He was 'horsing around', which consisted of making fun of me a lot of the time, if my dad wasn't close enough to hear what was being said. I said something about not being able to swim and he decided that I was just being difficult because I didn't want to mess up my 'perfect' swim trunks by getting them wet in the lake, so he picked me up and tossed me over the side of the boat into the lake."
"Oh, shit."
"Yeah. My dad heard the splash and jumped in after me and obviously managed to save me, but not before I nearly drowned. Aunt Mildred helped my dad get me back up on the boat. I was still choking and coughing. And then I remember waking up to my dad doing CPR on me. I heard Uncle Andy call me a pansy and he told my dad that it was his fault that I was such a sissy since he wouldn't do anything to toughen me up and that I was just overreacting. My dad held me and ordered Aunt Mildred to dock the boat and we got off. He took me to the ER. I had aspirated water. I was in the hospital overnight. Uncle Andy fake apologized to my dad. We went to their place a couple of times after that to visit, but never went out fishing again. He never changed, but managed to pretend like he had whenever my dad was around. But the last time we were there, well, I won't even repeat what he said, but my dad heard him that time. They moved to Arkansas not too long after that, so I haven't seen them since. That was why earlier this fall I used Uncle Andy against my dad's reticence to go to the doctor. I reminded him that as my only living blood relatives, I would be turned over to Aunt Mildred and Uncle Andy if anything happened to him."
"I'm not mad that you kept it from me. It's not like swimming is my favorite thing in the world and you promised to do it with me every day next summer or something. I just listed some things I like to do and you agreed. We were just talking and getting to know each other a little bit that day, not revealing big secrets to each other. It's not a big deal and I understand why you wouldn't want someone you weren't sure you could trust to know. I could have been playing you and then told everyone that you couldn't swim. I get it. Your uncle Andy sounds like my mom's relatives, but without the religious venom."
"Oh, that was there too. I just didn't mention it. My dad tried to teach me to swim after that, but I'd just panic whenever he tried. Him being in the water with me didn't calm me down because my memories of nearly drowning involve him being in the water too. And I slipped out of his arms a few times because he's not the best swimmer. As happens frequently to the person trying to do the rescuing, he struggled to stay above water as well. I'd just have flashbacks whenever he'd try to teach me. And I never trusted anyone else to even try. I was too afraid to sign up for lessons because I didn't want anyone else to know that I couldn't swim after what had happened. Being in a pool that I could stand up in and you being the one teaching me allowed me to overcome my fear. I still don't think I'll ever want to swim in water over my head on purpose, but now at least I think I could swim far enough to get to the side of a pool and get out if someone throws me in a some point."
Dave squeezed his hand. "I'm sure you can, but if I catch someone tossing you into a pool, they're getting a bucket of ice water dumped over their head AFTER I make sure you're safe."
Kurt laughed. He kept hold of Dave's hand and stood up. "Let's go look around some more."
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Right before closing time, Kurt and Dave jumped in the backseat and shut the doors quickly to keep the cold out.
"I'm positive that you did not go in there this morning wearing a penguin hoodie."
Kurt laughed and looked down at his hoodie that had two penguins and a chick between them. "I didn't, but I just had to have it. Guess what I learned today."
"Probably a million things given the size of that place. Why don't you tell me the one thing you learned that inspired you to buy a penguin hoodie?"
"There are gay penguins who pair off together. And zoos have given them extra eggs when a female lays too many or eggs from female penguins that rejected theirs and they've hatched and raised the chick themselves, sharing the responsibilities."
"I see. I did not know that either. That's actually really cool."
"I thought so. And the adult penguins on my hoodie are gay."
Burt laughed.
"A penguin's sex can't be determined just by looking, so there's no way to prove they aren't, and I say they are."
"Works for me. Sounds like you had a good time. What about you Dave?"
"It's amazing in there. I loved it."
"That's good. Anything you learn inspire you to buy something unusual?"
Kurt laughed.
"Not exactly inspired by information, but I bought this cool deck of waterproof playing cards with sharks on them instead of the regular jack, queen and king. And the back of the cards have a cool hammerhead shark on them."
"Waterproof cards sound like a good idea."
"Yeah, if you dump anything on them you can just wash them with soap and water. They came in this indestructible case so you can toss them in a backpack or whatever without damaging them."
"Did you find anything good at the junkyard or win any of the auction pieces you wanted?"
"Yep. I got quite a bit of stuff. A bunch of oil filters, spark plugs, and a lot of other stuff. You can help me add it to our inventory when you work this week."
"Don't remind me. Not that I don't want to go to work, but that means that school starts again tomorrow. It should be against the rules to make the Cheerios practice over break."
"But you did win," Burt said.
"Yeah, there is that. But I want to lounge around a few more days."
"Next weekend, kiddo."
"Yeah, yeah."
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Monday afternoon after school, Mr. Schue practically yelled, "Let's move to the auditorium!" trying to be heard over the music. He moved to the door and motioned for everyone to follow him.
Once they stepped into the auditorium and the doors were closed, they could finally hear themselves think.
"Coach Sue has lost her mind," Puck said.
"Well, I happen to love Madonna, but the volume could go down a bit and playing it all day long is a bit excessive," Kurt said. "Anyway, Dave and are ready to do our 80s song."
"Alright then. Let's get started." I'll give you 10 minutes to be ready.
Everyone else sat in the auditorium talking to each other while waiting. Kurt and Dave came out on the stage with the band members. They had come in 15 minutes before school to run through their song once and they were ready to go. They sang the verses back and forth and the chorus together just like Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard.
Suddenly, the wheels are motion
And I am ready to sail any ocean
Suddenly, I don't need the answers
Cause I'm ready to take all of my chances with you
They went down and sat in the auditorium when the finished.
"That was a great example of a 80s duet. Good job guys," Mr. Schue said. Since no one else had prepared anything over break, he told them he wanted everyone to sing a Madonna song. His suggestion wasn't well received by the guys. The girls moved and sat together to discuss a number they could perform together. Mr. Schue requested that all of the guys meet at lunch in the choir room the next day.
Kurt and Mercedes met up at the Hummel's to work on their "Vogue" idea. Kurt used his new contacts in the Cheerios and rounded up enough people to work on it and made plans to meet up the next morning.
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Tuesday, all of the people Kurt contacted showed up at the school an hour early to work on the song and the choreography.
At lunch, all of the guys met with Mr. Schue and he discussed the lack of morale and how the guys weren't doing a good job of treating the girls as equals. He handed out sheet music. They stood around the piano and sang through "What it Feels Like For a Girl" by Madonna. Puck made it clear that he would not perform the song for the girls, but they discussed how society continued to view women as less than men.
Kurt asked the guys to sit down. He stood in front of the group of guys and took a deep breath. "I'm not going to stand here and tell you about what it feels like to be a girl. That would be ridiculous because I am not a girl. I just want you to think about one thing. First a question. How many of you have a sister or a close relative that is a girl under the age of 20?" Everyone but Finn raised their hands. "Okay. Finn, I want you to picture Brittany's little sister. You've seen her before, right?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Okay. Each of you – picture your young female family member or Brittany's little sister standing right here next to me." He turned sideways. "Over there is a group of bullies. And you know what they've just called me?"
Dave answers, "A girl."
"Exactly. A group of bullies is berating me – and one of the worst things they can think of to call me is a 'girl'. How many times do you think that happened when there was a girl close enough to me to hear it? How many times do girls hear that what they are is an insult? When being called a 'girl' isn't an insult anymore, things will have finally changed." Kurt sat down.
Dave stood up and walked down front. "It's true. Just a couple of days ago, I met a boy. He was looking at yarn skeins like he really wanted to pick one out, but instead he was just sort of messing with them in a big bin. It turns out that his grandma was sick in the hospital and taught him how to knit when he spent a lot of time there. He made his older sister a hat. She told her friend that her brother had made it. That friend told her younger brother and word got around. The boys in his class started calling him a girl. He gave up knitting. Just was just a kid, making stuff for fun. But being called a girl made him feel so bad about himself that he quit doing something he really enjoyed." He sat back down.
The bell rang and they all left for their afternoon classes.
Kurt got a pass to Coach Sue's office during the second half of last period. He got there and Mercedes was there too. Kurt knocked and opened the door. They went in and sat down.
"In appreciation for letting me play Madonna in your video, I have a plan for the two of you. I'd like Mercedes to join the Cheerios and perform with us at the pep rally this week. I'm sorry to say that it is too late to join the roster for Nationals, but you can still perform duets with Kurt for the rest of the season whenever they fit into my plans. I'll have Becky take your measurements and have a uniform here for you by the pep rally. Be a practice after school. Now, get out of my office."
They left the room and closed the door behind them.
"You're a Cheerio? Since when?"
"Since before break. I've been practicing with them for about a month and I performed with them at Regionals this past weekend. I didn't sing. It was just regular cheer stuff. And you can't tell anyone. No one is supposed to know until the pep rally."
"I can't do any of that cheer stuff."
"You heard her. She wants you to sing with me, not do flips and stuff. Please? It will be a lot of fun. We've never gotten to duet before."
"Fine. You win, but if this blows up in my face, I'm quitting. I don't have time for crazy Coach Sue drama. I'm going to go put my stuff away and get what I need for tonight before I go to the gym and let Becky measure me and see this crazy idea for myself."
About 10 minutes later, the final bell rang and Dave, Kurt, and Mercedes met up in the gym.
"Don't laugh," she said to Dave. "I was conscripted. I'll give it a week or two."
"Does Azimio know yet?"
"Oh, hell no. It's going to be a surprise for everyone."
Dave laughed. "Got it. I'll be sure to sit near him so I can see his jaw drop and his eyes pop out."
"Whatever. I gotta go find Becky."
A few minutes later, Coach Sue was barking orders through her megaphone and the Cheerios were following those orders to their utmost abilities.
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Since the girls weren't ready and the boys were still refusing to cooperate Thursday afternoon, Mr. Schue started to discuss options for Regionals.
"I've decided that we're going to go with a Journey medley."
Kurt rolled his eyes, but he had already had his chance to shine a Sectionals. He leaned into Dave more. He smiled when Dave kissed him right above the ear. He reached out and took his hand and interlaced their fingers.
"So at Sectionals, we featured Rachel, Kurt, Mercedes, Santana, and Finn. For Regionals, Artie and Tina will take the leads on 'Faithfully'. Our second song, 'Don't Stop Believing' is a work in progress." He passed out the sheet music to 'Anyway You Want It'. "We're going to start with this one because I've divided out the lead between most of you. A few of you have told me that you don't ever want a lead, so I have not given you one. Anyway, let's try to run through this a few times. And yes, Kurt you are still singing alto. I hope that's not a problem."
"It's fine. I know we are short on higher voices. We have nearly twice as many guys as girls now. If the alto part isn't that high, one of the other guys might be able to sing it and I could sing second soprano to even out the balance even more if we need it."
Mr. Schue just nodded and Brad start to play.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Friday afternoon after lunch, the Cheerios and the marching band assembled in the gymnasium for a warm up and run-through of the song they were going to perform for the pep rally. Fifteen minutes later, the Cheerios cleared the floor, the band stood along the end wall, and the students filled the bleachers.
On Coach Sue's mark, the music started and the Cheerios performed "Ray of Light" with about half of them on stilts. They received thunderous applause. They exited the floor and the girls not on stilts helped the others get them off quickly. They reassembled in formation and did the routine that had used at Regionals. When they finished, the marching band moved into position and began to play. The Cheerios strutted in from behind with Mercedes and Kurt leading the way. The crowd loved their rendition of Madonna's "Four Minutes".
As soon as the performance ended, Mr. Schuester was on his feet, approaching Coach Sue. He immediately began questioning her about poaching Kurt and Mercedes.
Kurt spoke up, "You came in the other morning and watched us. Obviously, you were too mesmerized by the stilts to notice me up on them."
Mr. Schue looked like he was replaying the practice in his mind, but coming up blank.
"Being in the Cheerios gives us more of an opportunity to shine. We're doing both."
Azimio and Dave were next onto the floor. Kurt threw his arms around Dave's neck. Azimio kissed Mercedes on the cheek.
"Damn, that uniform looks fine on you, girl."
"Thank you. I don't know how permanent it will be, but we'll see. I can't compete at Nationals, but I can perform with them here at school."
"Well, you two killed that song. Dave recorded it. Obviously, he knew."
"Yeah. Kurt's been practicing with them since before break. I just started this week. We were supposed to keep quiet about it until the pep rally."
Kurt said, "Come on." He pulled Dave by the hand. "We have to go back to class or we're going to get in trouble. You recorded 'Ray of Light' too, right? I want to show my dad."
"I did. I recorded the whole thing."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Late that afternoon, Dave and Kurt took the Navigator and picked Artie and Tina up and took them back to the Hummel's. Mercedes and Azimio showed up right after they got back with Indian food for everyone. Azimio and Dave got Artie and his wheelchair inside. Kurt had already moved one of the dining chairs out of the way so Artie could sit up to the table. Kurt passed plates out and the girls started emptying the bags and passing the containers around the table.
"Okay, so what movie did you bring Mercedes?" Kurt asked.
"Nope. You know the rules. The movie's a surprise. You'll find out when I put it in and press play."
"Fine. I can't wait for everyone to see our video on Monday."
Mercedes agreed. "It came out so good. I'm excited too."
Tina asked, "What did the guys work on this week? I know Mr. Schue pulled you guys out for a special meeting."
Azimio answered, "It was mostly just about how even though guys like to think that society considers men and women equal, that it doesn't. Kurt made the guys think by what he said about how bullies called him a girl as one of the lowest insults. And as much as the guys like to think that they're not sexist, we all are. I think it's a good topic to talk about again and Mr. Schue should let the girls talk this time."
"I agree," Kurt said. "My statement wasn't meant to take the place of listening to the girls' perspectives. I would never dare to speak on the behalf of women. I'm not a girl. I just wanted something that the guys could think about quickly because a lot of them have never thought about gender equality."
"I think we should get the girls together for a sleepover and actually work on a presentation of some sort. Maybe a song too," Mercedes said.
"I think I know a good song, but we'd have to listen to it carefully to make sure."
Kurt said, "I think it's a great idea. As I said, I'm not a girl so I can't speak for them, but one thing I don't think most guys see that I do is that being a girl is performance art whenever any guy is around. Because girls have ignored my presence repeatedly, I've seen them go from what should I call it? 'Girls only' behavior to 'girls performing femininity for guys'."
"What the hell does that mean?" Azimio asked.
"I know what Kurt's referring to," Tina said. "When a bunch of girls get together, we'll sit around and talk about a lot of different things. We might pig out on pizza or eat donuts. We'll sit around in baggy t-shirts and shorts or sweats. We'll just put our hair in ponytails or bandanas to get it out of our faces. We slouch all over the furniture and floor. We wear our glasses."
Mercedes added, "And the fastest way to see how much girls are performing for guys would be to have a couple of guys show up unannounced and watch the girls scream and try to cover themselves or run into another room and lock the door. If more girls showed up, that would not happen at all. Of course, that's only if all of the girls are friendly with each other. If you put rival girl groups it's like no one will let their guard down and all of the girls will just stay in their 'costumes' in following along with the performance analogy."
"That's so weird," Dave said.
"But the fact that the two of you didn't already know this proves how little guys our age understand about girls' lives," Kurt said. "I'm not included as a girl, but the fact that they have no interest in 'performing femininity' for me has allowed me a glimpse into their world. And I honestly think the fact that I participate in some of their 'beauty rituals' for lack of a better word is probably what made my closet transparent. I never said I was gay until not that long ago, but my interest in my looks set me apart from the other guys. Whereas Dave would have never been on anyone's radar for potentially being gay unless he was caught looking at other guys and looking interested. One week this school year, or even for a day, it would be an interesting social experiment for all of the Glee girls to show up the way they would dress if they didn't care at all what guys thought about the way they looked. I wouldn't ask them to do it for school, but maybe we could have everyone over to Dave's house again and do it. I think it would be really good for the guys to see how much of what girls do is dictated by their desire to be accepted by males."
Mercedes said, "I think it's an interesting idea. Tina and I will talk about it with the girls."
Everyone cleaned up and moved to the living room to watch the movie. Dave got Artie situated on the sofa. Tina snuggled up with him. Azimio and Mercedes sat on the other end of the sectional. Kurt and Dave had put the small couch back in the living room again and were snuggled up on it. Tina pressed the play button and the movie started.
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?" Azimio asked. "I went to see this with my little cousins. It's pretty funny."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Glee Club continued to focus on Madonna the next week since the girls hadn't performed yet and Finn was working on some group idea that he hadn't explained very clearly. The girls met Monday at lunch to run through their number. Mercedes wouldn't tell Azimio or Kurt any information.
Afterschool they met in the auditorium and the girls performed "Express Yourself" wearing different colored corsets and men's suit jackets, looking very 80s. Will congratulated them on their performance. The girls changed back into their regular clothes and the whole group worked on some preliminary choreography for Regionals.
After they finished working on their choreography, the students went back to the choir room and Kurt and Mercedes showed the "Vogue" video they had created.
"Wow, that was really good. You two did a great job on that," Mr. Schue said.
"We know," Mercedes said with a confident grin on her face. She looked back over her shoulder at Kurt who winked at her.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
As soon as Glee was over, Kurt and Dave headed to the Navigator. Kurt practically dragged him out to the parking lot.
"What's the big hurry?"
"I'm just excited. Come on."
Dave laughed at his enthusiasm. He tossed his backpack in the backseat and got in the passenger seat. Kurt put his bag in the backseat as well and hopped in the driver's side.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going?"
"Nope. Lean this way, though."
"What?"
Kurt kissed him. "I just wanted to kiss you. I love you." Kurt kissed him again. He refocused and headed out of the parking lot. Once they were out on the street, Kurt reached over the console and put his hand on Dave's thigh.
Dave looked down and smiled. "I love you too. Do I get any hints?"
"We aren't going skiing."
Dave laughed. "That's not much of a hint."
"You didn't ask for a helpful hint, but don't bother. I'm not giving out helpful hints."
Dave gave up and changed the topic. "Since I finished Leviathan before we went to sleep last night, we could talk about that."
"What was your favorite part?"
They discussed the book for the 30 minutes that it took Kurt to drive to the ice rink in Findlay. Dave was so into their conversation that they were about a block from the rink before he realized where Kurt was taking them.
"We're going skating?"
"Yep." Kurt pulled into a parking spot. "Your skates are in the back. I put them in when you in the shower last night. Ready?"
Kurt opened the back and Dave grabbed his skate bag. Kurt grabbed a bag too.
"You have your own skates?"
"I do."
"I didn't know you skated."
"I guess you never asked. I figure skate. I took lessons when I was a kid. I competed in pairs skating. I continued until the end of elementary school, but the girl I skated with got so much taller than me that we didn't make a good couple on the ice anymore because I couldn't spin her or lift her at all. Continuing with figure skating in junior high would have just added to my torture. I wasn't good enough to compete at a high enough level as a figure skater to make me 'cool' because I had Olympic potential, and I wasn't big enough to attempt to play hockey instead. She got a new partner and started to train in Toledo."
"I see."
"My dad used to bring me here still, but I wore non-descript clothes and a plain brown knit hat to blend in better in case there were kids from school here when I was." Kurt pulled the door open and they went inside.
They paid to get in and rented a locker to put their coats and shoes in. Kurt pulled his penguin hoodie out of his skate bag and put it on over the top of what he had on.
"There's a hoodie in your bag too. I pulled your helmet out and left it with your hockey stick."
"Thanks." Dave slipped his hoodie on as well.
Once they both had their skates laced up they headed out onto the ice. They skated around the rink fairly slowly the first time around. Kurt hopped out and readjusted his laces a bit. Dave waited for him.
"It's been too long," Dave said. "I miss skating."
They headed back out onto the ice and went at a faster pace the second time around.
"What about coming over on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday? I have to work until 7:00 anyway. You'd be able to stay in shape more easily since football is over and we don't even have a basketball coach, even if you were willing to play just to stay in shape."
"I guess I never really thought about it. I've never really just taken off and driven places on my own. I only got my truck right before we started going out. I'll talk to my dad about it. I'll see how soon I can join to start training for next year. We can look for a flyer or something before we leave."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
By the time they left, they were both tired and really hungry. They tossed their bags in the back and got in.
"You made me a fabulous dinner on our 3 month anniversary. This time, I'm taking you to dinner since I couldn't cook and go skating. I'd like you to choose."
"Hmm. That's tough. I'm not really sure what all there is around here."
"I'll can drive over by the shopping area. That probably has the most choices, unless you want to use your phone to find a place."
"Oooh. I know. My dad and I stopped at Penn Station once. That was really good. They have homemade fries and lemonade and hot subs."
"Can you look up how to get there from here and give me directions?"
"Sure."
It didn't take long to get there. Once they were inside, they stood back for a few minutes so they could look at the menu. They made up their minds and got in line and ordered. Kurt waited for their food and Dave went to find a table. Kurt found him at the back of the restaurant in the corner booth. He started to sit down across from Dave.
"Sit next to me, please."
"Okay." Kurt put the tray down and sat down.
"I didn't pick this spot to hide us, if that's what you're thinking. I picked this spot so we could talk more easily." Dave kissed him on the cheek.
They took everything off the tray and moved it out of the way and started to eat.
"This is really good. I like it a lot."
"So do I. I'm glad I remembered coming here." Dave held his sandwich out offering Kurt a bite. "What do you think?"
"Yours is good too. Try mine." Kurt let Dave take a bite of his.
"I like that too."
Once they finished eating, Kurt drove them back to his house. Burt was home when they got there.
"How was skating?"
"Fun. It's been too long since I've gone though. My legs are sore."
"Mine too. I think I'm going to start going a couple of times a week to get back into shape. There's no way I'll be hockey team material if I don't keep up with it."
"Probably true. You two still have homework to do?"
"Mostly math problems. We never escape without math problems. And some history reading."
"Well, get to it."
"We will. I think I'm going to take a hot shower first though."
The two of them headed down the stairs.
"You go first. I have some other homework I'll work on."
Once they had both showered and finished their homework, they put the ottoman down and slid it under the futon and pulled the futon down flat and put everything on it to go to sleep. Dave managed to slip the envelope he had into his pillowcase. Kurt brought the comforter out last and they lay down and covered up.
"I have something for you."
"A kiss?" Kurt asked hopefully.
"You can have as many kisses as you want."
"Hmm. I like that."
"But this isn't a kiss." Dave pulled the envelope out and handed it to Kurt.
He opened and pulled out two tickets. "You got us tickets to the theater in Columbus?"
"It's the only official Broadway tour show coming to Columbus any time soon."
"I love The 39 Steps movie. I've never seen the stage version."
"I looked it up. The stage version is a comedy, a parody of the book and movie."
"Interesting. No matter what, it will be awesome because I love going to live theater shows. And I get to go with you." Kurt put the tickets on his desk and turned the light off.
Kurt rolled back over to face Dave, who was still lying on his side facing the center of the bed. Kurt reached out for him and ran his hand down Dave's cheek. "Thank you. I love it and I love that I get to go with you. You do actually want to go, right?"
"Of course. I like the movie too. I guess we'll see what we think of the play. We can watch the movie together before we go see it."
"I didn't even pay attention to when it is."
"Next Friday night."
"I'm so excited." Kurt kissed him. "You are so sweet to me."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Thursday at lunch they went through the piece that Finn had chosen. He had asked everyone to wear red or white or both. They met up again after school and to everyone's surprise, Mercedes had gotten the choir from her church to come in and sing with them. "Like a Prayer" was a huge success.
Kurt overheard the girls talking afterwards. Once the choir left, and they went back to the choir room, Mercedes stood up.
"The girls are holding a sleepover this Saturday at Rachel's. We are inviting the guys to come Sunday morning for a discussion on gender issues led by the girls. Mr. Schue wanted the guys to think about things from a girls' point of view, but anything he would say to you wouldn't be from a girl's perspective. So, we're inviting all of the guys along with Miss Pillsbury and Mr. Schuester to meet us here at the school Sunday morning at 11:00. We'll order pizzas or something for lunch. So bring some money to chip in."
Santana was the one to speak next. "This is a one-time only offer. I'd suggest you show up. You'll see why if you come. Oh, and Miss Pillsbury already said yes and will unlock the building so we can get in the doors by her office."
"Alright then, Sunday morning it is. Next week, don't forget our music genre is 80s rock in deference to the boys who were displeased with my 80s choice of Madonna these past two weeks. Try to choose a song that has some kind of personal meaning to you, if possible. Something that expresses something about you as a person."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Sunday morning, the girls were really nervous about what they were getting ready to do. They were all in Rachel's basement still.
"I don't know if I can do this. Going in there dressed like this will drop my rep to pre-junior high level," Santana said.
"I think you're beautiful just like you are," Brittany said.
"Thanks, Britt."
"None of us looks like we normally do. At all," Tina pointed out. "At least it's Sunday and no one else will be there. Miss Pillsbury already agreed to collect all of the guys' phones on the way into the room so that they can't photograph us."
"I'm burning the 'after' pictures we took," Santana said.
"That's fine," Tina said. "I look like I'm 12. I'm certainly not keeping mine. And don't worry. I deleted all of the files from the SD card. Once we burn the photos we printed out this morning, there will be no evidence."
Rachel said, "We need to get going."
They met Miss Pillsbury at 10:45 so they could set the room up the way they wanted to. They guys started arriving about 10:55. Miss Pillsbury made them put their phones in a box on the way in. She put the box on the shelf at the front of the room after all of the guys were there.
"I want to thank all of you for taking the time to show up this morning to listen to what the girls have to say. They'll be in here in just a few minutes. What they are doing this morning is very brave. I expect you young men to be on your best behavior and to not insult them and to actually listen to what they have to say." She sat down and waited with the guys.
The door opened and Tina stepped in followed by the rest of the girls. None of them looked at all like they normally did at school. Most of the guys didn't do a great job of hiding their surprise.
Rachel said, "So, last night we met and we did makeovers and we took three photos of each of us. We've put them on the other side of this whiteboard. If you guys line up, you can come down and look at them."
The 8 guys stood in a line with Artie in the center.
"Before I turn the board around, I want to tell you about the photos. The middle photo is how we normally do our make up and hair for school. The top photo is a glamour shot of sorts. We did our make up the way we would to go to prom or to some fancy event. The bottom picture is our 'after' picture – meaning after we'd showered and not done anything to ourselves to change our appearance."
Santana stepped up. "I want you to know that showing up like this and letting you see us this way is stressful enough to make some of us actually feel sick."
The two of them turned the whiteboard around.
Artie was the first to speak, "Your glamour shots are all really good. Whoever did the make up did a good job. You all look like you belong in magazines."
"Thank you," Tina said.
Finn asked, "Are we allowed to make truthful statements that aren't meant to be mean?"
"Yes," Miss Pillsbury said.
"Honestly, the 'after' shots look like what I remember you looking like in about 6th grade, Santana. It's not that you weren't beautiful then, but without the make-up, you look really young."
Artie said, "The thing I notice is that the more make up you put on the bigger your eyes look in the photos. That focus on the eyes draws people in. But I agree with Finn. The no make up photos make all of you look younger and more innocent or vulnerable or something."
Jesse said, "This isn't directed at any one of the girls here in particular, but when I see the bottom photos, it sort of makes me think that you're unhappy or sick or upset."
Rachel spoke up, "I agree. I think that's one of the things we want you guys to walk away from this discussion realizing. For us to look 'normal' in your eyes, we have to look like the middle photos. We have to have our hair done, our make up done, and we have to be pleasant and cheerful. We purposefully did not pose ourselves for our 'after' shots. We just looked directly at the camera and let the photos be taken."
Mercedes said, "We want to talk about how being a girl is a constant performance that takes place mostly for guys or to 'out perform' other girls to stay at the top of the social ladder."
Santana said, "If I came to school like I look in that bottom photo of me, wearing these glasses, without my Cheerios uniform on, none of you would give me a second look. Seriously, look at me now. If this is how I came to school every day," she paused and turned slowly. "None of you would pay any attention to me, except maybe to purposefully ignore my presence and perhaps call me names if we ever bumped into each other or something."
Brittany started passing around some photos. "Look at these and then pass them down. We managed to find a few photos of famous women without their make up on."
While the guys were looking Rachel put more photos on the other side of the whiteboard and turned it around.
"Once you've all seen the photos, pass them back so each of you only has one photo and then bring it up here and match it to the made up version of the same person," Rachel instructed.
Kurt matched his correctly. Puck managed to do his, but only because he looked carefully at the photos and the woman in his photo had very green eyes, which gave it away on close inspection. The others were stumped. Rachel took the photos out of their hands and matched them herself.
"I'm nearly positive that none of you would describe the bottom row as beautiful women, but you had always considered this women to be beautiful before today," Rachel said. "We get up every morning and we fret about what clothes to wear, how to do our hair, how much make up to wear. If we wear too much, we're slutty. If we don't wear any, we look sickly." Rachel pushed the whiteboard back. "Sit down in the front row, please."
The girls all grabbed chairs and sat facing them.
Santana said, "Raise your hand if you spend more than 10 minutes in the shower each day."
"You mean like in the morning before we come to school?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
All of the girls raised their hands, plus Kurt.
"How many of you do something to your fingernails besides bite them or use nail clippers on them?"
Again, the same response.
Santana went through a whole list of personal hygiene questions, all of them yielding the same results, minus the body hair removal. Dave raised his hand on shaving part of his body daily, but Kurt did not.
Mercedes said, "What we wanted you all to learn from this is that our so-called 'normal' look takes a lot of time and effort to achieve. And that amount of effort is considered to be the baseline. When you ask us out on dates, you might spend five extra minutes putting on a button up shirt and tucking it in and putting on some kind of shoes that aren't athletic shoes, but we put in a lot more time to make ourselves look better than our baseline, which we already put a lot of time into."
Tina spoke up next. "I know you saw Kurt's hand go up for pretty much everything the girls did. When he does these things, they're considered inappropriate for guys. He's metrosexual at best, and gay otherwise. All any of you would have to do to get classified as gay with Kurt would be to put it half the effort one of us girls does each day to just be presentable, to be acceptable socially. If he does it, he's targeted. If we don't do it, we're targeted. That's not equality."
"Girls constantly compete. Why don't guys get up an hour early each morning and do everything we do?"
Azimio answered, "Because we're at the top. We make the rules. We're the ones who decide who's valuable and who isn't worth our time. If women were at the top, men would straighten up real quick. If a guy only ever got laid because he primped himself up like some peacock, there'd be a lot nicer dressed guys. But it's the girls competing for the best guy, so they're the ones that put in all the effort into getting noticed."
They continued to discuss different issues for a while. When the pizzas came, they lined up and took slices and sat back down.
"The last topic I wanted to bring up is food," Rachel said. "While it is true that due to the size difference between someone like me and Finn, being the shortest and tallest in the group, that we would eat different quantities of food, the same isn't really true between Brittany and Kurt or Matt. And Brittany is an athlete too. Sue trains the Cheerios hard. But in a group of mixed company, girls will almost always eat less than actually fills them up because of social pressure to be thin. Girls are more likely to suffer from all types of eating disorders. Women are much more likely to seek out liposuction and plastic surgery of all types. We get teased for eating like birds AND we get teased for eating like pigs if we eat the same amount as a guy of similar size."
Brittany was the last to speak. "Everything we talked about is like Goldilocks. Girls work all the time to be 'just right'."
Santana finished her line of thought. "We have to find the line between too much and not enough, and it's really hard. How much is too much make up? How much is not enough? When is it okay to excel in a subject and speak up in class? When is it time to keep quiet and pretend like we don't know anything? Men want smart women who always make them feel smarter. How does that work? We're constantly trying to balance so many things. Guys, for the most part, are exempt from most of that."
"We're willing to talk to you individually at this point while we all eat and we'll stay around to answer questions," Tina said.
Miss Pillsbury stood up, "I want to thank all of the girls for being so brave and sharing so much about their lives with us today. I know it was hard and I appreciate them being willing to put so much effort into helping the guys understand some of what it's like to be a teenage girl. I would welcome any of the guys who wish to share the pressures of being a teenage guy with the group to feel free to come to me to make arrangements for another time for that."
Before she ate, Santana took all of the 'after' pictures down and put them in her backpack.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
That afternoon Dave went home and worked on his song for Monday while Kurt did so in a round about way. He decided to see how his dad would react if he did what the girls had done. If he dressed like a regular guy and did nothing to his hair and didn't wear any make up, would other people's views of him actually change the way the girls talked about?
He stopped by Goodwill and grabbed a flannel shirt off the 99 cent rack and a puffer vest. He texted Dave and pulled up in the driveway and picked up the baggy jeans that Dave had kept for Kurt to do projects in. He went home and ran the shirt through the washer and dryer quickly while he reshowered and then did nothing but run a comb through his hair when he got out of the shower. He redressed a t-shirt, the baggy jeans, the flannel shirt, hiking boots, and the vest. He ran upstairs to his dad's room and grabbed one of his baseball caps. He looked at himself in the mirror and practically didn't recognize himself.
"Perfect."
He waited on the couch for his dad to get back from the errands he had gone out to run. He played Mellencamp on the stereo while he waited.
"Kurt?"
Kurt lowered his voice intentionally to sound more masculine than usual, "Yeah, Dad?"
"What's with the music and the get up?"
"I'm working on my Glee Club assignment, 'Pink Houses' by John Mellencamp."
"Oh, really? I didn't think that was in your wheelhouse."
"Yeah, I think it's really brave for a Midwesterner like himself to write a song about such bold interior design."
"You know that's not what the song is about?"
"Mmm, really?"
"It's about how the 80s were a tough time for a lot of people and how the American dream isn't all it's cracked up to be."
"Hmm. Fascinating. Hey, how about we go grab a couple of burgers and you can tell me more about it?"
"Sure, but I gotta be honest, that's pretty much what every Mellencamp song is about. But you know, I'll get my coat. Anything to help you out."
"Burgers and salads. No fries."
"Fine. Where's Dave? You're hardly ever here without him."
"He's working on his assignment too."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Monday at lunch all of the guys at the school who had been on a sports team in the past year were called to the gymnasium.
Coach Sue blew a whistle. "I have a quick announcement to make. Everyone quiet down."
Once they were quiet, she began to speak again. "This is Mr. Ackerman. He's been hired as the interim basketball and baseball coach. He will also be teaching the boys' PE classes. We know the season is about half over, but we've checked all of the rules and the team can compete. It may be virtually impossible to make it into the playoffs, but if the team does well, we may still be able to attract some scouts. And whether that happens or not, you can still get off your butts and play a sport until baseball starts. Tryouts start tomorrow afterschool here in the gym. Now, get out of here and get to the cafeteria."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Kurt had kept track of the number of comments he had gotten on his outfit throughout the day. When it came time for Glee, he shuffled in and leaned against the piano until Mr. Schue acknowledged him and let him sing first. He belted out "Pink Houses" and the looks on the faces of the Glee Club members really needed to be documented. He wished he had had the forethought to record them watching him. When he finished, Mr. Schue was the first to speak.
"I'm not sure how that song has anything to do with you, Kurt. I asked you to choose something that told us something about you or meant something to you personally."
"If you were paying attention to the lyrics, the song really fits with what we were talking about yesterday. About the American dream and trying to make it to the top. And the choice of clothing was based on what we discussed yesterday as well. Despite being male, I had more in common with the girls in the group when we were talking about grooming habits and what not, so I decided to run my own little experiment today about dressing down like the girls did yesterday. We were discussing gender roles. And it's been suggested to me before that if I were to work harder at blending in that my life would be easier. So, for today I did everything in my power to blend in. I even went to the meeting for the jocks that Coach Sue called at lunchtime. I got more weird looks today than I did the last time I wore a kilt and that's saying something. What I learned is that I think I would have to run the experiment somewhere else, where everyone didn't already know me. Anyway, this song is personal to me because Mellencamp is my dad's favorite singer, so this song reminds me of him and how hard he's worked to make a home for the two of us. And as for the style of music, I thought that was what he had discussed about this. That we're using these assignments to stretch our skills and see what we might be good at that we weren't already aware of."
"I get it. Have a seat. Who's next?"
Dave stood up. He was wearing a pair of acid washed jeans and a black turtleneck with a black vest over it that he had changed into after school. "This song is personal to me for more than one reason, and I have no intention of sharing the reasons, so please don't ask. This is one of the most popular songs from the 80s." The band started to play "Never Gonna Give You Up."
Kurt smiled through the whole song.
When Dave finished, everyone clapped. He sat down and put his arm around the back of Kurt's chair.
"Nice job, Dave. I have one announcement to make before anyone else gets up to sing. Effective immediately, we will be meeting 30 minutes before school every day. As most of you already know by now, a new basketball coach has been hired and he will be running practices afterschool in the gym, so Coach Sue has commandeered the auditorium for the cheerleaders, who are preparing for Nationals. In order to use the auditorium to rehearse for Regionals, we'll have to meet before school. Sorry guys, but that's just the way it is. I know that she needs the gym at least one day a week, so we'll try to snag the auditorium in the afternoons whatever day that is. I'll let you know as soon as possible. Whoever wants to sing next can come on down."