Chapter 9

Sam's POV

Our performance yesterday was epic. Even if the girls did come out before us, we were still awesome. I saw the way Finn watched me while we sang, and I know he meant every word.

"Hey fish face!" I hear, but I can't see anything through the ice cold Slushie running down my face. I open my mouth in surprise and taste cherry. I hear laughter, and now I can tell who it was: Karofsky and Azimio.

"Hey, I thought we'd been over this enough, but I guess you idiots still think it's cool to be douche bags!" Finn. He's trying to help me but it's kind of late considering my underwear is probably staining red right at this moment.

"You're telling us about being cool?" Azimio laughs. He walks back to us and pours the last few drops of slushie onto my head.

"Hey! Don't do that to my boyfriend!" The words are out of Finn's mouth before he thinks it through. When he realizes what he just said, his mouth falls open and he looks back and forth between me and the other boys. "I mean… friend. Don't do that to my friend, who is a boy."

"We heard you the first time, freak." People stop to stare at the commotion. They've started whispering. One boy towards the back of the crowd actually laughed.

I see Finn turning red; he's about to overreact and do something he'll regret. I grab his wrist and pull him towards the door. "We can't just let them do this!" he screams at me, "We have to do something!"

"Not now, Finn. They're not worth it." I drag him out of the school building and to my car in the parking lot. "Get in." I gesture to the passenger side. He does as I ask, and I get in the driver's side.

After a few minutes Finn breaks the silence. "I'm sorry."

"For what? They would have found out eventually anyway. It's probably better to get it over with."

He stares at me in disbelief. "You're not mad at me?"

"Of course not." I take his hand in mine and play with his fingers. "I don't blame you for any of it; I blame them. They're the ones who slushied me, they caused you to react the way you did, and by extension they ruined the seats of my car." We look down at my seat. It's covered in red slushie, and for a moment it reminds me of that girl in sixth grade who got her first period in the middle of math class. I laugh, and Finn seems relieved that I'm not angry. We sit in silence for a while, but it's a comfortable silence.

"Sam?"

"Yeah, Finn?"

"I don't want to hide anymore. From the bullies, I mean. I know they've just started on us, and they'll get so much worse, but I don't want to be a coward. That's what they want, and I won't give them that."

I sigh. I didn't expect him to be ready this soon, and I'm still not sure he is, but he has a point. Giving in to the bullies would only make things worse. "You're right, Finn. We can't hide who we are, or our relationship now that those two know. Hell, by now the whole school probably knows. We have to face them, and we have to have each others backs."

"We have to be strong for each other." He squeezes my hand. "I would kiss you, but you're still covered in slushie."

"Come on, we can still make it to second period. I'll shower in the locker room and wear my gym clothes."

"Okay." He gets out and opens my door for me. I smile and take his hand as we walk back into the school.

The halls are empty, so we don't have to worry just yet. Finn and I walk to the locker room. "I'll see you later," he tells me as I open the door to go in.

"Good luck."

He leaves me alone, and I go into the last shower stall. I strip off my ruined clothes and start the water. It's freezing, and I silently curse myself for not letting it warm up before I took my clothes off. I shower quickly and put on my gym clothes. I leave my other clothes in my locker to take home later. By the time I leave the locker room second period is halfway over. I go to class anyway, since there's really nothing else I can do. I see Quinn sitting by herself in the back, so I decide to join her.

"Hey."

"Your hair's wet and you smell like fruit. You just got slushied, didn't you?"

"Yeah. And then Karofsky and Azimio found out about Finn and me, so there's more where that came from."

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that." It's clear from Quinn's expression that she really means it. "If it makes you feel any better, it's only a matter of time before Rachel and I have to deal with it too."

"Thanks, but that really doesn't help. None of us should have to be afraid of what people think, or what they'll do to us. But it does help knowing that there's someone here struggling with the same things as Finn and me."

"I'll tell you what, I'll talk to Rachel, and if either of us see you or Finn being harassed by someone, we'll help you out."
"And Finn and I will do the same for you."

She smiles and holds out her hand, which I shake. The bell rings and we have a fifteen-minute break before third period. I stay with Quinn, and we go to find Finn and Rachel.

"Hey." I turn around and see them standing behind us, both smiling. "Rachel and I came up with the best plan! Her and Quinn are going to help us out with the bullies, and we're going to help them when they come out to the school!" Quinn and I smile at each other, and Quinn wraps her arms around Rachel.

"You're so smart."

"Hey, it's a gay pride parade!" Karofsky is a few feet behind us.

"Not him again," Finn groans beside me. "And I'm not even gay!"

Karofsky and some of his jock friends- my old friends- form a circle around us. They're all holding slushie cups.

"Bisexual, gay, I really don't care."

"Me either. They're still fruits. All they need is a rainbow."

Something tells me they have every color of slushie with them, just for the purpose of making us rainbow colored. We never discussed what we would do if we were all trapped by the bullies, so I close my eyes and prepare for the worst.

"What do you think you're doing?" I open my eyes and spin around to see who our savior is. Santana and Brittany are standing just outside the circle, their pinkies linked.

"We were just -"

"I don't care. Either drink those slushies, or throw them away, or else Britts and I will pour them down your underwear."

"It's not as fun as it looks."

Santana gives Karofsky the scariest death glare I've ever seen from her, and that's saying something.

"Okay, okay, just don't tell Figgins about this!" He runs away like a scared little boy, and his posse follows.

Santana sees our stunned faces and shrugs. "What can I say, I'm kind of a bitch."