Disclaimer: I own nothing and I'm probably gonna be late for Christmas drama rehearsal, so I really don't care about Disclaimers!

Chapter 10

"Seriously Rachel, it's like he's a totally different person" Kurt told his friend. He had called Rachel after dinner. He needed someone to talk to after his last discussion with Blaine. "When we were with Mercedes, he was so enthusiastic! His energy was so bright he even got me motivated in hearing what he had to say about the Buckeyes! Football Rachel! If there's one thing that holds no interest for me, it's male sports! But the way he smiled and radiated happiness when talking about it, was enough for me to listen to him and enjoy it. And when we talked about gay rights, he was just…how to explain it? He was like you and I get when we talk about something really important. I felt so connected to him and now….it's like he's a stranger. He's not the boy I liked so much…as a friend" he added as an afterthought.

"Kurt, honey, you're talking to me. Someone who knows you. You can say he's not the boy you used to have a huge crush on; everyone who's ever heard you talk about Blaine has to know about your crush."

"Except for Blaine….I hope. Gosh I hate being so obvious about my crushes"

"Oh don't worry, he sounds as clueless as most boys are"

"Argh! I know! It's so annoying. He used to get me and now he doesn't. I'm just so sick of the diluted Warbler Blaine! I want my Blaine back. The one who understood me and looked really happy. Dalton's Blaine, he's all polish and perfect but he feels empty. When he smiles, I don't feel it. I don't feel the happiness behind it; I can only see that he's trying to be charming, like all the other Warblers do. But they're so fake at times! They're all forcing themselves to fit a mould. I wanted to tell them off so bad during the meeting! But I don't want any trouble here"

"I'm not a Dalton student. I can tell them off for you if you like. It'll really be my pleasure" Kurt laughed. Oh my Gucci. He could see it now. Letting Rachel loose on the Warblers….that'd be hilarious. They'd never know what hit them!

"Thanks Rachel, but I think I'm okay" Kurt answered, not knowing that Rachel had the firm intention to have a talk with them no matter what Kurt said. They needed to be shown how wrong they were and how stupid they had been to miss a chance to have someone as amazing as Kurt in their Glee Club. Rachel had looked at the Dalton's website and she learnt that close to Christmas, the doors of Dalton were opened to visitors, which meant that she could go there with New Directions one weekend and show the Warblers what a Glee club was really about and how amazing Kurt was when he was with them. Uhm…maybe sing a song that would highlight Kurt's exceptional talent and have one of Kurt's Dalton friends tell the Warblers how it was too bad none of them could manage that. Finn would probably say that she was being mean but considering what had been happening, he surely had no say in anything Rachel did. Plus, Kurt didn't seem to have any problems with this side of her personality. After all, she didn't intent to be mean to them, she simply wanted to show them the error of their ways. It truly was for their own good. Although, nowadays, that remained to be seen.

"So, is Finn still being an idiot?"

Rachel sighed. "If you mean, has he still been hanging out with Santana and joining in or at least laughing at her mean comments towards me since we talked last week, the answer is yes! He has done that, although it's stopped now. But I still can't believe him! He's a hypocrite. He's been treating me so bad and yet he's still angry that I kissed Puck to try and hurt him! Like he hasn't been hurting me by siding with Santana and granted we're not together anymore, but I still expected a minimum of decency. This is like Jesse all over again, except I think it might be worse."

"Certainly it's not that bad" Kurt said. Since Rachel and have started to be friends, they had talked a lot. The subject of Jesse St-James had been raised because he really, really had hurt Rachel. "What Jesse did, egging you, was humiliating."

"Yes but at the very least he had the decency to do it after school, when no one would witness that humiliation. And by that time, Jesse had already betrayed me. And there was a tiny part of me who expected him to be only a VA spy. But Finn? I never expected something like that from him. And I was the one who told Jesse to egg me. He was hesitating. That hesitation along with his 'I loved you', helped me a lot during my heartbreak period because I was able to retain a small hope that he had at least liked me, and that everything hadn't been just a lie. It's probably just a delusion but it helped me not to feel like there was something wrong with me that made him not love me."

"Gucci, Rachel, what has Finn done to equal or surpass St-James?"

"He accepted an interview with creepy Jacob and told him all about how I was a cheater and Jacob published it for the whole school to see. I arrived at school and I had people calling me 'slut' 'cheater' 'whore' and 'bitch' among other things"

"He what?" Kurt screamed, startling Pavarotti. His voice lowered dangerously. Oh he was feeling murderous. "I am going to KILL him!"

"Get in line! Brittany and Mercedes are really mad and Quinn is ready to castrate him! She sided with Finn for a little while, though she left me alone after Brit got on her case, but now she wants to massacre Finn! You should have seen her! She tore him a new one. She understood that he was hurt, but she had done worse to him and he never treated her like that! She called him a hypocrite, among other things, but I'm not sure if he understood what the word meant"

"Hum…Probably not." Kurt said, thinking

"And don't get me started about Noah's reaction."

"Oh please do. It's bound to be interesting. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually really want to know what's been happening with Puck."

Rachel laughed. "Sometimes you two are hilarious. He said the exact same thing to me when he asked about you!"

Kurt's eyes widened. "Noah Puckerman asked about me? Should I be scared?"

"No, I think he's really trying to be a better person. And he never really hated you, you know. You just annoyed him with the condescending way you talked to the jocks and how you seemed to think you were better than everyone else. But now, he actually misses that."

"Yeah, I miss complaining about his horrible Mohawk too. So he's been nice to you."

"Yeah, he found me crying a week ago or so and he comforted me. Turns out he was feeling really bad about what he had done to me and couldn't look me in the eye because of that shame. I would have thought he'd feel guiltier about what he did to Finn but no, he felt worse about me loosing Finn than anything else. He's been there for me ever since. He talked to Quinn about Finn, and Brit told me he confronted Santana and royally pissed her off. She was worse for a couple of days afterwards but Noah was always around me to give her as good as she gave and she would leave in a huff. It was actually quite entertaining to watch. Brit said that Santana needs to know her limits and that Noah was showing her what they wouldn't accept from her. She's calmed down now, even apologized over the whole thing"

"Really?" Kurt said shocked.

"Well it was as much an apology as you can expect from a girl like her. She didn't seem terribly sorry but she did seem to realise she had gone too far. I personally don't really care as long as she stops making my life hell. And she seems decided to leave me alone. Now the only problem left is Finn"

"So how did our react to Jacob's article?"

"By punching a hole in a wall in the hallway"

"Really?" Kurt said. Ouch! That must have hurt.

"Oh yeah! Brit, Mercedes, Tina, Mike, Quinn and Sam all had to get around him and physically restrain him from pouncing on Finn. And even then, they had trouble. He's very strong you know and he was beyond furious. He said it was already hard enough to restrain himself around Karofsky after what he did to you, that this was the straw that broke the camel's back. You know how Noah is. He has anger management issues and he's really been good at restraining himself from attacking the Disgusting Pervert." Rachel said, using her nickname for Karofsky. When Kurt had admitted to her what had really happened with the hockey player, after making her swear on Broadway musical's that she would never tell a soul, she had been both disgusted and furious and ranted for a good twenty minutes about sexual assault and how Karofsky deserved to have his genitals ripped off. He had been afraid she would attack him the following day, but that would have forced her to explain why she had done it and tell his secret and she would never do that. She also respected Kurt's decision of not outing Karofsky. She personally thought Kurt was way too nice, but she respected it nonetheless. "You know there are a few dents on his locker door that attest to that but Finn? Even if Noah hated me, which he doesn't, he'd still be upset at someone treating a Jew so bad. You know how his mom raised him!"

"Ah yes, I believe she has the 'Jew must protect each other against the world no matter what' kind of mentality."

"Exactly. The Glee boys have been playing and singing hard core music to try and help Noah channel his anger in a way other than violence. It seems to be working, but Noah is now my guard dog. You know how news travels fast at McKinley. Everyone knows how Noah reacted to the article. I haven't heard one single insult thrown my way since his fist went through the wall. The football players had been giving all the Glee boys, especially Noah, a hard time since his recruitment speech. But now, they're back at staying clear of Puck. They might not have much brains, but they have enough to figure out that Noah Puckerman is a walking time-bomb right now. No one in Glee has been slushied since the article in fear of setting him off and jocks other than Karofsky and Azimio are actually being polite and nice to me, telling me that Finn was an ass and I deserved better. I swear my eyes were going to fall out of my head and my jaw dropped to the floor the first time one of them said that."

"So Finn is like the black sheep now?"

"No, they're not horrible to him or anything although the Glee boys have made some comments about how not cool what he did was. I really think that Finn is sorry and I feel he's wanted to apologize to me but Noah and Quinn won't let him close to me. Especially Noah. I swear I heard him growl once when Finn got too close!"

"Well I did always say that Puckerman was closer to animals than to humans!" Kurt replied. Boy, he had missed making fun of Noah. He was the best jock to go after because he had enough brains to give as good as he got and had actually never physically hurt Kurt, other than by accident during a dumpster toss. Puck had once told him it was because it would feel too much like hitting a girl and even he wasn't that cruel.

"Anyway, we seriously need to find a solution to what's been going on, Kurt. The atmosphere in Glee is so tense no one enjoys it anymore. And I swear Mr. Shue is about to do a burn out. He's already having a rough time with Ms. Pillsbury getting married to her dentist…"

"What? How come I didn't hear about that?"

"Well…we avoid the subject not to hurt Mr. Shue's feelings. But anyway, all this tension is really exasperating him. It's really bad. We have to fix this and get ready for Regionals otherwise Glee Club is over and we really need to annihilate the Warblers for how they treated you. We need to crush them in tiny little pieces!"

"Rachel Berry, remind me never to get on your bad side! You can be one rabid dog!"

"Yeah well, I don't like people making my friend feel bad about himself just because they can never hope to have as much fabulousness in their entire being than he has in your big toe! I never used to have friends before, and now that I have some, no one messes with them! I'm so happy and proud of you for leaving that group!" Rachel said. She really had an issue with the Warblers. Kurt knew he should be trying to calm her and ask her to give them a chance but really, he was enjoying it way too much. Hey, who ever said Kurt was nice? He had vindictive tendencies, he never lied to himself about it and hearing Rachel being angry and wanting revenge was hilarious. It really was very entertaining. And it distracted Rachel from her own problems, transferring some of her anger towards Finn onto the Warblers so she wouldn't blow up at Finn at school.

"So how are you handling things?" Kurt asked

"Pretty well, surprisingly enough. I'm hurt and sad and royally pissed but I'm doing okay. I won't let Finn bring me down. You know the very first time I called you crying, there was nothing more I wanted to do than get back together with Finn. After the talk I had with him two weeks ago, I figured my chances were small since he really seemed unable to trust me again. But now, I don't want to get back with him after what he's done. I know it was a mistake he did in anger but… I had hoped we could be friends but I don't know…I'll probably end up forgiving him…if he can stop acting like such a jerk that is, but I don't want this Finn as my boyfriend. This isn't my Finn. Just like the Jesse who egged me was not my Jesse, but Vocal Adrenaline's Jesse."

"You're right. He's not your Finn; he's Santana's Finn. I talked to Brit and apparently Santana had decided to take Finn under her wing and show him how to never be hurt again"

"And he listened to her? The girl who needs to make other miserable to make herself happy?"

"Apparently. I never said your ex was bright. And Santana is an expert manipulator."

"Why was she on my case anyway? What had I done to her?"

"Probably nothing. Like I said, she's been having trouble dealing with Brit being in a committed relationship with Artie, so she lashed out at the closest easy target. She couldn't target Quinn because she's the head cheerleader, Mercedes would have cut her and Tina wouldn't have been that affected because Mike would have gotten in Santana's face for being mean to his girl. You were the one she could go after with the fewest bad consequences for her"

"She really needs help. I think I'll go see Mrs Pillsbury-Howell. Wow, that's a mouthful."

"You can try but I don't know how much good it will do. She'd need to be in a receptive mood in order to listen to what Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell says. And you're right. That is a mouthful"

"uhm….maybe Brittany could do it? Santana seems very upset over losing Brit. Maybe Brittany could convince her to get help. She clearly has issues that need to be resolved. There has to be a reason why she's so affected by Brit having a boyfriend."

" Uhm, that might work. Talk to Brit tomorrow about it. I have a suspicion about what her problem is with Brit and Artie but unfortunately, she'll just have to learn to move on."

"Uh. So you think she might have romantic feelings for Brittany too."

"Repressed feelings. She's never admitted them to herself and as long as she doesn't admit it, she won't move on. It's sad but just like with Karofsky, we can't really do anything. We can't force them to accept their homosexual feelings."

"I know, but I can give Mrs Pillsbury-Howell a hint about what could be wrong with Santana."

"It's worth a try. Don't do it with Karofsky though. That guy is really dangerous Rachel"

"Don't worry, I won't cross him. I've been very careful to stay as far away from him as possible and have convinced most of the Glee club to follow suit."

"Good. Now…what do we do about my clueless and apparently vengeful step-brother? You'll have to deal with him soon. Hopefully, receiving the cold shoulder from most of the Glee club will have been enough to wake him up."

"Yes hopefully. If not, I'm afraid I'll slap him." Rachel thought for a few second. "I better bring Artie with me when I go talk to Finn. He's so good at remaining calm. Me slapping Finn, although it would be extremely cathartic, is not in the best interest for the club and I therefore need someone there to ground me and stop me from acting out rashly."

"I'd propose myself, but I'd actually do worse to Finn than you would and I don't think it would be good for our parent's marriage if I made my step-brother unable to reproduce with a football kick between the legs" Kurt said.

Rachel started laughing a little. She didn't wish it would happen to Finn for real but after the article it was a bit funny to imagine "Oh thank you so much, Kurt. That mental image is going to stay with me all day tomorrow. I'll imagine it when talking to Finn; it should be enough to satisfy my meaner side."

"No problem hun. It was my pleasure!"

"Ok so I'll talk to Finn tomorrow and I'll talk to the rest of the club as well. We need to start being friendly again. Are you coming to sing Artie, Brit and I this Thursday?"

"Of course! What else is there to do? Oh and I'm bringing my bird Pavarotti with me, if that's okay."

"Oh of course! You know how much Brittany loves animals. Personally, I was thinking of maybe inviting my guard dog as well, if you don't mind"

Kurt thought. Did he mind seeing Puckerman? No, not really. He wasn't the one he wanted to see the most amongst his old Glee group but he didn't mind seeing him. "It's okay. I doubt he'll cause any trouble. But if we're extending our little singing group, then we really should invite Mercedes. I miss her a lot and there's no tension between you two anymore so…."

"Alright call her and ask her. Oh and maybe you should ask her about that jock she keeps talking to, check if he's good to her and all. I know she wouldn't tell me but she'll speak to you."

"Are talking about Anthony?"

"No idea. I tend to ignore football players. Well except for the Glee ones that is"

"Right, I'll make sure to approach the subject. Thanks Rachel."

"You're welcome. See you Thursday!"

"Bye" Kurt said hanging up. Uhm…so Mercedes and Anthony have been hanging out right? He felt a little hurt for not having known that. Mercedes and he used to be so close. But he knew he couldn't fault her. He had been the one who had started keeping his distance from people and he had been very absorbed in his own problems at Dalton and in helping Rachel. It was time for him to call his best girl. He just hoped that she would accept Kurt and Rachel's new closeness. Rachel wasn't taking Mercedes place; he still needed his 'Cedes.

"Kurt?" Mercedes answered the phone. "Wow. You're calling me"

"Ouch. I deserved that though. I'm so sorry I haven't called you. I miss you so much. I couldn't find a boy even close to you at Dalton, although Joshua and Marcus let me be myself at least."

"Woah, there boy. Who are Joshua and Marcus and who didn't let my boy be himself so I can go cut them?"

"Gucci, I missed you." Kurt proclaimed, sighing from the joy of having his 'Cedes back. "And if you want to cut them, talk to Rachel. She's on the war path against the Warblers. She wants to massacre them at Regionals. She's so angry that you could totally convince her to let you do a solo that would show New Directions' superiority."

"Boy, we're talking about Rachel Berry. No way she'll give up a solo"

"Well…you might have to settle down with a duet with her, but if you bring a really good idea for a song, a song the Warblers couldn't sing and sounds really good with your type of voice, I think she might actually let you have a solo for Regionals. After all, if Mr. Shue is all about sharing solos now, then she'll want her chance for a solo to be at Nationals, not at Regionals."

"Well I'd like Nationals too, but I know she'll be like a rabid dog with its bone for them, so if you think I got a shot at a solo if I tell her I know how to make the Warblers weep, then I'll do just that! But why do we want to make the Warblers weep exactly? I thought you liked it there at Dalton. Have you been lying to me boo?"

"No, not intentionally. I was lying to myself to try and make things better. You know how I like Blaine right?"

"Are you kidding me? He's all you could talk about since you've met him. Deaf and blind people know how you feel about that boy."

"Well he kept saying I would adapt and fit in so I tried to do so because I like Blaine…"

"Oh hell to the naw! He did not tell my boy to fit in!" How could he even ask that anyway? He was almost just like her boy.

"He did."

"But he's a lot like you"

"Not at Dalton, he isn't"

"Well then, he ain't worth your time. If he can't act as himself, too bad for him, you deserve better."

"Oh Mercedes, I love you so much. Don't worry, I've been giving him the cold shoulder, waiting for him to wake up. As for the Warblers, I quit."

"What? But Kurt, Glee is your favourite part of the day"

"At Mckinley. At Dalton, it was the worst. They told me not to try so hard and not to stand out and they gave shit to Blaine for everything I did that didn't fit their sterilized little world. I don't need the Warblers Mercedes. I can sing in my bedroom as much as I want and I'm actually coming down to Lima every Thursday to sing with friends."

"Wait, you've been coming here and you didn't come and see me?" Mercedes said hurt.

"I'm so sorry, Mercedes. We started that tradition two weeks ago, when you were siding with Finn instead of Rachel. The reason I went to Lima on that day was because Rachel had called me sobbing again. Brit and Artie went to comfort her and started singing with her and then I arrived and we sang all together and I felt so good doing it that we decided we needed to do that weekly if possible. It's why I'm calling you now. I miss you terribly and I want you to be there this Thursday."

"I will but don't think I'm not still angry for you not telling me before. You could at least have visited."

Kurt's heart clenched. He really felt bad about it. "I'm sorry I neglected you Mercedes. I can only be out of Dalton for three hours and it takes me almost one to get to Lima. Plus when things started to go bad for me, I pulled away from everyone, especially the people I loved most. I needed to deal with some things on my own but now I'm ready to let people back in"

"You don't seem to have any problems with letting Rachel in!" she said hurt.

"Well technically Rachel had never really been in before. We've just recently started to be friends and things with her aren't like with you. You and I, we love each other to pieces and we're best friends, but we're not almost the same person. We're different and have different taste and interests. Rachel? She's kind of my twin sister. She likes the same things and reacts a lot like me. I get her. That's why she called me."

"So you're saying I don't get you? Kurt, that really hurts"

"No, no Mercedes!" he said quickly "That's not what I meant at all. Sure, there are things that you can't relate to like what I have to deal with because I'm gay, but no one but Blaine and other gays can truly relate to that. You do get me 'Cedes. I wasn't saying you don't. I was saying that Rachel, unlike me, had only one person who got her: me. I have you, Brit, Tina, and Artie. But Rachel? When the break-up with Finn happened, who did she have?"

Mercedes thought about it. It was no secret that Rachel Berry got on her nerves. Mercedes was a diva too, and she wanted to have solos but Rachel never wanted to hear anything about someone else singing lead. Because of her general attitude, most of New Directions were not truly friends with her. They were friendly enough but they never hanged out with her outside, like Mercedes did with Tina and Quinn. When Finn, the boy she had loved for so long dumped her, she didn't have any friends at McKinley to turn to. She didn't know why she thought Kurt would respond better than anyone else in the club would have, but she supposed it had to do with the duet they sang together. It had been surprising to see those two work together for once and she had to admit that their voices harmonized together better than Kurt's and hers would. She had been jealous and angry that Kurt had favoured Rachel over her, but now she understood better. If Mercedes had gotten dumped by her boyfriend, she could have called Kurt, Tina and Quinn and they would have rushed to comfort her. If Kurt couldn't have been there, then someone else would have. But Rachel didn't have anyone other than Kurt. So of course Kurt felt a special responsibility towards Rachel. He was her only life support.

"Do you understand now why Rachel and I became so close?"

"Yeah. I didn't think you guys would ever be friends but I guess it makes sense. You're much less annoying than her but you're still a lot like her"

"Very true. I know she can be exasperating at times but she's a really good friend. I'm lucky to have her by my side. I understand that you guys will never be best friends but getting to know her a little better and vice versa wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Okay Boo, I can do that. Besides, I feel bad for the girl after what Finn did."

"Yeah well, he acted stupid and mean but he's still a part of the club and you guys shouldn't stop being friends with him over this. It's making Rachel freak out about Regionals and that's in months. She's bad enough in the last month before competition, imagine what she'll be like if she started her usual freak out months in advance."

"Oh god, she'll be intolerable."

"Exactly. So the Glee club needs to get back on its feet or she will explode on you guys so badly that you will be traumatized for life. Especially, since she called a personal Vendetta against the Warblers."

"Oh I have a Vendetta of my own against them. No one tells my boy to change. Not the bullies and certainly not a bunch of preppy boarding school boys."

"Thank you Mercedes. Now, talking about boys, a little bird told me you've been holding out on me girl."

"What?" Mercedes asked. He couldn't mean…

"Apparently, you've been talking to a certain jock quite a bit. A certain Anthony perhaps?"

"Yeah well, you're the one who told me to go for it"

"Aaaannnnddd…."

"Well" she started, blushing. "There's nothing official yet but he is very nice and we like the same music and he loves my voice. So…I don't know. Right now we're friends and taking it slow but I think he's interested and I might just be interested right back."

"Oh Mercedes I'm so happy for you. Make sure he treats you right because I will go after him if he doesn't. I might be small but I'm vicious. Plus, Marcus is a black belt and has this thing about treating girls properly. He'd totally go Karate Kid on Anthony if he doesn't treat you right."

"Nice to know. But I'll be fine. If there's something I don't need help with, it's cut someone."

"Good"

"So what are we singing on Thursday? And who's gonna be there?"

Mercedes and Kurt talked for over an hour. He had missed his friend. Their relationship wasn't quite what it used to be but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Kurt and Mercedes used to pretty much be the only thing the other one had. But now they had expended their horizon. Mercedes was very close to Quinn and Kurt was now very close to Rachel. It was a different dynamic but it didn't change their feelings for each other. He was glad they were reaching out to each other again. It was really good to have friends.

An: Hi, hoped you enjoyed! 'cause I'm late because I wanted to finish and publish this!