AN: Nope I didn't forget about this story, just been distracted. Hope I didn't lose all my readers out there! Enjoy!


Finals at McKinley High passed as they always do. Kurt had easily passed all of his finals, even Mr. Reynold's biology final. As his grades the rest of the year were high, Kurt had no doubt that he would pass all his classes for the year. Listening to the talk around him, it was clear that other students didn't have that assurance, though at least Finn had passed Geometry. Ms. Bangor had been kind enough to tell him that with the ninety-two that he had scored on the final, his final grade in the class would be a C minus. Finn had been so elated by the news that he had hugged Kurt while thanking him again. Kurt didn't even think Finn was aware of what he was doing at the time, but the whole situation had made him feel good.

Now it was the last day of school, and the students of Ms. Bangor's Geometry class were sitting around discussing summer plans. Well, most of them were discussing summer plans. Kurt on the other had been busy watching the clock slowly move it's way to the noon hour when the final bell of the year would ring. While all his peers looked forward to the free time and hanging out with friends, or possibly working a temporary job, during the summer Kurt looked forward to his escape from the halls of McKinley. He would much rather be able to spend time in the relative safety of his home or at the garage, then constantly looking over his shoulder trying to avoid the school bullies.

Kurt was so focused on the clock that he didn't realize that Quinn had been trying to get his attention until she was waving a hand in front of his face. Startled, Kurt jumped and moved back in his chair before really realizing what was going on.

"Chill, dude," Finn said, failing to totally hide his amusement at Kurt's reaction. He knew the fact that Kurt was so jumpy about little gestures like that shouldn't be funny, because the kid had good reason to be jumpy but on some level it was given their surroundings.

"Sorry," Quinn told him, genuinely apologetic as she kicked at Finn underneath the table they were sitting at. "I was just trying to get your attention."

"I was lost in my own thoughts," Kurt replied, not sure why he felt like had to explain his behavior to her. "What did you want?" he asked, trying to inconspicuously slide his chair back up to the table.

"My mom decided to let me have a pool party this afternoon to celebrate the end of the school year. I know it's kind of last minute, but I wanted everyone from Glee to be there seeing as Puck and I missed the get together after Regionals. I doubt all of us will keep in touch over the summer, and I thought it would be fun to get together one last time before going our separate ways. Can you make it?"

"Thanks but I promised to help out at the garage," Kurt replied, thankful for the excuse. Somehow hanging out at a pool party with everyone from Glee just didn't appeal to him right then, when he had been so focused on escaping everything school related for a while. He could just see Puck tossing him in the pool just for the fun of it, something that he would prefer to avoid especially as he had never really learned how to swim.

"You work for your dad," Finn wasted no time in pointing out. "He's a reasonable man. Surely if you tell him what's going on he'll let you off the hook for one afternoon."

"That's not the point. I made a commitment to do something and I don't intend to back out on it because of something as frivolous as a pool party."

"I use to have problems with frizzy hair after going swimming too," Brittany interjected, "but I found this great shampoo. I can lend it to you if you're worried about messing up your hair."

Quinn, Kurt and Finn all stared at the blonde teenager in confusion, not sure where her comment came from. Finally deciding that it wasn't worth the effort, all three decided to let it go.

"Can't you just ask your dad, Kurt?" Quinn asked, glancing back in Kurt's direction. "Mercedes, Rachel and Tina have already agreed to be there," she added, purposefully mention the three girls that she knew Kurt got along with the best even though Mike, Matt, and Santana had also already accepted invitations. She still had to extend invitations to Artie and Puck.

Kurt sighed. He wanted to tell her no but Finn had a point. His dad would probably excuse him from helping at the garage to go to the party as he was always telling him that he needed to get out more. He briefly considered telling her he would, and then text her later saying that he couldn't make it without actually mentioning it to his dad. However, there were a couple immediate flaws with that plan. First, he would feel guilty about lying to Quinn as he had actually enjoyed spending time with her and talking since they had gotten to know each other better in Cincinnati. Secondly, there was the chance that his Dad might find out about it from either Carole or Finn directly and then he'd have to explain to his dad why he had lied. He didn't really want to face either scenario.

"I'll think about it," Kurt told her, not committing himself to anything but hoping that would be enough for now.

"Okay," Quinn said, reaching over and placing her hand on his arm.

Quinn, Brittany and Finn started making plans about food and games to play at the party. As he watched the clock and listened to the planning session, he had to admit that it did sound like fun. There was also the fact that Mercedes and Tina were going to be there, so he would have someone to talk to. Even he and Rachel had started becoming friends. Though her overrated opinion of herself could still make her annoy, he had to admit he sort of liked her. He knew he couldn't count on Quinn being overly friendly at the party with Santana and Brittany both there. She might not ignore him but the dynamics wouldn't be the same. It was just the way it was.

Finally the final bell rang, and Kurt made his escape from the classroom, having already devised his plan of turning down the invitation to the party. He just wasn't going to take any chances of Finn and Puck deciding to play 'let's toss the gay kid into the pool'. He got teased because of enough things as it was - he didn't need to give anyone, let alone Puck or Santana, more ammunition to humiliate him with.

Reaching his locker, Kurt quickly let his fingers going through the motion of putting in the combination, while keeping one eye on the lookout for any of the jocks. Last day of school was prime for the school's gorilla brigade to engage in target practice - even if they got caught there wasn't much in the way of disciplinary action that could be taking. Kurt refused to believe that they had figured this out by sheer brainpower. It was more likely that it had been discovered by trial and error in the forty-some years since the school had been built and then passed on as part of their secret Gorilla Brigade Rules of Engagement.

The lock popped open on his first try, and Kurt quickly retrieved the last few things that were in it, stuffing things into his bag. Taking off the lock, he shut the metal door with a clang as Rachel showed up at the locker beside his. One look at her and Kurt knew that she had been a victim of the Gorilla Brigade.

Reaching out tentatively, he picked up the end of Rachel's hair trying to get a better look at the beige color gooey mess that was in Rachel's hair.

"Is that-"

"Pudding? Yes!" Rachel said, over dramatically as usual. "The creeps choice of ammo this year are pudding cups! It's going to take forever to get my hair cleaned properly after this! And they had to throw Tapioca at me of all flavors! If they had to throw pudding at me, couldn't they have at least picked a decent flavor - like chocolate!"

Kurt glanced around the hallway for any possible pudding cup throwers but didn't see any in this area yet. "Hurry up and grab your stuff and I'll give you a ride home and help you get that stuff out of your hair."

"Really?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, really. Now hurry up before I end up with butterscotch pudding all over this outfit," he told her.

"Oh thank-you! You're a life saver Kurt. I really didn't want to face getting this out by myself," Rachel gushed as she quickly opened her locker and pulled out the envelope container all the things that she had hung in her locker over the course of the year. Like Kurt she had cleared out most of her things already. Grabbing her lock and shutting the door, she turned from the bank of lockers. "Okay, ready to go."

"Come on. I know the safest route out of here on the last day of school," Kurt told her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her in the direction of the locker rooms.

They passed more pudding-covered students, and a few with yoke dripping from them instead, on the way but thankfully all the would be shooters were out hunting elsewhere. Reaching the boy's locker room, Kurt started to push the door open. He paused when he realized that Rachel had pulled her hand from his grip.

"Kurt, I can't go in there. That's the boy's locker room," Rachel said, taking a very small step backwards.

Kurt had turned to look at her. "Why not. I've gone into the girl's bathroom with Mercedes and Tina plenty of times. Besides nobody is probably even in there."

"And what if they are?" Rachel asked, her voice sounding as if they were talking about committing whatever new scandalous escapades the celebrities were up to out in Hollywood.

Kurt sighed, his eyes darting down the hallway to make sure no jocks were in firing range. "Just close your eyes as you go through then. Look, this is the safest exit out of the school today because the jocks don't think that any of the freaks are going to brave the locker room while they are taking target practice and so none of them think to hang out here. I even parked as close to this exit as I could today. So are you coming or not?"

"Oh, I hope I don't regret this," Rachel said, grabbing Kurt's hand with one of her own, covering her already closed eyes with the other.

Rolling his eyes, Kurt pushed the door open and led Rachel inside. As he predicted, there was nobody in the locker room. Still, years of defense training on his part kicked in, and Kurt listened closely for any indications that someone else might be around. He heard nothing other than his footsteps and Rachel's shuffling steps behind his, as he made his way toward the door leading out to the athletic fields. Reaching it, he pushed it open and stepped out into the bright sunshine.

"You can open your eyes now," Kurt told his companion, as he made his way along the side of the building. They were in the clear now as long as no one got them as they made a dash for his vehicle. The corner of the building was the big question mark, though again he really didn't think the jocks had that much brainpower to really come up with any sound strategy.

Kurt didn't bother looking back to see if Rachel had opened her eyes, though she still hadn't let go of his hand. Reaching the end of the building, he peered around the corner. The student parking lot was in it's normal after school chaos and he spotted quite a few victims of the jock's pudding and egg spree. What he didn't see was anyone actually throwing anything in the parking lot. It was now or never.

"Let's go," Kurt told Rachel, glancing back at her. The brunette had indeed at least opened her eyes.

When he was sure she was following him, Kurt finally pulled his hand from Rachel's grasp so that he could find his car keys in his school bag. Although he didn't run, not wanting to attract attention to himself, he did set a quick pace. The sooner he was able to escape the vicinity of the school the happier he would be. He didn't want to become a victim of the jock's last day bombardment like he had been last year when they had been throwing slime. That had been a mess to get out of hair, clothes and his car. It was also the reason he had spent all year devising his escape plan this year.

Having hit the unlock button on his car, Kurt reached for the door handle when he reached it and climbed in. He let out a sigh of relief as he watched Rachel hurrying around the front of the vehicle to the passenger side, the tapioca pudding in her hair standing out vividly.

"You get anything on my car and you'll be cleaning the upholstery yourself," Kurt warned as Rachel pulled open the passenger side door and climbed in beside him.

"Got it," Rachel said, careful not to lean back against the seat as she pulled on her seatbelt. "Thanks, Kurt," she added as the other teen carefully back out of the parking space.

"You're welcome," Kurt replied uncomfortably, not use to have people, especially Rachel, thanking him.


Kurt glanced into the side view mirror of the Ford Focus that he had just changed the oil in. Seeing a black smudge on his cheek, he reached up to wipe it off, succeeding only in smearing it over a larger area. ~I'm going to have to do use the cleanser twice tonight to make sure I have all this grime off, ~ he thought, giving up on the smudge and turning away from the car.

He was signing off on the necessary paperwork to show the completion of the work, when his Dad came back from the meal break he had taken.

"You finished?" Burt asked, looking from Kurt to the car and back to Kurt again.

"Yeah. You taught me how to do an oil change when I was thirteen years old. I think I could do one in my sleep."

"Yeah, well don't test that theory," Burt told him.

Kurt smiled at his dad's response as he finished off the paperwork. Burt paused before speaking again.

"So, why didn't you mention this pool party the Glee kids were going too?" Burt asked, causing Kurt to look up in surprise.

"How did you find out about that?"

"Carole called me on her break and she mentioned it as Finn called to tell her where he would be," Burt replied, answering his son's question. He walked over to a nearby chair and sat down. "I would have let you off the hook here you know. As much as I enjoy having you around here, I also want you to be a kid."

"I know."

"So, why didn't you mention it."

"I didn't feel like going."

"Because?" Burt prompted. He waited for Kurt to supply him with a further explanation. When none was forthcoming, he continued. "I don't get it, Kurt. You were bummed when you though the club being disbanded and yet here is a chance to be with them and you don't seem the least bit interested."

"That's different. The dynamics are different when we're at school and working on songs. At a pool party, after school all, the dynamics are going to be different. I wouldn't fit in."

"If you wanted to fit in, you wouldn't wear are those outfits designed by people whom I couldn't spell their names even if I could remember them," Burt pointed out, his eyes continuing to watch his son.

"I didn't want to go because I was afraid that if I did that they would find out that I don't know how to swim. It's not exactly something I care to have a lot of people knowing."

Burt nodded. He could understand his son being embarrassed by that fact if it got out though he didn't like the idea of it keeping him from spending time with other kids his age. His son needed to get out more. To be around people more as he was alone far too much.

"You know the offer of swim lessons has always been out on the table."

"No!" Kurt said quickly. "Not that I don't appreciate the offer," he added, not wanting his dad to get the wrong impression. "I just don't think I would be comfortable learning how to swim with kids who are half my age."

Burt nodded, accepting the response though he knew that there was more to it than that. He and Kathleen had enrolled Kurt in a swim class when he was five. During his second lesson, Kurt had gone under the water very briefly, and despite the instructor being right there the incident had scared him. Kathleen had taken him back the next week but Kurt had refused to go anywhere near the pool, crying hysterically until she had finally brought him home. It took them two years to get Kurt to go near a pool again; even then he refused to go to swimming lessons. Instead Kathleen had decided to teach Kurt to swim herself but she didn't have much time to do that before the car accident that had claimed her. Since then, Burt had tried several times to get Kurt to take lessons again to no avail.

"You know, Carole was on the swim team back in high school. She even volunteers at the Y to teach swimming to underprivileged kids. I'm sure she would be willing to teach you if you wanted to learn and then you wouldn't have to skip pool parties with your friends."

"Maybe," Kurt said reluctantly not sure how he really felt about the whole idea.

"Think about it," Burt told him. "If you decide you're interested then I'll talk to Carole. Okay?"

Kurt nodded.

"Then how about the two of us get to work on overhauling the engine on this Corvette. It looks like it's going to be a big job."

Kurt nodded again as his dad got to his feet. Burt led the way over to the Corvette in question and popped the hood. Though Kurt had been helping out at the garage since he was thirteen and one of the conditions to him getting a car for his sixteenth birthday was to do the necessary maintenance work on it himself, there were still things that he needed to learn and this task was one of them. It was moments like these that Burt cherished the most - when he could spend time with his son teaching him things. He had no delusions that Kurt would want to remain here in Lima working in this shop after graduation. He knew that Kurt was destined for things that lay beyond the town he had been born and raised in and knowing that made these moments mean that much more.

The two worked in silence, Burt talking Kurt through the process while letting his son do a lot of the actual work. Burt believed that hands on learning was always more beneficial than somebody watching someone else do something. The other mechanics had already left before the father and son pair called it quits for the night.

"Hey Kurt, there was something else that I wanted to run by you," Burt said, as the two of them cleaned up for the night.

"What?" Kurt asked curiously, as he glanced over from putting the tools away in their proper place in the tool box.

"Well, Carole said that Finn had been looking for a part-time job for the summer but hadn't had any luck finding anything. I know my regular mechanics always want time off during the summer months and I thought that with another part-time employee around here I'd have more flexibility on being able to grant those requests," Burt said, gathering up the old parts that had been taken out of the Corvette's engine and were not going to be needed so that he could dispose of them properly.

"You want to hire Finn for the summer?" Kurt asked, making sure that he was following his dad correctly.

"Yes."

"It's your call but does he even know anything about cars?"

"He's been taking shop classes at school the last couple of years and I know Mr. Robbins is a decent teacher. He was at McKinley when I was there actually. He's the one that first taught me how to overhaul an engine," Burt told his son, a nostalgic tone to his voice.

"Okay. I'm not sure why you're running this by me though," Kurt commented as he pushed the drawers of the toolbox closed.

"Well, this has always been our thing. One of the few things that you and I can actually do together and both understand. I don't want to hire Finn if having him around here is going to bother you."

Kurt paused, glad that his dad was taking the time to consider his feelings this time around. Before answering he took a moment to think the situation over. His dad had a point. This had always been their thing. Though he didn't love cars, the way his dad did, he didn't hate it either. There had always been something relaxing about the whole process and it was something that he and his dad could share together. Would he feel as if Finn was encroaching on his time with his father? It was possible but Kurt also didn't want to stand in the way of Finn having a job for the summer.

"If you want to hire him go ahead. I'll handle it," Kurt finally replied.

"Without turning into someone that I don't know?" Burt asked, thinking about the time Kurt had tried dressing like him, listening to Mellencamp and making out with a girl to try to get his attention.

"I promise. Scouts' honor."

Burt snorted. "You were never a scout, Kurt. You claimed the uniforms were tacky."

"Well, they are," Kurt said defensively. "And the color palette is so bland."

"I'll pretend I know what you mean by that," Burt replied, with a slightly confused look on his face.

The two had finished the clean up process while they talked. Burt let his eyes make a final sweep of the garage, making sure everything had been done. Satisfied, he turned to Kurt, "what do you say we grab something to eat at the café before we head home," he suggested.

"Sounds good," Kurt agreed as he realized just how hungry he was.