Kurt went to school the next day with a smile on his face. Or at least, for the first five minutes. The smile was wiped away by a raspberry slushie launched by Azimio as Kurt made his was to his locker. Wincing at the icy punch in the face Kurt hurried on his path, blocking out the insults of the football player. Once reaching his locker Kurt twisted the dial hurriedly, having to try three times before the locker sprang open. He avoided looking at his reflection in the small mirror set on the inside of the locker door and reached inside to bring out a small bag with a change of clothes. Granted, the outfit wasn't as fabulous as this one had been, but it would have to do.

He dashed into the boys' bathroom and locked himself inside a cubicle and changed as quickly as he could. The bell would be ringing any second now. Kurt waited until he heard the last guy leave before exiting the protection of the cubicle and returning to his locker to dump the waterproof bag that held his slushied clothes and collect his books. Next to his locker now stood Mercedes and Tina who immediately rounded on him.

"Where did you go yesterday, Kurt? You just dashed off with that Jake guy." Mercedes demanded as he checked his hair. Kurt turned to her and automatically took in the outfit she wore, before nodding once in approval. This had become sort of a daily ritual for them after the 'Technicolor Zebra Disaster' as he liked to call it.

"Jake invited me out for ice cream, and then we went to his house. Well, apartment actually. The place is amazing, 'Cedes, you should see it." His previous smile was now back as he gushed about the decor of Jake's apartment to the two girls. Tina hadn't said much but she was listening at the same time as texting.

Mercedes didn't seem impressed. "So you dragged us all there and then bailed halfway through. As soon as you guys left, things kinda fell apart. The Dalton boy disappeared too for a while, and then came back with these two other guys. One of them was quite hot actually, the Asian one?" Kurt bit his lip to hold back a smirk at the thought of Wes dating Mercedes. She'd probably end up killing him with the nearest sharp object if they went out on a date.

"That would be Wes and before you ask me to set you two up I should inform you that he is in fact taken. Or, so he says. Apparently neither David nor Blaine has ever met this mysterious Lina." Mercedes' face fell momentarily before the angry expression returned.

"That doesn't explain why you just dropped us. What did you two do at his place anyway?" Normally she wouldn't have had to ask that question but right now Mercedes was pissed. And an already pissed Mercedes was not someone you wanted to piss off even more. Kurt ducked his head for a moment, feeling slightly bad that he'd just left them all without a second glance. At the time he hadn't really thought about it, but now he did it did seem rude.

"I'm sorry," Kurt answered lamely, feeling ridiculously like a naughty child right then. He didn't know what else to say but was saved from elaborating on his apology by the bell ringing. The three of them automatically turned and started making their way towards English, Tina still texting someone, presumably Mike. Mercedes jabbed him in the side.

"So what did you two do over there anyway, don't leave out a single detail!" Kurt laughed at her persistence, then blushed slightly as the events of yesterday came back to him in a rush. The silence, the talk, the...kiss. Kurt's lips tingled at the memory, and Mercedes noticed the red on his cheeks. "Oh my God you totally did it with him!" He blanched at this statement.

"No I did not!" He cried, face quickly turning completely crimson. Kurt desperately avoided any mental images of...that, especially doing that with Jake. They barely knew each other.

"You must have. Look at you!" His friend cooed and Kurt slapped her lightly with his messenger bag, shaking his head vehemently.

"No, seriously I didn't. We didn't. He was acting really strangely when we got there, actually since the meal with my parents. He barely said a word and we just sat there in silence before I finally got the guts to ask him what was wrong. Jake denied it first, but when I kept asking he sort of...broke down almost. He started saying all this stuff about how he'd never expected to seriously be considered in the competition, how he'd done it on a whim, and how he started to like me. And then Jake mentioned having to compete against Blaine and knowing that there was another guy who I'd be sort of dating until I choose. And he said that you and the rest of the New Directions obviously preferred Blaine over him, and how he was sure I was going to choose him in the end instead of Jake."

Mercedes listened avidly, though Kurt noticed her eyes narrowing slightly, and briefly wondered what that could be about as he continued his story. "And then I tried to tell him that it wasn't true, and tried to make him feel better. That was when he asked to kiss me." Kurt paused to see her reaction, but instead of squealing at this piece of news like he'd expected her to, Mercedes was frowning and staying silent. Trying not to let this deter him, Kurt went on. "So we kissed for a little while, and then he got a text from some friend having relationship problems and so I left."

He looked around and found that Mercedes and Tina were exchanging dubious looks. "Well, excuse me for being excited." Kurt snapped, feeling a little hurt that his friends weren't being as supportive and happy for him as he would have hoped. They looked up at this outburst, and Tina had to turn left and go down another corridor whilst they went right. He glared at Mercedes until she finally explained herself.

"I'm sorry Kurt, but...doesn't the fact that Jake basically spent the conversation guilt-tripping you into kissing him upset you?" As his eyes narrowed she hurriedly went on. "It's just the way he kept putting himself down, and making you feel sorry for him, before asking to kiss you, that really doesn't seem like it was unrehearsed. I think he did it on purpose." Kurt was astounded by this.

"On purpose? You're accusing Jake of tricking me into kissing him? You weren't even there Mercedes! You didn't see his face, or see the way he had been acting earlier, you-"

Mercedes cut him off. "Yes, acting! Don't you think that he could have just been acting?"

"No I don't! And look, Jake was right. You don't like him!" Kurt said loudly, mentally going back to the scene yesterday and searching for any indicator of deceit, or fake emotion. He couldn't find anything. He was sure Jake wasn't that good an actor. Mercedes looked just as annoyed as he did now.

"You're right, I don't like him! I think he's arrogant and manipulative! I'd sooner see you with that other guy you described, Michael, than with him. Can't you see he's playing you Kurt?" This was said just as they entered the English classroom, and they were shushed by the teacher as Kurt opened his mouth to make a retort.

As they sat down in their usual seats, Kurt ignored her notes that bore apologies as well as assertions of Jake's obvious intentions. There was no way that Jake had been lying, Kurt thought as he copied down notes from the board. Jake had looked so...vacant, so empty, and when he'd finally opened up he had been so dejected. Just the thought of the miserable look on the boy's face filled Kurt with sympathy, and a wish to eradicate that expression.

After the lesson they walked to their next class in silence, with Mercedes still convinced that she was right. The girl was as stubborn as Kurt, so when they fought, neither was willing to back down. Not at least two weeks later and only then involving the other admitting they were wrong. Normally, they didn't fight very often, but this was one of those rare times when Kurt chose to sit between Brittany and Rachel in French, although he still faced similar queries about yesterday from the latter. He answered vaguely before the girl started waxing on about her latest idea for glee, which he only half paid any attention, nodding and giving passive remarks when the occasion demanded it.

About halfway through lunch Kurt's phone went off having received a text message from Blaine.

Are you ok?– Blaine

Kurt raised his eyebrows. What was he talking about? Kurt quickly typed out a reply.

Yeah, fine. Why wouldn't I be? – Kurt

A moment later he received a reply.

No reason, just checking. – Blaine

Now that really didn't make any sense. Everyone was acting so weirdly today. Not just Mercedes, but Blaine, Rachel, Finn, Sam, Tina, Mike. Brittany was really just herself, which was nothing new, and Santana really couldn't care less, and randomly interrupted the conversation to ask if Kurt had got laid yet. Puck and Lauren hadn't commented, neither showing much interest in his social life, and Artie was too distracted by Britt.

Seriously, why do you ask? – Kurt

Just making sure you got back yesterday alright. – Blaine

What now?

What is up with everyone at the moment? Everyone keeps asking me about yesterday. – Kurt

Can we talk? Like, in person? – Blaine

Sure, Lima Bean after school? – Kurt

See you then. – Blaine

Kurt leaned back in his seat and read through the conversation again. Something was up with his friends at the moment. He refused to believe that Mercedes had been right about Jake, but a lot of the New Directions were siding with her. And now Blaine was acting all weird, and wanted to talk to him. Something he'd rather not say over the phone.

Another thing that bothered Kurt, was that if he believed Jake was completely innocent of the accusations made by Mercedes, then why did he have a strange nagging feeling every time he denied it? Why were his friends so quick to believer her? How had this even started in the first place?

Ah yes, another pliller chapter. To be honest, I'm kind of trying to stir up Kurt's feelings right now. I thought that if someone other than Blaine and Wevid prompted the doubts about Jake, it would be more effective than just Blaine storming up and showing him the photo. Also, this scene just came to me so much easier than a confrontation would have, today at least. I wrote this whilst listening to the Les Miz Live soundtrack, so feeling a little emotional right now. Well, not so much as I haven't been lucky enough to see Les Miz.

Again, thank you all so, so much for the brilliant reviews, and for reading and alerting and favouriting. Welcome to those who have recently begun TGB, and I hope you're enjoying it so far. Opening up my email first thing in the morning is the best part of my day, seriously, because of you guys. And I shouldshot up and post this so I can get onto my History homework before I procrastinate even more, so until next time!