Thursday 4th November 2010

The girls commandeered the choir room at lunch on Thursday, sitting in a clump and sewing last minute extras to their costumes. Mr. Schue had moved rehearsal from after school to the period after lunch, switching it with Friday, something about conflicting with Football.

"These are brilliant finds, Mercedes." Erin said, modelling her leather jacket. "Seriously, how much do I owe you, I think I want to keep this forever. We are going to win this thing."

"The boys beat us last time we competed against them." Mercedes pointed out, but Erin simply shrugged.

"To be fair, they didn't beat us." Quinn pointed out. "We got busted for vitamin D possession before the vote."

Erin looked at them in confusion.

"What? You had too much sunlight?"

"Wait, something's definitely wrong." Santana said, "Why isn't Rachel talking?"

"Yeah. Shouldn't she be bossing us around right now?" Brittany asked.

"The idea of the assignment was to do the opposite of what we normally do." Rachel said from where she was trying, and failing, to thread a needle. "I'm just trying to stick to the lesson plan, which is proving nearly impossible since you're glueing those sequins on backwards." Santana looked down at her bedazzled jacket and then up at Rachel with an eye roll and flipped her off.

"Spies!" Rachel shouted as Sam and Kurt walked through the doors. Kurt rolled his eyes and moved to sit next to Erin, pulling out his lunch.

"We're literally just here to eat lunch." Kurt assured her. "We're going to win this even without spying on the competition, but honestly? I just want to eat lunch with my best friend somewhere Karofsky can't harass me again."

"Is it really that bad, boo?" Mercedes asked with sincerity.

"He's shoved me into lockers at least 10 times this week and it's only lunch time on Thursday, and I took half of Tuesday off." Kurt said with slight annoyance, "So yeah, it really is that bad."

"I only saw the two on Monday and thought it was bad." Erin said, "God, what is his problem?"

"Who cares," Sam said, settling an arm over the back of Erin's chair, and taking a bite of his sandwich. "He's an asshole and a bully, you won't be able to rehabilitate him."

"I managed to get Puck to give the $300 he and Artie busked at lunch yesterday to Mr. Schue for Nationals travel costs." Erin smirked at him, "So if this bully really is rehabilitatable I'm sure I can do it."

"This, this right here," Kurt gestured to the two of them, "This is why we all think you're dating. I like your leather jacket, by the way. You weren't wearing it this morning though."

"Spoilers." Erin said illusively, and Sam snorted unattractively at her Doctor Who reference.

The two boys sat in amicable silence as the girls made final adjustments to their costumes, they even helpfully moved the staging and lights into position for the performance in the period just after lunch. Well, Sam more so than Kurt. But Kurt helped them to get ready, teasing their hair and making some last minute adjustments to costumes before the bell rang and the rest of the boys started turning up.

"Helping the competition, Hummel?" Puck asked as he wheeled Artie into the room.

"You guys have already heard my new idea, so I think they need all the help they can get. Don't you?" Kurt smirked at him and finished curling the last strand of Santana's hair, holding it in his hand as it cooled.

"You boys are going to hope your performance is as good as ours is going to be." Santana snarked as Mr. Schue entered the room.

"Looking good ladies!" He greeted, "I assume you're ready to perform?"

Rachel nodded and ushered the girls into Mr. Schue's office, and gestured for the boys to sit.

"We are going to rock your socks off." She said, trying to be tough and missing the mark entirely. It was endearing though and Erin smiled with a soft chuckle.

The girls performed with all of their heart, rocking out like true rockstars. Erin could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins as they finished and the boys clapped and cheered.

"Ladies, very, very impressive!" Mr. Schue said over the cheers, "What was it that made you guys choose those songs?"

"Well," Rachel began before going into her inspiration for the songs, "Last year the boys did that mash up with Bon Jovi's 'It's my Life' and while it was, admittedly, very good. I thought we could do something fantastic with our own Bon Jovi song..." She rambled on more and the rest of the girls rolled their eyes at her usual attitude. Smiling at each other with the high of performing.

Erin looked over to Kurt with a smile, eager to see his reaction to the song. Sam, next to him, gave her an exaggerated thumbs up and wink, and she smiled, rolling her eyes. But Kurt was smiling down at his phone.

She broke away from the girls, who took it as their cue to also start miglinging with the boys as Rachel continued, and squatted in front of Kurt, blowing her hair from her face.

"So... you texting Blaine?" She teased, leaning her arms on his legs and gazing up at him through her fake lashes.

He rolled his eyes but stayed smiling as the girls started leaving to change. He jostled her with his knees, making her almost fall on her arse as she teetered in the heels she was unaccustomed to wearing. She stood again, flailing her arms a bit to regain her balance, and glared at Kurt playfully, before turning and running towards the rest of the girls.

"We've got this in the bag!" She cheered. They spent the last half an hour of the period in an unused classroom in high spirits as the boys practiced their performance for tomorrow.

A loud BANG resonated through the hall as Erin placed her books in her locker. Jumping, she turned and saw the aftermath of Karofsky pushing Kurt into the lockers, again. Kurt's phone was on the ground where Karofsky had pushed it out of his hands.

"Kurt." Erin said softly as Karofsky walked away, backwards, staring menacingly at Kurt.

Kurt didn't seem to hear Erin. His face morphed into one of determination and he burst into a run, following Karofsky towards the boy's locker room. Erin followed.

"Kurt, stop!" She shouted. She paused as Kurt barreled into the boy's locker room. She didn't like the idea of him and Karofsky alone in there, Karofsky could do anything to Kurt. Not caring who could see her, she pushed the first door open and stood looking through the window of the second door to the room, watching as the two boys argued.

Kurt was finally standing up for himself. But Erin still didn't think confronting Karofsky was the right thing to do and looking at the pure hatred on Karofsky's face Erin knew something bad was about to happen. She took out her phone, opened her camera, and pressed record, pointing it through the window.

"- so scared of?" Kurt asked heatedly.

"Besides you sneaking in here to peek at my junk?" Karofsky seethed, his face full of rage.

"Oh, yeah, every straight guy's nightmare!" Kurt shouted back. "That all us gays are secretly out to molest and convert you. Well guess what, hamhock? You're not my type."

Erin almost wanted to cheer Kurt on, but most of all she wanted to tell him to get the hell out of there before Karofsky did something more than simply slam him into a locker, or shout insults. Instead she was frozen in place. A deer stuck in headlights.

"That right?" Karofsky asked, his voice pitched low and menacing.

"Yeah," Kurt shot back, getting into Karofsky's face, "I don't dig on chubby boys who sweat too much and will be bald by the time they're thirty."

Karofsky held up a fist, eyebrows creased together in anger. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that something was about to happen, even if it was simply a threat of physical violence, a recording would surely be enough to give Principal Figgins reason for at least a suspension.

"Do not push me, Hummel." He threatened.

"You gonna hit me?" Kurt asked, "Do it."

The two boys were inches away from each other, and Erin was definitely holding her breath as her hands shook around her phone. Karofsky slammed his locker shut with force.

"Don't push me!" He growled.

"Hit me," Kurt taunted, "'cause it's not gonna change who I am. You can't punch the gay out of me any more than I can punch the ignoramous out of you."

"I said get out of my face!" Karofsky screamed, and Erin jumped, shaking even more in terror. She should do something instead of just stand there. She should get Coach Bieste, or Mr. Schue, get an adult. But she was frozen to the spot as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. She was glad she had her phone recording, it made her feel like she was doing something at least.

"You are nothing but a scared little boy who can't handle how extraordinarily ordinary you are!" Kurt screamed back, finger in Karofsky's face.

What happened next almost made Erin drop her phone in shock.

It felt like it was happening in slow motion. Karofsky's hand moved towards Kurt's face and she expected there to be a punch, the sound of skin hitting skin. But the hands weren't in fists. Instead Karofsky grabbed hold of Kurt's face…

And kissed him.

Erin was in shock, but she managed to slam the locker room door open, forcing Karofsky to pull away from Kurt.

"What the FUCK, Karofsky?" She screamed at him, forgetting, for a moment, that she was a tiny 14 year old girl, and he was a large football player. Her anger was overriding her panic. He looked at her in shock and fear. Kurt turned to her and his face was full of shock as he glanced between Karofsky and Erin, hand to his lips.

"Fuck!" Karofsky shouted in frustration, slamming the lockers, before pushing past both Kurt and Erin. His eyes were wild, the fear evident in them.

A silence fell upon the room as Kurt looked at Erin. Erin was seething in rage. That was sexual assault. Karofsky was so far in the closet that he had taken his internailsed homophobia out on the only out gay kid in school, and while that explained so much about Karofsky, what he had done was so completely and utterly wrong.

"I-" Kurt began before shaking his head. He dropped to the floor, his legs all akimbo. Tears began falling down his face.

Erin rushed to him and instantly had him in a tight hug, tucking his face into her neck as she let him clutch at her and cry on her shoulder.

"It's okay," she said over and over, stroking his hair as she tried to calm down herself. All she wanted to do was race after Karofsky and slam him into some lockers, but she probably wouldn't have been able to do anything to him. "It's okay."

As Kurt's tears dried up, and Erin's heart stopped racing in both fear and anger. He pulled away.

"You can't tell anyone." He said, "Outing people isn't okay, he'll probably…"

"Kurt," She said firmly, looking him in the eyes. He still had a glint of terror in them, looking like a deer in headlights. "You have to tell someone, that was sexual assault! That... that's not fucking okay!"

"I," Kurt gasped in a breath, eyes falling shut. "I can handle it. It was only a kiss. He's probably scared. Right?"

"Probably," Erin gave him, because he had looked absolutely terrified. "But that doesn't mean that what he did was in any way okay. Internalised homophobia isn't an excuse for sexual fucking assult!"

"I can handle this, Erin." Kurt said firmly, opening his eyes. "I'll get Blaine to help. He'll know what to do."

"No, Kurt." Erin said, just as firmly. "Blaine's not a fucking adult. He's a kid, he's a whole grade below you, Kurt. How would he know what to do?"

Kurt didn't seem to be listening, patting his pockets, looking for his phone.

"Your phone's in the hallway," Erin said, standing up and rolling her eyes. Kurt stumbled to his feet and made his way to the door.

"Please don't confront Karofsky." She pleaded. But her request fell on deaf ears as the door swung shut behind him.

Sighing, Erin ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath. This wasn't going to end well. She'd let Kurt try his way, but if anything else happened she'd have to make him go to the principal, and if he refused? Well, she had the recording.

Sure, she didn't want to out the guy, but it was clear he was more dangerous than either of them could have believed.

A/N: I am so sorry for the lack of chapter on Saturday but there was a sudden and spontaneous visit to London to see my brother and then three days straight of just panic and bad moods sooo a late chapter!

So, here's The Kiss! The next chapter is the last of S2E6.

As always feel free to follow me/chat on tumblr at katyobsesses and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Comments are always welcome!