Kurt winced as he landed in the dumpster on his back. He was completely used to it, but it was still embarrassing for him. No one even said anything anymore. They just picked him up and tossed him in. One of the jocks was even in the glee club with him, Finn was his name. Not even Finn did anything, and that made him feel especially bad.

Kurt sat up and pulled himself up. The dumpster was mostly empty, so he had to jump and get his leg over the edge to climb out. He let out a panicked gasp as he lost his balance and fell over onto the pavement. He wasn't hurt, except for a sharp pain in his left hand. He looked at it and tried to bend his fingers, but his index finger couldn't move.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked, appearing out of nowhere. "You kind of landed on your arm."

"I'm fine," he grumbled, getting to his feet and brushing the dirt off his new Marc Jacobs outfit. "Not like you care."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. He looked like he was going to say something else, but then stopped. "If you're hurt I can take you to the nurse. Sure you're all right?" Kurt nodded and tried to smile. His finger was starting to throb and he was scared for a second that it was broken, but he told himself he was just being ridiculous. Finn offered to walk him inside, but Kurt didn't want to walk with him. He should've done something in the first place so he wouldn't have fallen on his hand.

Kurt didn't tell anyone about his finger, but it was getting worse throughout the day. His entire fingertip was bruised and continuing to throb. He told himself he would make it through the day without going to the nurse, but by the time glee rehearsal rolled around, he wasn't so sure. It was starting to hurt so bad he was tempted to just leave or call his dad, but he couldn't skip rehearsal. He sat in his usual seat, the first one there, and waited for rehearsal to start.

Halfway through the walkthrough of their dance for sectionals, Kurt couldn't do it anymore. It's just your stupid finger, suck it up, he told himself. He couldn't even bend it, though, and it really was hurting. He asked Mr. Shue if he could go to the bathroom, but went the opposite way to see the nurse. He peeked his head into her office and stepped inside. She was typing away at her computer, but looked up at him as he came in.

"Hi, sweetie. Have a seat," she greeted cheerfully. He had never been to the nurse, but was surprised to learn she was actually nice. She swiveled around in her chair to face him. "What's bothering you?"

"Um, I fell earlier, and my finger hurts, and I can't bend it," he explained, holding out his hand. She looked at it closely, and then let it go.

"You smashed it pretty good, I'd say. Can you move it at all?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I already tried. I can't bend it or do anything. I thought I just smashed it when I hit the ground, but then I couldn't move it, and I was in glee rehearsal just now and it really started to hurt, worse than it has all day, so I came here," he explained.

"I'll put some ice on it and give you some Tylenol. You can sit in here for a little bit, and if it doesn't start feeling better I'll call your parents to take you to the doctor. Kurt nodded and sat back as she got him an ice pack. He winced as she put pressure on it. He swallowed some pain medicine and she left him alone.

After ten minutes, he was afraid someone would come looking for him since he hadn't returned to rehearsal. But that was the least of his worries. If the nurse called his dad he was going to have to come up with a story of how he hurt himself.

"How's it feeling?" she asked him.

"Still hurts. It's throbbing really bad," he told her. She took the ice off and frowned.

"I think it'd be best if you saw a doctor. I'll call your mom to have her come take you." Kurt frowned.

"No. Just call my dad. My mom died," he explained. She looked at him sympathetically, but didn't say anything as she opened her directory. Kurt put the ice back on his finger and leaned his head back.

Twenty minutes later, his dad walked inside the office. He talked with the nurse for a minute and then came over to him.

"How'd you do this, Kurt?" he asked him, taking his hand and looking at it.

"Don't touch it," he hissed in pain. "I fell and held my hands out to catch myself, but my finger was bent." That seemed like a good enough lie, and his dad bought it.

"Come on. We're gonna go to the doctor, get it looked at."

"The emergency room?" he panicked. He couldn't do the emergency room. He'd rather deal with the possible broken finger on his own.

"No, just the walk in place a couple of miles from our house. Come on." Once they left the nurse, Kurt got his bag from his locker and walked out to the car with his dad.

The ride to the doctor was mostly silent. He held his hands in his lap and looked out the window. He was afraid his dad was mad at him, but he wouldn't be driving him to the doctor if he were mad. Besides, it wasn't like he had fallen on purpose.

His dad signed him in at the clinic and they sat down next to each other. His finger was so swollen it looked twice the size of his other fingers, and it hurt to move it even a tiny bit. He felt like he was overreacting about it, but just jamming his finger shouldn't hurt so badly.

Back in an exam room, the nurse took one look at his hand and sent him to get x-rays. They had to reposition his hand three times before they got a good one, and then sent him back to wait on a doctor.

"Kurt, did you really fall, or did someone push you?" his dad asked him out of nowhere.

"No, I fell," he said. It wasn't a complete lie. He just didn't tell him how he fell.

Ten minutes later a doctor in a white lab coat came in and showed them the x-rays. The middle joint of his finger was broken, so he put a metal splint on it. Kurt's jaw dropped when he told him he had to wear it for three weeks. They had sectionals before then, he couldn't wear a stupid finger brace to a competition. He didn't say anything, but he didn't know how he was supposed to make it that long.

His dad checked him out and took him home. He gave him an ice pack and some more medicine and left to go back to work. He sat on the couch and watched Say Yes to the Dress. If his mom were there then she would've taken the rest of the day off to keep him company. He wanted her back more than anything. It was nice having joined the glee club, but no one there was really his friend. No one would text him to ask if he was okay, or probably even notice his finger the next day at school. Well, maybe Finn would. He actually seemed kind of nice, other than the fact he just stood around while Kurt was tossed into dumpsters. Maybe Finn would turn out to be his friend.

Author's Notes:

So this takes place really early, like before Kurt even becomes friends with Mercedes and joins the football team. I love Kurt in season 1. He's so little and scared and adorable and he's lonely and just precious. So yeah.

Also, I'm not updating Aftermath until tomorrow just because I have had absolutely no time to write today, but tomorrow's chapter will be longer to make up for it!