A/N: Look, its the second chapter I promised! And I have 15 minutes to spare!
The next week passed with little event. Blaine was once more at the center of glee club through the combined efforts of Sam, Unique, Marley and Tina. He still wasn't healed- he doubted he was going to heal from the knowledge that he had destroyed the best thing that ever happened to him- but he was better.
It might have helped that he spent most of his time working to get rid of the football players' constant bullying. Between renewed effort in Student Council and the banding together of glee, it appeared they were making a dent. Or the football players had all just run out of money to buy slushies now that Blaine had gotten Figgins to raise the price (childhood obesity is a horrible phenomenon which Figgins was now aiding the fight against).
What mostly amazed Blaine was that he hadn't really gotten any sort of violent lash back from the bullies yet. He wasn't sure if it was the threat of Sue or simply a lack of time to put together a plan, but he assumed something was going to go down relatively soon.
Thus Blaine was walking through the hallways ten minutes before the end of class on Friday- he'd told his teacher he had a student council commitment- so he could be safely in the choir room before lunch started. He knew he'd eventually have to deal with them, but he hoped that if he held out till the weekend, they wouldn't try anything until after Thanksgiving next Thursday (and thus sectionals).
"What did you expect?" He paused when he heard Amanda snarl but then quickly turned around the corner to see what was wrong. He found the brunette standing by herself, leaning against the lockers, a phone to her ear. Whatever the other person was saying, she didn't seem to appreciate it, and she pushed off the lockers and started pacing.
"Well, you probably should have said something before I left then," she snapped. "No, I don't- Look, I have to go. 'It's for the best.'" With that she hung up. Blaine stared at her.
"So-" Amanda spun around, seeming surprised. "That was?"
"I… things with the guy before I left may be less clean cut than I led you to believe." Blaine raised his eyebrow in a request for her to continue, trying to ignore the fact that he'd shared his whole issue with Kurt but she hadn't been open with him. "He may now be annoyed that I'm moving on with my life."
"But you don't like him anymore?" Blaine guessed. She shook her head.
"I'm just angry since he told me that it was best I just leave. Moron." Blaine nodded, despite his not really understanding, because she didn't seem to want to share more. "Anyway, what are you doing out of class early Anderson?"
"Trying to avoid the football team," he offered. "I'm just waiting for them to come after me." Amanda frowned, then held out her arm to him.
"I'm coming with you to the choir room," she announced. "After all, you can't hit a girl in a Cheerio's uniform." Blaine snorted but linked his arm with hers anyway. He felt happy for her presence when they found a crowd of four football players waiting around the next turn, lead by Samson.
"There you are," Samson declared with a smile. "Have you been avoiding us, Anderson? We just wanted to give you some feedback on your new policies."
"I only take constructive criticism," Blaine retorted. The jocks glanced at each other.
"You might not like this," Samson decided.
"Get out of here Amanda," another football player ordered.
"Not happening." She tightened her grip on Blaine's arm and gave it a small tug back down the hallway. "Come on."
"You're not going anywhere," the third bully announced as he moved behind them. Blaine was now tensed as he tried to analyze the situation and not freak out/ flash back. He'd been prepping for this situation. He'd been hoping to go a few more rounds in the gym and run through more overwhelming situations during the weekend to insure he wouldn't flashback, but this was going to have to do. Amanda was now pressed against his side and he felt bad for involving her in this.
"You realize class ends in five minutes, right?" Amanda demanded.
"Good point," Samson agreed. The third guy grabbed Amanda and started trying to pull her away from Blaine as the others went for him.
Blaine countered Amanda's efforts to stay together by shoving her off- he knew they didn't want to hit her for fear of Sue so she was safer away from him. He then managed to duck the first couple blows, now standing against the lockers surrounded by three guys.
"Let me go!" Amanda shouted at the guy holding her. Blaine glanced at the struggling brunette for a second and was rewarded with a blow to the stomach. He ducked the next one, causing the guy to swear loudly as he punched the lockers, and returned his own, jabbing the already cursing guy in the kidney. The second guy grabbed him from behind but he stomped on his toe and threw his head back into the jock's face. Thus, jock-two released Blaine and stumbled backwards. Blaine spun to watch for Samson just as he heard the crash of someone being thrown into the lockers.
"You okay Blaine?" He found that he was face to face with Amanda rather than Samson as he expected. He nodded, looking around at the four bullies in case any were coming back. The one with the bloody hand from the locker and the guy holding his nose didn't surprise him. But then the guy who'd grabbed Amanda was lying on the ground with his hands over his groin and Samson was sitting at against the lockers, looking a little shook up. He glanced at Amanda- her uniform was a little ruffled and her ponytail had some loose strands.
"You?" She shrugged.
"I took some basic self defence when I was little," she explained. He nodded and wondered if he'd been right when he read an "attack" vibe off her after Kitty threw the slushy. Samson appeared to snap out of it, and he led the four in a retreat (they had to haul the fourth away). Blaine and Amanda watched them go before glancing back at each other.
"Well Anderson, I'm almost impressed." Blaine laughed at that. Then there was a ding, and Amanda pulled out her phone to check the text. Blaine realized with a start that the phone she'd been talking on earlier was not the same model- it had been a plain old flip phone.
"Sam and Tina demand to know why you aren't in the choir room," she announced. "We'd better hurry before they start searching the school to make sure you're safe."