There were thirty minutes left of group and then he could get out. Thirty minutes until freedom. Thirty minutes until fresh air. Thirty minutes until he and Blaine could find an empty room and go at it… Because life had been such a little cockblock lately. Whenever they were alone together, they got in a good five minutes of touching and kissing and Kurt even still had a hickey from two days ago on his collarbone, but after those five minutes something always interrupted them and it was over.

So just twenty-eight more minutes and then he was free. But he could not let himself look at Blaine until then. If he looked, he wouldn't be able to wait. He'd jump up and attack him immediately.

He'd noticed Blaine when he'd first walked in. He wasn't wearing his signature jacket but a tight white T-shirt instead. His hair was messy and his eyes were dark and he hadn't shaved that morning. It was too distracting. Too distracting to even contemplate looking over again.

"Kurt? Do you have anything to share?"

He cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly.

"Alright… Well, you're one of the only ones who hasn't said a word for the past two and half weeks. Everyone's shared something." Even Blaine, although his sharing had included an especially perverted joke and jeering with Thad.

He looked at his hands, clasped in his lap.

"Do you miss your old school?"

Flint, on his left, nudged him. Kurt looked up, nodding. "Yes."

"What was your favorite class?" Ms. Warner leaned forward, resting her elbow on her knee and her chin in her palm.

"Glee," he said without hesitation. "Glee club."

"Really? You sing?"

"Yes."

She smiled. "What range?"

"Countertenor."

"Wow, Kurt. That's very impressive."

He smiled slightly. "Thank you."

"Do you miss your friends?"

Yes. So, so, so much. He met her eyes. There was something in them that made it seem like this was an okay idea. It couldn't hurt, right? "Yeah."

"What were they like?"

He laughed slightly. "The greatest friends ever. We were all in glee together. That's how I met them. I didn't really… I mean, I wasn't really…" Kurt trailed off, looking back at his crossed legs. "They're great."

"Sounds like you really care about them."

"They're my family. They're my best friends. We're all one huge, giant, sappy family."

"So, can I ask you something?" She continued without a response. "It sounds like you're pretty loved and attended to with your friends so why would you need attention—"

"I didn't buy the booze for attention," he snapped. "I get plenty of attention." The last part was said bitterly as he thought back to Karofsky. Karofsky certainly paid attention to him in the halls, shoving him into lockers, calling him names, molesting him in the locker room.

"You certainly command attention, Kurt. The lavish outfits, the very impressive grades. Do you think what you did might have anything to do with your mother?"

Kurt stiffened. She couldn't do this. She could not bring that up. How…how dare she?

"Kurt?" Flint muttered from next to him.

But Kurt was already out of his seat and storming to the door, letting it slam closed behind him. He blinked back hot tears as he walked quickly out of the building and down the steps. He broke into a run went he hit the grass, heading towards the dorm room.

This was not happening. How could she say that? How could she bring that up in front of all of those people? Did she really expect that to get him to open up? That horrible, awful memory was supposed to make him trust her completely and want to share his life story and all of his emotions and all of his problems with her? Really?

He fumbled with the key to his room, hands shaking slightly. When he made it in, he slammed the door and collapsed onto his bed, sobbing into his pillow.

Just when he thought this place wasn't going to be so bad after all.

-0-

Flint called after Kurt as he left, but Ms. Warner stopped him from getting up.

"Stay, Flint," she said calmly. "He just needs time, I suppose."

Blaine scowled angrily at the woman. He didn't know what string she had just pulled but whatever it was, it was a bad move.

Jeff seemed to think so too. "What about his mom?"

"It's not my place to tell you."

"Then it wasn't your place to bring up in front of all of us!" he demanded. "What about his mother? Is she rich and neglecting or something?"

"And heiress?" Wes guessed.

"A homophobe?" Nick put in. Everyone looked at him. "What? Kurt said he was getting bullied—"

"He was getting bullied?" Ms. Warner asked with a frown. "Because off his sexual orientation?"

"No offense intended, Doc, on your amazing analytical skills," Thad said gruffly, "but Kurt isn't really the hardened criminal type."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's not my place to tell you," he mimicked, glaring.

Her frown deepened and she checked her watch. "I assume no one else has anything to share." They were all simply looking at her, their stares harsh. "Right. You may go."

-0-

Flint sat down at dinner, staring at the table. "Don't ask," he muttered. "He's not talking to me. All he said was that he's not coming down the dinner and he doesn't want to talk about it."

"You don't think it's us, do you?" Nick asked, frowning slightly. "He could talk to us. I mean, yeah, we're juvenile delinquents, but we're not total dicks. At least…most of us."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Thad growled.

"He wasn't talking about you," Blaine said. "He meant me."

Thad made a noise of agreement. "You are kind of a dick to him."

"I'm a dick to everybody. Why should he get special treatment?"

"Because you're trying to get into his pants."

Blaine pushed his tray away, putting his hands flat on the table. "Let's get this straight. I don't go looking for relationships. He's hot. No, just because I find him hot does not mean he gets special treatment compared to anyone else. Yes, I really am that much of a douche." He stood up. "And if you don't like it, either get over it or stop hanging around me."

Everyone watched in stunned silence as he walked away.

"He didn't mean that, did he? He's just saying it because he's stressed or something?" Trent asked. "I like Kurt. Not like that," he added, when David arched an eyebrow at him, "but like a buddy. I mean we're friends, right? All of us?"

"I guess so," Wes said.

"I seriously didn't like that shrink making Kurt so upset," Jeff said, frowning at his pasta. "It's not cool. If she wasn't allowed to tell us what the problem was, she shouldn't have said it in front of us."

"Yeah, that was pretty unprofessional," David muttered. "But…Kurt should tell her about the bullying. Maybe it'll get him out of the here. It doesn't sound like he ever told anyone that it was the bully's fault; he just…took the blame. He doesn't belong here."

"We can't tell the doc about the bullying," Flint said, trying to reason. "First of all, we don't know everything about it. Second, even if Thad was being somewhat of a sarcastic asshole, he was right earlier. It's not our place to tell her."

Jeff sighed. "I'm tired."

"Me too," Nick said, pushing away his tray. "My homework doesn't make any sense anyway. I'm crashing."

"I'll follow you."

The rest of the table waved goodbye to them as they left. Flint and Trent left a few minutes later. Thad turned to Wes and David.

"What do you think?" Wes asked him.

He shrugged. "Look, I know I'm not the smartest kid and I know I can be kinda mean, but I'm not sore. I'm not sore about ending up here, at least. I deserve it, I know, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna change. Kurt… Kurt doesn't deserve it. David's right." David perked up at this. "Yeah, yeah, get over it. I just mean…he doesn't belong here."

"So are we gonna help him?"

Thad shrugged. "Might as well try."

-0-

Blaine rolled the knots out of his shoulders under the hot water in the shower that night. This was getting ridiculous. He should not be getting this involved. A good lay; that was all this was.

Yes, it bothered him that that shrink had pulled such a bitch move—whatever the move was exactly—on Kurt, but what bothered him more was just that. He shouldn't care. He should not get attached.

He pressed his forehead against the tile, breathing heavily.

There were not supposed to be feelings. Feelings were not allowed. The only feelings he should be having should be in his pants.

But this just really got to him. The bullying, the harassment, the pressure—it's everything he dealt with in middle school before he started kicking ass, taking names, and fighting back. And it just…it sucked. Because he hated feeling like shit and it was his own damn fault that he was in this stupid school but Kurt was feeling like shit and it wasn't his fault.

Ugh, why did he care? There was something inside of him that needed to make sure Kurt was okay. This was a problem.

So he was going to handle it the only way he knew how.

Avoiding it.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! I live off of reviews!

Love,

E. M. Zeray

Mythoughtshavenooffswitch [dot] tumblr [dot] com

(and my personal blog): wishingonalightningbolt [dot] tumblr [dot] com