A/N: I never expected any of my stories to be this popular! Over 27k hits and over 400 favorites and alerts! Really makes me happy. Well, it's coming to an end; there's only the epilogue left after this chapter. I do have some vague ideas for a sequel, though, so if any of you are interested in it, please let me know and I'll get to work on developing it! Enjoy this chapter, and let me know what you think!
A/N2: This chapter was betaed by the wonderful and awesome Emberwillow14. Thanks!
Chapter Eleven
Burt burst into the principal's office as soon as he arrived at the school. Blaine chose to stay in the outer office; he could see the scene through the glass walls, and it didn't look good.
Kurt was sitting on the couch with his arms wrapped around his chest protectively, his face covered with tear stains and his hair a mess. There were bruises starting to appear on his face and neck. Mr. Shuester was sitting on one side of the boy, one hand resting comfortingly on his shoulder. Coach Sylvester was standing beside Mr. Shuester, glaring menacingly across the room where Karofsky and his father were sitting in chairs. Karofsky was hunched over with a pained expression on his face while Mr. Karofsky just looked calm. Principal Figgins was sitting behind the desk between the two groups.
Burt took one look around the room and collapsed on the couch on the other side of his son. Mr. Shuester glanced at Blaine standing awkwardly in the outer office and excused himself for a moment.
"Hey, you must be Blaine?" He smiled when the teenager nodded nervously. "I thought so. Kurt mentioned you a few days ago. I'm Mr. Shuester, the Glee coach. I'm grateful you've been there for him when the rest of us weren't. Are you going to come inside?"
Blaine thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I think I'll let him tell me what happened when he's ready. I don't want him to be even more uncomfortable than he already seems."
Mr. Shuester nodded thoughtfully. "Well, in that case, could you do me a favor? There's a Glee club rehearsal now; could you go let them know it's cancelled? I need to be here with Kurt."
"Of course." Blaine smiled politely. "But I doubt they will believe me."
Mr. Shuester laughed softly and returned to the office, leaving Blaine to find his own way to the choir room.
Kurt watched as his friend walked away from the office slowly. "What's Blaine doing here?" he whispered softly to his father.
"He came over to talk to me." Burt looked Kurt in the eyes. "Why didn't you tell me what's been going on?"
Before Kurt could reply, the principal spoke up. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Hummel, Mr. Karofsky. There seems to have been some problems between your sons, resulting in an incident this afternoon. Why don't you go first, Kurt? Please explain to us what happened."
Everyone turned to stare at Kurt, causing him to shift uncomfortably in his seat.
"Just start at the beginning," Mr. Shuester encouraged. "Just tell them what you told me and Sue."
Kurt took a deep breath, and spoke. "It started just over a week ago, last Tuesday. Karofsky had been . . . bullying me pretty badly for a while. On Tuesday, I was walking down the hall, reading a text message from a friend, and he knocked my phone out of my hand and pushed me into the lockers. A friend of mine had told me to confront him about the bullying, so I followed him into the locker room. We got into an argument that ended when . . ." he trailed off.
"Go on," Mr. Shuester urged softly.
Kurt took another deep breath and averted his eyes. "It ended when Karofsky . . . kissed me."
"He's lying!" Karofsky interrupted. "I never kissed him!"
"Shut it," Coach Sylvester snapped at the jock. "You'll get your chance to try and defend your actions; right now it's Lady's turn."
"Continue," Principal Figgins said to Kurt.
"Well, he tried to kiss me a second time, but I pushed him away," Kurt continued softly. "He left after that. My friend came to the school on Wednesday to try and help Karofsky with any confusion he might be feeling, but he just tried to attack my friend, and then left again.
"Then last Friday after school, Karofsky pulled me into an empty classroom and pushed me against the wall. After I assured him that I didn't tell anyone about the kiss, he . . . he threatened to kill me." Burt growled beside him, but Kurt ignored him. He knew his father would be doing more than growling soon. "He then . . . pressed against me. He . . . well, he smelled my neck, I guess, and started to kiss my neck. I struggled to get free; I told him to stop. He didn't; instead he gave me a hickey."
"I didn't-" Karofsky fell silent after one glare from Coach Sylvester.
Kurt swallowed nervously. "On Monday, I was slushied at lunch. I was in the bathroom, trying to clean up. I . . . I didn't notice him come in until he grabbed me by the hips and pressed up against my back. I told him to leave me alone, but he ignored me. He . . . I had taken my shirt off to rinse it out, and he started to . . ." he fell silent, staring down at his lap.
"Kurt? What did he do?" His father rubbed his back softly.
"He started to run his hands along my chest. And he tried to undo my belt, telling me to finish stripping. I struggled, I tried to yell, but he covered my mouth. Then he . . . he gave me a lot more hickeys before just leaving." Kurt's voice hitched slightly at the end.
"Is that everything?" Principal Figgins asked after Kurt stopped speaking.
The boy shook his head. "Since then, through today, Karofsky has been following me between classes, staring at me. It's terrifying. I tried to ignore it, but . . ." Kurt trailed off and shook his head. "Then today, I forgot my book for English class. As I was going to my locker to retrieve it, he came up behind me and dragged me into a janitor's closet. He kissed me again, and I tried to push him away. But he just grabbed both of my wrists in one hand. I couldn't fight him off. Then he . . . he groped me," Kurt broke off, barely containing a sob. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes again, and he was willing them not to fall.
"Take your time, Lady," Coach Sylvester said without taking her glare off of Karofsky.
"I struggled; he hit me and started to . . . to choke me. He said he wouldn't stop until I promised to be a good boy. I thought . . . he would have killed me if I didn't agree," Kurt looked his father in the eye. "I was scared." He needed his father to understand that.
Burt nodded. "I get it, kid. Don't worry."
Kurt drew his gaze back to his hands fidgeting in his lap. "After he let go of my throat, he . . . he told me to get on my knees." He flinched as he felt Burt tense beside him. "I refused, and he hit me again and pushed me to my knees. He pulled my hair to force my mouth open then he. . . he . . .
"He shoved his dick into my mouth."
Burt snarled and lunged himself across the room. Both Mr. Shuester and Coach Sylvester had to grab him to hold him back. They managed to push him back into his seat on the couch beside Kurt. Mr. Karofsky was looking at his son in disappointment.
Once everyone, mainly Burt, had calmed down, Figgins turned back to Kurt. "What happened then?"
Kurt swallowed nervously. "I . . . bit him. I didn't know what else to do. He pulled away, fell to the ground. I tried to run, but he grabbed my ankle and I fell. So I kicked back to make him release me, and I ran. I ran until . . ."
"He ran straight into me," Coach Sylvester spoke up. "I was arguing with William here about his overabundant use of hair gel, and Lady ran right into me. He looked like a small frightened animal."
Mr. Shuester nodded in agreement. "Kurt's hair was messed up, he was crying, and . . ." he shot a quick glance at Burt before continuing. "His pants were undone."
Burt bristled, but Kurt's desperate grip on his hand kept him in place.
"So we got the story out of him, Will fixed him up a bit and brought him here, while I went and found this one," Coach Sylvester pointed at Karofsky, "laying in the janitor's closet. His pants were still down."
Silence reigned for a couple of minutes before anyone spoke.
"The fag is lying," Karofsky spat angrily, glaring at the other teen.
Burt was on his feet in an instant. "Do. Not. Call. My. Son. That," he snarled, clenching his fists tightly. "What reason would Kurt have for lying about it? I saw the marks you left on his neck; Ms. Sylvester here saw you with your pants down in the janitor's closet! And I'm pretty sure Blaine can vouch for some stuff, since he came over today and told me about what's been going on!"
"I didn't do anything Kurt didn't want," Karofsky muttered sulkily.
"I didn't want any of that!" Kurt cried, leaning forward. "I would think that would have been obvious by the way I kept struggling and telling you to stop!"
"Don't deny that you didn't enjoy it!" Karofsky shouted back.
"So then you admit you were sexually harassing another student?" Coach Sylvester asked calmly.
"NO!" Karofsky looked desperately around the room before locking eyes with his father. "I didn't harass him. He was totally willing! He's just trying to get me in trouble!"
"If Kurt was willing, David," his father replied slowly, never taking his eyes away from his son's, "then it seems you wouldn't be in so much pain right now. Willing participants do not usually bite."
"Dad-"
"I'm very disappointed in you, David." Mr. Karofsky turned back to Figgins.
"Enough of this!" Burt was shouting now in his anger. He also turned to face the principal. "This kid has been harassing my son for years! Throwing him in dumpsters, throwing slushies in his face, and pushing him into lockers! Now he's starting to practically molest my son! What are you going to do about it?"
It had taken Blaine a good ten minutes to find the choir room without any directions to go by. In fact, he figured the only reason he found it that quickly was by following the loud (and admittedly good) female singing that was floating down the halls. He peered into the room, and recognized the boys that had approached him earlier in the week.
Once the singing stopped, he knocked on the door and let himself in.
Finn was on his feet instantly. "What the Hell are you doing here?"
"Who is this?" Rachel asked from beside the piano. She frowned as she took in the school uniform. "Spy! You're here to spy, aren't you?"
Blaine smiled nervously. "Actually, no; I'm not here to spy. For those of you who haven't met me and threatened me, I'm Blaine, a friend of Kurt's."
"If you're not here to spy, then what do you what?" Rachel still looked suspicious.
"I'm here to deliver a message." Blaine glanced around the room at everyone. "Mr. Shuester asked me to tell you that rehearsal was cancelled."
"Why should we believe you?" Rachel laughed derisively. "I'm sure you're just trying to mess up our rehearsing schedule."
Blaine just gave the tiny brunette a skeptical look. "You guys are the ones who sent someone to spy on us, and four of your members threatened our lead vocalist. Do you still think we are trying to mess you up?"
"When put that way, it doesn't sound good for us, does it?" Artie said thoughtfully.
Tina stood and crossed the room to stand in front of Blaine. "Why is rehearsal cancelled?"
"Ah . . ." Blaine shifted nervously. "Mr. Shuester is in a meeting with your principal. It might take a while."
Rachel huffed impatiently. "Well, it's not like we could rehearse anyway. Kurt hasn't shown up yet. I think he's just trying to punish us. That would be so like him."
"Well, it's not like we don't deserve it," Mercedes responded. "We did kinda hurt him pretty badly."
"Well, he doesn't have to be so immature about it," Rachel shot back.
"Actually," Blaine cut in before anyone else could speak. He just couldn't stand to hear them complain about his friend. "Kurt is in the same meeting as Mr. Shuester."
The members of New Directions stared at him, before they all sped out of the room. Blaine followed them in confusion.
"What if he's planning on quitting?" he heard Rachel saying at the front of the pack. "Or even worse, transferring to another school so he can compete against us?"
As they neared the principal's office, they could hear Burt Hummel's voice raised in anger.
"-into lockers! Now he's starting to practically molest my son! What are you going to do about it?"
The members of New Directions froze as they rounded the corner and took in the scene through the glass walls. Burt was towering over Figgins, Kurt looked devastated, Mr. Shuester was trying to comfort Kurt, Coach Sylvester was still glaring at Karofsky who was glaring at Kurt, and Mr. Karofsky just looked disappointed.
"Molest?" Mercedes said in a small voice.
Everyone else looked shocked at the revelation as well. Karofsky was molesting Kurt?
"You knew." Quinn turned to Blaine. "You knew what was going on; Kurt told you. Why didn't he tell us?"
Blaine sighed. "I really think you should talk to Kurt about this. I'm not really at liberty to discuss his life."
Rachel looked like she wanted to argue, but Puck broke in with a loud groan.
"Man, I feel like such a total asshole now!"
"You didn't before?" Sam asked incredulously. "After Kurt yelled at us?"
"Well, I kinda felt bad then, but," Puck shrugged, "now I feel terrible."
They were interrupted by Karofsky suddenly storming past them as well as he could, followed by his father. They all rushed into the outer office to find out what had happened.
Kurt sighed when he saw his friends waiting outside the office. He really didn't want to face them; it was just too much work after everything that just happened. But then he saw Blaine standing at the back, looking worried. He slowly stood and walked out of the office. Immediately, his teammates surrounded him, bombarding him with questions.
"What happened?"
"Molested?"
"Karofsky?"
"Are you okay?"
He just wanted to talk to Blaine, but he couldn't get to the other boy.
"Okay you freaks!" Coach Sylvester had followed him out of the office, "Give Lady some breathing room! Back off!"
"Come on, guys," Mr. Shuester followed. "Let's go back to the choir room. Kurt really needs his space right now. He'll talk to us when he's ready."
"But Mr. Shue-"
"Rachel, now."
Kurt's friends all gave him a quick hug before following Mr. Shuester back to the choir room. Even Puck, who had whispered a quick "I'm sorry for being such a jerk" in his ear.
Finally, there was no one between him and Blaine.
"Are you all right?" Blaine asked carefully.
Kurt shook his head. "You told my dad." It wasn't a question.
The older boy nodded. "I was really worried about you. I was scared that Karofsky would try to do more."
"He did." Kurt lunged at Blaine and wrapped his arms around his neck. "I was so scared. I thought he was going to . . . He tried to make me . . ."
Blaine held his trembling friend closer. "You don't have to tell me right now. I'm sure it's been hard enough for you already."
"He was expelled." Kurt buried his face in Blaine's neck, letting loose the tears that had been threatening to escape for the whole meeting. "I'll never have to deal with him again."
"That's good." Blaine saw Burt smiling at him in approval from behind Kurt.
Burt placed his hand on Kurt's back. "Come on son, let's go home. Blaine can come too, and we can watch some of those musicals you love so much."
Kurt pulled away from Blaine and smiled in embarrassment, before taking the other boy's hand and following his father out of the school.
Everything would be alright.