A/N: Thank you everyone for all the lovely reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Here is the next chapter, a little sooner than I intended to post it!

A/N2: Betaed by the lovely and awesome Emberwillow14!

Chapter Two

"Are you okay?"

Kurt had to stop himself from slamming his locker shut in anger. It seemed that everyone wanted to know if he was "okay" every three seconds since they found out about Karofsky. It was really starting to get on his nerves.

He plastered a fake smile (it seems he could only smile for real around Blaine lately) before turning to face his best friend.

"Of course I'm okay, Mercedes. Why wouldn't I be?"

They both started down the hall towards Glee rehearsal.

"You look . . . tired."

Kurt winced internally. Tired was an understatement; he hadn't had a good night's sleep since he had found that note in his pocket last week after Sectionals. He kept having horrible nightmares about Karofsky. Actually, it was the same one most of the time. He was locked in the janitor's closet again, and there was no way for him to escape.

"Kurt?" Mercedes was shooting a worried look at him.

Kurt shook his head to get rid of all thoughts of Karofsky. "I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well last night; I guess I need to do something to tire me out before bed."

Mercedes grinned suddenly. "I have just the thing! Tina and I are going shopping today after Glee; we sure do miss having you around to judge our fashion choices. Do you want to come along?"

Kurt laughed softly. "When have I ever passed up a chance to go shopping with my two favorite girls? Of course I want to come. I just have to let my dad know; otherwise he'll freak out."

"No problem, I'll just go ahead and let Tina know you're coming too!" Mercedes' face lit up with a sudden thought. "Oooh! You're driving the Navigator, right? More room for shopping bags!"

Kurt couldn't help the small grin that spread across his face after that. "Go tell everyone that I'll be just a couple of minutes; I want to call Dad before I forget."

Mercedes continued on to the choir room as Kurt pulled out his phone. Another small smile graced his face as he gazed at the background; somehow Puck (of all people!) had gotten a hold of his cell phone at the Sectionals competition, and used it to take a picture when he and Blaine had kissed for the first time. Thinking of that sweet kiss still sent shivers down his spine.

But when Puck had finally given his phone back later that night, the wallpaper had been changed to the kiss picture.

Kurt wasn't still wasn't sure if he should be mad at the mohawked teen for stealing his phone or thanking him for the amazing picture. He compromised by not ignoring Puck anymore for trying to seduce him.

Kurt dialed his home number and waited for his father to pick up.

"Hummel residence." Kurt couldn't help but smile at Burt's deceptively rough voice. Maybe he was getting better after all.

"Hey, Dad."

"Kurt?" Now he could hear the worry seeping into his father's voice. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine," Kurt tried his hardest not to snap. He knew that everyone was just worried about him, and that's why they keep asking. "I just wanted to let you know that Mercedes invited me to go shopping with her and Tina after Glee today. So I won't be home until later."

"All right, son. Thanks for letting me know." There was a brief moment of silence before Burt cleared his throat awkwardly. "Ah, I'm going out to dinner and a movie with Carole tonight, so I probably won't be home until later. Much later than you. I was going to tell you when you got home, but now since I'll probably be gone by the time you get back-"

"Dad, you don't have to explain," Kurt cut in before his father could start in on the details of the date. "Have fun, and I'll see you later tonight."

"Bye, kiddo. Have fun with your friends."

Kurt hung up with a smile on his face. He always had fun shopping.

The mall was always crowded after school, what with all the kids needing a place to hang out before going home for the night. There apparently wasn't a better place in Lima, unless you were lucky and brave enough to have a fake ID to get into one of the bars, or you wanted to hang out at Breadstix, which was really the only good place to eat in the small town.

Karofsky had taken to hanging out at the mall after getting expelled. He really had nothing better to do; although he was pretty sure he would have to get a job sooner or later. But there was a reason he had chosen the mall to loiter around.

He knew that eventually Kurt Hummel would show up to shop, because, seriously, the guy had a lot of clothes and never seemed to wear the same thing twice.

Well, besides the Cheerios uniform when Kurt was on the team, and that week he wore that stupid silver dress thing with a stupid wig and freaky heels. And after that, there was that one time when Kurt had worn the same outfit twice in one week.

Karofsky shook his head and told himself that it wasn't totally . . . gay that he noticed Kurt's clothing choices.

If the fag wouldn't have worn those stupid tight jeans that showed off his perfect, hot ass, Karofsky wouldn't have had to stare so much. And that Cheerios uniform . . . the less said about what he thought about doing to Kurt in that uniform, the better. Besides, the Cheerios uniforms were supposed to make their wearers look smoking hot. At least, that's what Santana Lopez kept saying.

Karofsky shook his head again to clear his mind. He needed all his concentration to search the crowded mall for Kurt. He didn't really have a clue what he was going to do if he actually saw the boy, but he figured it wasn't that hard to figure out as things went along. After all, he had threatened to kill Kurt if he ever told anyone about the kiss, and he knew that people have been told. Mr. Shuester, Coach Sylvester, and Principal Figgins had all been told; that's why he had been expelled. Mr. Hummel and Karofsky's own father had been told; that's why he had been kicked out of his home for being a fag. And Finn Hudson had to have been told, because the freakishly tall teen had been talking about him with the other Glee jocks in the locker room one day, and Azimio had overheard and threw him out of his house where he had been staying.

And now apparently the whole school thought he fucking raped the kid. Even his father, who told him that he was extremely lucky the cops weren't called before telling him to get out.

He was now pretty much living out of the rust bucket he called a car. Not everyone was lucky enough to have a father that would buy them a brand-fucking-new Navigator for their sixteenth birthday.

A very familiar, feminine laugh broke into Karofsky's thoughts. There he was, inside some store that sold too expensive clothes, with that fat black chick Anthony thought was smoking and the Asian Goth girl that Chang was dating.

Kurt Hummel. He was so close, and yet Karofsky didn't dare actually enter the store for fear of being seen. No, he didn't want the beautiful boy to see him yet, especially after he left that note in the pocket of that Marc Jacobs jacket (he only knew that because Kurt always protested about it when they threw him in the dumpster) Kurt always wore.

He wanted the boy nice and scared before confronting him.

For now, Karofsky settled for following the three Glee freaks around the mall at a safe distance; watching.

After a surprising three hours of shopping (how can anyone stand it for that amount of time?), the girls had gotten tired and headed to the parking lot to load up Kurt's precious Navigator with their shopping bags. Karofsky got into his own rust bucket, and followed them at a distance of a few car lengths. First, Kurt dropped the girls off at their own houses before driving home. There were no lights on, and Burt Hummel's truck was missing from the driveway.

Karofsky smirked. It seemed his little princess was home alone. Time for some fun.

Kurt was still smiling as he unlocked the door to his house. Shopping had been just what he'd needed; some relaxing, tiring fun without worry. He had been a little uneasy about going to the mall at first, since Karofsky could pop up anywhere, but eventually he had relaxed and enjoyed the shopping experience. As a bonus, he hadn't even seen the bully anywhere.

He put his shopping bags in his closet and made his way back upstairs to the kitchen. It was past seven, and he hadn't eaten since lunch. There was no way he would ever eat that fast food garbage the food court at the mall claimed was edible.

He had just gotten some vegetables out of the refrigerator when the house phone started ringing. He danced over and grabbed it without checking the caller ID; it was probably someone for his father.

"Hello?" He answered cheerfully.

"Hello Kurt."

Kurt's whole body froze. It couldn't be . . .

"Did you miss me?" That was definitely Karofsky's voice coming out of the receiver.

"No, no, no . . ." Kurt didn't realize his pleas had been spoken out loud until the bully chuckled darkly.

"You didn't? That's too bad. I've missed you. Did you get my note?"

"What do you want, Karofsky?" It came out as a frightened whisper which Kurt was ashamed of. He shouldn't be scared of the other teen.

Should he?

"What do I want? Hm, I think I want to play."

"Leave me alone." Kurt managed to speak louder this time.

"I don't want to." Karofsky's voice deepened to a low growl. "You have such perfect, soft skin. I could just touch you; run my hands all along your perfect body. I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Kurt whimpered, fear paralyzing him. He wanted to hang up, block out that voice, but he couldn't move a muscle.

Karofsky chuckled again. "I knew you would. You want me to touch and kiss every inch of your body. You want me to force you to the ground and fuck you hard 'till you can't walk. Maybe I should come inside and make your dreams come true, huh?"

Kurt's mind raced frantically. Is he outside the house now?

"If you try and enter, my Dad will kill you before you could reach me." Kurt prayed to whatever being that Karofsky didn't hear the waver in his voice.

"Don't lie to me Kurt," Karofsky replied calmly. "I know you're all alone in that big house. Your big, scary daddy isn't there to protect you. Tell me, did you remember to lock the front door after you got home from the mall?"

Kurt felt his heart stop beating. Karofsky knew he had been at the mall. He knew he was home alone.

He knew that the front door was unlocked.

Kurt hung up the phone violently and raced to the door to lock it. Once he had done that, he grabbed his cell and rushed down the stairs to lock himself in his bathroom.

He dialed his boyfriend's number with shaking fingers.

After two rings, there was an answer.

"Hey Kurt!" The cheerful voice that was on the other end wasn't Blaine, but his friend, David. "Do you know that Blaine has a recording of the Warblers singing Teenage Dream as your ringtone?"

Kurt could hear Wes laughing in the background, and Blaine demanding his phone.

"Kurt?" when he didn't immediately respond, David started to sound worried.

"I need to speak to Blaine." Kurt's voice was shaking. "I just . . . I need Blaine."

"Okay, okay," David sounded even more worried now. Kurt heard the sound of the phone being passed to someone else, then Blaine's voice.

"Kurt? What's wrong?"

"He knows I'm home alone." Kurt was trying to keep it together, but he could feel terrified tears racing down his cheeks.

"Who knows you're alone?" Blaine's voice was soothing, calming. "Come on, Baby, talk to me. Who are you talking about?"

"Karofsky." Even just saying the name sent frightened chills running down Kurt's spine. "He just called here."

"Do you want me to come over? Just so you're not alone?"

Kurt thought about it. "No. By the time you get here, Dad will be home anyway. Just, stay on the phone with me. Please?"

"Of course." Kurt could hear Blaine shooing his friends out of his dorm.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted anything important." Kurt suddenly felt guilty for his little freak out.

"Nothing important, just studying. Do you want to talk about the phone call?" Blaine asked carefully.

"Not right now. I just want to calm down, and talking about it won't help."

"You are going to tell your father when he gets home, right? Because it will only get worse if you don't."

Kurt took a deep breath. "I'll tell him, but can we drop it for now? Please?"

"Fine." Blaine didn't sound too happy about it, though. "What did you do today?"

Kurt spent the rest of their time on the phone telling his wonderful boyfriend a play-by-play account of his shopping trip with the girls.