"Shaft! Wait up!" Artie's voice yelled out to him as Matt made his way towards the choir room. Matt obeyed Artie's request, partly surprised Artie was flagging him down in the first place and partly relieved the other boy had used Coach Sylvester's nickname for him and not the more colorful ones chosen by his fellow classmates.

Apparently his previously low profile meant a decision had been made for him to be caught up on missed years of teasing and torture. He didn't think there had been a class today where conversation didn't stop cold when he walked passed, or he had been able to make a move unnoticed. Multiply the scrutiny by roughly a zillion for the classes he shared with Kurt. If either of them did anything other than look straight ahead at the teacher, it was greeted with a low tittering of giggles. It was enough to make him want to stand up and announce to everyone that sometimes scratching an ear just meant a person had an itch. He wouldn't go so far as to say it had gotten easier as the day went on, but it had started to take on a strange normal feeling by the time he reached Mr. Schue's last period Spanish class.

"So I hear you are out to take my crown." Artie announced as he slowed to a stop next to Matt. Smiling at Matt's confusion, Artie gestured toward the brochure he had hastily shoved into his Spanish book. True to his prediction at lunchtime, Mr. Schue had in fact brought the dreaded thing to class and attempted to slip it to him unnoticed. Of course today of all days, nothing concerning him was unnoticed. The rest of the period was marked by people straining to see the title of the damn thing.

"There is no way you are going to score more insane brochures than me." Artie announced confidently.

Matt laughed; relieved Artie had apparently decided to treat today as just any other regular day at McKinley. Shoving the terrible piece of paper into Artie's hands, Matt smirked. "Wheels, there is no way you have something to rival this."

"Please. That is child's play my formerly mute friend." Artie scoffed before passing the brochure back to him. Riffling through the bag on the side of his chair, Artie grinned in triumph as he pulled his own brochure out from the depths. "I scored this one last week sucker."

"Is 16 Too Old To Have an Imaginary Friend?: Your Guide to Schizophrenia" Matt recited. "Oh you just made this one up in AV class."

"Hells no." Artie protested snatching his possession back. "Just look at her stand this week. It's there."

"And you're convincing Ms. Pillsbury you need heavy medication because?"

"Because while she's totally nice and all, sometimes those counseling sessions can get boring. A man has to be able to amuse himself. Right?"

"Good point."

"How do you feel about a little competition? Who can score the most insane brochures by the end of the school year?"

"Yeah considering you have a head start already I wouldn't call that exactly fair."

"From next week on then." Artie offered. "We'll get the rest of glee to play judge. Loser buys lunch for the entire team on the last day."

It was on the tip of his tongue to take the bet. After all, if he was going to have to attend sessions, he might as well have some fun. However the good mood Artie had temporarily been able to create died as Sam came around the corner. Matt sucked in his breath as Artie twisted his neck to see what had caused Matt's shoulders to stiffen. He had been successful to avoid this confrontation most of the day.

"Just remember." Artie said softly. "When he starts beating you, don't scream like a girl."

"Chicken."

"Realist." Artie corrected.

Sam did have every reason in the world to hit him, Matt realized. It was one thing to get dumped. That was a rite of passage everyone went through at one point or another. It was another thing entirely to find out you were getting dumped thanks to a slug like Jacob Ben Israel. Matt wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy. And while Sam had never been his favorite person, he didn't exactly hate the guy. Plus in the end, this entire mess was really his fault. He initiated that kiss, not Kurt. It was his stupid impulse that caused all this.

Their eyes locked from across the hallway. The few students who hadn't already made the customary mad dash out of the building immediately after last period for freedom stilled, most likely smelling out the high odds of a bloody brawl in the air. As subtlety was he could, Artie wheeled himself a little behind Matt to get out of the line of fire. "Sam." Matt said quietly.

"No." Sam snapped immediately."I don't want to hear a damn word out of your mouth."

"I just wanted to say…"

"I really don't give a shit what you want to say." Sam said quietly, anger clearly coursing through him. "Unless it's to tell me you're transferring schools so I don't have to see you for the rest of my life. Then talk away."

"I'm sorry."

"Oh you're sorry? Well then all's forgiven then!" Sam waved his arms widely as he took a step backwards, his voice raising. "Everything's just peachy since you're sorry."

There really wasn't anything Matt could say. Why he had ever considered talking to Sam today of all days was a mystery. Clearly his usual pattern of silence was the way better option. He felt Artie tug on his arm. "Come on Matt, we'll be late for glee."

"Yeah go to glee. Don't want to keep Kurt waiting." Sam spat out. "Just stay the hell away from me. Both of you."

Watching the swimmer storm down the hall, Matt let out a sigh. The promise of a fight gone, the rest of the students began to move towards the exits themselves. Matt allowed Artie to pull him towards the choir room, chattering about the provisions for their nearly forgotten bet. All in all that could have gone worse. But still, Matt wasn't exactly in any hurry to see what worse would look like.

As they entered the choir room, it didn't escape Matt's notice they were the last members of New Directions to arrive, sans Mr. Schue and Brad. What also didn't escape him was outside of a brief glance to see who had come in; no one here was staring at him as if he had suddenly grown a third head. Rachel had barely lifted her head from her sheet music long enough to shoot him a proud smile. Somehow Brittany had involved Finn in something that involved yarn and given the participants, the tangled mess Santana and Puck were trying to unravel was probably to be expected. The rest of the team sat giggling at the site while Santana muttered darkly under her breath in Spanish.

"If Figgins was such a whiney little girl about knives I would have had this done already." Puck complained.

"Do we even know how that happened?" Artie asked as they moved to join the rest of their friends. Matt sat down next to Kurt. At least this time when he did it, the looks were amused, not hostile or outright curiosity.

"We have no idea." Quinn shook her head. "One minute they were fine. The next they were…."

"Finn and Brittany." Everyone else chimed in.

"So how was your day in the spotlight Superstar?" Mike asked, clapping his best friend on the back.

"How many days until graduation?" Matt groaned.

"235." Kurt answered automatically. Seeing the rest of the group give him puzzled stares at his rapid response, he shrugged his shoulders. "I've been counting down since the first day of seventh grade."

"Ok guys, we have a lot to get through today." Mr. Schue entered the room, clapping his hands together. Spotting Santana and Puck still trying to de-tangle Finn and Brittany, their director shook his head. Matt had to smile. He guessed after sites like the entire club dressed in full Kiss and Lady Gaga outfits, it would take more than two teenagers being held hostage by yarn to throw Mr. Schue now.

Kurt leaned his head towards Matt, as he grabbed one of Matt's hands. "Come over to my place after this? We can work on that plan thing we were talking about."

Matt nodded his agreement. Somehow he doubted any actual planning would get done. But he had the feeling he really wouldn't mind that in the least.