Finn was pacing back and forth in the living room, checking the time on his phone every couple of minutes. The glee club was due at their house any minute so Finn and Kurt could talk to them. Earlier this morning he'd asked Kurt to go through his phone and delete all of his messages and texts just in case there was something from Schue. There wasn't, his messages were a combination of his friends worried about his health and Quinn chewing him out for not answering her texts. He still kind of wanted to shut it off and be left alone, but so far he felt strong enough to leave it on.
The doorbell rang right on time and Kurt marched past him, determined to be the one to answer the door. Finn stopped him on the way there and pulled him into a hug, he knew it would make him feel better and he really wasn't okay touching anyone but his family right now. Finn knew that he'd always been a fairly physical guy, throwing an arm around Sam's shoulders, or grabbing Brittany's hand to help her find the right classroom. Now, waiting for his friends he was dreading that their first instincts given his trip to the ER would be a hug, back slap, or what Puck would consider a manly shoulder squeeze, he really wished they'd kept their distance. He really wasn't sure after everything why Kurt was an exception, but they were getting along better than ever as brothers and he trusted the shorter boy completely.
Mercedes, Tina, and Mike were the first group to arrive, followed quickly by Sam, Blaine, Puck, and Santana. Rachel showed up a few minutes later, while Finn was helping Artie's dad lift his chair up the front steps. Finn and Kurt had talked for almost an hour this morning and in the end had decided that Brittany wasn't capable of keeping a secret. Neither of them were ready to trust Lauren, who was still good friends with Jacob Ben Israel. All their friends were sitting in the living room waiting for Quinn to arrive so they could get started.
Finn sat in the middle of the couch keeping his eyes mostly on the coffee table and was relieved when Kurt and Sam took the spots next to him. Sam wasn't the kind of guy to make a big scene, and he had been worried about Finn before so Finn leaned over and whispered, "When I'm done I need you to keep the girls from freaking out or trying to hug me, okay dude?"
Sam gave him a worried look, but nodded. Everyone was chatting among themselves when Quinn came in and stomped right over to Finn. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and started in on him in front of everyone, "What the hell were you thinking you idiot! You had to embarrass me in front of the whole school is that it? Freaking out and getting carted off in an ambulance. Allergic reaction? You're not allergic to anything Finn. It was in the health questionnaires for the baby! I was going to be prom queen and now you had to ruin everything!"
Finn couldn't move. He really didn't want to have another panic attack in front of his friends, and his mom was talking about getting him medication if he had more. All he could hear in his head were the things he'd been telling himself, now in her words "idiot", "what were you thinking", "ruin everything". It just kept playing over and over.
He felt Kurt launch himself towards Quinn and while that would be an awesome fight he really needed help breathing more. "Kurt, count for me. Breathing. Please," he managed to get out and in second his stepbrother was back beside him helping him breath. It took Finn a minute to realize that when Kurt had changed directions Sam and Mercedes had stood up instead.
"I don't hit girls, but I'm pretty tempted right now. Is there anybody you won't use to get what you want?" Sam said, putting himself between Finn and Quinn.
"I'll hit her," Mercedes chimed in, "What the hell are you doing? We don't even know what happened yet, but you aren't stupid Quinn. Finn's having panic attacks, he looks like hell." Finn acknowledged her aside of "Sorry baby, but you do." with a small smile, and continued leaning on Kurt. She doesn't stop there, "If that wasn't enough, the fact that Kurt is here and both their parents are off work might tip you off that this is big. That is if you were capable of thinking of anybody but yourself and a damn tiara this year. Now sit down and shut up, if Finn still wants you stay."
It takes a while before Finn is breathing normally again and everyone seems fine with letting him take his time. Now more than ever he's feeling the exhaustion that hasn't quite left him over the last few days. He has however realized a few things over the last few minutes. First, Sam is an awesome friend and he really owes him an apology for the whole kissing Quinn thing. Second, both of them are better off without Quinn, who is kind of being a bitch. The third thing he realizes shakes him up a little bit, and it's that Mercedes is kind of hot, especially when she's angry. He's shaken first because he can't believe he's even thinking like this right now, and second because he's been stuck in this Quinn - Rachel - Santana- Rachel- Quinn loop so long it kind of sneaks up on him that there are other girls out there. He's also slightly annoyed that Puck got there first, but he's used to that. Besides, Mercedes is too smart to have let Puck get much of anything other than her coffee.
Kurt squeezes his arm and it brings him back to the group in front of him. Quinn is now sitting by herself in a chair off to the side of the room, arms crossed and Rachel looks like Christmas has come early. Oh right, he thinks, not Christmas, maybe Hanukkah or something? Either way he is definitely not making eye contact with her.
"Are you okay, man?" Sam asks him, leaning over and Finn hates himself a little bit for leaning away but he can't really help it. He manages a small nod and looks at Kurt on his other side, "Can you start? I need to tell them the big thing, but maybe if you start it'll be easier."
"Of course," Kurt says, squeezing his arm again before standing up. "Let's be clear, you are here because you are Finn's friends. Something bad has happened and he needs you. He also needs you to keep what he's about to tell you to yourself. Finn is putting a lot of trust in you. Brittany isn't here because she doesn't always understand how to lie, not because we don't trust her. If any of you have a problem with lying to strangers to protect Finn you can leave now."
Everyone looked around to see if anyone was going to leave until finally Rachel spoke, "Kurt, am I right in assuming your parents know?"
Kurt nodded, "Thank you Rachel, that's a good question. Yes, our parents know and the proper authorities have been notified. We'd be lying to keep the gossip down, the situation itself is being dealt with."
"Okay, I'm in. Lying is just another type of performance after all," Rachel said, and Finn just shakes his head about how predictable her response is.
"Why is prep school here?" Puck asks, and every eye in the room shifts to Blaine. Finn can tell Blaine is trying very hard not to look intimidated, and he does a good job of pulling it together and saying "Kurt supports Finn, I support Kurt. My grandfather's connections are also proving fairly useful in protecting Finn."
His answer earns him small smiles from Kurt and the girls and reluctantly impressed nods from Puck and Artie.
"This isn't going to be easy to hear and it's really important not to interrupt. When Finn's done we'll talk about presenting a united front around town, " Kurt explains, "Finn are you ready to tell them?"
"Ready to get it over with anyhow. Okay guys, a few nights ago you were all busy and I was bored so I figured I'd go visit Mr. Schue. When I got there he wasn't really acting like himself, he'd been drinking and he really didn't want me to leave. He gave me something to drink, but he put something in it. The police told mom and dad this morning it was one of his ex-wife's really strong tranquilizers. I was feeling really dizzy and Mr. Schue said I shouldn't drive," he paused for a minute to gather his strength and felt Kurt squeeze his arm in support, nobody else made a sound.
"I just kept getting weaker and weaker, and I couldn't do anything you guys. I tried. I kept telling him to stop, but he wouldn't. He..." Finn shook his head; the words really wouldn't come out this time. He knew he should use the r-word, but he just couldn't say it, not with everyone looking at him. "Kurt, please."
Kurt tightened his grip on his arm and faced the group again, "Will Schuester is pleading guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a minor and several other charges."
There was a muttering of reaction before Rachel bolted out of her seat and ran for the restroom with a hand over her mouth Mercedes following to help her muttering something about hiding bodies. Mike was doing his best to comfort Tina, despite not looking very calm himself, Blaine had moved to put a hand on Kurt's shoulders, and Santana seemed to be discussing methods of castration with a rather angry looking Puck. Quinn had gotten up from her chair and headed towards the couch, but thanks to the combined glares of Sam and Kurt she wandered over in Artie's direction instead where the dark haired boy reluctantly opened his arms.
Sam turned slightly in his seat and asked, "So the bruises on your arms?"
"Yeah. Where he held me down," Finn said quietly.
"And not the only place he hurt you either," Sam said with a sigh.
"No."
"Shit, Finn. And you got up on Monday morning and came to school?"
"Stupid, huh?"
"Actually, I was thinking brave as hell. What can we do to help you?"
Finn sat for a minute, unsure of how to react. Sam thought he was brave, and he hadn't even been able to finish telling everyone what happened. "Kurt and I have a plan, but you are already helping," he said putting up his fist and giving a small smile when Sam returned the fist bump.
When Rachel and Mercedes returned from the bathroom Finn was ready to talk again. "I know there are a lot of things you guys don't understand, there are a lot of things about this I don't understand. I don't know how he could do this, I don't know if he planned it, or if I just happened to be there. I never thought about something like this happening before, you never hear about guys getting raped except in prison."
"Finn, if it's okay with you I know some general stuff. Dalton made us attend a sexual assault awareness seminar as part of junior orientation." Blaine said, and Finn nodded for him to continue, "I remember being shocked when they told us that 1 in 10 rape victims are male, and that is just what gets reported."
Everyone seemed to think about that for a minute or two, before Artie spoke up, "I thought Schue was straight? I mean, he was married and Miss Pillsbury told everyone he was easy. What's that about? Is he gay?"
Kurt stiffened a little at Finn's side and both Finn and Blaine scooted a little closer to him. "I can't really speak to what gets the bastard off, but rape isn't really about sex. It's about power and control."
"So if he's already in jail, which means I can't pound his head in with a baseball bat for messing with Finn, what do we do now?" Puck asked, looking like he really liked the baseball bat plan.
"I already made my family promise not to take things into their own hands and you can't either. He's not worth it. He's going away for a long time and he'll never be around kids again." Finn said, remembering what Jimmy had told them when he'd stopped by this morning.
Kurt seemed to find his feet again and took over the discussion as they had planned. "What you can do for Finn is give him physical space and make sure other people do to. By the time the six o'clock news airs everyone is going to know that William Schuester drugged and raped a teenager. They will not know who it is or even if it was a male or female. Our job is to keep it that way."
Kurt and Finn spent the next couple of minutes outlining the story they would stick to whenever they were asked about Schue and how they were keeping the media away. After assuring his friends that he was going to talk to a professional, at least a couple of times, they agreed that they wouldn't mention anything to do with Schue unless Finn brought it up first. They had just about wrapped things up when Rachel stood up. Finn could tell she was really nervous about what she had to say, and he had a pretty good idea what it was. "It's okay Rachel. I know what you want to ask, go ahead."
Rachel gave him a small smile, "We are all going to do everything we can to help Finn, but Nationals is in a month. We don't have a coach."
"Or a male lead. I'm sorry guys, but it just freaks me out too much right now to sing. Just, with some of the stuff he said it's creepy, and then just too many reminders," Finn said, glad it was finally out there.
"Forget about it. You need to do what works for you," Sam said, "Puck and I can cover your parts but if you change your mind it's all yours."
"But we're still one member short," Mike said, not moving his arms from around Tina.
"Not if Noah can keep Lauren around. I'll be back on Monday. You guys need me, Finn needs me, and part of my deal with Coach Sylvester means I'm now Head Cheerio which should offer me enough protection from the lower level meatheads," Kurt explained before being engulfed in a hug by Mercedes, Tina, and surprising Santana.
"What about your boy-toy?" Santana asked, raising an eyebrow at Blaine.
The curly headed boy laughed, before pulling Kurt into hug of his own, "I'm not letting him get away that easy, it took me long enough to come to my senses. We'll figure it out. Besides, those Cheerio uniforms are hot!"
"Whoa, TMI dude. That's my brother you're talking about!" Finn said, and was relieved to see the resulting laughs eased some of the tension in the room.
Kurt just shook his head, "Okay, well now that we've cleared that up I think we're done here. My dad talked to the head of the school board today, and while Miss Pillsbury is taking a few weeks personal leave they've arranged for a professional counselor to come in if anyone needs to talk. We've been promised it is completely confidential. Finn will be back at school tomorrow after his allergic reaction. "
Sam stood up from his spot on the couch and made eye contact with each of the guys, plus Santana. When he got what he was looking for he turned to Finn, "We've got your back, bro. You aren't alone, and when Kurt comes back on Monday nobody is going to mess with either of you."
Finn nodded and quietly thanked them as his friends began to leave in small groups. He didn't want to deal with Quinn right then so he slipped up the stairs leaving Kurt to show the rest of the club out.