When Finn pulled into the McKinley High School parking lot the next day he was relieved to see Sam waiting on the tailgate of his truck. Finn parked next to him and pulled his hoodie closer around himself as he got out of the car. He really wished that Kurt had been able to come back today, but the transfer paperwork just couldn't be done that fast despite Coach Sylvester's best efforts.

"You ready to do this?" Sam asked pulling Finn out of the flow of traffic as they walked through the side entrance of the school.

"Not really, but if I'm gone too long people will notice. I'm supposed to go see that new therapist lady Dr. McKenna during what used to be my Spanish class," Finn said. He really wasn't sure about this shrink thing, but he didn't want to go into Schue's classroom either. He thought it was pretty weird that Ms. Pillsbury got more time off to deal with this than he did, but he supposes that her ties to the creep were pretty public.

Will Schuester's face had been all over the news the night before. Finn hadn't wanted to see the reports, but his mom and dad were keeping a close eye on the coverage. The Lima, Toledo, and Dayton channels had picked it up right away, but by eleven o'clock Blaine had called to say it was all over the Columbus stations as well. Any McKinley student who hadn't seen the early coverage had certainly received enough texts, IMs, and Facebook messages to find the coverage either on the screen or online. It was going to be a tough day for everyone in glee.

"You and Hummel are tough as hell, coming back here in all this," Sam said. Finn could tell he was trying not to be too obvious in scanning the crowd for problems, even though he was failing miserably. He still appreciated the thought.

"Look dude, things are going to get worse before they get better and I know you've got our back. I want to say I'm sorry for kissing Quinn when she was with you. I know how crappy it feels when Quinn cheats on you and it was kind of a douche move to do it someone else. I'm pretty much done with her after yesterday, in fact I'm totally done with girls trying to date me to be popular. No hard feelings if you want to take another shot though." Finn said.

Sam shook his head, "No way. I learned my lesson with her."

Before Sam could say anything else the unmistakable voice of Azimio broke over the crowd, "Hey, losers! Which one of your girlfriends got sick of waiting for you to grow a dick and spread her legs for Schuester instead?"

In retrospect, Finn figured that white hot rage was a nice break from the fear he'd been carrying around for the last couple days. In the moment, however, there was only the sound of the heal of his hand connecting upward with Azimio's nose, the feeling of somebody who might have been Puck pulling him back when the other boy started bleeding, and the look on Coach Sylvester's face when she grabbed a still gushing and disoriented Azimio's collar and started dragging him down the hallway.

"Well, I think he'll be busy for a while. That was killer Finn, how did you do that?" Sam said, both he and Puck looking startled but impressed.

"Kurt's friend Wes knows Krav Maga. He's been teaching Kurt a little self defense and we were practicing last night after you guys left, " Finn explains with a slightly embarrassed shrug.

"That's bad ass, do you think Hummel can teach us?" Puck asked, "You didn't even bruise your hand!"

Finn gave him a look, "Self-defense only, Puckerman." Finn couldn't help but laugh as Puck put his hands up trying to look like his intentions were completely innocent.

When the three boys arrived at Finn's locker Coach Bieste was waiting, "I've got it from here, you two can go to class. I need a word with Hudson."

Finn wasn't quite sure what had happened in the ambulance once the paramedics had given him that shot, but he appreciated his coach staying with him on the way to the hospital. "Hey coach, thanks for helping me out with my allergic reaction the other day," Finn said, sticking with the cover story he and Kurt had created yesterday.

Okay, so this was obviously Coach Bieste's "I can't believe you're trying to sell me this bullshit" face. "Hudson, let's go to my office, " she said and Finn knew an order when he heard one, so he followed along nodding to Mike and Tina when they passed him, hands joined and faces serious. When they arrived at the office Coach Bieste went around to the other side of her desk and picked up a large paper shopping bag from the floor.

"You can leave the door open if you want. I thought you might want this back," she said and reached into the shopping bag to pull out his letter jacket. He reached out to take it, and he could feel his hands shaking. The last time he had seen it was that night, when Schue told him he couldn't drive home. He made himself take the jacket and looked up at his coach. "How?" he asked quietly.

"The police were done with the place and I found myself with a key," she said. She obviously knew what had happened, but he'd figured all the teachers would. Finn couldn't say why, but it seemed like she was doing that thing adults do when they don't lie but they don't quite tell the truth either.

"You've talked to him." Finn said. It wasn't a question.

Coach sunk into the chair behind her desk and let out a small huff of air, "Not since he confessed. Hudson, if you want the story I'll tell you, because you of all people deserve it. I'm warning you now, though. It might be better if you don't know."

He knew Coach didn't say things she didn't mean, and maybe she had a point. He knew what happened that night and so did the people that mattered. Before he left this morning his mom had told him just to take things one day at a time. Today he had enough to deal with. "Okay, I'm not gong to ask now. Can I ask you if I ever change my mind?"

She nodded, "Of course. The bell is going to ring pretty soon, but if things start to make you crazy you can always hide out in my office for a while. Nobody will question my quarterback meeting with me."

Well, that was good. Most of the places he'd normally hang out like the choir room or the auditorium were too close to the problem. He picked up his jacket from the chair and tossed his backpack over his shoulder on his way out the door. "Thanks, coach." he said, putting his normal cheerful expression on as he headed for the hallway.

"Hang in there, Hudson."

By lunchtime Finn was kind of surprised by how well things were going. Yeah, there were whispers everywhere he went and even his teachers were barely managing to keep it together. The only faculty members that didn't treat him like there was a five foot wide force field around him were Coach Bieste and Sue Sylvester. With the others it seemed like a mix of gloating, betrayal, or or fear that they too would somehow be unable to control themselves in Finn's presence. It didn't bother him that much though, at least it meant he wasn't being called on in class.

Even his visit with Dr. McKenna had been okay. She'd told him that they didn't have to talk about what had happened right away unless he wanted to. Instead she had asked him about his family and he spent the entire period talking about how great his mom was while he was growing up and how he'd ended up with Kurt as a step-brother.

Finn knew his friends were doing their best to not freak out for his sake, but he knew they would have to let it out eventually. He had seen Brittany crying on Artie's shoulder earlier. He felt bad that she had to find out about it on the news, but even Santana had agreed that it was for the best. Lauren seemed to be the only member of the glee club nobody was considering as the victim, but that probably had more to do with the fact that she ripped the door off her locker this morning when someone mentioned the news than anything personal.

His luck ran out, however, when he got to the library. He was supposed to spend the period he would normally have glee studying. Quinn was waiting at the door, her crossed arms holding her Geometry book in front of her chest like a shield.

"Quinn, what are you doing here?" he asked, even though he knew the answer.

"I wanted to talk to you about yesterday. I didn't know, how could I?" she asked.

Finn shook his head, he'd thought a lot last night about what he wanted to say to her. "It doesn't matter that you didn't know, Quinn. Even if it was just an allergic reaction you should have been more worried about me than the gossip. Coach had to call an ambulance."

She was doing that thing where she looked up at him and made her eyes all big and sad. He wasn't falling for it this time. "Cut the crap Quinn, I'm tired of being some trophy you and Rachel fight over. I'm finished playing games."

If he wasn't sure that the wide-eyed thing was an act before he certainly is now. It takes her about three seconds to go from that to what he's come to call "Scary Quinn" . "What exactly are you saying, Finn?" she hissed at him.

He watched her look around to see if anyone had noticed them, and he can't help thinking about how typical it is. "I'm saying we're over, and you should find another date to prom."

For a minute he thinks she's going to slap him, but then she seems to remember that people are watching and with a flip of her hair she storms back into the hallway. He doesn't even watch her go.