Regarding Halloween:
At one point in the story, I said to myself "How cute would it be for Kurt to dress Alex up for Halloween?" Then I said "Fuck, I missed Halloween (story timeline-wise)." Then I started thinking about how Halloween would be celebrated in a world where "monsters" walk among men everyday. Then I realized that they probably wouldn't celebrate it. It would be like pre-emancipation US celebrating Black History Month; culturally it wouldn't make sense. Hence, a pagan society celebrating the holiday and the church doing away with it. That's why David didn't know about Halloween; it's obsolete.
Important note for this chapter:
You know on Glee when a character is singing in the middle of the halls but not a damned person notices? Yeah, that's gonna happen in this chapter, so just be aware that that's why no one notices it.
And yes, I know "badder" isn't a word, but I liked the way it sounded.
xoxoxo
Christmas came and went with an inordinate amount of flair. Alex came out of the holiday no doubt thinking its purpose was to worship him. Burt and Paul seemed to have entered into an unspoken competition to see who could spoil Alex the worst.
As stocking stuffers, Paul had purchased Alex gourmet treats and homemade rawhide chew toys; Burt had purchased Alex Puffs and Yogis. Burt had bought Alex a collection of squeaky toys (with a set of replaceable squeakers he'd found on Amazon); Paul had bought Alex the Hyper Pet Flying Duck. Paul had bought Alex the Laugh and Learn Musical Table from Fischer-Price; Burt had bought Alex he Little Tikes Sports Center. Burt had made Alex a small wooden puppy castle that he could hide in (and Moo Cow could climb all over); Paul had bought Alex a week at puppy play camp.
After that the real competition started up. Burt mentioned that, once the snow had cleared, he was going to have the entire yard fenced in so Alex would have more room to run and play. Paul said that he had started looking at playscapes to put in his backyard come spring. Burt countered that he'd been looking at having a pool put in. Kurt had to silence them both before Alex wound up with a convertible before he even had opposable thumbs.
Everyone had purchased Alex the obligatory baby clothes, guessing sizes for several months down the line and holding on to gift receipts just in case. There had also been a smattering of fun and educational games for dogs and for toddlers. Alex's favorite of those appeared to be the farm-themed See and Say Finn had gotten him; the cat was his favorite noise, but the turkey frightened him. He'd bark happily every time the plastic toy said, "The cat says…Meow!" and growl and back up every time it said, "The turkey says…Gobble!"
David, for his part, had wound up with some new clothes courtesy of his baby-daddy. He thought he looked pretty snazzy in them as he returned to McKinley for the first time in three weeks: the first time he'd been back since registering as an unhuman. He'd taken a week off to spend time with his new family and just…cope with the knowledge that he was Wolf. The following two weeks had been school vacation so that the students and staff could travel for Christmas and New Year's. Three weeks of no school. Maybe no one knew David was an unhuman. Maybe no one cared?
The parking lot felt surprisingly empty as David made his way from his truck to the front door of the school. His football gear slung over his shoulder, David entered into McKinley, nearly psyched about his first football practice in almost a month. He hadn't realized how much he was starting to enjoy the pulsing burn of his muscles after a workout until he'd stopped feeling it. His snow-moistened sneakers squished sloppily in the freshly waxed hall, echoing throughout the building. It was a quiet, lonely walk to the locker room: only the sound of his squishing sneakers to break the loneliness.
The noise was slightly alleviated as he approached the locker room door, though. He could hear the low mumbles of teen boys laughing and teasing on the other side of the entrance. There was the occasional slam of a locker or the hoot of someone laughing at their own stupid joke.
Shoving the swinging door open, David pushed his way into the locker room. The din instantly died down, as his teammates looked him over. David eyed over the teens wearily; he wasn't the smallest person on the team, but he was by no means the largest, either. One of the half-backs, a junior David only knew through football, held a book bag that looked suspiciously like the bag David kept his spare clothes and sneakers in. Swinging his arm back, he lobbed the bag, underhanded, at David. David caught it against his chest with an "oof." Tearing his eyes away from his fellow Titans for a moment, David scanned his eyes over towards his locker; his lock lay in pieces on the floor. His locker stood wide open and mostly empty, only his letterman hanging listlessly over the side of the bottom. David eyed over the football players; one caught his eye and spoke for the team. "You've got your shit, now get out. Don't make this shit more than it gotta be."
Keeping his eyes on as many of the guys as he could, flickering his pupils back and forth from one padded lineman to the next, he edged his way closer to his locker. One of the players, a safety, saw what David was after and snatched the letterman out of the locker and threw it into a nearby garbage can, "Not for you. Not anymore."
David lowered his head, resigned. He couldn't stand up to a handful of these guys, let alone all of them at the same time. Even if he got jumped, never threw a punch, he would be the one to be arrested. He was a werewolf. His very existence justified "self-defense" on the part of his attackers. David left the locker room; when the door was closed all the way and the noise had started back up on the other side, he leaned against the door and closed his eyes.
Close every door to me,
Hide all the world from me
Bar all the windows
And shut out the light
The day wore on as kids glared at him in disgust or voiced their hatred of him – of what he was. Registering as an unhuman had announced the start of open-season on David. He was an unhuman and homosexual. He was a "faggot freak" – at least if the wall by the urinal was to be believed.
Do what you want with me,
Hate me and laugh at me
Darken my daytime
And torture my night
By day two, someone from the football team had brought in physical proof to accompany the rumors, giving the student body free-reign to step-up the insults and minor acts of physical assault. David's shoulder ached from the amount of times he'd been checked into the locker. He wanted to apologize to Kurt, again, for all the horrible things he'd done to him all those long months ago, but didn't want to let Kurt in on the fact that he was having trouble at school. He toughed out the days then plastered a smile on his face as he got home that quickly turned genuine when his boyfriend and son greeted him at the front door.
Finn had been sworn to silence about what was going on at school.
If my life were important I
Would ask will I live or die
But I know the answers lie
Far from this world
He sat at his lunch table, all by himself as cold blue and red slushy melted together on his head, leaving purplish drops all over his food. He looked up in time to see two hockey players skulking away from him while the rest of the cafeteria either ignored what had just happened or openly delighted in it. He had no doubt his food-dyed-face would be all over someone's Facebook or twitter within the hour. Standing up, David deposited his ruined food in the nearest garbage can before stalking out of the lunchroom.
By Wednesday evening, Kurt was starting to sense something was wrong with David, but David just shrugged it off and told him he was going through a mid-winter funk. Kurt didn't buy it for a second, but knew that David would talk to him when he was ready.
David went to school Thursday morning, fully prepared with a towel and several changes of clothes, just in case. "Just in case," proved its worth several times over throughout the day.
Teachers, for the most part, turned a blind eye. A few threw out the infrequent, uninspiring, non-threatening, "Hey, now; behave."
It got worse when he was on his way to his locker after lunch and found several of the glee-guys standing around his locker. He wasn't sure whether he should be relieved or on the defensive, but he steeled himself…just in case.
As he got closer, the cluster of singers parted so that David could see what they had been crowded around. Someone had hung a picture on his locker. It was an 8 ½ by 11 color print out from some deviant pornography site. An emaciated girl with overly large breasts was on her hands and knees as a gigantic dog – a great dane, David believed – mounted her from behind. A smiling photo of Kurt's face had been poorly photoshopped over the girl's; David's own face had been photoshopped over the dogs'. Reaching his hand out to rip it down, David found he had difficulty getting the edge to peel over enough to pull it down.
"I think they used shellac". David ran his hand over the picture; Mike was right. It still had that slightly tacky feeling shellac left behind. Then there was the chemical smell. David nodded and walked away. He couldn't deal with this shit now.
Close every door to me,
Keep those I love from me
Children of Israel
Are never alone
For I know I shall find
My own peace of mind
For I have been promised
A land of my own
He spent the afternoon avoiding Kurt, instead cloistering himself in the nursery playing with Alex or playing with Alex outside. He wanted to take Alex to the park or something so that they could play, but realized that that would be a stupidly dangerous decision.
Friday proved to be the worst day. The football players and the hockey team had begun coordinating their attacks. Once the last pair of David's clean clothes had been destroyed for the day, two of the football players and one of the hockey players held him pinned to the locker while a fourth guy just wailed on him; punching everywhere he could reach that would be hidden by clothes. Wolf may have had a phenomenal healing powers, but David was as delicate as any other human.
Close every door to me,
Hide all the world from me
Bar all the windows
And shut out the light
At one point in the day, David was called down to the office. He had hoped against hope that the administration would want to know about the abuse and harassment he had suffered the past week.
Instead, he was asked to fill out information for his permanent record disclosing himself, officially, as an unhuman. He was also asked to fill out affidavits that he was an unhuman, knew he was an unhuman, had knowingly violated the National Federation of State High School Association's injunction against unhumans playing organized sports and that McKinley High School was completely unaware and should not be held liable for the ramifications.
Just give me a number
Instead of my name
Forget all about me
And let me decay
If my life were important I
Would ask will I live or die
But I know the answers lie
Far from this world
Fed up and feeling more alone in the world than ever before, David finished up the last of the paperwork in the office before leaving. School was almost done for the day. He hid out, avoiding his last class of the day. The teacher was an epic douche, anyway. He kept throwing in snide little comments about unhumans throughout his lectures that week.
When the final bell rang, and students stampeded to get out of the building and get home for the weekend, David continued to hide. He waited until the last shuffling of shoes disappeared down the halls. David snuck out the bathroom stall he'd been hiding in and, rather than go home himself, he went deeper into the heart of the school.
After a few minutes, he came to stop before a larger classroom. He hesitated for a minute before pushing the door open.
Close every door to me,
Keep those I love from me
Children of Israel
Are never alone
For we know we shall find
Our own peace of mind
For we have been promised
A land of our own
A dozen or so sets of eyes looked up at him as he stood dumbly before the members of New Directions. "Umm…are you looking for new members?"
If you're going to be a complete outcast, at least there was safety in numbers.
xoxoxo
Song is "Close Every Door" by Andrew Lloyd Webber