Chapter 10 - Invasion

I didn't even bother to grab my jacket, racing out of the door and looking at Nathaniel nervously.

"What's happened?" Was everybody ok? Had something happened to Dad or Finn? I don't know why, but for some reason Gabriel popped into my head, but I pushed the thought aside. We jogged down the stairs, Blaine and Scott following after, not wanting to stay behind and Nathaniel paused dramatically at the bottom.

"They've invaded."

"What? Who's invaded?"

"Girls." Instantly my posture relaxed. Oh Gaga. "They just barged in and wanted to know where you were – they threatened me!"

"Nathaniel, calm down. Calm down." I pressed my hand on his shoulder, walking forward past everybody else. Seemingly I was the only person that was ok with this situation – which was probably because I was the only one that knew who the girls were.

And I was right. As we turned the corner out of the building there they were, the McKinley gang, giving hell to some poor unsuspecting Wilde boys who were preventing them from getting inside. On seeing them again I heard Nathaniel let out another squeak of fear.

"There they are!" He whispered, even though we were much too far away for them to hear and the wind was blowing the wrong way.

"Hey! Girls! Hey!" I shouted out in response, waving my arms frantically in the air to try and catch their attention. Nathaniel grabbed my arm as if I was provoking a hungry wolf.

"What are you doing?" Before I could explain I was spotted and immediately they all began heading my way, a thundering stampede of oestrogen. Brittany reached me first being the quickest, but Mercedes pushed her out of the way to grab me in a monster hug that had me gasping for breath.

"Kurt!" She exclaimed in a high-pitched voice that made Nathaniel clasp his hands over his ears. After being hugged to death I was finally let go, only to receive a sharp slap to the head.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, wondering why I was suddenly being punished. Blaine stepped forward defensively but was stopped by Tina.

"Why haven't you replied to any of my texts? Have you lost the inability to use your phone?" Suddenly everything clicked – why they were here, why they'd asked where I was and 'threatened' Nathaniel, Dad's attempt at warning me when I'd cut him off on the phone earlier. I had been a bit lax at replying to New Directions texts at the moment, even from Finn – but I'd been busy.

"Are we not important anymore?" I could sense the hurt in Mercedes' voice and immediately felt guilt rush through me.

"Of course not." I replied sincerely, taking her hand and holding it to my heart. "I'm so sorry I haven't been in touch recently, I've just been really busy with work and Warblers stuff. I've wanted to get in touch, honest."

"We thought they'd taken you hostage." Tina said, eyeing the Dalton boys around me suspiciously. I laughed, before remembering that I should probably introduce my friends to each other.

"Guys, these are my friends from McKinley, my old school. Mercedes, Tina, Brittany and Quinn. Girls these are my Dalton friends Nathaniel, Blaine and Scott." As I pointed out each individual person I looked at them briefly, but when I reached Scott, stopped. For once in his life, he was stood completely still. He wasn't even talking. Just staring straight forward at something. Surprised and very much confused I followed the direction of his gaze, before smiling. He was staring at Mercedes.

"Scott?" There was a smile to my voice as I tried to break my best friend out of his trance, a trance that could only be described as lustful.

"Hmm?" Abruptly he came too, shaking his head and looking at me questioningly. I laughed.

"Scott, Mercedes. Mercedes, Scott" I motioned between the two and Scott shot his hand out, almost returning to his dreamy gaze again.

"Very pleased to meet you." He said, his voice taking on a tone I had never heard before – like he was trying to be a gentleman. Mercedes giggled as she took his hand, giving it a quick shake before returning hers to her side, colour gracing her cheeks.

"How did you guys get in anyway?" I asked, returning the conversation to its original topic. Scott was mumbling something under his breath but I chose to ignore it.

"Well it wasn't easy. Santana and Brittany had to do some impressive cheerleading moves, but we managed it." Quinn said, a smile gracing her lips.

"Hey, don't do yourself down, you were pretty awesome too." Tina added.

"Where is Santana?" I asked. The girls all exchanged knowing glances.

"Her and Rachel got into an argument, so we left them to clear up and sort it out." The smile on Quinn's face had widened the way it did every time Rachel did something funny and I reminded myself to probe her about it later.

"Well, we should probably get inside before anyone sees you guys – I don't want to lose any shower privileges." The Dalton boys laughed, making Nathaniel blush and we all made our way into Wilde.

Luckily the common room was pretty empty – Nathaniel made up some lie about an early curfew to get rid of the few freshmen that were there and once they were gone we all piled inside. Thankfully they'd left the fire burning so I went and sat by the fireplace gratefully. Scott perched himself beside me and managed to whisper an

"Oh my GOD" in my ear before Mercedes entered the room, making me snort.

"Wow, this place is so cool! Do you really live here?" Tina exclaimed, walking over to the piano and pressing a few of the keys excitedly.

"Are we in Hogwarts?" Brittany asked, making everyone laugh and Blaine turn around abruptly – for a second taking me back to the events that had happened just minutes before all of this. Funny how they'd been forgotten so quickly.

"No, it's not Hogwarts, but I do live here – I can't believe how lucky I am." Mercedes came to sit down the other side of me, making Scott clear his throat and sit up properly.

"Where were you when we arrived?" She asked, in a slightly more hushed voice, so I knew the conversation was only for us. I tried to stop the blush that came into my cheeks but failed.

"Um, I was at Blaine's – we were watching Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter? You never liked those films…"

"Yeah, but he didn't know that." I laughed harshly at my own patheticness, glancing over towards Blaine, who was now talking to Tina about the piano. He'd somehow managed to grab his blazer on leaving Wordsworth and it looked rather funny over his pyjamas, along with his shiny black shoes rammed on with no socks. Despite his mismatched appearance he was back to dapper Blaine – it astonished me how quickly he could revert to it – like the other Blaine was non-existent. I wondered if he reserved the casual one for special occasions and then wished I hadn't.

"Kurt…" I could tell Mercedes was itching to talk to me about it, to offer her support. I wanted to as well, but now wasn't the time, so I settled for a hand on hers and as warm a smile as I could manage. Having New Directions appear out of the blue reminded me just how much I missed them. Dalton was awesome and all – but McKinley was my home.

"The party has arrived!" Suddenly Santana and Rachel entered the room, causing a scene almost as soon as their feet stepped through the door. Santana seemed to be in heaven, glancing round the boys in the room before stopping at Nathaniel, smiling.

"Well hello attractive rich private school boy." She said coyly, sidling up to him in a way that had the Head Boy blushing beetroot. Her fingers ran along the edging of his blazer until they reached his collarbone, at which point she leaned over and whispered something in his ear that made him splutter violently. I laughed along with the rest of the room, before turning my attention to Rachel, who was making her way across the floor towards me.

"Kurt!" She said happily, allowing me to stand up before hugging me tightly. "How are you?"

"I'm good." I replied, grinning. "You guys could have given me a heads up on you coming – I would have scrubbed up a little bit."

"Nonsense" Scott commented, also standing up, "you look great whatever you wear." I smiled sarcastically, giving him a nudge, before introducing the two to each other.

"Oh, wait – you're not…?" Suddenly Rachel seemed unsure, motioning between Scott and I with a funny look on her face. The ball dropped.

"Oh Gaga no! No, we're just good friends." Scott pretended to look offended at my quick dismissal of our romantic relationship and I gave him a shove, making us both laugh. As I'd turned to push him I saw Mercedes looking on with an admiring expression.

"What was up with you and Santana?" I asked to move the conversation on. Rachel's face darkened comically.

"Ergh. She was trying to take control of the operation, even though it was my idea in the first place. Well, mine and Mercedes'…" Hah. Only Rachel would use the word 'operation' to describe a secret trip to visit a friend.

"Well I'm very impressed. You took me totally by surprise."

"Along with the rest of Wilde." The look of pure delight on New Direction's lead female vocalist was one I would savour forever.

Once everyone had been fully introduced to each other I took the girls on a tour of Wilde, prompting many gasps and noises of approval, mainly from Rachel. (I saw her very much as a female Nathaniel – in fact I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd Google searched the nearest all-female school as soon as she got home.) We all somehow managed to pile into my room – much to the surprise of Artem, who had been quietly studying. Him and Brittany got along like a house on fire and spoke about pigs for an alarmingly long time. It was one of the most fun nights I'd had in a while – in fact I wondered why I'd never thought to invite any of them over before. When it was time for them to leave I could feel tears beginning to well in my eyes, but managed to hold them off – unlike Rachel who blubbed her eyes out like she was accepting an Oscar. Mercedes left with the promise of a coffee date with me some time in the next two weeks, as well as Scott's mind. He seemed unable to talk for the next hour.

"Holy crap, she is the most beautiful person I have ever seen. Is she even real? Why did you never tell me about her before?" He burbled continuously, never giving me a chance to reply. I have to admit, I was impressed as well as being highly amused. The only other thing I'd ever heard Scott declare was beautiful before was the new Halo game (which I also sucked at – we'd tried.)

"I think she liked you too." I commented with a smile, sending him off into another reel of babbling exclamations. The hour hand on my cheapo wall clock was drawing towards twelve, signalling the start of a new action-packed day at Dalton filled with Spanish, Home Ec and Warbler rehearsals. The next time I would see my McKinley friends would be at Sectionals.