Writers. Block. Sucks.

So I hope the end of this chapter isn't too rubbish. The start is great though :D Thanks for waiting

Liz xxx

Chapter 37 - Showdown

"This isn't good." Gabriel said, a worried expression on his face. We were all sat round a table in the cafeteria waiting for Scott, who was currently in a meeting with Cox. "He should have been back ages ago." I took a casual bite of my food, not really as nervous as my friend was. If I knew Scott – and I knew him very well – he was probably charming our head with words, and that took time.

"Maybe they're discussing a course of action." Blaine had demanded he be a part of any future meetings related to the prank war, so he sat behind me also eating, one of his arms draped casually around my chair like it so often did. His comment was well received by Gabriel, who nodded, but glanced at my boyfriend's hand in annoyance.

"Do you miss Eli?" I asked, noticing his discomfort. Last week I'd been informed that their first date had gone very well, and from how Gabriel described him I felt he might very well be in love. My friend looked down at his food and I knew I had hit the jackpot.

"It just sucks not being able to see him all the time." He mumbled morosely, dragging his fork across his plate. "I mean you and Blaine hang out all the time."

"Hah!" The laugh came out involuntarily – Blaine looked at me, confused but I continued quickly. "It may seem like it, but we don't actually get half as much time together as I'd like. As we'd like." I squeezed Blaine's hand and he smiled, nodding in agreement. "But I know what you mean. When are we going to get to meet Eli anyway? I'm so excited to see him in person." Again Gabriel shifted uncomfortably and I wondered if I'd said something wrong. He did want us to meet him right?

"Well he's really busy at the moment," he said "what with working full time and having to look after his family," I'd also been told that Eli had two very ill parents, so he was always having to cancel meetings to look after them. Sometimes he even had to cut him off mid conversation on the phone. "But I'll try and sort something out." Clapping my hands together I squealed in excitement – Gabriel and Blaine laughed but our conversation was broken by the sight of Scott appearing in the doorway.

"So?" I asked expectantly as soon as he sat down. "What happened?"

"Well," Scott popped a chip in his mouth as he spoke, and I almost slapped him on the wrist for being so rude, "Cox definitely thinks that Damien pulled the stink bomb prank," we all cheered in unison, Gabriel clenching his fist in satisfaction, "but they still have no concrete proof."

"What?" Gabriel seemed outraged, banging on the table so we all jumped. "That's outrageous!"

"Well that's Damien for ya. He did however say that he wants this war stopped. Before any other Dalton property is damaged."

"Well ending a war works both ways." Blaine said, leaning forward so his arm slipped off my chair. "You're going to have to meet with Damien for talks."

"No." Scott replied, his voice stern. "He wants me to end it."

"He wants you to surrender?"

"Yup. Again." My best friend leant back in his chair, popping another chip in his mouth and shaking his head in annoyance. I knew how much conceding the last war had affected him, so I certainly didn't want it happening again.

"Is there any way we can stop this?" I asked. "Anything we can do?"

"Nope. The only way to win the war is to pull an even bigger prank on Damien than the stink bomb – and as Cox knows it's me that would mean I get expelled." A gasp of horror escaped from my mouth – Scott glanced at me in annoyance but I knew he was angry too.

"That sucks." Blaine said sadly.

"Too right it sucks! It sucks Dalton ass." For a while we all sat in silence, quietly eating our food and trying to think of any way to avoid the coming events. Of course it wasn't complete social suicide to concede – in fact to many people Scott would probably be seen as the honourable one. But between Scot and Damien it would mean one was the victor and the other was a coward. And Scott certainly wasn't a coward.

"Hey!" Suddenly my best friend jumped up, almost knocking his chips clean off the table. "I've got it!"

"What?" I enquired. We all stared at him expectantly, waiting for the master plan to be revealed. But instead my best friend simply ran out of the cafeteria, leaving us all dumbfounded.

"Well that was weird." Gabriel stated, before returning to his food. I did the same, shaking my head. This was not good…

"I don't know what to do." The piece of paper I'd been twirling round my fingers slipped out of my grasp and fluttered to the floor so I scowled, cursing myself. I was lying on my bed (which I still hadn't bothered to make – something I knew meant I was seriously bothered) with my phone pressed against my ear. Mercedes was on the other end.

"It's a suicide mission."

"What's Scott planning?" I sighed.

"It's some kind of showdown. Him and Damien meet at a designated spot – they challenge each other and whoever wins is the overall victor."

"It doesn't sound too bad."

"It sounds ridiculous. I think he's been watching too many Western movies." Mercedes chuckled and I scowled again. This was not the time to be laughing.

"I'm sorry." She said, obviously sensing my disproval. "This is just the kind of thing Scott would do though."

"I know. He's trying to be the martyr – saving everyone else all on his own. You know he doesn't want anyone else there?"

"I guess that makes is fairer."

"But that's just it. Damien isn't fair. Even if Scott comes alone that doesn't mean Damien won't have tens of hired cronies just waiting in the bushes ready to pounce. Not to mention the fact that Oscar and Phoenix will want to get involved."

"He's trying to protect you." Mercedes said, admiration in her voice for the man she adored. She was right.

"I know he is. But I don't want protecting – I just want him to stop being an idiot." Mercedes sighed and I stared up at the wall. Why did I have to have such a headstrong best friend? It was so hard to talk him out of things. Suddenly there were noises in the background – I'd interrupted a family gathering to talk to Mercedes but had declared that was urgent – now however it seemed she was needed to control her younger cousins.

"I'm sorry Kurt, I've gotta go," she said, sounding like she really didn't want to leave. "Just talk to Scott. He'll listen to you."

"I hope so." Saying a hurried goodbye I heard the line go dead and dropped my phone onto the pillow beside me, groaning. I hoped so.

A few minutes later whilst I was trying in vain to get some more Trig revision done my phone rang again. I hurriedly picked it up, thinking it was Mercedes managing to break free from her cousins again, but instead I heard Blaine's dulcet tones through the speaker.

"Kurt?"

"Hi." I said, relaxing slightly. Sometimes just hearing his voice was all it took to calm me down. "What's up?"

"Did I leave my planner in your room?" Scanning my quarters briefly I shook my head.

"No. I don't even think you brought it in here."

"That's what I thought. I can't find it anywhere. Somebody must have come into my room while they were cleaning Wordsworth." I paused, taking the statement into consideration. Somebody had stolen from Blaine?

"But the whole building was shut off." I said, confusion gracing my tone. "Nobody was allowed in."

"Well I never move my planner and it's missing. I think some other stuff is gone too."

"You don't think…?" Suddenly the sight of Xavier flashed into my head – the way he had looked when he'd seen us cleaning Blaine's car. I still didn't believe he was completely innocent.

"I don't know. But thanks anyway."

"Do you want to come round?" I asked hopefully. "I need some trig tutoring."

"I thought that was your job," my boyfriend replied with a laugh. "See you soon."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

A few days later and Blaine still hadn't found his planner – it was really messing up his schedule and he kept missing meetings – which wasn't making him very popular with other students. However, there were more pressing matters on my mind. The date of Scott's 'showdown' was today, and despite various attempts to persuade him otherwise (one even involving me watching a whole baseball game. I'd been convinced that self-sacrifice would have worked) it was still going ahead. And he was still going solo.

"I can't have any of you getting hurt." He'd said, making it sound like he was going off into battle, instead of just meeting up with another student. Eventually I'd backed down, saying I'd leave him be - but there was no way in hell I was actually going through with it. Even if it meant I had to crawl on my knees through bushes, I was going to that meeting.

Blaine and I conjured up an ingenious plan. He would keep watch on Scott's room until he left the building – we had a good idea what time the showdown was, but I knew Scott too well to expect him to leave on time. He would try and outfox us, but we were one step ahead. Once Blaine had seen him leave and get a considerable distance away from Wordsworth he would call me and Gabriel, Nathaniel and I would follow him, Blaine meeting up with us en route. What we would do once we reached the meeting was as of yet undecided – but I was faithfully backing my own instincts to do their job when the moment served them.

When my clock struck five pm I felt my whole body tense up. Nathaniel and Gabriel were perched on various chairs around my room, all of us silent as we stared at my phone lying a few inches away from me on my bed. I felt like we were in some kind of thriller movie – waiting for our next instructions that determined whether we would live or die. My palms were beginning to sweat and I wanted more than ever for my phone to ring and put us out of our misery.

Suddenly a noise echoed around the room. For a second I couldn't work out what it was, but then Gabriel shook my shoulder and I realised my phone was flashing. Instantly my arm flashed out and I smashed it to my ear.

"This is Patti Lupone, are you there?"

"Oh God, are we actually using those code names?" Blaine sounded exasperated, I ignored him.

"Yes. Damien could have our phone tapped, you never know. Are we set?"

"Yes. This is Pavarotti saying we are set. Dumbo has left the building." I clapped my hands together excitedly, before regaining my composure and nodding at my two friends.

"We're on."

Crouching through the undergrowth of Dalton's grounds I felt like I was playing my own version of Call Of Duty – except nobody had to shoot anybody and I wasn't completely useless at it. We'd successfully met up with Blaine and were now following Scott as silently as we could.

"What's my code name again?" Nathaniel asked. I sighed.

"Poppins. Because you magically organise things."

"But isn't Mary Poppins a woman?"

"Her legend has no gender. I was working with limited resources." My Head Boy went to counter again but suddenly Blaine shushed us and we all stopped. We had reached a clearing deep in the Dalton grounds, somewhere I had never actually ventured before. Scott was barely 6 feet in front of us – suddenly adrenaline coursed through me that we were actually on a mission, that he had no idea we'd followed him to have his back. For a while there was silence, nobody else seemed to be around. I saw Scott look at his watch, scraping the ground with his feet and rocking back a forth slowly. Where was Damien?

I was about to turn and say something to Nathaniel, when he grabbed hold of my arm and pointed forwards. Damien had appeared at the other side of the clearing. Surprisingly he seemed to be alone.

"Greetings Macleod." He said with a smile. Scott bristled and I felt a stab of motherly angst go through me. He shouldn't be doing this solo.

"Let's just do this." He said briskly. Damien laughed – that strange laugh that always sent shivers down my spine for the wrong reasons.

"Alright then." Suddenly two figures sprang out from behind some trees. They were so close to us I was surprised they hadn't stumbled on our hiding place. Oscar and Phoenix grabbed hold of Scott, who yelled out in surprise and suddenly I couldn't hide anymore.

"HEY!" Nathaniel had tried to yank me down, but in doing so also revealed himself. I rushed forward to grab Oscar and Gabriel had a firm hold on Phoenix seconds after.

"So…" Damien said with a smile, looking at the scene before him with amusement. "It seems none of us can keep to a deal."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Scott looked annoyed – he shot a glance at me but I didn't budge.

"Saving your skin. It's what friends do."

"I don't need saving."

"Eh hum." Clearing my throat I signalled to the two Dahl cronies we were currently holding back and Scott sighed.

"Let them go." For a second I protested but he shot me another glance and I reluctantly released my hold on Oscar, showing him forward towards Damien roughly, with Gabriel doing the same to Phoenix.

"Why is Nathaniel here?" Scott asked under his breath as I moved to stand beside him, the rest of our team following suit so we flanked him like a team of bodyguards.

"He overheard us. And anyway I'm involved in this prank war too so now we have both Head Boys to back us up." My best friend rolled his eyes but I ignored him, instead looking forward at our opponents. Our five outnumbered their three, but Damien didn't seem phased at all. In fact he seemed to find the whole scenario very amusing.

"Well isn't this fun!" He exclaimed after a brief period of silence. "We've all come together to watch the showdown!" He took a step forward and we all bristled. Scott pushed us back and also stepped forward.

"They're just here to support me. This is my battle."

"Yes, and it would seem it is my battle too." Suddenly Oscar and Phoenix stepped up with us.

"Hey! We started this! We want to finish it too." Oscar said, folding his arms.

"Yeah. And we want to see the look on Scott's face when we beat him again." Phoenix added, smirking.

"Yes, well let's not forget where you would be without your trusted friend this time." Damien replied, slightly diminishing their grins. "But I suppose it would be rude of me to say no…"

"That's not fair!" I jumped forward next to Scott, who immediately tried to push me back. "That's three against one!"

"Well I suppose we can allow you to enter the fray, seeing as you are his, sidekick."

"Kurt, I told you not to get involved!" Scott shouted at me, stress suddenly evident on his face.

"What's the big deal? It's not as if anyone's going to get hurt!"

"Well, not physically anyway…" Damien looked at me and my heart dropped. This wasn't just some little prank war now. It was something much bigger. What on earth had we got ourselves into…

"Let's get on with it then." Scott said, standing strongly so he slightly shadowed one of my sides. I clenched my fists and Damien laughed.

"Ok then."

"OH HELL TO THE NO!" Suddenly another voice boomed out into the clearing. Scott and I looked behind us but Gabriel, Nathaniel and Blaine all shook their heads. What the hell?

"What's going on here?" The voice echoed again and all of a sudden a figure burst out of the trees. A figure I recognised.

"Mercedes!" I called out to my friend – half in excitement and half in shock. What was she doing here? To my surprise she ignored me, surveying us like we were strangers she'd just stumbled upon.

"I said, what's going on?" Her eyes cast across the Dahls, but suddenly stopped when they rested on Damien.

"Oh, hello there." A smile spread across her face and something changed in her voice. Slowly she walked towards Damien and I noticed the same look on his face too. He was entranced by her.

"What the…?" Scott looked completely livid – his eyes fixed on his girlfriend as she stepped closer. I found myself unable to decide whether to keep an eye on him or watch the scene that was unfolding. Finally Mercedes stopped just a few paces away from Damien, who looked like he was about to salivate all over the clearing.

"What's your name?" She said with a smile, holding out her hand. Damien grinned.

"Dubrisque. Damien Dubrisque." Bending down to take hold of it and press a soft kiss to her skin I saw Scott lurch forward out of the corner of my eye and reached out to grab him. He fought with me, fury in his eyes, but I resisted.

"Sssh Scott! Sssh!" Hissed silently out of my mouth. There had to be more to this. Mercedes wouldn't just ignore us. She had-

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY MAN?" Suddenly a shout rang out through the clearing that had everybody jumping back in shock. As Damien had begun to return to a standing position Mercedes had taken her hand away and flicked it viciously into his cheek.

"Did she just slap him?" I heard Nathaniel ask in concern to Blaine. A grin spread across my face.

"WELL?" Mercedes sounded livid – her face was almost red with anger and her hand was raised as if she was ready to dole out another slap. Damien looked completely shocked.

"Um…well…" He stumbled on his words – still unable to believe that the beautiful girl he had been flirting with seconds ago was now trying to kill him.

"Would you like to tell me?" Now Mercedes flashed her gaze up to Oscar and Phoenix, who immediately stood to attention like they were being inspected.

"We were, we were…"
"Um, who is your man?" Phoenix's voice was shaky and he flinched even though Mercedes made no effort to move. A smile spread slowly across her face and she turned around before walking towards us. Scott looked like he'd just won the lottery – when she reached us he held open his arm and she slotted underneath it, giving him a quick kiss on the lips before looking back at the now completely gobsmacked Dahls.

"This is my man. Oh and hi Kurt." Quickly she waved at me and I waved back, grinning from ear to ear. Damien had now risen properly to his feet, a faint red mark still visible on his cheek, which he rubbed slowly to try and hide his shock. Oscar and Phoenix however had their mouths open, so I heard Blaine chuckle behind me.

"So is anyone gonna tell me what you guys have been doing to my baby?" I couldn't believe Mercedes was still continuing – this was amazing. Oscar and Phoenix looked at Damien, who rolled his eyes.

"We were pranking him. It was a prank war."

"Oh really? And who decided to start this prank war?"

"They did." Damien pointed both his hands outwards and his two comrades immediately jumped back, as if moving out of the firing line would somehow make them innocent.

"Well, I should hope for your sake you stop this, before someone gets hurt. Ok?"

Scott looked ecstatic. Oscar and Phoenix looked about ready to curl up in a ball. I was beginning to think this thing was about wrapped up, when Damien stepped forward. His previous shock seemed to have disappeared.

"This was nice Macleod. Getting your girlfriend to do your work for you. That's a great show of manhood." A smirk appeared on his face and Scott's grin dropped. Oh great.

"Hey – I am not doing his work for him. I aint no slave." Mercedes replied indignantly. Damien laughed.

"You two are cute. But I'm afraid it's going to take more than one scary girlfriend to intimidate me out of a fight." Glancing over at Scott I saw his expression warring – unable to decide whether to lead Mercedes behind and continue the standoff or stand with her and accept her help. I was about to intervene when suddenly we were all stopped again.

"I thought you might say that." Mercedes said plainly, squeezing her boyfriend's arm to show him everything was under control. "So I have to tell you I have a lot of friends who feel the same way I do, and would help me if needed." Damien chuckled.

"What? You have some kind of girl army?"

"No, not quite. But I brought one of them here with me to give you a taste of what they're like."

Holding out her arm we heard a rustle in the bushes and a figure appeared.

"Santana!" The words escaped from my mouth before I'd even realised, everyone turned to look at me and I blushed. The girl herself smiled briefly at me, before turning to Mercedes and putting on her game face.

"Which one of these bitches is messing Scott around?" Mercedes pointed forward and Oscar and Phoenix cowed away so only Damien stood tall. Santana smiled, flexing her fingers before slowly walking up to Scott's nemesis.

"Hi there." She said when she reached him. Damien didn't move, just started straight forward like he was unimpressed. "The name's Santana. You're from the circus right?" At this the Dahl student's eyes flashed with recognition, his head twitching slightly before he regained his composure. Santana smiled.

"Thought so. Well if you're from that side of the tracks you might have heard of a little place called Lima Heights." Mercedes looked at me and I grinned, knowing what was coming.

"Have you heard of Lima Heights?" Santana flashed her head round to look at Oscar and I swear he whimpered, cowering away further.

"No." He mumbled in reply.

"I thought not. You with your fancy uniforms and your plush dorms. Lima Heights is not where someone like you would want to be. At Lima Heights we keep monkeys as pets. Huge scary monkeys. We let them roam free in the streets and call them when we need them. Do you know what these monkeys eat? Eyeballs. Eyeballs of the people that are too weak to fight. So when we're not practising our Spanish or watching Magnum PI – we people in Lima Heights train. We train in combat." I could see the glare on Damien's face beginning to waver. Santana kept cracking her fingers and every click made Oscar and Phoenix shudder.

"I have fought a monkey. I know the feeling of pain. And you know what happened to that monkey that I fought? It died. So if you ever think of bothering any of my friends again – we will come for you. And you will end up like the monkey. Comprende?"

Silence spread across the clearing. Everyone was looking at Damien – even Oscar and Phoenix, who were managing to glance up from the arms they'd been cowering behind. Santana glanced back at me briefly and I put my thumb up discreetly, making her smile. Finally the Dahl boy spoke.

"You guys are crazy." I paused. It hadn't been the reaction I was expecting.

"What?"

"Seriously – you're crazy. Monkeys? What is this crap?"

"Are you disrespecting Lima Heights? Are you disrespecting my heritage??" Santana lunged forward and Damien jumped back, almost crashing into a bush. Mercedes and Scott rushed forwards to hold her back but the attack had had the desired effect. He looked shaken.

"For once Damien," Scott replied, looking him straight in the eye, "I think I am being serious."

"Let's end this now." Suddenly Blaine stepped forward. He'd been quiet virtually this whole time and I shot him a warning glance, but he ignored it. "It's not going to look good for you if you carry on Damien. I mean, you just got intimidated and shamed by two girls." Suddenly Gabriel chuckled. Everybody turned in his direction and he flushed bright red. But even that was working in our favour.

"You have friends. So does Scott. But his friends come without being called. Or paid. So I'm suggesting, as a Head Boy with another Head Boy also present, that you do the right thing, and concede. It's for the best." Now we waited for the answer. Even Santana had calmed down, eager to hear the response. Damien seemed to be warring with his thoughts, finding himself in a situation he'd never been in before. Finally he sighed deeply, his shoulders sinking down despondently.

"Fine."

"Fine what?"

"You win. Ok? You win Scott. I concede." The clearing erupted with cheers. Scott jumped up in the air higher than I'd ever seen him before and punched the air. Gabriel ran up to me and gave me a big hug. Santana was glaring in satisfaction at her latest victims. Oscar and Phoenix looked about ready to pee their pants.

"Yes!"