Chapter Eight

A/N: Okay, Chapter 8 is here! I hope everyone likes it. Happy reading and reviewing!

Jenny was excited to go to school for once. She had it all together: the hair, make-up, the clothing, the complete package, and it was all thanks to Kurt. She left the house early, but stopped to get a coffee, thinking about the events of the night before. Those words echoed in her head over, and over. 'We would like you to come live with us.' At first, she thought she heard incorrectly, and from the sounds of it, Kurt and Finn thought the same. Their reaction was quite comical. One simple wordsaid in unison but in two totally different ways: 'What?' Kurt's voice was an octave higher than Finn's, and the tone was excited whereas with Finn, he sounded shocked, not in a bad way, and not in a good way. She was still trying to figure him out. She in no way had forgotten the day before when he insisted that she had something to tell him. She wasn't sure she could live with him,but Kurt...well, living with him, now that would be amazing. She knew it would never be possible though. There were too many complications in her life. Besides, all she had to do was stick it through until her brother came home. Everything would be fine then. Jenny sighed, sipping her coffee. It was very hard to turn down the offer. It was so generous of the Hummel's to open their home to her. She knew now that Mr. Hummel and Ms. Hudson knew something was going on. She would have to try extra hard not to show any signs of anything wrong around them. Her phone started ringing in her pocket and drew her out of her reverie with a smile. She immediately pressed talk.

"Hi Johnny!" She was bursting with good news for the first time in a long time.

"Hey Tink!" The sound of her brother's voice was almost overwhelming. He had been gone for almost six months. "Is everything okay? I was pretty worried about you the other day." Jenny continued walking but slowed her pace so that she had more time to talk.

"Actually, everything is great! Do you remember Kurt?" She asked, barely stopping for him to answer.

"How could I ever forget Kurt?" He laughed.

"Well he goes to McKinley! It feels so good having someone to talk to again." She sipped her coffee. "And yesterday, we went shopping and he basically hired himself to be my personal dresser, which is fine by me. I look so good now." Johnny smiled, happy to hear that she was getting some confidence back.

"That's really great. I can't wait to see you. You should send me a picture."

"Okay, I'll do that later. Oh and I have been thinking about a few things lately." She ventured.

"Like what?" He asked apprehensively. She took a breath.

"I think I want to start singing again." She let it out in a puff, stopping just off the school's property.

"I think that would be awesome!" He sounded relieved. "It's been a long time. We never used to be able to shut you up!" He laughed.

"Yeah, I know." She smiled. "And I auditioned for glee club yesterday, but it really didn't go well. I think now that I feel better on the outside, it's really helping. I just feel different." She didn't know why, but it was the truth. Before Kurt gave her the makeover, she never would have guessed she felt more confident just because she changed her clothes and did her hair.

"Good! You need a boost of self esteem!" He could already tell there was a huge difference in her and he honestly hoped it stayed. He could hear her smiling, he just couldn't remember what it looked like.

"Hey Jenny!" Kurt smiled, heading over to her from his car. She waved.

"Johnny, I have to go. Kurt's heading towards me. I'll talk to you later. I love you lots." She hung up. Johnny heard the disconnect and paused.

"...Love you too, Tink. Say hi to Kurt and say thanks for me!" He laughed even though his sister just hung up on him. She was in a good mood and that was the only thing that he ever wanted to hear from her.

"Hi Kurt." She smiled, hugging him. "How do I look? Did I do it properly?" She questioned her wardrobe choices now that she was standing beside the most fashionable kid at McKinley High.

"You look like a diva!" Kurt smiled. Jenny's smile faded. "Nono, that's a good thing honey! Every girl wants to be a diva- just not a Rachel Berry diva."

"Oh, so diva is good." She laughed. "Is there a fashion dictionary around?"

"Yes?" Kurt looked confused. "Me?" He added as if it should have been obvious from the start. They both cracked up laughing. "Okay let's get inside." Kurt linked arms with her and headed for the double doors into the school. He didn't say it, but he wanted to see how everyone reacted to her new look. He knew it would make her self-conscious if he told her and she was doing so well.

Jenny took only a few steps through the hallway before people started looking up from their conversations. Mouths dropped, heads bent together and new gossip started instantly. Kurt Hummel had done it again. Most people only remembered her as the new girl in the cafeteria with food all over her homely, shapeless clothes.

As they rounded the corner to Kurt's locker, Mercedes came into view. She didn't look happy to find Kurt arm in arm with his new creation.

"Hi Merce! Are you feeling better?" Kurt hugged her.

"Mhm. I'm fine." She hugged him back. "I see you went shopping after school since we had to cancel." She eyed Jenny.

"Yeah, we did! It was sort of some retail therapy for both of us. What do you think?" Kurt asked expectantly.

"You look good new kid." Mercedes had to hand it to Kurt, he knew how to make anyone look good- even a scrawny white girl.

"Thanks." Jenny now felt self-conscious. "Anyway Kurt, I'm going to head to class." She started backing away. "I'm glad you feel better Mercedes." She waved and disappeared around the corner.

"You could be a little more excited, you know." Kurt snapped. He always knew when she was in a bad mood.

"Sorry, the makeover thing is a little old hat, isn't it? We all knew you were going to do it, we just didn't know when." She closed her locker door.

"Okay, you and I need to talk. Right now." He pulled her into an empty classroom.

The rest of the day went by quickly for Jenny. She did a lot of thinking about Kurt and Blaine. There had to be something else going on. Something that Kurt didn't know about. It just didn't make sense to her that they would go out for coffee, and for Blaine to say what he did, and then for Blaine's friend to steal his phone and tell him Blaine loves him. Kurt was under the impression it was a terribly mean practical joke, but she just didn't think so. She decided to find out for herself. The hallways were deserted by the time she got her stuff from her locker. She deliberately took her time as she hatched out her plan in her head. Jenny took her phone out of her pocket.

Hey Kurt, can I borrow your car for a little bit since you are in glee club?

As she pressed send she was slammed into a locker.

"I see Princess gave you a makeover." Karofsky's voice filled her ears.

"His name is Kurt, and you know you are supposed to leave him alone." She stood up taller. Considering her situation, she found it odd that she paid attention to her phone vibrating in her hand. "Isn't this what you used to do to Kurt? You would push him into lockers and threaten him?" She stared straight into his eyes. "You need to stop. I know why you are doing it." His eyes widened in shock.

"He wasn't supposed to tell anyone that I kissed him!" He growled furiously, pounding his fist into a locker. Jenny could tell he was panicking.

"He didn't tell me. I guessed and then you confirmed it. Congratulations. You're gay." Kurt had actually told her everything, but she would do anything to protect him. "So what are you going to do about it? Bullying isn't the solution." She asked him. Jenny touched his arm. "David, all you have to do is let people help you."

"Don't tell me what to do!" He screamed. "Just shut up!" He grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hallway. Jenny's feet barely touched the floor.

"What are you doing?" She asked, wincing at the pain in her arm. It was the second time in two days she was grabbed by the arm. "This isn't going to make you feel any better." She attempted, although she knew it was pointless. Halfway down a different hallway, Karofsky wrenched open a locker and roughly shoved Jenny into it. Her forehead smacked the inside of the locker and she felt the blunt piece of metal that stuck out to lock it dig into her back. The door slammed shut in her face. Afterwards, all she heard was silence.

"Really? You went for the classic shoved in a locker stunt?" She asked out loud. She sighed, trying to push the locker open, but it wouldn't budge. She tried pounding on the door. "Hello?" Jenny called out. She remembered her phone.

Sure, just come get the keys. Mr. Schuester isn't here yet.

She tried to send him a message back, but there was no signal. The only thing she could think to do was keep pounding on the door and call for help.

Mr. Schuester was running late. He was still fuming over a run in with Sue.

"I wouldn't polish the floor with that oily Brillo pad." He mocked in a high pitched voice. He continued muttering under his breath as he walked down the hallway.

"Hello?" A muffled voice asked. He stopped and looked around.

"Hello?" He asked.

"I'm in a locker, can you please get me out?" The voice called. Mr. Schuester began knocking on lockers, waiting to hear a response.

Knock, knock

knock, knock

knock, knock

knock, knock, knock knock

He pried the locker door open.

"Jenny? How on earth did you get stuck in a locker?" He helped her out of it.

"Um...it's a long story. One that I don't really have time to share, but thank you for letting me out." She started walking down the hallway.

"Hey, Jenny, I wanted to apologize for my kids. They were really mean to you yesterday." Mr. Schuester felt like he should have done more to stop them.

"It's okay. High school is full of mean people. I'm used to it." She shrugged. Mr. Schuester opened the door to the glee club, but she didn't go in.

"Aren't you coming in?" He asked, confused.

"No, actually I was just picking something up from Kurt. I'm not about to go in there for a second round of insults just because you apologized." She looked at him like he was crazy. He nodded, feeling slightly guilty.

"Kurt." He called him, motioning to the door.

Ten minutes later, Jenny was sitting in Kurt's SUV with the heat on and her iPod playing through the speakers. She double checked her route on her phone before pulling out of the parking lot and starting off on the drive to Dalton Academy.