My Missing Puzzle Piece
Chapter 18
Kurt walked back into McKinley High for the first time since before Christmas and felt his spirits lift. He was excited for the glee club to get together again. The only person from New Directions that he had seen since the concert on Christmas Eve was Jenny and by New Year's Eve, she was back to working long nights at the restaurant where she waited tables. He barely saw her for the last week before school. Kurt had to admit that he was going stir crazy and ready to get back to school. He was mulling over these thoughts when a huge shadow drifted in front of his path.
"Hey Hummel. Merry Christmas." Karofsky pushed Kurt effortlessly into the wall. "Did you spend the whole holiday banging your new brother in the privacy of your room?" Karofsky leered. Kurt struggled to hold it together and make it seem like hitting the wall that hard barely hurt him.
"Yes that's very mature. I'm sure you spent the whole holiday in denial about who you are and-" Karofsky had him in a headlock and Kurt's air supply was cut off.
"Don't you ever lie like that again Hummel. I know you told your little besty but I swear if you ever tell anyone about that I'll kill you." Karosfsky growled in Kurt's ear and Kurt choked for air. At that moment, Finn rounded the corner and dropped his schoolbooks in surprise.
"What the hell are you doing?" He ran at Karofsky, throwing himself onto him to free Kurt. It worked. Karofsky let go of Kurt so he could throw a punch at Finn. Kurt scrambled to get out of the way, gasping for air. People came running, hearing the commotion from two very large football players slamming each other into lockers and throwing fists at each others faces. Other football players joined in the fray, some on the side of Karofsky, some on the side of Finn and before anyone realized it, there was a full out brawl in the middle of the hallway. An army of teachers flooded the hall and were grabbing football players, trying to break up the fight. It took several minutes, but eventually, the fighting stopped and the hallway was quiet, but there were a lot of dirty threatening looks being sent in every direction.
"What the hell is going on here?" Mr. Schuester huffed, trying to catch his breath. He had to work hard to separate Finn and Karofsky. Silence was his only answer.
"Anyone care to answer that?" Coach Bieste asked. No one was talking. Kurt could only stare on, afraid to say anything. Jenny walked through the door at that precise moment and her step faltered as she walked up beside Kurt.
"Hey." She placed a hand on Kurt's shoulder and he jumped about a mile in the air. "What happened?" Jenny asked, concerned for him. Kurt cleared his throat.
"Nothing." He half whispered and turned, making a beeline through the other end of the hall, head down. Jenny watched him go, worried about him. She would have to catch up with him later. She was almost late for class. She watched for another minute until the entire football team got hauled into the principal's office and then made her way to her locker, then to class.
Burt Hummel was halfway out of the shower when he got the call from the principal's secretary at McKinley High. Carole was already at work and couldn't take off, so Burt was enlisted the task of picking up Finn. He walked into the principal's office and had to do a double take before he recognized Finn under all the bruises and cuts.
"Does somebody want to explain to me what's going on here?" He held up his hands in question.
"No one is talking. Otherwise, we may have been able to work something out, but since this is the case, all students involved are receiving a suspension." Principal Figgins explained. "Mr. Schuester and the other teachers were called in to break up a fight between the football team and your stepson happened to be one of the big instigators. His suspension is twi days. We will not tolerate fighting at this school, Mr. Hummel."
Burt looked incredulously at Finn, and then back to Figgins, and around to all the other teachers, pleading for someone to contradict what Figgins said.
"Finn, is this true? Did you start the fight?" Burt asked, staring at Finn, who refused to look up from his hands. After a few minutes of discussion in the office, Burt and Finn left, not talking, just heading for the car. Finn didn't say a word until they got home and he dumped his bag at the front door.
"I just don't know what got into you, Finn." Burt shook his head. "You aren't like that." He sat down on the couch.
"I did it for a good reason." Finn said quietly. Burt looked pained.
"You are going to have to help me out, son. I can't see any possible scenario where fighting is for a good reason." He rubbed his face, exhausted by the morning.
"He was hurting Kurt."
Suddenly Burt was wide away.
"Who was hurting Kurt?" He motioned for Finn to sit down.
"His name is David Karofsky. I don't know the whole thing but when I walked in, he had Kurt in a headlock and he could barely breathe. He was threatening to kill him." Finn looked down at his hands again. "That's why I started it. I needed to protect Kurt." Finn knew Burt would be pissed, but the way he saw it, he either told Burt now, or waited for the wrath of his mother. He chose the less scary option.
"He..." Burt took a deep breath and blew it out, trying to control his anger. "Why didn't you tell this to the principal?" He was rubbing his hands on his knees.
"Because Karofsky was there. It would have made it worse for Kurt." Finn chanced a glance at his step-father.
"Worse for Kurt." Burt repeated. "I'll show that kid worse." Burt jumped up, heading for the door, grabbing his car keys.
"No, Burt, don't!" Finn pleaded. "I don't know what to do right now, but fighting doesn't work. I just tried it remember? You doing it would be even worse for him."
"I'm not going to fight him, I'm going to tell Figgins what the hell is going on in his school, and I'm going to demand that this Karofsky kid's parents are called." Finn was quiet for a moment.
"Maybe you should wait until you get the chance to talk to Kurt about all this. There has to be a reason he hasn't told you any of this before. It's clearly not a one time thing." Finn tried to reason with him. Burt stood silently, thinking. After a moment he sighed, pulling his baseball cap off and rubbing his forehead before putting it back on.
"Yeah. That's a good idea. I need to talk to him and figure out why he hasn't been talking to me."
Kurt managed to avoid Jenny all day. After what Karofsky did, he was scared to talk to her. There was just one thing left between now and the safety of his home, and that was glee club. He was sure to see Jenny then and he didn't know how he was going to get out of that one. He decided to arrive late, so that everyone would already be in there before him, which meant that he could go sit anywhere but beside Jenny. The only problem was, the club was half empty with all the football players gone home on suspension. All of the other chairs were stacked up in a corner, so the only seat left, was beside Jenny.
"Hi." She whispered as he sat down. "Are you okay? You've been avoiding me all day." She squeezed his hand, which he promptly pulled closer to his body and away from her.
"I'm fine." He nodded, looking away from her. He pretended to be extra absorbed in what Mr. Schuester was saying, but in reality, he couldn't focus on a single word. He could feel Jenny watching him. The class passed by at lightening speed and soon, everyone was packing up to go. Kurt grabbed his bag and headed for the door, trying to get away from her.
"Kurt." Jenny followed him through the hallway and out to the parking lot. "Kurt, stop and talk to me. What's going on?"
"Jenny I'm fine okay? I was just a little shaken up by that fight." He threw his bag into the backseat of his car."Oh, and thank you for telling Blaine. He's been flooding me with text messages all day."
"Kurt, I noticed Karofsky and Finn were fighting. I don't think I need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that Karofsky did something to you. What happened?" Kurt's stomach tied in knots and the mention of his name.
"Nothing happened. I just happened to be there when the fight broke out. I don't know how it started." He lied, getting into his car.
"Kurt don't lie to me. You are terrible at it."
"You would know." Kurt drove off, leaving her standing there, open mouthed and in shock. He immediately felt terrible for saying that and all he wanted to do was drive back and apologize and take it back, but fear kept him in check. Suddenly he understood why Jenny kept her secrets for so long. She was too scared. The feeling of relief washed over him as he pulled into the driveway and saw the welcome lights shining from the house. He walked in and threw his bag down.
"Hi Dad, hi Carole, hi Finn." Kurt headed straight for the stairs.
"Kurt. Come into the living room please." His father's voice called him. When he walked into the living room, Burt, Carole and Finn- albeit bruised and swollen were sitting around the room, waiting for him with very serious expressions. He knew what was coming and had held up hope until now that Finn wouldn't say anything. His stomach dropped out and he felt the tears stinging his eyes. He knew he couldn't lie his way out of this one.