My Missing Puzzle Piece
Wow! Okay so superbly loooong pause in the writing process. Not for lack of anything to write, but life got busy- working full time and headed back to school. Nevertheless, I enjoyed getting back to this and I never had the intention of leaving you all hanging for so long. I am truly sorry about that. I hope you can all forgive me. I tried to make this a really good one for you. I have to say, I reread a lot of the reviews and it really pepped me up and kept me going so thank you all so much. Without further ado- I give you chapter 19!
Jenny slammed her locker door and jumped when Kurt's face appeared as she closed the door.
"Kurt! Where have you been? I have been trying to find you all day!" She didn't miss the exhausted look on his face. His skin was pale and there were deep purple bags under his eyes.
"I needed to talk to you in person." He said quietly. Jenny waited for more. "First of all, I'm sorry for what I said to you yesterday. It was uncalled for and I only said it because I was scared." He hugged himself.
"Don't even worry about it. It's already forgotten. What were you scared of?" She asked, touching his arm soothingly. Kurt didn't answer for a long moment, and Jenny was starting to think he wouldn't answer at all.
"It's gotten worse Jenny." Kurt stated. "I can't handle it anymore. I'm terrified all the time." He admitted, trying to keep his emotions in check.
"Oh Kurt." Jenny hugged him. "It will get better. I promise you." She rubbed his back.
"I don't get it. How can someone in your...situation who gets bullied on a regular basis keep such a strong outlook for me. I'm not as strong as you. You've been dealing with this for so long. I have no idea how you cope because I can't."
"I didn't start coping until I found you again. Kurt you have me. I will always be here for you." She looked into his eyes, but Kurt looked away. She was making it harder for him to keep talking. "It will be better soon." she added, misreading his reaction.
"You're right." Kurt took a deep breath. "It will be better soon." Once again, Jenny found herself waiting for the explanation. "I'm transferring to Dalton. Tomorrow." Jenny felt like someone dumped a bucket of ice cold water down her back. For a long time, all she could do was stammer.
"Kurt..." she tried. "You..." She pulled herself together. "You can't run away from this. We have to fix it." Her deep blue eyes grew stormy with anger at Karofsky.
"Jenny, there is no fixing it. You of all people should know that." He shrugged.
"No. Karofsky is different. He can be helped." They both mindlessly started walking towards the cafeteria where most of the school was congregated for lunch.
"Well until he's helped, I can't be in this school anymore. He'll kill me." Kurt hated upsetting Jenny, but he knew she could look after herself. Without warning, an apple whipped through the crowded cafeteria and smashed into Kurt's head.
"Hey Hummel, don't forget; an apple a day keeps the doctor away...unless you're a fag. Then nothing can help you." Kurt turned to leave, tears welling up in his eyes, but half way to the door, he realized Jenny wasn't with him. He turned and watched Jenny as she parted the crowd, headed straight for Karofsky. Kurt bit his lip nervously. She was about five feet away from him now and showed no signs of slowing down. Kurt blinked and had visions of her throwing a punch. He blinked again and saw that somehow she had her hands on a lunch tray and within seconds, the tray was in Karofsky's face. It hit with such a force that she may as well have punched him. The silence in the room was deafening.
"Careful Karosfky. You are starting to be too interested. Don't boys like to push people around when they like each other? People might start to figure it out." She dropped the tray and a plate full of french fries and gravy slid down his face, purple with rage. He whirled around and grabbed his plate of food, intending to throw it at Jenny, but she pushed him with all her might, making the plate fly out of his hand and hit Quinn instead. Without much more warning, the entire cafeteria was a battlefield of flying food. Through the war being raged, Karofsky and Jenny continued to glare at each other, paying no attention to the food flying around them. After a few minutes, Jenny broke the trance and made her way up onto a table, whistling to get the room quiet.
"This is a peace rally. Who here has been bullied?" She asked. Almost everyone raised their hand, including herself. She looked around at all the raised hands and faces. "Who actually wants to be bullied?" All of the hands went down. "Then let's end it right now! Let's all be there for each other." The room nodded, but they weren't completely sold. "Wouldn't it be nice to be able to walk down the hall without being tripped, have our books thrown across the room, or be pushed into a locker? How about being made fun of for the way we look- or for being just a little bit different than everybody else." She paused, the nodding was more vigourous now. "Well, what about being picked on because you have the guts to stand up and be yourself in a school full of people who are scared to live life the way they were born to live it?" There was a charged silence in the room. "Who here thinks Kurt is a nice guy, or a funny guy, or just someone that can always make you smile?" Almost all hands went up again. Jenny stomped her foot in frustration. "Then why are we letting him get bullied to the point where he wants to transfer out of this school? I don't know about you but I can't live with that. If you hate bullying, then why aren't you doing anything to make it any better for people who are being bullied. It's bullying by neglect." A lot of eyes widened. "So." She paused. "Does anyone in this room want to help end bullying at this school? Because I sure as hell do." This time the room cheered. "Karofsky, there is one of you, and many, many, more of us. So if you even go near Kurt, it won't be good for you." She glared at him and the crowd cheered louder. He looked around at the crowd nervously. Jenny opened her mouth to say more, but suddenly she was yanked down from the table.
"Let's go Ghandi." Sue Sylvester parted the crowd.
"Where are we going?" Jenny asked.
"To fast and pretend it will make a difference."
A few minutes later, Jenny found herself sitting in the principals office, surrounded by teachers and Principal Figgins.
"Miss Steele, why did you start the food fight?" Figgins asked.
"And the 'I Had a Dream' speech." Sue added.
"Because I was angry." Jenny stated. "Did you know Kurt is transferring out because he's being bullied? That's what the fight between the football players was about the other day. Way to lift the suspension by the way. Good to know you really stick to your guns when the heat is on." She snapped at Figgins, who's eyebrows had disappeared into his hairline.
"Jenny, take it easy." Mr. Schuester squeezed her shoulder, trying to warn her. She shrugged him off.
"The point is, Figgins, that bullying is rampant in your school and since you won't do anything to stop it, it's up to me." She shot to her feet, palms flat on his desk.
"Hey kid, you need to calm down." Bieste tried to help.
"Why are you all so indifferent to this? I thought teachers were supposed to care about what happens to their students- or do the rules not apply because the student being tormented is gay and the football team's fathers are lining your pockets with money?" She seethed, leaning over the desk. The room was silent. Finally Figgins cleared his throat.
"Miss Steele, I think we will have this conversation another time when you have calmed down. You have a three day suspension to do so." Jenny slammed her fists on the desk and started pacing the floor, the blood pounding in her ears. Principal Figgins continued. "You will wait here until your father arrives." Jenny felt like she hit a wall, hoping she heard wrong as all the blood drained from her face. She turned around.
"My father? No. I can just drive myself home. Call him and tell him to forget it." Mr. Schuester was just as alarmed.
"Principal Figgins, I will drive her home. Really, it's no big deal."
"He needs to know what's happened today. He is coming." His tone suggested the end of the conversation. Jenny sank into the couch, looking very small and scared.
People were milling around in the halls after lunch, still picking food from their hair and clothes when Figgins' office door opened. Jenny, pale as the walls, stepped into the hall with her father, who had a vice grip on her arm. Everyone watched as her father steered her out of the building, looking furious.
"Oh snap. Someone's in trouble." Santana smiled. "Totally worth it. We should be in pre-cal right now." She turned to Britney.
"I'm in pre-cal?"
"Darcy!" Kurt breathed into the phone. "It's Kurt. Have you heard from Jenny at all?" He waited for the answer, hoping it was a yes.
"No actually. She hasn't been answering her phone all night. Blaine told me what happened in the cafeteria. Do you think she might be at work?"
"Well her father picked her up so I'm guessing she probably didn't make it to work. Besides, I've been trying to reach her since school let out and she doesn't start work until eight. I haven't heard from her at all and it's after ten now.
"What? They let that dead-beat scumbag pick her up? I didn't know that!" Darcy sounded furious, something Kurt hadn't heard from him before.
"I heard he was pretty pissed too." Kurt bit his lip, pacing his bedroom.
"I'm just getting in my car. Why don't you keep trying to get in touch with her. Maybe she will answer soon." Darcy was already in his car and pulling out of his driveway.
"Wait, what are you going to do?" Kurt stopped pacing.
"I'm going over there Kurt! If she's in trouble I need to get her out of there!" Darcy sped up a little.
"Are you for real?" Kurt yelled into the phone. "This prick is not going to go down without a fight. I'm going to talk to my dad." Kurt decided.
"Alright, let me know if you hear from her."
"Fine but DON'T go over there! Come here instead!" They hung up.
Kurt ran up the stairs and into the living room where his parents were watching a movie.
"Daddy." Kurt practically cried. It made both of them turn around.
"Kurt, what is it? What's wrong?" Burt asked, pausing the movie.
"I think Jenny is in trouble. She got suspended from school today, they called him to pick her up and I haven't been able to reach her all night. I would have heard from her by now Dad." Kurt felt his eyes burning with tears. Burt was on his feet.
"I'm going to go over there." he was already putting on his boots.
"Burt be careful." Carolyn warned.
"Mr. Schuester lives in her building, he can help you. He gave the glee club his cell number, I will go phone him." Kurt ran downstairs and ripped apart his room, looking for his phone number. After minutes of searching, he finally found it and dialed it, waiting for him to pick up.
"Hey, this is Will Schuester, I can't come to the phone right now. Leave a message and I will most likely get back to you."
"Son of a-!" Kurt hung up and ran up the stairs, phone still in hand. "Dad he's not answering!"
"Then I will phone the police on the way there. If he's hurt her he won't get away with it. He kissed them both and left. Carolyn put her arms around Kurt and pulled him close.
"She's going to be okay Kurt." She kissed his forehead. Finn walked down the stairs from his attic bedroom. He stopped on the stairs when he saw how scared his mother and brother looked.
"What's going on?"
Burt called the police on the way to Jenny's apartment, and they were happy to send a squad car to meet him. In minutes, they were knocking on the door.
"Mr. Steele, it's the police. Open up!" Burt reluctantly stood behind the police, but if it meant getting Jenny out safely, he would do it. After knocking again, there was some incoherent angry rumbling inside and the door finally cracked open.
"What the hell do you want?" Jenny's father glared at the police.
"Sir,we have reason to believe that you have harmed your daughter and we need to see that she is alright." One of the men stated. He laughed in their face. Burt could smell the alcohol on his breath from behind the policemen.
"That little bitch. I don't give a shit what happens to her. She's cost me so much."
"Sir, we need to speak to your daughter." The cop stated again.
"Well you can't!" He roared, muttering some choice words about police minding their own business under his breath.
"Why can't we speak to her?"
"Because she isn't here. She left with that self-righteous teacher of hers." Burt put two and two together.
"That's Mr. Schuester, he's her Spanish teacher and glee coach. He lives in the building." He couldn't help but feel a little relieved.
"Sir, do you know where this teacher lives?"
Jenny's father glared at the police one last time before slamming the door in their face with a resounding bang. The first policeman knocked more impatiently again on the door. Burt had an idea.
"I'm going to go look at the buzzboard at the entrance! That will have his apartment number." He didn't wait for a response before he took off down the hallway and down the stairs. He wasn't about to wait for the elevator. Less then a minute later he was skidding to a halt in front of the board of tenants in the entrance. He could hear the police heading down the stairs behind him. He met them at the bottom of the stairs on his way back up.
"Found it." He stated, running back up, glad that Kurt wasn't there or he would be getting on his case for getting so worked up after his heart attack. A moment later, they were all standing in front of Mr. Schuester's door and Burt knocked.
"Just a minute" Came a faint response from behind the door. There was a little bit of scrambling behind the door and then it opened a crack to reveal a shock of curly dirty blond hair and two eyes. Mr. Schuester threw the door open.
"Burt! I'm so glad to see you! Jenny is here. I didn't know what else to do." He eyed the policemen.
"Is she okay? What happened?" Burt pushed into the room and started moving from room to room looking for Jenny. He found her in the living room; a blanket around her shoulders and a big dark bruise already blooming around her eye. He couldn't believe how small and fragile she looked.
"Jenny" he whispered, kneeling in front of her and wrapping his arms around her. "It's okay now. We are here and you are never going to go back in that apartment again."
Jenny was so glad Burt found her. There was only one face she would hope to see other than Burt's in that moment and that was her brother's.
"I'm sorry Dad. You shouldn't be this worked up. I'm okay I promise." Jenny tried to reassure him, hugging him the best she could and trying to ignore her aching body.
"Don't apologise, honey. None of this is your fault. You're father is a bully and he won't hurt you anymore." Jenny wasn't listening. She was looking over Burt's shoulder at the policemen that had Mr. Schuester cornered.
"You called the cops?" Jenny pulled out of the hug and tugged her blanket tighter around her.
"We knew something had happened to you." Burt pushed a lock of hair out of her face.
"Well tell them to leave." She stood, walking over to the window, wincing at her sudden movements. "I don't want them here. They don't do anything." Burt frowned, making his way over to her.
"Jenny, your father has been abusing you for your whole life. Those guys are going to make sure that he can't do that anymore. That's what they will do." He rubbed circles on her back.
"They didn't do anything when the neighbours called the cops when I was a kid and they won't do anything now. I'm a nobody and that's how it's going to stay. I just want to go home." She stared out the window at the street down below. There was movement at the door and more people joined the frey. Jenny turned to see what was happening and almost started to cry.
"What the hell are the paramedics doing here? I'm fine. I just want to go home." She backed herself into the corner between the wall and the window. She really didn't want to be poked and prodded. She just wanted to pretend today never happened. Her best chance of never setting eyes on her father again would be to just go live with the Hummel-Hudsons- not to let the police handle it. Her brother had tried that before and it never worked.
"Miss, we just need to check you out- make sure you have no broken bones or anything serious that needs to be taken care of." One of the paramedics was slowly moving towards her with his med-kit.
"I've had enough broken bones in my life to know if I have any. So thanks but no thanks." She snapped, folding her arms across her chest.
"Jenny just let them do their job. It won't take long." Jenny refused to answer. All she could think about was running for the door.
"Miss..." The paramedics were talking to her but she wasn't listening. She just stared out the window, tears starting to fall down her cheeks. She felt like she was falling apart at the seams and she had a whole audience to watch the show.
"Jenny..." Burt touched her elbow. "Do it for me. It will help my blood pressure go down knowing that you are being taken care of. I won't have to worry anymore." Burt threw it out there and hoped that it would work. He watched her anxiously for any signs of giving in.
Jenny knew she had to. She couldn't let Burt have another heart attack all because she didn't want to be checked out. Letting out an exhausted sob, she slid down the wall to sit on the floor as the paramedics descended, shining a penlight in her eyes and asking her questions and squeezing her arms and legs.
People all around her were talking and she couldn't process anything anymore. She felt like a sponge that couldn't hold anymore water. Her arms and legs felt like lead and her head was pounding. Suddenly there was a policemen kneeling in front of her. She could only catch bits and pieces of what he was saying and only one phrase made sense.
"Do you want to press charges?"
Jenny tried to focus her gaze on the officer, but she couldn't quite manage it. When the meaning of the question finally connected in her brain, she looked at Burt and studied his face. She knew what he wanted.
"Yes." She answered, and then closed her eyes, knowing that it was all pointless.
Burt laid her down on the couch in the living room while Carolyn brought down the Hudson "feel better blanket" and gently cocooned her in its lavender scented folds. The whole time, Jenny didn't wake up.
"Is she okay?" Kurt whispered, kneeling beside her, looking at all the bruises and cuts on her face mingled with the tear stains. He was crying himself.
"She will be." Burt eased himself into a chair and took his hat off, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand. "She will be. She just needs some time to adjust and heal the scars nobody can see." Kurt went over to his dad and hugged him. "Thank you Daddy."
Darcy edged inside the doorway, feeling like he was intruding, but needing to make sure Jenny was okay. He was so scared and frustrated when all he could do was sit there and wait for news.
"Darcy-go see her." Burt nodded to the couch. Darcy nodded his thanks and quickly moved over to her, kissing her forehead.
"Hey Jen." He whispered. "Everything is okay now. A lot of things are changing, but you've always got Kurt and his family. And... well, you are stuck with me whether you like it or not." He reached for her hand, staring into her face.
"Come on Kurt, let's go to bed. She will be okay for the night." Burt stood, rubbing Kurt's back. Kurt nodded and headed downstairs, deciding that maybe just for tonight, he would forget his nightly routine, ready to drop into bed and get this nightmare behind him. Burt stopped at the door and looked back.
"You are welcome to stay the night Darcy. I trust you." He nodded and headed up the stairs to bed.
"Thank you." Was all Darcy managed to say. It really meant a lot to him. Carolyn was already bringing in a self-inflating air mattress and bedsheets and helped him fix up his bed on the floor next to the couch.
"Thank you Mrs. Hummel. I appreciate everyone going to all this trouble." Carolyn tapped her fingers against his cheek.
"It's no trouble. If you get hungry, there is some leftovers in the fridge. You know where the bathroom is. Goodnight, sweetheart." She turned and followed Burt up to bed.
Darcy crawled into his makeshift bed on the floor, reaching his hand up to hold Jenny's hand again.
"Please be okay Jenny. I love you." He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Okay! So that is it for this chapter. I hope you all liked it. It went through a whoooole heck of a lot of revisions. It's almost nothing like the original chapter. That's part of what took me so long. Anyway thoughts? Comments? Questions? Let me know what you liked and didn't like! Thanks a million for reading!