Chapter 20

Kurt woke up the next morning to his phone ringing, and it was Blaine's ringtone. He smiled, rolled over and grabbed his phone.

"Good morning." He answered, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"There's the man I've been missing." Blaine's welcome voice soothed Kurt's nerves. "Did I wake you up? You aren't going to school today?" He asked, completely understanding if he didn't. Kurt was texting him all night to keep him in the loop last night, and also to keep himself sane.

"You did wake me up, but that was literally the best wake up call I've ever had. No, we are all staying home today. We are pretty worried about her." Kurt sat up in bed.

"I'm not." Blaine said. Kurt flared up.

"Blaine, that's just insensitive. She's been through a lot." He snapped. Blaine replied in a gentle tone.

"I know she has, babe. She's also very strong. She's used to this. You aren't. I'm worried about you, not her." He explained.

"I'm not the one who's been abused all my life." Kurt shrugged.

"No, but your best friend is, and she doesn't exactly like when people help her. That's hard on you. Especially when you have to sit there and watch her suffer through everything."

"I'm determined to change that. She's just stubborn. It'll work out. Besides, I've got ideas." Kurt smiled.

"I don't know if I like the sound of that." Blaine laughed. "What sort of ideas?" He leaned back in bed, listening to the sound of Kurt's voice.

"You know how I told you about Jenny's peace rally thing? Well, I want to help her with it, just on a much bigger scale. There will be camera crews and tshirts and a stage, musicians, it'll be amazing." He said excitedly. Blaine wondered if he was still dreaming.

"That's an awful lot of stuff. When are you planning this for?" He was hoping the answer wasn't tomorrow.

"Monday. I was thinking it would really make a statement if we waited until Monday. Which reminds me, I need you to do me some favours. You and the Warblers can head over to the all-girls school and convince them to skip and meet in the McKinley parking lot on Monday. Oh, and don't forget Dalton. If you could get some of the surrounding schools too, that would be great." Kurt made it sound like he was asking for a sandwich.

"So, just to be clear, you want me to convince entire schools to skip school on Monday and meet in the McKinley High parking lot?" Blaine summed up.

"Precisely." Kurt was happy he understood his job.

"That's a pretty tall order. Are you sure you can get all of this together?" Blaine asked, not necessarily doubting him, but definitely apprehensive.

"I know I can. I've got a little bit of power on my side." Kurt alluded. "All you have to do is get people there. The Warblers will help you. It shouldn't be a problem getting the girls from St. Mary's there. They are so guy-starved they won't even realize you are gay." Kurt teased. "Take a few phone numbers if you have to." Blaine laughed his musical laugh.

"Well since I have permission. Speaking of flirting and such, as much as I really want to hear more about this and help you with it, I think we need a date night." He uncrossed his legs and then recrossed them the other way. Kurt smiled. This is why he loved Blaine. He knew exactly what he needed.

"I agree. I could use some alone time with my boyfriend right about now." He hugged his pillow.

"That's what I was thinking. I was also thinking that there is a play tonight- a little something called Romeo and Juliet, I don't know if you've ever heard of it...anyway, I got us tickets." Blaine eyed the tickets that were pinned to his bulletin board and had been for almost a month now.

"Aww, Blaine you got us tickets to Romeo and Juliet! Thank you so much! I would love to go." Kurt felt like swooning, and then realized he could because Blaine couldn't see it and flopped over sideways in bed, a huge smile on his face.

"So, I will pick you up for, say 5:30? We can head to Breadsticks for dinner, head to the play, maybe go for a walk after?" He heard Kurt's hesitation. "Don't worry about Jenny, she's a big girl. You know she wouldn't hear of you not going. Besides, I won't let you say no." Kurt laughed.

"Okay, well if you are insisting and I don't get a choice, I simply must say yes." Kurt was already parading his mental catwalk in different wardrobe choices for the night.

"Good. I was hoping you would say that." Blaine smiled. "I really should get to class though."

"Yeah! Don't be late, slacker!" Kurt teased. Blaine laughed.

"Okay, well give Jenny a hug from me and I can't wait to see you at 5:30. I miss you."

"I miss you too." Kurt was already looking at the clock and counting down until 5:30.

"I love you."

"I love you too." They said their goodbyes and hung up. Kurt sprang out of bed as if he was walking on air and danced around his room, getting ready. "How did I get so lucky?" He asked his reflection in the mirror of his vanity. Shortly after that, he made his way upstairs, heading to the living room to check on Jenny. He paused at the doorway when he heard her voice.

"Don't put me on a pedestal. All I did was give everybody false hope. Bullies will always be around. They don't change. I did it all for Kurt. Now how do I tell him it was all a lie and that I was wrong?" She sounded frustrated.

"You weren't wrong." Darcy and Jenny turned to see Kurt in the doorway. "All of this will get better." Kurt moved to sit across from them on the air mattress.

"Kurt..." Jenny felt horrible for being the one to give him false hope.

"Jenny that jerk is in jail now. He can't hurt you anymore and now you are surounded by people who love you. That's a huge change if you ask me."

"For how long, Kurt?" Jenny shrugged her shoulders. "He will get out of jail." Darcy joined the conversation.

"And you will still be here with everyone that loves you. He can't hurt you anymore." He kissed the top of her head.

"Okay. So I won't be around him anymore, but what about McKinley? There is still Karofksy to deal with. That dumb peace rally will be forgotten by Monday." Kurt drew her into a hug.

"Jenny, you were there for me everytime I needed you. Now I will be here for you. Trust me. That peace rally is the best thing that ever happened at that school. Just like you are the best thing that ever happened to me in pre-school." He kissed her cheek tenderly.

"I'm telling Blaine." Jenny tried to smile.

"Okay well maybe don't tell him." Kurt laughed, a rather large smile lighting up his face. "He still thinks he's the apple of my eye." After a few minutes of quiet between them while Kurt was daydreaming about his date, Jenny remembered something.

"Kurt, aren't you supposed to be starting at Dalton right now? And you!" She jabbed Darcy in the chest. "You are supposed to be at school too!"

"It's Friday. I will catch up on Monday." Darcy shrugged.

"I had a family emergency." Kurt stated simply. "Besides, I think I need to stay at McKinley." He smiled. Jenny opened her mouth to argue. "Nope. I don't want to hear it!" Kurt shut her down. Burt came down the stairs, fully dressed to baseball cap.

"Oh good, you are all up. Kurt, go wake up Finn. We are going to get Jenny's stuff." Kurt jumped up to wake the gentle giant in the attic.

"Yay! I get clean clothes." Jenny slowly started getting up. "Now...where are my shoes?" Burt didn't have the heart to remind her she wasn't wearing shoes when they picked her up.

"Sweetheart, you are going to stay here and get cleaned up and rest. Kurt, Finn, Darcy and me are going to go since none of them are at school today." Darcy stood and went to get his shoes.

"But I'm fine. Really, I just want to help." She stayed standing.

"Well, we can't always get what we want. Just stay. You and Carole can have some bonding time." Burt headed out the door so that she couldn't argue anymore. Shortly after that, Finn, Kurt and Darcy trooped out the door and Carole walked down the stairs.

"How about breakfast?" Carole smiled warmly at Jenny.

"Okay, boys, I want you to keep in mind that this isn't going to be the prettiest thing to look at." Burt tried to warn them. He opened the door to Jenny's apartment door and walked in, hoping it would look better today, but it didn't. The boys stood in the doorway, horrorstruck. The living room was a pigsty, and furniture all over the apartment was knocked over or broken, glass and broken dishes littered the floor. Kurt felt like he just walked into a murder scene from a tv show. There were drops of blood all over the place. In his head, he reminded himself that Jenny had a lot of cuts, she clearly bled. He just hadn't put the two together. He wasn't expecting this. None of the boys could find their voices. Burt cleared his throat. "I didn't want you guys to have to see this, but we need to get her stuff out.

"But don't the police need it for like...evidence or something." Finn clearly felt like he was in a tv show too.

"The police are done with it. They finished last night." Burt started heading down the hallway to Jenny's bedroom and opened the door. It was a refreshing change from the rest of the house. Her bedroom was neat and tidy and nothing was broken or smashed. Burt sighed.

"Okay, Kurt, if you want, start packing up her clothes so we can get those to her right away. Finn, start stripping the bed, we are going to need the blankets to cover valuable stuff. Darcy, here's some tape." He threw a roll of tape at him. "Start taping the drawers shut so that they don't slide open when we move them." Burt brought in a box that he hauled in and started packing up what little he could find. Everyone got to work and within minutes, they were done. "Kurt, Finn, take the Mustang and my truck so that you can come back, go drop off her clothes so she can get cleaned up. Meet us back here. Darcy and I are going to try to clean up a little bit.

"I call the Mustang!" Finn and Kurt called at the same time. Silently, they battled it out with rock, paper, scissors and Kurt won. He stuck his tongue out and grabbed her keys off her dresser. They each grabbed a garbage bag of clothes and left.

"Darcy, let's get the place cleaned up a little and then we can move everything out into the living room to make it easier." Burt sounded strained. He couldn't believe how hard this was. Darcy nodded, walking out of the room and starting to right the furniture, stacking it all at one end of the room, making a large open space. Burt grabbed the broom and dustpan and started shovelling bits of broken glass and debris into garbage bags. Soon, they were able to move Jenny's things into the living room to make it easier to take them out and shortly after that, the boys were back. Kurt and Finn brought breakfast back, so Darcy and Burt hauled out one load of stuff to the truck and then sat on the tail gate to eat with Finn and Kurt. No one wanted to stay in the apartment and would rather sit in the cold air. After finishing breakfast, they all went back upstairs and finished hauling everything out. Packing, moving and hauling took less then two hours total because she had almost nothing.

Jenny stood in the middle of Kurt's room, overwhelmed by everything, even though there wasn't much added to the room. It was more the extra bed and dresser that made it look overcrowded.

"It's okay. I can figure this out." He smiled when he saw her face. She started moving things wherever Kurt told her to and before she knew it, everything seemed to fit. "There. Now all we need to do is get all your clothes hung up. Luckily I have a huge closet that I haven't filled with expensive designer clothes yet." He opened his half filled closet and pushed all his things over to once side so she had room. He pulled open a box of hangers and began rummaging in her bags.

"You know what?" Jenny asked, not waiting for an answer. "I think we need some motivation." She stated and went over to his ipod dock, searching for something and then starting to play it. It was Cabaret.

"That's perfect!" Kurt grinned, and both of them started singing along to the opening lines of Willkommen. Jenny's muscles loosened up a little in the shower and while they were hanging up clothes, they both started dancing the choreography. They got so wrapped up in Cabaret that they didn't even notice when Darcy walked down the stairs half an hour later, a half-eaten sandwich in his hand. He smiled and leaned again the wall, watching them dance and sing and occasionally hang something up. It was so nice to see Jenny smiling and laughing that he didn't dare intrude. Fifteen minutes later, Kurt turned around and suddenly stopped.

"How long were you standing there?" He laughed, not embarrassed at all, just curious.

"Oh a little bit. It was so good I thought I was watching the musical." He smirked.

"Oh ha ha." Jenny laughed sarcastically. "Nice try." She went over and leaned in as if she was going to give him a kiss and took a bite of his sandwich instead, then headed back to Kurt, laughing. Darcy laughed too.

"Actually, I came down to tell you that I should get going. My mom usually wants me home right after school on Friday's so that I can spend the weekend with them." Darcy didn't sound very enthusiastic, and Jenny couldn't blame him.

"Okay. I will walk you out." Jenny put down the shirt she was about to hang up. "I will be right back Kurt."

"No problem. Bye Darcy. Thanks for all your help today." Kurt waved. Darcy waved back.

"I wish I didn't have to go." Darcy hugged Jenny on the front steps outside the house.

"I know, but you really should." She rested her cheek against his chest. "Your family misses you."

"Well I don't know about that. I'm sure Lizzy does. Colin too. But my mom and dad not so much." Darcy said.

"I'm sure they do." Jenny tilted her head and kissed him. "I know I will miss you." He kissed her back, and before they knew it, they were making out on the steps. Darcy's phone started ringing and they broke apart.

"I think that's my cue." He smiled. She returned it. "Oh! Before I forget, you should call your brother. I know you had a lot of messages on your phone. It's on the kitchen table." He started walking to his car.

"I should, but I honestly don't know that I will." She admitted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You should. He's probably worried sick."

"He knows I can take care of myself." Jenny argued, then had to take it back. "Well...sort of."

"At least send him a text message to let him know that you are alright." Darcy tried to reason with her.

"Okay. I can probably do that. Admitting that things are wrong with me isn't exactly my strongest suit."

"I figured that one out pretty quickly actually." Darcy grinned. "Okay. I have to go." He kissed her one more time before getting in his car. "I will talk to you later." They said goodbye and he drove off. Jenny sighed, trying to get used to her new life was going to be hard. Now she had to tell her brother about it. She went back inside and grabbed her phone off the table. Darcy was right: a million missed calls and thousands of text messages. Before she had time to talk herself out of it, she dialed her brother's number, hoping he was too busy to answer.

"Hello? Jenny, are you okay?" Johnny answered on the first ring.

"Yeah it's me. I'm okay." She sat on the stairs leading down to Kurt's room.

"The police phoned me and told me that he was arrested. What did he do to you?" Johnny demanded. He sounded angry and scared out of his mind.

"I'm fine I promise. I am at Kurt's house now. They won't take no for an answer so it looks like I will be living here." She tried to make him feel better.

"Jenny why didn't you tell me it was so bad? Why did you lie to me all this time and tell me you were fine when everything has been far from fine?" He was definitely mad.

"Please don't yell at me." Jenny said quietly. She felt hot tears pricking her eyes.

"Well seriously Jennifer! You knew that all you had to do was call me and I would be home in a heartbeat!" Johnny snapped.

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you how bad it was. You got out. You needed to stay out." She began playing with the end of her braid. Downstairs, Kurt was trying desperately hard to focus on picking out his date outfit and not to listen in.

"That's bullshit Jen. I would never leave you there. So basically since the moment I stepped on that plane eight months ago, you have been lying to me and cutting me out of your life." At that, Jenny really did start crying, but tried not to let him hear it.

"I didn't cut you out. I just didn't want you to know that he was spending his entire paycheck at the liquor store and-" She bit her lip. She didn't mean to let it slip about the paychecks.

"Wait- he was using up his whole paycheck? Well what about rent money and bills? Food?" Johnny raked his fingers through his hair. Jenny was silent. "Jenny you better tell me the truth." He warned. She took a deep breath.

"I paid all the bills and bought groceries." She paused. "I got a job."

"That's an awful lot of money to be covering with a little job after school, kiddo." He was starting to jump to conclusions and it was scaring him.

"No it was more like...a full time job. I took night shifts at a restaurant." Jenny admitted. He raked his hands through his hair again.

"So what about school? Was that a lie too? Did you just stop going to school?" He asked.

"No of course not. I went to school during the day and then I went to work."

"Jenny I can't believe you. All you had to do was tell me and I could have sent you money. You know that!" He sighed. He was angry at himself for not seeing what was going on, but he was taking it out on Jenny.

"I know but I-"

"But you didn't want to let me in. Right? That's how you work. You don't let anyone get close to you. I just didn't realize that included me too." He realized what he was doing and he felt horrible for it. He was doing what his father did to her. He was making it her fault. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down, aware that she was being very quiet. "Jenny, I'm sorry." He apologized. "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself and I'm not really handling it very well." Jenny nodded, then remembered he couldn't see her. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

"Yeah I know." She wasn't sure she did know, but she knew he needed to hear that.

"Can you just tell me what happened? I know you probably don't want to talk about it but I need to know." He asked, trying to calm down and remember that she didn't doanything wrong. She told him what happened, starting with Kurt saying he was going to transfer from Dalton and going all the way to this morning. He didn't interrupt her the entire time. "God, Tink I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that alone. I should have been there for you." Johnny blamed himself.

"I didn't want you to be here for me." She felt better about it all now, realizing that he wasn't really mad at her. She could hear it in his voice. "Besides, I wasn't alone. I had Dad and Kurt and Carole and Darcy and-"

"Wait, who's Darcy? Isn't he that guy I was supposed to kill before Christmas? Don't tell me I have to load my gun now."