AN: Okay, so this chapter snuck itself in and so the Warbler confrontation will be in the next chapter; which will potentially be up tonight or early tomorrow.

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.

Ch 14: The Divas Club

In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, Kurt felt particularly overwhelmed. School was driving him insane. He had three papers due (one for French, one for Lit in Western Society, and one for AP history) and a big test at the end of the week. He was still suffering from the consequences of his failed Calc test. Coach Sylvester had been right when she said his grades were suffering. Perhaps it wasn't just the Blaine fiasco, but the day-to-day struggles with the jocks at school that had caused him to fail his Calc test last week. His dad kept looking at him like he were going to announce his dropping out of school any minute, and it made him feel so guilty. His dad shouldn't be worrying about him.

It had been one bad test. Okay, so it had been a phenomenally bad test and he'd never in his life failed a test as badly as he'd failed this. In fact, Kurt was pretty sure he'd never failed a test before. Or gotten less than an A. It should have bothered him more. But he just couldn't muster up the strength to care. He really wanted to care. It could mean the difference between getting admitted to a New York college and being forced to stay in Ohio. He couldn't focus. With Ms. Holliday having overstayed her welcome as substitute and Mr. Schue being oblivious as always, and none of his friends noticing that he was becoming more and more troubled, he had no one to really turn to. The fresh bruises he had on his back and arms were enough reminders that he was unpopular in this school, and that people might actually hate him. How was he supposed to deal with the hatred, the slurs and the abuse? And on top of that keep up with school, glee club and get prepared for the upcoming sectionals, and be expected to be perfect on top of it all. It stressed him out.

He had never felt worse than that moment he'd seen the disappointed look on his father's face when he an Carole had confronted Kurt about the test. Kurt had told them that it'd been an off week and he'd just been too busy to study very well. They both knew that this wasn't strictly true. They both knew that Kurt should have been able to do those problems in his sleep. The question they'd asked him over and over again was: why hadn't he? Kurt remained steadfast and refused to burden his father with his own problems. Burt had grounded him for two weeks. Two week of not being able to go out, see Blaine or Wes, or go to coffee with any of his friends. He had used this time to throw actually throw himself back into his studies. He needed the time anyway. He had managed to push his feelings for Blaine aside in an effort to be a good friend, but that didn't mean he had his head on straight after all. Blaine and the others had questioned his sudden disappearance off the face of the earth, and it had resulted in a panicked hour long phone call in which Kurt reassured the boy that he wasn't abandoning their friendship again and that he was just in trouble. This just added a whole other layer of guilt to his emotions.

Today was the first official repeal of his sentence, and Kurt wondered if things would sink back into the way they had been two weeks ago. Would he start having people to hang out with everyday again, or would they all have moved on without him? His question answered itself when after his last class of the day an arm reached out and snagged a hold of his shoulder.

"Eep," he squeaked, eyes darting around to his aggressor.

"Oh my God, what was that?" Mercedes giggled.

He visibly sagged, and then rolled his eyes fondly. He'd probably missed her the most in his two-week imprisonment. She was his best friend and was really very good at understanding him and being there when he needed her. When he let her of course.

He realized that she was still talking and that he hadn't heard a word.

"Kurt? Are you even listening to me?" she demanded. "Wha-"

He cut her off by throwing his arms around her and pulling her into a bear hug.

He could actually feel her confusion, but it didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight.

"Missed you too, boo."

Yeah, she got him. They were like psychically linked or something.

"Anyway," she said, gently extracting herself from his grip, "a few of us are going over to the Lima Bean for coffee. You coming? I thought we could use it as a chance to celebrate your freedom."

He smiled for the first time in what felt like ages, and really felt it as the warmth spread and tingled all the way down to his toes.

"Yeah, sounds great."

At the Lima Bean he was pleasantly surprised to see Rachel, Santana and Sam waiting for them. He had secretly named this grouping of people (including himself and Mercedes) the Divas Club because of how awful and dramatic they could be. Sam was actually really sweet and goofy and, as everyone knew, if he were gay Kurt would so go for him. But alas, he wasn't. But he was still a pretty great guy. Kurt wouldn't necessarily classify him as a Diva either, but he had just sort of started hanging out with them when the group had unintentionally formed, not to mention they had discovered he could be pretty catty when he wanted to. So he was an honorary Diva.

"Kurt!" Rachel exclaimed excitedly, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"You act like you haven't seen him in weeks man-hands," Santana said, looking bored.

Kurt rolled his eyes as Rachel glared daggers at her. The one thing about getting together as a group was that drama and arguments were mostly unavoidable.

"Now, now children. No fighting," he teased, taking a seat.

Santana flipped him off, and Kurt felt like he might never stop smiling.

"So," he said conversationally, sipping at his non-fat mocha, "how is everyone?"

"Well, we were just discussing the potential for a group number for glee club…"

"Let's get one thing straight Berry- I will never do a number with you. And secondly, it was you who was discussing a group number."

Rachel twitched and glared murderously.

Ahhh it was just like coming home.

"So Sam, I hear you and Quinn are no longer on the outs?" he asked with a smile in the boy's direction.

They had all heard about the Beiste thing and the cooling off thing.

Sam blushed as the girls around them giggled.

"You tapped that yet, fish lips?"

So he hadn't missed Santana's introduction to Trouty Mouth. Awesome.

"Santana! I don't see how that is any of your business."

"Whatever Rachel, spill Sam!" Mercedes said eagerly, leaning forward.

Rachel huffed again, but smiled when she noticed he was looking at her. He winked and took another sip of coffee.

"So what about you and that Blaine guy?" Sam's diversionary tactic made him sputter and look around with wide eyes.

They were all staring at him expectantly.

"What about him? You all know that he's not interested in me. I told you that. I think after the serenading-the-barista incident, this is pretty clear. He's just a guy I grew up with."

Mercedes gave him that look.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said with a shrug.

"Please, Porcelain, we all know that you're fawning over that boy like a cat in heat." Santana commented, without looking at him.

There was another eruption of giggles and he sighed.

Sam gave him a sympathetic look. He ignored them. They wouldn't get anything more out of him.

Up next: There actually will be an awkward Lima Bean situation and a Warbler confrontation in this one. :) Promise.