A/N: Thanks to SameHere for the amazing help and confidence boosts that she has given me. To those of you who had no nice words to say, don't say them at all because they're just pointless. You don't like something; don't read it. It's not going to make me stop writing it.

Chapter 3

Blaine looks out at his class wondering what's going through their heads. He can tell they are mostly bored. It was his first lesson as a teacher and he had planned to make it full of excitement, he wanted his students to like him but most of all he wanted them to take something away from his lessons. Instead of doing the quizzes and group readings that he had planned, Blaine gave the class a questionnaire on what they would be reading, and assigned them the first couple of chapters. It wasn't what he wanted to do, but his mind was so full of Kurt that he couldn't concentrate on anything else.

Sitting behind his desk, Blaine pulled his laptop towards him and logged onto the school network. Not giving a thought to what he was doing being a breach of confidentiality. He wanted to know more about Kurt so that he could help him. It didn't take long for him to find the right file; there weren't many Kurts at the school.

He opened it up and rest his head on his hands, leaning against it as his eyes scanned the pages. Kurt had been through so much for someone who would be sixteen in just over a week. His mother had passed away when he was nine; young enough to not have spent a lot of time with her, but old enough to know that he would never see her again. To Blaine's surprise there were mentions of social service reports, he bit his lip as he opened it, scared of what he would read. The first report was from when Kurt was twelve, he had passed out at school as he was undernourished and the hospital was concerned about how he was being looked after at home. Thankfully there were no more reports about Kurt being hospitalised, but Blaine knew just from seeing him that he was still not eating enough; he was just skin and bone. The school had put in one report about Kurt's welfare and that was because one teacher was worried about his social skills. Blaine wondered what had happened next because there was no followup report. Blaine skimmed down to Kurt's grades and he smiled softly when he saw that the only grade that was near a passing one was English. Blaine's lesson. It wasn't the best, but the C+ was a leap better than the D- Kurt was making in every other lesson. Blaine hoped that he could use that to his advantage. If Kurt liked English, then maybe they could build a bond based on that. Scanning through more of the reports Blaine noticed a lot of mentions on bullying, but other than giving the bullies a couple of weeks detention there was nothing else there. Blaine shook his head, bullying was something he was all too familiar with and he hoped he could help put a stop to it here. Closing down his laptop feeling a little more confident that he had an understanding of what Kurt was going through and a small idea on how he could help him, Blaine told his class to stop reading and tried to salvage the remaining half an hour of his class by doing something more productive.

Kurt wanders around the school aimlessly, his feet kicking at the floor as he turns the quiet corners. Everyone else is in class but he can't face it. He doesn't know what he's doing, everything is so quiet it makes his thoughts feel like they are screaming at him. His chest aches. He took a sneak peak at the new mark that covered his skin, an angry red patch that would soon start to blistering right over his heart. Kurt knew if the new teacher hadn't soothed it straight away then it would be a lot worse than it is now. He thinks about the new teacher with a confused sigh. Why had he been so nice to him? He couldn't remember the last time someone had touched him with such kindness. Maybe his mom before she died, but those memories became foggier by the day. He couldn't remember his dad's touch ever being comforting. His father's heart had turned cold when they buried Elizabeth.

Kurt's aching muscles were the only sign that told him how long he had been walking around. He knew he couldn't afford to miss any more lessons, he was already falling behind as it was. "It doesn't matter how many classes you go to. You're just stupid." Kurt groaned. The voice that teased him had awakened.

"I'm not stupid." Kurt said defiantly. His teachers acted like he was, they ignored him when he looked confused in the lessons and never offered any additional help. Not that Kurt ever asked for it.

"You are." The voice sneered. Kurt shook his head harshly, as if to push it away.

"Stop being mean to me!" Kurt sighed. "I thought you were my friend." Kurt was glad there was no one walking past him. He was talking loudly, it always felt better when he didn't hide it.

"I'm not being mean Kurty. I'm your friend." The voice softened, it was gentle now. Kurt smiled and nodded. "You like that we are friends don't you?"

"Yeah. You're my only friend." Kurt admitted, it hurt to say it out loud but he knew that it was the truth.

"I'm always going to be your only friend." It was filled with such conviction that it sent chills down Kurt's back. He didn't want it to be his only friend, but he knew it would be. "Who else would want to be friends with you?"

Kurt didn't say anything back, his head and body ached and he made the slow walk back to his class. He had English. He liked English, especially when they could read stories, he enjoyed getting lost in books. He could find another world that he could fall in and lose himself to mythical creatures and happy ever afters. That's all Kurt wanted. A happy ending.

The bell rang as he approached and students bustled loudly rushing from one class room to the other, the last class of the day. Kurt was one of the first at the door and he walked in slowly, head down like always. He didn't notice the sweet honey eyes following him to his seat.

"Hey Kurt." Blaine said gently, he didn't want to scare away the younger boy. Not after what had happened earlier between them. Kurt gasped at the familiar voice and his eyes shot up to his and he sucked his lip.

"Hi." He whispered back quietly, not wanting to be rude.

"How's your chest?" Kurt was shocked that his teacher had remembered. Surely something more eventful then him had happened during the day.

"Hurts." Kurt answered honestly, when he saw the pained look in his teacher's eyes he felt bad for admitting it, so he quickly added; "but it feels a lot better."

Mr. Anderson nodded grimly, he hated that he had hurt him and he hated that Kurt was lying about how much it hurt. "We're starting a new book today. Of Mice and Men have you read it?"

Kurt shook his head. "No but I've always wanted to." Kurt said picking at the corners of his notebook.

"Well, now's your chance." Blaine grinned at him, pleased when he received a small smile in return.

Kurt smiled up at Blaine, it felt natural and easy and Kurt didn't really understand it, but he didn't want to question it. As more students made their way into the class, Blaine moved away from the table where Kurt sat and took his place at the front of the room. He introduced himself, very much aware of a few of the girls whispering about him. He rolled his eyes at the attention and spoke about what he was going to teach them this term, pleased that he only heard a few groans in response.

Throughout the lesson Blaine was drawn to Kurt, he noticed how he sat on his own, he kept his head down but Blaine could tell that he was focused on what was being taught.

"He keeps watching you." The voice started again. Kurt groaned quietly, he was getting so into the book and the characters he didn't want to be disturbed.

"Stop it. I'm reading." Kurt mumbled quietly rubbing his head.

"He's watching you to make sure you don't break down. He knows what a mess you are." The tone of the voice wasn't hard or soft, it was as though he was simply stating a fact. A fact Kurt believed.

"He's not." Kurt tried to argue, but he knew it was of no use. "He's a nice person."

"No one's nice to you." He was reminded.

"Hummel's talking to the ghosts again!" The jocks at the table beside him laughed loudly, causing everyone to turn around and laugh too. They all knew what a freak he was. "Keep your crazy to yourself. Freak."

"That's enough!" Blaine shouted surprising them all. "I will not have comments like that being said in my class!" Blaine moved over to their table and grabbed their books to find out their names. "You will have two weeks of detention, which means you will both miss the first game of the season." Along with the rest of the class Kurt groaned at that. He knew the revenge for making them miss the game would be torture for him.

"What! You can't do that!" The jock shouted, his pale face going red with anger.

"I can and I have." Blaine said, his voice a dark growl. "Now go to Figgins' office. I don't want you in this class." Blaine thrust the detention slips in their hands and watched as they moved around the tables loudly, kicking the chairs in to express their anger. Blaine did his best to ignore it, but it was written in his eyes how much this had gotten to him.

Once the two jocks were out of the room, Blaine looked over at Kurt who had slid low in his chair, trying to hide from the world and everyone in it. "I will not have any students treat anyone like that in this class." Blaine said making his voice soft. "Now, let's get back to reading. Hopefully you will all see the meaning of friendship and compassion in the text."

Blaine sat back at his desk and listened to one of the students read the book, he was hoping all the other students were following along though he knew he wasn't. All he could focus on was Kurt and how terrified he looked. Blaine chewed his lip hoping he hasn't made it worse for him.