Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.

Drop a review because shit's about to go down in this chapter. Enjoy! (Hehehehe.) ;)

A month had gone by and November had almost over. Time itself seemed to be flying by and there was something in the midst.

"My mom is marrying Kurt's dad."

Rachel looked up from her lyric sheet. The group's chatter died down and Rachel blinked.

"What?"

"My mom's getting married to Kurt's dad," Finn said.

"No, I heard you the first time-but wow. That's... That's great, isn't it?"

Finn shrugged. "I guess... I mean, I'm not too sure how to handle all of it. This is a pretty big deal."

"What's there to handle? Your mom is finally happy again, isn't that what you wanted?" Tina asked. Mercedes and the rest of the girls agreed in collective murmurs.

"Yeah-but having a new dad and a new brother-Kurt, of all people-it's all kind of sudden. They just started dating."

"They've been dating for the past four months, Finn. They're not kids, they're adults who know how they feel and they know they'll be happy together," Rachel added.

"I guess."

"I like coming in here," Sam said, looking up at the planetary system. He was holding Anne's hand.

"You've always liked astronomy?" she questioned. "I always pegged you for the tortured and soulful musical artist."

Sam chuckled, letting go of her hand. "The planets are permanent-they don't have to worry about tomorrow the way humans do. They just...Are. They make their revolutions and don't give two cents about how it's done."

Anne bit her lip. "Is that why you wanted to come in here? To take all philosophical-like?"

He shook his head. "No, that's not why." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. Velvet box. A velvet ring box to be exact.

Anne's eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

Sam kneeled down and she shook her head.

"Oh my god, are you proposing? Put that away, Sam-we've only been dating a month!"

He smiled at how her eyes widened and her tiny frame vibrated as she started freaking out. He adored the little things she did. That's why she was so important to him-it wasn't just her looks that he liked. It was her entire being.

"I love you, and I want to marry you-someday," he explained. "Until then, can you accept this promise?"

"What?"

"If you accept this ring, it'll symbolize that I will be true to you-that I'll never pressure you into doing anything more than just kissing. To listen to your rants or tell you if you have food in your teeth. Or eye gunk in your eye. I want you to be proud of me."

She gulped. "This is too soon..."

"I love you, Annie."

Anne bit her lip again, her eyes watering. She liked Sam, she really did. But promising a lifetime together was too soon. She, like many girls, needed time to decipher everything. Every word. Every kiss. Every caress. Everything.

Her small, delicate hand trembled slightly as she closed the ring box. She looked away, unable to face Sam's disappointed face.

"Is that a no?" he asked, hurt.

She took a sharp breath and placed her hands on his shoulders, bending down just enough to kiss him. She felt him automatically respond to her action and after a few seconds, she pulled away.

"That's a maybe."

"Ladies, the Kurt-Karofsky bullying situation is getting out of control," Rachel said, hands on her hips. "Kurt's miserable. He's losing weight and not in a good way, and he's barely fighting me for solos anymore."

"We've all been teased but something that Karofsky's doing is so much worse," Tina said.

Rachel nodded in agreement. "You all have boyfriends on the football team. I say we get them to band together and confront Karofsky."

Quinn cleared her throat. "I think you're going about this the wrong way-he's not going to listen to anything we, or our boyfriends, say. He's Karofsky. He's a bully."

"Guys like him only respond to muscle."

"So, we're going to fight violence with more violence?" Quinn asked. She gave Rachel a disapproving look.

"I'm not saying that we should hit him-I'm saying that we need to defend Kurt and there's strength in numbers."

"I'm confused," Tina said. "Are you and Artie officially dating now?"

"Deal with it," Brittany said softly.

"Okay, you said that us and our boyfriends needed to do something, right?" Quinn asked again. "Well, Puck can't get into a fight if that's where this is going. He's already on probation and Beth gets fussy when he's not there."

"Look, you guys. If something bad happens to Kurt and we don't do anything to stop it, we'll never be able to live with ourselves."

"But why?" Rachel pleaded to Finn as they walked down the hallway.

"Look, Karofsky plays Right Guard, okay? If he gets pissed at me, I'm going to get sacked more times than Jay Cutler. Which means we're going to lose. Which means Beiste will make Sam Quarterback."

"Is being quarterback really more important than standing up for your future step-brother?" Rachel questioned.

"We both know I'll be helping him out more if I stay on top. Kurt's going to be fine," Finn said. "Rachel, I'm sorry. I want to but I can't."

Rachel nodded, looking down. "I have never been more disappointed in you, Finn."

"Can we talk?" Sam asked softly.

Anne looked up at him. "Depends, are you going to spring something else on me like your promise proposal?"

He shook his head. "No, I want to talk about why you refused."

She sighed. "It wasn't because I don't care about you-I do. But if you haven't noticed, Sam... I have trouble trusting people."

"Because of him, isn't it?"

Anne looked down and bit the inside of her cheek. "Yes, because of him."

"He was one boy, an idiot for dropping you like that," he took her hands. "But I'm glad he did-"

She began to protest but he shushed her.

"Hear me out. I'm glad he did because if he hadn't, you and I wouldn't be together right now."

She blinked. "I just, I don't know. I didn't have the greatest high school experience at my old school. Here... Everything is different; new. The fact that you even like me enough to promise me something to serious is beyond me."

"He was an idiot, Annie. I'm going to do everything I can to make you happy, that's a fact. So please, can you believe me when I say that I love you? And can you consider what I asked you?"

Anne looked away for a moment. Then, blinking away her tears, she nodded.

Finn stared into the mirror, tie in his hand and a lost look plastered on his face.

"Need some help?" Santana asked.

"Guess I don't know how to tie a tie," Finn joked.

Santana rolled her eyes, "Sit down Frankenteen."

Finn did as he was told. He was actually sort of enjoying the close proximity that Santana was in. She smelled nice.

"Guess you should know that you're losing it," she stated. "Sam is clearly the new glee favorite."

"What's your point?" Finn said, annoyed.

"My point is that you need a coolness injection."

Finn waited.

"If you had told people that we did it last year then you would go from uncool to Chilly Willy in a heartbeat."

"Maybe, but I can't do that now," he said.

"Why?" Santana challenged. "Why not?"

Finn remained silent and her eyes widened in realization.

"Oh my god, you love her. You're not over the midget."

"Don't talk about her like that, Santana. Yes-I still love her. I'm not over her. It doesn't mean anything, she's with that Jesse kid."

Santana smirked. "He's not here, Finn. You are. You have a clean shot at getting her, you know. She's Rachel. She doesn't need much convincing when it comes to boys. Trust me, she'd probably take you back in a heartbeat."

"Why now?" Finn asked. "Why are you telling me this now?"

Santana bent down until she was level with him. "Because if you started dating her then maybe you'd realize how great I was and come back to me."

"What are you guys talking about?" Rachel's voice came from the doorway and both parties stood up.

"Nothing, I was just leaving," Santana said, crossing her arms and walking out.

Rachel walked in slowly, her smile plastered on her face. "They're almost ready-they sent me to get you."

When she noticed that he was too quiet, her smile fell.

"What's wrong? What is it?"

Finn stepped a bit closer and Rachel's instinct was to back away. She didn't like the dreamy look he had on his face.

"I just... Really love you," he said softly. Rachel's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to respond but suddenly she felt his hands on her arms and they were pulling her in.

She felt Finn's lips on hers and, if this had been many months ago, she would have rejoiced in the fact that Finn Hudson was kissing her. But this was now, and she was happy with Jesse. Rachel didn't want this kiss-this kiss felt wrong and she squirmed incessantly until he stopped kissing her.

He looked about as shocked as she was. "I'm sorry, Rachel."

Her mouth was open wide even as he hastily left the room. Even if she hadn't initiated it or continued it, the kiss made her feel... Weird. Wrong. Like her conscience was a white cloth that had been thrown in the mud. Dirty. She suddenly felt dirty and so, so guilty for something she hadn't even thought about doing. Something she didn't want.

It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do

Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you

Is it the look in your eyes or is it this dancing juice?

Who cares baby, I think I wanna marry you

Rachel made sure her poker face was on completely as she jumped into Finn's arms for the choreography. The last thing she wanted to do was sing this song and dance with him. She didn't feel friendly at the moment, she felt unsafe. Like she wasn't in control of the situation.

Well, I know this little chapel on the boulevard

We can go, whoa, whoa

No one will no, whoa

Oh, come on, girl

Sam and Anne danced in, their bodies coyly avoiding each other and in sync with the beat of the music. Anne couldn't help but smile. Earlier, it wasn't because she didn't love Sam, it was because she felt as if they hadn't been ready-that they still weren't ready quite yet to even make such a promise. She just wanted to ride it out.

He wanted to keep her close. He did love her-he does. And he knows they're young and still have a lot to live but he has never been so sure of anything in his entire life.

Who cares if we're trashed

Got a pocket full of cash

We can blow, whoa, whoa

Shots of Patron, whoa, whoa

And it's on, girl

Puck grabbed Quinn's waist firmly and twirled her around. She seemed to be enjoying herself-even if she had insisted she didn't like weddings anymore, claiming the union ceremony was a load of BS. Maybe it was the whiskey he'd drank before coming out here but the back of his brain thought of the idea of asking Quinn to be his in a more permanent way.

What would be the harm in asking? They'd already skipped two steps when it came to Beth.

Don't say no, no, no, no, no

Just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

And we'll go, go, go, go, go

If you're ready like I'm ready

'Cause it's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do

Who cares baby, I think I wanna marry you...

Sam sighed, looking at his slowly-fading black eye. It seemed that standing up to Karofsky for Kurt really did take a toll on his face.

His locker shut and he pulled back in surprise.

"Hey," he said.

Anne held up a cream. "Arnica. Twice a day. It'll help your bruise." She handed him the cream and smiled.

"Thanks," he said, putting it in his pocket.

She tucked some loose brown hair behind her ear, her feet rocking back and forth slightly. "I've been thinking about what you asked me a couple of days ago."

"Oh?"

She nodded, reaching forward and holding his hand. "I love you, too."

Sam smiled small. "Is that all you wanted to say?"

"No-I wanted to tell you that even though my reasonable side is telling me that we're too young and it's too early to commit to this relationship so wholeheartedly, my answer is yes."

His small smile grew. "Yes?" He squeezed her hand before pulling her in and hugging her. He buried his face into the crook of her neck, laughing joyously.

"Yes, I'm saying yes to your promise," she said happily. For the first time in a long time, she felt happy. She wasn't worrying about whether Sam would stop talking to her, she knew that he was different than the other boy that had dropped her like a rag doll.

Sam pulled the ring out of his other pocket and his face had such an ecstatic expression as he slid the ring onto her right ring finger. After doing so, he kissed her fully on the mouth, whispering, "I love you."

"Mr. Schuester, can I say something?" Kurt asked, clutching his bag.

"Sure," Mr. Schuester said, motioning forward.

Kurt cleared his throat. "First I wanted to thank everyone for what you did at my dad's wedding. Especially Finn. It's nice to know that I have great friends here as well as a true brother," he looked at Finn.

"Which is why it's so hard for me to leave."

Silence.

"What do you mean, 'leave'?" Quinn asked.

"I'm transferring to Dalton Academy, effective immediately. Karofsky comes back tomorrow, unpunished and on the loose and I no longer feel safe."

"Kurt," Rachel said. "You can't just go..."

Finn stood up harshly. "What the hell dude...How about you talk with me about this first?"

Kurt shook his head. "I'm sorry but there's nothing left to talk about."

"Wait-" Rachel said. "Does this mean you're going to be competing against us at Sectionals?"

All eyes fell to Kurt and there was no noise. He didn't say anything either, which only seemed to confirm Rachel's inquiry.

"Kurt," Mercedes said, hurt. She stood up and he began to back away.

"I'm sorry, I can't... I have to go."

Beware, the next chapter is going to get more dramatic. In fact, bring tissues because it'll break your hearts (I am evil. Mwuahahahaha!)

-Fanatic4Fiction