Wow, this is a stressful episode for Kurt. Poor guy! If only he had won the election... who knows what would've been different! But this isn't an AU, so...
(I do not own Glee or any of the characters, dialogue, or songs from the show. It's all just for fun!)
KURT
"How's the concession speech going?" Jacob Ben Israel suddenly appeared beside Kurt at his locker on Monday morning. "Can I print an early copy on my blog?"
Kurt was already unbearably annoyed with the whole election process, and the actual voting wasn't for another few days.
"Who says I'm ready to concede?" Kurt countered. "I'm leading that hockey-playing kid by ten percent!"
"Well, that's mostly because he's in a medically induced coma after being brutally checked in a game last week," Jacob explained. "Also, you're trailing Brittany by seventeen points. If this was a horse race, you'd be glue."
"The glue that keeps this school together when he gets elected president," Rachel suddenly piped up from behind Kurt.
"Oh my god, it's Brittany," Jacob said, noticing the Cheerio over Rachel's shoulder. "Madame President!"
As he rushed away, Kurt wondered why he had ever decided to run in the first place. It was just a stupid popularity contest, and the only time he had ever won one of those at this school he had been utterly humiliated.
"Don't worry about it okay?" Rachel encouraged. "We still have the rest of the day to change the minds of the voters."
"What's the point?" Kurt asked. "I'm gonna lose unless I pull a JFK."
"You're gonna shoot Brittany?" Rachel gasped.
"No," Kurt replied, wondering how Rachel had ever managed to pass a history class, "No, when Kennedy ran against Nixon in 1960, he had all his mob buddies in Chicago stuff the ballot boxes so that he would win Illinois. It won him the Presidency."
"Wait, no!" Rachel chided. "No, I can't let you do this, okay? Come on, can't we just do, like, a great duet in the cafeteria or the library to just drum up some support?"
"I have Kennedy's impeccable hairline," Kurt said.
"I know," Rachel agreed.
"Why can't I have his 'ends justify the means' mentality?" Kurt wondered. "If I lose and my resume remains blank, I'm not gonna get into NYADA. And I can't accept that."
He had no idea what he would do if he didn't get into NYADA. He didn't want to have to think about what he would do if he didn't get into NYADA.
"You're seriously considering cheating?" Rachel asked.
"What choice do I have?" Kurt replied.
As he turned and walked away, Kurt knew he was being ridiculous. He couldn't cheat. He wished that he didn't care so much about doing the right thing. He had spent his entire morning skincare routine imagining the best ways to stuff the ballot boxes without being detected, dreaming of a version of himself who didn't care about laws or morals or anything but getting what he wanted.
Lost in his daydreams of winning the election by any means necessary, he walked right by Blaine in the hallway and didn't even notice.
"Bad day?" Blaine's voice asked from behind him as the other boy spun around to walk behind him.
Kurt thought about the day Blaine had transferred to McKinley, and he felt a little better. Having Blaine around always made him feel more optimistic, as if he absorbed some of Blaine's eternal positivity just by being in his presence.
"Can it be a bad day when school hasn't even started yet?" Kurt whined.
"Stop it," Blaine demanded taking a few quick steps so he finally appeared in Kurt's peripheral vision. "Kurt, hey..." he put a hand on Kurt's forearm, encouraging him to stop walking.
"I'm gonna lose," Kurt explained.
"You don't know that," Blaine replied.
"Does it ever get tiring seeing the world as a perpetually beautiful place?" Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Not when I'm around you," Blaine replied sweetly, and Kurt mentally slapped himself for allowing a smile to turn up the corners of his mouth at Blaine's encouragement.
Blaine beamed up at him, but then his face grew more serious.
"You never know what's right around the corner, Kurt," he said. "One day nothing is going your way..."
"... and the next day I'm passing you on the staircase at Dalton," Kurt acquiesced. "Point taken. I know. I'm just panicking."
"I know," Blaine winked at him.
"Shut up," Kurt mumbled.
The warning bell rang, and Blaine turned to walk away to his first class.
"Hey," Kurt stopped him. "Um... my dad's going to be gone overnight doing some last-minute campaigning and Carole's working late, so..."
"Finn and Rachel?" Blaine inquired innocently.
"We'll think of something," Kurt said.
Blaine smiled and crinkled his nose approvingly. "See you after school, then."
BLAINE
Over dinner that night, Finn made a comment about Santana and suddenly he and Kurt were arguing.
"I'm just trying to help, okay?" Finn snapped.
"Yeah, well, good job with that," Kurt retorted.
"Boys, boys, please," Rachel said calmly. "Let's not fight."
Blaine reached out to grasp Kurt's hand under the table, hoping to calm him down. "What's important here is Santana," he said gently. "This isn't going to be easy for her, and we need to make it clear that we're there for her."
"I have an idea," Finn said.
"No," Kurt replied.
Blaine elbowed him in the ribs, and Kurt rolled his eyes but motioned for Finn to continue.
"We should sing girl songs all week," Finn said eagerly. "You know, to show her that liking girls is cool."
"That doesn't make any sense," Kurt said.
Rachel was silent.
"Look, I'm all for singing songs meant for female voices..." Blaine hesitated.
"What he's trying to say it that it's completely patronizing," Kurt interrupted.
"Kurt..." Rachel said, glancing to Blaine for help.
"Whatever," Kurt said briskly. "I don't care what you do."
He released Blaine's hand and stood up, and Blaine hurried after him, mouthing "sorry" to Rachel as they left the room.
"What's going on?" he asked as they reached Kurt's room. "Hey, Kurt... hey, look at me!"
"Do you know me at all?" Kurt snapped, turning around and recoiling his arm as Blaine reached for him.
The harsh accusation hurt Blaine more than if Kurt had turned and physically smacked him across the face. He didn't realize that he was backing up until Kurt took a few quick strides forward and grabbed his shoulders.
"I'm sorry," Kurt gasped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Nobody else knows me like you do, Blaine. I'm so sorry."
Blaine nodded. "It's okay," he said, glad that his voice sounded reasonably stable.
"It's not okay," Kurt replied, still holding Blaine's shoulders. "What is wrong with me lately? All I can think about is how much I need to get into NYADA and how much I wish that Finn had stuck up for me like this a year ago and..." he trailed off and Blaine suddenly realized why Kurt was so upset with Finn. It wasn't just the morally questionable act of outing Santana without her permission. It was that Finn was so keen to make sure that everyone supported and protected Santana. Which he hadn't done the year before when Kurt had been tormented and chased out of school for his sexuality.
"Kurt," Blaine led them over to the bed so they could sit down, "I didn't even..."
"It's stupid," Kurt interrupted. "I know it's stupid. I'm just overreacting because I'm so stressed about the election and everything else."
"You're wrong," Blaine argued. "You were emotionally abused and physically assaulted, and nobody ever organized support quite like this. You have every right to feel upset."
Kurt was silent.
"You should talk to him," Blaine encouraged gently.
Kurt shook his head. "No," he said. "I don't think so. What he wants to do for Santana, despite the epic flaws in his logic and the fact that all of this is only happening because he's too careless to keep his mouth shut, is the right thing to do. I'm not interested in whining about the past."
"It's up to you, of course," Blaine allowed.
They looked at each other for a long moment before Kurt sucked in a huge breath and closed his eyes in an attempt to relax.
"Here," Blaine climbed onto the bed to sit on his knees behind Kurt and massage his shoulders.
"You are the best boyfriend in the history of the world," Kurt breathed as Blaine's hands rubbed over his shoulders and the back of his neck.
"I doubt that," Blaine smiled, "but thanks."
"I'm really sorry about before," Kurt said. "Snapping at you like that."
"It's truly okay," Blaine said. "I should've–"
"No," Kurt said suddenly, twisting around to look at Blaine. "It's not your job to take care of me all the time."
"I want to," Blaine admitted.
To his surprise, Kurt scrambled onto the bed and grabbed his yellow cardigan to yank him forward for a rough kiss.
"What about," Blaine gasped when Kurt released him for a breath, "Finn and Rachel?"
"They can leave if they want to," Kurt replied, shoving Blaine over onto his back. "I'm done talking."
KURT
Despite his reservations about the whole idea of singing "girl songs" to make Santana feel better, the next morning over breakfast Kurt had insisted that he and Blaine be allowed to sing to her first. If this was going to be a patronizing exercise, he wanted to start with a song that also had meaning regardless of gender or sexuality.
He and Blaine had discussed it at length via text message after Blaine had gone home for the night, finally deciding on the ideal song to express how they hoped Santana would eventually feel about herself.
"Santana," Blaine said, "Kurt and I have a song we like to sing to each other in the car and we want to sing that for you right now."
"While there's nothing I'd love more than having two pretty ponies serenade me," Santana retorted, "I think we'd get further staging a 'gelervention' for Blaine than singing lady music."
Kurt hated that Santana always turned her discomfort into insults, but he knew this wasn't the time to reprimand her for making fun of Blaine.
"I know it's hard," he said instead. "It was hard for me too. But you can get through this."
"If you'd stop being so defensive," Blaine added.
"I'm trying, but your hideous bowties are provoking me," Santana replied.
Kurt hoped that, maybe, somewhere inside they were actually getting through to her. Because he hated the idea that Santana was going to spend her entire life being this hateful every time someone tried to show her some love.
"Wait, are we talking lady-on-lady or girl-on-girl?" Puck suddenly said. "Because there's a big difference."
BLAINE
"Made a wrong turn once or twice. Dug my way out, blood and fire. Bad decisions, that's alright. Welcome to my silly life."
As Kurt started the song, Blaine moved to lean on the piano and thought about how they had started singing this song to each other one day over the summer...
"... and I don't see what the big problem is, anyway! I mean, god, if women walk by holding hands it's 'oh, they must be best friends, how adorable'... but two men? We're all going straight to hell!"
Kurt paused and turned to look at Blaine as he put on his seat belt.
"Aren't you angry about this?" he asked.
Blaine sighed. "Embarrassed more than angry," he confessed.
It was always a cycle, Blaine thought. They would be really careful with their public displays of affection for a while, but their desire to hold hands or link arms as they walked would eventually win out. They would get too comfortable. And then someone would make a comment or gave them a severely unkind glance, and the cycle would start over again.
This had been a particularly unpleasant end to the cycle. They had spent the afternoon shopping at the mall, and as they were leaving Kurt had reached out and interlaced his fingers with Blaine's.
As they had passed a bench full of teenagers on their way to the door, one of them had stuck his foot out and tripped Blaine.
With one of his hands trapped in Kurt's hand and the other carrying two shopping bags, Blaine couldn't catch himself, and he had fallen ungracefully to the ground, pulling a surprised Kurt down on top of him.
"Whoops," one of the boys on the bench had said. "Too bad your hands weren't free."
Kurt, as always, had tried his very best to ignore them. He had quickly climbed to his feet and helped Blaine up, pausing only to cast a brief glare in the direction of the boys on the bench before grabbing Blaine's hand defiantly and leading him away.
Now, sitting in the car, Blaine's knee had started to hurt where he had landed on it, but he knew better than to mention it to the other boy.
"Ugh," Kurt exhaled. "I'm so sick of this stupid place."
They fell into silence as Blaine started the car and began the drive back to Kurt's house, but Blaine could tell that Kurt was still incredibly upset. He tried to think of something he could say or do to remind Kurt of how perfect he was.
Oh.
"Made a wrong turn, once or twice," Blaine started to sing.
He could almost feel Kurt's shock from beside him. "No," Kurt turned to shake his head rapidly. "No, no, no..."
"Dug my way out, blood and fire," Blaine continued, ignoring him. "Bad decisions, that's alright. Welcome to my silly life."
He paused, and as they stopped at a red light he turned to look at Kurt.
"No," Kurt pouted.
"Kurt," Blaine said, "you're the one who always says 'sing everything you feel', so we are not getting out of this car until you sing this song with me."
He could tell that he was breaking Kurt's resolve because Kurt turned his head away to look out the side window to hide his face.
The light turned green, and Blaine continued driving. And waited.
"Fine," Kurt gave in.
"Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood. Miss 'no way, it's all good'. It's didn't slow me down," Kurt sang. "Mistaken, always second guessing. Underestimated. Look, I'm still around..."
He paused and Blaine knew Kurt had turned to look at him so he picked up the song.
"Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel like you're less than, less than perfect. Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel like you're nothing. You are perfect to me."
He glanced at Kurt again, and this time Kurt was smiling.
"You are a dork," Kurt said, "but I love you."
It had become a thing for them after that. At first it was just a matter of finding the song on one of their iPods and singing along, but eventually they had started adapting it so that they could sing it properly without the music. By the time school had started, they had perfected their arrangement.
"...you are perfect to me."
As they finished the song, Blaine grabbed Kurt's shoulders and squeezed him happily. It was the first time they had ever performed the song for an audience, and Blaine thought it had gone wonderfully. Santana was smiling, and he hoped that the song had lifted her spirits in the way that it always lifted his and Kurt's.
"Thank you guys," Santana said. "Thank you Finn, especially," she added turning to look at the tall boy.
Blaine felt a twinge of annoyance as he remembered that this had been inspired by Finn's lesson plan for the week, but he told his mind to get over it.
"You know, with all the horrible crap I've been through in my life..." Santana continued turning back to look at Kurt and Blaine, "now I get to add that."
She clapped her hands sarcastically, and Blaine felt sad for her. He knew there was a sweet girl behind Santana's hard exterior, and he hated that she wouldn't show that person to them very often.
KURT
"God, I feel like a lamb waiting in line to be slaughtered," Kurt whined as he stood with Rachel and Finn in the gymnasium the next afternoon waiting for everyone to cast their votes for senior class president.
"Chin up, Kurt," Finn said. "It's not over 'til all the votes are counted."
"Yup, and you're gonna get loads," Rachel encouraged. "Look, look! Quinn is going into the voting booth right now. She's definitely gonna vote for you."
"I wish Blaine was allowed in here," Kurt moaned.
The seniors had all been given a pass to skip their last class of the day to come vote in the class election, but the rest of the school was on a normal schedule so Blaine was stuck in class.
"Alright," Rachel said excitedly as the crowd started to thin, "go for it, Finn!"
Finn voted, and Rachel insisted that Kurt go next.
If I lose, I don't have a chance of getting into NYADA, Kurt thought as he entered the voting booth. It's not fair. The difference between my dreams coming true and managing a Sonic worker depends on how many people check a stupid box.
He checked the box beside his name and dropped the paper into the ballot box. There was nothing he could do now but cross his fingers and hope for the best.
"You're up last," he said gloomily to Rachel as he exited the booth.
"Okay," she said brightly. "Why don't you and Finn go ahead and head on to the choir room for glee practice... I'll be there once I've voted and, uh, used the ladies' room."
Kurt nodded, and the bell signaling the end of classes rang as he and Finn reached the choir room.
"Hey!" Mike greeted them as they entered. "I have a good feeling, Kurt."
"Thanks," Kurt replied with an attempted smile. He walked to the very back of the room, sat down, and willed Blaine to hurry up.
Blaine walked through the door less than a minute later, and he smiled as he hurried to sit beside Kurt.
"Hey," he said, a little out of breath, "how was it?"
"I'll tell you when it's over," Kurt teased.
"When will they announce the winner?" Blaine asked.
"Tomorrow at the end of the school day, I think," Kurt replied.
Blaine nodded but, before he could continue the conversation, the girls of New Directions and the Troubletones came flooding through the door, already a few lines into a song.
"I'm curious for you. Caught my attention! I kissed a girl and I liked it. The taste of her cherry Chapstick."
Kurt and Blaine exchanged an excited glance as they watched the girls dancing and singing. Santana looked happy and relaxed.
Kurt reached for his phone, and laughed softly as he saw that Blaine was doing the same.
"You take video and I'll take photos," he whispered to Blaine.
By the end of the song, Kurt was feeling much better about his chances in the election. Or, at least, he was feeling like his life might not end on the spot if he didn't win.
As Santana told them that her parents were okay with her sexuality, Principal Figgins entered the room.
"Excuse me, New Directions and Troubletones singing group," Figgins interrupted. "Mr. Kurt Hummel, I need to see you in my office immediately."
Kurt had no idea what was going on. He turned to look at Blaine, but the other boy's face looked just as confused as Kurt felt.
"Uh, okay," he said, quickly gathering up his things and hurrying to follow the principal out of the choir room. He glanced back at Blaine as he reached the doorway, and Blaine gave him a small wave of encouragement.
"Wait here, if you please," Principal Figgins said as they reached the lobby of the principal's office. Kurt sank into a chair and looked around the room for some indication of why he was here.
Had he won the election? Maybe they were bringing him down for paperwork or to congratulate him or something. There had only been one box for the ballots, so the votes could've been counted already, right?
He sat there for half an hour without any explanation from the receptionist or anyone else. Principal Figgins was in his office with Coach Bieste, but Kurt couldn't tell what they were doing.
Suddenly, his father walked through the office door and Kurt jumped to his feet.
"Dad! Are you okay? What's going on?"
"Hey, Kurt," Burt said. "I should ask you the same thing."
"What?" Kurt asked.
"Figgins called me down here," Burt said. "I hope this is important because I can't just leave the shop like this, Kurt."
"I..." Kurt racked his brain for any possible reason why the school had called him, not to mention his father, to the principal's office, and he couldn't think of anything.
Burt shrugged. "I guess we're about to find out."
As they walked into Figgins' office, Kurt noticed that the student class president ballots were on Figgins' desk. A surge of hope rushed through him. But he still had no idea why they needed his father.
"First of all, Mr. Hummel, congratulations on your early exit poll numbers," Principal Figgins said. "Things are looking very good indeed for you."
"Thank you, Figgins," Burt said. "Now, can you tell me why I'm here today?"
"There seems to have been some irregularities with the student council ballot boxes," the principal explained.
"What do you mean by 'irregularities'?" Kurt demanded.
"Kurt won, but by a hundred and ninety votes," Coach Bieste explained.
"Well that's great!" Burt exclaimed, but the other adults didn't look happy. "Right?"
"The problem is... there's more ballots than there are seniors," Coach Bieste said. "And Kurt won by a suspiciously wide margin."
Kurt felt like his mind turned to a mush of anxiety as he realized that they had called his father out of work because they were about to punish him for cheating to win the election.
"No, no. I– I didn't do it," he babbled. "I– I didn't cheat! I mean, I thought about it, but I– I–"
He wanted to bite his tongue off as the words escaped from his mouth. When he got nervous and started rambling, he tended to just say whatever came to his mind. And in this moment all he could think about was that he had thought about cheating and now he was going to get in trouble for it even though he hadn't gone through with it.
"What do you mean you 'thought about it'?" Burt asked immediately.
"I... I thought about it because I wanted to win so badly and I– I was worried that I wouldn't," Kurt stammered. "But– but I didn't cheat. I worked really hard on this. I didn't cheat."
"Kurt," Burt said sternly, "I want you to look me right now and tell me the truth."
Kurt was starting to feel incredibly outnumbered as all three adults' eyes locked onto him.
"I didn't cheat," he said to his father.
Burt stared into his eyes for a moment before turning back to the principal.
"Can you prove who did this?" he asked.
"Not yet," Coach Bieste replied. "But we're looking into it."
She looked at Kurt. "Kurt, honey, we'll all understand if you panicked and did this. But now's the time to come clean, okay? It's only going to be worse later on if–"
"I didn't cheat!" Kurt said, feeling like a broken record. "I didn't!"
Figgins and Bieste looked at each other for a moment.
"As we are presently unable to prove who rigged this election," the principal said gravely, "you are free to go. But when we get to the bottom of this, the student responsible for this immoral act will be suspended."
"And," Coach Bieste said, "I'm sorry Kurt, but we're going to have to disqualify you. There's no tellin' how many of these votes are real, and someone cheated on your behalf..."
Kurt opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again without saying anything. He felt furious and devastated. Why were they disqualifying him when he hadn't even done anything? They weren't even going to wait to find out the truth?
"Thank you," Burt said, and he grabbed Kurt's arm to drag him out of the room.
When they were once again in the lobby, Burt turned to face Kurt.
"I. didn't. cheat." Kurt said severely.
"I believe you, Kurt," Burt said. "Because you're not a liar. But if evidence comes to light that proves that you did it, I feel obligated as your parent to say that there will be severe consequences."
Kurt felt tears stinging in his eyes. "I didn't do it, Dad!"
Burt nodded. "If you didn't do it, then try not to worry, okay? I'm sure they'll figure out the truth."
Kurt nodded miserably.
"I've gotta get back to work," Burt said gently. "You goin' back to glee club or whatever?"
Kurt looked at the clock on the wall. "Uh," he tried to remember what time he had left, "I guess. If it's still going."
Burt pulled Kurt into a brief hug. "Love you, Kurt."
"I love you, Dad," Kurt sniffled. "Sorry."
Burt shook his head. "I trust you, Kurt. Don't apologize for something you didn't do."
Kurt nodded, and Burt clasped him on the shoulder before he turned and disappeared into the hallway.
Kurt felt numb as he walked down the hallway and saw Finn and Rachel waiting nervously by his locker.
"Someone stuffed the ballot boxes," he explained as he approached them. "They think I did it. If they can prove it I can be suspended."
"Oh my god, Kurt," Rachel gasped.
"And I lost. I lost the election," Kurt added. "I lost the lead in West Side Story. I can forget about New York and NYADA because they'll never take me now. You know, the worst part is that I really, for a second, thought I won."
Rachel looked devastated. "Kurt, I'm so sorry," she said, stepping forward to grab his arms.
Kurt didn't want to talk to her. He didn't want to talk to anyone but the one person who could always make him feel better. And he could tell that he was about to burst into tears, which he didn't want to do in the middle of the hallway.
"I have to find Blaine," he said, and he brushed by her and rushed to the choir room.
He was so relieved to see that Blaine was still in the choir room – still sitting in the chair at the back of the room, reading a novel from one of his classes – that Kurt started to cry before he even made it halfway across the room toward the other boy.
"Kurt!" Blaine exclaimed, tossing the book on the chair beside him and jumping up to meet Kurt halfway. "Oh my god, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
"They think I cheated," Kurt sobbed, throwing his arms around Blaine's neck and grateful for the comfort of Blaine's arms squeezing around his waist. "On the election."
"What?" Blaine said. "Kurt, hey, okay..." he pulled out of the embrace and grabbed Kurt's hand to lead him over to sit down. "Talk to me. What happened?"
"They called my dad," Kurt said. "And they took us both into Principal Figgins' office and said that someone had stuffed the ballot box and I–"
He froze, strangling off mid-sentence as an idea came to him.
"Kurt?" Blaine squeezed his hand. "Kurt!"
"They did it," Kurt breathed. "Like at prom."
"No," Blaine said, although he didn't sound sure. "No, I can't imagine..."
Kurt could see in Blaine's eyes that he could imagine. But he didn't want it to be true.
"I'm so sorry," Blaine said miserably.
"I didn't cheat," Kurt said dully. "I didn't even cheat and I'm going to be suspended."
"Wait, suspended?" Blaine replied.
Kurt just nodded.
Blaine scooped him up into another hug as a fresh round of tears started to fall, and Kurt didn't know how he was going to show his face at this school ever again.
KURT
Later that evening, after Kurt had climbed into bed to attempt what he knew would be a restless night of sleep, his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen, expecting Blaine's name, but was surprised to see Santana's name instead.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Kurt?" Santana asked. Her voice sounded strange, and Kurt was suddenly completely awake.
"Santana?"
"I'm sorry, I just didn't know who to call," she said miserably. Kurt frowned and sat up.
"Santana, what happened? Where are you? Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay," she said, and Kurt realized that she was crying. "I mean, yes, I'm 'okay', but... I came out to my grandmother tonight."
"Oh," Kurt breathed. He relaxed a little, glad that she wasn't calling from some horrible part of town to ask for a ride or something.
"She banished me from the house," Santana admitted, so quietly that, if Kurt hadn't been expecting it, he might not have understood.
"I'm so sorry," he said, trying to think of something more helpful to say.
Santana didn't respond.
"If I told you that 'it's going to be okay'," Kurt said, "I'd be lying. I don't know what's going to happen. But, Santana, you're not alone, okay? I'm glad you called me."
"What should I do?" Santana cried. Kurt wished that they weren't having this conversation on the phone, but he knew that if she wanted to see him in person she would've asked if they could meet somewhere.
"The only thing you can do is be yourself," Kurt advised. "As ridiculous as that sounds... you've got people who love you. Your parents were awesome about it, right? And you've got all of us at school too. We all love you no matter who you love."
"I'm so sorry, Kurt," Santana said abruptly.
"What?" Kurt asked. "It's okay, I wasn't even sleeping yet anyway."
"No," Santana sniffled. "The song. When you and Blaine sang that stupid, adorable song to me at the start of the week... I just– I didn't know how to react. I'm not used to this. All of this attention on what I'm feeling. I'm so overwhelmed."
"I understand," Kurt said gently. "Believe me, I understand. We understand. But thanks. I hope you know that both Blaine and I are always here for you if you ever want to talk about it."
He heard her take a long, deep breath.
"Thanks, Kurt," she said.
"See you tomorrow, okay?" Kurt said.
"Yeah," she said.
"And Santana?" Kurt added before she could hang up.
"It gets easier," Kurt said. "And we're here to help you along the way."
KURT
His father won the Congressional election.
Kurt felt terrible for not feeling outrageously happy as he celebrated at lunchtime the next day with his father, Mr. Schu, and Finn. But he was so worried about his own future that he couldn't even fake it.
He could tell that Burt understood, and after a few minutes Burt sighed and looked his way.
"Go find Blaine, kiddo," he said.
Kurt didn't need to be asked twice. He hugged his dad and hurried away to the cafeteria.
"Hey!" Blaine greeted him as he fell into his usual place at the lunch table. "I thought you were celebrating?"
Kurt sighed. "I'm too much of a downer for their party," he admitted.
Blaine looked at him for a moment, and then he seemed to make a decision.
"Come on," he said, grabbing Kurt's arm as he stood up.
"What?" Kurt asked. "Where are we going?"
"To finish your NYADA application," Blaine explained as they walked out of the cafeteria. "Because I am not letting you give up on yourself."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "I haven't given up."
"Yes," Blaine said sternly, "you have. Not overall, maybe, but you're having a hard time remembering what is still possible."
Kurt just grunted a vague disagreement as Blaine led him into the library.
Blaine stood over him and encouraged him through all the paperwork that he had been procrastinating. And Blaine had been right; it did help. While part of Kurt still felt like NYADA was going to toss his application into the recycle bin the second it arrived, seeing the New York address and remembering his dream helped to remind him that it wasn't definitely out of his reach yet.
Blaine rubbed his back as he finished.
"You've got this, Kurt," Blaine said firmly. "Before you know it they're going to be sending you a letter begging you to audition for them."
Kurt stood up and kissed Blaine lightly on the lips, not caring if anyone saw.
"I love you," he said softly. "Thanks for this."
"I love you too, Kurt," Blaine smiled. "Now let's go see if we can join the end of the celebration with your dad."
BLAINE
As Kurt formally conceded the race to Brittany that afternoon in glee club, Blaine knew it took a lot for Kurt to do so. He was still reeling, not only from the loss of the class presidency, but also from the possible suspension that was still up in the air.
"You're still the most unicorn of them all," Brittany said as Kurt said back down, "so..."
"Maybe I could put that on my NYADA application," Kurt said dryly to Blaine as he settled into his chair.
"Don't give up hope, ever," Blaine chided, reaching out to whack Kurt's shoulder with his hand. "We'll figure something out."
As they watched Santana singing the final song of the week, Blaine hoped that he was right about Kurt's chances. He hoped that NYADA would want Kurt, because he wasn't sure how Kurt's self esteem would take the hit if they didn't even ask him to audition.
Everyone applauded when the song was over, and as Brittany stepped forward to embrace Santana, Blaine noticed Rachel in the doorway.
KURT
"Rachel?" Mr. Schu asked as they all noticed the girl's tear-streaked face.
"I just, um, told Principal Figgins that I rigged the election so that Kurt would win," she confessed. "Kurt, please don't hate me; you're totally in the clear."
To his surprise, Kurt didn't feel any anger. Instead, he felt a huge rush of surprise and relief, as well as a sensation that he thought would probably eventually become one of a thousand questions he would have to ask her.
"What'd he say?" Finn asked.
"He said that he had no choice but to put it on my permanent record and that I'm suspended for a week," Rachel explained.
Kurt didn't know whether he should feel relieved for himself or devastated for Rachel, so he just felt kind of numb as he looked at the sadness on Rachel's face.
"Also," Rachel added, "he said that I was banned from competing at Sectionals."
A hush fell over the room.
"We're gonna lose," Puck said matter-of-factly.
"Shut your mouth," Artie scolded.
Kurt stood up and walked over to where Rachel was standing.
"Kurt," Rachel whispered.
"I know," Kurt said. He did know. He knew why she had done it. He had been able to rein in his desperation just enough not to go through with it, but Rachel hadn't managed to do the same. Kurt wasn't sure if he would feel angry at her later for ruining the whole thing, but for now he just felt sad for her. And for New Directions.
"We don't even have enough people as it is!" Tina said desperately.
"Well," Mercedes said arrogantly as she stood up and moved toward the door, "Good luck with that."
"That's enough," Shelby scolded, also standing up. "Come on, ladies."
The Troubletones left the room, and everyone turned to look at Rachel and Kurt standing at the front of the room.
Puck let out a long sigh.
"I'm sorry to be such a broken record, but I'm just saying what we're all thinking," he said sourly. "We're screwed."
I know, Santana apologizing is a stretch. But I just cannot believe that she REALLY didn't feel all warm and fuzzy inside after Kurt and Blaine serenaded her with that song. So I had to do something! ;)
Thanks for reading, as always! See you on Monday for 'Hold on To Sixteen'!