“And why the hell isn’t anything being done about it?”

Burt Hummel was furious. Probably more furious than he had ever been in his life.

“I guarantee you, Mr. Hummel, that if we had any kind of evidence to prove that your son is being harassed, severe measures would be taken. Unfortunately, it is only…” But McKinley Middle School’s Principal never got to finish his sentence.

“Are you calling my son a liar?”

“No, sir, I—“

“Because Kurt is the most honest person I’ve ever known. After two years of putting up with the bullying that’s been happening right under your nose, my son finally got the courage to tell me about it, and I promise you, he wouldn’t lie about something about that.”

“I believe you, Mr. Hummel.” Principal Jennings said, before turning to Kurt, who had been sitting quietly in the corner of his office. “I believe you, Kurt. I do. And I’m sorry for what you’ve had to go through. But until I have evidence that proves that the certain students you have named have been harassing you, I can’t issue any punishment.”

Burt groaned loudly, but Kurt just sighed and nodded. The answer had been exactly what he had been expecting. In fact, he was impressed and grateful at how much his principal seemed to actually care.

Burt looked over at his son with a helpless expression, but Kurt, knowing there was nothing else to say, thanked his Principal, and followed his father out the door.

“We’ll be watching out, Kurt.” Principal Jennings called out.
__________________________________________________________

Kurt flopped down on his bed after returning home, sighing dejectedly. The bullying had been getting worse since sixth grade. It had escalated to forceful locker shoves, and hurtful insults.
Kurt briefly wondered what he had done to deserve their hateful comments. He knew he was a bit different than the other kids. He liked to dress more fashionably than the other boys. He liked theater classes better than sports. But Kurt didn’t see what was wrong about that.

Finally, after two years, Kurt had decided to tell Burt about the way he was being treated. And Burt reacted every bit the way Kurt thought he would. A livid Burt immediately dragged Kurt to the car and sped to the school, demanding a meeting with Principal Jennings.

“Kurt?”

Kurt looked up to see his dad in the doorway.
“Hey, Dad.”

Burt took that as an invitation to come into Kurt’s room. He strode over and took a seat at the end of Kurt’s bed. After a few moments of excruciating silence, Burt finally spoke quietly. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner, Kurt?”

Burt hadn’t really expected Kurt to answer, and wasn’t surprised when he just saw his son shrug.

“Did you think you handle it on your own? Was that it?”
Kurt shook his head.

“Then what, Kurt?” Burt asked pleadingly.

Kurt took a deep breath. “I was scared.” He answered in a timid voice that was almost too quiet for Burt to hear.

“Scared?” Burt repeated. “Did they threaten you, Son?”

Once again, Kurt shook his head. “Not directly. But I wouldn’t put it past them.”

Burt shook his head, but inside he could feel the anger building up once again as he thought about his son being tormented. “What made you finally decide to tell me?”

Kurt inwardly groaned. He had hoped that his dad wouldn’t ask him that. He knew that once it was spoken out loud it would be difficult to stop Burt from flipping out again. “They…they made fun of me, because my mom is dead.”

Burt was speechless. He stared at his son for a long time, trying to process what he had just heard. What kind of sick person would make fun of someone for having a dead parent? Burt, not sure what else to do, wrapped his arms around Kurt and held him. It reminded him of the countless times he held Kurt when the boy was younger.

“Everything will be okay, Kurt.”
__________________________________________________________

“So who do you really want to ask you, Blaine?”

Blaine sat with his fellow eighth-grade friends, Wes and David, at their usual lunch booth. The three boys, who had been inseparable since they had met two years before, were currently discussing their plans for the upcoming Sadie Hawkins dance.

“I don’t really know.” Blaine answered, clearly disinterested.

“Come on, dude.” David encouraged. “There’s got to be at least one girl at this school that you’re into.”

“Yeah.” Wes remarked. “What about Samantha? She got super hot over the past year.”

“Oh, definitely.” David agreed.

Blaine shook his head and rolled his eyes as his friends began discussing more girls that they hoped would ask them to the dance. If he was being honest with himself, there really wasn’t any girl that he wanted to go with. Blaine knew that he was at an age where he should be attracted to girls, so it confused him that they didn’t really seem to do anything to him. He had a few female friends, but he never once thought of any of them as more than friends.

Another thing that confused Blaine to a frustrating point was the way he had reacted when one of his male classmates, Michael, had smiled at him from across the room the other day in History class. When he had seen Michael smiling at him, Blaine’s stomach had turned upside down, and he could feel his cheeks flush before he briefly returned the smile.

Blaine was shaken from his thoughts at the sound of the school bell, signaling the end of lunch. He dumped the uneaten contents of his tray into a trash can, and followed Wes and David out of the cafeteria.
__________________________________________________________

Blaine arrived home from school that afternoon with something very important on his mind. He walked through the front door and immediately grinned as the smell of homemade chocolate chip cookies made its way to his nostrils.

Meg had Mondays off of work, so it had become a little tradition for her to bake cookies for Blaine every Monday afternoon.

“I’m home!” Blaine yelled.

“Hi, Sweetie!” He heard his aunt yell from the kitchen.

“You made my favorite!” Blaine happily remarked.

Meg smiled and nodded. “Help yourself.”

Blaine did so, choosing a rather large cookie that was still warm. He poured himself a glass of milk, and sat down at the table in the kitchen. A few minutes later, after the last batch of cookies was pulled from the oven, Meg joined him at the table.

“How was school?”

Blaine shrugged nonchalantly. “Same old thing.”

“Are you excited for the dance?” Meg asked him curiously.

“I suppose.” Blaine replied. “If I can get a date.”

“Oh, you’ll get one. You’re a hottie, Blaine.” Meg said teasingly.

Blaine grinned, but then his expression turned serious. “Aunt Meg?”

“Yeah?”

“What if…” Blaine began, not quite sure how she would react. He took a deep breath to finish. “What if I asked somebody to be my date to the dance?”

She smiled and laughed a tiny bit. “I think you might not get the point of a Sadie Hawkins dance, Blaine. The girls ask the boys.”

“I know. I just—“ He stopped, thinking that maybe it was a bad idea in the first place.

“What is it, B?” Meg asked, concerned.

Blaine sighed. “What if I asked another boy?” There, he had said it.

Meg sat in stunned silence for a minute, staring at Blaine. “Oh.” She finally whispered. She was taken aback, because Blaine had never mentioned anything about him liking other boys before. It surprised her.

“I knew it was a stupid idea.” Meg heard Blaine grumble beside her. Immediately, she spoke up.

“It’s not a stupid idea. I think it’s a lovely idea, Blaine.”

Blaine, not hiding his look of surprise, answered. “Really?”

Meg nodded. “Really. If you want to ask another boy, there is nothing wrong with that. I want you to do what makes you happy, Blaine. And if you want to go to the dance with a boy, then go to the dance with a boy.”

Blaine grinned, suddenly excited. Maybe this dance would be great.
__________________________________________________________

“What if you transferred schools?” Burt mentioned as he sat down to dinner with his son.

Kurt shook his head and frowned a little, showing his disapproval for the idea. “It’s already March, Dad. I’m not going to change schools with only three months left.”

“But it’s your safety on the line, Kurt.”

Kurt put down his fork and looked up at his dad. “I know you’re worried, Dad. But I think I’ll be okay. The only way they’ve ever physically harmed me is a few locker shoves. I don’t think they’d try anything else, especially with the teachers and principal looking out now.”

Burt didn’t say anything as he continued eating. He didn’t like the idea of Kurt returning to that school. He didn’t like it one bit. But Kurt was right; it would be irrational to make his son transfer schools in March. But one thing was for sure. Burt would do anything he could to protect his only son. If that meant joining the PTA, Burt would join the PTA. If it meant dropping off and picking Kurt up from school instead of having him ride the bus, then Burt would do it. He knew that Kurt would object to Burt becoming the ultimate protective parent, but Kurt would have to deal with it, Burt thought. Kurt was all he had, and the last thing Burt wanted was for him to get hurt.
__________________________________________________________

Blaine’s last class of the day had just let out, and the boy sighed, relieved. It had been a long and stressful day. He had been loaded with a ton of homework, including a project, and he had been stressing all day about getting up the courage to talk to Michael.

As if on cue, Michael walked out of his class and to his locker. Blaine took a deep breath, and walked over.

“Hi, Michael.”

The boy grinned, which made Blaine blush. “Hey, Blaine. What’s up?”

Blaine was momentarily distracted by the boy that stood in front of him. He had dark curly hair, similar to Blaine’s, but he was a bit taller. “Um, I was just wondering if anybody’s asked you to the dance?”

Michael smiled, closing his locker and leaning against it, facing Blaine. “No. Not yet. I was actually going to ask somebody myself, but I didn’t know if he would want to go with another guy or not.”

“So you are, um…” Blaine stuttered, not wanting to sound rude.

Michael laughed. “Gay? Yes, I am. I think I’ve known for a while.”

“Oh. Cool.” Blaine answered dumbly. “I uh, wanted to ask you something.”

Michael raised his eyebrows, listening intently, and Blaine swore he could detect a bit of hope in Michael’s eyes.

“Would you like to go with me? I mean, we don’t have to go as a date, we could just go as friends, unless of course you wanted to ask the other person that you were thinking about. I would understand, really.” Blaine stopped his rambling when he finally noticed that Michael was grinning at him.

“You were the one I wanted to ask, Blaine.” Michael said.

“What?” Blaine questioned, disbelievingly. He didn’t think that asking Michael would be this easy.

“I wanted to ask you to the dance. I’ve wanted to ask you ever since they announced it. I just didn’t know if you would be comfortable going with…you know, me.”

Blaine smiled nervously. “I would. I’d like to go with you.”

“Great!” Michael exclaimed. “We’ll work out details later?”

Blaine nodded, and watched as Michael began walking off. “See you later, Blaine.”

“Bye.” Blaine called back. He may have appeared calm on the outside, but inside, he was screaming like a little girl.
__________________________________________________________

The next day, Kurt was back at school. Burt had dropped him off, much to Kurt’s chagrin, though inside he knew that his dad was only doing what he thought was best.

Kurt made his way to his locker, where his friend Mercedes was already waiting for him. As he approached, her eyes widened.

“Kurt, what happened yesterday? Someone saw your dad storm into Principal Jennings’ office, and the whole school is talking about it.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, Mercedes. I um, told my dad about the bullying.”

Mercedes looked surprised. “Wow. I’m proud of you, Kurt. He needed to know.”

Kurt nodded. “He may be a little more protective now, but I think I made the right decision in telling him.”

Just then, the bell rang. Kurt and Mercedes said their goodbyes, each heading off to their first classes of the day. Kurt’s first class was Spanish, and he was surprised to find that they had a substitute that day.

The substitute introduced himself as Mr. Shuester, and told them that he was also the substitute Spanish teacher at McKinley High.

The class went by fairly quickly, and just as Kurt was leaving, he heard a voice behind him, quietly humming a particular tune that Kurt loved. Kurt turned around to face the substitute, Mr. Shuester.

“Defying Gravity. One of my favorites.” He said.

The teacher turned to look at him with surprise. “Very good. You have a thing for musicals as well?”

Kurt nodded. “I can pretty much quote every line from Wicked.”

Mr. Shuester grinned. “You would make a great addition to my glee club.”

Kurt tilted his head to one side, suddenly interested. “You run a glee club?”

“I co-run it with one of my fellow teachers at McKinley High. I plan on taking over when he’s done with it, though. Maybe you’d consider joining next year?”

Kurt smiled thoughtfully. “Maybe.”
__________________________________________________________

Aunt Meg pulled up at the school, and looked over to Blaine, who sat in the passenger side. “You sure you have a ride home?”

Blaine nodded. “Michael’s dad said he’d take me home.”

Meg smiled, leaning over to kiss Blaine’s cheek. “Have a wonderful time, Blaine.”

“Thanks!” Blaine replied, as he got out of her car. He began walking up to the school, nervously pulling at the sleeves of his suit.

“Blaine!” He heard his name being called from behind him, and he turned around to see Michael heading towards him.

“Hi, Michael. You look great.” Blaine said.

“So do you!” Michael complimented, causing Blaine to blush even more. “You ready to go inside? I was on the decorating team, and it looks pretty awesome in there, if I do say so myself.”

Blaine chuckled. “Sure.”

The two walked in together, receiving a few curious stares along the way. Blaine gasped a little when he saw the inside of his school gymnasium. It really did look as awesome as Michael had said.

“Do you want something to drink?” Michael asked Blaine.

“I actually really love this song.” Blaine answered. “Do you think we could dance first?”

Michael smiled. “Of course.” He took Blaine’s hand and led him to the dance floor, where the two began dancing crazily to the upbeat song that was playing.

After a few songs, Blaine decided that it would be a good time to get drinks. So he grabbed two cups of punch, and made his way over to the table that Michael was saving for them.

“Thanks!” Michael said when Blaine handed him the punch. They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching as their fellow classmates continued dancing to whatever the DJ played.

After about ten minutes, a familiar, and slower, song started playing overhead, and Blaine and Michael watched as everyone began to pair up. Suddenly, Blaine noticed a hand that was being outstretched towards him. “Do you want to dance some more?”

Blaine gulped. He hadn’t expected Michael to want to dance a slower song with him. But, as Blaine nodded and took Michael’s hand, he felt like there was nothing he wanted to do more. Michael led him to the dance floor and put his arm around Blaine’s waist, initiating the dance.
Blaine was so wrapped up in his dance with Michael that he didn’t notice a few of his male classmates standing in the corner, whispering to each other, and staring at the couple with harsh expressions.
__________________________________________________________

“Ready, Kurt?” Burt asked.

Kurt nodded. It was that time, once again. The time to make the drive to Westerville. The time to visit his mother. After everything that Kurt had been through that year, he was really looking forward to having a conversation with his mom.

Burt had gotten home from the garage late, so it wasn’t until around 8 p.m. that they got in the car and began driving. As usual, Burt stopped at the florist and got Elizabeth’s favorite flowers. An hour later, they were pulling up to the cemetery.

Kurt and Burt took turns telling Elizabeth how their lives had been the past year. Kurt broke down a little when telling his mother about the bullying. After they had finished, they each laid their flowers down on the grave, and got up to leave. But something caught their attention.
__________________________________________________________

“I had a great time tonight, Blaine. I’m glad I got to go with you.” Michael said. He and Blaine were outside the school, waiting on Michael’s dad to come pick them up.

Blaine grinned. “I had a great time, too.”

It had come unexpectedly. Out of nowhere, really. Blaine suddenly found himself on the ground, a horrible pain in his stomach. He felt a foot being kicked into his ribs and screamed loudly. He looked over a few feet away, where he saw Michael struggling against somebody that looked twice his size. Blaine winced as he saw Michael fall to the ground, clutching his left arm.

“Put them in the car before someone sees!” Blaine heard a gruff voice yell, though he couldn’t tell who had said it. Before he knew what was happening, a fist connected with his face, and Blaine fell unconscious.

When Blaine woke up, he panicked. He was being dragged along grass, and he could’ve sworn he saw a gravestone in the corner of his eye.

His fear was confirmed, when he was pushed to the ground, and once again kicked in the ribs.

He cried out in pain as a sinister voice chuckled.
“Perfect.” The voice said. “Now you fags are where you belong!”

“Come on, we need to get out of here!” Another voice called out, and Blaine felt a foot collide with his head one last time, before his attacker stalked away.

Blaine laid on the ground a bloody mess, barely holding on to consciousness, when he heard a voice from a few feet away. This voice wasn’t malicious, though. Quite the opposite, Blaine thought. This voice sounded like an angel.

As Blaine lay there for what felt like hours, he felt a pair of hands on his neck, obviously checking to see if he had a pulse. He tried to speak, but no words would come out of his mouth.

“Oh my god.” He heard the voice say. “Dad, call 911!”

“I’m already on it, Kurt!” Another much older voice had said.

As Blaine began to slip out of consciousness again, he remained aware of the voice whispering very close to his ear.

“You’re going to be alright. I know you will. Hang in there. You’ll be alright.” The voice repeated.