CHAPTER 9: Welcome to hell

The rest of the summer passed in a similar fashion. His father took him to the garage every morning, where he was forced to do oil changes and other small repairs his father had taught him. Kurt actually didn't mind the work so much, or at least he wouldn't have, had it been his choice to help out at the shop.

It helped getting his mind of things when he was elbow deep in a car. At least when he had to focus on the work he was doing he couldn't let his mind wander to his mom or the other people he had to leave behind in Ohio. When Burt and Finn were out, Carole often lent Kurt her cell phone so he could call Blaine, Rachel and Mercedes, which helped on days when he could barely force himself to get out of bed in the morning.

He knew Carole was worried about him, because she had caught him crying more than once, but apart from lending him her cell phone, Kurt knew there wasn't much she could do for him. But at least she tried. Finn either ignored him, when his jock friends were around, or shot him dirty looks when Kurt was wearing one of his more elaborate outfits at home.

Kurt was sure, the only reason he was allowed to wear them at all, was because Carole had intervened on his behalf. Kurt had kept Blaine's advice in mind, but whenever he tried to talk to Finn alone, Finn found excuses not be anywhere near him. Much too soon the summer was over, and the first day of school was coming up. Kurt just hoped that McCallum High was better than McKinley had been when Kurt had last attended.

xXx

Finn had intended to keep it a secret that his stepbrother was a homo, especially after Burt had told him not to tell anybody, but then he thought that he'd want to know if someone he had gym with was into dudes. He hadn't meant for it to be all over the school by the time the first day came around, but apparently jocks were just as awful when it came to gossip as the cheerleaders at school.

Luckily his friends just pitied him instead of treating him like crap. His mom had told him to drive Kurt to school, but the guy had tried to corner him all summer, and Finn did not intend to spend time in a car with him with no means of escape. He was nice enough to show Kurt where the bus stop was. He wasn't a mean guy. He was just looking out for his friends.

xXx

Burt was having breakfast in the kitchen, when Kurt finally came downstairs. Technically, he should have been at work thirty minutes ago, but he had to make sure, Kurt didn't go to school in some weird get up. Fortunately, his son was wearing normal jeans and a simple t-shirt and at least looked like one of Finn's friends.

There wasn't anything he could do about his son's voice. The doctor had told him, that if it hadn't dropped much yet, then it wouldn't anymore, but at least with normal clothes he didn't look so flaming.

Like most mornings Kurt ignored him and just grabbed some coffee, before leaving the house, but Burt was sure that when Kurt was older he would appreciate what Burt had done for him. He just wanted his son to have an easy life, especially after what had happened to him so far.

Burt didn't know all the details, because Elisabeth had stopped telling him things years ago, but he couldn't imagine that growing up in Ohio had been easy for the kid. If Kurt just tried to blend in, they wouldn't have any problems.

xXx

Kurt was anxious when approached the school. He didn't want to go back into the closet, but if all people at this school were like Finn and his friends, maybe it would be better, if no one knew about him and he could just try to blend in. God, he was starting to sound like his father.

His mom had always encouraged him to be true to himself, and now wasn't the time to give up. He wanted to make her proud, and if that meant having to deal with bullies again, he would hold his head up high and just deal with it.

Apparently, Finn hadn't managed to keep his big mouth shut anyway, because before he could even open the door, Finn's friend Patrick shoved him against the railing. "We don't want fags at our school!"

Kurt flinched, because he had secretly hoped he was past the name-calling and the shoving. Kurt straightened himself up, and walked into the school with his head held up high. Maybe if they saw that it didn't affect him they would leave him alone. The strategy had never really worked in Ohio, but maybe it would work on the morons he had to go to school with now.

Kurt made his way to the guidance counselor's office, who fortunately informed him, that he would take two classes with the seniors and because of him taking mostly A.P. classes wouldn't be able to share any with his brother. At least some things were working out.

The rest of the day, unfortunately, did not work in Kurt's favor. In class, no one volunteered to do a group project with him, and so Kurt had to assure his teacher that he was more than capable to do it on his own. During lunch, one of Finn's jock friends tripped him up, as he was looking for an empty table, and his salad ended up on his t-shirt while Finn and his friends were laughing at him.

He was, for the first time, glad he was wearing such a simple outfit, because he would most definitely not mourn this t-shirt. On the bus home, not even the younger students would let him sit down next to either of them, until the bus driver put his foot down and ordered a freshman girl to remove her bag from the free seat next to her.

Carole was in the living room when he came home and thwarted his plan to sneak his soiled shirt upstairs before anyone could see it. He told her that one of the students must not have seen him when he put his foot in Kurt's way, but he could see it in her eyes that she didn't believe that it had been an accident.

He excused himself quickly, and threw himself into the little homework they had been assigned the first day. Finn came in a couple of hours later and before he knew it Carole was calling him to dinner, which unfortunately his father insisted on being a family event every night.

xXx

Carole couldn't help but focus most of her attention on Kurt during dinner. The boy was quiet and withdrawn as he had been most of the summer, but there was a new sadness in his eyes. "I'm really sorry about your shirt Kurt. I can't believe anyone would do this to you on your first day." Carole broke the uncomfortable silence.

Burt looked up from his roast beef. "What happened at school, Kurt?" "Nothing. I tripped." Kurt quickly tried to deflect. Carole looked over to Finn who was shoveling food into his mouth as if it were his last meal.

"I didn't see anything," he muttered. Carole narrowed her eyes. Her son had never been a good liar. Before Carole could say anything, Burt interrupted her.

"You don't want to explain to me why I got a phone call about you at the shop. The anonymous kind." Burt questioned his son. Kurt looked stricken, but shook his head. "Dude, like everyone at school knows your gay," Finn butted in. Before Burt could accuse Kurt of anything, Kurt gave his father a defiant look. "Well, they didn't get that from me. I didn't talk to anyone at that awful school. It was Finn's friends who "welcomed" me to the school."

Carole sighed. Of course it had been Finn. She really had to talk to Finn about not spreading rumors again. "Finn." "What?" Carole knew that tone. "My friends hang out here all the time and with the stuff he wears, no wonder the suspected." Finn tried to defend himself.

"And you thought you had to confirm their suspicion?" Burt was glaring at her son. Finn definitely looked confused now, probably because he wasn't used to Burt glaring at him.

"They are my friends. I can't just lie to them." Carole sighed again. Finn, didn't even believe what he'd done was wrong. "Finn, Kurt is your brother now. And it's his decision if he wants to tell people at school or not. Texas isn't the most accepting place, so you can't just run around and tell other people Kurt's business if Kurt doesn't tell you beforehand that it would be okay to do so."

What had she done wrong with Finn? She'd always tried to teach him right from wrong, but apparently the lessons didn't stick. "Sorry, dude." Her son didn't look sorry at all.

xXx

It was lunch break at McKinley and Mercedes, Rachel and Blaine were huddled in front of a computer in an empty classroom. Kurt wasn't allowed to have his own laptop, but Carole had advised his boyfriend to join the school newspaper, so he could use the computers on campus. Blaine hadn't seen his boyfriend in what felt like forever, and he was worried by what he saw.

Kurt looked like he hadn't slept in days, he was wearing a simple graphic t-shirt and his hair was falling into his eyes. He wanted to ask Kurt what was wrong but he knew his boyfriend would probably try to downplay his problems so Blaine wouldn't worry about him.

So the three friends tried to distract Kurt with tales from McKinley. Rachel's biological mom had taken over Glee club, after their former teacher, Mr. Schuester had been asked to resign. Rachel wasn't very happy, because Mr. Schuester had given her all the solos, but the other students in the club had complained to the principle and therefore the Spanish teacher was out and Rachel's mom, Shelby Corcoran had taken over.

"And she holds auditions for every song we're doing." Blaine heard Rachel complain. Not just being handed solos was new for Blaine as well, but he liked that he had to fight for what he wanted.

"At least you have Glee. I mean I actually enjoy writing for the paper, so it's not so bad that I had to join a club to be able to use the Internet, but still. At least the people in the club tolerate me and keep their opinions about me to themselves."

Blaine hated that his boyfriend sounded so defeated. He would have loved to just jump onto the next plane, but they had decided to wait until Burt would go to some auto show in a few weeks. "How's McKinley treating you so far," Kurt asked after Rachel and Mercedes had excused themselves.

"Not bad so far. Some of the girls were disappointed when I told them I'm gay, and the jocks haven't said anything since I threatened to join their precious football team if they didn't leave me alone. Now that they have a new coach who only lets people play who have decent grades, I might actually have had a chance."

Blaine loved that he could still get a small smile out of his boyfriend. "Too bad I can't pull something like this at McCallum. Finn's grades are terrible and he's not even a really good player, but their coach doesn't give a shit." Blaine wanted to reach out and pull Kurt into a hug, but he settled on giving him a reassuring smile.

"Still no progress on the Finn front, then?" "Nope, he keeps avoiding me or just laughs when his friends push me around. I can't believe I actually miss slushies. At least they didn't bruise." "Have you told anyone about it?"

"What would it change if I did? It's not like my father would march into the school and threaten the principle." The like my mom did was implied. Kurt looked down. "I'm sorry you had to spend your lunch break listening to me bitch about school."

"Kurt, stop that. You know I want to hear about your day. It's my job as your boyfriend to worry about you. So please promise, that if it gets worse you'll talk to someone at school or tell Carole the truth about how bad it is." Blaine saw Kurt wipe away a tear before his boyfriend nodded. "I've got to go. The club will be here soon. I love you." Blaine blew his boyfriend a kiss before signing out. There had to be a way to help Kurt but he didn't how yet.

xXx

However hard he tried to blend in, things were just not looking up for Kurt. The bullying at McCallum was a lot more violent than it had been at McKinley and to escape the punches Finn's friends liked to throw, Kurt had started to stay behind at the library until the football team had left the school.

He was trying so hard to stay strong, but at his new school he didn't have any friends, and at home Finn and his father awaited him.

He only felt save when he spent time with Carole and on days he managed to skype his friends and boyfriend. He wanted to open up to Carole, but he was afraid she would just tell Burt and that would be the end of it.

He was glad Blaine was doing well at McKinley, but some days he was eaten up by jealously. The night before he had had another argument about his clothes with his father. Burt just didn't want to accept that it didn't matter what Kurt wore. He was being bullied anyway, whether he was wearing baggy jeans and t-shirts or his designer outfits.

Kurt couldn't wait for next month when his father would travel to Houston for the weekend and Blaine would fly down to see him. He just had to get through the next three weeks.

xXx

Finn didn't really understand why his mom liked hanging out with Kurt so much. Maybe because she always wanted a daughter too and Kurt did all the things with her girls usually did. That had to be it.

Finn wasn't a bad guy. He didn't actively participate in the bullying, because his mom would kill him if she ever found out, but if Kurt hadn't been his stepbrother he would have been first in line next to Patrick and James. If you were at the top you had to terrorize the masses to keep them quiet. Sometimes history class was actually quite useful.

At first he found it strange that Kurt suddenly came home from school later than he did. He knew his stepbrother had joined some stupid club, but no one was at school longer than the sports teams. It took overhearing a conversation between his mom and Burt to figure out that Kurt was hiding out at school until the football team was gone. He was just glad the other losers at school weren't smart enough to hide from the jocks. It would destroy the natural order of things.

He was surprised when Patrick came up to him one day after school and asked about Kurt. Unless they were having fun with Kurt, they usually avoided talking about him. "Haven't seen the fag around for a while. Is he hiding from me or something?" Patrick chuckled. "Yeah, maybe you're not his type," Finn joked but then quickly shut up when he saw the look at Patrick's face.

"As if I want him to look at me. That's just sick." "Yeah, I know what you mean. My parents wanted me to share my room with him at first, but luckily my mom decided to give him his own room," Finn shuddered. For all he knew, Kurt was just waiting for him to take his clothes off so he could take a peak at his junk. The only one he wanted to look at his junk was his girlfriend, who unfortunately only let him touch her when she wanted to reward him for good behavior.

"Man, sucks for you. I guess you wished you didn't have to live with the homo." "Definitely. Ever since he moved here, things at home are tense. I get that Burt's not my real dad, but at least before Kurt I didn't have to share him."

"Dude, what's with the girl talk?" Patrick interrupted. "What I wanna know is were the fag's been hiding?" Finn hated it when Patrick mocked him if he tried to talk about his feelings. But there wasn't much he could do. Without Patrick, he wouldn't be where he was today.

"He's been hiding out in the library until we're done with practice and then he takes the bus home." Finn explained. "Thanks man." Finn was happy to help Patrick out when he could. Maybe Patrick and his friends would let him help planning the epic prank they would probably play on Kurt.

xXx

Carole was fed up with Burt's attitude toward Kurt. Kurt was a sweet boy who had been dealt a crappy hand in life. Carole wouldn't have been surprised if the boy acted out after what had happened and was still happening to him, but Kurt was polite, helped her with dinner and took her shopping when Burt was at work.

She was also fed up because she always had to go behind her husband's back to make Kurt happy. Her coup d'état would happen in two weeks when Kurt's boyfriend would come down to visit while Burt and Finn were at an auto show in Houston. Carol had managed to convince Burt to take Finn with him, because Finn was interested in maybe taking over Hummel Tires and Lube one day.

She was pushing the chicken she'd been preparing for dinner into the oven, when Burt stormed into the kitchen, shoving what appeared to be the phone bill into her face. "Do you know anything about that?" Burt asked and thrust the piece of paper into her hands. "It's my phone bill," Carole answered dryly.

"And why the hell are there calls to Ohio on your call log. I swear if that boy took your phone, he's gonna be grounded till he's thirty. I told him he wasn't allowed to call anyone up there without my permission." Burt slammed the bill onto the kitchen counter.

Carole took the bill and calmly put it into her purse. "Kurt didn't take my phone without permission. I gave it to him." Burt looked stunned. "Why would you do that? I thought we had agreed that Kurt couldn't call anyone without permission." "Which I gave him."

Before Burt could launch into another angry tirade about phone privileges for Kurt, the phone rang. He was listening intently to what the other person on the line was saying before he paled. He thanked the person on the phone before he hung up.

"What's wrong?" "Kurt's in the hospital. Someone beat him up after school. They wouldn't say how bad it was on the phone only that his brother was with him. Apparently he was the one who called the ambulance."

Carole was shocked. From time to time she had caught Kurt sneaking in with soiled clothes, but she never expected it to get that bad. "Where are my car keys? We need to get to the hospital." Carole emptied her purse onto the kitchen counter to locate her keys. When she had finally found them, she turned to Burt. "Come on! What are you waiting for?"

"Maybe, it's better if you went alone. You know he wouldn't want me there, and I wouldn't know what to say to him." Burt was staring at the clock on the wall. Carole turned around, turned off the oven and walked toward the front door. Before she left she turned around once more.

"Some day soon, you need to decide if you want to be Kurt's father or not. Because things can't stay the way they are now. What would it take for you to realize that? Losing your son for good?" Carole left the house without waiting for her husband's answer. There was a child that needed to be taken care of.