“What the hell was that?” Santana hisses, her grip on Kurt’s arm nearly painful as she tugs him behind the bleachers.

“That,” Kurt says pointedly, ripping his arm away from her, “was me kissing my boyfriend.”

“Everybody saw you!”

“Good!” Kurt says in a strangled whisper. “Because I’m not going to hide him anymore.”

“He’s the epitome of the geek squad! You’re on the cheerleading squad! The two squads don’t mix!”

“Well, they do now,” Kurt states firmly.

“What – where the hell is this coming from?” she asks in disbelief.

“I’m not going to pretend to be someone I’m not,” Kurt says. “Not anymore. I like him. I’ve liked him for a while but I tried to make myself stop. And it was stupid of me.”

“You were being smart.”

“I was being an idiot,” Kurt counters. “Besides, Coach Sylvester said I could date whoever I want.”

“I bet she’d think differently if she knew who it was.”

“You can’t control me!” Kurt says loudly, no longer willing to fight in hushed tones. “You can’t control anyone! People are different, Santana. And you can’t fit people into your stupid categories.”

“Q is going to ream your ass,” she tells him.

“I don’t have to listen to her bullshit. And I won’t.”

“Kurt, you can’t-”

“Don’t you get it?” Kurt asks, throwing his hands up in the air. “None of this matters! High school reputations aren’t going to mean a freaking thing when we graduate. None of it is going to matter. What does matter, though, is that we make the best of this shit hole. And Blaine makes me happy. If we’re really friends, isn’t that what you want for me? Don’t you want me to be happy?”

“You’re not going to be happy when everyone starts pushing you around again.”

“Let them try,” Kurt states. “Because I’m ready to push back. And if you think you can’t stand by my side, then you’re a coward.”

With that, Kurt storms away from her and back to the track. Quinn is giving him some sort of death glare and the rest of the girls are whispering behind their hands but Kurt really doesn’t care. He looks up into the stands and sees Blaine’s smiling face and all is right with the world.

They win the game, which is really just a small victory in Kurt’s world, considering the moment the crowed begins to leave, Quinn is already trying to pull him aside.

“I have plans, Q,” he says, already shouldering his bag.

“What, like macking on your loser boyfriend?”

Kurt freezes in his steps and turns to face their captain. She looks livid, hands on her thin hips and rage in her eyes.

“You’re lucky I’m above slapping people,” he says. “Because I’m not above hitting a girl when she’s being a complete and utter bitch.”

“How dare you-”

“No,” Kurt stops her. “How dare you? You don’t even know Blaine. We can’t all have the quarterback of the football team, Quinn. And some of us don’t want the quarterback. Some of us want people we can actually have a conversation with.”

“You do remember that you’re talking about your stepbrother, right?”

“I’m not insulting him. I’m insulting you. Because all you can ever talk about is how some girl has acne or how some guy isn’t hot enough because he doesn’t play a sport. You’re shallow. And so was I. But I refuse to be someone I’m not. I won’t be like that anymore. Have fun running for prom queen. I’m sure you’ll look beautiful with that crown on your head.”

“I knew you’d ruin us!” she shouts, finally gaining the attention of the rest of the squad.

“I haven’t ruined anything. I’m just sorry that you can’t be happy that I’ve finally found someone I actually care about, considering we’re supposed to be a team that supports each other.”

“You can’t just-”

“Kurt? Are you ready to go?”

Kurt whirls around to see Blaine standing on the lowest bleacher, leaning over the rails with Burt at his side. His father stands with his arms crossed, staring Quinn down.

“Yes, Blaine. I’m ready to go,” Kurt says before turning back to Quinn. “I was going to ask if you’d like to join the family for dinner, including Finn, but never mind. I’m sure you have somewhere else you’d rather be than with us losers.”

“What was that about?” Blaine asks softly when they reach Kurt’s car.

“She called you a loser. I told her she was lucky I didn’t slap her.”

“You know, it took you a while to, um, warm up to the idea of being with me. Maybe you shouldn’t be so harsh when other people don’t understand at first.”

Kurt sighs, tossing his bag in the back seat and waving to his dad across the parking lot.

“I know,” Kurt admits. “It just makes me so angry.”

“Well, you didn’t like it much when I called you out on everything.”

“I remember,” Kurt grumbles.

Blaine takes a step closer, stands on his tip toes, and plants a soft kiss to Kurt’s lips.

“They’ll come around,” Blaine assures. “I promise.”

“Yeah,” Kurt says, though he’s not too sure if he believes it. They’ve been at this whole I’m-Better-Than-You-Because-Look-At-My-Uniform thing for far longer than Kurt has and he doesn’t quite know if they can be swayed so easily. “At least I have you in the meantime.”

“Yes, you do,” Blaine says with a goofy grin. “Let’s go eat dinner.”