"I knew Blaine would be able to convince you to come." Rachel teased, nudging Kurt's side with her elbow as they ordered lunch the next day.

"Shut up." Kurt hissed, grabbing a plastic container of salad and setting it on his tray.

"It's not my fault you're head over heels for him..."

"I barely even know him, Rachel, I think 'head over heels' is a little extreme, don't you?"

"So you admit that you like him?"

"No!" Kurt exclaimed, walking away from Rachel and over to the table that Blaine and Mercedes were sitting at. Much to Kurt's despair, however, Rachel was following swiftly behind and decided to sit opposite Kurt.

"Hey. What were you guys talking about, you looked kinda uncomfortable?" Blaine whispered, or at least he thought he whispered, but apparently Rachel heard him.

"We were talking about you, actually." Rachel said.

"Oh?" Blaine said, turning to Kurt.

"I- uh," Kurt cleared his throat before continuing, not wanting to lie to Blaine but not being able to tell him what they were really talking about. "Rachel was just saying she was glad that you managed to convince me to come on Friday." There. That wasn't a complete lie...

"Well, I'm very persuasive." He joked, eliciting a laugh from Kurt and a sarcastic scoff from Rachel.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what it was."

"Rachel!" Mercedes hissed. "Well, whatever it was that convinced you to come, I'm glad. We all really like you, Kurt."

"Uh..thanks." Kurt smiled. Maybe hanging out with these guys wouldn't be as bad as he thought...

"So, Rach, what's up with you and Finn?" Puck asked that Friday while they were at Breadstix.

"Ask him, he's your best friend." Rachel retaliated, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

"Who's Finn?" Kurt asked curiously.

"Rachels, on and off, a million times, boyfriend." Blaine answered.

"At least I have a boyfriend, Anderson." Rachel scoffed, causing Blaine to throw his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay, enough. Not only was this supposed to be fun, you're probably scaring Kurt." Mercedes interjected.

"I actually find this hilarious. I feel like I'm watching really bad reality TV." Kurt said, eliciting laughs from everyone at the table. The rest of the night ran pretty much like that, everyone joking around, until they decided it would be fun to get to know Kurt a little better, and Tina asked the worst question possible in that situation.

"So, Kurt, found anybody you like yet?" She asked, teasingly.

"I, um..." Kurt stuttered out, and he was pretty sure he'd turned the colour of a tomato by now.

"That's a yes." Puck sneered.

"Guys, leave him alone. He doesn't have to answer if he doesn't want to." Blaine defended, before excusing himself to use the bathroom. Kurt decided to use Blaine's absence as a chance to pull himself together. Apparently the universe wasn't on his side today though.

"You like Anderson, don't you?" Puck blurted out as soon as Blaine was safely out of earshot, causing Kurt to almost choke on his water.

"Puck." Mercedes warned.

"What?"

"Leave him alone!"

"Uh, guys, still here." Kurt said, waving awkwardly.

"You know he likes you too, right?" Puck said, ignoring Mercedes and turning back to Kurt, who was dangerously close to running straight out of the restaurant.

"Yeah, okay." Kurt replied sarcastically.

"He does." Rachel added.

"And he told you this when, exactly?"

"He didn't have to tell us," The quiet Mike said. "It's written all over his face."

"Guys, he's coming back over, just so you know." Mercedes said, and Kurt shot her a look of thanks before sipping on the rest of his water.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked as he sat back down. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Uh, yeah. I'm actually- I think I'm just gonna go. I have a bit of a headache" So much for not lying... "and my dad will get worried if I stay out too late."

"Oh, okay. How are you getting home, do you need me to drive you?"

"Um, sure. Thanks." Kurt said quietly, not daring to make eye contact with anyone as he put his coat on.

"Someone said something to you, didn't they?" Blaine asked about five minutes into the twenty minute car journey. Yeah, the universe really wasn't on his side today. He really was starting to get a headache now.

"I'd really rather not talk about it." Kurt said, leaning his head against the cool glass window.

"You don't have to, just...don't let anything they say get to you. They kind of have no brain to mouth filter. Stuff just comes out of their mouth without them even realising it half the time."

"I noticed," Kurt replied, closing his eyes and wishing this whole night was just some nightmare, and he would wake up in his bed any minute now. When he opened his eyes, however, he was still in the car with Blaine, and he was still having this conversation. "Why do you even care so much? I mean, you've been friends with those guys for who knows how long, and you've known me less than a week."

"You're my friend too, Kurt. Just because I've known them longer doesn't mean I can't get annoyed at them for upsetting you."

"I know, it just seems...you know what? Never mind. Thank you, though."

"For what?"

"For being the only person there, other than Mercedes, who actually cares about my feelings."

"Well, I care about you, so..."

"Exactly. Thank you."

"I don't understand why you're so grateful for someone caring about you, though."

"I've just...never really had that many friends, I guess." Kurt said truthfully. He'd been bullied enough to last a lifetime, it was refreshing to have someone not teasing him all the time.

"Well, that's their loss," Blaine said with a smile, as he pulled up to Kurt's house. "Here we are, home sweet home."

"Thank you, for driving me, I mean." Kurt said, smiling back at his friend.

"No problem." Blaine said, before Kurt closed the door and walked up to his house. He waited until Kurt was inside before driving home himself.

Kurt spent most of Monday avoiding all of the new directions, except Blaine, of course. That was actually easier said than done though. For a group that consisted of few people, and were rarely seen with anyone but each other, they seemed to be everywhere. Luckily, Blaine was mad at them, and was also trying to avoid them, and Blaine was much better at avoiding people than Kurt was, so Kurt spent most of the day stuck to Blaine, his one real friend, like glue. However, the title of 'only real friend' changed when Kurt went to English that day.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit here?" A blonde girl asked, gesturing to the empty seat beside Kurt.

"Sure." Kurt smiled up at the girl.

"Thanks, I'm Quinn by the way." She said, sitting down and placing her folder carefully on the desk.

"Kurt." He replied.

"Um, Kurt, who's that guy outside the classroom? He's been staring at you for like five minutes." Quinn asked curiously.

"Oh, uh, that's my friend Blaine. He has a free period and he's kinda ignoring all of his friends at the moment so I guess he thought it would be fun to stalk me, or something..." Kurt explained.

"Why is he ignoring all of his friends?" Quinn laughed.

"We all went to dinner last Friday and they kind of terrorised me while he was in the bathroom and now he's upset that they made me upset, and wow that sounds even weirder out loud."

"What did they say to you?"

"Um..."

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to pry, I was just making conversation, you seem really nice, and I...I'm just gonna shut up now."

"It's fine," Kurt laughed. "They were basically just insisting that I have a crush on Blaine over there, and I'm kind of awkward around them so I got kind of, wound up I guess."

"Do you have a crush on him?" Quinn asked, and Kurt took a deep breath before answering.

"Yes..."

"He probably likes you too, you know."

"See, that's what they were saying, but he's never actually said that he likes me, and he probably doesn't." Kurt sighed, looking outside the classroom to see if- yup, Blaine was still out there.

"And why does he 'probably not' like you?" Quinn asked, creating quote marks with her fingers.

"Because I...he's just...Blaine."

"Well you couldn't have made that sentence more ambiguous if you tried." Quinn laughed, as Kurt shook his head and let out a small laugh of his own.

"I don't know. He's like, 17 and I'm not 15 for like 3 weeks, it's just...weird."

"It's not actually as weird as you're making it. It's only like 3 years, Kurt. And I can see how he's looking at you, it's pretty obvious. I think his friends are right. I think I'm right."

"Yeah, well he's like the first friend I made here. I'm not saying anything to him, because if you guys are wrong, then...I'm not risking it. Now can we please talk about something else." Kurt pleaded.

"Sure. Hey, I was actually thinking of having a sleepover this weekend, and I know we just met, but my parents kinda planned it, thinking that I'd have like a bunch of new friends after only two weeks of school and you're like the only cool person I've actually met and oh my gosh I'm rambling, Quinn shut up. Okay, anyway, would you like to come?"

"How can I say no after that argument?" Kurt teased.

"Sorry, I just felt like a creep asking you to stay at my house after we'd had one English lesson together. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"It's fine, I don't think you're a creep. And I'd love to, it sounds fun." Kurt smiled.

"Okay, here," Quinn started, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "Give me your number and I'll text you my address."

Kurt obliged, and then pulled his phone out for Quinn to add her number. "Hey, do you, um, do you wanna come eat lunch with me and Blaine?" Kurt asked when the school bell went off.

"Oh, it's okay, I don't want to bother you more than I already have." Quinn argued.

"You sound just like me, we're going to get along just fine," Kurt laughed. "No, but seriously, I want you to."

"Well how can I say no after that argument?" Quinn teased, reiterating Kurt's line from before.

"Oh you're just hilarious," Kurt retaliated, as Quinn followed him towards Blaine. "Hey, did you have fun watching me like some kind of stalker for my entire English lesson?"

"Yes, I did, actually, thank you very much." Blaine said, trying to sound serious.

"I-" Kurt was about to say something when Quinn cleared her throat awkwardly from behind him. "Oh, yeah, um, this is Quinn. Is it okay if she eats lunch with us?"

"Sure, but, Rachel has actually been trying to get me to convince you to eat lunch with them, so..."

"Okay." Kurt said simply.

"Okay? That's it? No argument?" Blaine asked, raising his eyebrows in confusion.

"Nope. I have you two to protect me. Now let's go, before I change my mind and actually do argue with you about it."

"KURT! You came!" Rachel all but screamed as Kurt, Blaine and Quinn walked into the cafeteria.

"Mhm." Kurt hummed in response, and sat down between his two friends.

"I believe there was something you guys wanted to say to Kurt..." Blaine prompted, eyeing all of his friends.

"We're sorry," Rachel started. "We were kind of...pushy, and we're sorry. You should have told as that you were uncomfortable, though, and we would've stopped."

"But that's not the point, is it Rachel?" Mercedes added.

"No. The point is, we upset you and we're sorry." Rachel finished.

"It's okay. I guess I was being kind of sensitive, so you guys aren't the only guilty party."

"Okay, if we're done with the apologies, maybe Kurt can introduce us to his new friend?" Mercedes spoke up.

"Right, yeah. Um, this is Quinn. Quinn, this is Rachel, Mercedes, Tina, Mike, Puck, and you've already met Blaine." Kurt said, gesturing to each of the New Directions as he introduced them.

"Hi." Quinn said shyly.

"So you're a freshman too, huh?" Puck questioned.

"Uh, yeah..."

"You're so weird," Blaine said, hitting Puck playfully in the arm. "Stop being a creep."

"This coming from the guy who stood outside my classroom for a whole period." Kurt retaliated, eliciting a chorus of 'Oohs' from everyone at the table.

"Touché, besides, I had nothing better to do." Blaine said in his defence.

"I'm sure you could have found something to do, Blainers." Puck added, and that's basically how the rest of their lunch was spent, and Kurt finally felt like he was fitting in with these people, his friends.