“There is a week to go until Sectionals and we still haven't decided on a set-list.” Mercedes complained, wringing her hands with worry. “At this rate, we're not going to have anything arranged!”

Kurt nodded in agreement, playing with his food. He took a small bite of the chicken, feeling immediately sick afterwards. “I'm so nervous,” he admitted, when Mercedes seemed impatient of waiting for his response. “I can't even eat.”

“Can't eat?” Mercedes exclaimed. “Boo, you're that scared?”

Kurt glanced across the cafeteria, his stomach lurching. “Terrified, ‘Cedes.” He admitted. “I suffer from stage fright.”

“I would never have guessed,” Mercedes said in response. “Whoa, you hide it well.”

Kurt blushed. “I don't like attention. Not the negative kind, at least.”

Mercedes patted his hand reassuringly. “You'll be fine. We've done this before, remember? And, besides, ‘swaying in the background' can be fun.”

Kurt chuckled, feeling slightly less ill. “Thanks, ‘Cedes.”

Mercedes grinned at him. “No problem, boo.”

__________________________________________________________

Glee Club was an experience.

Finn and Puck were arguing over who was the better leader and who should lead Sectionals. Kurt coughed loudly as he was struck with an idea.

“Mr Schue, if I may?” he asked politely, standing up and heading to the center of the small room.

Finn and Puck begrudgingly moved away from the spotlight and sat down, glaring daggers at each other from opposite sides of the room.

“Now, I agree that Glee Club is a fun experience,” Kurt began when the room had fallen completely silent. “And we are laidback and free. It is most certainly entertaining at all times.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sam nodding along vigorously to what he was saying.

“However, Sectionals is less than a week away and it has come to my attention that we don't have anything planned! I think we should use this time to decide on a set-list. We should get people to perform the songs they would like to do and whoever is the best – first and second – will get to perform that song at Sectionals.”

Mr Schuester grimaced. “I thought you guys would want to do another Journey song.”

“I think we've covered all of Journey,” Finn responded. “Their songs are, like, hella cool, but I don't think there's any left we can do. I think performing something Kiss at Sectionals would be awesome.”

Puck smirked and reached out a fist to Finn who smirked back and bumped it with his own.

“It's decided then!” Rachel announced, standing up and walking to the middle of the room. “We'll have two solo's or one solo and a duet. We'll do a Group Number for our third song. I was thinking ‘Somebody To Love'? It's my favorite song and it would be a shame not to do such a challenging and impressive song for Sectionals.”

“Great idea, Rachel,” Mr Schuester said, writing Somebody To Love on the board. “I also liked the idea of one solo and one duet.”

Rachel beamed, pleased. This way she would still perform and also allow the others a little spotlight. She headed over to Kurt and enveloped him in a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Kurt glanced at her in surprise. “I didn't do anything, Miss Berry.”

“I'm on the path to stardom.” Rachel responded, grinning. “I'm going to be a star, Kurt Hummel, and I know that you will be too.”

Kurt blinked and patted her on the back awkwardly. “Um… Thank you?”

Rachel looked up at him, removed her arms and headed over to Finn with a massive smile on her face.

Kurt stood in shock, watching her leave. He looked over at Sam, who was watching him from where he sat. “I think I just became best friends with Rachel Berry.”

Sam nodded back at him, and then gestured to him with his hand. “Come here, I've got something to show you.”

“I can't look at anything now, Sam,” Kurt responded. “My dad's got a hospital appointment and I need to make sure he gets there on time. I'm sure whatever it is can wait.”

“But Kurt-“

“I'm really sorry, Sam.” Kurt replied, checking his watch. “I need to make sure my father's still healthy.”

Sam sighed as Kurt hurried out of the room, looking at his phone. He just wanted to show Kurt what the Dalton guy looked like. Sighing, Sam put his cell in his pocket, deciding that he could show Kurt some other time.

When Kurt finally got home that day after ensuring that his father went to his appointment, he was extremely exhausted.

With a yawn, he reached out for his laptop, putting it on his bed and logging onto Tumblr. He could barely keep his eyes open as he headed to his inbox, excited for his conversation with ‘Bowtiedjensenfreak' and to see what the other boy had said in response to his last ask.

He blinked as he noticed a top message, from ‘MeerkatSeb', someone he'd never really seen or heard of before.

Frowning, he read the message. ‘Your fics are utterly terrible. How you could write such abominations is beyond me. I don't understand why you're popular. You're not even hot. You've got a serious case of the Gay Face. No-one's going to want to fuck you. That's why you write this crap, isn't it? Because you're lonely.'

Kurt felt his walls start to crumble as he read the hate with a blank face. He didn't understand how doing something he enjoyed made people hate him. At least this person was brave enough not to go on anon. Deciding to ignore it, though it lingered painfully in the corner of his mind, he scrolled down, searching for a friendly face.

He smiled as he found Blaine's icon, still in his Doctor Who cosplay. “I could be your companion anytime,” he whispered, too tired to realize exactly how creepy he was being.

“Sorry for not getting back to you earlier, but my friends literally attacked me in bed this morning (I live at a boarding school and my roommate is one of the aforementioned friends, so I guess he let them in) and long story short I haven't been able to escape them before now.

“Trust me; I've regretted it ever since, especially since my roommate read it too. At least I've sworn him to secrecy to keep anyone else from finding out. My email address is blaine-anderson@hotmail.com. LOL, I promise not to change the plot, I'm sure it's amazing as it is!”

Blaine had sent the message as fan-mail so that the link he'd sent would easily copy. Kurt beamed at the thoughtfulness of the boy. If only every person on this site could be like Blaine, he thought to himself sadly.

‘That's fine. Great, actually. Thanks. Your roommate sounds like trouble. I wish I had a roommate. I wish I went to boarding school, come to think of it. Maybe then all the bullying would stop. I'm sorry, I'm tired, I'm not thinking as I type. Night.'

Kurt hit the send button, waiting for the message to send. He shut down the laptop and placed it on the desk, instantly falling asleep when he fell back onto the covers.

It had been a long day.