Chapter 16

Throughout the day, Kurt saw most of his friends from Glee club and learnt that they knew most of what had happened the day before. Azimio must have shared everything he had seen with half the school, while the other half heard the news second-hand. Some people were even convinced that Kurt and Dave had a secret relationship and Azimio caught them at a rendezvous. Naturally, none of the Glee clubbers believed that and set people straight if they overheard them discussing it.

Ultimately, however, it wasn’t the events in the locker room that set the school buzzing, but simply the fact that the burly footballer was gay.

‘Of course, he’s gay,’ snorted Santana to two other cheerios in the hallway between third and fourth period. ‘He’s like the only guy that never checked me out in the uniform. And I can guarantee you, he would’ve if he was straight.’

The thing the whole Glee club was most concerned with, though, was how Kurt was holding up. He seemed sadder and quieter than usually, but when Puck and then Mercedes asked him about it, he assured them he was fine. Rachel didn’t bother saying anything, but snagged him into a tight embrace. The sophomores, with whom Kurt didn’t share classes, would approach Blaine cautiously and check if they could be of any help to Kurt, but he would thank them, saying there was nothing any of them could do and his best friend wanted to simply move on.

When Kurt and Blaine entered the choir room that afternoon, it suddenly fell completely silent. Raising his eyes, Kurt noticed that apart from Rachel, there were only the jocks there; Finn, Puck, Sam, Mike, and Artie. They all seemed angry, but their faces froze in an expression of uncertainty. Puck must have been bumping a fist into the open palm of his other hand, because his arms stopped dead strangely in front of his chest.

‘Oh, hey, guys,’ Rachel chirruped much too cheerily, plastering a wide smile on her face. ‘Me and the boys were just… talking… you know. Chit-chat. It gets so boring in here when I can’t perform… Or watch you perform, of course. Come on, sit down, Mr Schue is gonna be here any minute.’

Kurt frowned at her. That behavior was strange even for Rachel.

‘Wait. What the hell is going on in here?’ He looked challengingly at Finn.

‘Um- We were-‘ Finn was struggling for words.

‘We were planning revenge,’ Puck answered. ‘We’re gonna kick Karofsky’s ass for what he did.’

Kurt took a deep breath before speaking. The feeling of being cared for and protected made him warm up inside, but the idea of beating Karofsky up simply felt wrong.

‘As much as I admire your thirst for vengeance and feel flattered that you would consider doing this for me, I have to ask you to forgo this plan of yours.’ He was proud he could sound so collected, while he still hadn’t stopped trembling on the inside.

‘Why?,’ Sam asked.

Blaine considered cutting in, seeing the strain it took on Kurt to stay composed, but decided it was up to his friend. He had the right to speak for himself.

‘Because he’s getting a lot of crap for it from other people. The whole school hates him, and not even for… assaulting me, but for being gay. I hate what he did, but I don’t want to make him suffer even more for it. I’m not a tit for tat kind of person.’

Kurt’s speech left the boys – except for Blaine, who had already known his stance – and Rachel at a loss for words for a minute. Then all of them began to speak at once, leaving no space for hearing or understanding any of them. Kurt raised his hand to shush them, which worked as soon as they noticed the gesture.

‘I’m serious. Just leave it.’

‘But, dude…,’ Puck started.

‘Please? I really don’t want to talk about it anymore. Or think about it. So, please, let it go.’

None of the jocks seemed happy about the outcome of their discussion, but they gave in.

Soon the room was full, everyone sitting down and waiting for Mr Schue to come in. And once the teacher entered, they all knew something was not quite right.

‘Mr Schue, is everything alright?,’ Rachel asked, scrutinizing his expression.

‘Is Coach Sylvester plotting against us again?,’ said Tina.

Will faced the club, trying to compose his face. Dave’s case had been bothering him since he found out about the locker graffiti and even more so when Emma mentioned being shoved by the boy. He had never pegged Karofsky for someone sensitive to bullying and yet the slurs and gossip got to him.

‘No, Tina, it’s not Coach Sylvester. I was actually thinking about Dave Karofsky.’

A murmur went through the group. Some of the students knitted their brows, some gaped at Mr Schue incredulously.

‘Why?,’ Finn asked, bewildered.

‘I guess you have all heard of the homophobic slur that someone wrote on his locker,’ Will began. A few people nodded, Santana snorted, Kurt and Blaine both pursed their lips. ‘From that I assume you have. I hoped that maybe you could reach out to him in some way. Ms Pillsbury says he seems really troubled and he should know someone is on his side.’

At this point, every face was expressing utter astonishment, even though some of the Glee clubbers were trying to hide it.

‘Why’d we wanna do that?,’ asked Puck with disbelief.

‘You know what it’s like being the underdogs, maybe you could show him it’s not the end of the world to lose popularity in high school.’

Rachel cleared her throat and stood up, putting her hands together neatly in front of her.

‘Mr Schue, if I may, I’m afraid none of us has any intention of reaching out to Karofsky.’

It was Will’s turn to be surprised.

‘Why? I thought you of all people would be a little bit more sympathetic.’

‘What exactly do the teachers know about what happened?,’ Mercedes asked.

Mr Schue sighed, rubbing his forehead before answering.

‘Someone wrote an offensive word on his locker and when Ms Pillsbury saw him this morning in the hallway, it seemed it had gotten to him, he pushed her, almost making her fall, and ran out.’

A few looks were exchanged. Kurt kept his gaze carefully down.

‘Okay, so you don’t know anything,’ Mercedes summed up, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

‘Then maybe one of you could tell me what exactly happened and why you don’t want to help Dave.’

All eyes now shifted to Kurt, who still maintained his fixed on the floor. Will saw the direction of his students’ gazes.

‘Kurt?’

Reluctantly and taking as much time as he could, Kurt lifted his eyes to his teacher’s face. He had to struggle not to let his emotions show. He would not be a drama queen.

‘Can you really only spot bullying when someone writes ”fag” on somebody else’s locker? I’ve been bullied every single day for over two years and no one’s ever said a thing. Has any of the teachers ever offered me help? Or Blaine? Or any other person here who has been slushied? Over and over again?’ Kurt’s tone was getting angrier by the second. ‘And for the record, Karofsky isn’t the only person who was wronged. Because I was the one he assaulted in the first place.’

Will had been staring at Kurt all the while, his astonishment steadily growing.

‘Assaulted? What do you mean?’

Kurt’s cheeks began to burn, even though for everybody apart from Will, this was old news.

‘I mean sexually harassed. But before that, I was repeatedly pushed and thrown into lockers, not to mention the savoury insults. Blaine was also shoved and insulted.’

All heads bobbed in support of his claims.

‘Why didn’t you report it?,’ Mr Schue asked incredulously. ‘I knew about the slushies, but I thought they gave up on that this year.’

‘No, they haven’t,’ Finn cut in. ‘And we reported Karofsky and the other guys from the team that were giving Kurt and Blaine grief to Coach Beiste, but she couldn’t do anything. It was our word against theirs.’

Will frowned, looking back to Kurt, who was once again staring at the floor.

‘So why didn’t you report that assault?’

Kurt swallowed, fixing his eyes firmly somewhere to his left.

‘I figured he was going to suffer enough without that.’

‘Kurt…,’ Mr Schue began hesitantly. ‘You realize it’s a punishable offense, right?’

Barely able to keep the indifferent façade, Kurt nodded sharply.

‘I understand you might not want to press charges, but I think Principal Figgins should hear about this.’

Kurt hesitated; a visit to the principal could mean Karofsky getting punished for everything he had done to him, Blaine and the rest of his friends. Or at least for assaulting Kurt in the locker room. On the other hand, not only would he probably be confronted with his bully – or bullies, if Azimio were to be there to tell what he’d witnessed – but also, the faculty would likely notify his father. And that was something Kurt couldn’t allow to happen.

‘Mr Schue, with all due respect, I don’t think it’s such a great idea.’

‘Kurt, I understand that you might think Dave has been punished enough, but it might be also wise to show that such behavior will be punished by those who actually have the authority to do so,’ Will said cautiously. He felt guilty for having let his students down like that; it was inexcusable for him not to have noticed what they had been suffering.

Everyone in the room, including Brad and the band, was now closely following the conversation, making Kurt terribly uncomfortable. Blaine put his hand comfortingly on his friend’s shoulder, but Kurt felt like only getting out of the room, out of the school could make him feel better.

‘If I were to report this, hypothetically,’ Kurt began warily, ‘would the school have to call my Dad?’

He lifted his eyes at Will for the first time in a long while.

‘I’m afraid so, yes.’

Kurt nodded, deep in thought. ‘Then I’m not going to report it. My Dad doesn’t know anything about it and I’d rather it stayed that way. I don’t want him to worry unnecessarily.’

The room fell quiet for a moment, as Mr Schue’s mind raced to find a solution. Granted, he felt bad for what was happening to Karofsky, but his kids were always more important to him than the others. Especially if the others had been hurting his kids, and he didn’t even notice. Leaving the matter without trying to right his own wrongs would weigh on his conscience forever.

‘And if… Kurt, if I tried to go around it and convinced Principal Figgins not to inform your father, would you change your mind?,’ Will asked solemnly.

Karofsky could get punished without getting beaten up and without the boys getting in trouble. It would take just a visit to Figgins’ office. The chances it would work were slim, but still, there were some.

‘Yes,’ Kurt answered as firmly as he could.