It took Kurt a while to find out of his trance. Luckily, Blaine hadn't noticed he'd spaced out, too busy ranting on how those horrible slushy stains never really disappeared.

"And it's white, of all things. I mean, even if you'd worn something blue you wouldn't have got it out. But white clothes are completely lost." Blaine shook his head, still pitying the poor jacket.

Having finally found back to reality, Kurt just waved it off. "It's okay. I'll miss it, of course, but it was last season, anyway."

Blaine just looked at him, obviously not convinced in the slightest. "Kurt, this is not okay. This is bullying. You should tell someone."

Kurt just shook his head. "What for?" he asked, sounding bitter to his own ears. "It's not like anyone will care." It was harsh, but it was the truth. Kurt had complained in middle school and all it ever got him was even worse treatment from his tormentors.

"Of course people will care, Kurt. Don't give up hope. Just because no one helped you last time doesn't mean you're all alone now," Blaine tried to soothe him. His voice was so gentle and understanding Kurt just wanted to cry and let out all the frustration that had built up in the past few years. Instead, he opted to take the easy way out.

"I should probably get to class, I'm late as it is. Goodbye, Blaine. Tell Rachel she can come over tonight if she wants to." And with that, he grabbed his still-wet jacket and hurried out of the bathroom, not looking back. He wasn't sure he could have done it without breaking down.

The rest of the day, Kurt forced himself through boring lesson after boring lesson. The few students who didn't look at him with eyes full of hatred and disgust expressed pity and he refused to deal with either of those emotions. Thus he ended up having lunch on his own, not even Sebastian or Rachel for company.

By the time he returned home he still hadn't heard from any of them. With a sigh, he dragged himself down to his bedroom so he could do his homework before his Dad came back from work and he had to make dinner. To his own surprise he was neither shocked nor displeased when he found Rachel sitting on his bed once more.

"Hi," she greeted him, uncharacteristically quiet. "How's your jacket?"

Kurt looked down at his hand where it still grabbed the soft material. He'd planned on working the stain out as best as he could before washing it but it was probably hopeless, anyway. Blaine was right, white clothes didn't really take well to slushies.

"It's probably ruined but I was going to try to wash it out anyway. Sorry I snapped at you in the bathroom." Because to be honest, he still felt guilty about that.

"It's okay," Rachel waved him off. "I get it. I've heard it said that those slushies are a rather humiliating experience. I'm just glad they didn't have anything like that when I went to school. You're okay, aren't you?"

Kurt just nodded, a weak smile tugging at his lips. It seemed Rachel could be a sweet girl, after all. That was, until she opened her mouth again.

"Well, now that we've made that clear, I'd like to establish some rules, since you're going to be our medium for the next four years. I've talked to Sebastian and he thought it best to give you a list as an overview of our expectations and your duties..." She then continued to read him a list that seemed to go on forever. Kurt wasn't even considering doing half of the things mentioned on it but he wasn't about to tell Rachel so. If she wanted to live in her own delusional world he wasn't the one to bring her back to reality. And he really shouldn't have expected better from Sebastian.

Rachel was still there by the time Kurt finally went to sleep. His homework had taken forever because Rachel couldn't stop bothering him with ideas on how to help her move on for five minutes, keeping him from concentrating rather effectively. She wouldn't leave his side when he made dinner for his Dad and she made herself comfortable at the table when they ate.

After a few hours of this Kurt had taken to simply ignoring her instead of trying to get her to shut up. Rachel didn't seem to get it, though, and went on as if he'd encouraged her. At least he had been able to take some notes on her life story that would probably be helpful with helping her move on.

The next morning she was gone at last. Kurt bet his everything that she'd simply got bored watching him sleep or otherwise she'd still be there.

Breakfast was rather tense. Kurt knew that his father had caught on on his mood the previous evening and was waiting for him to tell him what was wrong. Sighing, Kurt put off eating his grapefruit in order to tell his Dad about McKinley's three resident ghosts. Though he might have left out the fact that Blaine was gay and ridiculously good-looking and warm to the touch for some reason.

The thought of Blaine actually motivated Kurt to return to the hellhole that was his new high school. As much as he didn't appreciate his expensive wardrobe getting ruined or the ice-cold humiliation of a slushy, the chance of seeing him again was well worth it.

Being cornered in the parking lot by the same slushy-throwing jocks and thrown into a dumpster made him reconsider his priorities, though. Apart from the horrible smell Kurt was also sure that the fall had gained him some bruises. And there might be a glass shard a little too close to his back for comfort.

After he'd crawled out of the dumpster - once again late for his first period - he dragged himself into the school building, relived that at least no one would wait for him in the hallway. Not paying attention to his surroundings, he didn't notice the ghost's presence until he'd walked right through him.

"Now, if that wasn't exceptionally rude," a familiar voice stated in a monotone.

Turning around, Kurt took a deep breath. Sebastian really was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now.

"What do you want, Sebastian?"

"Just remind you not to mess things up with Rachel. She's annoying as hell but people grow on you when you've been stuck with them for a few decades." His voice still betrayed no interest in the subject.

"Nice to know you actually have a heart. However, I told you before and I'm telling you again: I didn't promise Rachel anything and she knows that I might not succeed. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying. Now would you be so kind to get out of my way. I really don't want to have to walk through you again," Kurt replied as evenly as he could. The guy really rubbed him the wrong way.

"You'll see me again, Hummel. Don't think I'll forget," Sebastian announced. A few steps down the hallway he turned around again. "Also, you might want to invest in deodorant sometime soon."

It was definitely the wind's fault if Kurt's locker slammed shut a lot more forcefully than was strictly necessary.