June 4, 2012, 11:43 a.m.
There's all kinds of courage.: Chapter 28
E - Words: 1,477 - Last Updated: Jun 04, 2012 Story: Closed - Chapters: 48/? - Created: Sep 20, 2011 - Updated: Jun 04, 2012 175 0 0 0 0
A few others started to wander in and Rachel smiled politely at all of them, but noticed no-one chose to sit near her, surely they weren't still angry about what happened in New York?After all that had mainly been Finn's fault, she wasn't sure why they were still blaming her for it all. When Santana and Brittany walked in together and immediately joined Puck and Finn in their hushed conversation Rachel decided she'd had enough. She quietly moved over a few seats until she was sat behind them and proceeded to eavesdrop on their conversation.
She could only hear small snippets of what they were saying but it was enough to get her curious, she leaned in even closer.
"Is he okay?" Puck was asking and Rachel knew they must be talking about Kurt. She wasn't quite sure why they felt the need to whisper though. After all that was the whole reason that they had been gathered together any way.
She didn't hear Finn's reply but judging by the sad look on the others faces she guessed his answer wasn't what they wanted to hear. But Kurt was being released today wasn't he, surely that meant he was getting better.
"I'm just glad he's getting some help" Santana spoke then drawing Rachels attention to her. She was shocked by what she saw. This was about as stripped down and basic as Rachel had ever seen the other girl, she also looked worn down. "I hope he doesn't hate me for telling you guys". Rachel leaned closer trying to hear everything now.
"Blaine doesn't know you did" Finn reassured her. Wait, were they talking about Blaine, what was going on here?
"Then how did it all come out?" Puck was frowning.
"My mom found something..." Finn trailed off as though unwilling to say any more but one raised eyebrow from Santana had him carrying on. "His clothes...from that night".
"I don't understand" unsuprisingly it was Brittany who said that. " Why would his clothes give anything away?"
Finn didn't reply straight away and Rachel had to restrain herself from jumping into the conversation.
"They had ...um" Finn shifted uncomfortably in his seat " certain ..um... " he clearly decided to come at it from a different angle " There was more than just bloodstains on them".
Rachel was even more confused now but from what she could see of the other's faces they knew exactly what he meant. Before she had a chance to find anything else out Mr Schuester walked in, followed closely by Miss Pilsbury. Looking around the room Rachel could see that everyone apart from Mercedes and Sam were now here. Strange that both of them were missing Rachel thought.
"Hey guys" Mr Schue gave them all a small smile. "I'm glad you could all make it today. As you probably guessed today isn't about Glee but about what happened to Kurt. I thought, and Miss Pilsbury agreed" She nodded next to him. " That it might be a good idea for us all to get together to talk about it. I know this has been pretty scarey and I want you all to know that if you need someone to talk to, either now or later, then we're here for you".
"Yes. The worst thing anyone can do in the sort of situation is to keep things to themselves" Miss Pilsbury was speaking now.
"You mean like the way Finn didn't tell us about it and if Santana hadn't been at the hospital then who knows when he would have got round to telling us" Mercedes said striding into the room with Sam by her side. Rachel looked at Finn and saw guilt flash across his face before he defended himself.
"My mom asked me not to Mercedes, I was going to call you but Santana beat me to it".
"Well you should have called sooner" Mercedes carried on " Kurt's my best friend I deserved to know" she sounded less angry and more sad now.
"Well the important thing is we know now" Mr Schue tried to break the tension. "Which means we can be there for Kurt, to help him through this. Everyone here is his friend and we all want to help him I'm sure, but that might mean giving him some space as well".
Rachel wasn't really listening as her mind had been going over and over what she'd just heard. They had clearly been talking about Blaine, not Kurt like she'd first thought. But that must mean that Blaine was hurt worse than they'd thought and what was it Finn had said about stained clothing? Her mind was jumping to all sorts of conclusions and as usual the valve between her thoughts and her mouth was wide open.
"What kind of stains were they?" she blurted out making Finn and the others jump, as they hadn't known she was sitting so close.
"What...wh..Rachel I don't" Finn fumbled over his words. Everyone else was now staring at them clearly confused.
"You said his clothes had something other than blood on them and that's how everyone found out. What does that mean Finn?" Rachel asked standing up now.
"You shouldn't have been listening" Santana hissed at her. "It's none of your business".
"Oh and it's yours, why is that huh?" Rachel was yelling now.
"Because I'm the only one who even noticed something was wrong" Santana screeched back. " No-one else even knew he was hiding something. You all claim to be Kurt's friend" she spun around to glare at everyone now, but no-one said anything just stared in shock at the tears that were coarsing down her face. "But none of you saw how much his boyfriend was hurting".
"What are you talking about Santana?" Mr Schue was asking. "I thought Blaine was okay, he said they didn't hurt him didn't he?"
"Well he was fucking lying wasn't he" Santana was sobbing now.
"Santana" Finn put a hand on her arm to try and calm her down.
"No Finn" she snatched her arm away "Why shouldn't they know? Why do they get to pretend that nothing happened to him? I have to know, I had to see what those sick bastards did to him. I have to lay awake at night trying not to see those fucking lovebites across his chest, why should they get to sleep easy? It's not fair" . She ran from the room then and Brittany chased after her.
No-one spoke for a minute, all too stunned, trying to get their heads around what they's just heard.
"What was Santana talking about Finn?" Mr Schue walked over to where Finn was sat and looked down at him. Rachel could tell from the look on his face that he already had a pretty good idea but that he needed Finn to confirm it.
"I... Kurt asked me not to tell you" Finn's voice was shaking and Rachel could see he had tears in his eyes.
"I think it's too late for that" Miss Pilsbury added.
"What happened to Kurt?" Tina asked quietly from beside Mike.
"It's not Kurt for fucks sake" Finn ran a hand through his hair. "Weren't you listening. It's Blaine, Blaine's the one that they... he's the one they hurt". The tears were spilling down his face.
"How did they hurt him Finn?" Miss Pilsbury asked gently but Finn shook his head.
"I can't ...I can't say it" he said.
Rachel looked around at all the people in the room, seeing the exact same expression on all of them, they were all scared and confused. She knew she was going to have to be the one to say it, that there was no hiding from it now. She put a hand on Finn's shoulder to let him know she had it and then she spoke.
"He was raped wasn't he?" Finn gave a small nod. "Blaine was raped". She knew she was crying but she didn't care because every one else was too. Finn seemed to collapse in on him self and Mr Schue pulled him into his arms.
The room was silent apart from the sound of Finn's sobs.