Monday

                Kurt had been sitting at the kitchen table for what felt like hours. He’d been up since 6am. While he was thankful that he had not yet been plagued with any nightmares so far, he was anxious for today. Today, Kurt found out his future. He, his parents and Finn, if needed, were all meeting with Figgins at 9am. Blaine had driven back to Westerville yesterday afternoon, after spending all weekend with Kurt. They had done silly, enjoyable things throughout the weekend like baking and decorating cupcakes and colouring pages of a Disney Princess colouring book Kurt had found in a box of old memories. They looked through old photos all weekend and told each other stories, learning things about each other that they hadn’t known yet.

                Saturday morning, Kurt had woken up with none other than his very large step-brother in bed with him. Apparently Finn had heard him whimpering in his sleep when Finn got up to pee in the middle of the night, so he snuck into Kurt’s room and tried to soothe him back into a peaceful sleep. Kurt didn’t remember anything about it, but he was touched and grateful for the gesture. Blaine had come over that morning to help Kurt make pancakes and Burt and Carole had gone over to Blaine’s house to meet his parents and talk about Dalton. They were gone for hours, but when they had returned, they looked calm. Burt was holding a folder with several booklets and papers inside and he simply said everything would be alright. Kurt was curious, but he kept his thoughts to himself. He still didn’t want to allow himself to get his hopes up to attend Dalton. Yes, his parents were seemingly researching the school very well and considered it a big possibility, but Kurt didn’t want to let himself hope. Going to Dalton seemed too good to be true.

                He stared blankly into space, mechanically sipping his mug of coffee every couple of minutes or so. Eventually, his dad and Carole came down the stairs into the kitchen.

                “You’re up early, kiddo,” Burt stated, checking the clock on the microwave.

                “Couldn’t sleep,” Kurt said, taking a sip of his coffee.

                “In a, I’m too scared to sleep kind of way or I’m too nervous to sleep kind of way?” Burt asked.

                Kurt thought for a moment. It wasn’t that he was scared to sleep necessarily, it was more of the fact he was scared that he was going to revisit things in his dreams that he didn’t want to see. Thankfully Blaine had stayed late again on Saturday night, waiting until Kurt feel asleep until he left, but last night Blaine had gone back to Dalton and yeah, maybe Kurt was a little scared last night to go to sleep. But he was definitely nervous too.

                “Maybe a little bit of both,” Kurt said. Burt grimaced and patted him on the shoulder on his way to the coffee machine.  After fixing a cup of coffee, Burt sat down across from Kurt at the table.

                “Talk to me kid. What’s on your mind?”

                Kurt tapped his fingers mindlessly on the table, staring into the contents of the mug in front of him.

                “I’m just…nervous, I guess. I don’t know what’s going to happen and that scares me. I just have this anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach and it won’t go away.”

                “Life can’t always be planned out, though, bud.  We’ll just have to wait and see what happens today.”

                Kurt sighed. “I know. I just…have a bad feeling about it.”

                “It’ll be okay, we’ll all be there to support you.”               

Later

                “I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED!” yelled Kurt, climbing out of his dad’s truck and stomping to the door. Distantly, he heard Carole call out his name, but Kurt’s blood was absolutely boiling and he paid no attention to her.

                The meeting had been a complete disaster.  Kurt expected it to be a serious conversation between adults that actually promised a solution to the bullying problem, but it had been the exact opposite.  Burt, Carole and Kurt had laid out the facts simply for Figgins. Kurt had struggled with retelling the incident with Karofsky in the locker room and attempting to scrounge up other incidents that would help his case. Figgins seemed to do nothing except twiddle his thumbs while Kurt and Burt talked and talked and talked.

                “Mr. Hummel, there is nothing that I can do”, said Figgins, morosely.

                “What do you mean there’s nothing you can do? My son has been harassed ever y single day at school and you can do nothing? My son was practically sexually assaulted in the boys locker room and you can do nothing? What kind of principal are you?!”

                “Mr. Hummel, the best I can do is set up a meeting with David Karofsky and his parents. I cannot suspend or expel Mr. Karofky unless we have solid proof.”

                “So, you think my kid would like about something like this? I come home from work last Friday and my son is a mess because this bully kissed him against his will and you don’t believe him? You need proof? He wouldn’t make something like this up. He’s a good kid.”

                “Mr. Hummel, there is nothing I can do. I need to have concrete evidence to present to the school board. I can’t just expel David for no reason. And from what you’ve told me, it seems he might deny everything that you’ve accused him of. Not to mention you don’t want to meet with him at all. So I apologize, really. But there’s nothing that I can do to mediate the problem,” said Figgins, clasping his hands together in front of him.

                “Fine, then I’m pulling him out. Print out those transfer papers and fax them to Dalton Academy. I refuse to let my son stay at this school, if he’s not going to be safe,” Burt demanded angrily. Figgins just nodded and called the secretary from the phone at his desk. All three of them stormed out of Figgins’ office angrily, Burt stopping to pluck his copies of the transfer papers from the secretary’s hands.

After the meeting with Figgins, Kurt made a quick stop at his locker, emptying out his belongings. He tucked the pictures of him and Blaine, Blaine’s school photo and his “Courage” collage carefully into his bag. He stopped by the choir room, where the Glee club was meeting during their free period. Kurt notified everyone that he was transferring to Dalton as soon as possible and held back his tears when his friends just looked at him sadly. He asked Finn to explain to the group what had happened. He’d been too chicken to face them himself. He has already bared his trials and tribulations to Figgins and he wasn’t prepared to do it yet again in front of his friends. He knew the girls would all burst into tears and try to comfort him and he knew the guys would all threaten Karofsky’s life and promise to protect Kurt.

                Kurt knew he couldn’t stay at McKinley anymore, for the risk of his safety, but there was still a big part of him that was going to miss seeing his best friends every day. He was going to miss competing with Rachel for solos and having diva-offs and planning outfits with Mercedes and Tina. He’d even miss Mr. Schuester and his misguided attempts at lessons plans for each week. Kurt was glad that he’d have the opportunity to be safe and sound at Dalton. Thankfully, Blaine had ensured him an audition for the Warblers if Kurt had needed to transfer, so his singing wouldn’t be completely out of his life but…It would be weird to compete against New Directions. Not to mention being a part of an a cappella group. Yes, the Warblers’ vocals were absolutely dreamy, but the group’s dynamic would be something difficult that Kurt would have to adjust to.

                One thing that he was looking forward to about going to Dalton was seeing Blaine every single day and having a lot of uninterrupted time together. They hadn’t had much of it since they became friends in the first place, so he knew that being at Dalton with Blaine would do wonders for their relationship. Kurt missed Blaine a lot and sometimes it was really hard having him so far away during the week. Thankfully Blaine usually came home every weekend to see his parents and Kurt, so it wasn’t that bad. Also, Kurt was lucky enough to meet a lot of Blaine’s friends and they were very nice. It was nice knowing that he would have friends at Dalton, when he was so far away from his own.

                Kurt stormed angrily into the kitchen and started taking down the ingredients for vanilla cupcakes and placing them down with unnecessary force on the kitchen counter.

                “Kurt, what are you doing?” Burt asked.

                “I’m making cupcakes, what does it look it?” Kurt mumbled angrily. Burt walked over to Kurt and placed his hands over his son’s, halting his frantic movements.

                “Kurt, last time you made cupcakes when you were this upset, you ended up eating most of them and puking all night. Put the ingredients away. We’re going to sit down and talk about this.”

                Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He shuddered when he remembered the puking episode that resulted from eating ten cupcakes in row.

                “You’re right,” he said resolutely. “I just need to calm down a little.”

Burt just smiled fondly. “It’s not that baking cupcakes isn’t a nice gesture, but I’m sure Finn would appreciate if there were some left for him when he got home. And I think me and Carole would both appreciate sleeping tonight instead of taking care of our son with a stomach ache, hmm?”

Kurt laughed lightly. “You’re right dad, I’ll say it again.” Burt just nodded.

“So do you want to talk about why you’re so upset? When we talked about Dalton the other day it didn’t seem like you had a big problem with going, if you needed to.”     

“It’s not going to Dalton that’s upsetting me, Dad. Of course I’ll miss my friends and New Directions, but I definitely won’t miss going to McKinley. It’s the fact that Figgins just blatantly ignored my retelling of the bullying. It means that the bullying won’t stop at that school. If the highest authority at the school refuses to accept and somehow control the bullying situation, what hope does the school have? None. I won’t be the one bullied anymore, but it doesn’t mean that it’ll be any better for anyone else.”

“I know, kid. Unfortunately we live in a society when people are blind when it comes to serious situations like this. It’s like they’d rather ignore them completely and hope for the best than try and fix the problem and deal with the consequences. I’m just glad we’re going to be able to send you to Dalton, where you’ll be safe. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if you never came to us about this, kiddo. I’m glad you did.”

“I’m glad I did too Dad. It’s not so bad when you don’t have such a huge weight on your shoulders anymore.”

Burt tugged him into his side for a quick hug. “Now why don’t you go upstairs and call Blaine, I’m sure he’s waiting to hear from you.”         

Kurt took a quick look at the time. “Yeah, I’ll do that. He’s in his study period right now. Thanks Dad.”

“No problem, kid. I’m actually going to call Dalton right now and get some stuff figured out, alright?”

“Sure.” Kurt picked up his messenger bag from where he had flung it in his rage and rifled in it, looking for his cell. When he found it, he planned to go upstairs and call his boyfriend, but before he could do that, Carole stopped him on the stairs.

“Honey, I was thinking that maybe we could go shopping to pick out some things for your dorm room at Dalton and maybe go out for lunch, if you wanted to.”         

Happiness bubbled up in Kurt’s chest at Carole’s suggestion. What better than shopping for a new bedroom to take his mind of things? Not to mention several hours of chit chat about everything and anything with Carole. His face relaxed into a genuine smile for what seems like the first time that day.

“That sounds perfect Carole, thank you.” She squeezes his arm gently.

“Let me know when you get off the phone with Blaine, we’ll leave right away, okay?”

Kurt nods and heads up the stairs, tapping speed dial number 1 on his way to his bedroom. He holds the phone up to his ear and counts the number of rings. Blaine has his phone set to seven rings before the caller hits voicemail and Kurt is chanting please answer during the pause between each of them.

On the sixth ring, Blaine answers with a breathless hello.

“Kurt! Hi! Sorry, I had my phone on vibrate and I was listening to my iPod. I was totally absorbed into my psychology textbook so I barely noticed my phone flashing.”

Kurt just laughed. “Well, I’m glad you noticed. How much time until you have to go back to class?”

“About twenty minutes?” Blaine said, not really sure of his answer. “So, how did it go?”

Kurt sunk down into the pillows on his bed and rubbed a hand over his face. “Not so well.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that Figgins totally ignored everything we said and refuses to do anything.”

“So what does that mean?”

“It means I’m coming to Dalton.”

“Really?” Blaine asked in an excited squeak.

 Kurt smiled and laughed softly at his boyfriend’s excitement. He was allowed to be excited. Kurt was excited too, but…everything was still hanging over his shoulders. It was hard for him to focus solely on the fact that he was going to see his boyfriend every single day and spend so much time with him; they’d probably end up being sick of each other. (Except, they actually wouldn’t at all)

“I mean…are you okay about that?” Blaine corrected himself when Kurt didn’t reply with an excited response.

“I’m not completely destroyed about the idea. I’m excited to see you every day and I think maybe living away from home would be pretty cool but…I’ll miss being here. And the fact that Figgins just ignored the fact that I was confessing that I had been bullied and basically attacked and he did nothing about it? It makes me feel sick. Like, what happens next year, or the year after, when there’s a new gay kid at the school and he doesn’t have anybody to help him through the bullying and something really bad happens? I can’t even stand to think about something like that, Blaine. It’s so horrible. I mean, I have you and my parents and Finn and the rest of my friends that have all been there for me, so I’m okay. You guys have helped me through it. But what happens when you have no one? I can’t even imagine how that feels. I mean, I can admit to feeling the lowest of lows when I first came out, but it got better but…”

“Kurt.”

“Yeah?”

“You have to stop dwelling on this right now. Trust me, I know how bad it can be and how much you want to help in situations where it seems like nothing can get done, but you can’t focus all your energy on this right now, okay? You need to focus on yourself right now. You’re moving to a new school, away from home, where you’ll be safe. It’s going to be a hard adjustment Kurt; I know it will be for you. But I know you’ll put too much energy in this and you’ll work yourself up into this hurricane of feelings and you won’t be able to do anything to make them go away.”

“I just want to help, Blaine.”

“I know baby, but you can’t do anything about it right now. Get your bearings first, and then we can see what we can do, alright? I’ll help you. But you need to focus on you first, got it?”

Kurt exhaled loudly. “It seems like everyone is giving some good advice today. Maybe I should just let you and my dad make all my decisions for me,” he joked.

“Nah, I have a feeling you would be often disappointed, especially if I had to pick out your wardrobe for you.”

“You are exactly right about that Blaine, but I think I’d be a little more than disappointed—”

“More like, in a murderous rage?” Blaine substituted.

“Yes, exactly. Not that I don’t like the way you dress, honey, it’s just…no one touches my clothes.”

“I know all too well, Kurt. Don’t worry.” Blaine laughed at him over the phone.

“It’s not funny, Blaine! Anyways, I wanted to ask you what kind of things I’ll need for my dorm room. My dad said he was going to call the school right before I called you, so I’m sure he’s setting everything up, but, Carole offered to take me shopping for things for my room.”

“Of course! You must be excited! Do you have it all planned in your head already?”

“Not yet, it depends what I have to work with.” Blaine laughed and gave Kurt a short list of things he will definitely need to bring to Dalton and some optional items as well. Kurt jotted everything down quickly on a piece of his stationary and sent Blaine off to class with an “I love you” before he went downstairs to show Carole his list.

Before he got down the stairs, Burt and Carole met him half way. They did the whole laughing, shifting side to side shuffle before finally they all just decided to go downstairs.

“Did you call Dalton, Dad?”

“I did,” Burt said slowly.

“Okay…and what did they say?”

“They said that you could move in on Friday and start classes on Monday.”

Kurt scrunched his nose. “Why such a long wait?”

“They want you to get your bearings and feel comfortable at the school before you start classes. Also, they want us all to go there to get you completely registered, to have a tour of the school, learn all the rules and policies and stuff on Wednesday. They’ll be figuring out your room assignment and your roommate tomorrow, so you’ll get to meet him and see your room on Wednesday.”

“Okay,” Kurt said happily. He was kind of excited, now that he really thought about it. The cloud of stress and fear that was weighing on him earlier seemed to have disappeared, which left him feeling giddy. Carole was taking him shopping for his new bedroom, he was going to be able to see Blaine in the middle of the week and Friday he’d be moving into his new home for the rest of the school year.

“So, did you talk to Blaine?” Burt asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“Yes, I just got off the phone with him. He gave me a list of things that I would need for my dorm room. Carole’s taking me shopping for linens and such, so I figured it was important to get the proper things, so that nothing is missing when I move in.”

Burt smiled, “Sounds like a good idea. Did Blaine tell you anything about the uniform?”

Kurt’s good mood depressed a little bit when he remembered that he’ll be required to wear a uniform during school hours and possibly outside of those hours..? He was sure that when he went to the school on Wednesday they would let him know when he needed to wear his uniform. He was trying not to shudder at the boxy blazer and the gray slacks and the white button-ups. He was aware that the school has a cardigan and a sweater vest as an option as well as the blazer so he knew he could make it work…maybe. At least he’d have the weekends, right?

“He didn’t mention anything…” he said.

“Okay, well, the school supplies the tie, blazer and the other pieces, but you need to buy a couple of pairs of gray slacks and some white button-ups. They said to get some dress shoes as well, but I figured you probably already had a pair of those.”

“Okay, I’ll be sure to stop by Brooks Brothers or something in the mall and pick those up when Carole and I go shopping.”

“Sounds good, kiddo.” Kurt went to leave and find Carole, when his dad stopped him.

“Wait, Kurt!” Burt dug around in his back pocket and took out his wallet. He plucked out his shiny Amex and handed it to Kurt. “You can use this today for your school stuff. But school stuff only, got it?”

Kurt let out a happy little squeak and hugged his dad. “Thanks, Dad! Just wait until you see all the things me and Carole pick out.”

“Looking forward to it, kid. Now go get Carole. You guys better get going. God knows this is going to be a day long affair.”

Kurt skipped out of the room, clutching the credit card in his hand and Burt just chuckled at the state of happiness his son was in. He deserved to be happy today.