Chapter 10

Kurt yanked his locker open and began to pack stuff into his messenger bag, just thankful that the school day was over. He hadn't been in school for the past few days and Burt had finally forced him to go so he didn't get too far behind.

The day had been agonizingly long and second hour was just torture. He and Blaine hadn't spoken one word to each other since Kurt's blow up last Friday, not even a single text message. All through Ms. Johnson's class Kurt had sat still, facing forward, not even giving himself half a chance to come into contact with Blaine.

But avoiding Blaine was a walk through a patch of daisies and sunshine compared to avoiding Karofsky. Kurt saw the jock everywhere he went; every corner he turned, every door he opened. Every time Kurt began to talk to someone, there he was, shooting him a deadly glare. It was almost like he was waiting for Kurt to slip up and let this whole mess unravel. Like he wanted Kurt to fear being with his friends. So he could feel just as alone as Karofsky did.

And it worked. Kurt hadn't talked to any of his friends since lunch. He ignored Rachel's pep, and Finn's brotherly glances, keeping to himself the entire time, and he was almost home free.

Kurt shoved the last of his stuff into his bag, slammed his locker shut and began to head towards the exit doors when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

No- I can't do this right now-

His body involuntarily flinched at the touch and he twisted to see who it was.

"Mercedes! What are you-?"

Dammit!

His moment of relief at the sight of his best friend's face turned into panic. Kurt had tried to avoid everyone, but especially her. If anyone was going to get the truth out of him, she'd be the one to do it.

"Kurt! I've been trying to talk to you all week. Where have you been? And what the hell happened to you this weekend? You totally blew me off."

The hallways were beginning to clear out as Kurt readjusted the bag on his shoulder and looked down at the floor, avoiding her questioning gaze for as long as possible.

"I know, I'm sorry. I've just been busy…"

Mercedes put her hand on her hips like she always did when she knew that she had the upper hand.

"Do not play that game with me! Maybe Berry or Finn will buy it, but I won't. I know you and I know something is up, so you best start telling me."

Kurt gave a nervous chuckle to hide the fear that was now taking over.

"Mercedes, don't-"

"Kurt…"

It almost sounded like a warning when she spoke his name.

"I-I've gotta go-"

Kurt turned around and tried to make it out the door but was stopped when he heard Mercedes speak.

"Where? We have rehearsal today."

Kurt twisted back around to face Mercedes in the now empty hall.

"No, we don't."

Kurt said slowly, hoping that Mercedes would catch onto what he was saying and just leave it at that.

"What are you talking about?"

But he wasn't so lucky. Kurt to a deep breath to brace himself for the reaction that would follow his words.

"I…I'm quitting. I've gotta go-"

Kurt had begun to take a few steps backwards but Mercedes was already on top of him.

"Are you crazy? Sectionals is tomorrow!"

Kurt had a pained and shameful look on his face as he internally begged her to just let it go.

"I'm sorry, but I can't-"

Mercedes knew that something was seriously wrong, even if Kurt didn't want to do something; he was still a loyal friend and would never bail on a group of people who needed him.

"Would you tell me what the hell is going on? Is this about Blaine?"

"No!"

Kurt shot Mercedes an irritated glance, almost offended that she would suggest Blaine as the cause of his problems.

"Karofsky?"

Kurt shuttered at the name and his face went a little pale. His eyes began to flick around the empty hall, as if he was searching for some sign of Karofsky, terrified that saying his name would somehow make him appear.

"Its him, isn't it? What did he do? Kurt!"

He stumbled backwards as he shook his head furiously.

"I...I can't-"

"You need to talk to me!"

He was practically pleading with her now,

"Mercedes, please, I can't-"

"Yes, you can! Just tell me what he did so I can help."

She grabbed Kurt's arms and tried to get him to look at her, but he just stared at the floor.

"KURT!"

His head snapped up at the sound of his name and their eyes locked.

Kurt looked so tired. Tired of putting on a brave front and not letting people in. Tired of wearing that fake smile and acting like everything was okay. He was tired of being scared, of being afraid every time he turned a corner, and he knew he needed someone.

Kurt opened his mouth and let those deadly words escape his lips in a voice no louder than a whisper.

"He said he would kill me."

Kurt's words echoed through the silent hall, heavy as lead. They both stood frozen, their gazes locked on each other. The blood had drained from Kurt's face and he turned a ghostly shade of white as a light sweat broke out on his forehead. Kurt broke from her grip and was out the door before Mercedes could even register what had happened.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day and the choir room flooded with Glee kids, each and everyone finishing conversations, greeting friends they hadn't seen all day and preparing for a grueling rehearsal.

Mr. Schuester walked into the room and they fell silent and looked up at him expectantly, eager to get to work.

"Alright guys, we have Sectionals tomorrow and judging by what I heard of the Warblers we have a lot of work left to do!"

Mr. Schuester gave a small clap and the kids quickly split up into groups, beginning their rehearsal right away.

The peace didn't last long.

Rachel kept turning her head to sneer and glare at Quinn and Sam, commenting on how much better she and Finn would sound. Saying things like "our voices were made for each other's" and "have you heard us when we harmonize? It's amazing." Quinn threw a good couple of nasty things back at her and started yelling at Sam who apparently 'wasn't working hard enough'.

Rachel then decided to refocus her energy on trying to "fix" Santana's solo, which she insisted would be more moving if she got to sing it instead. Santana, appalled, threatened to go 'all Lima Heights' on her if she didn't shut up and let her rehearse her solo.

All the while Sam was incredibly close to flipping out because all the yelling was making it hard for him to concentrate.

Then there was Mike and Brittany, who were in their own little dancing world, and completely oblivious to Artie and Tina's seething scowls. That is until Tina made her way over to the dancing duo, shouting at Mike in Chinese and yelling at Brittany to 'get off of her man'.

Brittany almost started crying, scared that Tina was going to karate chop her in half. Artie joined in, yelling at Tina for making Brittany so upset. Mike took Artie's stance only to get yelled at even more by the both of them.

Meanwhile Finn was trying to keep Rachel, who at this point had finally snapped, from mauling him. She was half way in tears and kept shouting "WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME ANYMORE". However, once she realized Finn wasn't going to budge, she turned her attention to Puck, claiming that "You only liked me because I'm a Jew!"

This lead to Finn and Puck fighting; not fighting over Rachel, but fighting about who had to deal with her blubbering the most. At which point Rachel decided to just stand in the corner, sobbing about how 'she never gets anything she wants'.

Mr. Schue took a deep breath to keep calm as he surveyed the room, something was missing but he didn't know what just yet. He kept trying to figure out what it was and Puck and Finn's little shove fight wasn't helping.

For the last five minutes the two boys had been arguing about Rachel and now they were about to start throwing punches. Mr. Schue took one last look around the room, and it dawned on him what, or who, was missing, before rushing over to stop the fight, completely pushed over the edge.

He placed himself in between Puck and Finn, shoving the boys away from each other.

"ENOUGH!"

Mr. Schue's voice rang out through the choir room and the entire glee club quieted down right away.

"Look at you guys! All you care about is yourselves! Now, someone tell me where Kurt and Mercedes are! I know they were in school today and they need to be here!"

"He's not coming. He quit."

Everyone looked to Mercedes who had just entered the room. She was wiping away a few stray tears from her puffy eyes and her voice was shaking.

The room instantly filled with whispers.

"What did she say?"

"He quit!"

"No, that can't be right."

"We have sectionals tomorrow!"

"He wouldn't do that to us."

Mr. Schue took a step forwards towards Mercedes, momentarily forgetting the boys behind him.

"Quiet!"

The whispers stopped just as suddenly as they had begun and Mr. Schue turned his attention back to Mercedes.

"What do you mean? What's going on?"

"I'm not really sure, he wouldn't really tell me, but it's Karofsky. He…"

Finn immediately jumped out from behind his teacher, shaking off the hand that Mr. Schue tried to hold him back with.

"What? What did he do?"

The whole Glee Club stared at Mercedes expectantly; all anxious to hear what Karofsky had done. She looked up, first at Mr. Schue, then at Rachel, before settling her gaze on Finn. Her voice was barely above a whisper but still audible in the strained silence that the choir room now held.

"He threatened to kill him."

No one spoke. No one blinked. No one even took a breath. It seemed like the world had stopped spinning as the seriousness of this dawned on them.

Finn broke forward, the lines of his face etched with rage, unable to control himself.

"Are you freaking kidding me?"

Mr. Schue grabbed Finn's arm to hold him back.

"Finn calm down."

He whipped around to face Schue, furious about this whole situation.

"Calm down? How can I calm down- My brother- Why didn't he talk to me about this! You know what, that's it! Karofsky's dead!"

The whole room was still in a stunned silence as Finn turned back to Puck, Sam, Artie and Mike.

"You guys coming?"

The four of them shared glances before moving forwards towards Finn in silent agreement.

"Let's get this son of a bitch."

"STOP!"

The small crusade paused at the sound of Mr. Schue's voice and slowly turned around.

"Look, I'm just as concerned as you guys are, but violence isn't going to fix this-"

Rachel piped up from her corner of the room where she was now dry-eyed and for once in this whole mess, thinking of someone other than herself.

"Mr. Schue, while we all appreciate your very noble intentions, Karofsky is the kind of guy that only responds to muscle-"

He held up a hand, silencing Rachel immediately, a rare feat, considering there was almost never a moment when she didn't have something to say.

"That doesn't make it right. Now, I'll talk to Principal Sue tomorrow but until then you guys need to remain calm and get back to work. We have a competition tomorrow and you guys need even more prep now that Kurt might not be performing with us."

There was visible tension in the room as Finn and Mr. Schue engaged in a short stare down, a battle of wills.

Finally Finn relented, letting out a sharp breath.

"Fine."

Everyone watched as he trudged back to his spot in the choir room. No one was really sure what to do. They knew that they should be practicing, but how could they just act like everything was normal when they knew it wasn't?

It took a little while, but everyone got back into the groove, running numbers, rehearsing challenging notes, but it was different this time. They weren't as focused, or as passionate about their singing; there was an air of uncertainty in the room and everyone could feel it.

There was less than an hour until kickoff as boys began to pile into the locker room. Locker doors slammed open as the mass of rowdy boys shouted across the room to one another, getting psyched up to play one of the toughest games of the season.

However, in contrast to howling teenage boys surrounding him, Finn was a silent inferno, the air around him buzzing with tension. He quietly opened his locker, keeping to himself. His hushed rage was slowly building inside and becoming noticeable. The way he couldn't help but glance at Karofsky every few seconds, a tight lipped sneer forming every time he did so. The strain coursing through his arms as he went to pull his jersey over his head. The deep breaths he took to keep himself from snapping right then and there.

Blaine opened his locker, which was next to Finn's, and he couldn't help but notice the other boy desperately trying to hide his wrath.

"You okay?"

Finn jerked his head up, producing an automatic response without even thinking.

"Yeah I'm…"

Finn's voice trailed off as his eyes flicked to Karofsky. He looked back at Blaine, not even bothering to hide the fury that he held.

"You know what? No. I'm not fine."

Blaine tilted his head to the side a bit and gave Finn a questioning look.

"It's Kurt."

Blaine perked up at the mention of his crush, listening intently when Finn spoke again.

"You know how he's been acting all weird lately?"

How could I not…

"Yeah."

Finn looked completely pissed and slammed his locker shut.

"Well I found out why. Karofsky-"

Finn realized that he was almost shouting when a few other jocks began to listen in on the conversation. He gave each a blistering glare until they turned away, ensuring that their exchange was private. Finn placed his eyes back on Blaine and lowered his voice to a growl.

"Apparently Karofsky said he'd kill him."

Blaine's face twisted into a furious snarl and his whole body tensed up.

"Are you serious? Where is he? I swear I'm gonna-!"

He began to take a step forward when Finn moved in front of him, blocking his path, even though he was so tempted to just let Blaine go and beat the crap out of Karofsky.

"What the hell are you doing, Blaine?"

Blaine seemed baffled.

"What the hell am I doing? I'm going over there to teach Karofsky a lesson, now let me by!"

Finn shook his head and forced Blaine to move backwards until they were once again standing next to the lockers.

"No, as much as I want to, we can't, not here."

Finn glanced around, hoping not too many people had noticed the strange behavior.

"What- He's your freaking brother, Finn. Or does that not mean anything to you?"

Finn was offended that Blaine would even suggest that. Of course he was only doing it to provoke him, but that didn't mean it wasn't working. Finn felt his restraint start to crumble a bit and he got more animated when he spoke.

"What are you talking about, of course it does! And I am just as pissed as you are, but-"

Blaine challenged Finn

"Well then why aren't we over there talking to Karofsky?"

"Because-"

Blaine raised an eyebrow, daring Finn to come up with a reason, but he had none. Internally, he knew he would lose whatever social standing he had, but there was no way he could get around this. Finn let go of all of his self-control and nodded. He discreetly walked over to Puck, Mike, Sam, and Artie.

"C'mon guys. We're settling this now."

Artie looked up at Finn, confused.

"But Mr. Schue told us to wait until tomorrow."

Blaine was then at Finn's side.

"Kurt may not have 'til tomorrow"

Mike stepped forwards, keeping his voice down to a whisper

"Are you sure we should do this? I mean right before a game…"

The boys looked at each other, a bit conflicted about what to do until Puck spoke up.

"Anderson's right. Juvie or no, no one messes with my boy Kurt."

Sam gave a small nod.

"Let's do this."

The six of them seemed to form a small pack as they trampled their way through the locker room. By now they had gained considerable attention from the rest of the jocks who were watching them, waiting for something to happen.

Karofsky was laughing about a joke when Finn called out, only about five feet away.

"Eh Karofsky!"

He looked up to see the pack descending on him and seemed a bit flustered underneath his tough front as he mumbled back.

"What do you homos want?"

Mike piped up from his spot near the back.

"We want you to leave Kurt alone."

Sam took a few steps forward so he was only a few feet from Karofsky

"Yeah, we know what's going on with you two and this needs to stop."

The other football players were beginning to pay close attention now. It's not like this was news to them, Karofsky bullying Kurt, they had all seen it happen and had done nothing to stop it. No one ever actually tried to help Kurt so this had to be something serious.

"You guys don't know anything!"

Karofsky said, a bit frenzied, and turned to face the group full on.

This time Artie spoke up, still menacing even though there was an obvious height difference.

"We're not asking. You leave him alone."

Puck leaned forwards, staring Karofsky straight in the eye, speaking quietly and making otherwise childish words sound petrifying.

"Or else."

But Karofsky just smirked, trying to play it off even though he was starting to panic. The whole locker room was now giving their complete attention to this tense exchange, and he had to save face in front of all of these homophobic jocks.

"Or else what? You'll tear up my wardrobe and steal all of my shoes?"

The football team let out a bit of laughter as Finn jerked forward, and Blaine had to hold out an arm to keep him from mauling Karofsky.

An idea had formed in his mind and he glanced over at Finn with a look that said trust me on this. Blaine then conjured up every ounce of calm in his body and settled his gaze back on Karofsky, a small chuckle escaping from him.

"Let's go, guys."

The group looked at Blaine, completely appalled. He was, after all, the one who pushed them to do this. Was he seriously backing down now?

"I said, let's go. It's cool."

Blaine spoke with a relaxed but authoritative tone and the guys batted with their self control as they grudgingly turned away from a smirking Karofsky.

Finn quietly whispered so only Blaine could hear.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

The room was still tense and dead silent; it was as if everyone was holding their breath, waiting. Something was about to happen, someone was about to explode.

Karofsky turned back to his locker to grab his helmet, letting his guard down for a second.

And that's just what Blaine had been waiting for.

In that split second Blaine swung around, fist clenched tight. Karofsky looked up just in time for his face to take the full force of the hit. He stumbled back a bit but was able to steady himself before he fell to the ground.

The entire football team had been watching and they could not believe their eyes, some let out shouts and hollers while others sat there in silent shock.

"You need to back the hell off of Kurt!"

Blaine was fuming, but he couldn't help but let out a small smirk when he noticed that Karofsky's nose began to bleed.

Finn and the rest of the guys were completely caught off guard, not even realizing what had happened until they saw blood and Blaine's self-satisfied grin.

Karofsky brought his hand up to his nose and when he felt the hot liquid he looked down at his hand then up at Blaine; almost unbelieving that he had just drawn blood. Karofsky raised his bloodied fist and slammed it hard toward the smaller boy's face, only for it to hit a locker. Blaine had become too good at dodging hits and Karofsky's fat, slow punches were nothing to him.

There was a moment of silence as the sound of Karofsky's fist on metal rung out through the room, and then all hell broke loose.

No one but Blaine really cared who they were hitting, so long as they were hitting something. The whole football team was on a testosterone filled rampage and there was no end in sight. Guys were slamming each other into lockers, throwing people on the ground, it was complete chaos. Blaine and Karofsky were in the center of it all with Finn, Sam, and Puck throwing a good few hits at him too.

Blaine had his hands on Karofsky's shoulders and was about to knee him hard in the stomach when Coach Beiste stormed the locker room, the door slamming behind her.

The fighting stopped almost immediately, but Blaine and his victim were unaffected by their now silent surroundings as Karofsky crumpled to the floor, Blaine's knee having made contact with his abdomen.

Furious, she roughly peeled Blaine away from Karofsky, allowing the larger boy try and stand.

"Hey! What the hell is going in on! We got a game in twenty minutes! I don't need anyone gettin' hurt so suck it up! If I see any more fights, you're out of the game! Am I clear?"

Karofsky and Blaine were still glaring at each other when Blaine answered back.

"Crystal."

Beiste nodded .

"Good, now you better be out on the field in five or you're not playin'! Bunch of babies!"

Beiste charged out of the locker room, leaving everyone feeling extremely edgy.

Blaine was smirking at Karofsky who was still cringing a bit, and Finn and Puck shared a fist bump, glad to have made their point. Mike and Sam helped Artie back into his chair and everyone went back to their own lockers, the room uncharacteristically quiet for the next couple minutes. Glares were thrown across the room as the team finally made their way out onto the field.

It was a quiet night out on the football field, everyone but Kurt had already left. This wasn't an unusual sight though. Kurt kept his duffle bag in the boy's locker room and usually waited until the locker room was empty to go ahead and grab it.

Normally he was a bit frustrated having to wait for everyone else to leave, all because of a bunch of homophobes, but today had been an almost cathartic experience. Confiding in Mercedes, though utterly terrifying, did seem to lift a weight off his shoulders and he found himself a bit more at ease than he had been in the past week.

He knew it might have been because of all the adrenaline coursing through him at the moment. They had just won a really tough game and being on the Cheerios in that kind of exhilarating environment filled him with the pep he'd been lacking. It was nice, to be somewhat legitimately happy again. And to be around friends.

Kurt took in a few deep breaths of the night air as he walked across the field towards the school, taking the experience as a hopeful sign that things would start to look up.

He entered the school hallway, enjoying the silence and poked his head into the locker room to make sure it was safe.

"Hello?"

When he didn't hear a reply he entered the empty room and made his way over to his locker. Kurt placed his water bottle and cell phone on the bench next to him and then turned back to his locker. Pulling the small door open, he grabbed his bag and set it on the bench. He went back to get his hairspray when his phone buzzed.

Dad: You gonna be home soon, bud?

Kurt smiled to himself, he always laughed at the thought of his dad actually trying to text. He turned back to his locker and began to type out a message that would never get sent.

Without any warning, the door to the locker room was flung open and Karofsky came crashing into the room, only focused on his target.

"Hey, Fag!"

Karofsky was filled with uncontrolled rage as he ran up behind Kurt and shoved him into the open locker. Kurt's phone fell from his grip as his shoulder hit the metal full force. There was a popping noise as his shoulder dislocated and Kurt cried out in pain.

Karofsky reached forward and grabbed the back of Kurt's uniform, pulling his head out of the locker and flipping Kurt around to face him.

"W- What are you d- doing?"

Karofsky put his hand on Kurt's injured shoulder, pushing down hard, his bones grinding against the metal behind him. Kurt shut his eyes tight, letting an earsplitting scream escaping his throat, his face full of agony.

Karofsky increased the weight on Kurt's shoulder as he began to yell in the smaller boy's face.

"I know you told them!"

"W- What? I don't know what y- you're talking about."

Kurt's voice was shaking and he was finding it hard to breathe with all of the pain that was overwhelming his senses. He was trying to think straight, trying to figure out what had made Karofsky do this, but it was impossible to focus with Karofsky's looming presence right in front of him.

"Don't play dumb with me! You told your damn glee fags what happened!"

Karofsky was screaming, he was livid, but underneath all of that there was a sense of desperation, as if he was just as scared as Kurt was.

Kurt opened his eyes and looked straight at Karofsky, an anger now beginning to build in his own core.

"This is insane! I never told anyone that you k- kissed me!"

Karofsky's face morphed into pure fury as he raised his hand and used all of his force to slap Kurt right across the face. The slap rung out through room as Kurt fell to the floor, completely unprepared for the sudden attack.

Karofsky leaned over him, his temper flaring as Kurt groaned in anguish, a bright red handprint already forming on his face.

"Don't lie to me you little Faggot!"

Karofsky kneeled down to Kurt, ready to release his rage.

"You are just a disgusting fa-"

Kurt saw his opportunity and quickly lifted his head to spit in Karofsky's face. The larger boy let out a yelp as he tumbled backwards, grimacing as he tried to wipe the spit out of his eye.

Kurt took his chance and scrambled into a standing position, trying to run.

He glanced down at Karofsky, their eyes locking for a brief second and in that brief second Kurt swore he could almost feel the desperation, fear and fury burning in the other boy's eyes; it was a deadly mix. Karofsky was not in his right mind and Kurt instinctively knew beyond a reasonable doubt that Karofsky was dangerous right now. Too dangerous to try and reason with, too dangerous to even be around. He had to get out of there or he would die.

Kurt looked away from the large jock and began to sprint, but he had only gotten a foot or two when he felt a hand wrap around his ankle, causing him to crash to the floor, his head hitting the wooden bench in the process.

Kurt's vision became a bit blurry, but the fight within him was still alive. He surrendered to animal instinct, his leg shooting backwards, making contact with soft flesh, giving him a moment to once again attempt an escape.

Karofsky flinched when the foot hit his stomach, his hand releasing its grip on Kurt's ankle, allowing the smaller boy a chance to get his feet on the ground. But the pain wasn't enough to immobilize Karofsky and he was standing within seconds of the blow. He reached out a hand, grasping Kurt's injured shoulder and using it to spin him around before he slammed his fist into Kurt's jaw just as he faced him.

Kurt stood there for a second, like someone had paused time itself, before his eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped to the ground in a broken heap.

Kurt's eyes fluttered open just seconds later, only to feel pain rushing through his body. Pain that he was almost thankful for, but only because it meant he was still alive.

Pain that amplified as Karofsky began to ram his foot into the back of Kurt's skull.

And then Kurt no longer had any strength or fight left in him.

Karofsky kicked him once more.

His body began to go numb.

And another hit.

The lights were dimming.

And another.

He no longer felt the pain.

Another.

Darkness.