Chapter 1 – The New Kid

You are perfect porcelain.

-

Porcelain by Marianas Trench

September

There were hardly ever new kids at McKinley. No one wanted to attend the place that defined the word shithole. Kurt didn't blame them, if he could, he'd be gone in a second. However, there was a new kid. A new kid with overly gelled hair, glasses that hid his face and a bright blue bow tie. A new kid who had only been at school for one period before he was slushied.

Kurt had seen it coming...how could he not after facing so many of them in his past. He and Quinn were at her locker dissecting the new kid as he struggled to open his locker. Kurt had seen Karofsky and Azimio come walking down the hall with smirks and two blue slushies. They stopped in front of the new kid, saying something to him that Kurt couldn't hear over the noise of the crowded hallway. Azimio started laughing and high fived Karofsky before both of them threw their slushies in the short boy's face.

Quinn snickered, watching as the new kid removed his glasses and wiped his eyes with an expression of shock. "Remember when that was us?"

Kurt did. He still remembered the feeling of the ice hitting him like a brick wall, remembered the burn in his eyes and the sticky feeling it left behind. But most of all he remembered the humiliation that lasted a lot longer than the ice-cold feeling ever did.

He gave her a fake smile as he looked at the new kid. He was still holding his books, which were now covered in blue slush. The short boy looked as if he was trying to hold back tears. Some kids who passed him gave him looks of pity, while others outright laughed at him. Kurt knew he shouldn't feel bad; it wasn't him anymore. It hasn't been him for two years now. Quinn grabbed her lighter and a pack of cigarettes before turning back to him. "Ready to go?"

Kurt looked back at the new kid only to find him with Mike and Tina. They were wearing looks of sympathy, the same look they use to give him when he use to be slushied on a daily basis. Back before he became a skank.

"Yeah I am."

* * *

Kurt's dad was already home by the time he pulled into the driveway. And he apparently had invited Carole and Finn over to; Carole was spending a lot more time at the Hummel's house. He was glad that his dad had someone now; Kurt knew he was getting lonely. What he was not glad for was Finn. Whenever he was over, he constantly bothered Kurt to play video games or watch football. Kurt could never just relax and be himself with Finn around.

After opening his car door, he braced himself against the cool autumn air as he walked into his house. Immediately he was met with a warm blast of air and the smell of pasta cooking. He could hear Finn watching television in the living room and his dad and Carole murmuring in the kitchen. As he undid his laces, he smiled slightly to himself, his dad's laughter loudly echoing down the hall.

"Dude, Burt's pissed he got another phone call from our school today about you." Finn said, not removing his eyes from the TV. Kurt stopped in the doorway of the living room; Finn was watching reruns of SpongeBob.

"Finn are you ever going to grow up?" He asked sarcastically and went to receive whatever punishment his dad gave him this time.

"Hey honey." Carole said as she set the forks down around the table.

Kurt flashed a smile before turning to his dad, who was sitting at the island with an unimpressed look on his face. "I'm not happy that I've received yet another phone call telling me my son has skipped all his classes."

Sighing Kurt crossed his arms, "Look I'm doing well enough in all my classes that I don't actually have to show up. And like you never skipped classes when you were in high school." He smirked.

"I admit that I did skip classes but not every day! It's getting out of hand Kurt!" His dad started to raise his voice. Carole walked over and wrapped her arm around his shoulder.

"Burt...Can we not get into this tonight? We are supposed to be celebrating." Carole murmured before walking to get four glasses from the cupboard.

"Celebrating what?" Kurt asked, eyes narrowing at his father.

His dad and Carole looked at each other before both shouting excitedly, "We're getting married!"

Kurt's face was probably one of pure shock, which quickly morphed into genuine happiness and excitement. "Oh my God! I'm so happy for you guys! Carole let me see the ring." Kurt couldn't help but let the old him take over. Carole walked over and gave her left hand to him. "Dad this is beautiful, although I'm a little offended you never asked for my assistance in choosing it, it's perfect."

He looked up at his dad who was smiling brightly at Kurt. Before he could control himself, he threw his arms around his dad's shoulders. At first his dad sat in shock, Kurt rarely hugged him anymore, and then he stood up and hugged Kurt so tightly that he could barely breathe.

"I'm so happy for you, dad."

* * *

Kurt actually ate dinner with them that night, seeing both Carole's and his dad's excitement he couldn't say no. The first half of dinner had been talk about how his dad proposed, which Kurt thought was adorable, and when the wedding would be. Kurt offered to help Carole with the planning, which surprised himself the most out of everyone. The wedding would be in April and have a simple spring theme to it. The topics slowly drifted to school, Finn chatted happily away about his classes, and glee club as Kurt picked at his meal.

"We have a new member, his name is Blaine Anderson." Finn announced, finally catching Kurt's interest. "His voice is awesome; he's definitely going to be some competition."

"Oh please Finn, everyone knows that Mr. Schuester picks you and Rachel for every duet." Kurt muttered.

"Yeah but I mean this dude can sing. At first when you see him you think he's just another nerdy musical theatre kid but then he opens his mouth and it's like pure talent." Finn explained. "He's from Dalton Academy, where he use to be lead for their glee club, the Warblers."

"Is that the all boy's school?" Carole asked. Everyone was finished eating supper except Finn who was on his third helping.

"Yeah...Santana wouldn't stop making gay jokes the whole meeting." Finn took another huge bite of his dinner.

Burt looked slightly pissed off, while Kurt just rolled his eyes before collecting his, his dad's, and Carole's plate to be cleared. "Thanks for supper, it was delicious." He scraped off the remaining pasta, which was most of it, from his plate before placing all three plates in the dishwater.

"You barely ate five bites of it." His dad grunted.

Kurt rolled his eyes at his dad before replying. "Quinn and I ate pizza at her house before I came home so I'm not really hungry." He lied smoothly.

"Alright...well come straight home tomorrow, you're grounded for two weeks." His dad said. "And don't even think about cutting class."

Kurt rolled his eyes again before heading down to his room. "Yeah, yeah sure."

That night as Kurt laid in bed, not being able to sleep like usual, Blaine's face kept flashing in his mind. His devastated expression as he wiped away the slush that had run under his glasses. His shy smile he gave Mike and Tina when they had comforted him and gave him clean clothes.

Kurt thought about how he was tempted to help the small boy after being slushied. He quickly scolded himself, don't think like that, don't let your guard down that's how you got hurt last time. Nevertheless something about seeing the new kid be slushied, the way the light in his eyes seemed to dull, how his back immediately stiffened, or how the tears gathered in his eyes but never fell, made Kurt want to throw himself in front of the iced drink.