Ever since Kurt and Rachel had that falling out, and Kurt had quit the glee club to focus solely on the Cheerios, things had been looking up. The bullying and torment that he had been undergoing on a daily basis had subsided; it was becoming a rare occasion for someone to shout a derogatory slur at him, and he no longer felt the ache of cold metal on his back. Even his scars were beginning to fade. No one at McKinley was willing to mess with a Cheerio, not willing to hurt their own reputation by picking on someone who was so obviously closer to the top of the food chain than they were. So, maybe Kurt was no longer being thrown into dumpsters or getting slushy facials, but he was lonely. They might not have been picking on him, but that didn’t mean that the general population of McKinley High had to acknowledge his presence, except when he led the Cheerios to victory. Even then, his presence was merely tolerated. His teammates barely acted as though he were alive. Sue didn’t have a say in their social lives, and they made it known to Kurt that he was unwelcome with a sneer and a cold shoulder. He did have Brittany and Santana though. Having been in glee club together, they had a soft spot for Kurt and often invited him to join them outside of school. He quickly learned, however, that this basically meant either watching them make out, or hanging out with Lord Tubbington so that they could “get their lady kisses on.” So, aside from during lunch when the three of them would sit together and talk about why they were so much better than the rest of the school, Kurt was alone.

~

Once upon a time, Kurt and Rachel had been best friends. They had lived two houses down from each other since they were six and Rachel’s family had moved to Lima. That first day, when Kurt and his mom had brought cookies to the new neighbors, Rachel had answered the door, loud as ever. When she had heard that his name was Kurt, and, that it was true, he was named for the equally cherubic character in The Sound of Music, she had immediately burst into a surprisingly coherent rendition of My Favorite Things, to which Kurt promptly joined. Since that day, they had been inseparable. With tea parties and Broadway musicals they had paved their way through a fairytale childhood, with Rachel’s younger brother Blaine often tagging along.

Then, high school had come around, and, like they often do, things began to change. Kurt realized rather quickly that the next four years were going to be nothing like he and Rachel had been imagining since they were ten years old and sneaking his mom’s old Cosmopolitan magazines during sleepovers. The first day of high school Kurt had been thrown into an, albeit empty, dumpster, he had then spent the entire day trying to rid the smell of rotten garbage from his hair. It wasn’t the last time either. Still, he and Rachel joined the glee club, together of course, and vowed to make it through the next four years, focusing solely on the amazing careers they had ahead of them in New York. They didn’t need to be popular, they just needed to survive.

Their sophomore year, Kurt had come out publicly. Rachel had known since they were thirteen, she was extremely supportive; after all she did have two dads. He had finally told his dad what he had been hiding from him since he was twelve, he was gay. His father told him it didn’t matter, he was still his son and he loved him. After that he didn’t care if the school knew, what he hadn’t been anticipating, was the torment the football team decided to put him through. The dumpster tosses became more frequent, as did the slushy facials, and he soon found himself hiding bruises and cuts from being shoved into lockers. Still, he held his head high and came back at them with his sharp, biting wit.

Then, Rachel had started dating Finn and her life became all Finn all the time, well and Broadway, but she definitely had less and less time for Kurt. Their friendship remained intact, however, and Kurt was there for Rachel when she needed a shoulder to cry on. Rachel, though, did not return the favor. By the beginning of their Junior year, Kurt’s torments had escalated, he no longer felt safe in the halls of McKinley. Rachel hadn’t seemed to care, or even notice, that her best friend was barely making it from day to day. Sue Sylvester, who had witnessed some of the milder torments and had always had a soft spot for Kurt, had offered Kurt a spot on the Cheerios. She needed more pizzazz, and Kurt’s voice was just what she was looking for. So, Kurt joined the Cheerios and he and Rachel’s friendship became even more strained. Until one day, it broke.

While Kurt and Rachel had always been generally supportive of each other, they had always been each other’s biggest competition. So, when Kurt had unfairly lost yet another solo to her in glee club, it was the final straw. He had stormed away angrily and Rachel had quickly followed. When she apologized that he didn’t get the solo, although she could not say she was sorry that she had gotten it as she felt she deserved it, Kurt began to yell. It had been too much. The one person in the world who was meant to be there for him, wasn’t. Rachel hadn’t been there for him in a long time and he told her as much. Suffice it to say Rachel had been less than understanding, as she could sometimes be, and their friendship had ended that day. Later, Kurt went to Mr. Shue and told him that he could no longer be a part of the glee club.

~

At the time, it had been painful; Kurt loved to sing and fully intended to be on Broadway someday. Once he was dedicated to Cheerios, however, and the school had finally decided to leave him alone, things became easier. Rachel tried to repair their friendship and get him to rejoin glee club, but he couldn’t forgive her, and rejoining glee would be a death sentence. He would rather be totally alone than scared for his life. So, Kurt may not have been happy, but he was content. The same could not be said for Blaine Anderberry.