"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel! You open this door right now or I will call your father!"

Kurt hadnt moved since the day before, aside from creeping to his private bathroom to relieve himself - but taking the blanket with him as a shield. It gave him security hed never felt the need for before. With everything hed done and gone through, he had always been able to make his own walls for protection. Now though, he felt totally exposed and vulnerable.

"You wouldnt dare Quinn!"

"Oh yah?!"

He heard a beep outside his door, then another, and a third, and it clicked that she was calling his father right outside his door. In a panicked rush he stumbled out from under his blanket and ran towards the door, tripping on the blanket which had wound itself around one of his feet and hitting the floor hard.

There was a moment of silence, and then Quinn asked "You alive still?"

"Fuck… yes… I fell…" Kurt groaned and used the wall for support as he stood up, pulling the chair away from the door and opening it up for Quinn. "What the hell do you want?"

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel… have you allowed yourself to grow some stubble?"

Kurt reached up to rub over his chin. They were just barely sprouting, but the hairs were there. "So?"

"I didnt know you could do that…" She pushed past him and closed the door, tossing a bag on the bed. "Come on. You cant miss practice. Classes are one thing, but cheer is another."

"Tell Coach Im sick."

"Coach was one second away from coming here to retrieve you herself. Between the now JBI newsworthy article on your "blossoming romance" with Blaine Anderson and then finding out you have skipped some classes… well, she is none too pleased with you right now."

Kurt groaned and crawled back into the safety of his bed, ignoring the bag as he burrowed his way back under his blanket. "I supposed I should thank you?"

"You should. I told her Id talk sense into you."

"Great. Now leave me alone."

"I told her Id drag you kicking and screaming, if necessary, to practice."

"Dont feel good."

The sound of the blankets being whipped off Kurt seemed to precede them actually being taken away from him, and he cried out softly, grabbing in a fruitless effort to try and pull them back. He needed them.

"In all our years Kurt… not once have I ever known you to sleep with a guy twice."

"I know. Im an idiot… now give me back my blankets."

"You are an idiot. You also like him."

"And he thinks I just hooked up with him to score. Give me back my blankets."

"Youre both idiots. Get up. Youre going to jeopardize your scholarship."

"I dont care."

"Yes you do."

Kurt sighed, draping the back of his hand over his eyes. "No Quinn. I really dont. Winter holidays assured me of that. Being away from cheer… being with my dad. You know why I went to SCU instead of NYU right?"

"Because it would be closer to your dad."

"Yet I dont think I see him more being here than I would have if I went to NYU. I shouldnt have ever taken up the scholarship…."

"Your family didnt have the money though…."

"I could have taken out a loan…. or, hell, I could have worked with all the hours I put into cheer anyhow. Dad always said we could sell my Navigator to help pay for things…"

"Youre not serious Kurt…."

"I dont think Ive ever been more serious… I used to think cheer was everything… hell… just a few weeks ago I thought that…"

"And then?"

"Then I hurt myself and saw that cheer went on without me. No one cared Quinn. Hell… you know I never stayed in cheer in high school because I particularly liked it anyhow. It was protection for me. It kept me popular. It kept me from being teased by most people."

There was a squeak as Quinn sat on the edge of the bed, the too thin mattress pad shifting slightly under her weight. "What about Blaine… how does he factor into all of this?"

Kurt sighed. How indeed. "If I let myself get caffeine sober enough to think about it clearly, I think Id wonder where the hell he was in high school when I needed someone who wanted to court me… now all he knows me as is the campus whore."

"Thats not true…."

"... I need to get away."

"But… the semester has just started. Your courses… cheer…."

"Will go on without me. Ive figured that much out on my own."

"Youd just up and quit? Just like that?"

Kurt shrugged, peering out from under the skin of his arm to Quinn who looked completely flustered by his epiphanies. "Yeah. I think I would."

"And do what?"

"Go home for the rest of the year… help my dad at the shop… save up and apply to NYU again. Go somewhere where I have a shot at a fresh start… where I can remember who the hell I am… was…."

"Jesus Kurt. You couldnt have waited until summer break to realize all this?"

"Sorry Quinn…."

Kurt pushed himself up to sit, feeling lighter as so much was off his chest now. Quinn was staring down at the floor, poking it with the toe of her shoe. "Blaine really does like you…."

Kurt looked away from his friend, towards the closet, already mentally planning out how to pack his things. "He doesnt even know me… not really…. how would you know that anyhow?"

"Santana and I have been in cahoots."

"Well… Im glad you two are getting along again anyhow… even if it is bonding over my pathetic love life."

"I just cant picture you without a uniform Kurt… without… yelling at people to stay in formation…"

Kurt chuckled at that, and though she hadnt meant it as a joke, Quinn joined in with a giggle of her own.

"What did Santana say he said about me…?"

"Going to play this high school game Hummel?" Quinn mused, a smirk crossing her ever lovely features.

"Yeah. We are. Dish."

"He thinks hes an idiot whos screwed up everything. Hes deciding what kind of grand gesture he could make towards you to try and woo you…."

"Really? Grand gesture huh?"

Quinn nodded plainly, eyes flicking away as Kurt looked over her face. "What did you do Fabray?"

"Well… Santana and I… and Brit and Kitty… well we might have come up with some ideas and forwarded them to him."

Kurts jaw dropped, and then he smacked his palm over his eyes and began laughing maniacally. It was too much. It was every silly show he had ever watched from The Parent Trap to The Little Mermaid all rolled into one… sex aside of course. His friends plotting ways to get them together while both of them were miserably apart.

"You sound like a crazy person Kurt."

Kurt managed to calm his chuckles and shook his head. "Not that it isnt appreciated. Nice to know you all care so much… but… I need to figure myself out first."

"How cliche."

"Cliche… but true."

Quintessential
Abort mission! I repeat! Abort mission!

AuntieSnix
Mission? We were on a mission? The religious kind or the submarine kind?

FondueForMew
I dont like being underwater.

KittysKorner
I think shes talking about the Kurt and Blaine thing.

Quintessential
Kurts dropping out.

AuntieSnix
WHAT?!

FondueForMew
Statistically speaking, drop-outs make significantly less over the course of their life. It doesnt make sense to drop out.

KittysKorner
Tell him he cant!

Quintessential
I tried. Hes having one of those coming of age moments.

AuntieSnix
Well shit. There goes all our hard work.

KittysKorner
What hard work? We wrote down everything weve ever heard Kurt say he likes, emailed it to Blaine, and then watched Orange is the New Black all night because things werent "hot" enough for you Santana.

AuntieSnix
I have an idea… lets all commit misdemeanors and see if womens prison is really that much fun.

Quintessential
Or not…

Samcconaughey
This conversation is so hot.

JBIatSCU
Agreed.