The school bell rang loudly as Kurt sat in History class, tapping his pen against the wooden desk. The other students shoved things into their bags but Kurt lingered for a few seconds, watching as the class began to filter out and in particular the one boy that he had sat behind since he found out they had a class together.

It was a convenient arrangement; Blaine never got to know about Kurt's unrequited love, and Kurt got to stare at Blaine to his heart's contempt without anybody noticing. It was a win-win situation.

As the last students left the now empty classroom, Kurt packed away his own books into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He walked out of the classroom in a brisk place, eager to get to his car.

The universe, however, had other ideas.

"Hey fag!" a jock yelled from the side of the parking lot that was opposite to where Kurt was at that moment, and just happened to be near Kurt's car.

"Not now Karofsky," Kurt yelled back, clutching his satchel a little bit harder and quickening his pace slightly. The jock, Karofsky, just laughed, walking over to Kurt's car.

"You gonna be cured later?" Karofsky asked and Kurt rolled his eyes, trying to get to his car as soon as possible. On what appeared to be the same brainwave Karofsky walked over to the driver's car door, leant his arms on the hood and watched Kurt walk over to him.

"I'm not sick," Kurt just replied, finally reaching the car. He walked around to where Karofsky stood and Karofsky turned around so that he was facing Kurt. He stepped out of the way of the car door, and instead leant on the bonnet. For a second Kurt almost thought he would sit on it, and leave a Karofsky-shaped dent on one of his most prized possessions.

"You sure? Seriously, there's this guy on the other side of town-" Karofsky began but Kurt dismissed him, waving his hand while trying to unlock his car.

"I'm not interested, nor will I ever be. I'm perfectly fine with what I am, and what I am is on the way to a potential new role on a very popular show."

"You're sick, man. You're disgusting. You're an abomination, and you should just be put down, like a dog, ‘cause you're going to Hell anyway." Karofsky said, his eyes looking up, as if he was repeating what he had been told countless times. That wasn't that weird though; the homophobes ran out of valid points years ago.

"I don't care," Kurt replied sharply, finally pulling his car door open and slipping inside the safety of the car as hastily as he could. He threw his satchel onto the back seat and breathed a sigh of relief.

He was about to start the car when he realised that Karofsky was now standing at the back of the car, meaning that Kurt couldn't reverse out of his parking space.

Kurt pulled his car window down and poked his head out of the window so that he could see the jock blocking him from exiting the parking lot. "What do you want, Karofsky? ‘Cause I swear that if you don't move in thirty seconds I'm reversing this car out anyway."

Karofsky stood there for a few more seconds, before moving out of the way. "You need help," he told Kurt as Kurt pulled his window back up and began reversing out of the parking space.

"I honestly don't," Kurt said as he drove away from Karofsky and onwards towards WMS.

If anything, the latest outburst of hate towards him just made him even more determined to prove them wrong.

The drive to the studio was uneventful and when he arrived there five minutes later than the time he'd agreed to meet Mercedes, she was waiting for him with her arms crossed and an annoyed expression etched onto her face.

"Where've you been?" Mercedes asked.

"Hit traffic," Kurt shrugged, grabbing his satchel from the back seat and stepping out of his car. Mercedes raised her eyebrows and unfolded her arms, clearly not believing him.

"Well we've gotta go in," Mercedes gestured to the studio door, where a number of other women were stood around, waiting.

"So much for extra vocal warm-up time," Kurt murmured, pulling out his sheet music out of his satchel.

"Next time don't sit around watching Anderson's ass walk out of the classroom," Mercedes said, unamused by his lame excuse.

"It's the highlight of my day," Kurt shrugged as they walked over to join the gang of girls at the door. "It would be like missing the latest Will Shuester Show."

"Or the greatest audition of your teenage life," Mercedes added.

"Listen up!" a short, blonde girl who Kurt recognised from the show said as she opened the studio door and let everyone in. "Miss Sylvester wants you in the studio now to prepare for a group audition for Hard Day's Night!"

"Oh God," Kurt said as everybody but he and Mercedes raced inside, desperate to be ready for the oncoming audition. "What am I even doing here? They'll take one look at me and ask me to leave," Kurt said, shaking his head and holding his hands to his mouth.

"Hey, they'll love you," Mercedes consoled, "Now come on. We've got to prove them wrong." She held out her arm and Kurt slid his own through the gap, grasping onto her hold. "We will," he smiled, thinking of the conversation he'd had with Karofsky earlier.

When they entered the cast were assembled, preparing for a song that Kurt assumed was going to be on next week's show. His eyes immediately fell to Blaine, who was standing next to the piano with Rachel, and apparently going through yet another duet they shared.

Finn was talking avidly to Puck and an Asian man, who were both trying to teach Finn the Madison dance at the same time. By the way Puck clenching his fists every time Finn took a step wrong, it clearly wasn't going well.

The possible replacements stood behind the cameras in awe, and Kurt and Mercedes soon joined them.

"This the new lot?" a tall woman with short hair asked. She had a megaphone in one hand, a clipboard in the other and wore a suit. From the look on her face, Kurt could tell that she definitely didn't want to be there.

"Yes, Miss Sylvester. Will there be anything else?" the girl asked, looking up to the manager.

"Get me a protein shake, Becky," Miss Sylvester commanded as she walked around the potentials, eyes like a hawk. She reached one girl, a petit girl dressed in a white blouse and a poodle skirt, and snapped, "You're out." Kurt jumped, not quite sure what he expected her to say, but it definitely wasn't that.
"W-what?" the girl squeaked, clearly very nervous.

"Too short. You think the camera's going to see you when it's panning over the cast? No, there's just going to be an empty space where a normal-sized girl should be," Miss Sylvester exclaimed

"But I'm only 4 foot-" the girl began, but was shushed immediately by Miss Sylvester, who was bringing up the megaphone to her lips and bending down so that she was around the same height as the girl.

"I don't care how tall you are, you're not getting the role." Miss Sylvester said through the megaphone, "Get out."

"Thank you," the girl mumbled before running toward the door that had lead them into the studio.

Kurt shared a look with Mercedes, both afraid that Miss Sylvester would dismiss them for various different reasons. They didn't need to speak; they both knew very well the reasons why.

She then went on to dismiss two other people, one for having too much acne and the other for looking ‘too much like our resident man-child'.

When she reached Kurt and Mercedes, she walked past them, but then turned around and Kurt knew that that would be the end.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were a girl. Do you realise that this is for females only?" Miss Sylvester shrugged, and Kurt thought of something to say, a witty comeback or

"Yes, but- I mean, I'm sure you'll find Marley's replacement but I thought I would show you my singing talent."

"Well if it looks like a girl and talks like a girl," Miss Sylvester shrugged, "You sing like a girl too?"

"Some people would say so. I have a very unique vocal range. I'm a countertenor."

"I have no idea what that is but it sounds like a winner. Go ahead, then. Surprise everybody with your feminine singing voice."

"Okay. Right," Kurt cleared his throat. This was his moment.

"Yeah I'll tell you something, I think you'll understand," Kurt began, "When I say that something, I want to hold your hand."

"I want to hold your ha-" Kurt continued, but was interrupted by Miss Sylvester who raised her hand to silence him.

"That'll be enough Lady," Miss Sylvester said, and Kurt opened his mouth to reply but was silenced again by a look from Mercedes.

"Thank you," he said instead.

"Right. Well, Porcelain, however lady-like your singing voice is I'm afraid I can't allow you to audition for this show due to the fact that you are not a lady."

"'Cause he sounds like a girl?" Mercedes asked, finally speaking up.

"No, Aretha Franklin, not because he's a girl. Because he's not what I'm looking for."

"Can't you make an exception?" Kurt pleaded.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave, and take your black sidekick with you. His Royal Highness William Shuester of Ridiculous Hairdom doesn't like to be around black people."

"What? You're making her leave because she's black? I thought you people were over this!"

"Not my problem. However, Wavy Gravy's contract states that he is unable to be within thirty metres of a black person as he will scream like a little girl if that happens, and the little elves living in his hair will all think that he is in danger and attack," Miss Sylvester informed them in one breath, barely blinking.

"Fine," Kurt said, grabbing Mercedes wrist and storming out of the studio. Mercedes followed, but not before sending an angry glance at Miss Sylvester.

"What are we going to do?" Mercedes whispered as they opened the door out onto the entrance of WMS. Out on the parking lot sat both Mercedes and Kurt's cars, side-by-side.

"We'll get in, we'll just have to try harder," Kurt tried to convince both him and Mercedes, but he knew at least that he wasn't convincing himself.

He thought vaguely of his dreams of finally speaking to Blaine being crushed, and stopped as they were about to cross the road over to the parking lot.

That was it.

He'd have to blackmail Finn. Surely Finn had a say, considering he was on the show and could barely dance. Maybe he'd be able to persuade Rachel to help him, and Rachel would certainly be able to help. She was Will Shuester's Favourite, after all.

"What now Mercedes asked, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.

"I think I know how we're going to get in," Kurt said, smirking widely.

"Oh yeah? Magic?" Mercedes said back.

"Rachel Berry, actually."

"So magic, then."

"Oh ye of little faith," Kurt said, walking forward to Mercedes and linking his arm through her own. They continued walking to their cars, and he took a deep breath before announcing, "I'm going back on my promise to Finn."

"What?" Mercedes exclaimed, unlinking their arms, "You're going to tell Blaine?"

"Not exactly. I'll tell you when we get to my house, okay?" Kurt suggested. He didn't want to talk about it when Rachel Berry was close. It was more than likely that she or one of her minions were watching them right now. The thought tickled Kurt's spine.

"Sure. My mom's not expecting me to be back until six anyway."

Kurt fished his car keys out of his pocket and unlocked his car door as Mercedes did so to her own car. "See you in a minute!" he said before stepping in.

The memories of his encounter with Karofsky earlier that afternoon and all the other times that had happened before flooded his head, and he sighed, clutching his steering wheel and resting his head onto it for a few seconds. He watched Mercedes reverse out of her parking space and as she drove towards Kurt's house. Sighing, he did the same.

He was determined to prove that jock and every other goddamn homophobic person in South Western Ohio wrong.

Even if he had to ruin his relationship with his future step-brother in order to do so.