“Blaine,” he started as he tried to catch his breath, “how do you know Silvia?”

Silence.

“Blaine?” Kurt’s voice was stern, as the younger boy’s face went white, focusing on something behind his teacher.

Kurt turned his head slowly, following Blaine’s line of sight. His grip loosened on the boy’s shoulders as he caught sight of a head full of long black curls. The brunet let go of Blaine to turn around and get a better view of the little girl now standing in front of the water fountain. She bent down to take a drink, and when she was finished she popped back up and wiped her mouth on her uniform blazer. As she turned to walk down the hallway, back to class Kurt assumed, he caught sight of her face.

The little girl had a lighter version of familiar olive skin, her eyes were a sparkling honey-hazel that he had found himself staring at not a few moments ago, her silky dark curls fell just above her shoulder, her nose scrunched up a bit as she gave a small smile in Kurt’s direction. She skipped down the hall with as much enthusiasm if not more than a certain dance he was shown on his first day of teaching. The little girl reminded him a lot of the boy now hiding behind him as she skipped her way around the corner at the end of the hall. When she was completely out of sight, Kurt found himself being yanked into Ms. Berry’s room, the door slammed behind him as he stumbled in. His eyes quickly adjusting to the lights that just switched on.

“What the hell was that about!?” Kurt yelled as he grabbed the edge of the teacher’s desk to balance himself.

“Just shut the fuck up for a few minutes, okay?!” Blaine screamed back. He walked to the far side of the room taking a seat upon the risers.

Kurt watched as the boy’s curls sprang free as he ran his hands through the gel that plastered them to his head. The boy buried his face in his now gelled hands. Kurt watched as he winced from the pressure applied to the bruise around his eye. What the fuck is going on? Kurt thought to himself.

He was about to walk over to the boy when the classroom door burst opened to reveal a tall man with wavy, brown hair and gray-blue eyes, followed by a line of little kids filing in one by one. As the kids made their way to the risers, Blaine hopped off and found a new seat on the piano bench in the opposite corner of the room. Kurt watched as the boy continued to hide his face.

“Oh, hello. Who are you?”

Kurt was startled by the man now standing awfully close. The brunet noticed the man’s eyes trailing up and down his body and chose to ignore the urge to bitch glare at him in favor of answering his question.

“I’m Kurt Hummel. I’ll be substituting for Ms. Berry’s afternoon classes for a few weeks.” He allowed his eyes to roam over the man’s body, judging if he could enjoy the view in front of him as much as the man seemed to be.

“Jesse St. James,” the man introduced himself. “Ms. Berry didn’t inform me of her having a sub.” Mr. St. James gave him a half-smile. “Especially not one this cute,” he quietly added for only Kurt to hear.

And with that, Kurt’s face flared into a bright red. He was about to make one of his usual witty retorts when he felt a light tug on his arm. He looked down now staring into the face of the little girl who was the spitting image of Blaine. As his eyes locked with her honey hazels, she gave him a familiar charming smile and proceeded to ask a question.

“Who are you?” she asked in a soft voice as her sparkling eyes looked between him and Mr. St. James.

“Michelle, you mustn’t be so rude. This is Mr. Hummel; he will be substituting for Ms. Berry for a little while,” Mr. St. James explained to the little girl. “Be on your best behavior for him, okay?” He glanced at the rest of the students. “That goes for all of you, class. Be nice to Mr. Hummel while Ms. Berry is gone or we will not have recess for a week,” he threatened.

“Yes, Mr. St. James,” they answered in unison.

Kurt thought that was a little harsh, but he was glad that the kids wouldn’t be giving him too much trouble. He looked around the classroom noticing that the kids were whispering quietly to themselves. Michelle had rejoined the rest of her classmates on the risers, but she sat far off from the rest of the kids on the bottom riser. The blue-eyed turned back to see Mr. St. James at the door.

“I’ll see you in 45 minutes, Kurt.” The other teacher winked as he walked out the door and shut it behind him.

Oh god. Kurt really wasn’t planning on this week being any harder than it seemed. He had to deal with these kids as well as Blaine and now Mr. St. James seemed to be taking a liking to him. He sighed. He walked over to the desk to find the lesson plans Rachel claimed to have left for him. He found the note easily as it was the only thing out of place on the freakishly neat desk.

Kurt!

Thanks again for doing this. You will have two classes both 45 minutes long with a 30-minute lunch break in between. The first class will be Mr. St. James’s third graders. Be careful Kurt, he’s one of my best friends and hits on any man that shows up, but I know you can handle it. The second class of the day will be Mr. Hudson’s fourth graders. Kurt, please try and slip a few good things about me to him. I kind of…like him. The kids should just be working on songs for the school musical. I left the songbook on the piano. They are doing a nursery rhyme based play so it shouldn’t be too hard. ;) Oh, and watch out for Michelle in Mr. St. James’s class, I think she’s being bullied by some of the boys in her class.

Thanks again, Kurt.

Love,
Rachel

Kurt frowned at the thought of the little girl he had just met, so shy and tiny being bullied. Why on earth would someone bully that sweet little girl? he thought.

As if he had spoken out loud, he heard a scream that snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked up.

“Stop it. Please.” The soft voice from earlier uttered through tears.

“Your brother is a fag!” one of the little boys yelled in her face as he yanked on her curls.

Kurt ran up to Michelle. “Young man!” he shouted.

The boy let go of her hair and sat down. Michelle threw herself at Kurt. He gently picked her up and let her cry as she nuzzled her face into his neck.

“Young man, go sit in the corner. I will be over to talk to you in a minute.” Kurt glared.

The boy walked over to the corner by the desk and sat there with his arms folded across his chest and a foul look on his face waiting for his sub. Kurt walked toward the door and stopped when the little girl removed her face from his neck and stared at him with red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

“Are you okay sweetheart?” he asked her as he brushed the remaining tears away from her face.

She nodded and buried her face back into his neck. The brunet felt the wetness on his neck from what could only be a fresh round of tears. Out of nowhere, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Blaine standing across from him.

“Shhh,” the boy whispered to his teacher as he gently wrapped his hands around the little girl’s sides and plucked her out of Kurt’s grasp. The girl gasped as she was pulled away from Kurt. She turned in the boy’s hold and a smile spread brightly across her face as she stared at him. She immediately latched onto Blaine, throwing her arms around his neck and wrapping her tiny legs around his torso.

“Blaine,” Kurt barely heard her whisper.
“It’s okay, baby sister. I’ve got you,” Blaine said softly as he rubbed circles into her back to calm her down.

Well that explained a lot, Kurt thought.