Blaine usually spent his nights being tormented by nightmares. He couldn’t remember a night where visions of a violent group of boys beat the living crap out of him and Carson. But the night after Kurt had broken into his house and forced Blaine to accept his tutorship Blaine slept soundly waking only when his alarm went off at seven. For the first time in a long time Blaine woke up not completely dreading school. He quickly showered and tamed his wild hair with a hefty about of gel before running out the door. He dug his old IPod out of his coat pocket as he began the 40 minute walk to school.

He doesn’t mind the walk most days, but today the weather is quite chilly for late September and the rain is falling at a steady pace. Blaine sighed and pulled the jacket tighter around his small frame.

Blaine was about 10 minutes into his walk when he heard the familiar sound of a car coming up behind him. He quickly moved to the side of the road to let the car pass by. But instead the car slowed down behind him before pulling around him and coming to a stop a few feet ahead.
Blaine eyed the car suspiciously. After a moment he recognized it as Kurt’s Escalade. Sure enough, after pulling to a stop, the driver’s side swung open. A large black umbrella was pushed out first then came the one and only Kurt Hummel, ducking underneath the umbrella and running over to where Blaine stood on the road.

“What the hell are you doing Blaine!?” Kurt yelled as he approached.

“Walking to school.” Blaine said with a shrug.

“In the rain?”

“How else am I supposed to get to school?” Blaine retorted.

Kurt sighed. “Come on, I will drive you the rest of way.”
Blaine stood his ground as Kurt turned to make his way back to the car.

“I’m fine Kurt I will walk.” He said as he pulled crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Blaine! Get your ass in the car. It’s raining cats and dogs and it’s like 40 degrees out here!” Kurt yelled throwing up his free hand.

Blaine stepped back in shock at Kurt’s outburst. Kurt continued to stare him down until Blaine ducked his head and headed towards the car. He slid into the passenger’s seat shaking his head free from the rain drops. He sighed as he knew that the gel he had used to tame his curls earlier would be completely washed away by the storm.
Kurt slid into the driver’s seat as he folded up the umbrella and threw in into the back seat. He then turned the heat on high allowing a steady flow of warm air to permeate the car and start to dry off the two boys. Kurt put the car into drive and continued down the road towards McKinley.

“Why the hell were you walking to school in the rain Blaine?” Kurt asked turning slightly towards him.

“How else would I get there, and to be honest I would rather not have a repeat of yesterday when you broke into my house, so I figured I had to go to school today.” Blaine replied.

Kurt sighed…”Blaine you can’t just….I…do you have a cell phone”

“Where the hell did that question come from?”

“I want to give you my number just in case you ever need a ride to school; your house is not too out of the way from my place so it wouldn’t be an inconvenience and I would rather you call me then for you to walk in the highly unpredictable Ohio weather.”

Blaine sighed, he knew Kurt was right. The weather was only going to worsen as the year went on, and Blaine knew how hard it was to will himself to go to class when there was a foot of snow on the ground.

“Ya, I have a phone.” Blaine said reaching into his jean pocket and pulling out his cell.
Kurt recited his number as Blaine typed into his phone.

“Thanks”. Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt pulled into the parking lot of the high school.

“No problem. I guess I will see you later.” Kurt said as he turned off the car.

Blaine nodded and quickly exited the car heading into the building. Kurt watched for a minute before stepping out of the car. The rain had slowed to a drizzle but Kurt still hurried into the school unwilling to have his hair style damaged by the rain.
As he entered the school he saw Finn standing anxiously by his locker.

“Good morning Finn.” Kurt said as he opened his locker and put his satchel inside.

“Dude, what the hell were you doing with that Blaine kid?” Finn asked his voice low.

“I was giving him a ride to school. What does it matter?” Kurt asked as he grabbed his books and shut his locker.

“I thought I told you to be careful!” Finn said his voice getting louder. “Blaine isn’t the kind of person you should be friends with.”

“God Finn! Will you just drop it? Blaine and I aren’t friends, he was walking to school in the rain so I stopped and picked him up. It’s really not that big of deal so stopping making it one. Now if you excuse me I need to get to class!” Kurt said loudly as he turned on his heels and towards his classroom. He was so sick of everyone saying that Blaine was not worth his time. Kurt knew that Blaine was a good person, despite what others thought and Kurt was determined to let that good side of Blaine shine through.

Blaine usually spent the entire day in the special ed room. He really didn’t need to be in there, he could very well be in the normal classes and only come to special ed room during his free period for extra help. But Blaine found that when he did attended the classes with everyone his anxiety overwhelmed to the point where he felt physically ill, so instead Blaine would do his work on his own. He had gotten along fine, he was keeping his grades at C level work but he never pushed himself to try harder, because before now it really didn’t seem to matter.
But now there was someone in the picture who could help him. Someone who Blaine could possibly trust to be patient with him, someone who would help Blaine pull his grades up, graduate on time, and get out of this hell hole. Blaine found himself smiling as thoughts of Kurt went around in his head.

Blaine was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t hear the bell ring or notice when Kurt walked into the room.

“What are you smiling about?” Kurt asked sitting down at
the table across from Blaine.

“What…oh nothing.” Blaine said, as he felt his checks blush.

"Ok…” Kurt said confusion in his voice, “Well anyway I got your class schedule from Mrs. Raine and the good news is I took most of these classes in my junior year so I should be able to help.” Kurt smiled as he pulled out some books from his satchel.

“I was actually surprise to find out that you were a junior I thought you were older.” Kurt said as he opened a notebook and pulled out an assortment of pens.

“I…uh…I am 18.” Blaine said quietly.

“Oh, did you get held back or something?” Kurt asked.

Blaine’s was immediately thrown back into that hospital room. The room where he spent so many months, months full of pain, recovery, psychiatrists, and a myriad of other things Blaine never wanted to relive. He remembered waking up, bright lights shining in his face, his body trapped in a mess of pain. He remembered pleading with the doctors for any information about Carson. He never did find out what happened to his best friend. But Blaine never let himself forget that it was his fault that Carson got beat up. The guilt would plague him forever.

“Blaine?” Kurt voice brought Blaine back to the present. He shook his head trying to clear away the haunting memories.

“Umm...ya I was held back. Aren’t we supposed to be studying?” Blaine asked, willing Kurt to change the subject.

“I guess we are.” Kurt smiled. “So what were you working on before I got here?”

“I was reading about Shakespeare.” Blaine said showing Kurt the textbook.

Kurt hummed in acknowledgment and began to study the textbook along with Blaine.
Before the boys knew it the bell signaling the end of the period rang.

“Well, I have to go to Glee now. But I will be back tomorrow.” Kurt said gathering his books.

“Ok, sounds good. Thanks Kurt.” Blaine said smiling slightly.

“And Blaine, just so you know. You are really smart so this tutoring thing is going to be super easy on my end. Have a great afternoon and I will see you tomorrow.” Kurt waved as he walked out of the room.

Blaine’s heart was beating in his ears. Nobody had ever told him that he was smart; no one had ever treated him as an equal, not since he came out and not since Carson. Blaine couldn’t help but let out sigh in relief. Maybe this tutoring wasn’t going to be so bad.