Kurt walked the halls of his new school, taking in the different cliques and friendship groups: the jocks in their letterman jackets, playfully shoving each other into the lockers. Kurt felt completely bewildered by this playfulness; his experiences of jocks definitely didn’t fit with that.

As he walked the halls, checking his timetable every now and then so he didn’t get lost, the many conversations between him and his dad ran through his mind.

 “Now Kurt, you know I love ya.” Kurt knew his dad was about to tell him something he wouldn’t like, “and you know I accept you for you...”

“Yes, dad, I know.”

“Let me finish. Not everyone is that accepting.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, I know that too,” Kurt felt anger bubbling inside his chest. Well, it would’ve been anger if he hadn’t learnt to suppress that particular emotion; it had caused him nothing but trouble over the past few months. It wasn’t anger at Burt, but anger at the memory.

“God sakes Kurt let me finish!” Burt was just as angry as Kurt, for precisely the same reason, “As I was saying, and as you know, not everyone understands your right to be whoever you want to be. And a lot of people are gonna give you crap for it.” Burt saw the look on his son’s face and moved on to stop the memories of the past horrific months coming back to them both, “So, think of tomorrow as a fresh start. Ease people in to getting to know you.”

Kurt couldn’t believe he was hearing this, “So you’re telling me to act straight until I feel confident in telling people the truth?”

“Not...’act straight’. I would never ask you to be something you’re not, Kurt. Just...don’t tell people...at least not at first.”

Kurt knew his father was only trying to protect him; it’s all his father had ever wanted to do. But he could not pretend to be okay with that...but still he tried. “Thanks dad. I’m gonna go...check I have everything for tomorrow.” Kurt just needed to get out of that room. With a small nod from his father, he got up and walked to his basement bedroom.

“HEY. Watch where you’re going,” a deep, menacing voice broke Kurt from his memory. Without even looking at the boy he had quite obviously just walked straight into, Kurt mumbled a quick apology and edged around the other boy. Yep, today certainly wasn’t going to be easy for Kurt.

By lunch he had been shoved into lockers (sometimes on purpose, sometimes not), had to remove spit-wads from his otherwise impeccable hair, and been completely ignored by everyone else. It was okay though; this was just a normal day for Kurt. At least they were only picking on him purely because he was the new kid...no other reason.

Kurt was relieved that by lunch he could just have some time to himself. He gathered whatever disgusting slop was on offer in the lunch hall and found the table with the fewest people on. The only other people on his table were a small, gothic Asian girl and nerdy guy in a wheelchair. Both sat at opposite ends of the table, neither looking at each other. Kurt sat in the middle, quietly chewing on the artificially green slime in front of him.

“Keep a low profile...” His dad’s voice replayed over and over again in his mind. He knew he should follow it, especially now he’d got the feel of his new school. If they couldn’t handle him as just “the new kid” then they definitely wouldn’t handle him as the “new, gay kid”.

As Kurt’s vision focussed back into the real world, he realised he was staring directly at someone. Yeah, you’re great at keeping a low profile. Idiot.

Usually Kurt would just brush this kind of embarrassment off by smiling and looking away. But the boy he’d been staring at was gorgeous. Like proper sex-god, drop dead gorgeous. His dark curls fell messily around his perfect face. A sort of smirk enveloped his face. His golden-green eyes lit up as he stared back at – Wait, he was staring at Kurt?

Kurt was sure of it. This boy was staring at him: staring at him with a look that both excited and infuriated Kurt. There was a dangerous air around this boy, one that Kurt wasn’t sure he liked. The boy wasn’t looking away. What did he want with Kurt?

Kurt wasn’t really used to positive attention. Wait, this was positive attention right? He wasn’t sure. The look this boy was giving him seemed both threatening and nurturing at the same time; so Kurt wasn’t sure.

Should Kurt talk to him? I mean he had been staring at Kurt for at least a minute so he obviously had something to say, right?

Just as Kurt made the decision to go and speak to this heavenly creature, the bell went. The harsh sound made him jump, losing focus on the boy across from him. He looked around trying to find him, but the boy had disappeared. It was probably for the better anyway. Kurt had no idea what he was thinking: go and talk to him, great way to keep a low profile idiot.

The strange encounter at lunch was all Kurt could think about for the rest of the day. He’d barely heard a word any of his teachers had said, he hadn’t even bothered to correct them when they’d got his name wrong. All he could see were those autumn-leaf coloured eyes staring at him – both warming and freezing his body.

He’d done his best to forget the cocky smirk that tugged at the boy’s perfect mouth. Those angelic curls that were so dark he looked more like a fallen angel than a cherub.

Cut it out! Kurt screamed in his head. He wasn’t sure if he was directing this at himself or the fallen-angel sex-god who had been plaguing his thoughts.

When his dad asked him how school had been that evening, Kurt had absolutely no idea how to answer him. The only secret Kurt had ever kept from his dad was that he was gay, and even that had never been a secret. He felt bad telling his dad that everything had been fine, because in truth that boy had made him hate himself more than any bully ever had.