Friday brought another slushy facial. It happened just before second period. Since Blaine actually let Kurt to his locker without being an asshole, Kurt thought it was going to be a pretty good day. That was until he turned around and was met with a blue slushy to the face by his other main tormenter and Karofsky’s best friend, Azimio. 

The only good thing that came out of that was some got on Blaine’s jacket. Most of the students were used to the way the slushies got everywhere. Blaine wasn’t paying attention until it was too late. Never before had Kurt seen a look of such fury on someone’s face. 

At first Kurt thought the boy was going to let it go. Blaine wiped the blue ice off his leather jacket with a look of disgust, and glared at both Kurt and the football player harshly before stomping off. 

For once Blaine was in French on time, while Kurt was late. He did receive a glare when the teacher excused him for being fifteen minutes late.  Most teachers excused the glee students and anyone else that fell victim to the slushy facials. They didn’t like the sticky puddles it created in the classrooms. 

“Tu ressembles vraiment un garçon maintenant,” Blaine said when they were once again paired up. 

Kurt glared at him. It was, surprisingly, the only rude comment the boy made to him. At least the only one he could understand. Blaine had this odd habit of muttering under his breath in Italian. 

The fireworks happened at lunch. He, Mercedes, Artie, Tina, and Rachel had decided to brave the cafeteria again after Wednesday’s disastrous performance. Actually, their performance was flawless. The student body just decided to pelt them with food, and then start a massive food fight. The five of them hid out in the choir room during lunch the previous day. The others had friends that wouldn’t target them. 

Blaine walked into the cafeteria for the first time about halfway through lunch. Many faces looked up, surprised to see him there. He stood just inside the doorway looking around. His eyes found the football players’ table and narrowed. More and more faces turned to look at him as he calmly walked up to the table. 

“You and I need to talk,” he said dangerously to the enormous football player. A hush fell over the entire room. 

“‘Bout what, Anderson?” the black boy said spewing his mouthful of food everywhere. 

Eloquent, Kurt though sarcastically.

Apparently Blaine thought the same thing, if Kurt was judging from the appalled look that crossed the boy’s face. 

“I don’t appreciate you getting cheap dye on me. Keep your bullshit with those damn drinks away from me.”

“What would you do if I dumped one on you right now, Anderson?” Karofsky asked. 

“You don’t want to find out,” Blaine said. His voice remained calm, though the threat was there. “I don’t give a fuck who you throw them on; just don’t get any more on me, understood?” He turned without waiting for an answer and began walking back out of the cafeteria. 

Neither Azimio nor Karofsky took well to being ordered around by the smaller boy, because next thing Kurt or anyone knew the two football players were hurrying after the boy. Karofsky had a Bog Gulp cup full of the colored ice. 

“You really don’t want to do that,” Blaine said as they neared him.

“You ain’t gonna do shit,” Azimio said.

Karofsky added, “Besides, we haven’t given you a proper welcome to McKinley yet,” the tried to dump the drink on Blaine. He moved out of the way before it could completely drench him, only getting the red slush on his sleeve and part of his shoe. 

After wiping the ice from his jackets leather sleeve, he looked at the two football players with utter contempt in his eyes. “That’s your welcome?” he asked slowly. “Attempting to dump colored water and ice on me?”  Then the dark haired boy started laughing. It was a hollow laugh that sent chills down Kurt’s spine and echoed through the large room.

Confusion flashed across both of the Neanderthal’s faces. Before either one could figure out why he was laughing, Blaine swung his fist at Karofsky. It impacted the sided of the larger boys with a sickening crack, and causing the football player to stumble backwards. 

“Now, back the fuck off and stay out of my way.” His words were calm, but threatening. 

Azimio lunged for him, only missing by inches as the smaller boy spun out of the way. He ended up behind the football player. Taking advantage of the momentum, Blaine landed a swift kick into his back, which sent the jock to the floor. The crash echoed throughout the cafeteria, and vibrated the floor underneath Kurt’s feet. He moved with fluidity that every dancer Kurt knew would be jealous of. 

For once, the teachers were around to witness a fight. Coach Beaste and Mr. Schue hurried over to the three, not that they paid the two authority figures any attention. Finally recovering from the shock, Karofsky was attempting to repay the dark haired boy the favor, without much success. The boy was quick, and kept dodging the jock’s fists, staying just out of reach.

Just as the dark skinned football player got to his feet and attempted to launch himself at Blaine, Coach Beaste grabbed him. 

“That’s enough,” Mr. Schue said stepping between the other two. 

The two football players were visibly fuming at being bested by Blaine. 

“Figgins’ office now,” Beaste said, releasing the jock from her hold and shoving him towards the exit. 

Quickly the silence in the room was replaced by loud chatter and gossip. 

“Man, that boy is so hot. I want him all up on this,” Santana said causing the other girls to giggle, and gesturing to herself suggestively. 

Puck shot her a rude look. “I don’t care if he just bested those two assholes, I fucking hate that kid.”

“Only because he nearly broke your nose,” Finn said.

“I agree with, Puck. I can’t stand him,” Kurt said.

Everyone turned to look at him. Most of the club didn’t know that he’d had several run-ins with the boy. 

“It’s nothing guys,” Kurt added quickly. “He’s just a jerk.”

“He hasn’t done anything to you, has he?” Mike asked.

“Dude, if he has, let me know and I’ll kick his ass,” Puck added.

“He hasn’t done anything to me, not really. He makes rude comments, but they’re no worse than the ones all the other ignorant people in this school make.” Kurt really hoped it stayed at the comments. After his fight with the two football players, if Blaine decided to be violent towards Kurt…things would not turn out very well for either of them. 

Calculus came and went without much drama. For the first time, it was quiet. Blaine never showed up for class, and Rachel was surprisingly subdued. Kurt actually tried to focus on the work, but everything the teacher said went over his head. It was like she was speaking Japanese. Numbers and formulas didn’t make any sense at all. He was only taking the class because it would look good on a college application.  Or, it would look good if he managed to pass the class. 

The end of the day was totally uneventful. Neither Karofsky nor Blaine showed up for Physics, which ensured a stress free period. Well, almost stress free. One week in and Kurt was already cursing himself for taking such hard classes. There was a ton of homework he had to complete over the weekend, plus he had to exercise his voice.

Friday afternoon practice with Glee was the best. Unless a competition or performance was right upon them, the whole club would usually goof off and sing fun songs to one another. Sometimes they would just talk. 

“How does a girl’s night tonight at my place sound?” Mercedes asked him and Tina.

“First one of the year, I wouldn’t miss it!” Tina said.

“I’m in, as long as we start after dinner, I’ve got…” Kurt started to say.

“Friday night dinner, we know,” the two girls chorused. 

“Come over around eight?” Mercedes suggested.

“Sounds perfect,” Tina said then turned back to her boyfriend, who was discussing a Call of Duty tournament with Finn and Puck. 

“Let’s just make sure Rachel doesn’t hear about it. I can’t deal with her for another minute!” Kurt said.

“Boy, if she crashed out party, I’d have no problem hitting her. Dealing with her here is hard enough. I can’t imagine having to deal with her outside of school too.”

“Luckily when she comes over it’s all about Finn. I do keep to my room though, best not to get caught in the cross fire.”

Everyone was enjoying the relaxed atmosphere until Mr. Schue came in. 

“We all need to talk about what happened in the amphitheater yesterday,” he said seriously.

Several groans were heard throughout the room. 

“The school hates us, Mr. Schue,” Mercedes said. 

The teacher held his hand up, and walked purposely across the room until he was standing directly in front of Santana. 

“Santana,” he said, “you need to leave. It was you and the Cheerio’s that set fire to our piano.”

All eyes in the room turned to look at the head Cheerio with betrayal. The Latina cheerleader was the only person that could always do something that would shock everyone. To hear she was the one who destroyed something belonging to their family hurt. 

“How could you do that?” the choir director asked her.

“Mr. Schue, Sue made me!” She said defensively.

“Brittney didn’t do it,” he pointed out. 

“Well, yeah I was gonna do it, but I don’t know. I’m a water sign, so. It didn’t feel right,” Brittney said.

“You’re banned from Glee,” Mr. Schue continued. “Don’t come back unless you can be as loyal to Glee as the people in this room.” He gestured towards the door.

Santana glared hatefully at their teacher, but resigned under the questioning eyes of the club members.  She huffed, and then stormed out of the room without a word. 

Every person watched her go. 

“It’s about time we got some allegiance up in here,” Mercedes said from her seat next to Kurt. 

All of the members nodded in agreement. 

“If we want to win nationals, we need to be united. We can’t afford the fighting and the drama this year. I know I was unfocused last year, and I let you guys down.” 

“We’ll get it this year,” Rachel said.

The sound of her voice grated on Kurt’s nerves, but he had to agree. Nationals would be theirs this year. 

“I’ve also got an announcement to make,” she said. After a nod from Mr. Schue, she continued, “For our fall musical this year, I think we should do West Side Story.”

“That’s a really great idea,” the choir director said.

“I know,” she said, and then her over abundant ego made its first major appearance of the year. “I mean the part of Maria was just written for me, so it’s perfect.”

“We’ll have open auditions, Rachel,” Mercedes spat. 

“Yes, there will be open auditions for the roles,” the teacher confirmed. “Now, let’s rehearse. Some of you have gotten a bit rusty over the summer.”

Kurt knew he was one of the rusty ones. The only singing he did over the two and a half months they were out of school was when watching musicals or jamming to the radio in his car and with his girls. 

“Look at what they did to us,” Tina said sadly. “They threw crap all over us, ripped our guts out, and burned us up. Just like the pianos.” 

Their teacher scratched his head then said, “Yeah, we got hit pretty hard, but,” he hit a few keys on one of the pianos. The sound wasn’t perfect, but it was still good. “These pianos are still making music. And so are we.” 

“Mr. Schue, you read my mind perfectly,” Rachel said, then launched everyone into singing You Can’t Stop the Beat from the musical Hairspray. 

By the end of the song, everyone was smiling and laughing. It was a good way to end an eventful first week back at school in Kurt’s opinion. 

“Don’t forget, my house at eight!” Mercedes called out to him as he left.