"Sothat'syour plan?" Santana said, jutting her hip to the side as she stared at Blaine. The five Cheerio spies were huddled in front of the choir room a few minutes before the first official Glee club rehearsal; Blaine finally decided to divulge his plan for destruction to the rest of the group. Kurt stood as far away as possible from him. There was an unspoken, unaddressed tension between them: Kurt wasn't sure if the others noticed.

"We act normal until Regionals, and then at the competition we fuck everything up. I'm probably going to get a solo, so I'll just mess up the words, the notes, the choreography, and we'll lose. It'll be really embarrassing for them, just as Coach likes it. Simple as that. Figgins will see that we suck so badly and barely have enough interest, so he'll cut the program, and Coach will be happy. Done." Blaine crossed his arms and stared at them scornfully. He did not look at Kurt. Surprisingly, he'd left him alone the whole day—not that Kurt was complaining.

"You really are dumb," Quinn laughed, "let me take this over, since you are going to get us in so much trouble. If we do that, it'll be so obvious that we're trying to sabotage the Glee club. We'll screw ourselves over, and Coach, not to mention that we'll just look stupid in doing so. I'm the queen bitch at this school-" she didn't notice Santana shooting daggers at her, "-so let me take this over. I know what I'm doing."

"Spill." Santana retorted, and Quinn flashed her a toothy smile.

"We tear them from the inside out. We plant little seeds of corruption and the weeds will grow rapidly. Turn them against each other: for example, 'oh, Rachel, I heard Mercedes say that you should go see a vocal coach instead of turning to your cat for singing lessons.' Something along those lines; it's easy. Get them all pissed at each other, and they won't want to be in the club together. People will believe anything you tell them, as long as it's believable."

"Nice one," Santana commented, and the others agreed. Kurt was horrified.What am I going to do? I can't let them do this. It's wrong. I won't let them do this to my best friend."You okay, Hummel? Looks like you're constipated," she commented as she studied Kurt's face, which he instantaneously relaxed. He nodded, spewing some incoherent fragments so she wouldn't ask any further. She shrugged her shoulders and turned to face the rest of the group to talk some more, but was interrupted.

"Some of the members of the Glee club are arriving: Cheerios, dissemble!" Brittany announced, and jumped away from the group. Although she earned looks from the rest of the cheerleaders, she was right: Rachel was jubilantly bobbing down the hallway, almost skipping next to Tina, who was slightly hunched over due to the mass of books in her arms. Rachel seemed to be babbling about something to her that she apparently did not care about. Blaine promptly walked away to God-knows-where, and the rest of the assembly dispersed. Kurt headed over towards Rachel, an ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach since Santana had just used her as an example to the prelude of their plan.

"What's the matter, Kurt? Why were you just standing with all of the Cheerios?" Rachel queried when Kurt met her halfway through the hall while Tina hurried away. She looked concerned—Kurt was sure that he had pulled the constipated face again.

"Nothing, nothing...you know, talking about cheerleading stuff, boring stuff,"Should I tell her? She has a right to know. But you'll get kicked off the Cheerios if anyone finds out, and I'm pretty sure that Coach has every inch of this school bugged...hell, this uniform might even be bugged...

"Oh, okay. Where did Blaine disappear off to? Practice is going to start soon! Speaking of, what happened yesterday at your private practice thing? You've been mum about it, and I can't take it anymore!" She grabbed his arm and started pulling on it, begging him to spill. "Tell me tell me tell me!"

There was a reason why Kurt didn't tell Rachel about the disastrous practice from the night before-in fact, he hadn't told anyone-he did not want Blaine to win. Blaine had not spoken to Kurt since, or even looked at him as far as Kurt knew, which he was thankful for, but he knew it was the calm before the storm. When the time came for Blaine to take full advantage of having his phone number and having to spend Wednesday nights with him, Kurt knew he'd be ready for it. He could do it by himself: he handled the near-rape experience on his own, so he could do anything. If anything, he felt empowered by the event. He especially felt that he didn't need to get anyone else involved: he didn't want to worry his father or Rachel. There was no need to: Rachel would probably go to the guidance counselor while his father would go to the whole Board of Education and even worse, Blaine's parents. Kurt believed in his strategy of ignoring Blaine-it had worked thus far. Then again, it had only been a day, and he potentially had a long time to go if Blaine was persistent. Kurt was stronger than him in his eyes, so he was sure it wouldn't be long. Soon enough, Blaine and his perverted antics would be a distant memory, he was sure.

"Not much. Blaine worked my ass off."Literally."Let's go in the choir room, then, if you're so eager to start." Kurt changed the subject, which Rachel did not seem to mind.

"Yay! Our first real rehearsal! Last night I spent some time picking out the solos I'd like to do; someWicked, someLes Mis, and how could I forget Barbara..."

"Oh hon, you can forget about all of that as long as I'm here! Your voice is nothing compared to mine, so you might as well hand those solos over." Mercedes walked up behind them, obviously overhearing their conversation. She flipped her hair as she passed them and entered the room.

"It's on, Mercedes!" Rachel called after her as she rushed past Kurt to follow her in. Kurt's stomach twisted in an unpleasant way, realizing that Quinn's plan could actually be effective considering that what she had suggested had just occurred right before his eyes in a much milder way. Regardless, Kurt trailed behind her.

Members of the Glee club were scattered around a few rows of chairs circled around the room. A piano stood in the middle of the floor; a few volunteer members from the band were sitting with their instruments, looking bored as ever. Kurt seated himself next to Rachel, who was behind Quinn and Finn. Near them were Artie, Tina, and Mercedes. Brittany and Santana sat together towards the back, and Blaine had appeared out of nowhere, isolating himself from the group by sitting on Kurt's far left. Mr. Schue was nowhere to be found, so of course the room was alive with chatter. Various conversations floated throughout the room, completely unrelated to the club. Kurt couldn't help but overhear Finn and Quinn's conversation in front of him (Rachel seemed to be listening in with interest next to him, her eyes glued to Finn):

"So, baby, want to go out tomorrow night?" Quinn asked him sensually, her hand on Finn's thigh.

"Can't, sorry," he answered, a tinge of regret in his voice. "My mom's making me meet her boyfriend and his son tomorrow night." Kurt sat up in his seat, his body growing rigid. That sounded awfully familiar.Please don't say you're going to Breadstix,please...

"Where are you going? I can pick you up afterwards and we can go to see a movie, or go back to my house, since my parents will be out," she replied suggestively. Finn didn't seem to pick up on the implication of the statement.

"Breadstix at six. I don't know if we're doing anything after it, so I'll let you know. Your house sounds pretty good, too." Kurt groaned inaudibly, and Rachel kicked his chair multiple times. He did tell her about his father's date, and she was staring at him with a look of disbelief on her face, also making the connection. Before she could say anything, however, Mr. Schue walked into the room.

"All right, all right, everyone settle down! Are you all excited for our first rehearsal?" He asked animatedly, and Rachel was the only one to respond by cheering and clapping. Kurt simply smiled, which was an improvement from the collection of groans from the back of the room.

What Kurt didn't realize, however, was that Santana had been studying Kurt very closely, and noticed how he'd stared at the back of Finn's head rather intently. The wheels were turning in her head...

"I don't trust our little Porcelain over there, Brittany...he seems to be a little too into this, and too friendly with that Berry girl," she turned to her friend, "I think we need to whip him into shape by involving him in our little endeavor with this club."

"Do I look okay?" Burt queried nervously. Kurt reached over from the passenger seat of the car to fix his father's bow tie. Friday night had finally arrived, and Kurt couldn't tell who was more anxious about the date. From what Kurt understood, this definitely was not their first date, but he was still sweating bullets about it.

"I picked it out, so you're perfect. Stop worrying, Dad, everything will be fine." He decided to not admit that he was unsure of the last part himself. Kurt hadn't told his dad about what he'd heard at Glee, since his dad was probably hoping that it'd be a nice surprise for Kurt to see a peer and fellow Glee club member. He didn't know that Kurt had a fading crush on him, and Kurt didn't intend to have him find out. Kurt wanted this to go perfectly for his father—he deserved this.

"All right, kid, let's go," they opened their respective doors and stepped out into the Breadstix parking lot. Burt trudged on to the restaurant with his son by his side: Kurt could not remember the last time his father had been this jittery.

Soon enough, they found themselves inside the building, waiting for Burt's "mystery" date to arrive. The aroma of garlic and delicious bread caused Kurt's stomach to growl impatiently-of course Burt had insisted on coming ten minutes early, so they had some time to go. Kurt waited patiently with him, watching his father quietly go over all of the advice Kurt gave him. He looked a little ridiculous, but Kurt decided to cut him a break. As he looked through the restaurant, he was relieved to find that he did not recognize anyone.

"Burt?" The moment of truth: Kurt turned his head in the direction of the female voice to see Mrs. Hudson, a pretty brunette with the biggest smile on her face. She threw her arms around Burt and amiably pecked him on the cheek. Behind her was Finn, who was gaping at the sight of Kurt next to his mother's boyfriend. Kurt decided to ignore this and grinned at the woman, who had now faced him.

"Carole, I'd like to introduce you to my son Kurt. Kurt, this is Carole Hudson." Burt introduced them enthusiastically, and they shook hands. Her hand was soft and genuine in his; Kurt liked her already.

"And of course, I believe you know my son Finn? He's two grades above you, correct?" She let go of Kurt's hand and pushed Finn closer so they were facing each other. Finn still had that shocked look on his face, and something else lurking with it. Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, I'm a freshman, and you're a junior, right?" Kurt knew that he was a junior, but he didn't want to seem like he'd studied Finn's Facebook all summer. Finn kind of grunted and stiffly nodded his head.

"Okay, why don't we get seated," Burt suggested, and took Mrs. Hudson's (Carole's? Can I call her that yet?)hand. Kurt and Finn awkwardly walked behind them, not acknowledging him. Finn seemed abnormally closed-off from Kurt; he lagged behind a bit, a guarded aura surrounding him.

They were seated in a secluded booth towards the back of the restaurant; Kurt sat next to his father, facing Finn, who was sitting next to his mother. Finn stared adamantly at the menu in front of him, completely ignoring the world around him. Something was off: there was no way Finn was this antisocial. Sure, he was a little awkward, but he wasn't this silent, and his jaws looked as if they were glued shut.

Perhaps he was uncomfortable with the idea of his mother dating again. Kurt's mother passed when he was relatively young, but she was still very much alive to him-in his heart. It had taken Burt a long time to get over her death; it took Kurt a years as well. After a while, Kurt realized that his mother would not want him to keep mourning, since life always goes on and does not stop for anyone, no matter how wonderful and important they are. He knew she'd want him to live life to the fullest...perhaps she would be okay with the fact that he was gay. Nevertheless, Kurt knew he couldn't live in the past, and not could his father-he knew it was a matter of time before Burt entered the dating world again. He'd accepted that fact-he actually encouraged it, dropping some hints to his father. His dad needed a woman in his life-at least, someone who could cook something more than spaghetti or microwaveable meals.

Finn, on the other hand, did not seem as on-board. Kurt watched the couple converse happily; Finn remained a rigid statue in his seat, his eyes boring into his unopened menu. Kurt felt badly for him.

"You okay, Finn?" He asked softly, deciding to break the silence between them. Burt and Carole did not notice, as they were completely focused on themselves at the moment.

Finn quickly glanced up and then back down at the table. "Yeah," he answered shortly, and flipped the booklet open. Disappointed by his curt response, Kurt decided to try to start a conversation with him, since Kurt suspected that Burt and Carole were exceedingly happy with each other and were going to stick together for a very long time. He did not want to jeopardize their beautiful relationship by not befriending her son. If they were going to be in this situation for a while—what if they getmarried?—Kurt figured that it'd be prudent to get to know Finn better and at least be on friendly terms.

"So what do you think about Glee?" He inquired, propping his head up in his hands.

"S'okay," Finn mumbled, crossing his arms against his lanky figure.Why must talking to him be like pulling teeth?Why is he making this so damn difficult?

"All right...are you ready for the game tomorrow?" Finn was the quarterback of the football team, as far as Kurt knew. He was surprised he even knew the term, considering he knew nothing about the sport even though it was on in his house all the time, and his father often kicks him off from watchingSex and the Cityfor a game.

"Look, do you mind not talking to me?" Finn burst out of nowhere, "I know all about it, you don't have to be so obvious."

"What are you talking about?" Kurt replied angrily. Their parents were completely oblivious to their heating exchange. Kurt truly had no clue what Finn was getting at; he was acting completely normal, while Finn was not.

"Sant-someone told me what you think of me. Dude, I-I'm straight. I have a girlfriend. That's messed up." Kurt could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"What!?" He intoned, not quite grasping what Finn was saying. "Seriously, what are youtalkingabout?"

"Boys, are you going to order your drinks?" Carole interrupted; their waiter was standing at the table, staring at the two of them.

"Coke," Finn said gruffly, and Kurt responded with a Shirley Temple, hold the cherry. He took their orders and walked away, and Kurt awaited Finn's response, which never came.

"So Kurt, how has your second week of high school been?" Carole addressed him while he stared at Finn. Deciding that he'd figure that out later, he smiled at Mrs. Hudson.

"It's been...a change," he answered carefully. "Very different. Everyone is pretty nice," he sent a forced smile at Finn, who frowned. It was a massive lie, but it slid right past the two adults.

"And how is it, being on the Cheerios? You'll be at the game tomorrow?"

"Yep, first game of the season. Maybe we'll see you tomorrow?" They'd just gone over that—Finn had not taken to kindly to it, obviously.

"Actually, we're going to carpool," Burt said as the waiter returned rather quickly with their drinks. "You two need to be there earlier than we do to watch, so would it be okay if Finn picked you up? We're going to relax in the empty house," he reached his hand across the table to grab Carole's, beaming warmly at her.

"Sounds good," Kurt answered briskly, hoping that they'd be able to talk about whatever the hell was wrong during that time, since they'd be in the privacy of the car rather than have the possibility of being overheard. Evidently Finn was mad at Kurt for whatever reason, and Kurt did not want to risk their parents' relationship by involving them in some petty argument. Kurt could see how good they were for each other, how happy Carole made Burt and vice-versa. Finn didn't seem to feel the same way: he grunted an unenthusiastic reply, which his mother interpreted as "fine."

Whatever Finn was talking about was not brought up again throughout the rest of dinner: Carole and Burt engaged both of them in conversations so the Hudsons and Hummels could familiarize themselves with each other even better. Kurt found that he really liked Carole. She was nice, funny, and very personable. She made it known that she really liked Kurt, too.

"Oh Burt, you raised your son to be such a wonderful gentleman," she said as they finished up their food (Finn had been silent throughout the majority of the meal due to the fact that he was wolfing down his huge pasta dish), "it's too bad that his mother isn't here to see him," Kurt found that he wasn't offended by this statement, considering who had just said it: he was rather touched. Carole could never replace his mom. She had a special place in his heart; he began to feel that maybe there was some room nearby for Carole.

Burt was evidently very moved by this, as his breath hitched a little. "Thank you, I'm sure she'd be very proud. Elizabeth would have liked you and your son. I can't wait to see you play and to watch some games with you Finn...and of course, to, um, watch you cheer him on, Kurt," his father added. "All right, all right, enough of this sappy stuff. I'd like to propose a toast," Burt said, raising his half-empty soda glass. "To a long, happy life shared by the Hummels and the Hudsons!" They clinked their glasses; Finn barely touched Kurt's.

Later that night, Kurt logged onto Facebook to discuss the details of the dinner with Rachel, who instructed him to do so right after they got home. While she didn't explicitly say so, Kurt knew she wanted to know everything about Finn and what had occurred regarding him. She had no idea.

(10:29):Does Finn have something against me or something?

(10:30): What?! What happened?!

(10:32):The date itself went fine between our parents, they were so consumed with each other throughout the whole night

(10:32): oooh any kissing?

(10:34):damn it Rachel I wasn't done...just a little peck on the cheek before and a little kiss afterwards...nothing too graphic, thankfully. But finn...omg. He started saying stuff about how I needed to stop talking to him and how he's straight and has a gf? Does he think I like him or something?

Kurt paused to read what he'd just sent to Rachel. Yes, prior to the date, he did harbor some romantic feelings for Finn. After how Finn treated him, however, they had completely disappeared. Kurt soon learned that Finn could be a real jerk, and could hardly believe that Mrs. Hudson raised such a mean kid.

(10:36) oh. my. god. Santana and finn were chatting in personal finance today and I heard Santana say "he really likes you; you're all he talks about at practice." I didn't realize they were talking about u!

(10:37)I AM GOING TO MURDER HER! Wait, I probably shouldn't say that on the internet...no but really, I can't believe her. I'm about to explode.

The Cheerios' first victim was Finn...and a member of the group. It made no sense. Why would she try to hurt a fellow cheerleader? Also, Finn was Quinn's boyfriend—why would she target him? Fuming, Kurt scanned the chat on the side of his screen and found that Santana was also online. Without even thinking properly, he clicked on her name and started typing furiously.

(10:39):What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you trying to get me kicked out?

(10:42)Oh Porcelain, my sweet baby freshman...what in the world are you talking about? :)

(10:43):You know exactly what I'm talking about. Why did you tell him that?

(10:44):What? Can you be specific? There are too many lives I'm ruining; it's hard to keep track sometimes.

(10:46):Ugh. Why did you tell finn that I like him? That's not true at all.

(10:49):oh, that. Your too budy-buddy with Miss Gold Star Jew. I want to make sure that you don't tell her.

Kurt cringed at the grammar mistake, and then switched back to Rachel's chat to explain as much as he could to her.

(10:51):ugh, she doesn't like how we're good friends. I guess she doesn't like you.

(10:52): she's just jealous that I'm so much better than her!

Kurt rolled his eyes at his friend's egotistical disposition, and decided to talk to Santana some more because he felt that there was more to her reasoning—she couldn't be that mean, right?

(10:55)All right, why did you do it to Finn? Wouldn't it be easier to get the more sensitive people out?

(10:56)finn is sensitive, dumbass. He always wears an undershirt or wife beater or whatever so no one can see his bare skin. I know this because I frequent the boys' locker room for action you and your virgin ass isn't going to get unless you gain some kind of personality. Anyway, if he gets too uncomfortable with staying in Glee, he'll leave. He's the most popular kid there, basically, so no one else will ever want to join, and they still don't have enough people.

(10:59):it's not fair that you used me. Our parents are dating and you're going to ruin it all.

It was probably a mistake to reveal that information to her, and he was going a little extreme, but he was still livid. Santana was so eager to destroy the club, and it disgusted Kurt.

(11:02)your wasting my time. Bye.

(11:02): Kurt?

Kurt closed out of Santana's chat and changed to Rachel's, telling her that he was tired and that maybe they could hang out sometime over the weekend. He signed off and put his laptop away, hoping that sleep would come soon.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, a loud buzzing sound erupted from his night table. He blindly reached his hand over for his phone, mumbling curses as he finally got a hold of it.

(11:20)Kuuuuuuuuurrrrrttttttttttt

(11:22)Ehehehe I have your number you can't stop me

Kurt groaned. Blaine was acting ridiculous—he was probably drunk or something.Dad, why did you give him my number?He asked himself in earnest.

(11:26)if youre sleeping then fine you are missing out but ugh why dont we just hang out after the game I know you have needs nd I do too

(11:30):cmon lady I no youe wannnt it

(11:)you suck. (I hope)

The next two weeks basically passed in a similar fashion. Kurt did not speak to either Finn or Blaine: he was sure that any explanation he tried to give Finn would not cut it. Glee club had a few more rehearsals, and two more people joined (Coach made them all do sprints at the end of practice): Kurt found that he enjoyed Glee a lot more than the Cheerios, and regardless of Santana's opinion, he stuck with Rachel, and in turn befriended Mercedes, Tina, and Artie. As far as he knew, the Cheerios had not come up with any more ideas to decimate the club, but Kurt was sure that the Unholy Trinity (as Santana, Quinn, and Brittany were called) was formulating a master plan.

Blaine, on the other hand, had finally gotten the message that Kurt wanted nothing to do with him. The awkwardness between them lifted once they returned to school that Monday, and he used any opportunity he got to talk to Kurt, who simply turned his head the other way. Private practice that Wednesday was excessively difficult, since Blaine decided to talk to Kurt while he was doing the routine. Kurt continued to successfully ignore him, so Blaine looked like he was talking to himself. As the week wore on, Blaine began to back down, much to Kurt's surprise. By practice the next week, Blaine only said a few words to him: "Hello", "fix that turn", and "see you later". It was oddly satisfying, knowing that he'd conquered the cheer captain in a matter of weeks. Kurt figured that he'd just grown bored of Kurt, and that he preferred the thrill of an exciting chase.

This all changed, however, when Blaine texted him Friday evening a fortnight after his altercation with Finn and Santana.

A/N:IMPORTANT!Just to clarify, I do not in any way condone the way that Kurt is going about this non-consensual touching thing at all.If you are touched in an inappropriate way without consent,tell someone.Kurt will learn his lesson...

Also, my other fic "Until Next Time" recently got made into a PDF/ ePub file, so if you want to download that you can go onto my blog and find the "Until Next Time" masterpost on the sidebar.

Thanks for reading! Reviews are much appreciated!