Chapter 4

This was not happening. Not to Kurt.

He sat on the bench in the lunch room next to Santana, leaning his back on her shoulder with his eyes closed and knees drawn up to his chest. Thinking, breathing and concentrating on the little tasks.

Brittany S. Pierce was sat the other side of Santana, chatting away about a new song or show or something. Kurt really wasn't interested. He'd spent four years knocking people back down to get to the top and now he was finally there, he'd been lumbered with some transfer asshole who was supposed to make everything Kurt had worked hard to perfect for years a million times better. Kurt didn't even think it was possible to be better. The Cheerios nationals performance was flawless, named 'the greatest show on earth' by anyone privileged enough to see it. Sue Sylvester didn't appear to believe that and although Kurt could manage fine on his own, she seemed to think that Kurt needed help.

Help, in the concentrated form of Blaine Anderson. Kurt fumed silently; every breath had to be controlled to keep from screaming and throwing a tantrum like he used to when he was 4 years old. Back then he had his mom to calm him down with ice cream and a hug. But Kurt had grown up, and become a stronger man. He could go it alone. He was strong enough, talented enough and powerful enough to stand on his own two feet. So what the fuck had he done to deserve this?

Kurt turned to hunch over the table, fed up of the unstable cushion of Santana's shoulder.

Santana was trying to elicit some response from Kurt, without much success, by trying to include him in her and Brittany's conversation. So, instead, she flipped the situation back to herself. "I so thought that I was gonna be the next co-captain yet here is this guy who no-one even heard of before and he just gets it." She snapped her fingers to emphasise her point, her patience with the boy about to boil over.

Normally, whenever Santana made Kurt's problems – or anyone's problems - about herself, you could expect Kurt to start obviously fuming and ranting about how Santana Lopez was not the centre of the universe and not everything had to be about her. Today was an exception. Instead of lecturing the girl, he sighed and put his head on the table, encircling it with his arms.

"Oh come on. Lighten up, it could be worse. Like Coach said, he's good. He has to be or he wouldn't be here." Santana rolled her eyes. She could help but think this was a huge over-reaction. Kurt's inner diva had gotten the better of him and put him into full 'what-is-the-point-in-even-being-here' mode.

"Are you for real?" Kurt twisted his head to look up at her. "I was perfectly fine on my own and now I have to share my glory. No way. It's not fair. I worked for this."

"Okay then. Come on Britt. Leave him alone if he's gonna be a little bitch."

"It's gonna be okay Kurt. Sometimes, Lord Tubbington gets really mad so I feed him and rub his belly and he's happy again."

Kurt gave Brittany a sideways glace of concern as the two girls got up, hooked little fingers and left the room. That girl really did not have two brain cells to put together.

"You really don't treat your friends very well." Kurt's head flew up, Rachel Berry had appeared opposite Kurt silently, arms resting on a bulging folder with the words 'SONGS I HAVE TO SING', scrawled across the front.

"You really don't have any idea." Kurt quipped back, realising she must have heard the end of his conversation with Santana. "Besides, no-one got to the top by just having friends. I don't need them."

"I know that you think you can deal with all of your commitments and pressures of life alone, but not so long ago you were just as scared and vulnerable as you feel right now. The only difference is that today you can hide behind that." She pointed to the uniform he was wearing. "You have a lot Kurt, but everyone needs friends."

With that, she got up and Kurt was left alone once more. Great, he'd just got a pep talk from Rachel Berry, little miss 'I heart show choir' and the only person that could ever rival Kurt's talent and diva attitude. She had him totally figured out. He hated that.

Realising the time, Kurt thought quickly to his schedule for the rest of the day, trying to work out whether he would escape the humiliation of his co-captainship until tomorrow. History and then compulsory Cheerios practice. So, the embarrassment would have to be dealt with today. This was one practice he wished he could skip.