Chapter 14

December 7, 2012

The rest of school went by in a blur for Kurt. He missed the fourth period trying to calm down and he knew he would hear from his dad about that. After such emotional day he really wasn't looking forward to facing his dad.

As the handles of the clock came closer and closer to the time Burt was supposed to come back home, Kurt began to feel more and more restless. He wasn't afraid of being punished, more than anything he was worried about an interrogation he would be getting. Not to mention he was ashamed of skipping class. His only hope was a possibility that his dad hadn't been contacted. No such luck.

"Kurt?" Burt called as soon as he entered the house.

"In the kitchen," Kurt shouted back and waited for his father to come to him.

The man came in and without a word poured himself a glass of water and drank it all. "I got an interesting phone call from your school today," he finally spoke. "They say you missed a class."

Kurt looked at the ground. "I wasn't feeling well..." he mumbled.

Burt sighed and sat down in front of the boy. "Are you having any problems with your teacher or classmates?"

Kurt shook his head. "No, everything is fine, I just didn't feel like going... I wouldn't have been able to focus anyway."

"Kurt, I know that this whole moving was hard on you. I know you miss Paris but, please, don't go all rebellious teenager on me now, okay?"

"Dad, it's really nothing. I promise it won't happen again. It was a mistake and I won't repeat it," the boy reassured his dad.

"Mind telling me what happened?"

"It's nothing bad but it may ruin your mood and right now you need to be in an impeccable condition," Kurt said in a hope to distract Burt by reminding him about his non-date.

"Well, now I'm worried. If it's something that may ruin my mood I need to know because if I don't I will keep thinking about it the whole evening."

"It's just some... friends issues. They got me upset and all... Nothing serious, I promise."

Burt sighed. "Keeping secrets from me, huh? Maybe you are going to be a normal teenager after all," he said with a teasing smile.

The boy decided to use the lightened mood to his advantage. "Say, is it too early for me to ask if I can have a sleepover with Mercedes and Rachel tomorrow? It's at Rachel's place."

"I don't know... I think I should ground you," Burt thought for a moment.

"Please, dad, I really want to go," Kurt pleaded. "Um, recently I made a... friend, who made me realise that the girls aren't the people I should be hanging out with. You know, with our differences and all. But then I thought, everyone deserves a second chance, right? So I was thinking I would spend a night with them and see how it goes."

"And if you don't like them afterwards?"

"I'll stop hanging out with them," Kurt said. "And I will try harder to make new friends."

Burt remained silent for a few moments, thinking over what his son had just said. "I like that new friend of yours. Fine, you can go. Just make sure to make a good decision. Don't be reckless."

Kurt nodded. "I think I know what my decision is going to be but I want to think it through first. This sleepover is going to help me. Sometimes I like them, sometimes I don't..."

"I never did," Burt muttered. "Okay, enough about that. Have you thought about what I should be wearing tonight?"

"I may have something in mind."

In the end Burt's non-date was a success and the first thing he announced after coming back home was that he actually got a real date coming up the following week. The man was happy and Kurt was happy for him too. Burt also mentioned Carole having a son of Kurt's age so maybe making new friends would be easier than he thought it would be.

Kurt spent the whole evening occupying himself with homework, knowing it would be a perfect distraction but once in bed, his mind went crazy.

You pretend to care about Blaine...

He didn't. He really cared for him and he didn't even know why. Yes, the boy had it bad in his life but so did many other people. There was just something special about Blaine.

Secretly being nice to a slave and then lying everyone in their faces don't make you a better person...

No, he didn't think he was better than anyone else. On the contrary, every time his friends mentioned slavery, he felt like the biggest traitor, abandoning his beliefs just to be accepted by people who didn't care about him.

At least they are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in...

He used to be able to do that. He was always strong-headed and never afraid to voice his opinion. Right now he was none of that. He didn't even know himself anymore.

...in reality you are doing this only to calm your conscience...

He had to admit, helping Blaine made him feel better. Was it for selfish reasons or not, he wasn't sure.

Is it helping you to fall asleep at night?..

Kurt looked at the clock to see it was three in the morning. No, it wasn't helping him to fall asleep, otherwise he would have been out cold by then.

Does knowing that Blaine treasures your newly formed friendship make you laugh?..

It didn't. It made him happy.

Do you ever see his smile in your head whenever your so called friends call him smelly-ass?..

He didn't. He saw a scared barefoot boy, kneeling in front of anyone and pleading not to hurt him.

Do you feel proud of yourself each time you get him to open up more and more to you?..

He did. Every time Blaine smiled at him or initiated a conversation, Kurt felt like he accomplished something big. Little by little he was gaining Blaine's trust and the countertenor felt proud of himself for being seen as trustworthy.

Are you going to keep quiet just like you do whenever your friends make fun of slaves?..

Not anymore. He remained silent for too long, betraying himself. He didn't want it to continue. It had to stop.

...don't dare speaking to Blaine... you are not worth of his friendship...

He knew that much and he was about to change it. He would earn the right to be called Blaine's friend. Puck could think whatever he wanted...

December 8, 2012

The following day was dedicated to cleaning the house like the Hummels always did. Manual work did help Kurt to release the negative emotions that he had been holding. His dad even commented on him being particularly angry at some spot on the floor.

What working didn't help with was distracting him from his thoughts. Cleaning didn't require much thinking so his thoughts were left to wander. He actually began to regret asking for the permission to go to Rachel's. Even though he was all for giving second chances, he knew it was in vain – the girls wouldn't have changed per night and especially with Rachel's new slave by their side the evening was going to be a disaster.

The teenager was putting the cleaning supplies back into their cupboard when his phone rang. It was a call from an unknown number.

"Hello?" he answered the call.

"Hey, princess," a smug voice greeted him.

"How did you get my number?" Kurt asked. He never gave it to the boy.

"I have my ways," Puck answered but didn't supply any more details.

"Whatever. What do you want? I thought you hated me."

"I don't like you, that's for sure," the boy didn't even bother to lie. "I just wanted to ask you if you've seen Blaine lately. Like yesterday or today?"

Kurt frowned at the question. "I haven't seen him since Thursday but I spent the whole day at home today," Kurt answered and was met with silence. "What's going on?"

"Blaine was supposed to meet me this afternoon but he didn't show up," Puck explained and it was obvious he was worried.

"Maybe he didn't check the time?" Kurt shrugged even though the other boy couldn't see him. "One time he didn't come to our meeting and a few days later..."

"What happened a few days later?"

"I saw him and he said he was embarrassed about losing the jacket," the teenager explained, his mind going back to their meeting. "Is there any reason why Blaine could be avoiding you?"

"Not that I can think of... Unless," Puck prolonged the silence, "I may have said some stuff on Thursday when you went home. But when we parted he looked alright."

"Do you think it could be the reason why he didn't come to meet you?" Kurt asked, trying to think logically even though he was beginning to feel worried.

"It might be but he's never done that... I guess I'll give him time and go see him tomorrow," Puck decided in the end.

"You know where he lives?" Kurt asked in a heartbeat.

"None of your business, princess. I still don't like you," the boy said and hung up.

Kurt growled in frustration. It was annoying that Blaine and Puck seemed to be a package deal. If he really wanted to be the slave boy's friend, he would have to put up with the boy who very inconveniently hated him. Nevertheless, he was determined to go with it.

***

At seven sharp Kurt found himself standing in front of the gates of a big house and for a moment Kurt thought that maybe he had gotten the address wrong. He doubled checked it to see that there was no mistake. Exiting his car the teen went to the speaker and pressed a button.

"Berry residence, who's speaking?" a voice came from the speaker.

"Uh, it's Kurt Hummel, Rachel Berry is expecting me?" he said, not sure if he was being formal enough or even if he was supposed to be.

The gates began to open and the voice spoke again. "Please, park the car by the pavement and come in, Sir."

Kurt looked back at his car, already parked next to Mercedes', and went inside. Once he was in, the gates started to close again. He got to the front door when they opened to reveal Rachel.

"Hi, Kurt! I'm so glad you could come. Come in, come in," she said and stepped away to let the boy in. "Here are the slippers for you."

"Thanks," Kurt said and took off his boots. "Your house is gorgeous."

"Thank you," Rachel smiled widely at him. "We will be spending our evening in my bedroom. Mercedes is already there, waiting for us with my slave. It looks even better in reality! And it's really well-trained so I think I won't have any problem with it."

"You are lucky," Kurt forced a smile, feeling like this sleepover was a huge mistake.

"Okay, let's go," Rachel said and the two of them went upstairs to the girl's room.

Kurt entered the room and felt sick at the sight in front of him. Mercedes was sitting on the bed with a bowl of popcorns in her lap, throwing them one by one at a boy, who was kneeling by the TV set, trying to catch the pieces with his mouth. Kurt recognised him as one of the slaves from the website.

"Kurt, this is my slave," Rachel gestured even though it was unnecessary. "What do you want to drink? It will bring you whatever you want."

"Not... nothing for me, I'm not thirsty," he stuttered.

Rachel shrugged, failing to notice Kurt's uneasiness. "Suit yourself but as soon as you get thirsty or want anything at all, just tell it and it will do whatever you ask for."

"He," Kurt corrected her.

"It, Kurt, it..." Mercedes rolled her eyes and threw another popcorn at the boy. "I thought we had taught you that already."

Kurt put his overnight bag on the floor next to Mercedes' and sat down on the bed. "Well, I always referred to people by proper pronouns," he shrugged and took the bowl from the girl. "I love popcorns."

"Kurt," Rachel looked at him funnily, "slaves aren't people, hence, we say 'it'. If you used 'he' or 'she' in an English essay, you would get marked down. We are just looking out for you."

"Don't worry about me," Kurt smiled at her. "So what are we watching?"

"Well," Rachel beamed at his question. "I've prepared a few musicals for us but I was thinking maybe we should start with 'Sweeney Todd'? I think it would be a bit too scary to watch in the middle of the night."

"I love 'Sweeney Todd'," Kurt said and made himself more comfortable next to Mercedes, making more space for Rachel. "Not to mention that Johnny Depp is insanely handsome."

"He definitely is," Mercedes nodded enthusiastically. "Have you seen him in 'The Tourist'? Such an eye-candy..."

"I prefer him in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series," Rachel argued. "Much better looking."

"Because of the make-up?" Mercedes snorted. "I like the real deal."

"What about you, Kurt?"

"I actually like him best as Sweeney," the boy offered and they fell in silence, waiting for the film to start.

Before the first scene started, Rachel looked at her slaves. "Come massage my feet," she ordered.

Kurt watched the boy crawl up to her and start carefully touching the girl's feet.

"Not so strong!" Rachel hissed and kicked the boy in the face.

At that moment Kurt made his decision – it was the last time he was hanging out with the girls. He grabbed his phone and went straight to the 'fake-a-call' app, setting a call from his dad in forty minutes. Soon he would be out of there.

The film went on, mostly in silence, just a few comments here and there made by girls since Kurt didn't like talking when he was watching something. One comment stood out though.

"I never liked Lucy," Mercedes commented on Sweeney's wife-turned-to-be-a-beggar, "Walking around the town in her rags being all crazy... She reminds me of smelly-ass."

Kurt wanted to say that the slave had a name but Rachel beat him to it. "Not for long," she said with some chips in her mouth.

"What do you mean?" Kurt frowned, totally forgetting about the film.

"Remember the stealing episode? Well, my dads were worried about it so they talked to some people and these people agreed that it's time to take care of the problem," she explained. "I don't know what's going to happen. Maybe they will throw it off a bridge and make it look like it did it itself. Maybe they will take it to some forest and leave it there. No idea. All I know is that soon Lima is going to be a much nicer place."

"You... you do realise you are talking about someone's life, right?" Kurt choked.

Rachel rolled her eyes, looking tired. "How many times will we have to tell you, Kurt? Slaves' lives don't matter. They live to serve us and if they don't... well, it's their fault. That thing on the streets is useless and dangerous so I don't see why it's wrong in any way to want to get rid of it. We will all be safer without it here."

"Agreed," Mercedes cut in. "I don't feel safe walking alone at night. What if it attacks me and steals something? My phone is expensive as are my clothes."

Kurt crawled off the bed and stood up, blocking the TV. "You are saying you are okay with someone being killed? Just like that? You don't care at all?"

"We care about the well-being of the people of Lima," Rachel explained calmly. "Come on, Kurt, sit down and enjoy the evening. Don't ruin it to us because of some slave."

"You know what? That boy is a better person than you ever will be," he spat out and grabbed his bag. "I feel sorry for you. And for myself as well because I made myself suffer your company instead of finding real friends. Well, I'm done. I don't ever want to talk to you."

With that he stormed out of the room, leaving the girls with their mouths open. He would have felt great about finally speaking up if it wasn't for the fact that Blaine was in a great danger.

Rachel's house slave let him out and Kurt sped up home, praying not to get caught by police. Thankfully, luck was on his side and he made it home safely. He ran into the house to find Burt watching a game in the living room.

"Kurt? Why are you here? I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow?" his dad asked with concern. "Is everything alright?"

"Blaine... like an accident... have to help... please, dad... they will hurt..."

"Kurt, take a few deep breaths," Burt said and guided Kurt to sit on the couch. "Good. Now tell me what's going on."

Kurt calmed his breathing and finally was able to speak clearly. "Rachel told me that some people are looking for Blaine and they want to hurt him. I think they may try to kill him."

"Who are these people?"

"I don't know. Her dads talked to someone–"

"This is planned by adults?" Burt asked, unable to believe what he was hearing.

Kurt nodded, tears of fear spilling on his cheeks.

"Dad, please..."

Burt looked at his son and nodded. "To hell with the law. Let's go."