Chapter 4

November 26, 2012

"You can do it. You are Kurt Hummel and there is nothing you can't do. You will be great. Students will like you, teachers will love you. Everything is going to be just fine."

Burt peeked through the door. "Should I be taking you to an asylum instead? I mean, talking to yourself is the first sign of madness," he smirked.

Kurt growled and grabbed his bag, ready to go downstairs. "I wasn't talking to myself myself. I said those things to my reflection in the mirror," the teenager said as they went into the kitchen.

"And how is it any better? Still seems pretty crazy to me," Burt shrugged.

"It's because you are old and don't understand anything," Kurt teased his dad and began to make toast for breakfast. "We have got to buy real food sometime soon. Otherwise I'll go crazy."

"Already are..."

"I heard that."

"Because I said it out loud."

"You know, sometimes I wish I was a normal teenager whose parent wasn't less mature than he himself," Kurt said and placed the toasts on the table next to two glasses of juice that his dad had gotten ready for them. "Just imagine, you come back from work too tired to even talk to me and when I mess up you just ground me, end of the story. Wouldn't it just be great?"

"Yeah, no, where is fun in that?" Burt asked and took a bite of his breakfast. "However, sometimes I wish I had a normal teenage son. Imagine, you come back from a wild party, drunk and smelling of cigarettes. In the morning you are dying of hangover. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Very much so," Kurt smirked.

They continued eating in silence, the teenager observing the place just to have something to take his mind off going to a new school. The kitchen was still a mess. Of course it was better than yesterday in the morning but it could have been much worse. There were a few small boxes with unopened appliances but those were not the vital ones so they decided to take care of the more important stuff first.

"So what's the plan for this week?" Kurt asked his dad when they were finishing with breakfast.

"I'll go to work, you'll go to school," Burt sad and placed the plate into the sink.

"Oh really? Geez, who could have thought?"

"I know, right? Apart from that we will need to do some grocery shopping today and I need to find someone to help me return the rented car. And we also need to buy two cars this week because I'm so not driving you to places all the time."

"Dad, there is public transport for that..." Kurt said but he was cheering inside since he couldn't wait to get a car.

"You? In a public transport? Oh please, I would get to listen to you complaining about it all the time," Burt said. "I think I'm better off just buying you a not-so-expensive car."

"Um, yeah, that's true," Kurt laughed and they left the house.

***

Throughout the whole ride to school Kurt felt like he was sitting on needles. He kept moving in his seat, thinking of all the worst scenarios in his head where people didn't talk to him, where he made a fool of himself in front of a class, or got lost.

"Will you stop?" Burt finally had enough. "You'll do just fine. You are a likeable person."

"I'm a mid-term transfer. Everyone knows everyone and they have their friends and social circles. And I'm this outsider..."

"You are a transfer student from France. That's pretty exotic, don't you think? I'm sure it counts for something," the man tried to calm his son.

However, his attempts were not successful. "Oh god, I'll be this exotic freak... Everyone is going to stare at me and– Oh no, go back, I need to change my clothes. Why did I wear this in the first place? I'm so stupid!"

"Sorry, kiddo, there is no time for that. Besides, you look okay so stop freaking out," Burt said and Kurt saw the school building appear in their sight. "Do you want to make an awesome entrance by jumping out of a moving car?"

The look Kurt gave him was enough for an answer.

***

Luckily some sort of deity was on Kurt's side because the boy easily found the administration office, got everything sorted out, and found his locker and later the right classroom with no difficulties. Originally he thought it would take much longer so by the time he got into the classroom, he still had some time to kill and nobody was there. After a few minutes he began to doubt if it was the right place after all but then a couple of students walked in and he got worried for other reasons.

"You are in my seat, white boy," he heard and looked up to see a girl staring at him.

"I'm sorry, um, black girl?" he offered and stood up, gathering his stuff quickly.

"African-American, you racist," she frowned but after a moment started laughing. "You should have seen your face! Priceless!"

Kurt relaxed a bit and forced a fake laugh. "You scared me a little bit," he admitted. More like, I have never been more scared in my entire life.

"Consider it your initiation," the girl said. "I'm Mercedes Jones and you can come sit next to me."

Without waiting for his reply Mercedes went to the back of the classroom and sat down. She patted the seat next to her and Kurt walked over to join her.

"I thought that was your seat," he said gesturing the table he was sitting at in the beginning.

"I lied but it's actually taken and you don't want to deal with Rick the Stick this early in the morning," Mercedes said and began to prepare for the class. "No, scratch that, you never want to deal with Rick the Prick."

"Not his fan?" Kurt asked with a smile, relaxing a bit at the girl's presence, feeling that maybe he was about to make a new friend.

"Never ever," Mercedes shook her head and gave him her full attention now that she was all set to start the class. "Say, aren't you that French transfer?"

"I'm American but I lived in France, yes," he said and watched his fellow student frown. "I'm Kurt, by the way, in case you were wondering."

"Not really. So what are you doing in a Spanish class? Shouldn't you be taking French? You could ace that baby."

Kurt shrugged. He had been thinking of taking an easy credit but on the other hand it was useless for him and he did want to learn something new. And knowing yet another foreign language may be useful in the future.

"Thought I would go for something more challenging," he supplied as a man, who looked like he could be a teacher, entered the classroom.

"That's Mr. Schue, our Spanish teacher," Mercedes confirmed his suspicions. "He thinks he is cool and funny but you will soon find out that he's not."

"Okay, class, let's begin."

***

Soon the class was over and Kurt felt anxious again. He wasn't sure where he stood with Mercedes. The boy had no idea if they were acquainted enough for him to ask her to show the way to his next class. However, luck was still on his side.

"So, I saw you checking your timetable earlier and you are with me in English," Mercedes said when they were leaving the room. "We have to hurry because I need to introduce you to my friend Rachel before the class starts. You are going to love her, I'm sure of it."

A genuine smile appeared on Kurt's face. After worrying so much about his first day at a new school, it was proving to be a great experience so far.