Chapter 5

November 26, 2012

Walking down the corridor with Mercedes to their next class appeared to be quite interesting. The girl pointed out some classrooms and people and shared some gossip about them. By the time they reached English classroom, Kurt knew more about his newest classmates than he ever did about people in his school back in France.

They entered the classroom just to hear the scream of a banshee. "'Cedes! You won't believe what happened!"

Mercedes chuckled next to Kurt and went to hug the girl. "Hey, Rachel, sorry but your news will have to wait. First of all, let me introduce you to the fresh meat – Kurt from France. Kurt, this is my friend Rachel I told you about."

Kurt smiled at the over-excited girl. "Hi, nice to meet you."

Rachel beamed at him and extended her hand for Kurt to shake. "Rachel Berry, pleasure."

Kurt laughed inwardly at such formal introduction but nevertheless, shook the girl's hand. Mercedes gestured to the end of the classroom and they all went there to get ready for the class.

"Okay, Rach, spit it out."

The girl took a deep breath to dramatically prolong the silence. "My dads are getting me a slave for my birthday!" she shouted and began to jump in place.

"Holy shit, that's amazing! Congrats!" Mercedes shouted back with a surprised but happy look on her face and hugged the girl tightly. "We have to choose you a good one."

Throughout their short exchange Kurt remained silent, pretending to text someone. It was an unfamiliar context for him. He couldn't understand how somebody could be this happy because they were allowed to ruin someone's life. And choosing 'a good one' made his stomach turn. They talked about a person like he talked to his dad about some steak in a shop.

"Kurt, you look like you have a fine eye for men," Rachel turned to him once she was out of her friend's embrace. "Will you help me choose a hottie?"

"Excuse me?" Kurt choked.

"Please, you scream 'gay', no need to pretend. Though you might want to tone it down since people here are not fond of gays. Just so you know," Rachel winked at him. "So, anyway, I propose, we go to Lima Bean on Friday after school for coffee and look online for a nice piece of ass. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan," Mercedes grinned at them and both girls stared at Kurt for his response.

Luckily, the teacher entered the classroom and he didn't have to answer just yet. He needed an excuse and a good one. He did want to hang out with them and have coffee but he really didn't want to get involved in their appalling activity. Maybe they would do it earlier and then on Friday he wouldn't need to give his opinion? He couldn't pass an opportunity to make new friends though so whatever happened he decided to go out with the girls.

The class went quickly and it wasn't as difficult as Kurt had anticipated before. It wasn't challenging at all and left him time to daydream about his friends back in France. He sure did miss them.

"So, Kurt, how does that coffee sound?" Rachel asked him when they began to pack.

"Coffee sounds good but I don't think I'll be able to help a lot with... um, choosing a person for you, I don't have any experience in that," he mumbled somewhat apologetically.

"Not a person, a slave," Mercedes corrected him. "And you don't need any experience. We will go on this website for the new merchandise and you will just have to say 'hot' or 'not', that's all."

Rachel nodded enthusiastically. "I want people to be jealous of me when they see it so I need more than one person's opinion," she said and they began to walk out of the classroom.

Kurt didn't let it slip how Rachel called a slave 'it' but didn't comment on that, just plastered a fake smile on his face. "Yeah, um, I could do that," he said lamely hoping that he wouldn't really need to.

"Do you have a slave, Kurt?" Mercedes asked.

It took him his whole willpower not to show his disgust at the thought. "No, um... not yet," he finished and cringed at his words, not sure what made him lie. As if dad would ever let me own a slave. Scratch that, I would never want one.

"You just moved from France, right?" Rachel asked even though she already knew the answer. "What is it like to live without a slave? Must be quite difficult. I mean, you have to do everything by yourself!"

Kurt opened his mouth but Mercedes beat him to that. "I can't imagine my life without mine. I remember when I had to do homework by myself. It really sucked."

Are you fucking kidding me?

"It wasn't difficult, to be honest," he said as the girls walked him to his next class, which was calculus. "You are just used to it, I guess."

"When are your parents getting you one? We could help you out! We know how to pick a good one from the info given on their profiles," Rachel said. "Unless, you would want to buy a used one. I don't know how that works, we never had a second-hand slave..."

"Oh, thanks for the offer but I don't think my dad will get me one any time soon," Kurt said quickly. "You see, I kind of got into trouble back in France so he is pretty angry with me. So yeah, no slave for me."

"That's a shame," Mercedes looked at him with sympathy. "Maybe I could lend you mine for a day. Your dad would see how much easier your life would be with a slave and change his mind. That might do a trick."

The boy shook his head. "No, he won't give in that easily. I will just live the way I used to. And if I behave, maybe one day he will reward me."

Which is never.

"Let us know if he changes his mind," Mercedes asked him and stopped by the door to another classroom. "This where we leave you. I feel sorry for you, calculus is horrible."

"I kind of like it," Kurt admitted.

"I don't know how that's possible," Rachel laughed. "Okay, we should go now. Oh, and come sit with us during lunch, okay?"

Kurt promised to join them during his free period and entered the classroom, relieved to finally be left alone. He didn't feel comfortable around the girls but maybe he just needed time to warm up to them. Also, he had to make sure to always change the subject as soon as they started talking about slaves.

It didn't take long for Kurt to find the cafeteria once his class was over. It seemed that most people were headed that way and he just followed the crowd. When he finally reached the place and stood in the queue with a tray in his hands he heard his name being shouted.

"Hey, Kurt, over here!" he heard an already familiar voice and looked up to see Rachel waving at him from the front of the line. "Come join us."

He didn't really want to jump the queue but the girls may get a wrong impression if he didn't so ignoring his manners Kurt walked over to them with a small smile.

"How was your class?" he asked looking at what was being served.

"It was okay, boring as always," Mercedes said, getting herself some tots.

Rachel grabbed his arm and dragged him further along. "Let's get some fruit salad," she said and asked the catering lady for two bowls of fruits.

"Actually, I was thinking of getting–" Kurt began but Mercedes stopped him.

"Okay, as your new friend, I'll break it to you – you can't pull off extra pounds. Me? I look fabulous the way I am but you should get rid of all that extra weight. Not pretty."

"Don't worry, Kurt, we'll help you," Rachel cut in. "We can be on a diet together, it's much easier that way."

He didn't need a diet, he was of a healthy weight and his metabolism was fast enough for him to eat anything he wanted. However, before he could argue, the girls dragged him to a table and he didn't want to stand in the long queue so he decided he could deal with a fruit salad for one day.

Neither of them went back to the slave topic because there was some new rumour floating around the school and Kurt felt grateful for whoever spread it so he could have a decent conversation that didn't include lying. This time he felt good chatting with the girls.

After that he didn't see either Mercedes or Rachel since they didn't have any more classes together. He made some small talk with a few of his new classmates but none of them seemed too interested in the new kid.

His last class was home economics and it was by far the most fun class. They baked chocolate chip cookies and he got an A+ for the most delicious batch of the class. Proud of himself he put a few cookies into a small plastic box, sure that his dad would appreciate some dessert after dinner.

Overall his day was alright and the last class was a delight so he exited the school reasonably happy despite the fact that the class ran late due to the time it took for the cookies to finish baking.

The only downside was that until he got a car he would have to either walk home or take a bus since his dad was still at work when the school ended. Still, Kurt didn't let that ruin his mood and walked to the bus stop.

He almost reached the stop when a shop window caught his eye. It was a bread shop and advertised having French bread. Kurt made a mental note to come check it out one day and turned his head to see where he was walking and saw a boy walking towards him with his head lowered. It was too late to step aside and their bodies collided.

Kurt almost fell at the strength of their impact but managed to balance himself and stay on foot. The boy, on the other hand, wasn't that lucky and fell on his butt. He looked up, fear in his eyes and before Kurt could say anything, spoke to him.

"I'm sorry, Sir, please, I didn't mean to," he said frantically and lowered his head respectfully, coming onto his knees quickly. "Please, I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay," Kurt said, taking in the boy's appearance.

He was thin, wearing clothes that were too big for his body and too thin for the cold weather. His skin was dirty and face covered with a short uneven beard indicating that not long ago he had managed to somehow shave it. Kurt could see that he was wearing no shoes or socks, the sleeves of his top were too short and Kurt could see a tattoo around his right wrist, telling the world that the boy in front of him was a slave. His behaviour said the same.

"Please, Sir," the boy pleaded and Kurt had no idea what he was asking.

"Listen," Kurt said gently and ducked, trying to be at an eye level to the slave in front of him, "it was all my fault. I wasn't looking and I'm sorry for hurting you."

The boy shivered, either from fear or from cold, Kurt didn't know. "You... are not angry?" he asked in a small voice and Kurt wanted to cry at how this boy was scared of him.

"Not at all," Kurt smiled at him even though the boy was looking at the ground, not at him. "Um, is it comfortable for you on the ground? We could stand up if you wanted."

"If that pleases you, Sir," the boy said but didn't move.

Kurt looked at the unmoving figure and it took a moment for him to realise that the boy was actually asking him. "Ah, yeah, it... pleases me," he said awkwardly and stood up to show an example to the boy.

The boy followed his lead and stood up as well. He was shorter than Kurt but a mop of dark curls on his head made them look of a similar height.

"So, how about I prove to you that I'm not angry?" Kurt offered, as an idea hit him. He was sure if he was an animated character a light bulb would have appeared over his head.

Kurt saw the boy frown but other than that he didn't show any sign that he had heard Kurt's words.

"Alright then," the teenager said and opened his bag where a box with warm cookies lay on top of his stuff. Kurt carefully took it out and extended to the boy. "I made these today. They are still very warm so you should probably wait until they get cold before you eat them."

"Sir?" the boy uttered confused.

"This is my apology for making you fall," Kurt said and gently took the boy's hand, turned it over and placed the box on it. "I got an A+ for them so they are quite nice. I hope you like them."

The words must have failed the boy because he just stood there looking at the box in his hand, moving his lips as if to say something but nothing left his mouth. Kurt wanted to encourage him to open the box but at that time his bus arrived and he had no time left.

"So, I'll see you around," he said with a smile and got into the bus before the boy could respond.

Kurt went to the end of the bus and sat down by the window. Right before the bus began to move, he saw the boy taking a tentative bite of a warm cookie.