Disclaimer: no, I do not own Glee or any of the characters.

[Kurt's' POV]

Kurt Hummel was walking down the hallways of McKinley High School.
He was dressed as his usual self: tight black pants matched with a black shirt covered in (also black) feathers. On his head he wore a silvery hat with lots of sequences. He received a few glares and harsh comments on his walk towards his locker, but he ignored them all. He was more than used to it.

To everyone else, it seemed like Kurt Hummel was the most confident boy in the world.
He held his head high when he was being tormented by his peers and he never surrendered to their hatred; he always kept true to himself. He dressed exactly how he wanted to and he didn't shrink into himself when he was being criticized for it.

He stood up for himself and refused to be made into something that he wasn't. He was proud of his sense of fashion, his good grades, his wonderful friends, his voice. Kurt was a member of McKinley Glee club, called New Directions. He was so proud of himself, for those and many more reasons.

… only that sometimes, he wasn't. Sometimes, Kurt was so beaten down by everyone hating him that he just couldn't stand up in the morning.

And that intense hatred sometimes turned on him and made him hate himself too. Why couldn't he be a normal boy like everyone else? Why couldn't he too be satisfied with mediocre clothes from the Gap, and why couldn't he settle for a girlfriend? Why couldn't he just fit in like everyone else? Why did he have to be such an emotional, worthless waste of space...

And sometimes, he stayed home from school, telling his dad and his new wife Carole that he was sick, just so he could spend the entire day crying in his room. And the next day he would return to school, smiling and laughing and dying a little more inside as the school jocks continued mocking his entire existence.
No one saw the pain behind his strained smile. Or maybe they did. Maybe they just didn't want to see how much he was hurting.

And for the last couple of months, Kurt had been hurting really bad. He was constantly sad.
He wasn't covering up his sadness as well as before. Slowly, the wreck inside started to show.

But then he had discovered a way to release some of that sadness, making it easier to maintain his happy façade when in school. And he knew it was unhealthy, he knew it was a dangerous habit, and he knew it was addictive and wrong... but he couldn't help himself.

The first time that cool, sharp blade cut through his pale skin and red, hot blood poured down his arm, he couldn't help feeling deeply relieved. And since that first cut in March, he hadn't been able to stop. At first he did it maniacally as often as he could get a hand on something sharp.

But shortly he became so ashamed of this new technique that he decided to quit. Or, well, at least try to control the amount of times he let himself slip back to the comfort of his razor. He kept a secret list of the days where he cut so they wouldn't get too many. He had a secret box in his wardrobe containing a razor, some bandages and the list. So far this month, September, he had written down 7 dates out of the 22 that had passed. And no one even noticed.

But today, Kurt was having a good day. He hadn't used his razor in a week.
He had his, for the time being, favourite hat on and no one had slushied him yet. Getting 'slushied' was on McKinley an established bullying technique. The kids in Glee Club, or anyone who wasn't 'normal', usually got a couple of these a day.

Today was luckily one of the rare days when Kurt wasn't welcomed to school by the jocks throwing him into a dumpster or pushing him to the ground before showering him with a slushie and then walking away laughing. They hadn't come after him so far, although he was certain they would sooner or later.

But he was determined to enjoy the peace and quiet as long as he could. As he reached his locker, he looked in the mirror attached to the locker door to check if his hair was still acceptable. He modified it slightly, and as he closed the door and turned around he found himself faced with an unfamiliar boy with wild, curly hair.

He had soft hazel eyes which were now widened in chock. Kurt looked confusedly at him. He felt really self-conscious. Had he done something wrong? Did he have anything on his face? After a few seconds the boy turned on his heel and disappeared down the hall.
Kurt was left standing there, feeling very uncomfortable.

Who was the boy and why did he look so scared?
As he pondered over this, his feet automatically carried him to his first class of the day.
And before he knew it he was sitting in the back in his French class, his teacher already handing out instructions for the lesson.

He was taking it with one of his best friends, Mercedes. She was also in Glee Club.
But today she wasn't there. Kurt figured she was home sick, because she never missed class otherwise. So he was to endure the lesson by himself. He was fluent in French so the assignments wouldn't be a problem, but he hated being by himself when everyone else had someone. That was just his lot in life, wasn't it? Being alone.

He sighed and looked down at the sheet of questions he had been handed.
He began translating them as instructed. But he, and the rest of the students, were soon interrupted by someone bursting in the door, looking around breathlessly. It was the boy from the hallway.

"I...I'm sorry I'm late", he said, looking absolutely flustered.

"You must be the new student", the French teacher said with a gentle smile.
The boy nodded, relaxing a little when he wasn't being yelled at.

"I know it must be hard to find your classes on your first day, so I won't report this. You can just take a seat", she said, still ever so kindly.

He smiled gratefully, but was then faced with another problem.

"Um, there's no available seat", he said.
The teacher looked out across the classroom, and Kurt instantly knew what was coming.

"You can sit in the back with Kurt. He's terrific with French so I trust he'll help you if you should have any problems", she said and pointed to Kurt.

The boy stiffened, but obeyed and went to sit with him. Kurt nodded curtly and resumed his own work.

Kurt, having had time to think about the boy's previous actions, had decided that he was being so weird towards Kurt because he had heard that Kurt was gay and didn't want to get too close. It made sense, because the boy was really stiff during the entire period and he didn't even glance at Kurt. When it was over, he got up and left the room as quickly as possibly.

Kurt didn't care. Or, more accurate: he was trying not to care. People were doing this all the time. He was used to it. But it still hurt.
He left the classroom and went to get the books he would need for next class.
Halfway to Geography, a brunette came up to him, looking dangerously furious.

"Okay, Kurt, here's the deal. If we are to have any chance at winning Sectionals, I need to get that solo that Mr Schue gave to Quinn. I mean, she's great, but I think we can both agree that she's not star material. I'm our only chance! And we need to find more members because we can't even compete in this state! We are forced to find at least one more member or we're doomed. You have to help me convince the others in practise on Thursday. They just won't listen to me! I don't know, they must be intimidated by my incredible talent...", the girl rambled on.

Her name was Rachel Berry, and she was the star of New Directions. She was also a bit full of herself.
Kurt sighed.

"No, Rachel, I won't take the solo away from Quinn. She really deserved it. And as for the new member part, I do agree with you. But no one at this school will join, so what's the point in trying? Might as well enjoy the time we have left", Kurt said with a shrug.

If they didn't win Sectionals, their principal would dissolve the Glee Club. And in order to win they needed more members.

"You can't just give up, Kurt! We can't let Sue win, that's what she wants!" Rachel cried.

Sue Sylvester was the coach of the cheerleading team the Cheerios. She loathed the Glee Club above everything else.
Kurt shrugged again.

"I just..." he began. But Rachel cut him off, pointing behind him.

"Who is he? I haven't seen him before. Is he new?" She asked.

He turned around and saw the boy who had sat with him in French class stand by a locker, taking out some books for his next class.

"He's new, yes", Kurt said.

"Can he sing?" Rachel asked hopefully.

"How on earth am I supposed to know that?" Kurt asked impatiently.

"You don't have to snap on me, Kurt. Let's go ask him", she said with a bright smile.

"I don't think we should. He... I don't know, he seems a little homophobic. I don't know if he would fit in", Kurt said hesitantly.

He hated being prejudice himself, maybe the new boy wasn't a homophobe, but he really couldn't take the risk. He was constantly bullied outside of the four walls of the choir room: it was his safety zone. He couldn't have anyone homophobic in there.

But before he could stop her, Rachel had gone up to the new kid.
Kurt stayed behind, not wanting the boy to see him. He pretended to be very occupied with his locker and its content. He listened closely to their conversation, though.

"Hello! My name is Rachel Berry", Rachel introduced herself and shook the new boys hand excitedly. He jumped slightly.

"Um, hi. I'm Blaine", he replied, shaking her hand nervously.

"I heard you're new here. Have you had a good first day so far?" She asked kindly.

"Um, yes. Yes, I guess so", he said, frowning slightly.

"Terrific. Look, I'm in this schools Glee Club and we need at least one more member to compete at Regionals in a couple of weeks. I was wondering if you wanted to join? You don't really have to sing, we just need more people. You can just stand in the back and pretend to sing, no one would notice. So, what do you say?" Rachel asked, smiling as brightly as she could possibly manage.

He looked confused.

"Glee Club? I... I don't know. I'm trying not to draw attention to myself", he said slowly.

"Oh, don't worry, being in Glee is totally cool. All the popular people are members", Rachel lied.

That's when Kurt decided to step in.

"Look... Blaine, was it? If you're new here, you shouldn't join. Rachel, be quiet. We Glee kids are constantly being harrassed and if you want to lay low you should stay away from us", he said.

Blaine looked taken aback as Kurt approached him.
He opened his mouth, no words coming out. It made Kurt feel insecure again and he hated it.

"Whatever", he said and turned on his heel.

It did hurt him when people were so openly scared of him. Or disgusted. Or appalled. Or whatever they were.
They just looked at him as if he were a freak, and he was sick of it.
_

I've kind of re-written the chapters in an attempt to improve them. Hope it's more easily read now...