Matters of the Heart

Kurt Hummel pressed his new Marc Jacobs bag to his chest tightly, pulling his knees up to guard both the bag and his chest. He prayed silently that no one could hear his labored breathing. He sucked in a deep breath as he heard his step-brother, Finn's, footsteps grow closer. In the blink of an eye the closet doors were thrown open and Kurt was yanked out of his hiding spot by his ankles. He let out a high pitched scream as Finn kept him from running away by pinning him down using the Marc Jacobs bag he had been using as a shield moments ago.

"I found him!" Finn shouted over Kurt's screams.

Finn's mother, Carole, came running into the room, Kurt's father, Burt, in tow.

"Finn, stop it, you could hurt him!" she shouted as she struggled to pull him off her stepson.

Burt managed to pull the two boys apart with ease, taking hold of his own son and nudging Finn towards Carole. She quickly guided Finn out of the room, scolding him on the way to the kitchen. The room turned dead silent as Carole's whispers of "I told you to be gentle with him!" faded away. Burt knelt before Kurt, placing a steady hand on his shoulder.

"Look, I know you're not too excited about your first day of school, but you can't hide forever. You're going to have to go eventually."

"What's the point in me starting now anyway?"

Burt flinched, knowing the answer was too painful to repeat.

"Kurt, you need to stop looking at the negatives and start looking at the positive things that may come out of this. You could meet new people and-"

"I don't want to meet new people," Kurt interrupted bitterly, turning away from him.

Burt sighed, running his hand over his shaved head before straightening up slowly.

"We'll be leaving in ten minutes, I expect you to be downstairs, ready to go in five minutes," he said before leaving the room.

Burt usually took it easy on Kurt when it came to meaningless fights, he preferred to pick and choose his battles. But in cases like this, he knew it was necessary for him to assert his dominance as Kurt's father, knowing that if he didn't show his authority, there was no hope in getting Kurt to cooperate with him.

Kurt groaned once his father had left the room. He took one last look at his bedroom. A strange feeling in his gut told him that it wouldn't be the same after he came home from his first day of real high school. He lugged himself off the floor and slung his bag over his shoulder. He sucked in a deep breath for courage before stepping out of his room and walking upstairs to the living room. He sat down on the family's worn out couch, waiting for what felt like hours until Finn came barreling into the room, laughing through a mouthful of waffle.

"Oh my God, Kurt, you have to read this text Rachel just sent me." Finn's cheeks had turned a light rosy color from laughing at whatever the text on the phone he had just extended towards Kurt had said.

"Not interested," Kurt replied icily.

Finn's cheerful expression quickly turned sour as he swallowed down the last of his waffle and tucked his phone back into his pocket with a cold glare at his step-brother. Burt stepped into the living room seconds later, whistling a song he'd made up during breakfast and twirling his car keys along his index finger. Burt struggled to hide his smile when he saw Kurt sitting, well, more like sulking, in the living room, just as he had ordered. Maybe Kurt was actually looking on the bright side of things, he thought to himself.

The drive to William McKinley High School felt like ages to Kurt while he listened to Finn ramble on about the great kids Kurt was going to meet in Glee Club, the different teachers, and he spent a solid ten minutes praising his girlfriend of six months, Rachel. Finn's rambling didn't cease once they'd pulled up to the school parking lot. Kurt didn't dare look at his father while he stepped out of the car, knowing he'd only be met with eyes filled with concern and fear. Before Burt could say anything to him, Kurt had gathered up his bag, hopped out of the car, and was walking alongside Finn up to his death, high school.

Kurt had already decided how he would handle high school. The world had been very cruel to Kurt; taking his mom away from him when he was only eight, and burdening him with a secret so dark, just the thought of it made him sick to his stomach. Every time he'd become attached to something, it was snatched away from him. Thus, he had decided that he would not allow himself to become attached to anyone at all in high school. However, Kurt knew he was a weak, emotionally needy person, and that even the slightest bit of contact with a human that wasn't a member of his family could lead to him becoming emotionally attached to a person, and so he decided to take drastic measures to ensure that he would remain unattached to any, and all people outside of his family. He decided to take a vow of silence. He would refuse to speak, unless absolutely necessary, for the remainder of his time at William McKinley High School. Of course there would be exceptions, like talking to Finn, whom he'd already grown attached to. It wasn't the greatest, or most sane plan he'd ever come up with, but it was worth a shot. Besides, his father had told him to make the most of his time at McKinley, and what better way to make an impact than by being the creepy, home schooled, mute, step-brother of the loser who quit playing football for Glee club.

Kurt snapped out of his inner monologue when he realized that Finn was no longer walking with him. Kurt looked around the crowded hallway anxiously, relieved to find Finn engaged in a PG-13 make out session with Rachel. Kurt sighed before turning to continue walking down the hall to find his designated locker. He had barely taken half a step when he bumped into a solid body. He opened his mouth to excuse himself, but quickly closed it, remembering his vow of silence and emitted a weak whimper in place of an apology. Kurt looked up from his shoes to at least give the person he'd bumped into an apologetic smile before walking away.

To his surprise, the person before him was several inches shorter than him. The curly haired, almond eyed boy before him wore a leather jacket that reeked of liquor, cologne, and cigarette smoke. His eyes bore holes through Kurt as he roughly shoved past him, throwing himself against Kurt's shoulder so hard that Kurt was sure a bruise would emerge in that spot by noon. Despite his better judgement, Kurt turned around to watch the boy stomp away. A tall, thin girl clad in leather, chains, and piercings linked arms with the boy, placing a kiss against his cheek, which he wiped away jokingly. He tucked a strand of the girl's hot pink hair behind her ear and whispered something in her ear that earned him a playful smack on the shoulder.

Girlfriend, of course he had a girlfriend, Kurt thought to himself bitterly. He mentally slapped himself over the head, telling himself to get his mind out of the gutter. He'd taken a vow of silence to prevent himself from attaching to people, yet here he was, checking out the first guy he'd come in contact with.

"Hey, Kurt, are you okay?" Finn had broken off his make out session with Rachel, who insisted on getting to her first period class at least ten minutes early.

Kurt nodded and continued to walk towards his locker.

"Okay, well you just let me know if Blaine or Quinn gives you any trouble," he said, glancing back towards the strange duo down the hall.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Blaine Anderson, the guy that bumped into you. He's the football team's new quarterback and McKinley's resident 'stuck-in-an-eighties-rom-com-bad-boy'."

Kurt could sense the bitterness in Finn's voice. He'd talked about Blaine Anderson before. He was the 'conceited, untalented, prick' that had replaced Finn as quarterback of the football team. Kurt chuckled to himself as he thought back to how upset Finn was at dinner after finding out he'd been replaced not even a week after he'd quit the football team. He'd cursed Blaine Anderson and his broken down motorcycle to the deepest pits of hell, and Carole had promptly grounded him for his outburst at the table.

Kurt reached his assigned locker, number 2784, and managed to figure out how to enter the combination, with minimal help from Finn. Finn gave Kurt a parting smile before walking off to his first class, leaving Kurt to figure out his new school on his own. Kurt smiled as he looked into his small, empty locker and pulled out a notepad from his bag, so he could sketch the design he had in mind for decorating his locker. Just because he planned to be socially invisible didn't mean he couldn't show off his sense of style.



"Having fun with the new kid already?" Quinn Fabray asked her partner in crime, Blaine Anderson.

"That kid's new?" Blaine asked, glancing back at where he'd bumped into the bumbling, flustered boy.

"Yeah, he's Finn Hudson's step-brother. Rumor has it he was home schooled his whole life and this is his first time at a real high school.

Blaine belted out a laugh as he finally caught sight of the boy, smiling into his empty locker.

"Sure explains his fashion sense. He's wearing a fucking corset."

"Who knows, maybe he'll start a trend. I'm sure you'd look ravishing in a corset," Quinn said with a snort.

Blaine gave her a playful shove before pulling out the 2 for 1 slushie coupon he'd been saving for the past two weeks.

"So, whaddya say we show the new kid some McKinley High hospitality?"

A devilish smirk played on Quinn's pink lips.

"I thought you'd never ask.