The Guilty Ones 》Glee/Klaine ✓

8. Afraid

"Your father called? Here?"

"It's nothing," Kurt retorted quickly. He hopped off the bed with his feet shuffling across the dull maroon carpeting. He headed for the door, even though he had only been wearing a pair of hole-spotted socks.

"Hey, wait!" Blaine stopped him, reaching for his arm as soon as Kurt's hand met the door handle.

"No, Blaine. Just let me go!" Kurt replied with frustration as he resisted, using his shoulder to wipe his wet cheek. Certainly a boy like Kurt would have been strong enough to break from his grip with ease. Yet something told Blaine that he didn't truly want to stray from his touch.

Finally Blaine steadied him, and the tall brunet teen spun around. His chin tilted up and a shaking sigh was released with his eyes squeezed shut. The skin on his cheeks was flushed red underneath it's faint glimmer of saltwater.

"Forget everything I said before," Blaine declared. He motioned his hands as if to clear the air. "Whenever I seem mad or anything, it's not real. I could never be mad at you. I know we just met and everything, but Kurt, you have to tell me what's wrong."

Kurt's red eyes appeared again before he pressed his back against the wooden door. He slid down before ending in a crumpled figure on the floor. Still, he said nothing.

"What did your father call for?" Blaine tried asking, taking it upon himself to take off his own shoes and sit cross-legged in front of Kurt.

"Um... well, the school called him first," Kurt began slowly. "They... they told him."

"Told him...?" Blaine prompted.

"The school called to tell him about the damn fight!" Kurt blurted out. "I fucking swear, the school said they would handle everything quietly. Rooming me with you is the worst they could do, not actually calling to tell my dad why."

"Uh," Blaine paused to think, trying to look past Kurt's slightly offensive words. "So Dalton called him to tell him about the, um, fight? How did he feel when he called you?"

A fresh wave of tears surfaced in Kurt's eyes, but this time he did less to fight them. "Between this and skipping and detentions, anything else that happens could be the end. They said if I get in any more big trouble, I'll lose my financial aid, and get kicked out of Dalton. As if my dad needed more things to stress about!"

"Kurt, you don't seem happy here," Blaine tried reasoning. What he said next had a strange difficulty rolling off his tongue. "What if... what if you went back to public school?"

He gave Blaine a glare. "Do you not get it? If I go to public school, Karofsky will kill me if I don't kill him first. Not to mention my dad having to provide for me again. I couldn't sit back and watch him work himself down to the bone. I'd have to get money. I'd steal, I'd sell drugs or something. But that will only land me in juvie for real."

"Kurt..." Blaine said softly. He moved closer with caution. "You can't do that to yourself. You have much more self-worth."

"Not everyone is a rich bitch," Kurt replied with hostility. "Some have to work hard to get by."

Blaine sighed. He knew Kurt was hurting. He also knew that he and Kurt came from very different family backgrounds, but wasn't it he who had said how similar they really are? Before he knew Kurt, he wouldn't have expected him to be the one to break down so easily. Only now did he realize that Kurt probably broke down whenever the constant voice in his head told him he wasn't worth it.

"You don't need to steal, or sell drugs or do anything," Blaine said. The words sounded foreign in his mouth; the thought of such acts had never even been entertained in the minds of the Anderson family. Thinking of nothing better, he crawled over to the space beside Kurt. Together they sat with their backs pressed against the wooden door.