chocolate

//settle down//

"Oh god," Kurt thought as two sophomoric sweaty jocks were passing a football right in front of the steps at school. He looked around and saw people crowding the lockers and shouting childishly. He had memorized the schools schedule the day before and walked down the hall, turning right to a thin locker. He hesitantly turned the nob to the correct numbers and after the second try, the locker opened and he placed two of his books inside, then shut the locker.

He leaned against his locker and tapped one of his boots on the ground, waiting for the first period bell to ring. Over the years, his dad had noticed a growing anxiety surfacing onto Kurt, making him a bit shy and easily shaken. He never told his father about what happened at his old school and wasn't planning on sharing it either. Not wanting to disappoint his dad again, he talked to the first person that walked past him and tried to make a friend. "Hi, I'm Kurt, I'm new here, what's your name?" he wanted to say but struggled to make it past his name. The girl nodded her head and realized the boy in front of her wanted to be friends.

"I'm Rachel, I'm guessing you're new here? It can be very intimidating coming to a new school and not knowing anyone, I presume? Well, It's going to be okay now because I'm here! We're gonna be the greatest friends I know it!" she smiled brightly and interlocked their arms, pulling him to walk with her. Kurt smiled and ignored the sprightliness of her attitude.

"Is the school a-always so loud?" Kurt stumbled out and turned his head to face the girl as they shuffled across the cramped hallways while people bumped into them.

"Oh, you'll get used to it, what's your first class? I can show you around if you'd like." Rachel responded almost immediately, throwing Kurt off for a second. They both continued to wander as three jocks started walking towards them with slushies in their hands. Rachel covered her face with her hands and squealed a tiny bit before they emptied out the cold drinks in their hands onto both of their faces.

"Welcome to McKinley High, losers." they added, walking off as if they did some humble deed. Kurt stood there, gasping and refusing to use his sleeve to wipe the flavored ice off his face. Rachel grabbed his arm and pulled him to the girls bathroom that was around the corner.

"Here," she said and handed him a paper towel, "they always do that, its basically a McKinley ritual, I should have warned you, it's pretty hard to get out of your hair." Rachel turned on the faucet at the sink and wet the towel, cleaning the beverage off her face. Kurt did the same and stared plainly in the mirror, analyzing the now-stained red hair he has.

"My old bullies at the last school I was in, used to do things like that all the time, sometimes- sometimes worse." he sighed as the bell rang, loudly.

They both looked at each other and rolled their eyes at the impeccable timing, heading straight to their classes.

An hour into his first class, the teacher had already assigned all the students to study for the upcoming test. Kurt looked around and asked one of the people that sat next to him where to get the textbooks at, "I uh don't know man, ask the teacher." the boy replied terribly slow. Kurt raised his hand waiting for the teacher to turn around from helping a student find her papers,

"Mr. Huxley, uhm where can I find the textbooks to study from? I never got one." the teacher turned around in a quick pace and raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't go to the counselors office when you got here? I'm sure one of the counselors there can help you get a book. You can go now, here, I'll write a note." He walked back over to his desk and pulled a drawer out, grabbing a small notepad, and signed his name at the bottom. Kurt stood up out of his desk and grabbed his binder, holding it up to his chest and grabbed the note from the teacher. He then walked out of the classroom doors and walked to the front office, at the other side of the school.

"Hi, uh I'm looking for the counselors office, I'm new here." Kurt hovered by the front office opening and awaited the secretaries response. The two ladied in the chairs were typing on their computer and seemingly ignored his question, he sighed and sat on one of the chairs inside. "Okay, I'll just wait here then."

"They're pricks, hate teenagers, they won't answer you, ya know." a boy on the chair next to Kurt added. Kurt turned his head in surprise at the remark, and stared at the boy. He had chocolate colored-curly hair and the most gorgeous hazel eyes the other boy ever saw.

The hazel-eyed boy was wearing dark brown, raggedy boots and tight skinny jeans, accentuating his obviously muscled legs and a black hoodie. He had both his hands in his pocket and was facing straight forward in the chair. Kurt admired his lip ring that was hanging from his full lips and his sharp jawline. "Oh." he finally muttered out.

The other boy smirked and dipped his head down, taking one of his hands out of his pocket and itching the corner of his eyebrow piercing. Kurt realized he was still staring at the other boy and immediately turned his head to the left side. "You said you needed books?" One of the ladies had walked over in front of him and outstretched her arm, holding two books.

"Oh, tha-thanks" he replied, grabbing the books and standing out the chair. As he walked out of the office, he noticed two boys throwing a younger boy against one of the walls by the lockers. The young boy clutched his books closer to him, picking them off the ground and keeping his eyes off the older jocks.

"Faggot!" One of the boys called out to the one on the ground and proceeded to kick him in the ribs.

"Next time you look at me, I'll kill you." The jock puffed out his chest and bashed the locker beside the boy, frightening Kurt.

The two jocks walked away laughing and popping their knuckles. Kurt ran up to the boy still on the ground and tried to help him up. "Get away from me! I don't need your help, loser."

The boy pushed Kurt's hands away and stood up on his own, glaring at Kurt as he walked off.

"Just get to class, don't freak out, just walk straight to your class." Kurt thought in his head as he slowly walked down the hall turning his head from left to right to check if anyone was there. He held his books close to him and felt a sudden breeze next to him. "It's ok, I'll walk you to class." The boy he saw in the office said as he put his hand on Kurt's back leading him towards his class.

"Wha- why you helping me?" Kurt quivered a tiny bit and then relaxed as he stood in front of Kurt, sheltering him from the jocks now walking towards the mysterious boy.

"Get the fuck away, Fletcher." He looked at the taller jock in the eye and stayed in front of Kurt, hiding his body from the jocks. "Go on now,"

The two jocks chuckled and stretched their arms, making eye contact with Kurt, who immediately centered his eyes to the ground. "Aw he's protecting the homo!" The taller one joked with his other friend, stopped laughing and pushed the boy protecting Kurt into one of the lockers. Kurt was shivering and he fell on top of the boy, making sure he was okay.

"Stop." he grabbed Kurt's wrist and motioned for Kurt to sit on the ground. The hazel-eyed boy tapped on the taller jocks back, both turned around, then punched him in the jaw, knocking the jock down to his knees.

Kurt gasped and looked up at the boy, with a slight smile of gratefulness, the other boy turned towards him and reached his hand out, grabbing Kurt's and pulling him up. "Get to your class, now." He walked away from Kurt and the jocks still crying on the floor, and slammed one of the lockers with his fist. He grabbed a backpack out of the locker and Kurt could see on the side pocket an opened pack of cigarettes. Kurt grabbed his books from off the floor and sped-walked to his class, a lingering feeling of being afraid and also protected. He smiled to himself.

"Why did he help me, does he want something from me?" Kurt repeated over and over in his head until he sighed and shook his head, grabbing his earphones out of his top dresser drawer in his room. "No one has ever done something like that for me, does he care about me? Probably not." Kurt despised the days his mind made him question everything, paranoid about the smallest things. He never thought he could ever be happy without something ruining it.