2011-03-10
Entry tags:
Misdirection 1/? Meet Max Bolt
Chapter 1 - Meet Max Bolt
Cover Page here
Puck wasn’t an introspective guy; he hadn’t thought much about what would happen the day after they’d all confronted Karofsky and Azimio, what was now known as “The Gaga Incident”. Even though football season was over, he had baseball and glee to keep him busy, and of course there were the ladies. He had the high school girls on one side and the MILFs he saw after school on the other. He was a busy, busy man. However, on this day, he took some time out to help a new student learn the ropes of William McKinley High School, because, face it, he had the place wired.
Kurt, on the other hand, dreaded the next day. As much as he appreciated the save - which had earned Finn and his ridiculous red dress another chance in the Hummel home - he knew that like that one unfortunate elk racing from the lion on an Animal Planet show, he’d eventually get separated from the crowd. The only thing that might keep him alive was the fact that his getting hurt could result in more than just a slap on the wrist. A couple of weeks earlier, a black kid had gotten killed in a small, very white town on the other side of the state, and everyone was back to being up in arms about “hate crimes”. Kurt figured it would all die down when the next cause arose, but until then, he had a small buffer. In their anger, Karofsky and Azimio had probably forgotten about that little detail the day before, although to be fair, Kurt had to admit that his mouth hadn’t helped matters.
He’d promised Brittany that he’d bring her favorite nail polish to glee practice - Pink Sapphire was a dusty rose color filled with little flecks of other shades of pink - and he’d forgotten it in his locker. So he’d retraced his steps and got that oppressed feeling, as if someone were staring at him so hard that they weighed him down. He turned to find Karosky and Azimio standing behind him, evil grins on their faces.
“Oh look, the fag’s alone,” Karofsky said, nodding, his breath almost coming out in pants.
First, Kurt tried to brazen it out. “I’m glad you are so interested in my social calendar. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to coordinate schedules with you. I’m late.”
He’d tried to brush past them, but Azimio grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back against the lockers. “But we’re not finished with you.”
And that’s how it began. They threw slurs at him, he retaliated with verbal jabs, most of which he was sure had gone right over their square, blocked heads. But by the time he’d gotten shoved to the end of the hallway, he knew they were too angry to consider the trouble they’d get in if they actually physically hurt him. Even knowing that, he was damned if he were going to cower in front of them, so he stood up and shouted back to them, even as Azimio balled up his fist.
And Finn stood up to them, just like a big brother would, Kurt remembered proudly. During their earlier fight his crush had died a horrible death, tied to a wooden stake and burned alive, but from the ashes was growing the beginning of a new respect. Kurt had been on the receiving end of too many heartbreaks to suddenly decide that Finn had completely changed after one ugly scene with Burt Hummel, but Kurt was willing to wait and see.
The next day, at the beginning of Mr. Sheuster’s Spanish class, Puck brought in a new guy. “Dudes, this is Max Bolt, a completely badass nose guard from Detroit. He’s going here now.”
Kurt took a moment to look over the new student and wasn’t impressed with what he saw. Old, dirty sneakers, jeans hanging halfway off his ass, football jersey, and a large, square head that seemed to rise directly from his shoulders. “Great,” he thought, “just what we need, another neanderthal.” With that, he returned to staring out the window and daydreaming of being Tim Gunn’s special guest on “Project Runway”.
During glee, everyone was still running on the adrenaline high from the previous day, so Mr. Schuester really wasn’t able to control them all that much. They worked on a little choreography, then broke into separate groups to work on the steps. Kurt, Mike, and Puck, surprisingly enough, were always the first guys to get the steps, and they would each take a couple of people and go over the steps with them. Brittany also got the steps quickly, but she’d get distracted by thoughts of unicorns or something and would end up having a conversation with an imaginary friend. Of course, Mercedes was always in Kurt’s group, and they’d finish quickly and end up standing and gossiping until everyone else was ready to leave. Today, though, all everyone could talk about was Max Bolt, especially Puck.
“What’s the deal with the new boy?” Mercedes asked him.
“You’re going to keep missing out on the news if you stick with French,” Kurt muttered, making a mental note to extra-moisturize his hands when he got home. “But in this case, it’s no big deal, just yet another jock more interested in knocking people over than in anything that’s actually going to help him when he graduates. Unless,” Kurt considered, “he wanted to try his hand at carny work.”
“Hey,” Puck said, walking over to him. “Max Bolt’s awesome. He was all conference In Detroit.”
Kurt gave Puck his like-I-even-know-or-care-what-that-means look and said, “Well then by all means, let’s give him a key to the city.”
“That means,” Finn added, “that we might actually win a few games next year.”
“And we won’t have to do some dumb-ass gay dance to do it,” Puck finished.
“Considering that he probably wouldn’t be able to remember the steps…”
“That’s not fair,” Finn said. “Have you even met him?”
“I saw him when Puck ushered him into Spanish,” Kurt said.
“How do you know that he’s an idiot?” Puck asked.
“From the top of his flowbee haircut to the bottom of his steel toed boots, he looks just like the other neanderthals on the team. Present company excluded, of course,” Kurt added belatedly.
“Is he cute at least?” Mercedes asked. “With a butt that’ll look all nice and bubbly in his uniform?”
“Sure, if by ‘bubbly’ you mean you could park a bus on it,” Kurt suggested, absently taking note that he really needed to take better care of his nails.
“I thought glee club was about accepting others,” Finn said.
“Seriously,” Puck growled. “You took one look at him and rushed to judgment.”
Kurt made a point of looking around the room. “First of all, he’s not in glee. Second, I don’t have to like him, and if all goes well, I’ll never even have to speak with him. Besides, Puck, you’re so in love with him, he doesn’t really need any additional adoration.”
Puck made a move toward Kurt, who stepped back involuntarily, brushing against Mercedes. After glaring at Kurt for another few seconds, Puck growled and stomped across the room to join Rachel’s group. Finn gave them an apologetic look and followed him.
“Puck must really be pissed to join Rachel’s group,” Mercedes whispered.
Shrugging, Kurt walked to his bag. He reached for it, drawing back and making a fist when he saw his hand shaking. He wasn’t sure if he were upset about Puck’s adoration for someone he’d just met or if it were a reaction to having yet another bully ready to jump in his face. As much as he hated to admit it to himself - and never would he say it aloud - he was still trying to regain his equilibrium after The Gaga Incident. It was still fresh in his mind, but he was determined not to let it affect him more than it had already. Taking a breath to regain control, he reached back out, pleased to see his hand nice and steady. Bag in hand, he turned to his best girlfriend. “Ready to go?”
Mercedes’ eyes were narrowed. “Are you okay?” She asked quietly. “I know yesterday - “
“ - was yesterday,” Kurt said. “I’m over it.” Mercedes didn’t look convinced. “Really.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “But I’m here if you need to talk or anything.”
“And that’s one of the many, many reasons why I love you,” Kurt said, bumping his shoulder against hers.
Later that night, Kurt found himself unable to sleep. He needed to have a good seven hours minimum if he didn’t want to look puffy or blotchy, so he finally decided that some warm milk was in order. Grabbing his robe, he slipped quietly upstairs. He wasn’t sure why he bothered, since Finn slept like he’d been knocked unconscious. Kurt would be over there with a mirror checking for his breath if Finn didn’t sound like a locomotive.
Thank heavens for earplugs, he thought, smiling. Taking them out of his ears, he didn’t realize that his dad and Carol were in the kitchen until he was almost in the room. He stopped short when he realized that they were talking about him.
“… would they have done to him if Finn hadn’t come along?” Kurt’s dad was saying. “With that smart mouth, Kurt’s always been able to talk himself out of so many confrontations, and I know he doesn’t tell me about half the stuff that happens to him at that school as it is.”
“He’s tough,” Carol said.
“But he shouldn’t have to be!” Burt said angrily. “He shouldn’t have to be so strong at sixteen!
“I just knew something like this was going to happen when he got older. I tried to get him to take karate classes when he was eight.”
Kurt remembered that time. The uniforms were unflattering to any figure; he couldn’t understand why they didn’t make everyone wear form-fitting catsuits made from a nice, breathable fiber.
“He didn’t like it?”
“He said that the uniform was made of steel, and it chafed his skin.” Burt chuckled. “He actually used the word ‘chafed’.”
A corner of Kurt’s mouth rose as he remembered the conversation that ended with his dad telling him that he didn’t have to do it if he didn’t want to, that it was his choice. Even then, his dad had respected his decisions.
“But now I wish I’d made him do it. I wish I’d forced him to go in there and learn how to defend himself.
“I keep thinking about that boy, the one who was found beaten to death outside of his hometown. That could be -” Burt’s voice cracked, “that could’ve been Kurt. Sometimes I wake up at night, worried that I’m going to get one of those calls…”
Kurt stood there, hand over his mouth, aching for his father. Suddenly the entrance to the kitchen seemed miles away. Gathering his robe together, he slipped back downstairs and replaced the earplugs with his headphones and let his iPod keep him company until it was time to pull out the heavy duty concealer and get ready for school.
Part 2
Cover Page here
Puck wasn’t an introspective guy; he hadn’t thought much about what would happen the day after they’d all confronted Karofsky and Azimio, what was now known as “The Gaga Incident”. Even though football season was over, he had baseball and glee to keep him busy, and of course there were the ladies. He had the high school girls on one side and the MILFs he saw after school on the other. He was a busy, busy man. However, on this day, he took some time out to help a new student learn the ropes of William McKinley High School, because, face it, he had the place wired.
Kurt, on the other hand, dreaded the next day. As much as he appreciated the save - which had earned Finn and his ridiculous red dress another chance in the Hummel home - he knew that like that one unfortunate elk racing from the lion on an Animal Planet show, he’d eventually get separated from the crowd. The only thing that might keep him alive was the fact that his getting hurt could result in more than just a slap on the wrist. A couple of weeks earlier, a black kid had gotten killed in a small, very white town on the other side of the state, and everyone was back to being up in arms about “hate crimes”. Kurt figured it would all die down when the next cause arose, but until then, he had a small buffer. In their anger, Karofsky and Azimio had probably forgotten about that little detail the day before, although to be fair, Kurt had to admit that his mouth hadn’t helped matters.
He’d promised Brittany that he’d bring her favorite nail polish to glee practice - Pink Sapphire was a dusty rose color filled with little flecks of other shades of pink - and he’d forgotten it in his locker. So he’d retraced his steps and got that oppressed feeling, as if someone were staring at him so hard that they weighed him down. He turned to find Karosky and Azimio standing behind him, evil grins on their faces.
“Oh look, the fag’s alone,” Karofsky said, nodding, his breath almost coming out in pants.
First, Kurt tried to brazen it out. “I’m glad you are so interested in my social calendar. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to coordinate schedules with you. I’m late.”
He’d tried to brush past them, but Azimio grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back against the lockers. “But we’re not finished with you.”
And that’s how it began. They threw slurs at him, he retaliated with verbal jabs, most of which he was sure had gone right over their square, blocked heads. But by the time he’d gotten shoved to the end of the hallway, he knew they were too angry to consider the trouble they’d get in if they actually physically hurt him. Even knowing that, he was damned if he were going to cower in front of them, so he stood up and shouted back to them, even as Azimio balled up his fist.
And Finn stood up to them, just like a big brother would, Kurt remembered proudly. During their earlier fight his crush had died a horrible death, tied to a wooden stake and burned alive, but from the ashes was growing the beginning of a new respect. Kurt had been on the receiving end of too many heartbreaks to suddenly decide that Finn had completely changed after one ugly scene with Burt Hummel, but Kurt was willing to wait and see.
The next day, at the beginning of Mr. Sheuster’s Spanish class, Puck brought in a new guy. “Dudes, this is Max Bolt, a completely badass nose guard from Detroit. He’s going here now.”
Kurt took a moment to look over the new student and wasn’t impressed with what he saw. Old, dirty sneakers, jeans hanging halfway off his ass, football jersey, and a large, square head that seemed to rise directly from his shoulders. “Great,” he thought, “just what we need, another neanderthal.” With that, he returned to staring out the window and daydreaming of being Tim Gunn’s special guest on “Project Runway”.
During glee, everyone was still running on the adrenaline high from the previous day, so Mr. Schuester really wasn’t able to control them all that much. They worked on a little choreography, then broke into separate groups to work on the steps. Kurt, Mike, and Puck, surprisingly enough, were always the first guys to get the steps, and they would each take a couple of people and go over the steps with them. Brittany also got the steps quickly, but she’d get distracted by thoughts of unicorns or something and would end up having a conversation with an imaginary friend. Of course, Mercedes was always in Kurt’s group, and they’d finish quickly and end up standing and gossiping until everyone else was ready to leave. Today, though, all everyone could talk about was Max Bolt, especially Puck.
“What’s the deal with the new boy?” Mercedes asked him.
“You’re going to keep missing out on the news if you stick with French,” Kurt muttered, making a mental note to extra-moisturize his hands when he got home. “But in this case, it’s no big deal, just yet another jock more interested in knocking people over than in anything that’s actually going to help him when he graduates. Unless,” Kurt considered, “he wanted to try his hand at carny work.”
“Hey,” Puck said, walking over to him. “Max Bolt’s awesome. He was all conference In Detroit.”
Kurt gave Puck his like-I-even-know-or-care-what-that-means look and said, “Well then by all means, let’s give him a key to the city.”
“That means,” Finn added, “that we might actually win a few games next year.”
“And we won’t have to do some dumb-ass gay dance to do it,” Puck finished.
“Considering that he probably wouldn’t be able to remember the steps…”
“That’s not fair,” Finn said. “Have you even met him?”
“I saw him when Puck ushered him into Spanish,” Kurt said.
“How do you know that he’s an idiot?” Puck asked.
“From the top of his flowbee haircut to the bottom of his steel toed boots, he looks just like the other neanderthals on the team. Present company excluded, of course,” Kurt added belatedly.
“Is he cute at least?” Mercedes asked. “With a butt that’ll look all nice and bubbly in his uniform?”
“Sure, if by ‘bubbly’ you mean you could park a bus on it,” Kurt suggested, absently taking note that he really needed to take better care of his nails.
“I thought glee club was about accepting others,” Finn said.
“Seriously,” Puck growled. “You took one look at him and rushed to judgment.”
Kurt made a point of looking around the room. “First of all, he’s not in glee. Second, I don’t have to like him, and if all goes well, I’ll never even have to speak with him. Besides, Puck, you’re so in love with him, he doesn’t really need any additional adoration.”
Puck made a move toward Kurt, who stepped back involuntarily, brushing against Mercedes. After glaring at Kurt for another few seconds, Puck growled and stomped across the room to join Rachel’s group. Finn gave them an apologetic look and followed him.
“Puck must really be pissed to join Rachel’s group,” Mercedes whispered.
Shrugging, Kurt walked to his bag. He reached for it, drawing back and making a fist when he saw his hand shaking. He wasn’t sure if he were upset about Puck’s adoration for someone he’d just met or if it were a reaction to having yet another bully ready to jump in his face. As much as he hated to admit it to himself - and never would he say it aloud - he was still trying to regain his equilibrium after The Gaga Incident. It was still fresh in his mind, but he was determined not to let it affect him more than it had already. Taking a breath to regain control, he reached back out, pleased to see his hand nice and steady. Bag in hand, he turned to his best girlfriend. “Ready to go?”
Mercedes’ eyes were narrowed. “Are you okay?” She asked quietly. “I know yesterday - “
“ - was yesterday,” Kurt said. “I’m over it.” Mercedes didn’t look convinced. “Really.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “But I’m here if you need to talk or anything.”
“And that’s one of the many, many reasons why I love you,” Kurt said, bumping his shoulder against hers.
Later that night, Kurt found himself unable to sleep. He needed to have a good seven hours minimum if he didn’t want to look puffy or blotchy, so he finally decided that some warm milk was in order. Grabbing his robe, he slipped quietly upstairs. He wasn’t sure why he bothered, since Finn slept like he’d been knocked unconscious. Kurt would be over there with a mirror checking for his breath if Finn didn’t sound like a locomotive.
Thank heavens for earplugs, he thought, smiling. Taking them out of his ears, he didn’t realize that his dad and Carol were in the kitchen until he was almost in the room. He stopped short when he realized that they were talking about him.
“… would they have done to him if Finn hadn’t come along?” Kurt’s dad was saying. “With that smart mouth, Kurt’s always been able to talk himself out of so many confrontations, and I know he doesn’t tell me about half the stuff that happens to him at that school as it is.”
“He’s tough,” Carol said.
“But he shouldn’t have to be!” Burt said angrily. “He shouldn’t have to be so strong at sixteen!
“I just knew something like this was going to happen when he got older. I tried to get him to take karate classes when he was eight.”
Kurt remembered that time. The uniforms were unflattering to any figure; he couldn’t understand why they didn’t make everyone wear form-fitting catsuits made from a nice, breathable fiber.
“He didn’t like it?”
“He said that the uniform was made of steel, and it chafed his skin.” Burt chuckled. “He actually used the word ‘chafed’.”
A corner of Kurt’s mouth rose as he remembered the conversation that ended with his dad telling him that he didn’t have to do it if he didn’t want to, that it was his choice. Even then, his dad had respected his decisions.
“But now I wish I’d made him do it. I wish I’d forced him to go in there and learn how to defend himself.
“I keep thinking about that boy, the one who was found beaten to death outside of his hometown. That could be -” Burt’s voice cracked, “that could’ve been Kurt. Sometimes I wake up at night, worried that I’m going to get one of those calls…”
Kurt stood there, hand over his mouth, aching for his father. Suddenly the entrance to the kitchen seemed miles away. Gathering his robe together, he slipped back downstairs and replaced the earplugs with his headphones and let his iPod keep him company until it was time to pull out the heavy duty concealer and get ready for school.
Part 2