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Misdirection 2/?
Mar. 12th, 2011 08:58 pmA/N: This part actually contains Chapters 2 - 4. They were so small and didn't really end where I wanted.
Chapter 2 - Friday Night Plans
The next morning, Kurt left for school early, his eyes focused on the floor, saying he had to work on something for Coach Sylvester. He couldn’t even look at his father without wanting to cry, and he hoped he could figure out how to get himself back in control before the end of the school day.
Unfortunately for him, Coach Sylvester had arrived early as well and decided that he could use some one-on-one instruction.
He’d never been so happy for school to start in his life.
That morning, he only got shoved into the lockers once and wasn’t slushied at all - although he suspected it had more to do with fear of defacing his Cheerios uniform than anything else, but he would take what he could get.
He returned to his locker before lunch and saw Finn standing there, looking uncomfortable. Curious, he unlocked and opened his locker. Once he realized that Finn would just stand there all day, shifting from one giant foot to the other, he finally asked, “Are you lost? Your locker’s down there.” He pointed down the hallway.
“Actually,” Finn said, clearing his throat, “I was thinking of having some friends over tonight, if that’s okay with you.”
Shrugging, Kurt switched books. “It’s your room too. Just don’t let them get into my things, especially my spa products. That stuff’s expensive; I have to have it shipped.”
“We were thinking of making it, like, an all night Halo session, so…”
“So you were wondering if I could be somewhere else?” Kurt finished, feeling a small stab of disappointment. It wasn’t as if he wanted to spend an evening with loud, grunting, gaming boys, but it would have been nice to have been invited.
Finn seemed to struggle. “It’s not that I don’t want you - well, it’s not like you enjoy - I mean-”
“It’s fine,” Kurt said, making sure he sounded like the thought of being invited had never even crossed his mind. “Mercedes and I are due for a girls’ evening.”
Finn nodded, exhaling with relief. “Well, I’ll see you later, then.”
Kurt tossed Finn a little smile but couldn’t help calling out, “Have fun at your sleepover.” He waited until Finn flinched before returning his attention to his locker with a smug smile.
Mercedes caught up with him a few minutes later. “Hey, boyfriend!”
Linking his arm with hers, he asked, “What would you think of inviting me over tonight?”
“That would be fun! We haven’t had a spa night in a while.” She paused, leaning back to get a better look at him. “What’s going on?”
Kurt shrugged, trying to look like it didn’t matter. “Finn wants to have a sleepover with his macho friends.”
“And they didn’t invite you?”
“I said, ‘macho friends’.”
“But it’s your house, your room.”
“It’s Finn’s too.”
“I know you want to make sure he feels welcome and all, but the least he could’ve done was invite you.”
“We’ll get our revenge by having a fabulous evening. Maybe we can invite Quinn; she definitely could use a facial, and did you see her nails?” With that question, he managed to turn the conversation to the evening ahead so he could focus on something worthy of his attention.
Besides, this gave him a little more time to regroup before he saw his father again.
Chapter 3 - Finn’s Sleepover
Puck was having a great night; so far, he’d managed to kill off Finn, Artie, Matt, and Mike in particularly gruesome ways, and he was thisclose to wiping out Max. He’d been pissed when Finn told him that Kurt had called it a sleepover, like they were five or something, but he did realize that it probably would have just rolled off his back if Hummel hadn’t already pissed him off the day before.
He could still feel the anger, just as fresh as if their conversation had just happened. He wasn’t sure why he was so hot, but he figured he had a right. Hummel hadn’t spoken one word to Bolt, but he’d already judged the guy, and Max was a great guy. Hummel strutted around the school, daring people to judge him, but he had no problems judging someone else. Puck got pissed off all over again every time he thought about the fucking judgmental-
“Gotcha!” Max shouted, jumping to his feet and waving around the controller as everyone watched Puck’s avatar explode on screen.
“Damn!” Puck tossed his controller on to the coffee table in front of the sofa and smiled ruefully at Max. Hummel had just managed to ruin his winning streak without even being in the room. “I’ll get you next time.”
“Yeah, just keep wishing, and maybe one day it’ll come true.”
Matt grabbed a slice of pizza and tossed the empty box on top of the other four that sat on the floor by the stairs. “That’s all that’s left of the pizza.”
“And I’m throwing down the last soda,” Mike said, chugging his drink and crumpling the can, tossing it too on the expanding trash pile by the stairs.
“Then I guess it’s time to break out the big guns,” Max said, sharing a smile with Puck.
“What’cha get?” Artie asked, leaning forward excitedly.
Puck grabbed his backpack from behind the sofa and pulled out two six packs of beer.
“How’d you fit so much in such a small backpack?” Matt asked.
Puck snorted. “Dude. I’m a professional.”
“So,” Max said, wandering around the room. “What’s going on with this room?”
Finn shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. “My mom and I moved in with Kurt and his dad, and Kurt and I have to share a room until Mr. Hummel builds an extension.”
“Kurt, that’s the gay kid?”
“Yeah,” Finn said, shooting glances at the others.
“I’ve seen him around, but I haven’t actually met him yet.” He paused as he picked up something from the top of Kurt’s dresser and returned it to its spot. “He seems cool. One of my best friends at my old school was gay.”
Puck shared a smug glance with Finn. Wait until Puck saw Kurt again; he couldn’t wait to dig in the fact that the big jock was more tolerant than the gay kid.
“So this Santana chick is kind of hot, but in a scary way. Is she seeing anyone?”
“That depends on if you’re including Brittany,” Mike said, laughing with the others.
“She’s like that spider that has sex with another spider and then eats him,” Finn muttered.
“But what a way to go!” Max laughed.
The Santana conversation led them to Brittany and then they proceeded to catch Max up on all of the other female cheerios while they drank beer and played more games.
Puck thought it was a total badass time, and he couldn’t wait to rub everything in Kurt’s face.
Chapter 4 - Kurt, Meet the Real Max Bolt
Kurt had already changed his outfit after the customary Monday morning dumpster dump and was idly going through his locker, waiting for Mercedes, when a loud slam to his left caught his attention. Turning his head, he caught sight of the new student, Max Bolt.
Great, he thought, mentally rolling his eyes. It’d seemed like all weekend he’d been stalked by both Finn and Puck who’d both delighted in telling him how Max had a good gay friend back at his old school, about how Max hadn’t made any disparaging comments about him at all. Not that either boy would know the word ‘disparaging’; it was more like, as Puck said at one point, “he doesn’t give a fuck that you like sucking dick.”
Never mind that Kurt hadn’t actually sucked one yet, but that was neither here nor there.
After being hounded on Saturday and Sunday - didn’t Puck have a home? - he realized that as much as he loathed the thought, he was wrong, and they were right. He’d taken one look at Max Bolt and decided that the guy was just another homophobic, airheaded jock intent on pushing anyone out of the ordinary out of his way.
Sighing, Kurt plastered on a small smile. “I don’t think we’ve actually been introduced, but we’re in Spanish together. I’m Kurt Hummel.”
“Max,” Max ground out, pulling some books from his locker.
Obviously, Max wasn’t a morning person.
“I heard everyone had a good time Friday night,” Kurt offered, trying to make sure that it was obvious he was trying to be friendly.
After being hounded about how unfair he’d been and how great Max was, Kurt wasn’t prepared when Max suddenly slammed shut his locker and shoved Kurt into the locker between them, his forearm pressed against Kurt’s neck. “Look, fag. I don’t want you looking at me or talking to me. In fact, don’t even think about me."
“B-but Puck and Finn said -
“They’ll believe anything I tell them, so don’t even try crying to them. I’m the golden boy, and you’re just a bitter little homo who didn’t even give the new guy a chance. From now on,” he lowered his arm so that it pressed against Kurt’s chest. He slowly pressed harder until Kurt was afraid his sternum was going to break. Shoving his face close to Kurt’s, staring into his eyes, he said, “I own your gay little ass.”
Just as fast as he got into Kurt’s face, he shoved away and walked down the hallway.
“Hey, gorgeous!” Mercedes shouted a little less than a minute later, walking toward Kurt. “Quinn said that she’ll have a couple of dates for the spa party she missed on Friday. She even says she’ll have it at her house.” Once she got closer, her smile disappeared. “What’s wrong?”
“I-” Kurt could still feel the arm pressing against his chest, could still hear the words, “they’ll believe anything I tell them”, but he looked into Mercedes eyes and knew she’d understand. “Max Bolt,” he started.
“Are you still going on about him?” Mercedes asked, rolling her eyes. “Quinn and I ran into him at the mall on Saturday - you totally should have come, by the way. I found an adorable skirt. But anyway, he treated us to some snacks at the food court. He’s a really good guy; you should give him a chance.”
Closing his eyes, Kurt took a breath and tried to collect himself. “I need to run to the bathroom. I’ll see you in class.”
He stared at himself in the mirror, the larger-than-usual eyes, the red flush to his skin. His heart continued to pound as hard as it had the moment he’d been shoved into the locker, and he knew he had to calm down before he hyperventilated. He smoothed back his hair and closed his eyes when he saw his hand trembling.
Enough, he thought to himself. He’d spent most of his school life being terrorized by bullies. Really, what was one more? So what if this one decided to be sneaky about the whole thing? The guy had been in school for two weeks already, and this was the first time Kurt’d had spoken to him.
It was just the unexpectedness of the whole thing, Kurt decided. He wouldn’t have been this upset if he’d been prepared, but Puck and Finn had given him a reason to lower his guard and to think that Max Bolt would be friendly. No wonder he was so off balance. Taking a deep breath, he looked at himself in the mirror and used the calming techniques he’d taught himself years before. After a few seconds, his heart rate returned to normal, well, closer to normal, and the red spots on his cheeks had dimmed to a light pink. Smoothing his hair back once more, he grabbed his bag and headed for class, telling himself that it was better that he knew where he stood with Max Bolt. Now he was prepared. Ignoring the memory of the hatred he’d seen in his new classmate’s eyes, he repeated to himself, “He’s just another ignorant bully; I can totally handle it.”
It turned out, Kurt had underestimated Max Bolt’s apparent dislike, because the next day, as he was walking to his first class, late again because he’d had to change from the clothes dirtied in the morning’s dirtier than usual dumpster dive, he was grabbed and pulled into one of the empty classrooms. Before he could grasp what was happening to him, he was shoved against the blackboard, the chalk holder digging painfully into his back.
“I’m not a fan of repeating myself, so I’m only going to tell you this once. Tonight, you’re going to sneak out of your house at 1:30 and meet me around the corner.”
More sliding around his fear than tamping it down, Kurt glared at Max Bolt. “Why don’t you hold your breath until I get there?”
Max pulled Kurt away from the wall and slammed him back against it, hard. He brought his face so close to Kurt’s that Kurt could see the anger in his eyes. The brief question of what Kurt had done to make this guy hate him so much passed through his brain before he got distracted by Max slamming him against the chalkboard for a third time. Kurt couldn’t muffle the small groan of pain as his back protested the treatment.
“What did I say?” Max whispered.
“I’m not going to meet you, so you might as well just beat me up now.” Kurt wasn’t brave, but he also wasn’t stupid. He couldn’t think of a single way this bully was going to get him to sneak out of his house and go who knows where with such an evil person.
The slow smile that spread over Max’s face made Kurt’s heart pause, then race. He’d been afraid when Azimio and Karofsky had cornered him, and he’d had moments of anger when slushied or thrown in the dumpster, but he’d never felt terrified, as he did at that moment.
“I’m not going to beat you up,” Max said. “That’s too easy.”
“I guess you’re out of luck then,” Kurt snapped. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Fine,” Max said calmly, releasing Kurt.
Kurt remained, silent, hand on his back, waiting for whatever else the bully had planned, and he wasn’t disappointed.
“I guess I’ll just see how Mercedes is doing. She’s been having car trouble, you know. I’ve given her rides home. Maybe I’ll give her a ride home today, but maybe she won’t make it there. Maybe your little BFF will just disappear.”
“Right,” Kurt said, rolling his eyes, trying to appear unfazed, despite the way his heart pounded so hard that he could feel it in his temples. He wanted to scream at Max, maybe punch him, but he knew it would only give the bully more ammunition, and he knew it wouldn’t even remotely hurt the guy.
“She’s pretty hot too, for a black chick. She’s pretty feisty too. I bet she’s a total tiger in the sack.”
Kurt felt his eyes narrow, and he almost shoved his entire body at Max before a stray thought reminded him that as much as Mercedes might like Max, she didn’t like him in that way, and she’d totally take him out if he tried anything. Max Bolt was just trying to find his weak link; little did he know that Mercedes was anything but weak. He deliberately turned his frown into a smirk. “Go ahead. Try it. They’ll have to rush you into surgery to pull your testicles out of your throat by the time she got through with you.”
Max raised his eyebrows. “You don’t think I’d really hurt your girl? Next time you’re on your computer, look up Josh Fedderman from Copper Harbor, Michigan. "That's Fedderman with two d's.” He opened the door and turned back to Kurt. “I’ll see you at 1:30.”
Kurt took a deep breath after Max Bolt left, his lungs feeling like he’d been holding it the entire time. Picking up his bag with shaking hands, Kurt fixed his hair and let himself out of the room.
“Hey, there!” Mercedes said. “You better hurry up; we’re almost late for class.” She stared at him hard for a moment. “You okay? Why were you in there?”
Kurt wanted to grab hold of Mercedes and make her promise to stay far, far away from Max Bolt. He shook his head to clear it and tried to smile. “The bathrooms can be so crowded between classes, and my hair desperately needed some help.”
Mercedes seemed to buy the lie and wrapped her arm around his. “You look fabulous as always.”
“Thank you, darling.”
Kurt used his lunch period to go to the library and do a little research, and what he found had his heart pounding even harder than it had in the classroom with Max Bolt. He read the newspaper reports of the sixteen year old Josh Fedderman who had disappeared two months into the school year, how his classmates had said that he was different (the word gay wasn’t mentioned, but all the right words around it were there) but that he didn’t really bother anyone, about how his disappearance really rocked the small community. He found an article where Max had been interviewed. The reporter seemed to believe him when he said what a great guy Josh was and how he hoped Josh was okay.
Eyebrow raised as he read, Kurt knew he had seen Max’s innocent expression and could picture the entire thing.
The articles became fewer and fewer until they stopped all together. After more searches, Kurt determined that Josh’s body had never been found.
Pushing away from the table, Kurt wondered if Max were really the one who’d done this terrible thing. He knew all about bullies and could believe that Max could hurt someone - badly. But this sounded like Josh Fedderman was dead and buried somewhere. Was Max Bolt capable of murder?
TBC...
Cover Page here
Part 1 here
Chapter 2 - Friday Night Plans
The next morning, Kurt left for school early, his eyes focused on the floor, saying he had to work on something for Coach Sylvester. He couldn’t even look at his father without wanting to cry, and he hoped he could figure out how to get himself back in control before the end of the school day.
Unfortunately for him, Coach Sylvester had arrived early as well and decided that he could use some one-on-one instruction.
He’d never been so happy for school to start in his life.
That morning, he only got shoved into the lockers once and wasn’t slushied at all - although he suspected it had more to do with fear of defacing his Cheerios uniform than anything else, but he would take what he could get.
He returned to his locker before lunch and saw Finn standing there, looking uncomfortable. Curious, he unlocked and opened his locker. Once he realized that Finn would just stand there all day, shifting from one giant foot to the other, he finally asked, “Are you lost? Your locker’s down there.” He pointed down the hallway.
“Actually,” Finn said, clearing his throat, “I was thinking of having some friends over tonight, if that’s okay with you.”
Shrugging, Kurt switched books. “It’s your room too. Just don’t let them get into my things, especially my spa products. That stuff’s expensive; I have to have it shipped.”
“We were thinking of making it, like, an all night Halo session, so…”
“So you were wondering if I could be somewhere else?” Kurt finished, feeling a small stab of disappointment. It wasn’t as if he wanted to spend an evening with loud, grunting, gaming boys, but it would have been nice to have been invited.
Finn seemed to struggle. “It’s not that I don’t want you - well, it’s not like you enjoy - I mean-”
“It’s fine,” Kurt said, making sure he sounded like the thought of being invited had never even crossed his mind. “Mercedes and I are due for a girls’ evening.”
Finn nodded, exhaling with relief. “Well, I’ll see you later, then.”
Kurt tossed Finn a little smile but couldn’t help calling out, “Have fun at your sleepover.” He waited until Finn flinched before returning his attention to his locker with a smug smile.
Mercedes caught up with him a few minutes later. “Hey, boyfriend!”
Linking his arm with hers, he asked, “What would you think of inviting me over tonight?”
“That would be fun! We haven’t had a spa night in a while.” She paused, leaning back to get a better look at him. “What’s going on?”
Kurt shrugged, trying to look like it didn’t matter. “Finn wants to have a sleepover with his macho friends.”
“And they didn’t invite you?”
“I said, ‘macho friends’.”
“But it’s your house, your room.”
“It’s Finn’s too.”
“I know you want to make sure he feels welcome and all, but the least he could’ve done was invite you.”
“We’ll get our revenge by having a fabulous evening. Maybe we can invite Quinn; she definitely could use a facial, and did you see her nails?” With that question, he managed to turn the conversation to the evening ahead so he could focus on something worthy of his attention.
Besides, this gave him a little more time to regroup before he saw his father again.
Chapter 3 - Finn’s Sleepover
Puck was having a great night; so far, he’d managed to kill off Finn, Artie, Matt, and Mike in particularly gruesome ways, and he was thisclose to wiping out Max. He’d been pissed when Finn told him that Kurt had called it a sleepover, like they were five or something, but he did realize that it probably would have just rolled off his back if Hummel hadn’t already pissed him off the day before.
He could still feel the anger, just as fresh as if their conversation had just happened. He wasn’t sure why he was so hot, but he figured he had a right. Hummel hadn’t spoken one word to Bolt, but he’d already judged the guy, and Max was a great guy. Hummel strutted around the school, daring people to judge him, but he had no problems judging someone else. Puck got pissed off all over again every time he thought about the fucking judgmental-
“Gotcha!” Max shouted, jumping to his feet and waving around the controller as everyone watched Puck’s avatar explode on screen.
“Damn!” Puck tossed his controller on to the coffee table in front of the sofa and smiled ruefully at Max. Hummel had just managed to ruin his winning streak without even being in the room. “I’ll get you next time.”
“Yeah, just keep wishing, and maybe one day it’ll come true.”
Matt grabbed a slice of pizza and tossed the empty box on top of the other four that sat on the floor by the stairs. “That’s all that’s left of the pizza.”
“And I’m throwing down the last soda,” Mike said, chugging his drink and crumpling the can, tossing it too on the expanding trash pile by the stairs.
“Then I guess it’s time to break out the big guns,” Max said, sharing a smile with Puck.
“What’cha get?” Artie asked, leaning forward excitedly.
Puck grabbed his backpack from behind the sofa and pulled out two six packs of beer.
“How’d you fit so much in such a small backpack?” Matt asked.
Puck snorted. “Dude. I’m a professional.”
“So,” Max said, wandering around the room. “What’s going on with this room?”
Finn shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. “My mom and I moved in with Kurt and his dad, and Kurt and I have to share a room until Mr. Hummel builds an extension.”
“Kurt, that’s the gay kid?”
“Yeah,” Finn said, shooting glances at the others.
“I’ve seen him around, but I haven’t actually met him yet.” He paused as he picked up something from the top of Kurt’s dresser and returned it to its spot. “He seems cool. One of my best friends at my old school was gay.”
Puck shared a smug glance with Finn. Wait until Puck saw Kurt again; he couldn’t wait to dig in the fact that the big jock was more tolerant than the gay kid.
“So this Santana chick is kind of hot, but in a scary way. Is she seeing anyone?”
“That depends on if you’re including Brittany,” Mike said, laughing with the others.
“She’s like that spider that has sex with another spider and then eats him,” Finn muttered.
“But what a way to go!” Max laughed.
The Santana conversation led them to Brittany and then they proceeded to catch Max up on all of the other female cheerios while they drank beer and played more games.
Puck thought it was a total badass time, and he couldn’t wait to rub everything in Kurt’s face.
Chapter 4 - Kurt, Meet the Real Max Bolt
Kurt had already changed his outfit after the customary Monday morning dumpster dump and was idly going through his locker, waiting for Mercedes, when a loud slam to his left caught his attention. Turning his head, he caught sight of the new student, Max Bolt.
Great, he thought, mentally rolling his eyes. It’d seemed like all weekend he’d been stalked by both Finn and Puck who’d both delighted in telling him how Max had a good gay friend back at his old school, about how Max hadn’t made any disparaging comments about him at all. Not that either boy would know the word ‘disparaging’; it was more like, as Puck said at one point, “he doesn’t give a fuck that you like sucking dick.”
Never mind that Kurt hadn’t actually sucked one yet, but that was neither here nor there.
After being hounded on Saturday and Sunday - didn’t Puck have a home? - he realized that as much as he loathed the thought, he was wrong, and they were right. He’d taken one look at Max Bolt and decided that the guy was just another homophobic, airheaded jock intent on pushing anyone out of the ordinary out of his way.
Sighing, Kurt plastered on a small smile. “I don’t think we’ve actually been introduced, but we’re in Spanish together. I’m Kurt Hummel.”
“Max,” Max ground out, pulling some books from his locker.
Obviously, Max wasn’t a morning person.
“I heard everyone had a good time Friday night,” Kurt offered, trying to make sure that it was obvious he was trying to be friendly.
After being hounded about how unfair he’d been and how great Max was, Kurt wasn’t prepared when Max suddenly slammed shut his locker and shoved Kurt into the locker between them, his forearm pressed against Kurt’s neck. “Look, fag. I don’t want you looking at me or talking to me. In fact, don’t even think about me."
“B-but Puck and Finn said -
“They’ll believe anything I tell them, so don’t even try crying to them. I’m the golden boy, and you’re just a bitter little homo who didn’t even give the new guy a chance. From now on,” he lowered his arm so that it pressed against Kurt’s chest. He slowly pressed harder until Kurt was afraid his sternum was going to break. Shoving his face close to Kurt’s, staring into his eyes, he said, “I own your gay little ass.”
Just as fast as he got into Kurt’s face, he shoved away and walked down the hallway.
“Hey, gorgeous!” Mercedes shouted a little less than a minute later, walking toward Kurt. “Quinn said that she’ll have a couple of dates for the spa party she missed on Friday. She even says she’ll have it at her house.” Once she got closer, her smile disappeared. “What’s wrong?”
“I-” Kurt could still feel the arm pressing against his chest, could still hear the words, “they’ll believe anything I tell them”, but he looked into Mercedes eyes and knew she’d understand. “Max Bolt,” he started.
“Are you still going on about him?” Mercedes asked, rolling her eyes. “Quinn and I ran into him at the mall on Saturday - you totally should have come, by the way. I found an adorable skirt. But anyway, he treated us to some snacks at the food court. He’s a really good guy; you should give him a chance.”
Closing his eyes, Kurt took a breath and tried to collect himself. “I need to run to the bathroom. I’ll see you in class.”
He stared at himself in the mirror, the larger-than-usual eyes, the red flush to his skin. His heart continued to pound as hard as it had the moment he’d been shoved into the locker, and he knew he had to calm down before he hyperventilated. He smoothed back his hair and closed his eyes when he saw his hand trembling.
Enough, he thought to himself. He’d spent most of his school life being terrorized by bullies. Really, what was one more? So what if this one decided to be sneaky about the whole thing? The guy had been in school for two weeks already, and this was the first time Kurt’d had spoken to him.
It was just the unexpectedness of the whole thing, Kurt decided. He wouldn’t have been this upset if he’d been prepared, but Puck and Finn had given him a reason to lower his guard and to think that Max Bolt would be friendly. No wonder he was so off balance. Taking a deep breath, he looked at himself in the mirror and used the calming techniques he’d taught himself years before. After a few seconds, his heart rate returned to normal, well, closer to normal, and the red spots on his cheeks had dimmed to a light pink. Smoothing his hair back once more, he grabbed his bag and headed for class, telling himself that it was better that he knew where he stood with Max Bolt. Now he was prepared. Ignoring the memory of the hatred he’d seen in his new classmate’s eyes, he repeated to himself, “He’s just another ignorant bully; I can totally handle it.”
It turned out, Kurt had underestimated Max Bolt’s apparent dislike, because the next day, as he was walking to his first class, late again because he’d had to change from the clothes dirtied in the morning’s dirtier than usual dumpster dive, he was grabbed and pulled into one of the empty classrooms. Before he could grasp what was happening to him, he was shoved against the blackboard, the chalk holder digging painfully into his back.
“I’m not a fan of repeating myself, so I’m only going to tell you this once. Tonight, you’re going to sneak out of your house at 1:30 and meet me around the corner.”
More sliding around his fear than tamping it down, Kurt glared at Max Bolt. “Why don’t you hold your breath until I get there?”
Max pulled Kurt away from the wall and slammed him back against it, hard. He brought his face so close to Kurt’s that Kurt could see the anger in his eyes. The brief question of what Kurt had done to make this guy hate him so much passed through his brain before he got distracted by Max slamming him against the chalkboard for a third time. Kurt couldn’t muffle the small groan of pain as his back protested the treatment.
“What did I say?” Max whispered.
“I’m not going to meet you, so you might as well just beat me up now.” Kurt wasn’t brave, but he also wasn’t stupid. He couldn’t think of a single way this bully was going to get him to sneak out of his house and go who knows where with such an evil person.
The slow smile that spread over Max’s face made Kurt’s heart pause, then race. He’d been afraid when Azimio and Karofsky had cornered him, and he’d had moments of anger when slushied or thrown in the dumpster, but he’d never felt terrified, as he did at that moment.
“I’m not going to beat you up,” Max said. “That’s too easy.”
“I guess you’re out of luck then,” Kurt snapped. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Fine,” Max said calmly, releasing Kurt.
Kurt remained, silent, hand on his back, waiting for whatever else the bully had planned, and he wasn’t disappointed.
“I guess I’ll just see how Mercedes is doing. She’s been having car trouble, you know. I’ve given her rides home. Maybe I’ll give her a ride home today, but maybe she won’t make it there. Maybe your little BFF will just disappear.”
“Right,” Kurt said, rolling his eyes, trying to appear unfazed, despite the way his heart pounded so hard that he could feel it in his temples. He wanted to scream at Max, maybe punch him, but he knew it would only give the bully more ammunition, and he knew it wouldn’t even remotely hurt the guy.
“She’s pretty hot too, for a black chick. She’s pretty feisty too. I bet she’s a total tiger in the sack.”
Kurt felt his eyes narrow, and he almost shoved his entire body at Max before a stray thought reminded him that as much as Mercedes might like Max, she didn’t like him in that way, and she’d totally take him out if he tried anything. Max Bolt was just trying to find his weak link; little did he know that Mercedes was anything but weak. He deliberately turned his frown into a smirk. “Go ahead. Try it. They’ll have to rush you into surgery to pull your testicles out of your throat by the time she got through with you.”
Max raised his eyebrows. “You don’t think I’d really hurt your girl? Next time you’re on your computer, look up Josh Fedderman from Copper Harbor, Michigan. "That's Fedderman with two d's.” He opened the door and turned back to Kurt. “I’ll see you at 1:30.”
Kurt took a deep breath after Max Bolt left, his lungs feeling like he’d been holding it the entire time. Picking up his bag with shaking hands, Kurt fixed his hair and let himself out of the room.
“Hey, there!” Mercedes said. “You better hurry up; we’re almost late for class.” She stared at him hard for a moment. “You okay? Why were you in there?”
Kurt wanted to grab hold of Mercedes and make her promise to stay far, far away from Max Bolt. He shook his head to clear it and tried to smile. “The bathrooms can be so crowded between classes, and my hair desperately needed some help.”
Mercedes seemed to buy the lie and wrapped her arm around his. “You look fabulous as always.”
“Thank you, darling.”
Kurt used his lunch period to go to the library and do a little research, and what he found had his heart pounding even harder than it had in the classroom with Max Bolt. He read the newspaper reports of the sixteen year old Josh Fedderman who had disappeared two months into the school year, how his classmates had said that he was different (the word gay wasn’t mentioned, but all the right words around it were there) but that he didn’t really bother anyone, about how his disappearance really rocked the small community. He found an article where Max had been interviewed. The reporter seemed to believe him when he said what a great guy Josh was and how he hoped Josh was okay.
Eyebrow raised as he read, Kurt knew he had seen Max’s innocent expression and could picture the entire thing.
The articles became fewer and fewer until they stopped all together. After more searches, Kurt determined that Josh’s body had never been found.
Pushing away from the table, Kurt wondered if Max were really the one who’d done this terrible thing. He knew all about bullies and could believe that Max could hurt someone - badly. But this sounded like Josh Fedderman was dead and buried somewhere. Was Max Bolt capable of murder?
TBC...
Cover Page here
Part 1 here
