"I'm imagining burning Rachel's sweater," Kurt murmured back, tilting his head back and narrowing his eyes appraisingly, "Or dunking it in an acid wash. It couldn't make it any worse than it already is."

Mercedes smiled lovingly at her best friend and left him to his thoughts. It wasn't like they were doing anything remotely productive in Glee today.

"-so the invitation came today from the Andersons. I am still stuck as to whether I should be appalled or pleased at the idea that their son is having a coming out party. My two dads were thrilled and obviously I am too at this acceptance of gays in society, but cotillions are such a sacred ceremony that having the rules played with like this bothers me greatly-" Rachel droned on.

Kurt glanced to Finn, the boy she was chatting with, who looked incredibly bored. Rachel didn't notice though. Usually, she only noticed the sound of her own voice and praise when it was given to her. Kurt's gaze traveled to the clock which was five minutes away from signaling the end of Glee practice. 'C'mon… move!' Kurt mentally commanded it.

"-while you are a wonderful boyfriend, I will need to show up at this extravaganza with someone who is as equally trained in social graces as I am, I need to make a good impression-" Rachel's voice filtered through Kurt's ears and he groaned, leaning his head against Mercedes's shoulder.

"That's fine with me," Finn mumbled incoherently, his gaze on the back wall.

Mr. Schuester strutted into the room, waving a stack of papers over his head excitedly. "I've been really thinking about what we're going to do for Sectionals coming up and I think this is an amazing song to perform. Rachel, you're really going to have to delve for this one and get the feeling of what the songwriter was trying to portray."

"Of course! There's never been a song that I, and my vocal prowess, can't handle," Rachel chirruped and took the sheet music that was handed to her.

Kurt took his obediently and barely glanced at the title before the bell rang and they were free. Mercedes hurried after him, surprised at his sudden actions. Usually he wasn't this excited to get out of Glee practice. At his locker she sidled up to him, watching him carefully. "Is everything okay?" she asked carefully.

With a dramatic sigh Kurt snapped his locker shut and turned to give her his patented annoyed face. "Yeah, it's fine. I'm getting used to the idea that I will be forever single and stuck living in the shadows for the rest of my life."

Mercedes quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at him. "Hold up! Where is this all coming from?"

"I don't even know, 'Cedes," Kurt lamented, taking her arm and walking with her through the crowd with his plush lips pressed into a despondent frown. "It's bad enough that I'm a gay living in a homophobic society, but listening Rachel talk about her cotillions and how she goes to network — something about it just drives me up the wall. If Rachel can get a boyfriend, I should be able to find someone, right?"

Mercedes shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe you're comparing yourself to Rachel. You're so much better than her. But, as for the boyfriend thing, there may not be a guy here for you in Lima, but there will be someone waiting for you in some other town. You're not going to be alone, so for now enjoy the freedom that being single gives you and soon your Prince Charming's gonna come alone and sweep your white-boy ass off your feet."

Kurt allowed himself to laugh and hugged Mercedes's arm tightly. "Thank you."

She grinned up at him. "What are best friends for? So, I'll text you later tonight, okay?" Kurt nodded and watched as she wandered off to the McKinley High School parking lot. He stood near the entrance, fairly close to a line of lockers and started to rummage through his bag for his keys, which had sunk to the bottom. A moment later, the right side of his body flared into searing pain as his body was slammed into the lockers.

With a groan, Kurt slid to the floor and once he was able to open his eyes and clear away the shock waves of painful light from them, he caught a glimpse of a male's sneering face floating above him. Kurt tried to find the ability to speak but couldn't and only managed to look like a fish floundering for air as Karofsky left Kurt on the floor in a crumpled heap. His eyes searched the crowd for anyone who appeared to have witnessed the interaction but no everyone averted their eyes and it was then that Kurt felt more alone than he ever had.

The petite brunette forced himself to his feet and winced as his side throbbed. He slunk out to his car and locked himself in there, letting his head fall against the steering wheel. This was the third time Karofsky had done that this week and probably the hundredth time since school started. No one noticed, no one ever noticed other than some of the kids in Glee club, but since they were the bottom of the totem pole the teachers didn't listen or care. Kurt was gay and therefore he was inconsequential. Let him deal with this treatment until he graduated and then his problems could go somewhere else and the school wouldn't have to deal with it.

After three years of this, Kurt had given up trying to get someone to notice him and his problems. He had his friends and when Glee club was good, then he had that too. Those life lines were what helped him get through the day. Take it day by day and think of a better future once high school finished.

For most of Kurt's life, he had lived alone with his father, Burt, in their modest home after the death of Kurt's mother. Burt ran a mechanic's shop and often times Kurt would help him out and it surprised him to no end that Kurt was willing to learn the inner workings of cars. Kurt's father had always taken good care of Kurt and accepted everything his son was. Sure, Burt had always kind of hoped that his son would be a big, strong, football-playing kid that he could really get to know and understand. But when Kurt finally came out to him as gay, Burt continued to love him and was determined that Kurt would never be left wanting.

He let Kurt wear his fashionable (and often head scratch worthy) clothes and decorate his room as much as he wanted. Kurt repaid him in favor by always striving to be the best and helping him at the garage. Burt had a bad heart and after a terrifying period where Burt had suffered a heart attack, he and Kurt grew closer. Kurt took care of Burt more than he liked to admit. There were days that Kurt would remind Burt of his late wife and he had to force back sting of tears in his eyes. He knew Kurt was lonely, but there wasn't much he could do but let Kurt hang out with his friends and throw himself into Glee club and fashion.

Burt had fallen in love with Carole, a wonderful woman and mother of Finn, during Kurt's sophomore year of high school and was glad when Kurt accepted her, too. Burt also found a place with Finn, who was the type of son he'd always wanted, and was ashamed to admit that he'd offered Finn a lot of attention and had pushed Kurt a bit to the side for a short period of time. He hadn't wanted Kurt to ever feel left out, ever, and it hurt like nothing else to see tears glimmering in his son's eyes when Finn had called Kurt a fag during a fight.

At the time, Burt hadn't known about that fact that Kurt had developed a crush on the quarterback and had no clue about Kurt's actions towards the other boy. Later on, Burt learned the story about it and understood that Finn had been terrified by Kurt's romantic advances. He knew his son could overstep his boundaries sometimes but that still didn't make up for the disgusting use of that word. A rift was formed between Finn and Burt that over time calmed down and things returned to normal until Burt proposed to Carole. Kurt threw himself fully into planning the wedding and Burt knew then that things would be okay. This family wasn't going to become one of those families with the evil step-family members. Everything would be equal in this household; Burt was going to make sure of that.

And in the end, they slowly did become a close family. Kurt lost interest in Finn very quickly because of his new status of 'brother' and concentrated back on fashion and Glee and Finn kept his attentions to football, Glee, and girls and everyone else focused on keeping the family running smoothly. No one, except Finn, knew the full extent of the bullying that Kurt was being dealt by the hands of the wicked Dave Karofsky. Burt knew that there was a bully at McKinley who bothered Kurt constantly, but he didn't know that it had grown to physical proportions and neither Kurt nor Finn were willing to tell him. Finn feared for his popularity level and Kurt feared for his father's heart.

That afternoon, when Kurt arrived home no one was there yet, thankfully. He quickly hurried to change into something a little less formfitting because his earlier clothes hurt his side every time the cloth brushed against the area where there was a bruise already forming.

Kurt knew he was allowing this to go on for too long but there wasn't much he could do with a Neanderthal like that running the school, which was already homophobic enough. When his father got home that night from the shop, Kurt was already cooking the family a healthy dinner and pretending like nothing had gone wrong that day. Kurt smiled affectionately as his dad squeezed his shoulder and announced that dinner would be ready in approximately half an hour.

By the time everything was on the table, Finn and Carole had arrived and they settled down to eat. Dinner was quiet and filled with meaningless chatter that Kurt could have honestly cared less about. He wanted to slip down to his room where he was sure to be alone for a little while, at least. Finn usually hung out upstairs in the living room with Burt to watch sports so that earned Kurt a few hours to peruse his Vogue magazines and work on homework. Kurt had no idea if Finn ever noticed the bruises, but if he did he never said anything. Kurt liked it that way.

Later that evening, Finn came downstairs and Kurt was blissfully ensconced in his own little world and ignoring the pain in his side. Finn settled on the bed across from Kurt's side and tried to strike up a conversation, "So, how's it goin'?"

Kurt glanced at Finn with a raised eyebrow. "Fine," he answered cautiously. "How are you?"

Finn nodded slowly, biting his lips. "Pretty good, pretty good."

Kurt gave Finn his signature '…okay' look at him and tipped his chin at his brother. "Well, that's good."

Finn squirmed a little. "Um, listen, Kurt." Immediately, Kurt was on edge, he didn't like that tone of voice but sat up and indicated for Finn to continue. "Rachel's going to ask you something, I think it's about that cotton thing she was talking about in Glee today, because I apparently have no social graces or somethin', I just wanted to give you a heads up."

The petite brunette groaned and flopped back on his bed, "Please, please, tell me you're kidding." Finn shrugged helplessly and Kurt had the insane urge to throttle him. "And I'm guessing that I can't tell her no, am I correct?"

"Well, I really don't think that she would like to have anyone say no to her, plus, if you do this she might even let me get to second base," Finn said hopefully, eyes bright.

Kurt rolled over to glare venomously at Finn. "You want me to do something with Rachel so she'll allow you to get to second base?"

Finn averted his eyes. "Well, I just thought I'd ask." At that moment, Kurt thought that Finn looked a little like a kicked puppy and instantly felt a pang of remorse in his chest. Just because Finn was his brother didn't mean that Kurt didn't have residual feelings for him that would drive Kurt to maybe do this one thing for him.

With an annoyed, sigh Kurt sat up frowned, fixing his perfectly coiffed bangs, "Maybe-" Finn looked up at Kurt with hope glimmering in his eyes but Kurt stilled him with a sharp hand movement. "I'll think about it tonight and talk to you in the morning."

With an excited movement Finn hopped off the bed and stood before Kurt — towered, actually, seeing as he was ridiculously tall. "Hey! I'll give you the room for tonight and bunk on the couch if that'll give you more time to, you know, think about it."

Kurt raised both eyebrows and contemplated the whole thing. Having his room to himself would be nice and that didn't mean he was obligated to say yes tomorrow either. "You know, it might be good to let me have the time to think it over," Kurt mused innocently. Finn nodded profusely and muttered something about running around and grabbing some stuff before he left.

Five minutes later Kurt was blissfully alone and a huge grin broke out on his smile. He spread his arms out and flopped backwards, forgetting about the bruise on his side. Once he made impact, he groaned and moaned, "Owww!"

The rest of the night was completely quiet. Kurt spent it working on his moisturizing routine and getting his well needed beauty rest. Finn's incessant snoring wasn't exactly cohesive for a peaceful night's sleep.

In the morning, Finn was waiting for Kurt anxiously at the top of the steps and Kurt almost felt badly for him, so desperate for something that he wanted help from his brother. Before Finn could ask if Kurt had made up his mind, he held up his hand and said, "I'm still contemplating it. We'll see how I feel if Rachel asks me today." Kurt flounced on passed, but heard Finn murmur,

"Not if; when, man."

Kurt ate a healthy breakfast and more or less had shoved Rachel to the back of his mind by the time he pulled his Navigator into a spot in front of the high school. He managed to make it to his locker before she struck.

"Kurt, I need your assistance," Rachel's voice announced from the proximity of Kurt's shoulder. Kurt groaned internally and shut his locker with his eyebrow raised in his signature 'bitch, please' expression.

"Yes, Rachel?" he asked civilly.

Rachel straightened her shoulders and crossed her arms over her lack-luster chest and tilted up her chin to appear taller and more self-assured than ever. "Normally, I would ask my boyfriend for such a favor, but seeing as his social graces are, well, sub-standard, I need assistance from someone who I know can walk correctly and act perfectly civilized around those of higher status." Kurt's eyebrow twitched slightly but he motioned for her to continue. "Well, I have been cordially invited to the coming out party of one Blaine Anderson," Rachel announced grandly.

"Blaine Anderson? Isn't that a man's name?" Kurt asked, shouldering his satchel.

Rachel waved away the question, "Of course," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "His mother is throwing this for him because he recently announced that he was gay and since I have been invited, it would be horribly impolite of me to refuse. I would like for you to be my escort."

Kurt took a moment to process the information before him; it was so weird to hear those words coming from her mouth. "And what would that entail?" Kurt enquired.

"Dressing fashionable and elegantly, making a good impression, dancing with me for at least one dance. That is about it."

With a soft sigh, Kurt leaned his back against the cold metal. "And what would I get out of this?"

Rachel narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you want?"

Kurt ran through his mental list of things he wanted but couldn't come up with something off the top of his head worth the torture. "We'll talk about that later. Now, understand that I am doing this for Finn because he apparently wants you to be happy and if you're happy, then he's happy and leaves me alone so I get the room to myself. I will agree to helping you with this, but I get to make sure that your dress is up to my standards before I go anywhere in public with you. Alright?"

Rachel beamed at Kurt thankfully and hugged him. He stiffened awkwardly and patted her shoulder slightly. When she let go and pulled away, she informed him that she would be at his house that night to show him her dress. He nodded once and turned on his heel to find Mercedes.

She was waiting in class for him and grinned when he took his seat next to her. She grinned up at him until she saw the look on his face; it was about three steps away from being a bitch, please face. "What's up?"

"I made a deal with the enemy," Kurt announced.

"The Gap?" Mercedes asked a smirk on her face.

Kurt rolled his eyes, "No, Rachel Berry."

The scandalized look on Mercedes's face was a perfect representation of how Kurt felt: "Why?"

With a non-committal shrug he mumbled, "Finn asked me to go with her to her cotillion… and in all honesty I've been kind of wondered what they're like lately. Rachel talks about them all the time and I just wanted to know how this works. Anyway, if I do this, then Finn is in my debt and I can kick him out of the room whenever I want."

Mercedes leaned away from Kurt and looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time, "Aw, Hell no! Are you serious?"

"Kind of. I think it might be fun to dress up and I bet a lot of those girls who go to these things are very fashionably adept, except Rachel. Plus, the party is being thrown for a guy; I thought it might be interesting to see how that works," Kurt said, tilting his chin up and looking almost indignant.

Mercedes quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at her best friend, completely convinced he'd gone off his rocker. "A cotillion party for a guy? Is that even allowed?"

The corner of Kurt's lip quirked at Mercedes. "Well, that's what I'm going to find out."

That night, Rachel showed up at seven with a dress bag draped over her arm. Kurt led her down to his room and instructed her to change in the bathroom. He waited impatiently until about ten minutes later she emerged in a white, fluffy monstrosity. Kurt scowled at the thing and shook his head. "No."

"I've worn this to every cotillion I've ever attended," Rachel shot back, looking offended.

"And have you ever gotten a compliment on it?"

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest petulantly. "My two fathers have," she said haughtily, her nose in the air.

"I rest my case," Kurt replied getting to his feet to circle around Rachel's dress. The skirt was puffed out by the use of a petticoat and there were frills around the neck and hem. The sleeves were long and lacy and the overall effect was just too much. "If I am going to be your escort to this event, you are going to dress to my standards. We will go to a boutique this weekend and find a dress for you."

Rachel turned to stare at him like he was nuts. "You can't just pick up a cotillion dress. These things have to be fitted and my dads can't sew."

Kurt glared at Rachel. "But I can. Saturday, I want you here at nine a.m. We need to move if we're going to be ready for this."

"But-" Rachel started to protest but Kurt held up his hand to stop her.

"Do you want me to be your escort or not? You could always take Finn and pray that he doesn't make you look like a fool." Rachel glared at Kurt but didn't respond. She turned on her heel and stormed to the bathroom to take off her dress. Once she was gone, Kurt called Mercedes to lament over the death of fashion. She laughed and ordered that he take her with him to go shopping on Saturday, she needed to see this for herself.

The rest of the week passed in a blaze and before Kurt to say "Givenchy," it was Saturday and Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachel were piled into Kurt's Navigator and driving to one of the designer boutiques that Kurt frequented. The ladies there were nice enough to Rachel when they heard about her disaster of a dress and as a favor to Kurt they offered to find something spectacular for her to wear. Kurt glanced through the racks of dresses and picked some that he thought would work for Rachel. It was a good thing she was petite, because most of the dresses were meant for girls with slender builds.

Every so often Kurt could hear Mercedes hold up a dress and stare at the size and murmur a disgusted. "Aw, hell no! Don't these girls know anything about being a real woman? Real women have curves."

Kurt laughed a little and when he reached her and hugged her tightly to him, "You are perfect."

She grinned and kissed him on the cheek as a woman came out of the dressing room to grab the next batch of dresses that Kurt had chosen and ushered them into the dressing rooms. Rachel paraded out in dress after dress and let Kurt inspect it and he nixed one after another. Two hours later, looking haggard and tired, Kurt went back to the racks and looked through them a final time. He stopped at a rack that he'd overlooked and inspected it and stopped, his hand hovering over a single hanger. Kurt pulled the dress off the rack and inspected it with a critical eye. It looked too simple, but all the other more intricate dresses had been too much. He draped the dress over his arm and and returned to the room. "Try this on," he told Rachel with a determined look in his eyes.

"Kurt, we've tried everything, I don't think trying on another dress is going to make a difference," Rachel whined. Kurt didn't say anything and instead shoved the dress into her hands and directed her to the dressing room.

Rachel emerged five minutes later and Kurt and Mercedes gasped. The dress was perfect! It was a simple A-line design with a champagne colored sash and flowers lightly dusting across the neck line and over the shoulder, "I think we have a winner!" Kurt announced, getting to his feet to circle around Rachel.

Rachel watched him nervously, "Are you sure? It don't think it flatters me very much-" Her words were cut off with a gasp as Kurt grabbed the back of the dress and clamped the few inches of extra cloth. Immediately the dress accentuated her bust and figure.

"I just need to dart the sides. What do you think Mercedes?" Kurt asked, glancing at his best friend. She got to her feet and went to look at Rachel in the mirror from Kurt's shoulder,

"Damn, girl, this really does look fine on you! I'm impressed and just a teeny bit shocked," Rachel's grin could rival the sun and Kurt wondered if she'd ever been complimented on her body or her appearance by anyone other than her fathers or Finn when prompted.

Rachel purchased the dress and went back to Kurt's so that he could start making size adjustments. Rachel put up with it and after a while looked like she was really enjoying getting to hang out with two people her own age. "So, fill me in on the procedure," Kurt mumbled though a mouthful of straight pins.

Mercedes glanced up at the two from where she was stretched across the bed flipping through the latest issue of Vogue. Rachel grinned at Kurt, glad to be asked a question that she could answer from experience, "It's a very dignified process, usually. I don't know how this one is going to work since it is a male being presented to society. I'm sure he will be announced and then there will be the dance and reception as there always is."

"Mm-hmm, and what do we know about this Baize character?" Kurt prompted.

Rachel 'oomphed' as Kurt tightened the sash around her waist and started to work on pinning the sides of the dress without pinning her. "Blaine Anderson is the son of the Anderson Insurance Empire. His family is very well known and he's apparently the king of the Warblers."

Mercedes glanced up at her, "The whats?"

"The Warblers," Rachel repeated, looking thoroughly tired of repeating herself and being prodded, "They're an a cappella group at Dalton Academy for Boys. I've heard they're impressive but the school is obviously meant for the privileged so many of those boys in the group got into it for their name alone and probably can't even sing."

The conversation trailed along that strain for an hour until Finn got home from a weekend football practice. Rachel immediately brightened when he walked into the basement and wrenched herself from Kurt's grasp to parade before him. "What do you think?" she asked, twirling around before him. Finn stared at her blankly until jolted from his thoughts.

"Oh, you look awesome! You'll knock 'em dead at that cotton thingy," Finn mumbled, almost incoherently.

Rachel looked about to correct Finn when Kurt grabbed the sash and dragged her back to the center of the room. "Finn, you know the rules. No sweaty sports gear and odoriferous scents in this room. Change and shower upstairs."

Finn turned a blank stare on his brother and a moment everything seemed to click. "Oh! Sorry, dude." Kurt rolled his eyes at being called 'dude' and waited until Finn was gone to continue working on hemming the dress.

"I think Finn liked this dress," Rachel twittered and Mercedes rolled her eyes, deigning not to respond. She didn't want to get involved in this whole debacle. It was enough that she actually sat through the entire fitting; she didn't want to deal with Rachel's love life too. She got enough of that during Glee club.

Thirty minutes later Kurt kicked Rachel out so he could work on her dress. Once she was gone, Mercedes put the "Sound of Music" into the DVD player and she watched and sang with Kurt while he worked on the dress from his sewing machine in the corner.

The next few weeks passed in a blur of activity and after a while, Kurt stopped noticing how much his sides hurt from being pushed into the lockers by a Neanderthal on an almost daily basis. Rachel's constant nagging at Kurt about her dress almost didn't bother him all that much and he actually found that he wasn't experiencing the urge to shoot himself during Glee Club as often as before.

By the time the day of the coming out party arrived, Kurt was actually looking forward to the day. He'd dressed impeccably and his hair was perfect, even by his standards. He'd dressed in a mix of white and black, with black slacks that elongated his legs, a black vest over the top of a perfectly pressed white shirt and champagne colored tie. He looked wonderful and fully expected for someone to take notice; or at least he hoped someone would notice.

Rachel informed him that it was tradition for most of the girls that would be in attendance to do their hair and makeup in the same room to create a sense of friendship. Kurt knew that it was basically a way for the girls and their parents to scope out the aesthetic competition beforehand. In the end, it didn't matter because Kurt was determined to do Rachel's hair since he didn't trust her, so he did it before they left and threatened he would find a way to do serious damage to her vocal chords if she so much as touched a hair on her head.

She thankfully took him seriously and the drive to the Anderson home was done in relative silence, except for the times when they would bond over a song by a shared favorite diva. Kurt found it odd how much their standard favorites were so similar but didn't dwell on it too much. Finn had looked thrilled as they left because he didn't have to go and Rachel had kissed him long and hard (at least by her scale it was long) and murmured something about having a surprise for him when they got back.

It was all Kurt could do to keep from vomiting.

The Anderson mansion was by far one of the most beautiful things Kurt had ever seen. He slid his newly washed and waxed Navigator next to a shiny and brand new Impala and got out, staring up at the structure. It was an intimidatingly large red brick building with marble columns and statues lining the white stone walk. Rachel barely acknowledged the grandeur of the house and made a comment about wising her fathers could have come, they would have probably enjoyed this party. She carried her dress into the house and a butler met her at the front door.

The man bowed low to Rachel and Kurt had to do everything in his power to keep his jaw from dropping to the ground. "Miss, the young ladies are upstairs getting ready in the rose room. Shall I escort you?" She thanked him and glanced over her shoulder at Kurt.

"I'll see you in a bit, Kurt." He nodded and around five minutes later realized that he was alone in a strange house with no idea what to do. In the end, Kurt settled for exploring. There were other people milling around, most of whom looked like they could have cared less for Kurt's existence and he breezed past them with an air of dignity.

Kurt scoured the house and at one point he heard three boys talking in a room; one sounded a little hysterical and Kurt decided it wasn't worth his energy to eavesdrop. He traveled upstairs to maybe find Rachel but couldn't and turned to go back to the main staircase where everyone else seemed to be heading. Kurt guessed that the main event was about to start but decided it was probably a good idea to ask someone.

At the base of the main staircase, Kurt saw a lone male figure dressed in white heading towards him. He quickly hurried forward a little and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, I'm new here." The person turned to look up at him and Kurt suddenly had trouble controlling his vocal chords.

The boy, or man, was incredibly attractive. His dark slicked back hair accented the tone of his skin and thick black brows framed his soft hazel eyes. He was dressed impeccably in shades of white and cream that did wonders for his skin tone and hair color. He was uncommonly beautiful and had just stretched his hand to Kurt. Kurt took it carefully, marveling in the strength he found there. "And you are?" the man asked, his voice as smooth and easy as his smile.

"Kurt," he replied, trying his best to appear suave and sophisticated. There was no chance in Hell that this guy was gay, and even less of a chance that he was interested, but it didn't hurt to at least try.

"It's a pleasure. So, you're lost? Where's your deb?"

Kurt had to hold back a tired roll of his eyes. "She's not my deb. And she left me to get ready."

"What audacity," the guy joked, sounding scandalized. "Well, everyone is gathering in the ballroom."

Kurt sighed in defeat. "Of course this place would have a ballroom."

The boy's lips turned up into a sly smile. "Here, I know a shortcut." Without warning he reached out, grabbed Kurt's hand in his and tugged him off the staircase. A moment later, they were off hurrying down the hallway to the sound of noise and music started to escalate. Kurt could have cared less though. All he could focus on was the fact that someone was holding his hand, someone really attractive and not afraid to hold his hand.

Once at the ballroom doors, the boy released Kurt's hand and turned to him, a smile on his lips. "We've arrived. Now if you'll excuse me." He bowed a little to Kurt and walked down the hallway a little to a cloth-covered opening and disappeared through it after a lingering glance back at Kurt.

Oh yeah, Kurt was glad that he'd agreed to come with Rachel.