SINGLE LADIES AND SECRETS!

KURT HAD INVITED PENELOPE, TINA AND BRITTANY OVER TO HELP HIM WITH THE 'SINGLE LADIES' DANCE. Bearing in mind Penny wasn't a great dancer at all, it didn't take long for her to almost fall flat on her face and Kurt to banish her to the couch to watch from the sidelines after he realized that his attempt to teach her to dance was a lost cause.

Singing and clapping along in support, Penny watched on in wonder as Brittany, Kurt and Tina just seemed to get all the moves so easily, wishing that she could do the same.

However the singing and dancing stopped abruptly when Kurt's dad, Burt, came down the stairs and paused the music with a confused frown on his face. Spinning round nervously, Kurt met his dad's eyes, "dad, you're home early."

"Deadliest Catch is on." Burt told him, moving closer to his son, "what are you wearing?"

"It's a unitard." Kurt explained, looking down at his sparky outfit, "guys wear them to work out nowadays, do sport. They wick the sweat from the body."

"F-f-football." Tina pitched in, trying to give him a hand in convincing his dad.

Going along with it, Kurt nodded slowly, "yeah, all the guys on the football team wear them. They're jock-chic."

"Totally. Kurt's on the football team now." Brittany added on, trying to help, causing Kurt to turn his head sharply to face her and Penny's eyes to go wide at her statement, "he's the kicker, that's the smallest guy on the field, right?"

"Yeah, Britt and Tina were just helping me with some conditioning work." Kurt finished off, getting over his shock at how Brittany had managed to get him onto the football team and causing the lie to spiral further.

"I got tired." Penny spoke up quietly from the couch, making her presence known to Kurt's dad with an awkward wave.

After watching in tense silence, Burt seemed to have taken the lies as true, nodding along slowly, "you know, I played in JC before I busted up my knee popping wheelies on my dirt bike."

"Cool." Kurt grinned, despite not entirely understanding what his dad was on about, "I guess we'll have something to talk about then."

"So are one of you his girlfriend?" Burt asked, curiously.

Thinking quickly, Kurt spun around and pointed towards Penny, trying to be as casual as he could manage, "yeah, uh, but we're not ready to be exclusive yet."

Understanding what Kurt was going through from creating fake boyfriends in the past to please her own dad, Penny went along with it, giving Burt a friendly smile that he seemed to take well. Seemingly pleased with what was going on in the basement after fully checking it out, Burt turned round and slowly made his way towards the stairs, "alright, just keep the music down, I can't hear myself think up there. Oh and Kurt, make sure to get me a ticket to your first game."

As Kurt nodded, the four exchanged strained looks, now having to find a way to get Kurt on the football team. Which was going to be a lot harder than they could ever expect.

After Brittany and Tina had gone home, Kurt had decided to join Penelope as she walked back to her house. Slightly suspicious but happy for him to tag along none the less, she questioned his motives, "you know you don't have to walk me home, Kurt. I live across the block from you."

"Who's to say that I didn't just wanna walk with you?"

"Kurt, I love you and you can't lie to me." Penny teased, nudging him in the side slightly, "what do you wanna talk about?"

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Kurt checked over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening in before speaking, "Penny, how did you come out to your parents? How did you tell them that you're gay?"

Turning her head to look him in the eyes, Penelope gave him a comforting smile, "are you telling me that you're gay?" As Kurt nodded nervously in reply, Penelope wasted no time stopping in her path and pulling him into a tight hug, "I'm proud of you. Thanks for telling me."

"Thank you." He whispered, "but I've only told Mercedes, so can you not tell anyone please?"

"It's safe with me, Kurt." Penny smiled, "I won't tell anyone. And as for coming out to my parents, I'm quite lucky in the fact that my mom's very genuinely supportive and her boyfriend, Steve, is too, my dad not so much, but I'm okay with that now I guess. I've come to terms with the fact he's just an asshole. But one day at the beginning of this year I realized that I couldn't not tell them anymore. I needed just to be myself."

Listening along to what she was telling him, Kurt nodded slowly and let out an exhausted breathe of air, "every time I think I'm ready to come out, it just kinda doesn't happen."

"I get that." Penny agreed with a small chuckle, "there were plenty of times that I tried to tell my parents and ended up telling them that something completely different because I freaked out. And just so you know, as long as you want to stay in the closet, I'm always available to be your fake girlfriend."

As they came up to Penny's driveway, they stopped and Kurt shook his head with an amused laugh, "yeah, yeah. Thanks." He laughed, rolling his eyes playfully, "and thanks for coming round today. It may be hopeless trying to teach you to dance without looking like you're on roller skates but you're fun to have around."

Rolling her eyes back at him, Penny chuckled softly as she began to walk backwards towards her door with a grin on her face, "thanks for letting me at least try and channel my inner Beyoncé. I know she's in there somewhere."

Nodding his head over exaggeratively, Kurt waved his goodbyes as Penny began trying her hand at the Single Ladies dance once again, clearly embarrassed on her behalf, laughing all the way down the street, grateful that he didn't feel so alone anymore.

♪ ♪ ♪

FINN HUDSON HAD A LOT ON HIS MIND. Walking down the halls with Penelope, he seemed awfully quiet to her as she talked to him about Kurt being on the football team. Choosing not to question it, she just talked to cover up the potentially awkward silence.

Thinking things over, Finn could barely concentrate with all the things running through his mind as he contemplated the need to tell someone how he was feeling after the news he'd gotten. Finally stopping her in the middle of her sentence, he stopped in his path and took both of her shoulders in his hands, "If I told you something, could you swear to me that you won't tell anyone?"

Seeing the worry on his face, Penelope couldn't care less that he'd interrupted her, "yeah of course. You can talk to me."

"I'm sorry, I know this is a bit weird 'cause we don't really know each other very well yet and all that but I need to talk to someone who isn't Mr Schue and for some reason I feel like i can trust you." Finn rambled on nervously, peeping into the choir room and pulling Penny in after him, being careful to lock the door after himself and with one more cautious look to the door, he whispered, "Quinn's pregnant."

Eyes widening, Penny was left in shock for a moment. Blinking a few times to bring herself back into reality, she tried to stay completely calm for Finn's sake as she saw the worry in his expression but just ended up saying, "pregnant? Like has a baby in her?"

"My baby." Finn confirmed through a shaky breath, "and...and I just don't know what to do."

Seeing him become upset, Penny could feel her heart breaking for him and carefully reached out, putting her hand in his and giving it a squeeze, "well first of all, the best you can do is be there for her and support her through this, okay? And I'm gonna be right here to support you, okay? Both of you."

Feeling the tears come to his eyes once again, Finn threw himself into her arms, burying his head into her shoulder for some comfort. Surprised by the action, Penny slowly put her arms around him, slowly rubbing his back.

"You can't tell anyone." Finn whispered, "Quinn's parents... if they find out they'll kill her."

"I promise you. I won't tell a soul." Penny promised, holding out her pinkie for him to wrap around hers in an attempt to give him some reassurance. Managing a small chuckle, Finn wrapped his pinkie around hers, "if either you or Quinn need anything at all, whether it be somewhere to go or just a shoulder to lean on, I'm right here, okay?"

"Thank you." He smiled softly, "I really needed this."

Nodding in reply, Penelope just smiled back at him gently, grateful that Finn already trusted her enough to talk to her with one of his biggest secrets whilst Finn was just grateful to feel as though he had a friend that really cared.

♪ ♪ ♪

KEEPING TO HERSELF, PENNY HADN'T EXPECTED TO BE CALLED OVER INTO ONE OF FINN AND QUINN'S CONVERSATIONS. By the look on Quinn's face, Penelope could guess that Finn had broken the news that he'd told her their secret and so she braced herself as as slowly made her way across the hall to Quinn's locker.

"I told you not to tell anyone." Quinn hissed immediately, causing Penny to feel a pang of guilt in her stomach.

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Finn avoided Quinn's death stare at all costs, "I'm really sorry Quinn, I just felt like I'd explode if I didn't tell someone how I was feeling — like tell the wrong person or start crying or something."

Seeing Quinn's pursed lips, Penny looked up to give her a small smile, trying to keep eye contact without shying away anxiously, "you can trust me, Quinn. I promise. I know we haven't really spoken before or anything but... yeah." She stopped herself from talking awkwardly before she could ramble on for much longer.

In the moment of tense silence as Quinn considered her options, Penelope furrowed her eyebrows worriedly and her eyes flickered over to meet Finn's, who looked just as terrified as she did, if not more. Finally figuring out how she felt about the girl stood awkwardly in front of her, Quinn stepped forward, chuckling lightly as Penny flinched slightly out of expectation and just pulled herself into her arms, squeezing her eyes tight shut as she leant her head against Penny's shoulder.

Surprised by this action, Penelope just nervously rubbed her back, feeling her heart break for the girl as she heard her sigh deeply.

Breaking away, Quinn pushed her shoulders back and held her head high once again, giving Penny the most genuine smile she'd probably seen her give anyone, "I needed that." Quinn whispered, softly.

"I've been told I'm good at hugs so..." Penelope trailed off quietly.

Interrupting their moment as Finn watched on in awe and relief that Quinn wasn't as mad as she seemed to be earlier, Puck strutted across as if he owned the place with a cocky smirk on his face, "hey guys, how you doing? You know, lately I've been getting really sick in the morning."

Noticing Quinn become distant from the conversation, retreating towards Finn, Penny guessed that something was wrong, deciding to push away her nerves to give him a sarcastic smile, "nice to know, thanks. I'll make sure not to go anywhere near you."

"Yeah, must be a virus." Quinn added on with the same bluntness.

"Hey you been putting on a little weight?" Puck commented, causing Penny to widen her eyes in shock at his boldness, almost choking on the air around her and Quinn to retreat further towards Finn, "you should watch your carbs. They're not gonna be able to hoist you to the top of that cheerleading pyramid much longer."

"Don't talk to my girlfriend like that." Finn agreed, sticking up for Quinn almost instantly.

"What's wrong with you dude?" Penelope spat out, distastefully, almost at the same time.

Holding his hands up in surrender, Puck seemed to back out of the conversation almost as quickly as he'd butted into it, "you're right. I was out of line." He admitted, in a way that you couldn't quite tell whether it was genuine or not, "see you guys around."

With an uncomfortable silence taking over three of them, Quinn had felt the need to remove herself from the situation, taking Penny by surprise when she linked her arm in hers and pulled her away down the halls towards the library to take her mind off of things.