She pulls out her cell phone, presses 1 and waits for an answer as she carefully steers her car down the road, spotting the sign to William McKinley High School just as Nicolas answers.

"What's up Melissa?"

"What is his name again?"

"Kurt Hummel," She hears Nicolas say as she parks the car in the parking lot of McKinley High.

"Right. I know I should have done more research, but I-"

"Got insanely intense after watching that youtube video of 4 minutes," Nicolas says, his tone amused. "Melissa, Did you watch the Candles duet yet?"

"Watched it last night," she says, adjusting her sunglasses as the door to the front entrance of the school opens last night. "As well as the other videos that you sent my way. As If We Never Said Goodbye was the best one really."

The singer had a range she needed. The group was about to lose Adam to LA, and for the past six months, they had been desperately searching for someone that could match the range of Adma, or at least do better.

This Kurt Hummel was the fucking jackpot. She was going to land him.

"Did you dig anything up else on him?"

"Not a lot of information. Father owns Hummel Tire and Lube, has a stepbrother that's in the Glee Club with him."

New Directions. Decent glee club. For a high school. Unfortunately, it didn't show all the voices very well, seeming to concentrate on this irritating brunette girl Rachel Berry. Melissa didn't care for the girl despite having never met her. Something about her singing left her cold.

Now Kurt Hummel's singing...God, it was fantastic. He needs a little more coaching, fix some rough edges that indicate he never got the proper training.. but if he takes her offer, he'll get more than just coaching.

Melissa stops by the front office. "Hold on a minute," she says to Nicolas, and then taps a kid on the shoulder that was waiting by the door. A young girl, but her eyes told Melissa she certainly wasn't young. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and she was wearing a cheerleading uniform.

"What do you want?" She says in a challenging tone.

Melissa arches an eyebrow. "I'm looking for a student, hopefully you know him. Kurt Hummel?"

Dark eyes fill with suspicion, narrow. "Why?"

"Just want to talk to him."

"He's probably in the choir room," she says then and
turns her back to her. Then pauses. "Just following the singing when you hear it."

"Right," Melissa heads down the main hallway, and turns her attention back to Nicolas as she eyes the school with distaste. "God, maybe I should have found another way to meet him. This school is bringing back too many memories. I've only been here for five minutes."

"Can't be that bad," Nicolas murmurs.

"You didn't go to public school, moron," she snaps, then
pauses as a faintly familiar voice singing reaches her ears. "Think I just heard him. I'll call you later. Wait... how far away from Lima are you?"

"About an hour. I'm halfway there."

"I'm going to see if I can get him to talk to me at that coffee place I saw, the Lima Bean. Meet us there." She says quickly as she follows the singing voice. She turns a corner and that familiar singing becomes stronger. She starts to pass a door, only to stop as she sees a young man by a piano, singing and not paying attention to anyone or anything else.

She recognizes him from the videos. Light brown hair carefully styled, green eyes, pale skin. Gorgeous. She wondered how many girls in this school had crushes on him. ANd his clothing was... fantastic. Purple and black, but it was stylish and looked designer. She should know, everything she was wearing was designer.

"Is that him?" Nicolas says quietly, and Melissa realized she went dead quiet.

"Yeah," she says softly.

"Sounds good from my end. I'll meet you at the Lima Bean. Do what you can to get him to hear us out."

"Will do," Melissa ends the call then and leans against the doorway, listening to Kurt Hummel sing.

Kurt takes a drink from the bottled water now that he was done practicing. Mr Schuester had assigned glee club to sing a song about heart and tomorrow was his, Finn's, and Rachel's turn.

Kurt rolls his eyes, as he knows what Rachel is going to sing. He was going to bring his ipod and listen to his
music, and save his ears and brain from the hell she is going to wreak upon them all. He'll ignore Blaine's reproachful looks too.

He picks up his satchel, nodding to Brad, and turns to leave the choir room. He stops when he sees someone standing there.

Blonde. A couple inches taller than him. Hazel eyes. Slender.

She also has a considerable fashion sense, Kurt concedes. He recognizes the Alexander McQueen black trench coat, the red prada heels and the red prada dress she's wearing.

"Can I help you?" He says coolly. She may have good taste in fashion, but that does not mean anything. Look at Santana.

Although she's getting easier to deal with. While Rachel's becoming more hellish to deal with.

He supposes the universe had to do something to maintain balance.

"Kurt Hummel?" She asks with a smile.

He raises an eyebrow. "Yes."

"Good. I'm Melissa Derringer. I came looking for you. I'd like to have a chat with you."

Despite himself, he's finding himself intrigued. "About what?"

Her smile widens. "Your future."

Future.

He already knows his NYADA dreams are pretty much a bust, even though he is holding onto some sliver of hope. Auditons are next week, and even though he hopes, he's beginning to believe they won't. His future is a bust right now.

Stop. Stop. No need to go all depressed in front of a stranger. Need to wait until you're home and in your bedroom.

"I already have something lined up for it," he says, still keeping his tone cool.

"I don't doubt it. Someone with your talent you probably
do. But how about you keep an open mind? I have something to offer you, that you may just like."

The intrigue is back.

"How would you know?"

She shrugs. "I don't. But you'll never know if you don't see." The sound of a cell phone buzzes and she sighs. "I have to take that. But, please, I would like to talk to you. The Lima Bean, in an hour?"

"Fine," Kurt hears himself say.

She nods, then answers her phone as she walks away.

Kurt blinks as he realized he just committed to meeting a total stranger to talk about his future...

"Kurt?"

Kurt pushes his thoughts away, then sees Blaine standing by the doorway now.

"Ready?"

"Hmm? Oh yes... do you mind if we stop by the Lima Bean a little later?"

"He said he would come right?" Nicolas asks as he sits down next to her, handing Melissa her coffee.

"He did. But hell, he's a seventeen year old. For all I know, he just lied to get me to go away."

Nicolas chuckles and brushes back his wavy red hair.

"He reminds me of Adam."

"Another Ice Prince in the making?"

"Not in the making. A definite Ice Prince," Melissa says firmly. "His whole demeanor with our quick chat said 'I'm Better Than You'. He sized me up in about ten seconds. I had no idea what was going on in that brain of his. First time for me. I'm good at reading people."

"There he is," Nicolas says, nodding in a direction. "And he's not alone."

She glances in the direction and sees another young man. Dark hair, not as pale as Mr Hummel. Hazel eyes from what she could tell. They were standing closer than two guys normally do...

Ohhhh. She smirks.

"I see that's not a platonic friendship," Nicolas
murmurs, as the two boys come up to the counter. After Kurt says something to the barista, he looks around until their gazes meet. She nods to him and he barely nods back before turning to the other boy.

"Wonder how long they've been together," she murmurs. The other boy is dressed a bit preppy like. Not as boldly as Kurt, but his own style.

They both silently watch the two boys for a couple minutes, taking in how they interact with each other and their surroundings.

"Definitely like Adam...Adam would approve of the ice prince personality," Nicolas observes. "I think the other boy is Blaine Anderson."

"You paid far too much attention to those videos."

"What other glee club puts videos up for everyone to see?" Nicolas counters. "He's good too."

"Hmm."

Kurt Hummel holds himself a certain way. Tall, straight, with a wall of ice around him. The people walking past him don't get to close. No one does, except for the barista that hands the boys their coffees. The three of them exchange smiles, and she pats their hands. The only person that is close to Kurt is the other boy. Others move around them as if they don't dare get too close.

Of course, it could be because the bigoted people here in freaking Lima are afraid of catching ' the gay.'

They make their way towards Melissa and Nicolas, and Melissa takes note of the way the other boy, Blaine, looks at them then at Kurt when they come to a stop.

"Ms Derringer," Kurt says, his tone still cool, but polite.

"Mr Hummel. This is a friend of mine, Nicolas Kilgore."

Kurt nods. "My boyfriend, Blaine."

She smiles at Blaine, and Blaine instantly relaxes. When he does, she notices Kurt relaxes just a little bit too.

"Nice to meet you Blaine, please boys sit."

They do, Kurt taking the seat on the inside, Blaine on the outside. Their free hands instantly twining together.

"I'm glad you decided to meet," she says warmly.

"I only did so because you have a decent taste in fashion," he says haughtily. He glances at Nicolas. "You, on the other hand, do not wear green very well. I suggest you stay away from it."

"Kurt," she hears Blaine say softly.

Nicolas chuckles.

This boy may be like Adam in the Ice Prince way, but Adam has nothing on the direct bluntness of this boy.

"Well, I do love my prada," Melissa counters. "But I'm glad to say that my taste got you to agree to meet with me. You have a fantastic taste in fashion as well, Mr Hummel. Alexander McQueen?"

A slight smirk, and those green eyes twinkle a little. "Yes." The smirk then disappears. "So what is it about my so called future you wish to talk to me about?"

"Ever heard of The White Ravens?" She asks curiously. She wondered how much of the arts and theatre actually trickled down here to hole in the wall Lima.

"The name sounds vaguely familiar," she hears Blaine says smoothly after a minute of silence.

"The White Ravens are a performing theatre group that's been around since the nineteen thirties," Nicolas cuts in. "Brought together by sisters Ursula and Jennifer White, and Carl Ravens. The White Ravens perform everything from musicals to Shakespearan plays for the major cities of not only Ohio, but also Indiana and Pennsylvania."

Melissa thinks she sees interest in those green eyes, because she can't see anything in his face. The boy has a terrific mask. The other boy, Blaine, is clearly interested.

"How does this pertain to me and my future?" Kurt asks.

There we go. Curiosity. Time to make the pitch.