Kurt wasn't sure exactly when it was he snapped. Whether it was when he became best friends with Quinn, when he started smoking, or when he dyed his hair pink. All he knew was that when he returned to school for his senior year he was one of ‘The Skanks'. It was odd, really, how the year before he was Kurt Hummel, the kind, polite, fashionable and studious, gay kid, but now he was Kurt Kummel – Skank. He had just walked through the school doors on the first day back, lit cigarette in hand and pink hair coiffed back into a scary kind of perfection and the label became his, walking down the corridor he looked at everyone's reactions. They were all the same. Shocked.

“Kurt.” A familiar voice piped up from somewhere behind him. He swivelled on the heels of his black, studded, boots.

“What?” he snapped, as he took in Rachel Berry's tiny frame in front of him. She was dressed in a reindeer sweater, a plaid skirt, knee-high socks and a large red headband.

“Kurt, I know we were never that close but… Towards the end of last year I thought you were one of my best friends, I mean, we broke into the Gershwin Theatre together, got breakfast at Tiffany's… You don't just do that kind of thing with anyone, you know?” she stuttered her way through her words, but kept constant eye contact with Kurt.

“People grow apart. Deal with it.” A second voice spoke up, causing both Kurt and Rachel to jump.

Quinn Fabray stepped forward, wearing a crop top, short shorts and with a jacket tied around her waist. Her hair was ruffled and scruffy, and she had a pink dye job that was just as bad as Kurt's.

“Quinn, the same goes for you…” Rachel began, her eyes fluttering between the two people in front of her.

“You stole my boyfriend, and now you're trying to be best buddies with me, who do you think you are, Berry?” Quinn snapped as she took a drag from Kurt's cigarette.

“I didn't mean to steal Finn from you, Quinn…”

“But then you call yourself Kurt's best friend, where were you the day after we got back from New York, Rachel? When Kurt's life turned to shit? Oh, that's right, you were too busy sticking your tongue down his brother's throat to care!” Quinn grabbed Kurt's arm and turned them both around, ready to walk away, when Rachel spoke up again.

“I'm sorry, Kurt, but becoming a Skank isn't going to help anything.”

Kurt stopped in his tracks, and without even turning to look at Rachel said “Oh, yeah, because who I was before stopped me from getting into trouble. Piss off, dwarf.”

Sheila, Ronnie and Mackenzie were stood under the bleachers when Kurt and Quinn found them. No formalities, such as saying hello, were necessary. Instead Sheila just held out her lighter for Kurt and Quinn to push their cigarettes through.

“So I think I'm gonna go see Mr Henderson at break.” Mackenzie announced, as she leaned against the back of the bleachers.

“Y'know, I don't think you should carry that on this year, Mack.” Ronnie spoke, after breathing out the smoke that had accumulated in the bottom of her lungs. “You'll get him fired.”

“That's the plan.” Mack said, in a tone which made it seem like it was meant to be obvious.

“So you're getting the 40 year old history teacher to sleep with you between classes, to get him fired?” Sheila asked, throwing her lighter on the floor after realising it was out of fluid.

“He gave me an F in sophomore year, this is my fun version of revenge.” Mackenzie smirked.

“Classy.” Kurt mumbled.

Mackenzie turned to glare at Kurt, but ended up smirking. “I like this one.” She barely whispered, as she took a long drag from her cigarette.

Blaine Anderson did not get nervous. He just didn't. He was confident, somewhat sophisticated, intelligent, polite and just a generally nice guy. So, when he opened the doors of William McKinley High School for his very first time he didn't understand why he could feel his heart in his throat (he even made a mental note to call his doctor) or why his hands were shaking, or why his forehead was drenched in sweat.

He looked around the corridor as he shut the door behind him, it looked like an average school, there were rows of lockers stretched as far as the eye could see, classroom doors scattered all over the place. He could even see a sign that was pointing in the direction of the cafeteria. It was as he noticed this sign that he was broken out of his trance by a short girl running into him with tears streaming down her face.

“Oh my God, I'm so sorry.” She whimpered, wiping away her tears and trying to control her breathing.

“Oh. Hey, no, that's okay. I am kinda blocking the door.” He tried to smile, but it seemed wrong to be smiling when the girl was obviously so upset. “I know I'm a complete stranger, but would you maybe like to talk? Sometimes it's good to let your feelings out and, hey, I'm a stranger so I've got to be impartial.”

“Okay, that… that would be nice.” She tried to summon a smile, which Blaine quickly returned.

“I'm Blaine, by the way. Blaine Anderson.” He introduced himself, offering a hand for her to shake.

“Rachel Berry.” She took his offered hand, and wow, did she have a tough grip.

“We just got so close, we never got along before but then suddenly there he was. He was like soulmate in a friendship kind of way, we liked the same musicals, the same songs, same celebrities. We were like one of the same, which is kind of why we clashed but is also why he was the perfect best friend… Then something happened to him, something really awful. Not even two days after we'd sang on a Broadway stage together…” Rachel rambled, her tears finally under control.

“What happened?” Blaine asked, they were sat in a choir room. Blaine offered his car for a little more privacy, but Rachel insisted that this was the safest place for her to be other than her own home.

“That's it, I don't even know. I should have known though. I was meant to be taking him for coffee after school, but I was with Finn in here and we lost track of time. I was half an hour late, I ran out to the parking lot as soon as I realised, but he wasn't there…” Rachel's breath hitched. “There was police tape up near where my car was parked and there was blood on the floor, a lot of it. I knew it was his, because Kurt was the kind of person who would wait. Sure, he'd make a sassy remark about it and act pissed off, but he wouldn't leave me unless he had reason to. I didn't call him though, not because I didn't care but because I didn't want it to be true. I learnt that it was his blood from Finn, but he refused to tell me what had happened. Then a few weeks later he was back on Facebook again, but he ignored all of my messages. Instead, he was posting status updates and taking selfies with Quinn – that's Finn's ex that I mentioned – all of the time, he changed his profile picture to one of him smoking and then a couple weeks later all of his pictures showed him with bright pink hair, and I knew I had lost him. Just before I ran into you I tried talking to him, but he told me to piss off and I – “She broke down into tears again. “I'm such a bad friend, I should have been there for him. I shouldn't have been late, I should have called, but no. I practically wrote him out my life until he was better after whatever happened, but by then it was too late for us to be friends. You know, I can deal with falling out with someone, I can. It sucks an hurts, but it's just like a softer version of a break up, what I can't deal with is knowing that part of what's made him turn into this different person is because of me.”

Blaine fished a tissue from his pocket and carefully dabbed at her eyes.

“Rachel, none of this is your fault. I know that it is hard for me to say that without knowing what actually happened to him, but if it was really that bad then it was whatever happened that has caused him to turn. You just need to keep your mind off him, it's his loss.” Blaine smiled at her as she stopped her tears once again.

“You know, you're right. I just want my Kurt back.”

It was then that the school bell rang.

Blaine's first class was AP English Literature. Luckily for him the classroom was just across the hall from the choir room and Rachel was able to point him in the right direction with ease. He took a seat right at the back of the class and waited for the lesson to begin.

Soon enough, the rest of the class began piling in and every seat was filled but the one next to Blaine, and he didn't know whether to be offended or relieved by this.

“Alright, class, settle down!” The teacher projected her voice over the students'. “Now, I know you're all excited to discuss your summer vacation, but let's at least save that until next period when I'm not teaching you, okay? So, for those of you who don't know I am Miss Parker, and I will be teaching you – “

The door slammed against the wall, as it hit the wall harshly.

“Kurt!” Miss Parker almost squealed. “You look… Different?” She looked the boy up and down.

Kurt only grunted in response, he scanned the room until his eyes fell on the only empty seat next to Blaine. He rolled his eyes and dragged his feet across the room.

“Right, well… Where was I?” Miss Parker started again after the interruption.

Blaine looked at Kurt, took in his pink hair and the scent of cigarette smoke that clung to his clothes. So, this is Kurt he thinks, and he almost has to bite his lip because Kurt is gorgeous. His hair, although tacky in appearance, was perfectly styled and his eyes, although broken in appearance were a fascinating shade of clear blue, and his lips… well, his lips were moving. He snapped himself back into reality, just to hear Kurt hiss.

“…So, quit staring at me!”

“Oh, I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I was just… erm… daydreaming…?” Blaine whispered, not able to find the right words.

“Daydream in a different direction then.” Kurt spat before rooting for a pen in his bag.

“…So, you will work in groups of 5 for your presentations. This work will all be out of class, but it will be substituting homework. We will be having presentation lessons once every three or four weeks, depending on how long it takes us to finish each book in the syllabus.” Miss Parker was saying. “I already have your groups written out, to avoid you all choosing your friends. “So, in group one there is Gemma Lewis, Ryan Howe, Matt Rutherford, Mike Chang and Hannah Wright. In group two we have Blaine Anderson, Santana Lopez, Mercedes Jones, Tina Cohen-Chang and Kurt Hummel. Group three…”

Blaine turned to look at Kurt, who seemed oddly tense by the news, and smiled. He knew who Kurt really was, underneath the leather jacket, the dye and cigarette smoke, and he couldn't wait to actually meet him.