“2409”, a man with a clipboard in his hands called. No answer. “2409, please?” “Dude, that’s you”, a tall blonde guy whispered while nudging the short boy with the dark curls sitting next to him. Blaine looked up from his lyric sheet, and then checked the number on the sticker he’d had to put on his shirt. “Oh, yeah, right – I’m here!”, he said, grabbing the guitar lying at his feet and stumbling a little while making his way to the man with the clipboard. “Just follow me, sir. 2408 just went in. You still have a couple of minutes. You ready?”. Blaine shrugged, but didn’t say anything. They kept walking and eventually stopped in front of a big door. There was a sign right next to it that said ‘The Glee Project: Season 2 – AUDITIONS’. Blaine took a deep breath. This was gonna be fine. He knew the song. He knew the chords. His voice was all warmed up. He had nothing to lose. He just had to try.

Eventually, the door opened and a skinny girl with short black hair and an eyebrow piercing walked out. She skipped a little as she went back to the room where he had been waiting a couple of minutes ago. The clipboard guy nodded and made a gesture to tell him it was his turn. He gave Blaine a quick thumbs up before going back to the waiting room, most likely to get 2410. After taking another deep breath and gripping his guitar a little tighter, he opened the door a little more and walked in. The first thing he saw was a table with 5 people behind it. He didn’t know any of them, except for one guy whose name he’d forgotten (although he was pretty sure it was something like Rob or Robbie or Robert). Whatever. He just walked to the middle of the room and stood there, waiting for someone to speak up. The Robert guy was in the middle and the first one to talk. “Hi,” he said. “What’s your name?”. “I’m Blaine Anderson, I’m 20 years old”, Blaine answered. “Alright Blaine, so what brings you here? Why do you want to be on Glee?”. Blaine closed his eyes for a second to calm his nerves. When he opened them again, he said: “Be- because I love the show. I watch it every week. I, erm, I buy the CDs, and the DVDs, and I went to the Glee Live concerts… I mean… Well, erm… This is probably a very clich� answer, but… This show saved my life. In more ways than one. Also, I- I really love performing. I love singing. I love acting and just- just pretending to be someone else. And ‘Glee’ has all that. It would be a dream and an honor to be a part of it.”

“I see you brought your guitar”, a woman said. “So you’re a musician?”. “Well, I don’t know, I- I kinda taught myself to play the piano and the guitar. My parents don’t really care about the performing arts, so they wouldn’t let me take lessons or anything.”. Okay then”, the woman said. “Show us what you got. We’re ready if you are.”

Blaine adjusted his guitar, positioned his fingers for the first chord, and started playing. After a couple of seconds, he opened his mouth to start singing.

Let’s get down to business to defeat the Huns
Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons
You’re the saddest bunch I’ve ever met
And you can bet
Before we’re through
Mister I’ll… make a man… out of you

For a moment, he just forgot he was in a room full of people who were supposed to be judging him. He loved this song, he loved to sing it, so he just tried to have fun while doing it. When he finished, he looked to the judges to see nothing but surprised looks. “Well,” one of them said, “that’s a very special and brave song choice, young man. We’ve seen thousands of candidates, but you’re the first one to sing a Disney song.”. Blaine ducked his head and smiled shyly.

“Well then,” the Robert guy said, “that’s it for now. You did really well, Blaine, and we’ll definitely let you know if you are through to the next audition round. Bye!”

With a polite wave, a “thank you” and a “good bye”, Blaine left the room, only to see clipboard man standing there with the tall blonde guy. He smiled and continued to walk back to the main hall of the building, where dozens of people were still waiting for their turn.

——-

Blaine passed that round. And the next one, although he decided to go with regular Top40 songs from now on instead of Disney. And then he also passed the one after that. Until, finally, 7 weeks after his first audition, he got a letter that said he was now officially one of the 14 contenders of the second season of The Glee Project. He couldn’t believe it and kept staring at the letter for about half an hour before the news finally started to sink in. He was going to LA!

When he showed his parents the letter, his father just sighed and left the room. He’d expected that. Why would a man who forced his son to go to law school instead of letting him chase his dream of going to a performing arts school, be happy when his son had become one of the 14 people in the country who were in the running to win a part in a “stupid, faggy tv show about some singing high school kids”? But although his mother shook her head and whispered “Oh Blaine, why are you doing this?” before she followed her husband, he thought he saw a flash of pride in her eyes.

One week later, a special taxi that had been waiting for him at the airport in LA, brought him to the house where he’d be staying the next couple of weeks. He cautiously opened the door, only to see about 6 people already in there and a camera right in his face. The 6 others immediately started cheering and enveloped him in hugs. He’d seen all of them before, but could only remember 1 or 2 names. And people kept coming in, all familiar faces of course. He decided, then and there, to make the best of his time in this house and in this competition, however long that time may be. Once the click was made, he joined the excited conversations, introducing himself again to everyone, and learning everyone’s names. This was an adventure of a lifetime, and he’d damn well enjoy it.

Little did he know that being in this competition would give him more than he could have ever dreamed of.