Over the next two years, Blaine’s powers were still out of control; the most he could manage was healing small wounds and feeling a little fatigued after – anything else and he was out for days. It was progress, sure, but it was also a constant frustration for him, and no matter how hard he tried to get himself to reach that level of control that everyone expected him to be at by now, nothing worked. He only had this year and the next left at Dalton, and at this rate, no one would hire him for his healing talents.

The best I can hope for is the circus, he thought miserably one afternoon, as he stared vacantly out the window of his history classroom. But at least I’d be able to perform. Maybe I could do a musical flying act – The Amazing Hawk Boy. He snorted to himself as he leaned on his hand and daydreamed. Who knows – they might even need someone to help out when their animals get sick or hurt. I’d be better than a veterinarian... except for the whole passing out thing. But they wouldn’t care about that because I’m such a novelty and I’d rake in a lot of tickets a-

“Ow!” he hissed, rubbing the back of his head where Jeff had smacked him, and glared at his best friend. “What was that for?”

Jeff only gave him a significant look and nodded toward the teacher before facing forward in his seat once more.

“Nice of you to join us, Mr. Anderson,” Mr. Smith commented from the front of the room where leaned against the desk with his arms crossed. There were a few snickers from some of the boys in class and Blaine had the decency to look sheepish, but the history teacher ignored them all as he stared at his current target. “Now that you’re back from dreamland, why don’t you tell us when the first known instances of avian humanoids are said to have been recorded?”

Blaine sat up straight in his chair and expertly hid the scowl that so desperately wanted to etch its way onto his face. It was moments like these that he really disliked Mr. Smith, or Agent Smith, as he preferred to call him. This particular teacher had a habit of putting students on the spot when they weren’t paying attention and usually had them stand up in front of everyone when they were made to answer questions. He supposed he should feel lucky Mr. Smith hadn’t asked him to do that as well.

“Well, sir, avian humanoids have been around basically since the evolution of Homo sapiens, if not longer. And we know this because of various cave paintings of winged stick people from that time period,” he recited, dutifully.

“Very good.” Mr. Smith nodded and crossed his ankles, still leaning on his desk. “And how were avian humanoids depicted in paintings throughout ancient history?”

“We were depicted as gods, sir.”

“That’s correct. Now—” Smith went on to tell the class, “although avian humanoids were seen as gods, that was simply not true. They were as flesh and blood as the rest of the human race, they just evolved differently.”

Blaine did his best to pay attention during the rest of the class period and took notes like a good Dalton boy, but by the time the bell rang, he was as eager to get out of there as everyone else.

He and Jeff left the room together, both headed in the direction of their next classes, which, thankfully, they didn’t share. Blaine didn’t know what he would do if he were caught daydreaming again and Jeff smacked him again.

“Hey, man,” Jeff started, looking apologetic, “sorry about slapping you like that. Smith was just glaring at you and he’d called your name I don’t know how many times. I even tried, but you were just in your own little world.”

Blaine wasn’t mad at Jeff, and even if he had been, he couldn’t stay mad at his best friend for long. Jeff just had a personality that made it hard for anyone to dislike him.

“Don’t worry about it, Jeff.” He waved the apology away without a second thought. “I should’ve been paying attention.”

“Yeah, what was that about, anyway? You’re usually so attentive – it makes everyone else in the class look like slackers.”

Blaine huffed once and shook his head, amused by his friend’s portrayal of him. “I’m not that bad.”

“You totally are. You always sit up straight and takes tons of notes, and no matter how boring Smith gets, you always at least look like you’re interested in what he’s saying.” Jeff rolled his eyes. “But that’s beside the point. What was with you today?”

He looked at Blaine with such concern and curiosity that Blaine couldn’t keep his troubles to himself. With a sigh, he kept his eyes trained on the marble floor as they walked past other students in the main hallway. “I’m not getting any better at controlling my ability. Every time I try to heal something bigger than a scratch, my power just gets out of hand and I use too much. It’s always the same. And I can just tell Dr. Romano is getting fed up with me and I don’t know what she expects me to do about it!”

He made an annoyed sound and stopped in the middle of the hallway. It didn’t take a genius to see how frustrated Blaine was over this, and Jeff was certainly no idiot.

“I’m sorry,” Blaine apologized. “I shouldn’t be dumping all of this on you, especially not right now. We’re going to be late.” The hallway was clearing up and, except for a few stragglers, Blaine and Jeff were alone.

Jeff studied his friend, silently. He had no idea what to say or do to help him and he really wished he could. He knew exactly how difficult it had been for Blaine ever since his abilities had developed, having been his only roommate for the last nine years. “Screw being late,” he finally said with a shrug. “I’m your best friend, Blaine. If you can’t talk to me about this stuff, who can you talk to?”

Jeff had a point. What were friends for, if not that? Blaine smiled appreciatively at him, grateful for the support.

The final bell rang and both boys looked around, noticing how very empty the hallway was. Neither made a move to head to their respective classrooms. Blaine doubted he’d be able to concentrate anyway, and Jeff had a spur of the moment plan in mind.

“Let’s skip this period. We’ll get outside for a little bit, maybe go flying or something, I don’t know. But you definitely need a break. What do you say?” Jeff’s face was practically glowing with enthusiasm. It wasn’t often that he had to opportunity to even suggest ditching class to Blaine, but maybe, just this once, the dapper do-gooder would say yes.

Blaine actually chuckled at his friend’s eager demeanor and, without much hesitation (to Jeff’s surprise), he agreed.

The next hour and a half saw them lounging on the grounds, talking about Blaine’s problem, and taking to the sky, exercising their wings. It was just what Blaine needed to get him out of his funk.

After his stint of playing hooky, he and Jeff ate lunch with the rest of their friends. Nick and Jeff joked around as usual and Wes eyeballed Blaine until David told him to knock it off. Blaine knew Wes wanted to question him about earlier — sometimes having a telepath for a friend really sucked — but he refused to bring such a cloudy subject back to the surface when Jeff had only just helped him get his mind on a more positive track.

The rest of the afternoon went well. He got his test back from his Algebra teacher — he’d aced it, he was happy to see — and English was pretty much a blow-off class because they were reading Hamlet and everyone knew how that was going to end.

By the time Warbler practice rolled around, Blaine was in a much better mood. He made it to the junior commons with plenty of time to spare and prepared himself mentally, as he always did, for his solo. They were putting on a little performance for the school, sort of to show off, but also to get audience feedback for their song choice. The council’s thought was if the other Dalton students considered it a hit, then they’d know which direction to take their Top 40 numbers for competitions. Thus far, that plan had worked in their favor, and they had at least gotten to Regionals level in the past few years before being beaten by a better group.

Blaine felt alive as he sang their rendition of Teenage Dream. Singing always did that to him. He felt more confident and energetic, but also free. Singing made everything else melt away and he could just be himself, letting whatever he was feeling out through the melody and lyrics. It was the best feeling in the world.

Afterwards, he received the usual pats on the back and praise from his fellow Warblers, as well as raucous applause from the student body. They killed that number, as they always did. The good vibes had Blaine grinning from ear to ear, and he thanked anyone who came up to tell him just how amazing he and the other guys in the group sounded.

The council, led by Wes, declared Warbler practice over for the time being, satisfied with the result of their performance. Practice would begin at its usual time the next day. There were only a few groans, but most of the Warblers took it in stride and they all went about gathering their things in order to leave.

As the crowd dispersed and Blaine filed out after them, checking his pocket watch to see how much time he had before he needed to buckle down on his homework and calling a final goodbye to his friends, he nearly ran into someone as he headed out the door.

The suddenness of the situation was evident on his face; add to that the boy’s attractiveness, and that equaled to a fairly speechless Blaine.

“Oh, sorry, sorry,” the boy said, quickly, seeming rather jumpy. “I should have been watching where I was going. I’ll just— ” He thumbed over his shoulder and made to leave.

Thankfully, Blaine snapped out of it and remembered his manners. “No, no, it was my fault. I was preoccupied.” He walked alongside the other teen and took note of his appearance. Tall, with brown hair elegantly styled; pale skin; and – decidedly not wearing a Dalton uniform. Blaine had no idea who this guy was, and he was sure he’d have noticed if someone like him had been on campus before now.

“So, are you new here?”

“What?” That drew the boy’s sharp, blue eyed focus to him, and he gazed at Blaine suspiciously. “What makes you think that?”

Blaine’s brow furrowed in confusion over his reaction. “You’re not in uniform.”

“Oh!” He twinkled a nervous laugh. “Right. Yeah, um, yes, I am. New. I’m a new student.” His eyes shifted around the hall as if he was looking for a way out. “Um, I really should be going. I’ve got.. homework...and other things… to do.”

He made a beeline for the front door of the school, and before Blaine even knew what he was doing, he was calling after him. “Wait!”

The boy paused, looking for all the world like he was about to be caught in something.

“My name’s Blaine; I’m a junior.” He held out his hand politely to the boy, who gazed at it a moment in stunned silence before taking it in his own firm grip.

“Kurt,” he said, with the barest hint of smile.

Blaine smiled brightly right back. Something about this boy made him feel light inside. “So, uh – this may be a bit presumptuous, since we’ve just met and all, but if you need someone to show you around while you get the hang of the place, I’d be more than happy to.”

Kurt studied him, his eyes narrowed slightly, as if trying to determine whether Blaine was being sincere or not. He seemed satisfied with Blaine’s open, genuine expression and nodded once in reply. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

With a look at the school entrance once more, he added, “I really need to get going now. It was nice to meet you, Blaine.”

“Yeah, you too.”

And then Kurt was out the door. Gone.

Blaine watched after him, mulling over the curiousness that was Kurt. He was intriguing, that was for sure. A little skittish, too, it seemed. Blaine didn’t understand why he appeared so ready to bolt.

He shrugged it off as new student nerves. It was really the only thing that made sense. And, as he walked his way back to his dorm room, he hoped he would see Kurt again tomorrow – if only to help put him at ease in his new school.