Santana shifted Blaine’s head and tried again.

“Ow!” Blaine whined.

Santana tried again.

“Ow ow owwie ow ow!” Blaine pulled away clutching his eye, leaning into the side of his car. “Do I really have to do this? Why can’t I just start a bad boy glasses trend?”

The girl yanked him back toward her, pulling his hand away and adjusting the contact lens. “Damn it, Anderson. Just stay still and quit your bitchin’.”

Blaine blinked a few times, feeling the lens get more comfortable. He pouted at Santana. “They could have flames on them. Itty bitty skulls?”

Santana rolled her eyes and pulled him off the car. Her eyes inspected his outfit, scanning every detail for flaws. “Blaine!” huffed Santana, as she tugged his shirt out of his jeans. “If you tuck that shirt in one more time, I will do unspeakable Lima Height’s things to you.’

The boy’s face twisted with disgust, and Santana rolled her eyes again, clearly exasperated. “Nothing like that. God, I can’t even threaten you properly this morning. All this primping and poking you makes me feel like your mother.”

“Says the person who spent all weekend paying video games with Brit, whining at me, and eating more than half of the brownies I made.” Blaine smiled knowingly.

She pointed a threateningly sharp fingernail at him. “You realize that if I go all Lord Sauron on your hobbity ass; you will not get to impress your precious Hummel.”

“You realize the more Lord of the Rings references you make; the more I think you actually liked the movies.”

Santana let out a huge frustrated breath and walked to her car, muttering threats barely loud enough for Blaine to hear.

Blaine smiled and looked down at his outfit. He had to admit that the girls did a great job. He looked pretty awesome. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a tight army green v-neck. He had on black distressed skinny jeans that were tucked into black combat boots. His hand reached down and adjusted himself in his jeans, failing to be more comfortable in the tight pants. “I really don’t get why guys wear jeans this tight.”

Santana came back with her backpack and said, “Gotta show Hummel your assets.” She winked and smacked his ass, causing him to jump.

As Santana pulled out her phone to text Brittany, Blaine slumped back against his car, sighing heavily. Today was the day. He had been so waiting for this, but now that he was actually in the school parking lot about to be New Blaine, all he wanted to do was drive back home, curl up on the couch, and watch zombie movies. That was how nervous he was; he would rather be watching the living dead eat people.

He closed his eyes, and every possible scenario ran through his head. Kurt seeing him and kissing him. Kurt seeing him and looking disgusted. Kurt seeing him and laughing. Kurt seeing him and just hating him.

Blaine started breathing heavily as worse and worse scenes raced though his head. His breath became short and quick. He felt like he couldn’t get enjoy air into his lungs.

Santana noticed his anxiety attack and rushed over to him, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Hobbit!” She gave him a quick shake and said more desperately, “Blaine! You need to calm down. Freaking out like this is not going to help. Just breathe!”

But Blaine couldn’t stop. He felt like his lungs would cave in from the effort. Every time he tried to slow his breath it caught in his throat and he was gasping for air again, his eyes watering.

Suddenly, Blaine’s head snapped to the side, pain stinging his cheek. He stared blankly for a moment, his mind trying to catch up with what happened to his body. He had just been slapped. Santana just slapped him.

Blaine straightened up, giving Santana a dazed nod. “Thanks. I think I needed that.”

She gave him a smug grin in return, crossing her arms across her chest. “Not as much as I needed to do that.”

They both laughed. It really was just what Blaine needed, calming his overactive mind. He lightly touched his still stinging cheek. His hand jerked away quickly when he came in contact with something wet. He looked at Santana in disbelief. “You cut me.”

Santana smiled apologetically, glancing at the ring on her finger that probably cut him, and shrugged, “Gives you more edge.”

Chuckling, he picked up his new backpack from the ground; his normal one now replaced with a black, leather backpack Santana ordered for him. He reached into his jacket pocket to grab his iPod, sticking the earbuds in but not turning it on.
Santana walked behind him, pushing him by his shoulders toward the school. “Just remember the plan. Don’t freak out. When in doubt, smirk and shut the hell up. Now go get him, tiger.”

***
Blaine pushed the entrance doors open and walked down hall, hearing them clatter closed loudly behind him. It was weird. The hallway really wasn’t something new to him now. He had walked down past these same lockers for weeks. However, it was so different that day. As he made his way, he tried to just stare straight ahead, but in his peripheral vision, he saw other students look at him with intimidated or curious expressions. It was like no one wanted to touch him. He used to have to dodge people between classes because they just never seemed to see notice and ploughed straight into him. Today, it was like he had a force field. Even the people who really didn’t look like they were paying attention gave him a wide berth.

Gaining more confidence, Blaine smiled to himself when he saw Kurt and Mercedes talking at Kurt’s locker. He just wanted to sigh at how cute the other boy looked today but kept walking. He had to stick to the plan.

Arguing over whether or not Mercedes’ multicolored scarf went with her outfit, the pair didn’t notice Blaine making his way along the rows of lockers. It wasn’t until Blaine was actually walking past them that he heard Mercedes whisper excitedly, “Kurt! Who the hell is that?”

Blaine reached his locker, trying to not look at the two people a few lockers down. Opening the locker, he silently mouthed lyrics that weren’t playing.

When he heard a low wolf whistle, he knew Santana had appeared next to Kurt and Mercedes. “Damn, come to Santana. That is one fine piece of ass.” Blaine bit his lip, trying desperately not to laugh. He knew Santana was blatantly checking him out right now. “I can’t believe it’s actually him.”

Kurt responded quickly, sounding desperate to know more. “What do you mean?”

Busying himself with exchanging his books, he tried to keep a bored expression on his face. His heart was beating like he was running a race, but he ignored it, staying in character.

“That’s Blaine Anderson!” Santana explained as if it was obvious. There was a pause as she read their confused expressions like it was not the reaction she expected. Blaine heard her give a short, disbelieving laugh. “Are you telling me you two gossip queens don’t know Blaine Anderson?”

“T-the name sounds familiar.” Blaine turned his head to look the other way down the hallway unable to help the small smile that appeared when Kurt spoke.

Mercedes spoke up, clearly curious. “Why? Should we know who he is?”

There was a soft thud as Santana leaned against a locker as she enlightened them. “That boy is pure trouble. He got kicked out of that fancy private school, Dalton, at the end of last year. I heard he burned down the science lab or something.” He heard two gasps. “He got into fights all the damn time, but his parents paid off the school. Apparently they’re rollin’ it, but he just doesn’t care.”

“Well, he must care a little bit,” said Kurt. When the girls gave him questioning looks, he continued. “His bag. I patrol the Barneys’ website on a daily basis, and I know for a fact that that bag is over five hundred dollars.”

Santana hummed as if she was thinking. “I could use a Sugar Daddy, especially one that looks like that.”

Taking his cue from Santana, he fished his lighter and pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket. He tugged a cigarette from the pack and held it between his lips. He heard the hall go silent. Apparently, the small group was not the only people who were paying attention to him. He flicked the Zippo open and lit with one practiced movement. Bringing it to light his cigarette, he breathed in, feeling himself relax as the smoke filled his lungs.

He heard Kurt breathe out, “Oh my god.”

“Wanky, “ commented Santana, acting impressed. “I am totally going to go after that. I mean a little on the short side, but that sexy bad boy attitude totally makes up for it. Bet he is killer in the sack.” She paused and then asked Kurt., “What do you think? Does he have the gay seal of approval?”

There was silence. Blaine fought the urge to look and see what was going on. Trying not to freak out, he took a long drag to distract himself.

Breaking the silence, Santana started gossiping again. “Anyway, I heard he hasn’t shown up to school for weeks. Paid some kid to come and pretend he was him. Must be nice to—”

“Hey!” Mr. Schuester yelled, coming quickly down the hall with Brittany following behind him. Blaine slowly turned toward the approaching teacher. Brittany gave him a thumbs up and settled against the lockers across the way to watch the show.

Mr. Schuester walked past the three Glee members and up to Blaine. He looked furious and barked out, “What do you think you’re doing? There is no smoking on school property. What’s your name?”

Blaine took another drag of his cigarette and let it out slowly. He dropped it, putting it out with the heel of his boot against the linoleum floor. He looked past the angry teacher, looking at the trio behind him. Then Blaine did something he wanted to for a long time; he openly checked Kurt out. His eyes slid up Kurt’s tight jeans to his slim waist to his toned arms. Kurt fidgeted under his intense staring. When his gaze came to Kurt’s face, their eyes locked, and Blaine smirked. “Blaine. Blaine Anderson.”

“Well Mr. Anderson,” reminding Blaine that the teacher was there. “You are going to the principal’s office. Come with me.”

Blaine slid his bag over his shoulder and slammed his locker loudly, causing the teacher and the other students to jump. He slowly followed the teacher as he found Kurt’s eyes again. Blaine licked his lips and gave Kurt a wink before he followed the teacher to the principal’s office.

***
Blaine was pouting. He tried to play if off as brooding and mysterious, but he knew what it really was and it was pouting. He was in the same place as that he had been weeks ago: sitting in Calculus staring at the back of Kurt’s head.

Not that he just expected Kurt to see the new Blaine and just leap into his arms, telling him over and over again how crazy he was about him.

Okay. Maybe he expected that a little.

However, it almost seemed like he had the opposite effect on Kurt. It was like the other boy was pointedly not looking at him. He just sat in his chair tenser than ever, ignoring Mercedes’ poking and very blatant looks back at Blaine. Although Mercedes seemed like a great person, Blaine desperately wanted Kurt’s attention. Not hers.

In fact, it seemed like he had every other person’s attention except his fair skinned prince charming. After he came back from the principal’s office with just a lecture and a warning after Figgins looked at his spotless record, Blaine spent most of the day trying to ignore the whispering and questioning looks that followed him.

The girl he normally sat next to in English looked like she was actually going to throw up when he sat down. This, of course, caused him to have a not-so-mild freak out all through the discussion of the Great Gatsby. Did people recognize him? Could they not believe that that nerdy bow tie kid looked like this? Maybe he just looked ridiculous in leather? Oh god, maybe it was his hair?

After class as he was exchanging his books, he overheard the same girl gushing about the “so totally fuckin’ hot new guy” in her class. Blaine glanced at her, wondering if it was she was really talking about him. The girl and her friend froze like deer in headlights, their faces growing bright red. Blaine felt way too proud at this reaction and smirked at them, causing them to scurry down the hall in excited whispers.

Kurt, however, just ignored him.

Again.

Blaine took a moment, trying to think of all the little battle plans and strategies Santana and Brittany came up with over the weekend. His mind was drawing a blank. In a classroom, he could do nothing to get this boy’s attention. The thought of waiting another thirty-two agonizing minutes until after class to interact with Kurt made him miserable.

So Blaine did the only thing he could think of; he crumbled up a piece of paper and threw it at the back of Kurt’s head.

Kurt turned around quickly ready to bitch Blaine out. “What the—“ Kurt cut himself off there, his mouth still gaping with the words that didn’t come out. Blaine tried his best to keep a cocky smile on his face even though he desperately just wanted to apologize and disappear. Kurt was just staring at Blaine, his face softening and his cheeks flushing. Blaine didn’t even think he was breathing. Without a word, Kurt spun back around, ignoring Mercedes insistent whispers.

Blaine snuck a glance over at Santana, who clearly saw the whole thing. She mouthed, “What are you? Five?” Blaine gave her a wide smile back, still too proud that he got Kurt’s attention, if only briefly. Rolling her eyes, Santana mouthed, “Try again, idiot!” She made a slow kicking motion with her leg.

His brow furrowed. Did Santana really expect him to kick Kurt? He knew the paper thing was a bit childish, but kicking Kurt was one step away from pigtail pulling and spitballs. Seeing his obvious confusing, Santana made another motion with he foot, caressing her own ankle and calf.

“Oh,” mouthed Blaine silently.

Mustering up some courage, Blaine sank down in his chair, allowing is legs to move a little farther between Kurt’s chair. He gently pressed his boot into the side the other boy’s leg. Blaine saw Kurt flinch but didn’t remove his foot. He slowly slid his boot up Kurt’s leg gently. He pressed a little harder, getting more insistent as he rubbed up and down his leg.

Kurt spun around and hissed at Blaine, his eyes piercing with annoyance. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?”

Blaine stilled his movement, but he did not move from Kurt’s leg. He challengingly rose his eyebrows. “Because if you get this flustered with me rubbing your leg, then I would love to see your reaction when I’m rubbing your—”

“Mr. Hummel! Mr. Anderson!” Mr. Hansen called from the front of the class. “Would you mind not talking during my class?”

Both students hung their heads and mumbled apologies, turning to face the board. Blaine let out an annoyed sigh. He was grateful the teacher cut them off them he did. Blaine honestly didn’t know what he was going to say after that. He was shocked that something so crude came out of his mouth. Clearly, he had been hanging out with Santana too much.

He looked over at Santana, who gave him a sly thumbs up and an amused smile. She must have been getting a kick out of this.

Hoping to redeem himself a bit, Blaine ripped out another piece of paper and wrote Hey sexy. I’m Blaine Anderson. He folded it carefully before adding Read Me to the front.

When he tossed the note, it landed on the desk between Kurt and Mercedes. Both of them jumped at the sudden appearance and looked back at Blaine, who became very interested in drawing flames in his notebook. He glanced up to see the two of them reading the note. Then Mercedes was leaning close to Kurt’s shoulder, trying to see what he was doing. Blaine stretched up in his seat trying to see too.

He heard a pen click and slumped back in his chair, smugly staring at the back of Kurt’s head and waiting. Kurt turned around and met Blaine’s eyes. Blaine held his breath, not moving a muscle. Kurt glared and dropped the note back onto Blaine’s desk before turning back around.

Blaine eagerly opened the note, reading under his own handwriting. Yes, I know who you are.

***

Blaine strutted down the hallway with Santana and Brittany under each arm and a smirk plastered on his face. Part of him was still beaming from the attention that he received from Kurt in class. It wasn’t the most ideal attention, but it was attention nonetheless.

However, most of him just wanted to go home. The looks that he was getting from the rest of the school made his stomach twist into knots. He had no idea what rumors the girls had spread, but almost every face had some look of awe or terror on it. He had never had looks like that directed at him before. As fun as being the center of attention was, he had enough for the day.

The girls at his sides were talking loudly and animatedly, drawing more looks his way. Santana said this was to highlight his “quiet smolder” and avoid having him accidentally talk about Battlestar Galactica. Blaine was barely paying attention though. He doubted they were saying anything important.

Kurt was at his locker staring intently into a planner, not noticing them walking toward him. Blaine almost let out genuine smile just looking the boy. Those nervous knots in his stomach being replaced by butterflies as Kurt absentmindedly brushed a hair out of his face.

Trying his best not to look at Kurt, Blaine stopped at his locker, grabbing a few books for homework. The girls were still talking, becoming a buzz in his ears. As much as he wanted to be all aloof and cool, he chanced a glance at Kurt, but Blaine couldn’t turn away as soon as he saw him.

Kurt was frozen in place. His hand was in midair, taking a book out of his locker. With his brow furrowed, he stared in confusion over Blaine’s head. That was really not the look he was expecting.

Blaine followed his gaze, and his heart dropped into his stomach. Taped to his locker door was a picture of the Warblers sitting in the choir room last year, and right in the middle was Blaine with his hair slicked down and idiotic smile. He forgot to take it down. He fucking forgot to take it down. Blaine clenched his fists. He was not having this one little mistake mess up everything he worked for over the past weeks.

Blaine slammed his locker close, causing Brittany and Santana to go quiet behind him. He turned sharply to Kurt, who looked surprised. Blaine strutted up to him taking in the other boy’s sudden nervousness with a smug grin. Kurt quickly turned back toward his locker, but Blaine saw the blush creep onto his his face. Grinning wider, Blaine leaned in and breathed against his ear, “See you tomorrow, Hummel.”

He leaned back and was about to walk away when another idea came into his head. Blaine quickly smacked Kurt’s ass, making him give a little yelp in surprise.

Before he could process what he had just done, the girls were under his arms again, and the trio was walking passed open-mouthed students toward the exit.

As soon as they get to their cars at the back of the parking lot, the tension that lasted the entire day shattered. Brittany practically knocked Blaine over with the force of her hug. As soon as she let go, Santana took her place, giving him a rough noogie as well.

Relaxing, Blaine pressed his head into Santana’s shoulder and whined, “Get. Me. Drunk.”

Santana looked down, half amused and half concerned. “You realized it’s only Monday.”

Brittany caught them both in a tight group hugged, causing them all to laugh. “It’s martini Monday!”