Chapter 6

Rachel had made a huge mistake. What the hell was she thinking? There was no way that the New Directions would be able to win Regionals without Kurt! Everyone had seemed so depressed for the second half of the week when Kurt was at home after his injury. Add to that the fact that everyone seemed to distrust Rachel for what she did to Kurt, and it had been a pretty bad few days for the whole group. The only way Rachel could think of to achieve redemption, was to get Kurt back in glee club. She had the whole speech planned out. She would tell him that she didn't mean what she said, it was her emotions getting the better of her and that his voice was a vital part of the team that they couldn't use. She might also turn on the waterworks and see if a few tears might make him truly see her remorse.

Rachel spent the entire day searching the school from top to bottom trying to find Kurt. She even checked the dumpsters out back, in case the bullies had got to him first, but all she saw were a few rubbish bags that looked like they had been flattened recently. After wasting the first half of the day trying to find someone who clearly wasn't around, she asked Finn if he knew anything at lunch.

“Hey Finn, is Kurt still at home today because I can't find him anywhere?” she asked.

“Oh, so that's why you have been running off when I tried talking to you, and no he wasn't at home. I saw him leave real early this morning in some weird blazer thing that seemed really familiar for some reason.” Rachel felt her heart sink.

“Please Finn tell me that the blazer wasn't dark blue with red piping.” Finn's face contorted while he tried to think back to earlier that day.

“Uh, it might have been. Nope, it definitely was. He was wearing some really unlike Kurt grey pants too.” Rachel stood up and almost turned their table over.

“He left us! What am I going to do now? How am I going to redeem myself if Kurt doesn't even go to this school anymore?”

“Wait, what? If he doesn't go to this school then where the hell does he go?”

“Dalton Academy” Rachel replied with a grim expression on her face. “I'm calling an emergency meeting in the auditorium. Text everyone and meet me there in five minutes.”

Kurt glided down the Dalton Academy hallways with his head held high and a small smile on his face. This was the first day in almost a year when he had not received a slushy facial or been knocked over multiple times. He even had some students help him out when he was looking particularly lost at the start of the day.

 He was now sat in the lunch hall, on a table by himself, watching his phone and giggling every so often as a new text came through from Rachel. Each one was sounding more and more desperate than the next. After a while, she started phoning him and leaving distressed messages that he listened to instantly before saving them to use as blackmail if he ever forgave her.  Kurt also received a few messages from the rest of the group including some from Finn, which reminded him that he never told his stepbrother that he was transferring. Oops. He would have to make up for that later with some cookies or brownies. The only message that he did reply to was the one from Mercedes. He felt bad for not telling his best friend, so summed up what had happened over the past few days with an apology and clicked send. Slowly the texts ground to a halt, and Kurt looked up to see Blaine staring at him from the opposite side of the table.

“Hi Kurt, nice jacket.” Blaine said with a knowing expression.

“Thanks, I have to wear it to this posh prep school that I go to so the other boys don't get jealous of my remarkable fashion sense.” Blaine's laughter was infectious and Kurt found himself smiling widely for the first time in months.

“Hey is it okay if I bring some of the Warblers over to meet you, I have been looking out for you and saw you over here all alone and I thought you could do with some new friends.” Kurt was pleasantly surprised that he had had his very own guardian angel for his first day and nodded his head.

Blaine waved some boys over and they walked over then sat down around the table. The other boy from Kurt's tour, Wes, sat down next to Kurt and started introducing him to the rest of the group. He gestured to the boys sitting in-between Kurt and Blaine first.

“This is David and Thad, they are the other guys on the Warbler council, and this is Trent who is Blaine's roommate,” Then he pointed to the brunette and blond sitting next to each other “and this is Nick and Jeff. We are pretty sure that they are madly in love, but we haven't been able to get them to admit it yet!” He whispered this last part and looked over at the two boys slyly. The boys that had just been introduced waved at Kurt and Trent, who was sat directly next to Kurt, saw the new boy's phone light up again.

“What's up with your phone Kurt? It's been going crazy!” Kurt smiled and looked down as another one of Rachel's texts appeared on the screen.

“Oh, it's one of the girls from my old glee club, I didn't tell them that I was leaving so she has just found out and is going a little mad. Here.” Kurt showed the boys his phone and they all seemed to find it equally hilarious. He couldn't believe that he had already fit into the school and had hopefully found a new group of guys to replace his friends. Wes tapped Kurt on the shoulder to get his attention.

“So Kurt, we were wondering if we could ask you to formally audition for the Warblers on this coming Thursday. Would that be something you'd be interested in?” Kurt's mouth fell open.

“You mean that? Really? I thought you were just saying that to get me to transfer here.” Blaine and Wes smiled at the boy they had shown around the previous week, and marvelled at how much his confidence had improved already.

“Of course we mean it. We have a tradition of allowing anyone to audition, you just have to be able to sing to actually get in!” Blaine said.

“Oh, I can sing. Just you wait. My audition will be the best you have ever seen. I have to go and find a song.” Kurt got up from the table and headed off towards the rehearsal room to find the perfect number to audition with.

Blaine and the other Warblers watched him go with bemused smiles.

“Damn Blaine, he's kind of cute.” Trent remarked as he caught Blaine staring after Kurt a little longer than everyone else.

“I'm sorry, Trent. Why did you aim that statement at me?” Blaine said with a sarcastic tone and slightly confused expression.

Trent and the other Warbler boys just looked at each other and a ripple of laughter made its way around the group.

Kurt couldn't concentrate throughout his last lesson. All he could think about was his lack of a song to use as his rehearsal number. The minutes ticked down and the second the final bell of the day went, Kurt leapt up from his seat and hurried to the door where he found Blaine waiting.

“Hey I just wanted to check on you and make sure your first day was ok, can we talk while you walk to your car?” Kurt's heart began to beat faster but he managed to keep his cool as they began to walk towards his precious car.

“Today was great Blaine. I can't believe that this place has been here all along and I have been stuck two hours away putting up with daily torture.” Blaine's step faltered slightly but he continued and ran a couple of steps to keep up.

“Well I'm glad you're fitting in and I want you to know that you have friends here. You already feel like a part of the Warblers to me and the others you met earlier. You are such a good guy and I am so sorry that you had to go through so much in order to find a place where you can belong. Is there anything I can help you with?” The two boys arrived at Kurt's Navigator and Kurt held back before getting in his car.

“The only thing I am worried about is what song I can audition with. I spent the entire second half of the day thinking about it. Can you give me any pointers?” Blaine laughed to himself. Of course Kurt would be stressed about his audition.

“Just don't try to hard okay? And no dramatic dancing or arm raising, you have to stand in that room and own it.” Blaine handed the taller boy a slip of paper with a number on it. “If you need any more help just text me.” Kurt didn't find the advice overly helpful, but just listening to Blaine made him feel a lot better about his audition. He stared at the paper in his hand before tucking it into his satchel.

“Thank you Blaine, for everything today. It's been great, no you've been great. Wow that was so cheesy.” Blaine laughed aloud this time.

“Well I'm glad I've helped make your first day a little easier. Now you get home and think about your song choice.” Kurt stepped into his car and rolled down the window.

“Thanks again Blaine. I'll see you tomorrow.” Kurt pulled away from his parking space and looked in his rear-view mirror to see Blaine waving at him. He also heard a faint shout reach him through the open window.

“Bye Kurt, don't stress out over the song!”