Crawford Academy was only a matter of minutes away from his 'house' and Kurt was able to find a parking spot easily. As he stood before the large oak doors he felt a thrill run through his entire being and had the sudden urge to turn around and just leave. Boys were filing into the school on all sides of him and suddenly his heart was falling into his stomach and his hands were on the keys in the ignition, ready to turn the key.

Then images of the murdered boy from the paper and Blaine's expectant face swam before Kurt and he knew that he couldn't turn away now. If he was going to do this he was going to carry it through to the end. With a sigh he grabbed his bag, checked his class list then the school map and finally dragged himself out of the car and marched into the school.

The interior of the school was just as intimidating as the exterior. Kurt's old high school had been a simple public school with lockers and white and red walls while Crawford Academy was almost completely different. There were marble staircases, white marble walls, floor rugs, and a lot of boys wandering around in uniform. Squaring his shoulders he marched along the hallway determined to make it to his first class on time.

Ten minutes later, with the warning bell just about to ring Kurt was very lost. He apparently looked it because a boy, who seemed vaguely familiar, stopped in front of him and smiled sympathetically at Kurt, "New here?" The boy asked. His voice was soft and sweet and his smile met his eyes.

Kurt nodded quickly. "I'm supposed to be in Mr. Hobbards Social Sciences class," Kurt said, trying to keep the terror out of his voice. Which was ridiculous. He was a grown man. Being back in school, undercover as a completely different person, shouldn't reduce him to a trembling freshman.

The boy laughed brightly, but not mockingly, "He's upstairs. I'll show you, c'mon." Immediately he turned back down the hallway Kurt had just wandered and led Kurt back to the main entrance and up the stairs to the second floor. He stopped at the top of the steps and pointed to the second door on the right. "Right over there. Now, what's your name new kid?" The boy asked, suddenly all business.

"Kurt, Kurt Hudmel," Kurt said, pleased that Wes had used his real first name for his cover.

The boy took Kurt's hand and squeezed it. "Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Kurt. I'll see you around I guess?" Kurt nodded and with a wink the boy sauntered down the stairs and around the corner until he was out of sight. The warning bell sounded a moment later, jerking Kurt from his musings, and spurring him to sprint to the second door on the right and slip in, starting his first day at Crawford Academy.

By the time Kurt was released from the class his mind was reeling. He was actually learning something! Kurt didn't think he'd learned that much in one week back at McKinley. It made him rethink his initial assumptions about everything he ever knew. With his bag shouldered once more he headed to the stairs for his second class, which was downstairs. Halfway down a curly haired head caught his attention.

Kurt knew that hair… and those shoulders… and that incredibly purposeful walk.

He hustled down the stairs as inconspicuously as possible and reached out to touch the shoulder. "Um, excuse me. I'm new here and I was wondering if I could ask you a question?"

Immediately Blaine stopped and turned around, looking up at him with dancing eyes. "Hey," he stuck his hand out with practiced ease. "I'm Blaine."

Kurt had to make himself breathe normally. The sight of Blaine in a school boy uniform was astounding. Blaine looked gorgeous… and 16! Which should have been wrong, but it so wasn't. Kurt wondered what would have happened if they had met in high school when they were younger and if Blaine would have looked at him like he was now.

"Kurt," he finally replied, squeezing Blaine's hand. They held together for a few moments before drawing away quickly and looking bashful. Wait… was that a blush on Blaine's cheeks? Boys slid past the two of them without a second glance as Kurt forced himself to act the part. "I have Mrs. Barnes next and I don't know where her room is."

Something sparked in Blaine's eyes and he slipped into the suave and well-mannered young man he had turned his cover into. "I have her too. You can walk with me if you want," Kurt nodded emphatically and hustled down the steps to take his position at Blaine's side as they descended the stairs.

It was obvious that Blaine was acting completely different from the Blaine Kurt had gotten to know over the past couple of weeks. This Blaine was all business, overly gelled hair, and calm expression. Sure Blaine was all those things at the Agency but for some reason this Blaine was obviously different.

Blaine's eyes slid to the side, catching Kurt's and suddenly there was a slip of the mask as Blaine winked. Kurt colored a little and immediately looked down at his shoes. They strode in awkward, 'I just met this person and I don't know what to say' silence until Blaine stopped in front of a classroom door. Blaine immediately stepped forward to push the door open for Kurt. Kurt grinned shyly at Blaine and slipped in, looking around for a seat to take.

Blaine's voice at his shoulder started him slightly and Blaine chuckled. "There aren't assigned seats. Why don't you come and sit with me?" He jerked his head towards a couple desks at the right side of the class. Kurt hesitated a moment before nodding and following Blaine to the desks. As the settled Blaine leaned down to search through the bag on the ground and whispered just loud enough for Kurt to hear him.

"One of our boys is in this class. It's the one we suspect is the ring leader's right hand boy; Jamie Melrose. Blond, blue eyed, short but very handsome. He's not hard to spot," A moment later Blaine pulled his notebook from his backpack and settled in his seat, flashing a charming smile at Kurt that completely caught him off guard.

They sat side by side as more boys filtered into the class and the teacher immediately started her class. Blaine's eyes moved to the front of the class where sure enough there was a boy matching Blaine's earlier description. He was staring attentively at the teacher, but turned his head slightly to look back at Kurt as if he'd felt Kurt's eyes upon him. Jamie gave Kurt a smile and nod of his head that Kurt hurried to return because he felt like he should, and turned his gaze down to the top of his desk. Kurt couldn't believe that this sweet, almost model-like boy, was considered for being involved in gun running and murder.

Kurt tried to stay attentive but just felt like he was drowning. All this information being thrown at him was more than a little daunting and by the end of class Kurt felt drained. Blaine stood next to his desk, smiling at Kurt brilliantly, "What do you have next?" Jamie had already disappeared, but not without a glance back at Kurt and Blaine.

"I don't even know," Kurt sighed, fishing his schedule from his pocket and handing it over.

Blaine laughed brightly and scanned over the paper. "Mr. Wilk. I can show you where he is," He handed the paper back and picked up Kurt's backpack for him. "The first day is always hard, but you'll fit in soon enough new kid," He said with a smirk, shouldering both his and Kurt's backpacks. Kurt opened his mouth to protest but Blaine took his arm that moment to escort him out of the room.

Mr. Wilk's class wasn't far from his previous class and when Blaine stopped to drop him and his bag off there he asked, "Listen, I know we just met an all, but I thought that since you're new you might like to eat lunch with me. But if you don't that's-" Kurt immediately cut him off.

"No! That's fine. I'd like that. Um… why don't you meet me here after class and we can walk to lunch together?" Kurt asked, suddenly realizing how surreal this whole situation seemed.

Blaine's entire face lit up as he nodded emphatically. "That sounds great! I'll see you then," his hand touched the back of Kurt's and he slipped away. Kurt let himself grin a little before turning towards the door and almost immediately found himself fact to face with the boy from earlier.

"Hey!" The boy chirped brightly, completely ignoring the fact he was invading Kurt's personal space. Kurt tried his best to shuffle back a little without seeming rude and grinned back at the boy. He was tall and lanky and dark skinned with brilliant eyes that seemed to be searching Kurt for something. "I'm Philip Jackson, we met earlier."

Kurt immediately made the connection from this boy to the boy in the photos that Wes had showed him earlier. "We did, yeah. Thanks for your help then."

Philip shrugged, "No problem. Here, come sit with me." He tugged Kurt with him to one of the seats in the back of the class and pushed him to a seat. "So, you're new?" He prompted.

"Brand new from New York. My dad thought this would be an easy way to help me get into a good college."

Philip nodded sagely, "Smart move." That was all they said because the teacher took that moment to step in and halted their conversation. After class finished Philip stopped Kurt before he could leave and asked, "Hey, would you want to eat lunch with me and a few of my friends?"

Kurt answered before he really thought, "I'm sorry. I was already asked to have lunch with someone else." Phillip shrugged but didn't seem swayed.

"That's cool man. We'll do lunch later." He grabbed his bag and hustled out of the room with Kurt following after slowly. Blaine wasn't waiting at the door but after a quick scan of the hall he spotted Blaine jogging towards him and immediately felt a smile form on his lips.

"You ready?" Blaine asked brightly, trotting up to Kurt. Kurt nodded and Blaine immediately took his backpack and led him to the cafeteria. He played the part of the perfect guide, showing Kurt around the school and telling him which teacher's room was where and checking their schedules so he could show Kurt around later. At lunch they sat together at a private table. Blaine leaned close, acting incredibly interested in what Kurt had to say. "Have you met anyone else today?" Blaine asked.

Kurt caught on to Blaine's drift after moments of hesitation. "Yeah, I did. A kid named Philip Melrose. He offered to have me eat lunch with him."

Blaine's eyebrows knitted together, "And why didn't you?"

Kurt felt his cheeks color a little. "Because I wanted to eat with you," Kurt could have sworn he saw a blush rise on Blaine's cheeks and they sat together in silence for a while until both had finished their lunches.

Blaine cleared his throat and asked, "I'll walk you to your next class, okay?" Kurt nodded and didn't even try to protest when Blaine took his backpack. They parted at the doorway with Blaine promising to come get Kurt and escort him to his next class. Inside many of the boys had already settled themselves in their seats and immediately Kurt found himself in another class with Jamie Melrose. The boy was at the front again with a seat open next to him and immediately Kurt found his feet leading him to the seat. He hovered slightly at the boy's elbow before asking,

"Can I have this seat?" Jamie immediately looked up at him and smiled rakishly at Kurt.

"Of course," Kurt settled in the seat and a beat of silence passed between them before Jamie asked. "You're new aren't you?" Kurt nodded and Jamie held out his spindly fingered hand, "I'm Jamie Melrose."

"Kurt Hudmel," Kurt replied automatically. Their chances for conversation were cut off after that by the arrival of the teacher and Jamie immediately focused on her. When class finished Jamie immediately turned towards Kurt and said,

"It was awesome meeting you. I'll see you later, kay?" Kurt nodded, flashing a brilliant smile.

Outside the door Blaine was already waiting to escort him to his next class. When that class finished Blaine was there once more to escort him to his car. If Kurt hadn't known that everything was all an act he would have sworn Blaine was actually interested in him.

At Kurt's car Blaine leaned his hip against the side. "So, I um, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then? It was really nice meeting you,"

Kurt grinned, "You too." The grinned at each other ridiculously until Blaine asked, "I guess it would be out of line to ask for your phone number?" Kurt shook his head and immediately reached out to plug his number into Blaine's phone. Scanning through Blaine's contacts he found a lot of names he didn't recognize and wondered if they were even real. He quickly keyed in his name and the number of the phone that Wes had supplied him and handed it back.

"I'll text you later then. Maybe we could do lunch again tomorrow huh?" Blaine asked. Kurt nodded and slipped into his car. Blaine waved at him as he drove away from the academy feeling incredibly giddy.

Kurt knew that he wasn't alone when he sauntered into his 'apartment' 30 minutes later, especially since there were shoes next to his door and a jacket hung up on the coat rack. "Hello?" He called.

Wes came out of the direction of the kitchen, grinning at Kurt. "Blaine called me moments ago to rave about how you played the part of new student to a 'T' today. Very convincing. And you also have the attention of two of the Bonekeepers on you." Wes actually looked proud at that.

"What can I say?" Kurt replied, mock modestly. "I'm great at undercover work,"

Wes nodded, slipping his shoes on, "You actually are. But, don't get cocky yet. We still need to get both you and Blaine into their group and then we'll talk about you being amazing." He patted Kurt's shoulder and left him alone.

That night Blaine called him to congratulate him on his wonderful performance. "I really thought you were a new student," Blaine murmured, apparently trying to keep from being heard by anyone other than Kurt.

"I really thought that you had never met me. You even kept it up when we were at my car," Kurt exclaimed, hurriedly finishing buttoning his night shirt.

"You never know where they've bugged and haven't," Blaine replied. "I can't talk long. I'm huddling in an obscure location about 500 feet from civilization and I need to get back before my roomie notices."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow then. Bright and early,"

Blaine sighed, "Yep. Night Kurt, you were fantastic today, just keep it up."

"Night Blaine," Kurt replied with a smile.

In the morning Blaine was waiting for Kurt at the front of the school. They exchanged pleasantries and kept to the same schedule as the day. Throughout the day Jamie and Phillip chatted with him brightly but Kurt realized that he still hadn't gotten the chance to see the ring leader. He was dying for a chance to tell Wes and when he got 'home' that day he told Wes just that.

"It's not that surprising," Wes murmured, "We thought it would be more prudent to keep you out of classes with him and put you with his lesser minions. That way it would seem less suspicious. Just keep working at it."

By the end of the week Kurt realized that it was getting really close to 'time' since he could almost feel the Bonekeepers were about ready to proposition to him. Jamie was overly affectionate and talked to him about his extracurricular work and seemed thrilled when he found that Kurt wasn't in any clubs. The breaking point happened yesterday when Phillip told Kurt, "I'm Secretary of this really prestigious club here. Maybe I can get you in. If colleges see that club on your high school transcript you're sure to get into any college you want,"

Kurt went away giddy after thanking Phillip profusely. But, this almost meant it was time for stage two. He'd been thinking about it for what felt like forever until it seemed like time. The phrase 'stage two' floated around Kurt's head all that night and he wasn't able to push it from his thoughts. Stage two was terrifying for Kurt. He was studying with Blaine after school in the senior commons when Kurt finally decided to go for it and implement Stage two. Wes had told him that the element of surprise was key to making this work.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked, making sure his voice was loud enough to reach Phillip who was studying on the other side of the room with a smaller and meeker looking boy.

Blaine glanced up at him, "Hm?" He asked, attention on Kurt.

"I-I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me this weekend. On a date," Kurt said, watching in fascination as Blaine's opened wide.

"Oh, um-" Blaine murmured, looking incredibly surprised. So surprised in fact that Kurt felt his heart plummet out of his stomach and through the floor into the basement of the academy.