Hours later, after all the orientation sessions were done and over with, Blaine was still mentally kicking himself as he threw himself on the bed, face down. Why had he lied to Thomas about being in the Warblers? What on earth had possessed him?

The worse part about the whole situation was that after he had said that, Thomas seemed to believe that they were now friends. He had introduced Blaine to the few other people he had met, most of whom shared Thomas' opinions on everything. Just to feel like he fit in, Blaine had found himself agreeing to what the others were saying. Every time he did so, he had the urge to kick himself even harder. Thomas had somehow convinced Blaine to remain with them for the remainder of the day and had introduced Blaine's dad to his parents. Unsurprisingly, the two fathers got along fantastically.

By the end of the day, Blaine loathed himself and Thomas. He loathed himself for lying in the first place and he loathed Thomas for being so—so—he didn't even have words to describe the boy. He hated the boy more than his father already. At least his father had the tendency to keep his opinions to himself, something that Blaine obviously shared with the man. Thomas had no such tendencies. It was like the boy had no filter. He said everything that came to mind, no matter how crude or arrogant it was.

Well at least he was stepping out of his comfort zone, he thought bitterly. He could tell David and Wes that, though he was sure they hadn't meant it this way.

"You look as tired as I feel." Blaine lifted his head at the voice. His roommate for the night had apparently beaten him back to the room. Blaine hadn't expected that. He had assumed most people would be at the dance being hosted, including his roommate. The hazel-eyed boy had been looking forward to some peace and quiet after spending the majority of the day with his father and Thomas. He turned his head to look at the speaker. The boy was at least six inches taller than him, with dark skin and hair. He waved tiredly at the boy.

"I'm Blaine," he introduced himself and got to his feet. He held out a hand. The other boy took it after a minute.

"Gabriel," he replied, shaking Blaine's hand. "Not much of a partier?"

Blaine shook his head.

"My brain is too fried from everything they put us through. I take it you're not as well?"

Gabriel gave a small smile as he replied, "Not really. I was planning on reading. That's my idea of partying."

Blaine smiled back.

"I won't stop you then. I was just going to take a shower and go to bed." Blaine began to gather up his things to do just that.

Gabriel sat on his bed and pulled a book out of his bag. He flipped open to what seemed to be a random page and began to read.

"Have fun," he said in an absent-minded tone. Blaine said nothing, going into the adjoining bathroom. He was sort of glad that he was rooming with Gabriel for the night. If it had been someone like Thomas…well, what would have happened would be better left unsaid.

Blaine was exhausted as he stumbled out of the shower. He toweled off quickly, dressed in his sleeping clothes, and fell onto his bed. He was glad that the dorm rooms were small. There was less space for him to cross to get to his bed. Oh, his sacred bed. Within minutes, he was asleep.

Gabriel glanced over as Blaine let out a small snore and rolled his eyes slightly before turning back to his book. He had originally planned to turn off the light in fifteen minutes if Blaine still hadn't fallen asleep out of courtesy. However, Blaine had and the boy was dead to the world. Now it didn't matter if the light was on or not.

When Blaine woke up the next morning to his phone's alarm, his entire body was stiff. He was still in the position he had fallen asleep in the night before. The light was already on but when Blaine looked over to see if Gabriel was up already, he found the other boy asleep with his book propped open on his chest. He had clearly fallen asleep reading.

Attempting to be quiet, Blaine got his clothes and toothbrush out of his bag and headed for the bathroom. It was still fairly early. There was at least two hours until breakfast and another hour after that until the first orientation session of the day. With so much time, Blaine decided that going for a run would be a good idea. He didn't often go for runs, preferring to box instead, but this way he could explore the campus and the surrounding areas. It was also more convenient because he didn't know if the exercise room would be open and if he would be able to access it if the gym did happen to be open.

Once Blaine had gotten into the rhythm of running, he found that he was enjoying himself. The campus was just as he remembered it when he had gone to visit it last fall. He had originally liked it for the fact that it was in a city, but not as large as a city as New York or Chicago. It was small enough for him to feel comfortable in but it wasn't so small that he felt like he was trapped, like he had in Westerville. Then there was the fact that it was in the East Coast. No more Midwest towns for him. It was oddly freeing.

By the time Blaine had finished his run, he had covered most of the campus and was drenched in sweat. The sun may have just risen but it was already proving to be a hot and humid day. He would have to rethink his wardrobe choice for the day. Jeans and a sweater would definitely be too heavy. He would have to deal with the shorts he had packed just in case and a t-shirt.

Gabriel was gone when Blaine got back to the room. The boy was most likely at breakfast then, as it had started about ten minutes prior. Blaine had already made the decision to forgo breakfast for a shower and fresh clothes. Once he was ready for the day, he still had time for breakfast but decided to go meet up with his father instead. Sure, he wasn't overly fond of the man, but between his father and running into Thomas, Blaine would choose his father. At least his father kept his comments to himself most of the time.

"Did you eat?" Blaine's father asked as soon as Blaine managed to find him. That was it. No greeting. Just a question.

"No," Blaine admitted. "I wasn't hungry." It was partially true. The heat had made Blaine lose his appetite for the most part.

"What is on the agenda for today?" Blaine opened the bag in his hand and brought out the schedule. He scanned it.

"More sessions, registering for classes, and a study abroad question and answer forum," he replied. "The study abroad thing is right before lunch." Blaine was quite interested in studying abroad. He was interested to see what it was like actually living somewhere outside the United States, not just visiting.

"We'll see. You should focus on your schoolwork for the first year and possibly the second as well. Then we'll talk about it. I'm sure there will be more study abroad meetings in the future."

Blaine pursed his lips and turned away from his father. He wasn't going to fight his father on this right now. It was too hot and too early to butt heads with his father.

"We're free to leave after I register for classes," he said, changing the subject. Blaine's father nodded.

"Our flight leaves at 5:54 this evening. We need to get to the airport by 4:30 at the latest. Try to get registered before three o'clock then."

Blaine nodded once.

The morning sessions passed by agonizingly slow for Blaine. He stuck close to Gabriel and tried to avoid Thomas as much as possible. Gabriel didn't seem to mind Blaine practically latching on to him. He barely even noticed. The boy spent most of his free time reading. Blaine even caught him reading during the morning sessions. It was quite amusing actually. Blaine wondered if this is how he looked at Dalton when he was preparing for one of the Warbler competitions.

Blaine ate lunch quickly to try and sign up for an earlier registration time. He was also trying not to linger on the fact that he had missed the study abroad discussion. Gabriel had gone to it and came back extremely animated. He had been kind enough to fill Blaine in on what he had missed but it wasn't the same.

Once it was time to register, time started to fly by faster. Blaine had registered for a few of the core classes he was required to take, Economics, and Calculus II. He had gotten a high enough score on the placement test to get credit for Calculus, but to get those credits he had to take the next highest course, which had been Calc II. He wasn't looking forward to Calculus but he was looking forward to Economics even less. He had gone over the basics in his business and finance class at Dalton and had hated it. However it would get his parents off his case for a while.

As expected, Blaine's father wasn't overly thrilled that Blaine wasn't taking more business related classes but Blaine ignored the backhanded comments. He was used to them. At the airport, he called his mother and filled her in about orientation as well. She asked question after question about the two days and Blaine was relieved to hand the phone over to his father, who was subjected to the same treatment. He loved his mother but she had a tendency to ask the same questions, just worded a bit differently.

The plane ride was torturous. Not only did the plane make Blaine feel claustrophobic, but he was sitting next to his father and right in front of a family that was made up with a mother, a father, a five-year-old that wouldn't stop kicking his seat, and a toddler that wouldn't stop crying. Blaine wished he could plug his headphones into his iPod but his right headphone wouldn't play music. Even when Blaine tried to suffer through the broken headphones, his father would interrupt with some meaningless conversation. All in all, it was a very frustrating plane ride.

Even though it had only been two days, Blaine had never been so thankful to see home.