After their final class of the day, Kurt walked out with Mercedes, Mike and Tina. They all had some great ideas for their performances during the Night of Neglect, but Kurt knew that he'd first have to return home, listen to some music, and let his mind roam before he would come up with the perfect song to sing. Like most of his friends, he was well aware that in Glee club, he was perpetually neglected. Some people – alright, who was he kidding; Rachel was the only person who fell in this category – were not neglected at all, but felt like they were (something Kurt would have to talk about with Rachel), and others simply didn't seem to care much.

"What are you going to sing, Kurt?" Tina asked him, obviously noticing that he was zoning out a little.

"I'm not sure yet," he replied, his mind reeling with possible songs. "But I'll find something."

Mercedes nodded. "Maybe you can sing something related to your audition as well?"

He could. He might. He just didn't know yet. And that slightly bothered him, because Kurt Hummel was not indecisive. Not too often, at least. Preferably.

"Oh, I know!" Tina suddenly exclaimed, a mischievous glint in her eyes that Kurt didn't think he'd ever seen before. "Maybe you can sing the song I sang for my audition? I don't think we've ever sung anything by the same artist afterwards, so you should be good to go."

Kurt wasn't sure if he trusted Tina right now, especially since Mike was trying his hardest not to laugh. The last time that had happened, Sam had been about to get serenaded with a song about his mouth. He glanced at Mercedes, and she was sending Tina an incredulous look.

"What was the song?" he asked suspiciously.

Tina shook her head, smiling. "No, I won't tell you yet. I'll tell you tomorrow. It's not that bad, Kurt. Besides, you can always change the lyrics so they'll fit you better, or something."

"Don't bother asking anyone else, because nobody else knows," Mike told him. Well, that was just unfortunate.

"Come on, Kurt, it'll be fun!" Tina egged him on. "You know what? If you sing the song, you can drag me along to the mall next weekend and I'll try on anything you find me."

"Why do you want me to sing that song so badly?" he asked, not fully understanding what the big deal was. Sure, he wasn't really into the music Tina liked, but he could try to sing the song. The fact that she was practically bribing him to sing it probably meant that he would not like the song at all.

Tina and Mercedes exchanged glances and almost cracked up. "It would be hilarious to watch," Mercedes assured him.

"So I should get on that stage and let everyone laugh at me?" Kurt asked; that was not his goal at all.

At that moment, Finn walked up to them, saying something about Sunshine Corazon being here. As they followed him towards the auditorium, Kurt told Tina, "I'll think about it. And if everyone laughs at me, you're going shopping with me for two or three weekends straight."

"It'll be fine," Tina tried to soothe him, patting his arm as they entered the auditorium together to see what exactly Sunshine wanted from them now.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The next day during rehearsal, Kurt was not amused. He had gone through many possibilities of what Tina might have in store for him and in the end, he'd figured he might as well go with it. After he'd told her that he would sing her audition song if she would join him on his next shopping trip(s) as his personal dress up doll, she had grinned happily.

When Mr Schuester had come in and asked the group who was planning on performing, and who would help out in any other way, it turned out that only half of the group was going to perform. But that was all fine, apparently. Quinn and Finn were going to organise the whole thing and Sam would announce the various performers. The others would just be around and help, or something. Kurt couldn't be sure.

Right after Tina told Mr Schuester which song she was going to sing, she added, "And Kurt agreed to sing the song I did for my Glee audition."

In response, Mr Schuester frowned at Kurt. "Are you sure, Kurt?" he asked hesitantly. "I mean, I don't know how people are going to react to that."

Kurt shrugged. "I don't even know the song. I was bribed."

Tina grinned at this. "I reckon I can tell you now. You need to prepare anyway. I sang I kissed a girl, by Katy Perry."

Kurt's eyes narrowed. "You expect me to sing that?"

"Well," Tina replied, obviously trying to convince him anyway, "it's sort of true, right? You kissed Brittany last year – " (at this, Brittany waved in their direction happily,) "even though you're not exactly attracted to girls, so it might create a… funny situation, don't you think?"

"You'll confuse all the people in the audience," Mr Schuester commented.

"If anyone gives you any trouble for it, we've got your back," Puck said, and Finn and Sam nodded in agreement.

"So that's the song you'll be singing Saturday night?" Mr Schuester asked Kurt, his pen hovering about the sign up sheet he was filling out. "And – "

"Can I help?" Brittany asked eagerly.

"Help?" Kurt asked confusedly. He was very capable of figuring out how to sing this song by himself.

"You mean like a duet?" Mr Schue asked, glancing from Brittany to Kurt and back. When Brittany smiled happily, he said, "Is that alright with you, Kurt?"

Well, that was awkward. Kurt knew he could easily sing the song on his own, but maybe, with Brittany there, it would be easier – people might not give him as much hell for singing the song, and she could sing the parts he could definitely not sing since he'd be confusing himself then. "Sure," he answered, still a bit baffled. Brittany beamed at him. "We'll talk about it later, okay?" So now he was going to sing a song about kissing a girl with the only girl (alright, the only person) he'd ever kissed – who had also kissed another girl. Said other girl was staring at Brittany with an incredulous look on her face.

He glanced at Tina and Mercedes out of the corner of his eye. They looked just as perplexed as he felt.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

That day during lunch, Wes surprised Blaine by calling an emergency meeting. There hadn't been an emergency meeting in ages, and they usually weren't held at all after the Warblers' competition season was over. Why on earth would there be an emergency meeting now?

Grabbing his lunch, Blaine hastily stood up from his seat and speed walked towards the meeting room. On his way there, he was joined by most other Warblers as well, none of whom had any idea as to what was wrong.

Arriving in the Warblers' meeting room, Blaine cast a glance at the council table. Wes was looking at the rest of the Warblers impatiently, David looked a little bemused, and Thad was hastily eating the remainder of his lunch. He barely managed to save his last sandwich from getting caught in between Wes' gavel and the council table when Wes decided that it was time to open the meeting.

Some Warblers immediately started talking again after this, asking Wes why on earth he'd called a meeting. Now that they didn't need to worry about Nationals, they only had meetings twice a week. Nothing interesting had been going on during their last meeting, just the afternoon before.

After slamming his gavel down a couple of times more, Wes finally spoke. "This year, we're out of the running for the Nationals title," he started. "Next year, however, the Warblers can start fresh. Now, we," he said, gesturing towards himself and his fellow council members, "won't be around anymore, but that doesn't mean we won't fully support you next year. And you need to be prepared, seeing as there are not one, but multiple amazing show choirs around that you need to beat in order to go to Nationals or even win it next year."

"So what do you propose?" Jeff asked, frowning. "Where are you going with this?"

"I was just getting to that," Wes replied, a little peeved. "As some of you may know, I've taken it upon myself to keep an eye on the competition. At the beginning of this school year, Vocal Adrenaline seemed like our main competitors, which is why I started following several of their members on Twitter." After the subsequent murmurs died down, Wes continued. "Their main lead, Sunshine Corazon, sent out an interesting tweet last night. In this, she called upon all her followers to attend what she called the first annual Night of Neglect at William McKinley High School in Lima in order to raise money for, among others, that school's academic decathlon team."

"I thought Vocal Adrenaline was Carmel's show choir?" Nick asked, confused. "Why would she help out some random school?"

Wes' eyes glinted happily. "I'm not sure of her motives, but McKinley is not a random school. This Night of Neglect is hosted by New Directions."

Now, it took Wes a little longer to calm everyone down. Blaine thought it was pretty fishy – why would the lead singer of one show choir sing at a show hosted by another? Especially since both clubs were headed towards Nationals in a little over a month?

"Is that even useful?" Trent asked. "We can get a feel of what this Sunshine girl sings like if we just watch the Nationals competition, and we've heard half of New Directions sing already."

"You can never be too prepared," David replied to that. "Maybe they've got some hidden talent there. We don't know if they'll use the same people for next year's competitions as they did this year."

When nobody else protested, Wes looked around the room with a satisfied smile. "Looks like we're going to Lima, then. So make sure you don't have anything to do next Saturday – we'll discuss plans for that night during the next meeting."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

That Saturday night, the Warblers arrived at McKinley's parking lot exactly half an hour before the show would start. At least they'd have semi-decent spots, they figured. At first, Wes had told them all to wear their uniforms, wanting to see what kind of reactions that would bring about. At Blaine's insistence, however, they were now wearing more casual clothes. The fact that their group consisted of fifteen teenage boys was odd enough – if they would go in uniform, who knew what might happen to them. If there was anything Blaine remembered about public school kids, it was that they were easily provoked and that things could get nasty from there.

When they entered the school, the group was met by two boys who looked slightly bored. Seeing the Warblers come in, however, the boys put their best show smiles on their faces and stood a little straighter.

"Uh – hi," one of the boys, a very blond one, greeted them, "are you here for the Night of Neglect?"

"Yes, we are," Wes replied somewhat pompously, flashing the group's tickets. "Can you show us where to go?"

"That's why we're here," the other boy replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Sam, can you stay here, in case there are other people coming? We can't really have random people walking around school, especially on a Saturday night."

The boy named Sam looked dubious. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, what if you run into Karofsky or one of his friends?"

The other boy shrugged. "I guess I can risk it just this once. And it's not as if the auditorium is that far away…"

Sam continued to look hesitant, but his friend told the Warblers, "Just follow me, the auditorium is right this way."

Most of the Warblers had never been in a public school before, so they were looking around in amazement the entire way. Blaine was just wondering if this school could possibly be as bad as his old school and, if it was, if there was any chance at an encounter with bullies. All of a sudden, he wasn't as happy to be here anymore.

After about a minute, a blond girl approached them, pushing a boy in a wheelchair. Both students smiled happily at the group of boys. "Hey, Kurtie!" the girl said cheerfully, and the boy leading the Warblers around pulled a slightly pained face. "You'd better get them to the auditorium, the show's about to start!"

"I know," 'Kurtie' replied. "I was just about to drop them off."

"It's going to be a full house," the boy in the wheelchair added. "Make sure you get some good seats," he told the Warblers.

"We will," David told him as the two students headed towards another room.

"Thanks for coming, it's really cool," the boy in the wheelchair before they disappeared.

Before the group could walk any further, a voice came from behind them. "What the hell is this?"

Blaine turned around and yes – prototype bully, there was no doubt about it. Standing in front of them was a huge, bulky guy, obviously some sort of jock, and he was glaring at them as if they'd personally assaulted him. Which was just ridiculous – what could they do against a guy this big?

"They're here for the benefit," their guide (of sorts) told the (much) larger boy. His tone indicated that this definitely wasn't the first time the two of them had crossed paths. "Don't tell me you're going."

"I wouldn't be caught dead," the jock replied, and Blaine had to admit – if he'd been alone, he would've run for his life by now. And if not, he most certainly wouldn't be standing here like the smaller boy was, standing up for himself and generally being brave. It was an admirable trait, Blaine thought, but perhaps a little foolish as well.

As the jock rambled on about his classmates spreading fairy dust all over the school, Blaine glanced at his friends. They all seemed shocked at… what, exactly? The harsh reality of the world outside Dalton? The ignorance of a lot of people? The hate that gay people (since Blaine figured that the boy leading them towards the auditorium might be gay…but he could be wrong) faced every day?

"Just give it up, Karofsky," the boy said, his eyes narrowing. "You know that the second you pull something, the other guys – "

Without letting him finish, the bigger boy charged at him. Blaine stood there, paralysed, and it appeared that the same went for his friends.

"Hey, stop it!" Before any of them knew what was happening, a girl stepped in and pushed the two apart.

She glared daggers at the bully and the smaller boy wasn't backing down either. "Are all public schools like this?" Wes muttered in a barely audible tone. Blaine shrugged; from what he'd seen so far, they were all equally bad. Then again, he'd only seen two so far, so he didn't know if that was enough to get a general impression.

In the meantime, the girl had managed to get the bully to leave them alone, telling him something about razor blades in her hair – Blaine decided that he didn't want to know the details to that. He just knew that this girl was not someone to be crossed.

"Thanks, Santana," the other boy told the girl with a small smile. "You didn't need to do that, I could've handled it."

The girl looked at him as though she didn't quite believe him. Then, her expression changed. "You shouldn't have to handle it by yourself. Besides, it's more fun doing it together."

Something buzzed, and both the girl and Wes pulled out their phones. The girl cursed and walked into the same room as the two other students had done earlier, and Wes frowned.

"What's wrong?" David asked, and Wes shook his head.

"Apparently, Sunshine Corazon is not coming," he told the group. "Nor are most of her followers."

Wes and David exchanged looks, having a silent conversation. In the end, all the other Warblers knew what was the topic of their discussion this time. None of Sunshine's other followers might be coming, but they sure were. They were there already anyway, and this whole thing wasn't just to see how Sunshine handled herself on stage, but also what New Directions could have in store for them next year.

"So are you planning on leaving as well?" the McKinley boy asked them, sounding a little worried.

"No, we're staying," Wes said resolutely, and with that, the boy continued leading them towards the auditorium.

"Here we are," he said somewhat awkwardly when they arrived. "I'm sorry you had to witness that just now."

Wes shrugged, and David said, "That wasn't your fault. It's fine."

"Actually, it's not fine," Thad interjected. "Do things like this happen all the time?" As he said this, he looked at Blaine, who started feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Yes, they do," the boy replied simply, smiling apologetically. "Anyway, you can sit down anywhere you want." He gestured towards the mostly empty auditorium. "It's not like there'll be more people coming."

Indeed, the auditorium was still mostly empty. There were a couple of people – it looked like a teacher and a couple of students – sitting somewhere in the front rows, so the Warblers sat down in the middle of the auditorium, occupying a few rows, so they could all sit close together.

"I'm guessing not many students from here will be coming," Jeff commented, and the guys around him nodded.

"Based on what we just witnessed in that corridor, I doubt the Glee club here is very cool," David agreed.

Once more, Blaine was very happy that at Dalton, the Warblers were a respected group. Add to that the anti-bullying policy, and he had nothing to worry about. More than that – most people seemed to like him, and no one gave him a hard time for being himself. Sure, he couldn't entirely be himself, but conforming was part of the point of Dalton's rules and policies. Conforming just enough was what made him safe, and his safety was what mattered most. So he didn't exactly mind most of the rules at Dalton if they helped create a safe environment.

Soon after, the first performer was announced and a girl dressed in black came on stage. From what the Warblers had seen, she was not one of the New Directions members who had performed during a competition (unlike the blond boy near the entrance of the school, or the girl who'd chased off the bully). This was exactly what they'd come for.

She hadn't sung two lines of her song before the students who'd already been in the auditorium when the Warblers had come in started shouting and booing at her.

Blaine exchanged shocked glances with Jeff and Nick. "What are they doing?" Nick mouthed.

"And why are they doing it?" Jeff mouthed back. Blaine didn't know the answer either, but it seemed that they'd seriously underestimated the level of uncoolness of a Glee club at this school.

It wasn't long before the girl ran off stage, and Blaine didn't blame her. If it had been him… well, maybe he wouldn't have run away, but he might've definitely been too shocked to continue for a moment.

"What's wrong with those people?" Wes hissed at Blaine. "She was good, why would they chase her away?"

"What are you asking me for?" Blaine asked. "I may have gone to public school before Dalton, but that doesn't mean I'm an expert at the subject!"

"Honestly though, if all the New Directions members are this good, and this different from one another, it's a good thing we decided to come," David concluded. "I wouldn't be surprised if you could name a random song and they'd have someone who could sing it."

"They certainly have more variety than we do," Wes agreed. "But that could work as a disadvantage for them as well – they're more all over the place than we are."

Right then, a girl walked in with a couple of baskets, filled with sweets. The hecklers eagerly grabbed as much as they could before the girl – clearly a prom queen candidate – disappeared again.

"Why aren't we getting any candy?" Jeff asked, sounding rather offended.

"It's just a measure to distract them from heckling the performers too much," Thad piped up. "We weren't heckling them – and please, Jeff, don't start now – so we don't get any. I doubt they'd have enough for all of us anyway."

The blond guy from earlier announced the next performer – a dancer, rather than a singer. As soon as the boy stepped into the light, Blaine recognised him as the guy who'd danced so outrageously well at Sectionals. After the admittedly slightly disappointing choreography New Directions had shown at Regionals, he'd forgotten that they had some excellent dancers amongst them, which gave them an obvious advantage over the Warblers. If they used said dancers, that was.

Thanks to the candy that had been handed out, the hecklers were quiet for the biggest part of the song. Afterwards, the Dalton students jumped up quickly to applaud, before the hecklers had the chance to start booing again.

Intermission started, but Blaine figured he'd best stay in the auditorium. He didn't want another run-in with a (potential) bully. Some of the other guys did venture outside, curious as they were about being in a public school.

During the intermission, the stage was prepared for the next few songs. Blaine didn't know how many people were going to perform, but judging from the fact that there was an intermission after only two performances, there couldn't be many left.

Suddenly, the boy who'd led them to the auditorium walked on stage, talking to the blond girl they'd met in the hallway. Both of them had changed their outfits, and they must be discussing a performance, Blaine thought. He couldn't make out what exactly they were saying, so instead, he concentrated on the conversation some of the other Warblers were having behind him.

"Spies!" a high-pitched girl's voice sounded from outside. The two students on stage looked up, and the boy rolled his eyes before continuing to talk. That was, until a short brunette girl stormed into the auditorium and ran straight at the stage.

"What is it, Rachel?" the boy asked. As he was at the front of the stage now, his voice was audible. "Weren't you looking for Mercedes?" A little concernedly, he added, "Should I go find her? I – "

"No, that's fine," the girl, Rachel, replied. "I think I know where to look for her, but we've got another problem."

"Spies," the blond girl supplied not very helpfully.

"How'd you guess," Nick muttered from next to Blaine, staring at the stage.

"The Warblers are here, in disguise," Rachel told her team mates.

Wes, who'd followed her in, huffed and made his way down. "We're not in disguise," he informed the three McKinley students matter-of-factly. "We're just not in our uniforms."

"Birds wear uniforms?" the blond girl wondered out loud, and now, Nick groaned loudly.

"They're not really birds," the boy on stage tried to explain before giving up. "Anyway, Rachel, I don't really see the problem. They're not our competition anymore, right?"

"We might have to compete against them again next year," Rachel reminded him, glaring at Wes.

The boy sighed. "That's true. But we can't throw them out, they paid to be here." Looking at the audience, he added for good measure, "Let's first worry about Nationals. We'll have plenty of time to worry about next year's Sectionals, don't you think?"

The girl huffed, turned on her heel, and stormed out of the auditorium.

"I hope she remembers to look for Mercedes," the boy quipped. Turning towards Wes, he said, "Sorry about Rachel. I wish I could say she's not usually like this, but the truth is, she is."

Wes nodded stiffly and returned to his seat, while the boy said something else to the blonde. Then, they went off stage as well.

Right before the next performance started, a tall blond woman walked in, and David nudged Blaine. "Hey," he whispered as quietly as possible, "isn't that the coach of Aural Intensity? What on earth is she doing here?"

"Beats me," Blaine whispered back. The woman exchanged some words with the heckling man sitting there (the three students must've left at some point; not that Blaine minded particularly), and then they walked out of the auditorium together. The man walking in at that moment (New Directions' director? Blaine wasn't entirely sure) seemed to have had some issues with the woman in the past. Something told Blaine that it wasn't just about a Regionals rivalry.

Apparently, in the short time between Rachel storming out and now, an entire orchestra had settled on the stage and a woman (Holly Holiday? She must've been bullied for her name during her youth, Blaine guessed) came on. Her song choice and the presence of the teacher in the auditorium made Blaine feel like their entire group was witnessing a rather private moment.

After the stage was cleared, the next performance was announced. Blaine missed the name of the song or the performer, but David asked, "Did he just say Britney Spears?"

"Why would Britney Spears be here, in Ohio, performing at a public school for a benefit?" Wes asked incredulously.

No Britney Spears appeared, however, but instead, a tune Blaine knew all too well started playing. He bounced up and down in his seat with an ever-growing grin on his face, and the Warblers sitting around him groaned.

"What have we done to deserve this?" David exclaimed dramatically. Before anyone had the time to reply, someone started singing. Blaine's eyes almost fell out of their sockets. It was the boy from earlier! Blaine had to admit, though – he didn't look entirely at ease singing the song, and Blaine wondered if someone had blackmailed him into doing this. Either way, he just sat back and enjoyed the show; the boy had an amazing voice and – dare he think it? – equally amazing legs. Especially in those skinny jeans.

Wes was just gaping at the stage. "They have a countertenor?" he asked, sounding slightly horrified. "That's so unfair – they've got a wide range of female voices, they don't need him! Why can't they give him to us? Think of all the possibilities, all the songs we could do if only we had a countertenor!"

He blabbered on for a little longer, but Blaine tuned him out. There were more important things going on right now. Like the boy standing on stage, singing one of Blaine's favourite songs with his flawless voice and –

Wait. What was going on here? What was that girl doing? Only then did Blaine recall what had happened during the intermission; the two students must've done some last minute discussing of how to do their number.

Either way, after the boy had completed the first verse and chorus, a girl stepped on stage to sing the bridge while dancing around like a madwoman (though in a good way – it looked all kinds of awesome). After that, the boy and the girl sang the chorus together one more time, and the song was over.

There was another short break, during which the stage was prepared for the final song (or songs, that was still uncertain).

"That was an interesting song choice," Nick spoke up, while Jeff sniggered.

"Yeah, I wonder what it was all about," David chimed in.

"Well, easy," Jeff said. "The girl probably just kissed another girl some time, maybe while at a party during a game, or something. As for the guy – "

"He's probably gay but in denial at some point?" Nick guessed.

"Who knows," Jeff said with a smirk. "If the lyrics apply to him, then yes."

Loud chatter was heard as the doors to the auditorium opened and a group of teens entered. "So they're coming to watch their own show now?" Wes muttered, sounding hopelessly confused. The group sat down where the hecklers had previously been seated, and speaking of the hecklers – the older man was back. Blaine hoped that he wasn't going to mess up another song.

As he'd already expected, the next song was wonderful as well. The Warblers would have their work cut out for them next year if they wanted to beat such a versatile group. And scattered all over the place as New Directions might be, they seemed supportive of each other anyway in the end, if this was any indication.

Even the heckling man was enjoying himself.

After the song ended, there was some confusion here and there about whether or not there would be another song, but in the end it appeared to have been decided that the benefit was over. For a moment, the Warblers stood outside the auditorium, feeling a bit lost as they had no idea where to go. They vaguely remembered where they'd come from, but they didn't know the entire route there.

"Did you like the show?" a voice suddenly came from behind them, and there he was again, the same boy who'd also brought them in.

Multiple Warblers answered his question at the same time, possibly making it quite difficult for him to understand what anyone was saying.

"Why did you choose that song to sing?" Jeff asked, curious as he was.

The boy pulled a face. "It was a bribe. Some of my friends thought it fit me."

"Singing about kissing a girl and hoping your boyfriend doesn't mind?" Nick asked, grinning widely.

"Something along those lines, yes," the boy responded, wincing slightly.

Deciding to spare the boy, Blaine asked, "Could you point us towards the exit? We don't quite remember where it is."

The boy smiled thankfully. "I need to get to the choir room," he answered, "but I can give you the directions."

As they walked out, Blaine knew that the council members would be up until early the next morning to make plans to ensure that the Warblers would at least stand a small chance to advance to Nationals next year. He knew that Nick and Jeff, though making jokes all the time, were taking New Directions seriously, even more now that they'd seen them at the benefit. And, last but not least, he knew that he would never listen to Katy Perry ever again without remembering a certain boy with a beautiful voice.