Blaine looked around somewhat curiously. It felt odd, just sitting in the audience without having to worry about having to get on stage soon.

It had been Wes' idea to come – of course it had, Wes was already getting ready to become a council member next year, when he would be a senior, and coming up with stuff like this only made him more of a shoe in for a spot on the council. It would be good to scope out the competition, he had argued. Besides, even if they wouldn't make it through Sectionals themselves – they were up against Vocal Adrenaline, so their chances at winning Sectionals weren't all that big – maybe they could learn a thing or two from the teams competing today.

Their own Sectionals was next week, so there had been extra long afternoon rehearsals to make up for the time they lost today, by just sitting back and watching a deaf kids' choir, some criminal girls and some brand new public school group. Well, at least they wouldn't get bored, Blaine thought.

The reform school for girls was up first, and Blaine could feel some of his team mates shrink in their seats. He had to admit, those girls looked pretty tough. Intimidating. Not the sort of people he'd want to meet in a dark, deserted alley in the middle of the night – not that Blaine ever walked through dark, deserted alleys in the middle of the night – or, well, at all. Luckily, these girls didn't look like they'd ever even come close to Dalton.

"That's a good song they're singing," David muttered from next to him, and Blaine had to agree. It sounded good, but also… angry. But maybe he was just very prejudiced against these girls.

He glanced around the room to see how the other people in the audience felt about the performance – apart from a group of teenagers looking completely shell-shocked, confused, and kind of furious at the same time, they all seemed to like it. So Blaine figured that he should probably like it as well.

"What – " Wes started when the next song started.

"What are they doing?" Nick asked, furrowing his brows. "Why are they in wheelchairs all of a sudden?"

"It is a great idea, though. Very original," Tom, one of the council members, said appraisingly. "The other teams will have a hard time measuring up to this."

Blaine couldn't agree more, even though the girls looked dangerous even when in wheelchairs.

As he looked around once more, it was the same group of teenagers again who weren't having a good time watching the performance. By now, they looked frustrated and even more angry than a few minutes ago.

Maybe they were on one of the opposing teams? Still, they didn't have to look so sour – they could accept the fact that perhaps, this group was better than they were. Not that big a deal, right? There was always next year.

After a half an hour break – apparently, there would be an hour-long break between the second and third performance – the second choir was ready to go on stage. Judging from the way they sang – or whatever it was – these were the deaf kids. It was… somewhat endearing, Blaine thought, but that was all. If this group won, it wouldn't be because they were good, but because the judges felt pity for them, or something along those lines.

A sharp voice cut through the performance and he noticed that a girl was standing up and storming out. Looking better, he saw that it was the group who'd been looking so foul earlier on. Now, they just looked desperate and at the end of their wits. He wondered what was up with that.

When he looked back half a minute later, they were all gone. Blaine forced himself to keep watching the performance, but he still didn't like it very much.

"They call that singing?" David asked quietly, but Tom quickly shushed him, seeming intrigued.

The performance ended, and the Warblers walked back into the main hall. "I suppose we should have lunch now?" Blaine asked the others, but nobody really had any idea what was going to happen now.

That was, until Colin, another council member, announced that it was, indeed, time for lunch, that they could stay where they were to eat, but that there might be some places to eat just outside the building. "As long as you're back in…" He glanced at his watch swiftly. "Forty-five minutes. We don't want to miss the final performance."

Blaine let Wes and David drag him outside – sure, they were juniors and he was just a sophomore, but they had become quick friends ever since Blaine had auditioned for the Warblers the previous year – and in doing so, they passed an insanely tall guy who came rushing in as if his life depended on it.

"I wonder what his problem is," David commented, and the other two just snickered a bit before launching into a debate about whether or not to take the car to wherever they were going to go. In the end, they did take the car – who knew where they were going to end up.

Lunch was over sooner than they expected, however, and they had to rush back to be in time – which they still weren't, but at least they'd tried… sort of. At least Colin didn't give them his death glare, as that was seriously scary. Blaine had been on the receiving end of it once, and he didn't want to have to experience that again.

"Come on, take your seats," Tom told them hurriedly as they came in. Everyone else was already seated again, and Blaine could easily make out the faces of the coaches from the teams that had already competed. They looked unnaturally happy about something or other. Which was weird, because the final group still had to perform. How could they be so sure they'd won? Besides – they couldn't both win.

"Wait – " Jeff said, his hands before his mouth, so Blaine had to try very hard to understand him, " – did that guy just say… nude erections?"

A couple of other Warblers burst into silent laughter at this, but Wes just checked the program. "It says here that they're called New Directions," he informed them, but that didn't do anything to calm the others down. Blaine thought it was pretty funny as well – honestly, couldn't they have put a little more thought into their name?

Then, the music started, but there was nobody on stage yet.

"Did they bolt?" Blaine asked Nick as quietly as possible, but the other boy just shrugged.

"No clue," he whispered back. He looked like he wanted to say more, but right at that moment, a girl started singing.

And still, the stage was empty. Blaine was quite confused now.

"Look at the back," Wes hissed at him – or the group in general? – and Blaine hastily turned around in his seat.

It was the girl who had stormed out earlier. So he had been right – they were the competition.

"Is anyone else going to join her?" Tom muttered curiously. "I mean, it's a show choir competition, not some talent show for solo acts…"

"We'll just have to wait and see," Colin hissed back. "Now be quiet." He looked quite impressed by the girl's voice – as was Blaine, and, he was sure, the entire audience. Except, he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye, the two other teams. They must not like this very much.

The girl looked determined – she seemed to be putting all that frustration from earlier into her song, and Blaine had to admit, he had listened to much worse things.

By now, the girl was on the stage, but still – no sign of anyone else. It would be pretty sad if they had all left, and only this girl was still here. When she sang the part about marching her band out for the second time, some people in the back rows started cheering somewhat, and all the Warblers turned around as if on cue.

She was right – that must be the rest of the group. David nudged Blaine and muttered, "Hey, look, it's the tall guy who almost ran you over an hour ago."

Blaine just glared at him for a moment before turning back towards the stage. The group was almost there now, and the song drew to a close. If this was their first song, Blaine couldn't wait to hear the next one.

When the girl announced the group, Blaine – and, he was sure, others as well – immediately noticed that she made sure that the name could not be misinterpreted by some teenage boys' dirty minds. The audience quieted down as the group stood in formation, ready to start the next song, and Blaine leaned forward expectantly.

He was not disappointed. The group sounded great together. Sure, their choreography seemed a little choppy, but they danced (well, walked) around more than the Warblers – not that that was such a huge feat, Blaine had to remind himself. David seemed to think it was incredibly funny that the tall guy was singing lead – he kept sniggering behind his hand until Wes had enough and jabbed him in the side. Fortunately, David's yelp wasn't too loud.

After the guy, the girl who'd sung earlier came forward again to belt out another pretty flawless solo while the group seemed to become more and more loose every second. It was nice, Blaine thought – not what he was used to at all, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Around him, people were standing up to dance along, and before he knew it, he was on his feet as well, grinning at the stage appreciatively.

The criminal girls had some real competition after all, it seemed. Because when the group was done, the crowd really went wild. Blaine could only hope that the Warblers would get a similar reaction next week during their Sectionals.

While everyone else tried to get back to the main hall as quickly as possible, the Warblers opted to stay where they were – the judges' deliberation would take about half an hour, according to the booklet, and it was much quieter here than out there, they were certain.

However, it didn't come as a surprise (to Blaine at least) when David started complaining about being bored only five minutes into the break. "Can't we go for a walk? There's probably plenty to explore around here," he suggested, looking around the group with begging eyes.

"Fine," Blaine groaned. "I'll come."

"Wes, you should go too," Colin said hastily, before Blaine and David could get away. "To keep an eye on them, and make sure they're back in time."

Wes didn't look very happy about having to come with them, but Blaine was certain that deep inside, he felt honoured that the council bestowed this task on him, no matter how silly it actually was – babysitting two of his best friends.

Once back in the main hall, the group of three quickly glanced around. "I think we should go that way," David whispered, pointing in a random direction. "There's nobody there."

"With reason, probably," Wes retorted. "I bet we're not supposed to be there."

"Let's just go and have a look," David almost whined. "If there's nothing there, we're back here quickly enough. And if we're not allowed to go there, well, we'll just say we got lost or something."

"Something tells me you've done stuff like this before," Blaine muttered as they crossed the room to get to the corridor David had pointed at. As David nodded proudly, Blaine rolled his eyes.

"You were the one who went with him voluntarily," Wes reminded him.

Blaine sighed, having no witty response for that. "You know it's a bad idea to let David roam hallways by himself," he told Wes. "Bad things happen, remember?" Wes just nodded gravely at the memory – well, memories.

As they turned around a corner, they promptly bumped into David, who had been walking ahead of them, but was now obviously standing still. Within half a second, the three of them were lying on the floor.

"Who are they?" someone suddenly asked, and more voices were heard, but Blaine, conveniently sandwiched in between Wes and David with his head facing away from people who just spoke, couldn't see anyone.

He thought he heard David curse, and that was Wes' cue to start moving off of them. "Hello," Wes greeted the people while Blaine and David disentangled themselves. "I'm Wes, and that's David and Blaine. And you are?"

Well, that was a useless question, Blaine realised as he looked at the group of people standing in what looked like a random corridor. These were the members of New Directions.

Instead of answering the question, though, a guy with a Mohawk asked briskly, "Are you from some prep school, or what?" He glanced them up and down in obvious distaste.

Ah, yes. They were, of course, in full uniform. The Warblers, as a group, never went anywhere without their uniforms, not even on occasions like this.

"Yes, we are," David said proudly, and Blaine felt like face palming. Sure, this group probably wasn't as bad as the criminal girls, but they were still public school kids who might not like hearing rich boys brag about their private school.

"And what are you doing here?" a blond girl asked, frowning as if she was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but couldn't.

"We could ask you the same thing," Wes huffed, and he was immediately met by a bunch of 'sshh!'s.

"Just be quiet!" the small brunette who'd sung the biggest part of the songs hissed at them. "We're trying – "

She was interrupted by the guy with the Mohawk. "Kurt will fill you in. But not in this corridor."

"What?" a slightly smaller boy exclaimed, ignoring the shushing noises his team mates made. "Why me?"

"There's nothing we can do here anyway," the black girl who was standing next to him said.

"Plus, those preppy boys probably go to some all-boys school, which, to me, is equal to gay school," the guy with the Mohawk elaborated, and Blaine could almost feel David and Wes' need to point out that they were, in fact, straight. "That's right down your alley."

Although the boy – Kurt, apparently – was standing with his back towards them, Blaine just knew that he was sending a very fierce glare towards his team mates, and the Mohawked boy in particular.

"Just go, Kurt," the black girl told him quietly. "Before they find out that we're here. We'll fill you in later, okay?"

With a rather exaggerated huff, the boy turned around and started marching away, and Blaine followed him hurriedly, Wes and David lagging behind just a little bit.

"What was that good for?" the boy snapped all of a sudden, standing still (Blaine almost ran into him… what a strange day this was). "Why were you there? Why did you feel the need to go there? As far as I'm aware, you didn't compete today, so why were you hanging outside the judges' room?" Ah. It suddenly became clear to Blaine why the group had been there. "Who are you, even? For all I know you're going to beat me to pulp and leave me somewhere nobody will find me for about a week – "

He rambled on, but Blaine wasn't listening anymore. He was just staring at the boy. They were the same height, and if he was in a high school show choir competition, he couldn't be that much younger than Blaine – honestly, just seeing him getting all riled up like that… it was kind of hot.

Blaine blinked, forcing those thoughts out of his head. He didn't even know the guy! He didn't even know if he was gay (although, if his team mates told him that talking to boys from an assumed gay school was something he could do best – he probably was gay).

"We're not going to hurt you," Wes told the boy, looking at him apprehensively, as if they were the ones about to get attacked.

"Oh," the boy said in a much calmer tone, "really?"

"Yes," David and Blaine chorused, before looking at each other oddly.

"So you were eavesdropping on the judges?" Blaine asked after glancing around. It appeared that they were very close to the main lobby.

"We just wanted to know what they thought," the boy replied, sounding a bit miserable. "But – you never answered Quinn's question. What were you doing there?"

"Just looking around," David admitted somewhat apologetically.

Wes cleared his throat, and Blaine could already guess what was coming. "We go to the Dalton Academy for boys in Westerville. We," he said, indicating the three of them, "are in the Warblers, Dalton's a cappella s choir. We were merely here to scope out the competition for Regionals."

"If we get through our own Sectionals, that is," Blaine hurriedly added.

The boy just stared at them for a few seconds, seeming deep in thought. "Huh," he started, "I never thought of doing that. If we win today, I should ask Rachel if she was planning to go and watch you next week…" Blaine decided that he liked it a whole lot better when this boy wasn't freaking out, but just normally talking to them. He didn't even reprimand them for spying on the competition – on the other hand, it was a public event, so there wasn't much he could have done about it anyway.

"We're competing against Vocal Adrenaline," David said, and the boy visibly winced. "So we'll really have to be in top shape."

"So will you be there to watch?" It was out of his mouth before Blaine could help himself and he felt mortified. Fortunately, the boy didn't seem to notice his inner turmoil and just shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe, if we win today…"

Wes and David, however, were an entirely different story – they were smirking widely at Blaine. "Oh, you should come," Wes told him cheerfully. "It's Blaine's first competition, and he needs all the moral support he can get."

Blaine was about to remind Wes that no, this was not his first competition, did he forget about last year's Sectionals, before he realised that his friend was trying to do him some sort of weird favour here. Now, the boy just looked confused.

"But I don't even know you guys…"

"I'm sure Blaine won't mind taking you out for coffee – "

" – or lunch – "

" – or dinner – "

" – or a movie – "

" – or anything else – "

" – so you can get to know each other."

Luckily, Blaine wasn't the only one who seemed mortified now.

"Just leave it, guys," he muttered. He really didn't need his friends to try to set him up with a boy he'd just met five minutes ago. "Forget they did that," he told Kurt. "They get like that sometimes."

The other boy just nodded, most likely not trusting his voice to speak right now.

"So why did you storm out during the second performance?" David asked – Blaine hadn't even realised that he wasn't the only one who had witnessed that. Sort of.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Kurt replied, leaning against a wall.

Of course, this only made them more curious. "No, do tell," Wes urged him, a strange gleam in his eyes.

"They stole out set list," Kurt blurted out before sighing. "It's complicated."

"We love complicated," David assured him.

"New Directions – we're not exactly popular at our school," Kurt started, carefully glancing at their faces to catch their reactions – which mostly consisted of disbelief. "But the person who hates the club the most is the cheerleading coach. She was named co-director of the club some time ago because of some awful luck on our part, and she demanded a copy of our set-list. She called coaches of the other teams to our school and gave them the set list, and some video footage of our choreography. We didn't know until we came here and saw it with our own eyes."

Silence followed his words at first, until Blaine found his voice again. "That sounds incredibly complicated indeed."

Kurt smiled somewhat sadly. "To think this was the simplified version of the story…"

Another silence, then – "Public school is crazy," Wes said, his eyes wide.

"Wait," David said, "so… if what you're saying is true, and you realised your set list was leaked when watching the other two groups – did you put together that performance right before going on stage?"

Blaine hadn't even thought about that.

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, I know. It was a little rough around the edges, and we've given better performances, but… we didn't have much of a choice."

"I'm still not sure if I should believe that story," Wes said doubtfully. "I mean, you could just be thinking up all sorts of excuses about why your performance didn't go very well, or – "

"It's true," a voice cut Wes short. It was one of the other coaches – Blaine thought she was with the criminal girls. She didn't look Kurt in the eye, but he was glaring at her. "I'm going to talk to the judges now."

Kurt's glare didn't waver, but the woman probably didn't notice anyway. She hurried away again, going in the direction they had just come from.

"Okay," Wes said slowly. "So it was true. Sorry."

Kurt was about to reply, when slightly raised voices were heard – it was the woman talking to, Blaine assumed, the other New Directions kids.

"Well, whatever is going to happen today – good luck next week," Kurt told them with a small smile. "You'll need it against Vocal Adrenaline."

"You're coming, right?" Damn – Blaine hoped he didn't sound all too eager. "I mean – if you want to. If you don't have anything else to do. If – "

"I'll see what I can do," Kurt replied, blushing a little.

"We'll stomp Vocal Adrenaline," Wes said confidently. "We are way better than they are."

"They're the national champions," Kurt pointed out dryly, and at that moment, a group of people came walking up to them – the judges, the coach, and New Directions.

"I think we should go and find our seats again," David announced. "Well, it was great to meet you, Kurt, and we hope to see you next week. Or, if you want to see Blaine some time this week after all – he's not that hard to find on Facebook." With that and a very exaggerated wink, he dragged Blaine away, towards where Wes was already waiting for them.

"I really hate you," Blaine told them later, when they were surrounded by their fellow Warblers again.

"No, you don't," Wes said with a smirk. "You don't."

Blaine hated it when Wes was right. Especially when that meant that he was wrong.

He grinned from ear to ear, jumped up and clapped (and cheered) loudly when New Directions was announced to be the winners of the competition. He tried to catch Kurt's eye, but that was made impossible because of the fact that there were some big guys in the row in front of him who were also standing up. Why did he have to be so small, again?

David nudged him. "Hey, now he almost has to come next week, if only to see what the competition is up to."

Blaine had never felt happier in his entire life.