Their performance went well. Even though Aural Intensity had obviously known who the judges were going to be and sung a song especially to please then, Blaine was sure that the Warblers would at least place at this competition. Both their songs had been well-received by the audience. Plus, being an a cappella group, they were far more unique than the more mainstream clubs they were competing against.

Blaine wasn't the only one who was happy about the performance. All the Warblers were; even the ones who'd been sulking beforehand because Blaine had, once again, snagged both solos.

New Directions had yet to perform, so the group of private school boys hurried backstage, and then back into the audience, to see how the final show choir of the day was planning on beating their competition. The boys sat down in the seats that the other Glee club had previously occupied. The man Blaine vaguely recognised as the other club's director was looking at the stage expectantly. When the rest of the audience quieted down, Blaine turned to the stage as well.

A short brunette made her way to the front of the stage, while two other girls stood behind her. As the girl started singing, Blaine started, much like many other people in the audience. This song was entirely unknown to him. While that wasn't necessarily hard to accomplish – Blaine was well aware of the fact that he didn't know all songs in existence – it sounded very much like this girl, or maybe one of her teammates, had written the song herself. This assumption was strengthened when Blaine saw Wes slumping in his seat, looking defeated.

Now, the Warblers had their own harmonies, New Directions had their own songs and Aural Intensity had chosen songs to suck up to the judges. It was entirely unclear which team would win, place and lose now.

"They're doing original songs!" he heard Jeff mutter somewhere to his right, sounding completely in awe. Blaine chanced a glance at the director of the group, only to see that the man in question was smiling appreciatively. By now, more girls had gathered to join the two back-up singers, and the group got a standing ovation. Blaine's stomach clenched unpleasantly as he clapped along.

By now, a group of boys had joined the girls onstage. Blaine noticed that there were six of them, and the same amount of girls. That was almost too much of a coincidence for him to believe that this group had come to be naturally.

A new song started – a more upbeat one. The same girl was singing again, and to Blaine, it sounded like this group must have some serious issues with their peers. But, he had to admit, it was a fun song. The dancing was fairly disappointing, though, after what the group had shown to be capable of at Sectionals. Blaine almost felt like the Warblers had added more choreography to their performance than this group.

After the chorus (which, Blaine thought, sounded much like an invitation for bullies to shove them around even more), two boys – a very, very tall one, and a shorter one – sang the second verse. Blaine was surprised at how their voices sounded together – it wasn't how two male voices usually sounded together at all. Perhaps, Blaine reasoned, one of them was using their higher register to make it sound this way.

The chorus started again, and Blaine suddenly realised that a lot of people were standing up with what looked like big, foam hands. At exactly that moment, David, who was sitting in front of him, handed him such a hand before getting up as well. Blaine shrugged and followed his friend's lead, and half a second later, every Warbler was on their feet. So, naturally, when the performance ended (with big slushie cups, filled with confetti), the group got another standing ovation.

This was not good. For the Warblers, that was.

Before Blaine could sink back into his chair, Cameron, who was sitting next to him, grabbed his arm. "Wes said emergency meeting in the green room," he said when Blaine's head snapped towards him.

Of course. Blaine should've known this would happen. Right after their performance, they'd been so certain that it had gone so well, but now… it had still gone well, but had they been good enough?

When Blaine arrived in the greenroom, Wes was trying to get everyone to shut up – using a different wording, of course. After that came the freak-out about the fact that original songs had been used – something nobody had known was allowed, but was not in any way prohibited by the rule book. Wes told them they hadn't lost yet, not at all. Who knew what the judges thought about all this.

Before too long, the Warblers were allowed to venture outside the greenroom. Blaine was one of the first to take this opportunity and leave, wandering around the venue for a few minutes.

When he crossed the hall, someone called out, "Hey, Gargler!"

Blaine hesitated. He was fairly sure that it was probably someone who hadn't bothered to learn the names of the three show choirs and was now attempting to provoke him. He knew that, whoever the person calling was, they were, most likely, talking to him. Shaking his head minutely, he walked on, trying to seem unfazed by what just happened.

"Oi, Gargler!" the same voice shouted. "We're talking to you!"

A rough hand landed harshly on Blaine's shoulder, halting him and spinning him around. Blaine eyed his… assaulter with wide eyes. He hadn't been shoved or even grabbed like that since he'd come to Dalton. The boy in front of him – from the looks of it, he must actually be a New Directions member – was taller than Blaine (then again, most guys his age were), had a Mohawk, and was probably able to snap Blaine in a half if he wanted to. It wasn't a pleasant thought, and Blaine felt himself tensing up. He took a few steps back while keeping his eyes on the boy before him, unsure if he could somehow escape him.

The boy frowned down at him, as if he hadn't expected such a reaction from Blaine. All of a sudden, three more boys – all from the same Glee club – appeared next to him. The smallest in the group sighed, sounding annoyed. "Puckerman, what are you doing?"

The mohawked guy – Puckerman, apparently, shrugged. "Just messing around with the competition. What's it to you?"

The boy – who, Blaine realised now, was one of the two boys who'd sung the second verse to New Directions' second song earlier – turned to Blaine with an apologetic look in his eyes. "Don't mind Puck," he said, "he's got the brain capacity of a Neanderthal sometimes."

This seemed to offend the mohawked guy, and the two boys started quabbling. The other two – an Asian boy and a blond guy – just exchanged glances. "You're the Warblers' soloist, right?" the blonde asked him, and Blaine nodded, still hesitant. "You sort of look about to… make a run for it."

"Puck can be a bit crude sometimes," the Asian boy told him, most likely in an attempt to comfort him. "That's just how he gets."

Blaine shrugged. "I'm just not that comfortable with people sneaking up on me, I guess."

Again, the other two boys exchanged looks. Blaine felt like he was missing something. "Bullies?" the blond boy asked sympathetically. This seemed to catch the other boys' attention as well, as the boy presumably called 'Puck' stopped talking instantly and turned towards Blaine. The other boy massaged his shoulder – 'Puck', from what Blaine had seen, had just given him a very firm pat there.

Blaine frowned at them. Why would they want to know? Plus, he was well aware that these kids went to public school, which was where the problems for Blaine had started.

"That's – " he started to reply, before remembering what had just gone down – what kind of song the other club had just sung. He shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah," he said in the end, frowning at his shoes.

"That sucks," the boy with the Mohawk commented, while the shortest boy in the group was looking at Blaine with a sad smile on his face.

"Wait," he said all of a sudden. "Isn't Dalton supposed to have this… zero tolerance policy against bullying?" When the other boys stared at him, the boy shrugged. "I did my research."

The other three New Directions boys almost looked guilty at this. Blaine just wanted to be done with this subject as soon as possible. "It was at my old school," he said offhandedly. "But where did you get the inspiration for your song? They were both originals, right?"

"They were," the mohawked guy said, clapping his brown-haired friend on the back happily. The other boy glared at him. "We had our fun with writing songs."

At this, the blond boy frowned, but didn't speak up. The Asian boy tried to hide his grin. Again, Blaine felt like he was missing something.

"As for our inspiration," the smaller boy (though, Blaine noted, he was still taller than him), "we took the abuse thrown at us at a daily basis and put it into a song."

"Wait, Glee club isn't cool at your school?" Blaine asked, surprised.

"We're the school losers," the boy replied. "Hence our song."

"All those things happen to you?" Blaine was suddenly even more grateful to his parents for sending him to Dalton instead of just another public school.

"Not everyone gets it as bad," the blond boy told him. "But yeah, they do."

Blaine nodded in understanding. Of course – he was sure that the guy with the Mohawk, for instance, was perfectly capable of holding his own in a fight. He must get picked on less.

"So it's the singing and dancing everyone's opposed to," he observed, knowing that that was something his own father had some issues with as well. He'd told Blaine often enough that if he'd just quit the Warblers, and just played sports and video games like most boys his age, maybe he'd become… normal as well.

"It's gay," the brown haired boy responded, rolling his eyes. For some reason, this caught the attention of his teammates – even though they must be used to hearing that by now, Blaine thought – and the boy with the Mohawk eyed Blaine curiously.

"But at that private school of yours, it's probably hard to get any gayer," he commented.

Blaine narrowed his eyes slightly. He knew he couldn't do much – this guy was much bigger and bulkier than he was, and he had three friends to back him up – but he didn't like all the gay jokes that were made in relation to Dalton. He might be gay, yes, but it was surprisingly difficult to find other gay guys at school. Even though there was an anti-bullying policy, that didn't mean that lots of guys were fully comfortable to come out as of yet.

"Just the fact that it's an all-boys school doesn't mean it's a gay school," he told the boy, feeling (and most likely sounding) a bit peeved. The blond boy nodded in agreement.

"I used to go to a private school too, and people always assume those things," he said.

It was Blaine's turn to nod. "Some guys are gay, yes, but most just have girlfriends."

"And nothing ever goes down during parties?" the boy with the Mohawk asked, smirking slightly.

"Nothing that I'm aware of," Blaine replied somewhat stiffly. He wasn't a very big fan of parties and tended to stay away from them – except for Warblers' parties, that was, but even then, he made sure not to get involved in any crazy activities.

"Just leave him alone, Puck," the smaller boy told his teammate, sending Blaine an apologetic look.

For some reason, this caused the other boy to burst out laughing. "I bet you love the idea of a all boys school, don't you, Hummel?"

The smaller boy looked affronted, crossing his arms and pursing his lips. "Not if they're all idiots like you," he retorted.

This comment sent the two into another squabble. Blaine frowned. "Do you mean you're gay?" He honestly hadn't expected to find a gay boy in a public school choir.

"Are you?" the mohawked guy asked, narrowing his eyes slightly at Blaine.

"Yes," Blaine replied, braver than he felt at that moment. "I'm gay. And if you've got any problem with that – "

"He doesn't," the shorter boy interrupted him swiftly. Blaine realised only now that the other two New Directions guys seemed to have disappeared. Odd. "Not anymore, at least."

Before Blaine could ask anything else, the blond boy returned. "Come on, guys," he told his teammates, "they're going to announce the results, we need to get back on stage."

Blaine hurried along with the three other boys, hoping that the other Warblers had waited for him. Fortunately, they had. A few seconds after he walked in, a couple of other boys also came back from wherever they'd gone during the short break.

"Alright, Warblers," Wes started after taking a deep breath. "This is it. Just stay calm, whatever the results."

The Warblers were the last group to walk on stage, and Blaine easily spotted the boys he'd just been talking to. The governor's wife, who announced the results, clearly wasn't happy to be here and therefore, she didn't wait for too long to announce the results.

They'd lost. The Warblers had lost.

Alright, maybe they'd come in second (that wasn't announced), but they certainly hadn't won. They clapped anyway as New Directions got the trophy, so at least they wouldn't seem sour losers like the woman who coached Aural Intensity.

A little while later, as the Warblers were waiting for their bus to arrive, Blaine accidentally overheard part of a conversation – he honestly couldn't help it. The brunette who'd led New Directions to their victory was talking loudly about how the original songs had been her idea and that she had personally, singlehandedly, secured the victory for her club, because both others choirs had been seriously lacking in just about every department that had to do with show choir.

It was pretty depressing to hear, Blaine thought.

"Just shut up, Rachel," the shorter boy Blaine had talked to earlier told her, sounding immensely annoyed. Now that Blaine thought about it, almost all New Directions members were sporting virtually identical irritated expressions.

When the boy saw Blaine looking, he mouthed, "Sorry," and Blaine smiled.

He shrugged and mouthed back, "Congratulations."

He had just enough time to catch the smile the boy sent him before Wes ushered him into the bus that, of course, had arrived at exactly that moment. Once he was on the bus, he looked out of the window, hoping to catch another glance of the group that, admittedly, fascinated him quite a bit. Unfortunately, they, too, were boarding their own bus, so Blaine just let it be. Perhaps they'd meet again at another competition next year.