Blaine felt like an enormous pushover. The Warblers had – once again – lost their Sectionals competition to Vocal Adrenaline. Due to a lot of bad luck on their side, they had competed against the (current) national champion for at least the past five years – even when the other club hadn't been the national champion yet, they were still already able to beat the Warblers.

Therefore, they didn't know many other choirs. Still, for some reason, Blaine had been dragged along to Vocal Adrenaline's Regionals competition to see some of those other choirs. It had been Wes' idea, of course, as a member of next year's council. This had resulted in David and Thad being forced to come along as well, and, as it appeared, Blaine, for some reason he couldn't completely comprehend. He wasn't too happy about it either. Somehow, his friends always managed to string him along for things like this.

The first group of the day, Aural Intensity, had, most likely, been able to find out beforehand who the judges were going to be. There was no other logical explanation as to why they'd sung the songs they had. They'd very obviously been sucking up to the judges – who, Blaine noticed as he and his friends (and the rest of the audience, he assumed) were waiting for the second group to start, seemed elated about being honoured in song. Another judge, a tall blond woman, sat next to them, looking quite vindictive. Blaine wondered why.

Suddenly, music started, but the stage curtains were still closed. Confused, Blaine turned towards his friends, before catching sight of a boy standing near the final row of seats. As Blaine (and a growing amount of other people in the audience) watched, the boy walked down the rows, singing. When a girl emerged, singing the next verse, a snickering David turned to Blaine.

"Blaine, look! So there are people our age who are shorter than you!"

Blaine scowled, but kept silent. He recognised the song these two were singing as an old Journey song his mother used to listen to when he was younger. After everything that happened, he wondered if she had had a special reason to play this song.

"Why don't they just use the stage?" Wes muttered as the two singers stood still in the middle of the audience. "It's big enough; they don't have to dace around here…"

It was as if the two performers had heard him say that, as they suddenly sped down the aisles and onto the stage. Finally, the curtains lifted and the remainder of the group (Blaine counted exactly twelve people – they were lucky nobody had gotten sick) came into their view. While the two lead singers kept singing, the others harmonised behind them, and, as Blaine had already expected, his three fellow Warblers seemed to appreciate that a whole lot.

When the song was over, Wes commented, "Maybe we should look into that some time next year – music to accompany us. We can still keep the harmonies, of course, but who knows what it sounds like with some music there as well!"

Blaine had heard enough about the Warblers to know that that was never going to happen – a few other members throughout the years had tried to add music to their repertoire, but the Warblers rules were so strict that it never worked out. Plus, most Warblers liked to stick to what had proven to work – namely, just the a cappella part, no music, just harmonies… it was comparable to the fact that the Warblers almost only sang Top 40 hits.

Not at all like the New Directions, who had started singing another Journey song. The song had barely started and already, people were standing up to sing or clap along. Wes was watching the group pensively, but Blaine was smiling widely. He had forgotten all about these songs, it seemed. The moment he'd get home, he would have to look through his parents' old CD collection.

The same two students were singing lead again, but there was more dancing involved now. To Blaine, it looked like this group was definitely trying to beat Vocal Adrenaline at their own game, and as far as he was concerned, they should succeed in that. Obviously the choreography wasn't as… tight as Vocal Adrenaline's, but Blaine liked the playfulness it exuded.

The next song started with some harmonies again, and went by in the same manner as the previous one. Still, Blaine was relieved to hear that it wasn't just two students in the whole bunch who could sing. The other few who were allowed to sing some lines were good as well.

The group got a standing ovation before they rushed backstage, no doubt celebrating. Soon after, Vocal Adrenaline came on, and to Blaine, it was no surprise that they had put together such an elaborate musical number, complete with Jesse St James back at the lead vocals.

They were good, of course. Vocal Adrenaline was always phenomenal. Blaine couldn't help but hope, though, that they would not win a competition for once.

Glancing around quickly, he caught sight of the female lead of New Directions. She was standing at the back of the room, her arms folded, watching the performance without any visible emotions. As Blaine looked better, he noticed that none of her teammates were here. Odd.

When the judges went to deliberate, everyone else went to get drinks or fresh air. Somehow, Blaine quickly lost his friends, leaving him to roam around by himself. Knowing Wes, he'd try to find one of the clubs' coaches or members to discuss the performances. Blaine didn't really feel much for that, which was why it was almost unfortunate that he bumped into the short female lead of New Directions as she exited one of the green rooms.

Vocal Adrenaline's green room, to be exact.

"Weren't you in New Directions?" he blurted out as the girl was about to walk off. She turned around and eyed him suspiciously.

"Are you a member of Aural Intensity?" she retorted. "Because in that case, I'd like to tell you that – "

"No, I'm not." Blaine took a few steps back as the girl stalked back towards him. "Honestly. I'm in a Glee club, but we didn't compete today."

"So you're here to spy," the girl deduced from that.

"My friends and I came here to see what other teams we might face in the event that Vocal Adrenaline is not our Sectionals competition next year."

Gradually, the girl seemed to soften a bit. "I was talking to their coach," she said, nodding towards the green room. She took a deep breath and let it out again before continuing. "I really hope we beat them. They don't deserve to win after what they did to us." Blaine didn't even need to ask her to elaborate – the girl did that without an incentive. She told him all about Jesse St James' seduction tactics and the funk his entire club had put her and the other New Directions students in, and Blaine was starting to feel very thankful for the fact that attending Dalton seemed to somehow keep the Warblers away from this kind of madness. "They were good, though," the girl finished, looking rather unhappy about this.

"So were you," Blaine told her, and the girl's demeanour changed completely. Instead of frowning, she was now beaming at him, with a wide smile on her face. She looked about ready to start another longwinded story when three of her teammates approached her. Only now did Blaine remember that they'd seemingly disappeared after their performance.

The tall guy who'd sung the duet with the girl frowned at the sight of the two of them together, while the other two were to busy talking to even notice them.

"Hey, Rachel," the tall boy said. The girl immediately shut her mouth and launched herself at the boy instead. The other two exchanged glances Blaine couldn't quite decipher. "Who's this?" the same guy continued, eyeing Blaine with distrust.

"I'm Blaine," he replied, holding out his hand, but the other boy didn't take it. "I uh… attend Dalton Academy in Westerville, I'm not in one of the other choirs, if that's what you're thinking."

"Oh, a prep school boy?" the girl who'd just arrived asked, smiling brightly. She leant towards her companion – a boy who was only slightly taller than Blaine himself – and started whispering.

"You could… say that," Blaine responded, blinking non-understandingly at what was going on in front of him. Suddenly remembering the tall guy – who was still half-glaring at him – he said, "I'm not trying to make a move on your girlfriend, alright? We were just… talking."

"Talking?" the guy asked, but the girl interrupted before either boy could say more.

"How's Quinn?" she asked, and the other girl responded.

"She's doing alright, considering the circumstances. I think the same goes for the baby. But… now that her mum wants her to come back home, I'm not sure if she's still giving her up for adoption."

"The baby was out pretty fast," the tall boy commented, looking a bit confused.

"Baby?" Blaine echoed, feeling both confused and horrified.

"One of our teammates had a baby just now," the other boy, who hadn't spoken out loud until now, told him. "Her water broke right after our performance."

It took Blaine a couple of seconds to react, intrigued as he was by the boy's voice. "You let a heavily pregnant girl perform?" he asked, aghast. "That can't be very safe – I mean, what if she'd fallen on stage? What – "

"She wanted it herself," the short girl responded, shrugging. "Plus, her due date wasn't that near yet. She wasn't supposed to give birth so soon." Blaine was honestly shocked to hear this. How could they let something like this happen? "Come on," the girl told the tall boy, clearly no longer interested in talking to Blaine, "let's go back to the greenroom, alright?"

With that, Blaine was left alone with the other two students, who, for some reason, didn't follow their teammates. The two exchanged another quick look before the girl turned towards Blaine. She looked him up and down for a second before asking, "Do you have a girlfriend?" For the second time within a minute, Blaine stood there, shell-shocked. "Of course he does," the girl now told her friend. "Guys like him – "

"I don't… have a girlfriend," Blaine replied, though wondering if maybe he should've lied, because he could guess what came after this. "But – "

The girl smiled beautifully; it was only too bad for her that Blaine wasn't exactly interested in her and her female… assets. The boy standing next to her, however…

"Do you maybe want to go out some time?" she asked, turning a little shy – not too much, though. "We don't know each other, obviously, but there are many people who go on blind dates all the time, so – "

"You'd be a fool to turn her down," the boy next to her warned Blaine. "She's fabulous."

It was almost too easy to say yes and go on a date with this girl. After all, it was bound not to work out. But that would be completely unfair, both to the girl (whose name he didn't even know, he suddenly realised) and to himself.

His parents might be happy, though.

He took a deep breath before replying, "I would go out with you in a heartbeat – I'm sure you're absolutely fabulous. It's just…" He hesitated for a moment, trying to find the right words. He was fairly sure these two wouldn't tear him down for being gay, since he had a distinct feeling the other boy was gay as well, which should make it easier. For some reason, though, it wasn't really. "It's just that I'm not… interested in, well, girls."

The two friends both raised their eyebrows and shared an incredulous look. "Damn it," the girl muttered, nudging the boy next to her lightly. "Why are all the good ones gay?"

Reddening slightly, Blaine sent her an apologetic smile. All the goods ones? Clearly, she knew more than Blaine did – in his experience, most good ones were not gay at all. And, in hindsight, not very good either.

"I hardly think that's true, Mercedes," the other boy told his friend. "I'm sure there are tons of straight guys out there who'd want to date you."

"If they're all like Puck, I think I'll pass," the girl replied, giving her friend a pointed look.

The boy sighed. "They won't be," he promised. "There'll be lots of boys who'd kill to be with an amazing girl like you."

Smiling slightly, the girl turned back to Blaine, who realised only now that he'd been staring at the other two with what must be a lost look on his face. When the girl smirked slightly, alarm bells started going off in Blaine's head – what was happening?

"Why don't you two go out… tomorrow, perhaps?" she asked, glancing from her friend to Blaine. The two boys stared at her with wide eyes.

"W-What?" her friend asked, breaking the silence. "Mercedes, you can't just – he probably has – "

"Enough common sense to know he shouldn't let a chance like this pass," the girl – Mercedes, it seemed – continued for him.

Well. In his confusion, Blaine hadn't even taken the time to properly look at the other boy. Yes, he'd realised he was probably gay as well, but that was all. He swept his eyes across the boy's body as quickly as he could – lest this become very awkward for both of them – and back to his face, which was reddening at an alarming pace.

"Uh…," he said eloquently. "I guess we could give it a try?" The girl squealed happily, but her friend didn't seem too sure. "If you want to, that is," Blaine added swiftly. "If you don't, that's perfectly alright as well, I just thought – "

"He'd love to," the girl said, causing the boy to throw her a slightly scandalised look before looking back at Blaine.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to try," he admitted. Eyeing Blaine critically, he added, "Just try to wear something a little more fashionable, alright? I will as well, of course, seeing as – "

"Perfect!" the girl exclaimed. "Now, you two, exchange phone numbers, and then we have to head back to the greenroom. I think the judges will be ready soon."

After following her orders and exchanging phone numbers (and names, at that), the two New Directions members headed towards their greenroom, and Blaine walked back to where he'd been sitting during the show. His friends were there already, but he managed to not tell them too much about what he'd been up to – they'd tease him mercilessly, he was sure of it. Of course, they were alright with him being gay, but that didn't mean they couldn't do that. They did it to everyone, after all.

When it turned out that New Directions had come in third (which Blaine could not understand one bit), he texted Kurt as soon as they got into Wes' car, attempting to comfort him and asking if he was still alright with hanging out the next day. He could understand if the other boy didn't feel like doing that anytime soon.

As it turned out, Kurt didn't mind at all – it'd be a good distraction from everything, he said. Blaine smiled to himself. Perhaps that girl was (partly) right after all – at least some of the good ones were gay.