After the bell finally rang, ending the continuous monotone their teacher had been talking in to the relief of everyone present, Blaine quickly led him out into the hallway again. While Kurt was glad to escape the whispering and the curious glances he was a bit suspicious as to why Blaine seemed to think it necessary to get him out of there so quickly. Before he could think of a way to formulate his thoughts without sounding offensive or accusing, Blaine turned back to him, another one of his radiant smiles in place.

"Can I have your schedule?" With a shrug, Kurt handed it over, unable to come up with a reason as to what Blaine could possibly want with it.

"Oh, you have French next," he said after quickly scanning over it, his expression falling into something akin to disappointment for a moment, though that could be Kurt's eyes (or wishful thinking) playing tricks on him. "I have Italian now. I could still show you to the right room?"

Kurt nodded hesitantly, thoughts racing a mile a minute while he followed Blaine's lead down the hall. He was sure he wasn't imagining the worried looks Blaine was giving him every now and then when he thought Kurt wasn't noticing. By the time they arrived at their destination, Kurt had decided that he'd never find out if he didn't ask and since he'd started his first day at Dalton by acting much more courageous than he could remember himself being in forever he might as well should do just that.

"Blaine... Why do you look so nervous?"

"What are you talking about?" Blaine returned the question, betraying his own words by doing his best to avoid looking into Kurt's eyes, seemingly fascinated with the pattern of the tiles to his feet.

"You kept subtly looking over at me with this worried expression and right now you are avoiding my eyes and staring at the floor instead, Blaine." Sometimes, Kurt was very proud of his deadpan no-nonsense voice.

"Oh," Blaine mumbled, blushing bright red and keeping his gaze fixed on his shoes before taking a deep breath and visibly forcing himself to look at Kurt. "I'm sorry about that. It's just... When I met with Mrs. Elders this morning so we could talk over my new duties she mentioned that you'd might behave more cat-like when nervous and you just told me how you can't stand people not really seeing you as a person and when I saw how the others are reacting to you... I'm sure they're just curious and don't mean harm by it but Dalton hasn't seen a hybrid within its walls for decades and they're not going to know how to act around you and I just don't want you to be uncomfortable. I just feel bad that I can't be around to make things easier for you. I'm sorry in advance if anyone's being insolent, I'm sure they won't mean it that way."

"Blaine," Kurt couldn't help but laugh softly at the way his roommate stumbled over his words in his haste to explain himself. "I'll be fine. It's nothing I haven't dealt with before and as much as I appreciate you worrying about me, I'm not a damsel in distress. Most certainly not a damsel, anyway."

Blaine chuckled along for a minute before his expression became serious again and he carefully put a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "I know but it makes me so sad that you had to deal with this all your life. I don't want it to be like that in here. I know what places like your old school are like and I have found far more acceptance in Dalton than I could have ever imagined. I guess I just wish that it can be a safe haven for you the same way it was for me. And I really want to do everything humanely possible to make you feel that you belong here, that you're welcome here. Please let me know if there's anything I can do?"

"You could stop worrying so much," Kurt chuckled wetly, trying not to show how much Blaine's little speech had touched him. He most certainly wasn't about to cry in the middle of the hallway right in front of his French classroom.

It wasn't until they had parted with a slightly awkward hug and a watery smile after Blaine had promised to pick Kurt up for lunch that Kurt started wondering what Blaine had meant by knowing exactly what places like McKinley were like and that he'd found more acceptance in Dalton than he'd thought possible. Why would someone as gorgeous and polite and talented (judging by the trophies on his shelves) as Blaine know what it felt like for a social outsider like Kurt?

Before he could start developing theories about Blaine's background story, the bell signaling the start of the lesson rang and Kurt hurried inside, trying to grab a seat in one of the back rows before the teacher came in. Unfortunately, he had no such luck and the only seats not taken by now were in the front rows. With a resigned sigh, Kurt dropped into the hard plastic chair - though he had to admit that Dalton's classroom furniture was preferable to McKinley's by any means - and focused his attention to the desk in the front.

Yet again, the teacher was nowhere to be seen and just when Kurt started questioning the general competence of the staff at Dalton, the previously empty seats left and right from him were taken by a pair of boys falling gracelessly into them. One of them turned around to Kurt a second later, a careless smile on his lips.

"Hi! You must be new here, I don't think I've seen you around before. I'm Jeff and that half-dead zombie on your other side is my best friend Nick," he said enthusiastically, nodding his head in Nick's direction who merely grunted in reply and didn't even open his eyes or sat up from his slumped position. Jeff held out his hand for Kurt to shake who took it reluctantly, eyes still focused on Nick on his other side.

"Kurt. Yes, I'm new here, this is my first day. Is he okay?"

"Hi Kurt. Welcome to Dalton, then! And yes, he's fine, just being a drama queen. He's not particularly fond of P.E. with Hayden first thing on a Monday. I keep telling him that it wouldn't have been such a big deal if he hadn't let himself go so much during the summer but he won't listen to me."

Kurt quickly found himself engaged in conversation with Jeff - who was more than willing to explain him everything he could possibly even think of asking about his new school - while Nick slept on next to them. They only stopped talking when their teacher - a woman in her thirties who actually was francophone, to Kurt's astonishment (he wasn't even sure if his former French teacher even spokeFrench) - came into the room and the lesson was much better than any Kurt had ever had at McKinley. They actually had a decent discussion in French and while none of them were anywhere near as fluent as Kurt they all spoke it well enough. The teacher was really nice and had a great sense of humor and Jeff didn't seem to mind filling Kurt in on the insider jokes of the class.

After the first half hour Nick slowly seemed to come back to the world of the living, the teacher obviously familiar with the phenomenon and letting him wake up at his own pace. Once he could be considered awake, Nick quietly introduced himself to Kurt while Mme Toulouse was writing something on the board, from then on almost constantly whispering either to Jeff or Kurt or both. Kurt found himself giggling at their comments (which were actually funny and not rude and vulgar, as anything whispered during a class at McKinley usually tended to be) and throwing in a witty remark of his own every now and then that had Nick and Jeff clutching their sides.

Kurt couldn't even put into words how amazed he was by what that lesson showed him. Not only that Dalton's educational standards and discipline among the students body were so far above McKinley's that his former school probably wasn't even visible from up there. But Nick and Jeff treated him like they would anyone else, not even blinking twice at the fact that he had cat ears and a tail. They actually enjoyed his humor - a first for him! - and the rest of his fellow students had stopped giving him curious looks and whispering about him relatively early on. The atmosphere was great and if he'd needed any more convincing that this was much more likely a place where he could belong than his old school, that first French class would have been sufficient.

He'd almost forgotten about lunch with Blaine when he stumbled out of class with Nick and Jeff at his side, nearly running him over.