It was Kurt Hummel's first day at McKinley High. And already, he was pretty sure the next four years he'd spend here would suck. A lot.

The moment he had entered the halls a bunch of jocks had deemed it hilarious to welcome him with a slushy to his face. He'd had to blink for a good four minutes until he could see enough to find his way to the bathrooms. He didn't even dare ask anyone in case the incident would repeat itself. His McQueen jacket wouldn't take that well.

Once he'd come out of the bathroom after trying in vain to rescue his clothes - which had made him horribly late for his first period at his new school, of course - he'd had a run-in with a ghost. And not one of the kind he wanted to meet ever again.

Kurt had known he was a medium since he was eight but he still wasn't used to them just popping out of nowhere all the time. Especially not if they sneered at him the way Sebastian had done from the very first second.

So then he'd had to try to find his way to the classroom he should have been in fifteen minutes ago with a ghost on his heels providing wrong directions while snickering to himself. He also seemed to have a knack for criticizing Kurt's hair, clothes... actually Kurt's everything.

The first period teacher wasn't really enamored with him, either. Whether it was because he'd been late right from the start or because Sebastian kept running his hands through Kurt's back, causing him to twitch and jerk seemingly out of nowhere, he wasn't sure. Either way he was forced to sit through her horribly boring History lesson trying his best not to nod off since she was already shooting him death glares every few minutes.

After that, things didn't really improve. Slurs were being thrown at him in the halls - mainly from the same jocks that had greeted him so very heart-warmingly that morning - and the rest of the school just seemed to avoid him like the plague. The only relief was that Sebastian had sauntered off to bother someone else around lunch.

At the end of the day, Kurt just threw his books into his locker, slamming the door shut with way more force than necessary. He scolded himself for believing that high school would be any better than middle school. He'd heard the horror stories and he shouldn't have let hope get the better of him. He probably should be grateful that he hadn't been thrown into dumpsters or flushed in a toilet - yet.

He was about to just turn around and leave the halls of McKinley High behind him as fast as possible so he could make dinner for when his Dad would get home when his senses told him that there was someone near him. Kurt had learned to trust his senses when it came to the presence of ghosts in his close vicinity. Expecting Sebastian, Kurt spun around, witty comeback already forming in his head, when the sight in front of him stopped him dead in his tracks.

Right in front of him was the most beautiful boy he had ever come across. He had a concerned look on his face, his big hazel eyes boring into Kurt's.

"Bad day?" Kurt wanted to melt. Of course that dreamy guy had to have a beautiful voice as well.

"You could say so," Kurt responded a bit breathlessly after making sure the halls were empty and no one would hear him talking to what was thin air to most of them.

"Sorry to hear that. It's so rare to meet someone who can actually talk to us or hear us. And it's usually the mediums that have it worst here," dreamy-ghost-wonder sighed. "It's not fair. I don't know why I still expect better, though."

"Same," Kurt answered with a sigh of his own. "Middle school was bad enough but I have a feeling it'll only get worse. Do you talk to all the mediums? And who exactly is us? Other than Sebastian?"

Ghost-guy grinned at him. "Yes, I've talked to all of them. Though there were only three of them in the last ten years. And there's only one other, her name is Rachel. So you and Sebastian met already?"

"Yes, we did. It wasn't pleasant." Kurt crinkled his nose at the memory of some of the things Sebastian had whispered into his ear until he'd finally found someone else to haunt. "You didn't tell me your name, I think. Kurt Hummel. Medium, obviously."

Damn it, that had to be the most charming smile Kurt had ever seen on another person, ghost or not. "Blaine Anderson. Resident ghost at McKinley, obviously. And sorry for Sebastian. He has his antics but I think you'll get along over time."

Blaine offered his hand and Kurt touched his fingertips to the see-through outline of Blaine's in the traditional way of greeting between mediums and ghosts (Kurt, up to this day, couldn't thank Glen enough for teaching him; he should probably drop by the graveyard today and bring her some flowers now that he thought about it, it had been a while).

The second they ‘touched' - for lack of a better word - pleasant shivers ran up and down Kurt's spine. Touching Blaine was nothing like greeting any of the other ghosts he'd met before. Instead of the cold and clammy feeling he usually got when they reached out to or passed through him, there was warmth spreading up his arm, surrounding him in a feeling of... he guessed ‘home' was the best way to describe it.

Looking up he was met with the same surprise he felt reflected in Blaine's beautiful eyes. Maybe his time at McKinley wouldn't be as dull and hopeless as he'd expected.