Long silky hair, shinning eyes, popularity, a winning personality and dating the star quarterback. These are but a few of the qualities of a typical hero, the main character in any award-winning chick-flick that, I’m sure, you’ve all seen a hundred times. Every story goes as follows; girl meets guy, they fall in love, they get in a fight, her best friend gets them back together and the lead girl and boy live happily ever after.

This story is not about that lead girl. It is not about the blonde cheerleader or the Broadway-striving girl or the linebacker with the winning smile. No. This is my story. You see, I’m what you would call a wingman.

Each leading lady is given a standard posse of one to four people who flank them on the cover of the DVD, looking at her adoringly and proving that, yes, you really do wish you were her.

On a typical Monday morning in McKinley High School a short brunette girl in a flowing dress power walked down the hallway. Her brown eyes sparkled as she approached me.

This was my best friend, Rachel Berry. She was smart, pretty, and was dating my stepbrother (aka the star quarterback). She may not have been perfect, but she was the star of this story, any story, really. She always has been, that’s just the way it always will be. Rachel was the one who got the leads, got the guy, and got all the solos.

I guess you could call me a modern day Lilly Moscovitz. Don’t know who that is? Didn’t think so. Lilly was Princess Mia’s best friend from The Princess Diaries, (Though my fashion sense is better than hers by a long shot). See, Lilly was forever in the background of the picture; the best friend who knew everything about her star. As Mia went to Grandma’s learn how to become a princess, Lilly went to school and learned algebra. And in the end, Mia got with her brother. So I guess you could call Finn, Michael if that means he gets with Princess Rachel.

Oh, and that was me; tall, slightly awkward, and always in the background.

“Kurt!” Rachel shouted to me.

“Hey, Rachel.”

“Kurt, thank god I found you! How does my dress and shoe combination look? There’s a representative from NYADA here today and I want to make sure that I look all right. And getting an outfit by you is like getting the okay from Alexander McQueen himself, god rest his soul.”

I think it was safe to say that I was considered the “gay best friend”.

I looked her outfit over, as requested, because that’s what wingmen do. She twirled on her toes, making her white and blue polka-dotted, knee length dress flair out in ripples. Her sparkling, rainbow sequin heels clacked as she stopped the turn.

“As always, you look stunning, but I think those shoes might be a bit much with that dress. Here, come with me, I’ve got just the thing.”

“What would I do without you?”

“You would be a sniveling wreck with no one to live with in New York.” I grinned, linking elbows with her and leading her to my locker.

I pulled open my locker, revealing several textbooks and notepads on the top shelf. The bottom half of my locker was like stepping into a Macy’s department store complete with scarves, sweaters, button-downs, dresses, and of course, shoes. I sifted through the few pairs of heels I kept in there just for this occasion, pulling out a pair of simple white heels.

“Here, simple but elegant and they won’t distract from your natural beauty. That NYADA rep won’t be able to turn you down.”

She stood on her tippy-toes, wrapping her arms around my neck. “You’re so amazing.”

Suddenly, as if called by a force of nature, Nicky Maris, one of many Neanderthal football players who seemed to think it was their job to make my life a living hell, came barreling down the hallway toward us. Well, towards me. Since Rachel had started dating Finn, her slushie facials had lessened considerably. Unfortunately, being his stepbrother didn’t have the same perks.

The frozen blue drink catapulted out of its plastic canon and into my face.

You see, if this had been a different story, one where I was the star and not just a supporting role, someone might have come to my rescue. Someone might have noticed me and my now soaking clothes. But instead, I stood next to a shocked Rachel Berry in a crowded hallway that acted as though nothing had happened.

“Good morning, Lady Lips!” Nicky shouted as he joined a group of Neanderthals waiting at the end of the hallway.

“Refreshing!” I yelled after him. “Thanks for the pick-me-up, Maris!”

“Kurt,” Rachel hissed. “You’ll only provoke him.”

“Oh don’t worry about it. Just a typical morning in one of Ohio’s finest learning establishments.” I said, wiping the freezing drink out of my eyes.

“What the hell happened?”

We both turned around, facing an angry looking Finn Hudson. He towered over me, which meant he dwarfed Rachel entirely. If you were to look at the two of them from afar, one might think a t-rex was trying to talk to a Munchkin.

“What the hell happened?” he asked again, looking at Rachel. “Look at your dress!”

We all looked down at her dress to inspect the damage. Honestly? I didn’t see anything at first. But then Rachel turned her skit just a little bit and I saw it. A blue stain about the size of a golf ball in the back corner. Rachel squealed, near tears.

This was quite the catastrophe. I looked down at my outfit; white button down, now stained from collar to hem with blue; jeans, soaked straight through to my underwear. I would have to change my whole outfit before first period. Well except for my underwear, of course, I wasn’t an idiot. Bringing extra shorts to school was a death sentence.

Clearly Rachel’s problem was much worse.

I know what you’re thinking, but no, I wasn’t mad at Finn for ignoring me. It was just how he worked. Finn was a good guy, a little slow on the uptake, sure, but a good guy. He was the star quarterback of our football team and a member of our glee club with me. His mother, Carol, had married my father last year, our junior year, and thus, a new family was born. Carol was nice too. It was good to finally have a girl around to talk about boys with.

“Hang on a sec, Rach,” I said, snapping back into reality and turning to my locker. On the door I kept a little basket of Bleach Pens, spare buttons, and thread. I plucked one of my strongest pens from the basket and spun on my heel to face a Rachel who was venting.

“They’ll never accept me now! Finn, I need to get into that school, it’s my dream. I have to move to New York, I have to get there! Now I’ll have to work at Cold Stone Creamery, forced to sing for tips! I can’t do it. I can’t! It’s too humiliating! Rachel Berry was not made to beg for tips! Damn Maris. He’s ruined my chances!”

Rachel was a talker.

“Rachel!” I called to stop her babbling, “Calm down and stay still. I’ll get rid of the stain.”

After moment of vigorous scrubbing and elbow grease, the tiny blue spot was nothing but a distant memory.

“Oh, Kurt, you’re the best!” she squeaked.

That’s what the supporting roles are here for, I thought to myself.

“It’s no problem, I’m always prepared for such an occasion. Now you and Finn should get off to class. I’m going to change real quick.”

Rachel thanked him again, taking Finn’s hand and leading him in the opposite direction.

Sighing, I pulled out a new outfit; light yellow sweater with a swooping neckline and a pair of dark blue jeans. The yellow would go nicely with Rachel’s blue polka dots, something a side character must always keep in consideration.