July 17, 2012, 7:01 a.m.
This Song Saved My Life: Chapter 4 All The Way Home
E - Words: 2,535 - Last Updated: Jul 17, 2012 Story: Closed - Chapters: 22/? - Created: Mar 19, 2012 - Updated: Jul 17, 2012 377 0 0 0 0
I could tell that the air is changing,
Somethings wrong with how I'm breathing,
I could tell that your eyes are wandering,
I hope they end up on my way,
(Ooh Whoa Whoa)
I swear I'd never try,
(Ooh Whoa Whoa)
The classroom was empty other than a teacher bent over scattered papers on a desk in the front left hand corner of the room. Blaine walked up to the beaten wooden desk and cleared his throat, putting on his best, charming smile. "Um, Ms. Tardiff? I'm Blaine. I'm a transfer student from Dalton Academy" he said quickly and held out the piece of paper he was supposed to get all his new teachers to sign.
The young lady looked up with a warm smile. "Ah… yes… I have your papers here somewhere… I really can't keep anything organized. But shhh that's just out little secret." She said as she pulled a pen and signed the slip before going back to looking for Blaine's file. "I went down to the office and made a copy of your file and now I can't find it" she sighed. "Forget about that. I'm Marnie Tardiff. Obviously you will call me Ms. Tardiff." She said extending her hand.
Blaine shook her hand as he watched her fiddling around and instantly liked her. She seemed like a person, all the teachers at Dalton seemed like robots not people. Sure, they cared. They liked their jobs and cared about the students but in the high-stress environment of a school like Dalton it was all about content not relationships. They were also all old and stuffy. This Ms. Tardiff was young, maybe 30, if that. She had box died dirty blonde hair and business-casual clothes on. She felt like a neighbor not an authority figure.
He nodded with a chuckle "Its not important. I'm nothing special." He said with a smile and took the signed paper back before folding it into his note book.
Marnie shook her head at him. "Nonsense. I already read your file, I know about that Sadie Hawkins incident, and Dalton and I can make assumptions about why you're here now. But I won't. I don't care what brought you here Blaine. I'm just happy to have you in my class."
Blaine nodded and set his stuff down near the center of the room, where he would blend into the crowd. People paid attention to those on the edges, not those in the masses. "Oh… I didn't know they kept stuff like that in the files…" he mumbled and shifted uncomfortably before he sat down. He knew that Dalton was aware of the incident before he transferred but he had assumed that was his parents doing.
The teacher stood up and moved to the front of her desk where she leaned and spoke to him. "They keep everything in those files. But it doesn't matter. I want you to know that I'm always here if you need to talk someone's ear off. I'm not the guidance councilor so I can't give you the 'right'" she said using air quotes "advice but I can give you real advice" She turned around and scribbled something down on a piece of paper "My email if you need me." She said and handed it to him.
Blaine could hardly believe the situation he was in. Was she really this nice? Did a teacher really care this much. "Oh, um thank you. But I think I will be fine. I seem to be fitting in quite nicely" he reassured her, though what he was doing was more of blending then fitting. He didn't want her to worry over the poor new kid. The poor new gay kid so said his file.
Ms. Tardiff nodded. "Up to you. Though if it's alright with you I have someone I'd like to introduce you to. I think he could be a lot of help. He is in our Glee club, while on the bottom of the social ladder they are a bunch of good kids. I think you could find a home there. And Kurt's been through everything you have been." She smiled and stopped the conversation as students started to wonder in for the class.
A boy named Kurt, who was in Glee, and had been through what he had. Was she trying to guide him in the direction of what he assumed could be the only other out kid in Lima? That would be brilliant. He could make a friend! Someone to talk to, and he could rejoin a Glee club!
Blaine could feel himself vibrating with excitement. This could all work out perfectly! He would meet this Kurt guy, make friends with him and his glee club, find his place! It was perfect.
Class began and Blaine was almost bouncing in his chair as he listened to Ms. Tardiff who he adored already. His first day was going simply wonderfully. Better than he could have asked!
The door to the class opened and it took a few seconds for Blaine's eyes to wonder over to it. Then his heart stopped. Ariel. He wished he knew the boy's real name. But until he did his nickname would just have to do. The boy looked at Blaine for a fraction of a second before averting his gaze and slid into a desk.
Ariel's posture seemed as though he was hiding from the world, from Blaine specifically. What had Blaine done? He hadn't even said two words to him. Not since the concert… if it was in fact the same boy. Which it had to be. Those eyes, he could recognize those eyes anywhere. They had mocked his brain for 3 weeks.
What if Blaine had done something at the concert? What if Ariel had only been playing nice? Just because he didn't want to be alone. Did Blaine annoy him? He had thought they had chemistry that night… no. He knew they had hit it off that night. Blaine wasn't going to start second guessing himself now. He couldn't. He had been hoping to run into Ariel since the second he walked out of the door and he was going to be damned if he was going to let this get in his way.
Blaine talked himself through all the different reasons Ariel could have been acting the way he was. He could have simply been having a bad day? Been upset about being late? Maybe he didn't even recognize Blaine? Maybe he had forgotten all about him and now thought Blaine was just some creepy new guy who starred at him a lot.
Maybe that was it… Either way, Blaine was going to get to know Ariel if it killed him. Because not knowing him was already killing him.
He anxiously waited for the bell to ring, so he could approach the boy who had captivated his mind for nearly a month. His stomach was twisting with nerves and excitement as he went through things he could say in his mind.
The bell rang and Blaine grabbed his bag and turned towards the door, but Ariel was already gone. His face fell and he slouched down against his desk. Ariel was going to be a hard fish to catch, he could tell. He sighed heavily and shook his head.
"Blaine, I'm going to talk to Kurt this afternoon and perhaps can have you two meet up tomorrow during lunch? If that works for you?" Marnie said as she rearranged papers on her desk, smiling warmly at Blaine.
He nodded distractedly, "Yes, that sounds fine. Thank you Ms. Tardiff. I'll see you tomorrow" he said, and with that walked back out into the crowded hall.
Kurt collapsed onto his bed with a loud and frustrated "fuuuuuuuck" he closed his eyes and was graced with approximately 5 seconds of relaxation before liquid honey eyes flashed in his minds eye. He groaned and his eyes snapped back open. He moodily kicked his boots off in the direction of his closet and turned over onto his stomach, bringing a pillow to his face.
He made it another 10 seconds before the thought of his boots lying in a corner and his clothes wrinkling made him sit up. He pushed himself off of the comfort of his bed and placed his boots neatly in the closet and switched his designers for a pair of old dark skinny jeans and his Wicked t-shirt.
Looking in the mirror he approved of the casual, but still fashionable change of outfit and started to head up the stairs.
Walking into the living room Kurt sat down on a chair beside the couch Finn and his Father were currently occupying, watching some sporting event or another. Kurt let his eyes fall on the TV. Not that he was paying attention, he would never be caught actually paying attention to sports. He may have been on the football team, but that had just been a phase to try and impress his dad. He would never understand the world of athletics. No matter how hard he tried for his dad.
No, it just provided a little bit of a cover so he could let his mind drift back to his incredibly long day at school. It put a whole new spin on the term Manic Monday.
Every corner he turned he felt like a spy, creeping around, hyper alert of who was in the area. The few times he had seen the gelled head he was working hard to avoid he had turned around on his heels and booked it another way to his class. Lunch had been a relief, eating with Rachel, Finn, San and Britt in the choir room allowed him to breathe.
Shuester had been curious at their presence but hadn't pushed it, more then happy to have company during his lunch break. They sat and talked about the usual things, theories on how Sue would try to destroy Glee club this year, possible song choices, and Rach had even brought up them doing Wicked. Not that it had gone over well, but she had still put in her opinion. Not that he ever doubted she would.
He almost didn't think of Blaine all lunch period. He withdrew back into his day to day life for the hour that he could before he had to go back to hiding.
He had to chuckle to himself as he was peering around one corner, he was putting more effort in hiding from Blaine then he ever had with hiding from the Jocks. He wasn't even in danger from Blaine, well not physical danger at least. Mental instability would surely follow any interactions with the mystery boy. But that was how Kurt wanted to keep it. As a mystery.
He only wished that needing to develop ninja skills was his only Blaine related problem of the day, but it peaked as he had walked into his meeting with Ms. Tardiff.
She wanted him to meet Blaine, wanted him to be a mentor. Of course she had also hinted heavily at trying to set them up, but Kurt had ignored her not so subtle attempts.
How was he supposed to get out of it? He had to though. He couldn't meet with Blaine, but he couldn't say no to his favorite teacher either. He didn't know what to do and his mind was running over drive as he looked blankly at the TV screen. What the hell was he doing?
"Kurt!" Burt yelled, startling his son. "What is wrong with you today?" he asked looking at him with concern in his eyes. "You're watching hockey. Don't give me any crap either, I can tell when you're lying. Something is wrong." Burt pointed out as he leaned closer to his son.
Kurt sighed heavily. He should have known watching sports was a horrid cover. "Its nothing dad. Just a long day. I was zoning out." He said and stood up. "What do you want for dinner? Carole is working a late shift and texted me asking to make dinner for you guys" he said as he slowly backed towards the kitchen.
Changing the subject to food was always a safe bet with Burt and Finn. "I was thinking I'd make chicken and rice!" he called from the kitchen as he started pulling out everything he would need.
"Burt, I think I know what's wrong with Kurt" Finn said, attempting to be quiet, though Kurt could hear every word from the adjacent kitchen.
Burt didn't respond vocally but Kurt assumed he had showed some sort of acknowledgement because Finn continued. "There was this kid, I saw him looking at Kurt! and Kurt would blush and turn away when ever he saw him! I think Kurt has a stalker Burt! And I for one think it is my responsibility, you know, as an older brother to make sure we don't have a repeat… of you know… last time" he rambled.
Kurt listened half-mindedly, what could Finn come up with anyways. That was until he heard the theory. He dropped the bag of rice on the counter and ran back into the living room. "No!" he yelled at Finn a bit too frantically, earning him a look of disapproval from Burt.
"Kurt Hummel tell me right now what is going on." His dad demanded, anger boiling in his eyes.
The pale boy bit his lip and tried to think of the best way to explain the situation, or better yet, a lie to make the situation disappear… but he had never been good at lying to his father. "He's not a stalker dad. He's a new kid. I think he's gay." I know he's gay Kurt added to himself. "I'm not exactly subtle and he probably heard that I'm the only out kid… well other then San and Britt… but beside the point, he probably just wants a friend but doesn't know how to come up to me. I wasn't running away from him, I was simply busy. Finn just happens to see what he wants to see. And while it is sweet that you have developed a sudden brotherly devotion to my safety Finn it's unnecessary" Kurt said with a smile. He wasn't 100% lying but he was leaving out large chunks of information. Information Burt didn't need.
It was a long silence as Finn shrugged and leaned back into the couch. Burt just sat there, rolling his cap in his hands. "I think you should go up to this kid tomorrow son." He said finally.
Kurt's face fell. "What? Why?" he questioned, his nerves starting to show, he could feel his voice wanting to go higher, but he didn't let it.
Burt looked up at him, a slight twinkle of disappointment in his eyes "Kurt, he is obviously in need of a friend. If he is actually gay then it's the right thing for you to do. I'm not saying go and date the kid. In fact I'd love to tell you the opposite. But he deserves a friend. You are a good kid Kurt. Now, make me proud and talk to the kid. I want to hear about it tomorrow." Burt said as he got up and headed to the kitchen "I'm putting this whole grain crap away and ordering a pizza" he grumbled grabbing the phone, before Kurt could protest Burt spoke up again, "I'll get you a thin crust veggie pizza and I will deal with Carole about it later."