Blaine's POV

Blaine lay stretched out across his double bed, eyes glued to the white ceiling. Although his golden eyes were wide open, he was unseeing. He had been lying in the same position, immobile, for the past two hours.

Move, his mind told him. Get up and do something productive.

But he couldn't. There was just no energy left within him. He had exhausted all his resources that morning; and now he was content to just lay still, unmoving, and listen intently to the sound of the rain hammering against his window. He knew that if he concentrated hard enough on the sound of the falling rain, he wouldn't have room to think about anything else. And that was the way Blaine liked it.

And so that is what he had been doing for the past two hours - attempting to wipe every thought from his mind. He wanted desperately to forget about...well, everything. The problem was, Blaine was not being very successful. As hard as he tried, he could not seem to switch his brain off.

You think too much, he told himself. That's your problem.

And it had always been a problem. The thing was, whenever Blaine was alone, and he was alone a great deal, he spent too much time dwelling on every detail of his life, every mistake, every potential problem. And as a result, Blaine had become a very anxious person.

On the outside he presented the image of the perfect son. He was Blaine Anderson - the rich, private school boy who achieved straight As and was the lead singer of the Warblers. The boy who had perfect manners and was accomplished in just about every activity imaginable. The boy who loved his parents and appreciated everything they did for him. The boy who was strong and never let anything get to him.

And it was all a lie.

The fact that he was now laying in his room, sulking, unable to move for hours on end, proved that. Blaine Anderson was not strong. In fact, he was very, very weak. And the worry of what tomorrow would bring was almost unbearable.

See, tomorrow was a big day. Blaine would be starting a new school. A public school to be exact. A public school in Lima, Ohio, which had a reputation for being particularly homophobic. And he was not sure he was ready to face...that again.

For the past two years, he had relished in the security and acceptance that Dalton Academy had provided. His parents had allowed him to board there – and that arrangement was a win-win for everybody. His parents didn't have to look out for him, and Blaine didn't have to live at home with them. It had been perfect. But that was all about to change. He no longer attended Dalton, and he had to stop pretending that he did. He now lived at home. There was no going back. His parents had made the decision to pull him out, citing growing expense as the reason. But Blaine knew better. He may not have known the full extent of his parent's fortune, but he understood enough to know that paying for his school fees six times over would not have put a dent in their bank accounts.

No, there was another reason. Blaine had a few theories. Top of that list was that his parents had finally become indifferent to him. They no longer showed interest in anything else he did, so why should his education be an exception?

As if to validate this theory, Blaine's parents were out of town. Where? Blaine didn't know. And he didn't care. He had long since stopped listening when his parents spoke about business. Or anything really. And so now Blaine was facing his first day at a new school, where he knew nothing and no one, alone.

But what did you expect? His mind interrupted. To wake up, with breakfast waiting for you on the table, your lunch neatly prepared and packed in a brown-paper bag, with your father ready to drive you to school?

Blaine laughed. The chance of a blimp crashing through his window at that exact moment would have been more likely.

He half hoped it would.

The truth was, his parents rarely made an appearance. When he was younger he'd had his nanny and older brother for company. But being 17, he was too old for a nanny now, and his brother, who was 8 years older than him, had long since moved away.

Blaine was alone in the world. And he didn't know what to do about it.

Yes, he'd had - still had - friends at Dalton, but they lived over two hours away. And with their busy schedules – between school and glee – no one had much time for him anymore. He just hoped McKinley would be different.

Maybe he'd finally find someone who would understand and accept him for him, rather than the person who everyone wanted – no, expected – him to be.

Ever since he had been told he would be transferring schools, he had been trying to decide who 'Blaine Anderson at McKinley' would be. Should he try and hide the fact that he was gay? After much deliberation Blaine had decided no – it had been difficult enough coming out once, he was not about to tip-toe back into the closet. But it was decided – Blaine would lay low. He would do everything in his power to blend in with the wallpaper and not be noticed. He did not want a repeat of the last time he had attended public school.

A loud bang shook Blaine out of his thoughts. Looking over at the window, he saw as a strike of lightning lit up the whole sky.

When had it gotten so dark? He thought. Hadn't it been light outside just moments ago?

In his first movement in hours, Blaine sat up slowly and reached across to his bedside table where his watch sat. He picked it up and checked the time. 7pm. Wow. Blaine hadn't realised it was so late. As if to emphasise this point, his stomach growled at that exact moment.

I guess I should eat something, he thought.

Just then his phone started to ring, startling him just like the thunder had done moments before.

"Blaine speaking" he answered without feeling.

"Blaine honey, it's your mother" he heard from the other end. That got his attention. Maybe she was ringing to wish him good luck with school tomorrow. His mood lifted slightly.

"Hi mum" he replied. "How is everything?"

"Just fine. I was just ringing to say-" here it comes he thought "-can you hang the washing out? When we left this morning it completely slipped my mind."

Blaine's heart sank. "Sure mum. Is that all?"

"I'd also like you to see if you could start sorting through those files on your father's desk, because he just doesn't have time and I know you aren't busy at all at the moment."

So she had forgotten. Blaine had known all along that his parents were forgetful at the best of times, but he had mentioned school enough times to be hopeful that they might remember. Apparently not. Well Blaine was not about to remind her. She could figure it out on her own.

"Great. Will do." And he hung up.

It was at that moment that Blaine decided that tomorrow he would start fresh. He would stop relying on his parents. He would stop caring what they thought of him. And most of all he would stop expecting anything resembling love from them.

Blaine was a big boy. He needed to start acting like one.

With his new found resolve, Blaine felt happier that night than he had in a long time. School no longer seemed so scary when viewed as a way to escape his parents and his home life. In fact, by 9pm that night, Blaine was almost excited to go to school the next day. Almost. He still had this nervous feeling in his gut that no one would accept him. That he would be teased and forced to remain an outcast for the rest of high school. That this would be a repeat of last time.

The saddest part of this whole thing though, was not that be might not make friends, or that he might be bullied, it was that the thought of being an outcast at school still seemed more appealing than being an outcast in his own home.

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Kurt's POV

Kurt paced back and forth across the room. Why wasn't Rachel or Mercedes answering?

He had texted them numerous times. He had left far too many messages on their answering machines than he cared to admit. He had even tried calling Rachel's dads to no avail.

Where are they? He thought angrily.

Sitting down on his bed, Kurt picked up a magazine and began to flick through the pages. Within seconds he was bored. He put the magazine aside and threw himself across his bed.

I bet Finn's having a great time out right now. He thought bitterly. Here I am, stuck at home all alone, while dad and Carole are out to dinner, and Finn is off living his life.

And that's when he realised how pathetic he was. Here he was, on a Sunday afternoon, waiting around for someone to call. His stepbrother Finn was out with all of his friends - in fact, come to think of it - that was probably where Rachel was, being his girlfriend and all. Mercedes too, he thought. Of course Sam would be with Finn.

And that's when it hit Kurt. He hadn't been invited. Even his two best friends, Rachel and Mercedes had forgotten him. His own brother had forgotten him.

Kurt had never felt more alone in the world than right in that moment.

He had always felt lonely. Ever since his mother had died 9 years ago, it had been just him and his dad. They had managed. But that didn't erase the feeling that something was missing. The same went for school. Yes, Kurt had friends. And they were his best friends, he trusted them with everything. But he was almost certain the feeling wasn't mutual.

But this time was different. For the first time since his mother had died, Kurt felt completely alone in the world.

Snap out of it, his mind told him sternly. Stop feeling sorry for yourself.

You cannot sit here all afternoon and wallow.

Kurt sighed, getting up off his bed and walking over to the window. The rain was streaming down the window pane, making it difficult to see more than a few feet outside. Clicking the hatch, Kurt pushed it open, breathing in the crisp air, hoping it would help him think clearly.

It did. Within moments he had grabbed a pen and pad, and was hurriedly scribbling down his thoughts.

Many years ago, Kurt had realised that writing things down made him feel better. Nothing ever seemed to look as dire on paper as it did in his mind. And so, ever since then, Kurt had kept a notebook of sorts. Sometimes it was used for something as simple as what he would be wearing on the weekend, and other times it was used to record his most intimate thoughts.

Today Kurt just needed to make sense of the numerous questions running through his mind.

Where were Rachel and Mercedes?

Were they really his friends?

What would he say to them tomorrow?

Would they say something first?

Or maybe ignore him after all the rude messages he had left?

What if this was just the start? What if they had decided overnight that they never wanted to speak to him again?

What had he done wrong to upset them?

Kurt read over his list, realising he sounded crazy.

It's just one afternoon, he told himself. It doesn't mean anything.

Kurt tried to tell himself this. He tried to believe it. But there was no denying that Kurt was still worried. Tomorrow was the start of a new school year. There was no guarantee that things would be the same as they had been last year - and in fact - Kurt was positive they wouldn't be. What if the glee club – his only friends – suddenly realised that hanging around the gay kid was too difficult? What if the bullying got worse? Could he cope?

Kurt hoped he could. He really did. But he didn't want to have to. He wanted to finally find someone who would understand him, really understand him. He wanted a friend like the lead character always had in movies. He wanted a true best friend that he could tell anything to, and that would always be there for him.

"Yeah, that'll happen" he said sarcastically out loud.

But he pushed it aside. He had no idea what tomorrow had in store for him, but that didn't matter. He would face it. That much he knew.