It was Kurt Hummel's first day as a senior, and everything was going well. He hadn't had any run-ins with Karofsky, and no one had slushied him yet. He had a fabulous new Marc Jacobs jacket, a fabulous hairstyle and was headed to glee club with his fabulous friends. Mercedes and Rachel were arguing about solos while their respective boyfriends, Sam and Finn, talked about football over their heads. Kurt laughed as he listened to the two divas, occasionally interrupting to remind them of his own talent.

Kurt was happy. He truly was, but everyone in the glee club had someone and he was alone. He felt like the perennial third wheel. The only two New Directions members who weren't all loved up were Quinn and Santana. Although neither girl had any trouble finding a date.

His thoughts drifted back to the junior prom. He had help Finn get ready but then spent the rest of the night curled up in bed, watching old Alexander McQueen fashion shows on his laptop. Mercedes sent him updates about all the drama but it wasn't the same.

As he listened to the girls arguing, he began to think that he would gladly give up all chances of a solo this year if he could just walk down the hall, hand in hand with a boy like they were. By the time the five of them reached the choir room, Kurt's mood had darkened considerably.

Everyone was gossiping, as per usual. The day's topic was the new transfer student.

"The new guy is all kinds of fine! I'm so gonna get all up on that." Santana grinned.

"He is really hot." Quinn added " I mean he's kind of on the short side, but his face, hair and body more than make up for it."

"He seems sort of cool, I guess but I heard he's from that gay school in Westerville." Puck shrugged.

Quinn turned to face him, "Yeah but he has a Buckeyes patch on his bag. He likes football so he can't be gay."

"Quinn! That is such a stereotype! Some gay guys do like sports, you know. I thought you knew better than that," Kurt said defensively. He always got upset when one of his friends made comments like that.

"Oh, Kurt, I know but what i meant to say was that he doesn't seem gay. I mean, he's been flirting with girls all day." Quinn replied quickly.

"Damn, then I best be getting my move on if I wanna get with him."

"Back off Santana, I saw him first!" Quinn and Santana started bickering over who saw the new guy first.

"Hell to the no! You guys are not fighting over a guy who's name you don't even know." Mercedes cut in.

Then Mike spoke up. "Um I think his name Blaine Anderson, he's in some of my AP classes. Dude's pretty smart. Classes must have been harder in that old private school of his."

"I wonder why he transferred here," Quinn said pensively.

"Who cares? I just want somebody new to do the nasty with now that Puck here has been neutered by the blob."

"HEY!" Lauren shouted as she jumped from her seat "Don't make me beat your skinny little ass again," she sat down and Puck rested his arm on her shoulders.

Santana was about to come back with a bitchy remark when Mr. Schuester walked in.

"Good afternoon guys! Welcome back to a brand new year of glee! This year I'm expecting you to make it all the way to the finals at Nationals. To you all pumped and off to a good start, also, because you all seemed to enjoy it so much last time, I'm bringing back our duets competition!"

They cheered half-heartedly.

"Once again the prize is a gift certificate to Breadstix for a dinner for two."

People seemed more enthusiastic after they heard what the prize was.

"Everyone pair up."

Quinn and Santana teamed up and everybody else went with their significant other. Kurt was left on his own.

"Oh. Kurt, I forgot there's an odd number since Lauren joined..." Mr. Schue trailed off as he searched for a solution.

There was a knock on the door, standing in the frame was a boy Kurt had never seen before.

He was about 5"8' with short, curly, dark hair, held perfectly in place with a slightly excessive amount of hair-gel. He wore black skinny jeans and a long sleeved, red T-shirt that clung to his shoulders nicely. He had his bag slung casually over one shoulder. He had big, expressive, hazel eyes, a rounded nose and plump, red lips. There was this air of cool confidence about him that Kurt found intriguing.

"Hi, is this the glee club?" his voice was smooth, strong and confident.

"Yes, it is. Do you uh... do you want to try out?" Mr. Schuester was a little confused, no one had ever come looking to join glee, without being prompted before.

"Yes sir, my name is Blaine Anderson. I just transferred here." he smiled and Kurt felt a shiver go down his spine.

Mr. Schue continued "Do you have any experience with singing and show choir?"

"Yes sir, I was the lead singer of the Dalton Academy Warblers last year, I'm a singer/songwriter, and have appeared in various theme parks and cafés. Playing both covers and my own stuff."

"Wow okay, well do you have anything prepared?"

Everyone looked impressed at Blaine's resumé, Santana was practically drooling and Kurt couldn't help but understand why.

"May I use this guitar?" Blaine asked politely, gesturing to the instrument where it lay on the piano.

"Sure, man. It's mine, but as long as you don't break any strings, it's cool." Puck answered.

Blaine picked up the guitar and started to tune it. After about a minute he was standing in front of the group.

"Whenever you're ready, Blaine." Mr. Schue sat down.

Blaine began to play a song that they all recognized, but couldn't quite place. Then he started to sing.

"You think I'm pretty without any make-up on."

Blaine's voice was strong, pure, and beautiful. His playing was interesting and flawless. None of them had ever heard the song performed like this before—they were stunned by his talent. He could take a well known pop song and turn it into something that was entirely his own.

"Let you put your hands on me in my skintight jeans be your teenage dream tonight."

When the song ended the club burst into a loud round of applause. All except for Rachel, who was eyeing Blaine suspiciously

Kurt was speechless; he was blown away by Blaine's voice. Everything Blaine did made Kurt's breathing hitch and his heart skip a beat. Kurt could have sworn that Blaine had kept looking at him while he was singing. Kurt pushed that idea out of his head, the last thing he needed was to fall for another straight guy.

"Blaine that was... wow. I think I speak for all of us when I say welcome to the New Directions!"

"Not all of us, Mr. Schuester." Rachel came down to stand beside him "How do we know he isn't a Warbler spy? They're our competition this year."

"Rachel stop being so paranoid, I'm sure Blaine's not a spy." Finn wrapped an arm around her waist "He's not Jesse St. Stupid." He laughed a little at his own lame joke.

"Look, Rachel is it? You can ask me anything you feel you need to, to determine that I'm not a spy."

"Fine. Why did you transfer here? Isn't Dalton some fancy boarding school? Why did you move to a public school?"

"I had to move in with my older brother, Cooper. He can't afford Dalton and he lives in this school district." Blaine answered smoothly.

"If you could would you go back?"

"In a heartbeat. Dalton was my sanctuary for over a year. I was popular, I made some close friends who love me for me and I got solos in glee club. But I can never go back so this is really a moot point."

There is so much emotion behind his eyes, thought Kurt.

"I'm here now and I'm willing to put one hundred and ten percent into this group. Is that good enough for you?"

Everyone could tell there was more to the story, but they could also tell by the way Blaine sounded choked up, that they shouldn't ask. All except Finn that is.

"Why do you live with your brother? Why don't you live with your parents?"

"Finn you can't just ask that. Maybe Blaine doesn't want to talk about it." Mr. Schue said.

"No no. I have nothing to be ashamed of. My parents, well really just my dad, kicked me out."

Mr. Schuester was shocked. "Why? If you don't mind me asking."

"I told them that I'm gay. He said this calmly but they could all see the hurt flash across his face, for a second before he regained his composure.

They were all shocked. Quinn and Santana were a little disappointed. Rachel changed her mind about Blaine at once. She was very attuned to the plight of the gays thanks to her two gay dads.

Kurt was appalled at the revelation. He was once again hit by how lucky he was to have a supporting father like Burt, but he couldn't help but be a little happy, because Blaine was gay. Blaine liked boys. Kurt was a boy. He quickly told himself not to get his hopes up, just because he's gay doesn't mean that he'll like him.

Mr. Schue could tell that Blaine was done talking about the subject so before Finn—or God forbid Brittany—could ask anymore questions, he took control of the situation.

"So Blaine welcome we're happy to have you. Before you came in I was just saying that we are going to have a duet competition. Everyone's already paired up so you can go with Kurt here. He'll explain the rules and tell you what the prize is. Okay everybody, split up and work on your duets!"