Blaine pulled up outside William McKinley High school. There was a lump in his throat. He was going back to a public school. Last time he'd set foot in a school like this was that dance, when those three assholes had put him in hospital. As his mind drifted back to that night, he could feel the panic rising within him. He forced down a few deep breaths to calm himself, then he picked up his bag and got out of the car.

Calm the fuck down, he told himself. You're not the same weak, little fourteen year-old anymore. You're eighteen, you're coming from a school where you were popular. All you need to do is make a few friends and maybe you'll survive this. You know they have a good glee club, they made it to Nationals last year. They didn't get into the top ten but still they're good enough. Join them and you'll fit-in, even if they are at the bottom of the food chain in this school.

He took another deep breath and straightened his shoulders. If there was one thing he could do, it was fake confidence. He walked up to the entrance, and a group of girls looked his way before running off, giggling. Blaine froze for a second before realizing that he was just being stupid, they probably thought he was cute or something like that.

He knew he was supposed to go to the principal's office, but he had no idea how to get there. He stopped to ask for directions from a girl with short, choppy blonde hair and a dainty silver cross around her neck.

"Figgns' office? Sure. It's just down the hall, turn right then take the second left and it should be right in front of you." Her eyes raked over him "Do you need me to show you the way?" she asked.

"No that's okay I'm sure I can manage." Blaine smiled and walked in the direction the blonde pointed. If he had looked back he would have seen a Latina cheerleader start questioning the girl while staring at his ass without shame.

He managed to reach the office without getting lost, and the receptionist sent him in straight away. There was a small, Indian man sitting behind the desk.

"Welcome to McKinley High School, Mr. Anderson!" Blaine noticed that the man gestured a lot when he talked. "We're very glad to have you here. Your grade point average is impeccable. I hope you enjoy your time with us!"

"Thank you sir." Blaine smiled politely.

"Here is your class schedule, locker combination and a map of the school."

Blaine gave the map a once over. McKinley was smaller than Dalton, it didn't have half the facilities Dalton had. The layout was very like Blaine's last public school, he felt the panic rising again but he pushed down and forced a smile, he was good at pretending to be okay.

Thank you sir, I'm sure I'll settle in soon." Blaine was nothing if not polite.

"I hope so." A bell rang out. "AH! Enjoy your first period Mr. Anderson. If you have any problems do not hesitate to come to me or a member of the faculty."

Blaine stood up and shook the principal's hand before turning and leaving the office. Standing in the middle of the hallway, he looked down at his schedule and saw he had AP English in room ten. He checked the map and headed off to class.

His classes weren't that difficult after spending a year at Dalton, but they were challenging enough to keep him from becoming bored. He sat next to an Asian kid names Mike in most of his classes. Blaine thought Mike seemed nice and he overheard him talking about glee club. He wondered how people joined the glee club because there didn't appear to be a sign up sheet. He supposed he would just show up and ask to join. During lunch there was an almost constant stream of girls coming over to talk to him. He smiled politely to them and listened to them but he couldn't help but think that most of these girls would ignore him completely if they found out he was gay. By the end of the day he was feeling a little better, people seemed to like him.

They're only nice to you because they don't know yet, he thought. He decided to forget about that fact and just concentrate on the fact that no one had shoved him or locked him in a closet today.

He knew from overhearing Mike that the glee club were meeting up after school so he looked at the map. The choir room didn't seem to be on it. He was sure he heard Mike say 'choir room' though. He wandered around the school looking for it. It didn't take long, as he was passing the Spanish room he saw the  teacher walk into a room with a piano in it. He could also see Mike and a few others, including the blonde girl who gave him directions, through the doorway.

One person in particular caught his attention. He had brown hair that was perfectly styled, he wore gray skinny jeans and a fitted white shirt, with an elaborate black scarf. He was sitting with perfect posture and had one leg crossed over the other, with his hands clasped around his knee. His skin was pale but his cheeks had a rosy hue. His delicate features were arranged into a practiced mask of aloofness, but Blaine thought the boys glasz eyes looked sad. Blaine liked to think that he had pretty good gaydar and was sure that this boy was, indeed, gay.

Maybe I wont be alone in this school after all, he thought. He walked over to the doorway and knocked, everyone in the room turned their heads to look at him. The boy's sad eyes brightened a little.

"Hi, is this the glee club?" he asked. The curly haired Spanish teacher—Blaine thought his name was Mr. Shoefur or something—answered, he then asked if Blaine wanted to audition. Blaine replied politely and introduced himself. He gave them a quick rundown of his past experience. He hoped he didn't come across as cocky, just confident in his abilities.

He spotted a guitar laying atop the piano and asked if he could use it, a guy with a mo-hawk told him it was fine. He played Teenage Dream because Katy Perry could always be counted on to please a crowd. The boy with the sad eyes looked impressed. Blaine didn't know why, but he kept looking at the boy to make sure he was enjoying the performance. For whatever reason, very time he saw the boy smile it sent a thrill of happiness through him.

When he finished, they all applauded him. All except for a short brunette girl. She had this strange idea that he was spying on them Why would I go through all this hassle just to spy on them? he thought. He allowed her to ask questions and he answered truthfully. 

Then the tallest boy in the room asked him the question he'd been dreading. "Why don't you live with your parents, dude?" Blaine took a deep breath, he was still trying to deal with the fact that his father had disowned him for something that was out of his control, but he knew he wasn't going to hide who he was anymore. Mr. Schue gave him a chance to get out of answering the question, but he felt that if he didn't say it then then he would lose his nerve.

He had tried to hide his sexuality from his parents for so long, he even managed to hide the real motive behind the attack from them. They found out because he was careless, he could still feel the sting of his father's had across his cheek. When he told the group that his parents kicked him out for being gay, he could see how shocked and appalled they all were. He looked at the pale, blue eyed boy, the news seemed to effect him the most.

Kurt, Mr. Schue introduced the blue-eyed boy as Kurt. Suits him, Blaine mused. Blaine was then informed that they were having a competition and he would be paired up with Kurt. He was strangely pleased by this news. Everyone started breaking off into pairs, Blaine went and sat down next to his new parnter. He smiled and held out his hand Kurt took it tentatively.

"Hi I'm Blaine," Kurt raised his eyebrow.

"What's that look for?" Blaine asked as he dropped Kurt's hand.

"You're just really formal what with the handshake and all. Do they like to drill manners into the students at that old private school of yours?" Blaine smiled.

"Actually it was my parents. Is there something wrong with having good manners?"

"Not at all. I actually wish more people in this school were as polite as you."

"Thank you."

"See there you go again with the manners. I bet you always remember your 'please's and 'thank you's" Kurt said with a sly grin, his eyes sparkling. Blaine laughed.

"What happened to wishing the others were as polite as me?"

"That doesn't mean I can't make fun of your gentlemanly ways."

Blaine laughed again, finding that Kurt was really easy to talk to. They teased each other for a couple minutes longer. They were both smiling by the time they started to work on the assignment. Kurt was trying to explain the prize to Blaine—“But what's so great about this particular restaurant?”—when Blaine's phone indicated that he'd received a text message. He read it and a goofy grin spread across his face.

"Who's it from?" asked Kurt.

"Oh, it's from my boyfriend, Dean."