I frowned at my math textbook. What the hell was this? When the hell was I ever going to need this in my life? I rolled my eyes and flipped the page. Suddenly I felt a tap on his shoulder. I turned to my right, and came face to face with Kurt Hummel. Huh, I thought Kurt hated my guts. I guess not.

“Hey, do you mind if I borrow that eraser?” he asked, nodding his head at the eraser sitting on my desk.

“Sure,” I told him, and picked up my eraser to give to him.

I would never tell anyone, but I actually found that Kurt was pretty chill. I saw the way he walked down the halls, not letting any of the dirty looks from the jocks get to him. He was cool, and he certainly didn’t deserve to get picked on.

The eraser suddenly hit the desk, landing in the same spot it had before. I smirked a little, noting that Kurt must have very good aim. I turned to him slightly, acknowledging his thanks and telling him it was really no problem. I turned back to my work. I knew that if it wasn’t for all the jocks sitting around us, I really would make more of an effort to talk to Kurt. I might actually be his friend. There was just one problem. He was out of the closet and openly gay, and had been a prime target for a lot of the jocks for a while. I’m on good terms with the jocks, and I wouldn’t want them to think that I was gay so they could start picking on me too. I knew that if it came down to it, I would probably give into the peer pressure and start to bully Kurt too. My reputation was too important to me to let anyone come in front of it. My reputation was everything to me, because it hid my darkest secret. The one secret that could ruin me, and make me an outcast. I’d rather not risk it.

The sound of the phone ringing disturbed my thoughts, and I heard Mr. Walker calling my name.

“Blaine Anderson? Mr. Schuester would like to see you in room 212.”

My heart dropped. Oh no…it couldn’t be…he wouldn’t have…

I feigned nonchalance while picking up my books, and then strutted out of the room like I owned the damn place. But the minute I was alone in the halls, I dropped the façade and let the fear sink in. Damn it…

I knew smoking on school grounds had been a bad idea.

The bell had rung, and students had long deserted the now empty school. I leaned against the wall, talking with Chris, Bryce and Stacey. They were pretty chill people, and we’ve been good friends since freshman year. We had all been laughing at Chris’ story about how he had gotten his broken arm a few years back, when Bryce pulled a little bag of weed, rolling paper, and a lighter out of his backpack. He immediately began handing the stuff around, but I became a little hesitant when accepting mine.

“What’s the matter, man?” Bryce asked. “Why are you hesitating?”

“Because we’re on school grounds, and I don’t want a teacher to walk out and bust our asses for this. If I get another detention, my dad’s gonna shoot me,” I retorted.

“Oh come on, everybody’s already gone, nobody’s gonna catch us!” Stacey snapped, before bringing the joint to her lips and lighting it.

“Besides,” Chris cut in, “you’ve been doing this stuff for years, live a little!”

I gave them all a crooked smile and said, “You know I’d never pass up an opportunity.”

I brought the joint to my lips and lit it, already feeling the peace and calm it brought over my mind and body. I took a long drag. It had been a while since I had last smoked, and god I had missed it. The group split up shortly after that, heading their separate ways home. I cut around the school, taking the shortcut through the nearly deserted parking lot, taking drags off of the joint and puffing out smoke as I walked. Suddenly, a figure I had not seen making his way over to his car stopped in front of me, cutting off my path. It was that Spanish teacher, Mr. Schuester. His eyes travelled down to the joint, up to my face, and back again. I made to run, but he grabbed my arm before I could get far enough.

I was so screwed.

“Blaine Anderson, right?” he asked me. I nodded in response.

“You know that smoking on school grounds requires punishment,” he stated, sounding more sad than angry. I nodded again.

“We’ll discuss your punishment tomorrow,” he said, and climbed into his car. I stood there, not quite sure what to do. What had just happened? I expected a lot more out of the situation, maybe some yelling and talk of suspension, but then again who was I to complain? I had basically just gotten off the hook!

I walked home with a smirk on my face. He’d probably forget all about it tomorrow.

I tentatively knocked on Mr. Schue’s office door. He looked up, and motioned for me to come in and take a seat. I sat down and pretended to look un-amused, even though I was pretty terrified for whatever Mr. Schuester had in mind. Was he going to give me detention for a month? Tell the principal? Call my parents? I really hoped it wasn’t the latter. He suddenly cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Do you know why you’re here today, Blaine?”

I shrugged my shoulders in response. He sighed.

“You thought I would forget, didn’t you?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders once more. He searched my eyes.

“Why do you smoke, Blaine?”

“What?”

“I believe the question was very simple. Why do you smoke?”

I sat there for a second, and really pondered that. Why did I smoke?

“I guess because back in sophomore year, it seemed like the cool thing to do, I guess…” I mumbled, taking notice with a cringe that I had started and ended his sentence with the same two words.

Mr. Schuester nodded at this, and was quiet for a moment before speaking again.

“Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn’t tell the principal and your parents and have you suspended? Or better yet, expelled?” the teacher suddenly snapped.

I cringed. Ah, there was the anger I had been expecting.

“Because I…I don’t know! I just…” I trailed off, running a hand through my hair in frustration. “I actually wanna go somewhere in life! I know I act like I don’t care, but I do! Sure I make bad choices, but what the hell! I’m just human!” I was trying not to get too worked up, but it was hard not to during a touchy subject like this.

Mr. Schue nodded, and was silent for another moment. He looked like he was thinking hard about something, and when his eyes finally met mine again, I could see that something had changed in them.

“I see a lot of myself in you, Blaine. Making the same bad decisions…but just know that that does not make you a bad person,” he told me.

All I could do was nod, wondering where this was heading.

Suddenly, it looked as though Mr. Schue had just come up with a brilliant idea. My stomach churned.

“Your punishment will be one month of detention, on your lunch…and to join the Glee Club for the remainder of the year.”

I froze. What?! The Glee Club? That would kill my reputation!

“That’s the price you have to pay for your actions, Blaine,” Mr. Schue said in response to the outburst I hadn’t realized I had voiced.

“And what if I say no?” I talked back to him, angry with the situation. This wasn’t fair.

“If you refuse, I will contact both the principal and your parents, and they will decide what your punishment will be. It’s your call Blaine,” he responded.

Well damn. It was either I commit social suicide and have my rep tarnished, or I get busted by the school and my parents…my parents…my dad…if he found out…

I shuddered. No. No way were they ever finding out. I sighed, coming to a decision.

“Fine,” I muttered. “I’ll join Glee Club. May I please return to class now?”

“Yes you may,” he said. “Glee rehearsal begins after school tomorrow, so be prepared to sing an audition song for the club.”

I grimaced. This should be fun. I got up to leave, and had my hand on the doorknob when suddenly, I question popped into my mind.

“But why? You don’t even know if I can sing or not!” Mr. Schuester shrugged his shoulders at this.

“Glee club needs new members. Even if you can’t sing, you’ll be able to help us compete at Regionals. And honestly, I think Glee club and the people in it might be able to help you,” he said.

I snorted. Not likely, I thought.

“Head to your next class, Blaine,” Mr. Schue sighed, “and don’t be late tomorrow afternoon.”

I nodded and left the room, making my way over to my locker as the bell rang. I liked singing and playing my guitar well enough…just not in public. It was more of a private thing that nobody but my parents knew, and I had sworn to keep it a secret from the school. I didn’t want to be known as a music geek. Well, there goes that.

I sighed. Well, this had just ruined my whole week.