"It's starting!" Kurt yelled as he switched on the television in his living room. The television switched on with a loud fpuzz and the black-and-white images of local station, William McKinley Studio, formed.

His best friend and sidekick (though she would argue that he was the sidekick) Mercedes Jones joined him, jumping up and down in excitement.

Just then, a voice spoke out of the speakers, announcing: "Coming up next, The Will Shuester Show!"

Both Kurt and Mercedes were jumping now, and flailing their arms around happily.

"Hey there teenage Lima!" the host, the suave Will Shuester, greeted, "Don't change that channel, ‘cause it's time for the Will Shuester show!" He walked over to the next camera and held up a can of hairspray to the camera.

"Brought to you by Ultra Clutch Hairspray!" Mercedes and Kurt said in unison with the host, then turning to smile at each other.

As Will Shuester opened his mouth to sing a group of teenagers dressed in the latest fashion trends appeared, all singing back-up when Will began to sing the classic opening song, ‘The Nicest Kids in Town'. Kurt and Mercedes sang along with him, and even copied the dance moves that some of the dancers did.

Then came Kurt's favourite part; the roll call.

"Roll call!" Will Shuester cried as the teenagers assembled themselves behind him. As he stepped out of the way, they began introducing themselves.

"I'm Rachel!" beamed a brunette in a coral pink dress, curtseying slightly. The camera focused on her and her wide smile until she was pushed out of the way by a clumsy blond boy, who introduced himself as "Sam"

"Marley!" the next girl yelled.

"Finn!" Finn was Kurt's soon-to-be step-brother, and sometimes Kurt was surprised he was even on the show; he had two left feet and could barely keep up with his dance partner, who was usually the girl behind him, a pretty blonde who said, "Quinn!" while she smiled at the camera. Kurt personally thought that other people would be a better replacement - other people like himself, for example.

"Puck!" one guy with one a strip of hair down the middle of his head introduced himself as.

"Brittany!" another pretty blonde smiled. Kurt knew her from school, as she always tried to copy Kurt in French (while writing in crayon, no less). She, however, was one of the best dancers there.

"Ryder, Jake, Unique, Kitty, Becky!" Kurt and Mercedes cried as each of the named people introduced themselves, building up to Kurt's favourite part and leaving only one teenager left.

Blaine Anderson.

Blaine Anderson was the most popular guy in school. He sang and danced like those in Hollywood, and would probably end up there in a few years himself.

He was the definition of beauty, in Kurt's opinion, with his gelled hair and smouldering looks. After all, there was a reason all the girls fawned over him.

Blaine danced a little, swaying his hands and moving his hips from side to side. Those hips...

Let's face it, Kurt could write sonnets about those hips.

 "And I'm," Blaine paused as the camera zoomed in before he said in the sexiest voice that Kurt had ever heard in his entire existence on planet Earth: "Blaine."

Kurt sighed, his eyelids fluttering close momentarily. "He's so dreamy," he whispered to himself,

"That is one fine piece of ass," Mercedes agreed.

Mercedes understood Kurt more than anything. She was the first person he'd come out too last year, when he had that brief (very, very brief) crush on Finn. Now whenever Kurt mentioned how hot a particular one was (and he announced that fact often) she barely batted an eyelid. Not that she didn't before but Kurt was glad he had a friend that accepted him no matter what.

"Shame he's dating Rachel Berry, though," Mercedes added as an afterthought.

And there it was. Bypassing the whole he's-straight-but-you're-not problem, was the main one. Even though Kurt knew the truth, trying to split up Blaine Anderson and Rachel Berry would be like trying to walk through a tornado.

"Only for publicity," Kurt let slip before he realised what he was saying. He then put his hand over his mouth, as Mercedes glared at him with eyes wide. "Tell me what you know, white boy."

"Nothing!" Kurt exclaimed, but that wasn't quite true.

Every Friday, Kurt and his father had their dinner together, and sometimes it was the only time throughout the whole week where they said more that "hello" or "bye" to each other.

Last Friday, however, had been different. Last Friday they had been joined by Carole Hudson, who had been dating Kurt's father for some time, and Carole's son Finn. The Finn that couldn't dance if the world depended on it, and was really only still on the show for his looks. He was handsome, if you were into clumsy giants. Kurt had been, a while ago, when he was just realising who he was. And, hey, Finn was the only man in his life (apart from his father) who had actually tried having a conversation with him. What did he expect to happen?

The conversation at the dinner table had gone somewhat like this:

"So, Finn," Kurt's father, Burt, had asked in the midst of cutting up his steak, "You got an eye on any girls?" Of course, the conversation that Burt had never had with Kurt, but was apparently more than ready to have with Finn. He would be, considering Finn had never been called a ‘fag' or ‘pussy' in his life.

"Well," Finn had begun as he chewed on his cauliflower, of which several pieces flew out of his mouth and onto the wooden dinner table (Kurt definitely did not twitch), "There is Rachel Berry. I mean, we've kissed a few times, but she's always going back to her boyfriend. I mean, I know it's for publicity and stuff, but they're always kissing and it really gets me down. I want to be the only one that kisses her, you know?" Carole glanced at him, and he swallowed his food with a loud gulp.

"Sorry," he added.

"What?" Kurt had nearly shouted he was so surprised, "Rachel Berry? Rachel Berry who's dating Blaine Anderson?" This was gold. He'd tell Blaine, who would be heartbroken for maybe a day or two but would then realise what Kurt had done for him and then he'd serenade him with the latest Beatles song and some major hip thrusting.

Okay, so maybe not the Beatles. Blaine probably liked Elvis or something. Which was cool; he could dig Elvis.

"Yeah," Finn had said, unfazed by his major revelation. He had then froze, eyes widening, as he realised what he'd just told them. "Wait. No! The other Rachel Berry. The one with..." Finn's eyebrows knotted together momentarily as he tried to come up with an appropriate answer, "blue hair!"

"Blue hair?" Carole asked, eyebrows raised, "I'm sure she's the talk of the town down in Columbus."

Finn's eyes fixed to his plate while everyone else looked at him before finally blurting out, "Fine, okay, the one with brown hair. But you have to promise not to tell anyone!"

"But-" Kurt had begun, but Burt looked at him, as if to tell him telepathically not to screw up his relationship with his future step-brother.

"Fine," Kurt had sighed, as he stabbed his cauliflower with his fork and twirled it. It look like he would never have got getting Blaine Anderson outside his window singing Elvis and thrusting his hips wildly. Which had been a pity, really.

Mercedes stared at him with her eyebrows raised, and then said again, "You better tell me everything, white boy."

"Okay!" Kurt gave in, "But you can't tell anyone! I promised Finn."

"I promise. Now spill!"

"Finn and Rachel kissed a few times," Kurt explained, "But Rachel is dating Blaine for publicity or something. I mean, the leaders always get together, right? But if she had a choice Rachel would probably choose Finn. At least I hope so for Finn's sake."

"Oh my God! That is gold! We've got to do something about it!" Mercedes announced, "We've got to tell Blaine!

"I told you, I promised Finn."

"But Rachel's cheating on Blaine! This is a chance to get into his good books!"

"I thought that, but..." Kurt trailed off, "He's straight. And anyone, nobody wants to hang around with the school fag, right? He's probably just like the others, and I don't want to ruin the perfect image of him in my mind."

"Come here, Hummel," Mercedes said, pulling Kurt into a hug, "We're going to get you Blaine even if it involves breaking your promise to Finn. ‘Kay?"

"'Kay. You're still coming over on Friday, right?"

"And miss our monthly shopping trip? Hell no!"

"Good. I saw these boots that looked exactly like Audrey Hepburn's in that photo-shoot from last month, and they'd suit that coat you bought last month perfectly."

"And that's all we've got time for!" Will Shuester said from the television, "Apart from one more announcement," he walked over to Marley, one of the council members, and rest his hands on her shoulder before saying, "Unfortunately Marley won't be joining up next week."

Both Kurt and Mercedes turned to face the television.

"Oh my God, she's one of the best! She can't leave!" Mercedes cried out while Kurt gasped, clasping his hand to his chest.

"She's off to the bright lights of Los Angeles, isn't that right Marley?"

 "Sure is!" Marley smiled broadly, looking directly into the camera.

"Marley's going to be Hollywood's next rising star, and Lima's own Elizabeth Taylor! But, that also means we've got an opening here at WM Studio! However much we'll miss her, the show must go on!" The camera then focused on Will Shuester as he told everybody, "Auditions for the new Marley are being held tomorrow at four, so come here if you want to be a star!"

"Goodbye teenage Lima!" the council yelled along with Will.

"Goodbye!" Mercedes and Kurt yelled back, before Kurt switched off the television.

"Oh my God!" Mercedes cried, jumping up and down excitedly, "You have to audition, Kurt! We both have to!"

"Yes! We need to decide on audition songs ASAP. I claim ‘I'm the Greatest Star' by the greatest star, Barbra Streisand," Kurt said immediately.

Mercedes gasped, "Oh my God, you're going to be so awesome!"

"I know. Oh my God, what am I going to wear? I need to make a whole new outfit for tomorrow!" Kurt said, alarmed. He was about to go into his bedroom to look in his fabric box when the front door slammed from the hallway.

"Kurt?" Burt yelled as he walked into the kitchen, "You home?"

"Oh my God," Kurt whispered to Mercedes, "I'm working after school tomorrow."

"I'm sure your dad will let you audition, right?" Mercedes shrugged, "He's so much nicer than my parents. All they care about is whether I'm following God's orders and all that."

"Sure," Kurt said as he walked over to the kitchen. "Dad?" he said, "I got back around three."

"Right. Mercedes over?" Burt asked as he walked over to the fridge and took out a beer. He opened the drawer with all the utensils in and pulled out the bottle opener as he leant on the kitchen counter.

"Yes," Mercedes said, emerging from the living room behind Kurt, "If that's okay, Mr Hummel?"

"I told you, none of this ‘Mr Hummel' business. Call me Burt," Burt insisted as he opened the beer bottle. He caught the cap with his other hand and then placed it on the counter with the bottle opener.

"Sorry, Burt," Mercedes mumbled.

"So, Kurt, have a good day at school?"

"Same old, same old. The jocks were stupid, the lessons were easy and Brittany cheated off me in French again."

"Only a few years left though, right? Then you can do whatever the hell you want."

"Speaking of which," Kurt said, taking that as his cue, "I can't work tomorrow."

"Why not?" Burt said as he opened his beer, "You know you work every Wednesday and Friday after school."

"There are auditions for the Will Shuester show," Kurt said, leaning on the kitchen island.

"Really? And is Mercedes auditioning too?"

"Yes," Mercedes said and then Kurt realised she was holding her school bag in her hand. "Actually," she said as she walked over to the door that lead into the entrance hallway, "I think I'm going to go home and practise. Is that okay, Kurt?"

"Are you sure?" Kurt asked. Mercedes usually didn't leave until it was at least half six. It was only quarter to four now.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow for rehearsals after school, right?"

"Sure. Bye!" Kurt said.

"Bye Burt. See you tomorrow, Kurt!" Mercedes said before leaving.

"Good kid, that Mercedes," Burt said as soon as her heard the front door close, "Shame no-one else sees her that way."

"They will one day, Dad."

"I sure hope so. Now this audition, you sure they'll be looking for... you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Kurt," Burt began, "The world we live in... it's not like here. People are judged solely on first impressions and appearances, and... some people judge other people too easily. If you're not like anyone else, they strike back. And you, kid, you're special. You're not like any of the others, but you're something new and original. You know that, I know that, Mercedes knows that. But they don't."

"Dad, I'm in high school. I think I know about all this."

"I'm just saying, I don't mind you trying to get out there and show the rest of the world your talent. But sometimes... sometimes the rest of the world don't want to hear it."

"I know, Dad. But they will, I'm sure! And if they don't I'll make them. Mercedes and I'll perform at the mall again!"

"Okay. But I'm here for you, okay? Whatever happens, you got that?"

"Yes, Dad. Can I go?"

"Sure," Burt said, and Kurt smiled, running into his bedroom to start rehearsing for his audition. It was, after all, tomorrow and he had a lot to do before then. He might even cut school to practise. Either way, he was going to be fantastic no matter what.