Chapter 1

�It was a beautiful Monday morning in Lima, Ohio. The sun was shining brightly above the clouds and the temperature was just right. Not too hot and not too cold. It was a perfect August day. It was the first day of school for McKinley High and hundreds of students walked through the patios and streets outside the school building talking to the friends they hadn't seen over the summer.�

Kurt Hummel got out of his car and closed the door behind him, looking at McKinley with a smile. It was his senior year and he couldn't be any happier. His morning was off to a great start. He had ordered his favorite coffee drink at Starbucks, an iced vanilla latte, which he didn't have to pay for at all because the barista was kind enough and bought it for him. He had also checked his class schedule first thing when he woke up and he found out he had friends in every class. Which was perfect because he didn't have to worry about being alone in any of his classes.

He walked to the school building and entered the halls of McKinley and right away he saw the typical high school scene. He saw a group of cheerleaders talking together in a group, probably gossiping about cute boys and new cheerleading techniques they should practice. To his right, near the teacher's lounge, he saw Principal Figgins speaking with Coach Sylvester and to his left were members of the school's lacrosse team. They were all high fiving each other as they held their lacrosse equipment in their hands.

Kurt walked to his assigned locker, #707, and smiled when he saw Rachel at the locker next to his. She was combing her beautiful, brown hair while looking into her locker mirror. Kurt wanted to surprise her by scaring her. That would definitely be a nice welcome back to McKinley.

He slowly walked up to her, as quiet as possible. He slowly sneaked over behind her and before he could shake her and scare her, she turned around and saw him.

“Kurt!” Rachel smiled and hugged him. “I missed you so much.”

“Hey, Rachel,” he hugged her back and loved her tight embrace. “Why'd you turn around? I kinda wanted to scare you.”

“Well next time, do it when I'm not combing my hair in front of a mirror.” She pointed to the mirror behind her with her comb. Gosh, Kurt, think. Of course he's not going to scare someone when they're in front of a mirror.

“I missed you so much,” Kurt said. “Even though we saw each other like a few days ago.”

“That's still a long time to be apart,” she clarified.

Kurt walked over to his locker and put in his locker combination.

02-00-06

206. That'll be an easy number to remember.

Click!

It opened. He swung the metal door open and put his books and binders inside, setting them right above each other in a neat pile. He'll organize his locker later and make it a Kurt Hummel locker. Right now what he wanted to do was say hello to all his friends in the Glee Club and catch up with them.

“Can you believe we're seniors now?” Rachel said.

Kurt shook his head. “I really can't. It's the most important year in high school. We'll have our senior prom, senior ditch day, we'll apply to colleges and then… graduation. Everything is happening so fast.” Kurt started to get lost in his own thoughts. Just the thought of all the great things that were going to happen filled his mind with joy.

It was great how things turned out for him. For starters, he was one of the two openly gay students at school, (fourth if he included Santana and Brittany. But they're lesbians. Is Brittany even considered a lesbian? She's bisexual. But right now he's thinking about the male, gay students of McKinley. And that was two.) Kurt had come out of the closet just two years ago and all his friends and family had been very supportive and friendly…

Suddenly, the voice of his stepbrother, Finn, interrupted his thoughts.

“Hey guys,” he heard Finn say.

Kurt turned around and saw his big brother Finn. Finn gave him a soft punch on the shoulder and went to give Rachel a good morning kiss.

Finn looked at Kurt. “Hey jerk. You were supposed to give me a ride to school today, remember?”

“I was?” Kurt asked confused. “Wait, I was.”

Kurt looked back and remembered the deal he and Finn made. He was supposed to give Finn a lift to school.

“Yeah, don't let this happen again tomorrow,” Finn stated.

Rachel looked over Kurt's shoulders and made a disgusted face. “Gross, guess who just walked into the school?”

Kurt turned around and saw Blaine Anderson walking in through the front doors. Blaine high-fived all the members of the lacrosse team and gave them each a fist pump. The cheerleaders chanted all together and raised their pom poms over Blaine's face. �

That was him. Blaine Anderson. Blaine was the second openly gay guy at McKinley and captain of the lacrosse team. And he was good at lacrosse. More than just good. He was extremely good at it. It was thanks to him that the lacrosse team had won all their games and the championship every year. Before Blaine, the lacrosse team was bad, but ever since he joined, they've won first place trophy every game.

�“I hate that guy so much,” Finn said as Kurt turned around.

“Are you jealous, Big Bro?” Kurt teased.

“I'm not jealous. It's just that I'm the quarterback of the football team. Isn't being quarterback of the football team much cooler than captain of lacrosse?”

Rachel shook her head. “Well no. The football team hasn't won the championship in years. Lacrosse on the other hand has won every game thanks to Blaine.”

Kurt looked at Finn and spoke. “And also, you being in Glee Club might have something to do with it.”

Just then the school bell rang. It was time for class.

“And besides,” Rachel said, closing her locker door. “Being popular doesn't matter here anymore.”

“It kinda does. It gets you an invite to all the cool parties that are happening,” Finn smirked.

“True,” Rachel agreed. “But we at least don't get bullied anymore.”

Finn looked up. “I honestly miss getting slushied.”

Kurt looked at his brother confused. “You actually miss getting slushied? Did you already forget how cold those things were? It burned so much when it got in your eye.”

The trio started walking away and headed to their first class together. They entered Drama class and sat together towards the back. In Drama class, people were to sit in groups of five at each table. Kurt, Finn and Rachel all sat at a table and were suddenly joined by Quinn and Santana.

“Is this where seniors sit?” Quinn asked sitting down next to Kurt.

“Seniors,” Santana repeated. “I am never gonna get tired of hearing that word.”

“I just can't wait till I get crowned Prom Queen this year,” Quinn said.

“Actually, I'm going to be Prom Queen,” Santana stated, raising her index finger.

Quinn shook her head with a smile and pointed at herself. Santana playfully pushed her when she saw Quinn shaking her head. Everyone at the table laughed.

Kurt turned around as he heard the voices of the lacrosse team entering the room. Blaine was the last one to walk inside. He was talking to a girl who had a class schedule in her hands and she seemed to be lost. She was asking him a few questions. Kurt managed to hear some of their words.

“Do you know where the biology room is?” she asked.

“I do,” Blaine replied with a smile.

She was obviously a freshman and was new to McKinley. Blaine pointed across the hall, showing her the right direction she should go. The girl thanked him and left.

That was another thing that made Blaine the coolest guy at school. He was incredibly kind. The nicest person you could ever meet. He always took time out of his day to help someone out. He tutored lower school kids in math and science and volunteered at the local nursery and animal clinic. To everyone, Blaine was perfect.

Kurt didn't like to admit it but he also hated Blaine. Unlike Finn and Rachel who hated Blaine because he stole Finn's popularity, Kurt hated him for a different reason. And that's because he just couldn't stand Blaine. Blaine just annoyed him. All the time it was Blaine this and Blaine that. That's all everyone at this school talked about. Yes, Blaine was popular and the lacrosse team was doing great but there were other things to talk about.

… … …

At lunch time, Kurt went to the cafeteria and sat at the usual table he and the other Glee Club members usually sat at. He looked up from his seat just as his friends arrived. Finn sat to his right and Rachel sat directly in front of him. Quinn and Santana sat down to his left, followed by Puck and Mike. By the looks of it, it seemed like Mercedes, Sam, Tina and Artie were still in class.

Puck was the first to speak. “Finn, have you heard the bad news?”

Finn shook his head. “About what?”

“No one's signed up for football this year.” Puck said angrily.

“Are you serious? No one? What is everyone doing?”

“Well, everyone knows we're not the best team this school has. Everyone is signing up for lacrosse.” Puck looked behind him at the table the lacrosse team were all sitting at. He spotted Blaine who was sitting at the center of the table. “I hate that guy,” Puck muttered.

“Join the club.” Finn reached out and high-fived Puck.

“Come on guys, be positive,” Kurt said. “It's only noon on the first day of school. I'm sure more people will sign up for football by the end of today.”

“They better,” Puck said as he took a bite of his sandwich.

Kurt opened his backpack and got out the brown bag with his lunch inside. He looked inside and remembered he forgot to pack his water bottle. Now he had to buy one from the vending machines.

“I forgot a drink. Be right back.” Kurt stood up and left the cafeteria, walking over to the vending machines out in the hall.

He found the machine with the drinks and looked at all his options. He saw all kinds of juices, sodas and vitamin water. Maybe he didn't have to get water specifically. Maybe he should get juice. But he couldn't decide what flavor. Apple? Grape? Orange?

From the corner of his eye, Kurt noticed a person was leaving the cafeteria and was walking towards the vending machines. He looked at the cafeteria and realized it was Blaine. He looked back at the machine and knew he had to make a decision fast. He didn't want to be in the same space as Blaine. He took out his wallet and saw he only had two dollars. He looked up and made a fast choice.

Orange juice, he'll go with that.

He put the two dollars in the vending machine and looked at the orange juice section.

E8.

All he had to do was type in E8 and an orange juice would be his and he wouldn't need to share any air with Blaine. But it was too late because Kurt noticed Blaine was standing right next to him looking at the drink choices.

“What do you recommend?” Blaine asked, looking at the machine.

“I don't know,” Kurt replied, not even looking at him and trying to speak as little as possible.

“I can't decide if I want juice or water. What are you getting?” Blaine asked, keeping his eyes on the machine.

“I'm getting an orange juice.”

Kurt pressed the buttons, E8, because it would mean goodbye Blaine and hello orange juice. Kurt looked at the orange juice section and saw nothing happening. He pressed E8 again and saw the words, ‘INSERT MONEY NOW.'

“No, no, no. Are you serious?” Kurt banged on the machine. The machine had robbed him off his money. “Are you serious?” he repeated.

“What happened?” Blaine asked.

“The machine ate my dollars. And I don't have any more cash on me. Those were my last bills.”

Blaine looked at the machine and looked at the orange juice section.

“Two dollars? Here you go.”

Blaine took out his wallet and handed Kurt two dollars. Kurt looked at him confused.

“What? No. You don't have to give me any money.”

“I know, but here.” Blaine held out the cash in his hands. Kurt refused to take it.

“No Blaine, it's okay.”

Blaine took the cash and inserted it into the machine himself.

“Orange juice, right?” he asked.

Kurt realized what Blaine had done. He already bought his drink for him.

“Wait, Blaine.”

Blaine pressed E8 on the machine and immediately an orange juice fell out. Blaine reached down and handed Kurt his drink.

“Here you go.”

Kurt took the orange juice from him. “Thank you. I'll pay you back tomorrow, I promise.”

Blaine shook his head. “You don't have to pay me back. It was just two dollars. It's yours.”

“Are you sure?” Kurt asked.

“Yeah, I am. You just got unlucky.”

Blaine took out two more dollars and put it into the machine. “I'm in the mood for orange juice as well.”

Blaine pressed the buttons, E8, and out fell an orange juice.

“Thank you again,” Kurt said.

“You're welcome.”

Blaine grabbed the bottle of orange juice and walked back to the cafeteria. Kurt waited a few seconds before walking back. He didn't want any of his friends to see that he had just spoken to Blaine.

He counted to five. 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… Okay, now he was good to go. He walked back to the cafeteria but before he arrived to the doors, someone grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him into the boys restroom.

Kurt closed his eyes and had his hands out to defend himself, ready to hit the person who had grabbed him.

“What are you doing?” a voice said.

Kurt opened his eyes and saw Finn and Puck, they were the ones who pulled him.

“Puck? Finn? What are you doing?” Kurt asked.

“Nothing, but we saw you talking to Blaine. What'd he say?” Puck asked curiously.

“Nothing. He just bought himself a drink and left.”

“That's it?” Finn asked.

“Yeah, that was it,” Kurt responded.

“Okay good. The less any of us talk to him, the better,” Finn said.

Kurt looked at the guys confused. “What are you two doing anyway?”

Puck walked to the window in the restroom and looked outside. “Do you see that girl over there?”

Kurt walked over to him and saw a girl outside. She had long, black hair, a red shirt with blue pants and was wearing a pair of brown boots. “Yeah, I see her,” Kurt said.

“Well your brother was teaching me some good ways to introduce myself to her so that way I can ask her out,” Puck said.

Kurt looked back at the girl. Yeah she was pretty. Someone Puck would want to date.

“Well good luck there Puck. By the way I'm leaving now to eat my lunch,” Kurt said with a smile.

“Go ahead,” Puck said.

Before Kurt left, Finn took out his wallet and spoke. “Hold on Kurt, how much did that orange juice cost you? I want one too.”

Kurt froze. “It cost me two dollars.”

Kurt left the bathroom without saying anything else and started walking back to the cafeteria. He was not going to let Finn know Blaine had bought him that. Before he entered the cafeteria, he looked to his left and saw a poster of the lacrosse team.

JOIN LACROSSE

CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS

�Right in the middle of the poster was Blaine, standing tall and holding his helmet around his chest. Kurt looked at his striking hazel eyes and his dashing curly hair. He looked down at the number on his jersey.

09

Kurt blinked, took a deep breath and opened the doors to the cafeteria, ready to eat his lunch.

�