Almost three months into his senior year, things were looking...well, Blaine had been right that the year was going to be long. He tried his hardest to focus on anything and everything that had absolutely nothing to do with his English and English literature teacher – yes, Blaine had Mr Hummel for both of his English classes. Most of the guys were ecstatic when they found out that Dalton would be hosting the English Literature class from Crawford Country Day as they were unable to run it on their curriculum.

All the girls were constantly asked for help, mostly just for an excuse to talk to Mr Hummel, much to the man's amusement. However, Blaine stayed silent, not making eye contact. He refused to be drawn in by them, and he knew if he saw them head on, he would fall. There was no way he was letting that happen. It wasn't made easy when Blaine discovered that Mr Hummel was one of those teachers who thrived for eye contact with those he spoke to.

Thankfully, he was very passionate about his work, so he was able to lose himself in the tasks set for the lesson without having to think of anything else. In the lessons he finished early, Blaine had Nick and Jeff to distract him most of the time, given that their banters still continued.

In the Warblers and with his friends, Blaine was the loud, energetic bundle of life. He and Jeff wreaked havoc most council sessions and were at the top of the ranks, competing for the most impromptu performances started. They mostly kept them to study hall, the senior commons and in their phys ed classes given that they were the times when most Warblers were present. Blaine only recently managed to level out the scores as he swamped the study hall the other day with piles of sheet music when he waltzed through the doors.

The game had always been either level or one point the difference. That was until Jeff decided to pull ‘You Can't Stop The Beat' in their core English class. Blaine knew from that point that he had lost all hope of winning. There was no way he was starting an impromptu performance in English. No way. He had vowed to himself in his first lesson that he wouldn't draw attention to himself, he wasn't breaking that now.

His vow was broken quickly. He hadn't intended it to happen, but after three months of successfully not speaking more than a hello, thank-you, or goodbye to Mr Hummel, Blaine found himself in a one-to-one conversation with him.

“Great work today guys, next lesson we're going to start working on our identity and belonging assignments, so make sure you've thought of some ideas by then.”

The class picked up their books and bags before making their way out the door. It was times like these when the outside world should see the behaviour of private school boys as they were definitely the opposite of what most people thought. They were more like jungle animals at the end of a class, bouncing their way out of the room.

“Blaine, could I talk to you for a moment?” Blaine looked up to see Mr Hummel glancing up at him as he flipped through some sheets of paper.

He picked up his back and started to walk towards the front desk. He had gradually moved his way to the back of the room within his first week in the class, distancing himself as much as possible.

“Kurt, did I do this right?” A couple of the girls stayed back for the chance to talk to Mr Hummel alone, Blaine could tell that the attention both amused and annoyed him, he couldn't help but smile at the look on his teacher's face.

“Sorry girls, I'll have to have a look next lesson.” Mr Hummel gave them a smile, earning a few tiny giggles from the three blondes. “I have a class to get ready for and I still have to talk with Blaine.”

“Oh, that's completely fine, Kurt.” The shorter blonde – Tiffany, Blaine thinks – practically purrs as they each hand over their papers.

Blaine shoved his knuckles against his mouth to stop himself from laughing at the almost mortified expression on Mr Hummel's face. “Okay, bye girls.”

“See you later, Kurt.”

Mr Hummel watched until the three girls were around the corner before turning to face Blaine. He took in the expression on Blaine's face – crossed between highly amused and sympathetic – and slumped his face down onto his folded arms.

“Ugh, they are seriously driving me insane.”

Blaine chuckled lightly. “Yeah, they're like that.”

“You too?”

“Er, yeah…I've refused a few numbers.” Blaine admitted awkwardly.

Kurt grinned knowingly. “Well, it's only four classes a week, thankfully.”

Blaine hummed in agreement and waited for Kurt to continue with what he had originally planned to talk to him about. “So, Blaine. I wanted to talk to you about your most recent piece for identity and belonging, the imaginative one.”

“Oh.”

Looking down at his hands instead of at Mr Hummel, Blaine shifted a little. Yes, he knew that his piece would be read, he knew that, but he didn't think that his teacher would talk to him about it.

“Hey, I'm not here to judge. I mostly wanted to praise you on writing such a wonderful piece. I was quite touched by your story.”

Blaine grinned lightly. “Thank-you, Mr Hummel.”

“Please, call me Kurt.”

Blaine didn't respond to that, he more chose to ignore it.

“About the topic you chose to write about…just so you know, you're not the only one who went through all of this, I'm here to help if you need it, or to listen.”

The dark haired student sat in silence, still staring at his hands on the desk. Being shy wasn't normally one of Blaine's characteristics, but in the presence of Mr Hummel and on the topic of his writing piece, Blaine felt as if he was vulnerable.

“Do any of your friends know? They might be able to help, if you would rather speak to them instead of a teacher.”

Blaine didn't want to be here. He didn't like talking about this. He stood up from his chair as he shouldered his bag. “I-I'm sorry. I have to go. Thank-you, Mr Hummel.”

Kurt sighed when Blaine left the room. He thought, being at an all-boys school, he would have to help young and confused students. He didn't, however, expect to find himself trying to help a boy that seemed so sure of himself in his writing, so confident in his group, yet so distant and closed off within Kurt's classroom. This had been the most that Kurt had ever heard Blaine speak since he started here three months ago. This boy was closed off and had so many walls that Kurt had no idea how to approach the whole topic, but after reading Blaine's piece, he wasn't letting his student deal with everything alone. He would make sure of it.