To add to the stress graduation was the following Friday and those seniors in Glee Club had to make sure all of their graduation requirements were met before they could participate in Nationals.

The only bright spot was that most of Kurt’s tormentors were seniors and were too busy trying to finish off their graduation stuff that they somehow forgot to add “mess with the fairy” to their daily schedule. For the first time since he could remember Kurt had no bruises on his body due to the locker checks or dumpster tosses.
Xoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Since the boys were not going to be home for Friday night dinner Carole insisted they have dinner together as a family on Wednesday night. After dinner they had sat around the living room watching a special on NBC. It seemed that although President Obama had pulled the majority of the troops out of Iraq things were starting to heat up again in the Middle East.

One of Osama bin Laden’s many children had taken control of al-Qaeda when his father was taken out by the Americans. He vowed revenge on the west and it seemed that there were some credible threats being reported by the intelligence agencies and all airports and major landmarks were being put on high alert.

“Make sure you two are extra careful at the airport and at Nationals,” said Burt. “Don’t wander off by yourselves and make sure you don’t talk to strangers.”

Kurt and Finn just looked at each other and rolled their eyes, “Ok dad,” they mumbled. They both had things on their minds and weren’t really paying attention to anything outside of McKinley.

“I’m serious boys – make sure you are aware of everything around you – especially in Los Angeles!” exclaimed Burt.

Both boys were ready to go the next morning. Burt was dropping them off at school since they would be taking a school bus to the airport. Burt and Carole were not able to go to Los Angeles but Kurt’s grandparents would be there supporting the boys and helping Mr. Schuester chaperone the Glee Club.

Burt was still worried about the alerts being issued by the military. He had spoken to George and his father-in-law last night and both of them were worried as well. The DEFCON 1 alert was the most severe alert posture used by the Armed Forces and they had not issued such an alert in years. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to happen but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t make the boys stay home. The Glee Club depended on both boys and he knew that he had no legitimate reason to make they stay behind.

He gave each boy a hug and sent them on their way. “Make sure you boys have your cell phones on you at all times. Also, make sure Mr. Schuester or your grandparents know where you are at all times. Got it?”

“Yes dad, we got it,” replied the boys as they hugged their dad goodbye.

Once they all got to the airport they went through the security check and since the security alerts were high every bag was screened before being checked in. This was not a problem for most of the kids but Kurt had a total of 5 bags one solely dedicated to his face cleansers and moisturizers and it did take a bit longer to process his through security. Since he was checking all of his bags he didn’t have too much of a problem getting all of his cleansers through security.

Eventually everyone boarded the plane and were ready for Los Angeles. Kurt stuck his earplugs in and started going through the set list to make sure he had not forgotten any of the lyrics. Soon he fell asleep. He had been tired ever since coming back from Spring Break. It felt like he had had no down time with Nationals and graduation coming up. He dreamed of a curly haired beauty dancing in a field of lilacs solely for his pleasure. This dancing dervish had taken permanent residence in his dreams and he had awakened sticky and flushed many a night in the past month. He needed to wake his ass up before he embarrassed himself sitting on an airplane next to Mercedes!

Kurt jerked himself awake and realized they were almost at LAX and looked down to make sure he was decent. It would have been totally awkward explaining a boner to ‘Cedes.

“You okay white boy?” she asked.

“Yeah, just fell asleep for a bit. I guess I was tired.”

“You were moaning a bit. What’s the matter?” she asked.

Kurt blushed and said, “I dreamed that the T-Rex had actually eaten the Jew! It wasn’t pretty.”

Mercedes busted out laughing and Kurt was glad he had thought of something to cover up his reaction to DreamBoy. I mean really, he hadn’t even said one word to him but this boy haunted his sleeping hours. For all he knew, the guy was straight and had a girlfriend. Kurt was not about to go down that path again and chase after a straight guy or make up relationships in his mind.

Landing at LAX was a relief. Mr. Schuester made sure everyone was buddied up and they all proceeded to baggage claim. They were supposed to meet Kurt’s grandparents at baggage claim and he hoped that they had made it to the airport in time. As soon as they got there they were notified that due to the heightened security all baggage was to be screened before they were cleared.

The kids were excited about being in LA and wanted to get to the hotel right away but they managed to get through security without too much of a fuss. The only one who had a bit of trouble was Kurt with all his bags and bottles of cleansers. Once he explained what everything was he was given the all clear.

“Seriously, don’t people ever clean their faces and moisturize?” muttered Kurt packing all his stuff back in the bag.

“Dude, I think most people just wash their face in the shower with their soap,” replied Finn.

Kurt just shuddered and ignored him and walked away. Seriously, what had he ever seen in this moron!

Mr. Schuester had already spotted Kurt’s grandparents and hurried off to talk to them. They had volunteered to rent a van and use their SUV to transport the kids around to help defray some of the cost of the competition. New Directions had been trying to raise funds all year to pay for the hotel and airline tickets but Kurt’s grandparents had insisted they wanted to help.

They packed all the luggage in the van and the SUV and headed out to the JW Marriott Hotel near Staples Center. They wanted to be near the venue so that they wouldn’t have to deal with the LA traffic or getting lost.

After Mr. Schuester got everyone registered he said, “Listen everyone go upstairs boys in one room girls in another and be down here in 30 minutes. The hotel has set aside conference rooms for the show choirs that are staying here to practice in.”

As everyone filed out he said, “Oh and Kurt you can stay with the girls.” He had already spoken to his grandparents and they had given their consent.

Kurt jumped up and down squealing in excitement, “Thanks Mr. Shue!”

“Okay guys let’s get moving!”

They all got settled into their rooms and then met downstairs to go over the set a few more times. They needed to finalize the choreography and they practiced until they were too exhausted to do anything but crawl back to bed.

New Directions was scheduled to compete at 9:00am. If they advanced they would compete on Saturday as well. They had decided to showcase Michael Jackson and they gave a solid performance. They nervously waited for the results to be posted to see if they had placed in the top 10. None of them wanted to go home. This was it for Kurt and those that would be graduating this year. This was their last chance to win Nationals. Results were scheduled to be posted at 5:00pm.

At 4:50pm, Mr. Schuester headed down to the main lobby of the Staples Center to see the results. Everyone else decided to wait in the main auditorium. They all remembered how disappointing it had been to lose last year and did not want to relive those same feelings this year.

Mercedes was the first one to spot Mr. Schuester running down the aisle headed towards them. He was laughing and crying at the same time and he ran headlong into the group yelling, “We placed in the top 10….we get to go on to the finals!!!!”

Pandemonium reigned supreme for about 10 minutes until everyone calmed down enough to start peppering Mr. Schue for more information.

“How did we do?”

“Who are we competing against?”

“We need to kick some ass!”

Everyone was hurtling questions all at once until Mr. Schue put up his hands to quiet everyone down, “Okay – here is what I know. We placed in the top 10 and we are scheduled to compete tomorrow at noon. The list was in alphabetical order so that no one knows exactly who had the most points. This way no one is psyched out before the competition tomorrow. The judges feel there is enough pressure on the top 10 contestants as it is without having to add any more.”

“What we need to do is eat dinner, rest and be ready to practice tomorrow at 8:00am so that we are ready for our noon performance. If there are no more questions lets go eat. I am starved!”

They celebrated their success by going to dinner at Red Lobster and having a good time. Before too long the excitement of the day caught up with them and everyone was ready to call it a night.

They were all up early and ready to rehearse their set list. They were all on pins and needles and the excitement was starting to get to them. They decided they were ready and wanted to catch some of the competition in action so they headed to Staples Center.

The got there in time to see Vocal Adrenaline perform and the next group up was the Dalton Academy Warblers, a private all boys school, located in Westerville, Ohio. Kurt was about to sit down when the curtains opened up. He looked up and plopped down on top of Rachel in shock!

“Ouch, Kurt get off!” yelped Rachel.

Kurt moved to his seat as the realization set in that the lead singer was none other than DreamBoy!!!! The very same gorgeous hunk of meat that had been playing a leading role in all his fantasies was up there singing “Soul Sister.”

Kurt couldn’t take his eyes off of him. They were dressed in their school uniforms and Kurt suddenly appreciated Blazers and what they could do for the male form. Before he knew it the Warblers had finished performing to thunderous applause. Kurt honestly couldn’t tell if the group had sounded good. All of his focus was on their lead singer and he sounded delicious. He didn’t have time to think about it since they had to go to the greenroom to get ready to go on in 30 minutes.

On their way backstage Kurt purchased a souvenir program that listed all the groups and the performers. He quickly paged through until he found the Warblers and found the listing for the lead singer: Blaine Anderson. He now had a name for DreamBoy.

“Mr. Schue, the Warblers are from Ohio. How come we haven’t competed against them? Shouldn’t we have competed against them during Regionals?” asked Kurt.

“Private schools have the option of competing against either public schools or competing amongst themselves, which is probably why we haven’t had to go up against them,” answered Mr. Schuester. “Now let’s get focused on our performance. Don’t let them psych you out with how good they sounded.”

It was time to perform and New Directions was ready. This was their year and they gave the performance of their lives. Kurt forgot everything and found his freedom in the music. He felt the beat flow through his body as he gyrated and sang along with the rest of the crew.

On May 12, 2012 New Directions was named the 2012 National Show Choir Champions.

On that same day, al-Qaeda took responsibility for the bombing of a Federal Courthouse in Dallas, Texas killing 223 Americans. They claimed this was only the beginning of a new reign of terror on the infidels of the west.