Blaine stood by his new locker, feeling nostalgic as he pulled a photograph out of his bag. He looked down sadly, staring at the smiling faces of all his old friends from Dalton Academy. It was weird, being at William McKinley High School. Blaine couldn’t help but think that he was Fatine from Les Mis, kicked out and singing about broken dreams. But that wasn’t true…not exactly. Blaine left voluntarily, thinking it would help his family save a few dollars. And it wasn’t all bad. His sister, Rachel, was there. And he knew her New Directions friends. Maybe a new school would open a few doors for Blaine.

*EARLIER THAT MORNING*

“Rachel!” Blaine called as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He was wearing a black, fitted shirt, red capris, and a new pair of black oxfords. His only problem, was- “Rachel!”

“What?” Rachel snapped as she threw the door to Blaine’s room open.

“Can you help me with my tie?” Rachel sighed and walked up to her brother.

“Why are you wearing a bow tie? This is school, not Queen Victoria’s tea party.”

“You’re right. Why don’t I just wear a carousel sweater and rainbow tights?” Rachel tightened the fabric, cause Blaine to gag. He loosened the tie in a swift movement and looked himself over before looking at his sister through the mirror. “I’m sorry. I’m just anxious about my first day and I want to look perfect.” Rachel leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Is there someone you’re trying to impress?” Blaine’s fingers froze on his chest and he stared at Rachel. She raised an eyebrow and a smile tugged the corners of her lips. Blaine looked away, trying to conceal the pink in his cheeks.

“Don’t you need to put on a headband or something?”

“I’ll find out sooner or later,” Rachel called over her shoulder as she retreaded down the hallway to her bedroom. “I always do!” Blaine bit his lip as he looked at himself once more in the mirror.

“I’m not trying to impress anyone,” Blaine mumbled. He hoped if he said it to himself enough, it would become true. But Blaine knew, all too well, that he was trying, but not to empress just anyone; he was trying to catch the eye of one Kurt Hummel. He had seen the handsome boy many times when he’d spent the night at the Anderson household, but Blaine always got so shy around him. Kurt Hummel, junior at William McKinley High School, was confident, outgoing, sexy, and more importantly, gay.

“Blaine!” Rachel shouted as she came rushing down the hall. Blaine turned and walked over to his desk where his bag was sitting and checked its contents to make sure he had everything he needed for his first day. “Blaine, hurry up! We’re going to be late!” Blaine slung the strap over his shoulder and flicked off the lights before walking out of his room and down the narrow staircase.

He walked into the kitchen to get some breakfast, and as soon as his hand closed around a piece of bacon, Rachel grabbed his sleeve and began dragging him to the door. “Honestly, Blaine, there’s no time!” Blaine sighed and let his sister lead him to the car.

The whole drive to the school, Rachel talked his ear off about teachers, classes, and Glee Club. Blaine tried to drown her out by humming, but not even Katy Perry could save him from Rachel. “It’s going to be great to have you there, Blaine. You’re going to love it. Mr. Shue has the best lessons, although they usually involve us singing oldies. And the people are great, as you know.” Rachel sighed with content. “You and I are going to blow everyone away with our duets.”

“Yeah, totally,” Blaine said dully. It wasn’t that he didn’t like singing with his sister, or that he wasn’t excited to join the New Directions, he was just really anxious. Everything would be better once he walked into the building. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

As soon as the car stopped in front of the school, Blaine burst open the door and shouted a goodbye to his father as he shoved the door closed and sped to the building. As soon as he entered the front doors, however, he froze. Standing a few feet away by an open classroom door was Kurt. Blaine took a steadying breath and reached up to make sure his gelled down hair was still intact.

Once he was satisfied, he began striding forward once more. He watched Kurt, his eyes fixated on the other boy’s pale rose lips moving at a rapid pace as he spoke to a young looking female teacher. Kurt’s eyes flitted to Blaine’s and he smiled beautifully before turning his attention back to the woman. Blaine was passing them now, and he heard Kurt speaking perfect French to the woman. Of course he knows French, Blaine thought to himself. Why wouldn’t he?

Blaine backed up against a locker and closed his eyes, trying to get a grip on his thoughts. “Oh my God,” he heard a voice say and he instantly tensed up. “Oh my God. Blaine.”

“What, Rachel,” he said, his sentence coming out as one word.

“It’s Kurt isn’t it?” Blaine’s eyes flew open. He looked at his sister and glared at her large grin. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Rachel,” Blaine began, but Rachel began to squeal.

“I must say, you have excellent taste. Kurt is absolutely perfect,” she sang.

“Can you show me to the office so I can get my schedule?” Blaine asked, not bothering to deny it but also not wanting to talk about his crush when he was mere feet away. Rachel seemed to catch on.

“Fine, but this isn’t over. We will talk about this.”

“Can’t wait,” Blaine said under his breath as he followed Rachel to Principal Figgins’s office. The walk was fairly short, and when they walked into the floor-to-ceiling glass office, Blaine was feeling more confident. “Hello, sir, I’m-”

“Blaine Anderson,” Principal Figgins said in his Indian accent. “On behalf of everyone at William McKinley High School, I would like to say welcome. Your transcripts from Dalton Academy tell me that we are extremely luck to have you.”

“Thank you,” Blaine began, but Figgins didn’t seem to hear him. He was too busy rambling on about finally having good enough test scores for the state to send them more money. “Yeah, that’d be…awesome,” Blaine said awkwardly. This seemed to get his new principal excited though. He began to tell Blaine a story about when he was first given the job as principal when Rachel came to the rescue.

“Principal Figgins, I wouldn’t want Blaine to be late on his first day of school. We should get going.” Figgins looked a little disappointed, but nodded his head.

“Right. We’ll continue this later,” he said and handed Blaine his class schedule and locker assignment. Gratefully, Blaine took the papers and raced Rachel out of the office. Blaine began to look at his schedule but Rachel snatched it out of his hands before he could read past first period.

“We have History together,” Rachel said happily. “And, oh,” she said suggestively.

“What?” Blaine asked, getting nervous again. He looked over Rachel’s shoulder and she handed him the paper back.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Blaine looked at her questioningly. “Your first period’s right there,” she said and pointed to a door just down the hall. “Good luck!” She leaned in, kissed his cheek, and danced away as a bell sounded throughout the school signaling the start of first period. Soon enough, Blaine was left alone in the hallway staring after where his sister had disappeared as everyone raced to their class.

Blaine looked down at his schedule again and bit his lip. Why was he feeling so nervous? Blaine never got nervous, not in front of crowds when he sang and definitely not in front of strangers. Blaine was a confident guy. So why was he feeling insecure now? Blaine shook his head to clear the negative thoughts from his mind before squaring his shoulders and marching to his first class. With one last braving breath, he grabbed the door knob and twisted it, getting ready for anything he might face on the other side.