“Mr. Anderson.” Blaine’s head whipped toward the front of the class so fast he thought his head might spin off like a top. “First you’re late, now you’re not paying attention. Shall I write you a slip now and you can spend the rest of the hour with Mr. Figgins?” Blaine shook his head. “Then I suggest you start listening.” He gave Blaine a hard stare and Blaine wished he could turn invisible. “As for the rest of you, this is going to be one of your last days to work with your partners. Presentations are on Thursday!” he added, his voice growing louder to speak over the commotion of the class.

Blaine sighed, relieved that the focus was no longer on him, but also a bit unnerved because now he had to spend the last half hour of class with Kurt. “Alright,” Kurt began, refusing to look Blaine in the eye, “we’re almost done, so we might as well finish it now.” Blaine nodded his head, worried that if he opened his mouth he would start interrogating Kurt about the party and everything after. But the worst part about all this was that no matter how pissed Blaine was at Kurt, he more upset with himself and how he still couldn’t think of the boy as anything but perfection. He hated how he couldn’t hate Kurt.

Blaine made himself look away from Kurt and took the script off Kurt’s desk. He knew what was needed to be done and Kurt had done the first half by himself before Blaine had gotten there, so it was only fair that Blaine finished it. He kept his head down and forced himself to write and somehow he was able to work continuously. Unfortunately, he finished in seventeen minutes.

Blaine tried to seem stimulated, but a person can only pretend to work for so long. Blaine looked up at the clock; nine minutes left. He sighed and leaned back in his desk, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes trained on the paper in front of him. That is, until a hand cut into his line of sight and pulled the paper away from him. Blaine bit his lip as he glared at the desk and kept himself from looking up at Kurt.

“Not bad,” he heard Kurt say in a clipped voice. Blaine nodded once, a sort of jerk of his chin, and otherwise showed no intent of engaging the other boy. The minutes crawled by and felt like hours until finally the bell rang. Blaine shot up in his desk like a rocket and rushed out of the classroom. “Blaine,” a voice called and Blaine quickly turned on his foot. “Don’t be late again,” Mr. Brunner said with his most menacing look, and Blaine gave him a thumbs up before hurrying down the hallway and to his locker.

Blaine opened his locker with ease and began rummaging through the books for Advanced Algebra when he caught sight of the picture on the inside of his locker door. Blaine froze and stared at the smiling faces of his friends from Dalton Academy and felt a pang of sadness fill his chest. He wanted so badly to go back. To be with Wes, Jeff, Nick, Trent, and all the other Warblers. To be in a place where he felt like he belonged.

Blaine mentally smacked himself. So what if one guy is an asshole. You’re being an idiot. McKinley has been great so far. Granted, it’s only been a week, but you shouldn’t be thinking about quitting this early in the game. Blaine stood up a little taller and took a deep breath. Send one of the guys a txt and then head to class. And stop being ridiculous.

Blaine took out his cellphone and sent a quick message to Trent and grabbed his book before shutting his locker and walking toward his next class. He felt his pocket vibrate and pulled out his phone and tried to fight back a smile as he lifted it to his cheek. “Blaine!” a familiar voice rang through the phone before he could say anything. Blaine broke out in a grin as he heard Trent’s voice, accompanied by all the other Warblers. They must’ve been in practice. “We miss you so much!”

“How’s McKinley?”

“Broken any hearts yet?”

“Why haven’t you called sooner?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot about us!”

“When are you coming back?”

“I miss singing back up for you!”

“What’s a guy gotta do to hear from you these days?”

“I’m working at the GAP now. Wanna come by and sing for me, Blainey?”

“Shut the hell up or I’ll come over there and kick your ass,” Blaine said through a fit of laughter.

“Oh, Blaine’s kinky.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?”

“Oh, baby, it’s a promise,” Blaine said in his best seductive voice, causing him to get a few looks in the hallway. Blaine winked at one of the girls who were staring at him and she looked away blushing. Where did that come from, Blaine? He tried not to laugh out loud when he heard Thad squeal over the phone.

“But seriously, Blaine, when do we get so see you again?” said Trent.

“Why don’t we meet up this afternoon for coffee?” Blaine offered and got an excited chorus of ‘yes’s’ in response. “Awesome,” Blaine said as he settled into his seat. His teacher gave him a look and Blaine looked away quickly. “Guys, I’ve got to go. I’ll txt you later about a time. Bye,” he said in a rushed voice and put his phone away just as his teacher was about to get up and walk over to his desk. She glared at Blaine for a moment, he pointed bird-like face causing a chill to spill down his spine before she looked away to find another prey to stalk. Blaine let out a breath and got out his paper, pencil, and calculator, hoping that this class would go by faster than the previous one.