Shine Like Diamonds Buried Underground

Chapter 1

September.

Start of another school year, one Kurt presumed would be the same as every other year had been. Daily slushie to the face, constant ridicule from Karofsky and company, watching from the background as all the solos were being given away to the same people in Glee club: unwavering and expected. All he wanted was some change in the dull continuity he found his life had become.

The bell signaling the start of his first class rang and he slid a satchel over his shoulder, closed his locker promptly, and glanced over his shoulder for any signs of unintelligent life. Luckily Karofsky and any of the other football players weren't in sight. First on the agenda was English class; he hoped at least one fellow Glee club member would be joining him.

Upon walking through the door with some other students shuffling in at the last second he scanned the room, his face falling in obvious disappointment when he wasn't able to locate any of this friends. This was going to be a long and boring forty minutes to get through everyday. He sat down towards the back of the room and set his satchel down on the floor after extracting a bright purple composition notebook.

"Listen for your name as I call them out, class," a monotone voice from the front of the class reached Kurt's ears, "Blaine Anderson? No Blaine Anderson?"

Kurt kept his head down and opened his notebook, taking note of the exasperated tone his teacher had spoken in and of the curt sigh that followed. Apparently this Blaine Anderson was some sort of nuisance… 'This could end up being an interesting class after all,' Kurt pondered silently. If the boy ever decided to show up.

Kurt took to scribbling a "To-Do" list in his notebook as their teacher stumbled over the majority of names after Blaine's, causing him to question how the man had ever attained a degree in literature- his pronunciations were atrocious.

"Kurt Hummel?"

Kurt raised his hand elegantly with a dignified, "Here."

After attendance their teacher introduced himself as Mr. Smith, spelling it out onto the board. Kurt suppressed a snort, finding such blatant humour in the man's need to write out his name, his simple name, for the class as though they were children. He was almost willing to wager that some students would spell it wrong for the sake of mocking the poor guy but figured it would realistically never happen, none of these kids would be clever enough to do it purposely. Either way, Kurt knew that this Mr. Smith was going to be one of those "accidentally condescending" types.

He took to daydreaming while Mr. Smith began lecturing and passing out copies of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. After spending twenty minutes fantasizing about performing on a Broadway stage and returning to an apartment filled with nothing but only the finest pieces from the Elizabeth Taylor collection he began practicing his signature in the back pages of his notebook. This was something he often did after daydreams about attaining star status in New York City.

He was so absorbed in the proper angle he should swoop the bottom curve in the letter "K" that he didn't notice the door creak open or the boy that snuck inside until he heard a chair scrape behind himself. The sudden noise took him by surprise, though no one else seemed to notice at all, and he turned around to observe his stealthy classmate.

This must have been the Blaine Anderson that Mr. Smith seemed to be so agitated with.

Kurt could only see the top half of Blaine over the desk, internally struggling with himself over whether he looked more like Fonzie or Danny Zuko with his white v-neck and black hooded leather jacket. His hair was unkempt in relatively short black curls long enough to hang loosely and bounce slightly whenever he moved his head but not enough to cover his face. Kurt immediately felt the urge to run back to his locker and break into his emergency supply of hair gel to slick through the boy's hair, partly because he felt it would be a good look for him but mostly because he wanted an excuse to run his hands through those curls.

In the time Kurt had been taking to analyze Blaine he must have crossed the line into staring because, as he focused his gaze onto Blaine's face, he was met with a glare… or perhaps- was that a smirk forming?

"See something you like, doll face?" Blaine whispered, bordering on seductive.

Kurt immediately snapped his attention back to the front of the class, silently cursing himself for the heat now taking residence on his already rosy cheeks.

"So we'll be exploring Miss Shelley's use of Frankenstein as the metaphor for- Mr. Anderson, when did you get here?" Mr. Smith looked dumbstruck.

"Why… I've been here the whole time," Blaine responded innocently. "Didn't you hear me say I was here? Mr. Smith, I'm hurt."

Kurt felt his jaw drop slightly and, though aware of how ridiculous he must have looked, did nothing to rectify his appearance. Did Blaine really believe that would work or was he only acting this way for the sake of getting a reaction?

"Principal's office."

"For showing up to class?" Blaine scoffed, escalating the conflict quickly, "What kind of school is this?"

The rest of the class couldn't suppress their snickering at this point.

"You came in after the bell. Did anyone else see Mr. Anderson here while I was calling-"

"I did." If everyone's eyes weren't now focused on Kurt he probably would have clapped his hand over his mouth. 'What the hell am I doing?' he thought as he flawlessly delivered the next statement, "He said he was here and you ignored him."

"Both of you go to the principal's office. Right now."

Blaine gathered his things nonchalantly and made his way to the door. Kurt was still debating standing his ground by refusing to leave when he heard the words, "Coming, darling?" falling sweetly off of Blaine's pouty lips. He felt himself blush again and quickly grabbed everything off of his desk, wanting to rush out of the room rather than take the time to put them away in his satchel neatly.

Blaine held the door open for him as he walked out, flashing a smug smirk as he began to practically undress Kurt with his eyes right there in the doorway. Kurt decided right then and there that his level of embarrassment was indescribable and unparalleled to every other mortifying event in his life teenage life thus far; this was definitely not the way his school year was supposed to be going. Not at all.

Blaine let go of the door and, now that he wasn't slumped behind a desk, Kurt was able to fully take in the sight of him. He wore faded blue jeans with cuffed bottoms and decorated with various tears, the biggest of which was across his left knee. He looked pretty skinny, in Kurt's opinion, his smaller stature only adding to the idea in his head that Blaine was trying to appear tougher than he actually was.

"So what the hell was that about in there?" Blaine pulled a small clear plastic tube from his back pocket and shook out a toothpick onto the palm of his hand. Kurt watched him wrap his lips around it, trying desperately to recall what the question had just been.

"Uhh…"

'Stupid…' his mind spared no mercy and offered various insults as he was still too distracted by the way Blaine sucked on the toothpick and bobbed it up and down with his tongue. 'Say something, damnit.'

"Was just trying to help you out," Kurt shrugged, hoping he sounded more nonchalant and collected rather than caught off guard and severely, severely... distracted.

"I'm aware of that, I'm not that thick. But why? I have no idea who you even are." Blaine watched him with an amused twinkle in his eyes; he knew why, he must have, it was obviously far more fun for him to make Kurt uncomfortable by forcing him to openly admit it though.

"Oh, I'm Kurt Hummel."

"Think I'll stick with doll face. Are you going to answer the question or not?"

"Or not." Kurt rolled his eyes and started to round the corner.

"Where are you going? That isn't the way outside."

"Wha- the principal's office. Why would I be going outside?"

Blaine scoffed and Kurt scrunched his face slightly at the reaction. "You check me out the entire time I'm in class, you lie to the teacher about my being there… but you're actually going to bend over and let him fuck you with a punishment for it?" Blaine took the toothpick between his right index and middle fingers, lowering it as though it was a cigarette. "You're one of those, huh?"

"One of what?" Kurt was beginning to understand Mr. Smith's annoyance with this boy.

"Those kids that are usually very 'morally upstanding' but will act out in order to impress someone." Blaine shook his head, letting out a "tisk tisk" in over exaggerated disappointment. "Shame, I was starting to think I liked you too."

Kurt's mouth was agape again. Not only had he openly lied to his teacher for this… boy and gotten in trouble for it, but the very same person he had been defending, for reasons he still claimed were unbeknownst to himself, was insulting him!

"Are you always this rude?" Kurt straightened himself up, trying to appear dignified and unfazed by Blaine's attitude.

"Oh honey, now you're just trying too hard. Are you always this uptight? I bet I could loosen you right up." Blaine placed the toothpick in his mouth again and bit down. Kurt could think of nothing to do but stare at him. "Well, you have fun in the principal's office then, doll face." He snickered as he walked away before Kurt could even think to get a word in. When he was out of sight Kurt stamped his foot angrily.

"How dare he- I've never!" He explained to no one, carelessly taking the time to stuff his books into his satchel now. For a few minutes he stopped using real words, grunting and occasionally squeaking his annoyance to the lockers and empty halls. He had planned on actually going to the principal's office, but now he stood, torn, looking between the side door to the parking lot that Blaine had just left through and the corridor to his left that lead to the main office.

He chewed on his lip when he started to finally calm down, indecisiveness replacing anger as he weighed the pros and cons in his head. This was easy, or it should have been at least. There were no pros associated with going to the principal's office… but were the consequences of leaving school grounds really worth it?

After thinking back on his conversation with Blaine he realized how simple the answer was… even if it meant Blaine had been right about him. Yeah, so what if he was trying to impress the boy with the leather jacket and "too-cool-for-school" attitude? That wasn't the worst thing in the world really, was it? And with that in mind he pushed open the side door and stepped outside into the sunlight, squinting as he scanned the parking lot for Blaine.