Prologue | The Soloist

For Blaine Anderson, today was the most important day of his life.

Granted, he was only sixteen years old, but today marked the first day he would take his place as frontman of the Warblers, Dalton's prestigious acapella choir. Blaine dressed himself in his perfectly pressed uniform and carefully combed his hair so not a curl fell out of place, then took a long look at the himself in the mirror. He looked composed and confidence, ready to step in front of the school and prove himself. Even so, he felt that tug of insecurity in his chest, but he quickly shook it away. He was not going to disappoint his friends, and he was definitely not going to disappoint himself.

All though his history class, Blaine scribbled the lyrics to the song in the margins of his notebook until they spilled across the important dates and names on the page, rendering his notes useless. When the bell finally rang, Blaine took a deep breath and hurried to the senior common with the rest of the students. He joined the boys heading down the staircase, trying to block out their cacophonous chatter and focus on the melody in his head. The Warblers were counting on him and believed in him, and Blaine would not let anything distract…

"Excuse me." Blaine turned around at the voice, lips parting in surprise when he saw who had spoken. "Um, hi," he continued softly. "Can I ask you a question? I'm… I'm new here."

Blaine took a moment to gaze at this stranger, his perfectly coiffed hair and endless blue eyes. If he had been a student at Dalton (his lack of uniform suggested otherwise), Blaine would have made sure to know him. Even so, he politely extended his hand and introduced himself. "My name is Blaine."

"Kurt."

Today was the most important day of Blaine's life, but Blaine had yet to learn the reason why.

Next time…

"Blaine! I need you."

Kurt tugged Blaine into his bedroom, slamming the door after him. The Warbler smirked, and coyly said, "Wow, Kurt. This is… sudden."

"I don't know what to sing for my audition tomorrow," Kurt explained, shoving a pile of sheet music at Blaine. "I know Broadway isn't the Warblers' style, but it would be the best to showcase my voice. Does the council like Judy Garland? Would I be better going with Streisand? Or should I just go right for top radio hits?"

Blaine looked at him, his amused expression replaced with a helpfully smile. "Let me see your iPod."

Kurt took a breath and obligingly handed it to him. "Why?"

"I'm going to choose for you."

Author's Note: Throughout season two, I wanted to write a Warbler fanfiction about Kurt's time at Dalton in tandem with canon. Now that Blaine has transferred (much to my chagrin), I've decided to go for it. The subsequent chapters will be much longer than this, but I wanted to set the story in context. My plan is to release a chapter once or twice a week, but if you follow me on Tumblr, you know how little regard I have for deadlines. Let me know what you think!

Keep Calm and Warble On,

George