Blaine Anderson walked through the front doors of McKinley High far too early in the morning on Monday, September 1st. It was the first day of school, and as always, Principal Figgins had called the entire staff in to work early so they could have a "celebratory fizzy beverage" before the start of the new school year.
He had his brown leather briefcase dangling from one hand and cradled a history textbook in the other as he walked down to the staff room. Hopefully, the AP U.S. History class he would be teaching first period wouldn't be delayed by Principal Figgins' little party, as his first period classes had been every year for the three years he had been employed at McKinley.
"Blainey!"
That was the voice of Santana Lopez, the resident Spanish teacher and Blaine's girlfriend. She strutted up to Blaine in her 4 inch heels and leaned down to pluck a kiss on his cheek.
"Couldn't you wear some sensible shoes?" Blaine asked somewhat irritably, accepting the kiss.
"Baby, you know I wear 4 inches or I wear nothing. And besides, they go perfectly with my dress! Now, if we're going to talk about fashion..." Santana surveyed Blaine's khakis, striped sweater vest, plaid collared shirt and purple bowtie with distaste.
"Come on," Blaine said, avoiding the judgmental eyes of his girlfriend, "Let's get this over with."
"Good morning, McKinley teachers and staff," Figgins droned in his distinctly Indian accent, "And welcome to the start of a new year. There have been a few changes made over the summer vacation. The cafeteria menu..."
He went on to describe the particulars of the lunches being served this year, the new heating/cooling system, and the peer tutoring program being started. Blaine found himself spacing out.
"There has been one change in staffing this year," Figgins continued, "After 9 years as music and theater director at McKinley, Mr. Ryerson has decided to go into an early retirement."
The cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester, stood up from her chair, waved like a queen, and mouthed, "you're welcome." Blaine rolled his eyes, wondering what awful thing Sue to poor, crazy old Mr. Ryerson.
"Thank you, Sue. You may sit down now," Principal Figgins dismissed. "I'd like to introduce you to our new music teacher, Mr. Kurt Hummel."
A man wearing dark wash jeans, an off-white button down, and an incredible blue velvet vest that made his blue eyes look even blue-er stood up from the far corner. Blaine's breath caught in his throat, and he wondered how he hadn't noticed the new teacher earlier. He was gorgeous.
"Uh, hi," the man said, waving a little uncertainly, "I'm Kurt Hummel and I'm going to be teaching orchestra, band, and drama. I'd also like to try and get the McKinley glee club started up again after school."
Coach Sylvester shouted, "You mean gay club?" and cackled loudly. Blaine felt his heart clench up, almost scared for Kurt. Sue could be a really harsh.
Luckily, Kurt smiled the tiniest bit and ignored the coach's outburst. "As I was saying, I want to direct a show choir at McKinley. The problem is, I need a co-director to help me. I've already run the idea by Principal Figgins, and he gave it the all-clear. Any takers?" He smiled shyly. Blaine could see the desperation in his eyes.
"I would love to," Blaine said.
Kurt stopped for a millisecond before exhaling and saying, "Thanks so much, mister..."
"Blaine," Blaine answered with a smile, "Blaine Anderson."
"Thanks, Blaine. Can we meet up during lunch or something so we can talk?"
Blaine nodded, and said, "Lunch."
Principal Figgins nodded appreciatively at them both, then addressed the rest of the staff again. "Now, if I could get a staff member to help with the carpool line after school-"
He was cut off by the loud buzz of the warning bell. 40 teachers and staff stood up, gathered their things, and dashed for the door all at once. Figgins' shouts about carpooling were ignored as everyone rushed to their classrooms.