"Kurt sighed. His week had been way overloaded, just as it always was. He had just started his second year at NYADA, and though his life had never been better, he had never been so washed out. Over the past months, he had taken all the classes he could, worked on songs of every single repertoire he knew of, plus songs of his own that he imagined for musicals he made up in his mind at night instead of sleeping ; he had also auditioned for as many New York musical productions as possible, and even if they were all small productions with few performances, he always got himself a quite prestigious part. All this hardwork gave him the greatest grades of the whole school, and that was really saying something, but for now, that was pretty much all. No great success, no recognition, not the slightest bit of fame... and no time for himself anymore. When he finally entered NYADA, he realized very quickly that keeping his job at would only be slowing his musical career down, and he had to quit ; except for the way he dressed, fashion was barely a part of his life now. He couldn't even find an hour or two to go out and buy new clothes, wich was really frustrating. How was he supposed to maintain a good reputation at school and elsewhere if he was always to wear the same outfits ? He sighed again. Nothing is easy to get, they say ; well, "not easy" was the biggest understatement he had ever heard, for sure. He looked around the room. He was all alone in the apartment of Bushwick that he owned with his roommate and best friend Rachel. Tonight was Saturday night, the beginning of the first holidays of the school year, and she was already in the plane to France where she was going with her two dads for a few days. She was so lucky, Kurt thought. He had decided to stay in the flat all week to keep on working and get ahead on his school schedule, but now he felt a bit overwhelmed by the silence of the place and the amount of work he had already planned. He bit his lip. He was dying to go out for a walk, and maybe a little shopping... "You can't do that, it wouldn't be reasonable", he lectured himself. He paused. "Oh, the hell with it, I can take one little night off for the holidays." He jumped on his feet and grabbed a navy blue jacket with a lighter blue scarf, in accordance with his white trousers, quickly checked his reflection on the mirror, smiled , twirled and slammed the door.
"I think we should have open auditions for this." Nick Lang looked at his brother and his friends. They nodded, waiting for him to go on. "I mean, it is a Starkid production, but it's a bit more than that. A real TV show, guys ! It's gonna be huge ! I really think we should give everyone a chance to be a part of this, not only our usual team."
Brian Holden hesitated.
"It sounds nice, but... Starkid is a team, and it always has been. Open auditions, with its lot of unknown new faces... wouldn't it be like losing the magic of Team Starkid ? Not that new isn't good, it's just... not us to do that."
"Now you know that's not true, Brian, Nick answered. We've had lots of additions to the team over the years."
"You know what I mean. A new member here and there isn't as big and sudden as open auditions. This is a big deal."
" Brian has a point", Matt Lang interrupted ; "it's different. But I think what Nick means is that this whole project IS different too. It's not just one of our musicals. It's a real TV show. And that's why our approach should change as well. I say we keep our usual team for the musicals, as we always did, no need to change that, and we'll always be doing musicals anyway, won't we ?" He winked. "But this, this is a brand new project. Let's shake things up a bit, how bad could it be ? Open auditions are fine for me."
Brian nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, I get your point. Sounds fair. I guess we could try that for a change. See what happens."
Nick smiled widely. "Eric ?" he asked. Eric nodded as well. "I say we try", he smiled. The beginning of "Super Friends" filled the room as Nick's phone rang.
"I got a text from Blaine." He read aloud : "-Chek your e-mails, I recorded a few ideas of mine for the TV show ! Hope you guys like them. Decided anything yet about that auditions thing ?- Wow, Blaine was quick. We just signed with the channel and he already has music ready. Let's check that out." He texted back : -I won. Open auditions it is. Kids of the United States of Amercia, be prepared for our "GLEE" AUDITIONS !-
Kurt turned the key inside his door lock, humming the melody of "Dress you up". He opened the door and danced his way in, then happily slammed it. He had bought a considerable amount of new shoes, jackets, pants and accessories, wich wasn't that good for his budget but perfect for his mood, and he was crawling under the heavy bags. He got to his bed, where he layed what he called his "self-presents-for-all-my-hardwork-that-I-REALLY-d eserve", and then to his desk to check his e-mail. There were a few ads that he deleted, an e-mail from a teacher about holidays homework that he read quickly until realizing he had done that already, and one from Team Starkid's newsletter. Team Starkid was a theatre company that had first become famous by doing parodies of movies and books they loved and humoristic musical shows. They gained instant success and their fame and influence never stopped growing over the years. Kurt had always loved musicals, and he knew all about it ; but Team Starkid was different. Of course, all of their shows were perfect in every aspect : the writing, the actors, the singers, the direction and production, everything was right. But what Kurt loved the most about them was Blaine Anderson. He was the songwriter of the team, and also an incredible actor, singer and musician. His work was always absolutely fabulous, and so was the man, which was clearly not spoiling the whole. Always nice to everyone, always smiling, close to his fans, using his influence for all the good causes and reasons, talented as hell, and still the humblest man on earth ; and of course, as handsome as one could be. One of Kurt's biggest dreams ever since he discovered the Starkids was to work with that very man ; and that was part of why he worked so hard to be the best at everything he did. But all that hardwork had also prevented him from actually going to the shows and see the Starkids perform for real, or from going anywhere they ever were in general. He had never met or even been near them once, and it killed him to know that he still had to wait for that day to come, but he still followed everything they did online, in case, for some reason, he could be free to do it for once. Of course, he never was.
Kurt opened the e-mail and started reading it. His eyes started slowing down on the lines as the information penetrated his brain. He knew that Team Starkid's new project was a TV show, and it sounded amazing, as always. The e-mail informed the fans that the team had signed with Fox and that the show was therefore confirmed. But that wasn't what caught Kurt's attention. He had completely stopped reading as the words "Open Auditions in Chicago and New York" spread before his eyes. That meant everyone was allowed to try. That meant even he was allowed to try. He felt his heart beating faster as the information grew clearer in his mind. He could audition for Team Starkid. He stood suddenly, pushing back the chair, barely breathing. The next second he was bursting into hysterical laughter, jumping all around the room, tears of joy running down his cheeks. This time he could finally meet them. This time it wasn't wrong. It was all part of what he did, auditionning for musical shows. "This time, I can make it", he thought. He lurched back to his desk, feeling dizzy from all the jumping and twirling, and checked the dates. The auditions in Chicago, where Team Starkid was based, were to take place that very next week, on Friday. The auditions in New York, where the show was to be shot, were to take place... his smile fell off his face. He sat back in his chair, his arms hanging on his sides. They were to take place in two weeks, on Wednesday, the very same day Kurt had exams from 7 a.m to 8 p.m. with barely half an hour to eat. That day, and that one only."
Author's note : The Starkids I talk about are all actual living people ; nevertheless, I don't describe them the way they really are (which I wouldn't know since I never met them and don't personnally know them). I don't mean to offend anyone by the way I talk of the Starkids in this story ; it's only fiction.
Also the whole auditions/shooting thing is probably not even close to what reality is really like. Please don't blame me for this ; again, it's only fiction.
