Kurt Hummel was extremely late. He tore through the halls of McKinley High, slinging his bag further over his shoulder as he ran shamelessly. Luckily the halls were silent and still as it were seven thirty am, far too early for any normal student of McKinley to even be out of bed.
The morning had been a bad one for Kurt. He absolutely detested being late anywhere, and him waking up at an unacceptable seven am set back his entire early morning routine by half an hour. Kurt had to leave the house without finishing his morning skincare routine, something he felt was unacceptable. His skin felt clogged and unclean as he bypassed his locker, too late to stop and put away his books. He had places to be.
As Kurt approached the large, heavy doors leading to their school auditorium he took a deep breath. He was screwed. Schue was going to fry him, he was so late, and he was dead meat…
Kurt pushed the doors open to the sounds of an orchestra warming up. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he realised that it was not Schue sitting in the conductor's chair, but a black, curly head. Still, better to be actually sitting in his seat when Schue arrived so Kurt leapt down the stairs of the auditorium, two at a time, and climbed onto the stage, as subtly as possible. No such luck. The boy in the conductor's seat grinned as he saw Kurt try to sneak into the orchestra.
"Hey Kurt" he said, tapping the baton in his hand against the stand slightly.
"Hey Blaine" Kurt replied sheepishly. "Sorry for being late"
Blaine smiled widely. "I don't mind- just jump in there before Schue gets here"
Kurt nodded gratefully and walked around behind Blaine's chair to get to his seat. To be honest, Kurt was surprised Blaine even talked to him. Blaine was amazing, the envy of the entire music department at McKinley. He was the principal violinist and the concert master, respected by every musician at the school. On top of this, he was an accomplished vocalist, as well as playing guitar and piano. To make matters worse, he was devastatingly handsome, extremely charming, and actually gay. Kurt's perfect guy, but he'd never look at someone like Kurt. Kurt was so out of his league he wouldn't even consider pursuing a relationship with him.
Blaine tapped his baton sharply against the stand again, to gain the attention of the orchestra. There was instant silence in the room. It demonstrated just how much respect the orchestra had for their concert master. He was their leader. Kurt looked up just as he was sliding into his seat, slipping his hand into his pocket and pulling out a rectangular box, no bigger than a pencil case. He clipped it open, and pulled out the two joints of his piccolo. They fit seamlessly together as he was nudged in the ribs by his best friend, first flutist Rachel Berry. She grinned and waved at him and wiggled her eyebrows, something she liked to do whenever Kurt had an interaction with Blaine. She knew Kurt had a bit of a thing for Blaine, but she desperately wanted them to be together, even if Kurt knew it would never happen.
"Alright guys, let's tune- Tina" Blaine indicated for the lone oboist, Tina Cohen-Chang, to play her tuning note. The note rang out true and pure, with the rest of the orchestra joining in, tuning to that note. Blaine had his own violin in his lap and he pulled it under his chin, fine tuning with the rest of the band. Kurt picked up his piccolo, quickly blowing hot air through the cold, metal mouth piece to warm it up. He then raised it to his lips, and blasted his tuning note out. Rachel had finished tuning already and she groaned, slapping her hands to her ears.
"It's too early for brain damage, Kurt"
Kurt rolled his eyes. "You have your earplugs, use them"
Rachel grumbled as she reached into her pencil case that sat on her stand and pulled out a matching set of earplug inserts, and jammed one into the ear closest to Kurt.
"I hate these, they make my ears hurt"
Blaine had them run through some scales and parts of one of the pieces they were working on as part of their warm up. At this point, the doors to the auditorium swung open and out came Mr Schuester, carrying a folder and a cup of coffee.
"Thanks Blaine" Schue nodded, dismissing Blaine from warm up duties. Blaine nodded once, slipping down into his chair, fiddling with the fingerboard of his violin.
"Okay" Schue said, holding up his baton. "It's time to start working on our set list for the competition season. I'm going to open the floor, and ask you guys what you want to play"
"HAWAII FIVE-O THEME"
Schue scowled. "Real suggestions, please, Puckerman"
The boy with the trombone and the menacing Mohawk shrugged.
Schue was getting increasingly angry as nobody in the orchestra was suggesting any legitimate options. Until Blaine spoke up.
"What about something from Holst's Planet Suite?"
Everyone stopped to listen. Schue indicated for him to continue.
"Yeah, we should do something from the Planet Suite. We could do Mars- that piece is iconic"
Schue was nodding. It was clear he liked this idea.
"Excellent choice Blaine. I will look into that. Brass, you'll have to step up for that one"
Puckerman high fived his friend, a sandy haired boy with a large mouth and balancing an enormous tuba on his lap.
"Mr Schue?" a girl spoke up in the clarinet section.
"Yes Santana?" Schue said, slightly wearily. Santana Lopez was known for causing trouble amongst the orchestra.
"While I understand that all this competition is important to this orchestra- can't we do a piece that is a little more… fun?"
Schue looked perplexed. "But Holst is fun!"
"To you and gay Mozart, maybe" Blaine looked miffed.
"Santana, I'm sorry, but it's just not appropriate to play anything other than classical pieces in a competition like-"
"Mr Schue" Blaine interjected. "I have an idea"
Blaine once again had the floor.
"Maybe it's not appropriate to play some fun pieces in a competition setting, but why can't we play them here? We could use them as our warm-up pieces"
There was a murmur of excitement rippling through the orchestra.
"That's a good idea, Blaine, but I don't have the time to find or arrange these pieces…"
"I could do it" Blaine offered. "I'll arrange all of them. It's good practise"
The orchestra shouted their approval. Schue held up his hands in defeat.
"Well, if this is something the entire orchestra wants to do, then it's up to you guys to organise it. Everyone make sure you thank Blaine for going to the effort.
The rehearsal continued, but Blaine Anderson was on autopilot. He had so many ideas in his head and he could not wait to get started. When he finally got home for the night, it was straight to his computer to begin composing. Three and a half hours and two cups of coffee later, he had finished their first song. He printed, his stomach back flipping with excitement as the title of the piece appeared in his printing tray
Teenage Dream, by Katy Perry and Bonnie McKee
Arr. Blaine Anderson.
next chapter should hopefully be up by end of next week