Author's note: So this is the prologue; I promise it gets better (and funnier) next chapter but this is necessary background info. Please review and let me know what you think, ways I could improve etc. :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee, sadly. But I do own season 2 on box set XD

"Smile!" Rachel ordered as she took a photo of Kurt and Mercedes putting on their best theatrical grins. "I'm gonna miss you so much, Kurt," Mercedes confessed, pulling him into a bear hug. Before he knew it the entire glee club had squashed in for a group hug, with Kurt suffocating in the centre.

"Guys!" Kurt cried, attempting to wriggle free of Rachel's iron grip "It's not like I'm leaving the country."

"You might as well be," Tina called from the edge of the hug "we're hardly going to see you anymore!" This statement was accompanied by even more enthusiastic hugging and eventually Kurt had to scream "Help!" before his friends got the idea and ended their bone crushing display of affection.

Kurt took this as a cue to give his well prepared goodbye speech. He stepped up onto his tip-toes and began "I want to thank all of you for coming to my house today, I wanted to say goodbye to you as a whole because I know I wouldn't be the person I am today without each and every one of you," at this point Rachel promptly burst into tears and Mercedes smiled fondly at Kurt, encouraging him to go on. "I wanted to offer you guys a huge thank-you," he continued "and just say that I'm really sorry that I won't be able to see you all everyday anymore. I don't know how I'll cope without my dysfunctional Glee family."

Now it was Kurt's turn to start crying and, after Finn put a comforting arm around him, another group hug started up. Kurt didn't mid it this time though; he was going to see his friends so little when he was boarding at Dalton that he relished any time spent with them now.

He'd been at Dalton last year too, so this wasn't a complete change. But last year he'd been living at home and had been able to see his Glee friends after school so it hadn't truly felt like they'd been separated. How could it when he had been having sleepovers with Rachel and Mercedes every other weekend?

However, after working out how much Kurt spent on fuel for the two hour drive to Dalton, Burt and Carole soon realised that it would be much cheaper for him to board there instead. So off he was going: to live at Dalton away from his family and friends.

The only thing getting Kurt through was the knowledge that he wouldn't be alone when he got there. His friends Wes and David would be there and, of course, there would be Blaine.

Blaine; he'd hardly seen him all summer. They'd only met up now and then to go for coffee or shop at the mall but the rest of the time Blaine had been out of town. He'd been living with his parents at their town house in New York, staying with his older brother who was studying in England and he'd even gone on a sailing holiday to Australia for a couple of weeks.

As a consequence Kurt had been forced to phone or skype Blaine whenever they had a free moment, as neither of them were prepared to let their friendship dwindle over the holidays. But video chatting with Blaine as he sat with his brother in the Cambridge University student lounge wasn't quite the same as talking to Blaine face to face in the Dalton rec room.

So, although it was going to hurt being away from his Lima best friends, Kurt couldn't wait to see his Dalton ones.

Kurt was brought back down to earth by Carole announcing that he'd have to leave soon if he wanted to arrive at Dalton on time. Finn and a few others went upstairs to help Burt carry Kurt's copious luggage to the car, leaving Kurt alone to say goodbye to the girls and Artie.

"You promise to bring us back some hot private school guys?" Satannah asked, a mischievous grin on her face.

"I'll try but you know that I get first dibs," Kurt replied, smiling back.

All of a sudden Brittney started sobbing loudly, and she fiercely wrapped her arms around Kurt. "I'll miss you so much," she murmured into his shoulder "you were my unicorn and my dolphin but now you're going!"

"It'll be okay, Britt," Kurt soothed "I promise to come back and see you all whenever I can." Seemingly satisfied Brittney pulled back, looked Kurt straight in the eyes and said seriously "I shall ask my leprechaun to watch over you, he will make sure the sharks don't bite you and that you find your very own unicorn."

Everyone apart from Santannah looked thoroughly confused at this. "Britt's got an Irish exchange student staying with her this year," Santannah explained "and obviously, because he's Irish, he will be a leprechaun." Brittney nodded happily at this, ignoring the amused looks of the faces of everyone else.

"That's everything," Burt proclaimed as he crammed the last of Kurt's suitcases into the boot of his car. "I guess I'll be seeing you guys then," Kurt said to the group of his friends standing outside his house in the fading light. "I promise to send weekly e-mails and visit whenever I can."

After a final fist-bump with Artie and assuring Mercedes he'd let her know if she needed to drive to Dalton and attack anyone, he walked over to his car. When he reached it his dad gave him a quick hug before stepping back to join the group that were waiting by the house.

Kurt looked back at his loving friends and family one more time before resolutely he got in his car, turned the keys in the ignition and began driving off to Dalton. The glorious pink sunset almost burned his eyes and as he fiddled with the radio one thought kept on popping into Kurt's mind over and over again.

Dalton, here I come…