Why is it the worst days always start out so well? It's like the universe is saying, 'Hey, since we are about to completely rotate your world, you can have a good morning!'

It's not always true, of course. Sometimes, a day just goes from bad, to worse, to dreadful. Or, from dreadful, to bad, to alright. I would kill to have it be the last one. But, today started out wonderfully.

I woke up on time, took a shower, picked out my favorite outfit, saw the sun shining, went downstairs, grabbed a poptart, got some coffee, went outside, got in my car, and started off to school. There were no distractions, nothing slowing down my routine. I hadn't even realized everything went so well until after everything turned terrible.

"Blaine! Man, you gotta come with me right now, it's important!" Sam grabbed my arm the second I walked into the school. He dragged me into an empty classroom and locked the door.

"What's going on?" I asked, completely confused.

"Look, I know it's kinda crazy, but I need to ask your opinion on something. It's really important."

I gave him a blank stare, so he took that as a sign to continue.

"Should I get a tutor?"

I almost laughed. Almost. I had seen Sam's recent test scores. I was surprised the school hadn't already done something.

"I definitely think you should get a tutor. No offence, but your history grades are pretty bad."

"And math, and science, and English! They are all terrible! I keep hiding it from my parents, but I think the school is getting ready to send a note home and they can't find out I'm doing so bad." I put my hands on Sam's shoulders.

"Hey, calm down. I'll tutor you, alright? That way you won't have to pay for anything and we can hang out more," I said, a smile on my face. Sam visibly calmed down and smiled back.

"Thanks man. I was seriously about to lose it. I just didn't know if a tutor was the right way to go. I mean, they can be pretty expensive." Sam rambled on as we left the classroom and went to our lockers.

The bell rang and we went to our first classes. Mine was calculus. Math may come naturally to some, but I was not one of those individuals. I usually spend an extra hour studying for math, something I was going to have to teach Sam. Being a tutor seemed like it was going to be a lot of fun.

xxxXxxx

"God, I wish Mr. Schue would just cancel Glee today so you can start tutoring me as soon as school is done. I got an D- on my English paper. I am so not looking forward to the rest of my grades," Sam said. I pulled out my history book and put it in my bag. Just one class left before Glee Club.

"Do you have anything after Glee? You could come over if you wanted," I said, shutting my locker.

"Really? Thank you! It feels weird being excited about being tutored. As long as I can graduate, I don't care."

We started down the hall, towards History. Maybe it would actually be interesting today, instead of even more about the civil war. It was an important part of history, but we didn't need to spend three months on the same war.

BANG!

We stopped in our tracks. The other students in the hall stopped as well, looking around in confusion.

BANG! BANG!

Chaos. It was the only way to describe what was happening. Students were running in every direction, throwing themselves in various rooms and locking the doors behind them. Bags were forgotten. Papers flew through the air. I wasn't aware that I was moving until Sam pushed me in a small room, which turned out to be a janitors closet.

It was dark. I felt Sam sit across from me, our feet just barely touching.

BANG!

There was a scream, more yelling. I clutched my knees, feeling them shaking. Maybe it was my hands shaking. I couldn't tell anymore.

"NO! STAY AWAY!"

BANG!

I whimpered and put one of my hands over my mouth, the other finding Sam's hand and clutching it. He squeezed back.

There were footsteps periodically, some running, some walking. There was one in particular that had gone by twice. It was heavy. It was almost as though I could feel it in my bones whenever they walked by.

At some point, I felt something wet on my face. Then I realized I had been crying. I didn't remember starting to cry. I wiped the tears away.

I jumped violently when my phone buzzed. I heard Sam take a sharp breath. I pulled my phone out, keeping the light from going out the window on the door and shut it off. My heart panged for whoever was texting me.

Sam saw what I did and followed suit, but not before shakily sending a text to someone. My heart started pounding when the heavy footsteps returned. As they got closer, I held my breath. If I wasn't breathing, they wouldn't find us.

The footsteps walked right past the door and kept going. Minutes passed. I shivered involuntarily.

"We have to leave," Sam whispered. I wanted to smack him for making noise. "We can't stay here. They are going to find us and kill us."

"Sam, shut up. We have to stay. There's nowhere to go!" I whispered back.

"The doors to the back entrance are just down the hall. We can make it!"

"They probably locked them. Why would they risk people getting out?"

BANG!

We stopped talking. The gunshot was further away than the others had been, but it was still too close. Somehow, it wasn't enough to stop Sam.

He stood and unlocked the door.

"Sam, sit down!"

He didn't listen and cautiously looked out the window. When he determined the coast was clear, he slowly opened the door.

As much as I didn't want to leave, I couldn't let Sam go out on his own. I followed him as we went into the hall.

I was thankful we weren't going to the right. I would never be able to get that sight out of my head. Two bodies, blood pooling around them. My stomach flipped.

Sam was pale as we started towards the doors, staying close to the wall. We were halfway there when we heard them. The footsteps were coming back. Sam went to the closest room and tried to open the door, but it was sealed shut. We turned and started back towards the closet, but we didn't make it.

"Glee club. I was wondering when I'd see you."

We froze. I tried to make my legs walk, but they weren't listening. Nothing was listening.

"What, you don't want to see who is going to kill you?"

Slowly, we turned around. My eyes widened.

His name was Eric. He was in my calculus class. Just that morning, he had answered any question Mrs. Rathburn threw at them. Now, he was pointing a gun at us.

"So, I get the gay one and one of the stupid ones, terrific. I was personally hoping for the Asian or the half-black one, but you two do just fine."

"Eric, why are you doing this?" My voice is so quiet I almost don't recognize it. Eric's eyebrows shoot up. He wasn't expecting any questions.

"Well, Blaine, since you are the second smartest one in my class, I'll answer you." He smiled.

"Because I can."

People always talk about how you can see your life flash before your eyes. I'm here to tell you only the important bits do that. The most important was Kurt. Everything we did, everything we went through together, I saw it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly, I saw all of it. I saw the first time I met him, on the staircase at Dalton. I saw his face when I sang Teenage Dream to him, both times. I saw our first kiss, our first time holding hands, our first time. I saw him leaving for New York, getting into his Dad's car and giving me a sad smile.

I saw his face when I told him I cheated, saw the tears well up in his eyes and his smile fall away from his face. I felt all of the emotions fill me up. Then, something magical happened. I heard his voice.

"I love you."

I opened my eyes.

It didn't matter that I opened my eyes, it was too dark to see anything. I felt something warm and soft underneath my head. Was I in my bed?

"Blaine?"

Everything came back in a flash. I suddenly felt a terrible pain in my shoulder and cried out. I felt a hand clasp over my mouth.

"You have to stay quiet. No noise. I know it hurts, just stay quiet."

That was Sam. Sam was okay. Most likely okay.

"Are you hurt? Did he get you?" I whispered, cursing my pitiful voice.

"Doesn't matter. Just be quiet and be glad he is a terrible shot."

I soon figured out that I was laying down and slowly worked my way into a sitting position, clutching the cloth Sam put on my shoulder. Every movement hurt.

"Where are you hurt?" I asked through gritted teeth. It was silent for a minute.

"My thigh. He got you first and he really can't aim. You hit your head kinda hard when you fell, so it was easy to fake you being dead. I'm just glad he didn't come up to us to make sure we were dead."

I swallowed. I was starting to be aware of the pounding in my head.

"What happened next?"

Sam was quiet for a moment. I was afraid he fell asleep, but then he answered, voice thick with pain.

"I laid there for a couple of minutes till I was sure he was gone and I dragged you into the closet again," Sam said. I heard him adjust how he was sitting, a hiss of pain escaping him.

"Sorry about dragging you back in the closet, dude, totally not my intention."

I sat, blinking for a minute before I understood what he was talking about. I chuckled and said, "No worries. I'm sure I can find my way out again."

My head was getting more and more cloudy as time went on. It was getting colder too. Every once in a while, Sam would say something to make sure I was still awake. I was starting to get worried that he was going to pass out, his voice getting softer every time.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I looked towards the door, not really knowing why. It wasn't like I was going to see anything.

"Sam? Do you think it's over?"

Silence. Panic set in, clearing some of the fogginess in my mind. I reached out, coming in contact with his knee. I shook it as much as I could before my bad shoulder hit something. I bit my hand to stop any noise from escaping.

"Sam? Please, wake up!"

I knew my voice was getting too loud, but I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. It was drowning everything else out. My head hurt. I tried kicking him, but there was no response. My stomach churned when I felt something warm and wet on the ground next to one of his legs. The smell of iron pierced my senses. I could almost taste it. Everything was spinning, even though it was so dark. I felt the ground beneath me. When did I fall over? I reached out for the door, trying to get it open. The handle was so far away.

A familiar face was above me, smiling.

"I never stopped loving you."

xxxXxxx

When I was six, my family went up in a hot air balloon for my mom's thirty-fifth birthday. It was something she had always wanted to do, so we splurged a bit.

I remember closing my eyes and hiding in her legs as we took off. I didn't want to see the world getting further and further away from us.

"Blaine, sweetie, it's okay, you can look."

I looked up at my mom. She was smiling, the smile she reserved for reassuring me. I slowly turned around and only saw the basket we were in. My eyebrows furrowed.

"Here, I'll pick you up," my dad said. I started to protest, but I was up in his arms, looking at the landscape. It was beautiful.

There were dots of colors from trees just starting to change color. There was a lake in the distance that was sparkling in the sunlight. The crowd of people below us looked like a swarm of different colors. It was such a crazy feeling to be so high above the ground, but still be on something solid.

"Just don't fall out of the basket," Cooper said, arms crossed. He looked less than impressed. I frowned and started wiggling to get down. Suddenly, the idea of being any higher than I already was wasn't pleasant. I just wanted to get back down to solid ground.

"We're almost done, sweetie. Just a few more minutes."

"No! I want to get down! I don't want to fall and die!"

"You'll be fine! Just calm down!"

"I want down!"

I hugged her legs again, feeling tears spring to my eyes. She sighed and awkwardly rubbed my back. When we landed, I grabbed onto her hand and pulled her out of the basket as fast as possible. She looked slightly annoyed, but I didn't want her in that death trap any longer. I wanted her safe. I wanted all of them safe.

"Blaine, sweetie, please wake up."

"Blaine? I don't know if you can hear me, but we're here."

"Squirt, come on, wake up. I can't do this again. Not again."

Slowly, my senses awoke. I felt my head on something soft. I could only assume it was a pillow. I felt an IV in my hand, something I had hoped to never feel again. Something was wrapped around my right shoulder, a dull ache emanating from it.

There was some rustling to my left. It sounded like a magazine. There was a steady beating filling the room with noise. Light was just beyond my eyelids. I tried to open them, but they were heavy. It took a minute, but I finally got them to flutter open. It was a lot brighter than I thought it was going to be and had to quickly close them, but not before a hand was holding mine.

"Blaine? Are you awake?"

I froze. I would know that voice anywhere. I opened my eyes again to see Kurt, worry turning into relief. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he just gave a toothy smile, eyes watering. He gave my hand a light squeeze.

"Wha-"

My throat and mouth felt like they had been filled with sand. I coughed lightly, trying to clear my throat. Kurt disappeared from view temporarily before bringing a cup with a straw up to my mouth.

"Drink slowly."

The water felt like heaven in my mouth. I smiled as he put the cup back.

"What happened?" My voice was still a little rough, but much clearer. Kurt smiled sadly, looking like he didn't want to tell me.

"I know there was a shooting. I was with Sam. Oh God, where's Sam? Is he alright? He wasn't answering! Please tell me he's alright!" Kurt gently forced me to lay back down, but I was suddenly very awake.

"Honey, please, just stay calm, okay? I'll tell you everything." He didn't sound very reassuring, but I complied.

He took a deep breath and said, "Sam's going to be fine. He lost a lot of blood, but he's fine. He's getting discharged tomorrow."

I relaxed. When my eyes widened with more questions, Kurt continued.

"Everyone else is fine. Tina tripped and twisted her ankle, that was the worst of their injuries. Everyone was worried when you weren't waking up. The shooting was four days ago. Even the doctors were starting to get a bit edgy, but now you're awake, so it's alright."

He was avoiding the one question I needed to know. He looked away for a minute.

"Four dead, five injured including you two. They also killed the shooter."

My mouth went dry again, but for a very different reason. I looked at Kurt. He was looking out the window, eyes fixated on something.

"Why did you come?"

That surprised him. He stared at me, formulating an answer.

"Because I promised I would never say goodbye."

My chest tightened. I remembered that day all too well, watching as Kurt fell back into the arms of his friends. He was so happy, but sad at the same time.

Things were different now.

"Kurt, I know you told me not to apologize anymore-"

"Which means don't."

He didn't look angry. More than anything, he looked sad. I closed my eyes.

"Thank you for being here."

I opened my eyes again and saw a smile on Kurt's face. He nodded slightly and picked up his magazine again.

"Alright, time to update you on the latest trends."

xxxXxxx

Sam came in a wheelchair the next day. He had a huge smile on his face.

"Dude, I hope you're on the same meds as I am, cause these are awesome!"

I laughed and we fist bumped. "Hey man, you have no idea how great it is to see you. I kept trying to get them to let me go see you yesterday, but they were super against it."

"Yeah, same here. Have you seen any of the Glee club yet?"

I shook my head.

"Tina's probably going out of her mind right now. When she walked into my room, she burst into tears and wouldn't stop until they left ten minutes later."

"Maybe I won't let them come in. It might be better for her health that way."

Sam laughed, but then his smile fell away. He looked more serious than I had ever seen him. I had a feeling it was the same look he had when they were in the janitors closet.

"I'm really glad you're alright, dude. I was like, really freaked out. Super freaked out. And then you were shot and I had to keep you safe and it was just all so scary. I can't believe we got out alive."

The familiar feeling of crying came over me. I blinked a lot, keeping the tears at bay. I didn't want to lose it, but I knew it was coming.

"I'm glad you're alright too. I wouldn't… I couldn't… you're my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without you." Sam wheeled over to me and smiled through his tears. He put his fist up. I smiled and met his fist with mine. We were going to be okay.