It was my first day at William McKinley High School. The sleeves of my brother's hoodie covered almost of my fingers, which were tightly squeezing the worn out shoulder strap of my messenger bag. I kept my eyes glued to the floor, not wanting to offend anyone by looking at them the wrong way. Suddenly I felt shove that sent me flying into the lockers that lined both sides of the walls and eventually landed me on the dirty floor.
"Fag…" A husky voice said quietly enough so that only people who were actually listening could hear. My jaw clenched, and my free hand formed itself into a fist while the other just tightened around my shoulder strap. I wanted to get up off the floor and just punch him in the face, or at least give him a good bitching out. However, I figured that probably wasn't the best idea for a new kid like me.
"Don't mind him." A feminine voice said. "And if you were wondering where that last comment came from, it was directed towards me, not you."I looked up from my seated position to see a very effeminate looking guy, probably my age, standing in front of me.
"And are you?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound too rude.
"Gay?" he asked. I nodded. "Yep. As my dad sometimes says, I'm as queer as a three dollar bill." He said, offering a hand to help me up.
"Thanks…" I said, taking a hold of his hand and pulling myself up.
"I'm Kurt by the way." He said, gently pushing his bangs out of the way of his eyes.
"I'm new." I said, and Kurt gave me an odd look. "I mean, I'm new here. My name is Danny St. James."
"Really! So you're Jessie St. James' little sister?" I begrudgingly nodded, not exactly partial to the term 'little' sister.
"I rarely get to see him though; my parents have been divorced ever since Jessie and I were little kids. My dad got me, and my mom got… well pretty much everything else." I said, brushing the small amount of dirt that had accumulated on the butt of my jeans. "Just out of curiosity, which way would I be heading in if I wanted to be heading towards Mr. Schuester's Spanish class?" I asked politely, hoping I didn't befuddle Kurt with my odd way of talking. As my hand reached into the bottomless pit of a bag that held everything that I thought I was going to need for that day, including the map of the school that Principal Figgins had given me that morning along with my schedule and locker number after giving me a quick tour of the school, Kurt took it in his own and closed my bag.
"Let me show you the way. It would be… ungentlemanly of me if I just let a girl like yourself wander this school with a slip of paper guiding you around." He said, and then latched his elbow in the crook of mine and we headed off.
"Are you sure you're gay?" I asked feeling literally swept off my feet by my new knight in –possibly fabulous- shining armor. Kurt chuckled.
"I'm positive" he said patting my hand gently. My first class turned out to be not too much further from where I had been standing when that Neanderthal had shoved me into the lockers.
We walked into the classroom side by side, and arrived several minutes early to the class.
"Hey Mr. Schue!" Kurt said, waving to a curly haired thirty-something year old man. He turned around and gave a warm smile to Kurt.
"Hi Kurt, who's this?" he asked, motioning towards me.
"I'm Danielle St. James, but everyone just calls me Danny." I said.
"So are you…" He started, but I already knew what his question was going to be.
"Yeah, I'm Jessie's younger sister; he seems to be quite the celebrity in this little school." I said, slightly smirking.
"He did make quite an impact on our little Glee Club. Speaking of which, have you thought about joining?" He asked, leaning/sitting on the edge of his desk.
"Why are you just asking me to join? You don't even know if I'm any good!" I said, sick of being in my older brother's shadow. "The only reason you're asking me is because I'm my brother's sister, and you think that we're exactly the same!"
"Alright, I admit, I was a bit rash just asking you to join, so let me rephrase that. Would you like to audition for a spot in New Directions?" He asked.
"I'll think about it…" I grumbled, still slightly aggravated about the whole Jessie thing. Then Kurt elbowed me in the side, and when I looked over at him, he glared at me. It's weird, but even though I had only known Kurt for at most two or three minutes, I kind of felt bad for letting him down. "I mean, of course I would love to try out for Glee Club." I said smiling.
"Great, I'll see you after school today in the choir room." He said, as if he thought the only reason I was in his classroom was to get an audition for New Directions.
"Actually, I'm in your first period class Mr. Schuester…" I said with a slight smirk.
"Really? Aren't you a sophomore?" I nodded. "How are you in Spanish IV?"
"My dad used to home school me because we moved around so much, but once I was old enough to go to high school, I insisted on actually attending school. Turns out, I'm about a year ahead in just about every subject." I said nonchalantly.
"So we actually might have some similar classes." Kurt said.
"Wait… you're a JUNIOR?" I said. The boy standing next to me didn't look a day older that I was. There was no possible way…
"Yep, I don't look it, but I turned sixteen last May." Kurt said, beaming with pride.
"No offence, but I would have never guessed." I said feeling horrible.
"It's alright" he said, chuckling. "Now if you don't mind, I have to get to class."
"Wait, so you don't have this class right now?" I said, an upset look spread across my face. Kurt just shook his head. "Aw! So I'm in this class all alone?" I said, pouting a bit.
"Don't worry, I'll show up after this period to walk you to your next class. Oh! And by the way, after Glee Club today we're going shopping!" He said, walking out the door.
"Why?" I called out after him.
"I'm not letting any friend of mine wander around school wearing a baggy sweater and a pair of old jeans!" He said waving goodbye as he wandered off and eventually disappeared in the masses of people scurrying to get to class. I was shocked. Less than an hour at this new school and already I had a friend and had been offered an audition.
"Take a seat before everyone else gets here." Mr. Schuester said motioning to the desks lined up in front of him. I sat down off-center in the front. All of a sudden a girl wearing a slightly obnoxious sweater walked into the classroom.
"Hello Mr. Schuester, I can't wait for Glee Club today. I've got some great new ideas for sectionals!" She said.
"That's great Rachael. By the way, this is Danny. She'll be trying out for New Directions today." Mr. Schuester said motioning towards where I was sitting. The girl turned towards me, but once she saw me the smile she had plastered across her face fell to the ground.
"I've seen that sweatshirt before…" She said, her eyes narrowing.
"That's probably because it was my brother's. I'm sure you've heard of Jessie St. James, it seems everyone else in this school has." I said, pulling the sleeves over the tips of my fingers.
"Excuse me?" She said.
"I'm pretty sure you heard me. I'm Jessie St. James' younger sister."
"One moment please." She said, walking quickly towards Mr. Schuester's desk. "May I please speak to you… In private?"
"I'm sure this can wait Rachael." He said, obviously trying to get the girl to go away, but she stuck to him like glue.
"I don't think it can." She said, turning towards me and shooting a glare in my direction.
"Alright…" He said, giving in to the girl's insanity. "You'll be okay in here by yourself for a sec right?" He asked. I nodded, and the two of them headed out into the hallway, probably talking about me or my older brother. All this craziness about him made me wonder exactly what he had done to get all this attention from a school he had never even attended… Or had he?