Blaine smiled as he leaned back in his seat in the Buckeye Civic Center. He wrung the program nervously in his hands and looked around for his choir director. With every person who walked by, Blaine's heart sank a bit further. Didn't he care at all about his students?
"We are going to win. I just know it," Mr. Rumba declared loudly, his signs far away from his body and extremely punctuated as he plopped into the seat to the left of Blaine. The teacher's face was flushed. Something had clearly aggravated him in between the Jane Addams and Haverbrook set.
'Are you sure about that new song? We have not practiced it much,' Blaine signed after tapping the half-deaf teacher.
"Speak up, Anderson. Remember, Scarlet Fever! And of course I'm sure. You can never go wrong with Journey."
The house lights dimmed, not giving the adequate lighting for Blaine to respond. Instead, he focused on the stage as the scarlet curtain rose, revealing the deaf Glee club.
Blaine Anderson was not deaf. He only went to Haverbrook School for the Deaf, because it was the only school in Ohio that taught sign language. It was the only school that would not put him in a special needs classroom because he required a translator. It was the only school that embraced his genius-level intelligence and thought-provoking ideas. Honestly, it was the only school that accepted him, even if he was somewhat of an outcast.
Blaine Anderson was not deaf. He only pretended to be because he relished in humanity's love for hateful anonymity. He reveled in listening to the hate-filled comments and letting his quick mind piece together snarky comments to render the haters speechless- snarky comments that he could never give voice.
Blaine Anderson was not deaf. Blaine Anderson was born mute. It was a condition that made psychiatrists falsely diagnose him with Autism for so many years.
"Imagine" went beautifully and sent a shiver down Blaine's spine- Greg, the soloist nailed it, even though Blaine was not up there to keep time. The mute teen cringed a bit when the choir began to sing "Don't Stop Believing," they were completely off and it sounded like a bunch of alley cats wailing on garbage cans. Full group numbers were never the best when dealing with deaf singers, but this sounded so much worse than their original set list. Blaine sighed in relief when the final note resonated throughout the hall, wondering for the millionth time why the choir director thought it best to change the set list so suddenly a week before. The deaf choir ended with their rendition of John Mayer's "Waiting for the World to Change," a song that was one of Blaine's personal favorites. He cheered his peers on, knowing that they gave the best performance that they could.
'You did great," Blaine told his friends as they stood in the Lobby after they finished their set. In an hour, the final show choir would perform and then the results would be announced.
'Thank you,' Katie, a pretty redhead and Blaine's best friend, signed. 'I wish you could have been up there with us.'
Blaine smiled. 'Me, too, but I missed too many practices,' he replied with a shrug.
"I can't believe she leaked the set list!" a high-strung, but decidedly male, voice sounded behind the mute boy. Blaine's breath caught in his throat as he glanced upon what surely was an angel sent from heaven. His face looked as smooth as porcelain, and just as pale. Not one lock of his chestnut hair looked out of place. His lips looked as if they were the petals of a delicate pink rose. And his eyes- Blaine shuddered when their eyes locked- those perfect almond-shaped eyes were the color of an exploding star.
"Give Brittany a break, she doesn't know that Sylvester is really an evil witch ripped straight out of the Disney Vault." The angel's companion, a beautiful black girl with curves, tried to placate.
"Mercy, you're being too nice. Coach Sylvester is really Satan in disguise," said the porcelain-skinned angel with a roll of his eyes. "Two bottles of water, por favor," he snapped to the employee at the concession stand.
His companion laughed. "C'mon, boo, let's get back to the others," she said, linking elbows with the boy and walking off.
"Bwaine," Katie voiced with an accompanying tap on the shoulder. 'What is wrong? I have been trying to get your attention,' she finished in ASL.
'Nothing,' Blaine signed back. But I think I just fell in love with the enemy, he thought to himself. 'Nothing at all.'