Chapter One

"Blaine, you've got to understand," Cooper told me. "I've got to leave home now. I'm going to California, and someday, I'm going to be a star. When you're eighteen, I wouldn't be surprised if you did just the same. Now, move aside. I need to catch my plane."

Tears were swelling in my eyes and beginning to stream down my face. I wasn't prepared to say goodbye to my older brother, but he was clearly ready to cast me aside faster than Britney Spears with Jason Alexander. Uh, excuse me, whose Cooper's little brother who would always love and support him, no matter what, even if he was a total dick sometimes? Why, that would be ME! Was Cooper forgetting that?

"Alright," I said, admitting defeat, "You go chase down your dreams. I'll see you at Christmas."

"Ehh," Cooper tilted his head to the side, "I'm not sure about Christmas. What if I get a huge movie deal? But I'll totally be back for your birthday, Blainey."

"First off, DON'T CALL ME BLAINEY," I emphasized. "Second, MY BIRTHDAY IS BEFORE CHRISTMAS!"

"Jeez, lighten up, Blainey," Cooper joked. I was halfway prepared to slap that smirk off his face, but I restrained. There wasn't any point in him leaving upset.

"Fine," I growled. "Be back for my birthday. What about Thanksgiving?"

"It's a possibility," Cooper said.

"Okay. That's alright," I nodded my head slowly. "What about Show Choir competitions?"

"Depends. Blainey, I really hope I get to see you sing in your blazer."

"Oh, joy! I'll never get wear another blazer again. God, why did I agree to go to Dalton Academy again?"

"You weren't safe going to regular school. Be grateful. Pretty soon, it'll feel like home."

"Okay, fine," I dismissed him. "I need to go talk to Wes anyways."

"It's so nice you're making friends," Cooper said, a smile spreading across his face. He wrapped his huge arms around me a pulled me in for a hug. "I'll miss you most of all, Scarecrow." Oh, great. He pulled out his "Dorothy" impression.

"Shut it, Cooper," I mumbled into his shoulder. Cooper chuckled, and I pulled back. "Be the best you can be, Coop. They need you out there, and you need to show them that you're up for the challenge. Trust me, Coop. It's gonna be legendary."

"I promise I'll never forget how my baby brother saw me off," Cooper said, teary-eyed. "Don't let anybody push you around."

"… God, this is so turning into such a cliché moment," I pointed out. Cooper laughed aloud.

"That's just the thing with us Andersons. We're drawn to cliché scenes and sappy songs."

I laughed a little bit. Cooper could always cheer me up. You know, when he wasn't busy being a douche.

We were standing in an airport, and our parents were sitting in the chairs behind us. They said their goodbyes, and now my dad was coughing impatiently while Cooper and I had our little sentimental moment. People stared at us with judgmental looks. I could totally understand – we didn't look much like brothers.

Cooper was tall, with a bit of a five o'clock shadow, bright blue eyes, and mousy brown hair. He had a square jaw and a butt chin; he was traditionally handsome, I guess.

I, on the other hand, was short and kind of stocky, with unruly brownish-black hair that was always smothered in raspberry hair gel. True, I did have muscle, but most of the time, people overlooked that fact because of the black triangles on my forehead I call my eyebrows. My eyes were a chocolate color that tended to make girls melt, but… well, I'm gay, so that's completely irrelevant.

I have the ability to grow a full-on beard-and-mustache combination, but I choose not to. I don't really like that look.

I play football, and I head the fight club, but everybody hears I'm gay and thinks that I'm all fairy dust and rainbows – I'm really not. My room is all done up in Cleveland Browns stuff, and I play Call of Duty all the time.

Not that anybody wants to hear it, but still.

"Be good out there, Coop," I told him as he walked away.

"Of course I'll be good," Cooper said. "This is Cooper Anderson you're talking to!" He smiled at me, and then disappeared around a corner.

My dad came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Come on, Blaine," he said. "Let's go."

"BLAINE!" Wes yelled from the other end of the hallway. "HURRY UP! CLASS DOESN'T WAIT FOR YOU!"

"Oh, poo, I thought it did," I said, sarcastically. Wes chuckled.

"So, how's it been?" He asked.

"The house has felt kind of empty since Cooper left," I told him. "It's also been really quiet without us fighting all the time." We both laughed.

"Well, I hope that Dalton can become like a home away from home for you," Wes said sincerely. "It became mine quickly, so I hope it can be the same for you."

"That's nice," I mumbled. "Thanks, Wes."

"Now, come on," Wes grabbed my hand. "We're going to be late for class."

I willingly let Wes pull me along. I didn't know my way around Dalton, but Wes seemed to. He was two grades above me, and one of members of the Warbler council. Ever since my first day at choir practice, Wes has taken me under his wing. I really needed it, too – without Wes, I'd be aimlessly wandering the grand halls and getting straight 'F's.'. Oh, yeah, that would have gone over well with Mom and Dad.

I looked around at the hallway we were going down. It was clear that I hadn't paid enough attention to the school when I was walking around before, because I didn't recognize anything. Unless…

"Wes, I don't think this is the right direction to go to my math class," I whined. "I don't know where we are. Where are we?"

"Calm down, Blaine," Wes said passively. "All the Warblers have been excused from class for a meeting."

"I didn't know that…" I said stupidly. "When was this decided?"

"Yesterday. Now be quiet, Blaine, we're almost there."

"Can I at least know what it's for?"

"We're going to decide what song to sing at out pep rally, and who's going to lead it."

"That's nice."

"…Hold up."

"What?"

"None of us have heard you sing yet."

"… What about David?"

"Okay, one of us has heard you sing before."

Wes continued to drag me to some top-secret meeting place of which I was not familiar with. I was half tempted to stop and force him to tell me where it was we were going, but I always lost my nerve when ever I built it up.

"Here we are," Wes said as he pushed open a door, revealing the choir room.

"Oh, this is where you were dragging me to," I said, half in astonishment from how beautiful the room was and half in annoyance that Wes couldn't have even told me that much. Grrrrr.

"Where else would we go, Blaine?" Wes rolled his eyes. "The coffee shop?"

"…Perhaps," I made my thumb and index finger look like a check mark and rested my chin on the piece of skin that fastened my thumb to my hand. Wes rolled his eyes again and went to his seat at the big table towards the front of the room. I scrambled to sit down on one of the leather couches in the room.

Yeah, I said leather couches.

I ended up sitting next to Logan, a blonde guy with hazel eyes. Logan was tall and lanky, but could sing. I envied his vocals.

Wes banged his gavel, signaling the start of practice.

"We need to come up with a song to sing at the in-school pep rally this Friday," David called out. "Any suggestions?"

There was a low murmur in the room, as all bodies came up with a song that we could sing.

"'Number of the Beast'?" One of them suggested.

"What about Queen's 'Somebody to Love'?" Another person suggested.

"Oh, I've got one!" I piped up. Wes, David, and that other guy on the council looked at me expectantly. I cleared my throat. "Why don't we sing Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'? It would be easy to do, sort of, and it'd be really easy to learn."

Wes, David, and the other guy put their heads together in discussion. All bodies tensed as we awaited the decision.

"We have decided," Wes paused for dramatic effect, "that we will be singing 'Teenage Dream'. All that we need to know now is who will lead the song."

"Logan, Blaine, Trent, Matt, and Jon will audition for the solo," David said lazily. "Come ready to tomorrow's practice. It'll be all day long, so we should be able to have our soloist by about noon."

We all nodded, and then Wes dismissed us. I heard him start to growl at David for not consulting the rest of the council about who would audition for the solo and threaten to kick him off the council if he pulls another stunt like that. I couldn't help but smile – I found it entertaining when Wes was mad.

As I stepped out into the hallway, I contemplated going back into the choir room to get Wes, but I decided not to. I needed to figure my way around the school without anybody's help.

I went down one hallway and found the emergency exit. I went down another hallway and found the front doors. I went down yet another hallway and found the stairwell. I stopped to intake the beauty of the place before I went off down another hallway, which was the correct one this time.

Dalton really just didn't feel like home, and I doubted it ever would.