The Call
Chapter One
Waiting for the End
This is not the end
This is not the beginning
Just a voice like a riot
Rocking every revision
-Linkin Park-
Derek's POV
Welcome to Lima, Ohio. Population: Idiots. Well, it's wrong for me to assume, but I figure that if one town in Ohio is filled with them, then some other town would be too. I doubted my move would bring me to a place with some drastic change.
Whatever, I'm a teenager. I'm allowed to assume everyone's dumb.
One thing I knew for sure as I pulled my car into the McKinley parking lot: high school would always suck. But I knew myself and I knew that I'd find myself some ally there, while my old ally was off somewhere...safer.
So with a deep breath I turned my car off and grabbed my messenger back, hooking it over my shoulder as I stepped out of my car and head toward the school with the crowd of teenagers. Surrounded by eyes and faces and brains and judgement waiting to happen, I suddenly became self-conscious. Just like me to roll out of bed on my first freaking day and just hardly brush my hair and throw on a hoodie. Head down, I marched to the office. I stood in front of the receptionist's desk, waiting for her to look up at me. She did, asking, "How can I help you?"
"I'm new, I was told to come here first thing to get my schedule."
"Ah, yes. Derek Prince, is it?"
"Yeah," I responded, tapping my fingers on the counter and looking awkwardly around the office while the receptionist shuffled through some papers on her desk.
"Here you are," she handed me a piece of paper. "And here's your locker number and combination." She handed me another paper.
"Thank you," I said, taking it and leaving. I glanced at my number, then looked at the halls next to me, reading locker numbers. It took me a bit, but I managed to find my locker. I opened it and chucked my messenger bag in. Slipping my combination in my pocket and shutting my locker I turned to leave to find my first period class-
And walked right into a wall of muscle.
"Watch it!" I looked up at the boy I had walked into. He was about a head taller than me, with a mohawk and a general 'tough guy' face.
"Uh, sorry dude," I said, holding my hands up innocently. I was only slightly scared, but did my best not to be at all.
"Seriously Puck, chill. Need to scare the new kid immediately?" Another, even taller kid put a hand on the other's shoulder.
Big dude number one rolled his eyes and made a fake lunge toward me, before turning and walking off.
'Oh thank you monstrously tall dorky kid!' I thought. I took a better look at him. 'Scratch that, monstrously tall cute dorky kid!' Out loud I just said, "Thanks."
"No problem," dorky kid said to me. "I have no idea why he is like that."
"Testosterone?"
The kid looked at me oddly for a moment before deciding I was funny and laughing. "So you're the new kid?"
"Yeah," I answered. "Derek Prince."
"Cool," he said, "I'm Finn."
"Well Finn, thanks again for the help. You think you could tell me where the fuck my English class is?"
"Sure."
Xander's POV
I felt so naked without him. Yes, I now donned a tailored "Dalton Academy" outfit and had never felt more uncomfortable in clothes before, but I still felt vulnerable. I took a deep breath and remembered what the Dean had assured me, "Dalton Academy is a safe place and we have a no tolerance policy for violence."
No violence, I'd have to see it to believe it.
Still, I was optimistic as I walked into the new school. I mean, there was a surplus of insanely good-looking men running around in matching uniforms, what was not to like?
"Alexander?" said a high-pitched voice.
For a split-second I thought "I thought this was an all-boys school?" then blushed when I turned around and was face-to-face with one of the most attractive man I had ever seen. He was definitely not a girl and my stomach tightened horribly as I looked at this god who had called my name.
"Um, yeah?" I squeaked. I reached my hand up to run my hand through my short-cut curls, but was met with my straightened black-dyed hairstyle.
"Alexander Drake?" he asked again, holding a folder out to me. A schedule peeked out from it.
"Yep, that's me." Oh Lord he was so hot. Time to bring on the charm. I hope he's gay, where's Derek's gay-dar when you need it!
"I'm Kurt Hummel," he said, extending a manicured hand. I took his hand and squeezed it then moved in step with him. "Welcome to Dalton, I'm sure you'll love it here! I transferred here myself earlier this semester. If you have any questions, be sure to come to me," he said with a quick wink.
"So do we have any classes together?" I asked, "accidentally" brushing my upper arm against his.
He nodded. "First 4 periods then 8th. I'll escort you around and then my friend Blaine has periods 5 through 7th with you so he'll take you around. Dalton is a big school," he said with a little chuckle.
He was so adorable. Derek would love him!
"So are there any tips you can give me?" I asked conversationally.
Kurt looked me up and down, I felt a tingle go down my spine.
"I'd go lighter on the guy-liner and get rid of the cartiledge piercing during school hours. We're a bit 'molded' here and clean-cut is status quo."
"My guy-liner!" I said mock-appalled. "But how can I be a walking tribute to Adam Lambert without it?"
Kurt smiled and stopped walking. He licked his cute pink lips and leaned near me. Wow, he smelled amazing. How were guys not jumping his bones at all parts of the day? Oh yeah. Not everyone is gay like me.
"I know we've just met and everything but..."
My heart almost stopped, was he asking me out? I almost squealed.
"...are you gay?"
Oh, well, I guess that's a valid question as well.
"Yeah, and very single," I said with a sultry look. I enjoyed the little blush that I saw creeping up his collar "I'm guessing you are too?"
"Yep. Blaine is gay as well."
"Oh, are you two, you know, in a relationship?"
Kurt sighed. Obviously there was a story behind this, but for now he just answered, "No" with another sigh.
"R105 right?" I asked, glancing at the schedule and at the door we had just walked by.
"Oh yeah!" Kurt smiled. He opened the door. "After you."
Yeah. I guess Dalton is pretty cool.
Derek's POV
So far, no one was too bad. In some of my classes there were some people who were just so stupid but every class in every school has that. As much as stupid people irk me, there was no getting away from it.
Actually, Finn was in my Science class second period, and I learned he is not the sharpest crayon in the box. But, he wasn't dumb to the point where I wanted to stab him in the jugular. So that was a good thing. At least I knew one ok person so far.
Third period was Math class. I got sat next to an Asian goth girl. We got paired up to do some partner work, and I was slightly concerned, but it turned out she wasn't one of those scary death and darkness poetry-writing goth chicks. She was also good at math, so the two of us finished quickly and got to talking. She told me her name was Tina.
"So what do you even do around here?" I asked her. "Lima is like my old town; small and boring so far. And I don't know this place at all. I don't want to lock myself in my room and play Halo like I did this summer. I was like a zombie and it was awful."
"Well you're definitely right. There is a mall nearby though. And I'm in Glee so that's some entertainment."
"Glee? Like Glee club? As in show choir?" I said curiously.
"Well yeah, but it's not as bad as Show Choir makes it sound. It's actually pretty cool and we do popular music in there too. Like good music, not just Broadway and other show choir stuff. Not to say Broadway isn't good music. But it's not all we do. We've even got some decent guys in there too."
She sounded like she was lobbying for it a little too hard, and I wondered why. It was just a music club, like chorus or band. "Sounds cool."
"Seriously?" She looked surprised.
"Yeah," I said. "And I've always been kinda into musical stuff anyway." I shrugged. "What teacher runs it? I'd kinda like to join."
"Oh that's the Spanish teacher, Mr. Shue."
"Oh, I think I've got him next period."
"Awesome." She grinned. "The guys will be glad we've got a new member. They'll be even happier if you're good."
Xander's POV
After 3rd period Kurt and I had become great friends. Not only was he beautiful, but he was witty and smart. Kurt seemed surprised of my extensive knowledge of fashion even though I looked like a guy-liner-wearing wannabe emo stuffed into a Dalton suit. I like reading Vogue, okay!
What can I say, there's more to me than meet the eye.
Now as we left whatever-the-fuck-class this was, Kurt blabbed about how excited he was for me to meet this Blaine guy.
I was already jealous of this Blaine person; lucky shmuck had this angel wrapped around his finger and it seemed like he didn't even know it!
"Hey Blaine," Kurt said.
Whoa.
I smiled. Now I saw it. Blaine approached us and I had to force myself not to totally ignore Kurt and ravish this boy in the nearest room. Wow, I'm so glad Edward Cullen isn't real, I think he'd freak if he read my mind.
"I'm Alex," I said my throat dry. This boy had dark curly hair like mine and used almost as much gel yet his looked a lot better than mine, we'd have to swap tips later... maybe over a coffee date.
"Blaine. Hey, we have to get to class like now, but Kurt, Alex, you guys want to do something after Warbler practice?"
"Sure," Kurt said nonchalantly.
"What are Warblers?" I asked as we walked together to our next class.
" 'They're like rockstars!' " Kurt said in a deeper tone, eyeing Blaine. I think I just missed an inside joke.
"It's our school's Show Choir. Kurt and I are in it."
"Can anyone join?" I asked. "I can't sing for shit, but I'm sure I can still do some killer humming in the background."
Blaine shrugged. "You'd have to try out and I can't guarantee you a spot, but it's still good to try out."
I found myself, at the end of the day, sitting in the Warbler commons surrounded by a slew of extremely talented men and now they expected me to stand us and sing for them. I already had that nauseous feeling swirling around in my stomach, but I forced myself to get up in front of them all.
"Hey guys. Um don't expect much, but I'm a quick learner and would love to be part of this group." I racked my brains for a song and picked a song by Panic! At the Disco.
Please, leave all overcoats, canes and top hats with the doorman.
From that moment you'll be out of place and underdressed.
I'm wrecking this evening already and loving every minute of it.
Ruining this banquet for the mildly inspiring and...
When you're in black slacks with accentuating, off-white, pinstripes
Whoa, everything goes according to plan.
Suddenly Kurt hopped over to the piano and plunked out the jazzy tune to help my accentuated talking (aka my equivalent of singing) sound more appealing.
I'm the new cancer, never looked better, you can't stand it.
Because you say so under your breath.
You're reading lips "When did he get all confident?"
Haven't you heard that I'm the new cancer?
Never looked better, and you can't stand it
Next is a trip to the, the ladies room in vain, and
I bet you just can't keep up with, (keep up) with these fashionistas, and
Tonight, tonight you are, you are a whispering campaign.
I bet to them your name is "Cheap", I bet to them you look like shh...
The council member's faces were unreadable so I decided that dancing couldn't hurt me. I loved this song and I just started whipping my head around and walking in a quirky fashion.
Talk to the mirror, oh, choke back tears.
And keep telling yourself that "I'm a diva!"
Oh and the smokes in that cigarette box on the table,
they just so happen to be laced with nitroglycerin.
I'm the new cancer, never looked better, you can't stand it.
Because you say so under your breath.
You're reading lips "When did he get all confident?"
Haven't you heard that I'm the new cancer?
Never looked better, and you can't stand it
At the end I knew I hadn't shown off my vocals, but I really didn't have any. I could just talk with style.
The "council members" whispered amongst themselves. My hands were getting clammy. I looked at Kurt and Blaine for support and they smiled encouragingly. My heart fluttered a bit.
I wished Derek was here.
"Alexander, welcome to the Warblers," one of them said suddenly.
I jumped and ran over to hug the Asian one who went stiff and awkwardly patted me the back.
After my first Warbler practice, Kurt invited me to his house afterwards for coffee and to hang out more.
Blaine was collecting his stuff on the other side of the room and I leaned in to whisper to Kurt. "I totally want to go to your house but...does Blaine have a boyfriend by the chance?"
A weird twitch flitted across Kurt's face. "No," he responded in a high tone.
"Not trying to be too bold, but would you mind having him over his house as well? You know, so I could get to know him a bit better?"
Kurt's smiled faltered a little, but he eventually sighed and said, "Okay."
Derek's POV
When the bell rang after Spanish, I approached Mr. Shuester. "Uh, Mr. Shue?"
He looked away from what he was writing on the board. "Yes, Derek?"
"So I was talking to a girl, Tina, and she told me about Glee Club and said you ran it. I know it's pretty far into the year and I'm not bad, but I'm not really good either, but I wanted to-" I was beginning to ramble and it was a good thing Mr. Shuester cut me off.
"Woah there, Derek. Take a breathe, ok?" He laughed. "Actually, Glee Club is meeting today. You can join, of course, but be ready to sing something for us."
"Yeah, alright." I smiled. "Thanks Mr. Shuester."
"Of course. Always happy to have new members."
It had seemed like a great idea at the time. But standing in front of them was making me nervous. I had never tried out for show choir at my old school or the musical, or anything. I joined normal choir for something to do and never got stage fright singing in unison with a bunch of people I knew.
But this was making me nervous. Especially since I wasn't that good. I hardly heard Mr. Shue introduce me. He then proceeded to have everyone introduce themselves. The muscled kid I had run into earlier, Puck, was there, along with Finn. There was a boy in a wheel chair named Artie. Two girls who sat close to each other, Santana and Brittany. Then there was Mercedes who seemed pretty spunky. There were Tina and another Asian kid, Mike. There were also two girls who both had the aura of 'I'm so much better than you' but somehow in a completely different way, Rachel and Quinn. Oh, and some...large girl, Lauren.
"Alright, are you ready to sing something?" Mr. Shue asked.
"Uh, yeah," I answered wincing at how uncomfortable I sounded. "Can I use that?" I pointed to a guitar in the corner.
"Sure," Mr. Shue told me.
I walked over and grabbed it, pulling the strap over my head and setting my hands on it. Taking a deep breath I began strumming, followed by my singing:
"I'm in trouble
I'm an addict
I'm addicted to this girl.
She's got my heart tied in a knot
and my stomach in a whirl."
My singing wasn't full on singing. I almost spoke when I sang, much like a good friend of mine, but with a distinct tune in it. My voice also did something...interesting.
"But even worse I can't stop calling her
She's all I want and more.
I mean damn,
what's not to adore?"
I'd describe it as something cuter than my normal voice...but then I'd be calling myself cute. It'd be odd. But basically it meant that Nevershoutnever was a good fall back for times like this. I definitely didn't have the voice of the awesome Christopher Drew, but his music did fit my voice well.
"I've been playing too much guitar,
I've been listening to jazz.
I called so many times
I swear she's going mad,
and that cellular will be the death of us
I swear,
I swear."
A couple of the girls recognized the song, I could tell by the way they were mouthing the words with me. No one seemed horribly offended by the sound coming from my mouth so I began to relax, smiling as I sang.
"And oh,
o-oh, o-oh, o-ooh,
oooooo,
I'm running my mouth just like I got her.
But I surely don't.
"Because you're so
o-oh, o-oh, o-ooh,
rock and roll,
and outta my league.
Is she outta my league?
Let's hope not."
Despite the smiles on many off their faces (mostly the girls) I didn't want to stretch it out so long. I jumped to the end, right after the last chorus.
"And oh,
o-oh, o-oh, o-ooh,
oooooo."
I sighed with relief at the end. A moment of silence before, "A hand for our new glee member!" Mr. Shue started clapping and the club joined, with a few short cheers from Santana and Brittany. I grinned sheepishly.
I turned my key in my car in that haze of hardly thinking about nonsense, like what Xander's school was like, and how to break it to Santana and Brittany that this was one conquest they couldn't accomplish, and whether or not I'd even have to break to them or if I was making it all up in my head. I was in an okay mood.
But my car wouldn't start.
Fuck my life.
I stepped out, not knowing what to do. I didn't even know how to open the hood. All I could think of was kicking the car and screaming, "WORK DAMMIT!"
I jumped about five feet in the are when I heard from behind me, "Having problems?"
"Jesus shit, Finn!" I turned to the huge boy. "Don't sneak up on me!"
He laughed at me. Damn him. "Sorry dude, it wasn't intentional."
I just sighed and shook my head. "Whatever. To answer you, yes I'm having problems. My fucking car won't start!" I emphasized my anger by kicking the car. "Fuck!" I grabbed my foot in pain. I forgot how hard cars were. I forgot that my right foot was my bad foot since I twisted it.
Again, fuck my life.
"I can look at it, if you want. My step-dad runs an auto-repair shop, and he's been teaching me some stuff. If it's not that bad I might be able to help," Finn offered.
I shrugged. "Yeah thanks. Better than nothing, anyway."
He popped open the hood and leaned in, looking through the insides of my car. I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet impatiently. After a few minutes of shuffling about and trying to figure out what was wrong he grumbled, "Damn. Kurt is so much better at this."
"Who's Kurt?" I asked curiously.
He glanced up to me and thought for a moment. "Oh, just my gay step-brother." The way he was looking at me I could tell he was preparing for my reaction. I figure he just wanted to get the whole gay step-brother thing out there because, well, some people don't react well to that type of stuff.
I doubt he expected my reaction. "Is he single?" I grinned.
"Uh...what?"
"It's not that difficult, I'm asking if you're gay step-brother is single."
He blinked a couple of times before answering, "Uh...yeah, at least I think so."
"Alright, so at least one gay kid in town."
Finn stared at me some more before saying, "Alright dude, I'm gonna tell you something now. I don't care if your gay. Glee Club won't care if you're gay. But there are some people who will care very much. There's a reason the Kurt transferred out of McKinley."
"And you think I'd be better off not being open about it?" I raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged uncomfortably, "It's just a warning."
"Thanks Finn, but it's nothing I'm not used to. I'll be fine."
"Whatever you say, dude." He glanced back at my car. "I can't fix that."
"Fuck. Now what?" I grumbled more to myself than to him.
"I'll drive you home, if you need a ride," Finn told me.
"Awesome. Yay for not being trapped in the school parking lot!" I grabbed my keys and my bag out of the car, and Finn led me to his. He turned on the car and I told him my address.
There was a few moments of awkward silence as Finn pulled out of the school parking lot.
"Sooooo...Do you play Call of Duty?" I asked to break the silence.
"Duh, of course."
"Awesome. You should give me your gamer tag."
"I will. Actually, I just got Black Ops."
"Seriously? I still haven't got it, no money."
"You wanna play it at my house?"
"That'd be cool."
Oh yeah. Video games, the start of all good friendships.
Xander's POV
"Can I get you guys something to drink or eat or something?" Kurt asked as he bent over into his kitchen freezer.
"No, I'm good, thanks," I called back, relaxing into the plush couch. Kurt had been nice enough to drive to his house and then Blaine offered to drive me back to Dalton where we both dormed.
"Can I make some coffee?" Blaine asked, following Kurt into his attached kitchen. Kurt nodded and Blaine moved expertly around the kitchen grabbing coffee beans, measuring cups and other supplies like he lived there. A pang of jealousy hit me because of how close Kurt and Blaine were. I was really developing a crush on Blaine, but I suppose I like being their friends first.
"Where's Finn?" Blaine asked.
Kurt looked over at me and said, "Finn is my step brother, his mom married my dad." He glanced back at Blaine. "Um, I'm not sure, he texted me earlier. Something about helping some kid out. Alex, what do you want for dinner?"
I jumped on the couch as the door suddenly swung open with a loud crash and a tall, young, hulking man walked through, presumably Finn. I waved from the couch, but he didn't see me because he was looking behind him to respond to whatever the other person had said to him.
"Home sweet home," the frankenteen said, his arms dropping to his sides.
"Nice place," a male voice said.
My eyes widened.
"Hey Finn, who's this?" Kurt asked kindly.
"This is my new friend-"
"DEREK?" I screamed, jumping up.
"XANDER?" the blond boy screeched back.
"Xander?" Kurt.
"Xander?" Blaine.
"What type of name's Zander?" Finn.
"MY LOVE!" we said together then embraced, putting stupid sloppy kisses on each other's cheeks.
"Well, this is my friend Derek," Finn mumbled. He watched Derek and I interact for a few moments. "Okay, I gotta ask, is he gay too?" He pointed at me.
"As flaming as they come," Kurt sighed.
"I'm starting think Dalton is a gay school. No offense, but seriously,"
"I wish," Kurt murmured under his breath.
"Want a hug Finn? Come catch the gay!" I said demonically, hugging him around the waist. He didn't even flinch... that was anti-climatic.
"Like, you've told me that there's a ton of gay men there! Is it a breeding facility?" Finn questioned again, easily breaking my hold on him.
My ears metaphorically perked up at the mention of "school full of gay men." "Kurt, are you saying there are more gay men in our school than just us?"
"Alex, it's an all-boys school, of course there are!"
Derek, my old/current friend sighed. "Watch out, Xander's gonna get half the school pregnant. Doesn't matter if they're guys."
I smacked him upside the head not even thinking twice about it. "More like, good thing they are guys."
"So, Derek, you know our new friend 'Xander,'?" Blaine asked, stirring his freshly brewed coffee with a totally contented expression.
Everyone, including Finn just raised an eyebrow at the boy.
"Just a little... and I'd love to get to know you better," Derek said smoothly to Blaine.
I smacked my friend again and whispered to him, "Back off he's mine!" I sighed. "You can have Kurt... I guess."
"What?" said boy asked.
"Nothing."
"I guess we should get to know each other," Blaine chuckled.
"With our penises..." Derek said obnoxiously.
"Oh god Derek!" I turned back to our new friend. "What he means to say is 'peni.'"
Derek proceeded to walk up behind me, and rub his crotch into my ass.
Kurt's mouth dropped open while Blaine's melted into an amused smile and Finn face-palmed.
"Oh yeah, we're all going to be great friends! Tea?" Blaine asked.
A/N:
Lane: As you can see our boys are fairly normal until you put them together XD
Fantasy: LOLz, very true. So who do you like better? Vote Xander!
Lane: STFU, Fantasy. Derek is by far the better character :P
Fantasy: Anywho, please review! Klaine is imminent, but of course there must be turmoil to get there!