PROLOGUE
LIMA, OHIO STATE, UNITED STATES. NOVEMBER 2010
Kurt Hummel, a lesser valued member of the school's glee club, New Directions, was given the mission to spy on the club's competition: the Warblers. The competitive glee club located at private institution, Dalton Academy. He didn't have an outfit that to blend in with the school's uniforms, but it was casual to wear a red tie at any private school. Other than that, it was easy to disguise yourself as a new student so long as you have a long leather jacket to wear. It wasn't like anyone would notice.
Okay, that was a lie. People did notice. At his school, outside his club's Choir room, people noticed. Unfortunately, it was not the kind of attention that made one feel welcome. Everywhere he went, he was treated with disrespect. Bullies lurked everywhere in the halls, just waiting to splash his face with ice-cold slushies. It wasn't just him, either. Everyone in his club was bullied that way, even though they had some of the school's top students with them: Finn Hudson, his soon-to-be stepbrother who was also the football team's captain, McKinley Titans; Noah Pucker (a.k.a. Puck), who was the football team's co-captain; Quinn Fabray, captain of the cheerleading squad and head of the Celibacy Club; Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce, top members of the cheerleaders; and Mike Chang and Sam Evans, who were also members of the football team. Everyone came together when Spanish teacher, Mr. William Schuester, formed the glee club. In spite of everything that happened within the club, everyone eventually overcome their issues against each other and became friends. Rachel Berry, captain of the glee club and Finn's girlfriend, was the diva nightmare who could never think for anyone other than herself. When Quinn got knocked up by Puck last year, she told everyone that Finn was the father. Rachel was the first to find the truth. She told Finn, of course, but it was only because she wanted to break them up and have Finn to herself. And now, Quinn's baby is placed in the good hands of Rachel's equally ambitious mother. This blew over in a matter of months. But things hadn't been easy. Glee club had been a fun Place to be in, a group where all the misfits found themselves able to find joy in singing and dancing, and a Place to express their feelings. Unfortunately, competition was also right around the corner. They lost at Regionals last year, and if it hadn't been for the surprisingly unexpected help from Coach Sue Sylvester, they would've all dispatched and gone back to where they were before: be a bunch of individuals who saw each other as enemies rather than friends.
This year was even more important. If New Directions lost at Sectionals, the competition year will be over, along with the entire club. They have to win this. So to learn more about one of their fiercest competitions, Puck told Kurt to sneak into Dalton Academy and check out the "Warblers". Not that he was particularly glad to act as spy. Other than Rachel, he was clearly the most talented member in the group and yet no one treated him with any respect whatsoever. Everyone in the group was talented in singing and performing. His talents excelled most of them. But no one seemed to care about his talents. Just the other day, the boys dissed his fashion ideas for the boys vs. girls mashup. This week, the girls were to sing masculine songs, like rock'n'roll, and the boys were to sing numbers originally intended for the female gender. And even though his ideas were brilliant, no one took his plan seriously, and Puck even suggested that he 'make himself useful' by spying on the Warblers. On the bright side, at least that meant he wouldn't have to face the Wrath of Karofsky, the football quarterback who couldn't spend a single day without making Kurt's life a ballad of living hell. He tried to avoid the burly boy, but whenever they passed each other on the halls, he would knock Kurt into a locker or shove him against a wall so hard that his body ached. But what the guy mostly did was make him miserable from the inside, which somehow felt tenfold compared to the physical pain. Kurt could only assume this abusive treatment came from his hatred of homosexuality, and he was the only gay boy who was out at his school. And Karofsky simply hated the idea of having a gay kid around, just like the rest of his team.
As he walked into the halls of Dalton, the Victorian architecture drew him in. The hallways were ancient Victorian style with paintings that almost looked like Solimena's craft. The air felt different. Quaint. Pleasant. He remembered seeing such designs on TV shows and magazines, but this was the first time he saw them with his own eyes. The designs looked like a mixture of an American courthouse and an ancient mansion.
Students marched through the halls and went down a grand spiraling staircase, everyone in the same direction. The staircase had a round skylight shining right above it. Mirrors hung on the top level, the reflective light brightened the place almost like a bright summer day outside. There were so many boys that Kurt wondered if the school was built to house homosexuality.
A black-haired boy with somewhat broad shoulders walked past him on his way to the same direction. Knowing that he had a mission at hand, he called out to the boy. "Oh, 'scuse me." The boy turned around, revealing the most beautiful face Kurt had ever seen. Deep, thoughtful green eyes mixed perfectly with his pale skin and jet black hair geled back of his head. The dark blue uniform and black-and-red tie only somehow highlighted his complexion. "Um, hi. Can I ask you a question? I-I'm new here."
The boy's lips curled up into a smile. A very handsome one, too.
"My name's Blaine," he said and extended his hand. His voice had a vocal touch to it.
"Kurt." They shook. "So what exactly's going on?"
"The Warblers. Every now and then, they throw an impromptu performance. Tends to shut the school down for a while."
And everyone's going to watch it? Kurt thought. That never happened at McKinley. They had performed at school assemblies and annual drama performances, but no one cared about what they did. No one, not even the geeks, paid attention to them. What Blaine said about the Warblers and from the way everyone practically marched through the hall to watch their performance, it sounded like they were popular. "So, wait. The glee club here is kind of cool?"
"The Warblers are like 'rockstars'," answered Blaine.
Rockstars? That sounded like an overstatement.
Blaine reached out and grabbed his hand. "C'mon. I know a shortcut." And just like that, Blaine yanked him away from the stone-hard stairs and into a different hallway. While he took in the high wall paintings, the shining crystals of a chandalier and furniture placed against the walls, it was really Blaine's strong grip that stole most of his attention. Warmth sent shivers down his arm and traveled all the way up to his spine. He comprehended the feeling for a short second. Quick and brief as the walk was, it felt slow... and long-lasting. Like they could go on forever.