Be Brave for Me: Chapter One: Canary

"Introducing, our newest Warbler, Blaine Johnson!"

The double doors swung open to allow Blaine to enter the room. He was met with polite clapping and a couple of whoops from some of the more playful Warblers. Blaine felt the incessant flapping of nervous butterflies in his stomach, but let a smile grace his face. People were nice here. That's why he had transferred. Nobody was going to hurt him here.

"And now, for out newest Warbler… an actual Warbler." said a member of the council, a boy Blaine already knew as Wes. He talked on about the bright yellow canary in it's cage. Blaine was sure this speech had been rehashed dozens of times. He knew this was tradition. Every boy in the room had to take care of a canary at some point.

Blaine smiled at his new teammates and picked up the cage. He sat down in one of the chairs and set the cage in his lap. The bird was walking around chirping, giving a faint melody to overlap the meeting in progress. Blaine stared into the cage, watching his new companion while listening to various Warblers call out ideas for songs to sing at sectionals.

"Every Rose has it's Thorn." called out on voice. Blaine looked up to see who had made the suggestion. A boy was sitting in an armchair in the corner, his feet popped up on a coffee table. He had light brown hair and the biggest lips Blaine had ever seen. They reminded him of the lips of Angelina Jolie, except they were actually bigger.

"We'll write that down, Sam." said Wes, a faint smile appearing on his face. "Any other suggestions?" he called, looking up from the pamphlet he was scribbling on. Blaine had actually had ideas before the doors to the Warbler's meeting room had swung open, but now his mind felt blank. Besides, what if all of his ideas were shot down? That would be embarrassing.

"No one?" asked another council member, raising an eyebrow. Blaine knew this boy's name was David. "No?" asked Wes, still looking at the pamphlet in his hands. "Well, our choices are Say My Name, A Disney Medley, Hit Me with Your Best Shot, and Every Rose has It's Thorn."

An outcry of discussion broke amongst the Warblers. Blaine was sure he would be swaying in the background anyways. He hadn't made any sort of impression yet. Sure, everyone was more than nice to him, but he still didn't really have an ounce of social standing. Every so often, Blaine would peek over the wire cage to look at Sam, who was actively defending his music choice. Blaine couldn't help letting his mind wander to the thought of Sam's sexual orientation. His lips…

The meeting finally disbanded, with the main song being chosen for sectionals. The winner was Say My Name, which made Sam look notably distressed. Blaine rose with the rest of the group to leave the room, the cage holding the canary named Percival in hand. He was on the way to his dorm room to stash the bird, when he felt a faint tap on his shoulder. Blaine spun around to come face to face with Sam, who was smiling up at him.

"Hey. I'm Blaine." Blaine said, reaching out to shake his hand.

"Sam I am. I do not like green eggs and ham." Sam replied, shaking Blaine's hand with a goofy grin. "Welcome to Dalton. I heard your audition. You're really good." The goofy grin had faded from Sam's face, but Blaine could see a smile in his eyes.

"Really?" Blaine asked. As far as he knew, the only people present during his audition were the council members. "I listened through the door with about four other people." Sam said, answering Blaine's unspoken questions. "Don't tell anyone though. Auditions are supposed to be a big secret." Blaine realized that he was still holding on to Sam's hand. He laughed nervously and dropped his hand.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it." he said as confidently as he could muster. "Yeah, you really should audition for a solo. I'm singing lead on Say My Name. I really wish could have put a little classic rock up in our set list, but whatever." Blaine grinned. "I liked your idea." he told him. "Maybe regionals then." Sam said hopefully.

Percival let out a long string of chirps. "I keep forgetting about this little guy." Blaine said softly, peeking into the cage where the canary was singing. Sam chuckled. "I remember when I joined the Warblers as a freshman. My canary Alfred kept me up all night long. I finally figured out that after one round of watching me play World of Warcraft sends him right to sleep. Your bird looks like a polite guy though." Sam stuck out his hand and patted the top of the cage. Percival ruffled his feathers.

"Well," Sam said suddenly, "I'll see you around then." Blaine smiled as Sam dashed up the stairs, obviously just remembering some prior engagement. "Yeah, see you." Blaine muttered to himself.

Later, Blaine was in his dorm room working on his very first Dalton Academy research paper. He had been attending the school for less than a week and was already swarmed with homework. Blaine impatiently tapped his fingers on the keys trying to think of ideas for writing a paper about the industrial revolution. He glanced at his screen, taking in what he had produced so far. Well, he had set up the paper in MLA format. That was a start. He had not thought of a suitable title though, He reached up and ran his fingers through his curly hair. He was suffering from a really bad case of writers block.

His attention was pulled from his paper when he heard a knock on his door. This unwanted noise automatically set off Percival who began chirping incessantly. Blaine quickly leapt from his chair, sending a History textbook flying off his desk. He quickly picked it up and returned it to its proper place and went to open the door.

Sam Evans was standing in the doorway. Blaine asked the first thing that came to his mind, "How do you know where I live?" Sam laughed. "Well, don't act happy to see me or anything." he said, poking out his lip. He pulled out a folded piece of paper from the breast pocket of his blazer and unfolded it. "Student directory." he told Blaine, flapping it in his face. Blaine caught a glimpse of his name next to his dorm and room number.

"Am I allowed to come in?" Sam asked, peeking his head into the room. "Oh yeah, come in." Blaine said, moving out of the way so Sam could walk in. "You get your own room, lucky." Sam chided, automatically taking a seat on Blaine's bed as though he had visited a million times before.

"Yeah, since I came in at a weird time, they didn't have a roommate for me. I'll probably get one next semester though. Either someone new will come in, or two roommates will begin to hate each other so much that they move out. For now though, It's just me and Percy over there." Blaine explained. Percival chirped as though he understood exactly what he was saying. "Lucky!" Sam repeated. "Alfred annoys my roommate so much."

Blaine smiled. "I bet he really likes him, deep down." Blaine sat back down at his computer and stared at the blank screen. "I have no idea what to write about for the Industrial Revolution. Did you know that research papers aren't very commonplace in public schools except for Advanced Placement classes?" he mused, typing in what he thought would be a good enough title: When America's Gears Started to Grind.

"Don't ask me about history. Do not ask me about that. Schoolwork is not my strong suit. I've been here playing football on scholarship since ninth grade. I have a tutor for all my classes. " Sam told him, running his fingers on Blaine's bed spread. Blaine had not picked out Sam to be a football player. Still, even the jocks were nice at Dalton. Blaine typed a couple half-assed sentences for introduction. "That sucks." he said, empathizing. "Yeah," Sam said, "I'm dyslexic, which means my grades suck.

"Oh." Blaine said, reading over what he had written so far. "That's not good." Sam smiled. "Oh no, I'm used to it. Besides, I'm Dalton's quarterback. They'll do almost anything to keep me here. I just do what I can." he explained nonchalantly.

There was a moment of silence before Sam spoke again. "Why are you here, Blaine?' Blaine took a deep breath; he hadn't expected the conversation to take this turn. In fact, he was perfectly happy with not revealing why he had chosen to come to Dalton in the middle of the semester. Still, he figured that it was probably time to make the grand reveal, no matter hard it was.

"Uh, bullies at my old school. I knew Dalton had zero tolerance for harassment. So, my parents and I thought it was for the best. " he said, leaving out any gruesome details of how badly he was tormented every day, or that bottle of pills he kept hidden under his bed at home. He knew that it was best to keep his story concise.

"Why would they do that to you? You're cool." Sam exclaimed, leaving the bed and walking up to Blaine, putting a hand on his shoulder. Blaine looked down at his keyboard. "I'm gay. They didn't like that. People at my old school had problems with anyone who was, well, different from them." he told him as casually as possible. It wasn't that big of a deal. He was gay. He was safe here.

"Well, you're totally safe here. We'll protect you. It doesn't matter one bit here." Sam said, his hand still resting protectively on Blaine's shoulder. Blaine let a smile creep up on his face. "Yeah. I'm happy here." he said, hoping that that would really be the case.

"Well," Sam began, letting his hand drop from Blaine's shoulder, "It is 5:30 and I really need to get my eat on. Dinner?" Blaine nodded. This paper was not going to get anywhere without some food in his stomach. "Yeah, let's go." he said, standing up and following Sam out the door.