Day 2

Blaine walked to school the next day, hand in hand with Quinn, with Sam, Santana and Brittany. They were chatting and joking around, laughing at Sam's impressions and Brittany's lame guesses at who they were impressions of.

As they rounded the corner, they saw Karofsky and Kurt. Karofsky had Kurt against a wall, his arm pressed up against his neck preventing him from moving. Kurt looked terrified.

"Looks like Karofsky's up to his old tricks again," said Santana. "Shame for the new kid, but hey, he asked for it, coming here all Miss Posh Spice, showing off his expensive handbags and gladrags." Anger bubbled in Blaine, a feeling of worry deep in the pit of his stomach. He let go of Quinn's hand and ran over to Karofsky and Kurt.

"Hey Karofsky, let him go!" he shouted.

"Hell no," he replied menacingly. "Have you heard this news? This kid is Finn's step brother. That's why he's moved here. To be with Finn. And you know why? Coz news broke in his old school that he's gay and his dad moved him here so that Finn could protect him if he needed it. Well where's Finn now huh?"

Kurt's gay? Blaine had figured judging from Kurt's care to fashion, his camp posture and high voice but now he knew for certain.

"What's your point Karofsky?" Blaine asked, putting this news to one side in his brain. "You mess with him, you mess with me. Just leave him be, yeah?"

"Why are you sticking up for a fag Anderson?" Karofsky sneered, letting Kurt go and turning on Blaine instead. "A fag instead of your own buddy?"

"Because Figgins trusted me to look after him and if he gets hurt, I'll get detention. So can you at least wait until next week when he's not my problem anymore?" Karofsky squinted his eyes at Blaine, making a quick decision in his head. Kurt stood up against the wall, looking like a rabbit caught in headlights. Karofsky had clearly made a decision as his expression softened and a smirk grew across his face.

"Yeh man," Karofsky said, high-fiving Blaine. "Yeh, we're buddies. I'll wait so that you don't get into trouble. See you around Anderson, and you" he turned to Kurt "might wanna move to Canada before next week, gay boy." He gave Kurt a glare and then walked away laughing quietly to himself. Kurt's physique visibly relaxed as Karofsky walked away, his shoulders relaxing and his eyes starting to blink again.

"Sorry about him," Blaine said to Kurt, Kurt whipping his head round to stare at Blaine.

"You're no better," Kurt said, his face turning slightly pink as his fury overcame him. "I only have until next week, then what? You think you're such a big man don't you because you can stand off against the school bully and win. Well you're no better! He's not gone forever, he's just gone for now! What am I going to do then, huh? I can't be with Finn all the time! Thanks for nothing." Kurt took a tighter grip on his bag and stormed away.

"Oi!" shouted Blaine after him but Kurt didn't turn back round. Blaine felt guilt in the pit of his stomach. He had let Kurt down and now he was upset, scared and alone. He was right, he was no better than Karofsky. He hadn't toned down Karofsky's attacks forever by any means; all he'd done was given Kurt some time. He looked down at the floor, the guilt spreading through his body.

"Oh my god baby, are you okay?" Quinn said, throwing her arms around him. "I was worried about you, I didn't know if Karofsky would hurt you." Blaine didn't return the hug, his arms staying slumped at his sides. He barely even registered her words. He couldn't stop thinking about Kurt's words and how much they'd stung him. What was this boy doing to him?

"Blaine?" Quinn encouraged. Blaine shook his head and looked at her.

"Yes, I'm fine. C'mon lets go to class."

Blaine strolled into chemistry and took his seat at a lab table near the back. A short while after, Kurt walked in and Blaine looked up, quizzing Kurt's face for signs of how he was. Kurt sighed in frustration upon realising the only free seat was next to Blaine and walked over quickly, chucking his bag on the desk.

"Mr Hummel," said the teacher sternly. "I don't care if you're new, we do not tolerate this kind of attitude."

Kurt sighed and nodded in apology, putting his face in his hands, not looking up as the teacher carried on with her lesson. Blaine stared at Kurt, willing him to look up at him, not taking in a word of what the teacher was saying. Blaine stared at the pale complexion of Kurt's hands, the paleness contrasting with the brown of his hair, his bent knuckles slightly pink. His hair was dishevelled on his head, messy as it had been the day before. His shoulders were slumped forward and his tight fitted black v-neck shirt could barely contain his muscly arms. Blaine couldn't help but stare while he could; now he knew that Kurt did not know he was staring. Why did he want to stare? Why?

The class suddenly started to move about and tore his head away from Kurt so his peers wouldn't notice him staring. They had been set a project to do that would last them a few lessons and, seeing as no one had come over to him, he guessed that Kurt must be his partner.

"Kurt," Blaine said. "We have a project to do."

Kurt lifted his head out of his hands and glared at Blaine. It was evident that he had been crying, his eyes were red, his eyelashes slightly wet and his pale skin was pink and blotchy. But the only thing that Blaine properly absorbed was the menacing look on Kurt's face. This boy hated him. This was new to Blaine; he'd never been hated before. Everyone at McKinley adored him; he'd never had so much as a finger laid on him or a bad word said to him outside of gym. He didn't like this feeling at all. "Perhaps this is why I've been thinking these things about Kurt," Blaine thought to himself. "Maybe I just want him to like me because I'm so used to being adored by everyone."

"Can't you work with someone else?" Kurt said through gritted teeth. "I don't know if I'm making myself clear enough for you, but I don't want to be near you. You're vain and arrogant and I don't want anything to do with you. Anything."

"Look, Kurt," Blaine said, exasperated. "I know we've got off to a bad start. But I'm not… that guy. This morning with Karofsky… I only said about waiting until next week because it gave me more time to think of a better reason why he should leave you alone. I don't know if you noticed, but he's somewhat bigger than us and I thought it would be better for him to leave us both alone for a week instead of beating us both up on the spot. Yesterday, when I said I wasn't showing you around, I have no excuse. I was rude and I can't excuse myself from that, I have no defence. I'm really sorry and I promise that I'll think of something to protect you for next week."

Kurt was in shock. He wasn't expecting such an outburst from Blaine. To him, Blaine was just a typical pretty boy who had always got whatever he wanted. He had seen him this morning, holding hands with that beautiful cheerleader; he was clearly one of the rulers of the school. Kurt was taken aback; he didn't know what to say. Why was this popular boy offering to stick up for him? He clearly wasn't bothered about the fact that Figgins had asked him to look after him so that wasn't it.

"C'mon," said Blaine, running his fingers through his hair. "Even if you don't accept my apology, at least be civil with me. For Finn's sake, we're good friends." Kurt nodded quickly and Blaine exhaled.

"Shall we get on with the project then?" Blaine asked. Kurt nodded again. Blaine didn't move immediately. He watched as Kurt slumped in his chair and sat staring straight ahead, his eyes blank. Blaine longed to know what he was thinking, longed to run his fingers through Kurt's messy hair…

"No!" Blaine yelled. Kurt jumped and faced Blaine, confusion and fright traced through his features.

"Sorry," Blaine mumbled. "That wasn't supposed to be out loud." Blaine pushed his chair back loudly and made for the front of the classroom to collect the equipment for their project. Shit. As if he had just shouted that. Kurt would think he was a complete weirdo! Well that wasn't his biggest worry; his biggest worry was WHY did he want to run his fingers through Kurt's hair? He crashed and clashed all the equipment as he piled them up high on a tray to take back to his and Kurt's desk. What? Now it was his and Kurt's desk? No… his desk, take back to HIS desk. What was going on? He turned to his table to see Kurt staring at him curiously, twiddling his fingers. Blaine felt a movement near his groin. Why was this boy affecting him so much? He couldn't possibly be ATTRACTED to this boy. He was straight, not bisexual or gay. Straight.

He repeated this over and over in his mind throughout the remainder of the lesson. He refused to feel the electric heat that passed through him when Kurt's fingers accidentally grazed over his hand nor the feeling of warmth that passed through him when Kurt said he thought he was smart.

Blaine made another quick exit from the classroom and vowed to himself as he sat in Spanish that he wouldn't talk to Kurt. Not properly. He would sit next to him in the classes that he'd already been forced to and that would be it. But that feeling in his groin, that electric current that had passed through him as they touched…

"Blaine," Mr Schu was standing right in front of his desk as his thoughts drew back to the present. "Blaine are you ok? You've been switched off all lesson, are you keeping up?"

"Sorry Mr Schu," Blaine muttered. "Just have things on my mind."

"OK… well I hope you'll be trying out for Glee club this year," Mr Schu continued. "I know you've only ever really turned up for a few sessions last year but you really have an amazing talent. The New Directions could really do with someone like you to attract new members. Plus Nationals are in New York this year, how amazing would that be?"

"I'll think about it," Blaine managed to reply, not really taking in what he was saying. He had enjoyed the few Glee club sessions he had attended last year but the stick he got from the football team for it had really damaged his reputation. He couldn't risk losing his status if he was going to protect Kurt from Karofsky and if he was going to keep dating Quinn.

"Ok, well auditions are after school today." Mr Schu said then turned to Sam who was in the seat next to Blaine who was struggling with his Spanish assignment. Blaine shook his head and bent over his Spanish work, putting all his concentration into translating the sentences that Mr Schu had given them.


Blaine walked through the corridors late that afternoon. He'd gone to the gym after school to do some boxing to vent out his frustrations. He felt a whole lot better, it had been a good session and he looked forward to going over to Quinn's house that evening, having dinner with her family and making out in front of the TV.

On his way to the schools' exit, he walked past the choir room, the door to which was wide open. He briefly glanced inside and saw Kurt sitting with Finn, Rachel, Mercedes and Artie. Blaine stopped in his tracks and stood to the side of the open door and glanced in.

"Thank you all for coming," Mr Schu said, smiling at the Glee clubbers. Blaine made a quick scan of the room to see who had turned up. There was Tina and Mike sitting hand in hand, there was Santana and Brittany sitting in front of Quinn to his surprise. He thought she'd said she wasn't going to do Glee club this year because she needed to concentrate on cheerleading, being voted Prom Queen and getting into Yale. There was Puck sitting next to Quinn, his hand on her knee. This should bother me Blaine thought to himself but he didn't feel a single pang of jealously. And there on the right hand side of the room was Kurt, Rachel, Finn, Mercedes and Artie.

"I'd like to welcome our newest member," said Mr Schu. "Kurt Hummel. It's an honour to have you here with us. We watched you and Dalton in admiration at last year's Regionals and we are so happy to have you on board with the New Directions." Kurt smiled weakly at Mr Schu who started clapping the rest of the room following suit.

"Sing something," Santana said bossily. "Show us what you got Lady Hummel." Mr Schu rolled his eyes but was used to this kind of verbal abuse from Santana and ignored it. Kurt rose from his chair, Blaine surprised that Kurt could shrug off Santana's comment so easily. Blaine hid behind the doorframe so Kurt didn't see him as he made his way to the centre of the choir room.

"Hi, I'm Kurt Hummel," Kurt said weakly in his high voice. "I'm as happy to be here as Mr Schu is that I'm here. I would like to sing a song to audition as opposed to just being let straight in. So this is something I sang last year when my father was in hospital."

Blaine found a nagging feeling growing inside of him to find out why Kurt's father had been in hospital. He had a nagging feeling to find out everything about this boy.

"I'll tell you something, I think you'll understand.

When I'll say that something. I wanna hold your hand."

"Wow," Blaine thought to himself. Kurt had such a beautiful voice. So high and sweet like honey, almost like a choir boy's voice. It sent a shiver down his spine; it was so angelic, so pure.

"Oh please, say to me, you'll let me be your man."

This line made Blaine's heart quiver in his chest. He could feel it beating harder as Kurt continued with the song. He longed for the emotion that Kurt was putting into his performance to be about him. He longed to go in there and hold Kurt's hand and kiss his palm.

"When I'll feel that something, I wanna hold your hand.

I wanna hold your hand, I wanna hold your hand."

There was an eruption of applause from the rest of the Glee club, Rachel and Tina wiping away their tears. Blaine came back into focus, as Kurt's voice stopped mesmerising him. Blaine stood frozen to the spot, staring at Kurt's figure who stood there embarrassed, soaking in the applause and bowing quickly. He couldn't take his eyes from this boy in front of him; this boy with the pale skin and messy brown hair. This boy that had entered his life from nowhere and turned his world upside down. Blaine couldn't deny it to himself anymore: he was attracted to this boy, really really attracted to him. There was something about Kurt's nervous demeanour and his curious eyes that made Blaine want to know more about him. It was Kurt's voice that had finally made Blaine reach this conclusion, it had struck a chord in his heart that he didn't even know existed.

Blaine looked down at the floor and nodded to himself as he accepted the truth of the matter. He did want this boy but it was time to make a choice. Did he really want to get closer to Kurt and potentially ruin his whole reputation at the school? It would mean ending things off with Quinn, that was for sure, and he didn't know how happy she would be with the fact that he was dumping her. This could lead to most of the girls at the school turning on him as the entire female student body worshipped Quinn and loved and hated whoever she loved or hated. It would mean entering a lifestyle that he would never have chosen for himself. It would mean potentially getting the same treatment everyday as he'd already witnessed Kurt getting from Karofsky. Blaine wasn't sure he was up that.

He looked up and sighed, taking a final longing glance at the boy that had changed his world and then decided. He had to walk away.