Be Brave for Me: Chapter 2: Swaying in the Background

The sheet music for Say My Name was passed out amongst the Warblers at their next rehearsal. Blaine looked down at his and saw what he had expected; Oohs, ahs, dings, dums and an occasional join in with the chorus. However, each ooh and ah was so intricate. Blaine had always thought acapella choirs were easy. Now, that he looked down at the very complicated music, he realized he was misguided.

"Alright Warblers, let's get to work." Wes called, clapping his hands together. All the Warblers left their chairs. "We'll get to work on choreography later, let's focus on the song first. Just get in some sort of formation and Sam take the front." Wes added, motioning for the group to move together. He then moved his arms for them to begin. They automatically started singing. Soon enough, Josh a boy who had been dubbed 'the human drum' began his beats. Then, Sam began his solo. "Say my name, say my name. When nobody is around you, say baby I love you, why the sudden change?" he sang. Even though he wasn't singing the song he had chosen, Sam sung and moved with the grace of a person who was singing their very favorite song. Blaine really had to admire that about him.

The song was worked on for over an hour. The only pauses were when Wes ran to the piano to play the messed up notes. By the time they were dismissed, Blaine was exhausted. "Everyone who has been invited to audition a solo, please stay behind. Everyone else, you may go." David said, taking a seat. Blaine took this as his cue to leave, and he went towards the door with the rest of the mob. Then, he felt his arm be tugged on. "Where do you think you're going?" Sam asked, twirling Blaine around to face him. "Everyone who has been invited to audition for a solo, please stay behind. Everyone else, you may go." Blaine repeated. Sam laughed. "But, you have been invited to audition for a solo." He told him, as though he was speaking to a fourth grader. "What? When?" Blaine asked. He didn't remember ever being invited to audition for a solo. Was he losing his mind?

"Yesterday, I told you that you should audition for a solo." Sam stated, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. Blaine thought back and remembered. "Oh yeah! I remember now. I just thought you had to be like formally invited or something." he explained. "Yeah," Sam said, smirking, "That was me formally inviting you. Now go sit down." Sam motioned towards an empty chair in the room, and then left. Blaine decided that if he ever got the pull to formally invite people to audition for a solo, he would make it very clear that he was inviting them to do so. He chuckled to himself before he walked over to the set of chairs to find a seat.

Blaine had no idea what he wanted to do for his solo. He was sitting at his desk, scrolling through his music library. He didn't want to get too crazy with his selection. He was well aware that the Warblers had a specific style and he would do best with a pop tune. He clicked on pop in the genres section and began looking. He was listening to a song by Rihanna when he heard a knock on the door.

Blaine quickly went to the door, pretty sure about whom was knocking. Sure enough, when he opened the door, Sam was standing there. "Russian Roulette, huh?" he asked, squeezing past Blaine to get in the room. "Bad idea. Don't sing that one." he stated, walking over to Blaine's desk to sit down at the computer.

Blaine slowly walked over to where Sam was sitting to peer over his shoulder. "What the Warbler's really love…" he said scrolling through the song list, "is Britney Spears." He smiled and clicked on a song title, the room swelling with music. "Ah yeah yeah yeah yeah." Blaine laughed. "Really? This song?" he asked. "Yeah." Sam replied. "I think I did it again. I made you believe we're more than just friends." came from Blaine's speakers. "You really think so?" Blaine asked again. Sam just nodded.

"Oh baby, it might seem like a crush. But it doesn't mean, that I'm serious." Blaine sang later at his audition. He was trying to sing over the heads of the Warblers, but he couldn't help glancing at Sam who was smiling in approval. "But to lose all of my senses, that is just so typically me, oh baby baby." he continued, adding a little twirl. He had been practicing this one song for hours since Sam had first played it on his computer. He wanted the song to be absolutely perfect.

Once he hit the final note, the room burst into applause. Sam was smiling up at him. As Blaine was leaving the room, he saw Sam give him a thumbs up. Once the large double doors had closed behind him, Blaine couldn't help jumping up in the air. He hadn't counted on a younger boy to be passing at the time. Embarrassed, Blaine ran his hand through his gelled coif and tried to flash a winning smile. The boy just gave him a dazed look and walked on.

Now was the moment of truth. Blaine was sitting in a room with the three other boys who had been invited to audition. All of them were sitting nervously, their heads in their hands. One boy was gnawing at his fingernails. Blaine let himself breathe. If he didn't get to sing solo this time, there were always other chances. He kept repeating this in his mind until the doors opened to reveal Wes. "Alright." he said, peering over the group of boys. "Paul and Blaine are moving on. Thank you everyone else for your time." he said, motioning for Blaine and Paul to follow him.

It took Blaine a moment to register that his name had been called. He got up from his seat and began to follow. He walked directly beside Paul. "Congratulations." He told him, smiling cheerfully. "You too." Paul said, staring directly ahead. Wes led them back to the room where the Warbler's met.

Once they were inside, Wes finally spoke. "Okay. The next stage of the audition is for you both sing your songs just to the council. We will make the final decision. Paul, we'll start with you. Blaine, please wait outside for us to call you in." He motioned Blaine towards the doors. Blaine walked out, feeling rather nervous. He stood by the door and listened to his opponent. He recognized the song he was singing as My Never by Blue October. Their song choices really couldn't be any different.

Blaine pressed his ear against the door. Paul was a really good singer. Blaine really hoped he could go in there and top him. He really wanted that solo, more than he had wanted anything in awhile. He felt his fists clench together, waiting in agony for the song to be over. He was ready to go in there and knock the council's socks off.

Finally, Paul uttered the last soft note. Blaine heard polite clapping from within the room. Blaine realized that his ear was still up against the door and jumped back before it swung open. Paul left the room and Wes followed. "Okay, your turn, Blaine." he said walking back inside. Blaine entered the room, ready to show them what he had.

Blaine had been refreshing his email over and over for the past hour. Sam was sitting on his bed playing a gameboy and randomly interjecting words of encouragement. Blaine had be notified that the results of the audition would be sent to his email as soon as possible. Sam had come to his door because he was 'bored'.

"It will come soon enough. Relax." Sam said for what seemed like the billionth time. "Yeah." Blaine replied hitting the refresh button. Then, there it was. "Sam Sam Sam, come here. It's here." he screeched, waiting for Sam to lazily get off the bed and come join him. "Okay, I'm going to open it." Blaine said slowly, his hand hovering over his laptops track pad. He finally clicked and the message showed itself.

Congratulations, Blaine. You will be singing Oops I did it Again at sectionals!