AN: Thanks to … for help with the American school system. Any mistakes with it are my own, but it is so very different from the Norwegian system, I just can't seem to keep it straight sometimes.
Title: Dalton Academy
Summary: Kurt transfers to Dalton, but decides that instead of hanging on to Blaine, he's going to make his own way and his own friends.
Pairing: Undecided as of now, but NOT Klaine
Beta: Many thanks again to The Other.
Disclaimer: Glee is not mine, never has been, but the OC's are mine.
Chapter 3: First day of classes
Kurt was up early the next day, nerves making it hard to sleep properly. He was standing in front of the mirror, looking at his uniform and trying to ignore the heavy knot in his stomach.
The uniform wasn't horrible, but it really wasn't all that good. The blue jacket with the red piping and the matching tie were okay, but if he had to wear a blazer, he wished the cut and fit of it had been different. The gray dress pants annoyed him - why couldn't they be black, it would fit so much better with the blazer.
He and Tina had read through the rules of the uniform before they had started packing, and they had annoyed Kurt to no end. They had to order the blazer, tie and pants from a certain tailor in Columbus, and as there had been short notice, Kurt only had one with him. He had ordered five sets, so that he had one for each day of the week in case something happened, and the rest were due to arrive on Wednesday. The shirt had to be white, no color at all, but fabric was your own choice. You could wear whatever shoes you liked as long as they were black and didn't cover the pants in any way, which Kurt thought took away from the whole point of choosing his own shoes. He had brought three pairs of shoes for the uniform, two pairs of dress shoes and his black doc martins, mostly on principle.
He had pushed the dress code as far as he could. The cuff-links were his own, and he had been out shopping for more of them when he realized that was a small loophole. He also wore a small broche, this one was his late mothers, to give him comfort during the day. He felt a little drab, but he tried to think about that everyone else would be wearing the same.
Kurt had pulled out his current reading material, "Naked in Death", that Tina had recommended, and he was just getting into it when Jeff woke up. It seemed to take the other boy just seconds to go from 'dead to the world' to 'bright awake' and he disappeared into the bathroom with a bright "Good morning!".
Half an hour later, Jeff and Kurt were on their way to breakfast. Classes started at 07.30 for Kurt, and 08.00 for Jeff. It was mostly because though the eating hall had enough room for everyone, as they all ate dinner and supper together, breakfast and lunch was usually split, freshman and sophomores and junior's and senior's together. This was apparently to avoid everyone filling up the hallways at the same times, as Dalton was a rather large school.
The boys were just sitting down, both with a somewhat healthy breakfast in front of them, when they were joined by a slightly chubby boy who Kurt could swore he had seen before.
The blond looked up and gave the boy a smile. "Good morning, Trent."
"Good morning." Trent gave them both a smile, but looked curiously at Kurt.
"Trent, this is our new transfer, Kurt Hummel. Kurt, this is Trent, he's part of the Warblers and a junior."
They shook hands and Kurt gave the boy a smile. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise." Trent hadn't stopped smiling since he sat down, he seemed like a very friendly guy.
"So, what's your first class?" Jeff looked up at Kurt curiously.
"AP French, in" Kurt fished out his schedule and looked it over "E217."
"Oh, I'm going to Spanish just a few doors down, so I can show you the way, if you want." Trent smiled at him, clearly wanting to be helpful and maybe make a friend.
"That would be great, thanks." Kurt put away the schedule again, smiling at Trent as he did so.
The three of them chatted a little, but soon Kurt and Trent had to leave, and they rose just as Nick came and sat down next to Jeff. The exchanged a quick "Good morning." before the two juniors left the hall, in a steady stream of other upperclassmen on their way to classes.
"So, what do you think of Dalton so far?" Trent looked at Kurt curiously, and Kurt found himself liking the other boy simply because of his bouncy attitude and friendly smile.
"It's a big change, and it will take me some time to get settled, but I like it so far. It's very different from McKinley. A lot more rules then what I'm used to, but I don't really mind it."
"Yeah, it's a big change, I transferred here at the start of my sophomore year from Carmel and I have a cousin at McKinley, I've heard all about that school."
They walked down the hall, and Kurt marveled at how even with boys walking all around them, there didn't seem to be any chaos and very little rushing. Had this been McKinley, people would be tripping up each other and rushing in every direction.
They stopped next to an open door, and Trent continued talking. "Here's your classroom, AP French."
"Thanks, Trent."
"No problem. If I don't see you after, maybe I'll see you at lunch?"
"Yeah."
Trent gave him another smile, and turned to continue down the hall. Kurt took a deep breath and hoisted the strap of his bag up a little before walking into the classroom. He was nervous, but AP French was one of his best subjects, and at McKinley he could do it in his sleep, so at least he wouldn't be floundering if he was asked a question.
The classroom was about half way full, and a male teacher was sitting at the desk, sorting through some papers. Kurt walked up to him and cleared his throat. The teacher looking up at him enquiringly, before his expression cleared when he saw Kurt.
"Hi, you must be the new student, Kurt Hummel, right?" He offered up his hand to shake.
Kurt shifted a little and took the offered hand. "Yes sir."
"Good, good. I know you haven't had your placement tests yet, so I don't know where you are in your learning, but we'll work it out if you are still here come Friday, okay?" Kurt smiled and nodded, happy that he might get the chance to prove himself. "Well, we have simple rules, really. From the time the bell chimes until the class is finished, we speak French all the time. If you can't find a word, you use the dictionary and look it up or find some other way of saying it."
*DALTON ACADEMY*
The period had gone by fast, and Kurt had enjoyed himself. It was clear that he was still on the top in this class, though it was a lot more challenging than at McKinley. They worked alone throughout the class, so he didn't properly meet any of the other boys, but he was in no hurry; the day was overwhelming enough as it was.
He somehow managed to find his way to World History, and his teacher had shown him to an empty desk slightly in the back. Just as he was taking out his notebook, he heard someone sit down next to him, and he looked up into a familiar face.
"Kurt?" David from the Warblers was sitting next to him, looking confused.
"David, hi." Kurt gave him a small smile and shifted a little in his seat.
"What... what are you doing here?"
Kurt lifted an eyebrow sarcastically and slightly lifted up his blazer with his fingers, as if showing David the uniform. "Well, I transferred."
David rolled his eyes and gave him a smile. "Yeah, but I would have thought Blaine would have told us you were coming."
"Oh, he doesn't know. It was decided just five days ago."
David started talking, but the shut his mouth again. He already knew, of course, that Kurt was having some issues at his old school, due to the spying, but it seemed like he hadn't quite gotten how bad it was when Kurt had talked to them.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll live." After becoming clean with his dad about what was going on, Kurt had realized that he wasn't fine, and there was no point in even trying to lie about it.
David just gave him a nod, and the teacher started the class before they could talk anymore.
After History class, David showed him to the Algebra II classroom, a class he managed to make it through by the skin of his teeth. He sat next to a nice boy, Cory, who seemed to be just as bad as Kurt in math, but at least he wasn't alone. He wouldn't be surprised if he had to get a tutor for it.
On his way the next class, he pulled out his phone, and found two new messages. There was one from Tina, with a simple "How's the first day? I miss you, it's a bit empty here." He texted her back that he was doing good so far, and that he would talk to her tonight. The other one was from Blaine, asking "How is school? Courage". Kurt had to smile a little at it, and he made a quick decision, sending back "Actually, I just transferred to Dalton, have my first day of classes today", before he put the phone away and found his way to his next class, politics.
It was something Kurt had been looking forward to. He liked politics and he was good at arguing with people, and he found himself sucked into the discussions and arguments, and by the end of the class, Kurt was sure he had made two new friends. They were cousins, Robert and Danny, and they had been two of the few that had kept up with him in the discussion they had had the last fifteen minutes. The three headed together to lunch talking and before Kurt had even managed to get nervous about where to sit and whatnot, he was sitting with the two boys and their friends. They were about eight boys, and from what Kurt could see, they seemed to have a table that was theirs, from the way the boys had headed there without stopping their discussion. Kurt was quickly introduced around and another discussion started up, which Kurt gladly jumped into. He got a wave from Trent and David as they passed the table, and he raised his fork to them and gave them a smile. He could see them both sitting down at another table with several figures that he recognized and realized it was probably the Warbler table. He also thought he saw David talk to what he thought was Wes and pointing towards him, but he couldn't really be sure.
Lunch break was getting close to finished, and the boys started gathering their things. Robert was also going to AP English, and Kurt gladly walked with him. Talking with these guys, it was obvious that they were some of the more academic students, and Kurt could almost feel his brain grow from all the stimulating conversation he had had. Getting to use his intellect properly was something he didn't even know he had been missing.
The rest of the classes passed by faster than Kurt would have thought possible, and he met several other people throughout the classes. In AP English, he met Wes again, in science there was at least one of the Warblers that Kurt hadn't officially met, in biology he met a new guy, Martin, and in math he sat with one of the boys from lunch, Mark, who was thankfully better at math than his last partner.
It was half an hour or so after his last class had finished, and Kurt walked into his room, loosening the tie as he walked. He had two hours before dinner, and he and a few of the boys from his math class had stopped by the dining hall to grab some food after the class. The day had been exhausting, but it had also been surprisingly good. He had met a lot of new people and he was challenged academically, and even though he missed his friends from McKinley, this felt good.
He started to undress the second he walked into the room, and pulled out his phone. Blaine had, not surprisingly, tried to call him twice, and then sent a text.
u at daltn? when did u gt hr? what hpnd?
He started typing as he was undoing the buttons on the shirt, mumbling to himself about Blaine's horrible texting language.
Yesterday. It's a bit too complicated to do over text, but how about we meet up after dinner and talk?
He continued undressing as he pressed his second speed dial, and the phone rang twice before Tina picked up.
"Kurt! Hi! How was your first day?" Kurt could hear some noise in the background a realized she had probably just finished her own classes.
"Long, but good. " He took a deep breath as he put her on speaker phone and pulled on a pair of his skinny jeans. He started telling her all about the classes and the people, and about the planned meeting with Blaine.
"I don't really know what to do about it, but I think I'll just have to let it go where it goes."
"Didn't your roommate tell you he was a flirt, anyway?"
"Yeah. Besides, except if I join the Warblers, there is no natural way for us to meet. He's in sophomore year, so the only thing we do at the same time is eat dinner and supper. But, enough about that. How is everyone?"
"Oh! Glee today was something else. We were trying to figure out how to get enough members on such short notice, and Rachel grumbled something about you leaving. Mike got really mad, and he stood up in front of everyone and basically told them to stuff it. Then he said that you had the right to care about staying alive over a stupid choir competition. They all just looked at him in shock. I don't think they even knew he could talk that much." Tina giggled, and Kurt laughed with her. He didn't want the whole world to know his business, but he had told Mike it was okay, and he was glad someone had stood up for him.
"Thank your man for me, will you? You guys really are a great support right now. " He sighed and asked her, in a quiet voice. "Is everyone as bad as Rachel?"
"Of course! And no. Puck and Santana seem to be neutral on the whole thing, though I suspect they actually support you. Sam nodded along when Mike told them off, so at least he seems to agree with us. Finn seemed to be a little pissed at Rachel for what she said, but he was on the other side of the room from me, so I can't be sure. The rest... well, I wouldn't except anything from them."
"Well, there's not much I can do about that either way. Maybe I'll send an email to Santana, Puck and Sam and see if they want to keep in contact. I'll talk to Finn whenever I go home. "
They talked for a while longer, and by the time Jeff came back, Kurt was laying on his bed.
"Hey! Did you survive the day?" Jeff started stripping from his uniform, and Kurt turned sideways on his bed so that he was looking at the blond.
"Barely, but I did make it. Met a lot of new people, but my brain is kinda exhausted."
"Yeah, that tends to happen at first, relax, it will get better."
A couple of hours later, they walked together down to dinner, and as they walked into the dining hall, Kurt was a little tense, as he had no idea where to sit, but Jeff solved that issue without knowing it. When they turned towards the tables after getting their trays, Jeff simply signaled with a nod of his head to follow him, and they walked towards a table where Kurt recognized Nick and another guy he was pretty sure was a Warbler, and three other boys. As they sat down, Kurt smiled and nodded to all the boys at the table, and Jeff introduced him all around. The names seemed to just slip out of his mind, like he had finally reached his daily limit of newness and couldn't take in any more, but as the conversations went on around him, he came with inputs here and there. Several people he knew passed the table and he smiled at them, and then Robert suddenly dropped into the seat next to him with a sigh about how he wished the cafeteria served some pizza or hamburgers, and Danny sat down across from him. A couple of the other guys from lunch followed, and Kurt was quickly drawn into a conversation with them.
After a while, people slowly started leaving the hall, the crowd getting thinner and thinner as the dinner was coming to an end. Kurt was in a deep conversation with Danny, both having finished their meals, but too invested in what they were talking about. Jeff had left a while back, telling Kurt to meet him in the room at 7.30 if he wanted to come observe the Warblers. Kurt and Danny had just gotten up from the table to continue the conversation elsewhere, when someone tapped Kurt on the shoulder. Kurt turned around to a smiling Blaine, which he had of course forgotten.
"Oh, shit! I totally forgot I was supposed to meet you, sorry." Kurt turned back to Danny, who's face had gone a little tight at the sight of Blaine. "Danny, I'm so sorry, I forgot I promised Blaine to talk about some stuff, can we continue this talk tomorrow?"
"Sure, Kurt, I'll see you at breakfast?" Kurt nodded with a smile, and the other boy continued on his way out of the hall.
Kurt turned back to Blaine with a smile and a questioning look. "Where to?"
"There's a bench just outside, if that's okay." Blaine gave him a look he couldn't quite interpret, but he shrugged it off.
"Sure." He let Blaine lead the way, and soon they were sitting out in the warm breeze.
Blaine was the one to break the silence.
"So, what happened?" He looked at Kurt with worried eyes, and Kurt sighed a little, before he started talking.
"It's kinda strange. It's just been two days here, but so much happened that I blocked out why I was here, in a way. A lot happened, and I'm not gonna tell you everything, but Karofsky took it too far. He got expelled, but then the board turned over the decision, and I didn't have many choices left. My dad and Carole offered to use their honeymoon money, and a few days later I was here. I'm eligible for some scholarships the next semester, thankfully."
Blaine pulled him into a one-armed hug for a few seconds before letting go. "Well, I'm glad you chose to come here."
*DALTON ACADEMY*
Kurt curled up in his bed that night, falling asleep almost the second his head hit the pillow. It had been an extremely intense day, and the two hours with the Warblers had been a bit much to finish with, though it had been interesting. He had been introduced and gotten to simply sit on the sidelines whilst they held the meeting. It was a rehearsal that night, with David showing everyone the dance steps for one of their sectionals numbers. Kurt could clearly see who were the dancers in the group, and when they ran through the song twice at the end, who the singers were. Kurt had an ear for music, and he quickly realized that even though Blaine was the head singer, it was not because he was the one that sang the best, but probably because of his charisma.
Kurt wanted to join, but he knew he would have to prepare himself for a different kind of glee group, and he was going to observe once more before he joined.
He had ended the day with a phone call to his father, and it had been comforting to hear his voice, and to tell him about his day. There may have been some tears, but Kurt felt he was allowed them, and if the pillow was slightly wet when he fell asleep, no one would know.