Chapter 4

A huge "Welcome Back Students" banner was posted on the front door of McKinley on the first day of school. Blaine frowned as he got out of the car.

"Another glorious year at McKinley," he murmured as he turned back to look at his mother.

Blaine's mom blew him a kiss before she drove off, and that was it. Here he was back at the last place on earth he wished to be. He walked the hallways like a ghost. Weaving in and out the student traffic like a pro he had avoided seeing anyone on the way to his classes. And lucky for him none of his fellow glee club members were in any of his classes.

As he sat in homeroom he zoned out thinking about places he would rather be, anywhere but here. As his teacher crooned on and on about signing papers and code of conducts, he sleepily watched the time waiting for the bell to ring.

Class after class Blaine sat there absentminded. To his chagrin one question popped into his head.

"I wonder what Kurt's doing right now?"

XXXX

"Kurt you have to admit it was quite a gamble." Rachel sat down next to Kurt who was a babbling mess and handed him another Kleenex to wipe away is tears. "I warned you not to get your hopes up to high, because they can just crash and burn right before your eyes."

Kurt dabbed his eyes and cheeks as he took a deep breath. He looked at Rachel who was now patting him on the knee. He had been horribly rejected at his The Boy From Oz audition. Afterwards he just came back to Rachel's dorm where he told her what happened through sobs while sitting in the fetal position on the couch.

"Thanks for the pep talk Rachel." Kurt said frowning up at her.

Rachel smiled as she tried to comfort her friend, "I'm sorry, I'm just telling the truth. And I'm sure…" she paused, "That's all Blaine was trying to tell you as well."

Kurt smacked his lips. "No, Blaine was being selfish! He didn't want me to come because he wanted to spend every waking moment with me. He gave me no support, just convinced me I couldn't do it. Well, I bet he'll be pretty happy he was right!"

"Kurt don't talk like that. Blaine loves you more than anything, and I'm sure he didn't want you to be disappointed." She grabbed another Kleenex and handed it to Kurt who now had more tears streaming down his face from thinking about Blaine. "And I bet you hurt him really badly leaving without saying goodbye."

Kurt pondered on her words. He all of a sudden remembered the last thing he said to Blaine. "Just go." That was all he said to the man who he loved, and who loved him. Or, used to love him. He couldn't get out of his head the hurt look on Blaine's face when he kicked him out. His beautiful face stained with tears, and his hazel eyes filled with sadness. How could Blaine love him now, after all he had done to him?

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Rachel stood up and sighed, "Well, what are you going to do now? I mean I've enjoyed your company this past month but, you need to go back home." She put her hand on her hip.

"Rachel!" Kurt glared at her in surprise, "Sick of me already?"

"Never!" She walked over to the kitchen and opened one of the cabinets above the counter, "But you need to go talk to Blaine. Tell him you're sorry, hell, he might forgive you."

Somehow Rachel read Kurt's mind.

He stood up from the couch and made his way to the bathroom. "Yeah right, good excuse." He smiled with his back turned to her.

"Kurt Hummel!" Rachel called his name sternly. She slammed down the cereal box she had been pouring into a bowl on the counter.

Kurt spun around and looked at Rachel who had one of those strict mom looks on her face.

"Yes?" Kurt rolled his eyes. Her death glare was killing him. "Okay, Okay! I'm going. I'll start packing today. Are you happy?"

Rachel smiled to show her satisfaction, "Very."

XXXX

"Blaine! It's so good to see you!" Mr. Shue exclaimed as he walked into glee club.

He smiled weakly, "Yeah, Thanks. Good to see you too, Mr. Shue."

Everyone seemed so happy. Hugging and talking. Laughing about they're summers and what songs they want to do this year. Blaine sat in a chair next to Sam as Mr. Shue started class.

"Okay! This year! Like every other one I can tell it's gonna be a great one!"

Sam who was sitting next to Blaine looked over and noticed the sad look on a once happy Blaine's face.

"Hey dude, what's getting you down?"

Blaine looked up and stared off for a while. Sam could tell he looked extremely tired, like he hadn't slept in days.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah man, nothing. I'm just uhh," Blaine rubbed his eye as he faked a yawn, "A little tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Now, I know that we won Nationals last year and I'm so proud of you guys. We worked hard to get there, and I want to make sure that this year, we come as hard as we did last year to win it again." Mr. Shue smiled as everyone cheered quietly.

"Oh," Sam reduced his voice to a whisper so Mr. Shue couldn't hear. He stared at Blaine a moment longer before saying the one sentence he was dreading. "How's Kurt?"

"He's great." Blaine uttered back, "He's just… great."

"… so let's get to work guys!" Mr. Shue was ending his pep-lecture. "Of course with all the seniors from last year gone we're going to have to recruit more members. So I want you guys to think of a song to perform as a recruiting number to perform at the back to school assembly this Friday."

"Oh no," Tina said frowning, "Last year we did the Go-Go's and we got spaghetti facials!"

Artie chimed in, "Yeah, Mr. Shue that was no fun."

"Aww come on guys," Mr. Shue laughed as he sat on a stool in front of them. "We need some motivation, let's get that spark back we had last year at nationals! We need more people or we won't be going back."

"I'm all about doing a big number for the school," Sugar said standing and walking towards Mr. Shue. "I think I have the perfect song for this kind of situation."

Everyone looked at Sugar in surprise. "Really?" Mr. Shue said raising his eyebrow.

Sugar smiled, "Of course. I've been told I'm very persuasive. And you guys inspired me to audition last year!"

"Yeah, how could we forget that," Brittany said under her breath.

"I'm sure I can have something prepared for tomorrow."

"And we can't wait to see it," Mr. Shue said as the bell rang.

XXXX

Blaine was at his locker putting up his things after a long day. He was hanging up his pictures when he came across one of him and Kurt. It was a picture they had taken when they were just goofing around, Kurt was the one holding the camera in front of them as Blaine kissed his cheek. Kurt's eyes were closed as he smiled that beautiful smile. Blaine held back tears as he put the picture back in his locker and slammed it.

"Hey unnamed stranger!"

Blaine looked up at the familiar voice. He recognized him, the boy from the mall.

"Oh, hey."

The boy frowned as he realized Blaine wasn't that happy to see him.

Blaine spoke up as he saw this, "It's Blaine by the way."

"Blaine, huh?" The boy seemed a bit more exited now, he extended his hand. "I'm Will. Very nice to officially meet you Blaine."

Blaine shook his hand and smiled wryly, "Yeah, you too." He walked away from his locker making his way toward the door, "So, how was your first day?"

Will sighed as he walked alongside Blaine, "It was, okay. Better than I thought it would be."

"Well, that's good to know. I remember my first day here," Blaine smiled as he reminisced, "I did a musical number in the courtyard to get into glee club. All of a sudden, a piano got set on fire!"

"Oh my God!" Will gasped, "That's horrible! But wait, what happened afterwards?" They had stopped walking in the middle of the hallway once Will heard Blaine's story.

"Oh, nothing they kind of blamed me for it but really it was Sue and her cheerios that set it on fire."

Will looked relieved, "Oh, I guess that explains it."

Blaine laughed, "Yeah."

"And this glee club? Did you get in?"

"Yeah. I mean the performance was going pretty well before then."

"Oh, I guess that's good." Will smiled at Blaine as he pushed the front door to the school open. "Can I join?"

Blaine raised his eyebrow as he walked out into the warm Ohio air, "Glee Club? Yeah, sure… I guess." Blaine stopped in front of Will, "Can you sing?"

"Sure!" Will smiled brightly as if I had just asked him if he wanted a million dollars, "Or so I've been told."

Blaine looked at the boy for a moment, "Okay, we rehearse tomorrow at 3. You can sing for me then."

Will jumped up and down, "Oh my God! I can't wait!"

Then he ran off waving goodbye as he hurriedly got into a black SUV that had just pulled up in front of the school. Blaine sat there smiling and puzzled for a moment before he just shrugged his shoulders and headed to the curb where his mom would soon arrive. For some reason, he couldn't help but feel exited for 3 o'clock tomorrow.