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'Sometimes you have to make choices that you don't want to make. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices you don't want to make. But you have to because if you don't, who knows what kind of chaos may unfold.' – Hunter Clarington
Despite the loss of the trophy which had resulted in there now being an empty cabinet with a velvet edge and a blazer that hadn't been removed, the morale of the group had not dropped. Their courses of PEDs were taking their effect, Whistle had practically doubled in energy and the synchronicity was even more evident. Even Jeff was getting much better and was able to keep up with how Hunter had organised the group.
But Hunter still had two problems that he had managed to avoid up until now. The first one came in the form of who would take the lead for Live While We're Young. He had seen both Nick and Sebastian show how strong they were as leads and although he was certain that they weren't going to lose, there was always that niggling feeling that told him they might not make it. It was a very real fear and if they didn't make it, it would mean that one of them wouldn't get to perform for the last time. They had both insisted that Hunter took Whistle as he knew what he was doing and neither of them could execute the backflip from standing.
His second one was Trent. He was a really nice boy and had the biggest heart but had been the one who had openly opposed Hunter's trick. He hadn't mentioned anything to the faculty, purely through fear that he would suddenly find himself without any friends. But there were always the looks of doubt cast in the direction when the boys suddenly found themselves more eager to perform impromptu. Not that they had told him, he had been given the silent treatment for the first few days after the problem with the trophy. Everyone had been too mad to speak to him and although this had subsided after a few days, in the knowledge that they needed to concentrate on Sectionals more than ever now if they didn't have the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle. They just had to craft it themselves and they would be complete.
Hunter sat in the Warbler Hall, he had a free period and he knew he should have been revising for the pop quiz, well it was a mock finals paper disguised as a pop quiz that they had in AP Math the following day but he wasn't concerned with that at the moment. No, his efforts were far more concentrated on the Sectionals competition that was now just two weeks away. Whistle was perfected and Live While We're Young was most certainly on the way there. They were practising tomorrow after the quiz in the gymnasium, their high jumps over each other that had many risks but would undoubtedly impress the judges. Hunter knew that it was now or never that he would have to break it to the boys about who was going to take the lead role.
He sunk his head into his hands, taking in a deep breath. Sometimes he adored being the captain, the sense of having control and being able to tell other boys what they could and couldn't do. But sometimes it was an absolute nightmare. The whole issue with Trent still bugged him and while the boy was an absolute gem, the performance of Fighter proving it beyond a doubt. His conscience told him that there was no way he could kick Trent off the Warblers. He had to go through a formal procedure with the faculty and he would then have to explain why the longest standing member of the Warblers was unfit to compete. And that would lead to the revealing of their well-kept secret that was in no way legal. And goodness knows where that could land him if anyone outside of the group of 15 of them knew.
Sebastian had a glint in his eye that was sure to make the female judges and audience members swoon as well as a voice that was well trained and could hit the notes with ease. Nick however had a pure and raw voice that was beautiful because it was untrained and could blend in with the other voices easily. Both boys could lift up and encourage the voices of the others which was exactly what they needed right now. So how on earth was he supposed to choose who was the better singer? Who did the boys enjoy working with more and feel comfortable being lead from? Hunter knew his answer but he had to think hard as to which one the boys actually sounded better under. Was it the same or different?
He sighed as he realised he knew the answer. As much as that boy was seriously talented, Live While We're Young was just more suited to Sebastian. Nick could pull off sexy, as Jeff was constantly telling everyone, and he didn't want to know anything more than that. But Sebastian's flirtatious side came out so much more naturally when he sang, the direct eye contact with everyone and the gentle smile rather than smirk that graced his lips. It was like casting for a show, there were two fine actors both perfect for the role but when it came down to it, it was only the minuscule differences that divided them and showed the person in charge, in this case him, which of them just about had the edge over the other.
So Hunter sighed and made a mental note to tell Sebastian and Nick privately about who was going to get the part. He already could anticipate the look of disappointment on Nick's face and the adulation on Sebastian's. With a boy who liked to boast or proclaim his successes, it would be a very testing time as a group for his friends who were very close. He laid his head on the desk and willed for the impossible sets of formulae he had to remember and be able to apply for tomorrow morning's test to enter and make sense in his brain. Why did he ever think that school could get worse than his junior year?
The group of friends that Hunter valued so much were unaware of the boy's dilemma however, like their friend, they were not preparing for any quiz. Sure all of them actually had the same test, although perhaps a degree easier as algebra did not come as easily to some people, but none of them were too fussed about it.
No, they had decided that they had far more important things to do in the form of research. The group: Nick, Jeff, Jon, Trent and Sebastian could be found in Sebastian's room. It wasn't as suggestive as that, one of them was perfectly straight and would run out of the room screaming like a banshee if anything did start to happen. No, they were doing something slightly dodgier in the fact that the activity they were partaking in wasn't exactly legal. When activities online usually involved searching for information on someone without their permission, it wasn't exactly encouraged.
Google was their first port of call and Sebastian had grabbed the projector out of Jon's room, where movie nights were more than often held for the Warblers or seniors, so that they would not all crowd around his computer. He deftly typed in the name of their captain, full title and it was surprising how quickly results could come up.
"Hey, they've got a profile on him in the school database." Trent pointed out. "Second website down."
Sebastian nodded and clicked on the link. There were groans as an automated request for a username and password to access the Colorado Springs Military Academy database and the gelled hair boy smirked as brought up an application and started to type furiously. "Don't worry my little Jedi in training." There were a few raised and confused eyebrows at this statement but Sebastian ignored this as he continued. "Did you forget that I am excellent at hacking databases and finding out usernames and passwords?"
Nick frowned. "Um…won't we potentially get into so much trouble, especially as we are hacking into a military database?"
Sebastian snorted as he dismissed the idea. "Military Academy and I'm not really hacking into them, just working my way around it."
Nick wanted to protest but found he couldn't argue with this if it was going to answer the burning questions that he had been itching to find the answers to. It didn't take the boy very long and it was as if the username and password came up without Sebastian's assistance and they were in. what they were not expecting when they found themselves in the website, was the pictures of Hunter. How had anyone not noticed the changes in the boy? There was a file on his career, his sporting and academic achievements, his leading of the Springboks from the age of 14.
But his file finished at the end of his junior year. Hunter had joined the boys at Dalton a month into their senior year and whether it was because he had not completed his senior year or whether it was because he had transferred out at the end of his junior year and then just decided not to join them until September, it was unclear. The only clue as to what had happened to their captain lay in the three sentence paragraph at the bottom of the page:
'Lieutenant H N Clarington is no longer at Colorado Springs. His whereabouts are unknown but his lack of return at the start of his senior year resulted in him being struck off the registers. His title, however, still stands.'
Allowing the boys time to ponder this factor, Sebastian turned his and their attention to the photos that accompanied the page of Hunter. There were several smirks at the photos of a much younger Hunter in his first few school photographs. "This is such good blackmail material." Jeff smirked.
It was Sebastian, surprisingly, who shook his head in disagreement with this statement. "If this is worse than we know and could possibly imagine right now, I don't think that we should even try to use this material for blackmail, I don't think it's fair."
The boys stared at him in surprise. "Who are you and what have you done with Sebastian Smythe?" Trent stared openly at his friend; this was perhaps the greatest change they had seen in their friend who last year was more than happy to blackmail someone into revealing information about themselves.
Sebastian shrugged. "Blaine Anderson and last year happened, that's what." He spoke nonchalantly but then frowned as he pointed to a picture with the laser pointer he had next to him. "Look at these two photos." The boys' attention was quickly diverted from their friend to the pictures that he was pointing at. "This one was taken at the start of his junior year, August 2011." They smiled as they saw the picture of the Hunter that they knew and recognised, a little younger of course but with the same wide smile and piercing eyes. "But look at this, this picture was taken just three weeks later. How on earth could such a change so quickly happen?"
There were numerous gasps as the picture came up on the screen. It was taken with the multiple society set of photos and this one found Hunter with his show choir, the Springboks. They all looked incredibly smart, with a show choir uniform very similar to the Dalton ones but in khaki colours and their berets were placed at a jaunty 45 degree angle. But it was not the uniformity and the close knit group that the collection seemed to exude that caught the boys' attention but the focus of the group which lay in their captain. The change between the two photos was more than shocking, it was indeed alarming. Hunter's cheeks were sinking in, his eyes hollow and had lost the sparkle that they now were used to and had seen in the previous photograph. His hands and most of his skin was covered but there were clear signs of bruising on his face and anyone of them would bet that there were more that were covered by material layers.
They could see the few cuts that scattered his face that could only be detected if they zoomed in on the photo and the boy himself and there was silence for a few minutes as this sunk in. it was as bad, perhaps slightly less or more they couldn't quite make the correct judgement just then, than the video they had seen, but this was not normal.
"What the heck?" Jon iterated the thoughts of all those around him. "How does that happen? How can he go to that from his first photo? What happened?"
Nick shook his head, the words stuck in his throat and it took some considerable effort to reply to those statements. "I don't know. None of us are exactly medics so we can't tell."
It took some effort to process the thought and then Jeff brightened. "But we do know someone who is a medic who specialises in recognising wounds and maltreatment."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "We do?"
Jeff sighed. "I forgot, you don't Sebastian but the rest of us do. Our old Head Warbler, Wes Montgomery is currently in training at Yale. He'd gladly help us out, whatever was going on."
The others exclaimed at Jeff's stroke of genius and Nick gave his boyfriend a quick peck on the cheeks. "I'm still in contact with Wes." Trent smiled. "I'll contact him later and see if we can't send those photos through. Perhaps we could even work out a Skype call or something."
The atmosphere was a little less tense now that they had a solution to work out another problem they had found themselves faced with. Before anyone could speak further though, a shrill bell rang and the five boys nearly jumped out of their skins. "Warbler Practise!" Jon exclaimed loudly.
"AP Math pop quiz!" Jeff groaned.
"Math for non-geeks pop quiz!" Sebastian groaned, earning him a friendly punch in the arm from his friend. It was a running joke between those in AP Math who weren't stuck up and those not in the class who weren't jealous and it was enjoyed by most of the year.
As they raced off, Trent's heart lifted a little. Perhaps there would be a good consequence of them finding out about their new friend. Perhaps they would finally get to know the real man behind the blazer.
So, what do you think? We will finally get to see a Warbler of the Golden Era of Blaine's sophomore year!