Triple A didn't take long. The guy gave him enough gas to get to the gas station down the road.

"Shouldn't you be in school right now?"

"Uh... parent teacher conference day..." Blaine lied. Cut me a break man.

Once his car was fully functional again, Blaine headed off to Dalton to face what he expected was just the beginning of punitive experiences for the day. He didn't even bother sneaking around when he got back. It was 5 minutes before the next class, the detention was already inevitable. He breezed by the front office, ignoring the confused look from the nosy secretaries there.

"You have to sign in, Blaine-" one of them called out.

Not if I never signed out. Blaine just kept walking to Algebra, which was just getting out.

"Dude, where you been all period?" Jeff asked, chuckling. "No one's seen you hardly all day so Mr. Davis thought you were at the nurse."

Blaine just shrugged and ignored his friends looks, hanging in the back of the classroom until everyone had cleared out. He could try to lie and say that he had been feeling sick but... he really didn't have the energy to be deceitful right now. Besides, he'd be found out one way or another. His parents were so evil about these things that if he didn't cop to it with the school they'd call themselves to say he was lying.

Mr. Davis was grading a stack of papers and didn't look up until the last student had left and shut the door. "Blaine! Where have you been? I was just going to give he school nurse a call-"

"Yeah, um. I- wasn't there, sir."

Mr. Davis was confused. He didn't think Blaine had even gotten a demerit for chewing gum before. This wasn't a kid who would miss class without a really good reason. "Is- everything okay, Blaine?"

Well except for the fact that I won't be able to sit comfortably for awhile once my father's through with me tonight...

"Ye-es sir. I- just came to get the homework and... uh... I..." Blaine looked at the floor. "I need to apologize since I kinda blew off your class today."

Dalton had an Honor Code but Mr. Davis had never seen such... abject honesty in these circumstances before.

"You just- skipped my class?"

"...Yes sir."

Dumbfounded, Mr. Davis reached into one of the drawers in his desk. He tried to locate his teacher voice again, pulling out a mimeographed form.

"You know I have to write you up for that."

Blaine nodded, scuffing his shoe on the floor.

"I'm... surprised at you Mr. Anderson."

"Yes sir. I- I'm sorry sir."

Mr. Davis filled out the form quickly and tore off the top page. "You'll have detention Friday, but this has to be returned with parent signatures to the front office first thing tomorrow morning."

"I know sir." Blaine sheepishly walked to the desk and took it.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yes sir. Lot on my mind is all."

"Okay." Mr. Davis handed Blaine a packet.

"This is the unit review packet for homework. Test tomorrow."

Oh goody.

"Thanks sir."

"Now you best get going before you're late for your next class."

"Yes sir. Sorry again sir..." Blaine shuffled out, rushing down the hall and arriving at Composition just in the nick of time.

The rest of the afternoon Blaine kept a low profile. He went through the motions of his classwork, but was thankful none of the teachers did their surprise!-call-on-the-guy-that-doesn't-have-his-hand-raised thing today. He didn't feel like talking. Nick tried to grab him after Composition to find out where he'd been all day, but he just brushed him off saying he didn't feel like talking about it right now and kept on walking. He did his best to blend into the background at Warbler practice, which was largely taken up by Wes' endless scolding of the group for not learning their harmonies. As soon as they were released Blaine made a beeline for the parking lot instead of his usual hanging around catching up on gossip with the boys. He wasn't in any hurry to meet his fate but he figured maybe Mom and Dad would be easier on him if he at least didn't show up late for dinner...