Blaine hadn't had any peace since that day. Wes and David had decided to 'let slip' to the biggest gossip in the academy about his situation, and since then everyone at Dalton couldn't stop talking about it. He was the butt of several jokes, and now even the teachers knew about it. Needless to say, everyone thought it was highly amusing. People had taken to watching The Bachelor on YouTube and asking Blaine things like; so did you put your boxers in Kurt's pocket? How did he react? Blaine had been uncomprehending until he'd finally seen a clip of some ditsy woman doing that very thing to their British bachelor.
He was approached by Wes a few days after the date, and was immediately whisked off to the car. Apparently the Asian had just been called by the coach to inform them that they had to go now to the next round for the 'Rainbow Ceremony' as she called it. David was already in the driver's seat, and Blaine decided that he'd have to start hiding his car keys in a safer place, because this was just getting ridiculous. He resolutely put on his headphones and turned up the volume of his iPod as high as it would go, hoping to drown out his friend's ramblings. A vain hope, as it turned out.
After several threats, screams, back-seat driving and one near collision, they reached the McKinley lot, and once again Wes and Blaine were made to find their way through the empty school to the gym. Blaine noted that there were janitors every so often cleaning up brightly coloured spills, and frowned, wondering what the substance was. Wes soon figured it out.
"Are those slushies?" He bent down to peer at the ground, and nodded to himself, looking rather confused. "These guys must be extremely clumsy. That's like the sixth puddle I've seen."
Blaine suddenly realised. This was suspiciously familiar. "I think they throw them at people." Wes looked horrified, and was about to ask how Blaine knew this, but caught the dark look that crossed the shorter boy's features and closed his mouth. Wes knew that he was thinking of his previous experiences at public school, and a shot of pity went through him. The world just didn't understand. It wasn't like being different was necessarily dangerous. Prejudice went deep down into the core of society, like a weed. He had been the target of some of it himself for his roots, but not on the same level that Blaine had.
It wasn't too difficult to find the gym again, and soon they found themselves sitting on the bleachers once again. Grant and Steve were already there, talking quietly. They nodded to Wes and Blaine in greeting, and Blaine found Kurt's comments on their dates running through his head. It didn't seem like Kurt would be eliminating them today, judging from his reactions. Wes was hoping he'd be out pretty soon, as this wasn't doing much good for his reputation at Dalton either. Besides, now that Blaine actually knew Kurt a little better, Wes was sure the boy wasn't going to run away anytime soon. He'd seen the way they looked at each other, and had felt like high fiving David right there.
The door opened and Jake wandered in. He greeted them with a cheerful 'Hey,' and sat down next to Wes. There was still the problem of the other guys. Wes knew that Kurt definitely was not attracted to Michael, but he didn't seem to mind the others. Maybe he and David would have to 'intervene', to ensure the success of their mission, and of course, Blaine's happiness. Because they were doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. Obviously.
Michael arrived, not bothering to make any sign of acknowledgment towards his opposition, and just the way he swaggered in made Wes' teeth go on edge. He mentally decided that he and David would have to do something about him, maybe knock him down a couple of pegs on the self-important scale. The boy looked as if he thought himself God's gift to gays. But by the way Blaine's nose wrinkled as he caught the strong waft of cologne that the boy seemed to be saturated with, there were at least two gays who definitely did not agree.
After another five minutes of awkward silence, the door opened and that crazy Sylvester woman and Kurt walked in. The boy looked a little nervous to have them all staring at him, and Wes felt the need to wink at him, just to see his reaction. Kurt smirked and winked back, prompting Michael to turn around and glare angrily at Wes, upon seeing who he happened to be directing the wink to. The coach didn't seem to notice.
"Now my flaming men, Porcelain has told me that you have all completed Round One. Let's just hope for your sake that you completed it well. Now one of you is going to be sent home today to go cry over your fashion magazines. After that person has been selected and left in a fit of tears and shame, the rest of you will be told about what the next round has to offer. Now, over to Porcelain." She stepped back, as Blaine made a mental note to ask about that nickname. That is, if he got a chance to.
Kurt cleared his throat, and looked at each of them. "First, I'd like to thank you all for the dates. I really enjoyed getting know all of you and spend some time with each of you individually, in most cases." This last part he directed at Blaine and Wes, the latter grinning and shrugging. "But, I have to choose out of all of you which person wouldn't be getting any further in the competition. I thought about it for a long time," Wes could see the boy fighting back a smile at this. Pssh, he'd decided from the first night obviously. "and I've come to a decision. The person I'm going to be sending out...is Michael."
Said boy looked murderous, and jumped to his feet. Wes gagged at the wave of Lacoste that hit him and coughed loudly, earning smiles from the other boys. "What the hell?" Michael shouted, striding up towards Kurt and the coach. "You do realise that you're sending the wrong guy out? This is a mistake, right?" Kurt frowned and shook his head, dropping all pretence of regret.
"No, it's not a mistake. My date with you was the worst out of all of them! You're obnoxious, overconfident and overbearing, not to mention annoying." Michael looked as if someone had just punched him. He stood there, mouth opening and closing for a few seconds, before stepping towards Kurt threateningly. The coach immediately stepped forward, directing a face that would have had Wes running for the hills at the boy who was several inches taller than her.
"Just try it, Beiber Boy, I dare you." After a second, he stepped back. "Didn't think so. Now, get out of here before I call the cops ad have you arrested for crimes against vision." Michael scowled at her and Kurt, before turning on his heel and storming out with not nearly as much swagger as he had previously possessed. As soon as the door closed, Sue turned to the rest of them.
"Now, on to the next round. Porcelain here is extremely talented, as I am sure you are aware, and he needs to be with someone who can handle that talent, as well as try and match it. That's why tomorrow night you will all return here to perform your talent, which can be anything that doesn't involve nudity or any forms of hair gel,"
She directed a glare at Blaine, while Wes fought back a triumphant punch in the air. He wondered briefly what the coach had against hair gel, but decided against asking. "After a brief judging period, Kurt will pick two boys to send home, because frankly, I can't be bothered waiting for one boy each week to go. It gets boring."
Finally got rid of Michael! Huzzah! Sorry about the rather abrupt ending, but I have an RMPS exam tomorrow and have done little to no revision, so I will have to leave you with this for now. Thank you to everyone for reviewing/alerting/favouriting. Any suggestions for the boy's talent entries? Any favourites you want to go through to the next round? As I have said before, this story can go anywhere really. Every day I have a very, very brief idea of the next chapter, so really I am open to ideas. After all, ths started off as someone else's idea.