"Hello? Blaine can you hear me?" The unfamiliar voice and my lack of vision made me panic suddenly as I started to wake up but after a few seconds the blurry colours fit together to show me I had nothing to fear. Lili, Gus, Clarissa and my Mom were standing over my bed with the same expression of pure horror and concern; my eyes fixated on my Mom as I realised her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"Where am I?" My throat was raw and my head pounded, after I asked the question I realised it was stupid because I was obviously in a hospital room with a doctor eyeing my cautiously. "Why am I here?"

"Oh B you don't remember anything?" Lili grabbed my hand and I winced, it was bruised but not bandaged. I shook my head instead of talking and examined the rest of my body, everything ached especially my ribs and face but the only thing that was wrapped up was my right leg, which had a cast from the toes to mid thigh. "It was awful B, I thought you were dead," she whimpered suddenly and loudly; I was surprised by Clarissa comforting her softly.

"Dead? What happened did I get hit by a ca-" Then it flooded back into my brain, standing with Tyler outside the school and two figures suddenly jumping out at us. "Oh God is Ty alright?"

"Mr. Crawford is doing just fine," the doctor replied with a deep voice that made me jump slightly, "you on the other hand need to take things easy for a while. Nothing major, a few cracked ribs and some sternum bruising but your leg; shattered knee cap and multiple hairline fractures in the shinbone," I stared at him in disbelief. "You'll have a few months of gruelling therapy ahead of you but I hear you're quite the swimmer and we can make sure we have you in the water as much as possible," I know he was trying to comfort me but I didn't really want to hear it, I knew the answer to the question I was about to ask.

"What about track?"

"Yes, urm we'll see how things goes, never say never!" With that he nodded to my mother and left the room briskly, I realised he hadn't told me anything about Tyler.

"Please can someone tell me what happened? Is Tyler really OK? Who did this?"

"Ty is fine, he got off a bit lighter than you," Lili's voice was harsh and cold, like there was something that she wasn't telling me.

"Oh Lili he did hit back, he fractured his hand remember?" Gus said this nervously glancing at Lili, what is wrong with people? When did 'tell me what happened' mean 'tell him as little as possible'?

"Fuck that," my mother gasped but didn't scold the young girl, "look at B! He won't get to run or be on the soccer team this year! He probably won't get to swim for at least two semesters and we all know he was up for nationals! Even if he wasn't he has a broken leg and cracked ribs, while that twat just has a hand ache!" The blonde girl was angrier than I had ever seen her, her heavy breathing filled the room and no one dared to speak until my Mom stood up and left the room not looking at me again. I had a feeling she was only here to look like a good person while her son lay nearly dying, since I was going to be fine she had no need to be here and I was glad, I didn't want to see her anyway. I was angry at my parents, this had happened because they hated me, they hadn't protected me like they should of and now something had happened they didn't even give a shit. I wanted Sierra, I wonder if anyone had told her? Really she didn't need the stress especially at the moment, God I could imagine her absolutely losing her head if she knew what had happened to me.


A few days later I was released to go home with my very awkward cast but I had a wheelchair even though all I could think of was the utter chaos people would create with it.

"SiSi I'm FINE, it's just a broken leg…"

"BLAINE IT'S NOT A FUCKING BROKEN LEG, SOMEONE TRIED TO KILL YOU AND OUR PARENTS HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, THE SCHOOL HAS DONE NOTHING, WHY ARE YOU SO LAID BACK ABOUT THIS!" She was screaming at the top of her lungs, I had tried to calm her down but Dan had warned me from the background to just take it. "FUCK BLAINE! Seriously I'm getting you the fuck out of that place, you're either moving schools or coming to live with me!"

My heart had jumped at that, living with Si and Dan in New York would have been my absolute dream, I could do anything I wanted to without fear but I couldn't intrude on them like that. Although Sierra couldn't get the time off work to be here physically she rung every night to check on me and less than a week later her relentless energy paid off.

I had changed four times so far; first a dark grey suit with a waistcoat and no jacket, then a casual turtle neck and skinny jeans, then my school uniform but finally with help from Sarah I had decided on a white shirt with rolled up sleeves, a thin black jumper and some very expensive jeans. Interviews, although I hadn't had many, didn't usually make me nervous but today everything was hanging on this, my future was hanging on the way I sold myself to these people.

Dalton Academy was about twenty minutes from my house; it was a very large Georgian house that had been transformed into a boarding school for boys in 1901. We drove through the huge gates and I started to get shaky, my parents had been completely silent throughout the ride, they couldn't decide how this would look to everyone else. When I hopped out the car with my crutches I noticed the huge fountain and the designed hedges, I wanted to laugh at the grandness of it all but as I soaked it all in it felt right, like this place deserve to have this air about it. We walked towards to front entrance stairs where a boy in his impeccable navy and red uniform stood smiling insanely, next to him was an equally neat woman who must have been late 40s with a flawless but obvious botox job.

"Ah Mr. and Mrs Anderson I'm so glad you could come, I'm Ms. Moore, deputy headmistress," they shook hands firmly. "And this is Gabriel Vanderas our head boy, he's here to show Blaine round," her eyes fell on me and I was sure she hadn't blinked in over two minutes. I shook hands with the senior boy, his green eyes glittered as though he had just been given charm shots and to be honest I wouldn't have put it past somewhere like this. Inside was beautiful; the floors were marble, the furniture was antique and there was the most exquisite sweeping staircase up to the dorms. Gabriel showed me round separately from my parents because my sister had been the one to arrange this meeting and she had no quams about explaining the situation at the moment, which was rather embarrassing and relieving at the same time. We ran into a few other students around campus, they all smiled in the same way but somehow it wasn't creepy it was comforting, they just seemed happy.

"I love it," I breathed out loud and Gabe laughed next to me.

"It's pretty spectacular but it is school remember Blaine, it's tough here because in the end it's grades above anything else, including heritage," he directed the last part at me with a strong look. Sometimes being an Anderson really fucking sucked.

"I know and I'm looking forward to it, this" I motioned at my leg, "is getting old, I just want to do my studies without anyone… Bothering me."

"Well Dalton has a very strict no bullying policy and when I say strict I mean it, you won't have to worry about it here." He paused for the first time in our long tour before glancing up, "if you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

"Uh, just…" I swallowed nervously, for the first time in a very long time I didn't want to tell him I was gay, I didn't want him to know, everything bad that had happened to me was because I had said those words but I knew that lying would be worse than anything else. "I was attacked because… I'm gay," I found myself staring at my shoes unable to look at Gabriel in the eyes.

"Assholes," he hissed before collecting himself and putting a hand on my should, "I think you'd be gladly welcomed to Dalton Blaine, just one tiny thing first,"

"The interview."


Christmas that year was one of the best, my letter of acceptance from Dalton had come a few days before Sierra's wedding and my parents were finally on board after Dad casually mentioned it and the school had gotten the highest praises from all the highest people. I decided not to tell my friends about Dalton just yet, since my leg was broken no one had even dared to give me a funny look in fear of being dragged away by police who had been called in (much to my surprise). It seemed like things were getting better but it all felt so hard, every smile was hard, every word I shared with the people at my school was hard because I knew they didn't care for me just for themselves. I left all these thoughts behind as I dressed in my light grey suit and icy blue tie to fit Sierra's winter wonderland wedding. My doctor had let me swap out my fixed cast to more flexible and subtle one so I could finally wear trousers normally and walk with less fear of toppling over at the slightest uneven ground.

Sierra's dress was tinted with the slightest blue hue and her slight bump wasn't accentuated or hidden by the layered silk, I was standing on her side of the altar with the bride's maids but that was where I belonged; by her side. When I saw her I cried and when they said their vows I cried and when they kissed I cried but I was so happy, in that moment I was so happy and nothing else mattered at all. The feeling lasted through the rest of the holidays, I happily remained in New York for New Years and spent the night with Chinese food on the sofa with the new happy couple. At midnight among the happy new year texts was one from Luke, the first time we'd talked this year:

-Did you ever imagine you'd be here in this moment last year? – L

My heart fluttered slightly at the memory of his lips but I didn't reply I didn't let myself feel anything for him because there was nothing to feel, he had made a complete mess of my life and I was too happy to think about it as much as it required thinking about. I curled into Sierra, a hand on her stomach and just let everything wash out of my head because I knew all too soon I would have to go back and face everything all over again.

This is longer than I ever thought it would be!