A/N: Well, hello and welcome to chapter 2! This chapter is basically all the little things that happen at Dalton around the time of The Substitute. Gives a little bit of backstory and introduces some more Warblers. The next chapter will be when Kurt comes to Dalton and things get a little more interesting from here on out because all the characters actually get to interact! Enjoy!

"It's later," Blaine sighed as he dropped his car keys onto the top of his desk and turned to face his uninvited guest, perched on the edge of his neatly made bed.

"You're screwing up my sheets, Wes." The other boy simply raised an eyebrow. "Get out."

"Make me."

"Get the fuck out, Wesley." Blaine grabbed the older boy by the arm and attempted to drag him off of the bed, but the other was so much taller than the tenor that he simply stood up and the younger boy tumbled on the bed face first, Wes returning to his seat quickly.

"Now that you're comfortable," he ignored the way Blaine grumbled as he ran his finger through his hair in the spots his gel had started to wear off. "What was all that about?"

"Hm?"

"Blaine," Wes narrowed his eyes. "Don't play dumb now, I TOLD you we were going to talk about this later. Sneaking out in the middle of the day? That's so unlike you… And could be a great threat to the Warblers if your teachers started to catch wind you aren't showing up to classes."

Blaine simply chuckled. Wes was always so formal, especially when he talked about anything Warblers-related. "Don't you know how to talk like a teenage boy?"

"Hazard of being the only mature one in this dorm, really. Of course, I do have exceptions to my usually formal demeanor."

"Uh-huh," Blaine rolled over on the bed, reaching his arm around Wes and pulling the taller boy back to sit against the headboard with him. "I'm sure David can tell me alllllllll about what filthy informal things you like to say." He winked as Wes just rolled his eye.

"In your dreams, Anderson, you know I have a girlfriend." Blaine just laughed again, "shit happens. Weren't YOU the one that said you learned the true meaning of that freshman year? I mean, I'd pay you to know exactly what you did to find that out buuuuut…" The tenor trailed off as a pillow narrowly missed hitting him directly in the face. "Anyway… a friend needed me."

Wes laughed, "your spy?" At Blaine's quizzical expression he rolled his eyes yet again. "You don't have any friends outside of guys here, remember? Mister, showed up black and blue with the weight of the world on your shoulders. You don't' even go home over breaks anymore."

"Fine, okay, I went to go see Kurt."

"Why?" Wes questioned the Warbler's lead singer, but his words were quizzical versus the malice an outsider might expect. After all, Blaine had just admitted that he left school without permission to visit a member of a sectionals rival. It would be so easy for the council head to bar Blaine from fraternizing with the enemy and report him to the dean for skipping classes. But, although Wes was hardcore about education and the Warblers, he was first and foremost a dedicated and loyal friend.

Blaine simply sighed, running his hands down his face. "It isn't my story to tell," he echoed the words Kurt had said during their lunch when the tenor had questioned him about reporting what Karofsky had done. He chanced a glance over at Wes who was staring at him curiously. "I mean it. It's not a story that I can tell."

"Is he in real trouble, B?" Wes questioned quietly, the nickname throwing Blaine off guard. No, it wasn't odd for all of the warblers to show affection and care for each other but that nickname was personal and Blaine knew that his friend must be worried if he was pulling out words like that "If he's in real honest to god trouble, you need to talk to someone."

Blaine only looked away before thinking on it and answering. "He might be," he paused for a moment before turning to his friend, hazel eyes harder than Wes had ever seen them. "No one will care. They never do."

"Blaine—"

The shorter boy cut him off. "This isn't some magical world where everything works out, Wes! This is the real world and a real public school where people snap and sometimes you end up lost and alone with no one else there! And, I'm not going to risk my friendship with him by telling a story I shouldn't' even know to someone who isn't going to do anything!"

"This is really getting to you, isn't it?"

"Maybe a little."

Wes sighed, before standing slowly and turning toward the door. He took one last fleeting look back at his friend. "Just remember, Blaine," he said as he twisted the doorknob. "Kurt may be endearing, but he isn't worth destroying your own self over."

And with that he was gone, allowing Blaine to sit alone in the dim dorm room. He knew what Wes meant, that he had made such progress since coming to Dalton last year. He had come in as a freshman, the age of a sophomore but the credits of a first year. The dean had been kind enough to allow him into the upperclassman dorms, and he no doubt as a skittish boy with curls bouncing in his eyes, had confused the sophomores who had already been in classes together for an entire year.

It had taken weeks for Blaine to feel comfortable opening up to anyone. It was only when Wes and David had found out he enjoyed singing that he was coaxed to join the Warblers, and it only went up from there. The boys had taught him how to be the perfect Dalton gentleman, cleaned him up, and offered him to last year's council for a lead spot. He had sung for his life, using the piano in the room to help score him a solo in the first competition and he never looked back. Wes was right, seeing Kurt like this was a threat to his own mental health and sanity. The spy reminded him of himself: scared and beaten down. But, like he had told Kurt the other day in the Dalton café, he had run and it was something he really regretted.

Blaine shook his head, trying to clear those thoughts from his fairly one-sided talk with Wes, and sighed. This whole thing with Kurt was going to be a lot more difficult than it looked, wasn't it?

Blaine rolled his eyes as he excused himself from the table, the hoots and catcalls from his classmates following him out of the doors. He shook his head before hitting the accept button. "Hi, Kurt!" He tried his best to have his voice remain chipper despite the fact he was dead on his feet. The week had been brutal with warblers rehearsals, exams in every class, and driving almost 2 hours to Lima twice already. Blaine was close to breaking, but this was a friendship where he had to be the strong one. At least, right now, he didn't have a choice. Plus, every moment he got to spend with Kurt was brilliant. Whether or not they became an item in the future, Blaine knew they'd always be friends. Somehow it felt like he had already know Kurt an entire lifetime when it had only been a little more than a week.

"You okay, Blaine?" The countertenor questioned from the other side of the phone. "You sound a little worn out."

"No, no," I'm good!" Blaine plastered on a smile that the other boy couldn't see and hoped it would leak into his vocal cords. "Just a little tired is all. Warbler's practice."

He heard Kurt give a laugh on the other side of the line. "Guess you don't get much time to rest, Mr. lead singer."

"Hey now, if I didn't know you better, I'd think you were fishing for secrets."

"And what if I was?"

Kurt's voice trailed off and Blaine felt his pulse increase, a pink tint covering his cheeks. Was that flirting? No, this had to be just friendly banter. Kurt wasn't in a place where he'd be considering a relationship yet. He was just happy to have a friend who understood him. The tenor coughed and ran a hand over his gelled curls. "I suppose I'd have to tell the Warbler's council, and then you, my friend," he heard the other try to stifle a giggle, "would be all on your own for rest this weekend."

"about that…" Blaine could hear the guilt in those words and for a moment thought that he had done something wrong before the other boy rushed to finish, "I was wondering if we could also bring Mercedes? I know you could only get two tickets for the show, but… we could meet her at Breadstix after? The food probably isn't what you're used to out near Dalton but it's… edible?"

"That sounded like it was a question."

"It wasn't?" Blaine could only laugh. "Okay it isn't that bad, but I do think Mercedes is feeling a little neglected. I know she has other friends but she's my closest girl and she mentioned wanting to meet you." Blaine couldn't quite figure out why the idea of Kurt talking about him to friends and wanting to show him off to his best made his stomach flip a bit. Sure, he thought Kurt was cute and who knows what would happen in the future. But, he had promised an arm's length until Kurt made the first move. He couldn't afford to have his stomach in knots anytime Kurt showed progress of them getting closer. He needed a friend, a mentor, and someone to understand him. It didn't' matter that Blaine would feel his own face heat up or his mouth go dry when Kurt fixed him with a soft gaze. That's obviously not what Kurt wanted, or needed, at the moment. And Blaine would push his own apparent feelings down for the rest of time if he had to. Blaine did the only thing he knew how in that moment and indulged Kurt's request even though it would mean possibly missing curfew at the dorm.

"Sur! I'd love that!"

"It didn't go well?" Thad looked up from his book as a thoroughly ruffled Blaine Anderson plopped down across from him in the common room. He received a slightly steely glace in return. "Okay, fine," the council member laughed. "Don't tell me."

Blaine only sighed, loosening his tie and tossing his wrinkled blazer over into the chair next to him. "I went out with Kurt tonight."

Thad raised an eyebrow over the edge of his book as if asking the other warbler to continue. Unlike some of the other boys, Thad was a little more reserved and waited for all the information before jumping to conclusions or asking questions. But the way his eyebrow rose must have alerted the tenor to how that sounded as he flushed red and rubbed the back of his neck. "Not like… not like that. We went with his one friend from school… it was nice…" He trailed off. "

"But?"

"I'm just tired, Thad." Blaine ran a hand down his face and yawned. It was almost 2 am and if it hadn't been for Nick willing to pick the lock for him, Blaine wouldn't have even made it back into the dorms. Lima wasn't the closest destination but for some reason, he couldn't tell Kurt no. Every time he tried, his heart lodged in his throat and a yes came out whether or not it was the smartest idea.

Thad just smirked at him again over the book. "stop looking at me like that!" Thad dodged the tie that came flying at him. "I just—UGH!"

"You're worse than David and the girls from Crawford, honestly Blaine. Just get it over with, ask him!"

"No." Blaine glared at the other boy. "I'm not… I'm not interested—like that—I'm not."

"Very convincing…"

With that Blaine got up, grabbing his various uniform parts, and strode off toward his room, grumbling to himself as he went. He wasn't interested, these weren't dates. He was just trying to help a friend. A really wonderful, incredible, beautiful… friend? Blaine just mentally smacked himself as he fell face-first onto his bed, ready to absorb as much sleep as he could before classes in the morning.

A/N: And that is chapter 2! I'm planning for longer chapters once Kurt actually gets to Dalton. Right now it's just a lot of Blaine and his internal monologue as well as meeting some of the Warblers. Hopefully, it's enjoyable enough!