He walked into the room, and for half a second, it felt like any other day.

But it wasn't. It was the final. The test that would make or break him, and his grade. It was all riding on a 100-question exam over freshman-level biology.

He really began to panic as he took a seat and stared down at the test packet. It was huge. There was no way he could do it.

The whole reason Blaine was so worried over finals was because Dalton standards were high. He was used to being above-average back at his old school, but here it was competitive, fast-paced, and overwhelming for Blaine as he tried to keep up. After a semester of struggling to maintain his grades, it all came down to his final test. Blaine had studied for well over a week, but still felt unprepared. He hated taking tests more than anything.

"You can start when the bell rings," his teacher instructed. "No talking. Turn it in to the basket when you're finished. It will be graded by the end of the day."

Blaine felt his heart beat faster as he glanced up at the clock. One minute until the bell. The last few students trickled in, and his teacher shut the door behind them. There was no turning back.

It was the last Monday of the year, so for the previous two days, Blaine had immersed himself into his textbook. He skipped meals and the Warblers end of the year party just to study. When he thought about it, Blaine couldn't think about the last time he had eaten. Oh, well. He was too nervous to eat.

Sleeping had been another issue. Friday and Saturday night, Blaine worked into the early morning, and woke up after just a few hours of sleep to continue learning everything he could in preparation for his test. On Sunday night, he tried to put everything away and relax, but still didn't fall asleep until after 2 am. He felt like, and probably resembled, a zombie.

When the bell finally rang, the sound made Blaine jump in his seat. He had reached the end of the line. No more studying, no more chances to ask questions. He just had to get through it.

Blaine read through the questions nervously as everyone else began. He answered the ones he knew, skipped the ones he didn't. But time was quickly running out.

It felt like just minutes later that everyone else had turned in their tests. Blaine was the last one, as usual.

"Ten minutes left," his teacher announced. That about made him have a panic attack right then and there. Blaine did a quick scan- he had almost thirty unanswered questions. There was no way he could do it. No way at all.

Blaine's head hurt as he tried to focus. But he was too exhausted to try to read the words on the page. The letters jumbled, the answers didn't make sense. Blaine's stomach growled from how little he had eaten the last several days. He suddenly felt the exhaustion and stress come flooding back to him in that moment, as he tried so hard to finish his test.

But he couldn't. He didn't know the answers. Blaine had studied the material, he knew he had, but simply couldn't recall anything. It was the most frustrating feeling in the world, and Blaine settled for bubbling in random letters.

He stood to turn in his papers, with just two minutes to spare. Blaine wasn't feeling good about it at all, but at least it was over. He took a step forward from his desk, but his legs felt like Jell-O. Then came the darkness, as his knees failed him and he collapsed right onto the cool, tile floor.

"Blaine?"

"Leave him alone, Nick. He'll wake up on his own."

The two familiar voices made Blaine's head throb. He forced his eyes open with some difficulty, and was surprised to find himself in the nurse's station. Blaine had only been in there once before, when he got the flu on his birthday. That hadn't been a pleasant memory.

"Wh-what's wrong?" Blaine asked worriedly as he tried to remember the events of the morning. There was a damp washcloth across his forehead, and he was lying back on a cot, Wes and Nick staring down at him.

"You fainted in the middle of your biology final. They brought you here, and me and Nick came as soon as we heard," Wes explained. "Trent said you haven't eaten or slept all weekend. Is that true?"

Blaine frowned. Stupid Trent. His roommate had such a big mouth.

"I guess," he mumbled, not wanting to lie to his friends. "Did my final get graded? Did I fail for passing out?"

He was trying to sit up, but Nick eased him back onto the pillow. Even the simple movement made Blaine's head hurt all the worse. "Your teacher said he'll let you retake it in a few days when you feel better. You have a fever and the nurse is afraid you have a concussion from falling, so you have to stick around here for a few hours. Oh, and you can't go to sleep. She told us not to let you fall asleep."

Blaine was exhausted and ready to doze off, for the first time in days. To find out that he couldn't just made everything worse.

"Listen, Blaine, we've got to get to our next final, but if you're still here when we're done, then we'll stop by again," Wes promised. "Take it easy, okay?"

"Okay," Blaine murmured, struggling to keep his eyes open. His friends left, leaving Blaine alone in the room. He wasn't sure where the nurse herself was.

He tried to get comfortable- well, as comfortable as he could get still in his button-down shirt and khaki pants. Blaine just wanted to be back at home, with his siblings and parents, in his own bed. He was ready to be done with Dalton Academy for the year. For good.

Author's Notes:

I've always figured Blaine had a hard time getting used to Dalton. He was still just an awkward freshman, recovering from the Sadie Hawkins Incident (I wrote a one shot about that if anyone cares. It's on my profile.) Anyways, I think without the Warblers, Blaine would've probably left Dalton after his first semester, just because of how hard it was on him. But then sophomore year things get better, and finally learns the ropes and of course meets Kurt, and the rest is history.