Blaine had stayed behind after school for yet another Warbler rehearsal. He'd wanted to properly say goodbye to Kurt, but he hadn't had time. Now, he was sitting in a central sofa next to Trent while Wes – being on the Warbler council – was leaning on the main table giving them a pep talk. There had been too many to count on his fingers, Blaine thought wearily. They'd been rehearsing like crazy for months, and he'd been singing 'Hey, Soul Sister' like there was no tomorrow. His primary fear was losing his voice right before Sectionals if he had to sing it much more.

"Blaine?" He looked up at Wes. "Is Kurt good to audition?"

Blaine thought back to that morning and glanced over at the piano, smiling. "Definitely," he responded.

Wes nodded, pleased. "Great. Well, I think we'll all agree that Kurt should audition next week, so after Sectionals –"

"What?" Blaine stared at his friend. "After Sectionals?"

Wes shrugged and raised his eyebrows. "Blaine, Kurt's hardly going to learn the part and the choreography in a week, plus he's gonna have a hell of a lot of catch-up work, and he's presumably still stressed from moving school..." He sighed, and looked around at the other Warblers for support. "It just makes more sense for him to wait until the big competition's over and we're not all so... stressed."

There were murmurings of agreement from around the room. Blaine looked indignantly at Trent, who was nodding a little. "Sorry, Blaine, it just... it does."

Blaine knew he was overreacting, but he knew how much Kurt wanted to be in the Warblers (despite how casual he tried to act about it) and besides, missing Sectionals wasn't worth anything.

"What if he could do it?" Blaine asked quietly, his mind racing. "If he could learn everything – let him audition, like, tomorrow morning, you'll see you good he is – and I taught him the choreography and the parts. Come on, Wes, please."

Wes raised his eyebrows even high. Why was Blaine so intent on the happening...? He sighed in surrender. "Warblers!" he called. "All in favour of letting Hummel audition tomorrow morning, on the agreement that Blaine gets him ready for Sectionals...?"

Blaine's hand shot up immediately, and he looked around. Trent smiled at Blaine and raised his hand. A few more Warblers were lifting their arms, but others kept them down. Blaine tried to do a mental calculation. They didn't need everyone, just the majority...

David was counting, pointing at each Warbler and mouthing the numbers. When he was done, he turned to Wes and nodded.

Blaine grinned. Wes took a breath and said, "okay, everyone. Kurt Hummel will audition for the Warblers tomorrow. Blaine, you'll let him know..." He continued talking, moving from the subject swiftly into another.

Blaine felt a vibration in his pocket, and pulled out his phone. A text from Kurt had set it off.

How's the Warbler meeting going?

He tried to surreptitiously text back (strictly speaking, they weren't supposed to use their phones during meetings).

Good. Pulled some strings. You audition tomorrow morning. Break a leg :)