AN- Alright everybody! I got some good feed back with the prologue, so here's chapter one. The Pilot episode, redone. Enjoy!

Kurt takes a deep breath as he grabs his messenger bag and carefully closes the door of his 'baby' (a gift from his father. Or more so a bribe). It's his first day as a sophomore at William McKinley high and, if last year was any indication, he really doesn't have much to look forward to.

He wishes he had a friend- at least one best friend would definitely take the sting out of the taunts and the bullying. There had been something promising with the guy he sat next to in English last year, but the second word got out about his preference (even though it was only a rumor-Kurt doesn't want to confirm or deny at this point), that was nipped in the bud.

Kurt clutches his messenger bag as he nears the group of jocks that stay huddled around the dumpsters. Puckerman, Karofsky and Anderson. He avoids looking at them as he walks by, head downcast in hopes that they won't see him.

"Hummel!"

Of course.

Kurt sighs in a resigned way as the jocks crowd around him. He changes his posture, standing tall now, and jutting his hip out just right.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, fancy-pants, you sure can," Karofsky leers. "It's the first day of school. And we need to test out the dumpster."

"And I'm guessing I was lucky enough to be chosen. Was there a raffle?" Kurt asks, arching an eyebrow.

Karofsky blinks. "No."

Apparently, sarcasm was lost with this one.

Puckerman throws an arm around Kurt and forces him to walk over to the dumpster. Kurt notices that Anderson (although he wishes he didn't) has moved back in the ranks, allowing Karofsky and Azimo to move closer.

They don't toss him right away and Kurt is quick to realize why. The Spanish teacher, Mr. Schue was walking by. He says something to Finn Hudson, quarterback extraordinaire and (Kurt couldn't help but notice) the only other boy who hadn't joined the crowd around Kurt.

Finn's even nice enough to let Kurt take off his jacket and hand off his messenger bag before they toss him in the dumpster.

Clearly, a prince charming.

Once Kurt manages to escape the dumpster (he had to wait for the jocks to go to class) and find his messenger bag (tossed across the parking lot. Thankfully not run over) and his Marc Jacobs jacket (dangling off a tree branch nearby) he checks his schedule for the first time that day.

And smiles. Because he has French, which is only his best class and it's a great way to fix the crap fest that this day has already been.

Of course, this is before he actually gets to class. See, the thing with the dumpster made him almost late and there's only one seat left.

Right next to Blaine Anderson.

Kurt freezes in the doorway. No. Not fair. Not even remotely fair. He was doing such a good job- he managed to avoid him all of last year (going as far to take certain hallways that were out of his way) and now, on the first day, is being forced to inhabit a desk right next to him?

"Kurt?" The French teacher is an older woman who totally adores him because he's one of the few students in the class that shows promise and loves the language and is actually good at it. "Tout via bien?" ("Is everything okay?")

And Kurt forces a smile and responds. "Oui. Désolé pour le retard." ("Yes. Sorry I'm late.")

She smiles at him. "Vous êtes excusé. Prenez un siège maintenant, s'il vous plaît." ("You're excused. Take a seat now, please.")

And Kurt takes the last available seat next to Blaine. He can feel Blaine tense the second he sits down and he kind of wants to roll his eyes. Because, excuse me, he wasn't the one with the wandering lips Mr. perfect hazel eyes and charming smile.

But Kurt's trying to forget about that. So he vows right then and there that he will not look at Blaine for the rest of the class and tomorrow, get there super early and grab a seat in the front row, where jocks fear to tread due to the chances of actually being called on.

"Okay everyone! As a first day game, we're going to do a little interviewing. In French, of course! I'll pass out the sheet and you'll turn to your partner and ask him, or her, the questions. If we have time, we'll introduce each other to the class."

Well, fuck. Kurt watches the sheet flutter onto his desk as the teacher walks by and peers at the questions. They're all extremely easy; what's your name, hobbies, favorite color etc. And normally, he would be all over this project. But the thing is he doesn't want to know any more about Blaine than he has to.

Boy in question coughs a little and turns in his desk to face Kurt. "Er…hi."

Kurt pinches the bridge of his nose. "Look- we don't have to even do this. We're both good at the avoiding game-"

"Kurt."

"-and I want to keep it this way. So, I'll make up stuff about you and you about me and we'll never sit next to each other again."

Blaine doesn't say anything; Kurt grabs his pencil and begins scribbling down answers. In the end they don't have to present anything.

XxX

It's after second period when Kurt sees the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board. He pauses, only for a second, before walking on. Glee club sounds promising, really it does. But he's trying to stay under the radar at this school and being in a club with performances isn't the best way to go about that.

He walks by it again, after his third class. He pauses for longer than a second and sees Mercedes Jones' named scrawled on the sheet at the top. He remembers her from middle school- a little fashion challenged but nice. His hand almost picks up the pencil. He darts away, though, when the bell rings.

After his fourth class, when he's on his way to lunch (even though that particular bulletin board is nowhere near the cafeteria) he walks by again. And freezes. Blaine Anderson is standing in front of it and he's looking at the list. The glee club list. Like, like he's actually considering it or something.

"Yo, Anderson, what are you doing?"

Puckerman appears, his letterman's jacket bright and glaring in the hallways and his backpack hanging off one shoulder.

"What? Oh, nothing, just…" Blaine trails off.

"Is that the glee club list? Dude, tell me you're not even thinking. That's like, social suicide. And then we'd have to slushie you."

Blaine grins. "Right. Trust me, I'm not. Just seeing who's dumb enough to even consider it."

For some reason, this annoys Kurt. He bristles up and marches over. Blaine avoids his eyes and Puck smirks. Kurt ignores them both and grabs the pencil, signing his name with a flourish and turning on the heel of his foot as he struts away.

He pretends he doesn't hear Puck's jeering in the background.

Kurt manages to survive the rest of the day with only one slushie attack and a handful of locker shoves. He auditions for Glee club after school and blows everyone away with his version of Mr. Cellophane (a song he holds dear).

Then he goes home and cooks dinner for his dad, who asks him about his day and if he made any friends.

"I joined glee club," Kurt says in between bites of pasta.

Burt nods. "That…that sounds like fun. Good luck with that, Kurt."

Kurt smiles. "Thanks dad. And don't worry about dishes, I got them."

"You cooked, it's the least I can do."

"No, it's fine. I got this new dish soap that doubles as a moisturizer and I really want to try it out."

"Oh, er, well. Fine. I-I hope it works out for you."

"Thanks dad."

Rachel storms out practice the next day and Kurt can't bring himself to care. He never really liked Rachel Berry, to be honest. Way too much of a fame hog for his liking. Mercedes seems nice enough and Artie isn't looking at him in disgust. He doesn't even know Tina- middle school wasn't that big but Kurt didn't go around and meet people.

When Mr. Schue runs out after her, the rest of the glee club decides that practice is over. Kurt doesn't need to change- his outfit was considered "costume-y" enough (which Kurt totally found offensive but whatever).

As he leaves the room, he almost runs into Blaine. Who he's managed to avoid sitting next to in class now because he was able to actually be early. And who he was hoping he could stop seeing on a daily basis.

"What are you doing?" Kurt snaps.

"Uh, I was uh. Just walking." Blaine says hurriedly.

"Well, walk on."

Kurt turns to head to his locker but Blaine calls out after him.

"They've got the slushies ready. Be careful when going to your car."

Kurt whips around and stares daggers at him. "I don't want your help."

"I was just-"

"Remember when we were avoiding each other? Let's go back to that, okay?"

Kurt doesn't wait for his answer as he stomps away.

Blaine walks into the locker room. He ignores the chatter around them as he does the combination of his lock and begins undressing.

"Did you hear?" Puck suddenly says from his left. "Coach is letting Mr. Schuester talk to us. About joining his fucking glee club."

"Oh really? You gonna take him up on that?"

Puck laughs. Finn wanders over at that exact moment.

"What's so funny?"

Puck's eyes are on Mr. Schuester as he walks in. "Oh, you'll see."

Blaine actually pays attention; he's one of the few guys that do. See, he loves singing. He always had, ever since he was younger and his parents paraded him out in front of relatives at Christmas to sing carols and be charming.

And the idea of joining a club where he can sing? All the time? More than a little promising. But he remembers Puck's words from earlier, when he'd just been looking at the sign-up sheet. Blaine likes being popular. He likes that people know his name and high-five him when he walks down the hall.

And he especially likes being friends with Finn Hudson and Noah Puckerman.

Glee club would change all of that; there's also the little known problem of Kurt Hummel, who he'd been trying to avoid since two summers ago, when he had a little too much to drink at a party Puck threw.

When Puck "plays his music" everyone laughs and Mr. Schuester looks so disappointed. But Blaine still doesn't go sign up. He's got an image to maintain.

When Mr. Schue announces that he's got another member for New Directions and that it's someone from the football team, Kurt almost kicks something. He is so ready to tear into Blaine Anderson the second he walks into the auditorium, audience be damned.

So when Finn Hudson fumbles in, Kurt's body practically deflates as all the anger he'd been brewing leaves in a huff.

He's not bad, Kurt thinks as they tackle a song from Grease, and it's obvious Rachel has her sights set on him. Too bad he's dating Quinn Fabray (yeah, Kurt knows things. What? It's gossip- he likes gossip).

Mr. Schue treats them to a field trip to go see Vocal Adrenaline perform. And Kurt finds himself talking to Tina about last year's October Vogue cover and he's actually enjoying himself. All that, of course, is chased out of his head the second Vocal Adrenaline performs and Kurt realizes: they are screwed.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Blaine still doesn't know what he's doing here or why Puck just shoved a paint gun in his hands but he just kind of goes with it because it's Puck and he usually has a point

(sometimes)

So when Finn comes out and Puck starts accusing him of turning on them and joining glee club, Blaine is surprised. Because he never suspected Finn could even sing.

He doesn't shoot him though.

When Mr. Schue resigns, Kurt isn't too choked up about it. It totally sucks but maybe it was a good thing. Now Kurt can go back to being as invisible as possible and focus more energy on avoiding slushies and jocks.

Until, of course, Rachel takes over.

He did so not elect her queen.

Blaine walks with Finn off the field.

"So, it's just canceled? Like, they can't get another teacher to cover it?"

"No one else wanted to except, Mr. Schue. But maybe this is a good thing. I mean, I've gotten crap from almost everyone on the team for it so whatever."

"Yeah," Blaine says quietly to himself.

"Except you," And Finn's grinning and holding out a fist to bump. "Thanks dude."

Blaine hits their fists together and grins too. "No sweat man."

"I hate to break up this love fest," Puck announces walking up. "But shouldn't Finn be resting his voice?"

"Dude, don't even talk to me," Finn kind of snaps.

"What? You broke the rules man, and I had to do it."

"I had to join for stupid extra credit so I could pass Spanish and stay on the team!" Finn shouts.

"But the club was canceled," Blaine quickly interjects, wanting to diffuse the situation as soon as possible. "So this is all moot."

"Yeah, well, just to make sure, we got Finn a little present."

Blaine doesn't like his tone. At all. And he finds out why when he realizes that he locked the crippled kid in the porta-potty.

Really dude?

Finn helps him out while Blaine just stands back and he feels like a complete jerk after the fact.

Finn's like really earnest and it's easy to see why he's the captain of the football team. He manages to convince all of them into a performance of 'Don't Stop Believin' in the hopes of persuading Mr. Schue to stay. And as they're strutting around on stage, Kurt notices Puck and Blaine watching from the back of the auditorium.

Puck looks angry, annoyed and betrayed. Blaine just looks thoughtful.

They're really good, Blaine thinks. Like really. Finn has a pretty good voice and that Rachel girl that no one likes can really sing. He doesn't know the other girls' names but he recognizes the cripple kid from Puck's dumb prank.

And of course, Kurt Hummel.

Puck scoffs under his breath. "Whatever, let them have Finn. Maybe we'll win a game without him."

"Right," Blaine agrees, his thoughts still on the stage.

Mr. Schue agrees to stay and Kurt hangs back as his teammates run off the stage to change, cheering loudly as the success of their plans. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. Maybe this whole Glee club wouldn't be a bad thing- he definitely likes being right here, center stage and basking in the cheers from a standing ovation.

Maybe this year won't be as bad as the last one.

AN- Hope everyone enjoyed!