Being an incredibly expensive private school, Dalton was usually always able to provide a suitable substitute teacher whenever a teacher got sick or missed a day for any other reason. A lesson just not being taught was thus a very rare occurrence, that made the obtained freedom taste all the more sweet to the students that could benefit from it.

Just lounging in the senior commons while most of the other students were sitting in their classrooms, learning something, and being generally much more productive than anyone in this room at this moment felt somehow much more gratifying than being lazy under any other circumstances.

Most gratifying of all, though? Flinging more or less explosive birds at green pigs in such a way, that he beat Thad's high score. Blaine grinned to himself, as he tapped the screen to make the yellow bird go faster. Thad had been playing for months, while Blaine had discovered this passtime only a week ago, but he was kicking his ass.

As the level-end screen told him he had set a new record, he looked around the room. One boy from his class had started doing homework, but quickly been told off by Wes and David, who had sprouted some garbage about time honored traditions of enjoying allotted free time, with some added gavel banging, just because they couldn't help themselves.

They had then gone off to discuss the Warblers setlist for Regionals, which Blaine found a little hypocritical, since they both took Warbler business more seriously than any of their school work, so they weren't really taking time off, but Blaine wasn't going to say anything, because honestly? He was slightly afraid of being hit with that gavel one of these days.

He selected the next level and started looking for the perfect place to fling the next bird at, when his phone itself decided to interrupt his thought process, startling him slightly.

"Hey Kurt", he said as he picked up.

"Hey… aren't you supposed to be in class?" Something was off about Kurt's voice, but Blaine wasn't quite sure what it was.

"Well, I snuck out to play some Angry Birds", Blaine joked. "No, actually have a free period, teacher didn't show up. I think Thad is taking bets as to why."

"Oh", Kurt said quietly, apparently not entertained.

"But… what about you, aren't you supposed to be on a plane right about now?", Blaine asked.

"Well… yeah, that's actually why I'm calling…", Kurt's voice trailed off uncertainly.

"Did you miss your flight?", Blaine asked with a hint of concern.

"No, I'm on the plane, but the pilot just announced that we're gonna crash very soon."

It took a moment before Blaine was able to reply. "That… that's not funny", he was finally able to choke out.

"Oh I know", Kurt said, but it seemed as if he'd found a tiny bit of humor in the fact that Blaine had implied it to be a joke.

Blaine was usually pretty good with finding the right words, but in this instant, absolutely nothing came to mind. "B…But…", was the extent of his reply.

"I just left a message for my Dad, and I have no idea what I said", Kurt said, his voice speeding up a little. "I think I was rambling. But… I just, I wanted to call you and, you know… say thank you."

"F…For what?", Blaine asked quietly.

"Everything. Being there, and helping me with the whole Karofsky thing, and just being there. You're a really good friend, and I'm really happy that I got to know you."

If Blaine had had trouble absorbing what Kurt said before, now it was sinking in all too clearly. He was saying goodbye. That plane was actually going to… and Kurt took the opportunity to say goodbye. The boy he had just met a few short months ago, and who had managed to become one of his best friends in that amount of time might not be there this time tomorrow.

A very cold feeling seemed to be gripping his stomach, and he suddenly felt that breathing evenly was getting a lot harder.

"Well, I got a great friend out of it, too", Blaine said, hoping that it didn't sound too much like he was acknowledging the fact that Kurt might not… Just thinking about what was happening hurt.

"Yeah, well sorry I wasn't always that supportive, I could've been a better friend…"

Kurt took a deep breath, and then said, "But I just wanted to tell you that -"

There was a crackling that Blaine couldn't quite identify, followed by a dial tone. It took a moment for him to realize the call was over, and when he dazedly looked at the display, the phone would only enigmatically tell him that the call was disconnected. He stared at it for a long moment.

Did that mean Kurt had just lost the signal, because cell phone reception was crappy on planes?

Or did it mean…?

Blaine really wanted to believe that it was just a coincidence that the call had cut out, but he knew how unlikely it was. The simplest explanation was usually correct, and he didn't think either of them got lucky enough for nothing to have happened.

But people survived plane crashes all the time, right? Not everybody, sure, but if there was one thing Lost had taught him, even though he'd never watched all that much of it, it was that people could survive plane crashes.

And Kurt was really tough. After he'd transferred Blaine had found out more about the extent of the bullying, and he had to admit he himself had run quite a while before it could get that bad. Life had thrown all kinds of shit at his friend before, and he'd come out the other side of it all with a snarky comment on his lips and the most fabulous of outfits on his back.

So a little plane crash wouldn't be enough, to get him down.

Would it?

He desperately had to hope for that, because the alternative was one of the scariest things he had ever thought about.