Chapter 7 - Shoes

I'd never really seen it before, but having the new Warblers pin on my jacket really made a difference. Walking down the corridor to Trig people would stare, some of them nodded in approval and others even hi-fived me. Lines would suddenly disaparate when I went to get lunch, a space would always be vacant in the library. Far from being the loser of McKinley, worrying about slushies every time I turned a corner, at Dalton the students recognised my achievement and respected it. I was part of something big now. I was a rock star.

Artem was staring at the ceiling. He'd now read Vogue from cover to cover so many times he could almost recite the text by heart. Which was exactly what he was doing.

"Animal print is thee new black. Flowers are coming back eento fashion…" We were both stuck in the transition period between last lesson and extra curricular activities – an hour of doing trivial things until the real fun began. I was counting down the minutes to Warbler practice with a worrying urgency, the power had almost become a drug to me now and it had only been two days. Biscuit crumbs lay across our bedclothes from the cookies we'd devoured earlier (baked by me in Home Ec – another class where I was excelling far beyond the level I thought I would) and the screen of Artem's computer flashed with various images of cars and Russian things.

"Hey, do you want to-?" I'd rolled over to talk and end the bored silence, but at the exact same moment Artem's phone suddenly began to ring – a rather jazzy tune that I figured he still hadn't changed from when he'd first been given it. Scrabbling around like he was half asleep he finally grabbed hold of it and pressed the answer button, before declaring in a loud and majorly more accented voice

"Ah! Dobriy den' Babolya!" I groaned, burying my head in my pillow. It was his grandmother. And that meant at least half an hour of listening to very loud and confusing Russian. (Apparently she was partly deaf – I was surprised Artem wasn't too.) Unable to stay in the room I signalled to my Artem that I was leaving, grabbed a few things I would need for practice and shut the door behind me.

Now – what to do…?

The normal places I would go were out – Blaine was busy doing important Head Boy things and Scott was at football practice probably getting completely covered in mud (I certainly didn't want to be anywhere near him when he returned) – I'd finished the revision for my Trig pop quiz so I didn't even need to go to the library. Oh well, I guessed a walk was in order.

Dusk was beginning to fall on Dalton so I didn't spend too long in the grounds – the crunch of fallen leaves underneath my feet was very satisfying and I almost thought about playing with them like I used to when I was little, but the risk of someone catching me was far too great. Entering the main building I glanced in wonder at the empty corridors and silent classrooms, imagining the same rooms an hour ago filled with life and learning. Dalton was never normally like this – it was nice.

I don't know how, but I ended up at the rehearsal room. I hadn't been in since my induction into the Warblers, so seeing it brought back all the memories of my performance, Laura Lacey's smile, the cheers, Blaine's breathless voice when he'd come in late… Oh Gaga – why did I remember that bit the most out of everything? The lights were off so I flicked the switches, watching each one flicker on individually. Walking over to the piano I removed the sheet and held my fingers over the keys, nervous to break the calm silence that sat over the room. One finger pressed down and the note reverberated and echoed loudly until it gradually disappeared away.

I still had at least forty-five minutes before anyone would arrive.

Figuring nobody was nearby I decided to try my luck and have a go at playing some kind of piece, so I got up and began scanning the room for any sheet music that would reflect my musical standards. There were stacks and stacks of singing music, but nothing for the instrument – in my frustration I moved to look inside cupboards, pushing aside xylophones and cowbells until I finally reached a red door right in the corner of the room. It didn't seem to be locked so I tried the handle, the door creaked open like some cheesy horror movie and I pulled the cord to turn on the light. The room was a mess. For a second it was so dishevelled I couldn't actually see what it contained, but gradually as the light brightened I began to pick out hats and jackets and canes. This was a costume cupboard. Or a barely-used costume cupboard that had been hit with a bomb. Picking up a nearby trilby I saw it was still in fairly good knick, but was covered in a very thin sheen of dust. I let out a breath to get rid of it but the room was so stagnant that it blew into my face, making me cough and splutter so I set off other items. Rapidly my feet stepped back into the safety of the rehearsal room to escape the onslaught, but I stayed by the door, wafting it backwards and forwards to let some clean air in, determination on my face. I wasn't going to be defeated that easily…

The sound of the door opening jerked me out of the clothing-induced trance I had got myself into. Looking up I saw Blaine running into the room, a concerned but also surprised look on his face.

"There you are!" He exclaimed instantly. "Where have you been?" I was confused.

"I was…" Staring around the room properly for the first time I noted with shock all the piles of masks, hats and shoes I had neatly set up and ordered into style or colour. Glancing down at myself I saw the whole of my body was covered with dust marks – I could even feel some on my eyelashes. How long had I been doing this for?

"Practice was moved to the senior common room so we could choose the Sectional songs – didn't you get our messages?" Still not really with it I felt around the area I was sitting until I found my phone tucked inside a waistcoat. I had five missed calls from Blaine and a couple of texts from Steven.

"Er, no." I replied, feeling stupid. If practice had already started then…? Oh Gaga. I'd been doing this for nearly two hours.

"Crap!" I exclaimed, jumping up so the clothes on my lap flew everywhere. My first proper Warblers practice and I was an hour late! "I was early and then I saw this and…"

"What have you been doing anyway?" Now Blaine was looking at all my different piles, intrigue in his expression. I felt my cheeks colour.

"Um, well the costume cupboard was a complete mess and I had some spare time so I thought I'd tidy it up a bit…" At the mention of 'costume cupboard' Blaine's head darted to look at me.

"Wait, you went in that cupboard? We haven't used that for years – nobody could bear the dust. Have you…?" Stopping mid sentence he walked over to the open door of the cupboard. When he glanced inside he let out a noise of surprise.

"Holy crap Kurt – you did all of this in two hours?"

"It's nowhere near finished, I just thought I could get started and then finish later." Blaine wasn't listening – he was too impressed by my handy work.

"Wait till the guys hear about this – they are gonna love you forever." Holding out his hand like he usually did, not even needing to glance at me, he moved back towards the door to the corridor and I happily followed.

Blaine was right – the rest of the Warblers were very impressed. Even when they were all dragged from the common room back to the rehearsal area single-handedly to have a look. (I'd protested fervently, not wanting to delay practice any further) The whistles that flew around from viewing a relatively tidy cupboard almost made me laugh, but obviously I was the only person that had been willing to give up my free time for cleanliness.

"Dude, this is epic"

"We might actually be able to use it now."

"Will you clean our house cloakroom?" The last question, asked by a boy from Dahl, had been deadly serious. He'd offered me actual money. Eventually the hubbub had been broken up and we'd decided to stay put for our meeting, everyone sitting down in relatively the same places they'd been for my audition. Blaine reached over to pick a bit of fluff from my hair and I nearly had a heart attack.

"So…" Looking back forward I saw that with remarkable speed two desks had been set up in the performing space and four boys had sat down in the chairs placed behind them, bringing out stacks of important looking papers from their bags. All of them looked like seniors so I guessed they must be the elected heads.

"…Now that everybody is present we can begin our meeting." Wes sat in the furthest left chair, a big smile on his face like usual. Next to him was a student I remembered seeing at the Wilde gathering talking to Nathaniel, (I think his name was Earl) and furthest left sat a tall ganglier looking version of David who had a Dahl tie. However the person that caught my eye sat almost directly in the middle, his space somewhat larger than everybody else's. Like Laura Lacey, he commanded respect with his posture, the way he glanced around the room like he owned it. I tapped Blaine on the shoulder.

"Who's that?" He smiled, not even having to look at where I was subtly pointing.

"That's Xavier Winklevoss. He's Head Boy of Darwin." Now that he mentioned it, I could see the Darwin tie, and the Head Boy pin sitting on his lapel. "Most of the school view him like a God – his grade point average is flawless, he's already got his offer from Harvard, he's played Lacrosse for Ohio and helped the last show choir he was part of win back to back regionals titles." Wow. That was more impressive than Blaine's résumé. "Nathaniel's practically in love with him." I chuckled. Now that didn't surprise me. I assumed most of Darwin's occupants would be ideal companions for rota making. And if I though my Head Boy was good looking – it was nothing compared to theirs.

"First item on the agenda, Sectional songs." Wes read from what I assumed was an order of service as it were – as soon as the word 'Sectionals' was mentioned everyone bristled and the room fell silent.

"Any suggestions?" The question was asked by Xavier. His voice boomed out at a considerably lower tone than I'd been expecting and embarrassingly, it made me exhale slightly. Blaine swatted something on his arm. Several of the boys raised their hands and offered song ideas, all of which were written down by Earl in a small notepad he'd produced. I wondered how they'd react to a mention of the Spice Girls and was debating putting my hand up when suddenly another one shot up beside me.

"Yes Blaine?"

"I think we should do Hey Soul Sister. Obviously we could rearrange the instrumental parts and I think it would really show off our range." Murmurs of approval rang round the room, Earl nodding as he scribbled down the suggestion next to the others. As Xavier moved his attention from Blaine to other hands his gaze briefly caught mine – for a second he stared before realising I must be the new member, acknowledging me silently and moving on. It was like meeting the Queen. The feeling was so strange that without thinking I suddenly raised my hand. The gaze returned.

"Yes…?"

"Kurt. Our new member's Kurt." Xavier didn't turn to acknowledge Wes like I did. He seemed intrigued.

"Yes Kurt."

"I say you guys should do something out of the box, something nobody's expecting. Like a girl's song." This time it was titters that echoed around the room. Obviously nobody had ever been as bold before, or the Warblers were pretty childish. I saw Xavier try to hide a wry smile, running his hand through his jet-black hair.

"Interesting. It's nice that you feel able to contribute Kurt, but perhaps your line of thought it not quite one we all agree with." I saw Earl draw two straight lines across the words he'd written and like that the conversation moved on. It was like I hadn't even spoken. The rejection stung like sand in my eye – I was used to Mr Shue dictating what songs we sang with no suggestions, but this was supposed to be a democracy. Didn't I deserve a full trial? I moved to put my hand up again but Blaine got in the way, flashing me a look that said we'd talk about it later.

Eventually, after a couple of harmony try-outs and a group vote, it was decided that we would sing 'Hey Soul Sister'. I was happy for Blaine, looking at him more closely revealed that he'd actually been waiting to suggest the song for months, and to have it recognised for such an important event was major – but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had been monopolised, that Xavier's opinion had got in the way of everybody else's.

When everyone was dismissed I shot up, looking to give the head of Darwin a piece of my mind, but Blaine was too quick. His hand darted out to touch my chest and hold me in position – something that normally would have had me reeling for weeks.

"Kurt," he warned, "leave it."

"Why? Why should I? He's not our leader!" I could see the torn look in Blaine's eyes, like he agreed with me but knew there was no solution.

"I'm afraid he kind of is. We elected him as head of the committee, and he does actually know what he's doing." Now that I wasn't going to leap off madly he moved his hand onto my shoulder, his thumb gently rubbing against my collarbone. "I think he likes to put new guys in their place when he first meets them. Your time will come." It was impossible for me to stay mad when I looked into those deep brown eyes. If I ever got anger issues I was going to ask for Blaine to be my personal assistant and follow me round everywhere to calm me down. Nodding my head dejectedly in reply he pulled me into a hug, his musky smell engulfing me so I sighed loudly without even caring.

"Come on, I'll shout you a coffee."