Chapter 8 - Practice

Despite Warbler practices being stepped up to four a week for Sectionals, for the next couple of days there was only one thing everyone was talking about. Whilst Conners wrote down problems on the board, everyone secretly talked about steps and lines, whilst I waited for oven space the boys in front practiced their twirls and bows. As part of a Dalton tradition that stretched almost to the school's creation, every year a ball was hosted that saw all students taking part in a series of partnered dances within the confines of the massive great hall. It was always a night to remember, but the part that had everyone talking the most wasn't the music or the steps. We would all have partners, and that meant only one thing.

Girls.

I'd lost count of the number of conversations I'd heard about what everyone's partners were going to look like, if they were going to be good dancers, if they'd be single. St Jades, the school that would be providing the girls for the event, was the most searched for webpage on every computer. Dalton had gone girl nuts. Of course I wasn't undergoing the same hysterical transformation as everybody else, but I was looking forward to taking part in another school tradition.

On the day of the official dance practice you couldn't move for excited students – the air was filled with such an electrical charge I was surprised our hair wasn't floating in the air. Every toilet was filled with boys doing their hair, smartening their uniforms, freshening their breath – it was all rather funny. All the Wilde students convened in the common room and Nathaniel gave us a speech about how we were representing the school and we should try not to get too excited – something that had everyone nudging and winking at each other. Eventually we all filed out of the building with the other houses and made the brisk walk over to the great hall, the St Jades coaches parked neatly in rows in the car park, their green rims glistening in the sunlight.

Inside the hall was already a mêlée of noise – people queuing up to find their partners and the ones that had found each other chatting avidly. I stuck by Steven, Connor and Wade, lining up and gazing round in wonder at the high ceiling of the hall. It really was huge. When I reached the front of the queue I was met by Miss Breamhold, who seemed slightly surprised to see me, smiling nervously. (Scott was still terrorising her in Spanish, and it seemed simply by sitting with him while he did it I had been branded his accomplice.) Looking down her list she picked out my name.

"Ah, Kurt Hummel you have been paired with Cynthia Baines, please stand over there." Gesturing to an area over the right hand side of the hall she turned her attention to the student behind me and I followed her directions. On reaching my area I was greeted by another woman who must have been an St Jades teacher, standing by a gaggle of smartly dressed girls who were all pointing at various boys and whispering to each other. I stated my name and she immediately directed me towards one of them.

I could see exactly why we had been partnered together – Cynthia was a small timid looking girl with a tiny frame and curly brown hair pulled back by a blue headband – she was like my female equivalent. Upon greeting her I wasn't quite sure how to act, so bowed and held out my hand for her to shake. She immediately squealed and threw her arms around me, catching me completely off guard.

"My goodness Kurt you are handsome!" She exclaimed in a childlike voice, looking at me with what could only be described as adoration and then towards the other girls, who gave her a thumbs up. Oh dear.

"Well you are also very pretty." I replied out of politeness, making her squeal again. Maybe the St Jude girls had the same reaction as the Dalton boys about being able to mix.

Once everybody had been sorted and I had listened to Cynthia tell me all about her pony Butterbell (apparently she hadn't been able to choose between Buttercup and Bluebell) we were called to the centre of the hall and the heads of the two schools took their microphones.

"Welcome all students to the rehearsal for the annual Yule ball. Remember this is only a practice, but we want you all to imagine you are dancing for real."

"You should all have found your partners by now so we can begin!" A microphone was handed to another small but very agile looking lady, who jumped up onto the stage and began to explain our steps.

"Ok, everybody needs to get into position, males with one hand on their partner's waist and vice versa." Cynthia and I stepped closer together and I gingerly put my hand to her side. She giggled and slid her hand on mine. Our other hands clasped together and I straightened my shoulders, trying to look professional. This was something you did all the time Kurt, dancing with girls. You wouldn't much rather be doing it with Blaine…

"Make sure there is a nice contact point" I was sure Cynthia was way too close to my face - our noses were almost touching and I could feel her quick breaths on my face. Her perfume smelt lovely but it just screamed girl. Maybe I was going to have to improvise for this to work.

"And begin the steps." The music started and slowly as one we all began doing the waltz steps we'd been taught separately prior to the event. 'One two three, one two three' I counted in my head, trying to stay focused. Cynthia was a much better dancer than I thought she'd be, very light on her feet, even if sometimes she did accidentally trip so I had to catch her. Our dance flowed freely and I began to enjoy myself.

Once the pace picked up and we were fully in the dance, I allowed myself to look around at some of the other dancers to see how they were doing. There were many car crashes, caused by girls and boys alike, but most students had obviously done this before. My eyes caught Nathaniel spinning a tall and incredibly pretty girl around the room with ultimate precision, followed by Wade and his partner, and to my surprise Artem was also flying round, obviously putting his fencing agility to good use.

"Ergh, look at that boy." Turning my attention back to Cynthia I saw she had a disapproving look on her face, and looking in the direction of her gaze I laughed. Scott was hurling his partner around the floor, his steps completely out of time with everybody else, occasionally making her squeal out as he stepped on her toes.

"Did he even learn the steps?"

"Probably. He's more likely getting them confused with football moves." I replied, smirking to myself.

"Well I think it's much more attractive when a partner knows how to lead." Again I felt the space between us lessen uncomfortably, but before I could kindly pull away I was stopped by something else. Blaine and his partner had whizzed past, completely oblivious to anybody else watching them. The girl looked like an African princess, with hair that flowed all the way down to her waist and bounced about as she rose and fell. Her dress was bright white, contrasting with her dark skin perfectly, and her posture was flawless. But that wasn't what caught my breath. I always knew that Blaine was stunning, but to see him dance… I would have given my right arm to have been that girl right then. I would have given up all of my shoes. Cynthia seemed to notice my distraction, as I felt her tug on my arm.

"What are you looking at?" craning her neck to get a better look she made us miss a step and stumble. "Oh, Tamara." There was unmistakeable jealousy in her tone. "She's one of our best dancers. Her and Leah." Signalling to another couple moving past us I saw Xavier and a gymnastic looking blonde moving perfectly in sync with each other. Had everyone been taking secret dancing lessons without me knowing? At this rate we were never going to get picked for the finale.

Gradually as we went through all the different dances the number of partners on the floor were whittled down until only twenty of us remained. Cynthia and I had survived, as had Nathaniel, Wes and Artem, but the only two people everyone was looking at were Xavier and Blaine. They were on fire, almost like they were battling against each other but neither of them knew it. The only thing that mattered was the dance. I had to stop myself from looking at Blaine in order to concentrate, forcing myself to stare into Cynthia's light blue eyes and not think about the brown ones that seeped into my soul. My feet were on autopilot but my head was reeling – I wasn't quite sure how I was doing it. Amazingly, we were part of the final ten, with only Wes missing out. Mr Cox, head of Dalton, explained that we would lead the final waltz before everyone else joined in – an honour that not many students from either school would ever receive.

After the session had finished Cynthia immediately went to drag me over to some of her friends, babbling something about lunch, but I suddenly caught sight of Scott running towards me, still looking full of energy.

"Hey Kurt! Congrats on making the finale, you were freakin awesome!" He gave me a rough one-handed hug, as his other hand was hauling along his partner. "This is Meaghan." Glancing at the redheaded girl, who looked utterly exhausted, I stifled a laugh and bowed graciously instead.

"You two seem to be getting on well." Scott didn't notice my irony.

"Yeah, she's awesome. Come on, let's go say hi to my football guys." Before Meaghan had any time to protest she was yanked off again and I watched the two of them stumble away with great amusement. When they were a fairly large distance away Cynthia began to pull on my arm again.

"Come on Kurt."

"Um, I'm sorry but I have to go - Warbler practice." I lied as convincingly as I could. "Is that ok?" From the look on her face I knew it wasn't, but I was going either way. I wasn't quite in the mood for socialising with more excitable girls.

"Oh, ok." Pulling me into a fierce hug where she somehow managed to grab several different parts of my body Cynthia pressed her face to my chest and inhaled deeply. "I'll miss you Kurt." She said breathlessly. Inwardly I cringed. Awkwardly patting her on the head I went to move, but she grabbed hold of me again.

"Wait! Don't you want my number?" I paused, wondering how to react.

"Um, ok." Reaching into her bag she pulled out a marker pen she'd obviously brought specially for this type of scenario, scribbled down some numbers on my hand and kissed my cheek lightly as she let it go.

"See you soon." I smiled as enthusiastically as I could before turning to head out of the hall.

"Oh, and by the way Cynthia?" I watched her spin round, excitement in her eyes. "You're a very nice girl, but I'm gay."

Once I was out of the noisy hall I headed straight for the rehearsal room. The sight of Blaine looking so beautiful had put me in a funny mood – I wanted to be alone. When I reached the costume cupboard satisfaction filled me up again and I sat down to begin sorting out hats and shoes once more.

I don't know why tidying was always so therapeutic to me – I'd been doing it since I was a little boy, organising my Action Men's clothes in terms of fashion seasons. I guess without Mum I'd taken on the role of cleaner and it had become a kind of formality. And being tidy was nice – it meant you could always find everything you wanted. Well, everything that was available to you.

I sat in the cupboard for a good half an hour or so, the silence resting happily over the room, until suddenly the sound of footsteps in the rehearsal room jolted me upright.

"Kurt?" For a second I thought about not replying, staying completely still so he would go away, but Blaine knew me too well. The cupboard door opened and I looked up to see him smiling at me.

"I thought you'd be in here." Without saying anything else he plonked himself down beside me, brushing down his blazer in the dapper manner he always did. I was surprised he was even venturing anywhere near the dust with it on.

"Do you need any help? I may not be the tidiest person on the planet but I know how to keep things in order." He grinned at his Head Boy reference and I smiled back weakly, trying not to stare at the dimple on his cheek. Sometimes hanging out with Blaine was exhausting – fighting all the time to keep my emotions in check.

"Well done with getting a finale spot. You looked really good." Gaga I wished he meant that in the way I wanted him to.

"I think my partner thought I was straight. She kept coming onto me." I tried to put lightness in my tone and Blaine laughed, but he could sense something was up.

"What's wrong?" I felt a hand on my shoulder and sighed. It's you Blaine. It's always been you. Why couldn't you see?

"Nothing." I lied. "I'm just a bit homesick."

"Happens to the best of us." His fingers began to move again and I clenched the fist tha he couldn't see. "Well I'm always here, if that helps. Come on, let's get all this stuff sorted." He reached out to grab a hat that I had already sorted and without being able tot stop myself I called out.

"Don't touch that!" Blaine looked back, his hand hovering in the air and a shocked expression on his face. I blushed.

"Sorry, I already sorted that. I'm a bit particular." Thankfully he didn't take it personally.

"No sweat – how have you organised all this anyway? It looks like a labyrinth to me."

"Well I put all the flat shoes here and the boots over here, then the shiny waistcoats and the matt waistcoats go over here…" Immersing myself in explanation I felt familiarity settle over me, and Blaine chatted away enthusiastically, making me wonder why I'd felt awkward around him before.