Chapter 12 - 23
We'd all still been reeling on the bus journey on the way home.
We'd drawn? How had that even been possible? Xavier had gone nuts, demanding a revote and even that we both sing another song, but the decision had been final. Both New Directions and The Warblers would progress to Regionals.
Obviously I was ecstatic. Not only had I succeeded with Blaine and all my other friends, but McKinley had too. There was no guilt, no feeling like I'd betrayed them or that one had deserved it more than the other. I could celebrate happily, and boy were we celebrating.
By having the most Warblers as well as a person on the committee, Wilde was the host for the after show party. Preparations had already been made by the students unable to attend the main event (Nathaniel had even forgone his place to help organise everything, so I guess it was pretty lucky that we had got through) so when we entered the common room streamers were everywhere and celebration music was already playing.
"Congratulations!" Nathaniel exclaimed, shaking everyone's hand as they walked through the door. When he saw me his grin widened and I nodded in approval at the decorations.
"Nice work!"
"Well, you guys did the real work – Gabriel told me you really stole the show." I paused. Gabriel? I hadn't even noticed he'd been on the bus.
"He was the first one to text us the news." Smiling again in thanks I turned round to Scott who was behind me, slapping the shoulder of another Wilde member even though he hadn't done any singing.
"Did you know Gabriel was at Sectionals?" I saw his face ponder momentarily.
"Um…now that I think about it, I think he was. Didn't sit near us though."
"Is that Gabriel Foston?" The sound of Blaine's voice made me jerk round – I hadn't realised he was so close.
"Um, yeah."
"I didn't know you guys were friends."
"Well-"
"-We're not!" I interrupted Scott like lightening, jabbing him sharply in the ribs with my elbow. Blaine seemed confused. "I mean, um, we are friendly but we're not friends." I didn't know why I was keeping Gabriel's crush on me from him – if it were anyone else I'd have let Scott babble and just rolled with the embarrassment. I guess I was scared that if Blaine knew Gabriel liked me then he might think I liked him back.
"Oh…ok." I knew I had made the conversation awkward (although I was intrigued as to why everyone seemed to know Gabriel) so quickly looked to move onto another topic.
"Does anyone want punch?"
The party was a complete success, everyone had a ball and The Warblers performed many encores to their adoring fans. Seeing everyone celebrating together was magical – I no longer felt like the outcast standing in the corner watching everyone else have fun – in fact I was one of the more popular ones. Lots of people complimented McKinley on their performance and told me to pass on good wishes for Regionals. We really were rock stars.
For a brief second I was alone at the party. Scott had gone off to find more snacks, Artem was talking to some of his fencing buddies and Blaine was discussing something with Nathaniel. I glanced down at my punch glass, tipping my head back to drain the last few drops and looking at how the plastic distorted the ceiling. When I dropped back down I realised someone was in front of me and jumped. For once, the grey eyes didn't seem startled.
"Hello." Gabriel held out another glass, this one full and I placed mine on a nearby shelf.
"Er, hi." This was odd. Gabriel had never made any effort to talk to me before – in fact he'd practically run away from me every time I'd uttered a word in his direction. Why now?
"You were very good." It took a while for my brain to process his words – I gathered that he expected me to understand.
"Oh, Thanks. Thanks for coming to watch."
"Next time you should go for a solo." I was struggling to partake fully in the conversation, due to my shock at it being started in the first place. Gabriel had pushed his hair behind his ears so his face was fully visible – he had a very strong jaw line that I'd never noticed before.
"Er…" I desperately tried to think of a response, when suddenly I saw Blaine approaching from the other side of the room and sighed in relief. Gabriel turned to see what I was looking at and his brow furrowed.
"Sorry to interrupt guys," Blaine said once he reached us "but can I just borrow Kurt for a minute?" He smiled at me and I took his hand without even glancing at Gabriel for approval, allowing myself to be dragged off into the crowd.
I expected (or rather, hoped) that Blaine had just been saving me from an awkward conversation, so was surprised when we didn't head into the middle of the party, but instead moved towards the door of the common room.
"Where are we going?" I asked. Blaine turned around to put his finger to his lips and my heart lurched. When we reached the corridor he began to head for the stairs, where I saw Nathaniel was waiting for us. What was going on?
"Blaine, tell me what's-"
"-Seriously Kurt – be patient." We climbed the stairs in silence, the moonlight shining through the windows so our shadows danced on the stairs. When we reached the top Nathaniel switched on the lights and Blaine finally turned round to face me, taking my other hand.
"Ok." He began. "I know you're probably wondering what the hell is happening-"
"-I sure as hell am-"
"-So I am going to explain. Nathaniel and I have been talking about how you cleared out the costume cupboard out for free and all the support you've given Artem over the last couple of weeks." I briefly tore my eyes away from Blaine to glance at Nathaniel, who had a big grin on his face. "And we're both very grateful."
"What does this have to do with being up here?" Blaine smirked.
"Well – do you remember what you were told on your first day about how some students can be rewarded for good deeds?" I quickly thought back to the words Nathaniel had said, all of them suddenly merging into one so I panicked.
"I get a longer shower time?" The two Head Boys laughed.
"Not quite. But we're giving you something pretty special." Suddenly Blaine began to walk backwards down the hallway, pulling me gently along with him, never breaking eye contact. If I weren't overcome with intrigue about where this was going I probably would have stopped just to stare into his eyes forever. We made painfully slow progress until finally we stopped by the door to mine and Artem's room. Blaine gestured upwards to the door and I followed his hand before stopping. Artem's nameplate was still there above the number nineteen – but mine had gone.
"Eh hum." Nathaniel cleared his throat and I glanced over to see him holding the strip of metal, my name etched across it. My confusion grew.
"Now this is completely your decision." Blaine started again. He had caution in his voice, as if he wanted to make sure I completely understood. "If you don't like what we're suggesting then we can put your name back up there as easily as we took it down. But one of the seniors recently dropped out to return to California so…" Tugging me down the corridor slightly faster this time, we began to walk towards the senior rooms, the rooms where there was only one name on the doors. Wait…
"Are you serious!" Suddenly the realisation hit. I broke free of Blaine's grip to run forward to Nathaniel, who was already standing by the door of number twenty-three – a door that had no nameplate on.
"This is about as serious as it gets." Nathaniel said smiling. Oh my Prada. Blaine had remembered – he'd remembered what I'd said about wanting to have my own room all those weeks ago when we'd been packing – he'd remembered and he'd told Nathaniel and now… Holy Marc Jacobs.
"Surely this is not allowed – I mean I'm not a senior?" Blaine had caught up with us and his smile was even wider than Nathaniel's.
"We discussed it with the other boys and they said they were happy for you to take the room as there's no new senior to fill it. But you will still follow junior rules and if you abuse this privilege it will be taken away from you."
"Oh man, no I will do whatever you say, I will have two minute showers and clean all your rooms for the rest of the term!" The two boys laughed again and I stared in wonder at the door. My door.
"Can I look inside?" Nathaniel grinned.
"Go ahead." Practically flinging the door open I gasped. The room was a similar size to mine and Artem's but as it only contained one bed that was a double. I still had a desk and a chest of drawers, as well as my very own walk in wardrobe. It was nowhere near the size of Blaine's room, but I didn't care. It was all mine.
"Wow." I felt Blaine come up behind me, his happy even breaths on my neck, and turned to hug him when suddenly another thought came into my mind.
"Oh. What about Artem?" The thought made me stop and my shoulders sag. Oh no. I couldn't leave Artem. We were such good friends – he'd be heartbroken.
"He was the first person we broached the subject with – obviously he loves having you around, but he wants you to be happy. We have another student that can replace you as his roommate if you move, but if you don't he can go to another house. Like we said it's completely your decision." I sighed deeply. I really wanted my own room – really wanted it. But I had grown so used to living with Artem – I kind of liked it.
"I don't know, I just don't know…"
"Kurt?" I turned around at the sound of Nathaniel's voice and saw him pointing to something outside the room. Peering my head around I saw Artem standing a couple of paces down the corridor, scuffing the floor with his shoes. Instantly I ran forward towards him.
"Oh Artem!" Throwing my arms around him I heard him let out a squeak of surprise, so I laughed into his shoulder. "Artem are you sure you don't mind me leaving?"
"You said you want your own room before you even meet me – I am happy to give you your wish."
"Really?" For some reason I could feel tears forming in my eyes, overcome with the hundreds of different emotions I'd experienced in one day.
"But you have to come and visit me lots." Another laugh escaped my lips.
"Of course I will! I'll only be down the corridor – we can hang out all the time." Artem's face broke into a wide smile and I hugged him close again, wiping away a rogue tear that had fallen from my eye.
"Thank you." I whispered, my words directed to all three people standing around me.
"Well I guess that's settled then!" Re-producing the metal nameplate, Nathaniel began attaching it to the door, the door of my new room at Wilde.