A Year to forget

The summer between his Junior and Senior years was a good one for Nick. He had begun to plot with Jeff in the spring, and both of them had worked on their parents. As a result, Nick found himself on his way to his aunt's in Chicago again, this time for an entire month - the same month that Jeff would just happen to be staying with his uncle. Once again the two boys had a blast, particularly during the last week, when Trent joined them - they had managed to organise him an invitation from Jeff's uncle too. It was quite a relief for them all to get away from Dalton, where the last few days of the term had been incredibly sad. That year had seen the departure of so many good guys from the Warblers - David and Thad, both off to UCLA; Flint and Beats, both of to Princeton; and Drew and Ethan, off to Oxford and Cambridge respectively.

This seemed to open up the chance for Nick, Jeff or Trent to get a place on the council - indeed it was highly likely that all three of them would end up on it. Finally, they would have a chance to show how much they had learned from their years in the group. More importantly, they would have the chance to boss Sebastian around, as his position as lead soloist would depend on him keeping in their good books. It was not all done and dusted yet though. Normally there would have been at least one member of the Council carrying on from the year before, who would take charge of the election process. That was not the case that year, and so that role would fall to the Principal. The new Principal, given that Mr Carmichael had retired. His replacement was not universally liked - as the former assistant Principal, he had shown little respect for the Warblers or their traditions.

The new school year started normally enough. The first Warbler meeting of the year was a raucous affair - as the only appointee left, Sebastian had tried to take some kind of charge, but the meeting had quickly dissolved into a free for all. The noise attracted attention of course, and resulted in the boys being sent home, and with a trip to the school office for Sebastian. His three friends waited for him to come out, and were greeted by a face so sour that they feared the worst. He had been told in no uncertain terms that he had to consider his position as the behaviour of his cohorts had not befitted the school. It took quite a while for Trent to eventually manage to raise a smile from him.

That weekend, they found another person who had no reason to smile. A tearful Blaine had called Nick on Friday night to say that Kurt had gone to New York - that it had been his suggestion, but now he was regretting it. His four friends in the Warblers took it upon themselves to attempt to cheer him up, and insisted that he come to Jeff's for a night of dvds and games. He had, and after he had initially made them all feel quite sad themselves, they worked on getting him to smile. Luckily, it took little more than putting on a film that Wes had always had handy to cheer up the group - Monty Python's The Life of Brian. Watching that, combined with Nick doing his best silly voice on the line "He's not the messiah - he's a very naughty boy." soon had a smile back on Blaine's face. Life was hard, but they could always find something to cheer them up.

That was until the day that Nick, Jeff and Trent walked in to Warbler practice to hear the new Principal announce that the Warblers had a new member - his nephew, Hunter. He was put up for election to head of the Council alongside the three boys. How he won, they didn't know, but by the end of that meeting, the Council was disbanded. Furthermore, they were told that if anyone had any complaints about the new order that was coming in, they knew where the door was to leave. That should have been the cue for the three friends to go, but they loved singing too much. When the New Directions trophy appeared in the Senior Commons, that should have been another sign that they should go, even if it was only being used as a way to lure back Blaine. All three of the boys would have welcomed that - they missed him, as he had become very distant since his break up with Kurt. Nick had been shocked to say the least when he heard from an equally stunned Trent that Blaine had cheated. In the end, he had stayed at McKinley. This had made Hunter even more mad, more determined to win.

The less said about the whole steroid incident the better as far as Nick was concerned. He knew it was wrong; hadn't wanted to get involved, but once again, it was take part or quit. When he saw Jeff line up to take his shot, he had been horrified - he couldn't believe his best friend was doing it. When Trent refused, Nick was faced with a choice - follow Trent out of the door, or break his principles of fairness and honesty to stay and protect Jeff. The latter won, his vow of protection for his friend stronger than anything else. The steroids certainly had an effect on their performance - it was their best ever. At the same time though, the whole choir was disintegrating - it was no longer a band of musical brothers, but a group of men united by fear. Nick was starting to feel that he was losing his mind. He was still friends with Trent, but their meetings had to be in secret, as Hunter had made it quite clear that he was persona non grata.

Of course, in the end, the truth came out, and Nick was ashamed that he had not been able to stand next to Trent and state that he was clean. If that was not bad enough, things had happened in those last hours before Finn Hudson had gone to the show choir governing board which had left them all shaken. Nick had managed to keep his vow to Jeff, but had suffered for it. Sebastian too had been left immensely shaken by the whole affair, both physically and mentally - he had been keeping two identities going for some time - one for Hunter, and one for his friends. Jeff had been left deeply upset by the whole thing. Nick would be invited over for a sleepover, and it would end with a sobbing Jeff curled up in Nick's arms. Nick would be crying too, upset for his friend and for himself. Having Jeff in his arms felt right and comfortable. For a while, it felt like they had lost Trent as a friend, but gradually things there returned to normal. Sebastian was also brought firmly into their circle - his former attitude forgotten in the face of such scandal.

Life was not kind that year, especially to poor Jeff. He ended up having to take some time away from school. Nick was there to support him, taking him his work so that he would not fall behind, and reminding him that he needed to keep on top of things so they could go to college together. As a result of this, he was absent from Dalton when Blaine arrived to tell everyone that he was going to propose to Kurt, and needed their help. Nick had given him a full account of everything and had even had him on the phone as the whole thing panned out. He nearly screamed down the phone when Kurt said yes, then burst into tears as he had missed it. The video that was posted on Youtube of that moment made up for it in some small way. It certainly seemed so as he had lain against Nick on his bed and watched it with him. When Kurt and Blaine came to visit him the next day, it gave him a fillip - so much so that he was soon back at school.

Hunter was expelled; his uncle removed by the board of governors. Mr Carmichael agreed to return and life at Dalton had returned to its normal tenor - almost. The Warblers were still pariah figures, even though they had partially redeemed themselves with their contribution to the proposal. There was still no Council in the old sense - instead of running their own affairs, the boys were under the control of a faculty member. This was not an issue to the boys, particularly as it was the French mistress, one of the few faculty members that had tried to help them. She had been sacked by Hunter's uncle, but was swiftly reinstated by the governors. She kept her involvement as hands off as possible, leaving Trent and Nick in more or less day to day charge. But it wasn't the same, and for the four friends, it felt as if they had let the side down and betrayed the legacy left to them by Wes. They could only hope to instil in the upcoming generation a sense of honour and decency that had been lost whilst Hunter had been in charge.

Just as things at Dalton began to resume some sense of normality, tragedy struck for one of their past members. It was Trent that got the call from Sam. What he heard made his own problems that year pale into insignificance. He made his way afterwards to Nick and Jeff's dorm room; he and Sebastian had both been expected there anyway for a study session. The moment he entered the room, the other three could see that something was wrong. "I just had a call from Sam. Kurt's stepbrother, Finn - he's dead. There was an accident on the freeway…" Their hearts broke for their friend's loss - they knew that Blaine would be suffering too. All four of them attended the funeral, sitting quietly at the back. Kurt was grateful to them all, accepting their sympathies and giving a hug to each of them. No-one was more shocked about the last part of that than Sebastian. The tensions of the past were forgotten for a moment in a shared sense of loss. Finn had after all played a major part in saving them from Hunter.

Back at Dalton, they all had something more important to occupy their minds. The end of the school year was fast approaching - they had exams to sit, essays to right. On top of that, there was college to think about. Trent was furthest ahead, having had most free time - he had applied to and been more or less excepted by George Washington in DC where he intended to study politics. Sebastian was intending to take a year out after his experiences, and would be going to London to intern at the stock broking firm of a family friend. Nick and Jeff had applied to both Yale and Colombia - Nick had been forced to apply to Harvard, his father's alma mater. He had not made the best application in the world on purpose to try and ensure that he did not get in. The risk was that the family name would come into play. Jeff knew that Nick did not want to go there - and he certainly didn't want to go to Harvard himself. So, on the grounds that if Nick did find himself landed with Harvard, he would at least have Wes, he applied for UCLA, so he would have Thad and David.

Neither boy wanted to leave the other behind. The events of that year had brought them even closer than they had been previously. The rest of the students at Dalton knew that if you found Nick, Jeff would be nearby. Trent and Sebastian overheard themselves being described as the gooseberries by one of the younger Warblers - they were even more bemused one day to hear one of the teachers referring to Niff. Neither of the boys said anything to the other two. All that Trent would say was that he hoped that nothing would ruin their college plans. Because the fall out from that, in spite of what both of them said, would be huge.

Two weeks before the end of the school year, Nick's father would start a chain reaction…