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Chapter 7
"So how do you think school is going to be today?" Peter asked on their way to McKinley High School the next morning.
The night before, Blaine had reluctantly informed him, Elizabeth, and Cooper that news had gotten out about him wearing a tracking anklet. Blaine had avoided telling the story of the jock pushing him into the locker, though. He didn't want his Uncle to think that he couldn't handle himself.
"I'll be fine," Blaine muttered in reply with a shrug. He started picking at the frayed edge of his black zip up hoodie. He was wearing his typical uniform of a black faded band t-shirt, black jeans and black converse. He added the hoodie because it was really starting to feel like November outside.
"Remember you can come to me if…" Peter began, but Blaine cut him off.
"If anyone gives me trouble," Blaine finished the sentence for him. "Yeah, I remember."
Blaine sighed and got out of the car, walking to the school—or his doom. There was no way that the entire school didn't know about his anklet by now. If news had reached as many people as it had in the ten minutes between gym class and Glee club, then it would have definitely reached the entire school overnight. As soon as Blaine walked in, he saw everyone walking around with the school newspaper. There were a couple people handing it out. Blaine grabbed a copy on his way to his locker. He really shouldn't have been surprised. He should've seen it coming. Front and center on the page was his mug shot. Great.
He tried to avoid looking at it as much as possible. He really hated reminders of that night. Instead, he focused on the article with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
Blaine Anderson: McKinley's own Thief
8th period gym class was provided with some juicy information—we have a felon in our midst. McKinley's newest student Blaine Anderson comes with a fairly permanent attachment: a GPS tracking anklet. Many rumors are swirling around school as to what Anderson did, but most of them fall far from the truth. Anderson was arrested for stealing a painting from the Met. He was also suspected of stealing and forging several other paintings. What this means is that all of you are in danger. Be careful, this thief could strike again with any of your belongings. Watch out!
Blaine crumbled up his paper and frustratingly threw it in the nearest garbage can. He should have known that news would get out. Most people wouldn't think to look it up, but his arrest was public record. Anyone smart enough could go online and find out the information that they wanted…in this case it seemed to be Jacob Ben Israel.
"I'm sorry," a familiar voice, which Blaine immediately recognized at Kurt's, came from right behind him. "I wish there was something I could do for you."
"I'll be fine," Blaine said with a sigh. In that moment with Kurt, he really felt that he was going to be fine. Kurt was sort of magical in that way. "It's only high school, right?"
"That's the spirit," Kurt replied with a smile, grabbing Blaine's hand and squeezing it. "I will see you in French class."
"See you then," Blaine replied with a sad smile.
Blaine walked to his homeroom classroom, trying to ignore all of the whispers that he was hearing about himself. The stares he could somewhat do, but the whispers were annoying the hell out of him. The students would have to be stupid if they thought that he couldn't hear them. Blaine was under the conclusion that they didn't care.
Blaine was the first one in his homeroom classroom. The teacher stared at him when he walked in, and Blaine realized that even the faculty knew what he had done. Great. He quickly snagged a seat in the back of the room and stared at his desk to avoid the looks of everyone that was coming into the room.
"Hey Blaine," a soft voice said, causing him to look up.
Standing before him was Tina dressed in her gothic best.
"Hi, Tina," Blaine replied with a smile and gestured to the seat next to him.
"I'm sorry about the paper," Tina said as she sat down. "That's just Jacob Ben Israel. He writes horrible stories about the Glee Club all the time."
"Yeah, but unfortunately this isn't just a story, it's the truth," Blaine replied with a sigh. "It's not slander if it's the truth."
"He shouldn't have said that we were all in danger though," Tina replied softly. "I mean, I'm not afraid that you're going to steal something from me. Anyone who even remotely knew you wouldn't be."
"Thanks, Tina," Blaine replied with a smile.
The bell rang at that moment, ending their conversation. Blaine only half-listened to the school announcements. He was too busy brooding. He sighed in relief when the bell rang signaling the end of homeroom. That meant that he could go to French class and talk with Kurt. Kurt was very quickly becoming the highlight of Blaine's day. Even when everything was going wrong, Blaine felt comfortable and safe with Kurt.
Their assignment in that French class was to talk to a partner about their lives in French. Blaine and Kurt started chatting away, the only ones in their class that weren't consulting their text books every two seconds.
"So you live with your dad and your step-mom?" Blaine asked. "What happened to your mother, if you don't mind my asking?"
"My mom died when I was little," Kurt replied sadly. "She was killed in a car accident."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Blaine replied sincerely. "Do you remember her at all?"
"A little bit," Kurt answered. "I'm not sure how much I actually remember and how much I only think I remember because I hear stories and see pictures. She was beautiful and she always smelled slightly of lavender and vanilla. I still have her old perfume bottle and I still smell it if I'm feeling particularly sad."
"I'm sure she must have been beautiful to have you as a son," Blaine replied, not even realizing how flirtatious that line was. He thought it was true, though.
"Thanks," Kurt said blushing. "What about your parents? I know you live with your aunt and your uncle."
"My dad died of cancer when I was little," Blaine replied. "My mother and I never really got along, but it got worse after I came out. She gave up on me after I got arrested, although I think she gave up long before that to be honest. I was living with my friend and his dad for majority of the time the past couple years. I hate to admit it, but I really am very lucky that my uncle and aunt took me in."
"Peter really is a great man," Kurt replied. "I grew up idolizing him. He may not be the most openly affectionate person all the time, but he is really strongly grounded in his morals."
"Stubbornly so, yes," Blaine replied with a smile.
"Stop flirting, it's disgusting," came a voice speaking in English behind them, effectively killing the moment that the two of them were having.
They turned around and found that it was Justin Muller from the Football Team. He was the one who slammed Blaine into the locker in gym class the day before.
"How in the hell would you know if we were flirting?" Kurt asked, continuing to speak in French. "You don't know a word that I'm saying to you."
"I don't know what you just said to me," Justin ironically stated, anger clear on his face. "But I'm sure I wouldn't like it!"
"Of course you wouldn't," Blaine replied in French as well.
"Stop it with the French!" Justin yelled in reply.
"Mr. Muller," the teacher said walking up at that moment. "We speak in French or we do not speak at all."
"Then he won't be speaking at all," Blaine whispered to Kurt who chuckled.
"Detention Mr. Anderson," the teacher said, clearly having overheard what he said.
Blaine groaned and slammed his head against the desk.
"Now come on," Kurt said in Blaine's defense. "I don't think that what he just said warranted detention! Justin was over here being rude to us and you don't give him anything?"
"Detention Mr. Hummel," the teacher said, turning and walking away.
"Well clearly she's heard the news," Blaine mumbled.
"What?" Kurt asked.
"She knows about what I've done," Blaine replied. "My homeroom teacher looked as if she was petrified that I was going to steal her wallet."
Kurt looked like he wanted to argue with that for a moment, but then thought better of it.
"I would argue against that, but I personally know several homophobic teachers in this school so I can't argue that they are above anything like this," Kurt replied with a sigh.
"Merde!" Blaine exclaimed, confusing Kurt and causing a couple of the students sitting near him to jump. "It's Tuesday!"
"Well yes…it does typically come after Monday and before Wednesday you know…" Kurt replied, looking at Blaine as if he had two heads.
"Tuesday is one of the days that I go into the city and help my uncle out after work," Blaine groaned putting his head in his hands. "He is going to be so pissed that I got detention."
"Well look at it this way, how much more trouble can you be in?" Kurt joked with a small smile. "I'm just hoping that my dad is working a little late today and won't have to know that I got detention."
"Unfortunately I don't have that option," Blaine replied with a groan. "I have to call Cooper after this."
"Cooper?" Kurt asked.
"Oh, Cooper is my older brother. I forgot that you didn't know about him," Blaine replied. "He works in the city, but mostly works from home. He picks me up and drives me to the FBI office on Tuesdays and Thursdays."
"Are you two really close?" Kurt asked.
"We haven't been for the last couple years," Blaine replied. "It wasn't entirely his fault, my mother has a habit of chasing a lot of people away—including my brother."
"Well it's good that you are getting to know each other now then," Kurt replied. "That is an upside in all this."
"That and the fact that I got away from my mother," Blaine added make Kurt even more curious about Blaine's mother.
The bell finally rang signaling the end of class. The two parted ways and Blaine headed to Chemistry where he spent half the period working on a lab assignment and half the period listening to Rachel blab on and on about the song she was singing for duets and how it would be an absolute travesty if she didn't win. Blaine wanted to ask if she remembered that a duet was about two people, not one. He didn't really want to get into it though, so he just let her be.
At lunchtime, Blaine snuck into the boy's bathroom so that he could call Cooper.
"Hey, little brother," Cooper said when he answered the phone. "What's going on? Aren't you in school?"
"Yeah," Blaine replied. "It's lunch period. Listen, I have a favor to ask of you."
"I'm not going to cover for you if you are skipping school, if that's what you are asking," Cooper replied, sounding very suspicious.
"I'm not skipping school," Blaine replied, annoyed. "I could never even get away with skipping school. I'm fairly certain that Peter watches my tracking data like a hawk."
"What do you need then?" Cooper asked, immensely relieved.
"I sort of, kind of, may have happened to get detention," Blaine replied.
"Sort of, kind of?" Cooper repeated, his skepticism clear even over the phone.
"Okay, I got detention," Blaine replied annoyed. "I got it for a totally unfair reason. The teacher definitely has it out for me. Kurt unfortunately got dragged into along with me."
"Kurt?" Cooper repeated the name and Blaine was pretty sure that he could almost hear his smirk through the phone. "Would this be the boy that has you blushing lately? I heard he was at the party you threw the other night."
"What…that has nothing to do with anything that we are talking about right now," Blaine stuttered out in reply.
"Well from what I've gathered you have detention with this oh so mysterious Kurt," Cooper stated. "I would say he has a lot to do with the conversation at hand."
"No, the conversation at hand is if you are willing to be the best brother ever and cover for me with Uncle Peter," Blaine replied.
"I might, if you answer my question," Cooper said, clearly enjoying himself.
"What question?" Blaine yelled into the cell phone, running his hands through his hair in frustration.
"Is Kurt the boy that has you blushing?" Cooper asked, his voice actually sing-song. Blaine didn't think anyone did that outside of elementary school. Clearly he was wrong.
"We are just friends," Blaine matter-of-factly replied.
"For now," Cooper stated.
"Okay, sure…for now," Blaine rolled his eyes. "Now are you going to cover for me or not?"
"I'll see what I can do," Cooper replied with a laugh. "I can't promise anything, but I'll try."
"Thank you," Blaine said, so happy that this conversation was finally going to be over. "I'll see you later."
Blaine didn't wait for Cooper to say anything else, he just hung up the phone. Sometimes he swore that he was actually the older brother. Surely, Cooper couldn't be a full grown adult, and yet his birth certificate claimed that he was. He just really hoped that Cooper was going to be able to cover for him. The last thing he needed right now was to be in even more trouble with his Uncle Peter.
The rest of the day went as usual. There were a couple insults thrown here and there at him. Justin once again pushed him into a locker after gym class. He was definitely ready for the day to be over when the final bell rang, but alas, he still had detention to sit through. Blaine walked into the detention room and found that they were having detention with Mr. Schuester.
"Blaine," Mr. Schuester said. "I can't believe I have both you and Kurt in here."
Blaine walked in and sat down next to Kurt.
"What happened?" Mr. Schuester asked.
"The jocks happened," Kurt replied bitterly.
"Oh Kurt," Mr. Schuester replied. "You know there is so much more that I wish that I could do for you."
"But you can't, I know," Kurt replied with a sigh. "It doesn't matter. I only have two more years left then I will live go to NYU and live in the city."
"NYU, nice choice," Blaine replied with a nod.
"I have always wanted to go to NYU," Kurt explained. "I love being in the heart of the city, being one of the eight million stories that wander the streets there. I know we are right outside the city, but it doesn't feel the same. The suburbs just don't have the same vibe as the city. Sometimes I feel like we might as well be a million miles away."
"I agree with that," Blaine said in reply. "I loved living in Brooklyn. I mean I didn't spend much time at my actual home, but there was such a great vibe. When I was living with the Claringtons I was living on the Upper West Side and I loved that as well. This two-mile radius is killing me. I go to the city twice a week to help him out for work, but all I see is the city from the windows of a car and the view from the inside of the FBI building. It's not the same."
"Do you mind my interrupting," Mr. Schuester asked. "But don't you think you were pulled out of the city because that's where you got into so much trouble?"
"Oh no, not you too," Blaine groaned. "Can't I just relive the wonders of the past without having my daydream bubble popped?"
"Blaine, I just want what's best for you," Mr. Schuester said sincerely. "I know that you haven't been here very long, but I don't want you to mess up even further. You are being given a chance to put your life in order and I don't want you to ever forget that."
"Trust me I can't forget it," Blaine replied, rolling his eyes and lifting up his pant leg to reveal his anklet. "I can't even take a shower and forget it, because I look down and oh—there's the anklet."
"How about we change the subject?" Kurt suggested. "So Sectionals are next weekend, do you think we are ready?"
"I hope so," Mr. Schuester replied. Blaine thanked the heavens that Kurt was there and seemed to sense when he was annoyed and really wanted to change the subject. "We have Rachel singing the solo, and then we will have the duet from the winners of this week's competition. I think the Journey song for the group number will be a crowd pleaser."
"Why can't we do something other than a Journey song?" Kurt asked with a groan. "I think we have done Journey to death. We need to think outside the box, do something unexpected. Everyone that thinks of the New Directions thinks of Journey now."
"Journey is a classic," Mr. Schuester defended. "You literally can't go wrong with Journey."
"Yes you can if it's what everyone expects," Blaine replied. "You never want to fall into a rut and play it safe. Playing it safe can be the death of something great."
"You guys really think that we're in a rut?" Mr. Schuester asked, very concerned.
Kurt and Blaine both looked at each other for a moment before turning back to face Mr. Schuester and saying in-sync, "Yes."
"What should we do then?" Mr. Schuester asked, clearly starting to panic.
"How about a song from this century?" Blaine suggested. "A Katy Perry song perhaps?"
"Oh no," Kurt replied shaking his head. "The clear answer is a Gaga song."
"Katy Perry is just as good, if not better, than Gaga," Blaine replied rolling his eyes.
Kurt gasped and clutched at his chest.
"You sir are very mistaken," Kurt cried out. "Lady Gaga is the single most influential performer of our generation. She pushes boundaries and creates art with her music."
"Agree to disagree?" Blaine asked with a laugh.
"Sure," Kurt replied with a smile.
The bell rang signaling the end of detention.
"Well you two have certainly given me a lot to think about," Mr. Schuester said, standing up from behind the desk. "I am going to brainstorm and I will see you two tomorrow."
Mr. Schuester rushed out of the room, clearly rushing to get started on all of his new ideas. Blaine couldn't believe that he couldn't see that the Glee Club was stuck in a rut before this. Seriously, everyone knew that Mr. Schuester was stuck in the eighties…apparently except Mr. Schuester.
Kurt and Blaine walked outside chatting about what other songs they thought the Glee Club should do. Blaine was lost in his conversation with Kurt that he didn't notice who was walking towards him.
"Well hello detention buddies," Peter said walking towards them. "I'm starting to think you two are a bad influence on each other."
"Uncle Peter…" Blaine stammered out. "What are you doing here? I thought Cooper was picking me up."
"You mean you thought Cooper was covering for you," Peter replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
"He told you?" Blaine asked, feeling very betrayed.
"Er—I'm just going to go now…" Kurt said, not wanting to be a part of this conversation. "Good seeing you, Peter."
Peter stopped glaring at Blaine for a moment, and waved goodbye to Kurt. Kurt wasn't his problem. He knew that Burt knew that the two of them had gotten detention, so it was really up to Burt to deal with that one. His problem was the five foot eight sulking teenager in front of him.
"He didn't have to tell me, I already knew," Peter replied to Blaine's question.
"What do you mean you already knew?" Blaine asked in confusion. "How could you already know? Wait! Don't tell me you actually get notified the moment that I get detention."
"That is my agreement with Principal Figgins, yes," Peter replied with a shrug.
Blaine couldn't believe it! Was there anything in his life that was private? Did his Uncle have to know everything.
"The only thing that I don't know is why you got detention," Peter said after Blaine brooded in silence for a couple moments.
"Does it even matter?" Blaine muttered.
"Yes, it matters a lot," Peter replied, gesturing for Blaine to follow him to the car.
Blaine silently did as asked and followed his Uncle to the Ford Taurus. A couple moments later they were both sitting in the car in silence.
"Why did you get detention Blaine?" Peter asked outright.
"Some stupid asshole made a homophobic comment towards Kurt and I made a sarcastic remark towards him. The French teacher has it out for me, and she gave me detention," Blaine explained, giving the closest version of the story to the truth that he could. "Kurt defended me and she gave him detention as well."
Peter sat there and studied Blaine for a couple moments before nodding and starting the car.
"So a colleague of mine has some tickets to a Giants game in a couple weeks. Would you have any interest in going?" Peter asked, throwing Blaine for a loop.
"What?" Blaine asked in sheer confusion.
"What don't you understand?" Peter asked, glancing over at Blaine.
"So that's it?" Blaine asked. "I'm not in trouble for getting detention?"
"Not when it's for a reason like that, no," Peter replied with a shrug.
Blaine studied his Uncle for a couple moments before deciding to drop it and start talking about the Giants game.
The next day at school was pretty much the same as the day before. Blaine was starting to let some of the comments roll off his back. As his dad always used to tell him, prejudice is just ignorance.
The best parts of his day were French class and Glee Club, as usual. He was starting to miss Kurt more and more throughout the day when he wasn't with him. He didn't think too much into it, he just knew that Kurt made him happier than he had been in a really long time.
That afternoon in Glee Club he performed with Quinn. He thought it went really well. He ended up getting out of Glee about a half hour early, because the last half hour was used for the teams that hadn't gone yet to rehearse. He knew that he could call his Aunt and let her know to come pick him up early, but he didn't feel like it. He wanted that half hour to himself. He didn't get his wish though. As he was walking around the school near the tennis courts he got a surprise.
"Well, well, well," a voice said from behind him. "Look who we have here. I thought you were in jail."
Blaine quickly turned toward the voice, recognizing it immediately.
"Hunter, what are you doing here?" Blaine asked.
"What kind of greeting is that?" Hunter asked with a laugh. "And here I thought we were best friends."
Blaine laughed and walked up and pulled Hunter into a 'man' hug, patting him on the back.
"It's good to see you," Blaine said when they pulled apart.
"Is this where you've been this whole time?" Hunter asked, the two of them walking over and sitting down on the bleachers of the tennis court. "My dad told me you got caught and were in jail or something."
"Or something is right," Blaine replied with a sigh, pulling up his pant leg to reveal the tracking anklet.
"Whoa, harsh man," Hunter replied, staring at the anklet. "What happened?"
"I got caught pulling the Met job," Blaine explained. "By the White Collar team that happens to be run by my Uncle. As you can imagine, he was pissed. Instead of going to a juvenile detention center, I get this lovely accessory, a two-mile radius and a shit ton of rules. He would kill me if he knew I was even talking to you right now."
"That sucks," Hunter replied, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "Want one?"
"No thanks, man," Blaine replied with a sigh. "Those things are bad for you."
"You used to smoke all the time," Hunter pointed out.
"My uncle would kill me if…" Blaine began, but got cut off by Hunter.
"Your uncle isn't here right now, is he?" Hunter asked, raising an eyebrow and holding the pack near Blaine's face.
"What harm can one do?" Blaine finally replied with a shrug, pulling out a cigarette and lighting up.
He really had missed it. He didn't smoke on a daily basis, but he was known to have the occasional cigarette—especially when out with Hunter.
"So you never did tell me," Blaine said, looking over a Hunter. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm meeting with a friend," Hunter replied. "We normally meet in the city, but he couldn't make it down there. He came home from a party last Friday night super drunk and his parents were pissed. He says he was lucky that he made it home, because there was a woman that busted it from the FBI. He was terrified that she was there looking for him. I told him that he was just being paranoid, but he won't listen to me."
Blaine couldn't help but laugh.
"What?" Hunter asked.
"That was my party," Blaine answered. "Agent Barrigan was only there because my Uncle Peter had her check up on me."
"You threw a rager and didn't invite me?" Hunter asked, clutching at his heart and pretending to be wounded.
"I told you my Uncle would be pissed if he even knew that I was talking to you right now," Blaine replied, rolling his eyes at Hunter's dramatics. "The FBI is monitoring my cell phone and computer usage. I can't contact you."
Hunter seemed to process that for a moment.
"Are they looking into my dad and I?" Hunter asked, his voice so soft that Blaine had to strain to hear him.
Blaine nodded, not wanting to answer that aloud.
"My dad figured as much," Hunter replied. "So they are asking you questions about us?"
Blaine just stared off into the distance. That was answer enough.
"I don't want to answer them," Blaine finally said. "You know that, right?"
"I don't blame you, Blaine," Hunter said. "I know you are in a very difficult situation. So how is life here at McKinley?"
Blaine was about to answer, but looked down at his watch.
"Shit!" Blaine said, standing up and putting out his cigarette. "My Aunt is going to be here to pick me up any second now."
"Here," Hunter said, handing Blaine the pack of cigarettes.
Blaine mindlessly took them and shoved them into his backpack.
"I'll find a way to get in touch with you again, okay?" Hunter said. "I'll see you around."
"See you around, Hunter," Blaine said running off toward the front of the school.
He sighed in relief when he got there and his Aunt was only just pulling into the school parking lot. He got into her car and they drove home with her asking questions about his duet with Quinn. When they got home and he walked into the house, Cooper was sitting on the couch watching TV. Blaine dropped his backpack on the floor and sat down next to his brother on the couch. Cooper looked over at Blaine for a few moments.
"What?" Blaine asked.
"Why do you reek of cigarette smoke?" Cooper asked, causing Blaine's stomach to drop.
"What are you talking about?" Blaine denied, rolling his eyes and grabbing the remote off the table and switching channels.
They had no proof that he had been smoking, so he figured he didn't have anything to worry about.
"I'm home!" his Uncle Peter's call came from the kitchen.
"Peter, can you please come join us in the living room," Elizabeth replied.
Cooper grabbed the remote from Blaine's hand and shut off the TV. Crap. This was starting to get serious.
"What's going on?" Peter asked, walking into the room.
"Blaine Devon here smells like cigarette smoke," Cooper said, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at his younger brother.
Blaine Devon? Really? Blaine hated his middle name.
"Stand up," Peter demanded.
Blaine started to protest, but Cooper pulled him to his feet. Peter grabbed him and pulled his arms out, and started to pat him down. Blaine sighed in annoyance, but knew he wasn't going to win. His uncle was going to pat him down, no matter how much he protested.
"Sit down," Peter demanded, pointing to the couch.
Blaine did as he was asked, thinking he was just going to get a lecture because they hadn't found anything. Unfortunately, that was not the case and his uncle picked up his backpack.
"That's an invasion of privacy!" Blaine protested.
"A part of your deal is that I can search your person, your belongings and your room anytime that I want," Peter replied. "You don't have the right to any privacy."
Peter shuffled through his backpack, pulling out the pack of cigarettes that Hunter had given Blaine. Blaine sighed, and shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Well shit.