Chapter Text
NYADA – New York’s Premier Performing Arts High School is printed in bold on the pamphlet Burt Hummel’s sister hands him. Burt flips through it yet again and sighs before he looks at Kate.
“I’m really not sure about this. It’s awfully far away and Finn and Kurt are finally starting to get along.“
“Burt,” his sister puts her hand over his, “if it’s already this bad in Junior High, do you really want to send him to High School here?”
Burt knows Kate is right. His son has been bullied in school for years now, but whenever he complained to the principal about it, nothing happened.
“Besides,” Kate continues, “Kurt’s music teacher said he’s incredibly talented and he would gladly write him a recommendation for NYADA. The people running the Columbus Summer Arts Academy have said the same things. If you get him out of Ohio now, you won’t have to worry about him getting hurt in school and he’d already have an advantage when he applies to Drama School after High School,” Kate lists the pros again.
It isn’t the first time that Kate suggests sending Kurt to a school other than McKinley next fall, but it is the first time she brings up a school out of state.
“What makes you believe I could afford this NYADA? You know how we looked into Dalton Academy, but couldn’t afford it in the end?” Kate nods, but her smile doesn’t falter.
“But NYADA gives out scholarships for students who couldn’t afford to attend otherwise. All we would have to pay for is room and board if he gets in.”
“But what if he doesn’t? I can’t send him to Carmel either, because that’s all the way up in Akron.”
Burt puts his head in his hands. His son hasn’t even officially come out yet – but he’s pretty certain about it even without his son’s confirmation - and is already being tormented at school. As much as it pains him to say, his sister is right. Kurt would be much safer in New York than he would be in Ohio.
“Let me at least send them Kurt’s tapes. You don’t have to decide anything right now. School won’t be out for another two months,” Kate reminds him when she sees how he is struggling with the decision.
Burt finally agrees and signs where Kate wants him to before handing her twenty dollars for the application fee. He doesn’t want his not even fifteen-year-old son to live in a boarding school in New York, but he is running out of options.
Later that night, Burt goes online and looks up NYADA’s home page. The school, situated on Amsterdam Ave between W 64th and W 65th street, seems to be in a safe neighborhood and is surrounded by other arts institutes. He knows it would be a dream come true for a kid like Kurt.
The webpage explains that the school houses two dorms - one for boys and one for girls – which are governed by older students who act as dorm monitors.
He isn’t really afraid to leave his kid unsupervised. Kurt has only been eight when his mother died, and has mostly raised himself afterward because Burt had to take care of the garage.
What Burt is really interested in is the mission statement that boasts the school’s achievement in music, dance and performing arts as well as their strict anti-bullying policy. If he is sending Kurt to a school all the way in New York, he has to make sure his son would be safe there. He clicks through some more pages, looks up the different programs the school offers and shuts the computer off with another sigh once he is done.
Kate is right, he doesn’t need to make a decision right now. What is important at the moment is getting Kurt through the last two months of Junior High unscathed.
Five weeks later, Burt is picking up the mail and quickly brings it inside when he sees that it contains a letter from NYADA. He and Kurt have talked about the school after Kate has applied for him, and while Kurt wants nothing more than go there, Burt still isn’t sure.
He and Carole are getting married in September and he doesn’t want to send his son away, just as the Hummels and Hudsons are becoming a real family.
Fate has other plans this afternoon though, because no more than five minutes after he opening the letter that invites Kurt to study at NYADA, Burt receives the phone call he has always been afraid to receive one day.
He rushes to the hospital as soon as his hands stop shaking, Kurt’s letter buried deep in his pocket. One of Kurt’s only friends, Mercedes, is sitting in the waiting room, looking pale with red-rimmed eyes.
“Mercedes, what happened?” The girl looks up at him confusedly for a few seconds before she seems to recognize him.
“Mr. Hummel. It was Karofsky,” she finally whispers. Burt furrows his brows because isn’t that kid in High School already? He must have said that out lout, because Mercedes nods.
“He had to repeat 8th grade but he’s a freshman now. I saw him and Kurt argue about something and then he pushed Kurt hard against a dumpster and Kurt hit his head and there was a lot of blood and Karofsky ran away.”
The poor girl is rambling now and Burt wishes Carole was here. She would know how to calm Mercedes down. Fortunately, he is saved by Mercedes’ parents rushing into the waiting room. After quick introductions, a nurse finally approaches to tell him he can see Kurt now.
His son is sitting up in bed, looking even paler than usual. His head is wrapped in bandages, his right arm is in a sling and a young looking doctor is standing next to the bed, looking over Kurt’s CAT scans.
Ignoring the doctor for now, Burt pulls Kurt into his arms, careful of his injuries. He doesn’t even realize he is crying until he feels Kurt’s hospital gown wet against his cheek.
Burt discreetly wipes the tears from his eyes after he lets go of Kurt and takes a few deep breaths. It has to be done. He never wants to get a call from the hospital again, especially not one about Kurt being admitted with a head injury.
He pulls Kurt’s NYADA letter out of his pocket and hands it to his son.
“Congrats, kiddo. You’re moving to New York.
Kurt is standing in front of a tall, old looking building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It screams old money, even though he is aware that twenty-five percent of NYADA’s students receive a scholarship just like him.
The last few days have gone by in a blur. His father has accompanied him to New York where they have met up with his aunt Kate, who is living in New Jersey and has promised his father to check in on him from time to time. It is the first time Kurt and his father have come to the city and his aunt has shown them around the tourist attractions and they have even seen a real live Broadway show. Kurt can’t really believe it yet, that this city is going to be his home for at least the next four years.
Saying goodbye to Mercedes and his family was tearful, especially after his dad and Carole moved up their wedding, so Kurt could attend it. Finn sang a song for him, and publicly apologized for not protecting Kurt from the bullies when they were still attending the same school.
Finn is starting his junior year at McKinley this fall, but he had been his chief tormentor Karofsky’s classmate until the bully had to repeat 8th grade. When Karofsky pushed Kurt around, Finn looked the other way, because he thought it would hurt his popularity if he stuck up for Kurt, and so when Carole and his dad first started dating when Kurt was in 7th grade, things at home were tense for a while, especially when Carole and Finn moved in and Finn and Kurt had to share a room.
Finn complained about it, but his dad defended him and made Finn apologize. It is one of the reasons Kurt is afraid to come out to his dad, because who knows if his dad won’t suddenly side with Finn, if he knew about Kurt, and the crush he had on Finn in 6th grade.
After Karofsky pushed him against the dumpster - after an argument about an incident Kurt desperately wanted to forget - his father took him out of school and he only had to go back to take his finals before school let out in May.
He spent most of his summer helping out in his dad’s shop or lounging around the house with Mercedes, watching reruns of Project Runway. He knows Mercedes is sad he is moving away but she still tried to cheer him up by telling him about all the fabulous clothes he would be able to buy in New York.
Finn’s friends from the football team, Puck, Mike, Matt and Sam spent a lot of time at their house as well and surprisingly even Puck had been nice to him. The only person he couldn’t stand being around – they've been frenemies since elementary school when they fought over a role in the school play – was Rachel.
Rachel had finally managed to get together with Finn before the summer and when she heard about his transfer to the prestigious New York based performing arts high school, she immediately begged her fathers to let her transfer as well, but the school told her that they usually don’t accept transfers from non-performing arts school unless specific circumstances surrounding the student in question warranted it. Rachel was angry, because the school wouldn’t see how special she was and Kurt fled the living room to let Finn deal with his crazy girlfriend.
Finn and Carole have said goodbye at the airport in Columbus, because school at McKinley has already started and Carole hasn’t felt comfortable leaving her sixteen-year-old son behind left to his own devices. The party that got out of hand this summer apparently was proof enough that Finn shouldn’t be left in charge of an empty house.
Kurt swore up and down that he wasn't involved in the planning and hadn’t been aware that the punch was spiked when his dad found him hung-over the next day, and Kurt knew it was a testament to his developing acting skills that his father immediately bought it. To make it up to Finn, who had to deal with the brunt of his dad’s fury, Kurt offered to clean the whole house while his parents went out for lunch.
He didn’t like Finn that much at first, but he has to admit that his giant stepbrother is growing on him and he will definitely miss him. He has promised to come home for Thanksgiving, but as his father has lamented, that is still months away.
Kurt’s thoughts about the past summer are interrupted by a tall woman who must have approached them while he reminisced. She introduces herself as Ms. Carson, responsible for all incoming students.
Before he knows it, it is time to say goodbye to aunt Kate and his dad. After many tearful hugs and promises to call at least every second day, Ms. Carson helps Kurt wheel one of his three suitcases to the dorms, which are left of the main building. He takes one last look at his dad’s retreating figure before he squares his shoulders and straightens up his posture. Kurt Hummel does not get homesick.
Kurt has followed Ms. Carson inside a large building that houses both the girls’ and the boys’ dorms. The left wing will be Kurt’s future home, Ms. Carson continues explaining as she leads him down a corridor to room 117. Freshmen are on the first floor, sophomore on the second floor and so on. The same applies to the girls’ dormitories, which are in the right wing.
Boys and girls have shared common rooms, but are not allowed into the boys’ rooms after eight o’clock and vice versa. The door has to stay partially open to prevent couples from doing things they wouldn’t feel comfortable doing in public.
Kurt just nods along as Ms. Carson explains the rules. He has no desire to do anything with a girl in a room, but that is something Ms. Carson doesn’t need to know. He knows the school has a zero tolerance bullying policy, but he isn’t sure how well that is enforced in the dorms. He just hopes his roommate isn’t homophobic in case Kurt ever finds the courage to come out.
Before he knows it, Ms. Carson is knocking on door 117 and a boy, not much taller than Kurt, with a bad dye job opens the door. Ms. Carson gives him a card with her number on it in case he has anymore questions and then he is alone with the stranger who is studying him rather curiously before he grabs one of Kurt’s suitcases and drags it inside.
“Man, what did you pack? Stones?” Kurt huffs and takes his suitcase back before dropping it in front of a closet that looks barely big enough to house all his clothes.
“That’s my shoe collection. We can’t all run around with ratty sneakers like you.” To his surprise the other boy laughs. “You sound exactly like my girlfriend, and my best friend Nick, come to think of it. I’m Jeff by the way.”
The boy, Jeff, holds out his hand and when Kurt doesn’t react immediately he grabs Kurt’s hand, puts it in his own and shakes it. Kurt is surprised that the other boy touches him willing, and gives him a small smile. “Kurt.”
“Where do you come from?” Jeff asks him as he starts pinning his favorite Broadway posters to the wall. “You don’t sound like a New Yorker.” Great, Jeff probably thinks he is country boy from Hicksville. “Ohio. You?”
“Chicago. My parents actually wanted to send me to a private school in Ohio, Dalton Academy, because my dad’s an alumni, but luckily I could convince them to send me here. I dance,” Jeff adds after a moment.
Kurt looks up in surprise. “My dad wanted to send me to Dalton too, but it was a little pricy,” he mumbles embarrassed by his familiy's lack of funds. Hopefully, Jeff won’t think any less of him because his family isn’t wealthy.
“That’s cool man, my friend Nick is on a scholarship too.” Kurt smiles in relief. This school is supposed to be a fresh start for him and he doesn’t need to trade insults about his rumored sexuality with insults about his less privileged upbringing. Maybe he should stop watching Gossip Girl. It is only his first day and he is already acting paranoid.
Jeff picks up a magazine while Kurt finishes unpacking and decorates his half of the room. Much too soon he is done, trying to come up with a topic to talk about.
“You said your girlfriend likes shoes too. How long have you been together?” Finn always likes talking about his current girlfriend so this seems like a safe topic.
“About six months. We went to school together in Chicago and luckily her parents sent her to an all-girls’ school on the Upper East Side, so we can still see each other.”
“That’s great.” “Yeah. So what about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”
Kurt freezes. Is now the point where Jeff tells him he is disgusting? And is he really that obvious?
“I’m not gay”, he forces out. Jeff gives him a sympathetic look.
“You know, it wouldn’t matter to me if you are. Nick says there are plenty of gay guys in this school.”
Kurt remains frozen in his spot. Is Jeff telling the truth or is he just trying to get Kurt to admit it before he shows his true colors?
Suddenly Jeff jumps up from the bed and Kurt takes a step back, but instead of hitting him Jeff opens his mouth to sing.
If you were gay,
That’d be okay.
I mean ‘cause, hey,
I’d like you anyway
Oh dear God, is Jeff singing Avenue Q to him? He takes another step back, but his new roommate just continues.
Because you see,
If it were me,
I would feel free
To say that I am gay
(But I’m not gay)
“Jeff, please! I am trying to decorate.”
If you were queer
“Jeff!”
I’d still be here,
“Jeff, I'm trying to, um, hang this poster.”
Year after year
“Jeff!”
Because you’re dear to me
“Argh!”
And I know that you
Would accept me too,
If I told you today
"Hey! Guess what,
I'm gay!"
(But I’m not gay.)
I’m happy,
Just being with you
“High Button Shoes, Bow ties…”
So what should it
Matter to me
What you do in bed
With guys.
“Jeff, that's GROSS!”
“No it's not!”
If you were gay
I’d shout hooray!
“I am not listening!”
And here I’d stay
“La la la la la!”
But I wouldn’t get in your way.
“Aaaah!”
You can count on me
To always be
Beside you every day
To tell you it’s okay
You were just born that way
And, as they say,
It’s in you’re DNA
You’re gay
“But I’m not gay!”
If you were gay.
“Argh!”
Kurt and Jeff both collapse laughing on their respective beds after Jeff finishes. Somewhere along the line Kurt couldn’t help but take over Rod’s lines and adapt them to their current situation.
Jeff sits up again then and gives Kurt a serious look and Kurt feels the atmosphere shift again.
“Listen Kurt, you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to, but I’m here if you want to talk.”
Kurt gives him a watery smile. People aren’t usually so nice to him when confronted with his sexuality.
“Thank you. I think I’m going to unpack my bathroom stuff now.” Jeff smiles back, before he excuses himself to go look for his friend Nick.
Jeff has shown Kurt to the dining hall the previous night and before he knows it, it is morning and Kurt gets ready for his first real day of school. He puts on tight black skinny jeans, his white lace-up Doc Marten’s, and a white dress shirt with a silver vest on top. He still packs a second outfit, because even though he’s been assured he won’t be bullied, you never know.
Jeff, who has been on campus for the summer dance academy, where he had met Nick, leads him through the school to a huge auditorium where freshmen orientation takes place.
They are running a little late because Kurt’s hair wouldn’t cooperate at first, and so they sit down in the back, before anyone can see them. Ten minutes into the welcoming lecture from the dean of education, the door behind him opens again, and three pretty girls sneak inside, sitting down next to Kurt and Jeff.
The blonde one next to him leans over after a few minutes to whisper into his ear. “Are you a dolphin?” Kurt is confused and quickly shakes his head.
The blond turns to the dark haired girl sitting next to her next and whispers, loud enough that Kurt can hear it. “See I told you he isn’t one San.” The other girl rolls her eyes as if she is used to the blonde’s antics. And she probably is. All three girls are wearing matching bracelets on their left wrists.
Kurt tries to focus his attention back to the dean, when the blonde leans in again. “I’m Brittany. Do you want to make out? I’m bored.” Kurt looks at her incredulously.
“Not right now, thank you,” he stutters out. Since when does Kurt Hummel stutter? Then again, Kurt Hummel has never been propositioned before.
The blonde, Brittany, pouts before turning back to her friend. “He’s no fun. Can we make out then, San?” Kurt does a double take when he hears San’s answer.
“Later tonight, I promise.”
How can they be so casual about that? The blond girl on the other side of San is scowling at her friends and tells them to shut up, because her dad will kill her if she gets into trouble the first day of school. Surprisingly, San and Brittany stop talking immediately. Other blond must be the leader of sorts, Kurt guesses.
There were cheerleaders in Kurt’s old school and Kurt had been way too unpopular to get close to them, but he assumes that the three girls sitting next to him would have ruled his school had they gone there.
Once the assembly is over, Brittany drags Kurt along with her as her friends leave. Before he knows it he is standing behind the auditorium where Quinn casually lites a cigarette. Kurt gapes at her, because the girl must be a freshman like him and she is smoking. The girl must have caught his expression, because she smirks at him.
“Relax, it’s not like I do it all the time, but the lecture was such a waste of time.” San rolls her eyes next to her.
“Quinn stop watching Sex in the City. Just because you’re a New Yorker now doesn’t mean you have to smoke.” So the third girl finally has a name too.
“You’re pretty. What’s your name?” Brittany suddenly appears next to him and leans in. Did she just lick him?
“Kurt, Kurt Hummel.”
“That’s a funny name. That’s my best friend Santana,” she points at the dark haired girl, “and that’s Quinn. We met her at cheerleading camp last summer.”
So he has been right about the cheerleading part.
“Are you guys from New York?” It should be helpful to know a couple of locals to show him around.
Brittany shakes her head though.
“Quinn’s from Connecticut and I’m from New Jersey. And Santana used to live in the Bronx, but her grandma doesn’t want her to live with her anymore because we were kissing in Santana’s room, but now it’s even better because we can share one.” Kurt wonders if the administration knows about the girls’ relationship or whatever it is they have. Probably not.
Quinn meanwhile has stabbed out her cigarette and is now checking her Blackberry. “Come on, we need to get to class. I don’t want to end up in a school run by nuns because you keep making me late.”
She turns around to leave and Santana immediately follows her, while Brittany kisses him on the cheek and waves at him as she leaves. Kurt stays rooted to his spot for a couple more seconds before he pulls out his map to find his way to his own first class. Was he just making friends with the popular kids?
The first half of the school day is devoted to academics and Kurt is glad that the curriculum is a little more demanding than it has been at his old school or at McKinley. He has helped Finn with homework a couple of times, so classes can’t be that hard in Lima.
Afternoons are reserved for the performing arts programs, and after finishing his lunch Kurt makes his way to his first voice class. He tried to take voice lessons in Lima, but most teachers wouldn’t take him on because they wanted to wait until his voice changed. Now at fifteen, it is still high pitched and Kurt has given up on it ever changing. Now he just has to learn how to properly utilize it.
Santana, Brittany, Quinn and Jeff are all in the class as well and when their teacher tells them to form groups of five, Brittany comes over and pulls Kurt and Jeff back to the rest of the girls. Each group is given sheet music and they have the remaining hour and a half to prepare a performance of the song, because their teacher wants to see how they work under pressure and as a team.
Jeff nearly chokes when he sees that their teacher handed them a Spice Girls songs, but Kurt is ecstatic because he loved rocking out to them when he was a little kid.
Their performance is received relatively well, but the teacher criticizes them for not including choreography in the performance. They are told to keep rehearsing the song and to present it again, in costumes and with choreography in a couple of days.
Kurt immediately offers himself as costume designer, while Jeff and Brittany want to take care of choreography. It feels as if a huge weight is lifted off his shoulders when he realizes that he can talk about clothes all he wants and no one makes fun of him, apart from Santana, but he somehow knows she doesn’t mean to really hurt him.
It might have taken twelve stitches to get him where he is now, but if every day is like that first day, he’ll gladly take them again.
Kurt joins Jeff again in the dining hall, where he meets Jeff’s friend Nick. Nick, like Jeff, is nice and asks him all kinds of questions, especially after he he finds out that Kurt is from Ohio as well. They share a laugh when Nick tells them that his parents had wanted to send him to Dalton Academy as well and he had protested just like Jeff did.
Kurt is about to excuse himself to go back to his room to call his dad and Mercedes, when Nick stops him.
“Hey, Kurt, are you going to audition for Vocal Explosion?” Vocal what? Nick chuckles before he explains.
“It’s our show choir. A lot of our members graduated last year, so we need fresh meat.” Kurt didn’t know the school had a show choir but he knows he would have joined the one at McKinley, even though, according to Rachel, it is led by a creep.
“When are auditions?” he asks Nick as he puts his tray away.
“Friday, but we are performing tomorrow night so that everyone who’s interested can see what we do.”
“Cool, I’ll be there.”
He says goodbye to Nick and Jeff before going back to his room. His phone call with his dad is short. His dad made it back to Lima safely and Kurt assures him that everyone is treating him all right at his new school so far.
Mercedes is next and Kurt settles back on his bed to prepare for a lengthy chat. His best friend is excited because McKinley has apparently gotten a new choir teacher, and she, a girl named Tina, Artie from junior high and Rachel have joined. Rachel is trying to convince Finn to join as well, and if they get enough members they will be able to compete.
Kurt in turn tells her about Vocal Explosion and the audition he is planning for the following Friday. They talk about song ideas for a bit, until Kurt is interrupted by a knock on his window. He quickly says goodbye to Mercedes and promises her to keep her updated.
When he opens the window, Santana, Brittany and Quinn are standing outside, all dressed in short skirts and tight tops.
“What are you doing here?” he whispers even though Jeff isn’t back yet and it is another hour till curfew.
“We’ve come to take you to a party with us,” Brittany announces excitedly bouncing on her toes. A party? He hasn’t heard about a party yet, and it is a school night.
“There’s one on the Fordham campus like right across the street,” Santana adds in a bored voice, “and Brit insisted we take you with us.”
Kurt isn’t sure if he should join the girls, because he doesn’t want to get into trouble his second day of school, but then again, his room is on the first floor and it would be easy to sneak back in. He would finally get to be part of the in crowd and a party sounds like a good way to celebrate the start of a new chapter of his life.
“Give me ten minutes to get changed,” he tells the girls before ducking into his tiny bathroom with a pair of tight, bright red jeans. He quickly switches his top and shoes as well, adds more hairspray to his hair and leaves Jeff a note asking him not to lock the window before he stealthily climbs out of it.
Like Santana said the Fordham University campus isn’t far a way and soon they approach a sorority house where music is blasting through the windows.
No one stops them from going in, but Kurt isn’t surprised seeing as all eyes are on the girls. Before she leaves them to get drinks, Santana quickly pulls him aside. “If anyone asks, you are a freshman, major undeclared. You look like an eleven year old milk maid, so make it believable.”
Kurt follows Brittany and Quinn to a corner where they wait for Santana to return with drinks. The house is packed and he hopes he won’t get separated from them. He is pretty sure he would find his way back to his dorm, but he isn’t exactly keen on having to return on his own.
Santana comes back after a couple of minutes and thrusts a red cup into his hand.
“It’s jungle juice. Apparently, that’s what all the college kids drink”.
Kurt accepts the drink and sniffs it before taking a sip. It doesn’t taste particularly strong and he quickly finishes his first one.
He doesn’t realize that the girls have left to go dance, until he comes out of the kitchen second cup in hand and a couple is making out in their corner. Kurt shrugs and focuses on the tasty cup in front of him.
He finishes it quickly again not knowing what else to do and turns around to head back into the kitchen, when a full cup is put into his hand. He looks up to a guy, dressed like a hipster with black-framed glasses on his nose.
“Hey, didn’t I see you in English 301 today,” the guy has to yell because it is so loud in the house. Kurt shakes his head.
“I’m a freshman.” The guy suddenly smirks and leans in.
“I like my men fresh.”
Kurt can feel his face flush. Did he just get hit on? Maybe he should flirt back. This is a college party after all. People probably won’t care that he is gay and the girls have gone off somewhere. No one would know.
“I’m Kurt,” he says as confidently as possible. The older boy takes his hand into his own.
“Chandler. Why don’t we go somewhere more quiet so we can talk?” Talking sounds nice, so Kurt nods and follows Chandler to the back porch.
He sits down on the steps, careful not to spill his drink, and Chandler sits down next to him. He doesn’t know why the other boy sits so close, but doesn’t want to tell off the first openly gay guy he meets.
“This is probably your first New York party, right?” Chandler asks and Kurt blushes again. Is it really that easy to tell? He nods nevertheless. No point denying it.
“Well I’m glad you came to this one,” Chandler whispers into his ear and Kurt scoots a bit to the left. That is all going a little fast and it makes him remember an incident he really wants to forget. If Chandler notices he doesn’t say anything, but he hands Kurt another cup of the tasty stuff.
Chandler asks him a couple more questions before he moves in closer again and puts his hand on Kurt’s thigh. Now Kurt might be a bit tipsy at this point, but that doesn’t mean that guy can just touch him like that.
He tries to move Chandler’s hand but the older boy keeps a firm grip on his leg.
“Come on, stay. I’ll make it worth your time,” he whispers as Kurt struggles to get up. Suddenly he isn’t feeling so good any more.
Chandler suddenly leans in and Kurt is sure he is trying to kiss him, so he quickly turns his face away. Luckily, Chandler’s lips don’t even get close to his, because suddenly he is being yanked back by another boy.
“Chandler, leave him alone. He’s clearly not interested.” Chandler looks annoyed as Kurt breathes out a sigh of relief.
“Fuck off, Blaine. Just because you aren’t getting any, doesn’t mean I’m not getting any either.”
The new guy glares at Chandler until he finally gets up and leaves. Kurt brings his knees up and wraps his arms around them as the guy, Blaine, regards him with curiosity.
“I feel so stupid. I shouldn’t have come out here with him. He kept giving me his drinks and I should have known that was a bad sign.” Blaine cautiously steps closer and sits down on the stairs close to Kurt, but not too close.
“It’s okay. We’re allowed to make mistakes.” Kurt opens his eyes again when his head starts spinning.
“Why did you come out here?”
“I saw him leave with you and I got worried because I know what he can be like and – no offense – but you looked a bit young.” Kurt gives the slightly taller boy a grateful smile. He is good-looking, and has a nice smile unlike Chandler’s smirk.
“None taken. Someone told me tonight I look like an eleven year old milk maid.” Blaine laughs. Kurt likes to hear him laugh. Chandler had laughed too when they had talked. Maybe he is a funny guy but just didn’t know it.
“Well I wouldn’t say eleven because then you definitely shouldn’t be here, but I’d guess you are in high school.”
“You don’t look old enough to drink that either,” Kurt retorts, pointing at the beer next to Blaine.
“Touché. I would have come sooner, you know but I was ambushed by a guy as well.” Blaine rolls his eyes.
“You’re gay too?” Kurt asks, his mouth probably hanging open unattractively.
“Mhm. I guess where you lived before, there aren’t many out gay guys.” Kurt shakes his head.
“I was the only one, and I wasn’t even out. Tonight is the first time I even admitted it out loud.”
Blaine gives him a sympathetic smile. Before he can answer though, he’s phone alterts him to a text and after reading it, Blaine quickly finishes his beer and stands up.
“Well, it was nice talking to you Kurt, but I got to go. See you around.” He smiles at Kurt, before disappearing back into the house. Kurt has no plans to go back inside as well because he doesn’t want to run into Chandler again, and so he stumbles around the house only to crash into Brittany who is dancing on the lawn.
“There you are,” comes Santana’s annoyed voice from behind him.
“Time to get back. We have class tomorrow,” Quinn adds, looking equally bored.
Together they stumble back to their dorms and after saying goodbye to the girls, Kurt makes his way back to his window that luckily is still open a bit.
Kurt pushes open the window and pulls himself up, only to land gracelessly on the floor. A light close to him is turned on, and before he knows it he is pulled to his feet.
“I don’t feel so well,” he mumbles and Jeff, it has to be Jeff, guides him into the bathroom where he promptly throws up most of the alcohol Chandler has handed him.
He can feel Jeff’s hand rub soothing circles on his back until he is finishes and manages to sit up.
“Must have been quite the party, huh?” Jeff jokes and Kurt tries to glare at him.
“If you count flirting with a guy who turned out to be a jerk, you are right. It was quite the party.” Kurt realizes too late what he just said and freezes.
But Jeff just smiles at him and hands him a glass of water and some aspirin. “Like I said. If you ever want to talk, I’m here. And I promise I won’t tell anyone, until you’re ready, okay.”
“Okay,” Kurt answers sleepily. Jeff leaves him alone in the bathroom and after swallowing the aspirin, he quickly changes into his pajamas and crawls into his bed. The alarm clock on his nightstand tells him it is one o’clock in the morning and Kurt just hopes he’ll be able to sleep it off in five hours. Otherwise, he has to forego his moisturizing routine a second time.
School is horrible the next day, and when he sees Quinn, Santana and Brittany, they are all wearing sunglasses. Why hasn’t he thought of that? Somehow he makes it through the day though, and he is grateful their dance instructor decides to start lecturing them about the history of dance instead of teaching them choreography.
He can’t wait for six o’clock to come, because then he’ll get to see Vocal Explosion in action.
There is already a crowd forming in the studio theater and Kurt sneaks through a few taller students to the front of the room. A few choir members are already on the small stage and Kurt smiles when Nick waves to him.
Suddenly, the music starts up and Kurt recognizes it as Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night.’ A party song. How fitting.
Kurt expects one of the girls to take the lead, but a tall boy steps forward. He would have been handsome, if he weren’t smirking like Chandler had.
To Kurt’s surprise the tall boy isn’t the only lead and Kurt turns beet red when he recognizes Blaine as the second lead. So he isn’t in college either, but then, he never said so.
Kurt tries to hide behind a taller boy but before he can disappear, Blaine’s eyes find his and Blaine’s widen in surprise.
The performance continues with the taller boy heavily flirting with Blaine and Kurt has to admit he is a bit disappointed. But of course, a gorgeous guy like Blaine already has a boyfriend. It was probably his boyfriend who texted him last night.
Kurt is looking over to the other performers to see what Nick is doing during the performance, when he freezes. Because there is Chandler, winking at him. Kurt shudders. Of course he goes to this school as well. That explains how Blaine knows him. He quickly turns away and focuses all of his attention on the two leads.
The performance ends with the applause from the spectators and a tall, pretty girl announces that auditions are being held Friday afternoon. Blaine is gone by the time Kurt tries to find him again, but he watches as the tall girl strides up to the tall lead singer and glares at him.
“What the hell, Sebastian. I’m not letting you sing lead again, if you can’t keep your eyes to your self.” Sebastian doesn’t seem to be bothered by the angry looking girl though.
“Oh, please Alyson. You’re just jealous I wasn’t looking at you.”
The girl, Alyson, scoffs. “I wouldn’t even let you close to me if we were stranded on a deserted island.” Kurt sniggers. He knows he is going to like that girl, because she is putting slimy looking guy in his place. Why is Blaine dating such an asshole?
When Kurt realizes Nick is gone too, he leaves the small theater and nearly collides with Blaine who apparently has waited for him.
“I guess I wasn’t wrong when I said you are in high school,” he says with a teasing smile. “I haven’t seen you around here before, so I’m guessing you are a freshman.” Kurt nods, trying not to blush.
“Aren’t you a bit young then to sneak off to college parties.” The teasing smile is still there, but it is nice instead of creepy.
“I’m fifteen. How old are you?” If Blaine is still in high school he can’t be that much older. “Sixteen, but I’m a junior.”
“Oh.” Kurt doesn’t know what else to say.
“So are you thinking about joining Vocal Explosion?” Blaine asks after they are both silent for a bit and Kurt is staring at his shoes. He nods without looking up, because he knows is probably bright red by now. Why does Blaine have to be so cute?
“I can help you with preparing for your audition if you want,” Blaine offers and Kurt’s head shoots up. Blaine is willing to spend time with him? The yes is about to leave his lips when he remembers the other lead, Sebastian.
Why torture himself by spending time with a guy he doesn’t have a chance with.
“That’s okay. My roommate wants to audition too and we promised to help each other.” For a moment Kurt thinks that Blaine looks disappointed, but it must have been wishful thinking. His phone chimes in his bag then and he sees that his father is calling. Saved by the bell.
Blaine smiles at him and tells him he’ll see him around before Kurt wanders down the corridor to talk to his dad.
Blaine hadn’t actually planed to go to the party because he knew Sebastian was going and Sebastian, like his best friend Chandler, didn’t seem to understand the word no. The two seniors had a horrible reputation as it was and Blaine had no intention of becoming the newest conquest. He’d rather finish high school a virgin than let Sebastian touch him.
In the end it had been Wes and David, now in their senior year, who convinced Blaine to come out with them. They both knew he needed a pick me up after being forced to spend the summer at his parents’ house in Ohio. It wasn’t that his father hated him, but he became distant after Blaine came out, and it got even worse after Blaine got beaten up at a dance at the beginning of his sophomore year.
It had been his much older brother Cooper, who had suggested NYADA to his father, and because of “the incident” he had been allowed to transfer five weeks into his sophomore year.
Wes, who for all appearances seemed to be incapable of doing something forbidden, had managed to make a copy of the key to their dorm’s back entrance and they had been sneaking out together since they met in Blaine’s sophomore year.
Students were allowed to stay out till after curfew if they wanted to see a show, but only if their parents signed off on it and because Wes’ parents were out of the country most of the year, he had found a way to duplicate the key.
Wes had promised to pass on the key to Blaine after their graduation, but until then the upperclassmen had to depend on Wes to let them into the dorm after curfew if they didn’t have permission to be out longer.
The party was loud, like most of the college parties Blaine had been to, and he grabbed a bottle of beer from the kitchen to have something to occupy himself with. He knew he didn’t have a high tolerance for alcohol and so he stuck mostly to beer when he went out with friends, to avoid doing something stupid.
He was looking around the living room to make sure Sebastian wasn’t close by when he saw Chandler lead a young looking boy out back. The boy was swaying slightly and was clutching a red solo cup with what was probably not his first drink of the night in it.
He quickly made to follow them to make sure Chandler wouldn’t do anything stupid when he was stopped by a hand on his arm.
“Hey baby, where are you going? I just got here.” Blaine shrugged Sebastian’s hand off and rolled his eyes, How many times did he have to tell this guy he wasn’t interested?
“Not now Sebastian,” he told the boy blocking his way and tried to walk around him to follow Chandler. Of course Sebastian wouldn’t let him get away that easily. “So is that a promise for later. Because I don’t know if I can wait that long.”
Sebastian was really starting to piss Blaine off. The senior had started hitting on him at the end of sophomore year and still hadn’t let it go.
“I said, not now,” he said angrily and shoved past Sebastian before he could say anything else. Luckily, he found Chandler and the boy in time and made sure the boy who introduced himself as Kurt was okay.
Blaine knew Kurt wasn’t in college, he wasn’t stupid, and he had been a bit disappointed that he didn’t know what high school Kurt went to. Before they could continue their talk, Wes texted him and Blaine had to leave if he wanted to get back into his dorm.
His performance the next day was good, even though Sebastian wouldn’t stop flirting with him on stage, but he nearly missed his cue when he spotted Kurt in the front row.
If Kurt went to NYADA that probably meant he was a freshman though and it wouldn’t look too good if a junior went after a freshman.
He was a bit relieved when Kurt told him he was fifteen, but decided Kurt needed a friend more than a boyfriend, if Chandler really had been the first out gay boy Kurt had met.
He was disappointed when Kurt denied his help to say the least, but he knew there would be other opportunities to spend time with Kurt if Kurt got into Vocal Explosion.
He watches Kurt who is still at the other end of the corridor while he remenisces about the previous night until Sebastian comes up to proposition him yet again. Blaine knows they have a no bullying policy at the school, but if Sebastian doesn’t stop it soon, he's going to punch him in the face. Maybe he shouldn’t let his boxing lesson’s go to waste.
Sebastian luckily leaves when Blaine tells him to, but when he turns to return to the dorms himself, he spots Chandler staring at Kurt, who is still on his phone, totally oblivious to his surrounding.
He has a bad feeling about Chandler watching Kurt, but hopes he is wrong and that Chandler won’t try anything with Kurt again.