I skidded to a stop, catching myself on the doorframe of my English class. It had taken me longer than I had expected to change my outfit. Hey, skinny jeans are tight, all right?

I stumbled in to the classroom, earning a disapproving look from Ms. Cummings, a formality, of course. Ms. Cummings was fresh out of college with a still-too-young face and was arguably one of the coolest teachers at McKinley. She was one of the few teachers at that god-forsaken school that cared about me and was very understanding when it came to my tardiness.

“Mr. Hummel?” she said, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow over light green eyes.

“Sorry, Ms. Cummings,” I mumbled, scurrying past her with my head bowed.

I slid into my seat as Ms. Cummings started her lecture again, her short, bright red hair swaying as she wrote feverishly on the board. As it turns out, we would be reading Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the upcoming weeks. Well, at least it wasn’t another story with a perfect happy ending. Everyone died and as cryptic as it sounded, I liked that about Shakespeare.

“Psst, Kurt!” Pulling my notebook from my bag, I turned to see Tina Cohen-Chang eyeing me with curious almond eyes. “What happened?”

Like myself, Tina was a co-star; a supporting role in the Rachel Berry Show. Tina was her other closest friend, although I retained my title of “best friend”. Like I said before, each leading lady gets one to four people to flank her. That was Tina and I.

“I had a run in with Nicky Neanderthal Maris again this morning. The flavor of the day is blue raspberry, my favorite!” I explained with false enthusiasm.

The corner of Tina’s mouth turned downward.

“Kurt,” she sighed. “Why don’t you let me ask Mike to look after you? You know he wouldn’t mind.”

Tina had been dating Mike Chang since this past summer, and well, when you date a football player it’s like having a “get out of jail free” card, or in this case, a “get out of slushie facials” card. Myself, on the other hand, had no such luck. It’s not like there were any openly gay football players in this town.

“Don’t get me wrong, Tina, Mike is a good guy, but I doubt he would like playing bodyguard for my ass every day. He can’t be around me twenty-four seven.” I gave her shoulder a quick pat. “But thanks for the offer.”

“Mr. Hummel, Miss Cohen-Chang, is there anything you wanted to share with us?” Ms. Cummings asked.

“Uh, n-n-no, ma’am.” Tina stuttered.

Ms. Cummings sighed, handing out papers with the assignment on them. “As I was saying, this project will last us until break, so that means we have a good five weeks to get the creative juices flowing. Shakespeare is a very important part of literature, guys. I know he might just be some dead English guy, but he’s not to be taken lightly!”

The class laughed at her attempt at being cool.

“But really guys, these projects-”

The door suddenly burst open, making all of us jump.

And that was the first time I saw him.

He waltzed into the room with a confident air around him. He wore a fitted red and white striped polo and jeans that clung to him in all the right places. All in all, he was beautiful. Everything a leading man should be. And everything I could never have. I knew that he would be dating one of the star cheerleaders within the month. Leading ladies date leading lads and the sidekicks throw rice at their weddings.

His curly, dark hair bounced as he handed Ms. Cummings a note.

She read the note quickly and turned to face us again. “Class, it seems as though we have a new student. This is Blaine Anderson from Westerville. Pleased to have you with us, Blaine.”

He nodded to her with an award-winning smile and made his way to find a seat.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He was gorgeous, like no one I had ever seen. Oh, and I’d been staring too long. He saw me.

Blaine stared at me with hooded eyes as he passed, sitting in the seat behind me.

Perfect.

“Well, I think this works out splendidly!” Ms. Cummings squeaked. “We had an uneven number of people before. Kurt, why don’t you work with Blaine? Show him the ropes a little?”

I’m sure my eyes widened to unnatural proportions as they often do when I’m taken by surprise. But I nodded slightly to my teacher, as the noise level in the room seemed in increase with discussion about our assignment. I swallowed hard and twisted slowly in my seat.

And that’s when my heart stopped.

Because Blaine was right there. I mean, right there. Almost nose to nose with me, his hand resting under his chin and a lazy smile on his oh-so pink, supple lips that were so close to mine. He blinked slowly, staring me in the eyes like he was trying to find something there. No one had ever looked at me like that before. Ever.

“Uh, K-Kurt,” I stammered. “I’m Kurt. Kurt Hummel.”

“Mmm,”

“And you’re Blaine.”

“That’s correct.”

His voice hit me like a ton of bricks wrapped in the softest of cotton. It was silky and low and perfect. I couldn’t help the shudder that rushed through me.

“So, uh, I guess we should start this assignment, huh?”

“I think that would be best,” He hummed. “What is it that we’re reading?”

“Romeo and Juliet.”

“Oh, really? That’s a great story, but I read that back in the ninth grade as a pleasure read.”

I could feel my heart going a mile a minute. Handsome and smart? That was a rarity.

“So did I.”

Oh, and Blaine’s smile. It was one of the best parts about him. It was so beautiful and perfect and hopeful. I’m still convinced it could cure cancer.

“No kidding!” Blaine said with that smile, “Well it’s nice to know there’s some intelligent life on Planet McKinley.”

I started laughing before I’d realized what I was doing. Handsome, smart, and funny? This guy was impossible.

“So seeing as we’ve both read this already,” Blaine said with a smirk, leaning forward on his desk. I stiffened, leaning back. “Why don’t we get to know each other instead?”

I could feel my eyes widening at the question. Me? He wanted to get to know me? Why me? I’m just the sidekick, the best friend, why me? It must have been because he hadn’t met Rachel yet. Guys like him always end up with girls like her. I turned reflexively to look at Tina who was, of course, staring right back at me, her thin eyes sparkling and encouraging. She smiled and shot me a thumbs up which I promptly shot back with a flip of my middle finger. She laughed.

I turned back to Blaine with the best smile I could muster, “Sure. Why not?”

“Where were you born?” He shot out quickly.

“Here, in Lima,” I answered.

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“What is your favorite color?”

“Gold.”

“Ooo, interesting. Do you have any pets?”

“No.”

“Any siblings?”

“One. His name is Finn.”

“What are your parent’s names?”

“My dad’s name is Burt, my mom passed away, but her name was Elizabeth, and my stepmother’s name is Carole. Finn is her son.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“No, it’s okay. It happened a long time ago. It’s just nice to have a girl around to talk about boys with.” I clapped a hand over my mouth as soon as I heard the words escape my lips.

Shit.

“You’re gay?” Blaine asked with a tilt of his head.

“Well if my off-the-shoulder yellow sweater wasn’t the first give away,” I tried to joke, “I would have thought the skinny jeans or high voice might have clued you in.”

“Not all people who dress like that or who have high voices are gay. Just the cool ones. It’s simply a bonus that you play on my team.”

Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Blaine was… gay? This guy was just getting better and better.

“O-okay,” I stuttered. “My turn to ask questions.”

“Ask away.”

“Uh, well, same questions.”

He laughed. “Let’s see. I was born in Columbus. I’m eighteen. My favorite color is blue, light blue. I have an old Border Collie named Courage. I have one younger brother. My parents are Samuel and Katherine Anderson. And yes, before you ask, I’m gay.”

I smiled to myself at Blaine’s easy admission to his sexuality, a silent triumph.

“Uh, okay. Favorite book or author?”

“Ugh!” Blaine cried, “Sophie’s choice! There are too many to count. J.K. Rowling, Homer, Jane Austen, John Green, Lewis Carroll!”

My ears perked up. “Lewis Carroll?”

“Sure, I’ve always been a fan of the impossible.”

“Impassible,” I quoted. “Nothing is impossible.”

He grinned at me, a glint in his eye. “Tell me, dearest Alice, do you know why a raven is like a writing desk?”

“Because Poe wrote on both.” I responded with a smirk. “But when Carroll wrote that line, he didn’t have an answer for it either.”

Blaine’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline as the smile on his face spread wider.

“I’m impressed. Most people don’t get that one.”

“Well, I’m not most people,” I said with a bat of my eyes. Where did that sudden confidence come from? That wasn’t like me. Blaine must have thought I was being ridiculous.

“I can see that,” Blaine said, shifting closer to me, “and that is what I like most about you.”

I felt my cheeks getting hotter at his close proximity. This boy was unreal. No one had ever talked to me like that before. Better yet, no one had ever really focused on me for this long before. It has always been the Rachel Berry show. Kurt Hummel was just a side character with little plot development and was good for a laugh when the laugh-track called for it.

Blaine looked over my face with hooded eyes and an expression I couldn’t read. It was one that I had never seen before, and one that I certainly had never been on the receiving end of before.

It was an overwhelming feeling, being the focus for once. And if I were being honest with myself, if it was Blaine’s focus I was in, I would never complain.

The bell rang.

I shook out of his gaze, slightly lightheaded from the interaction. He gave me a slightly confused look that I did my best to ignore. As I packed my bag, I glanced at Tina who looked back at me as she left the room.

“I-I’ve got to go. It was nice meeting you, Blaine.”

I rushed from the room as quick as I could, clutching my messenger bag to my chest. That was odd. That was not how things went. People like Blaine didn’t just come out of nowhere for people like me.

“Kurt!” I heard Blaine shout from the doorway. “Kurt, wait! Kurt!”

I spun on my heel, trying my best to look irritated, “Yes?”

“Why did you leave so quickly?” he asked with slightly winded smile.

“Uh, well, you know, my best friend texted me to meet up with her for lunch.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Huh?”

“That the role of your best friend is already taken. But I guess I could always try out for a better part,” Blaine said with a wink. My eyes widened. “Look, Kurt if you aren’t busy later, would you like to hang out after school?”

“What?” Was he serious? There was no way he was serious.

“I’ve only been in town for a little while and I haven’t really had the chance to explore. Maybe you could show me around town?”

I couldn’t help the smile that broke across my face. Blaine was asking to spend more time with me. Me. No one else.

“Sure,” I beamed. “I could show you where our library is and then maybe we could go for coffee?”

“Three of my favorite things, books and coffee!”

“And the third?”

“Huh?”

“Your third favorite thing?”

“I thought that would have been obvious. It’s you.”

I’m sure the blush that spread across my face could be seen from Google Earth.

“I-”

My phone in my pocket vibrated; this time it really was Rachel.

“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go,” I said, retreating down the hall toward the lunchroom. “But I’ll meet you after school at my locker okay?”

“I look forward to it,” Blaine called back.