Kurt sat down in his usual seat beside Mercedes for first block world history. Mr. Hanford stood up from his chair as the final bell rang, and walked over to the door to close it when someone Kurt had definitely never seen before walked in. He had beautifully tanned skin and a head of dark curls. He was wearing cuffed skinny jeans with a leather jacket, and even though Kurt's usual type was the brawny football player, something about his tiny waist and short stature Kurt found very attractive.

Mr. Hanford raised his eyebrows at the boy and he held out his hand. "Blaine Anderson," said the boy who now had a name. His voice was smooth. Like water without waves or ripples. It was almost melodic.

Kurt looked around the class and saw several jaws agape, and most of the female class ogling Blaine Anderson. Santana looked at Kurt and bugged her eyes out to show her interest. Kurt looked back at the boy and saw Mr. Hanford shaking his hand. He turned to the class. "Alright everybody, please give a warm McKinley welcome to your new classmate, Blaine Anderson."

Hardly anyone clapped - many of the girls were shamelessly checking out Blaine, and that didn't go unnoticed by the guys in the room, who seemed like they were sizing him up. Blaine didn't seem to mind, he just quietly sat down in the seat in front of Santana, tossing his messenger bag on the floor beside him as their teacher started their lesson. Mr. Hanford passed around a worksheet and he went over to Blaine's desk and started to explain it to him.

Blaine only nodded to the teacher and didn't talk to anyone in the class, he just did his work and finished quickly. He sat back in his seat and plugged in earphones, and Kurt couldn't help but stare at him. Give him a break, there was hardly ever a new kid at school, he just wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. Blaine shrugged off his jacket to show off a tight polo shirt hugging his arms a little too nicely, and Kurt felt his face starting to get hot. He was interested in this new kid because yes, obviously he was gorgeous, but more than that, he seemed different. He couldn't pin his finger on what exactly made him seem so different, maybe it was just that he dressed well. Regardless, Kurt couldn't look away.

Santana leaned closer to him and whispered, "McKinley doesn't make 'em like that, Hummel, but that doesn't justify staring at him like he's something to eat."

He rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Santana," he said flippantly, but his cheeks still burned. Mr. Hanford started going on about a group project at the front of the room, and Kurt didn't listen, too busy staring at the back of the new kid's head and trying to guess at his life story. He started tuning in when he heard names being listed off and people paired together. A group project. Great.

"Mr. Hummel, you will be working with..." Kurt tensed as Mr. Hanford read down the attendance to find him a partner. No offense to Santana or Mercedes, but working with either of them meant that Kurt would be doing all the work, and working with any of the meatheads meant he would be doing all the work and would be harassed the entire time. "Mr. Anderson."

Blaine turned around to see who Hanford was looking at, and his eyes fell on Kurt. Kurt didn't smile or even nod, he just stared, he couldn't help it. Blaine grew a small smile, and Kurt swore he saw his eyes look him up and down before he turned back around. His teacher again started going off about the assignment, but Kurt didn't listen at all, because oh god, he was working with the hot new kid, obviously, he couldn't focus on anything else.

"Please go off with your partners." Mr. Hanford said before taking a seat behind his computer.

Mercedes went off to be with her partner, and Blaine took her seat beside Kurt.

Blaine peeked at his syllabus that Mr. Hanford had given everyone and Kurt decided introductions were in order. "Hi, I'm Kurt."

Blaine looked up at him and read his face before he smiled. He held out his hand, for a surprisingly firm handshake.

"Blaine," he returned easily.

Blaine started to read his assignment as Kurt's phone buzzed and he opened up the text from Santana.

Rumor has it your project partner is the new Puck.

Kurt's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion and he sent her back a single question mark. He knew Puck was in juvie, but what did she mean "new" Puck - was he replacing him in glee club? His phone buzzed again.

Tina just texted that he's a bad boy. Expelled from his last school, and Jacob Ben Israel's blog just put up an article that he's carrying a knife AND he sold one of his kidneys for weed money.

Kurt kicked himself internally. He immediately got his hopes up that this kid could be different from all the other Lima losers he was in classes with. And okay, sure, he probably didn't actually sell his kidney for weed money, but the details didn't really matter. What mattered is that Kurt had to deal with another Puckerman - and why wouldn't he be exactly like Puck and all the other jerks around him?

Kurt didn't respond to Santana, he just looked up and saw her waggling her eyebrows at him. To her, another Puck was a good thing. Kurt looked at Blaine, who was diligently reading his syllabus and couldn't help but be angry with him, because he felt so stupid for wanting more out of this kid. Of course, that isn't his fault, but it still sucked.

"See something you like, Hummel?" she teased him a few seats over, practically yelling.

Kurt shot her a dirty look as his entire face flushed. She winked at him and he turned to stare down at his paper and saw Blaine smirking at his paper.

Jesus Christ. Kurt could not believe he'd already made a fool of himself in front of the new kid. And honestly, the fact that the new kid was still smiling to himself was kind of pissing Kurt off. Yeah, Kurt was staring, but if Blaine was the "new Puck," that meant that dumpster dives and slushies were on the way, and he was pissed that he was taking so much time to laugh at him preemptively.

"Alright, Kurt," Blaine said, "You ready to get started?"

Was he being condescending? Kurt looked at him with narrowed eyes, because there was no way he was putting up with this (probably) brainless jock asshole being condescending to him.

"Yeah, I'm ready," he snapped, not looking at Blaine because he didn't even want to know what his reaction is.

"Um, okay," Blaine said, "We have almost a month to work on this, but it honestly shouldn't more than a few days of hard work, if you're up for it."

Kurt felt his blood boiling. Maybe he was overreacting, but the subtle condescension was somehow worse than when people are outwardly rude to him. If you're up for it, god, how stupid did this kid think he was?

"Yeah, I think I can handle it," he replied sharply.

Blaine looked at directly at Kurt until Kurt met his eyes. And wow he had pretty eyes. They were deep, and bright despite their dark color. And they were trying to read Kurt. They stared at each other, both trying to read the other, and eventually, Blaine grew the smallest of smiles and he said, "Okay, meet me in the library after school."

"2:15," Kurt agreed, his forehead wrinkling in confusion at the apparent amusement starting to lighten Blaine's facial features.

Kurt spent a good amount of his day thinking over the interaction. Maybe he'd made a few assumptions about Blaine (or rather, listened to other people's assumptions), but he didn't understand him at all. He couldn't explain a single one of his reactions, and the more he thought about it, the less he understood it.

After school, Kurt picked an open table in the library after saying his goodbyes with Mercedes and making sure Finn could get a ride home after football. And now it was 2:36, and Blaine still wasn't there. Kurt sighed and started shoving his books roughly back into his bag, really not looking forward to doing this group project on his own. Maybe he could beg Mr. Hanford to let him switch partners. Just as he was about to stand up and leave, Blaine walked into the library, holding a stack of books. He spotted Kurt and made his way over as Kurt started pulling his books back out of his bag.

"You're late," Kurt informed him as he sat down.

"Sorry," Blaine apologized immediately. "I had to talk to some teachers, grab a couple textbooks for my classes." Kurt peered at his books and tried not to look at all impressed Italian 4, AP English, AP Bio. He didn't want to say anything good about Blaine, but those were hard classes. He'd kind of assumed he'd be the barely-passing-tenth-grade-classes type of junior Puck was.

"Well, let's get started," he said listlessly, pulling out the rubric for the assignment and reading it over.

As it turned out, working with Blaine wasn't the excruciatingly painful shitfest he'd imagined. He actually did his work, and probably more than his fair share too, and he did it well. He wasn't loud and rowdy, he was actually rather subdued, though that could've just been the atmosphere of the library. But what really struck Kurt was that he was smart. Surprisingly smart, actually. Working with him was nothing like working with Puck or Finn, it was actually kind of similar to when he had to do that English project with Quinn last year (and Quinn had her sights set on Yale).

But what sucked about working with Blaine, was that he was really distracting. Not because he was being stupid or annoying or anything, but Kurt could hardly keep himself from looking at how his long eyelashes left shadows on his cheeks, and how full his lips looked with a pen hanging out of it, and those curls. Yeah, Blaine was attractive, but he was a different kind of attractive than most. Maybe that's what Kurt could see what different about him. He had classical handsomeness; his curls that definitely had a little product in them, his wide eyes, full lips, and the slight gentleness behind all of his features. And he kind of loved that his teeth were a little crooked, and how his -

"See something you like?" Blaine asked teasingly, quoting what Santana had said earlier and interrupting Kurt's daydreaming.

Kurt blushed and ducked his head, instantly flustered, but was able to quickly quip, "You wish."

Blaine chuckled and continued writing something down and said under his breath, "Well you're not wrong."

Kurt's eyes flashed to him quickly. He must've misheard him. He stared at Blaine momentarily, looking down when Blaine peeked up and saw him staring. Kurt's eyes widened when he saw Blaine's cheeks flush a little. What the hell did that mean? You're not wrong. Kurt's head tilted just slightly as he tried to read Blaine.

"So, what's there to do here in Lima, Ohio?" Blaine asked casually, still looking down.

"Nothing," Kurt answered without thinking. Blaine laughed and Kurt couldn't help himself from staring more. There was something that was actually charming about Blaine.

He looked up and saw Kurt staring and said, "What?" with a smile playing on his lips.

Kurt shrugged. "You're confusing," he said honestly.

"How so?" Blaine asked, putting down his pen.

"I don't know, you're just… not what I expected you to be."

"Ditto," he replied, his eyes narrowing slightly, again trying to read Kurt.

Kurt looked away to escape the sort of ensnarement that Blaine's eyes captured him in and his eyes fell on the logo on his binder. Dalton Academy. The New Directions' competition at sectionals.

"You're a private school boy?"

Blaine shrugged. "I used to be. Secret past-life, I suppose." Kurt raised his eyebrows. "What? You don't have a secret past-life? The old version of you you'd prefer to not think about?"

Kurt shook his head, getting back to his work. Blaine raised a doubtful eyebrow at him and pulled a laptop out of his bag. "What are you doing?" Kurt asked as Blaine started on his computer.

Blaine didn't respond until a minute or so later when he said, "You know, you should really put up some privacy settings. Any creep could look through your Facebook if they wanted to."

Kurt smacked his book shut. "You're looking through my Facebook?" he asked loudly enough to be shushed by the nearby librarian.

Blaine smirked at him. "Jeez, Kurt, take it down a few notches, we're in the library." Kurt rolled his eyes. "There. Friend request sent."

Kurt rolled his eyes and opened up his book. He tried. He tried reading about

Charlemagne, he did, but he couldn't when every other second he heard Blaine giggling at something he found on his Facebook page.

"What? What is so funny?" he asked finally, setting his book down again.

"You were a cheerleader?" Blaine asked, his eyes bright. Kurt nodded jerkily, his face flushing with anger. "You're unashamed? That's not a secret past-life?"

Kurt inhaled deeply and answered, "Yes, I was a cheerleader, but it's not a secret, and I'm not embarrassed that I was."

Blaine continued looking through his old Facebook photos and status', bringing up the lower points in Kurt's life, hoping to get some kind of reaction. "You played football?"

Kurt blushed. "Okay, that one's a little embarrassing."

Blaine laughed and kept searching through Kurt's old life. "You're in glee club?" he asked, attempting to hide his smile by pressing his lips tight together.

Kurt's jaw clenched. "Yes. Problem?"

Blaine shook his head. "Not at all. Secret past-life Blaine was in a glee club too."

"Sure," he mumbled doubtfully, going back to his book.

Blaine cocked his head. "He was – I was." He sounded almost offended that Kurt didn't believe him, his displeasure written on his face.

Kurt rested his head on his hands, propping his elbows on the table. "Can you even sing?" he asked in the most patronizing voice he could muster.

"Yes," Blaine said indignantly. "I can sing."

Kurt snorted. "Whatever you say," he said in a sing-song voice. He looked up at Blaine and almost laughed at the look on his face, growing more and more frustrated.

He pointed an accusatory finger at Kurt and said, "You're driving me crazy." Kurt just laughed because he felt the exact same way but he didn't want Blaine to know that.

He thought back to maybe a week before when Santana was talking about how Kurt needed to embrace his "animal magnetism" or whatever, which he'd rolled his eyes at at the time, but he was starting to think he was getting more… magnetic, if the way Blaine kept looking at him was any indication. Which was really confusing, because no one has looked at Kurt like that before.

Eventually, he had to ask, "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "I'm trying to figure that out." He said, twisting his pen between his fingers. "I think you just… intrigue me?"

Kurt felt his cheeks warm up and he dropped his head. No one had ever called him intriguing before. "You're also incredibly vexing. I'm not sure which one's more prevalent."

Kurt just rolled his eyes.

?!

Blaine didn't see Kurt throughout the week apart from the one class they shared together, and even then, they didn't really talk. Blaine kind of thought they could be friends, they seemed to get along when they were in the library, but he was starting to think that Kurt didn't like him, so he didn't push it. Besides, when Kurt didn't talk to him, Blaine was able to stare at him really easily. The latina girl who sat near him commented to him about the "longing in his puppy eyes," but Blaine ignored her. The blond she held hands with talked to Blaine sometimes, but he had literally no idea what she was ever talking about. Somehow Kurt was the only person he'd met at McKinley who he could hold a conversation with.

He walked out of Mr. Radner's room Friday afternoon with his bag thrown over his shoulder. It was annoying to be getting home so late, but he had to stay after for AP bio to catch up, since he was joining the class after the term had already started. Plus, he hadn't gotten a ton of work done in class, because he was actually busy making a friend. He had spent much of the class goofing around with Mike Chang, who he actually bonded with quite a lot. Mike and Blaine were both smart and ambitious, so they were taking several classes together this semester and next, and they were actually looking at some of the same colleges. And Mike was apparently very excited to have an Asian friend other than his girlfriend. Mike was also a dancer, and he was really excited when Blaine said he used to dance, and he wanted to take Blaine to some 21 Under club in Columbus (apparently they played exclusively dance music).

He finally left his classroom and was heading to the parking lot, but was derailed by music. He followed the faint noise after confirming it was in fact music, and he wasn't crazy, and it led him to the auditorium. He stepped inside and saw the entire thing was done up in lights and a set, and – holy shit, was that Kurt?

It's astounding

Time is fleeting

Madness…

Takes its toll

Blaine grew a huge grin and he sat down in one of the back seats. That was Kurt dressed as Riff Raff? He peered at all the other people on stage taking part in the performance, and was pretty sure it was the glee club, because he saw that annoying brunette from his third block, and the gigantic kid she was always making out with in the hallways. And Mike!

He had to admit they were good. Not as good as his old glee club because they only had like, three good dancers, but they had nice voices and their costumes were actually pretty great. He watched them finish the Time Warp, and the Spanish teacher stood up from his seat and started clapping for them and critiquing, and he took it as his cue to leave, so he stepped out of the auditorium and back into the hallway.

He walked out to his bike and hitched his bag higher onto his shoulder. His first week at McKinley was officially over. He hadn't really found his place at the school yet, but he'd made like, two and a half friends, and he hadn't gotten into any trouble, so that was something. He pulled on his helmet and stowed away his bag and got on, revving the engine and driving home. It could've been a better first week, but it was still better than his last first weeks. And progress is progress, right?