#blainebutton

A room full of blazers.

He didn’t notice faces too much when he walked in because his stomach was in knots and his eyes were a bit fuzzy. He pushed his glasses up as he thought, “I need to get a new prescription.” It had been a while since he’d sang in front of a large group of people. If it had been a piano audition he would have much less of a problem. He’d played a few concerts with the Ohio and Indiana State Orchestras, letting his fingers grace the ivories with Mozart, Liszt, Rachmoninov, and many others.

Singing was a different story. Yeah, Glee club was fun, but he never was one to move to the forefront. He let others have the solos and he was content to stand in the background. So to stand in front of a group of guys and have them just listen to him was nerve-wracking. If he hadn’t noticed he’d locked his legs and was getting light headed, he wouldn’t have heard Nick introducing him to the group.

“…who has both sang and played piano at his old school, so I’m sure he’ll be a great fit. Guys, let’s give a big Warbler welcome to Sebastian Smythe!”

He smiled graciously as he waved his hand to everyone and still couldn’t focus on faces. Try as he might to focus and keep his voice from shaking, he couldn’t.

Standing in the middle of the room, he flinched when Wes spoke up.

“Whenever you’re ready, Sebastian.”

He gulped, took a deep breath, and started to softly sing a familiar tune…

  Close enough to start a war.

All that I have is on the floor.

God only knows what we’re fighting for.

All that I say, you always say more.

  I can’t keep up with your turning tables

Under your thumb I can’t breathe.

He started to get some more confidence behind his voice, so the chorus was a bit louder.

So I won’t let you close enough to hurt me, no

I won’t rescue you to just desert me.

I can’t give you the heart you think you gave me.

It’s time to say goodbye to turning tables.

Noticing the guys around him creating harmonies and vocal accompaniments, he became a lot more comfortable singing with them.

Remembering people before Dalton, his expression changed as he sang the second verse.

Under haunted skies I see you.

Where love is lost your ghost is found.

I braved a hundred storms to leave you

As hard as you try, no I will never be knocked down. Yeah.

  I can’t keep up with your turning tables

Under your thumb I can’t breathe.

Someone must have noticed his face change because he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see Nick right beside him smiling and harmonizing directly below him while he sang the chorus leading into the bridge.

Next time I’ll be braver

I’ll be my own savior when the thunder calls me.

Next time I’ll be braver

I’ll be my own savior standing on my own two feet.

  So I won’t let you close enough to hurt me, no

I won’t rescue you to just desert me.

I can’t give you the heart you think you gave me.

It’s time to say goodbye to turning tables.

Sebastian wiped away a tear as Jeff came up and put an arm around him. “That was awesome, man!” he whispered while everyone was clapping for him. Once his vision sharpened he looked around and saw everyone smiling.

And then he noticed a pair of hazel eyes looking directly at him.

Those eyes belonged to Dalton’s resident man-eater. He lived by the “find ‘em, fuck ‘em, forget ‘em” mantra, which he lived very well. He vowed he’d never waste time on love, because love wasn’t worth it. He was rather content to just move through men with the greatest of ease. It didn’t hurt that all of the guys wanted him. So when he set his sights on a guy, he made sure he got them. And his new sight was Sebastian Smythe.

This is how Blaine Anderson operated. Plain and simple.

The first thing you notice about Blaine is that he’s short. Much shorter than anyone else, with enough gel in his hair to make sure it wouldn’t move until the day he died. The height fooled a lot of guys, though, because they hid a conniving mind. Blaine knew exactly how to break down guys’ defenses and make them beg for Blaine to fuck them. He prided himself on it, in fact.

Blaine was also old money. His father was loaded as was his grandfather and his father before him. All of them went to Dalton, so the Anderson name was known by all. Because of that, Blaine got everything he wanted. He acted out in class despite doing really well, he pranked people with no repercussions, and he got all of the solos in the Warblers. Last year they even stopped having auditions because they all ended up going to Blaine. Everyone knew what to expect when he became a part of something. It was as if he ran the show without actually running it.

He didn’t know who this tall, sleek, and beautiful new student was, but Blaine felt it was time to give him a real Dalton welcome and get him acquainted with the one place in the entire school that really mattered: his bed.

There was a feeling he couldn’t shake, though: This one didn’t seem like the others. Sebastian may be a different challenge he wasn’t used to. “No matter.” He thought. One way or another, Blaine Anderson was going to get what he wanted. He always got what he wanted.

“This place looks like it’s right out of a fucking book. How is it I’m here again?”

Stepping into the foyer of Dalton, Sebastian Smythe felt like a prince from his favorite fairy tales. He still didn’t understand how he ended up at a place like Dalton Academy. With his uniform he looked the part, but he felt completely out of place.

He himself seemed to be made of legs, or maybe that was just because his pants were high waisted. He had long arms, perfectly coiffed, chestnut brown hair that may have stood a few inches too high, and piercing emerald green eyes.

His family wasn’t made of money, that he knew, and it kept him confused as to how his parents could afford to send him to a place like Dalton. The tuition had to be ridiculous, the attitudes snotty, but the classes more challenging. That was what excited Sebastian most, because his last school didn’t challenge him at all. Hopefully he could push himself to apply himself to do well instead of reading through his classes and still acing everything.

He always thought of himself as more of the bookish type. Though being naturally thin, he would much rather sit inside and read or plunk out a tune on the piano than pick up a football or run across a field. The few unpopular activities he could have done at his old school were his favorites: holing up in the library during study hall, getting the leads in all the school musicals (even though he didn’t really want them. He thought there were definitely more talented people than him who deserved those roles more), practicing to become a concert pianist, or choosing books over popularity. He was always the outcast of sorts, but his friends always lay within the worlds he read about.

Hopefully he could find somewhere to fit, but in the mean time he needed to figure out where the hell he was going. This place looked and felt like a maze, so naturally Sebastian felt lost. He never had a good sense of direction at the best of times, but this felt more like the worst of times. Hallway after hallway looked the same and he had a sinking feeling he was walking in circles. “That statue looks awfully familiar,” he thought.

After wandering around for what felt like ever and with terrible directions from other Daltonites, he finally found his room with all of his things already there. “At least all of my shit is here. Now I can decorate how I want to,” he said as he reached in his trunk and grabbed a roll of posters. Now, just because he wasn’t a sports player didn’t mean he didn’t follow sports. He hung his Bayern München poster alongside his Fight Club, Harry Potter, and Kingdom Hearts posters. Sebastian also had a bit of a nerdy streak in him, having enjoyed his fair share of the Final Fantasy series, Halo, and Kingdom Hearts.

His parents paid a little extra to make sure he had his own room so he could focus on studying, but he wouldn’t mind if other things happened. Not that they ever did, though. He never felt good enough about himself to even let someone else get that close. He wasn’t comfortable enough with his own body, which he saw as needing serious improvement, and he didn’t think he would ever be able to keep up with someone if they did decide to like him. I didn’t help that he thought sex was something special; meaning people usually gave up after one date.

Classes kept him busy enough to forget about being single. They definitely challenged him more. He actually got lost in his French class, which was especially weird for Sebastian because he lived in France for a time. His biggest struggle was always science (he prided himself on being a man of words), so Chemistry absolutely baffled him. Luckily, his lab partner Nick was a whiz. He always helped Sebastian out when he needed it.

Speaking of Nick, it took Sebastian a few days, but he started to make some friends. First, of course, was Nick, Then his roommate Jeff, followed by their friends Wes and David. They had frequent coffee/study dates where Nick tried to make Chem make sense for Sebastian and it just wasn’t working. Jeff couldn’t stop chuckling.

“What’s so funny?” Sebastian asked.

Jeff didn’t waste a second. “Chemistry isn’t that hard. It’s all rather rational and it fits together. No one should ever have a problem.

Sebastian just looked back to his paper and wondered if he was going to be able to hack it here. He was finally in a place where he was challenged, but everyone around him seemed light years ahead of him. This may or may not have been a good move. He’ll have to wait and see.

“It’s ok, Seb. I promise you’ll understand. I’ll help you the best I can so you’ll do well. Okay? It’ll be fine.” Nick tried to assure Sebastian, but all Sebastian could do was hang his head and wish he was better than he was.

“So…Sebastian…” Jeff was trying to break the tension lingering over him, “do you do anything besides class?”

“Well, I’ve taken piano for 10 years and I like singing in the shower. That’s about the extent of it, other than reading and video games,” he responded.

“Oh my god, you should check out AND audition for the Warblers!” Nick exclaimed.

“Who’re the Warblers?”

“They’re amazing. They’re our equivalent of a Glee club. It’s an a cappella ensemble and is known across the States.”

“And it doesn’t make up biased that we’re in it,” Jeff added.

“All of us,” Wes said. “I’m president and David is my VP. We all have a ton of fun and we always do well at competitions.”

“Come at least audition? You’ll have all of our support,” Nick almost sang.

“Ok. I’ll come and sing. I can’t promise it’ll be good, but I’ll hope something decent comes out.” Sebastian wasn’t sure of what he could do, but he sure did miss singing.

The next evening around 5 Sebastian nervously walked to the Warbler practice room and gave himself one last chance to turn back and enjoy being just another student instead of part of something greater than himself.

He took a breath and opened the door…