"What do you mean I can't go?"

"You aren't going to school in New York and that is final. That city is full of sin, who knows what will happen if you go there."

Blaine blinked, his face suddenly feeling much hotter. "Mom, I—I have to go. It's Columbia. Colleges really don't get better than that. Arguably better than Yale."

"Hey," his dad glanced up from above his book.

"I'm sorry dad, but I've worked so hard and done so much for this school. I thought you would be happy because I got into an Ivy League, that maybe you wouldn't give me the hell Cooper got when he decided he wanted to move to a city."

"Blaine Anderson, do not speak to me in that manner."

Blaine sighed. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to calm down. When he pulled his hand away, he could feel his eyes begin to water. He steadied himself, looking up until the tears passed. "But, it's where everything is. Where Kurt—"

"Oh please, if you ask me the last thing you need to do is see him," she snapped, her voice laden with contempt.

Blaine cringed at the hatred in her voice.

Mr. Anderson shut his book, taking off his reading glasses and placing them on the counter. "Sandra maybe we shouldn't…"

"No, I'm going to talk about it. I've been tolerant of this…this phase for the past couple of years but it's time you grow up Blaine. You need to drop your shortsighted dreams of being a writer, get a useful degree, and find a nice woman to settle down with. You've gotten into some pretty good schools in smaller, more conventional cities. You can go there instead."

"You want me to go somewhere so I can be ashamed of myself? So that I'll change to fit what you want?"

"No one is telling you to be ashamed of yourself." Mrs. Anderson said. "You just don't need to go somewhere that will encourage your bad habits."

Blaine bit down on his lower lip, glancing over at his dad, hoping for a little bit of support. Finding none, he resigned himself to fall onto the living room couch, his head in his hands. Here he was, eighteen and so close to actually getting out. He thought that within six months, everything would be better. Now that his mom was planning on changing all of that, it looked like Blaine's future was going to be thrown.

"Now that this is settled, you can go and think about which school you want to choose. You've got a healthy list to pick from."

Blaine couldn't even bear thinking about the other options. No other school that he had gotten accepted to had been his choice. They were all places his mom made him apply to.

But this was his future. His future and his happiness were on the line, and he didn't have to live for his parents anymore. He needed to live for himself, and choose his future.

Blaine sat up, looking his mother in the eye. "I won't."

"Like hell you won't. How do you expect to go anywhere without our money?" she sneered.

Blaine pursed his lips, holding back nasty comments about how the money they earned was mostly acquired through cheating and maneuvering the system.

"Right. Now go. You've got a week to pick."

That night Blaine spent a lot of time thinking. He called Kurt in hysterics, panicking about what was going to happen to him. The past couple of months had been hard enough with Kurt gone and the never ending stress of applications and senior year.

"I just don't know Kurt, what if I end up hating everything I do? I don't know what's going to happen…"

"Shhh, honey, don't worry. You know that you have options. You can make the choice to move to New York."

"How? I just don't see how I can survive there without the support from my parents."

"It will be hard, but you know you can always move in with me if you need to, and you'll have to work, but we can make it happen."

"Do you think so? It's such an expensive school, and New York isn't exactly an affordable city."

"I'm sure Blaine. You don't have to throw away your life."

"Thank you, Kurt. I love you."

"I love you too Blaine, more than you know."

"I'll call you tomorrow."

The next morning, Blaine walked into the kitchen with his head held high and his mind set. He made his way over to the table where his parents sat and dropped an envelope in front of them.

"This is my decision. I'm sending it in today."

The front of the envelope read Columbia University in the city of New York.

His mom rolled her eyes. "Funny."

"I'm not kidding," Blaine said. "Even if I have to work every day to pay for it, I'm going."

"Good, because you will be," she said.

Blaine nodded, the weight of her words settling on his shoulders. He realized that his life was going to change drastically. The comforts that he was used to would no longer be available. Being a student would be tough, and being a working student was going to be harder, but Blaine was going to make it work.

He had to make it work.