Blaine went through his senior year with relatively little trouble from the other students. He suspected that there were two main reasons for it. Firstly, Ethan had warned them off of him. Secondly, he wasn't taking PE anymore, on account of his heart, so he had fewer interactions with jocks.

Blaine didn't tell anyone, but he actually did apply to one college: the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts. He knew it was a long shot, but he also knew that he had to try.

He resume was padded slightly by his stint on the New Directions, two years in choir at Richardson, and the lead in the fall musical his senior year.

To his immense surprise, Blaine got an audition. Carmen Tibideaux watched him critically from the audience as he preformed Learning to Let Go with all his heart and soul.

I wanna thank you for being my foundation
For giving me a boost when I was low
Your courage is my inspiration
I guess it's time I'm learning to let go.

When he got home, he began writing his essay all about how he deserved NYADA's one and only full scholarship.

I've spent most of my life performing. But not in the way most kids have. See, I have been in group homes and foster care my entire life. I have always had to deal with people judging me without knowing me, just because I don't have parents. I performed the role of the kid who doesn't care that he was never wanted. I performed the role of the kid who wasn't being abused at what was supposed to be his home. I performed to role of the kid who didn't care that he wasn't going to amount to anything in life.

But that was all just a performance. I reality, my life was crashing down around me more and more each and every day. I didn't want to accept that I could amount to nothing. So when I had a chance, I began to perform for myself.

I joined a glee club at the high school I was attending during my sophomore year. There I gained my first real friends and love. Suddenly, I realized that performing might just be my way to have a real life worth living.

Never before have I felt so connected with myself and others. Never before have I felt like I mattered, except when I was performing with my friends. If I am accepted at NYADA, I will work as hard as possible to prove that I deserve to be here.

On Blaine's 18th birthday, the family celebrated with a cake and a small party. It was a happier affair that he could have ever imagined. All his life, Blaine had been dreading his 18th birthday, dreading the day when he aged out of the system and was forced to the streets. But Mark and Elise told him that he always had a home with them. Like Ethan, he would have to pay rent once school ended, but it wasn't much, especially considering everything they'd done for him.

The day before graduation, Blaine received a letter in the mail from NYADA. With shaking hands, he opened it in his bedroom, making sure the house was empty first.

Blaine was still crying when Ethan, Callie, Mark, and Elise returned home.

"What's wrong honey?" Elise asked, walking into the back room.

He held out his letter with shaking hands. Elise read it quickly.

Dear Mr. Anderson,
Thank you for your interest in the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts. We would like to offer you a place in the class of 2017. Our faculty was blown away by your audition and your essay. We would also like to offer you the NYADA Presidential scholarship, which provides four years of full tuition, room, and board at the academy.
Sincerely, Carmen Tibideaux

"Oh my god, Blaine, this is amazing!" Elise exclaimed, hugging him tightly. "I am so proud of you! Why didn't you tell us you were applying?"

"I didn't know if I'd get in. Or if I'd get the scholarship and be able to go. I just can't believe this. I'm actually going to college. I'm actually going to New York!"

Blaine's family – no longer foster – dropped him off at the airport on a Saturday in the middle of August. He had protested allowing Mark and Elise to buy him a plane ticket, said that the bus, which he could afford, was just fine. But they had insisted, and finally Blaine had given in.

Now he was on a plane for the first time, leaving Ohio for the first time, and leaving the first family he'd ever had.

When he arrived in New York, he was instantly overwhelmed by the noises, colors, and smells, but he drank it all in as he rode a cab to campus.

Blaine was more than a little nervous to be at NYADA. He knew for a fact that Kurt and Rachel were here, but living off-campus. He knew that there was a high chance he would run into one or both of them. What would he say? What would he do? What if Kurt had a new boyfriend?

Blaine was lucky, though. He didn't see Kurt once during orientation – probably because the older students were avoiding the freshmen.

He knew his luck would run out eventually. It did after the second week of class.

Blaine had been called to Carmen Tibideaux's office to discuss the parameters of his scholarship and his level of participation in dance classes due to his heart. He had yet to meet this woman for real, other than his audition, since she only taught upperclassmen courses, so he was understandably nervous. His nerves were heightened even more when Rachel was the one to walk out of Carmen's door right before him.

"Blaine?" Rachel asked, freezing. "What are you doing here?"

"I go here," he said quietly.

"That's really great," she said sweetly. "We should catch up some time."

Blaine was about to agree when he was called into Carmen's office.

Rachel raced across campus to the cafe where she was meeting Kurt and another friend for lunch.

"You'll never believe who I just saw!" she exclaimed, bursting through the doors.

Kurt rolled his eyes, used to her theatrics, and asked, "Who?"

"Blaine."

Kurt nearly choked on his sandwich. "What?"

"Blaine. He said he goes here now."

"But – how? Where? When? Rachel, please, you've got to give me something more!"

"I don't know," Rachel admitted. "He was going to talk to Carmen just as I was leaving her office."

"I need to see him," Kurt said, standing up to leave. "I'll see you back at the apartment."

Kurt was waiting outside of Carmen's office when Blaine left close to an hour later.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat.

Blaine spun on his heel and almost fell over when he saw Kurt. He put a hand to his heart, and Kurt remembered with a pang that Blaine probably still had a pacemaker and that surprising him probably wasn't the best idea.

"Kurt," he whispered. "Did – did Rachel tell you she saw me?"

Kurt nodded.

"Oh. Okay. That's – good." He looked around nervously. "How have you been?"

"I've been great, actually."

"I'm glad," Blaine said, briefly making eye contact with Kurt. "I should probably get back to my dorm."

"Blaine," Kurt said, in a tone that indicated that he clearly knew that Blaine had nowhere to be for quite a while. Blaine ducked his head. "Talk."

"I got the scholarship," he whispered, as if he was embarrassed to admit the fact. "The full ride. So I was actually able to go to school. And now I'm here."

"That's great, Blaine. You really deserved it," Kurt said. "But why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought – I thought that you hated me," he whispered. "I didn't think you'd want to see me, so I almost didn't apply, but I knew that this was my one chance to actually get out of there. I'm sorry."

"You thought I hated you?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I broke up with you, and then I ruined Chicago, and then … you never came back to see me again. You stopped calling me - again."

"Oh, honey," Kurt said, cupping his hand on Blaine's cheek, "I could never hate you, Blaine."

A tear dropped out of the corner of Blaine's eye. "Really?"

Kurt nodded. "Really. Now, why don't you come back to my place and you can have dinner with me and Rachel."

Blaine and Kurt filled each other in on the past year and what each had been up to. By the time the evening was up, their relationship seemed as if they had never spent any time apart.

And after a few months of dancing around each other, they got back together.

When they returned to Ohio for spring break, Blaine brought Kurt home and introduced him to his family for the first time.

"Learning to Let Go" is from Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens.

The sequel (titled Searching for Family) will be posted soon! Thanks for reading!