The subway ride home was long. Kurt let Rachel rant and rave, pacing the car with choice words about Carmen Thibideaux for several stops, with Blaine just sitting rather sulkily beside him with nothing to say. It was Friday night, so Blaine was coming back with them. The two had clearly planned to hit a bar after and toast themselves and their artistic genius tonight, and now Rachel was just pissed off and Blaine was feeling sorry for himself. NYADA was certainly keeping him on his toes, Kurt mused. Had to be hard for someone who'd barely struggled with anything in school or Glee in high school.

"We should complain to the Dean of Students!" Rachel raged.

"And say what?" Kurt asked, losing patience.

"That she's being unfair! It's obvious!"

Kurt sighed. "I think she's being damn fair myself."

Rachel's jaw dropped open.

"I'm in tech rehearsals for my show! How am I supposed to—"

"Rachel. If you went to an audition that specifically asked for a Sondheim solo and you did something else, you wouldn't have gotten through the first 8 bars without being kicked out."

Rachel scowled. "This wasn't—"

"It's all an audition. NYADA's supposed to prepare us for the professional world. Even if this were any other college course, you wouldn't expect to get praise when you didn't even do the assignment, would you?"

Rachel groaned. "You always take her side."

"It's her class. Her rules. When you can't even be bothered to do the homework, it's just disrespectful. What did you expect her to say?" Kurt shrugged.

Blaine put his head in his hands. "We weren't trying to be rude."

"What am I supposed to tell Sidney Greene?"
"That's a personal problem, Rachel. Carmen didn't have to give you a second chance at all. If you'd done what you'd been told to do, then you wouldn't have gotten yourself into this situation in the first place. Work it out with Mr. Greene or take the F, those are your choices."

Rachel plopped down in a seat, too irritated to talk anymore.

A few minutes later, Blaine leaned into Kurt, speaking quietly. "I think I'll… write a letter of apology."

Kurt nodded.

"I'll say I'm sorry for disrespecting her class, and offer to do the retake anytime next week when I don't have class."

"That sounds appropriate." Kurt told him.

Rachel looked at Blaine as though he was a traitor.

Blaine sighed, avoiding Rachel's gaze. Originally he had been thinking about doing "Giants in the Sky," but Rachel had accosted him in the hallway after class last week with her big idea about "Broadway Baby." They'd hardly have to rehearse because they'd sung it together at Callbacks a half dozen times already, she'd said. He'd been unsure at first, but Rachel had insisted that Carmen would be impressed. Rachel was a sophomore, surely she knew what Madame Thibideaux would like best. Blaine had found a lot of his classes more challenging than he'd expected, so the idea of getting special favor for taking an "artistic risk" was pretty appealing. And there was certainly an appeal to having an assignment go easy without having to prepare much for it. Lots of people at Callbacks had given them kudos the last time they had done that number there. Blaine had been looking forward to a win, and to seeing the other performances. And it hadn't turned out at all like he had hoped. He couldn't even really enjoy his classmates' performances after because he was so embarrassed to have been called out in front of everyone. And then Rachel had to go and try to argue about it with Madame Thibideaux! The whole thing was pretty mortifying.

Kurt put his arm around Blaine, rubbing his shoulder. Clearly he felt really bad about what he'd done. Kurt had known something was up when Rachel and Blaine had gleefully refused to tell him or show him what they were going to perform. Usually Blaine wanted to rehearse and get his critique in advance for assignments like that. Rachel had probably talked him into it, Kurt figured. But Blaine knew what was expected; the guidelines were always written out clearly in the syllabus.

When they got to their stop, Kurt took Blaine's hand and led him out of the car, with Rachel and her poofy pink dress following behind. Kurt was glad they were together at this late hour. After their neighbor's friend had been attacked, Kurt had told Blaine he didn't like him walking home alone at night. He wasn't sure he could really enforce that, but it had shaken him up to think of Blaine in trouble. Blaine found the whole story hopelessly sad and felt cynical over it, but it had brought out a bitter anger in Kurt. He remembered what it felt like to be bullied in high school and harbored a lot of fantasies about what he would say and do if he saw that happen now.

"So are we ordering in then?" Rachel ventured.

"Sounds good to me." Kurt replied, getting a nod from Blaine.

Blaine's fingers rubbed against Kurt's as they entered the apartment building and got on the rickety elevator. "Um. Kurt. Are we… in trouble about today?" he asked shyly.

Rachel glared at Blaine.

Kurt looked at his boyfriend and then at Rachel. He cleared his throat. "We have an understanding about schoolwork, don't we?"

Blaine studied his shoes. "…Yes sir."

Rachel looked away entirely, not responding.

Kurt eyed her for a moment and then sighed. "Getting a public scolding from Carmen Thibideaux is no small thing, but I'm not going to back down on our agreement just because I feel a little sorry for you two about that. And quite frankly, I don't really consider getting offered a second chance to be much of a punishment."

The elevator doors opened and Rachel pushed past the both of them, stomping towards the apartment. Clearly she wasn't going to be taking her punishment quietly tonight. Of course, she rarely did.