Hi there. Well... here is chapter two, after an embarrassingly long wait. I was very busy as it was the end of the school year and I had loads of concerts/exams etc. so I put this off until I had nothing else to do. So here it is. Last AN I promised that this chapter would give away vital clues to the main complication of the story, but little did I know I was actually lying. So yeah, sorry about that, but I swear that NEXT chapter will. If it doesn't, you can get mad. Okay I'm rambling now- it's midnight and I am very tired so I'm just going to shut up.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine except the stuff that you don't recognize because I made that up.


After enjoying a delicious dinner of roast chicken with vegetables and crispy potatoes and reading his sister a bedtime story (Blaine worried deep down about Delilah and her literacy skills; she wasn't the most confident reader and never wanted to read books like Blaine did when he was her age - all she wanted to do was play the piano - but then again, Blaine did love reading aloud to her) Blaine flopped onto the couch and flicked on the TV.

As he was surfing through the channels, he remembered the conversation he was anxious to have with his mother. No longer was he nervous though - seeing Cerina's bright, happy face assured Blaine that she would be understanding of his predicament.

He stalled, staring out the window at the night sky. The stars were just coming out, and he wished upon the first one that he saw that everything would turn out okay. He knew it was silly, and he wasn't really superstitious, but it was something that he had done since he was a child. It was one of the few precious memories of his father that he held close to his heart - wishing on stars and never giving up hope. A lot had changed since then.

Blaine finally heaved himself off of the couch and wandered down the hallway to the back porch where he last saw his mother. When he eased open the fly-screen door slowly, so it wouldn't squeak too much and wake his sister, he saw her watering the pot plants. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

"Something wrong, hon?" she said softly, carefully placing one of the plants back on the window-sill.

Blaine smiled at her. He loved the way his mother did everything so slowly and carefully, like every move she made mattered, and that she had all the time in the world. He wished he could be like that more and more as he got older, so serene and placid.

Cerina interrupted his wandering thoughts.

"Was there something you wanted to talk to me about, Blaine?" she said, a little louder but not sounding irritated. Cerina never got angry, which Blaine found unsettling but nice at the same time.

"Yeah, there is, actually." Blaine replied. He figured there was no point in putting it off any longer. He hated procrastinating.

"Well, spit it out sweetie." Cerina smiled. He had her full attention, she had ceased her watering of the plants to listen to every word he had to say very carefully. That was another thing Blaine loved about Cerina: she was incredibly attentive. Other people were caught up in their own problems, or just didn't care, but Blaine's mother always had time to listen.

Blaine was desperately trying to figure out the best way to word what was on his mind as his mother stared at him with an expectant expression.

"I want to transfer!" Blaine blurted out. Shit, he thought. He had been planning to put it a little more eloquently than that.

Cerina raised her eyebrows, but didn't look too angry or shocked, much to Blaine's relief. She closed the space between them and looked up at her son with concerned eyes.

"May I ask why?" she said softly.

"Well…" Blaine squirmed a little as he twisted his fingers together like he always did when he was nervous.

"Blaine." Cerina smiled at his discomfort, which she found slightly adorable. "I'm not mad. You're a good kid. No, you're a great kid. The best son I could ask for. You've never been unreasonable, you've always done well in school and you've always been completely selfless. I know you have a good reason, and I want you to know I'm here to support you, no matter what, because I love you. You can tell me anything, Blaine." She looked deeply into his eyes. How could Blaine not open up to her, with that look on her face? He knew she would accept him, no matter how childish, or stupid, or completely unreasonable he believed his reason to be.

"I just… I just want a fresh start." Blaine sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. What time was it? The whizzing of bugs that kept bashing into the porch light had begun to irritate him a little, and he'd just had enough of explaining himself to people. He knew this was important though, so he carried on.

"Dalton is just starting to get to me, you know? The formality and… perfection isn't for me! For me, imperfection is beauty, you know?" Blaine rambled. When he was tired he said 'you know?' at the end of his sentences a lot. "At first I loved how everyone dressed the same and looked so neat and tidy, but now, I can't help but hate it! Everyone takes everything so seriously and I'm just sick of it, I just want to be able to express myself, and I feel like I can't live up to my full potential next year at Dalton. I need a change, something to mix things up and make my life exciting again," Blaine finished resignedly and, noticing Cerina's silence, looked down at his bare feet. Cerina tilted his chin up with her fingers.

"Hey," she said, almost inaudibly. "I understand, Blaine. Don't worry, I can see where you're coming from. David had been planning for you to go to that school ever since you started reading, and after he…" she gulped, "passed, I guess I just went along with it anyway, because it always seemed set in stone. I didn't even bother trying to find out what it was like, and I'm sorry for that, Blaine," she said sincerely. "And I have noticed that you've been a bit more… solemn than usual lately," she continued, elaborating upon seeing Blaine's slightly surprised expression. "On the phone you always seemed a bit down, or you sounded just drained or bored." She paused. "I think a transfer would be good for you, honey. If you're sure that it's the best thing for you right now, then I'm happy to organize it all. Sometimes a fresh start can be healthy." She smiled at Blaine, whose mouth was open slightly in surprise. He hadn't expected her reaction at all.

Blaine thought Cerina would be far more wary about the whole ordeal, and have had more questions: "Are you sure you're sure?" and so on. But no, she had accepted him and trusted his judgement.

Cerina giggled at him when a tiny bug nearly flew into Blaine's ajar mouth.

"Thanks, Mom… you're awesome," he said, crushing her into a bear hug. She hugged him back just as tight.

"I think it's best if we all get some sleep now, we'll talk more in the morning," she said, observing Blaine yawn. "I'm nearly done out here anyway. I'll see you in the morning, sweetie." She stood on her tippy-toes and craned her neck to kiss Blaine on the forehead. "You've grown," she laughed.

"I have?" Blaine said excitedly. He hadn't noticed; he was too busy fretting over how ridiculously short he was while all his friends continued to grow ridiculously tall.

"It appears so." Cerina smiled at her son. "Now off to bed, nighty night!" she said, shooing him inside.

"Night, Mom," Blaine whispered, and crept past his sister's door to his room.

Blaine quickly changed into his pajama shorts, taking his shirt off as it was a very humid night, and switched his fan on. He brushed his teeth and answered a text from David before climbing into bed. He sighed. He was relieved that his mother had agreed to let him transfer schools, but hoped that she didn't think about it too much before she slept and changed her mind. The more he thought about moving schools the more he felt that he needed it. It was about time that he did something completely and utterly for himself.

He slept soundly all night.


"BLAAAAAAAAINEY!"

Blaine was abruptly woken by the shrill call of his sister from outside his door.

"Delilah!" His mother scorned his sister almost harshly. "Blaine is very tired, let him sleep," she said in a more gentle tone.

"But Mooom," his sister whined, "Blaine promised that he would take me to get a smoothie before breakfast!"

He heard his sister continue complaining from outside his door. He had promised her, and it was 10:30AM. Plus, he was hungry. Well, hungrier than usual. He eventually mustered the willpower to get up and face the music. Literally. His sister had already started to play piano. Sometimes she would sit in the dining room all day and make up songs. She really was quite good at piano; she'd been learning for nearly three years now, and her skills had surpassed Blaine's. She had a natural talent. Blaine stood in the doorway so he could listen to her play. When she finished Blaine applauded and she looked up delightedly to see her beloved brother.

"Bee!" she cried, and leapt into his arms for a good morning hug. When Blaine was away, Delilah missed him terribly. She hated being a temporary only child.

"Good morning, gorgeous," Blaine grinned. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes! Can we go get smoothies now? Can I get a banana one? Please!" she wailed.

Blaine should probably have found her whining annoying, but because he saw so little of his sister, he found it kind of cute.

"Yeah, of course! I made a promise, and you know I'll never break a promise I make to you," Blaine said with a hint of seriousness.

Delilah rolled her eyes at him dramatically and flounced off to the kitchen to announce their departure. Blaine followed her slowly and smiled. He loved having his real sibling around, and even though his friends at Dalton were practically brothers to him, it wasn't quite the same.

After Blaine had taken Delilah to buy a smoothie—they both had banana—and cooked pancakes, much to Cerina's delight (even though they had a long mock-argument about her assisting her son; he insisted that she let him do something for her for once!) he and Cerina sat down for another little chat after Delilah returned to the piano.

"So, did you have a particular school in mind that you wanted to go to?" Cerina said casually.

"I still can't believe you're actually fine with letting me do this. I thought it'd be a bigger deal to you!" Blaine said in disbelief.

"Well, as I said last night, hon, I understand where you're coming from. There's nothing really wrong with it, is there? It's not too much of a hassle, you've moved schools before—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But aren't Moms supposed to stop their kids from making potentially bad choices?" Blaine asked.

"Do you think that it could be a bad decision?" his mother said seriously.

"Well I don't-" Blaine started, but was interrupted almost immediately.

"Do you, Blaine?"

"No." Blaine said simply. He had given it a lot of thought.

"Then neither do I." Cerina responded as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"Now, your Aunt Cathy was telling me about one of her friends' sons. He went to a school, which she said was great, here in Lima. I can't quite remember what it was called though… Mc-something…" She trailed off, wracking her brain for memory of the name.

"McKinley?" Blaine suggested.

"Yes! That's it. McKinley. You know of it?"

"I think a couple of years ago the Warblers competed against them at sectionals." Blaine furrowed his brow, trying to remember what Wes had told him. "They were really good apparently. They beat us," he said.

"Oh, well, they must be good then!" Cerina beamed, pleased with her choice. "I'll ask Cath to ask her friend for more information about the school, but do you think you would like to go there? I know it's a public school so… it'll be a lot different to the high school you're used to. In a good way though, they're probably one of those schools who doesn't have a set uniform, and you talked about expressing yourself…" She trailed off questioningly.

"Yeah, it sounds great to me!" Blaine answered honestly. It really did sound like the kind of thing he had been searching for.

"Well, I'll send some emails and make some calls and find out the essentials and we'll see, okay?"

"Okay." Blaine smiled as he left the kitchen. It was good to have at least a little bit of a resolution to the problem, and he had a feeling that it was going to get better from there. He walked into the dining room, which was surprisingly silent, to find his sister curled up on the couch, staring at a piece of paper with a perplexed expression on her face. Delilah was so absorbed she didn't notice Blaine's presence in the room till he sat down on the cushion beside her.

"Hey Dee!" he said cheerily, putting an arm around her shoulders and leaning in. "Whatcha reading?" he asked, trying to see the words on the paper his sister was holding.

"Nothing!" she said quickly, attempting to fold the paper in half so her brother wouldn't be able to see. Delilah was embarrassed by her lack of reading skills. She wished she could read properly like the other kids in her classes at school, but she didn't interpret the phonetics the way most people did, and she never knew why. Blaine snatched the paper from Delilah's fingers before she could protest.

"I can help," he said. "What are you stuck on?"

He scanned the paper. When he realized it was the lyrics to one of his favourite Disney songs, he smiled. Delilah shyly pointed out the word she couldn't decipher.

"That says fulfilment." Blaine explained, "It kinda means like… satisfaction. If someone is fulfilled, they're happy, they're… complete." Blaine nodded with finality, pleased with his explanation. "Does that help?"

Delilah nodded.

"Why were you looking at these lyrics anyway? Can you play this on the piano?" Blaine queried. He had heard Delilah watching Pinnochio earlier that day.

"I've been practicing this song so I could play it for you, because I know that you like it," Delilah explained solemnly. "I was going to put on a great big show for you and sing too, but I don't understand this!" The little girl waved the paper around in frustration. "I just wanted to be like you, Blaine. You're so… good," she said quietly.

Blaine cursed himself for being away so much, he had no idea his sister was so insecure. All this time Blaine had perceived his half sister to be carefree and oblivious. But she was growing up, and with age, life becomes more complicated.

"Delilah." Blaine hardly ever addressed her with her actual name. "You are honestly a fantastic piano player. Way better than me! You're never going to be good!" Delilah's eyes widened in shock at Blaine's seemingly harsh words before her brother continued. "Because you've always been great!" He smiled. "I'll help you sing this song, but only if you promise to put on the show you were planning for me. Okay?"

Delilah still looked sheepish, but gave Blaine a small nod.

Blaine quickly grabbed his sister by the waist, slinging her over his shoulder in a fireman's hold. "Okay?" Blaine repeated himself, ignoring Delilah's squirms to try and escape his grip.

"Okay!" she squealed, but she was laughing by the time Blaine gently put her down on the piano stool. Blaine sat down next to her and nodded in encouragement for her to play. She played the introduction to the song like a professional pianist, and Blaine smiled proudly. When the cue came, Blaine sang softly.

When a star is born

They possess a gift or two

One of them is they have this power

To make a wish come true

Blaine sang to his sister enthusiastically, he really did love the song. As the lyrics Blaine was singing neared the chorus, he nudged his sister as a silent urge to get her to sing with him, and to his surprise, she shyly complied. He hardly ever heard his sister sing, only when she was singing to herself in the shower or in her room and he happened to hear. That was one of the big differences between the two siblings, Blaine almost never stopped singing. It drove his friends to the brink of insanity, he was always whistling or humming or making some form of music. He couldn't help it, it was part of who he was.

When you wish upon a star

Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires

Will come to you

Blaine was almost surprised to find that when Delilah was trying to sing properly, she had quite a nice voice. By the end of the song, his sister was singing almost as loudly and as confidently as he was, and Blaine didn't notice that his mother had crept up to the door with her video camera. She smiled at the sight of her two children making music together.

When you wish upon a star

Your dreams come true

The song finished and Blaine and Delilah silently looked at each other fondly.

"See, I told you that you were great," Blaine said.

"As if Bla-"

Delilah stopped when she heard the quiet beeping of Cerina turning the camera off.

"Moooooom!" Delilah exclaimed as she whirled around, horrified, and quickly ran to try and take the camera off her mother to delete the "embarrassing" footage.

Blaine was actually glad their little impromptu performance was filmed - maybe he would be able to finally convince his sister of her obvious talent. He wandered to his bedroom laughing to himself at the sound of the mother-daughter playful banter.

He lay down on his bed, hands behind his head, and gazed up at the ceiling, tracing the cracks in the paint with his eyes. He loved analysing them, finding all the possible patterns and pictures he could make out of them. His mind wandered back to the conversations he'd had with his mother about his transfer, and last night. He then remembered how before he'd told his mother, he'd wished upon a star. The irony of it all made him smirk. But beyond the corniness of it all, there was a small part of Blaine hoping that this was a sign. That maybe, things would go smoothly and everything would turn out to be okay.

Then again, knowing his luck, probably not.


Please review. Tell me if this was crap or not.