I met my boyfriend at Dalton when he transferred there last year after being chased out of his public school by bullies just like I had a few months prior. Kurt is tall and pale and flamboyant and I love him and envy the fact that he had the courage to go back to his public school—something that scares me so senseless that I actually get dizzy thinking about it. Our relationship is controversial in a town like Lima, but in the context of my life, it's one of the most straightforward and comforting things I have.

Today Kurt and I meet at our favourite coffee shop, the Lima Bean, and he's wearing the least elaborate outfit I've ever seen him wear—shorts and t-shirt. It's unbelievably hot in Lima this summer.

He says, "It sucks that we won't be able to hang out as much when school starts. I'm gunna miss you."

I grimace. "I know," I say, "I know. You should come back to Dalton."

Kurt laughs. "Not gunna happen," he says, "How about you come to McKinley?"

I laugh and think about how nice it would be to see Kurt in the hallways of school again like I did when he used to be at Dalton.

Raising an eyebrow, Kurt's jaw drops a little. He's always very dramatic. "Oh my god," he says, "You're actually considering it, aren't you?"

I grin and shrug. "I dunno. I don't think I could leave Dalton. I'm too loyal to the Warblers. I love those guys."

Kurt rolls his eyes. He'd never been a big fan of our Dalton glee club. "Still," Kurt says, "You've said before that you regret running away from the bullies at your old school. I know that Dalton is your safe place, but maybe it's time to step outside of your comfort zone?"

Part of the reason I love Kurt so much is that he probably understands me better than I understand myself even though he only knows a small part of my story.

"I'll think about it," I say. I don't know why I don't tell him about Dad not paying for Dalton. Maybe I'm afraid if he knew he could too easily convince me to come to McKinley. And I don't even really know why that's a bad thing.

Kurt kisses me and says, "That's all I ask. Imagine how great we could be together in New Directions. You'd love it there. People have actual talent and actual personalities."

I've met a lot of Kurt's McKinley friends before, and they are great people, but I always feel like they never see me as anything but Blaine the Warbler or Kurt's Boyfriend. Like I'm this intangible non-person who they have no interest in actually knowing.

But that might be my Dalton walls talking. Dalton walls are things that kids who go to Dalton for too long build. We get so used to hanging out with each other in our perfect and magical utopia of acceptance where nobody will acknowledge any emotions except school spirit that we forget how to interact with real people. Kurt woke me up out of that last year, but Kurt is special and relatable and beautiful. It's harder for me to take down the Dalton walls around other people.

"And you really think that they'd just welcome a kid from a rival glee club into the mix?" I ask.

Kurt shrugs. "The Warblers welcomed me. I'll make sure the New Directions welcome you. But I'm not pressuring you. I'm just excited that you'd even consider it."

I nod. "Okay. I'll keep you posted."