SUMMARY: After his NYADA rejection, Kurt gets an unexpected scholarship offer.
DISCLAIMER: Look to chapter 1. Also, I know nothing about American Colleges, and all of my research for this fic came from the internet. Therefore, I am sorry if any of it is wrong.
Not long before Carol was due to get back from work, Kurt was fluttering around the kitchen making a chicken casserole and some dessert that Finn and Burt agreed smelled fantastic and couldn't wait to get their hands on. At the same time, Finn and Burt were watching a baseball game and Finn was 'subtly' trying to get Burt to tell him what had happened in the kitchen that morning. Burt on the other hand was being stubborn and telling Finn to wait for his mother. Just as Finn started to ask for what Burt felt was the 200th time, the front door opened and a voice called,
"Honey, I'm home!"
Finn jumped out his seat and raced down to the door to greet Carol. Not a minute later, he was practically dragging her down the hall and into the living room where Burt was waiting.
"Finn, hold up, let me get my shoes off at least. Finn, I've just walked in the door. Can I please have space to breathe?"
"But Mom, Burt and Kurt won't tell us what happened earlier if you're not here, and I really, really wanna know." Finn whined. "I've been waiting for hours and hours."
"Finn, it's 4 o'clock, you don't get up before 12, how can you have been waiting for hours and hours? Plus when Kurt spoke to me about dinner, he didn't mention anything newsworthy, and that was in my lunch break." Carol chuckled as she toed off her shoes and put her bag on the sofa.
Carol then turned to kiss Burt and then hugged Finn before walking into the kitchen to say hi to Kurt and find out how dinner was going. She was quite surprised to see him fluttering around the kitchen in a bit of a daze, and a soft smile that appeared to have been there for hours, rather than the normal, calm, methodological workings that she was used to.
"Hey Kurt, good day?" Kurt jumped in surprise and turned with a yelp, spoon in hand. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw who it was, he then quickly dumped the spoon on the side and practically leapt to where Carol was standing and enveloped her in a hug.
"Whoa, what's that for?" was the shocked question that came from Carol, quickly followed by, "Not that it's not appreciated."
"You'll find out in about…" Kurt checked the timer on the oven, "5 minutes, but it's fantastic, and Finn'll finally stop asking about it, so that's two pluses!"
Kurt then shooed her away to tell Burt and Finn that dinner was almost ready. While Carole cajoled the boys into helping her set the table, she couldn't help but wonder what it was that had Kurt in such a state. He'd been so unhappy after his NYADA letter, so she couldn't imagine what had cheered him up so much, it was confusing her and she couldn't wait until Kurt told her what was going on.
Eventually Kurt brought out the casserole and the eagerness could practically be seen vibrating off of Finn while Carol was far more subtle in her anticipation. As soon as the pot was put on the table, Finn pulled Kurt into his seat and told him that as they were all there and dinner was on the table, then it was time to 'spill the beans'. With a glance at Burt, Kurt looked down at his plate before taking a deep breath and starting his explanation,
"I got a letter this morning that confused me. I thought it was a hoax, so I got Dad to phone up and confirm it, but, it turns out that I got a football scholarship. So I can still go to college, and get out of Ohio." He looked up as he finished his sentence, his smile still there, but slightly guarded as though wary of their reactions.
"Wait, you got a football scholarship. But you only ever played one game. How could anyone know that you were good? You haven't even played since then, they must have the longest memory ever!" exclaimed Finn.
"I don't know how they remembered, but apparently the guy who's head of sports was scouting for seniors when we won that year, so he saw me play. Dad said he's friends with Coach Beiste and he contacted her when one of their members dropped out to see if I was still playing or something, or to see if she thought that I wanted an offer. It was so weird, I thought it was the jocks having one last joke or something."
Carol got up from her chair to go round and hug him. "Congratulations Kurt. You really deserve this. But where's the scholarship for?"
"Amherst."
"Amherst? Aren't they supposed to have one of the best college football teams around? Surely you're not going to do a major in sport, 'cos you may be good, but you'd get bored, right?" burst out Finn.
Kurt smiled at him, "They are supposed to have a good football team, and I wouldn't do a major or a minor in sport, I'd just be part of the football team. Amherst have a pretty good theatre and dance program, so that'd be my major, and my minor would be French."
The other three all looked at him slightly bemused,
"Looks like you've got it all figured out kiddo, you wanna go?" Burt commented.
"Well, it's not that far away, it's a similar distance to New York, and I could even go on weekend visits to New York if I wanted. I also talked to Blaine, and we've prepared for me to go away, it'd be weird him at school and me working in your garage, I'd want to go back to school for a year."
"Hang on, how did you get a sports scholarship, when I didn't?" broke in Finn, "I spent forever on the team, and you spent all of a couple of weeks and you get into Amherst and I get stuck here, how is that fair? I mean…"
"Finn," Carole scolded, "Your brother has gained something wonderful and you can only complain."
"It's ok Carole. Finn, I think it said that it was some sort of program to encourage those who had some sort of talent but weren't using it fully to go further with it, or given the opportunity to use their ability." Kurt explained calmly.
Burt then interjected, "Coach Beiste apparently said that the team weren't very tolerant and that's why she believes Kurt wasn't on the team for very long."
Finn seemed to contemplate this for a few moments before nodding, settling into his seat and digging in to his casserole.
"But, honey, what about all those jocks that'll be on the football team, you just left that kind of ignorance, you sure you want to go back and face it again? I know you're strong, but people are also bigger and stronger because they're older." Carole had retaken her seat and some of the concerns had started to seep through.
"Nah, he'll be fine, I mean not only did he get the entire team to dance to single ladies on in front of the whole school and the other team, but Karofsky's going to Amherst as well. It was on Facebook the other week. He's doing a major in maths or something like that." There was a moment's silence as the rest of the family gawped at Finn who glanced around and responded with a simple "What?"
Burt was the first one to get his voice back, and he quickly spoke up, "Wasn't it that Karofsky kid that was bullying you? D'you really wanna go somewhere he is so he can start again where you don't have back-up?"
"Dad, he was picking on me because he was jealous that I was able to be so open about myself and he couldn't. You remember he tried to kill himself 'cos he was bullied about being gay. He's changed, so it'll be fine, and I may even have back-up in him." Kurt retorted. "And yes, before you ask, I think he has changed enough for me to be able to get along with him."
"Kurt, are you sure that this is really what you want, and you're not just going because of the whole NYADA rejection? You have to be sure that this is what you really want and that you're not just settling for second best." Burt pressed, concerned.
"I am sure, I've looked into their programmes and within the theatre and dance programme, they do play-writing, which you know I've been interested in." he directed that comment at Burt, "they also do directing which could be a secondary fall-back if necessary. It is most definitely not just settling for whatever comes along, I didn't expect it but it's an amazing opportunity." The way Kurt spoke was almost final, especially when he finished up with "More casserole anybody?"
Burt looked over at Carole almost helplessly as he was realising that this time his little boy was deciding about university, he would get just about no say in it. He could do nothing but sit back and watch as Kurt took control of his life which was rather scary for him to see.
"Shall I call them back tomorrow and talk to Mr Randall? Tell him what you've decided, although you'll probably have to audition for the theatre programme." Was all that Burt could think of to say in response to this decisiveness.
Kurt nodded at Burt, "Please, I wouldn't know what to say."
Slowly, the topic of conversation moved onto other things such as Carol's day at work, and other such topics as they moved onto dessert. And Kurt was eagerly looking forward to the future he had at Amherst College.