They said it would be better, but Blaine knew they were lying. It couldn't get better. The bullying didn't even let up in the immediate aftermath of the Sadie Hawkins dance. And now, six months later, Blaine could definitely say that it did not get better. In fact, the bullying had gotten worse.
Finally, in late October, Blaine finally went to his mom and told her about his idea.
"I don't understand what you want," Blaine's mom, Gloria, said.
"I want to transfer from Westerville High to Dalton Academy," Blaine said.
"Yes, I get that. But why? What's wrong with Westerville High?" Gloria asked.
"The people. Nobody cares. You've seen what they are capable of and it's just gotten worse. Dalton has a zero tolerance policy against this kind of stuff. Without having to worry about all of them, I could actually focus on school again. I'm already a year behind. I don't want to get even farther behind," Blaine explained.
Blaine just couldn't take it anymore. Things were bad last year. There were name-calling and locker shoves and the whole Sadie Hawkins incident, which was still giving Blaine nightmares. And this year, James, the only other guy who had been out and Blaine's date for the dance had moved to get a fresh start, leaving Blaine as the only gay kid at Westerville High. If that wasn't enough, everyone was giving Blaine a hard time because he was held back a year. So now Blaine wasn't just the gay kid, he was the stupid gay kid.
Every day Blaine had come home with new bruises and cuts and scrapes. Thankfully, though, there had not been another incident that required hospitalization. But Blaine knew if he did the rest of high school at Westerville, it would only be a matter of time before he was in the hospital again. And frankly, that terrified him, to the point where he was not only having nightmares about Sadie Hawkins, but he was now having nightmares about what could happen next. To Blaine, it seemed like every night he was waking up in a cold sweat or screaming.
Blaine just wanted to feel safe again, and he knew that if he stayed at Westerville, he was never going to feel safe. Blaine didn't like the idea of running away. It had been something his father had instilled in him from a very young age. You don't run away from your fears, you face it like a man. But, Blaine knew he really didn't have a choice.
Gloria sighed. She knew her son had great reasoning, but the problem would be convincing her husband. "We'll see, Blaine. I'll talk to your father later."
"Ok," Blaine said. It wasn't a yes, like Blaine wanted, but it wasn't a no, meaning there was still hope. Blaine walked back to his room and sat down on his bed to think things over again. His two biggest concerns were that his father would say no and that Dalton wouldn't live up to his expectations, but it was mostly the first one. If his father said no, Blaine would be stuck at Westerville for another three and a half years, and frankly he didn't know if he could survive that.
Blaine didn't hear from his mom until two days later. Gloria knocked gently on Blaine's door and waited for him to tell her to come in. She sat down on the bed and said, "Your father and I discussed your idea."
"And?" Blaine asked nervously after a long pause.
"We've decided that we will let you transfer to Dalton at the beginning of November on the condition that you get and keep your grades back where they used to be."
"Really?" Blaine asked. He knew it was going to be a long shot, but he was actually going to be getting out of Westerville High.
"Yes," Gloria said as she smiled.
Blaine was in shock. "I just can't believe it. Dad is actually letting me transfer."
"As long as you keep your straight A's," Gloria said.
"Yeah. No problem. Anything to get me there." Gloria patted Blaine's shoulder and got up and left the room. Blaine couldn't believe it. He was leaving Westerville, permanently. One week and it would all be done. One week and he would be starting over new.
Although there were only seven days until his transfer was official, the days seemed to go even slower than normal.
Finally it was Blaine's last day at Westerville. His teachers knew he was leaving, but none of the students did. He wouldn't have told anyone, but apparently he had to so he could return all of his materials. However, he was adamant about not telling any of the students because he thought that if they knew, they would try and put in four years of torture and bullying into one week. And absolutely no one would be able to handle that.
When the final bell rang on Friday, Blaine couldn't contain his excitement. He ran out of the classroom and out of the school, thankful that he would never have to step foot in there again.
The weekend was spent preparing for his transfer, although, by this point, there was not much left to prepare. The weekend dragged on and Blaine's nerves started to get the better of him.
Monday morning came and Blaine was just about shaking because of the nerves. It was almost funny. Blaine had been so excited to leave Westerville, but now Blaine was second guessing himself. What if the zero tolerance policy was a lie? What if the people didn't accept him? What if the work was too advanced and he couldn't keep up? Would he have to go back to Westerville if that happened? What if….? Blaine forced himself to stop thinking about all the possibilities.
Blaine got dressed in his new Dalton uniform, which felt different. It was different, but almost comforting knowing that he wouldn't stand out on his first day. He would just be another face in the crowd, which was something he had spent all of his time at Westerville trying to do.
He took on final look in the mirror and headed downstairs where his mother was waiting. They got in the car and headed to Dalton Academy.
Once they arrived, Blaine and Gloria went to the main office were Blaine got the rest of his information. Gloria wished Blaine good luck and left the building. Blaine headed off to try and find his first class.
Blaine had some trouble finding his class. Dalton was huge and deigned almost like a maze. Blaine hoped that it would eventually become easier. When he finally made it to the classroom, he introduced himself to the teacher and found a seat. Five minutes into the lesson, Blaine realized that he was going to have a lot of catching up to do. Dalton was definitely more of an academic challenge than Westerville.
The rest of the morning went by in a similar fashion. Blaine tried to navigate through Dalton, just barely made it to class, introduced himself to the teacher, and tried to figure out what was going on in his classes.
It was time for lunch. Blaine went to the cafeteria and got his lunch. Although, once he had his lunch, he was unsure of where he should sit. He hadn't made any friends yet due to the fact he was just trying to figure out where his classes were and what was the teachers were actually talking about.
The other students looked friendly, but to everyone else, so did the kids at Westerville. Blaine would love to have friends, but after everything that happened with his old friends at Westerville, Blaine was and had every right to be hesitant about making new friends.
Blaine found an empty table in the back corner of the cafeteria. Sure it was lonely, but it wasn't anything that he hadn't dealt with before. Although, this year at Westerville, Blaine had just skipped lunch in order to avoid the cafeteria. All of the jocks would be in one place at the same time, and that couldn't end well for Blaine. So instead, Blaine just spent his lunch period hiding out in the library.
Blaine was quietly eating his lunch when two boys approached his table. Blaine could feel himself shrinking as the boys got closer. Oh god, they are going to beat me up, Blaine thought. I'm not any safer here than I was at Westerville.
"Hey, You're new here, right?" asked the taller boy.
Blaine's mind was having an internal battle about whether or not he should tell the truth. Blaine knew he should be honest, but at the same time, he was scared of what would happen if he told the truth. Would they beat up new kids like they did at Westerville? But despite everything going on in his mind, he nodded slowly.
"That's what we thought. I'm Wes, and this is David," said the shorter Asian boy.
"I'm Blaine," Blaine said quietly.
"It's nice to meet you. Well, anyway, we noticed you were sitting here alone and we were wondering if you wanted to join our table?" David asked.
Blaine thought about it. He really wanted to make friends, but was scared because of what happened with his old friends. Blaine looked at the boys who were awaiting an answer and quietly said, "Sure."
Author's Note:
A few hours early, but I wanted to post before I go home for the weekend.
If interested, you can find me on tumblr: klaineinatardis
Please consider leaving me a review and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading and to everyone who has reviewed this far. The reviews make my day.
And to everyone watching Glee tomorrow, be strong.