Glee: A Brand New Direction (first book of Glee series)

Chapter 1: Glease

Chapter 1: Glease

I stood up and joined the rest of the audience in a standing ovation. It had been an enjoyable show. I never really showed up to the New Directions' performances before, but for over a year my best friend John had been going to them. He had a huge crush on a junior, Sugar Motta, since they were sophomores, and had been following the Glee club from the moment she joined.

"She's a terrible singer," I reminded him every time he called her perfect. "And I hear her nose is fake." He'd just ignore me because he was hopelessly head-over-heels for her.

We watched their performance of Grease and it was then that I realized Sugar wasn't too bad of an actress. She was also a pretty good dancer, as were the other girls. Still, when the show was over and everyone was leaving, I urged John for us to leave.

"Wait just five minutes, Julie," he told me. "I need to take this chance to get her number." I was going to protest but he didn't give me a chance and unfortunately he was my ride home. Instead, I took the opportunity to go grab a couple of things I'd forgotten in my locker.

It was a really bad idea. From my locker, I could hear two people talking in another hallway. I took a peek and saw that it was two graduates from the Class of 2012, Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry. Everyone knew those two had gone through a bumpy relationship throughout their time at McKinley High School and I didn't want to be caught in the middle so I decided to wait until they left to pass through.

"No contact," he was telling her. "Not even in song." I couldn't hear the rest of what he said, and I really tried not to. They were speaking in low voices and it sounded serious, making it really awkward for me.

The next thing I understood was Rachel saying, "It doesn't feel that way anymore. Now it just feels sad and confusing." She said a couple more things, he talked some more, and finally a different voice interrupted them, giving me my cue to get out of there. I had thought it was a woman but it was actually a well-dressed guy with light skin. I couldn't remember his name but he was another ex-glee club member and 2012 graduate, one who was pretty much responsible for creating a semi-tolerant environment for teen gays at McKinley. I walked past all three of them, not looking back, and thanked my lucky stars they hadn't said anything to me as I left. Once outside, I found John waiting by his car and quickly took the passenger seat.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

"You don't want to know," I assured him, not wanting to relive the awkward scenario I had foolishly witnessed. "You get her number?"

"Nah," he said. "She was in some club meeting afterwards. I guess I'll just talk to her at school next week." He proceeded to drop me off and we sang "Summer Nights" from the musical in the car. When I finally got home, I walked in to find my brother, Cory, waiting for me on the couch.

"How was it?" he asked.

"Good," I said. "Surprisingly."

"Was Santana there?" he asked.

"She was," I said as I headed towards my room. "She even played one of the roles. Oh and... Cory? She's definitely single." I smiled as I went to my room, not bothering to close the door behind me. Cory had a crush on Santana since he went to McKinley as a freshman but now that she had graduated he didn't get to see her very often. He was graduating himself this year and hadn't done anything to impress her. I guess he'd kind of given up on her since last year when she came out of the closet.

I turned on my computer and played some Grease songs on YouTube. The first one I listened to was the one Santana had sung as a solo, "There Are Worse Things I Can Do" and I took the fact that my dad was out on a date to sing out really loud. When the song was over, I was startled to find Cory standing at that doorway.

"Why don't you join that Glee club?" he asked me with a smile. "You're way better than any of them. That includes those who graduated already."

I rolled my eyes. "You and John are both crazy with that stuff," I said. "Better than Rachel? I don't think so."

"Rachel's gone," he pointed out. "Be the new Rachel. Go show them what Juliet Vasquez is made of."

"They've got Marley Rose for that," I told him. "You know, that girl from my class whose mom I told you was the lunch lady? She's really good. Besides, Kitty Wilde recently joined and I do not want to be intimidated out of anything else by her." I threw a pillow at him and he laughed.

"What?" he asked through his chuckles.

"Get out of my room!" I exclaimed, laughing along. "And shut the door, pretty please." He did as I said and I went back to my singing, moving on to "Hopelessly Devoted To You". I pictured myself up on that stage, playing Sandy, and shook my head. Yeah, right...