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

Chapter 9: A Fair Warning

Chapter 9: A Fair Warning

I walked into the choir room with shaking hands and unsteady knees. I could feel the bead of sweat starting to form at my hair line. I hadn't heard much from Finn or anyone else, but I'd been talking to Rachel and she said to relax and stay confident. If only it were that easy! The night before the day back to school, I got a text from Jake to go to the choir room first thing in the morning. So I assumed I had to audition.

"Hey," said Jake, smiling as I walked into the room. Sam, Joe, Kitty and Finn were the only other people there.

"Hi..." I murmured, confused. Where was everyone else at?

"We asked you to meet here," started Finn, "because we wanted to chat." Chat? OK, so it wasn't an audition. Phew.

"What about?" I asked, taking a seat on a red chair as they stood in front of me and all stared.

"You," said Finn. "We wanted to warn you."

"Warn me?" I repeated.

"Some of the others aren't really on board about you auditioning," explained Joe.

"Why...?" I asked slowly, feeling nervous once again.

"Well, Tina doesn't want any more competition," said Finn. "Neither do Blaine, Wade, or Brittany."

"And Ryder filled Marley's head with crazy ideas," said Jake.

"Like what?" I asked.

"I'd rather not say," he answered, looking nervously at the others. I think I knew.

"Sugar doesn't want you to join because she obviously can't sing as well as you can," said Kitty, "though she claims she'll be back from Winter Break to blow us all away with her talent. And Wheels just thinks we should have open auditions for the whole school again if we're going to take you in."

"Wait, why are you on board?" asked Joe.

She rolled her eyes at the sound of his voice. "Look," she said to me, "you and I killed it in our Christmas number. I may not come off as the nicest person, but I know when someone has talent and the glee club can never have too much of that. You and I will be dynamite, girl, and I want you on this group."

"And we want to talk to John, too," said Finn. What? OK, I know John is a good singer and all, but I really don't feel comfortable with him being around. It'll ruin everything. I'll just go back to being in his shadow. First the Cheerios and now Glee. Will I ever be able to have something that's free for me to shine in? It made sense now. Kitty only wanted me to think I had her support to get John to join. To get him to go out with her. I hadn't talked to John in some time but I knew there was no way he'd ever fall for that.

"Julie?" Sam was saying. I guess he had said it a couple of times already because they were all looking at me expectantly.

"Huh?" I said. "What?"

"I asked if you could have lunch with us," repeated Sam. "Let the others get to know you better and win them over?"

"Um," I said. "I'm not really good at letting others know me."

The bell rang. "Think about it," said Finn.

I did think about it. But when lunch came around, I didn't want to sit with them. I sat with a couple of distant friends and felt uncomfortable with all their insiders and reminiscing about memories that were only a few days old. John, however, was sitting with the Cheerios and the jocks, with Kitty all over him. Yuck.

For the most part, the rest of the glee club did sit together. After a few minutes, Marley, Blaine, and Tina got up on a table and called everyone's attention.

"Hey, everyone!" exclaimed Tina. "I'd just like to let everyone know that today after school, we will be accepting mid-season auditions. So if you're int-"

"Glee club sucks!" yelled a jerk from the hockey team. A few others joined in with insults. If only they'd get off the glee club's back, everyone would be at peace. No one else makes fun of them like that since they won Nationals last year.

Blaine was about to say something when one of those jerks passed by and threw a slushie at him from below. It only got his neck and chin but he still shivered from the cold. Soon there was a ripple and Tina and Marley got a taste of the slushies, too. And then as Tina wiped some ice from her cheek, she looked over to Finn, sitting by a wall with a computer hooked onto some speakers, and nodded. He nodded back, clicked some buttons, and suddenly there was music playing. And just like that they all joined into a group number of "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sisters. And I don't know if it was the fact that I love the song or that it was Sam who offered me his hand before pulling me onto the table, but I was glad to join him and everyone for a line of my own.

Sam: Your life is trite and jaded. Boring and confiscated.
Julie: If that's your best, your best won't do!

When the number was over, I was thrilled. Performing was amazing and I got a hug from both Marley and Sam when we were done. Everyone was clapping for us, even some of the hockey jerks, and I knew there was no way I'd be the only one auditioning.