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

Chapter 15: Valentine's Week Challenge

"I'm back!" exclaimed Mr. Schue as he walked into History class. We had only seen him a few times since he'd been gone so it was really exciting to have him back. His wedding was in a week so of course he had to return. The glee kids had already seen him, so we gave the other students time to talk to him. Then class started.

In the middle of his lesson, Jake walked in dressed in a tux, along with the other glee guys, and Ryder stood up from his seat to reveal a tux under his own clothes. Jake then sang "You're All I Need To Get By" making every guy in class realize they are terrible boyfriends by comparison. That afternoon in the choir room, Mr. Schuester said he was inspired by the wedding and Jake's gift.

"The theme for the week," he said as the door opened and the alumni walked in, "is Valentine's with your mentor!"

"What if we don't have a mentor?" asked Tina as everyone else started greeting the alumni.

"The rest of you will partner off," he said. "Finn, you'll be John's mentor, like we discussed a month ago. Cory, your mentor will be Kurt Hummel, and the rest of you will be partnered as follows; Blaine and Joe, Artie and Rory, Sam and Tina, Sugar and Brittany."

"Mr. Schue," said Puck. "My brother and I have so much swag-"

"Oh, lord..." murmured Santana.

"-that we're actually already prepared," he said.

"We are?" asked Jake.

"Ok, then!" exclaimed an eager Mr. Schue. "Take it away!"

Puck whispered something to the piano man, who then began to play a familiar tune. It was "Grenade" by Bruno Mars, and it was done well. Most importantly, though, they weren't serenading anyone during the song for once!

We were told to disperse and Rachel and Finn asked John and me to join them in the auditorium.

"What's up?" asked John when we were there and alone.

"We had a favor to ask," said Finn. "We're doing a number for Mr. Schue and Emma at the wedding. Two actually. And we were hoping one of them could be with the two of you. A separate thing from the whole mentor competition thing."

"It would mean a lot to the two of us," said Rachel.

"And to Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury," added Finn.

"I'm cool with that," said John. He looked over at me.

"Me, too," I said.

"Great!" exclaimed Rachel. "We'll discuss the details with you guys tomorrow, once the song has been chosen. For now just focus on the competition. Get out of here Hudson. I call this space for the rest of the afternoon."

He smiled adorably at her and then walked out, followed by John. Rachel and I brainstormed for the rest of the day and then it was time to get home. The rest of the week flew by with everyone performing their songs in their assigned days. Tuesday at lunch, Quinn and Kitty sang "Want U Back" by Cher Lloyd. I was pretty sure they directed the duet to the Puckermans, but considering they both dated Noah and Kitty was with John now, I didn't want to complicate anything any further by questioning it. 

That same day after school, Sugar and Brittany sang "Your Love" by Nicki Minaj and it was surprising how much better Sugar sounded when she rapped rather than sung. Still not a very good performance but it was vibrant and entertaining. Following their performance, Santana and Marley sang "No One" by Alicia Keys and I was sure we had lost already. But Rachel assured me that we could still win.

Wednesday at lunch, Mercedes and Wade (as Unique) sang "Can't Fight The Moonlight" by LeAnn Rimes and again, I doubted myself. Rachel, however, continued to pump me up.

That afternoon it was our turn and we sang "Better In Time" by Leona Lewis. We killed it, Emma called it, "Magnificently well done," but I still didn't feel like I could compete with Marley or Unique. After us, Cory and Kurt sang "Brokenhearted" by Karmin. I'm not going to lie, it was really awesome. It actually intimidated me a little.

Thursday at lunch, Artie and Rory sang "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston. I gave it a B+ but Rachel told me it was more of a C+ or maybe B- because their voices didn't really complement each other. "It's not their fault," she said sympathetically. "They weren't given such an awesome pairing as we were."

When the day was over Tina and Sam sang "Fallin''" by Alicia Keys and I'm pretty sure that Rachel noticed how much I drooled over Sam. In my mind, I knew I was even more delusional than Tina, who sang in Blaine's direction as he sat with Kurt, for thinking that maybe, just maybe, he was singing to me. After their song, it was Blaine and Joe's turn to sing. They sang "Impossible" by Shontelle and I realized they were also contenders for the gold. 

Friday at lunch we had the final two performances of the week. First Finn and John sang "Who Knew" by P!nk and I'm pretty sure Rachel started to tear up at some point. I was completely amazed by how great their voices sounded together, though it was a little annoying for them to sing a song Tina and I had already done at the Sadie Hawkins dance, only stripped down. Here I thought singing the same song twice in glee club wasn't allowed. 

Then, Ryder and Mike sang "Wanted" by Hunter Hayes and to my knowledge Ryder didn't do his creepy eye contact thing with me this time. Probably too busy staring at Marley. I watched Mike most of the time, so I wasn't paying attention, but as we waited for Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury to make a decision on the best performance, Rachel asked me what I thought of that last performance.

"Hmm..." I hesitated. "B-?"

"I meant about the fact that Ryder couldn't take his eyes off of you," she said in a soft whisper, giving me a teasing smile.

"Oh," I said. "That... I didn't notice it. I wasn't trying hard not to notice it."

"So you did notice?" she asked, thrilled. "Julie, it's great! You should ask him out."

"He's pretty much in love with Marley," I whispered back to her. "All week he's been helping Jake give her Valentine's Day gifts that come from the heart. His heart. Not Jake's. That's a mess I don't wanna be a part of. No thanks."

Before she could say anything, Mr. Schue called everyone's attention and said, "We had considering having no winner, but we ended up choosing one. Though these were all great performances about love, we chose one that really told us what this event is all about."

"Without any further ado," said Ms. Pillsbury. "The winners are... Sugar Motta and Brittany Pierce!"

"What?" I heard Kitty exclaim.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Tina.

"See you all at the wedding!" exclaimed Ms. Pillsbury, taking Mr. Schue's hand and pulling him out of the choir room.