Glee: Race to the Finish (the fifth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 12: Black Roses

"It's officially October!" exclaimed Kitty as she and Bree waltzed into Julie's room. "Wake up!"

"Why..." she groaned, while her small dog began wagging her tail, attempting to get Bree's attention and failing. 

"Because September has ended!" Bree exclaimed with a chuckle. "And also because it's almost noon and you shouldn't oversleep."

"Fine," she mumbled as they helped her sit up. "I guess I'll get up. So last night really happened, huh?"

"It did," Bree nodded. "And now you get over it." Julie raised an eyebrow questioningly so she added, "People are going to be watching you for a while. You're not just Juliet Vasquez, pregnant popstar. You've become Juliet Vasquez, girl pregnant with Sam Evan's lovechild. It's the misogynistic world we live in."

"But you won't get out of the 'baby mamma' thing if you don't get out at all," said Kitty. "Look, I know I haven't really been supportive through all of this but... Recently an odd voice of reason told me I was being a bitchy friend. So... Here I am and I come bearing the gift of solution. Come be a special guest at the Miss Lima Pageant tomorrow. No Crystal Army. Just you. It's time to separate yourself from those guys, don't you think? They'll be there but... They won't be there with you this time."

Julie stayed quiet and Kitty felt relieved, glad she wasn't facing a bigger fight. Julie, however, wasn't even thinking about what her friends had just said. "Where is Alex?" she wondered out loud.

"He let us in and then rushed out," Bree answered. "Something about a song."

Julie sat up and said, "I'll go to this pageant thing. You two are right. I should really show my face at some point."

"And what better place than an event no one else out there cares about?" Kitty asked with a grin. 

"Ok," Julie nodded. "I'm in."

***

"So what do we do now?" asked Sam, sighing as he pushed away the latest article on Sebastian's tablet, which showed fan reactions to his interview. While many people were touched by his words, his statement on needing to focus on what the babies needed led a large portion of his fans to think that he was hinting at the his departure from Crystal Army.

"Should we say something?" asked John. He looked down at the article and added, "I mean, they're calling Jules the Yoko Ono of Crystal Army. That's not cool."

"And her fans are sending some major shade our way, too," Alex pointed out. "It's a fan war and nobody seems to understand that we're all perfectly content with each other."

"Ooh, maybe we should find a way to show that we're cool with her," Tyler said to Alex and John. "That there's no tug-of-war for Sam going on or anything like that; he's not even that special, right?"

"Ouch," Sam said with a forced chuckle, very distracted by everything he'd read from the public so far. 

"Ok, sure," John agreed. "But we just have to make sure that Julie doesn't see any of this. Alex, how are we on operation keep Vasquez away from the internet?"

"Team Double-W is with her," he responded. "They arrived before she woke up and are under strict orders not to let her get online until it all blows over."

"Good," Sebastian said, looking at his phone as a string of new messages buzzed in. "Because I already have enough divas to deal with."

***

["Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga.]

Santana: We are the crowd. We're c-coming out. Got my flash on it's true. Need that picture of you. It's so magical, We'd be so fantastic, oh.