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

Chapter 29: Panic Cord

This chapter is written in short scenes. I was trying out a writing exercise and thought I'd use all the different prompts for this story since I'm due for more updates anyway. So basically, I tried to kill two birds with one stone and a lot of weird stuff came out of it, so I put together the least weird into this story and got a new chapter out of it, sort of.  

Also, we are still missing a lot of very important characters for our Facebook RP! Amity, John, Bree, Stefan and more need players to claim them so please please join in! 
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One week after the Thanksgiving dinner at Bree's, Harmony woke up feeling a lot better than she had in the last few weeks. The time had finally come. It was time for her callback. 

She'd been focusing 90% of her energy into rehearsing her callback number all week. Another 8% was dedicated to a performance she'd be putting on at the McKinley Winter Ball, which didn't leave her with much energy to do anything else.

Now that she was up and ready for her day, she had about ten hours until it was time for her callback and she was going to put them to good use.

While Harmony prepared to channel her inner Julie, Julie made her way to the recording studio for the first time since Sam had forced her to record "Towers." And it was precisely that song that had taken her back.

"It's fantastic," Sebastian told her when she stepped into his office for an early meeting. 

"What is?" Julie asked, confused.

"That last song you recorded," he answered.

"Seriously?" she yawned. "You dragged me in here at six in the morning to talk about that? You couldn't just send me a text saying 'good job' with like a sunglasses emoji or something?"

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "I forgot how cranky you can be in the mornings..." Julie took a seat in front of him as he continued, "I want the song to get cut and I want it to be by you. You haven't had a ballad as a single and your fans love your melancholic yearnings for your ex boyfriends. So I just need you to get on board and we can get to work on your second album. I think we can finish it by the end of the year if you work hard enough."

"Are you joking?" she scoffed. "I'm going to be a mom in like two weeks. Sam is in a coma. The last time you have me a deadline like this I basically became a junkie. I've told you already that I have no plan on moving onto my second album while the girls are still young."

"By the time they're old enough you'll have lost your momentum," Sebastian groaned. "You can't let the fans forget you but they will if you sleep on this opportunity. All that stuff you have going on... Use it. 'Lionheart' and 'Black Roses' have been two of your greatest songs. One about fans that support you and the other about critics that judge you. Both very emotional. Keep that going. Keep letting the hard stuff inspire you. No more of the teenage crush stuff. That was cute for your first album but you're twenty-five. Adele released her first stellar album at 19. You want a Grammy one day, right? This album could be the one. You just have to make some time for it."

Julie let out a deep sigh and stood up. "The song's not getting cut and neither are the other two you mentioned. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a doctor's appointment to make." And with that, Julie made her way out of the office.

***

"I can't do that," Ryder shook his head. "Sorry guys."

"You have to," said Alex. He, Tyler, and John had paid Ryder a visit at home with a special request, one which they were having a hard time convincing him to accept. 

John sat back on the couch while Tyler and Alex did everything they could to change his mind. "It's what Sam would've wanted," Tyler said, but that didn't seem to work on Ryder.