Push to the Limit (the sixth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 15: Still There

Bit of a mid-length chapter. Enjoy!
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"I feel bad..." said Sam as he walked onto the tour bus with John, Tyler and Alex. "Shouldn't we at least make an effort to go back into town?"

"Maybe we can try to make it to the funeral," agreed Tyler. 

John and Alex exchanged looks. When everyone was seated and the bus was being prepared to hit the road, Alex said, "I mean, it's Jake... Yeah, we should go and I do want to but... We can't. We have this tour going on and it's not like we're all besties with him either."

"We lived with the guy a few weeks," Tyler reminded them. "He stayed with Sam and me. And he's never been anything but nice to us."

John scoffed as Sam explained, "We've all had... interesting relationships with Jake, actually. But still, you're not wrong. We should make every effort to make it to his dad's funeral at the very least."

"When is it?" asked John.

"Tuesday," Sam answered.

Alex shook his head as he began to lie down on one of the couches. "No can do," he told them. "Julie invited us to go to the set of her new music video, remember?"

"Why is she doing that already?" Tyler asked. "She's not going to release it until, like, two more months or something."

"She wants to have the video already while she has free time," Alex shrugged.

"Wait, so Julie's not going to the funeral either?" asked Sam. 

"Guess not," John answered. 

Sam frowned. "That's unfortunate... And it makes me want to go even more." 

***

"Do I have to go?" Sarah complained as she sat with Sebastian putting together her schedule for the next week. "I thought the point of you managing my music and my career is that you wouldn't make me go to lame events."

"It's a funeral for an artist from this label," Sebastian told her. "And an artist whose album I'm working on as producer. Besides, Jake's a decent guy. We're going."

Sarah rolled her eyes and searched her purse for a piece of gum. As she did, the door opened and Jeremy stumbled in. "Mr. Smythe, I'm ready to go over the tracks that..." His voice trailed off when he saw Sarah. "Oh," he said. "Sorry, I didn't know you were in here. And clearly in the middle of something. I'll see my way out."

"Don't worry about it," Sarah said, smiling up at him. "I'm leaving."

She turned back to Sebastian, who said, "You're going."

Making a face once she was turned away from him, Sarah let out a deep breath and made her way out. As she did, she patted Jeremy's arm as a greeting and took one of the coffees he was carrying. He may not be an intern anymore but he was her friend and friends let each other steal food and drinks.

On her way out, Sarah saw Kayli and Zoe together and stopped. The worst part about them having albums due in the same quarter was that they were always going to run into each other like this. She drew in a long breath and continued walking, telling herself not to be intimidated. At least Shana wasn't around.

"Where's the rest of your pack?" she asked them as she passed by them. "Taken in by the pound, I suppose?"

Kayli rolled her eyes as Zoe said, "Shana's girlfriend is coming to town because of her friends losing their father so she's preparing for her and we don't really know where Le—"