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

Chapter 34: The Bell Jar

"Thanks for making it tonight," said the host of Starmaker, a tall woman named Aileen Scoles, as she prepped Julie for what she had to do.

The show was a reality TV singing competition and was about to finish its current season. It consisted of four celebrity judges—this year they were Bruno Mars, Vincent Herbert, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Aundrea Fimbres—and took various groups and soloists through rounds of singing and competing against each other to create music's next big star.

It was currently the most popular singing competition on network television so Julie was excited to get to promote her song on it, but she still wasn't over how obnoxious Tenesha had been on Starstruck.

She was still thinking about it when the host said, "I know you have had a busy day but don't worry, you'll get a bit of relaxation time during the show."

"Great," mumbled Julie. "So take me through what I'm doing tonight."

"Actually, I won't be doing that," said Aileen, "but we have an assistant who will be more than glad to." Julie rolled her eyes as Aileen waved over a frail, curly-haired boy and then walked away.

The boy seemed flustered by Julie's presence at first but then recovered and said, "Uh, right, so tonight... Basically there are eight contestants left and we'll have the first half of the show be their performances. Then after that, there will be the half-time performance sort of thing, and that's when you'll sing 'Break Free'—"

"It's 'Dangerous Woman' actually," Julie told him impatiently.

"Right," he said, terrified by his mistake. "I am so sorry. That's what I meant." Julie ignored his apologies so he continued, "Then after your performance, we're going to ask you to choose your favorite contestant from what you saw in the first half of the show. And that contestant will then join you in a duet."

"With no rehearsal?" asked Julie.

"No, you'll get a bit of rehearsal time backstage," said the assistant. "Not much but... Still a little bit of time."

"Ok, great," she said sarcastically, impatiently urging him to go on.

Julie turned her head and saw Bruno Mars standing surrounded by assistants, one of them applying blush to his cheeks and another holding his phone up for him, while the third aired him with a fancy hand fan.

She groaned, "I need to go backstage and... Not be looking at celebrities doing that."

"He's actually a really nice guy and—" said the assistant assigned to Julie.

Julie cut him off, saying, "Ok, I'm sure that's true. I'm going to go backstage to get ready. Let me know when I need to be out and in front of cameras, please."

"Yes, Ms. Vasquez," said the assistant, the 'please' making him slightly more comfortable. Julie made her way to the backstage area, where she sat as quietly as she could as different people came in and helped her get ready for the show.

***

"Guess who," said Sam quietly as he entered Julie's dressing room with Gaby in his arms.

Julie looked up in awe when she saw them and waved away the people currently working on her makeup.

"Oh my gosh," she said, standing up to greet them. "Look at you, Gaby..." She began to pick Gaby up but Sam pulled back.

"Um, maybe right now isn't the best time," he said. When she appeared offended, he added, "Because of, you know, all the makeup and the hair. She could ruin it."

"She would never ruin anything," Julie insisted. "She's a precious angel."

"Still," Sam resisted. "I think you're better off just not risking it. Besides, Gaby wants to see her sister." He looked around the room. "Um, where's Izzy?"