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

Chapter 84: What Does Julie Need Pt. II

"In all the excitement I didn't realize you were nominated for Best International Group at the BRITs," Julie told Alex as she sat in his passenger seat. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks," Alex responded. "Apparently the band's been nominated a few times before but... We always lose to some European group or an Australian one... It's cool though. I'm more excited about where I'm taking you next."

"I'm kind of hoping it's back to my house," said Julie. "After spending all morning in the hospital with Kitty, I'm too tired for anything else."

"It's not to your house but I promise it won't be exhausting," he said. 

He pulled into the next street and Julie said, "There goes McKinley. I wonder if Albany's in there working."

"Let's find out," Alex told her, going into the school lot.

"Is this where you were going to bring me?" Julie asked, a bit underwhelmed by the revelation.

"It's better than it sounds," he said. It wasn't hard to find a parking space on a Saturday afternoon, so it didn't take long for them to be walking onto campus. There were quite a few people there, a few on school business but most just cleaning up after the earthquake.

"The school didn't get hit as badly as my street did," Julie noted as they walked through the hallways. "I was watching the news in the hospital and they said it was the strongest earthquake to ever hit this area. 5.7 magnitude. Three reported casualties."

"That sucks," Alex said. "I'm glad it wasn't anyone we knew."

"That we know of," Julie sighed. 

They passed by Albany's classroom, which was locked, so Alex said, "Ok, now that we know she's not here... Time for what I brought you for." He led her down a few more hallways before they reached the all too familiar corridor that held the McKinley choir room.

"Memories," Julie said as they stepped inside. Alex closed the door and turned on the lights. "Why are we here?" she asked him.

"Well," he answered, pulling up two chairs for them to sit down on, "last night was... freaky. And it didn't go at all how we planned. No duets, no competition, and no telling John the truth. Earthquake and Kitty going into labor kinda ruined it for us."

"We'll get another chance at it," Julie shrugged. 

"Still, it got me thinking a lot," he said. "Someone could've gotten hurt and... I never expected to care about this group of people as much as I do. I was even scared for Jake when he hurt his leg."

"The cast will come off in time for his wedding," Julie interjected.

Alex smiled and reached for her hands. "It's been ten years since we came into each other's lives."

"I know," she said, smiling back and dubiously waiting for the point of it all.

"Do you remember where you were today ten years ago?" he asked.

"January 13 of 2014..." Julie said, trying to think. "In school? Was it a school day? Maybe I was at home. It was junior year for me so... I don't know. That was around the time my mom came back into my life so maybe I was at home talking to her."

Alex pulled his phone out and, as Julie waited, opened up an app. "I dug through my emails one one of the days at the cabin when you were taking forever to wake up. Bad reception, nothing to watch on TV... And I found this."

He handed Julie his phone, which displayed an email message from January 13, 2014. It was from William Schuester, so she looked at Alex suspiciously. Then she turned back to the screen and began to read it out loud: