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

Chapter 109: On an Icebox

I wrote two versions of this chapter and eventually chose this one. Maybe one day I'll post the "alternative" (has a strand of pink hair and a septum ring) one but for now this is the one you get and it's SUPER long semi-finale! We're almost at the end! One more after this!

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Thursday, July 11, 2024 - CRUISE DAY SEVEN - 7:30 AM

"Why are we up this early?" asked Sam, yawning as he stepped out of his room. Finn and Stefan were going door by door, waking everyone up.

"Wait, wait," said Finn when Stefan was about to knock on another door. "Don't wake up Leila. Jake's in there with her."

"But she's one of us," Stefan frowned.

"And he's not," Finn reminded him, pointing a finger at his temple knowingly. He then turned to Sam and explained, "Rachel got up like half an hour ago. I came back over here to my room and ran into Stefan. He said Bree had also left. All of Slytherin is up and I don't know what they're up to but we're getting up to."

"They're probably rigging all the games!" Sam gasped. "That's so Slytherin."

"We're in second place," whispered Finn as he and Sam hurried past Leila's room. "We don't need to sink any lower because Slytherin cheated their way past us. Second place is safe."

"Yeah I wouldn't mind second," Sam said. "But do we really wanna lose to Ravenclaw? Everyone knows they're the most pretentious."

Stefan caught up to them and said, "Ok, I think that was everyone. I told them to meet us in the game room and with the exception of Mercedes and Mandy, and of course Leila, I think they'll all be joining us."

"Guys, what's going on?" asked Blaine as he stepped out of his room.

"Is Kurt in there with you?" asked Stefan.

"No, he went to sleep in his cabin last night," answered Blaine. "He went to bed so early that I didn't wanna bother him so I came back here. Why?"

"Because all of his House has gathered up early," Finn said. "They're planning something."

"Oh, well, they did get the list of games for today ahead of time," said Blaine. "All the captains have them."

"What?!" Stefan exclaimed. "We have to try to wake up Mercedes again."

"But she was so mad the first time," Finn said. He took a deep breath and turned to Sam, "You go. You're her favorite from all of us."

"Am I really?" Sam asked. All the guys nodded so he said, "Yeah we do have a bittersweet history together... Ok, fine. I'll go see if she'll give us the list or whatever. You guys go to the game room and I'll meet you there."

"Great," said Finn. "Make sure everyone else comes with. Come on guys."

Blaine and Stefan followed him out and Sam made his way towards Mercedes' room.

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Thursday, July 11, 2024 - CRUISE DAY SEVEN - 8:00 AM

Ryder cleared his throat and looked out at the water. He was all alone on the upper deck, sitting cross-legged on the floor with notecards in his hands. "Ok," he said, calming himself. "Again... Brooke. You have become my... Wait, no, that's out of order. Where's the first card? This is the third..."

He searched the space around him, where dozens of index cards were scattered, but they all looked the same and the numbers in the corners were so small he couldn't find number one.