Glee: A Brand New Direction (first book of Glee series)

Chapter 27: The Boys

I expected one of the girls or maybe Finn, but it was John who went after me. I was shaking, which I didn't realize until he was there.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"They're all really good," I said numbly.

"You're better," he said.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, right."

"Julie, I'm serious," he said. "You're better than Kitty and Marley and Quinn. You're just as good as Santana and Rachel and you have so much potential to be better than them."

"Ok, I'm going to stop you right there," I said, laughing. "I am not that good."

He laughed. "You always did idolize their voices," he said.

"I just don't want to look like a fool," I said.

"You won't," he said. "You're a great performer. A singer and I dancer. Not many people in the glee club can do both. I'm not much of a dancer. Neither are Ryder, Marley, Tina, Kurt, Mercedes... All great singers. You have more than one gift. Be proud. Now come on, they're probably about to rip at each other's throats out there." 

I followed him back to the auditorium, where the girls had left the stage and were now seated in the audience. I took a seat next to Rachel and John left. Jake and Ryder were in the row behind us, watching Finn and Puck who seemed to have just gotten up there. Who knows where Mike went. 

"For us dudes, it's about friendship," Puck was saying. "Not being competitive with each other."

"Oh please," Santana murmured.

"Ryder and Jake, you're best friends, right?" Finn asked.

"I guess," said Jake as Ryder replied, "Totally."

"Well, Puck and I were better friends," he said. "Since before we even joined glee club. We've had our ups and our downs--" I noticed Quinn cringe, "--but there's nothing we couldn't get past. Get up here guys."

Jake and Ryder went up to the stage. Ryder stood by Finn and Jake by Puck as the music began. And they started singing and dancing together.

Finn: Take it back to the place where you now it all began.

Puck: We could be anything we wanna be

Finn: You can tell by the noise that the boys are back again

Puck: Together making history

Ryder seemed to be really into this but Jake wasn't very happy about being forced into this.

Finn and Ryder: It's time to show how 

Ryder: To be a superhero

Puck and Jake: Just like a showdown

Jake: Will Smith and Bobby DeNiro

Jake and Ryder: We're the best, no doubt

Finn: Doing it like we used to do

Jake and Ryder: This is our time

Puck: And I'm telling you all!

Jake, Ryder, Finn and Puck: The boys are back, the boys are back, the boys are back, gonna do it again.

Puck: Gonna wake up the neighborhood

Jake, Ryder, Finn and Puck: The boys are back, the boys are back, climbing up the walls, anytime we want.

Finn: The word is out the boys are back

They continued their performance and despite the fact that the dancing was terrible, it was dorky and adorable and us girls couldn't help but clap. I didn't even notice that John had left but when I turned around he was no longer there. We were dismissed so I got up to look for John but Ryder stopped me.

"Hi," he said as he stood in front of me, blocking the auditorium entrance.

"Hi," I said, confused and a bit startled.

"Umm, this is kind of weird," he said. "But, uh, I really need help."

"With?" I said. 

"Dancing," he said.

"Your best friend is Jake," I laughed. "Why don't you ask him?"

"He's been busy," said Ryder. He nodded over to Jake so I turned around and saw Jake with his arms around Marley's waist making her laugh.

"Oh," I said. I turned back to Ryder. "I guess... When do you want to work on your moves?"

"Tomorrow?" he said.

"But don't you guys have the alumni-student basketball game?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he told me. "I was hoping we could rehearse after that."

"That sounds good," I said.

"Great," he said, smiling. He turned around and left so I exhaled and followed out in search for John.