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

Chapter 38: The Vocal Adrenaline Thing

A/N: As you all know, after the prom episode we have The Quarterback, which is all about Finn (and Cory Monteith-- RIP). However, seeing as this is in writing and not a television show, I thought a lot of you might appreciate the idea of having Finn still be around. He will not be returning to my story just yet since he's supposed to be in college, but I'm going to definitely bring him back for Nationals. And since I'm doing a story on the graduates that will be booted up like Season 5 kinda was after the Nationals stuff, it will be perfect timing. I will get to follow everyone who has graduated and moved to New York, plus everyone who has stayed at McKinley in two different stories and it'll be great! That being said, I will skip The Quarterback and move on to what happens after that at McKinley.

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We ended our Beatles run just in time for the show choir finalists to be announced. We would be competing against the Thundershow Cats, Throat Explosion, and Vocal Adrenaline. Sigh. I wouldn't be keeping this secret for much longer. I sort of expected them to remember the whole Vocal Adrenaline thing, or for Wade to give me up, but instead it was a different group that caught their attention.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Tina shouted extremely loudly. "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Goooooooooooooooooood?" Artie snickered.

"Umm, what?" Jake said. "Throat Explosion, that's a joke, right?"

"Anything but," Blaine told him. He explained to us that they have so much money, work super hard and practice all the time. They are mini Lady Gagas. And they are going to murder us if we don't step it up.

"We are so screwed," Tina agreed. "They're not like Vocal Adrenaline who are unfeeling robots. They're total outsiders and misfits, which used to be our niche. We can't compete with Throat Explosion at that level anymore because we lost our biggest Gaga when Kurt graduated last year! Look around, we're a room full of, like, Katy Perry's now."

"Oh, you best check your spectrum, Queen T," Wade protested. "Because Orange is the New Black, and Unique is the new Gaga."

"Well, not Marley," Tina pointed out. "She's a Katy Perry. So is Sam, so is Blaine."

"I'm a Katy Perry and I'm proud of it," Blaine said sheepishly.

Mr. Schue agreed that we're a mix of Katy's and Gaga's. And that this way was going to be our weapon, not our liability.

"Who in here would describe themselves as a Gaga?" he asked. Tina, Kitty, and Wade's hands shot up, and Jake slowly raised his arm as well.

"Ok, um, the rest of you are Katy's?" he went on.

Ryder raised his arm. "Is there a third option?" I nodded with him, as did Cory and John.

"Yeah like Adele or Taylor Swift or something," I said.

"John, you're a Gaga," said Tina. "Cory and Ryder, you guys are definitely Katy's... Julie... Hmm..."

"I'd say she's a Gaga by the way she stood up to Bree the other day," said Wade.

"You guys don't know Julie well enough then," Ryder said.

"Yeah, she's definitely a Katy," Sam added. Awkward. I was not.

"Then it's settled," said Mr. Schue. "We're gonna mix it up a little. We're turning our weaknesses into our strenghts. This week, the Katy's will get their Gaga on and the Gaga's will bring the Katy. Throat Explosion does their one thing very, very well, as does Vocal Adrenaline, but we need to do both, impeccably, or else we don't stand a chance it hell at winning Nationals this year."

"The good thing is we have Unique who has been on the inside and can tell us what Vocal Adrenaline is really like," said Blaine. "Sort of like I did for the Warblers."

"Jesse St. James!" exclaimed Unique.

"We are not bringing him back to coach us again," said Tina. "It was a disaster last time and we ended up losing Nationals."

"But that was because of the Finchel kiss," said Artie. "Jesse even warned that it would cost us the win."

"He's a scum and we're not letting him come back here," said Sam.

"You guys aren't listening to me!" exclaimed Unique. "I finally remember what it was I wanted to say the other day. Julie, care to share your connection to Vocal Adrenaline with the group?" Everyone turned to me. 

"Umm..." I said. "I..."

"I can tell it for you, if you'd like," Ryder said.

"Wait, he knows and I don't?" said Sam.

I considered lying or, I don't know, changing the subject, but I realized the truth would come out sooner or later. So I took a deep breath and began.

"I used to train with Vocal Adrenaline," I said.

"What?" Blaine said.

I nodded in shame. "While I was a freshman here and before that," I added. Tina gasped dramatically.

"But why?" asked Artie. "How?"

"Yeah, aren't they super picky about who they let in?" said Blaine.

"Did they train you to destroy us from the inside?" asked Marley.

"Hear her out," Ryder calmed them down. "Continue Julie."

"I wasn't a part of the group," I told them. "Nor did I want to be. I just wanted to dance with them and they had a mean, but fantastic dance instructor."

"Dakota Stanley," Mr. Schue nodded. "Go on, please."

"So I asked in for a favor," I said. "I happened to have a great connection in the group since... My cousin was their lead singer."

"What?!" there was a collective shock. Other than Ryder, Unique, John, and Cory, who all knew about this, the room was filled with group bickering. This is a diasaster, can we even trust her, she has his DNA, etc. etc. 

"Enough!" Ryder yelled. "Enough... Alright, Julie has been amazing so far and I think she's proven herself as loyal. This new revelation shouldn't change the way we treat her because if she wanted to be with Vocal Adrenaline she'd be over there right now. Just like Unique would be. And like Blaine would be with the Warblers. And Kitty with the Cheerios. We all have our pasts but our loyalties lie here, in this room. It's for a reason. So let's not take that away from her. She's proven herself so this doesn't have to be a big deal."

"Preach," said Wade, or, er, Unique. "The only reason I thought you should all know is that this girl has done so much for us already. She has been both a Katy and a Gaga and I wanted you all to know before you found out just before competition or something and blew it out of proportion." 

"Sort of like we just did now..." Kitty said. "Sorry Jules."

"Yeah," Marley added. "We really appreciate your honesty and your loyalty."

"Well, this has surely been big news but let's move past it now," said Mr. Schue. "You're dismissed but be back ready to get your respective pop icons on!"