Glee: Back to the Top (the third book in the Glee series)

Chapter 43: Jealousy

Quick note: We've had several characters take on bigger roles, so I've updated the cast list to the side, as well as added some characters to be introduced soon. A lot of you have been asking for the chance to have new characters added to the next book, and I will definitely give more info. about that as it gets closer to that. 
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"Hey Burt," Mandy said with a smile as she walked into his shop carrying a brown, paper bag. "I thought I'd drop off some lunch for Sam. He busy?"

Burt furrowed his brow and said, "Sam's not in today at all. He called in sick this morning."

"He's sick?" Mandy responded.

***

"Hey hon!" Mandy called out as she walked into their apartment and locked up. "Burt told me you weren't feeling well so I got you some... soup..."

She looked up and saw Sam on the couch, his eyes glued to the TV. He was busy clicking a variety of buttons on his video game console's controller when Mandy blocked the TV.

"Oh hey babe," he said, struggling to see around her. "Didn't notice you walk in."

"Of course you didn't," she sighed. 

"Babe, you're kind of blocking the TV," he said. 

"Tell her to move," a voice said from the television. Startled, Mandy turned around and moved away from the screen.

"Is that Artie?" she asked Sam.

Sam nodded, his eyes still on the TV. "We're so close to finally beating level 56," he said. "Just a little longer and—dude, camper around the corner, watch out! But yeah, it's Artie."

"Son of a gun almost got me," Artie's voice said from the screen. "Oh and hey Mandy."

"Hi Artie," Mandy yelled, loud enough for it to be caught on Sam's headset. "Bye Artie!" She leaned over and turned off the TV. 

"What did you do that for?" Sam exclaimed in a high-pitched voice. "We just needed, like, ten more seconds!"

"And then you'd want to do the next level," she said, crossing her arms. "And there go the next seven hours of your day. Just like that. You know, I'm fine with you playing your little tribal warriors or whatever—"

"Tribal Combat," Sam corrected her. "Six..."

"Ever since winter break when John went away on vacation," Mandy sighed, "all you've done is play this game. Obsessively. Calling off work? Sam, we aren't exactly millionaires and I'm trying to get ahead and away from reliance on my parents' money but you need to be willing to do the same."

"What do you want me to do?" Sam asked her, at a loss. "I'm working two jobs."

"One of them without pay," she pointed out. "I'm sorry Sam, but I need you to find a different job. You need to let that glee club go and get a nice, steady paying job or we're going to be struggling big time. And enough with the video games."

Mandy marched towards the bedroom and Sam sighed. He knew she was right, but lately all he could think about was first-person shooters.

***

Sue sat in her judges' table with Carrie and Julie as the rest of the Cheerios performed an elaborate routine to the tune of "Boom Clap." Julie sighed, but Carrie nodded away until Sue blew her whistle.

"Enough, enough!" she said as the rest of the girls all stopped and gathered, exhausted. "Julie, tell them what that looked like."

"It sucked," Julie said softly, looking down at her personal clipboard, in which she had drawn a unicorn prancing under a rainbow in a field of daisies.