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

Chapter 49: The Paper View

"Get your Cheerios' paper!" Jordan and Peyton exclaimed through the hallways as they handed out newspapers. "Forget the Muckracker. Read the Paper View!"

Around the corner, Julie and Jake stood at their lockers for the morning. "So next week is Valentine's week and I was thinking maybe we could—"

"Before you say anything, I already have plans for us," he said with a smile.

"Oh, really?" she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Mmh-hmm," he nodded. She listened intently as he said, "It was the first time we kissed outside of High School Musical, so it's a special time and—" Jake winced, stopping when Jordan tossed a rolled up newspaper—that looked more like a magazine; it was so fancy—at Julie.

"Forget the Muckracker!" Peyton exclaimed. "Switch to The Paper View!" Catching it just before it could hit Julie, Jake grabbed it and began unrolling.

"Nice catch," Julie told him teasingly. "Maybe you should join the football team."

"The season ended smartass," Jake responded with a smirk on his face. "So what is this Paper View thing? What evil scheme have you put your minions up to?"

"I had nothing to do with it," she clarified. "In fact, all I did was ensure that they leave us out of it. It's all just gossip and useless 'news' as far as I'm aware."

Jake started skimming through the pages. "An entire page dedicated to Alex?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her. "40 Facts About Alex Zimmerman. Exclamation mark..."

"Ice prince," Julie shrugged, as though that should be enough to explain it.

"Wonder how he feels about this," Jake said.

***

"What's wrong with you?" Alex said, stepping in front of Peyton and lifting the Paper View for her to know what he was referring to. 

"You read the article about you," she nodded. "Look, I know I should've ran it by you first but I swear I didn't put anything in there that wasn't the absolute true."

"That's the problem, Peyton!" he exclaimed, lowering the paper and looking straight at her angrily. "You revealed every personal detail about me that you could think of. Was this really necessary?"

"The people demanded the truth and so the truth I gave!" she responded in a dignified manner. "It's not like I invaded into your private life so—"

"Peyton you gave them my phone number," Alex sighed. "I'm going to have to change it now. And my blood type? How do you even know my blood type? I don't even know it! Not to mention you also listed my home address and I can't just move so now the entire school knows where I live."

"The entire school and anyone who reads our online blog..." Peyton said, not helping her case.

Alex handed her his copy of the paper and said, "Fix it. I don't know or care how. But fix it." He walked away and she stared, her mouth wide open with shock as he disappeared down the hall.

***

"Did you see the piece about us on The Paper View?" Shana asked Unique as she sat down beside her in the choir room. 

"I saw the pictures they used for us," Unique responded. "You looked sexy in yours." 

"So did you," Shana noted with a smile that quickly faded.

Unique rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, right. Compared to you, anyone looks awful, myself included."

"That's not—" Shana began. She couldn't finish because Will walked in and shut the door, heading directly for the white board.