Glee: World of Chances (the fourth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 4: Reunion

Jared looked around the room of eligible alumni, determined by who could be around most, and said, "The pretty one."

The girls looked around, wondering who he was talking about, until he pointed a finger at Marley, who was surprised.

"Uh..." she muttered.

"Ok!" Finn exclaimed. "Jared, the quarterback, and Marley, the nurse. Odd pair. Stewart?"

The skinny, Asian boy, who had a red streak on his spiky hair, looked around the room, calculating, and stopped at Blaine. "What did you say you did, again?" he asked.

Blaine looked at Finn nervously and then answered, "Uh, I live in New York and I do some off-Broadway theatre every now and then. My husband is the president of Vogue and we—"

"Yeah, whatever," Stewart stopped him. "You were student body president, weren't you?" Blaine nodded. "Sure, I'll take you."

Finn smiled, thinking this couldn't be going any better, and said, "Kayli?"

The blonde cheerleader, who was currently chewing gum rather loudly, rolled her eyes and said, "You couldn't have given us better options? Like the freaking lead singers of Crystal Army or a famous designer or an actor? Instead you leave us with nothing but—"

"Don't say it!" Rachel exclaimed, anticipating to be called a loser, which hadn't happened in years. "I am a Broadway star, ok? I have a college degree. I've gone on theatre tours and—"

"All things no one cares about," Kayli told her. She looked at the other alumni and, her eyes stopping on Puck, said, "Mmhm... You're pretty sexy for an old dude. I'll go with you."

"Umm, Finn, don't you think—" Quinn said to Finn, not liking the scenario.

"Great!" Finn exclaimed, not realizing anything was wrong. "Puck, you've got Kayli. Helen?"

Once again, the green-eyed ginger caught the eyes of everyone in the room. In a soft voice, she said, "Her." She pointed a finger at Julie, who had been busy staring at Jake and looked up in time to hear Finn call her name.

"Hmm?" she said.

Bree laughed at her as Finn said, "You are now mentoring Helen. Congrats. Brianna, you're up next, team captain."

"Self-elected," Kayli interjected, crossing her arms.

Though Julie had only heard them sing together a couple of times, it was true that Kayli's voice had that lead performer quality, standing out from the rest every time. However, Brianna didn't seem to think it was nice of her to point that out, frowning as she said, "Shana."

"Really?" Shana responded, surprised. 

Brianna nodded and said, "You're a model and a great dancer, I hear. I'd like to learn from you and your poise."

"I don't know ballet," Shana chuckled.

The petite, curly-haired blonde nodded and said, "I know."

As Shana gave her a puzzled look, Finn turned to his next student and said, "Jeremy?"

Jeremy's eyes were on Ryder, having really admired his performance of a Backstreet Boy's song. That was brave, what he did, especially with so many people in the room refusing to acknowledge it. "Ryder," he said, surprising his mentor just by knowing his name.

"Sweet," Ryder nodded. "I look forward to working with you."

"That's the spirit!" Finn laughed. "Ok, Autumn, you're up."

Autumn nodded, her blue eyes glancing from face to face. They stopped on Kurt, who seemed the most peculiar and artistic of the bunch. "Mr. Anderson-Hummel," she said softly.