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

Chapter 16: Perfect Duos

"Excellent duet," Finn said after Kayli and Riley had struck their final poses at the end of their song. The rest of their team clapped as he added, "See how great you can be when you work together?"

The girls nodded, grinning mischeviously as they took their seats together. Everyone other than Finn was extremely confused and slightly terrified about why those two seemed so pleased with each other, but when Finn called up Helen and Jared for their duet, nobody had a chance to comment on the spontaneous, most-likely feigned friendship.

"This is a song," Jared began next to an anxious duet, "that I think we both collectively decided was too fun to skip out on a chance to sing."

["Over My Head" by The Fray.]

Helen: I never knew. I never knew that everything was falling through. That everyone I knew was waiting on a cue. To turn and run when all I needed was the truth.

While Helen was the most nervous, she sang a good chunk of the song, while Jared stuck to playing his guitar. It was a pretty smart choice, as her singing was at a much higher level than his and she couldn't play any instruments.

Both: But that's how it's got to be. It's coming down to nothing more than apathy. I'd rather run the other way than stay and see.
Helen: The smoke and who's still standing when it clears. 

Helen looked around at everyone as the two sang, while Jared alternated between looking down at his guitar and looking up at her. 

Helen: Everyone knows I'm in
Both: Over my head. Over my head. With eight seconds left in overtime.
Jared: She's on your mind. She's on your mind.
Helen: Everyone knows I'm in
Both: Over my head. Over my head. With eight seconds left in overtime.
Jared: She's on your mind. She's on your...

At first, they'd felt pretty uncomfortable about being paired together, since he'd embarrassed himself by asking her out when he didn't know she was already seeing Jackson. Who knew kids in glee club even dated each other? After some time of practicing, however, they eased down a bit and now they were doing pretty well together.

Helen: And suddenly I become a part of your past.
Jared: I'm becoming the part that don't last.
Helen: I'm losing you and it's effortless. Without a sound we lose sight of the ground. In the throw around. Never thought that you wanted to bring it down.
Both: I won't let it go down till we torch it ourselves.

Almost all groups had already performed, with the exception of Adrianna and Autumn, so they were pretty calm. However, Jackson was not too happy about the pairing, particularly because he now knew that Jared had at one point been interested in his girlfriend, and for all he knew the guy still liked her. He hadn't been dating her for too long so maybe she'd leave him and that thought made him uneasy.

Jared: Everyone knows. She's on your mind.
Both: Everyone knows I'm in over my head. I'm in over my head.
Helen: I'm over my...
Jared: Everyone knows I'm in
Both: Over my head. Over my head. With eight seconds left in overtime.
Jared: She's on your mind
Both: She's on your mind...

When the number was over and everyone clapped, Kayli and Riley made sure the clap the loudest, cheering and whistling obnoxiously. They knew they smelled an eventual love triangle and it was evident that Jackson did too by the way he scowled as he tried to congratulate them on their number. Jared and Jackson had made it far too easy and neither girls cared enough about Helen to keep from screwing with the guys.

***

"And then I was thinking we could rearrange the shelves because the way they originally had them," Bree was saying over the phone as she stood in her disorganized boutique, which would be opening in a week but still had a lot of work needed to be done.