Glee: To the Next Level (the second book in the Glee series)

Chapter 32: Guilty Pleasures

"I was talking to some friends this weekend," said Sam when Mr. Schue had left the room. "And we started talking about guilty pleasures." He wrote 'guilty pleasures' on the board.

"Guilty pleasures?" responded Shana. "Like what kind of pleasures are those?"

"Anything that you enjoy with a little bit of shame," said Sam.

"Unique knows no shame, baby," Unique said matter-of-fact.

"Great!" exclaimed Sam. "For everyone else, though, it's time to really open up about our guilty pleasures. This is good practice for regionals, you guys. Anybody wanna go ahead and share out first?"

Nobody answered. Jake said, "Ok, great. Why don't you go first, Sam?"

Sam seemed to be caught off-guard. "Umm, ok, yeah," he said. He rubbed his hands together and took several deep breaths. Ryder glanced at Julie, whose eyes were on Sam. Just when they thought Sam would never speak anything, he said, "I love Barry Manilow."

"What?" said Jake.

"No, no, no..." mumbled Joe, shaking his head.

"I know guys," said Sam. "I know. It's just, you know, I relate to the stories. The breakups. The lost love." Julie's face felt hot. "Oh, and the rain, who shot who?"

"That's really..." Kitty said. "Weird."

"Look, he's amazing and talented," Sam burst. "This is who I am and I make no apologies." The band started playing "Copacabana" and Sam put a ruffle sleeve sweater over his shirt. Everyone watched with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

["Copacabana" by Barry Manilow.]

Sam: Her name was Lola. She was a showgirl with yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there.

He pointed at Julie and signaled for her to get up. She hesitantly stood and started dancing around the floor.

Sam: She would merengue and do the cha-cha. And while she tried to be a star, Tony always tended bar--

He pointed at Jake, who got up from his seat and made his way to the floor, dancing with Julie.

Sam: Across the crowded floor, they worked from 8 til 4. They were young and they had each other. Who could ask for more?

Sam, Jake, and Julie continued to dance around during the chorus, joined by Marley and Unique on background vocals as the two stood to join them. Sam went over to Dan and pointed at him.

Sam: His name was Rico. He wore a diamond. He was escorted to his chair, he saw Lola dancing there.

Dan sat on one of the empty front row chairs and watched Julie dance in front of him.

Sam: And when she finished, he called her over. But Rico went a bit too far. Tony sailed across the bar.

Jake slid over to where Dan was sitting and pretended to fight with him.

Sam: And then the punches flew, and chairs were smashed in two. There was blood and a single gun shot. But just who shot who?

The rest of them either sang along or danced around-- some of them did both. Sam was surprised at how many people liked the song and was glad to see them all freely joining in. He pulled back a little and let them act out the lyrics as he sang and it wasn't until the end of his performance that he finally went back to the center.

Sam: Don't fall in love... Don't fall in love...

Julie, who was dancing with Dan right in front of Sam, made eye contact with him and instantly regretted it.

Sam: Don't fall in love...

When the song ended, Sam felt flushed as the students returned to their seats. "How was that?" said Sam with a bright smile. "Alright, who's ready to go next?" But nobody stepped up, much to Sam's disappointment. Instead, they sat there until they were saved by the bell and had to go to class.

***

After school, Sam called the glee club to the choir room. Ryder waited for Julie to get out of Cheerios practice to walk her over to rehearsals. 

"Hi," he said when she walked out of the gym and spotted him.

"Oh hey!" she exclaimed. "What's up?"

"Just thought I'd walk you to the choir room," Ryder shrugged, indicating for her to lead the way.

Julie smiled. "That's really, really sweet," she said. "Have you decided what your guilty pleasure will be?"

"Umm, no," he said, looking down at her. "No, not really. You?"

"Not sure," she said. "I mean, Sam's song was amazing. I don't know how any of us could top that."

"Yeah..." he said. "He was, umm... He was great."

"Umm," said Julie, suddenly, realizing she may have sent the wrong message. "I'm sure whatever you choose to do will be great, too." But that only made things worse. When they walked into the choir room and Julie went over to properly greet Sam with a bear hug, Ryder slumped down on a chair and started brainstorming songs to sing. The only songs that came to mind were angry songs or sad songs.

"Okay," said Sam as Julie walked away from him with a smile and took a seat next to Ryder. "Does anyone else have a guilty pleasure they want to confess?"

Nobody said a thing. Sam looked around for thirty awkward seconds until Ryder finally raised his hand. "I have one," he said, standing up and heading for the drum set. He got Jake to help him move it to the center as Sam commended his bravery.

"That's awesome man," Sam said. "It takes a lot of courage to do this. What do you have?"

"I love..." Ryder said as he sat down on the drums. He looked over at Julie, who was smiling. "The Jonas Brothers." Julie and Kitty exchanged looks before turning to watch the performance Ryder was putting on with the band backing him up.

Ryder: That didn't work, you should've known better. It's gonna suck when the camera starts rolling and you find out soon that the treatment wasn't worth it.

Julie stared at him, trying to make sense of what was happening. Unique, mouth open in shock, looked over at her. It was obvious the song was about her, only it wasn't a very nice song.

Ryder: They're all the same, they all want the money. They're all insane, they live for fame, honey. They laugh at you when you're not even bein' funny.

Sam seemed to genuinely be enjoying the performance, bobbing his head and even seeming to be mouthing along the lyrics. However, everyone else knew what was going on, having seen Julie's appearance in Ryder's music video the previous day and knowing Sam's presence tended to stir things up with Ryder.

Ryder: Well I've been here before and I've seen, first hand and front row seat. This little thing they call... A video girl.

As he beat the drums, he looked over at Julie, a pretty angry look on his face.

Ryder: Video girl rocked my world for a whole to seconds and now I know I'm not about to be another victim... of the video girl syndrome. Get out of my face, get out of my space. Get some class and kiss the past cause I'm not about to be another victim... of the video girl syndrome.

It wasn't until Ryder sang the second verse that Sam noticed the tensions in the room, looking over at Julie to find her arms crossed and her gloomy gaze on the ground. He started to understand what was happening.

"Okay," said Sam when the song was over. "Umm... Ok. Class dismissed?"