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

Chapter 84: One, Two, Three

"Jake Puckerman," said Kitty as she walked up to him at his locker later on that day. "Poor, little Jake Puckerman."

"Yes Kitty?" Jake sighed, turning to her.

She closed his locker, forcing him to pay attention as she said, "How would you like to go on a date with me this weekend?"

"I'm sorry?" he said with evident confusion on his expression.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Isn't it obvious?" she said. "Everybody's got somebody except for us."

"And the others?" Jake asked. "Marley, Shana, Unique, John..."

Kitty gave him a knowing look as she explained, "If you can't see the obvious pairings there then you're as dumb as you look, Puckerman."

Jake sighed. "And what would we get out of being together?" he asked. "We have nothing in common."

"Jake, Jake, Jake," Kitty shook her head. "Marley and John ring-a-bell."

Jake smiled suddenly and gave one long nodded. "I get it," he said. "This is about some sort of revenge or getting them jealous type of thing... Sure... Well, I'm not interested."

"But--" Kitty began, unable to get another word in because Jake had walked away.

***

"I can't believe I'm graduating already," Joe said to Bree as he walked her to the choir room. It was strange, but without the Cheerios uniform, nobody gave them weird looks or stared with gaped mouths as they walked by. He liked this but it was obvious she missed the attention and the longing stares.

"As opposed to graduating late?" asked Bree. "Trust me, the timing is a good thing."

"You still think it'll be bad next year?" Joe responded. "Even without Cheerios?"

"Think about," Bree instructed him. "After the Cheerios, the power falls to the jocks. The only reason they weren't on top is that their girlfriends are mostly cheerleaders and, let's face it, wear the pants and the skirts. But now the football team ended up the only winner and... They're physically brutal as well as verbally. So yeah, I think it'll be bad."

"Well, I know you can do it," said Joe.

"Do what?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I know what you girls want," he answered. "You want the power back. The control. And I don't know how you plan on getting it but I'm sure you will. You're strong-willed."

Bree smiled. "Thanks," she said. "Your faith in me means a lot because, well... I sort of don't have too much of it right now."

"I have enough faith for the both of us," he told her, holding her hand as they continued to walk.

***

"So I just heard somebody won his baseball tournament a few weeks ago and didn't mention it at all," Marley said as she sat next to John in the choir room.

He rolled his eyes. "Damn it," he said. "Julie can't keep her mouth shut."

"She was excited about it and it slipped!" Marley defended her. "You should've said something! I would've loved to go to your game and support you."

"And I would've loved to see the moon landing but," John shrugged, "we can't always have it our own way."

"Ok, what is with you?" asked Marley, her expression hardening. "You just won't let people enjoy you, will you?" He turned and gave her a funny look so she said, "Not like enjoy you like... I mean, you won't let us go support you and, you know, like, you won't--"