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

Chapter 19: Muse

"What are we doing?" Marley asked when she and John arrived at his house.

"Spontaneous rehearsal," he said, pulling into his driveway, where she could see Sam and Ryder through the open garage door.

She shook her head. "I have to do homework and—" she began.

"And you'll have plenty of time for that," he stopped her. "I promise. Now come on." He got out of the car and she followed, both heading into the garage. 

"Look who decided to make it to his own rehearsal," Sam said. "For his own band..."

"In his own house," Ryder added.

John rolled his eyes and grabbed his guitar. When he saw Marley waver, he said, "Go ahead. Keyboard's all yours and ready for use."

She nodded, hesitating towards the instrument and finally settling behind it. She ran her finger across the keys and suddenly realized the commitment she'd made by agreeing to be in the band. She'd done it just for John, but what had she done? If the band somehow kicked off, she was kicking off, too. And was that what she wanted out of her future? To be the keyboardist and background vocalist of an alternative rock band?

"What song are we doing first?" Ryder asked.

"I wanted to try out some of Julie's songs," John said as he handed a stack of paper over to Ryder and Sam walked over to look at it, "but as it turns out, she hasn't written anything that is usable for rock yet. Or at least has yet to finish those composition. All the ones she has finished are sappy love songs."

"Ok, let's do some of those," Marley said. 

"We don't do sappy love songs," John pointed out. "We rock out. We aren't a boy band."

"Of course you aren't," Marley agreed. "I'm not a boy."

Ryder laughed as Sam agreed. "She is in fact a girl," he wagged his finger matter-of-fact, "but she's right about the songs. We should try them out. There's always the option of adding a more punk element to them but we won't know what they need until we actually play them, right?"

"Right," Marley nodded.

John rolled his eyes. "Ok," he said, turning to Ryder and Sam. "But my hesitation was for you guys' sake, so you're asking for it."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Just choose a song and you'll see," John answered. Ryder began flipping through the titles until he found one that he was curious about.

"'Come Back... Be Here...'" Sam read out from above him. Ryder skimmed through it and shook his head.

"Not this one," he said, putting it away before Sam could read through it. "This one." He pulled out a different one and handed its copies to the other members, who took them with curiosity as to what the one he put away was.

***

"So why haven't I been able to hear any of your songs?" Jake asked Julie as they sat in her living room. "I mean, I've read your lyrics and, if I'm being honest, overheard you playing a few, but... I've never had you play one for me."

"True," she nodded. "But that's because I feel weird about singing you songs that weren't written about you. It feels like another life, writing those, and..."

"I'll hear them anyway now that you're giving them to the band, though, right?" Jake pointed out. "May as well hear them from you first."

"Maybe," she nodded. "But for now... Can we just stop talking about music for a second?"