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

Chapter 39: The One Where They All Sing

Jake watched as Cory arrived onto campus and took his little sister in his arms. He sat by himself nearby and remain as such until Julie and Cory finally parted and she silently walked towards him. He couldn't help but stand up awkwardly, nervously greeting her with a nod.

She nodded in response and said, "How are you?"

"I've been better," he sighed.

Once again, she nodded with understanding and added, "I, uh, saw you watching my brother and me. At first I thought it was because of me but then I realized that you were thinking of your brother."

"Half-true," Jake said. "All day my mind has been playing tug-of-war with thoughts of Puck and of you. I'm worried about him but that hasn't made me stop missing you..."

Julie looked down at the ground. When she looked up and said, "I miss you, too" he couldn't help but smile. "Have you been keeping up with the Cheerios blog polls?" she asked him as she pushed her hair behind her ear. "We lost the 'cutest couple' competition to Stefan and Peyton and they aren't even a couple."

"I guess we haven't been too great lately," he said as she looked up at him.

"Aside from making me really dislike those polls," Julie said, "it also made me realize that I—" 

"Jake!" sobbed Quinn as she weakly made her way to him in tears. Startled, Julie and Jake turned to her.

"What is it?" Jake asked, worried. "Is it Puck?"

"He's in the hospital," she cried, struggling to speak through her sobs. "He was... transferred here... He's been in a coma... And he just woke up but they're not sure if he'll be stable enough..."

"What?" Jake responded. "Let's go then."

"Should I come with you?" Julie asked as the two began to rush away.

"I'll call you!" Jake exclaimed. Before she knew it, they were gone. Her heart beat fast as she turned and ran into Ryder.

"Where'd your boyfriend go?" he asked her.

"To the hospital," she answered, his expression suddenly changing. "Puck's had some sort of accident."

"That's..." Ryder said, his voice softening. "That's awful..."

She sunk down into a bench in the hallway and said, "It's like no matter what, we can't catch a break around here. Just when I was about to tell him that I—"

"That you..?" Ryder waited but she didn't finish.

"Nothing," she said. "We've been fighting and I wanted it to stop. But then this happened and I didn't get a chance to tell him."

Ryder took a deep breath and pulled out his phone. After a few seconds he showed his screen to her and said, "Jake and I just won the Cheerios' 'cutest friendship' poll..."

"I voted for you," she said with a soft laugh. 

"You're not the only one who wanted the feuding to end," he said as he put away the phone. "And I think more than ever, he needs his best friends there for him. So if it's not too weird, I'll drive you to the hospital and—"

"Let's go," she said immediately, standing up. "Oh but first we should probably tell everyone what's going on. Quinn kind of just told Jake and then—"

"No, yeah, that's a good idea," Ryder nodded. "Come on."

***

"Why haven't we heard anything yet?" Finn asked as he sat with Burt, Carol, Kurt, Blaine, Sam and Mandy for dinner at the Hummel home.