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

Chapter 1: Excited

All: We can do anything, everything we wanna, finally we get the chance.

As we sang the next part all together, I belted in the background, as was often my role in group numbers. I wasn't complaining-- it was awesome. But it also made my voice stand out from the harmony, putting me in an unwanted spotlight.

We moved on to an Acapella part in which my voice definitely stood out. Why did I have to have Chanel's parts and not one of the other Cheetah Girls? I guess I did a good job because after every hard note the crowd would cheer. Either way, we did a great job as a group. And just like the girls from glee club to graduate last year would have wanted, we demonstrated stellar girl power.

Six of our members had graduated last year. My slightly ditsy ex-boyfriend, Sam. A very sexy and unfortunately gay guy, Blaine. An awesome rapper in a wheelchair, Artie. The secretely genius, dimwitted dancer, Brittany. An Asian, royally great feminist, Tina. And finally, my amazing brother, Cory. Yup. We had a great group. And now we needed to fill empty spaces.

***

"We have to find more members soon," Kitty said as we sat together in lunch after that performance. She,  Bree and I had sort of become inseparable over the summer. And now there we were, eating similar lunches, wearing the same Cheerios uniforms, with our hair in the same high ponytail. When did I become a clone?

"Agreed," Bree said. "You know what? We should do a number that really shows off something less kid-ish and more... sexy..."

"Sexy?" I asked. "How will that get us new members?"

Bree raised her eyebrows at me. "Oh," she said in a mocking tone. "Let me join a different club. I hate hot girls dancing in short skirts and winking at me."

"Okay, point made," I said. "But that only gets us new guys. We need to find talented girls, too."

"Last year was a sausage fest," Kitty said. "We can't turn the club into a freaking slumber party either but a girl or two more wouldn't hurt."

"Auditions signup lists went up this morning," said Bree. "Let's get together after school tonight and work on a number that's both sexy and empowering to women."

"I can't," said Kitty. "I'm busy."

"With John?" I teased, making her blush. I used to find her romantic life with my best friend nauseating, considering she and I used to be rivals, but now that she was practically my best friend, I didn't mind that they were dating. I did feel a little left out every once in a while but I kept to myself most of the time.

"Fine then," said Bree. "You're going to feel really bad when we perform this number and you wish you were up there with us."

"Up where, exactly?" I asked.

"Up there," she repeated, pointing up to the tables. 

"We're doing the number here?" I asked. "Bree, shouldn't you know better than anybody that when the glee club performs songs in the cafeteria we always end up covered in food?"

"That was when I was leading the angry mob," she said with a slightly apologetic smile. "Sorry, but it's pretty fun being on the other side of things."

"I wouldn't know..." I mumbled, never having been a mean girl.

"I would," said Kitty. She had been the school bitch before Bree took the throne. Just then, John passed by and greeted us, walking right past us. This, we understood to mean, was his way of telling Kitty he wanted to have lunch with her. She stood up with a smile and followed after him, joining him at another table.