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

Chapter 59: Poor Unfortunate Souls

"The basketball team is running drills outside today so we finally get to use the gym," she told Sam, distracting herself from her classmates' glares.

"You don't have dibs on wherever you want anymore?" Sam asked.

Julie shook her head and pursed her lips. "Unfortunately not," she told him. "Principal Hallman doesn't seem too keen on cheerleaders. She hasn't asked us to perform at any pep rallies or games since she's been here. So we've kind of been useless."

"Useless gets cut," Sam muttered.

"Yup..." she said, shrugging. "Who knows what'll happen next."

"So umm... how are you?" he asked. "With everything?" 

Julie sighed. "I've been trying to find a medium between not caring and wallowing in self-pity," she said nonchalantly.

"That's, uh... nice?" he said as they reached the gym. "Well, here you go then."

"Thanks," she said. "I should probably go in there now... Lead the team and all that."

"Have fun," Sam said before walking away.

When he was clearly out of earshot she muttered, "Doubt it," and headed into the gym. Inside the girls were doing a cardio routine. Confused, Julie put her gym bag down by the bleachers and headed towards them to join in, but just as she was dropping in line behind them, Sue called out to her.

"Not you Vasquez," Sue called out from the other side of the gym, signaling for her to follow her out to the hallway. Julie did so, and ended up walking behind her all the way to her office.

***

"Where are we going?" Amity asked Bree as they walked away from the library, where she had her study hall. "I really didn't want to be taken out of class."

"Oh, boo-hoo," said Bree, dragging her down the hall. "It's a useless class. Nobody uses it to study."

"I do," Amity informed her. "And shouldn't you be with your Cheerios or something?"

Bree grinned. "Coach Sylvester and Julie left the gym so we all just spread out," she explained. "I had to come and convinced you to accept my deal. And I kept thinking, what is the one thing that Amity will definitely want? And then it came to me. Alex."

"I kind of already have Alex..." Amity pointed out, squinting suspiciously. "He's my boyfriend, remember?"

"Right," said Bree. "But I haven't seen you two together for a while. Will he be your boyfriend for long? Let's find out, come on."

***

"What's going on?" Julie asked Sue once they were inside closed doors. The latter took a seat behind her desk and waited until Julie had sat down in front of her to begin.

"Juliet, I've got to admit," said Sue, "when Kitty first recommended that I let you back in the squad, even though you quit just after joining, I was a bit skeptical. I didn't think you had what it took to be a part of my little army. But, and I don't admit this often, it would appear that I was wrong. Despite initial believes that because you're of mix-raced, and that's two of my least favorite nationalities, that because of that you'd be missing the type of zest that Quinn Fabray had. Or even, that you'd end up disappointing me. Do you want to disappoint me?"

Julie was downright confused. Unsure how to respond, she slowly shook her head, which seemed to be enough for her coach. Sue stood from her chair and walked around the desk, sitting at the edge of it right in front of Julie. 

"I want to help you," said Sue. "How would you like it if I took you under my wing?"

"What do you mean?" asked Julie, trying to hide her dubiousness.