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

Chapter 9: Boyfriend Draft

"So that Julie won't," said John. "Or you could trade with Kitty. Give her your number one spot and then she can choose Jake."

"I appreciate what you're trying to do here," Ryder said, "but if Julie makes her choice... I want it to be her choice."

"Don't worry about it," John said. "She wanted you. Still does. It's pretty clear, dude."

"Stupid Kitty," Marley sighed, shaking her head. 

***

"Stupid Marley," Kitty said as she paced her room. Shana was lying down on her bed, reading a magazine and looking extremely bored.

"Maybe Unique will trade you," she said.

"Doubt it," Kitty shook her head. "She doesn't like me very much. I wish you or Harmony had gotten a top spot. Nobody's fighting you for your chosen guys. It wouldn't be of any harm. Instead I have the world's most adorkable besties ahead of Julie. And Marley's easy to manipulate but... She's got no idea how much power she has, having the number one spot."

***

"I feel like I suddenly have no power," Julie said as she, Dan and Amity sat in her kitchen, working on a project with two of their friends—Russel and Amy. It was now the day before the draft, and Julie had agreed to help them with their group project in exchange for a month of Dan's allowance.

"You don't have to feel forced to choose," Dan said. "This whole thing just sounds really dumb."

"But Bree's right," Julie shook her head. "This thing... They're doing it because of me. They're making me choose so that I'll stop driving everyone crazy."

"You're the girl everyone said was crazy, right?" said Russel. Amity shot him a look. He shrugged defensively and said, "I didn't say it."

"That would be me," Julie said, answering his question.

"Well, why don't you just scare them away and make everyone leave you alone?" he asked.

Julie looked at him curiously. "These are my friends," she said. "They aren't going to scare very easily."

"I wish I had two amazing guys swooning over me," Amy sighed. "I don't know how you're going to choose... I mean, they're both attractive. But one is sweet and the other one is manly and—"

"Something tells me you aren't really helping, Amy," Amity stopped her friend.

Julie looked down at her phone. "Oh, shoot," she said when she saw the time. "Jake should be here any minute now."

"You're going out with Jake?" Dan asked. He was good friends with both Ryder and Jake since joining, but he had always been closer to Ryder, so he was a bit partial towards him. Since they started fighting, however, he hung out more with John and Rory, so he didn't even know what was going on too well at this point.

"He's coming in," Julie said. "We're working on some homework of our own."

She got up as soon as the doorbell rang, heading towards the door. The four friends looked out into the entrance, watching them with curiosity as they headed into the living room. Julie closed the door once inside and began to spread textbooks out on the coffee table, wanting nothing more than to delve deep into the world of Calculus.

***

"We need to talk," Jake said an hour into their studying. They had tried to let loose a little, drinking wine coolers once Dan's friends were all gone to ease the obvious tension between them. Since Dan had also left to drop them off, Jake finally began to let out what he'd been wanting to say since he'd arrived.