A Brand New Direction

*A Brand New Direction* is the first book of the ABND Glee fan fiction series. The book follows the FOX hit series, Glee, during its fourth and fifth seasons. It begins with sophomore Juliet Vasquez attending the New Directions' production of Grease and follows Julie's path as she joins the glee club, befriends the members, and participates in their show choir competition. As of October 2016, the book has 53 chapters and 303K reads.

*A Brand New Direction* is the only book that is told completely from Julie's perspective (with the exception of the Christmas special) and is the shortest book to date in the main series. It is followed by *To The Next Level*.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Ariana Grande as Juliet Vasquez
* Chord Overstreet as Sam Evans
* Blake Jenner as Ryder Lynn
* Steven R. McQueen as John Brown
* Becca Tobin as Kitty Wilde
* Michelle Grigg as Camila Anderson - Hummel
* Jacob Artist as Jake Puckerman
* Melissa Benoist as Marley Rose
* Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson
* Heather Morris as Brittany Pierce
* Alex Newell as Unique Adams
* Jenna Ushkowitz as Tina Cohen-Chang
* Darren Criss as Blaine Anderson
* Kevin McHale as Artie Abrams

### Recurring Cast

* Damian McGinty as Rory Flanagan
* Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester
* Jayma Mays as Emma Pillsbury
* Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester
* Andy Garcia as Tony Vasquez
* Shane Harper as Cory Vasquez
* Samuel Larsen as Joe Hart
* Vanessa Lengies as Sugar Motta

#### Guest Stars

* Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez
* Lea Michele as Rachel Berry
* Mark Salling as Noah Puckerman
* Erinn Westbrook as Bree Welsh
* Dianna Agron as Quinn Fabray
* Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel
* Amber Riley as Mercedes Jones
* Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang
* Mike O'Malley as Burt Hummel
* Romy Rosemont as Carole Hudson-Hummel
* Dean Geyer as Brody Weston
* Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson
* Ashley Fink as Lauren Zizes

#### Special Guest Stars

* Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James
* Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes
* Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holliday

## Plot

In November of her sophomore year at William McKinley High School, Juliet Vasquez attends the glee club's production of Grease with her best friend John, who has a crush on junior New Directions member Sugar Motta. Weeks later, she starts noticing the glee members more in the hallway and meets Jake Puckerman, who asks her to join the glee club. It is revealed that Julie had joined the school's cheerleading squad, the Cheerios, before quitting due to bullying from fellow sophomore Kitty Wilde.

Julie attends a New Directions meeting as they prepare for Sectionals. Despite learning that Jake lied about needing new members, Finn Hudson, the substitute coach, encourages her to considering joining the club and allows her to sit in on rehearsals. She later attends the competition, where sophomore Marley Rose faints before being able to perform her duet with Jake. Frantic about possibly getting disqualified, Jake, Finn and senior Sam Evans convince Julie to take Marley's place and she performs the duet with Jake, earning them a win and advancement to Regionals.

The glee club hosts a Sectionals after party, during which Julie spends time getting to know the members of New Directions. She flirts with Jake, which is seen by sophomore Ryder Lynn, who has a crush on Jake's girlfriend Marley and does not wish to see her hurt. Julie participates in a game of spin the bottle, during which she kisses John and develops a crush on him. She also performs a duet with Sam, but does not join glee club.

Julie continues attending glee club meetings and crushing on John, even when he starts dating Sugar. On Christmas, many alumni come to visit McKinley and Sugar breaks up with John, only to be pursued by Kitty immediately after. Kitty decides that the only way to win John over is to befriend Julie, so she invites her to perform with the Cheerios.

After the Winter Break, the New Directions return and Julie formally auditions for glee club, as do John and her brother Cory. Former member Rory Flanagan also returns and all are accepted into the club. Upon joining glee club, John grows closer to Kitty, though she is persistent in trying to break up Marley and Jake, whom she briefly dated at the beginning of the school year. Julie gets over her crush on John during this time but develops feelings for Sam, who has started dating Brittany Pierce.

Kitty encourages Julie to pursue Sam the way she is pursuing Jake, but Julie refuses, instead keeping quiet about her feelings. Julie struggles to ask a guy to the Sadie Hawkins dance, especially when Ryder continuously blocks her attempts. At the dance, she tries to find a dancing partner but he stops her yet again until he can't due to being on stage performing.

Later, Mr. Schue and Emma have a wedding on Valentine's week and the alumni come to visit. They get paired up with the New Directions members for duets, during which Julie and Rachel have to spend time with John and Finn for a special performance at the reception. At the wedding, Emma runs out but the reception goes on, and Julie watches as Sam and Brittany spend the entire time dancing and having fun. She notices that Ryder has been getting all of Jake's gifts to Marley for him and talks to him about the unrequited love. The two spend time being single with each other and are seen leaving the hotel together, despite nothing happening between them.

After the wedding, the New Directions return to McKinley and Sam confesses feelings for Julie, citing seeing her with everyone else but her at the wedding as the reason he realized he liked her. The glee club prepare songs about friendship intended to cheer up Mr. Schue and Sam uses his number to break up with Brittany.

Later, Emma has returned and eloped with Will in a private ceremony. The kids are assigned Disney numbers for the week and Julie battles with her feelings for Sam. She also reveals that she has bipolar disorder, a fact which only her family, John, and recently Ryder knew. Kitty and John solidify their relationship and convince Julie to admit her feelings for Sam, who prepares a romantic picnic for her and kisses her.

Following Disney week, the glee club begins working on a spring musical and choose to do a combination of the High School Musical trilogy. Julie and Sam audition for Troy and Gabriella together and Sam asks Julie to be his girlfriend. She accepts. During callbacks, Julie shows chemistry with Jake, which makes Sam jealous and the two get into a brief physical fight on stage. Julie and Jake are cast as the leads, with Sam, Kitty, John and Marley making up the rest of the main cast.

While preparing for the show, Julie grows closer to Ryder, making Sam jealous. He turns to Brittany and Julie eventually breaks up with him due to her own insecurity over Sam's lingering feelings for his ex. After the show, Kitty develops feelings for Artie and breaks up with John to be with him, while another Cheerio, Bree, begins tormenting the glee club. The school has an early prom, which Julie attends with Ryder.

During a Katy Perry and Lady Gaga assignment, Julie reveals that Jesse St. James is her cousin, making several members of glee club think that she is in cahoots with their competition, Vocal Adrenaline. Jake cheats on Marley with Bree and she breaks up with him, causing him to have a fall out with other glee club members and lash out. He continuously flirts with Julie to make Ryder jealous, thinking the latter will want to pursue Marley, and causes trouble between them.

Sam and Ryder fight for Julie, but she eventually chooses Ryder. Kitty leaves Artie to date John again. Then, Julie begins to feel her emotions for Ryder dramatically heightened and tries to have sex with him, only to be rejected. She exhibits other odd behavior, dyeing her hair bright red and being overly confident at school, as well as irritable and very energetic. After being confronted by several of her friends, Julie admits to having stopped taking her medication and it is revealed that she is experiencing a manic episode.

Just before Regionals, Julie hurts her ankle at Cheerios practice and allows Bree to give her an injection that will help her get through performing with her. The glee club loses a few members for various reasons and Julie asks Bree to perform with them, despite protests from the majority of New Directions. The glee club travels to Los Angeles for Regionals and Julie is infatuated by Throat Explosion's lead singer, Jean Baptiste, which makes Ryder increasingly jealous. The New Directions lose the competition, which means the glee club will be disbanded due to budget restrains.

Old and new members gather in the choir room to say goodbye to the glee club. Julie and Ryder break up due to inability to see eye to eye, about her sickness and about Sam. The glee club performs a number for Julie and she begins to get better, going back on medication. Just before graduation, Sugar reveals that her father will be donating the necessary funds to keep glee club going for another year until she graduates. After graduation, Julie attends a party hosted for the New Directions graduates and performs a duet with Sam.