The 2-4 Rule

**The 2-4 Rule** is the sixty-seventh chapter of Push to the Limit and the four hundred forty-second chapter of the series overall. It is 18,801 words long and told entirely in third person.

For his birthday, Alex decides to take his friends camping. Jake deals with the fallout of his proposal to Leila and Quinn faces problems in her marriage. Alex and Haley come to a decision on their relationship status.

## Plot

Jake sits in a meeting to discuss his album's debut and single sales, but he is distracted by the fact that he hasn't talked to Leila in three days.

Leila is at a hotel with Shana, recounting what happened during the proposal. Shana wonders why Leila didn't give Jake an answer and Leila explains that she thought the proposal, and Jake's motivations, were reminiscent of when John proposed. Shana states that John and Jake are very different people and she should talk to Jake, but Leila dismisses the conversation altogether by asking about Shana and Santana's adoption process. Shana shares that Santana held a few meetings with agencies without her and that they might get accepted to move to the next phase in one of them. Shana assures Leila that engagement and marriage aren't a bad thing just because it didn't work out the first time with John.

Kitty rushes Alex to get ready for Julie and Caleb's arrival in Lima. Upon learning that Julie is bringing Caleb, Alex changes his birthday plans, inviting everyone for a last-minute trip to Columbus to go camping together.

When Julie arrives, she is angry at Alex for changing the plans and goes to scold him, claiming he chose camping because she once shared that Caleb had a bad experience with it as a kid and hated it. Alex assures her that he chose camping to lightly haze Caleb but also to get to know him better and that he wants everyone to have fun.

The next morning Alex wakes Julie at 5 and lets her know that Sam has taken the twins over to Finn and Rachel's house and that they are all set to go. She thinks its too early but he says the others are waiting on her, so she has no choice but to get up.

Ryder, Marley, Stefan and Bree get ready to leave for the camping trip. Ryder does not want to go, as he already had all plans for a party at Adonis set instead. The others are all for going, either because of love of camping or because they want Alex to be happy. Bree is not looking forward to picking up Jake, who she believes will unnerve her with his depression from the proposal.

Kitty insists that Julie ride in the front of the car with Alex so that she can facilitate a conversation with Caleb. Elsewhere, Tyler, John, Morgan and Lyric ride together, with Tyler questioning John's knowledge of the roads and Lyric immediately falling asleep. Jesse drives Quinn, Santana and Luke while the latter complains about his hunger and annoys the rest. Sam gets Amity and Travis lost so they have to call Julie for help and Alex makes plans for them to meet at a restaurant for breakfast.

When they meet up for breakfast, Kitty and Lyric complain that they are tired out. Alex suspects John is still mad at him though he doesn't remember what it was about anymore. When Luke arrives, he immediately orders, while Quinn shares with Julie that her new song with Travis played every fifteen minutes on the radio, annoying Santana. They all talk about Julie's new record label, which she has chosen to name JV Records in honor of her fandom and herself. Luke seems nervous and Santana asks if he's anticipating the arrival of Travis, which annoys Luke. Julie says she wishes she could stay in Lima longer but has two more weeks of Starmaker before she can officially come back. Travis arrives and Julie shares that they are scheduled to perform their song on the Starmaker finale in two weeks. Santana is upset by this, as she never gets that level of promotion. She then puts attention on Jake's proposal to Leila and Jake is upset that everyone knows and seems to have an opinion on it. As they leave, Sam tells Amity and Travis that he understands how Jake feels but from experience knows Leila probably had good reason not to accept right away.

Julie calls Rachel as soon as she knows Finn and Olivia have gone off to their respective schools, making sure Izzy and Gaby are ok. Rachel seems annoyed by her and hangs up. The others tell her to stop calling and just relax. Sam then gets a call from Rachel who complains about Julie briefly. Amity tells Sam to be glad Julie isn't this way when she leaves him with the girls. Upon arriving to the campsite, Sam asks Travis if it's awkward to be there with Luke. Travis lies that it's ok and even waves to a confused Luke. Stefan signals them across the lot to where everyone else has already gathered and a camp guide leads them through their stay. The group then focuses on planning sleeping arrangement and dividing up the tents and sleeping bags. During this, Haley arrives, surprising everyone as Kitty and Bree discuss their thoughts on her. They ask Amity if she's bitchy and Lyric confirms it, intriguing them. Jesse gets a call and returns to tell them that he and Santana have to leave, as he has just booked her a gig at the EMAs nomination announcement ceremony. Quinn is visibly upset by this, especially when Jesse tells her to stay instead of taking her with them.

After they set up camp, everyone disperses leaving Julie, Quinn, Haley, and Marley behind to talk. Haley gets along well with everyone, even complimenting Julie on her professional achievements before being interrupted by Alex, who tells them he has left Caleb and Ryder together. Concerned, Julie and Marley rush to keep them from having any disastrous conversations. Haley joins Alex for a walk and Quinn decides to take a nap.

Bree and Kitty are in the cabin alone, complaining about being bored, hungry, and pregnant. Later, as Stefan shares stories about Mia to his friends, most of the group gathers by the lake. Travis asks Morgan and Tyler if they'll have a baby once they get married but they say they plan on waiting a while before that. Amity then asks if they have set a date yet and Morgan answers that they won't be getting married for another year or two. Kitty and Bree arrive and share with them the 2-3 rule, which sets a pattern for engagements and the chances of people actually getting married according to when they set the date. After walking them through the history of glee member Lima marriages, everyone discusses whether they believe in it or not and if it should be called the 2-4 rule instead. A few people buy into it and become worried that they will fall prey to the curse, as after Mercedes gets married only one more couple can have a successful wedding before the next two fail.

Elsewhere, Sam plays his guitar in an attempt to write a song. He ends up waking Quinn, whom he didn't know was sleeping in a tent and frightens him. She asks about the song and he shares that he has been unable to write anything good in a while, only when he's been involved with a woman who helps him write. Quinn tells him to give himself for credit and asks that he play the melody for her. After doing so, he quickly stops and asks if she's happy, taking her by surprise. He feels like he has made too many mistakes in his life and will never find the right person to be with. Quinn tells him that it's better to get out of bad relationships than to settle and end up trapped in an unhappy marriage. He questions if she feels trapped with Jesse and she immediately rejects this, saying that's not what she meant. After Sam points out how upset she seemed about Jesse leaving, Quinn shares that their relationship started out of loneliness when everyone around them was coupling or leaving to pursue fame and great careers. Sam thinks this means she settled for Jesse but Quinn disagrees. She admits, however, that they're going through a rough patch due to Jesse being so busy with work, and even more now that he's founding JV Records with Julie. She admits she settles in their fights but didn't settle into their relationship. Sam complains about his failed relationships and suggests trying again with Mercedes until Quinn reminds him that she's about to get married, too. They thank each other for listening and decide to go join the group again.

Haley and Alex hang out in the woods together. He is very flirty but she playfully shuts him down, asking where their relationship is going. She explains that she doesn't want to pretend that he isn't in love with Julie. She also suggests that he might be on the verge of alcoholism and that he is not used to being without a relationship before amicably breaking up with him. However, Haley proposes that she help him get Julie to leave Caleb for him and Alex hesitantly asks to hear more.

After Alex and Haley join the group again hours later, they reveal that they have spent time preparing a musical number for him, performing a re-written version of Alexander Hamilton. Alex is touched by the performance, as terrible as he felt that it was. When it ends, Jake sees all the couples together and asks Sam to take him to the airport. Travis decides to leave with him, so along with Amity, Sam takes them away.

Hours later, Sam and Amity have returned and everyone is sitting by the campfire. Alex thanks his friends for coming to the trip and Haley continues pretending to still be dating him. Lyric notices something off about them and watches them carefully, suspicious that they are up to something bad.

Jake and Travis are in Charlotte, North Caroline on their way to the hotel where Rhythmix is staying so that Jake can make an attempt at having a conversation with Leila. The girls are in their room having a slumber party when Jake arrives and Leila initially tries to hide from him. Kayli tells her she is being immature and before Leila can decide whether or not to open the door, Jake starts talking, letting her know he is sorry for the way he proposed. He assures her that he asked her to marry him out of love entirely and not because he wanted to keep hold on her while she traveled the way that John did. Along with Travis, he sings No Pressure from his album to tell her to take her time with the question. After he's done, she opens the door and they talk, with Leila telling him that she will marry him if he can promise that love is the only motivation and he wants to actually marry her, not just be engaged. Jake accepts and they get engaged, much to Kayli, Shana, Zoe and Travis's joy. As they all hug, Travis asks them when they'll set the date, informing them about the 2-4 rule.

At the campsite, Amity wonders whether Jake's plan to talk to Leila went well. Meanwhile, Alex and Julie talk aside and she thanks him for being nice to Caleb instead of spending all day bullying him as she suspected he initially planned to do. He watches her go back to Caleb and Haley catches him, telling him to do a better job at hiding his feelings. She then gets him to agree to her plan on how to win Julie's love, after which he returns to the group and suggests he sings a song for everyone. They are all surprised when he chooses a gospel, which turns out to be Grace Wins. Julie suspects that there's a deeper meaning to the song than what's on the surface, given that her middle name is Grace, and that he is sending her a message. At the end of the performance, Alex winks at Julie and Haley smiles at him, happy that her plan is set in motion.

## Songs

### Billboard 200

* "No Pressure" - Jake P.
	+ Number 6
	+ Last Week: --
	+ Peak Position: 6
	+ Weeks on Chart: 1

* "Who I've Been" - Crystal Army
	+ Number 7
	+ Last Week: 6
	+ Peak Position: 1
	+ Weeks on Chart: 37

* "Don't Look Back" - Travis Hilton
	+ Number 9
	+ Last Week: 7
	+ Peak Position: 1
	+ Weeks on Chart: 11
* "Black Roses" - Juliet Vasquez
	+ Number 14
	+ Last Week: 11
	+ Peak Position: 1
	+ Weeks on Chart: 26
* "Stand Down" - Rhythmix
	+ Number 60
	+ Last Week: 54
	+ Peak Position: 4
	+ Weeks on Chart: 24
* "Amity Hills" - Amity Hills
	+ Number 127
	+ Last Week: 115
	+ Peak Position: 3
	+ Weeks on Chart: 27

### Billboard Hot 100

* "Ride" - Travis Hilton
	+ Number 7
	+ Last Week: 5
	+ Peak Position: 5
	+ Weeks on Chart: 25
* "Here" - Amity Hills
	+ Number 9
	+ Last Week: 8
	+ Peak Position: 7
	+ Weeks on Chart: 23

* "Jet Black Heart" - Crystal Army
	+ Number 12
	+ Last Week: 15
	+ Peak Position: 12 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 5

* "Me and My Broken Heart" - Jake P.
	+ Number 14
	+ Last Week: 24
	+ Peak Position: 14 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 7

* "Chains" - Nick Jonas
	+ Number 20
	+ Last Week: 16
	+ Peak Position: 16
	+ Weeks on Chart: 4

* "He Could Be The One" - Juliet Vasquez
	+ Number 21
	+ Last Week: 18
	+ Peak Position: 10
	+ Weeks on Chart: 9

* "Don't Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet" - Juliet Vasquez
	+ Number 35
	+ Last Week: 28
	+ Peak Position: 2
	+ Weeks on Chart: 23
* "Hide Away" - Lyric Heron
	+ Number 41
	+ Last Week: 37
	+ Peak Position: 30
	+ Weeks on Chart: 19
* "Photograph" - Crystal Army
	+ Number 48
	+ Last Week: 46
	+ Peak Position: 10
	+ Weeks on Chart: 28
* "Competition" - "Rhythmix"
	+ Number 71
	+ Last Week: 61
	+ Peak Position: 22
	+ Weeks on Chart: 17
* "Always Summer" - Crystal Army
	+ Number 72
	+ Last Week: 67
	+ Peak Position: 16
	+ Weeks on Chart: 20
* "Love Me Like You Mean It" - Sarah Linley
	+ Number 76
	+ Last Week: 72
	+ Peak Position: 45
	+ Weeks on Chart: 17
* "I Got The Boy" - Sarah Linley
	+ Number 90
	+ Last Week: 92
	+ Peak Position: 90 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 2