I'm Ugly

**I'm Ugly** is the seventy-first chapter of Push to the Limit and the four hundred forty-sixth chapter of the series overall. It is 7,679 words long and told entirely in third person.

John makes efforts for he, Alex and Julie to get back to normal but his plan backfires.

## Plot

Sarah is very disappointed when her album debuts at 25 on Billboard 200. Sebastian tells her that's a very good debut, especially considering she's a brand new, country artist without a big mainstream hit. He reminds her that her first single was very successful and her second isn't doing too bad, adding that for the third, they will know exactly how to make it a hit.

John and Alex plan their hangout with Julie and John is putting a lot of pressure on it to go well. Lyric will be joining them and Alex says that's kind of like a double date, which makes John think that they should add more people to the mix. Alex suggests Luke and Albany, saying regardless of who joins them it'll be weird, but John thinks that as long as they finally get to hang out, it won't matter who else is with them.

Leila and Jake video chat, discussing the internet's reaction to Jake's new single and the fact that it is partially about her and John. Jake brings up Lyric's song about Leila, but the latter has never heard any of Lyric's songs by choice so she is shocked to hear about this. She forces Jake to tell her that the song is negative so she hangs up so that she can listen to it.

Lyric arrives at The Lima Bean, where Cleo is stressed that they don't serve Pumpkin Spice Lattes. After giving Charlie their orders, they sit down together and Cleo discusses being back in Lima after doing a lot of work overseas. Sarah arrives and also wants the same unavailable drink, joining them soon after and bonding with Lyric who has bought her album, and Cleo, who has faced a lot of the same troubles trying to fit in in town. Lyric tells Cleo that she needs to stop trying to steal Bree's husband and Sarah that she needs to be nicer. Sarah reveals that she is crushing on an older guy.

Leila goes to the other girls in Kayli's hotel room and forces them to listen to Lyric's song, More Like Me, with her. As they play the song, it becomes very clear that it is about Lyric telling Leila that if she were more like her, she never would've lost John in the first place. Leila is left very angry and offended by the song.

Amity is in the studio with Blaine, recording her new song written with Eva called I Wanna Go Back. Though Dani was supposed to produce the song, she chose Blaine after hearing that he wanted to bring Christopher in for his next session. With Christopher watching behind the glass, she feels more inspired to do the song. After recording, she and Christopher talk outside and he compliments her voice. They then decide to go out to eat at Amelia's again.

After eating, Amity goes shopping for groceries and runs into John, who is purchasing items for his hangout with Julie and Alex. He decides to invite her, telling her that Lyric and Albany will be there, too. Amity asks if she can bring along someone and he says as long as it's not a Julex shipper she can.

The night of the group hangout, Sam takes care of Izzy and Gaby and decides to get their energy levels down by getting them to the bedroom to watch a Disney movie. Riley and Kayli arrive to deliver some of the twins' things that Sam left at Julie's house for her, inviting themselves inside and raiding Sam's kitchen. They then take a look around the penthouse and then go inside his bedroom with the twins to watch the movie, leaving Sam outside.

Albany, Julie, Amity, Christopher, Alex, Lyric and John discuss the 2024 upcoming presidential election. Julie mentions that Kitty is working with Barry Gregory's campaign because he is similar to Mitt Romney, whom Kitty loved, and that she hated Barack Obama. Christopher asks if Kitty is racist and Amity says she's not, but was more conservative back then. Julie asks Christopher if he's a Democrat and he says that he is an Independent who typically votes Democrat in big elections. John says Alex is the same way. Christopher says he has to go and Julie is going to walk him out, but John stops her and says to let Amity do it. Alex teases Julie that she is trying to take Christopher from Amity and then Albany says that she should get going, too. Lyric is tired and asks for Albany to drive her home, insisting that John stay and continue hanging out with Alex and Julie. John walks her out and then returns saying he wants to leave with Lyric, too, but Alex forces him to stay even though with just the three of them it has become very awkward.

Sam watches *Mulan* with Kayli after Riley and the twins have fallen asleep. Kayli wants to leave Riley there but Sam tells her to wake her and take her with her, which Kayli refuses to do. They talk about the movie, with Kayli pointing out that Sam really likes it. He credits *Mulan* for teaching him about feminism. Kayli wishes she could enjoy movies as much as Sam but says she usually falls asleep while watching them. Sam says he enjoys childish things because he doesn't take himself too seriously and likes to have fun.

John has gotten a bit drunk with Alex and Julie and decides that now he really should leave. Julie convinces him to stick around and goes for another beer and Alex notes that Julie has gotten them supervision as though they were fourteen and couldn't be trusted alone. John returns and she gets a text from Caleb, letting her know he is surprising her with a visit and she gets very nervous about Alex being there, asking him to leave. When she tells John that it's fine if he stays, Alex asks her if it's because of Caleb's text. She pleads for them to both leave but as they do, Caleb is already arriving. Alex and John leave and she and Caleb get into a fight, with Caleb saying though he believes nothing is going on between them, he has a feeling that she does feel something for Alex, and Haley has told him the same thing. Julie gets upset that he and Haley have been hanging around but Caleb urges her not to change the topic about her and Alex, saying he doesn't think that she truly knows how she feels about him. Julie asks him to come inside but he says that he is going to leave and she should take some time to think about why everyone else seems to see that she's in love with Alex except for her. Julie tells him he is projecting onto her what is happening with him and Haley. Caleb tells her that there is nothing with Haley but that they have been working on his TV show idea with Artie and that even *he* found himself rooting for the Julie and Alex fictional versions to be together. He tells her that he isn't making it all up and that until she figures out what's happening, they should take a break. Julie asks him if this means he wants her to choose between him and her friendship with Alex and he says if that's what it takes for it to stop feeling like she's dating Alex and not him, then yes.

## Songs

### Billboard 200

* "Black Roses" - Juliet Vasquez
	+ Number 11
	+ Last Week: 10
	+ Peak Position: 1
	+ Weeks on Chart: 31
* "Don't Look Back" - Travis Hilton
	+ Number 13
	+ Last Week: 9
	+ Peak Position: 1
	+ Weeks on Chart: 16
* "Who I've Been" - Crystal Army
	+ Number 14
	+ Last Week: 11
	+ Peak Position: 1
	+ Weeks on Chart: 42
* "Generation Love" - Sarah Linley
	+ Number 25
	+ Last Week: --
	+ Peak Position: 25 (DEBUT)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 1
* "No Pressure" - Jake P.
	+ Number 30
	+ Last Week: 25
	+ Peak Position: 6
	+ Weeks on Chart: 6
* "Stand Down" - Rhythmix
	+ Number 119
	+ Last Week: 108
	+ Peak Position: 4
	+ Weeks on Chart: 29
* "Amity Hills" - Amity Hills
	+ Number 154
	+ Last Week: 128
	+ Peak Position: 3
	+ Weeks on Chart: 32

### Billboard Hot 100

* "Airplanes" - Travis Hilton featuring Juliet Vasquez
	+ Number 3
	+ Last Week: 4
	+ Peak Position: 3 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 5
* "Jet Black Heart" - Crystal Army
	+ Number 6
	+ Last Week: 5
	+ Peak Position: 5
	+ Weeks on Chart: 10
* "Chains" - Nick Jonas
	+ Number 8
	+ Last Week: 9
	+ Peak Position: 8 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 9
* "Ride" - Travis Hilton
	+ Number 14
	+ Last Week: 13
	+ Peak Position: 5
	+ Weeks on Chart: 30
* "He Could Be The One" - Juliet Vasquez
	+ Number 18
	+ Last Week: 21
	+ Peak Position: 10
	+ Weeks on Chart: 14
* "Here" - Amity Hills
	+ Number 19
	+ Last Week: 12
	+ Peak Position: 5
	+ Weeks on Chart: 28
* "Me and My Broken Heart" - Jake P.
	+ Number 20
	+ Last Week: 22
	+ Peak Position: 14
	+ Weeks on Chart: 12

* "Hair" - Rhythmix featuring Sean Paul
	+ Number 25
	+ Last Week: 34
	+ Peak Position: 25 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 3
* "Heartbeat Song" - Santana Lopez
	+ Number 37
	+ Last Week: 56
	+ Peak Position: 37
	+ Weeks on Chart: 4
* "I Got The Boy" - Sarah Linley
	+ Number 75
	+ Last Week: 82
	+ Peak Position: 75 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 7