New Chapter

**New Chapter** is the seventieth chapter of Push to the Limit and the four hundred forty-fifth chapter of the series overall. It is 8,217 words long and told entirely in third person.

When many aren't invited to Sarah's album release party, Julie hosts a not-invited small gathering at her place. Jake has a party to celebrate his birthday. John wants Julie and Alex to go back to being his best friends.

## Plot

Julie sits outside her house with Izzy and Gaby. Bree arrives and joins her on the ground, asking how Gaby is doing. Julie tells her that she is fine now and Bree apologizes for not being able to visit them at the hospital, as Mia was especially colicky lately. Bree complains that she did not think through having another baby so soon after Mia and Julie reminds her that it'll be difficult but she has a lot of people around her who will lend a hand. When Bree mentions that Marley wants to move out, Julie suggests that maybe she should, even pointing out that the house next to hers is up for sale. Bree says Marley could never afford that and they are joined by Kitty, who brings out lemonade for them. Kitty says that Taylor is driving her crazy, still there taking care of her until she is sure that Kitty is no longer ill, though she wouldn't be alone without her. Kitty says she will probably go back to D.C. once the baby is born and return to work. Taylor interrupts them and forces Kitty back inside to try prenatal cupcakes she has just made for her. Bree wonders how Taylor can be so ok with Kitty's pregnancy after Vince cheated on her and Kitty says there is something wrong with her. Julie tells Bree to be glad her pregnancies haven't been that complicated.

Marley goes to Adonis where Ryder is helping set up for Sarah's album release party. Marley says she will not be going because she is hanging out at Julie's and Ryder asks her if she's going just to see Dean but Marley says she is going strictly to hang out with Vince while he's in town.

Julie hosts a gathering for those not invited or not going to Sarah's party and they discuss Sebastian's anger that many of his artists won't be there. Santana gets a call and goes into the kitchen. After hanging up, she tells Julie that she has just won an ALMA award and Julie congratulates her. Santana apologizes for lying about Riley to get a recording contract from her and Julie forgives her, offering her the deal anyway and suggesting that she join her on stage for the Latin Grammy's.

The next week, Sebastian gathers his artists (other than Rhythmix who are out of town) at Blackbird. He informs them that Santana has ended her time at the label and that the American Music Awards nominations have been announced. After detailing their nominations, he goes through the label's plan to win as many awards as possible, including focusing on one artist over another in categories where they have multiple nominations. After the meeting, Amity points out that Sebastian is working extra hard to get them success to prevent them from leaving like Julie and now Santana have.

The Rhythmix girls talk about Sebastian choosing to push Amity's nomination over theirs and Jake's for Best New Artist. Shana reminds them that no other artist had this much success from their first releases and they are very lucky, so they have to keep going to get their big hit. Kayli says they have to start working on their new album and make 2024 their year.

Caleb meets with Artie and discusses his idea to turn Artie's movie into a TV series based on the New Directions. Haley arrives and joins them to discuss the characters. While Artie wants to create Reyna, a character based on Rachel to be the lead but Caleb suggests June, who is much more like Julie. When discussing the male lead, their suggestions sound a lot like Finn, Ryder, Sam, and even Caleb himself, but Haley tells them not to make the male lead her romantic interest. She suggests that the romantic interest be in the background for a while as to not make it so obvious and describes a character much like Alex, which makes Caleb uncomfortable.

Alex, Julie, and John hang out together as the guys tell Julie about the label's plan to promote them for the AMAs. Julie says that she was congratulated for her own nominations but they aren't forcing her to promote herself, as her fans are taking care of that for her. She says she's more concerned about starting her next album, since she hasn't been able to work with the twins around all the time. The guys say that Sam should take them more often so that the three of them can hang out and she can write. John wants to make plans for that Friday but Julie reminds him that they have to go to Jake's birthday party. He makes them agree to hanging out at some point, wanting to get back to the way they used to be.

At Jake's party, Leila arrives and greets him. Seeing them dance, Julie says that they are cute and Bree reminds her that she could've been the one in Leila's place. She also tells John that he could've been in Jake's place, asking if he's heard the latter's new single. She, Stefan, and Kitty tell him that the song throws shade at him. Seeing Marley with Dean, John asks if they are together. Julie begins to answer but is distracted when Caleb arrives and she goes to greet him. John pulls a chair for him between Julie and Alex and then Lyric arrives and is greeted by John. Ryder then introduces Jake's performance of Leavin', during which it becomes clear to everyone that the song was in fact dissing John about him and Leila, and telling her to leave John for him. Jake sings to Leila and Julie cheers them on, noticing that Alex is singing along to the words, making him a closeted Jake P. fan. They all enjoy the one night they have together before many of them have to set out on the road again and they all have to get back to work again.

## Songs

### Billboard 200

* "Don't Look Back" - Travis Hilton
	+ Number 9
	+ Last Week: 11
	+ Peak Position: 1
	+ Weeks on Chart: 15

* "Black Roses" - Juliet Vasquez
	+ Number 10
	+ Last Week: 9
	+ Peak Position: 1
	+ Weeks on Chart: 30
* "Who I've Been" - Crystal Army
	+ Number 11
	+ Last Week: 7
	+ Peak Position: 1
	+ Weeks on Chart: 41
* "No Pressure" - Jake P.
	+ Number 25
	+ Last Week: 23
	+ Peak Position: 6
	+ Weeks on Chart: 5
* "Stand Down" - Rhythmix
	+ Number 108
	+ Last Week: 90
	+ Peak Position: 4
	+ Weeks on Chart: 28
* "Amity Hills" - Amity Hills
	+ Number 128
	+ Last Week: 88
	+ Peak Position: 3
	+ Weeks on Chart: 31

### Billboard Hot 100

* "Airplanes" - Travis Hilton featuring Juliet Vasquez
	+ Number 4
	+ Last Week: 4
	+ Peak Position: 4
	+ Weeks on Chart: 4
* "Jet Black Heart" - Crystal Army
	+ Number 5
	+ Last Week: 6
	+ Peak Position: 5 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 9
* "Chains" - Nick Jonas
	+ Number 9
	+ Last Week: 12
	+ Peak Position: 9 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 8
* "Here" - Amity Hills
	+ Number 12
	+ Last Week: 10
	+ Peak Position: 5
	+ Weeks on Chart: 27
* "Ride" - Travis Hilton
	+ Number 13
	+ Last Week: 11
	+ Peak Position: 5
	+ Weeks on Chart: 29
* "He Could Be The One" - Juliet Vasquez
	+ Number 21
	+ Last Week: 21
	+ Peak Position: 10
	+ Weeks on Chart: 13
* "Me and My Broken Heart" - Jake P.
	+ Number 22
	+ Last Week: 15
	+ Peak Position: 14
	+ Weeks on Chart: 11

* "Hair" - Rhythmix featuring Sean Paul
	+ Number 34
	+ Last Week: 45
	+ Peak Position: 34 (NEW)
	+ Weeks on Chart: 2
* "Heartbeat Song" - Santana Lopez
	+ Number 56
	+ Last Week: 67
	+ Peak Position: 37
	+ Weeks on Chart: 3
* "I Got The Boy" - Sarah Linley
	+ Number 82
	+ Last Week: 77
	+ Peak Position: 77
	+ Weeks on Chart: 6
* "Hollow" - Lyric Heron featuring Travis Hilton
	+ Number 93
	+ Last Week: 85
	+ Peak Position: 80
	+ Weeks on Chart: 9 (non-consecutive)