The Proposal

**The Proposal** is the second chapter of *A Brand New*

*Direction*and the second chapter of the series overall. It is 1775 words long. It is told entirely in Juliet's perspective.

Weeks after the New Directions have put on their production of Grease, Julie has encounters with various glee club members, beginning with sophomore Jake Puckerman inviting her to join the club.

## Plot

The New Directions have began preparing for their upcoming show choir competition in creative ways and due to their previous week of dressing up as super heroes and singing duets, Julie walks around McKinley unsure of what to expect. The New Directions alumni from the previous year's graduating class have returned to campus and Julie speculates why they are on campus with John and Cory. Julie sees Santana with sophomore Marley, Quinn Fabray with sophomore Kitty, and Mike Chang with sophomore Ryder Lynn. She is then bumped into by sophomore Wade Adams, a transgender teen who goes by the name of "Unique", with Mercedes Jones, whom Julie admits to looking up to the previous year due to her brief separation from New Directions to create an all-girl club, the Troubletones.

Then she sees Jake Puckerman, the bad boy of the sophomore class, with his half brother Puck. She makes her way past them and they stare at her, with Jake stopping her on her way. John has stayed behind to talk to Sugar and senior Tina Cohen-Chang, leaving Julie alone to talk to Jake, who goes on to compliment her eyes. When Julie points out that he is rumored to be dating Marley, Jake confirms this and clarifies that he wasn't flirting with her, but rather getting ready to ask her to dance for New Directions at Sectionals, their upcoming competition. She is embarrassed for thinking he was hitting on her and Jake points out that she was once a Cheerio, a member of the school's cheerleading squad. He claims to have seen her at the Grease show but before he can finish convincing her, Kitty appears and interrupts their conversation. Kitty warns Julie that Jake, whom she briefly dated earlier in the school year, has three nipples, and then recognizes Julie, calling her an elf and revealing that Julie was in fact a Cheerio, but questioned her authority over her co-captain and glee club senior Brittany Pierce and quit due to Kitty's harshness after three days. Jake tries defending Julie but she stands up for herself, pointing out that Kitty has called her an elf when she is not much taller herself, and then walking away without another word. Humiliated, she leaves and runs into John, who stops talking to Sugar and Tina to ask her what happened to make her so upset. She answers that Kitty happened and tells the girls that she will not dance at their competition.

At lunch, Julie passes by the choir room and hears music. Unable to resist, she stands by and watches as Quinn, Santana and Brittany, who were the top trio of popularity at the school until the former two graduated and the latter flunked her senior year, sang "Come See About Me" for the glee club girls, including Unique. Tina sees Julie and pulls her into the room, where they watch the rest of the performance in awe. During the performance, Julie notices that Marley looks unwell and asks her if she's okay when it's over, but Marley simply nods and steps aside with Santana. Once Kitty does the same with Quinn, the other girls surround Julie and question her about her dancing. Brittany remembers her from her few days on the Cheerios and Tina reveals that she has told the others about how upset she was earlier. Unique adds that Jake had not told anyone about his plans to recruit Julie and Sugar leaves, bored by the conversation.

Finn, who is filling in for the glee club instructor Will Schuester temporarily, arrives and the girls continue telling Julie that they do not need any extra dancers. They deduct that Jake was simply hitting on her and Finn overhears so he interrupts to ask what is going on. Tina explains and Finn seems to recognize Julie, but she does not acknowledge that she had been listening in on his conversation with Rachel the night of the musical. Brittany tells Finn that Julie was a Cheerio but quit when Kitty was mean to her and Finn asks Julie to dance at Sectionals after all. Everyone is surprised so Finn explains that more club members are always welcome. The others seem reluctant to the idea but Julie expresses her disinterest, so Finn asks her to at least watch a rehearsal or two and perhaps after Sectionals she may change her mind. She asks why he is so interested in her joining and Finn explains that if someone like Jake went out of his way to ask her, he must have seen something special in her. Puck arrives with Jake, so Julie tries to make her escape, but not without Finn telling her to come to the choir room after school, which she does.

## Trivia

* This chapter marks the first appearance for many of the original and current cast members of *Glee*. Previously, only Julie, John, Cory, Finn, Rachel, and Kurt had appeared.