back to life | luke patterson

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The girls all flop onto Flynn's bed, their mascara running and pajamas on. "Anyone have anything positive? It would be nice to have something other than those stupid guys on our minds." Julie says, trying to wipe her makeup off. Genevieve lets out a big sigh. "Bobby asked me out." She said quietly. "Girl, what!" Flynn screams. "Did you say yes?" Julie says, shaking Genevieve. "I did! I did! We're going out to dinner after our Dirty Candy performance tomorrow." She laughs. "It's nice that one of us found a decent guy amongst that dumb band." Julie responds. "I can't help but feel like we were too harsh though..." Genevieve says. "Gen, you always say that. Bless your heart but they deserve it!" Flynn says. She nods in agreement. The three girls scoot closer together on the bed, falling asleep in a cuddle pile.
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"Did we really have to get up this early." Alex says, putting his head on the table. "Where even are we?" Alex continues with a yawn. "Luke said something about this place being a hot spot for music industry people." Reggie answers. They both look at Luke, filling up a sign-up sheet for an open-mic night at a cafe. He sits down at their table. "Boys! I just wrote our names on the playlist for tonight!" "You could've done that at... I don't know? Not 6:35 in the morning?" Alex says annoyed. "Relax, dude! Once we tell Julie, everything will be great!" "I'm getting a little worried about him. He keeps forgetting Julie quit the band." Alex says, looking at Reggie and then to Luke. "And that she's gonna come back as soon as she knows we have a great gig!" Luke responds eagerly. "But if she doesn't come back, let's not forget... We do have somewhere else we can play and eat pizza." Reggie chimes in. "Dude, I know. Caleb's party was awesome but we got this with Julie. We don't need him. We have a new band, a new sound, okay? It's just like what Julie said. That's what we should be focusing on." Luke says.

Alex nods, half distracted by a certain skater boy waving at him from the window. "Isn't that Willie?" He says, his mood lifting. Alex jumps up and goes out of the cafe. "Well, someone's not focusing on our music." Reggie says, lifting an eyebrow at Luke. Luke laughs, the two of them watching them talk outside the window. "We should get to school if we want to prep our apologies for the girls." He says. Reggie nods in agreement. "What could go wrong with serenading?" "And some good food!" Luke adds in, grabbing their food for them and the three girls, heading to the school.

Julie wakes up, feeling even more tired than last night. She looks around for Flynn, who was nowhere to be seen. She rolls over to look at her phone. "Oh no!" She looks over at Genevieve next to her, sleeping soundly. She shakes her awake. "What? What's wrong? Did something happen?" She says groggy. "We're so late! Come on! We gotta get to school!" Genevieve jumps up as the girls rush to get ready and make it in time for the fourth period. The walk into the gym for their dance class. "Oh, Julie and Genevieve, how nice of you to join us." Their teacher says to them. "I'm so sorry. We overslept." Julie responds. Their teacher nods. "Take your spots."

The two girls walk up to Flynn. She smiles brightly at them. "So, why didn't you wake us up? We missed the first three classes." Julie says, putting her hair up. "You said you were never gonna show your face at school again and I'm a very literal person!" Flynn says, continuing her dance warmup. "I thought we told you to stop taking things so literally! I'm still haunted by that time I said I was 'So hungry that I could eat 100 watermelons' and you got me one hundred watermelon cubes." Genevieve says, crossing her arms. Julie laughs, nudging Genevieve. "At least you gave them to people who really needed them."

She looks back over at Flynn. "Anyways, it's okay. It's those stupid boys that I'm really upset at. I'd kill them. Honestly. " "Having a band is supposed to help your social life, not ruin it." Flynn shakes her head. "Ex-band." Julie corrects her. "Right. Sorry. Ex-band." "It's all so messed up. I thought they were in this with me. But obviously, I was wrong." Julie says, sitting on the floor, moping. "Hey. Don't blame yourself." Genevieve adds. "You can only be so strong when three cute guys ask you to join a band." Flynn says sadly. "And speaking of cute, have you talked to Nick today? He was pretty chatty at the dance." She asks her. "Flynn! He has a girlfriend!" Genevieve says, slapping her in the arm. Julie nods, agreeing with Genevieve. "No, and I'm kinda dreading it. At least I know I won't see him in this class."