͏͏͏͏b͏͏r͏͏i͏͏g͏͏h͏͏t ͏͏t͏͏o͏͏g͏͏e͏͏t͏͏h͏͏e͏͏r

007. silent days

"Good morning, Julie!" Reggie exclaimed with a bright smile.

"Hey," Alex said with a smile.

"My dad just wanted me to let you guys know that he won't be able to pick us up today, so my Aunt Victoria will," said Julie. "And... she might be a little hesitant to trust you guys when she meets you, so just be prepared."

Alex shrugged. "We're kinda used to people being hesitant to trust us, so it's nothing new. Thanks for the heads up, Julie."

"Are you okay, Alex?" asked Julie. "You look kinda down."

Alex shrugged again. "I'm okay. I just haven't seen Willie in a while, and I miss him."

Julie nodded. "I'm sorry. I hope you get to see him soon. Oh, and, can you guys tell Luke? I would've, but I think he's kinda mad at me right now."

Reggie sighed dramatically. "Yeah. We'll let him know."

Julie smiled and laughed a little. "Thanks. I'll see you guys at school."

"See you at school," Reggie and Alex said in unison.

***

"So, how was Luke earlier?" Flynn asked Julie as they walked to lunch.

Julie shrugged with a small frown. "He seemed kinda... distant. He said he was just tired from last night's gig, but I could tell he was lying. I guess he doesn't wanna tell me why."

"Well, no duh!" Flynn exclaimed. "He likes you, Julie, and you said yes to going on a date with a guy you hardly even talk to anymore! Can you blame him?! See! I told you, you should tell him how you feel!"

Julie lightly chuckled. "Well, if he liked me before, he definitely doesn't now."

"No, Jules!" Flynn said, wildly shaking her head. "Of course, he still likes you! He's just jealous of Nick and is taking it out on you!"

Julie reluctantly shook her head. "I don't think so, Flynn. Maybe something else happened last night. He seemed fine before the show, but after, he just kinda lost his energy."

"Oh, yeah," Flynn said with a smirk. "You guys were still the most watchable duetters I knew last night. He's just jealous of Nick, and I'll prove it to you."

"How?" asked Julie.

"At lunch," Flynn said with a mischievous smile.

When they got to the table, Alex and Reggie were already sitting down, but Luke was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, have you guys seen Luke?" Julie asked.

Alex shook his head. "He was just in Math. He's probably just talking to the teacher about something."

"Oh," said Julie. "What room is that?"

Alex shrugged. "306," Reggie said with a proud smile.

Flynn was impressed. "Whoa. How did you know that off the top of your head?"

"I have a photographic memory," Reggie said, flashing her a flirty smile.

"I-- um-- I'll be right back," said Julie.

Flynn nodded. "Okay. Get me a Snickers from the vending machine on your way back!" She then turned back to Reggie. "You're a terrible liar. I bet you just looked down at that cheat sheet."

While Flynn and Reggie got into a flirty argument, Julie went to hunt down Luke. She knew he wasn't showing up to lunch because of her; She just didn't know what she'd done wrong.

Julie finally spotted him at the front desk, and it looked like he was signing out for the day. "Luke?" She asked, walking into the front office.

"Oh, hey. What are you doing here?" asked Luke.

Julie gave him a look. "What are you doing here? My aunt will kill you if you sign out early."

Luke shook his head. "Look, I just need to clear my head. I can't be here right now."

Julie crossed her arms and said, "I know you're mad at me, and I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you so angry, but you can't just leave school whenever you want to."

"I-- I'm not mad at you, Julie, really," said Luke. "I promise. I was just gonna leave for lunch to work on some new ideas I had, and I was gonna come back right after."

"You're literally lying to me!" Julie exclaimed. "You know what, forget it. Just leave. Obviously, you don't want to be here, and you're obviously just going to lie when I ask you what I did to make you so mad. I'll see you at home," she said before walking away.

"No, Julie, wait!" Luke called after, following her back into the hallway. "I promise, I'm not mad at you, I just-- I just--"

Julie turned around for a split second and said, "Just leave, Luke."

"No, Julie, I'm sorry," Luke said, reaching out to touch her arm. "I'm sorry. I just didn't want to have to sit at lunch and hear about-- about--"

Julie let out a sigh. "About what, Luke?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and said, "About your date with Nick."

"Oh," said Julie. "I'm sorry. We won't talk about it. I promise. You could've just said you didn't want us to talk about it."

"No, no. It's not like that," Luke lied. "I just-- I just don't trust the guy, is all."

Julie nodded. "I don't always either."

Luke frowned. "Then why are you going on a date with him?"

Julie shrugged and laughed. "It's kinda embarrassing, but it's the only way to let him down that maybe he'll understand. I've told him I don't like him, like, I don't know, a million times, and he just won't listen."

"Wait," Luke said, pausing for a moment. "So-- So you don't like him? Like, you meant what you said at first last night?"

Julie smiled as her cheeks became blush red. "Yeah. I did. I'm not interested in anyone right now, really."

Luke let out a deep breath. She wasn't interested in Nick, but she wasn't interested in anyone else. He could live with that. He wouldn't have to be jealous anymore.

"So, you wanna head back to the cafeteria?" asked Julie.

Luke nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."