𝘌𝘋𝘎𝘌 𝘖𝘍 𝘎𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘛

𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐌𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞

Alayna frowned as she watched Luke's eyes narrow on Nick and Julie. A deep pit of bitterness and hatred whirled around in the bottom of her stomach from jealousy. "Hey, Luke, why don't you come over to my house tonight, and I can introduce you to my little brother and--"

Luke didn't even realize he was ignoring Alayna until she started waving a hand in front of his face. "Hello?? Are you in some kind of trance or something??" His lips curled into a frown. "Sorry, just got really worried for a sec."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I just wanted to make sure you were okay... so, are you?" Alayna asked hesitantly. Luke's eyes flickered back to Nick and Julie as he said, "Uh-- yeah, I'm fine. I just don't want Julie to get hurt. That Ricky Ticky Dicky guy is a really bad guy."

"Are you sure about that? I don't think that boy's done anything to make anyone question him in his entire life," Alayna replied with a light laugh. She frowned as Luke's eyes once again narrowed on Nick and Julie, perpetually obsessed with the sight. "I'll catch you later, Luke," she muttered with an eye roll before walking away.

"Well that girl seems to notice that you can't keep your eyes off Julie," Flynn said with a little smirk, noticing the deep infatuation the brown-haired boy seemed to have with her best friend. "Huh? Did you say something about Julie?" Luke asked, turning back around to look at Flynn.

"Oh, no. Nothing, nothing at all," Flynn replied with a sly smile. Luke nodded firmly before saying, "I'm gonna go talk to her." Flynn's heart jumped at the thought. "What? No! You can't!" She exclaimed. "Oh, yeah, why not?" Luke asked.

"Because she's with Nick, and they're obviously having a moment together!" Flynn exclaimed. Luke rolled his eyes and heaved out a heavy sigh. "I think her safety is more important than having a little moment with a boy who looks like a little rat with a thin blonde mop on the top of his head."

Flynn's eyes filled with panic as Luke firmly stood up and walked over with a certain kind of confidence that only came from boys who were jealous of their girl giving other boys attention. She knew that if Julie didn't listen to what he said immediately, there was going to be quite a scene... and a fight between Luke and Nick in the middle of the lunch room sounded like the worst possible thing at the moment.

"Hey, Julie, can I talk to you for a second?" Luke asked with a quiet smile as she approached her with confidence. "Oh-- sure," Julie stuttered. She gently let go of Nick's hand and whispered, "Sorry, this will only take a minute."

Luke walked out of the lunchroom only so far that Nick and the others couldn't hear them, and then he crossed his arms like an upset father. "Julie, what are you doing with him? I thought you were going to go interrogate him, not score yourself a date with the devil."

"The devil, really?" Julie asked as she subconsciously took a step backwards. "You can't trust him. You know Caleb's little advocate could be anyone. There's no way you figured out if it was him or not in the few minutes you guys were away," Luke said with an intense stare.

Julie shook her head. "I've known Nick for a long time, Luke. A lot longer than I've even known you and Alex and Reggie, and longer than you've known him. We grew up going to school together. You can trust me when I say it's not him."

"But how do you know? How do you know Caleb's not just inside of him waiting to come out when you least expect it?" Luke asked endearingly. "Look, I'm not tryna be rude about this. I just don't want you to get hurt, okay? Everybody's gotta be safe about this kinda stuff right now."

Julie smiled warmly. "I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but I don't need it. We've known each other for a while now. You know you can trust me when it comes to other stuff, so you know you can trust me on this too. Please. I know it's not what we decided on as a group, but Nick's a great guy. He wouldn't hurt me."