𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ━ shawn hunter¹

8│BAND ON THE RUN

"She is," Shawn immediately cut in. "She's the singer."

"Except I've got this really, really bad illness that prevents me from singing, like, ever, so unfortunately I've retired," Juliet continued, shooting him a pointed look. "I'm still a fan of the band, though."

"Well, maybe you'd play for us sometime?" the same girl asked.

"Yeah, we're gonna tell our friends we know you," her friend added before they walked away.

"You know, they like us because they think we're in a band," Cory commented.

"We could cash in on this."

"But we're total phonies."

"This is gonna end badly," the redhead commented. "You can't pretend something like this."

"Is that why you tried to get out of it?" Shawn asked her. "What if it totally works?"

"It's not gonna," she answered bluntly, "but I won't stop you, you know that."

"Jules is right," Cory admitted as he shook his head. "We could never pull this off in a million, billion, trillion years."

The girls came back as the two guys returned to pick up their cases. "Wow, you guys have roadies?"

"Boy, time flies."

Juliet sighed and buried her face in her hands. "What's even the point anymore?"

🌎🌎🌎

"Juliet!"

The redhead paused and pulled her head out from her locker to see who was calling her. She knew it wasn't Shawn since he and Cory had left school right away to do auditions for their "band." Turning, she saw Jack approaching her with a smile. "What's up?"

The girl turned to face him more fully and gave him a friendly look in return. "Not much. What's up with you?"

She'd spoken to him several times since the day he'd talked to her after her hair flip and the two got along quite well. Jack was well-dressed compared to the average school population with neat khaki slacks, a medium blue button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and new-looking sneakers. His blond hair was floppy (similar to Shawn's, Juliet couldn't help noticing) and he had bright blue eyes. During the time she'd known him, Juliet had realized he had far more intelligence than either of her two best friends and had actually read most of the books she had, much to her pleasant surprise.

"Not much either," he admitted, sticking his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the locker next to hers. "Except I was wondering if you'd maybe like to go to the dance with me?"

The redhead gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I'm already going with Shawn. It's kinda our thing since I've gone to every school dance with him."

"Are you and Hunter a thing?" Jack questioned her curiously.

"I wish," she mumbled before her eyes widened. "You never heard that."

"Heard what?" the blond asked with a teasing smile.

"Exactly."

He looked around. "Hey, where are Hunter and Matthews? They're usually always with you."

Juliet sighed as she put away the last of her books and shut her locker. "Doing something stupid. They're trying to start a 'band,'" she explained.

"Why the air quotes?" Jack asked. He pushed away from the locker to walk next to her down the hallway.

"They think it will help them get girls." The redhead rolled her eyes. "They don't even know how to play."

"Ah, then 'band' would make sense," Jack said with a grin, using air quotes again. "You usually tag along with this stuff, don't you?"