Hold on, I still want you

4

Julie angrily opened the door and glared at Carrie. "I don't eat nutty chocolates."

"I know," Carrie said, plucking a chocolate bar from the basket Julie was still holding. "But I knew I was coming here and I figured I might as well send some snacks ahead for myself with an oblivious Nick."

Julie rolled her eyes and looked behind Carrie. "Hi, Kayla."

Kayla smiled and waved. "Hey, Julie."

"Flynn's down in the garage. I figured we could talk there and avoid Carlos or my dad listening to us -- or asking me difficult questions about why you're here."

Carrie shrugged. "Whatever. I just wanted to get all of this over with so we can fix Nick."

Julie shrugged as well and pulled the front door closed behind her. "Chocolate?" she asked, offering the basket to Kayla as they walked down to the garage.

The truth was that they were going down to the garage because there was no way she was going to let three teenage boys overcrowd her room and she knew there was no getting them to not join her.

Julie set the basket down on the coffee table. "Carrie told Nick to get me nutty chocolates so she could have snacks. Want one?"

"Not cool," Flynn told Carrie. "Oo, I'll take this one, thanks."

"So, Flynn and I talked about what you guys told us," Kayla said, "and while I still think it's possible that Nick just really likes you, Julie, I do agree that he's acting a bit odd."

Flynn nodded. "So, today, we had a free for biology and we used it to stalk Nick."

Carrie and Julie's jaws dropped. Carrie was the first to recover. "What did you find out?"

The idea that Julie's little plan seemed to be helping them figure this out relaxed Carrie enough that she took a seat on the chair behind her.

"We helped," Reggie said from behind Julie. When Kayla and Carrie weren't looking, Julie gave him a smile.

"Well, Nick's only going to the classes he has with you two. The rest . . . poof. Gone. Just like that." Kayla shrugged. "I finished a test really early and decided to continue stalking Nick after. He walked out of the science lab with Carrie and vanished without a trace."

"They're telling the truth," Luke called from the piano, where he lay across it, probably thinking about why there were the chairs on the ceiling. "We stalked him all day."

"All day," Alex repeated, making an effort to show Julie just how exhausted it made him. "I didn't know Nick was skilled in the art of covert escape."

Julie found herself repeating Alex.

Flynn nodded. "So, at first, we did consider that you two are making a big deal about some slightly odd behaviour because you both care a lot about Nick, but the whole disappearing act is bothering us too."

"Not to mention," Kayla said, "where is he getting the time -- and money -- to get all these gifts for Julie? Despite being nutty, I spy some really expensive labels in that basket and flowers, especially that many, aren't cheap."

"Well, the times Nick asked for my advice," Carrie said, "he said he would be going after school to buy all of it."

"We had a ton of homework yesterday, though," Flynn said, "and not to mention, music work, which takes up a lot of time. But Nick managed to find time to get Julie flowers and plan the whole chocolates thing on her desk before we got to school."