italics will be flashbacks/jade's thoughts
"You didn't have to do this, Luke." Jade said as she looked at the blanket sprawled out on the ground. Jade's favorite picnic foods were spread out across the blanket as was a small birthday cake.
"It's your birthday, Jay." Luke gave her a smiled and gestured for her to sit down. She did so and looked around at what was put out. Strawberries, tiny peanut butter and jelly finger sandwiches, cinnamon rolls, crackers and cheese, and Jade's favorite apple juice. There were sunflowers next to the cake which were Jade's favorite.
"This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me." Jade told him. She had tears in her eyes just from the mere gesture of what Luke had done.
"I did everything myself, no help from my mom." Luke said proudly.
"I'm proud of you." She said smiling at him. "Really, thank you Luke."
"Anything for you." Luke looked at her like she was the world.
Because she was his.
"Promise me something?" Jade said to him after he cheekily fed her a strawberry. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the blue sky with clouds scattered across it.
"Sure." Luke smiled as he stared down at her, a gleam in his eyes. The same gleam he always had when he looked at her.
"We can never stop being friends. Ever."
"I thought we already agreed to that." A laugh fell off of Luke's lips.
"We did. I just want to make sure, you know? You're so important to me." Jade said as she stared at the sky.
"You're important to me too, Jay. Don't forget that. Where is this coming from?" Luke lay down next to her, turning his head so he could look at her even though she was fascinated by the shaped clouds in the sky.
"It's not coming from anywhere. I just don't ever want to live a life where you're not in it."
"What's happening, what do we do?" Reggie asked as he and Alex kneeled down next to Luke who was holding Jade in his arms, tears streaming down all of their faces. They were all in pain, but they didn't know where to go to wait out their final moments. This was their home.
"Maybe she's okay. If she died she would just disappear right?" Alex asked, pushing Jade's hair from her face. She felt cold to his touch which wasn't abnormal considering they were dead, but this was different; she felt like ice.
"We're already dead, Alex." Luke said aggressively. Alex couldn't even blame him for the harsh tone considering the situation. They were all stressed, they had every right to be.
"Maybe she just went to sleep." Reggie said hopefully earning a displeased look from Alex and Luke. "Maybe she's dreaming."
That she was.
"I've never been one to do the whole high school dance thing." Luke said to Jade as they walked up the driveway towards the studio. They had just come back from movie night at Reggie's and were planning on having a sleepover.
"I still think we should have gone. We only ever get to do high school once." Jade said, folding her arms across her chest. She didn't want to exactly admit it but the idea of dressing up in a gorgeous dress and having her hair and makeup done did sound nice. It'd give her a chance to show Luke a different side of her. She did her hair and makeup for every show they had, but having it done for a school dance would be entirely different.
"Well, let's fix that then." Luke plucked a flower off one of the bushes near the driveway and offered it to Jade, "Jade, will you dance with me?"
Jade chuckled, "Fine."
Luke placed the flower in her hair above her ear and then took her hand and lead her inside the studio. He clicked on the boombox and to their luck a slow song was playing off of the radio. He held his hands out and she happily placed hers into them. Luke pulled her closer and held her to his chest as they began to sway to the music.
"I'm sorry we didn't go to the dance." He said to her. The realization that she probably really wanted to go was washing over him and he couldn't help but feel guilty.
"It's okay," She assured him, "This is better than any high school dance."
They moved quietly to the song and once it was over a more upbeat song came on after. The two didn't change their rhythm, they continued swaying slowly, enjoying the warmth of one another.
"Jade, I can't lose you like this." Luke had never felt more helpless than in this moment as did Alex and Reggie. They really had no clue what to do, neither of them had ever been in this situation.
Technically, Jade was already dead so they had no idea if there was a way to save her and if there was, they had no idea how to do it which was irritating to the three boys who loved the lifeless girl beneath them.
"She's going to be okay, Luke." Reggie put his hand on Luke's shoulder, hoping to calm him down.
"None of us are going to be okay, Reg." Luke sighed closing his eyes as his head dropped. "Caleb is angry."
Luke's chest felt like it could explode. He now understood how hard it was for Jade to lose the three of them. They all did, because now they were losing her. It was hard for them to imagine what it felt like for her until this very moment.
"You should go back to them, my love." Jade jumped hearing a familiar voice behind her.
"I'm sorry?" Jade's head tilted as the voice neared her.
"You don't belong in this place. You belong with your friends." Jade's mother appeared from the darkness of the room they were standing in and Jade immediately ran to her, throwing her arms around the slender woman.
"What are you doing here?" Jade asked her mom.
"Pulling you out of this mess." Her mom said.
"How do I get out?" Jade said.
"You have to want it." She replied.
Jade was surprised to see that her mom barely aged at all since she had last seen her. Her mom had always been drop dead gorgeous and death certainly hadn't changed that.
"Is it even worth it? Caleb's stamp is just gonna get to us anyways. He's really angry at us, mom." Jade sighed looking at the purple stamp on her wrist that had now turned a bright red, it looked as if it were glowing.
"I think it is worth it. Something could change in a matter of moments, but you need to go." Jade's mother looked like she knew something Jade didn't.
"What about you? Can you come with me?" Jade took her mom's hand.
"I've already crossed over, dear. I'm just here to push you to do the right thing." Her mom placed her hand on Jade's cheek.
"I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry that I died." A tear rolled down Jade's cheek.
"You were hurting. I can't blame you for that. But you've been given a second chance and you must go right now." The tall woman placed a kiss upon Jade's forehead and she shut her eyes. "Rose says hello and asks that you take care of Julie."
Jade's eyes snapped open to look at her mom after what she just said but she was gone and Jade was no longer in the dark room. Air filled Jade's lungs and she sat up looking around at the boys surrounding her. She began to sob as she pulled the three of them into a group hug, Luke saying, "Don't ever do that again."
The three of them were pulled apart when one of Caleb's jolts convulsed in their chests. They fell onto their backs, each breath getting harder to take. They heard Julie and her family coming up the driveway so they quickly shushed each other and hoped that Julie would just go straight inside.
Jade closed her eyes and reached for Luke's hand which was already reaching for hers. They laced their fingers together giving each other reassuring squeezes. If these were their last moments, at least they were together.
Jade tensed up when she heard Julie swing the barn doors of the garage open. It was silent and she could only hear Julie's footsteps.
"I know I already said this, but uh... thank you guys." Julie said.
"You're welcome." Reggie said.
Alex groaned and Luke said, "Dude."
"Seriously, Reg?" Jade added, moving her foot slightly to kick him gently.
Jade flipped the light on and took a moment to take in the situation in front of her. Alex coughed lightly and Julie looked as if she were about to absolutely lose her mind.
"Wh-why are you here?" She asked, shaking her head. I thought-" She was interrupted when another jolt was sent through the bodies of the already weak Phantoms in which they all shuddered and groaned in pain.
"No, no." Julie said under her breath. The way that the Phantoms felt over losing one another is exactly how Julie felt in this moment. It felt like she was losing her mom all over again. It was painful. "I thought you crossed over. Why didn't you cross over?"
The group struggled to sit up as Alex told Julie, "I guess The Orpheum wasn't our unfinished business."
"Point Caleb." Reggie sighed in exhaustion. Reggie rarely felt anger, but he was enraged at what Caleb was doing to them. Moreso that he already thought Jade died and if there's one thing Reggie is ridiculously overprotective over, it's Jade.
"We wanted you to think that we crossed over, so we pretended to." Luke said to her. "We just... we had nowhere else to go."
"We thought you'd go straight to bed." Reggie said.
"Yeah, well, I knew she was gonna come out here but nobody ever listens to me." Alex stood up slowly and then helped pull Jade to her feet. She gripped onto Alex as yet another jolt hit their chests. Jade paused resting her head against Alex's chest. She tried holding back her tears, but the jolts were coming in close to one after the other and she knew that their time was coming to an end.
Julie had seen enough of her friends being in pain. She didn't care the cost she just wanted their suffering to end. "You have to save yourselves right now. Go join Caleb's club. Please. It's better than not existing at all. Please just go. Go! Poof out. Do something. Do it for me." She was begging them at this point.
"We're not going back there." Jade shook her head, leaning against Alex for support.
"No music is worth making, Julie, if we're not making it with you." Luke said as he walked towards Julie. "No regrets."
Julie instinctively threw her arms around Luke, not even thinking about if she would fall through him or not. "I love you guys." Jade slowly realized that she was hugging Luke when he began to quite literally glow. "How can I feel you?"
"I don't know." Luke whispered. He was just as shocked as she was. "I feel stronger."
"Alex, Reggie, Jade, come." Jade held her hands out to the group. Luke stepped away to help Jade come forward and they all embraced each other in a group hug. Instantly Jade started to feel stronger as did Alex and Reggie.
They pulled away momentarily, "Woah..." Reggie said, "I don't feel as weak anymore."
"Me either." Alex said. "Not that, you know, I was ever weak."
"Jade?" Luke looked down at her.
"Well, it doesn't hurt to breathe anymore." Jade remarked and the group laughed lightly. She took Julie's hand and gave it a squeeze.
The Phantoms felt a tickle at their wrists and just like that the mark of Caleb's stamps disappeared off their wrists.
"What do you think that means?' Julie asked.
"I think the band's back." Luke smiled.
"You guys think we could try that hug thing one more time?" Alex asked.
"Yeah." Reggie nodded and the group embraced one more time.
Jade held onto them so tightly never wanting to let go after the trauma they had just endured. She finally felt safe free. Everything felt right. Everything felt perfect.
The four of them hopped around in a circle happily, "We played The Orpheum! Wooo!" Julie said happily.
Once they pulled away, Jade noticed someone standing at the entrance of the garage. She wiped the tears from under her eyes thinking maybe they were clouding her vision.
"Thank you." Rose mouthed. She then put her finger over her mouth insisting that she were in fact never there, gave Jade a wink and then walked away.
"Jade?" Luke asked.
"Hmm?" Jade's eyes were still focused on to where Rose was just standing.
"I said don't ever run off again." Julie said to her.
"I'm not going anywhere for as long as I'm on this earth." Jade laughed and pulled Julie into a hug.
this isnt the end i promise
i think there's one more maybe 2 more chapters left but i s2g when season 2 comes out ill make a sequel i promise
all the love