I HAD attempted to run out of school, and avoid going to Julie's to talk. But that plan failed-like I should've known-when Flynn had run up to me and turned me in the direction of Julie's house before I could try and push through the crowd of people.
No matter how many excuses I could've come up with to just go to my apartment, I knew I couldn't get out of this.
Now, I'm seated on Julie's bed with Julie next to me and Flynn pacing in front of us as she looks as if she's thinking.
"Okay," Flynn claps her hands together and that makes me jump a little, and I look up from where my eyes were trained on the bed to the girl in front of me who had stopped her pacing now holding up the song from my dream that I had transferred to paper. "You're gonna show Luke the song, right?"
My eyes almost bulge out of their sockets at that suggestion. "W-what? No, no. I will not be showing him the song. It's not even about him!" I state as I look between the two girls with wide eyes and mouth agape. While they look at me with 'I don't believe you' looks.
"Uh-huh, yeah. Because you totally didn't imagine you were dancing with him in the music room, singing a song with him that you created while dreaming. All this occurring while we were in dance class." Flynn states as she points an accusing finger at me and Julie nods along. "I thought we already determined this when we were in the music room."
All while that happens I am left speechless at what she just said, reliving what happened earlier in my head for a second. I really did all of that didn't I.
"I sang a song with him, big deal, it doesn't mean it's about him." I tell them, still holding onto the fact that the song isn't about him, and I hear Julie let out a small scoff.
"Not just a song, a love song . . . I mean, 'we say we're friends. We play pretend. You mean more to me. We create . . . The perfect harmony.' It's definitely about him," Julie recites the lyrics from the ending of the song and gives me a slightly teasing look.
I groan and fall back into Julie's bed. "This is all so complicated," I mutter as I look up at the ceiling.
"You didn't say no," Julie hums and I reach over and smack her arm.
"You have to have some idea on how you feel about him . . . Answer me this, how do you feel when you're around him." Flynn asks and takes a seat on the bed.
I keep my eyes trained on the ceiling as I think about how to answer for a few moments. "Weird, but it's not a bad weird." I state and when I glance at the two girls seated next to each other they give me blank looks, pushing me to continue. "I don't know, he just makes me feel kind of giddy and that stupid smile makes me feel like I'm going to throw-up, not in a bad way though, just in a weird way."
"Okay . . . summarizing all of that. Like Julie had said earlier, you have a crush on Luke. And I will hit you with a pillow if you try to tell me that I'm wrong," Flynn points at me, and I sit up from where I am and look at her with a cheeky smile on my face, deciding to test her.
"But you are wrong. I don't have a crush on him," I tell her and she just sarcastically laughs, and I watch as she grabs a pillow and throws her phone next to Julie.
"Can you please film this so I can look back at it later?" Flynn asks and Julie nods her head laughing as she grabs the phone.
"Oh, you were serious about that." I back away from her, towards the door and once I reach it I throw it open and run.
"Nope! You brought this upon yourself," Flynn shouts after me and I can hear Julie laughing as I run down the stairs.
I earn myself a weird look from Ray at the table on his computer, but then his eyes trail over to where the shouting voice is coming from behind me. The weird look vanishes and he looks back down at his computer, most likely not wanting to get involved.
"You're on your own. Good luck," He chuckles lightly when he sees my slightly panicked look, as I look around for a place to hide, and goes back to what he was doing on his computer. Who knew Flynn with a pillow could be so scary.
Turning away from him I go to my next best option than hiding inside. So rushing out of the house I head down to the studio and thankfully the one door is open.
I'm out of breath when I get inside of the studio and I get confused looks from the three ghosts inside. Though when I hear Flynn's voice and Julie's laughing getting closer my eyes widen a little and I turn towards the loft and climb up.
"Pretend I'm not here," I shout down and crouch behind some boxes up there.
Only seconds later do I hear footsteps running in and I don't even have to look down to know who it is.
"Where is she?" Flynn complains a little and when Julie laughs I know that she is glaring at the girl for that.
I wait up in the loft for a few more minutes until I hear the footsteps start to get further, and further away. Letting out a small sigh of relief I slowly come out of my hiding spot and peak over the edge of the loft just a little bit.
"Is she gone?" I whisper shout to the boys below.
"Yeah," Alex's voice rings throughout the studio with slight confusion in his tone.
I nod even though they can't see it, and slowly climb down the ladder.
"That was strange," Reggie mutters as he looks at me.
"Yeah, you came out here looking like someone was going to kill you." Luke adds on and I turn my gaze from Reggie to Luke, but quickly look away from him when the thoughts of what happened earlier today come back to mind.
"She's scary when she wants to be," I shrug and as if summoned she jumps out from behind the one doors outside the studio.
I don't even get time to react before Flynn is repeatedly hitting me with a pillow until I fall on the floor.
"Please stop," I almost beg even though I'm on the verge of laughter, but that does nothing as she stands over me repeatedly smacking me with the pillow while Julie laughs in the background.
So, taking matters in to my own hands. When she swings the pillow down I manage to catch it-which slightly surprises me-and take it from her hands.
"Nope, give it back," she reaches her hand out to take it back, but I stand up and pull away before she can. "I need to keep knocking sense into you so you can come to terms-" I cut her off by hitting her with the pillow and looking at her with wide eyes.
'They're in here' I mouth as my face flushes a bit. Flynn looks behind her to Julie, probably to make sure it's true, and I'm not avoiding the conversation. And when Julie nods Flynn looks at back at me with an apologetic smile.
I don't even want to look behind me because I know that at least one of them have a curious stare on the back of my head, since I can practically feel it flickering between Flynn and I.
"Come to terms with what-" cutting off Luke I start to speak.
"Oh, wouldn't you look at that," I say though my voice is higher than usual as I pull my phone out of my pocket. "I should go prepare for tonight." And before anyone could say anything else I'm already out of the studio.
"I should go prepare for tonight," I hear someone snicker from behind me and looking over my shoulder slightly I see Flynn there with a teasing smile on her face. "Nice one Florence. The pitch of your voice really made it believable." You could hear the sarcasm in her tone from a mile away.
"Shut up," I mumble as I enter back into Julie's house. But before I enter I abruptly stop and smack Flynn with the pillow and then Julie.
"Hey! Why did you hit me," Julie looks baffled and I shrug.
"'Cause you watched me get beat up with a pillow and did nothing about it. And instead just stood there laughing the whole time," that causes Julie to snap her mouth shut, realizing that I was right.
"Fair point," she mutters as we walk in.
"And plus," I add on as we start to climb up the stairs to her room again. "You kept changing the subject whenever I would ask about, who is it again . . . Nicky-poo?" I grin down at her and I watch as a blush covers her face as she smacks my arm for the use of the embarrassing nickname.
"Yes! Now it's your turn to get interrogated," Flynn states as we enter her room and sit on the bed.
*****
I avoided Luke throughout the rest of the day until it was time to perform. This earned me weird looks from mostly everyone-even Julie, who I thought would get why I was doing it.
And all this wouldn't be happening if my dream from earlier never happened, because now whenever I look at him I can't help but get flustered as thoughts of the song and dance replay in my mind.
Now I was locked in Julie's bathroom, looking at myself in her mirror, too scared to come out and face the two fashion critics sitting on the bed in the other room.
"Guys . . . I don't know about this," I shout as I look at the clothes she had selected for me. I was going to go back to my apartment and just grab something from there, but the moment the suggestion came up I was being dragged into Julie's room.
"Just come out! We go on in ten," Julie groans and I roll my eyes even if she can't see it.
Taking another look at the outfit, I start smoothing down the sides of it. The black cropped shirt, and white cargo pants Julie loaned me, thankfully fit, but it's not much of a surprise seeing that we are similar in height.
Stepping out of the bathroom and making my way back to Julie's room, I'm still trying to pull down the shirt a little more so nothing will show, but a hand swats mine away before I could tug any longer.
"Stop messing around with it! You look great," Julie tells me and I look up and take a moment to admire her outfit.
"Same goes for you," I smile at her and she gladly returns it.
"Okay! Now that you're both ready we have to go down, people are already starting to get here." Flynn orders and starts leading us downstairs to the studio.
The nerves of performing again start to form in me, and I try my best to push it aside.
"Just stay in here for a few, and once the doors open-well, you guys know the rest." Flynn gives us one last smile before rushing out of the studio.
"Last chance to kick me out of the band," I mumble as the nerves become more prominent, and Julie chuckles lightly.
"Like I said before, we're in this together." Julie smiles and I'm able to muster up a small one.
I go over my parts I have in the song in my head, until I hear Flynn's voice and then a few seconds after the studio doors open.
Grabbing my hand Julie brings us both over to the piano, taking a seat beside each other, similar to what we had done during out last performance.
"Thanks for coming, everyone." Julie tells the crowd of people in front of us, and then starts to place her hands on the keys in front of her.
"Running from the past. Tripping on the now. What is lost can be found, it's obvious."
Julie sings and slightly glances over to me as my signal to start.
"And like a rubber ball. We come bouncing back. We all got a second act, inside of us."
I sing, sharing a microphone with Julie, and the sound of drums behind me tells me that the boys have come in.
"I believe. I believe that we're just one dream. Away from who we're meant to be. That we're standing on the edge of."
Julie brings me up from the piano with her as she sings, and I go over to the spare stand with the microphone and take it out as Julie smiles over to me to join her in the middle.
"Something big, something crazy. Our best days are yet unknown. That this moment is ours to own."
I sing, and Julie goes over to Reggie as I do so.
"'Cause we're standing on the edge of great."
Julie and I sing together and as I jam out with both Reggie and Alex I turn away from Luke before I could even get a look at him, and this action does not go unnoticed from the others around me and Julie gives me a weird look but I ignore it and continue on. Still ignoring him.
"(On the edge of great) great. (On the edge of great) great. (On the edge of great)."
The boys now come in as well as we all continue on together, and I could practically feel the stare of Luke on me. Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.
"'Cause we're standing on the edge of great."
Julie takes the last part and then turns to me giving me a look that tells me to stop ignoring him, but I just give her a small shrug and continue on.
"We all make mistakes. But they're just stepping stones. To take us where we wanna go. It's never straight, no."
Turning away from Reggie I look at Luke for a second as he sings, and then as our part comes on he nods for me to come over. But instead I turn away from him and back to the crowd of people in front of me.
"I believe. I believe that we're just one dream. Away from who we're meant to be. That we're standing on the edge of."
Luke and I sing together and I avoid looking back at him at any cost, so to distract myself I make my in front of the piano to interact with the people.
"Something big, something crazy. Our best days are yet unknown. That this moment is ours to own."
Going up to Flynn as Julie sings her part with Luke, I reach my hand out to grab hers and she smiles and grabs it. She also nods her head slightly over to Luke, but I quickly shake my head and give her a small smile before going to Julie again to sing together.
"'Cause we're standing on the edge of great. (On the edge of great) great. (On the edge of great) great. (On the edge of great). 'Cause we're standing on the edge of."
Julie grabs my hand as we sing with the rest of the band and I give her a confused look but then I see her directing us to the piano. She nods her heads towards it and my eyes slightly widen, but I still climb up on it after her. This is it, I'm going to fall off and ruin the performance.
"Shout, shout. C'mon and let it out, out. Don't gotta hide it. Let your colors blind their eyes. Be who you are, no compromise. Just shout, shout. C'mon and let it out, out."
Julie and I sit on top of the piano as we sing (thankfully no falling) with the rest of the band and she hops off of the piano when it comes to my part, and gives me a look telling me to stay up and continue on singing on top of the piano.
So staying on top of the piano as Julie suggested I get up on one knee and continue on singing my part.
"What doesn't kill you makes you feel alive. Oh-oh. I believe."
The sound of a guitar riff starts up, and it's one I don't remember from rehearsal.
"I believe that we're just one dream."
Looking down I notice Luke coming up towards me, and I can't help the smile the creeps onto my face as I look down at him as I continue. There goes ignoring him.
"Away from who we're meant to be."
Continuing to smile down at him, I see his usual smile appear on his face as he continues with his riff.
"That we're standing on the edge of great."
Looking away from I stand up on the piano with some sudden burst of confidence as I belt out 'great'.
"Something big, something crazy. Our best days are yet unknown. That this moment is ours to own. 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great."
Coming down from the piano I go over to stand back with Julie.
"(On the edge of great) on the edge of great. (Great, on the edge of great) on the edge. (Great, on the edge of great). 'Cause we're standing on the edge of."
Getting ready to go out of view and let Julie sing, she instead pushes me towards the piano and gives me a cheeky grin before running off next to Flynn.
I give her a short wide eyed look, but all she does is shrug and continue standing next to Flynn.
So now making my way over to the piano I take a seat, but don't bother placing my hands on the keys as I put my microphone in the stand.
"Running from the past."
Jumping a little when I feel someone else start singing into my microphone next to me. I look over and notice Luke there singing with me, and my eyes seem to not move from his, as I can feel my face beginning to warm up.
"Tripping on the now. What is lost can be found, it's obvious."
We finish off and when he teleports out I seem to snap back to reality as the audience start to cheer.
Giving them a small smile, I wave over Julie and she comes over to stand next me as we smile in thanks to the people in front of us.
"Now do you want to admit it?" Julie whispers to me and it takes me a few seconds to realize what she's referring to.
I take a moment to process all that has happened before answering. And the odd feeling still in my stomach from singing with him, and the heat I still know is faintly on my cheeks-
Letting out a breath, I look over at Julie with a small smile playing on my lips.
"I guess I have a crush on a ghost."
AUTHORS NOTE:
THIS CHAPTER IS SO BAD IM SO SORRY!!
Anyways...
HEYY! I hope you all are having or had a great day today!
But in all honesty, I don't know how I feel about this chapter tbh. It might be because I started it over three time or it honestly might just be a really bad chapter. Maybe both lol idk.
Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes you may find in this chapter. I know I'm not the best writer, but still thank you so so so much for all the support on this book it's crazy!
This is kind of a long chapter and I'm so sorry if for those who read this and don't like long chapters.
Other than all of that, thank you once again for all the reads and votes it's seriously insane!! And I love you all!!