Hold On --- Luke Patterson

Part 4 - I'll break you

Julie and I were walking up to her room after school. I had told her about my conversation with Mrs. Harrison.

"It really is such a bummer that you won't get to play at the spirit rally either. Your songs just always have these really great vibes goin' on, you know?" Julie linked her arm with mine.

I chuckled. "Thanks, Jules. I guess I'll just have to play them for you and Flynn."

She nodded her head enthousiastically. Her grin slowly faded from her face as she stopped me from walking any further. "How are you?"

"What do you mean? I'm great." I stated, although I knew exactly what she meant.

She sighed in response. "Come on, Ab. You know what I mean. You've been having more headaches lately, getting nauseous more often. Don't think I haven't noticed."

"I really am fine, Julie. I'm dealing with it. I've been taking my pills regularly. There's really nothing more I can do." I swallowed, not liking where this conversation was going.

Julie seemed to pick up on that. She linked our arms once more and pushed open her bedroom door.

The sight before us was definitely not what we had expected. Yet again, the teenage ghosts had decided to invade Julie's privacy. Surprise.

Julie looked at them as her eyes widened and she spread her arms questioningly. "What are you guys doing in my room?"

The boys looked at us with surprise that quickly turned into panic. All three of them desperately tried to come up with an excuse, in which they horribly failed. "Uh..."

After a while of high-pitched 'ums', Luke exclaimed the best statement he could think of. "We were looking for the kitchen?" Julie huffed.

"Yeah, right. If you were Abby, I would have believed that excuse."

I piped up, stepping out from behind her. "True that."

Julie grinned slightly before continuing. "But this, this can't happen. It's creepy. Get off my bed, please." The last part was directed to Reggie, who was sprawled on her bed. He leaped off the bed with a horrified expression, only to be instantaneously replaced as I dove onto the bed. The leather-clad boy made wide-armed gestures towards me while looking accusingly at Julie. The dark-haired girl had decided to completely ignore his presence, causing me to stick my tongue out at the boy.

From beside me, I could see Luke raising his hand, looking desperate. "Hey, Julie? What's in the box?" He pointed to Julie's dream box.

The girl in question rushed to answer. "That's off-limits."

The boy chuckled. "Okay... Girl stuff." He smirked at his bandmates.

My mouth fell open in surprise, definitely not expecting his reaction. From my spot on the bed, I grabbed a pillow before chucking it in his direction. As his reflexes kicked in, he jumped aside. With a mocking grin that was directed towards me, he, too, dove onto the bed, landing exactly in between Reggie and I.

Reggie looked up at Julie. "Oh, like butterflies and glitter?" I giggled, causing him to direct his attention to me. He grinned back, but it was obvious that he had no clue as to why I was amused.

Luckily, my cousin had more common sense. "Oh, come on. I'm sorry about them."

"It's none of your business." Julie was still pissed at them for crossing her boundaries. As she should be. "And yes, there might be some glitter." Reggie's grin got even wider as he acknowledged his victory.

Suddenly, Alex came up behind us, holding a photo of Julie and her mom. "Hey! I actually picked something up!" He came to show off his achievement by shoving the photo in my face, but right before he could, he dropped it beside my feet.