Wake Up| JATP

Chapter 25

"Look we add the echoes during the chorus, then when Julie comes in with the melody and Nicole harmonises, it's gonna sound perfect." Nicole's legs were spread across Luke's lap and she was meant against Reggie who had spread himself across almost the entirety of the sofa. "This is gonna be amazing." A noise from outside disturbed them. The boy Alex had been talking about, Willy had popped his head above the window but quickly ducked when he saw that he was caught. "Again? What's that all about?" Nicole simply shrugged and went back to looking through an old magazine she found. "I don't know." Flipping the page, Nicole spoke. "Maybe you should speak to him Alex, it's obviously you he's after." Without another word Alex teleported out of the garage. Reggie and Luke instantly ran the the garage door to listen to the conversation cussing Nicole to call of the sofa. "Boys! Don't listen to that it's private!" She scolded them in a whisper but it was as if she didn't hear them.

It had been about 20 minutes now and Luke and Reggie eventually came back to their seats claiming they couldn't hear anything. Nicole decided to go and look for herself. Alex sat alone on a rock. He looked heartbroken. "Alex?" The blonde lifted his head slightly so that she could see his eyes. He was crying. "Oh Alex." She sat beside him, pulling him into her chest. "He said that we should never of met." Nicole didn't really know what to say so instead she pulled him closer and let him cry until he didn't need her anymore.

After Alex's meltdown the band went back to practising and it was going good until Alex started to actually beat the drums. Luke and Reggie looked very confused and glanced at Nicole for answers. She simply shrugged her shoulders deciding it wasn't her information to give away. "Alex, you alright?" Alex smiled weakly. "Yeah. Yeah, yeah why?" Nicole decided whether or not she should step in but she thought that Luke and Reggie deserved to find out for themselves. "I know its tough man, people say you never forget your first ghost. Maybe that's true. But... I'm sure there will be others." Nicole stared dumbfounded. She didn't think Reggie could've been anymore stupid in that moment. "Yeah, thanks Reg." Nicole decided to stay away from the conversation but was still close enough to intervene if either of the boys said the wrong thing. "And Alex, your a great drummer and a great guy ok? I wouldn't let all that stuff get in between you and what you love." Luke shared a quick glance with Nicole before turning back to Alex who looked like he was either gonna cry or smile. "I don't know man, sometimes a little fire can make things better on stage. Like you and Nicole." Reggie spoke as if it was obvious. Both people mentioned looked at Reggie then at each other before breaking out into a laugh. "You guys literally ooze chemistry, it's sickening actually." Alex pointed a finger at Reggie. "You should never say 'ooze' again but yeah I agree." Nicole looked at the floor to stop everyone from seeing her incredibly red cheeks, why didn't make it better was Luke coming up to her and planting kisses over her entire face. "See! That! Right there was oozing chemistry." Nicole giggled and planted a small kiss on Luke's cheek. "I have chemistry with everyone I sing with, watch." He began to sing the lyrics of  'Great' and slowly approaches Reggie who was beginning to look flustered. "Wow, I see chemistry." Nicole tried to stifle a laugh with her hand but it didn't work. "That was pretty hot." Reggie voice cracked which sent Nicole into a fit of laughter to the point she was nearly on the floor. "Girls am I right?" Reggie cleared his throat trying to rid of that little moment. "Yeah." "No."

It slowly turned to night and everything was set up, it was just a waiting game now. As soon as Julie got home they practised together and they were all very pleased with what they had. The garden was packed with people Nicole could only guess came from Julie's school, she also guessed that most of them weren't her friends and just students because she was pretty sure Julie's only friends were Flynn and herself.  The band waited behind the garage door, waiting for the doors to burst open and let their show begin.

The doors opened and Julie stepped up, she looked amazing in the clothes Flynn had picked out for her. The ghosts of the band waited patiently in their place for the music to start.

"Running from the past, tripping on the now. What is lost can be found it's obvious. And like a rubber ball, we come bouncing back cause we all got a second act inside of us."

Alex played his drums and the whole tone of the song changed. They all appeared on stage and the crowd let out a collective gasp.

"Cause we're standing on the edge of great."

The rest of the band echoed the last of the chorus. Nicole was grinning ear to ear the entire time, this was her favourite song yet. She smiled at Luke and blew him a kiss just as he started his verse.

"We all make mistakes, but they're just stepping stones to take us where we wanna go. It's never straight no."

Nicole harmonised with him on the next part, they're chemistry being shown to everyone.

"Sometimes we gotta lean, lean on someone else to get a little help, until we find our way oh 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, something big something crazy our best is yet unknown that this moment is our to own and we're standing on the edge of great."

Julie took lead again and the others went back to echoing the chorus.

"Uh oh, I believe, I believe that we're just one dream, away from who we're meant to be and that we're standing on the edge of  great!"

Nicole whooped in excitement as Julie hit the high note and laughed as Luke showed off with his little guitar riff, winking at her as he did so.

This was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.