Another Cinderella story (Juke)

Finding out

Luke's POV

I stood at the front door at my old home and was hesitant to knock. It's been so long since I've been here that I don't even know what to do. I finally got the courage to knock on the door and waited til the door was opened.

Gwen: *opens the door* Luke?

Luke: Hey, Gwenny.

Gwen just ran up to me and cried in my shirt. I hugged her so tight because I missed her so much. I placed my hands on her shoulders and asked how dad was doing.

Luke: How is he?

Gwen: Not good.

Luke: When did this happen?

Gwen: A month ago. I wanted to tell you but I didn't want to bother you and-

Luke: Gwenny, it's okay now. I'm here, am I? You shouldn't be afraid to talk to me, okay?

She nods and let out a few silent sobs. I pull her in for another hug and we both just stand there crying. She pulled away and grabbed my hand and lead me to the house.

Gwen: He wants to talk to you.

Luke: Why would he want to talk to me? He said he never wanted to see me again when I wanted to pursue music.

Gwen: He changed.

Luke: How?

Gwen: When he saw you on the news. He was so proud of you and he wanted to talk to you but he was embarrassed.

Luke: *silent*

Gwen: Please Luke.

I looked at my little sister and decided to walk into dad's room. Everything was the same. I saw my dad on his bed sleeping and I walked towards him. I grabbed a nearby chair and put it close to the bed. I sat on it and grabbed my dad's hand. He woke up from that and he looked me with a smile.

Mitch: Luke?

Luke: Hey dad.

Mitch: How you doing?

Luke: I've been fine.

Mitch: *sighs* Luke, I-

Luke: Before you start, I need to say something. I'm so sorry for you leaving you guys. But I don't regret it. I wanted to prove to you that I can make it. All on my own. And at the night of the Orpheum, I wanted you and Gwen to be there. To show you that I made it. I just wanted you to be proud of me.

I sat there crying my eyes out. Suddenly I felt my dad's other hand on top of mine and he looked up at me with a big smile.

Mitch: I'm already proud of you.

That's when I went over to him and hugged him tight. He hugged me back and it was the best hug I gotten from him in a long time.

Mitch: I'm sorry I didn't believe in you.

Luke: I'm sorry I ran away.

We pulled away and saw Gwen leaning against the door frame with tears in her eyes.

Luke: Get in here.

She laughed and jumped on Dad's bed and hugged him. We all smiled at each other and we pulled away. Gwen continues to hug Dad and they both looked at me.

Mitch: So what have you been doing?

Julie's POV

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face. Two weeks past away quickly and I couldn't sleep because of excitement. I got dressed, ran downstairs, and went over to the mailbox. When I opened it, there was nothing in there. That was weird. No one but me has never gotten the mail before. I went inside and saw the mail on the table. Again, this is very weird. I went towards it and I saw that it was the letter for the contest. With my name on it. It was the only one there. I reached out to grab it but Lillian was suddenly in front of me.

Lillian: Well, well, well. What do we have here. Looking for this?

She held up the letter and my eyes widen in shock.

Julie: Oh look, you found my letter. My Tía and I are doing pen pal thing since she's on vacation. So I'll just take that-

Lillian: Not so fast. It says here that this letter is from the competition. Want to explain to me why they send you a letter?

I just stayed silent, waiting for what will happen.

Lillian: I went up to your room and saw a letter just like this, saying you made it to the top 10. And in this letter, made it to the top 5. So I decided to do a little digging and found a picture of you, with your necklace on, and another picture of the necklace that Mr. Patterson has and I notice that it's yours. Your friend wasn't fixing your necklace, you lost it and somehow Mr. Patterson found. But it was found, with the mask, outside of the Annual Music Ball. So the only way it could've gotten there was that you went to the party after I specifically told you, you couldn't go. And when we got home, you were surprisely happy for no specific reason and you were humming a very familiar tune from the party, which is the same song that you and Mr. Patterson sang when you two were dancing. I didn't realize any of it till this letter came. And thanks to this letter, I know everything.

I didn't know what to say. I can't believe she figured it all out. To be honest, I didn't think she would figure it out because of helping Carrie and Kayla to win. She was walking towards me and I stood there frozen like an idiot.

Lillian: Not gonna lie, you did have me fooled for awhile. But we both know it wasn't going to last. So here's what we're gonna do. I won't tell Carrie and Kayla that you enter the competition, if you do something for me.

Julie: What?

Lillian: Since you made it to the Top 5, there is a 20% chance of you winning, and I need all the help I can get. So here's my deal. If you win, you get to date your precious Luke Patterson and have a singing career if you give me 40% of what you earn as your manager.

Julie: B-but what about Carrie and Kayla?

Lillian: Their good but you could be better. Even though I dismissed it, you have a way better shot than them. I still can't believe they made it this far.

She was right about that. I didn't think they could make it to the Top 5. Lillian suddenly walked towards me and wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

Lillian: And here's another thing, if Luke ever gets suspicious about anything, we can make sure that he and his little band get ruined by just one little lie.

My eyes widen at this. She was willing to destroy Luke's reputation for money. This was a new low even for her. I can't let her hurt him the way she does to me. But I'm stuck in a corner because if I agree to everything she says, she'll leave him alone.

Lillian: So Julie, do we have a deal?

To be continued...

_______________________________________

This chapter was very hard to write but I hope you enjoy it. Right now it's 10:40pm and I need to sleep 😴.

Make sure to comment or vote.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeee 😁