͏͏͏͏b͏͏r͏͏i͏͏g͏͏h͏͏t ͏͏t͏͏o͏͏g͏͏e͏͏t͏͏h͏͏e͏͏r

012. lies broken

Nick refused to let go of Julie's arm as she tried to pull away. "Stop fighting, Miss Molina. It will make everything run much quicker, and we can get this goddamn childish act over with," He gritted through his teeth.

"Let go of her, you hairless douchebag!" Flynn shouted as she and the boys ran toward Julie and Nick.

Nick glared back at her and the boys and continued dragging Julie toward the school exit. "LET GO!" Julie shouted, kicking him where it hurt.

It took Caleb a few milliseconds to register the pain that was coming from Nick's body, and when he finally did, he sent Julie flying back, landing on her back on the concrete floors.

"Julie!" Luke exclaimed as he got down on his knees next to her side. "Are you okay?!"

"Back the hell off, Caleb," Alex gritted at Nick. It was his chance to finally put the monster back in his place after hurting his friends and sort-of-not-so-official boyfriend.

"Yeah, go back to wherever you come from, freak face!" Flynn added in a passionate shout.

Luke helped Julie up as Nick lunged at her. Alex tried to fight him off, and Reggie joined in. Flynn grabbed Julie and Luke and pulled them further away from the others, a little less close to the danger.

After a few minutes passed of Nick, Alex, and Reggie taking jabs at each other, Nick forcefully grabbed Reggie's arm and in an instant, whirled him even farther away from Alex and grabbed a knife from his pocket. "Try to fight me, Alex, and your friend here gets it," Nick sneered.

Alex clenched his fists and passionately told Nick, "If you think this will make us want to ever join your band, you're the stupidest dead ghost in the world!"

Nick smiled slyly, and seconds later, his physical body went flying forward onto the ground, next to Flynn's feet. Julie yelped and Luke grabbed her and Flynn's arms and pulled them even further away, glaring at the boy.

One thing had inevitably changed. Caleb was no longer possessing Nick's body.

"You've made a mistake not joining my band," Caleb, in his own physical body, said to Alex and Luke as he continued holding Reggie and a knife pointed at Alex. "And you will regret that decision for the rest of your life. Unless, of course, you decide to save your dear friend Reginald's life."

With his last words, Caleb whirled his cape around him and Reggie and disappeared without a single particle in sight.

Caleb had failed at kidnapping Julie Molina, but had indeed kidnapped Reginald Peters.

Alex shook his head in denial when there was nothing left. "No. No, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening. Reg can't be gone."

Flynn's eyes started to flood with tears. Even though she and Reggie always seemed to have their little rude teasing moments, she cared about that boy more than she realized.

Nick frowned and stared in shock and confusion. He now knew Caleb all too well, but he didn't know what he was or just how much he was capable of.

Luke stared, completely blank-faced, feeling guilty about the entire thing. If he had just told Julie how he felt, Caleb couldn't have tried to kidnap her like that and Reggie wouldn't be gone.

Julie suddenly felt extremely lightheaded. Her eyelids seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, and the lights around her began to dim until she fell unconscious onto the ground in shock.

***

"Julie? Julie, can you hear me, sweetheart?" A familiar-looking woman asked Julie as she sat up in her childhood bed. It took her a minute to realize it was her aunt.

Julie slowly blinked. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, Tia. What happened?" Victoria pursed her lips and said, "You passed out at school, mija. Two of your bandmates called, and oh, your father was so worried! He couldn't make it because he was at work, so I came instead!"

"Are... Are the boys here too?" Julie asked slowly. Victoria frowned. "Unfortunately, they insisted on coming with us, yes. Only two of the boys though, sweetie. The third was nowhere to be found."

Julie's heart started beating faster when she remembered that Caleb had taken Reggie. "Thank you for taking care of me, Tia, but I really need to go talk to the guys."

Tia Victoria shook her head and placed a comforting hand on Julie's thigh before saying, "No, mija, you need to rest. Your father gave me strict instructions that you were supposed to stay in bed for the rest of the day."

Julie frowned. "Sorry, Aunt Victoria, but could you ask them to come up here so I can talk to them... alone?"

Victoria sighed and patted Julie's leg. "Of course, mija. But they can't stay up here any longer than thirty minutes."

"Thank you," Julie said, forcing a fake smile as her aunt left her room and went downstairs to get Luke and Alex.

When Tia Victoria came back upstairs with the two boys, Alex had tears in his eyes and Luke looked at Julie, absolutely worried sick.

"Hey Jules," Luke said sadly. "Do you remember everything that happened?" Alex asked with a hoarse voice from crying so much.

"All right, I'll leave you three alone for now. I'll be back in half an hour," Tia Victoria told the three bandmates before heading back downstairs.

Julie blinked and swallowed. "Yeah... I remember. I just... don't understand how Caleb thinks that any of this is good. He's vicious."

"Yeah, neither of us really understand..." Luke's voice trailed off before asking, "Are you okay though, Jules? You're not in any pain, are you?"

Julie slowly shook her head. "No. Not other than losing Reggie."

"I-- I'm gonna go back downstairs," Alex said hoarsely. "I'm not ready to talk about this yet."

When he was gone, Luke went and sat on the side of Julie's bed to talk to her. "I'm glad you're okay, Jules. I don't know what I would have done if--" He couldn't finish his sentence. If it had been you too.

Julie sadly smiled up at him. "Thank you, Luke. That's sweet. I kind of... I kind of wish it had been me, though."

"What?" Luke demanded, confused. "Why?"

Julie glanced away. "I mean... The whole reason you guys are in this mess is because of me. If Caleb didn't know about you guys..."

"No," Luke said, staring her down. "This isn't your fault, Julie. We wouldn't even be back here at all without you. This is my fault. You don't need to blame yourself."

Julie laughed humorlessly. "You should take your own advice. It's not your fault either, Luke. I just... wish it hadn't happened."

Luke sighed sadly. "You and me both."

Julie took his hand and said, "We're going to find him, Luke. We're going to rescue him, and we're going to make it so Caleb can never hurt anyone else again."

Luke stared daringly into her eyes, and for once in his life, he truly believed that this was going to go right. They were going to find Reggie. And once they did, it would be game over for Caleb.