Camilla Wilson // JATP

grounded with a gig

Me and Julie are sitting in her house; she's reading and I'm writing in my journal when Alex and Reggie poof in front of us. 'Hey guys, you've got a second," Alex says. I roll my eyes, and Julie doesn't respond. "Oh my gosh! They can't see us anymore," Reggie said panickedly, making Alex look at him. "Oh, right." "guys please." Julie looks up. "We already told you you were done with the band," she says angrily.

"Yeah, we know, all right? But before you decide that forever, we just... We wanted you to know that Luke isn't as selfish as you think he is." Alex said, sitting on the side of the sofa. "Yeah, you got him all wrong," Reggie says. I laugh. "You remember that song, "Emily"? "I look up. "Can we at least show you who thats about?" I nod at Julie. "Yeah, ok."

They walk to a house somewhere in the suburbs, and we hide behind the bushes, looking out the window. "Where are we?" I ask Reggie, who sighs. "lukes house" Julie looks up. "Is Emily his mom?" Alex nods. I sigh, realising what's about to happen is going to make me feel awful. "Yeah. Yeah, Luke comes here a lot. He thinks we don't know, but... we've been following him," Reggie says. "All he does is just hang out like this and watch them. They never really do anything, though." Alex adds. I start to cry. "They're having cake." I say "Yeah, that's something," Julie says. "It's a birthday cake. For Luke." Alex says. I look at Luke; he's sitting, watching his parents tears stream down his face. "I never knew Luke was hurting this much," I say.

"Yeah. It's even worse because when he died, he left on bad terms. You know, his parents didn't want their 17-year-old in a rock band, so... he just left. He never got the chance to make up with them." Alex says, looking at us.

"That's why Luke was so angry. If Trevor had given Luke credit for writing all the songs, then... his parents would've known his dream was worth chasing."

I'm unable to talk, just watching as Luke blows the candle out of his birthday cake. He looks around slightly and relights the candle. "They would have been so proud." Julie says. "We know how bad it hurts whenever someone who should've had your back completely lets you down." Alex says. "We never meant to make you feel that way. Guys, we love our band, and Luke does too. Please give us another chance."

I nod. "I will." Julie sighs, wiping her tears too. "Yeah, let's go." We walk back to Julie's house and start rehearsing again.

Marching on proud
Turn it up loud'cause now we know what we're worth. We know we can make it. We're not falling under. Close my eyes and feel my chest beating like thunder.

then look poofs back in, "Wow, Julie? Cami?" he smiles. "When did you get back?" Julie smiles. "Grab your guitar; we have work to do." He laughs, picking up his guitar. "What made you come back?" he asks. "We realised how important music is to all of us. And we've lost so much already. We can't lose this too," I say, and he smiles. "Thanks. Okay, girls, were we at?" he says, chuckling. "Oh. And by the way," I say, "happy birthday," me and Julie say. He looks at Alex and Reggie confused but just laughs, "Let's go from..." Julie says "the pre chorus" is say.

After rehearsal, me and Julie got back to her house so I could grab my stuff and go home to change. When we see Carlos wandering around with his camera taking photos, "Hey buddy, what's happening here?" I ask him. He laughs, "Looking for ghosts, obviously." I look at Julie, "obviously." She laughs. "I'm telling you this place is haunted," he says. "Every time I open my laptop, it's on some rock music site. That ain't me. You know I'm all about the rap." I laugh. "Reggie," I say, rolling my eyes. "I'm just trying to protect you!" He says we start walking away before he interrupts, "Oh, I'd be careful in there. Dad has that look on his face, like when Google Maps tells him to turn on the wrong street." I look at Julie and say, "Good luck, babe." I give her a hug, grab my stuff, and leave to get home.

"im home!" I yell when I walk in, and Carrie looks at me. "Im off, dirty candy has a gig." I laugh. "Oh yeah, so do we," she smiles. "Sure" before she leaves. I roll my eyes and rush upstairs, looking through my case. I know Julie is going to wear purple and black. I chose my red corset top with a black leather jacket and skirt. Once I curled my hair, I started to pack my bag when my dad walked in. "Where are you going, Cami?" he asked. I looked up. "Oh, I have a gig with Julie." She smiled at me. 'Okay, see you soon, darling," he said. I finished packing my stuff and walked to the venue. Outside, I met Flynn.

"Omg, you look amazing!" She said I smiled and did a little twirl. "Where Julie?" Flynn sighed. "On her way, she had to sneak out." I gasped. "Julie snuck out?!" She nodded. "Come on, let's go in." Me and Lynn went inside. When we walked in, I spotted Carrie and dirty candy standing waiting to go onstage. "Carrie!" she looks over. "Your playing here too." I asked. "Dad helped." I laughed. "Of course he did." I responded. "At least he has faith in me." I rolled my eyes.

"Next up, dirty candy," she flicked her hair and walked onstage, just as Julie and the boys arrived.

"Am I too late?" Julie asked, and I shook my head. "Too early," I said, "dirty candy. How did they get on the list?" I laughed. "Our daddy pulled some strings," I said, mimicking her voice, just as the performance started.