When Lightning Ignites [COMPLETED]

Chapter 27: Packing Up

Julie skipped school that week as they lined everything up. Apparently she wasn't welcome there anyway. They were too afraid that Luke and Rory might start a fight again. Now that the fights were getting deadlier, they didn't want to encourage it anymore. Figured.

As she packed up her stuff again, she realized that it felt like she had barely lived here. She couldn't say she would miss the island, but she would miss her family and Kara. Would her friend even remember her in a few months?

Julie blinked back tears, trying to convince herself that leaving now would be no different than Kara leaving her after she turned eighteen. She knew Kara well enough to know that she would leave. If she was in her place she would leave and be angry at everyone that had let her live in a lie. Of course she wouldn't remember any of that.

They'd said goodbye yesterday.

"I know you won't remember this or even remember me in a few months, but I love you Kara. You're a friend. If you choose to come off the island, I'll hunt you down and re–friend you."

She'd stared at Kara's blank face. Even her saying goodbye was a memory that her friend wasn't allowed to keep. After a moment, Kara's phone pinged with a message, and she blinked, taking a second to look at her phone and smile, before pressing it against her chest. "What were we talking about?"

Julie gulped back the sob at the memory and tears flowed down her face. She jumped as a door slammed down the hall.

Jamie. She hadn't seen him all week. Not since he and Melissande had declared their feelings for each other.

He'd been her best friend since birth. She couldn't leave it like this. She may not agree with him, but she didn't want to lose him over this. He would come to his senses one day, and then she wanted to be there for him, even if she'd said she wasn't going to be when she first found out about them.

Julie sighed, putting the last book she was taking with her away in the box, and walked down to her brother's door.

"Jamie?" she said softly.

There was no reply. She waited another minute, before turning around to go back to her room. If he was in there, he didn't want to talk to her. Julie blinked, clenching her fists. She wanted to pound on his door, to demand that he stop all this, to go back to being her Jamie, her brother, her friend.

"Julie?" Jamie said a minute later.

She let out the breath she was holding. "Sorry, didn't mean to bug you. It's just...I'm leaving tomorrow, and I wanted to say bye. I wasn't sure you would be around tomorrow."

He frowned at her, before walking over and pulling her into a hug. "I'll be there, Ghouls."

Julie wiped her face against his shirt, so he wouldn't see her cry and make fun of her. "I'm going to miss you, Lamie."

"I know. It's hard to be away from me," he said. She looked up at him. He was smirking. She punched him lightly on the arm. "I was going to say I'd miss you too, but not now."

Julie looked away from him. "I'm sorry about—"

He interrupted her. "It's okay. I get it."

She kept her arms wrapped around him. She didn't know when she was going to see him again, and she wanted to get all the hugs out of her system. Plus it was easier not to look at him this way. She sighed. "You really want her, don't you?"

Jamie waited to feel her nod against him. "Yes. I love her. I know she isn't perfect, but I can't help myself."

Julie snorted. That was an understatement. She pulled away before the hug got too creepy. "Be careful. Please don't let her hurt you."

"Worried for your big brother, huh?" He smiled down at her. "This place has made her crazy. It can make anyone crazy. We're sorting through all that."

She didn't want to say it, but what if Melissande or her family were the ones who had gotten her and Kara kidnapped? Maybe Kara's parents mentioned the trip and Melissande overheard and....Melissande could be more than a bully responsible for some scary attacks against her on Seelie. She could be a psychopath.

"I don't get how you can defend her." Julie didn't want to get in a fight with him, but she couldn't help herself. "How can you be okay with someone who has hurt me?"

"She's sorry." Jamie looked away. "She won't do it again."

Julie shook her head. "You're probably right. She has you now. If she hurts you, that's way worse than anything else she's done. I will never trust her. I hope you're careful."

"You need to give her a chance. She isn't that way. Why can't all of you see that?" Jamie's mouth pinched.

She didn't want to lose him again. Not over Melissande. She had to hope he'd see her for who she was before he got in too deep—before he did anything he couldn't take back.

"I'm sorry. Please don't go. I'll be leaving soon."

"I love her, Ghouls."

"I know." She bit her lip.

He looked at her face and shut the door again. Julie went back to her room, put her head down, and cried. Maybe she could learn to like, or at least tolerate, Melissande. Even after what she did. She couldn't be all bad if Jamie loved her, could she?

♦