Wake Up| JATP

Chapter 12

The band were in the middle of rehearsing for the school dance when Flynn came bursting through the doors. "Dance news! I don't have a date but I don't care because I am so psyched to see you guys perform." Nicole smiled at the girls enthusiasm but quickly frowned when Alex let out a sigh. "Oh man! We're playing a dance?" Nicole hit his arm which made him jump in surprise. "Hey!" "Quit your whining Alex, your as bad as Luke! You should be grateful we have a gig!" Luke nodded and beckoned the blonde girl over. Once she got there, he pulled her down onto his lap, making her screech  in surprise. "Of course dude, that's how we get a following nowadays." Nicole placed her guitar down to the side, as it wasn't very comfortable when it was digging into her side. Julie chuckled from her spot at the keyboard. "Yeah get with the program Alex." Nicole let out a small laugh from the look of defeat on his face. Flynn looked around with wide eyes. "What the guys are here?" Nicole cleared her throat which made Julie roll her eyes. "And girl yes." Flynn waved to the air and Nicole tried covering up a laugh."Oh hey guys and Nicole!" Julie looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Other way sweetie." Flynn nodded and proceeded to wave the other side of her. Reggie and Alex both waved despite the human girl not being able to see them. Nicole though it was sweet. Luke lent his chin on Nicole's shoulder and she turned her head to look at him, their noses only an inch apart. "Ok, well, now that Alex has graced us with his presence, can we start working?" Nicole could feel Luke's guitar strings in her back but didn't say anything because she quite liked the position she was in."Yes! We're gonna rehearse, you wanna stick around?" The Molina girl asked Flynn.  "I was supposed to blow up 500 balloons for the school dance but this sounds better." Nicole grinned at the girl.  A boys voice was heard from behind the group and Nicole's eyebrows shot up in confusion. "Hey Julie. Remember those orbs in dads pictures? I-I think they're ghosts." Nicole's eyes went wide. Had they already given themselves away? How could they've been so stupid? Carlos handed Julie a photo which she scanned her eyes over before putting it down. "But don't worry. This room is...is... this room is clean. I'm not getting the ghost tinglies." Nicole giggled at the young boy. She had always wished she had siblings, maybe then she wouldn't of felt so alone but she was also glad that she didn't have any so that they didn't have the same miserable life with the same alcoholic, pressuring parents as she did. Reggie laughed before speaking. "Wrong again little dude." It was good to see him smile, she remembers, when they were in their mid teens he started  coming to her house a lot, climbing through her bedroom window with tear stained cheeks and a quivering lip because his parents had gotten into another argument. Of course when he left the next morning, Nicole's parents would argue with her and call her a whore for keeping teenage boys in her room at such a young age, she wondered if they actually knew that all the two ever did was snuggle up in bed and watch old VHS tapes. "But have no fear, if they come back, I will protect you because I am the man of the house." Nicole thought it was sweet that the younger boy wanted to protect his sister, his girlfriend would definitely be lucky. Julie smiled in amusement and crossed her arms over her chest. "Isn't dad suppose to be the man of the house?" Carlos crossed his arms too. "There can be two. Besides, dad needs all the help he can get right?" Julie and Flynn chuckled. Luke's breath was warm on the back of Nicole's neck and it took everything in her body to not shiver. Carlos pulled salt from his pocket. "According to the internet, salt burns their souls out." All four ghosts shared a look of panic and Luke squeezed his arms tightly around Nicole's waist. "A little sprinkle will keep them from ever coming in here." The boy began tossing salt across the garage first at Reggie who lifted up his feet, next was Luke who did the same, pulling Nicole backwards with him and lastly was Alex who he hit directly in the knees making Nicole pale."No! Oh god, I'm - I'm fine. I'm fine. Totally fine." Nicole let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and released the hand that was placed over her heart- or rather, where her heart was suppose to be. Julie cleared her throat loudly and Flynn quickly caught on distracting the young boy and taking him out of the garage.

"God Alex you scared me!" Nicole got off of Luke's lap and ran the blonde boy giving him a hug before hitting him on the head. "Now don't do it again." She pointed her finger at him and used her 'mum voice' as the boys liked to call it. "Shall we try this again?" Nicole nodded her head and grabbed her guitar from where she had placed it down earlier. "Yes please, but remind us later, there's some Sunset Curve songs we wanna show you." Nicole raised her eyebrows at the boy, surprised he wanted to show his songs to Julie. He had always told her that the songs he made were personal and that the band would always be the first to hear them, though she supposed Julie was apart of the band now. After all she had spent the entire weekend writing songs with Luke. "Oh Show me now!" Luke agreed, winking at Nicole as he went to find his journal"Home is where my horse is? Reggie stop putting your country songs in my journal." The boy huffed before taking the song out and putting it down. "That, was a gift." Luke hit his chest lightly with the journal. "Thanks buddy." Nicole moved over to Reggie knowing he was about to get disappointed. "You should maybe circle back..." As predicted he was ignored, Nicole hugged him, stroking his hair knowing he had liked it since she first started doing it when they were 5. Luke handed Julie the journal. "I dog-eared the ones I think you would slay." The girl flicked through the pages, scanning over the words that Nicole had read and most likely written. She chuckled lightly before stopping on a page. "Who's Emily?" Nicole frowned immediately knowing what song she was on about, her and Luke had spent many long, sad nights completing that song, the Patterson's almost being a second family to the blonde girl. "That one's not dog-eared." Nicole saw the heartbroken look on the boys face as he tried reach for the journal. Nicole stepped forward, shaking her head at the Molina girl.  "Julie, leave that one alone, ok?" Julie raised her eyebrow and carried on reading the song. "If you could only know, I never let you go. Wow Luke I didn't know you were such a romantic." Nicole gulped. "Julie! Seriously, enough." Julie frowned, she had never seen the girl get angry before. "He's not that one's actually about-" "No one." Luke was quick to interrupt Alex. "If you to the next dog-eared it's just- it's got a killer beat." Nicole smiled as Luke began playing a small riff that she had recognised. Julie sat down. "So you wanna sample?" Luke laughed lightly looking to Nicole, "What do you mean sample?" Nicole stood next to Luke. "Sample someone's music." Nicole's face turned into one of confusion as she stared at the girl. "Me and my mum used to sing that song at the top of our lungs all the time. It's a classic Trevor Wilson song." "I wha-? Who the hell is Trevor Wilson?" Luke made finger guns at her and Reggie nodded his head. " Nope, It's a classic our song." Reggie agreed. "Pure Sunset Curve. Never even heard of Trevor Wilson." Alex finally decided to speak. "Yeah, maybe your mixing it up with another song." Julie looked offended by the words that had just came out of Alex's mouth. "I don't mix up songs, trust me." Nicole and the boys still weren't convinced, so Julie showed them a picture of Trevor Wilson on her laptop. Nicole choked on air as she looked at the person on that screen. She walked backwards slowly until she had managed to back herself into a corner. "That's Bobby." Julie rolled her eyes. "Seriously? I just told you his name was Trevor." Nicole tried to exhale, her breath getting stuck in the back of her throat, that night coming into perfect view in her mind. The night the boys had no idea about, the night she was too scared to mention. "Great, well then he changed it. That's Bobby, he was our rhythm guitarist."  Tears swelled in Nicole's eyes and a hand flew to her chest as if it would help her breathing. Luke, realising Nicole's state quickly ran over, holding her face in his hands. "Hey! Hey! Look at me, your ok. What's wrong?" He wiped the tears from her cheeks, something he felt he had been doing a lot lately, he didn't like it. She took a shaky breath before placing her hands over his. "Luke... I have to tell you something. I need to tell you all something."