The River Styx - jatp/reggie

1.09

the night continued and two hours passed, while the boys remained m.i.a., leaving the girls sitting alone backstage.

styx was beyond angry at the boys. they promised they'd be here but they weren't. they broke her trust, and that was something that was extremely important to her.

as she turned to julie, she saw the girl sitting sadly playing with the cord of the hologram projector. seeing julie this upset only made styx more angry. they had finally helped bring music back into julies life and now it's like they didn't care.

styx had spent the last hour focusing all her energy and trying as hard as she could to flash to wherever the boys are. she hoped that if she focused hard enough she could maybe make it happen.

"styx, stop doing that. you're going to give yourself an aneurism." julie tells her and styx rolls her eyes. "it's not going to work."

"i just wish i could flash on stage without them! then at least we could play!" she throws her hands up in a huff.

as much as she tried, styx couldn't slow her heart beat. each minute that passed raised her anger and she felt like she was going to explode with rage.

flynn glanced at the girls from stage before walking to the curtain to talk to them.

"i can only stall for so long, it's eleven o'clock." flynn says, her voice slightly rushed.

"we know." styx tells her, deadpanned.

"i think you guys should just play it by yourself." she shrugs. "i mean, holograms or no holograms, you'll be amazing."

"you saw me the other day!" julie exclaims. "i can't play without them."

"and i can't flash on stage without them." styx reminds her.

"they'll be here." julie states, though none of the girls entirely believe it. "they have to."

flynn taps her wrist before heading back to her sound board, as nick joined the girls back stage. styx glanced at julie as she stood up, nodding that she was going to join flynn. julie forced a small smile as nick sat down next to her.

"this sucks." styx says as she approaches flynn on stage. flynn doesn't say anything, she just nods as she continues to flick a few buttons on her board.

"it could be worse?" flynn shrugs after a moment and styx rolls her eyes.

"how?" she stares at the girl.

"maybe they didn't bail, maybe they're like, trapped some where or something." she says, turning to styx.

"wow, thanks." she says sarcastically. "that makes me feel a lot better."

before flynn could respond, the two girls were shoved aside by nick, who grabbed the mic in front of them from its stand.

"hey everyone! we fixed the hologram thing!" he announces, making styx's eyes go wide. "who wants to see a show?"

the audience cheers loudly as styx looks to julie at the side of the stage. she stared at the girl in confusion but julie just shrugged.

"now, give it up, for julie and the phantoms!" he shouts and the student body cheers again.

he waved at julie to come on stage, and she reluctantly steps out from behind the curtain, stiffly walking towards him. he handed her the mic and she turned to the face the crowd, forcing a smile.

"uh, hi." she chuckles awkwardly as styx steps forward to stand beside her. "so here's the thing, even though we got the machine fixed, thanks to nick." she points to the boy and the audience cheers again. "we can't seem to link up with the guys. wi-fi, am i right?" she laughs slightly as the crowd falls silent. julie looks down sadly and styx grabs the microphone from her hand.