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I left as soon as morning came after saying goodbye to Cora, who sent me on my way with a bag of clothes that I had left and that she no longer wore. At school, I stayed with Harry and Oliver, quiet as I worked out my next move. I couldn't stay with the boys, their parents were strict with that which left me with not many places to go. "So what are you gonna do?" Oliver asks putting his arm over my shoulder.
"I'm not sure, maybe I'll book a motel for a few days," I shrug, "Find a job, I don't know, I'm not going back there," I say, Oliver, rubs my shoulder with his hand.
"You'll figure it out, you always do," He says and I give him a smile appreciating his encouragement. "What about Julie?" He brings up suddenly
"I can't ask that of her," I shake my head, "No she doesn't know me well enough for that, and her family, they don't know me like that," I pick at the skin around my nails.
"You shouldn't be afraid to ask your friends for help," Harry says, "I wish our parents would let you stay with us," He mumbles adding onto his statement. "I'm sure if you explain the situation to Julie, she would be completely fine with you staying with her for a few nights," I sigh knowing that Harry was right.
"I'll think about it," I say. I push Oliver's arm off of me, "Now go to class," I say getting a slight push from Oliver who smiled at me. I scrunch my face up playfully and say goodbye and heading towards my class.
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After school, I went to Julie's. I sigh shakily knocking on the door. I wait a few seconds before shaking my head, I shouldn't ask this of Julie. "Cherry?" Julie asks and I turn around. "What's wrong?" She asks noticing my face.
"Uh..." I fumble for a few seconds. "I was just," I inhale "I can't go home," I tell her and she opens the door wider.
"What happened?" She asks worriedly
"My mom and I... We uh... We fought," I explain plainly not knowing how to explain it. "She basically told me I'll never get anywhere with music and I kind of just stormed out. I can't go back there, and I had nowhere else to go, Cora is out of town, and Oliver and Harry's parents won't let me stay," Julie frowns
"You can stay here, I have to clear it with my dad but I think he'd be perfectly fine with it," I nod
"Thank you," I say, "Seriously, I can't thank you enough," She pulls me in for a hug. I accept it, gratefully.
"You would do it for me," She says when we pull away. I smile and sigh.
"Where are the boys?" Julie's face takes a sour look immediately. "They haven't made it up to you yet?" I say shocked
"They've tried, I'm just not interested in listening," She shrugs, I sigh knowing she was stone on this situation. "I was about to head into the garage, come with me?" I shrug knowing I had nothing better to do and follow her. The boys stood in front of the door waiting for her.
"We're sorry!" Reggie sings
"So sorry!" Alex sings next
"We're super-duper-crazy-stupid-sorry," Luke gets down on his knees as he sings. The boys harmonized the last part. I snort out laughter as Julie's face was unamused.
"In case you missed it, we're really sorry," Reggie adds and Julie doesn't budge.
"Yeah, I got that part," She said, her tone dry.
"We've been here for like, 3 hours," Alex speaks as he and Reggie high-five.
"We almost sang to your little brother," Luke says
"He comes in here a lot, mainly to use the bathroom," Reggie says and they all scrunch up their face as if in disgust.
"It isn't our favorite part of the day," Alex admits
"But, Julie, it wasn't okay, that we flaked on the dance last night," Luke starts "We know we let you down," Each boy nods in agreement.
"Yeah, and none of us wanted to disappoint you. You're the best thing to happen to us since we became ghosts," Alex tells Julie, her face softens at Alex's statement but the annoyed look return as soon as Luke began to speak.
"So, in hopes that you will rejoin the band, we booked a new gig," Luke hands the paper to Julie who takes it and glances at the name.
"A mega important life-changing gig!" Reggie adds I look over Julie's shoulder at the paper.
"You booked Eats and Beats? How the hell did you manage that?" I look up at the boys shocked, Luke smirks smugly. "We're playing that too, with a friend of Harry's," I add as an afterthought thinking about how Cora was out of town and how we needed a drummer for the gig and Harry's friend agreed to do it for a small price.
"Check it out. Tons of managers go here to listen to new bands. All we got to do is blow them all away and we're living the dream," I snort at the use of the word living. Julie doesn't look super impressed.
"So this means a lot to you, huh?" She asks the boys, specifically Luke. I cringe knowing where this was going. "Kind of how playing in front of my entire school meant a lot to me," She connects and the boy's faces dropped out of realization.
"Sounds like sarcasm," Reggie adds innocently. "I'm starting to think our plan isn't working,"
"Honey," I say shaking my head and Alex looks back at him in disbelief.
"Look, we know we messed up," Alex says to Julie
"But we need you in the band," Luke says
"Of course you do," Julie says, her voice angry and annoyed. "Because without me, no one can see you guys playing. You know, I thought the music we were writing was special, but you're too obsessed with your past to even care." I see the looks on Reggie and Alex's faces at Julie's words.
"I do care!" Luke argues "Our band has a real chance at greatness, I'm not gonna let that get away from us, again."
"Uh-huh, right. So then why did you bail on me to get back at Trevor? I'll tell you why, cause there's only one thing you care about, and that's yourself." My mouth gaps at Julie's words, they were harsh and cold.
"Julie," I say disapprovingly, she doesn't take a moment to think about what she just said instead turns around and leaves. "She didn't mean that," I say Alex echoed my words. I frown watching Luke disappear.
"Where is he going?" Reggie asks
"Where do you think?" Alex turns to look at Reggie. "Remember what today is?" Both boys sigh in sadness.
