Wake Up| JATP

Chapter 1

Nicole Jones was a simple girl. She loved music, she loved her friends and most importantly she loved her family despite how little they loved her. When her closest friends died in 1995 her life had become less simple. She became more reckless than usual, she stopped playing music and she stopped caring. The death of her childhood friends had sent her down a spiral, one that she couldn't escape which caused her to overdose in 1996. Nicole Jones' death didn't have much of an affect on anyone besides her best friend Marley Smith. Nicole's parents moved on rather quickly from her death, taking down any pictures with her in it and changing her bedroom into a guest room. Most of her belongings had been thrown away or given to Marley. Marley had been the only one to cry at Nicole's funeral, the only one to visit every month on the day her life ended. That was what she was doing now. Like every other 7th August, Marley woke up early, went to the flower shop around the corner, it use to be a sweet shop when they were kids, and would buy purple lilies because they were Nicole's favourite, and put them down on her grave, after that she would spend a small time crying, then talking to the stone as if her best friend could hear. Technically she could but of course Marley would never know that. Nicole sat and listened to Marley talk to her gravestone, her heart breaking with every crack in her voice and every memory she would bring up from their childhood. "I miss you so much Marley, I'm so sorry."

After Marley had gone home, Nicole walked aimlessly around the streets of Hollywood, following people around for no reason apart from the fact that she was bored. So bored, being on your own for 24 years wasn't exactly what she imagined when she died. When the sun began to go down, Nicole made her way to the spot she was supposed to perform with her friends the night they died, the Orpheum. She remembers the night her 3 friends died. The call for an ambulance, the ride to the hospital were she nervously picked at her fingers the whole time and the nurse coming out with a sympathetic look on her face which made Nicole's stomach twist and turn like thread and telling her that the boys hadn't made it. She remembers going home in the back of her parents car, them both not caring about the fact that their daughter was hurting, physically and emotionally. Instead they lectured about how she could now get better friends and maybe make her life worth living. She remembers before all of that, her and her best friends were sat together on a worn down couch, 2 hours away from the greatest nights of their lives, and how Luke said that the night would change their lives, well I suppose he was right. She also remembers her and Luke fighting, something she wishes she didn't have to remember because she would do anything to take it back.

She sat on top of the Orpheum theatre, her trainer clad feet dangling below her, the blue light up sign, casting a blue glow on her skin. She watched as people walked past, some with friends, some with lovers or family and for a second, just one, Nicole regretted ending her life. They all looked so happy and content with what they had. Big smiles on their faces and laughter all around. Nicole often wondered what her life would've been like if she hadn't died, she could never think of anything good. A white spark pulled her from her daydream. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears, her breathing becoming uneven. She had to be dreaming. But she wasn't, she could recognise those chocolate brown eyes anywhere and the sound of their voices, was so familiar, so much like home. They must've felt her presence or heard her heart beating rapidly in her chest because they had turned around, staring at her in confusion. "What the hell?"