Nothing to Lose | Luke Patterson

Chapter Thirteen

The boys and I poofed into the audience; I watch Julie as she glances around the stage and then to the audience; I don't know how she's going to get herself out of this one.

"Hey," The stagehand runs on stage, "Where'd the rest of the band go?" Julie glances over at the four of us nervously, and I shrug, mouthing sorry to her.

"Wait. Were those holograms?" The purple-haired girl calls out; I sigh, relieved, and give Julie a thumbs up; holograms seemed like our best option.

"Yes! Yes, they were holograms." Julie exclaimed, pointing towards the girl in the crowd, "I plugged it into the ceiling projector before the show. I'd explain it, but it involves algorithms and science stuff." The small crowd bursts into applause, believing Julie's lie about the holograms.

"That's wild," Luke points out, "they could see us when we were playing, but not when the music ended."

"Yeah, we know," I reply dryly, "we were there." Luke's smile fades slightly; he didn't think I'd forgive him that quickly, did he?

"We should double-check," Reggie suggests; he moves onto the steps and does a weird shimmy towards the audience. "Yeah, I don't think they can see us." He confirms after observing the audience's reactions.

"I wish I couldn't see you," Alex mumbles loud enough for us to hear.

"Okay, people, show's over." The principal announces to all of the students crowded around the stage. "Let's get back to class, please." Everyone in the crowd starts dispersing, heading towards the exit.

"Watch this," Reggie whispers to me; I watch him walk over to the girl in the purple wig.

"What was that?" The girl in the pink wig asked in an annoying tone.

"Hey there." Reggie greeted; both girls ignored him, the pink-haired girl complaining to her friend, "Hi." He tried again, still nothing. "I'm Reggie." Both of the girls began walking towards the doors, "Could I call you sometime? What's your number?"

"Wow," I walk over to Reggie, patting his back, "Now that," I gesture to the two girls walking away, "that was smooth."

"Come on, guys," Luke and Alex come over to where Reggie and I are standing, "Let's go wait in the halls for Julie and then surprise her." Alex and Reggie nodded in agreement; I sighed; of course, he wants to wait for Julie.

"Ou, we should make a pyramid," Reggie exclaims; I roll my eyes at their childishness and lean against the lockers. "Charlie, you can go on top."

"No thanks," I said, picking at the chipped polish on my nails. The boys shrug and begin forming a pyramid, both of them holding Luke up in the center.

"Julie," They exclaim excitedly as she turns the halls.

"Ah, you!" She exclaims, "stop doing that!"

"I hate to break it to ya," I finally speak, "but they probably won't."

"Seriously?" Julie groans; I chuckle lightly at her annoyance and nod.

"Whoa! This one's all on you. We were already here." Reggie says, holding his hand's up in defense. "Well, actually, we were over there," He points to farther down the hall, "and then we came over here."

"Are we not gonna talk about what happened?" Luke exclaimed, changing the subject.

"Yeah, the whole school saw you, it's kinda freaking me out," Julie admitted; I nodded in agreement.

"Okay, good, 'cause it's kind of freaking me out too," Alex admitted, "you know, you can see us, and people could see us play whenever we play music." Alex rambles, gesturing widely with his hands, "and my clothes are made of air, but for some reason, I'm still getting a wedgie." Julie and I share a glance, both of our faces scrunched up in disgust. "So many questions," Alex finishes his mini-rant.

"The important thing is, we rocked that place." Luke exclaims, turning to face Julie, "They loved you!" I cross my arms over my chest; of course, the only person he acknowledges is Julie.

"Are you kidding?" Julie asks, shaking her head, "They loved us." I smile lightly at her, "Charlie, you should have seen some of the guy's faces when you poofed in; they couldn't stop looking at you." I blush slightly and shake my head; they definitely weren't looking at me.

"Did you guys see the cheerleaders looking at me?" Reggie asks excitedly, "Well, I think they were looking at me." He grabs Luke's shoulders, "please tell me they were looking at me."

"Bro," Luke grabs Reggie's face, "they were looking at you."

"Oh, I knew it," Reggie exclaimed, moving away from Luke; He holds his fist out to me, and I roll my eyes, tapping mine against his lightly.

"I'm so confused, you know?" Alex says once again; I sigh, here we go again. "The afterlife should come with instructions, or a quick start guide or something."

"Well, the good thing is, everyone thought you guys were holograms," Julie reminds us; I nod in return, still shocked that everyone believed her lie, "and I got back into the program." She says, not sounding nearly excited as she should be.

"And you upset about it because?" I ask; even though I hardly knew this girl, I still felt for her.

"Yeah, dude, you're making this face," Luke tells her, wrapping his arm around Reggie and Alex's shoulders; the three of them fake pout at her. Typically, I would have found Luke's fake pout adorable, but I was too annoyed with him still.

"Ignore them," I tell Julie, "So what's up?"

"Thing's just got weird between me and Flynn," She confessed; I nodded for her to continue, "She asked about you guys, and I couldn't say."

"Sweet," Reggie exclaims, "girls are talking about us." Luke smiles happily at him, both of them high fiving.

"Stop," I warn them both, hitting Reggie's arm. "She's serious," I turned to Julie again, gesturing for her to go on.

"I can't tell her about you guys for the same reason I can't tell my dad," Julie continues, "She'll think I've gone off the deep end."

"Well, this dude definitely thinks you've gone off the deep end," Reggie tells her, pointing to the janitor that is walking over to us. He looks at Julie with a concerned expression before turning the hall.

"I gotta get back to class," Julie says, walking past us.

"Later, Julie." Reggie greets her, "Oh, tell those cheerleaders I'm single."

"Oh, and that he's dead," I yell to her, smirking playfully at Reggie.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Reggie exclaims, "leave that part out."

"Too late," I tease him, "Okay, are we done here?" I ask them; all three boys nod, and I poof away, excited to be back in the comfort of our own studio.
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So excited for y'all to read the next chapter, should I post it later or wait until tomorrow?🙈