Rose's Journal

Chapter 1: The Discovery

It was the middle of the day, and Julie was still in school. Alex was out with Willie and Reggie was hanging with Ray, so Luke needed something to do. He settled on snooping around in Julie's room his favorite midday activity His eyes went directly to the chest: he's never looked, always fearing Julie's wrath if anything was damaged. But she wouldn't be home for hours, and he couldn't think of anything better to occupy time. He opened it to find all of Julie's mom's old stuff, he saw some tickets and a few of the outfits Julie had worn. Suddenly, he hears footsteps coming up the stairs. He thought it was Ray coming, so he gets scared and slams the chest closed. When it closed, he felt something snap open. "Oh crap" he said, "I broke the chest. Julie's gonna kill me." However, he realized that the slam had only revealed that there as a false top on the chest hiding something: a journal

"It must be Julie's diary," Luke said smirking, "I️ wonder if I'm in it. Dare I look?" he says aloud. "Of course, this is me I'm talking about." He opened it and discovered that it is Julie's mom's, Rose's, journal. The beginning was all about Julie as a kid, Luke smiles at the stories about Julie learning the piano and writing. Her mom talked about how Julie automatically gravitated towards the piano, and she had talent from the start. Her mom always knew she was going to be a star. He kept reading until he found an entry that changed everything.

"Dear journal" it said, dated 4 years ago, "I went to clean out the studio today only to find that this was Sunset Curve's studio! Trevor's old band! I was curious as to why he never told me this was his old place, but now I think I've figured out why. I found a songbook that was Luke's with all of Trevor's early songs in it. So, I️ did some more digging online and realized Luke never got any type of writer credit for the songs. All the credits only lie in Trevor's name. Why would he steal from his old band?"

Luke, completely captivated and confused now, goes to the next entry. "I dropped Julie off at Carrie's house to hang out, and I decided to see if he was home. He wasn't home, so I decided to do some snooping in his home office because something isn't adding up here. Why wouldn't he give Luke credit for the songs? I found his first solo contract hanging in his home office. I looked at it and realized that the signing date was the morning the band died."

Luke gasped. Bobby was in the band with them. Why would he go out and get a solo contract, unless he knew this was going to happen to them? Could Bobby be behind their deaths? He skipped ahead to the year she died, "I have not been able to get Sunset Curve out of my mind, despite how I've tried. I can't let Julie or Carrie get hurt in this, but something isn't right I can feel it. I decided to see what the band's parents might know, so I looked up Luke's mom, Emily. She was the only one who contacted me back. You could tell the pain she was still feeling, and I couldn't console her: I couldn't tell her if Bobby killed her son or that he actually was a huge success. I have to make this right, for her. She has to know the truth about the music and possibly the truth about his death."

Luke began to cry softly. It hurt him to know that his mom was in so much pain and merely the mention of his death. He wished Rose had told her the truth. The next and final one was marked Oct. 25, 2019. "Dear journal, I went to talk to Bobby today about all that I know. He was NOT happy. He denied everything, despite my proof. I wanted him to make it right, but I guess I'll go to the press myself. I️ won't let him take credit for their work anymore. I'm not sure about how they died, but I️ do know that he is a song thief. I️ recorded his confession. I'm going to take it there now. Tomorrow, everything changes."

Oct. 25, 2019. Why was that date so familiar? He looked around Julie's room and found the printed copy of her mom's obituary "Sept. 19, 1977 - Oct. 25, 2019." His stomach sunk. Was this Bobby?

Suddenly, Julie opened the door and came in. They both screamed, not expecting the other to be there. "Boundaries," Julie said as Luke hid the journal.

"Why aren't you still at school?" Luke said, still a little shocked.

"Early release because of a pep assembly," Julie said, sounding slightly irritated, making her way over to see what Luke was looking at. "Oh," she said solemnly, "you're looking at my mom's obituary. I haven't read it it's been too hard, so it just sits there until I can read it."

"Sorry to ask," said Luke, "but how did your mom die?"

Julie sighs: she hadn't thought about HOW it happened in a while. "Hit and run," Julie said, "but they never found out who did it."

"What was she going to do?" Luke said, feeling uneasy.

"We don't know," she said. "All I know is we got a call from Bobby saying he was driving by and found my mom on the side of the road, and she was.." Julie paused, unable to say the words. "I wish I could've stopped her from leaving. I wish I had known. Nothing she had to go do was worth losing her life over."

Luke brought her in for a hug, holding her as she tried not to break down. "We didn't even know she was going out. She left undetected." Julie said. Luke felt sick. "Why the curiosity?" Julie said, lifting her head up from the hug. "I don't know, I guess I just want to know more about you." said Luke, not wanting to tell Julie until he could confirm it. She laid her head back on him and squeezed him tightly. He didn't know how or when he would let her in on what he knew, but he knew he had to tell her. Soon.