Julie's POV

Oh no. No, no, no. Nick was walking towards me, and he looked angry. I grabbed Flynn's arm and started backing away.

"Julie, what are you doing?" Flynn asked. "It's just Nick."

"I'll explain later," I whispered. "But right now, we need to run!" I grabbed Flynn's hand and took off, dragging her down the hallway. I looked back and saw Nick running after us, even angrier then before. I shoved people aside, ignoring their angry protests and comments.

"Julie!" He yelled angrily. "You can't keep avoiding me forever!" My legs felt like they were about to collapse, but I ran even faster, keeping my grip on Flynn's hand so she didn't fall behind.

When we rounded a corner, I saw a small janitor's closet. I dragged Flynn inside and hastily shut the door, making sure it didn't slam.

"Jules, wh-" I slapped my hand over Flynn's mouth. A few moments later, I heard Nick run around the corner and down the hallway, the sound of his footsteps getting softer and eventually mingling with the chatter of teenagers in the hallway. I let out a sigh of relief and removed my hand from Flynn's mouth.

"Jules, are you okay? You're shaking," Flynn said. I looked down at my hands to see that they were indeed shaking violently. I shook them out and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine," I said, my voice cracking.

"No, Julie, you're not," Flynn said sternly. "What did you do to Nick? Why are you so afraid of him?" I groaned, knowing there was no way Flynn would let this slide.

"It started the day after we played the Orpheum," I said, sitting on an overturned bucket. "Nick came to my house with flowers, to congratulate me, but he was acting... off." Flynn squinted.

"Off, how?" She asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Then out of the blue, he cornered me against a wall, but after a few moments he got a hold of himself and left. I managed to avoid him at school for a week, until he came to my house a couple days ago at eight o'clock at night."

"What did he want?" Flynn asked quietly.

"He... he wanted to know where the guys were. He knows they're ghosts, Flynn. When I denied it, he grabbed my arm but I managed to yank it away and hide under my deck," I finished. "I hadn't seen him again until... well, just now."

Flynn gasped, her eyes tearing up. She leaned down and hugged me.

"Oh, Jules, I have no idea why he's doing this. Is this why you took a different route to your locker?" I only nodded, my hands still shaking. Flynn sighed.

"Maybe you should go home," she said softly. "Your dad doesn't have to know, and I can tell your teachers you're sick so they won't call home." I looked at Flynn with tears in my eyes.

"You'd do that for me?"

She grinned. "I'm your best friend, it's kind of my job." I giggled and sniffed, wiping my eyes with my sleeve.

"Come on," she said, pulling me to my feet. "I'm gonna go tell the teacher you're taking a sick day and I'm gonna make sure you're okay before coming to class."

"Sounds convincing enough," I said. Flynn let out a small chuckle and walked me to our home from. I waited outside while Flynn told her lie, trying to calm down, but my hands wouldn't stop shaking. After a few minutes, the last of the students went to class, leaving the hallway totally empty. Flynn came out of the classroom and put her arm around my shoulders.

"Let's get you home," she said as we walked back to my locker.

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Luke's POV

It had only been an hour since Julie and Flynn left for school, and the guys and I were already bored. We were just laying around the studio, not saying or doing anything.

I sighed and contemplated my recent revelation- the one about me being in love with Julie.

Back in the nineties, I'd barely even noticed girls. Sure, I had a couple crushes, but I was mainly focused on music. I made it my top priority. But with Julie...

She was different, somehow. She was the only thing I thought about more than music, and I didn't even mind. I never stopped thinking about her eyes, or her smile, or her amazing voice. When she was singing, she had a fire in her eyes, like this was the one thing she was born to do (which it definitely was). I had been told many times in my life (and afterlife) that I had the same fire.

"Guys!"

My thoughts were interrupted by Flynn's voice coming from just outside the studio. Why was she here? She should be at school with Julie!

Reggie and Alex rushed past me and opened the doors of the studio. Flynn was anxiously waiting on the other side of the doors, Julie's arm slung around her shoulder. I noticed that Julie's legs were wobbly, and it looked like she could barely stand.

"Julie!" I exclaimed, rushing forward to throw her other arm over my shoulder and help her into the studio.

"Oh my god, Flynn, what happened?" Reggie yelled, rushing over with Alex after they closed the doors.

"She had an... encounter," Flynn said, hesitantly.

"An-an encounter, what do you mean an encounter?" Alex asked, panic in his voice. I was barely listening, and as I laid Julie down on the couch, I realized that she was shaking.

"I won't say," Flynn's voice came from behind me. "She'll tell you when she wants to, but for now, you guys need to take care of her."

"Julie?" I asked softly. She looked up at me, and when I saw the tear running down her cheek, my heart broke. My voice died in my chest as I crouched beside the couch, stroking her hair softly. Reggie and Alex crouched down beside me, looking at Julie helplessly. Flynn was still behind us, and I could hear her nervously pacing around.

"You can go to school, Flynn," I said hoarsely, looking back at Julie's concerned best friend. Flynn bit her lip, obviously contemplating whether she should stay or not, before nodding and leaving the studio after casting Julie another worrisome look.

Once Flynn was gone, I turned back to Julie. Alex and Reggie were sitting close to her, not saying a word as they watched her silently cry. I grabbed her hand, squeezing it to let her know that I was there.

"Hi," Julie said quietly, looking at me with a small smile. Alex, Reggie and I chuckled quietly.

"Hi," I replied, rubbing my thumb along the back of her hand. "I thought you said you'd be home after school." She giggled.

"Change of plans." The four of us sat in silence for a moment before Alex spoke.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Julie's face fell as she sucked in a big breath.

"No. Not yet, anyways," she said, biting her lip. I scrunched my nose. I wanted to know what happened so, so bad. I had to know what happened. I wondered if it had been anything I could have prevented. I just really hoped it had nothing to do with Nick, because then I would really beat that kid to a pulp. What was his problem, anyway? What made him think he had the right to act like this? 

"Are you sure you're okay?" Reggie asked softly. Julie nodded. 

"Yeah," she said softly. Her answer didn't make me any less worried. 

"Are you sure?" Alex asked. "We can get you anything you need."

"Yeah, like anything at all," Reggie added.

"I'm okay, you guys. I just need a distraction is all," Julie said, squeezing my hand as she smiled at me.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" 

Julie broke out into a large grin. 

"Yeah!" She replied, her hand shaking a little less. "Have you guys ever seen High School Musical?" Alex, Reggie and I stared at her with confused expressions on our faces. We had never even heard of High School Musical.

"Duh, of course not," she said, smacking herself on her forehead. All three of us immediately jumped.

"Don't do that!" We said simultaneously. Julie shot us a bewildered expression before she started to laugh.

"You guys don't have to baby me," she said in between giggles. My heart fluttered in my chest. 

"Just don't hit yourself," Reggie chuckled. Julie smiled before looking back at me.

"Now, who wants to watch High School Musical?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julie's POV

The guys liked High School Musical a lot more then I expected them to. They were very into the story and the songs, and I found myself laughing at their newfound long attention span.

We had all squished together on Luke's couch to watch the movie, just like the night we played the Orpheum. I was so happy I could finally touch the guys- cuddling with them made me feel safe and protected. The memory of Nick chasing me down the hall had left my mind by the time the movie ended.

"Okay, that was a lot better then I thought it would be," Luke said, shutting my laptop. 

"Agreed," Alex and Luke said at the same time. I laughed, snuggling into Luke's side.

"I told you it was a good movie," I said, looking up at him. Luke chuckled as I leaned my head onto his chest.

"What do you guys wanna do now?" Alex asked, getting off the couch and stretching his arms above his head.

"Whatever Julie wants," Luke said, playing with a strand of my hair. I smiled, my stomach filling with butterflies again.

"What if we played Charades?" I asked, causing Reggie to immediately jump off the couch.

"Yes!" He shouted. "I love Charades!" Luke, Alex and I laughed at Reggie's crazy antics.

"Julie, you go first," Luke said, patting me on the back. I grinned and stood up, walking around the coffee table to the open space in the middle of the studio.

I tucked my hair behind my ears as I began to act out our performance at the Orpheum. I grabbed the cutoff bedazzled jacket I wore that night (it was hung over the back of a chair in the corner) and held an invisible microphone while I  mouthed the words to the song Stand Tall. 

"Stand Tall!"

"The night we played the Orpheum!"

Luke and Alex yelled at the same time. I nodded and pointed to Alex.

"Alex got it," I said, and Luke glared at me.

"Oh, come on!" He said. "I was reeeally close, can you give me that?" He stuck out his bottom lip and gave me his best puppy eyes, which I was getting slightly better at resisting.

"Sorry," I replied, "but Alex got it perfectly." Alex smirked at Luke, who crossed his arms and poured like a five year old.

"Okay, my turn," Reggie said, jumping over the coffee table.

"Um, that's not how you play, technically Alex-"

"I'm gonna start now!" Reggie said loudly, cutting me off by lightly pushing me to the side. I shook my head and sat back down next to Luke.

Reggie cleared his throat and began making strange motions with his arms and lags, flopping them around in the air. I raised my eyebrows.

"Does he even know how to play?" Luke asked skeptically.

"Come on, Luke, he's not that stupid,"Alex replied, as Reggie flapped his arms like a chicken and ended up tripping over the coffee table. Alex winced.

"Though, I've been wrong before," he said.

"Come, in, guys! It's not that hard!" Reggie said, slumping over in defeat. Luke looked at him incredulously.

"Really, Reg? You look like a fish out of water." Reggie's eyes widened as he pointed at Luke.

"You got it! I'm a fish out of water!" He shouted, violently jabbing his finger in Luke's direction.

"Really, Reggie? That was awful!" Alex said. Reggie pursed his lips.

"Well, if Luke guessed it then it couldn't have been that awful," he replied. Alex looked in my direction for help. I shrugged.

"He's got a point," I said, and Alex groaned and put his head in his hands, muttering something about needing new friends.

"Calm down, you guys, it's my turn," Luke said, getting up to take Reggie's place. Luke had barely even moved when there was a sudden pounding on the studio doors. All four of us jumped, and I swear my heart almost stopped.

 "What the-" Alex started, but was cut off by more banging. I got off the couch curiously. Who in the world was pounding on the doors like that? I started walking to the doors, but was stopped abruptly when Luke's hand shot out and grabbed my arm.

"Let us check it out first, Jules," he said. I hesitated for a moment, but then nodded when Luke gave me a pleading look. The guys walked over to the door and peaked through the windows. Alex and Reggie didn't react when they saw whoever was outside, but Luke's entire body noticeably tensed up.

"Oh, it's just your friend Nick," Reggie said, reaching for the door handle.

"Don't let him in!" Luke and I yelled simultaneously. Reggie and Alex looked back at me, and then to Luke, obviously confused.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked. "Why can't we let him in?"

"Because he hurt Julie," Luke said before I had a chance to open my mouth. I saw Alex and Reggie's eyes go wide as Nick continued to pound on the doors.

"He did what?" Alex said in a low, dangerous voice. Luke sighed.

"Ever since the Orpheum, he's been making her uncomfortable and scaring her," Luke said, pain evident in his voice. "Then, a few days ago, he grabbed her." Alex's jaw dropped.

"WHAT?!?" Reggie yelled. I bit my lip, trying to decide if I should tell them or not. I wasn't going to say anything, but one look at Luke's face told me that he knew there was something I wasn't telling them.

"That's... not all, actually," I said quietly. All three of them stared at me intently.

"The reason I left school so early was because... he started chasing me down the hallway, and-" my voice broke as the memories came back, but I forced myself to continue. "And Flynn was with me, and we barely escaped, I just feel so awful for putting her in danger-"

I was cut off by a loud bang on the door. Luke, Alex, and Reggie's eyes were dark and full of rage as they stood perfectly still- and all of a sudden, they exploded.

"HE IS GOING TO BE SORRY!"

"THAT LITTLE-"

"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!"

All three of them turned to yank open the doors- but all of a sudden, my chest contracted and I couldn't breathe. I gasped as I collapsed to the ground, my throat and lungs burning.

Through my tears, I saw the guys stop opening the doors and running over to me. The last thing I saw was Luke's face, his mouth forming a word that I recognized as my name, the silence deafening, before I passed out.

Aaaaand that's a wrap! This is when the story actually starts to go somewhere, I swear. Even though I love my Juke and Willex fluff, I think it's time I write some plot. 😂

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! See you tomorrow!