THIRD PERSON'S POV

"Listen, I'm sorry!" Chapa apologized as the tension between them was killing her.

"The whole thing about the mission was just—".

"I don't care about the mission anymore, Chapa" Julie interrupts.

"Really?" Chapa questions as confusion grows and fills her voice. "Then—then why are you avoiding me?" She asked. "I'm not," Julie denies and finally stops her pacing. Chapa leans against the wall, her arms crossed, and a brow was raised. "What? I'm not avoiding you," Juliana said, shrugging.

"It feels like you are. Did I do something else?" Chapa asked. She had no idea what had been going on with Julie in the past few weeks. They weren't connecting and Chapa desperately wanted to fix that. At first, Chapa had thought it had something to do with her mom. Her previous thought was that  Maeve was evil. But realizing that her theory was wrong, she moved to the next possibility.

The more Chapa came up with theories, the more she grew worried for her girlfriend. She just wanted Julie to open up to her. Was that asking for too much? "No, you didn't" Julie reassures her. "You're really confusing me, Jules" Chapa frowns. What could have possibly changed between them?

"I'm not trying to!".

"Then what are you doing?!".

Silence.

The silence was all she had been hearing from Juliana besides the short conversations they had every once in a while, instead of their usual longer, meaningful ones.

Chapa grew sick of it. She pushes her weight off the walls and walks over to Juliana Manchester. "Julie." the younger girl said, seeking an explanation for the distance Julie had put between them. "What is going on with you lately?" Chapa asked. "Nothing" Julie tugged at her bracelets and her eyes were glued to the floor.

"I don't want to talk about it" That statement was also something Chapa became annoyed and rather concerned with.

"And I want to help! But I can't do that if you don't let me in" Chapa stated. "I thought we talked about that?" She frowns. Quick to lace their hands together, Chapa gazed at them for a moment. Chapa hated to think the worst, and she hated to ask even more. But soon enough the question slipped out.

"Are you eating, J?".

"You can't be serious" Juliana said. "It was just a question" Chapa says, calmly. "Maybe- maybe that's the reason why your powers are glitching! Just—" She chimed. "Stop, Chapa!" Juliana scowled. "Yeah- yeah. You're right, sorry" Chapa nods, placing her hands in her pockets.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe the reason why my powers are glitching is because they're leaving me alone?" Juliana questions; "That maybe I can just be normal again?".

"I don't think that's how it works" Chapa slightly grins before it fades away just as quickly.

"Tesoro (Treasure), Your powers—".

"My powers are useless! Just like me" Juliana spats. Chapa's breath hitched. "You are not useless, Jules! Nobody's useless" She says. "Whatever you say, Chapa" Juliana rolls her eyes and purposely shoulder bumps Chapa before going back into Mika's room. Chapa scoffs, nodding her head before biting the inside of her cheek.

"Thanks a lot, Mika" Julie huffs as she shuts the door behind her and sits on the bed. "Did you tell her? Are you guys good now?" Standing up from the edge of her bed with her phone in hand, Mika smiled. Mika's attention was taken away from her bedroom footing opening up. Chapa walks in and stands in front of Juliana, pissed.

"I don't know what your problem is, but when you figure it out come and talk to me!".

"So that's a no..." Mika mutters.

After that, Chapa goes back out the window and leaves the two friends alone in an awkward, dead silent space.

"I thought talking about it would have helped" Mika tells Julie. "But it didn't" Juliana said. "Why didn't you just tell her?" Mika questions. Julie twisted her lips to the side and she sighed. "I don't know" was her response. "And what was that whole thing about eating?" Mika asked. "Were you eavesdropping?" Julie looks over at her. "Is it eavesdropping if you weren't even trying to be quiet about it?".

Juliana falls back onto the bed and loudly groans. "Why can't everyone just mind their own business? It's not that hard to do!" She grew angry as she talked. "We're just trying to help you!" Mika tells the girl. Juliana sits up and looks at Mika, turning her body fully towards her. "I don't want your dumb help!" Juliana spats.

"Juliana, if you don't talk to somebody about your feelings—". 

"Oh, my— Again about my feelings!?" Juliana laughed. "Chapa was right. You aren't yourself" Mika shakes her and goes to sit in her bay window, returning to her phone. She wasn't going to choose sides, obviously. And if she was, Chapa's would be the one she chooses. After all, she'd be choosing the side that made sense. Julie's just pushing everyone away for no reason.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Juliana responded defensively. "It means that you're being a total jerk to the people who want to help you!" Mika argued. "You're pretending that you have no idea what you are doing" She continues. "You're so stubborn that you don't even see how lucky you are" Mika says.

"You have parents who are just amazing, friends who adore you, and a girlfriend who cares like no other, yet you still don't think that's enough, do you, Manchester?".

"I mean that's the whole you're thinking about the move, right? Because you don't think Danger Force is enough for you" Julie's lips gaped and tears began to prick in her eyes. "Get out" Mika demanded. "You're joking?" Julie questioned. "Does it look like it?" Mika replied, looking her up and down. "Fine, whatever! It was a dumb sleepover anyway" Julie said as she began to grab her things to leave.

"What is with everyone?" She muttered to herself, placing on her shoe.

Walking out of Mika's room and heading downstairs, Juliana held her head back and closed her eyes.
"Julie?" Miles closed his laptop and spun around in the kitchen's island chair. He noticed Julie walking downstairs with the bag she had when she first arrived. "Hey, M" Julie responded, heading straight for the front door.

"Dude, where are you going? It's a complete thunderstorm out there" Miles warned as he got up from the chair and made his way toward Juliana.

She stops, leans against the wall, and places on her second shoe. "I'll manage. It's giving aesthetic" Julie tells him. Now back on both feet, Juliana opens the door and walks out. She jumps at the sound of the door closing behind her and crashing thunder hitting the night sky with its volts. "Juliana!" Miles called out as he didn't hesitate to follow behind his friend who clearly seemed to be out of it.

Teleporting in front of Juliana, Miles pushes her back before the rain can even hit her body.

"Dude, don't do that!" Julie caught her breath, her hand on her chest. Miles rolled his eyes and placed his hands on Jules's shoulder. "Let's go" Holding his fist in the air, Miles teleports them away. "Miles, don't-" Julie looked around and noticed that they were in a dark main room; The Mans Nest. Juliana turns and looks back at Miles.

"You're welcome" Miles scoffed with a slick smile before he teleported back home.

"He's lucky he's cute" Julie says to herself before she tosses her stuff in the booth and makes her way into the bedroom hallways.

Stopping in front of the door, Julie takes a few deep breaths and wipes the rest of her tears away that had fallen. Juliana opens the bedroom door with shaky hands. The room was pitch black so it took Julie's eyes a minute to adjust to the darkness. "Dad," Julie whispered. Making her way towards the king-size bed. He was snoring, knocked out cold. "Dad..." Juliana shook her father.

It didn't work.

"Dad, wake up!" Julie says in his ear. Jumping up, staring at Julie with small eyes, her father claps his hands in a rhythmic movement. As the dim lights are turned on, it is revealed that Ray is shirtless. Julie's sad face scrunched up in disgust for a moment. Ray rubs his eye, slowly drifting back to sleep in his state.

"No, no... Daddy, wake up, come on" Julie frowns, pulling him back up from falling on the mattress.

"Sweetheart? Wha-" Ray groggily answered in mid-yawn.

"I thought you were gone to stay with the twins? Is this a dream?" He asked, finally in a mindset to understand what was happening around him.

"Hey... What's wrong?" Ray asked, concerned as he heard his daughter sob after surging herself forward to hug him. Julie's crying echoed through the room. "Everyone hates me, Dad" Juliana's words were barely audible as she finally let herself release her pent-up emotions, her face buried in Ray's neck.

"Hey, Julie, no one hates you! What's going on?" Ray did his best to calm her down but it was hard for her to get a grip on her emotions at a time like this.

"I want to go live with Mom!".