Bruises - JATP Fanfic (Luke x OC)

Chapter 9

"Where'd the rest of the band go?" The tech guy runs up on the stage, appalled at the fact that the boys just disappeared in front of everyone.

"Wait, were those holograms?" One of Carrie's dancers asks, and Julie nods, confirming the fact. Brielle, feeling a headache coming on and about to pass out from exhaustion starts walking out of the gym even before they're dismissed.

"Brielle, where are you going?" Luke asks, poofing in front of her, but she just keeps walking to her dance class, hoping she can just sit out for today instead of walking laps. "Brielle?" Luke keeps poofing in front of her, hoping to get a reaction, but she isn't having any of it. "Gabriella, seriously." Brielle freezes. The only time people use that name is when her mother or father is punishing her.

"Gabriella, how late were you tonight?" Her father would remind her just before he started punishing her.

"Twenty minutes." She hung her head, already understanding her punishment.

"Twenty minutes means twenty punches. And if you dodge one, you get two extra."

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

"Don't call me Gabriella." Brielle finally gets to the locker room about two minutes before anyone else will show up, trying not to show the pure fear from his use of her full name. Brielle has always hated her full name, especially since it's the only name her parents reference her as. Her brother does as well, but considering she hasn't talked to him in years, she doesn't really know anymore

"Look, I'm just worried about you, okay?" Luke sits on the bench opposite the one she is, looking at the amazing, talented girl. He reaches out to her, trying to grab her hands and they pass right through. Brielle, wishing the person she is starting to truly like, lets a few tears drip down her cheeks, knowing her wishes aren't ever granted.

"I'll be okay. It may not be right now, but in the end, everything works out." Brielle constantly tries to tell herself that her life may not be perfect, but it'll always get better.

"Just promise me one thing." Luke looks Brielle straight in the eyes. "Stay alive, because you have so much to live for."

~❣~

"I think he's practicing his model strut." Reggie whispers to Luke, who are both sitting on the couch watching Alex pace back and forth anxiously. A million questions are running through Alex's mind, making him more anxious than ever since he doesn't have any way to answer them.

"He's so nervous, he's almost making me nervous." Luke replies.

"Okay, you guys know I don't handle change well." Alex stops pacing, just trying to rant to his best friends and bandmates. "Death? That was a change. Now ghosts? Another change. And now we can be seen by Julie's school whenever we play? Big freaking change."

"Dude, that's an awesome change!" Luke says, imagining exactly what he was twenty five years ago just before they died. To be the most famous band in the world, loved for their music by their millions, or billions, of fans. "With Julie, we can be the band we never got to be. You have got to be down for that."

"Of course I am. Who wouldn't? But I just want some answers, you know? Figure out why." Since they've come back, that's all Alex has really wanted, outside of playing music for people. To figure out why they're back in the land of the living as ghosts.

"Who cares about why? We need to invite Julie to join Sunset Curve." But, Luke isn't imagining Julie playing by his side. He's imagining the girl with bruises on her wrists and tear stains on her pillow.