Pirbuccus 85
Revenge of The Past
5 years ago
Jude Harrison, a 12 year old blond haired blue eyes girl, sat in her room alone crying. She started to think about her two best-friends, Angie and Hunter she lost in a car accident a couple of weeks earlier. She feels guilty about being there but not able to help them. She had known them since they moved to France. She continued to cry when suddenly she heard:
"Jude honey come down for dinner," yelled her grand-mother.
"I'm not hungry; I'll eat later," answered Jude.
Jude decided to stop crying so she grabbed her journal and started to write a song. Her dream was to become a singer, she remembered laughing about it with Angie. While writing the song, she started to think about Angie and Hunter so she decided to write about them.
"What are you writing?" said Jude's 18 year old best friend, Tom Quincy, while stepping into her room from her window. Jude jumped a little and answered: "I'm writing a song to help me deal with Angie and Hunter's death."
Tommy sat on her bed, grabbed her guitar which was on the floor and started playing. So Jude started to sing her new song then she started to cry and Tommy put his arms around her whispering comforting words in her ears.
"Jude, everything will be okay," said Tommy.
"How can you know Tommy, Angie and Hunter are dead and it's all our faults had we not gone to that party and gotten into a fight with them, they wouldn't have ran off drunk and gotten into that accident," said Jude.
"Look girl, you can't keep blaming yourself, it's not your fault you didn't tell them to drink and drive," said Tommy.
"Do you think the guilt ever goes away?" asked Jude.
"I think with time, the pain stops but the guilt, I don't know," answered Tommy.
"I've never lost anyone before now but I want to stop feeling so sad," said Jude.
"We'll be fine, it was an accident," said Tommy trying to ease his guilt.
"Thanks for being here for me Tommy," said Jude.
Tommy started to think of a way to tell Jude his news and the reason why he came to see her this late at night.
"I have something to tell you," said Tommy in a nervous voice.
Jude didn't hear him because she saw a picture of her with Angie, Hunter and Tommy and started to cry again.
"I can't stay here, it reminds me too much of Angie and Hunter, I think it's time I moved back with my parents," said Jude to herself.
"Are you sure they're going to want you to come back?" asked Tommy.
"Oh yes, they called a couple of weeks ago asking me to come back but I'll miss you Tommy," said Jude in a sad voice.
"Well I have some news for you, my band was asked to go on a tour all over America," said Tommy.
"Tommy that's awesome, this is what you always wanted, so what have you decided?" asked Jude all excited.
"After everything that's happened here, I think I'll go," answered Tommy.
Jude and Tommy sat there in her room without saying a word for what seemed to be an eternity. She asked him to lie down and hold her which he did. He wrapped his arms around her small waist and she put her head on his broad chest. That's how Jude and Tommy's families found them the next morning. They told their respective news to everybody and left France that same week.
5 years later
Jude woke up from a nightmare she had been having for last couple of years in which she was twelve and still living with her grandparents. She always has nightmare about the night she lost her two best friends. She then looked at her clock and it said 6.45AM. She ran out of bed and into her bathroom to take a shower and get dressed. She went down to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, grabbed her bag and left for school. She spent her whole school day thinking about her nightmare, even though she always had that nightmare, she thought there was something different about it. She kept thinking about it when her friend Katrina kicked her and pointed to the window. When Jude looked out, she was surprised at what she saw; it was Tommy, her childhood best friend and producer. He looked handsome in his black pants, blue shirt and dark aviator sunglasses leaning towards his blue car. Jude raised her hand,
"Can I go to the office please, I don't feel well?" asked Jude.
"Yes you can," answered the teacher.
Jude picked up her stuff and rushed outside to meet Tommy.
"What are you doing here?" asked Jude.
"I came to pick you up but aren't you supposed to be in class," said Tommy.
"I saw you standing out here and decided to come and see you," said Jude.
Jude and Tommy left for Rocksound Studio where Jude was an artist and Tommy was her producer. On the way, Jude looked out the window and started to think about her nightmare and Tommy sensed there was something wrong since Jude never sits in his car quietly, so he called her name. When she didn't answer, he put his hand on her shoulder then she looked at him.
"Girl, are you okay" asked Tommy.
"Yeah I'm fine, I'm just thinking about a nightmare I had" answered Jude.
"Maybe if you tell me about it, it will make you feel better" said Tommy.
"I don't think so, I've been having the same nightmare for years but last night was different" said Jude.
"Maybe you can tell me about this nightmare and you'll be able it understand it better" said Tommy.
Alright, it's about the night Angie and Hunter died, it always starts out the same way. You and I get into a fight with Hunter then he takes off in his car with Angie even if he's drunk. You and I go after them in your car, we use a different street to try and cut them off, they miss the light, we hit their car and they die but last night, after the accident they didn't die. I just don't know what it means," said Jude .
"Look Girl, it was just a dream maybe you should forget about it," said Tommy as they arrived at the studio parking lot.
They got out of Tommy's car, went inside and saw Sadie, the receptionist who is also Jude's sister, talking to Kwest, Tommy's best friend, who waved at them. They decided to get to work so Jude went into the booth and Tommy to the soundboard. She started to sing a song she wrote the night before, it was about her parents. After she finished recording, Tommy thought it was great so he started mixing and she sat next to him. When he replayed the song, she started to think about why she wrote the song. It was about her parents and how they were always fighting and yelling. She remembered writing that song to escape from the yelling, to stop hearing it. After the song was done, Tommy called her name but she didn't answer so he tapped her shoulder and she looked at him.
"Jude what's wrong, you seemed deep in thought?" asked Tommy.
"Oh, when you played back the song, I started to think about why I wrote it," said Jude.
"You want to talk about it," said Tommy in a calm voice.
"Well it's about my parents. My dad had an affair with his assistant and my mom found out so now all they do is fight and argue. Last night was one of those nights when I would hear them. I just can't take it anymore so I wrote a song and put myself in the music," said Jude.
"I'm sorry about your parents but you could always move out," said Tommy.
Jude looked at him with total surprise in her eyes and said: "I can't afford a place on my own, the nice places are too expensive for just me and all the places I can afford don't look so good,"
"So you can move in with me, I mean I've got the space, my house is huge for just me, we could split the costs of everything," suggested Tommy.
"I don't know Tommy, the press would make some story about it and I don't think you or I need any more bad publicity and I'm still not eighteen, so, technically, it'll be illegal for me to move in with you without my parents permission," said Jude with a sad voice.
"Look Girl, if you want to move in, it's fine with me we'll talk to Darius and keep it from the press, You'll be eighteen in a couple of weeks but in the meantime you can get emancipated if you want. With everything going on with your parents, it'll be easy," said Tommy.
"Tommy, I'd love to move in with you, so you talk to Darius and I'll try and talk to my parents," said Jude.
Tommy went to talk to Darius who was their boss and the owner of the studio while Jude went home to talk to her parents. It wasn't easy for both of them to convince Darius or Jude's parents since Darius knew it wouldn't be easy for them to keep this from the press but Tommy convinced him. Jude's parents on the other hand was another story, it was really hard to convince them. They didn't want their 17 year old daughter to move in with her 24 year old producer since they didn't like him. Over the last five years, since Tommy's band which was a boy band called 'Boyz Attack' went on tour in America, they became very famous. Tommy was known a bit as a playboy. He only dated a girl once and he was married to Darius' sister and divorced within a month which broke up the band. Jude brought up that she would apply for emancipation and would easily get because of her being famous and the atmosphere at home. After that, her parents reluctantly agreed. Jude ran upstairs to her room and called Tommy to tell him the news then she started to pack her things and went to bed. The next morning she went to school and told her friends Katrina and Jamie what she was doing.
"Hey guys," said Jude while going to join her friends at their lockers.
"Hey Jude what's going on, you look happy?" asked Katrina.
"Well I have something to tell you guys and you might not like it," said Jude a bit nervous.
"Jude we're your friends just tell us what's going on" said Jamie.
"Ok, my parents have been fighting and I wanted to move out so Tommy asked me to move in with him and I said yes, I move in this weekend." said Jude.
"Jude that's great but be careful to not fall for him and get your heart broken," said Katrina really happy for her friend.
"Jude are you crazy, you're going to move in with Lil Tommy Q an ex-boybander, if you wanted to move out you could move in with me," said Jamie with jealousy .
"Look Jamie I know you don't like Tommy because he's an ex-boybander but he's a nice person and he cares about me, you're a good friend and I just want you to support me," said Jude.
Jude, you may think he cares about you, he doesn't and you just can't see that cause you're in love with him," said Jamie before storming off leaving Jude and Katrina.
Jude was shocked, she knew Jamie had a crush on her but she didn't expect him to react like that. She looked at Katrina and said: "Are you really going to support me or are you just pretending to be happy for me?"
"I'm really happy for you but I agree with Jamie, you are in love with Tommy," said Katrina.
"Kat you know I have more than friendly feelings for Tommy but it's just a crush, it'll go away," said Jude and they both left for class.
After school, Tommy came to pick up Jude and she told him about her friends' reactions and he tried to make her feel better. Since it was Friday, they asked for the day off so they could pack Jude's stuff for her move. Tommy took Jude to his place, they decided to have dinner and watched a couple of movies since Jude didn't want to go home. Before the end of the second movie, Jude fell asleep on Tommy's shoulder; he turned off the TV and fell asleep. At 1.00 AM, Jude's cellphone started to ring loudly; she looked at the ID and saw that it was Sadie so she answered.
"Hey Sadie what's up?" said Jude.
"Jude where are you, are you okay, mom and dad are worried, come home now," yelled Sadie.
"Sades, I'm fine, I'm at Tommy's, we were watching a movie and fell asleep, I'll ask him to drive me home right now," said Jude before hanging up.
She woke up Tommy and asked him to drive her home which he did. When Jude got home, her parents weren't happy; they yelled at her for staying out late and told her not to do it again. Jude didn't listen to her parents and ran to her room where her sister was sitting on her bed.
"Sadie, what are you doing here?" asked Jude surprised to see her sister in her room.
"Mom and dad told me that you were moving in with Tommy and I wanted to talk to you about it" answered Sadie.
"Look Sadie, I know you're going to tell me that it's a bad idea to move in with him because you think I'm in love with him," said Jude in and exasperated voice.
"I wasn't going to say that sis, I was going to tell you to be careful and not fall for him or get your heart broken by him," said Sadie
"Sadie, I'm not going to fall for Tommy, he's my producer and best friend plus I've known him since I was a kid" said Jude.
"Jude, you can't help but falling for him, he is a very handsome man, I sure did and he broke my heart. I just don't want you getting hurt," said Sadie.
"Sades, I'm moving in with him because I can't afford a nice place alone not because I'm in love with him which I'm not" said Jude.
"Keep denying your feelings for him, you say you're just friends but friends don't look at each other the way you and Tommy do," said Sadie trying to convince her sister.
"Whatever Sadie, I'm tired and going to bed I have to go to work tomorrow," said Jude while changing into her pajamas.
"Okay I'll see you in the morning, good night" said Sadie while leaving.
The next morning Jude woke up early not wanting to be late, she left for the studio with Sadie. In the car, the two sisters started to talk,
"Sadie what did you mean last night when you said that friends don't look at each other the way Tommy and I do?" asked Jude out of the blue
"Oh, when you and Tommy look at each other, you're both always smiling and it's a different smile that reaches your eyes," answered Sadie.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Jude.
"Jude I'm not trying to stop you from moving in with him but you have feelings for him, you always have and Tommy's in love with you," said Sadie.
"Tommy's not in love with me," said Jude.
"Jude, Tommy's in love with you, I asked him out and he flatly refused saying something about how if I dated him it would ruin the relationship between you and him so I asked him if he had feelings for you and he said yes," said Sadie.
"Sadie having feelings for me and being in love with me are two totally different things," said Jude in a sad voice.
"You know Jude you keep talking about Tommy's feelings but you never denied having feelings for him," said Sadie with a smile.
"Sades I'll tell you why I didn't deny it but promise me it will never leave this car," said Jude.
"I promise whatever you tell me won't leave this car," said Sadie.
"Ok, I didn't deny having feelings for him because I'm in love with him and I know it's stupid but I fell for him," said Jude sadly.
"Jude that's great it's about time you admitted it," said Sadie with excitement.
"It doesn't matter how I feel because he will never know," said Jude.
They arrived at the studio and kept talking.
"Jude why don't you tell him how you feel," said Sadie.
"Sadie he doesn't feel the same way and there are a lot of reasons why I shouldn't tell him," said Jude while walking towards the studio.
"Like what, I mean he loves you, he's totally hot, he's rich," said Sadie
"Ok I'm going to ignore what you said and tell you my reasons. He's my producer, he's six years older than me, it's against studio rules to get involved and the media would make a big deal about it," said Jude exasperated.
"Look Jude we have to get to work so let's talk over lunch," said Sadie.
Jude said goodbye to her sister and went into the studio to find Tommy but didn't see him there, so, she decided to check his office. When she went into his office, she saw an envelope addressed to her and Tommy on his table, she opened it and it said:
I know you killed Hunter and
Angie. You'll pay.
Your Past
Jude got scared and tried to get out of there but she bumped into Tommy. He was coming into his office to get some papers for Darius but when he saw Jude so scared, he got worried. He wanted to know what was going on.
"Jude, what's wrong?" asked Tommy concerned
"Nothing's wrong I'm just not feeling well," said Jude with tears rolling down her face
"Girl, I've known you forever, now will you tell me what's wrong," said Tommy.
Jude gave him the letter without saying a word. He opened the letter and was shocked but he also knew why she was crying. Tommy knew that the accident hurt Jude more than him and that she still feels guilty like him but it comes out easily for her. He put a comforting arm around her and whispered comforting words in her ears. After ten minutes, they were on the couch, Tommy was holding Jude who was on his lap when she saw the time.
"Tommy, we have to get to work," said Jude while wiping away all her tears.
"Do you have a new song?" asked Tommy while walking into Studio A.
"No but I want to record the song you helped me write the night after Angie and Hunter's funeral," said Jude.
"Are you sure, you said you wrote that to put those feelings away," said Tommy.
"Yeah, but somebody knows about that night and what happened so I think it's time to bring back those feelings," said Jude.
"If you're sure so get into the booth and sing," said Tommy not wanting to argue with her.
Jude started to sing the song she wrote with Tommy that night five years ago. By the end of it, she had tears falling down her cheeks and Tommy looked like he was going to cry when Kwest, Sadie, Darius and Vin, Kyle and Wally, the guys from Jude's back-up band, walked in to see Tommy on the verge of tears and Jude in tears. They all wondered why Jude and Tommy were sad.
"Jude, T what's going on here, I pay you to work not sit around," yelled Darius.
Tommy snapped out of it and saw Jude on the floor crying. He got out of his chair and went to her, put his arms around her and comforted her. The others were all shocked by the fact that Tommy made Jude stop crying with a hug. Sadie was going to say something but the phone rang; Sadie answered and put it on speaker.
"Your truth will be revealed soon, very soon," said the caller in a mechanical voice.
Everybody but Jude and Tommy started to laugh saying that it was a great joke but Jude and Tommy didn't think it was a joke. The others walked into the room where Jude and Tommy were.
"What's going on here and why is Jude crying," asked Sadie.
"Nothing's going on, the song I recorded was a sad one so when I sang it, the emotion in it came back and I started to cry," answered Jude.
"So why was T sad?" asked Kwest.
"I wasn't sad," answered Tommy.
"You're both lying, there's something that's bothering you and it has something to do with this new song and that phone call," said Vin.
"Look guys there are stuff we aren't ready to talk about," said Tommy.
"But when we are ready, you'll be the first to know and yes Vin you're right whatever's bothering us has something to do with the song and phone call," said Jude.
"Come on Jude, let's go to lunch," said Sadie.
"You go ahead, I'm not hungry," said Jude.
The others left the studio thinking there was something wrong with Jude and Tommy.
Jude and Tommy left and went to his house where the movers were unloading all of Jude's things. They decided to start unpacking. They spent the lunch hour unpacking when Tommy's phone rang; it was Darius telling them that they had the rest of the day off. They spent the rest of the day together unpacking and joking around. At night, Jude decided to go home and spend one last night at her parents' before moving in so Tommy dropped her off. When she got inside, she went straight to her room which was now empty. She felt sad and started to think about all the time she spent in that house and all her memories but she was interrupted by the yelling of her parents. She was tired of hearing them argue so she tried to go to sleep but couldn't, all she could hear were her parents arguments. She decided to do anything to pass the time but couldn't since all she could hear were her parents' arguments so she decided to call Tommy,
"Hello," said Tommy answering the phone in a sleepy voice.
"Tommy, I'm sorry did I wake you?" said Jude
"Jude why are you calling me at, said Tommy looking at the clock, "two in the morning, are you okay?"
"I can't sleep, I was hoping I could come over tonight?" asked Jude.
"Sure you can, do you want me to come and get you?" said.
"No thanks, I'll drive myself," said Jude before hanging up.
Jude got out of bed, grabbed her car keys and went to Tommy's. When she got there, she remembered that she didn't have a key; she didn't know how to get in. She didn't want to wake up Tommy so she started to pace while thinking of a way to get in when suddenly the lights were turned on, Jude turned around and saw Tommy standing at the door in his boxers.
"Hey Girl, come on in" said Tommy.
"Hey Tommy, I'm sorry for coming here at this hour" said Jude apologetically.
"It's okay, though you should take another room tonight since the one you are going to use is full of your unpacked things," said Tommy.
"Do you have another room that I can use?" asked Jude.
"Yeah I do, I'll show it to you and tomorrow I'll give you a tour of the house," said Tommy.
Tommy showed Jude her bedroom for the night and they both went to bed.
The next morning at 6 o'clock, Jude's cell phone started to ring, she groaned and answered without looking at the caller ID, it was her mother.
"Jude Elizabeth Harrison, it's six in the morning, where in the world are you?" asked her mother with anger.
"Mom, I'm at Tommy's," said Jude.
"I thought you weren't moving until this weekend," said her mom.
"I'm sorry mom, I just couldn't sleep since you and dad were arguing," said Jude.
"Okay Jude, good bye," said her mother.
Jude got out of bed and went downstairs. She decided to make some coffee when Tommy came downstairs with wet hair and no shirt. Jude thought he looked sexy without his hair done. When he saw Jude he grabbed a shirt and put it on. He looked at Jude and said: "Morning Girl, I wasn't expecting you to be up at this time,"
"I don't usually get up at this time but I got a 6.00 AM wake up call from my mother this morning," said Jude.
"What did she want?" asked Tommy.
"She just called to know where I was," said Jude.
"Ok, let's unpack your things and clean your room" said Tommy.
"Sure but I'll need a cup of coffee and a shower first," said Jude.
"You grab a shower and I'll start unpacking," said Tommy.
Jude got her cup of coffee and went upstairs to take a shower while Tommy went into her room to unpack. He opened a box which was labeled memories and saw pictures of Jude and a lot of people but it was mostly of Jude and him. He was going through the pictures when Jude came into the room fully dressed with wet hair. Tommy thought: "Damn she looks beautiful," When she saw him going through her box of memories, she went to help him unpack. They decided to put the pictures all over the house for decorations and moved on to another box which was her clothes. She put all her clothes in the closet. They were almost done; they put her school stuff on the desk, left her guitar on the floor and the walls bare. Then Tommy decided to give Jude a tour of the house, on the first floor was the kitchen, the living room and dining room, on the second floor was four bedrooms with adjoining bathrooms, on the third floor there was a home recording studio and a workout room, the game room and there was another studio in the basement but in this one there were instruments. Outside there was a pool and a Jacuzzi. Jude was tired from all the unpacking so they had lunch and got a call from Darius telling them to come into the studio at 2 P.M.
After lunch, they went to work and Sadie wanted to talk to Jude so Tommy went into studio A to work on Jude's song from yesterday while Jude stayed at the front desk to talk to her sister.
"Hey Sades, what did you want to talk about?" asked Jude.
"Well Kwest asked me to move in with him and I told mom and dad," answered Sadie.
"I'm glad you're moving in with Kwest but what do I have to do with this," said Jude.
"Well mom and dad want us to have dinner with them tonight to talk," said Sadie.
"That's fine, it'll be my last night at home even though I won't spend the night there," said Jude.
Jude left Sadie and went into studio A to find Tommy. She thought she would find him busy working but he was frowning over a piece if paper. She went to him, called his name but he didn't answer so she grabbed the paper from his hand and it said:
Tell the police
what you did five
years ago or I will
Your Past
She sat down next to him and got worried when Darius walked in and said: "I pay you to make music not sit around doing nothing," Jude and Tommy looked up at him then started to work. Tommy played back the song and they both started to think about that night when Kwest walked in and said: "You two should be working not daydreaming about each other," They both snapped out of their thoughts, Jude blushed and Tommy ran his hand through his hair.
"Do you guys want to tell me what's going on," asked Kwest
"There's nothing going on," answered Tommy.
"Look you guys, you're both acting really strangely so I just thought there was something wrong," said Kwest worried about his friends.
"Kwest, we're fine, we're just stressed out," said Jude.
"Fine if you say so, I'll go see Sadie," said Kwest.
Kwest left leaving them alone in the studio; they were both worried about the note and about what happened five years ago. If it came out, it would ruin both their reputations. They wanted to know who else apart from them would know what happened that night but couldn't remember anybody.
After a couple of hours, they decided to call it a day and went home. Jude took a shower changed for dinner at her parents. When she was leaving Tommy saw her and asked: "Where are you sneaking off to?"
"I'm not sneaking, I have to go to dinner with my parents, I'll be back later said Jude before leaving.
She got into her car and went to her parents'. When she got inside, her parents were in the living room with Jude's maternal grandparents, their uncle, aunt and Sara and Jake, her cousins who didn't like Jude very much. They were talking about how they were visiting for a couple of days and staying there while they were in town when Sadie came in and said hi. They all turned around and Jude's mom and dad said: "Hello girls,"
"Hey everybody, what's going on here?" asked Sadie confused.
"What do you mean?" said her dad.
"Well what are they doing here?" asked Sadie pointing at the extended family.
"Oh, they're just staying here while they visit for a couple of days," answered her mom.
"Well let's have dinner, shall we," said Mr. Harrison .
Everybody moved to the dining room where Mr. and Mrs. Harrison sat at the two ends on the table, Jude, Sadie and their cousins on Mr. Harrison's right and their grandparents, uncle and aunt on the left and there was an awkward silence so Sadie broke the silence and asked: "Hey Jude, how's your new song coming?
"Which song Sades?" asked Jude.
"The one you were working on last night when the others and I walked in and Tommy took you in his arms," said Sadie.
"Sadie," yelled Jude while blushing.
"Oh that song, we're working on it, it should be done by Monday," said Jude.
"Music, that's not something you can make a career out of," said Jude's grandmother in a negative voice.
"You were in his arms," yelled Mrs. Harrison angry after realizing what Sadie said.
"Mom what are you talking about?" asked Jude.
"Didn't your sister just say that she walked in and you were in Tommy's arms?" asked her mother.
"Well yeah, I was singing a song, I started to remember why I wrote it and I stated to cry because it brought back some sad memories so Tommy put his arms around me to comfort me," explained Jude.
"So Sadie, how's university?" asked her grandfather in a proud voice.
Sadie couldn't answer since Jude's phone started to ring to an unfamiliar tune so she picked it up and the mechanical voice said: "Tell the truth or I will have my revenge on you and Tommy," Jude was terrified but didn't show it, she just smiled and lied: "Sorry, that was Darius telling me to write him a hit," They continued to have dinner when Jude's grand father said: "Sadie you didn't answer my question,"
"University's fine, it's hard but I'm working," answered Sadie.
"What's your major?" asked her aunt.
"I'm majoring in business," answered Sadie .
"So Jude, have you started thinking about university?" asked her uncle.
"No, I'm not sure that I'll go, I still have time to decide," said Jude.
"If you don't go to university, what kind of a job do you plan on getting, asked her aunt in a snooty voice.
Well, I already have a job plus I'm barely passing high school," said Jude in a voice that said drop it.
Jude and Sadie started to talk quietly when their grandmother said: "It's rude to talk like that at dinner, if you want to talk then do it out loud,"
"So Jude, how's living with Tommy?" asked Sadie.
"It's really good even if I've spent only one night there but the house is beautiful," said Jude.
"Tell me about the house," asked Sadie.
"Well, it has 4 bedrooms on the second floor with adjoining bathrooms, a studio and a gym on the third, the first floor was the kitchen, the living room, dining room and the game room and there's another studio in the basement but in this one there were instruments plus he has a pool and a Jacuzzi, it's so beautiful," answered Jude.
"Wait, you don't live here, how old are you?" asked Sara finally understanding what they were talking about.
"I'm seventeen and no I don't live here, I just moved out a couple of days ago," answered Jude.
"So where do you live," asked Jake.
"Oh, I moved in with my best friend and producer Tommy Quincy," answered Jude.
"Oh my god, Tommy Quincy like Lil Tommy Q," exclaimed Sara all excited.
"Yeah I guess, I don't see the big deal, I mean we've been friends since I was six," said Jude with a bored voice.
"Yeah but he's Lil Tommy Q, he's the hottest guy in the world," said Sara .
"Maybe to you, to me he's only Tommy, my best friend and perfectionist producer," said Jude.
"So Jude, what about that phone call you got in the studio that made you cry?" asked Sadie trying to change the subject.
"Oh it was nothing just a joke," lied Jude without looking her sister in the eye.
"I know you're lying Jude, who called you?" asked Sadie.
"Ok fine, I'll tell you, it was somebody who knows about something that happened when I lived in France," answered Jude.
"Can you be more specific," asked Sadie.
"Sadie can you drop it, like I said in the studio when I'm ready to talk about it you'll be the first to know," said Jude.
"Jude how old is this Tommy boy you moved in with," asked her grandmother.
"Um Tommy's 24 years old," answered Jude.
"Young lady it's not appropriate for you to live with this boy," reprimanded her grandmother.
"What! Grandmother I've known Tommy since I was a little girl," said Jude getting angry.
"Lil Tommy Q, I've read about him, he is not a good boy, it's not right for you to live with him, you are too young," said her grandfather.
"Look, everything they say in the tabloids aren't true, I should know," said Jude, the last part in a quiet voice.
"In my day, a man and a woman didn't live together unless they were married, it was inappropriate," said her grandmother.
"Well we're not in your day anymore, a man and a woman can live together without being married, this is the 21st century," said Jude angry.
"You shouldn't talk to your grandmother this way, it's disrespectful to your elders," said her uncle while Sara picked up a tabloid and started to read it.
"It's probably that music…said her grandmother but getting cut off by Sara yelling: "Jude, you're dating Lil Tommy Q"
"What," yelled Jude, Sadie and their parents.
Jude grabbed the tabloid from Sara to see what she was talking about and the headlines said: "Singer Jude Harrison moves in with ex-boybander turned producer Lil Tommy Q." and there were a picture of Tommy opening the door in his boxers and Jude coming inside. Jude got mad and threw the tabloid away while saying: "Tommy and I are going to lose our jobs over this because D will be mad"
"That picture was inappropriate and so is this music you make, you should go to university and find a suitable boyfriend who is not in that business, you should be more like Sadie," said her grandmother.
"Look, I like making music it's been my dream and I'm not going to university," yelled Jude.
"Grandmother, don't tell Jude to be like me because you don't know me," said Sadie
"Maybe not but I know you're not on the cover of magazines who says you are dating a boy too old for you," said her grandmother.
"I'm sick and tired of this, I'm leaving, Sadie do you need a ride to Kwest's or is he picking you up?" asked Jude very angry.
"Who is Kwest?" asked their aunt.
"Kwest is my boyfriend and roommate," answered Sadie.
"Sadie," said Jude.
"Let's go," said Sadie.
Jude and Sadie got up while Jude told their parents that this dinner was a bad idea and they left. Jude dropped off her sister at Kwest's and went home. As soon as she got inside, she went to the couch and sat there while Tommy was in the kitchen cleaning. When he saw her he said: "that bad," Jude looked at him but didn't say anything but he understood that she didn't want to talk about it.
Jude and Tommy got up from the couch and went to bed. She tried to sleep but couldn't, she kept thinking about the phone call she got during dinner so she decided to go to Tommy's room. When she got there he was asleep and she thought he looked perfect, she didn't want to wake him so she decide to leave but Tommy woke up and said: "Jude" She turned around and saw him awake.
"Hey Tommy, can I sleep here, I can't sleep in my room?" asked Jude shyly.
"Sure, are you okay," asked Tommy moving a little bit to one side of his bed.
"Can we talk about it tomorrow," said Jude while getting into bed.
Tommy put his arms around Jude's waist while she used his chest as a pillow and that's how they woke up the next morning. Since it was Monday, Tommy got up first and woke Jude up by trying to get out of bed. They both went to get ready, Jude for school and Tommy for work. Tommy decided to drop Jude off. While in the car, Jude told him about the tabloid that said there was more to their relationship and about the phone call. He just told her not to worry. When they arrived at school, Jude was a couple of minutes late so there was nobody outside so she hurried inside. As soon as she got to the front door, everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at her then started gossiping about her and Tommy. When she got to her locker, there was a copy of the tabloid picture tapped on her locker, she ripped it off and threw it away and went to class. She spent the whole day avoiding her friends and ignoring the gossip. When lunch approached, Jude didn't want to eat in the cafeteria since she knew people were going to taunt her but she was used to it. She got her lunch and sat alone in the cafeteria when the popular crowd came to her.
"I don't see what Lil' Tommy Q sees in you," said one of the girl in a mean voice.
"You're not even that pretty," said another girl.
"I guess he feels sorry for you," said one of the guys while laughing at her.
They all left laughing while Jude just ignored them. She finished her lunch and was about to leave the cafeteria when her two friends Katrina and Jamie entered the cafeteria and sat with her. They tried to talk to her but Jude just ignored them too.
"So I guess I was right you are dating Quincy," said Jamie.
"Jude what's going on? Said Katrina.
"Nothing, I'll let the world believe what they want, I'm used to it," said Jude.
"Jude tell us the truth, what's going on with you," asked Katrina.
"Okay, it's just that lately, my past seems to be catching up with me. I've started to have weird dreams and it's just making me crazy," said Jude.
"Wait, so your behavior doesn't have anything to do with Tommy or the tabloids?" said Jamie.
"Not really, living with Tommy is great, the tabloids are always making up stories about us and we'll keep dealing with it," answered Jude.
"So Jude, can I asked you something without you getting mad?" asked Jamie.
"Sure, I guess," said Jude.
"How do you feel about Tommy and why do you trust him so much?" asked Jamie.
"Um, well I like Tommy and I trust him because he's always been there for me," answered Jude.
"What do you mean, he's always been there for you, we've always been there for you too," said Katrina.
"Tommy is my best friend, he's the one person I'll trust with my life," said Jude.
"What's that supposed to mean, you met the guy last year and we've been friends for years, you don't trust us like that," said Jamie angry at his friend.
"Um last year when I got the recording contract, that wasn't the first time I met Tommy, I lived next door to him when I was in France with my grand parents," explained Jude.
"Can you elaborate because I don't understand," asked Jamie a little calm.
"Okay, when I was six, my parents sent me to live with my grandparents in France. When I got there, they introduced me to their neighbors who were Tommy and his family, he was twelve back then. At first we didn't get along, our families hung out a lot and wanted us to get along so we started to get to know each other, discovered we both loved music and became best friends. Two years later, he joined 'Boyz Attack' and started to date so we didn't see each other that much since he was busy but we still talked a lot plus he was there for me when I needed a friend. When I turned twelve and he turned eighteen, we snuck out to a party and then ended up in a car accident during which we lost two friends. After that, he went on tour and I moved here but we talked a lot over the phone and through E-mails. When he moved here and became my producer, I was really happy to have my best friend back," elaborated Jude.
"Wow, I guess now I understand how you guys can read each other's emotions," said Katrina
The bell rang and Jude rushed out of the cafeteria to her locker hoping to avoid the gossips but unfortunately when she walked through the hallways all she could hear were what everybody thought which was "why would Tommy want her?" She was tired of it so she decided to go to the studio, she called Tommy.
"Hello," said Tommy.
"Hey Quincy, can you pick me up?" asked Jude.
"Sure, but isn't it a bit early," asked Tommy.
"Well the rumors are floating about you and me and I don't want to be here," said Jude.
Tommy understood and came to pick her up while Jude got her stuff and told her friends she was going home. Ten minutes later, she got a text message from Tommy telling her he was in front of her school. As she began to walk towards the front door, the others wanted to know where she was going so they followed her. When she got outside, she saw Tommy leaning against his car so she ran into his arms completely oblivious to the other students. When they saw the others, Tommy asked her if she was okay and took her to the studio.
When they arrived at the studio
"Jude, T, my office now," said Darius coming out of his office.
"We're dead," said Jude.
"Maybe he won't be mad," said Tommy.
They started to walk to his office when they got there, Darius was sitting behind his large desk and motioned for them to sit on the chairs across from him and they sat.
"So do you two want to explain what this means," asked Darius while looking at the tabloids.
"Look D I'm sorry, we didn't know that there was a photographer following us," said Jude apologetically.
"This isn't the first time you two are in the tabloids together," said Darius.
"Look D we'll be more careful," said Tommy.
"…In a recent survey taken for celebrity couples, our readers favored this budding relationship between artist and producer…" read Darius while Jude and Tommy looked at him confused.
"Um D you're not thinking…' said Tommy while starting to understand his boss.
"You two do make a cute couple," said Darius smiling.
"What?" asked Jude while looking at Tommy who had his head in his hands..
"This would make a great publicity for your album," said Darius.
"You want us to pretend to date?" asked Jude.
"Uh, D I don't think this is such a great idea," said Tommy.
"Why T, you got a girlfriend?" asked Darius.
"No but…" said Tommy.
"Perfect" said Darius cutting him off.
"But I…"said Jude .
Without finishing her sentence, Tommy dragged her out of the office and into Studio A knowing she would be mad. When he let her go, she started to scream.
"Tommy, what the hell was that, why didn't you stand up to D?" asked Jude really angry.
"Look Jude, this is great publicity, we're giving the public what they want," said Tommy rationally.
"Oh yeah a great idea cause you can just play with people's feelings," said Jude angry and walked away from him.
"Jude, I didn't mean it like that," said Tommy.
"Don't worry, I won't mess up, we'll let everyone think we're together for a week or two then pretend to break up," said Jude after calming down.
"Girl, that's not what I meant," said Tommy.
"What did you mean Tommy because I'm confused I have no idea how I feel and what to do about it," said Jude exasperated.
"Jude what are you talking about?" asked Tommy completely lost.
"I'm talking about my feelings towards you, I love you Tommy, I have for a long time and I'm sorry if you don't feel the same but it's driving me insane," said Jude.
"Jude I love you too but why are you saying all this," asked Tommy.
"No Tommy, I know you love me but I don't love you as my best friend but I'm in love with you," said Jude with tears in her eyes.
"Jude, I'm in love with you too, that's why I didn't fight D, I thought it would be a way to tell you this," said Tommy.
"So what do we do now?" asked Jude.
Tommy didn't answer her, he grabbed her and kissed her after the shock wore off, and she began to kiss him back. A couple of minutes later, oxygen became a problem so they stopped and put their foreheads together. They decided not to tell anyone since it was still illegal for them to date. They would let Darius and their family and friends think they were pretending to date for the next couple of weeks.
At 6 PM, they left the studio and went home. Upon arriving there, they saw a beautiful flower vase delivered on their doorstep. Jude picked it up and read the card, it said:
I will have my
Revenge on you
Soon
Your past
Jude was very upset by the note. When Tommy reached her, he saw that she was upset and read the note. After reading the content, her grabbed the flowers and note from Jude and threw it away. They went inside and Jude decided to shower while Tommy made dinner for both of them. After a couple of minutes, Jude came downstairs wearing her pyjama pants and one of Tommy's sweatshirt she found in his bedroom.
"Hey Quincy, what are you making," asked Jude.
"Hey Girl, I'm making macaroni and cheese," answered Tommy while looking at her.
"Is that my shirt?" asked Tommy realizing that the shirt was too big for her.
"Uh yeah, I was cold and found it in your room, I hope you don't mind," answered Jude.
"It's fine, it looks better on you than it ever did on me," said Tommy smirking.
Jude ignored his comments and set the table for them and sat down while Tommy brought the pasta to the table and sat next to her. They served themselves and had dinner quietly then went to bed. They went to their respective rooms but neither Jude nor Tommy could sleep, Tommy twisted and turned to try and sleep while Jude got up and went to his room. When she got there, she saw Tommy lying on his back staring at the ceiling; she walked towards him and got into his bed. Tommy was shock but pleased by her actions, he put his arms around her, kissed her good night and they both went to sleep.
The next day, when Jude and Tommy woke up, the sun was shining in their eyes, Jude looked at the clock and it said 10.15 AM. She woke up Tommy and said: "Tommy, I'm late for school"
"What?" asked Tommy still sleepy.
"Tommy, its 10.15, I already missed my first and half of my second classes," said Jude.
"Look Jude, it's late, so skip a day, we'll call them and say you're sick," said Tommy.
Jude agreed and they both stayed in bed for a while until she realized that Tommy had to go to work.
"Tommy, aren't you late for work?" asked Jude.
"Well since you're skipping school, I figured we'll skip work too," answered Tommy.
"D'll fire us for sure," said Jude.
"Not really, we'll call in sick and he can't make us come to work sick," said Tommy trying to convince her.
"I don't know Tommy, we could lose our jobs if D were to find out," said Jude.
"Come on Girl, where's your sense of adventure,?" asked Tommy with a gleam in his eyes knowing she would accept.
"Alright, if we get caught, this was your idea," said Jude.
They both got out of bed; Tommy went to take a shower while Jude went downstairs to make some coffee. After drinking a cup of coffee, she went to brush her teeth and shower. After about an hour, they were both ready to go, so they decided to go out but the phone rang, it was their blackmailer: "Reveal the truth or you will lose everything." After hearing that, Jude and Tommy's mood were destroyed so they decided to stay in. They hung out by the pool, wrote a song and played some music when it started to rain. They started to run inside when they thought they saw a flash.
"Was that lightning?" asked Jude.
"No, I think it was a photographer," answered Tommy.
Jude started to get worried about the photographer and Tommy felt her tense in his arms so he decided to ask: "Hey Jude, let's record that song,"
"Why, we'll do it tomorrow," said Jude.
"Yeah but if we do it today, we'll have a copy for D and there's a less chance of him firing us tomorrow," said Tommy rationally.
"Fine but after I take a hot shower," said Jude heading towards her room.
Jude took a short shower, got into her pyjamas and went up to the studio. When she got there, she saw Tommy wearing sweatpants and no shirt adjusting the soundboard, she thought he look very hot shirtless. She stepped into the booth put on the head phones and waited for him to give her the signal to sing. After a couple of hours and about 10 takes, the song was perfect according to Tommy so they got a copy, Tommy put the CD in his bag and they both went downstairs. Since neither Jude nor Tommy were in the mood to cook, they decided to order pizza. After awhile, they decided to call it a night and went to Tommy's room.
The next day after Jude and Tommy decided to go out for breakfast before going to school or work. As they were driving towards a coffee shop, they saw several people reading the tabloids whose headlines said: "Rock Princess Jude Harrison finds her Prince in Producer Tommy Quincy". They quickly each got a cup of coffee and left. Jude went to school while Tommy went to work to deal with the wrath of Darius. At school, Jude had to answer a couple of questions about her dating Tommy to which she didn't comment while Tommy had it harder, he had to deal with Darius and a lot of others. When he got to the studio E.J, the publicist, was running around trying to fix the newest tabloid rumor when suddenly Darius came out of his office.
"T, my office now," said Darius loud enough for the whole studio to hear while Tommy followed him and sat in the seat across from him.
"Uh D why do you want to talk to me," asked Tommy.
"I want to know what's going on between you and Jude," said Darius.
"We're doing exactly what you wanted," said Tommy.
"I never wanted you and Jude on the cover of every tabloid," said Darius.
"No but you wanted Jude and I to pretend to date exclusively," said Tommy with a smile.
"You're still her mentor," said Darius.
"Look D we work and live together, there's nothing else between us," lied Tommy.
"You and Jude better not do anything that will give both of you bad reputations and land you in jail, so what's going on," said Darius.
"We're sort of dating," said Tommy.
"She's seventeen," said Darius.
"She'll be eighteen in a couple of weeks," said Tommy while getting up.
"What's that suppose to mean?" asked Darius.
"Nothing," answered Tommy.
"Remember T, she's still my artist," warned Darius.
"But she's my girl," said Tommy while leaving.
Tommy went straight to his office to think but when he got there, he saw a huge bouquet of red roses sitting on his desk. He looked at the note attached to it which said"
Red roses were Angie's favorite
I hope you enjoy them the way you
and Jude enjoyed killing her
Your past
He crumpled the paper and threw it across the room when Jude suddenly came in holding a huge bouquet of white daisies and holding a note with puffy red eyes. Tommy got up and grabbed the note in her hand which said the exact same thing as Tommy's note but Angie's name was replaced by Hunter's. Jude picked up the piece of paper Tommy threw and while reading it, her tears started to fall again. When Tommy looked at her he saw her crying, so, he sat on the couch pulled her onto his lap and started to whisper comforting words in her ears while wiping away her tears. After a couple of minutes, she was sitting on his lap, her arms around his neck, his around her waist and her head resting on his shoulder when suddenly they heard the door opening.
"Oh, I…I'm sorry, I didn't know," stammered the intruder.
They both looked up and saw Portia, Tommy's ex-wife and Darius' sister, followed by Darius, the boys from Jude's band, Sadie and Kwest. Jude got off Tommy's lap and wiped her tears and Tommy got up from the couch.
"What's going on here?" asked Sadie.
"Hey guys," said Tommy.
"What's with all the flowers in here?" asked Vin.
"Um well the roses were sent to Tommy and the daisies to me," explained Jude.
"Why would you send each other flowers?" asked Kwest confused.
"What! No, they were sent by someone else," said Tommy.
"What are you guys doing here?" asked Jude.
"T needs to be mixing with the guys while you're supposed to meet Portia for the dress fitting," said Kwest.
"What dress fitting?" asked Tommy.
"The dress fitting for Jude's 18th birthday party," answered Portia.
"Alright so Tommy can go with Kwest and the band to record while I go pick a dress for my birthday," said Jude.
They all left.
Jude followed Portia into the room prepared for her to try dresses and Tommy led the others to the studio. In the dressing room, the girls started to talk while Jude was trying on dresses.
"So Jude what's going on between you and Tommy?" asked Sadie.
"Uh nothing," said Jude coming out with a pink dress.
"Come on Jude, we all know there's something between you two," said Portia while shaking her head telling her she didn't like the dress.
"Look you guys, we're just friends," said Jude from inside the change room.
"Jude, friends don't look as cozy as you two did earlier in his office," said Sadie.
"He was just comforting me that's all," said Jude coming out wearing a blue dress.
"I don't believe you, I was married to the man and he wouldn't comfort just a friend," said Portia giving her a thumbs up about the dress.
"Ok fine, I'll tell you but not here, let's go to lunch" said Jude.
The three girls left and went across the street to their favorite little café and sat at a booth in the back to continue their conversation.
"So what did you want to tell us Jude?" asked Sadie.
"Um remember a few days ago when the tabloids said that the public liked the personal relationship between Tommy and me," said Jude.
"Yeah but what does that have to do with this," asked Portia.
"Well after your brother called us to his office, he wanted us to pretend to date and…"said Jude.
"That's great, it'll give you the opportunity to tell each other how you feel," said Sadie all excited.
"I wasn't done," said Jude.
"Oh, continue." said Sadie embarrassed
"Tommy agreed and pulled me out of D's office, so I yelled at him about it and he ended up telling that he loved me," said Jude.
"Wow, that's huge," said Portia with a big smile.
"Why are you so happy, he's your ex-husband," said Sadie looking at Portia with a frown on her face.
"I was never in love with him but that's not the point, Jude do you love him?" said Portia.
"I… yes I do and I told him," said Jude smiling.
"Well it's about time," said Sadie.
"I'm happy for you Jude," said Portia hugging her.
"We have to go or we'll be late," said Jude while getting up.
The three girls left the café and went back to work. Jude went into Studio A and saw Tommy sitting in his chair with his eyes closed. She went up to him and kissed him on the lips. After a couple of minutes he responded with passion and she was on his lap.
"As nice as it is to see you two finally kissing, we need to get back to work," said Kwest walking in the studio followed by Vin, Wally and Kyle.
Jude got off his lap blushing while Tommy ran a hand through his hair and they all began working. Jude went to the booth with her band while Tommy and Kwest sat at the soundboard. After a couple of hours, they were all sitting around listening to music. Kwest and Tommy were in their chair, Jude was on Tommy's lap and the band was on the couch when Vin asked: "What's going on with you two?" looking at Jude and Tommy
"We're together," said Jude smiling.
"It's about time," said Kwest and the band at the same time.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Tommy incredulously .
"Well ever since you two started working together, there's been chemistry and tension between you guys and you were so comfortable around each other even on your first day, so we figured there was more than friendship between you," explained Kwest.
"We were so comfortable around each other because we've known each other for years while growing up in France" said Tommy.
"How did you two grow up together?" asked Kyle.
"Um well when I was about six, my parents sent me to live with my grandparents in France and Tommy lived next door so we became friends and hung out. When I turned twelve, my parents asked me to come back and Tommy went on tour but we kept talking on the phone and through E-mail," explained Jude.
"Okay well it's late we should go home," said Kwest.
They all got up and went home. When Jude and Tommy arrived home, there was a message on the answering machine, it was their blackmailer saying: "Your truth will be revealed in front of everyone you care about and the world" Jude got worried but Tommy calmed her down. They both had dinner and went upstairs to take showers. After that, they both went to Tommy's room to get some sleep.
The weeks passed without any incidents and neither Jude nor Tommy got anymore messages from the blackmailer which made them happy. It was the weekend before Jude's 18th birthday and Tommy was acting all secretive, Jude decided to have a sleepover so she invited her sister, Portia and Katrina while Tommy decided to have a guy's night inviting Kwest and Jude's band. They spent all day preparing. Jude and the girls were supposed to stay in the living room while the guys were supposed to hang out on the third floor. At around 4.30 P.M, their guests started arriving. Sadie and Kwest were the first to arrive followed by Jude's band and Katrina and last Portia. The girls decided to help Jude prepare dinner while the guys went to the living room to watch TV.
"What do you guys want to watch?" asked Tommy.
"It doesn't matter," answered Kwest.
"As long as it's not a chick flick," Said Vin.
"I'm a guy, I don't own chick flick," said Tommy.
"Maybe not but you live with Jude and she probably does," said Kyle.
"I don't think Jude's the type who watches chick flicks," said Tommy.
The guys went over to the closet where his DVD collection was kept, when Tommy looked at it, he saw that it was now mixed with Jude's. He saw his action movies a couple of comedies and without looking at all of it he said: "I told you guys, no chick flicks," said Tommy while smirking
"I think you're wrong man," said Vin looking at the end of the collection.
"What do you mean?" asked Tommy.
"Titanic, The notebook, Pearl Harbor," said Kwest naming a couple of Jude's movies.
"I didn't know you watched sad movies," joked Wally.
"Shut up man, I guess I was wrong," said Tommy solemnly.
The guys all sat down and watched a movie for the next couple of hours until Jude came into the living room and called them for dinner. Everybody sat down, Portia and Vin were at the heads of the table while Jude, Tommy and Kyle were on one side and Sadie, Kwest and Wally were on the other. The dinner was quiet until Vin decided to break the silence.
"What do you ladies have planned for tonight," asked Vin.
"Nothing much watching a couple of movies and talking," answered Sadie.
"What movies?" asked Kwest.
"Um that depends on what they have," answered Portia.
"Well you'll have fun since T has a lot of chick flicks," joked Kyle
"What?" said Jude confused.
"What do you mean?" asked Katrina.
"Well earlier when we were deciding what movie to watch, we found out that T owned a copy of Titanic, The notebook and Pearl Harbor," said Kwest.
Everybody but Jude and Tommy started to laugh a few of them ended up coughing since they had food in their mouths.
"Those aren't Tommy's, they're mine," said Jude before getting up to started cleaning up.
"You have The notebook, I've been wanting to see that movie for so long," said Katrina.
"We'll watch it tonight," said Jude.
Jude took some of the plates and Tommy got up to help her. He picked up the rest of the things, she left and went into the kitchen after her. When he reached there, he saw Jude at the sink rinsing everything so he put the rest of the dishes at the sink and started to load the dishwasher. After a while, the water started to shoot out of the tap in Jude's direction. As soon as the water reached her, she screamed and Tommy looked at her. He pulled her away from the sink to try and close the tap but ended up getting wet. As he was finally able to close the tap, Jude and Tommy both tried to walk away but ended up slipping on the wet floor and Jude ended up falling on her back while Tommy fell on top of her. They stayed face to face for a while looking at each other. Tommy thought Jude looked beautiful even wet and Jude was getting lost in his blue eyes when suddenly he closed the space between them and kissed her. As soon as their lips touched, Jude's hands went to Tommy's hair and one of Tommy's hands went to Jude's waist and the other was caressing her face. The kiss was so intense and passionate that they didn't hear the others come in and clearing their throats several times until Sadie said: "Making out on the kitchen floor while you have guest is impolite,"
Jude and Tommy stopped kissing and got up both blushing.
"What are you guys doing here?" asked Jude.
"Well you were taking so long so we decided to come and see what was keeping you," answered Vin.
"Who screamed?" asked Kwest.
"That would be Jude," said Tommy.
"You're losing your touch man if you kissed her and she had to scream like you were killing her," joked Kyle.
"I didn't scream because he kissed me," said Jude.
"Then why did you scream?" asked Portia.
"I screamed because the water started to shoot out and when it hit me, it was cold," answered Jude.
"Okay, now that's resolved, let's have some fun," said Tommy.
"Portia, Sadie and Katrina, why don't you guys change into your pyjamas upstairs while I take a shower," said Jude.
"And you guys can go up to the third floor while I take a shower," said Tommy.
The girls went to Jude's bedroom to change while the boys went upstairs to the game room and Tommy went to take a shower.
After about thirty minutes, the girls were all in the living room watching a movie and eating popcorn when suddenly Sadie thought she heard something. So she got up and went to look but saw nothing. "I must be seeing things," she thought. She sat down and they all watched the rest of the movie peacefully. After the movie, they decided to tell ghost stories with the lights off. The girls laughed and got scared together and it was Jude's turn. She was telling her story which about a couple of girls who were in a house all alone and were attacked, when she started to talk about the attack, Sadie screamed.
"Sadie, what's wrong?" asked Portia.
"I…I think there's someone outside," said Sadie afraid.
"Look Sades, we're totally safe, there's no one outside," said Jude trying to reassure her sister.
"But I saw a head go by the window and earlier I heard strange noises," said Sadie .
"It's probably just the guys trying to scare us," said Jude when suddenly there was a message in blood on the window which said: "Tell the truth or you will all die," Upon seeing it, the girls all screamed. While upstairs, the boys were having their own fun when they heard the screams coming from downstairs. They left what they were doing and rushed downstairs to see what was going on. When they got there, they saw the girls all together afraid, the message written on the window and thought it was a joke everybody but Tommy laughed. When the girls heard the laughs they turned around and were very angry.
"This is all a joke," yelled Katrina.
"It's not funny," screamed Portia.
"What are you talking about?" asked Tommy.
"That message on the window is one of your sick jokes," said Sadie with anger.
"Tommy, I can't believe you would pull something like this after the messages we've been getting, I thought that was one of them," said Jude while looking at Tommy with tears in her eyes.
"I didn't pull that, which one of you guys wrote that," asked Tommy angry at his friends.
The guys looked at each other and shrugged.
"If none of us pulled that, then who did?" said Kwest more to himself than to them.
Everybody looked at each other afraid while Jude and Tommy began to pace. After a while the others thought it was strange so they just looked at their two friends.
"What's going on?" asked Sadie.
"Why would anybody put that message on the window?" asked Katrina.
Jude and Tommy stopped pacing and looked at the others with fear in their eyes.
"Tommy, I think we should tell them what's going on," said Jude.
"Jude we can't, it would put them in the middle of it," said Tommy trying to protect his friends.
"They are in the middle of it," said Jude.
"Alright, they might as well know," said Tommy.
"What are you two talking about?" asked Vin.
"We might as well know what?" asked Sadie.
"Maybe you guys should sit down," suggested Jude.
"Well, that message wasn't for you and it's not a joke, it's about me and Jude," said Tommy.
"Explain now!" ordered Sadie.
"Alright, when I was six, I went to live with my grand parents in France and Tommy was my next door neighbor so we became friends. We hung out and had a lot in common despite our age difference which didn't matter. Two years later, he joined 'Boyz Attack' and I went to boarding school. We kept in contact by phone and E-mail but we also spent time together when I came home and he was there. After a year, I didn't like it so my grandparents pulled me out and put me in a normal school and I lived at home with them. When I turned twelve, one night he asked me to hang out so I went to see him and I ended up spending the night. A couple of nights later we snuck off to our two best friends Angie and Hunter's party. When we got there, I went to see Angie and she started to yell about how I stole Tommy from her and I was confused. So she explained how she walked in the room in the night I was with him. I tried to explain but she ended our friendship so I went outside and Tommy who had seen everything came to see if I was okay. He put his arms around me to comfort me and Hunter walked in and thought there was more between us so he got mad and left…" said Jude without finishing since she was crying so much.
"I'll continue. Hunter and Angie had a couple of drinks that night and they both took off in his car so Jude and I went after them to try and stop them. We took a shortcut to cut them off but they missed a light and we got into a car accident. Jude and I blacked out and woke up in the hospital but Angie and Hunter died at the scene. Now someone thinks we killed them and wants to get revenge by either ruining us or killing us," said Tommy while comforting a crying Jude and holding in his emotions unsuccessfully.
"Wow so that's what the message was about," said Sadie.
"Well now we know why you two are so comfortable around each other," said Kwest.
"Can you guys keep this to yourself until we deal with the blackmailer?" asked Jude.
"You guys have to go to the police," said Portia.
"No we don't, they'll ask questions we're not ready to answer plus he hasn't done anything but send letters," said Tommy.
"But he also said he would kill you," said Sadie afraid for her sister.
"Look we'll be fine," reassured Jude.
Do you guys have any idea who the blackmailer might be?" asked Kyle.
"No but we should find out," answered Tommy.
"How can we do that I mean we don't even know if it's a man or a woman," said Jude.
"Well the notes probably tell us if it's a guy or a girl," said Sadie.
"It was written on the computer," said Jude.
"Okay, let's get some rest and try and figure this out tomorrow," suggested Tommy.
They all chose a room and went to sleep. Jude and Tommy couldn't sleep they kept thinking about how the world was going to react when the find out and how to keep their friends out of trouble. They stopped thinking about it and went to sleep. But Jude dreamed about the blackmailer coming after her friends instead of her and Tommy. She sees the blackmailer taunting her about losing Hunter and Angie in the accident. She watches as her friends die one by one until she's left alone and then wakes up to Tommy's voice and everyone else looking at her worried.
"What are you all doing here?" asked Jude while sitting up.
"We heard you screaming so we thought you were in trouble," answered Wally.
"What was I screaming?" asked Jude.
"You kept saying don't go," answered Tommy.
"Sorry I worried you guys, I was just having a nightmare," said Jude.
"What was it about?" asked Portia.
Jude told her friends about her nightmare and they all tried to tell her that she wasn't alone.
"Um, Jude do mom and dad know about why you left France?" asked Sadie.
"Not really, they wanted me to come back so after Hunter and Angie's funeral, I came here and it didn't matter why to them," answered Jude.
"Maybe you should tell them," said Katrina.
"I'll tell them after we get rid of this blackmailer, I don't want them or anyone else knowing about it," said Jude.
"T, what about Darius he should know," said Kwest.
"No," said Jude and Tommy.
"What's wrong?" asked Portia.
"Do not under any circumstances tell D about this, we'll do it when we're ready," said Tommy.
"Maybe we should continue this conversation downstairs over breakfast after I shower and change," said Jude.
Everybody left the room; Jude grabbed her clothes and went to take a shower. Downstairs in the kitchen, the eight friends were making breakfast. Twenty minutes later, Jude came downstairs in sweatpants and one of Tommy's shirt. He looked at her and smiled.
"I'll set the table," said Jude.
Everybody agreed they all went back to what they were doing. After a couple of minutes, they all sat at the table to have breakfast. It was quiet at first so Vin decided to break the silence: "What are we going to do about the blackmailer?"
"There's no 'we' here, Jude and I will deal with him or her while the rest of you stay out of it," said Tommy.
"Not happening, we're your friends and we're not letting you do this alone," said Sadie and the others agree.
"You guys could get hurt, and we don't want anything to happen to you," said Jude.
"So you told us all that to keep us from helping you," said Portia.
"No we told you all that to be honest," said Tommy.
"We're helping whether you agree or not," said Kwest.
"Alright but you will be very careful and won't say anything to anybody," said Jude.
After breakfast, they decided to try and get some clues about the messages so Jude got all the notes and put them on the coffee table while everyone sat around it.
"Well what do all the messages have in common?" asked Sadie.
"Nothing," answered Vin without thinking.
"Um the notes are signed the same way," answered Portia.
"Well that's normal since it's from the same person," said Tommy.
"Tell us about the voice on the phone messages," said Katrina.
"The voice on the phone was mechanical like the person was using something to hide his voice," said Jude.
"We don't have a lot to work with," commented Kwest.
"What about the flowers?" asked Kyle remembering that Jude and Tommy both had flowers a couple of weeks ago.
"What flowers?" asked Jude.
"The flowers you and Tommy received," said Kyle.
"What about them?" asked Tommy.
"Who sent them to you," asked Wally.
"They were sent from the blackmailer," said Jude.
"What kind of flowers were they?" asked Portia.
"I got red roses and Jude got white daisies," answered Tommy.
"Why red roses and white daisies?" Kwest asked himself.
"Red roses were Angie's favorite flowers and white daisies were Hunter's," said Jude.
"Flowers, notes and phone calls about an accident," said Kwest to himself as a way to try and figure out the mystery.
"What are you muttering?" asked Katrina.
"That's it," yelled Kwest with excitement.
"What's it?" asked Sadie.
"Whoever's doing this must have known Hunter and Angie pretty well to know their favorite flowers so he or she must be someone you know and probable trust," said Kwest.
"We know that," said Jude.
"Why did you guys leave after the accident?" asked Kwest.
"Because we felt guilty about surviving and them dying," answered Tommy.
"Did anybody blame you?" asked Kwest.
"Well yeah, their family needed someone to blame while grieving so they blamed us," answered Jude.
"Who else blamed you?" asked Sadie.
"Um, people who were close to them but they apologized before we left," answered Tommy.
"What about the family, tell us more about them," asked Vin.
"There was the mother and the father, he was a vet and she was a teacher, Angie and Hunter also had two siblings, Nicole who back then was twenty and Mark who was about ten," said Jude.
"How did the parents take the death?" asked Katrina.
"Like normal parents grieving for their dead children," said Tommy.
"What about Nicole and Mark?" asked Portia.
"A little bit differently, Nicole cried a lot and avoided people for a while and Mark threw tantrums and gave us dirty looks but I guess that's their way of copping," said Jude.
"Look Angie and Hunter's family are good people, they wouldn't blackmail us," said Tommy.
"Maybe but after you left, their children's deaths could've affected them a lot more than you think," said Kwest.
"Hunter and Angie's parents wouldn't want to hurt us ever, they loved us," said Jude.
"How can you be so sure?" asked Wally.
"They treated us like family when we were there so I know for sure that they are not the blackmailer," said Jude.
"Maybe someone witnessed the accident," said Kyle.
"The police said that there were no witnesses since it was so late at night," said Jude.
"Are you sure cause maybe someone witnessed the whole thing and was too afraid to go to the cops," suggested Katrina.
"Ok, let's assume someone witnessed the accident, why would that person decide to blackmail us six years later," asked Tommy.
"Maybe because they had nothing to gain before and now they would gain something," said Kwest.
"If the truth comes out, nobody would gain anything we would just have our reputations tainted," said Jude.
"If any of you two die or go to jail, will anybody gain anything?" asked Sadie.
"Not really," answered Tommy.
"Maybe the blackmailer lost something when Hunter and Angie died and he or she blames you two so by warning you to tell the world, he knows you'll lose everything that matters to you so it'll be equal or maybe it's his way of getting revenge," suggested Portia.
"You could be right but how do we know for sure," asked Sadie.
"We won't know unless he or she comes after us," said Tommy.
"Well Tommy or I could use ourselves as bait," suggested Jude.
"You're not doing that, it's too dangerous," said Portia.
"Or you could wait for the blackmailer to make a move and the go after him or her," said Vin.
"I like that idea a lot better since it's safer," said Tommy
"When did you start caring about safety, what happened to your daredevil side?" asked Jude looking at him confused.
"Girl, I don't want you hurt so Vin's idea is safer than yours," said Tommy.
"Fine, we'll do it your way," said Jude with a sigh when the phone rang and Tommy put it on speaker,
"Your truth will come out at Jude's eighteenth birthday party if you don't tell the police," said the mechanical voice then hung up.
"Well, now we can have a plan," said Kwest.
"Not really, we don't know what he's planning to do," said Jude.
"Is there anybody who hated you guys after Hunter and Angie's deaths?" asked Portia.
"People blamed us but I don't think anyone hated us," said Tommy.
"We won't be figuring out who this blackmailer is since you two are naïve," said Kyle.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Tommy outraged.
"You two are protecting this guy, you still care about him, you trust him so you can't see how he would do this to you," said Wally rationally.
"What do you want us to do?" asked Jude
"You could give us a name of people who didn't act like normal grieving people but angrier especially at you two," said Sadie
Jude and Tommy went to get a piece of paper and started writing a couple of names when Katrina said: "Did anyone who blamed you said that he or she would make you pay?"
"Well yeah, a couple of people," answered Tommy.
"That's whose name you should write," said Katrina.
"I think our blackmailer is a man who were close to Hunter and Angie," said Jude.
"Why?" asked Sadie.
"Well let's look at the way he blackmailed us, he used flowers and his voice sounded like a man, if it was a woman she would sent more passionate notes," explained Jude.
"Ok you may be on to something but we won't rule out the blackmailer being a woman," said Portia.
Jude and Tommy wrote the list of names of the people who threatened them before they left. Surprisingly, it wasn't very long, it consisted of Mark the brother and a couple of Hunter and Angie's friends. Most of them were guys. Jude and Tommy told their friends about these people but couldn't believe any of them could be the blackmailer. They ruled out a couple of people including Mark based on their personality and only six people remained and they were guys.
"Jude was right, the blackmailer is a man," said Kwest.
"What time is it, I'm hungry," said Vin.
"It's" said Jude looking at the clock "2.00 PM"
"No wonder, we missed lunch," said Wally.
"Let's finish this after we eat," suggested Tommy.
"I'll make something," volunteered Jude.
"I'll help," said Tommy.
"We'll keep working on this," said Kwest.
"No, take a break, watch a movie or do something that's not related to the mystery," said Jude.
Jude and Tommy left and went to the kitchen while the others watched a movie. In the kitchen they were trying to figure out what to make. Until they decided on pasta, Tommy decided to make the sauce while Jude boiled the pasta and made a salad.
"Um, how are we supposed to do this?" asked Jude.
"What do you mean?" asked Tommy.
"Well, the water'll shoot out if we open it so how are we supposed to make pasta," said Jude.
"You're right, we'll make tuna sandwiches since we don't need water for that," said Tommy.
"I'll get the bread and you get the tuna," said Jude.
They worked on making the sandwiches together and while they were cleaning up, Jude started to think about the blackmailer and tensed up, Tommy saw this and told her that everything would be fine and kissed her. The kiss was supposed to just be a peck on that lips but the moment his lips touched hers passion ignited inside of him, his hands went to her waist and hers went into his hair to deepen the kissed which turned into a full blown make out session the next minute she was un the counter and he was standing between her legs. Meanwhile in the living room, they were watching Pearl Harbor and the guys were complaining.
"This movie is so lame," said Vin.
"Shhh" said the girls.
"Why are we watching this?" asked Kwest.
"It's a romantic movie," said Portia.
"How is it romantic, the girl is engaged, when she finds out the guy died, she sleeps with his best friend and winds up pregnant," said Kyle incredulously.
"Watch the whole thing, you'll see," said Katrina.
"I'm hungry, it's been half an hour where are Jude and Tommy with our lunch," said Wally.
"What do you think they're doing in there?" asked Vin.
"I don't know but I'm going to find out," said Sadie getting up.
"Wait, we'll come too," said Kwest while everyone got up.
They walked to the kitchen and as the reached the entrance, they stopped in their track at the scene of Jude sitting on the counter and Tommy standing between her legs while they were kissing. Everybody their clearing their throats but Jude and Tommy were too into their kiss to hear. Vin decided to have some fun so he opened the tap and water started shooting out on Jude and Tommy which separated them.
"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, making out in the kitchen," said Sadie in a disapproving tone.
"I'm never going to be able to walk into your kitchen without that image in my mind," complained Kwest.
"You guys have your lunch while Jude and I change," said Tommy while Jude got off the counter.
"Oh no, we'll help Jude change upstairs while you change down here," said Katrina.
"Why?" asked Jude.
"We've seen what you two do when you're alone, if we let you got upstairs alone, you'll never come down," said Portia jokily.
Jude and the girls went upstairs while Tommy grabbed a clean shirt from the washing machine and changed.
"What do we do now?" asked Kyle.
"You guys are helping me clean up the kitchen," answered Tommy.
"Why man, you're the one who was making lunch," said Kwest.
"Jude and I cleaned up after we made your lunch but you're the one who opened the tap and got everywhere wet," said Tommy.
"Fine we'll help," said Kyle while they all grabbed some mops.
Meanwhile upstairs, the girls were going through Jude's closet and Sadie was in the bathroom. Jude finally picked something to change into when Sadie came into the room.
"This room looks so organized and clean, how come at mom and dad's your room was such a mess?" asked Sadie surprised at the room.
"I'll tell you why, Tommy likes his house clean so he probably made Jude clean up too," said Portia remembering her married days to him.
"You guys, I moved in a couple of weeks ago, the room didn't have time to become messy," said Jude trying to cover the fact that she hasn't spent one night in that room.
"I don't believe you, after you moved into mom and dad's from France, your room was so messy after a couple of days," said Sadie.
"I think I know why her room is so neat," said Katrina.
"Well tell us already," said Sadie impatiently.
"Jude hasn't spent a night in this room since she moved in," said Katrina shocking her best friend.
"Jude is that true?" asked Portia looking at the young girl.
"Where did Jude spend the night if not here?" asked Sadie.
"In Tommy's room," said Katrina.
"What? You just started to date and you're sleeping together," screamed Sadie.
"Sades, it's just comfort, nothing happened I'm not ready," said Jude reassuring her sister.
"Alright, so why are you spending the night in his bedroom," asked Portia.
"Well when we were kids and couldn't sleep, we'd go see the other and spend the night together so when I moved in, I couldn't sleep so I went to his room. He put his arm around me and I would fall asleep instantly so I kept going to his room pretending I couldn't sleep that after a couple of nights we would both go into the same bedroom," explained Jude.
"That's so sweet," said Katrina.
The girls spent the rest of the afternoon in Jude's room talking, looking at her pictures and going through her closet. The boys stayed downstairs, had lunch and hung out. They all had fun. At about 5.00 PM, everybody decided to go home. Jude and Tommy were once again left alone in the house.
"What do you want for dinner?" asked Tommy.
"I don't know, let's order in tonight," said Jude.
"How about pizza?" asked Tommy.
"That's fine, I'll be downstairs in the studio," said Jude before leaving.
Jude went downstairs and sat at the piano thinking about what to play. She decided on a song she wrote with Angie when she was ten. She began playing it and then the words came out. When he heard the sweet music from downstairs, Tommy went to see, after ordering their pizza. Upon arriving downstairs, he saw the girl he loved at the piano with tears in her beautiful blue eyes. He rushed towards her and put his arms around her; she buried her face in his chest and kept crying.
"What's wrong Girl," asked Tommy in a whisper.
"I…I just miss them so much," said Jude.
"Does it have anything to do with the song you just played?" asked Tommy in a soothing voice.
"Angie and I wrote that song together seven years ago today," said Jude still crying.
"You're not the only one who misses them, I do too," said Tommy wiping her tears with his fingers.
"It's just she was my best friend and I killed her," said Jude with more tears rolling down her face.
"Look Girl, you need to stop crying and you didn't kill her, it was an accident," said Tommy trying to comfort her and himself.
"Do you remember what you said that night in my room five years ago?" asked Jude.
"Not really, refresh my memory," said Tommy.
"About the pain and the guilt," said Jude.
"Yeah, I said the pain will go away but I wasn't sure about the guilt," said Tommy.
"Well you were wrong, both the pain and the guilt are still here," said Jude.
"I know, I miss them too and it was my fault, I was driving," said Tommy feeling guilty.
"Tommy, you didn't do anything wrong that night, it was just an accident," said Jude looking in his blue pools.
"Look Jude, I think this blackmailer brought all of this back," said Tommy.
"You're probably right so we should find out more about him," suggested Jude.
"Well we can't do anything now so let's go upstairs," said Tommy as the doorbell rung.
They went upstairs and opened the door for the pizza guy. They had a quiet dinner and Tommy thought the song she was singing was a great one.
"Hey Girl, that song what's it called?" asked Tommy.
"It's called Broken Heart; we wrote it after Angie told me about her grand parents death and it reminds of what I'm feeling now," answered Jude.
"What would you say about recording it?" asked Tommy.
"Well it's a great idea but when my album comes out, my fans will think I'm depressed," said Jude.
"Jude you're not depressed and your fans won't think so," said Tommy.
"Yeah they will since all the songs I've recorded lately are sad ones, my album will become the kind of music that makes your want to slit your wrists, I need to write happy songs like love songs," said Jude.
"Alright so you can record this song and we'll write a couple of love songs with passion in it," said Tommy.
"Why are you so hell-bent on me recording this song?" asked Jude.
"Because this song has a lot of emotions in there plus I'm hoping with this song out there, your pain will be too and you won't hurt," answered Tommy honestly.
"Fine. we'll record it then I want you to hear a love song I wrote a couple of years ago," said Jude giving up.
They finished eating and went upstairs, Tommy sat at the soundboard and Jude went inside the booth. She began singing and he was so lost in her angelic voice that when she stopped singing and called out to him, he didn't answer so she tapped him on his shoulder. He asked her to sing him her love song which she did. When she was done he amazed at the emotions in her song and said: "Wow, that was great Girl."
"Well let's record it then," said Jude getting up.
"Wait, when and why did you write that song?" asked Tommy.
"I wrote it when I was sixteen and I can't tell you why," answered Jude.
"Jude come on, I know you inside out, you can't not tell me," said Tommy with his sad puppy dog face.
"Fine, I'll tell you," said Jude not able to resist his face.
"Well, tell me," said Tommy.
"Okay, I wrote it because of you, I knew we couldn't be together because of the age difference so I put all my feelings for you in stupid love songs," said Jude not looking at him.
"You felt that strongly about me back then?" asked Tommy surprised.
"I can't believe you didn't know that, I've loved you since I was ten but back then, I didn't understand that feeling but every time you dated a different girl, my heart would break slowly," said Jude.
"Girl, I've loved you since the day we met even though you didn't know and all those girls were my way of getting over you," said Tommy.
"I don't believe you, when you became my producer, you acted so cold towards me at first that I thought you hated me," replied Jude.
"Jude, when I saw you again that day, I was surprised and I didn't know how to act, I mean you were the girl I've always loved and I knew if I showed that I still loved you, we would've been in trouble so I thought if I acted like we were strangers maybe my feelings wouldn't come out," explained Tommy.
"So you weren't mad when you saw me again that day," asked Jude.
"No, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen," said Tommy.
"Liar, I was not beautiful plus you've dated models and I don't compare to those girls," said Jude.
"They may have been models but they didn't mean anything and I didn't love them, you're the only girl I ever loved. I didn't even love Portia," said Tommy looking at her in the eyes.
"Alright, I love you too, I always have and probably always will," said Jude.
They went back to work. They recorded the love song and Tommy mixed both songs while Jude just watched him. After a couple of hours, they went to bed.
The next morning, Tommy dropped Jude at school and went to work as usual. In the last couple of weeks that Jude and Tommy lived together, they followed some kind of pattern, Tommy would drop Jude at school and go to work, in the afternoon he would pick her up and take her to the studio. When Jude got to her locker, there was a note tapped to it, she grabbed and started to read. It said:
Your birthday is
approaching. If you
want a good one
tell the truth or it will be revealed.
Your past.
Jude wiped the tears before they fell. Every one thought it was a love note from Tommy except her friend Katrina who saw Jude's face while she was reading it.
"What is it Jude?" asked Katrina.
"It's another note," answered Jude.
"What does it say?" asked Katrina.
"Here, read it," said Jude giving the note to her friend.
Katrina read it and started to panic wondering what to do and how she could help her friend.
"What are we going to do?" asked Katrina.
"Katrina, there's no 'we' here, it's too dangerous, you could get hurt," said Jude.
"Jude we've been through this, I will be there whether you like it or not," said Katrina.
"Tell that to Tommy," said Jude.
"Tell Tommy what?" asked Jamie who approached them.
"Nothing," said Jude and Katrina.
"Okay well are you ready to head to class?" asked Jamie.
"Um you guys go ahead, I'll join you later," said Jude.
"Alright, I'll get the notes for you, be careful," said Katrina while leaving with a confused Jamie.
After they left, Jude went outside to think about what she was going to do but she couldn't come up with any ideas so she called Tommy and asked him to come pick her up. Hearing the distraught in her voice, he didn't hesitate and came to pick her up. He took her to Studio A where they sat with Sadie, Kwest and Portia without saying a word.
"Why are we sitting here without saying a word?" asked Sadie breaking the silence.
"Why don't we ask Jude that question," suggested Kwest.
"I got another note this morning," said Jude looking at her shoes.
"Well what did it say?" asked Portia.
"It said that my birthday was approaching and that I should tell the truth or he will," answered Jude
"Do you still have it?" asked Tommy.
"Yeah here," said Jude handing him the piece of paper.
"We could tell the police, I mean they could analyze it, get fingerprints and tell us who we're dealing with," said Kwest.
"We're not telling anybody, not Darius, not my parents and not anybody," said Jude looking at them.
"Oh my god, I completely forgot, Sadie your mom and dad wanted to have dinner with you a couple of days ago," said Kwest looking at his girlfriend.
"That's okay, I've sort of been avoiding their phone calls," said Sadie.
"I've been doing the same thing," said Jude looking at her sister.
"Well what are we going to do about this blackmailer?" asked Portia.
"We could wait until my birthday on Friday and deal with him," suggested Jude.
They kept talking and trying to figure out what to do on Friday and how to deal with this blackmailer when suddenly Darius burst in the room and said: "What are you all doing here,"
"Well you see, we're sort of working," said Kwest.
"Aren't you supposed to be in school Jude?" asked Darius seeing the young girl.
"Well you see, I wasn't feeling well so Tommy picked me up and brought me here," said Jude trying to find an excuse.
"Alright, since you're here, you and T need to write a song for your birthday," said Darius
"Why?" asked Tommy.
"Because Jude needs a new song to sing at her party," said Darius.
"We recorded two songs last night so I could sing one of them at the party," said Jude.
"Great job you two," said Darius looking at Jude and Tommy "But it would be better if it's something new and fresh,"
"Fine," said Jude and Tommy.
"By the way since no one seems to be working, you five can have the day off," said Darius.
"Thanks D," said the five friends.
They all left to go to their respective homes. The next couple of days went by normally, there was no talk of the blackmailer and there wasn't any note from him either. It was now Thursday night, the eve of Jude's birthday; she was still at the studio working on a song with the band while Tommy went home early to prepare a surprise for his girl. At about 10.00 PM, Jude went home where what she saw shocked her. The living room was dark with candles everywhere and red rose petals leading from the door to the stairs to her bedroom door, in her bedroom there was red petals on the bed where a beautiful strapless navy blue dress with a note was. Jude was surprise to say the least, she picked up the note which said:
Hey girl,
I know it's not your
birthday yet but I wanted to
surprise you. Take a shower put on
that dress and come downstairs at 10.30 PM.
Love Tommy
She smile and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower, she put on the dress did her hair and make up, at exactly 10.30 PM she descended the stairs where she saw Tommy standing at the bottom looking handsome in his black tuxedo. She also saw that the table was set for two with candles. As she got to the bottom he grabbed her hand and said "Wow Girl, you look beautiful."
"Well you don't look so bad yourself," said Jude smiling.
He guided her to the table where they had dinner. Afterwards, she sat on the couch while Tommy served her dessert and he put on some light music to create a more romantic mood.
"Tommy, what's all this?" asked Jude.
"What do you mean?" asked Tommy clueless.
"The candlelight dinner, the flowers, the romantic music," answered Jude.
"I just wanted to do something special for you," said Tommy
"Well this is very sweet, thank you," said Jude smiling while gesturing to the room
"Let's dance," said Tommy
"Dance?" said Jude like it was an unknown concept to her.
"Yeah you know when two people move to the music together," said Tommy.
He took her hand and led her to the middle of the living room. She put her hands on his shoulders and he put his on her waist, she also rested her head on his chest. They danced for what seemed to be an eternity and decided to stop. It was exactly 11.58 PM and Tommy had a surprise for Jude. He led her downstairs to the studio which was also decorated with candles, he sat at the piano and asked her to sit next to him which she did.
At midnight he said: "Happy 18th Birthday Jude, this is my first gift to you," he began to play the piano in a soft melody and after a couple of seconds he started to sing her a love song. When he was done, she kissed him and said: "Tommy you wrote me a song, that's the best gift ever,"
"Well I was hoping you would sing it at your party when we tell everybody about us," said Tommy.
"About that, I was hoping we didn't have to tell anyone but our family and friends," suggested Jude.
"Why, I mean we've wanted to date since forever?" asked Tommy.
"Well the blackmailer is still sending us notes and the press would make up outrageous stories about us," said Jude.
"Look we can deal with all that together," said Tommy.
"Tommy I love you but I'm not ready to tell the world but I will definitely sing your song," said Jude.
"Alright, so can I still dance with you tomorrow night?" asked Tommy.
"Sure," answered Jude.
"How about a birthday kiss?" asked Tommy.
"On the cheek," said Jude.
"Fine, let's go to bed, we still have to go to the studio tomorrow," said Tommy.
They left and went to bed. The next morning, Jude wasn't going to school since it's her birthday so they got ready and went to the studio.
As they got there, Tommy went into Studio C to work with one of the new artists while Jude went to find Portia and Sadie who were in the dressing room. When she opened the door, she saw Sadie wearing a gorgeous sleeveless purple dress. As soon as they saw her, they wished her happy birthday and she sat down while Portia changed into her dress which was black with silver glitter on the spaghetti straps. Since they didn't have anything to do, they decided to gossip.
"So how was last night?" asked Portia.
"What happened last night?" asked Sadie.
"How do you know about last night?" Jude asked Portia.
"Well, I did pick out your dress," answered Portia.
"Last night was so romantic, he is so sweet," answered Jude.
"You didn't answer me," said Sadie.
"Oh last night, Tommy decorated the whole house with red petals, put candles everywhere and wrote me a song," explained Jude.
"Sounds nice," commented Sadie.
"It was more than nice, it was perfect," said Jude with a sad look on her face.
"What's with the look on you face?" asked Portia.
"It's just that Tommy wanted me to sing the song he wrote me at the party and tell the world about us," said Jude.
"So what's wrong?" asked Sadie.
"Well I told him I wasn't ready to tell the world yet but I will sing the song and he dropped the subject," said Jude.
"That's what you wanted right," said Portia.
"Well yeah but I didn't want him to completely ignore me," said Jude.
"Ok, why don't you want to tell the world?" asked Portia.
"I don't want to deal with the media blowing everything out of proportion and making up stories about us, it would ruin our relationship," answered Jude.
"Come on Jude we all know that's not the reason," said Sadie.
"Okay, I'm scared that if we tell the world then there's no backing out," answered Jude.
"Jude do you love him?" asked Portia.
"Of course," answered Jude.
"Let me rephrase that, are you in love with him?" asked Portia.
"Yes, I'm completely in love with him, I have been for a long time," answered Jude.
"Well then if you're in love with him, let the world know the rumors and false stories won't affect that," said Sadie trying to convince her sister.
"What if the rumors do affect us?" asked Jude.
"If you love him, forget the world," said Portia.
"Okay, thanks," said Jude.
"So what are you going to do now?" asked Sadie.
"I have no idea," answered Jude.
"Well maybe, he thinks you're ashamed of being with him," suggested Portia.
"That's not true," said Jude.
"Okay, you have to do something to show him," said Sadie.
"I'll sing the song tonight and dedicate it to him," said Jude.
"That's what he wanted so he'll be happy," said Portia.
"Okay I'll go tell him," said Jude getting up.
"No wait, do it as a surprise," said Sadie.
"Okay well, I'll go record it," said Jude.
"Good luck," said Sadie and Portia.
Jude left and went to Studio A which was empty and started to sing the song Tommy wrote her, when her band and Kwest came in and wished her Happy Birthday. She continued to sing and at the end, they clapped and screamed which gained her attention.
"I thought I was alone," said Jude.
"That was a great song, when did you write it?" asked Kwest.
"I didn't, Tommy wrote it for me as a birthday present," answered Jude.
"Are you going to record it?" asked Kyle.
"Yeah and I'm going to sing it tonight when I tell everyone about Tommy and me," said Jude.
"That's great, he'll be so happy when you tell him," said Kwest.
"It'll be a surprise so don't tell him," said Jude looking at the boys.
Jude went to the booth to record the song while Kwest mixed it and the band just listened. After a couple of retakes, it was perfect.
Since it was about four in the afternoon, Jude went to get ready with Sadie and Portia. The three girls left to go change at Portia's penthouse in the city. As the girls arrived there, Jude and Sadie were surprised to see all their dresses, make-up and other necessities already there.
"Portia, what's all this?" asked Jude.
"This is for us to get ready," answered Portia.
"So how does this work?" asked Sadie.
"What?" asked Jude confused about her sister's question.
"Well, we get ready then we leave for the party. You and I will enter by the front door and Jude will use the back to avoid the paparazzi then she'll make her entrance," explained Portia.
The girls started each others make-up and hair then put on their respective dresses. Meanwhile they kept talking.
"So what do you think Tommy'll do when you dedicate the song to him?" asked Sadie.
"I'm hoping he'll be happy," said Jude.
"He'll love you for this," said Portia.
"He might get mad me for not telling him," said Jude afraid.
"Jude, I know Tommy, he'll love it," said Portia trying to reassure her friend.
"How can you be so sure?" asked Jude.
"Jude, I was married to him, I know," answered Portia.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what happened between you two," asked Jude.
"A lot of things, we were too young, the rumors, the press and the fans got in our ways plus he didn't love me like he loves you," said Portia.
"What do you mean?" asked Jude.
"When we were married it was all about him and his career, he didn't care what I thought but with you, your opinion matter," explained Portia.
"Thanks Portia," said Jude.
By the time they were done, Portia had her dark brown hair down in curls, Sadie's blond hair was straight and Jude's hair was up in a bun with a little bit of hair down in curls. At 7.00 PM, the limo that Darius rented for them arrived to pick them up. When they arrived at the party, the media was everywhere so Sadie and Portia got off and entered through the front door while the driver went around and dropped Jude at the back. She entered the building and made her entrance. When Tommy saw her, he was shocked at her beauty. He started going towards her when he realized that she didn't want the world to know about them so he went into Studio A to be alone with his thoughts. While Jude entered the room, she saw a lot of people but she couldn't see the person she wanted to see. She searched for Tommy when she finally found him, he was leaving the room and heading for the studio, she was disappointed. She kept her smile on her face and greeted all her guests. After a couple of hours, she still hadn't seen Tommy so she went looking for him and found him sitting in his chair with his eyes closed in Studio A. She entered the room quietly and stood in front of him when he opened his eyes.
"Hey Jude, what are you doing here?" asked Tommy.
"Looking for you," answered the young girl.
"Why, it's not like you need me there," said Tommy.
"Are you still angry?" asked Jude.
"Well yeah, I just don't get it, you've dated a lot of guys before and the world didn't matter then so why now?" asked Tommy.
"The world doesn't matter, I'm just scared," said Jude.
"What are you scared of?" asked Tommy.
"I'm scared of the media saying things and we'll lose each other," said Jude.
"If you feel that way, we'll wait a little while but I'll always be there for you no matter what the media says," said Tommy.
"What do you say we go back to the party?" asked Jude
"Wait I have something to give you," said Tommy handing her a box, "Happy 18th Birthday Jude,"
Jude opened the box slowly. Inside was a 14 karat white gold band with two intertwining hearts. Each heart had a small blue topaz stone, Jude's birth stone, on the side. Tommy took the ring from her and took hold of her right hand. He placed the ring on her right ring finger. Jude looked up at him. "It's a promise ring." He said kissing her hand.
"Promise ring?" She grinned.
Tommy wrapped his arms around her waist. "Yes. As in I promise that one day you will be Mrs. Quincy." He said leaning down to kiss her.
"Tommy, I love it and I love you now let's go back," said Jude looking at him in the eyes smiling.
They left the studio and went back to the main room where the party was being held. As they re-entered the room, Darius announced that Jude was going to sing. She left Tommy's side and went towards the stage. She whispers something to the piano player and steps up to the mic. "Hi" she said nervously. "This is um, this is so amazing. I'm so grateful to have everyone I love in the same room tonight. But uh...there's one special, very special person who's been there through it all, and this song's for him" Then, Tommy heard the piano line to the song he wrote for her and she starts singing. "Is she really doing what I think she's doing? Is she telling everyone how she feels about me? She's staring right at me," he thought looking at the girl he loves. She's singing the last few lines of the song and walking out in the crowd towards him. He walked up to her with the biggest smile he could manage on his face. She finishes the song and takes the mic away from her mouth, looking up at him with those blue eyes of hers. "What do you think?" she asked. He smiled down at her, bringing his hand to her smooth cheek. "I think I love you" he said, bringing his lips to hers in front of everyone. Cameras were flashing, people were clapping, and they were kissing. They pulled away from each other, smiling from ear to ear. He pulled something out of his pocket and gave it to her, "This is my last gift to you," he said. She opened it and inside was a beautiful necklace and bracelet that matched the ring he gave her earlier. The bracelet had two entwining hearts with blue topaz all around and the necklace had only two entwining hearts as a locket with their picture as kids inside. When she saw this, she jumped into his arms and hugged him, he took the jewellery and put it on her while the cameras kept flashing. A lot of their friends congratulated them but not everyone was happy, her parents and grandparents who were also invited approached her. As she saw this, she told Tommy to let her deal with them and after an argument that he lost, he left to go join Sadie and Kwest while went to deal with her family. She knew what was coming so she pulled them into Studio A.
"That was inappropriate," said her grandmother.
"What are you talking about?" asked Jude.
"Jude, why did you have to let him kiss you like that in public?" asked her grandfather
"I didn't do anything wrong," said Jude.
"Jude, are you dating him?" asked her mother.
"Yes, mom, I'm dating him," said Jude.
"What, he's too old for you and as you father, I forbid it," said her father.
"Forbid it, Dad, today I'm eighteen, you can't forbid me from doing anything," said Jude.
"I don't care, as long as I'm your father, you will not go out with Tommy," said her father.
"Dad, I love Tommy, I won't stop seeing him whether you like it or not," said Jude standing up to her parents.
"Jude, he's not right for you, he'll break your heart and we just don't want to see you hurt," said her mother.
"Mom, he won't hurt me, if he does, I'll deal with it now I'm going back to the party," said Jude leaving the room.
"Young lady, we are not finished, you will stop all this nonsense and move back home," said her grandmother.
"What nonsense?" asked Jude.
"This music, hanging out with these boys and dating this Tommy," said her grandmother.
"You're calling my whole life nonsense," said Jude angry at her family for not supporting her.
"Jude when you got your record deal, we all supported you but now it's time to think about your future which means college and choosing a career," said her mother.
"I said this at dinner and I'll say it again, I am not going to college ever, I already have a job and if you don't like my music, my friends or my boyfriend, I don't care anymore, you've never supported me but I do have friends that will support me," said Jude.
"Without us, you don't have a family, you're all alone," said her dad.
"I don't care, I'm leaving," said Jude.
"Leave this room and you'll no longer be our daughter," said her dad while Jude left the room even after hearing her dad.
She went towards her sister who was with Tommy, Kwest, and Portia. She finally understood what her parents said and felt a little sad. A little tear fell from her right eye.
"What's wrong Jude?" asked Sadie seeing her sister's sadness.
"I think mom and dad disowned me," said Jude.
"What?" asked Kwest.
"Well when we were talking, they decided that I should give up my music and go to college so when I refused we got into this big argument about them never supporting me and before I left, dad said that if I left the room I'll no longer be their daughter," said Jude crying.
"Jude, we'll always be here for you and if they don't want you, it's their loss," said Tommy comforting her.
"Let's go back to the party," said Jude.
The five friends went in and danced, laughed and joked until the clock rang midnight when all the lights went out. Some of the guests screamed but Jude and Tommy used their cellphone lights to find some candles which was lit up after a couple of minutes. When they could see again, the first thing they saw was the mirrors on which said: "All will be revealed tonight, Jude and Tommy this is my last move," in blood.
"Jude, T what's going on here, is this some kind of joke cause it's not funny,"
"D this is not a joke it's…" said Jude when suddenly the TVs in the room was turned on and a video came on.
Jude and Tommy turned around and saw themselves on the video only about five years younger. On the video, they were in each others arms at the party and then they saw Hunter and Angie taking off and them going after them the next thing they saw was the accident as the part where the cars hit each other came, Jude hid her face in Tommy's chest so she didn't see. At the end, there was a last message which said: "You killed them now you will suffer not with your reputations but with your lives," Jude and Tommy were afraid.
"What is this?" asked Darius.
"It's from our past," answered Tommy.
"What are you two talking about you two met a couple of years ago?" asked Darius.
Not really," said Jude before explaining everything to him and everyone else.
"Well you two need to be protected, I'll get you two a bodyguard each," said Darius.
"No, we don't need bodyguards or police, we'll deal with it our way now we'll all go home and Tommy and I will deal with this guy," said Jude trying to open the door but couldn't "We're stuck,"
"The guests started to panic, until Tommy asked them not to. Everyone calmed down after a couple of minutes when Kwest said: "I think the blackmailer is someone who knew Hunter and Angie and knows you two now,"
"That's not possible, everyone who knew Hunter and Angie live in France not Toronto," said Jude.
"And we were friends with them, everyone they knew lived nearby and we knew them too," explained Tommy.
"Maybe you should think of it as a possibility that this person must've been here tonight so he could be a guest or a waiter," said Sadie.
"Okay, so, we'll check the guest list and the list of servers," suggested Jude.
"Sadie and I'll check the guest list," said Kwest.
"Darius and I'll check the list of servers" said Portia.
"Okay, we'll try and figure out who we knew then and now," said Tommy.
They all went to check out the lists only to find that all the servers check out and have alibis and that all the guests were at the party when the lights went out. They had no idea what they were up against.
"So now what?" asked Darius.
"I feel like I'm in an episode of CSI looking for a killer," said Sadie.
"That's it, we'll approach this like on CSI looking for his motive, means and opportunity," suggested Jude.
"That a great idea," praised Portia
"Alright, so his motive is revenge, he would have the opportunity if he was invited to the party and…" said Tommy.
"Find a guest who isn't here," said Jude cutting off Tommy.
"Well there are two guests who aren't here and that's a man named James Nelson and Jamie," said Sadie.
"Who is James Nelson?" asked Jude.
"He's an associate of mine from L.A," answered Darius.
"Well Jamie would have the opportunity and the means, he works here so he knows how to shut off the light and put a video in without being seen plus he could've entered the party like anyone else and instead of enjoying it, he decided to make us pay," said Tommy.
"Yeah but he doesn't have a motive to blackmail us for weeks and he didn't know about the Hunter and Angie thing until after we got a couple of notes," said Jude.
"Well we're back to square one with no idea who is doing this," said Tommy.
"Jude, have you ever met Jamie's parents?" asked Sadie.
"No, they travel a lot, why does this matter," said Jude.
"Well, maybe they are related to Hunter and Angie," said Sadie.
"Jamie's last name is Andrews right?" asked Tommy.
"Yeah so," said Jude.
"Well I think Hunter and Angie's mom's maiden name was Andrews," said Tommy.
"So that would mean that Jamie's Hunter and Angie's cousin," said Kwest.
"Well we have a motive so let's get Andrews," said Tommy.
"No wait, why would Jamie want to kill me, he claims to be in love with me," said Jude.
"Well it could be all an act," suggested Portia.
"I agree with Portia," said Tommy.
"Look, Jamie may have motive, means and opportunity but he was not at the party because he's mad at me plus how would he have gotten the tape of the accident," said Jude trying to defend her friend.
They all kept trying to figure out if Jamie was their culprit or not when Katrina joined them with Jude's band and they all went to Darius' office for a little bit of privacy.
"So have you guys figured out who the blackmailer is?" asked Katrina.
"Well they seem to think its Jamie," answered Jude.
"It could be, I mean he was very angry when you finally told him about you and Tommy, I thought he was just mad but later on he said that you would pay," explained Katrina.
"Well that's all the proof we need, let's get Andrews," said Tommy leaving.
"Wait, Jamie isn't the violent type," said Vin.
"How long have you guys known Jamie?" asked Tommy.
"Well, I met him on my first of school in first grade," answered Katrina.
"We met him in kindergarten," answered Kyle referring to him and the band.
"I met him after I came home from France at twelve," answered Jude.
"I knew him since he moved in next door," answered Sadie.
"When did he move next door to you?" asked Tommy looking at Sadie.
"A couple of months after Jude moved to France," answered Sadie.
"Is there any way you guys met him in France but didn't pay attention?" asked Kwest.
"Wait, the summer of the accident, Hunter and Angie had relatives visiting," said Jude suddenly remembering.
"Did you meet them?" asked Darius.
"I think so but we didn't really pay any attention to them," answered Tommy.
"Were they still in France when the accident happened?" asked Wally.
"Yeah, they were at the hospital when Tommy and I were brought in," answered Jude.
"Who were the relatives?" asked Sadie.
"It was their aunt, uncle and cousin on their mother's side," answered Jude.
"So there's a big chance it could've been Jamie," said Kwest.
"Maybe that's something we should look into," said Jude starting to believe her friend could be guilty.
"We need to get out of here to be able to find anything out," said Tommy.
"We could use the windows," suggested Vin.
"We won't fit through them, they're too small," observed Jude.
"What about air vents, they should lead outside?" asked Kyle.
"Not really they're also too small," said Darius.
"So the only way out of here is if Jamie decides to let us out," asked Tommy.
"Maybe there's like a secret passageway," suggested Wally.
"This is a studio so that means no secret passageway," said Darius.
"So how do we get out?" asked Katrina.
"I have an idea," said Jude. "Follow me"
They all followed her not knowing her idea or where she was going when she stopped in front of the ladies room.
"This is your idea because I doubt the ladies room is going to help," said Kwest in a condescending tone.
"That's a great idea Jude," said Portia finally understanding her idea while the other girls nodded.
"Jude you're not thinking of going out through the bathroom window, are you?" asked Tommy looking at her.
"Exactly, we will fit since it's bigger" said Jude.
"Wait, T, how do you know about the window in the girl's bathroom?" asked Kwest looking at his best friend
"A couple of years ago, when there were rumors about us being more than friends and the press was everywhere, we used the window to escape," answered Jude
They all went inside the room and one by one they went out the window until Jude, Tommy and Darius were the only ones left when Tommy said: "D you should stay behind and take care of the guests," Their boss agreed and wished them good luck before going back to the room where all the guests were and told them what was going on without giving them details but he did give Jude's family all the details. Meanwhile, the others were making a plan on how to find out if Jamie was their culprit.
"We could go to his usual hangouts to find him," suggested Portia.
"That's a great idea, Kyle, Wally and Katrina go to his house, Portia, Vin, Sadie and Kwest, go to the dance studio where he goes to think and Tommy and I'll go to the rehearsal space," said Jude taking charge.
"Alright, if anyone finds him, don't do anything; just call the rest of us. We'll go in together," said Tommy.
The three groups went in their different directions after wishing each other good luck. Sadie, Kwest, Vin and Portia went to the dance studio but they found it empty so they kept looking around. Kyle, Wally and Katrina went to Jamie's house but he wasn't there. His grandmother told them that he was out. Meanwhile Jude and Tommy went to the rehearsal space as they got there; it was empty except for Jude and her band's instruments. They kept looking around when suddenly someone came out of the shadows.
"It's about time you two came to find me," said the intruder with a dark mask to hide his face.
"Who are you?" asked Jude scared.
"You don't recognize me?" asked the intruder.
"Well you are wearing a mask," said Tommy stating the obvious.
The intruder took off the mask and Jude and Tommy were shocked at their blackmailer's identity.
"Nicole!!!" said Tommy "But why?"
"Well you two killed my brother and sister now you'll pay," said Nicole.
"It doesn't make sense, how did you get into the studio to turn off the lights and put the tape in?" asked Jude confused.
"Well my partner went into the studio since he has access," said Nicole with a laugh.
"What partner?" asked Tommy.
"My cousin Jamie," answered Nicole shocking her captives while Jamie came out of the shadows.
"Jamie's your cousin" said Jude.
"On my mother's side," said Nicole.
"Oh my God, you're the cousin who visited that summer," said Tommy looking at Jamie.
"That's right; you two ignored me like I didn't exist so when I came home, Jude moved in with her parents. We became friends and I liked her so I forgave her for ignoring me. When she got that record deal and you became her producer, she ignored me again like she did that summer but I still liked her, in fact I loved her. She didn't care, she moved in with you not caring what I said so when Nicole moved here, she was still angry at you two for killing her brother and sister. She wanted to ruin you so I decided to help her," explained Jamie.
"So Nicole gets revenge out of this, what do you get?" asked Jude trying to buy some time.
"I get rid of both of you, Jude I've loved you since I met you in France but you ignored me then and as soon as Tommy moved to Toronto, you ignored me again, I meant nothing to you, I was just someone to pick up the pieces for you," said Jamie angry.
"Enough chit chat, Jamie, tie then up," said Nicole.
Jamie pulled out a gun, pointed it at them and said: "Sit down," Jude and Tommy obeyed without a word but not before dialing the numbers of their friends' phone. Tommy dialed Kwest's number and Jude dialed Katrina's. Jamie tied them up.
"Now what?" asked Tommy.
"Now you two will join my brother and sister," answered Nicole.
"What are you going to do to us?" asked Jude with tears falling on her cheeks.
"I'll kill you like I got rid of them," said Nicole.
"Who's them?" asked Tommy.
"Hunter and Angie of course," answered Nicole.
"What, they died in the car accident," said Jude confused.
"I'll tell you the truth since you won't be telling anyone, I was jealous of them, they got all the attention since they were friends with you two who were loved by everyone. My parents never paid any attention to me, so, I found out you were spending the night in his bedroom so I told Angie that he wanted to see her she got so excited thinking he was going to asked her to be his girlfriend and walked in on you two sleeping together. She was so mad, at the party, I was mixing the drinks and as soon as I saw you two enter, I told her and gave her a strong drink. My plan worked perfectly, she got mad and ended your friendship, you got upset, Tommy comforted you and Hunter who had a couple of strong drinks walked in and stormed out driving while under the influence. You two being the good friends that you were, went after them and ended up slamming into them. You two thought you killed them but they were still alive but since you were hurt and blacked out, I made sure they didn't see the light of day again making it look like they died instantly during the accident," explained Nicole.
"You killed them so what do we have to do with any of this," asked Tommy.
"Well after they died, my parents still didn't pay any attention to me, they paid attention to you two. They followed Tommy's career while he was in 'Boyz Attack' and when Jude made her appearance as a singer, they were proud of her like they were of Hunter and Angie when they did something. If I get rid of you two, my parents will pay attention to me," said Nicole.
"You're sick," said Jude.
"It doesn't matter, you will die and we'll live on a great life," said Jamie.
"Nicole gets something out of this but what do you get?" asked Tommy
"With Jude dead I get to move on and with Tommy dead, I won't be reminded of Jude everyday," said Jamie.
"There are simpler way of having these great lives, Nicole, you can talk to your parents and Jamie, you can move away, murder isn't the only way," rationalized Jude
"It's not murder, its suicide," said Jamie.
"We'll kill you two and make it look like you two committed suicide," said Nicole.
"Nobody will believe that, we don't have a reason to want to die," said Jude.
"We'll find a reason," insisted Nicole.
"Jude and I are happy people, we've got everything we want so we wouldn't want to kill ourselves," said Tommy.
"You'll write a note saying that the guilt you feel for Angie and Hunter's deaths was too much for you to handle so you killed yourselves," said Jamie.
Nicole grabbed a gallon filled with petrol and started to put the liquid all around Jude and Tommy and on them. Jamie lit the lighter and threw it on the floor before leaving through the back door. Jude and Tommy kept hoping their friends heard everything through their cell phones. The fire started to spread fast, the curtains and some of the instruments were burned and the fire was about to burn them when they heard sirens outside and someone broke down the door and put out the fire before Jude and Tommy passed out from smoke inhalation. They were taken to the ambulance where the paramedics put an oxygen mask on each of them to help them breathe and took them to the hospital where they woke up a couple of hours later. As soon as, they opened their eyes, they said each others name. Tommy was worried for Jude when he woke up and Jude was worried about Tommy until the nurse pulled the curtains that separated them they were both relieved to see that the other was okay. As soon as the doctor told Sadie, Kwest and their other friends that Jude and Tommy woke up, they rushed not listening to anyone. The girls sat down and the guys stayed on their feet.
"Are you guys okay?" asked Sadie.
"We're fine, it's just a bit of smoke," said Jude shrugging it off like it didn't matter.
"So what happened at the rehearsal space?" asked Portia.
"It was Jamie but he wasn't alone, he was helped by Nicole," said Tommy.
"Who's Nicole?" asked Katrina.
"She's Hunter and Angie's sister," answered Jude.
"Why did they want to kill you?" asked Kyle.
"Didn't you guys hear, we called you so you would hear and understand?" said Tommy.
"Well, my phone rang but when I answered, I couldn't hear anything so I hung up," explained Katrina.
"Same here," said Kwest.
"So how did you guys know to call the ambulance and the fire department?" asked Jude.
"We came to the rehearsal space when he wasn't at his house or the studio, and the ambulance and fire fighter were already there," said Sadie.
"So what was their reason?" asked Wally.
"Nicole did it because of jealousy and Jamie did it to move on," said Jude.
"What does that mean?" asked Vin confused.
"Well, Nicole never got her parents' attention when Hunter and Angie were alive so she got rid of them but then her parents still didn't pay attention to her, they followed our careers so she decided to get rid of us. Jamie wanted to move on so he thought that by killing Jude he'll forget about her and me so I won't remind him of her," explained Tommy.
"That's sick," commented Portia.
"So now what?" asked Wally.
"Now Tommy and I need to get out of here so we can go after Jamie and Nicole," said Jude.
"That's not a good idea, the doctor said you have to stay overnight to be sure," said Sadie.
"We need get them before they leave the country," said Tommy.
"Bad idea, you need to follow the doctor's orders," said Kwest.
"We can't, we have to get out here or Jamie and Nicole can find out we didn't die but decide to come after people we care about instead us," said Jude.
"Let the police handle this," said Katrina.
"We can't, lives could be in danger," said Jude.
"We'll help you," said Vin motioning to himself, Kyle and Wally.
"Thanks man," said Tommy.
"We'll help too," said Sadie. "We won't let you do this alone,"
"So how do we get out of here?" asked Jude.
"I have an idea but you guys need to get dressed first," said Vin.
Jude and Tommy got dressed while Vin told them his idea which they loved, it was to pretend that Jude and Tommy died and they being transported to the morgue. Katrina and Kyle got a couple of doctor's coats and put them on while Jude and Tommy got into bed and covered themselves with white sheets while Sadie, Wally and Vin stood by Jude's bed and pretended to cry, Portia and Kwest did the same thing for Tommy. Katrina and Kyle stood behind the beds and began moving them towards the morgue but instead they went to the back door. They passed a couple of people who fortunately didn't find anything wrong with them. When they got out side, Kyle and Katrina ditched the coats, Jude and Tommy got off the beds and ran. They went towards the park and sat on a bench.
"If we're caught, we'll get into a lot of trouble," said Sadie.
"We'll deal with that later, right now we need to find Jamie and Nicole," said Jude
"How do we do that?" asked Kwest.
"No idea," answered Tommy.
"Maybe he went home," suggested Katrina.
"I don't think so, I mean I killed two people I wouldn't go home and wait for the police to come and pick me up," said Jude.
"Yeah, but if he doesn't go home, he'll make sure people know he's the killer," said Sadie.
"Let's check his house," said Tommy.
"Alright, I'll drive," said Kwest going towards the hospital parking lot.
"That's fine since it's your car," said Jude as they all got into the jeep.
They all sat down and the ride was quiet when Vin broke the silence and said; "What do we do when find them?"
"I don't know," said Jude.
"We need to have a plan, we can't just barge in there and not do anything," said Portia.
"We go in and see if they're there and if they are, we call the police," said Kwest.
"No, that's a bad idea, we can't go in then all the police we go in and make sure they confess to everything then we call the police," said Jude.
"Alright, let's go," said Kyle as they arrived at Jamie's house.
They knocked on the door and nobody answered so they decided to use a window which they found at the back of the house, they entered the house and walked around quietly looking for Jamie and Nicole. They searched the whole but in vain, it was empty.
"Now what?" asked Sadie when they suddenly heard the door.
"If we get caught here, we'll be arrested for breaking and entering," said Katrina.
"Let's get out of here," said Jude using the back door.
They ran away to Jude's parents' yard, they at on the porch and kept thinking about how they would find Jamie but they had no idea.
"Let's approach this rationally," said Kyle.
"Okay, I killed two people, where would I go," said Tommy thinking about what he would do.
"Out of town," said Wally.
"To a friend's," said Sadie.
"To the airport," said Jude.
"Anywhere but home," said Kwest.
"Well all these are great answers so we could check out these places and see if we find them," said Kyle.
"I don't think so, Jamie doesn't have anywhere to go out of town and he doesn't have any friends other than us," said Jude.
"So that leave the airport, let's go," said Tommy.
They drove towards the airport in silence thinking about what would happen if they found Jamie and Nicole and what would happen if they didn't find anything. No being able to stand the silence, Jude asked: "What happens if we don't find them?"
"We keep trying to figure out where they could've gone but I don't think it'll matter because I have a feeling we'll find them at the airport," said Tommy.
When they arrived at the airport, they parked at went inside.
"So now what?" asked Kwest.
"Now we look for them by separating in teams," said Tommy.
"No, last time we did that you and Jude ended up in the hospital," said Sadie.
"We separate in teams of three, Kwest, Sadie and Kyle, you guys ask the ticket lady if they're hear, Katrina, Portia and Wally, you guys check out the gift shops and Vin, Tommy and I'll go to the waiting area, if you see them call the police," said Jude.
They separated in teams and went to their assigned places, the ticket lady wasn't authorized to give out any information, the gift shops were empty and the waiting are was full of people which made it hard to find them. Jude, Tommy and Vin put on sunglasses so they won't be recognize and walked around looking for Jamie and Nicole but unfortunately Jamie and Nicole spotted them and started to run outside and got to their car and drove away at full speed, Jude and the two boys ran after them so did their friends. As they got to the jeep, they all hopped in, this time Jude took the wheel and went after Jamie and Nicole at full speed breaking the speed limit. Jamie and Nicole went on the highway where Jude followed them which wasn't easy since she was cut off by the other vehicles so she a complete turn around and took the next exit and tried to cut off Jamie and Nicole which was unsuccessful since they were too fast. Not being able to catch up to them , they knew they needed help so Sadie called the police while Jude still at full speed tried to cut but was still not successful. She decided to think of where they would exit and remembered that Jamie had the keys to her parents' farmhouse so she exited hoping to cut them up at before they reached the farmhouse. As Jude went through an intersection, she didn't see a car missing the lights, she slammed into it. She was scared, she got out followed by her friends and went to see who it was. When she opened the door, the identity of the driver and passenger shocked, it was Jamie and Nicole. Neither of which was bleeding so she checked their pulse and found out they were still alive.
"Call 911," said Jude.
"Alright," said Sadie dialing her phone.
After a couple of minutes, Jamie and Nicole woke up and looked at them. They got up on their feet showing Jude and her friends that they were alright and began to run towards the farmhouse. Jude started to run after them not before saying: "Tommy and I'll go after them , the rest of you stay here to deal with the police," and she ran to try and catch up to them. It wasn't easy but they reached the farmhouse after Jamie and Nicole. They went inside as quietly as possible but they weren't quiet enough since Jamie was there with his gun.
"Sit down," said Jamie.
"This time we'll make sure you die before we go," said Nicole with pure hate.
"It doesn't matter what you do because the police already know you tried to kill us so you'll be facing attempted murder charges and Nicole will be facing murder charges," said Jude.
"We won't face any charge if your bodies are never found," said Nicole.
"What are you talking about?" asked Tommy confused.
"We'll kill you and get rid of the bodies and without bodies, there is no case and we'll get out of here. Nobody'll know," said Jamie.
"Wrong, our friends know that we came here and they also know it was because of you two so they won't rest until you're behind bars facing murder charges," said Jude trying to stop them from killing her and Tommy.
"We'll just get rid of them too and make a clean break," said Nicole.
"How many people are you willing to kill because of jealousy?" asked Tommy.
"Shut up and sit down," said Jamie.
"Or what you'll shoot me," said Tommy "go ahead you'll kill us anyway"
"You're not making this easy," said Nicole.
"You know I have a question," said Jude.
"What?" asked Jamie.
"The notes you sent, why did they say revenge?" asked Jude.
"We wanted you to feel guilty enough to go to the police and tell them you killed hunter and Angie then we wouldn't have had to kill you," explained Jamie.
"Now you two are going to shut up," said Jamie pointing his gun at them.
"Jamie you don't have to do this, we'll tell the police, you just got caught up in this by accident and you can move somewhere else," said Jude pleading her friend.
"No, you got everything, you had friends and your dream job and all I wanted was you and I could even get that so now you'll both have to die," said Jamie.
As Jamie was about to shoot, Tommy got up and started to struggle for the gun when suddenly a gun went off, Jude screamed thinking Tommy was hurt when she saw him still standing up. They turned around and saw Nicole with a gun in her hand pointed at Jude. Tommy and Jamie kept struggling but in the end, Tommy had the upper hand since he was older and stronger than Jamie. He had the gun in his hand.
"Drop the gun Nicole or Jamie is going to die," ordered Tommy pointing the gun at Jamie.
"That gun doesn't have any bullets so sit down or I'll shoot because this has bullets in it," threatened Nicole.
Tommy sat down but Jude jumped Nicole and wrestled her to try and get the gun. Seeing this, Tommy went after Jamie and started to fight. By the end, Jamie and Nicole were bleeding and Jude and Tommy had the gun.
"You two sit or I'll shoot," ordered Tommy pointing the gun at them.
"Yeah right, you couldn't shoot if your life depended on it, you may look tough but you won't shoot another human being," said Nicole.
"You know you should never threaten someone with a gun unless you have the guts to follow through," said Jamie.
"If you two don't sit down, I'll shoot you and trust me I'll do it," said Jude angry.
"Yeah right, you're a wimp, you would never shoot us, you heart is too pure," said Jamie.
"Are you sure?" asked Jude taking the gun from Tommy and pointing it towards Jamie.
"You can't shoot us," said Nicole laughing with Jamie when suddenly they heard two gun shots and felt pain. Jude shot them. Jamie was bleeding in the leg and Nicole in the arm.
"Now you're both going to sit or the next bullet will be going in you hearts," threatened Jude pointing the gun at them.
"Call an ambulance, we'll bleed to death," said Jamie.
"Tommy call the others and tell them what's going on," said Jude looking at her boyfriend.
The others arrived with the police, and ambulance and Jude's parents, who were not happy at their daughter for leaving the hospital.
"Young lady, you're supposed to be in the hospital resting," said her mother sternly.
"Sorry mom but we needed to make sure Jamie and Nicole didn't get away," said Jude.
"Jude, we wanted to apologized about how we acted at your party, we'll support you no matter what you decide to do with your life," said her dad.
"And Tom, you make her happy so we approve of you two dating," said her mother.
"Thanks mom, dad," said Jude.
"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Harrison," said Tommy.
"Let's get out of here," said Sadie.
"That's a great idea but you two have to go to the police station to give your statements of what happened here and at the rehearsal space," said Portia.
"Yeah, we'll go first thing tomorrow morning after a good night sleep," said Tommy.
"No, they need you at the station tonight," said Kwest.
"Fine, we'll go," said Jude leaving.
"Wait Jude, Sadie, we'd like to have lunch with you two tomorrow," said their mother.
"Sure mom, we'll be at the house at noon," said Sadie looking at her sister.
Jude and Tommy went to the station in a police car since Kwest's jeep wasn't in good shape. When they got there, they spent a couple of hours answering the same questions a couple of times and explaining what happened. At 4.00 A.M, they could finally go home so they got a ride and went home. They took a shower and went to bed. Tommy fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow but Jude started having nightmares about the fire and started to twist and turn which woke up Tommy. He tried to wake up Jude but he couldn't so he grabbed her and started to shake her. She finally opened her eyes, buried her face in his chest and started to cry. Tommy began to rub circles in her back to try and comfort her. After she got a hold of herself a stopped crying, Tommy asked her: "Why were you turning so much?"
"I was having a nightmare about the fire," answered Jude.
"Want to tell me about it," asked Tommy.
"We were in the fire but we weren't rescued and the fire reached us and you tried to get out but I couldn't move so we both burned," said Jude.
"Look Girl, you'll have nightmares but they'll go away and always remember they're only dreams, they're not real," said Tommy.
"Thanks Tommy," said Jude before lying down on his chest and falling asleep.
They both went to sleep without any interruption and at 10.00 A.M the next morning, the phone began to ring which woke up the couple.
"Hello," said Jude answering the phone in a sleepy voice.
"Good morning little sister," said Sadie.
"Sadie, why are you calling?" asked Jude.
"Did I wake you?" asked Sadie feeling bad.
"Yeah, so what do you want?" asked Jude.
"Can you pick me up for the lunch at mom and dad's," asked Sadie.
"Yeah sure, I'll see you later," said Jude getting up and heading to the bathroom as Tommy who had gotten up while she was on the phone was coming out. He told her he was going to make coffee while she showered and got dressed. When she was done, they sat down and had their coffee while talking about random things but they didn't bring up Jamie ad Nicole or what happened. At 11.30 A.M, Jude left to go pick up her sister and they went to have lunch at their parents'. When they arrived there, everybody was at the table waiting for them. The two sisters sat down next to each other and began eating with everyone else.
"So Jude there's something I've been meaning to ask you in the car," said Sadie.
"What is it?" asked Jude.
"That ring on your right hand, is it new?" asked Sadie pointing at the ring.
"Um yeah, it was a gift," said Jude not want to say it was a promise ring from Tommy since she wasn't sure how her family was going to react.
"What ring?" asked her grandmother voicing everyone else's thoughts. Jude showed them the ring and said: "Tommy gave it to me last night,"
"Does it have a special meaning?" asked her aunt.
"Um, it's um a promise ring," said Jude nervously.
"That's great Jude," said Sadie happy for her sister.
"Thanks Sades," said Jude.
"A promise ring but Jude, you're too young to think about marriage," said her mother.
"We may support your relationship with Tommy but you're eighteen, you shouldn't be thinking about marriage," said her father.
"Dad, Tommy gave this ring to show me that someday in the future he'll marry me," explained Jude.
"Yeah right, Lil' Tommy Q wants to marry you, I think it's just one of his tricks to get you in bed," said Sara jealous of her cousin.
"Sara, that's not appropriate to say," said her grandmother.
"It's alright grandmother," said Jude.
"No, it's not, she shouldn't say something like that," said her grandmother.
"It's okay, I've heard it before," said Jude.
"What do you mean you've heard it before?" asked her uncle.
"I've heard it from the press and Tommy's fans who hate me since I took him off the market," said Jude.
"Jude, I would like to apologize to you for what I said about your music, it's not all bad, I just listened to tabloids and I was ashamed for that I am sorry, I've heard your music, you'll make it without going to college," said her grandfather.
"And this Tommy boy seem to really love you, I'm sorry for what I said about him. I judged him from his past," said her grandmother.
"It's okay, you shouldn't listen to the tabloids or the rumors, they're usually not true," said Jude.
"What do you mean?" asked her cousin Jake.
"Well, they exaggerated about Tommy's playboy status and about me and Tommy, we just got together but the press'll say he was taking advantage of me since we started working together," explained Jude.
"I feel bad for you, you have to deal with all this daily," said her aunt.
"I usually just ignore the tabloids and the people who don't like me," said Jude.
"So Jude, tell us more about what you do," asked her grandmother.
"I write songs and I sing them, I play guitar and piano too sometimes I help Tommy produce but that's not very often," said Jude.
"If we want to see what you do, can we come one day?" asked her cousin Sara.
"Um I'll have to ask my boss but I don't think he'll agree," said Jude not wanting them to come to the studio.
"So Sara, what do you do?" asked Jude.
"I'm studying to be a lawyer, I'm in my first year of Law school," answered Sara.
"What about you Jake?" asked Jude.
"I'm studying to be an engineer, I'm in my second year of university," answered Jake.
"Wow, it looks like I'm the only one who won't be going to university," said Jude.
"You could go Jude," said her father.
"Dad, I don't want to go plus I probably won't get in I mean my grades are terrible," said Jude.
"Jude, if music makes you happy, that's what you'll do," said her mother.
"Jude it's two, shouldn't you be at work?" asked Sadie.
"Not really, Darius gave me and Tommy a couple of days off to rest," said Jude.
"Are you sure it was Darius I mean he doesn't usually give you time off for no reason," said Sadie.
"Well, the album is almost done so he thought we needed a couple of days off," said Jude.
"How's your album almost done?" asked Sadie.
"We have all the songs and they just need to be put together," said Jude.
"Seriously," said Sadie shocked.
"Well yeah I mean Tommy and I have been working hard lately," said Jude.
"Not really, you guys are always laughing or joking around," said Sadie.
"We also work," said Jude.
"When do you think it'll be ready?" asked Sadie.
"I'm not sure, it needs to be mixed and Darius needs to approve it," said Jude.
"How do you know all this, I mean you're the artist, I thought dealing with mixing and Darius approving was the producer's job," said Sadie.
"It is but after two albums, I know this kind of stuff plus I co-produce some of my songs," said Jude.
"I didn't know," said Sadie.
"Um mom, dad, I think I'll head home, I need to get a couple of hours of sleep since I barely slept last night," said Jude.
"What happened last night?" asked Sadie wiggling her eyebrows.
"Not what you're thinking, I had nightmares," said Jude.
"So you and Tommy didn't sleep together," said Sadie.
"No, I'm not ready plus last night was a terrible night," said Jude getting up.
"Where are you going?" asked Sadie.
"Home, do you want a ride or not," said Jude.
"Yeah, let's go," said Sadie getting up and saying goodbye to everyone following Jude.
The two girls got into Jude's car and went home. Jude dropped off her sister and arrived home. When she got inside, Tommy was sitting on the couch filling through the channels when Jude sat next to him. He stopped on ET and heard: "Well, it looks like 18 year old artist Jude Harrison and 24 year old ex-boybander turned producer Tommy Quincy have finally started dating after years of working together," then there was a clip of Jude and Tommy kissing at her party after her song. They were both happy that there were no strange rumors about them. They kept watching until they got bored so Jude got up to put a movie when they suddenly heard: "Well, it seems the relationship between Jude Harrison and Tommy Quincy isn't a recent one, here is a picture of the two of them kissing before Jude turned eighteen. Was Tommy Quincy taking advantage of Jude before she turned eighteen?" mad Tommy turned off the TV and got up. The phone suddenly started ringing, it was Darius telling them that he set up a press conference for them at 2.00 P.M tomorrow. Jude and Tommy thought it was a great idea and they could tell the world the truth about them so that the rumors about him taking advantage of her would stop. The two of them made some sandwiches and had dinner before going to bed at around 9.30 P.M since they were both tired. The next morning, they both stayed in bed until 11.00 A.M and got up just in time to have lunch and head to the studio for the press conference. After lunch, Jude and Tommy got into his car and drove to the studio. When they arrived there, there were cameras everywhere so they decided to use the back door where nobody went since it wasn't a clean place. They went inside and Darius led them to the conference room without saying a word where there were cameras and people asking questions as soon as they came in.
"We'll answer your questions if you just ask one by one," said Tommy trying to calm them down and he succeeded.
"How long have you two been dating?" asked one of the reporters.
"We've been dating since I moved in with him," answered Jude.
"You two seem to know each other very well, did you meet for the first time when Jude got the recording contract with Rocksound Studios?" asked another reporter.
"Um well, we didn't meet for the first time when she got the contract, we grew up together in France," answered Tommy truthfully.
"Is it true that you had a relationship when Jude was sixteen?" asked a reporter wanting to make a scandal.
"No, it's not true, nothing happened between us before we started to date," answered Jude hoping to avoid bad rumors.
"Why did you two move in together?" asked a reporter curious.
"Jude was having problems living with her parents and wanted to move out so I suggested she move in with me she agreed," answered Tommy.
"Would you tell us about what happen at the party yesterday, what did that video mean?" asked a reporter wanting to understand.
"It was an accident we had years ago where two of our friends died," answered Jude.
"Does it have anything to do with the fire at Jude's rehearsal space and the shooting at her parents' farmhouse?" asked someone in the back.
"Yes, the culprits are Jamie and Nicole who were the sister and cousin of the victims of the accident five years ago," answered Tommy.
"Why did they want to kill you, was it revenge or another reason?" asked the first reporter.
"It wasn't revenge, it was jealousy. Nicole was jealous of her brother and sister so she killed them and then of us so she tried to kill us and Jamie was trying to move on," answered Jude.
"How long have you two had feelings for each other?" asked a curious reporter.
"I've loved Jude since I met her when I was twelve," answered Tommy.
"Um I've loved Tommy since I was a kid," answered Jude.
"Were you in love with each other then?" asked a reporter trying to make a story.
"No, we loved each other as friends," lied Tommy.
"When did you realize you were in love with each other?" asked the same reporter.
"I realized when I re-met Jude after she got her contract," answered Tommy.
"I started to fall in love with Tommy when we worked together," said Jude without giving anything.
"Would you elaborate?" asked a reporter.
"When I re-met Tommy, he wasn't very nice to me so I instantly disliked him even though he was my best friend but as we work in private, I saw the side of him I knew as a kid so I began to fall for him," answered Jude trying to explain.
"How did you tell each other how you felt?" asked another reporter.
"Um, Darius saw an article about how the public liked the relationship between us so he told us to pretend to be dating. When Tommy agreed with him, I got mad because I knew I wouldn't be able to hide my feelings for him so I yelled at him and he told me that he loved me and I told him how we felt and we started to date," answered Jude.
"Where do you two see each other in about 10 years, in your relationship?" asked a reporter hoping for a juicy story.
"In ten years, I see myself married to Jude maybe with a couple kids," answered Tommy smiling.
"Tommy!!!" said Jude blushing and hiding her embarrassment by burying her face in his chest and the cameras were flashing.
"What Jude we love each other so that's probably where we'll be in 10 years," said Tommy trying to make her understand.
"I know that but it doesn't mean we should tell the world about our plans for the future," said Jude not sure about the future.
"Alright, we won't tell the world about the future," said Tommy agreeing with her.
"Thank you, I love you," said Jude looking in his blue eyes.
"I love you too Girl," said Tommy before their lips met for a kiss while the cameras flashed.
"Alright, you two can go, we're done here," said Darius dismissing them.
"Thanks D," said Jude and Tommy leaving the conference room hand in hand. The couple went into Studio A where Sadie, Kwest and Portia were instead of going home.
"Hey guys, how's it going?" said Tommy entering the room with Jude behind him.
"What are you doing here, I thought you had a couple of days off," asked Sadie.
"We do, we're here for a press conference," said Jude explaining their presence.
"So are you guys going home?" asked Portia.
"We thought you guys would want to hang out if you're not busy," said Jude.
"Without you two here, it's dull we don't have anything to do," said Kwest bored.
"What do you mean man?" asked Tommy.
"Work is so boring when you guys aren't here, all the other artists and producers are so serious, they don't even joke or laugh," said Kwest.
"Okay, Portia, go talk your brother into giving you guys a couple of days off," said Jude as Portia left.
"Why do we need days off," asked Sadie.
"Well we thought you guys would want a vacation," said Tommy.
"A vacation!" exclaimed Kwest.
"Well yeah, grandma and grandpa have a lake house a couple of miles from here so I thought we could go there to relax since I have a key," said Jude.
"The grandma and grandpa who are in town?' asked Sadie confused.
"No Sades, the ones in France, they barely use it so they gave it to me as a birthday present," said Jude.
"Darius gave us all a week off," said Portia rushing in excited.
"Well you guys go home and pack the meet us at our place," said Jude.
They all spent a week at Jude's lake house relaxing and went back to work. Jamie and Nicole both pleaded guilty at their trials, Jamie was given a 15 year sentence for attempted murder and Nicole was given a life sentence on murder charges. Jude and Tommy both testified at their trials. A year later, Sadie and Kwest got married and during the reception, Tommy asked Jude to marry him. After Sadie came back from her honeymoon, she helped Jude plan a big wedding. A year after the proposal, Jude married her true love Tommy in front of all their friends, family and the rest of the world. Jude wore a beautiful white dress and her father, who got to know Tommy and loved him like the son he never had, walked her down the aisle. Jude's relationship with her parents improved. Jude, Tommy and all their friends lived happy lives never seeing Jamie again after he got out of jail.
