Julie's PoV

The rest of the week was mostly spent in a happy bubble of jamming to music, cooking together, baking extra goods such as brownies, playing board games, testing me on road rules, exploring the neighbourhood and cuddling on the couch with Luke while watching movies. We had started the marvel collection and were watching Thor, The Dark World tonight.

Tomorrow I was going to start highschool and I was currently in my room going over all my new stationary that we brought and packing it into my new school bag. I had a fluffy purple pencil case full of highlighters, coloured pens for writing, the standard colours and pencils for doodling with. On top of that I had a bunch of new books and spare paper to write notes on. Overall my bag would be heavy tomorrow but I had a locker that I could move it all into as well as my new textbooks that I picked up. The week had flown by much to my annoyance, I wasn't sure if I really was ready to go back to highschool let alone a new school. I would be the new girl in the middle of the year and Christmas was only a few weeks away.

The only bad moment I really had this week was my nightmares, they were still happening and this morning's one had been especially bad.

Flash back

I had woken up gasping for air after living through my nightmare of being buried again. I had sat up and taken one look at Luke sitting on my bed, his hand hovering mid air, unsure what I needed. I launched myself into his arms and cried as he caught me and held me tightly in his arms.
"It was just a nightmare Julie, you're safe, I promise" he whispered into my hair.
"I don't want to sleep alone any more, can you stay please?"
"Of course, anything you need Julie"

I went to use the washroom quickly to dry my face and came back to Luke holding the blankets back for me, already in bed waiting. I had barely laid down before he had pulled me into his arms tightly, one arm going under my head and down my back, the other going all the way around my waist tucking his hand between the bed and my side. I couldn't move If I wanted to and it felt safe. Luke kissed my forehead tenderly goodnight and rested his chin against my forehead as he closed his eyes to sleep.

I had woken up with the only adjustments being my head was tucked into his neck and his leg had somehow ended up entangled with mine again. It was hard not to fall for someone who held me like that all night long.

I double checked my bag, it was all ready for tomorrow, the only thing that needed to be added was my lunch and drink bottle in the morning. A soft knock at my door alerted me to Luke standing in my doorway.
"Hey Julie I'm going to go to sleep, do you need anything before I go?" Luke asked.
"Hey Luke, nah I think I have everything sorted, I'm just about to turn my light out also, goodnight" I replied.

Luke went back to his bed leaving his door open and I turned my light out. An hour later though, I was still awake and my clock read eleven thirty. I needed to be awake at seven but I couldn't seem to sleep. After a few minutes of tossing and turning I decided to stop procrastinating and take action. I wanted to sleep with Luke again, it felt safe so I quietly walked into his room and shook his shoulder gently while calling his name.

"Julie? Are you okay?" he asked, sitting up and making room for me.
"I can't sleep, can I sleep with you please?" I said climbing in as he pulled the blankets back for me.
"Of course, I couldn't sleep either, come here"
Luke had pulled me to lay down, resting my head on his chest and wrapped his arm tightly around my waist. His other hand reached up to hold my other hand on his chest and he kissed my forehead again, resting his head on mine.

I woke up to Reggie and Alex smirking at me and Luke trying to wake me.
"Julie, it's breakfast time and you need to get up for school" said Luke after planting a kiss on my head.
"If you don't get up in five minutes, Alex and I are coming back to tickle you so get up!" said Reggie as Alex pulled him out of Luke's room.
I stretched my limbs then snuggled back into Luke's chest, he humored me for a few minutes, pulling the blankets up over my shoulders and holding me tightly, rubbing his free hand up and down my arm.
"Alright Julie, you should probably get up, can I get you anything?"
"Another ten hours in bed?" I replied around a yawn.
"I can't offer that sorry, Alex and Reggie will be back any minute now to tickle us both to get out so we should get moving" Luke mumbled into my hair and pulled me even closer.

Eventually we jumped out of bed and rushed to get dressed in our rooms when we heard footsteps on the stairs. When I made my way downstairs, Luke was already sitting at the table sipping a coffee. I sat next to him and Reggie presented me with a plate of fried eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, some sliced orange and half a bran muffin with butter melting on it. Alex gave me a coffee that I gratefully sipped at before digging into my breakfast.

"Well Julie, I've already made your lunch, you have a chicken salad with a thermos of tomato soup. There's some crackers and cheese in there as well as a banana, apple, musli bar and mixed nuts for snacks" said Alex proudly.
"Wow, thank you so much!" I replied.

After eating breakfast and brushing my teeth, we made our way to school, with a few minutes before the first bell. The boys were supposed to poof back home and come get me after school but Luke had other plans.
"I was just going to, you know, hang out and make sure your first day goes alright?" he said from the front seat next to me.
"Alright but don't let me talk to you in front of anyone, I don't want to be labeled as the crazy person" I said sternly.
"Of course, anything you want" he said with a big smile.

I rolled my eyes and began to make my way to reception. I was given a map of the school grounds and buildings with class rooms, a schedule and then pointed in the general direction of my locker. Luke helped me find it and I dumped everything in there that I didn't need and began looking for my first class, English. Everyone was already sitting down in their seats leaving only one available by the window at the back. I made my way to it and sat down fully aware that everyone had eyes on me. I decided to pull out my refill and start doodling on the paper to take my mind off of people staring at me. Luke kept his word and sat on the window sill next to me and remained quiet.

Eventually the teacher came in and put his stuff down.
"Good morning everyone, I hear we have a new student, welcome Julie, did you wanna stand up and introduce yourself, maybe share where you came from and something you like to do in your spare time?"
Blah I hated when teachers did this, not that I had been a new student before but I had seen them do this routine to many other kids before me.
"Hey, my name is Julie, I'm from Los Angeles and in my spare time I enjoy singing or playing music on my piano" I said as confidently as I could muster.
"Thank you Julie, my name is Mr Farrakhan, I hope you have a great first day".

The class then started off by going over Romeo and Juliet, a film I had studied earlier in the year so I didn't have to pay attention too hard to the details. Luke was currently lounging in the sunshine on the window sill and looked as if he was about to fall asleep. I had to hide my smile behind my hands as he began to softly snore. At the end of class he woke up abruptly to the bell as a girl I had seen when I walked in came up to me.

"Hey there my name is Lori, I play the piano also, do you have music next with me?"
"Hey there Lori, yes I do, in B3, did you want to go together?" I said in a friendly voice.
"Sure let's go!" she replied.

Lori was like Alice from twilight, super bouncy for a small energy ball and never stopped talking. I barely needed to open my mouth to reply as she just powered onto the next subject. She was a cheerleader and had a boy friend that was on the football team. Your typical American popular couple, Lori even had the beautiful barbie blonde hair to go with the look. She was wearing a pink mini skirt despite the weather, long pink boots that came up to her knees and a small pink fluffy jacket. Luke followed silently behind me but occasionally snickered at something she said.

We arrived at music class and she pulled me to sit next to her with her friends. I couldn't remember any of their names but they all seemed nice enough. Luke wandered around looking at all the instruments available before sitting in front of me leaning against my leg. We were in the front row and there were no seats. I guessed this would be a class he would enjoy and I liked being able to feel him as well as see him when no one else could. I had never been in a music class before so it was definitely interesting. Five of us took turns at performing on our instruments then we went into the history of Mozart. I would have to prepare something tomorrow to perform. We all had to at least once a week so five people were picked every day before going into literature and history. Overall the class was rather fun and it was nice having a break from Lori's constant talking.

The rest of my classes went by in a blur. I sat with Lori at lunch time and met more of her popular friends and I wondered why she liked me. I hadn't offered anything really to our friendship and I had never been popular before. Maybe it was because we both played the same instrument. Everyone was jealous of my lunch though, they all had to eat the cafeteria food which wasn't that great, even Luke wasn't interested, and had poofed in food from home.

It was finally home time and I was itching to get home, school was never my favorite place but Lori had stopped me in my tracks running up to me despite the ice.
"Hey Julie, I wanted to invite you to a party this Friday, I can come pick you up if you like, I'm not drinking but you can if you want" she said.
"Um sure, i'll text you my address, that sounds fun, can I bring anything? Food? Snacks? Beverages?" I asked.
"No, it's fine I'll see you at seven!"

And with that she dashed off to her car. I climbed into mine trying not to react to Reggie already sitting in the front seat. Once I closed the door Luke finally spoke.
"Ohmigod, Lori doesn't have an off switch does she?" he said.
"Who's Lori? Did you make a new friend, was that her before?" asked Alex.
"She doesn't shut up though, just non stop talk, but yeah Julie is friends with her, they both play piano" replied Luke.

Reggie started the car up and we headed home with me answering questions as we went past road signs. Reggie thought that soon I might be ready to sit my written test and he could start letting me drive.

The rest of the week went mostly the same, sitting with Lori in classes we shared and in the others with one of her friends. They were all excited about the party this Friday but no one had told me any details of what to expect. Just to dress warm so I assumed it was outside. Luke and I had also made a habit of sleeping in Luke's bed and it definitely made going to sleep that more exciting.

Finally Friday rolled around and it was six thirty. I still wasn't given any details so I dressed warmly in jeans with leggings underneath, boots, a warm jacket, a scarf, hat and mittens. Luke said he would go with me to make sure I was okay while Reggie and Alex just gave us the speech to be home before midnight. I had admitted to Lori that my parents were not really in the picture, that they mostly traveled for work but I still wanted to be home by midnight out of respect for being trusted to live on my own. It was easier than telling her the truth, my mother is dead and my father tried to bury me alive.

At seven on the dot, Lori showed up at my house and Luke and I made our way to her car. She couldn't see him and he tried his best to stay very quiet in the back seat. We started driving and I noticed we were taking a route in the direction of Forks and leaving Seattle.
"Where are we going to Lori, how far is this place?" I tried asking.
"Oh don't worry you will love it when we get there!" she said in a cheery tone.

I was beginning to second guess this as a good idea. I didn't really know Lori and there was no one else in the car with us, on top of that we were currently surrounded by woods on a quiet road that we had been traveling down for the past twenty minutes.
"Hey Julie, don't give her your phone, I'm beginning to think this might not be a good idea. Can you drop it under your seat so I can grab it and I'll text Reggie to come follow us with the car" said Luke quietly. I did as I was asked and pretended I was scratching my leg as I threw my phone under the car seat to hopefully Luke's awaiting hand.

An hour later Lori asked a question that confirmed my suspicions.
"Oh hey can I have your phone for a moment? I just want to check our location"
"Oh sorry I left my phone at home, figured I wouldn't need it" I replied sweetly. I saw the hint of a smirk on her face. Luke had lent forward between us to whisper to me "Reggie and Alex are on their way, and they're speeding, shouldn't be far behind, they left as soon as I messaged them a while ago". I relaxed more knowing I had back up and decided to enjoy the ride.

Finally we had arrived at a park and I could see a few other vehicles with some of her friends hanging around drinking a few drinks. I hopped out and Lori passed me a drink that I took just to have something to do with my hands. I made my way to a tree to lean against with Luke while we watched what they were up to. Some were drinking, some were looking my way as if they were waiting for something.
"Reggie isn't far out Julie, maybe five minutes. When the car shows up just pretend it's a hybrid car, that you told it to follow in case you needed a ride home. Throw them off by saying that your parents travel the world for work, of course they would leave their daughter with a means to get around to make sure she was safe" Luke said as he texted Reggie from behind the tree. To anyone else it would be a floating phone so he was careful to hide the light from eyes.

"Well it's time guys" said Lori as she climbed into her car, locked it and wound down the window.
"Time for what" I asked walking up to the car smirking with all the confidence I could muster. It threw Lori off just like Luke said it would.
"Um we are leaving you here, you didn't think we actually liked you did you?" she sneered.
"Oh that's pathetic, well good, your voice was giving me a headache anyway" I retorted, giving her a wave goodbye as I turned to make my way to the swing set.
"Um, why aren't you crying? The walk back is days" Lori said, getting frustrated.
"Well your idea was so pathetic and predictable. My ride should be here soon, also I never liked you, you don't shut up so I'm really not that hurt. Maybe I'll be able to hear myself think now" I said over my shoulder. Everyone else was stunned into silence wondering why I wasn't reacting the way they thought I would. Reggie pulled up and beeped his horn aggressively at their cars giving several of them frights.

"How did the car get here, no one is driving it" someone had called out.
"Its a hybrid, I instructed it to follow once I realized what your pathetic plan was, honestly you need to think on something more original next time" I called out in a snobby voice, loving the role I got to play to these bullies.
I hopped into the front seat and had to hide my giggles as Reggie and Luke began letting the air out on their tires while Alex carefully broke all their phones as they scrambled to work out why their cars were beeping at them.

"Looks like you're the ones that are going to be walking tonight, enjoy!" I called out as Reggie poofed back and we pulled away. I saw Lori scream in frustration in my rear view mirror, it was a beautiful sight and I wound down my window to blow a kiss at their direction"

"You guys are the best!" I said as I settled in to watch Reggie's arms drive after winding the window back up.
"Any time, I'm going to send an email tomorrow to the principal to get them expelled or I will be involving the police. What they did is dangerous and should not be allowed to happen again" said Reggie.
"Will they be alright?" I asked beginning to feel a little guilty.
"Yeah I checked, one of them had a hand pump, it will just take them a few hours to get all the cars going is all" said Alex.

We made our way home around ten at night and settled in to watch Guardians of the Galaxy while sharing a few drinks with chips and dip. Despite the start of the evening, the outcome was amazing. I was snuggled up safely in Luke's arms again and this time I didn't even care that Alex and Reggie kept sharing secret smiles at each other when they thought we weren't looking.