---Cherry Red---Chapter Twelve---

Jude walked into G-Major the next morning pretty expressionless. She had woken up with Tommy in the morning and they had breakfast. Jude barely said anything but Tommy could see the smile she was trying to hide. Jude kissed him softly before leaving to walk to G-Major. On the way she saw a picture of her and John on a newsstand. There were magazines placed all over with her and John smiling at each other with their chains.

'Instant Star from the Hood?'

'Ms Harrison will do anything to expand her range, huh?'

'Jude hooking up with the new kid on the block.'

'INSTANT STAR POSER'

'From sad girl with guitar to gang banger? I don't think so…'

The titles were hurtful and Jude felt tears in her eyes. She proceeded to G-Major and walked right into Darius' office. But before she could make it in there John caught her and spun her around. Jude broke down into his arms and they sunk to the floor together, John stroking her hair as she cried. "I just wanted to sing with you, I didn't think everyone would call me a poser…" John nodded and whispered sweet nothings in her ear, kissing her hair and her temple.

Jude stood up and brushed herself off, "John, I need to go…" Before he could stop her she walked into Darius' office. Darius gave her a sad smile upon her entrance and motioned for her to sit down. "Hold on, let me get Tom in here." Jude nodded, Darius picked up his phone and beeped him. "I have a phone call to make so, make yourself at home." Jude smiled and walked over to the magazine rack and started browsing. She read over some of the articles about called her a fake and she finally put them down and walked back over to her seat. The door opened and Tommy walked in, he smiled sadly at her, knowing what was going on. He saw the papers on his way to work. Darius, seeing him, got off the phone.

"Tom, Jude, I take it you have both seen the papers." Jude and Tommy both nodded. "Well, I was thinking we could have a press conference, introduce John and get this all straightened out. I don't know why the public is reacting this way; it was a great song…" Darius said shaking his head and flipping through some papers. Tommy looked up, "Why did you want me here?" he asked. Darius smiled, "I want you two to write a song, a great one that will blow these people out of the park and know that you are here for good. You are a star Jude, and you are definitely no poser."

Jude smiled slightly and nodded, "Alright, well I'll be in the studio…" She said getting up but Darius stopped her, "Nope, no studio. I want this to be an amazing song so you both have the day off to go somewhere inspirational and write."

Jude smiled and took Tommy's hand, leading him out of the office. John was standing in the lobby, waiting for them to come out. He spotted them and walked over; he never took his eyes off their joined hands. "Cherry Red, what's going on?"

Jude shrugged, "We're going to write a song and I am gonna sit in at your press conference." John smiled. "Well alright, that's at 4 so I'll see you at like 3?" Jude thought for a minute, "Well its noon now, so I am not sure when we'll be back."

Before John could answer Jude had grabbed Tommy's hand and dragged him out of the studios. Jude stood in front of the Viper and smiled, holding out her hand for the keys. Tommy sighed and handed them over. Jude smiled and walked over to the driver's side.

Jude pulled up in front of the park; it was an old abandoned park, secluded behind some thick willowed trees. Jude smiled and walked over to the rusty swings and sat down. "I always come here to just relax; I don't think I've ever written a song here though…except 24 Hours. Here is where I re-wrote it right before the Vinyl Palace."

Tommy smiled and sat on the swing next to her, "Don't sit there!"

Tommy quickly jumped up and looked down, "What? What?!"

Jude shrugged, "It's got history…" Tommy looked at her like she was crazy, "History?" Jude smiled and pointed, etched into the metal was a conversation.

'I love you.'

'I love you too.'

'Movies tonight?'

'yeah…'

'So who's Nick?'

'Well who's Richelle?!'

'You're unbelievable'

'What I did was unforgivable…'

'But I'll forgive you.'

'Because I'm irreplaceable.'

'But I CAN replace you.'

'I'm glad you don't want to,'

'Me too…'

Tommy read the whole conversation, "Who were you talking to?"

Jude shrugged, "Wasn't me. I used to come here and no one else would come here except this one other couple. I didn't know them but I used to follow their conversations and stuff."

Tommy smiled, "Well then get up because I don't want to sit on 'the history.'" He said using air quotes and laughing. Jude smiled and got up, letting Tommy take her swing. She then sat down on his lap. Tommy smiled and put his hands on her hips. He leaned in and kissed her softly, "Maybe we should write that song." He said when they pulled away.

Jude smiled and pulled out her acoustic. She sat on the cold ground with her notebook by her side and a pen in her hand. "What should I write about?" Tommy shrugged and slipped off the swing, sitting behind her. She lied back between his legs and rested herself on his chest. "Well babe, I hate to say it but you have a whole hell of a lot of drama going on."

Jude looked at him, then over at the swing, and then back to Tommy. "I think I got it…" Tommy smiled and watched her pick up her guitar and started to strum the chords.

((Unbelievable by Kaci Brown))

I wish you didn't love me
I wish you'd make this easy
It was love that caught me
Now it's fear that keeps me by you your side

"No, no that's not right."

Now it's fear that keeps me with you
I want to be by your side
So I can close my eyes
To the growing emptiness inside that kills me
When I'm with you
You try to break me Try to hate me
So you can fall out of love
You want to make me believe that I'm crazy
That I'm nothing with out you

Jude looked over at the swing and smiled, she wanted that. The kind of love that you can accuse them all you want but they will always be there for you. And you will always be there for you, they might not want to be near you all the time and you might not want to near them all the time but something always pulls you together.

It's unbelievable but I believed you
Unforgivable but I forgave you
Insane what love can do
That keeps me coming back to you
You're irreplaceable but I'll replace you
Now I'm standing on my own
Alone

I feel you in my shadow
My heart feels cold and hollow
No matter where I run I see
Your eyes always follow me
You try to hold me
Try to own me
Keeping something that's not yours
You want to make me
Believe that I'm crazy
Make me think that you're the cure

It's unbelievable but I believed you
Unforgivable but I forgave you
Insane what love can do
That keeps me coming back to you
You're irreplaceable but I'll replace you
Now I'm standing on my own
Alone

You're still haunting me
In my sleep
You're all I see
But I can't go back
Cause I know it's wrong
For us to go on
And I'm growing strong
To confront my fears

It's unbelievable but I believed you
Unforgivable but I forgave you
Insane what love can do
That keeps me coming back to you
You're irreplaceable but I'll replace you
Now I'm standing on my own
Alone

Yeah Yeah

Jude sighed heavily and looked at Tommy, he had written down everything she sang. He had a solemn face on after she sang. She leaned back and wrapped herself in Tommy's arms again. She could feel how reluctant he was. She turned her head slightly so she was looking up at him, "I wrote the song about John, this wasn't about you."

Tommy sighed, relieved. "Good." Jude laughed slightly and kissed his cheek. Tommy looked down at his phone, "It's three so we should probably head over to the studio." Jude snuggled closer to his chest, "No, not yet…" Tommy nodded and held her for a little longer. After about twenty more minutes of silence they knew they were going to be late so they headed back over to the studio.

Jude sat down next to John at a long table; he grabbed her hand and winked at her, telling her everyone would be alright. Jude smiled and nodded at him too. Suddenly questions were all thrown at them. "Ms Harrison! Over here!"

Darius pointed to the man with a camera ((one of many)) raising his hand, everyone quieted down to hear the question. "Why now? You used to follow punk influences and now this new, obviously popular, rapper comes in and you change you image…why?"

Jude took a deep breath, "The truth is me and John go way back, we wrote the song awhile ago and we both could use some cheering up so we recorded it. We were best friends before I entered Instant Star…"

"When John went to jail…" The reporter pressed on. Jude reluctantly nodded. The press boomed with more questions at this new information, this time directed at John. Darius chose another reporter to ask a question, "John, why were you in jail?"

John opened his mouth to answer but then stopped, thinking of how to answer the question. "No comment." He finally said.

"I heard you killed Jude's brother…" They heard a deep voice say. Everyone looked around as to who said it but no one looked suspicious enough. John turned to Jude, 'what do I do??' his expression read. Jude shrugged, "That's not true…" Jude finally said into the microphone. Everyone looked at her, "I did in fact have a brother who was killed but John did not kill him."

"But those were the charges…?" The reporters continued. Jude shrugged, "Yes. But it was not true. I swear by anything you want."

The questions continued but the questions were less and less awkward, after Darius sent all the reporters a death glare.

John squeezed Jude's hand under the table, showing her that things were going well. A female reporter noticed their exchanged looks and smirked, "Are you two seeing each other." Jude's eyes widened and she felt John looking at her, waiting for her to answer the question. Jude turned her head and met Tommy's eyes. She opened her mouth to tell them 'no' but John beat her to it, "Actually, we are." John was so happy so he pulled his and Jude's hands up to rest atop the table. He smiled and leaned toward the microphone, "There are no boyfriend/girlfriend labels yet but, we are seeing each other." John squeezed Jude's hand again and smiled at her, she forced a smile back.

They finished up the questions and left. John led Jude into the studio and kissed her lips. "Looks like everything's cleared up." He said as they pulled away. Jude shrugged, "Yeah, guess so…" She turned her gaze out the studio door and caught Tommy's gaze.