The Other Side of Hollywood | Luke Patterson

FIFTEEN✨

"I need to do something," I muttered to myself, pacing outside of the studio; the boys were currently out, I assume, at the venue for tonight, meaning I had enough time to myself to plan something, anything to sabotage tonight. I decided to go into Julie's house first; maybe I could find something against her to show the boys; I poofed in, landing in a family room, where a stray laptop sits. I glance around to make sure no one is near, and then pick the computer up, placing it on my lap as I search through it for any indication that Julie isn't who she says she is, which is doubtful; she seems like an open book to me. I start with her emails first; when I open up the app, a notification pops up, notifying her she has one new one. "Jackpot," I whisper, scanning the email; turns out, this isn't Julie's laptop at all, this is her dads; she missed three classes this morning, may not be the most incriminating evidence in the world; but if her dad saw this before she left, there's no way she'll make it to the gig tonight. I quickly shuffle of the couch as soon as I hear footsteps approaching, hiding on the stairs so I can peek in. A middle-aged man enters and heads straight to the laptop; I can tell at first he seems confused by how his email was open, but he quickly brushes it off once he's read the email, his confused expression turns into a disappointed scowl.

"Uh, Oh," The little boy from earlier walks right past the staircase, lowering the large Ipad in his hands to look at his dad; he walks past his dad slowly. I can tell he's waiting for him to say something, but his dad never does; instead, he keeps his eyes on the screen, reading over the email once more; The little boy sighs in relief, walking out of the room. Another minute later, I hear the backdoor swing open and the sound of Julie quietly singing to herself as she walks in. Julie's dad stands up as soon as he hears her, walking over to the other entryway of the room to greet her; luckily, I didn't hide over there.

"Care to tell me why you missed the first three classes today?" He asked; I smirked at how angry he sounded; this was going perfectly.

"I overslept at Flynn's house after the dance," I rolled my eyes at her excuse, an amateur, if she really wanted to get out of this, she'd make up a sickness at least, "there was nothing going on in those classes anyway, it won't happen again, I promise." I move up the stairs slightly as she walks over to the couch; if Julie sees me, I'm screwed.

"Okay," Her dad finally says. No, I want to yell; get mad at her, ground her, do something. "but if I know you missed class, it's only a matter of time before..." before he can finish his sentence, a middle-aged woman runs into the room. I assume she's Julie's mom; I peek out from behind the wall, watching the aunt rush into the living room.

"I came as fast as I could," She yells dramatically; I roll my eyes, "Julie, I will not let you fall into the gutter of life."

"Tia, I'm fine," She reassured; Tia, so not her mom got it; where was her mom then? "I just overslept, and me and dad already talked about it." The aunt scoffs loudly, and I cross my fingers; did she even have the power to ground her niece? I sure hope so.

"You are far from fine, sobrina," She argued, "I called your teacher; she said you missed a calculus test."

"Nothing going on, huh?" Her dad asked, his scowl from earlier reappearing on his face.

"Dad, I'm so sorry," She apologized, turning away from her aunt; I held my breath, hoping the dad would do something to make her miss tonight.

"This is where you punish her," The aunt reminded him; as annoying as she was, I was also extremely grateful for her presence; without her, Julie would definitely have been let off with a warning and nothing else.

"I know," Her dad replied; from the tone of his voice, I could tell he wasn't used to grounding his children, "Julie, no more going out on school nights."