Sweetheart (A Juke Fan Fiction)

Chapter 2: "You'd better ask for an autograph now."

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Sweetheart! We are starting to talk about Julie's mother's death. If I need to put a TW, please let me know.

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That week at school, Julie saw Luke's group more than she saw anyone else. After a few classes, she soon learned from totally not eavesdropping that the other guy in their group was named Alex. He seemed sweet, but from what she heard, he was really sarcastic.

Now that a week had passed, school was starting to go in full swing. They already had a project in music class. In pairs, they had to create an extra verse to go along with a song that they chose. Of course, OF FREAKING COURSE Julie was partnered with Luke. This universe had some evil schemes up its sleeve.

Only, now that Julie had been partnered with Luke, that perfect smile was now annoying. Those hazel eyes were not as knee weakening as they had been before. He was cocky, arrogant, and a little narcissistic. All he seemed to care about was him and his music.

"I'm gonna be famous for my music one day. You'd better ask for an autograph now."

His snarky and overly confident comments made Julie want to slam her head into the wall a hundred times over. He was annoying, yet still charming in a weird way. She couldn't quite describe it. Half of the time she wanted to strangle him for being so annoying, the other half, she could feel butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

She tried her best to ignore everything and just focus on the project, but it was proving to be difficult. Especially since she invited him to her house after school to work. He wanted to touch everything! Julie probably spent more time saying "Don't touch that" than they actually spent on the project.

Once he had finally gotten serious about the work, it was super easy. The extra verse was done so quickly. If only they could have done that earlier to avoid all the wasted time. As she bid Luke goodbye and closed the door, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"He's a handful," Julie mumbled to herself.

Julie stepped foot in the kitchen and saw her mother cooking dinner. As she examined the ingredients and identified that she was making tamales. Not just any tamales, the ones that her mother made every time that there was bad news approaching.

"Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, mija. Why would something be wrong?"

Julie slightly nodded her head towards the ingredients in her mother's hands.

"Julie, I just felt like making tamales, okay?" Her mother said unconvincingly.

That was two signs that something was wrong. Her mother never called her Julie unless something was wrong. She nodded to her mother and headed up the stairs in search of her brother, Carlos.

She knocked on his door, and when an answer came, she peeped her head in.

"Carlos, mom's making tamales."

"She's what? What's wrong?"

Julie shrugged and walked further into his bedroom. "I don't know, but we have to be prepared for whatever it is."

Carlos' tone got more serious. "What do you think it is?"

"Remember mom's doctor appointment yesterday? And how sad she seemed after it?"

Carlos looked to the floor. A sad expression took over his face, and a beat of silence happened before he looked back up at Julie and spoke.

"What do you think is wrong with her? She can't be sick, can she?"

Julie's face went serious.

"I don't know."

At dinner that night, it was more silent than usual. Carlos and Julie were picking at their food, and when their mother noticed, she pointed a severe look at her husband. Their dad cleared his throat, bringing in the attention of the children.

"So, obviously, we're having tamales. Um-" he glanced at his wife. "Your mom- she- she's sick."

Her mother started to tear up. Julie's father reached for his wife's hand, and let her rest her head on his shoulder. Then, Julie started to cry.

Carlos broke the silent cries when he spoke, "What's wrong with her?"

"She has liver cancer," their father answered, "and it's- it's progressing fast. We don't know if they can stop it."

Now, everyone was sobbing. The food was a waste because nobody could even think about eating. Instead, they resorted to a family hug. None of them wanted to let go, so they didn't for a long time.

Julie stayed home from school the next day. She couldn't bear for people to see her that way she was. Every time she looked at or even thought about her mom, she burst into tears. Crying seemed to be her coping mechanism for the pain she felt, but it only seemed to last a little while. Julie decided that maybe all she needed to do was have her mom hold her. She knew exactly where her mom would be.

The garage was their safe space. They sat out there all the time singing together. Sometimes, Julie would just sit on the couch and watch her mom play. Her mom had the most beautiful voice, and she was an amazing songwriter. As Julie walked into the garage, her mother stopped playing and met her with a hug. She could tell that Julie was crying, of course she could. Julie felt tears stinging her eyes and her face was hot, which meant that it was red too. They don't know how long they sit there, holding each other, until they both feel better. Until they felt good enough to sit down at the piano, and do their favorite activity.

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Obviously we don't know how Julie's mother died. I did liver cancer because that's what I have experience in seeing somebody die from. Don't worry, the whole story is not sad. We will get to the happy chapters soon! As always, constructive criticism is very much appreciated! Don't forget to leave comments, I love reading them! See ya next chapter!