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Everybody at Los Feliz highschool knew the name, Luke Patterson. He was the stereotypical jock, guitar player, and all-around jackass. Being the star pitcher on the school's varsity baseball team, and the best guitar player in the music program, coupled with the fact that he was in a band made Luke the dream guy in any girl's eyes. Any girl except Julie Molina that is. Julie was a nobody who lived in Los Feliz her entire life. She was insanely gifted musically and let it show in her music classes, up until the death of her mother. Julie and Luke had known each other since elementary school and to say they hated each other would be an understatement. Ever since that day he pushed her off the swing during recess the two have been in a constant battle with one another trying to make the other's life miserable.
Most people at the school knew of the Molina-Patterson feud, including teachers, and if not then they are either dumb, blind, or new. This is the case with Mrs. Harrison. She was the new teacher in the music classes this year at Los Feliz High and had yet to experience any major conflicts between the two. Julie and Luke were generally civil in their music classes, especially after the death of Julie's mother. Julie refused to sing or play any instruments and even stuck-up, jackass Luke Patterson knew not to make fun of her for it. Mrs. Harrison had just assigned an introduction project to her music class. The project required partners to work together and create a song over the weekend to introduce themselves to the class. Everyone was very excited and immediately turned to their friends to start working before Mrs. Harrison declared she would be picking groups. The class sighed in response to the news and turned back to face the teacher.
“Ok, our first pairing is Reggie Peters and Alex Mercer,” Mrs. Harrison called out to the class. The pairing cheered and high-fived each other.
“Next is Carrie Wilson and Flynn Rider,” The girls sighed and the class laughed because the two girls did not get along, but very few saw the wink that Flynn sent towards Carrie that resulted in a small smile.
The teacher continued to rattle off pairings until she reached the final two people in the class.
“And then that leaves our final pairing to be Luke Patterson and Julie Molina”
The entire class froze upon hearing this. It was so silent you could hear a needle drop. Julie, who was doodling in the notebook on her lap, shot her head up. Her mouth agape and eyes wide. Luke smirked and winked at Julie who scoffed. Just then the bell rang and everyone made their way out of the classroom murmuring about the project. Julie rushed over to Mrs. Harrison.
“Can I please get a new partner? I can’t work with him. I’ll work by myself. Is there anything you can do?” she pleaded.
“Oh come on Molina. You know we’ll do great together,” Luke slung his arm over Julie’s shoulder.
“Well, that settles that,” Mrs. Harrison smiled before gathering her papers and walking away.
Julie hastily shrugged Luke’s arm off and turned to face him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Well, I guess I’m stuck with you Patterson. I’ll be at your house at 4 tonight,” she turned to walk away but Luke spoke up.
“No!” he stated forcefully causing Julie to spin on her heels and furrowed her eyebrows.
“No?” she questioned taken aback by his audacity.
“No, We can’t do it at my house,” Luke responded with a duh tone
“And why’s that?” Julie responded completely done with the situation.
“Because I said so. Why don’t we do it at yours? Don’t you have that really big studio in your garage?” Luke changed the subject.
Julie’s arms dropped to her side as she hung her head. “Yeah,” she muttered not really thinking about the repercussions.
“Great then I’ll see you at 4!” Luke stated before rushing away to catch up with his bandmates who were waiting in the hall. Julie had no time to say anything before she let out a brief yell of anger. She continued through her day getting wearier and wearier as the clock inched closer to four. Julie had not entered her mother’s studio since her death and the thought of doing so for the first time with her sworn enemy made her incredibly sick to her stomach. She expressed her concerns to Flynn who talked Julie into confronting Luke and telling him they couldn’t work at her studio.
So here she was now. Sitting at her usual spot in the cafeteria staring at the doors and waiting for Luke to walk through them. Once he did, Julie stood up from her table and walked with purpose towards him. Luke was standing in the line with his bandmates, Alex, Reggie, and Bobby, laughing as they got their food. Right as Julie approached and reached her arm out to tap Luke on the shoulder, he spun around colliding with her and spilling his lunch down the front of her shirt.
“What the fuck Patterson!” she yelled causing the entire cafeteria to go silent and watch the scene beginning to unfold.
“What the fuck me! What the fuck you! Why were you standing right there?” Luke yelled in response.
“Well I wanted to talk to you about our project, but I see you had other plans,” Julie gestured to her shirt.
“It’s not like I did it on purpose! Here,” Luke grabbed some napkins off his tray before handing it off to Alex. He turned to Julie and attempted to wipe up the spilled food, but instead was just rubbing the stain into the fabric even more.
“Just stop!” Julie yelled, swatting his hands away. “I’ll see you after school,” she stormed out of the cafeteria and towards the girl’s bathroom. With her back turned she couldn’t see the look of regret on Luke’s face watching her walk away.
Julie spent the last 30 minutes in the bathroom trying to get the sizeable ugly stain that now covered almost the entire front of her shirt. Once the bell rang signifying the end of lunch, Julie sighed and looked at her shirt in the mirror. The stain had not lifted at all and instead was spread even more. She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her stomach in order to cover the stain as best as possible and left the bathroom. She turned to the right as she exited the bathroom and was immediately met with Luke running up from beside her and stopping so he was walking in time with her.
“What do you want, Patterson?” Julie grumbled.
“Well I never got to actually apologize for spilling on you and you said you wanted to talk to me about the project so...ya I just wanted to say I’m sorry and find out what you wanted to say,” Luke rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
Julie stopped walking. She was shocked that Luke was actually apologizing. “Oh well, thanks,” Julie mumbled.
“Did you get the stain out?” Luke gestured towards Julie’s shirt.
“Nope,” Julie said, popping the p and moving her arms briefly to reveal the strangely colored stain covering her shirt.
“Fuck Molina. I’m sorry,” Luke said genuinely.
“It’s okay, It’s my fault for standing right behind you,” Julie shook her head.
“Well still. Here,” Luke shrugged his backpack off his shoulders and dropped it on the ground before promptly opening the zipper and pulling out a large brown sweatshirt with black stripes sprinkled throughout it. He handed it to Julie. “So you don’t have to cover yourself with your arms for the rest of the day.
She thanked him and slipped her arms into the jacket. It hung very low on her, almost down to her knees and the sleeves extended off her arms an extra six inches. Luke smiled as Julie hastily rolled up the sleeve. She turned to thank him again but as she did the bell rang signaling the beginning of the next period.
“Fuck,” Luke muttered.
“Language Mr. Patterson,” a teacher scolded as he approached the pair. “Would either of you care to explain why you aren’t in class right now?”
Julie was frozen in place, she had never really been in trouble before, Sure she was late a few times while her mother was sick, but nobody ever held that against her.
“Well you see, Mr…,” Luke trailed off when he realized he didn’t know the teacher, “Um, I accidentally spilled my lunch on Julie and so I was helping her get cleaned up and we missed the bell.”
“Uh-huh, haven’t heard that one before,” the teacher chuckled as he pulled out a little pad of red slips from his back pocket.
“Woah, Woah, Woah, there’s no need for those,” Luke hastily put his hands up trying to stop the teacher from issuing him and Julie detentions. “Molina show him the stain on your shirt.”
Julie didn’t move.
“Molina?” Luke questioned waving his hand in front of her face. He scoffed and turned back to the teacher who handed him two red slips, one for him and one for Julie, before turning on his heels and leaving. “Nice going Molina! I guess I’ll see you in detention,” Luke rolled his eyes and shoved the red pass into Julie’s hand before going to his class.
When the final bell rang signaling the end of the school day, Julie sighed and gathered her belongings. She stopped at her locker before making her way to the room in which her detention was taking place. Handing the teacher her red slip, Julie walked into the room and took a seat at one of the desks only to see Luke walk in moments later and take the seat next to her. After what felt like an eternity, but was only an hour, Julie and Luke were allowed to leave and they walked next to each other down the street towards Julie’s house.
When they arrived Julie noticed her dad’s car was gone and assumed he had left to take Carlos to baseball practice. She led Luke into the kitchen and told him to wait while she ran upstairs to change her shirt. She came back down just in time to see her dad walk through the front door.
“Hey, Papi!” Julie greeted the man with a brief hug before they walked into the kitchen together. Ray was a little taken aback by the teenage boy he had never seen before leaning against the island. “This is Luke,” Julie introduced them, “He’s here to work on a project.”
“All right, have fun. But remember the bedroom door stays open,” Ray glared at Luke.
“Actually we’re going to go work in the studio,” Julie said slowly.
“The studio?!,” Ray asked, taken aback. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
Luke looked between the father-daughter duo confused. Julie smiled sadly at her dad and nodded. She turned to Luke and gestured towards the back door. They made their way down the path to the garage-turned studio. Luke pulled open the door and walked in immediately plopping down onto the couch that sat against the wall. Julie on the other hand froze in her spot, staring into the studio.
“You coming Molina?” Luke called.
Julie took a deep breath before crossing the threshold and walking into the studio. She wandered around looking at all the abandoned instruments, before making her way to the piano. She ran her hands along the top and looked up.
“I’m so sorry mom, that I haven’t been in here…” she muttered quietly enough for Luke to not hear her.
“Are we going to do this project or what?” Luke asked looking up from his phone which he was now holding in his hand.
Julie scoffed, “Look this is the first time I’ve been in here since my mother died, and I just needed a moment, but obviously you’re too much of a pea-brained dick to understand that.”
“Woah, I didn’t know,” Luke held his hands up in defense. “You know there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“Uh-huh, Like what?” Julie crossed her arms and sat on the piano bench.
“Like…” Luke trailed off trying to figure out what to say. “Ugh here,” he grabbed the acoustic guitar that hung on the wall and started playing an upbeat tune.
(Song: “Introducing Me” by Nick Jonas)
I'm good at wasting time
I think lyrics need to rhyme
And you're not asking
But I'm tryna grow a mustache
I eat cheese
But only on pizza, please
And sometimes on a homemade quesadilla
Otherwise, it smells like feet to me
Julie couldn’t help but let out a laugh at Luke’s antics. Luke continued to sing and dance around the studio.
And I, I really like it
When the moon looks like a toenail
And I love it when you say my name
Luke winked at Julie and she rolled her eyes. The smile from earlier never leaving her face.
If you wanna know, here it goes, gonna tell you this
A part of me that shows
If we're close gonna let you see
Everything
But remember that you asked for it
I'm tryna do my best to impress
But it's easier to let you
Take a guess at the rest
But you wanna hear the things in my brain
My heart
Well you asked for it
For your perusing
At times confusing
Slightly amusing
Introducing me
Luke gestured for Julie to stand up. She joined Luke dancing around the studio.
Do-do do-do-do-do-do
Do-do do-do-do-do-do
La-da-da-da la-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da
Julie laughed again and sat down on the couch expecting Luke to stop singing, but instead, he increased the tempo.
I never trust a dog to watch my food
And I like to use the word "dude"
As a noun or an adverb or an adjective
And I, I've never been into cars
I like really cool guitars
Luke gestured to the guitar in his hands.
and superheroes
And checks with lots of zeros on them
I love the sound of violins and making someone
Smi-i-i-ile
If you wanna know, here it goes, gonna tell you this
A part of me that shows
If we're close gonna let you see
Everything
But remember that you asked for it
I'm tryin' to do my best to impress
But it's easier to let you
Take a guess at the rest
But you wanna hear the things in my brain
My heart
Well you asked for it
For your perusing
At times confusing
Possibly amusing
Introducing me
Luke sat down on the table in front of the couch, staring deeply into Julie’s eyes as he sang the next part.
Well, you probably know more than you ever wanted to
So be careful when you ask next ti-i-i-ime
Luke smirked at Julie and she once again rolled her eyes, before crossing her arms. She subconsciously tapped her foot as Luke broke into the chorus yet again.
So, if you wanna know, here it goes, gonna tell you this
A part of me that shows
If we're close gonna let you see
Everything
But remember that you asked for it
I'm tryna do my best to impress
But its easier to let you
Take a guess at the rest
But you wanna hear the things in my brain
My heart
Well you asked for it
For your perusing
At times confusing
Hopefully amusing
Introducing me
Do-do do-do-do-do-do
Do-do do-do-do-do-do
Introducing me
Luke ended with a big flourish. Julie laughed and stood up from her seat on the couch whooping and clapping for Luke’s performance. They both smiled at each other before taking seats next to each other on the couch. Luke was breathing heavily from dancing around the studio.
“Hey, Julie…” Luke started laying his head on the back of the couch. Julie snapped her head in his direction causing him to look at her concernedly. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked.
“No, no,” Julie shook her head. “ It’s just you called me Julie. “You’ve called me Molina since like 3rd grade.”
“Oh, Sorry…” Luke didn’t really know how to respond.
“No, It’s okay…” Julie turned away as a blush crept its way onto her cheeks. “I like it.”
“You do?” Luke asked. He was confused to see the girl he had feuded with almost his whole life opening up to him in such a way.
“Of course I do,” Julie turned back to face Luke who had picked his head up and was staring at her. “You do know I don’t actually hate you right?”
Luke rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Well... I mean... I kinda assumed you did. I’m always so mean to you, and…” he was interrupted by Julie placing her hand on his leg.
“I’ve been just as mean to you as you have to me, Luke. And honestly, I don’t know why. I think everyone at school at this point expects us to hate each other and make our lives miserable, but I don’t. I don’t hate you.
“You know I was actually kinda happy when Mrs. Harrison said we would be working together on this project. I figured it meant I could spend some time alone with you and actually get to know you because ever since we met that day on the playground I couldn’t get you out of my mind. I guess that’s why I picked on you and started this dumb feud, to spend time with you. I really like being around you Julie,” Luke chuckled.
“Well obviously I wasn’t happy at first when we got partnered, but I can wholeheartedly say I am now. I really like spending time with you too.” Julie couldn’t help but smile.
Luke on the other hand couldn’t help but notice how close he and Julie were as they sat facing each other. He swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat and decided to risk every part of their relationship that they had just fixed by pulling Julie close and crashing his lips into hers. It took Julie a second to respond as she was rightfully shocked by Luke’s actions, but after a moment she melted into the kiss wrapping her arms around his neck. They could both feel the butterflies that sprung to life in their stomachs. After a few seconds Luke pulled away and rested his forehead against Julie’s.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now,” he smiled.
“Well, I’m glad you did,” Julie replied with a smile of her own.
The pair turned heads when they showed up to school that next Monday hand in hand. Reggie approached Flynn in music class and handed her a crisp $20 bill, which he owed for losing the bet they had made about whether this project would help Julie and Luke get over their feud. Whispers could be heard throughout the entire building about feuding Luke Patterson and Julie Molina now becoming the power couple known as Juke.