Julian Moonier

“Hey, pass me that black, flowy top and then we can leave, alright?” Having to get to Northlake from Southbank every single day was a pain in the ass and nine out of ten times, Mo was running late “It’s not my fault I turned my alarm off, I don’t even remember doing it so I can’t be held accountable”

@whyjulying

Upon his friend’s request, Julian spun around and grabbed the top he identified as likely being the one she was talking about. “You’re just lucky I checked on you to make sure you were awake. Don’t you have a test second period?” He looked at his phone for the time, trying not to feel anxious. He hated being late.

the girl chuckled as she nudged him back before standing outside of the door to the roof ad twisting the handle – it was open. “guess we’ll have to save those resources for another time.”

Julian watched as she reached for the doorknob and turned it - revealing that it was open. “Too bad, I was so excited.” He joked, poking his head out the door to make sure there weren’t any teachers out there, before heading outside.

“Music. Violin, specifically, if I get in somewhere.”

“Fiddle on my guitar, usually. Or read, or watch something... but usually I try to do something screenless if I can’t sleep.”

“It’s been forever since I used one of these things and I can’t get it open, could you give me a hand?” Logan asked, gesturing to the combination lock that hung in front of him. He presented the other person with a small shred of paper, on it, written in scrawly marker was the combination he’d been assigned by Northlake’s administrator. “I’m not sure if that’s a seven or a two,” he added, frustrated by the device. 

“Since you used a locker?” Julian asked with a raised eyebrow, but then nodded slowly and took the sheet of paper. “Well, you see, the numbers go in order. So my first thought is that it’s a seven, because there’s a six before it and an eight after it, but that’s just a thought. Maybe the universe is trying to trick you.” He stated, fully aware that the other meant the numbers on the paper, as he reached to try one of the combinations. “Aha! You just have to jiggle it when you’re done.” 

“even if it is – i’m sure that between the two of us we could find a way up there.”

“That’s a good point. We’re very resourceful, us Southbankers.” Julian said with a smile, nudging her with his elbow.

“anywhere but here – how about we go to the roof?”

“The roof sounds great. Do they leave it unlocked?” Julian asked curiously, already starting to walk towards the stairs.

“Oh yeah, I’m a tambourine machine baby, look at these pipes” momentarily she flexed her muscles, which were not impressive in the least as she spent little to no time in a gym doing anything with them. The two of them already jammed together regularly so it wasn’t a completely far-fetched idea if she really thought about it. Something her parents might actually kill her for, but realistic none the less “I just had this vision of you randomly calling me and saying ‘don’t do it- don’t do the thing, Mo’ and then hanging up” she laughed to herself, quieter than her laugh usually was “It’ll be the best damn sitcom we’ve ever seen and we’ll be the stars” she paused for a moment, hating this conversation but knowing it was one they would have to have eventually given the difference in their ages “But seriously, would you wanna do that? Room in whatever city we end up in- cuz I’m not going to be moving anywhere you aren’t”

“Oh yeah, you’ll be the real star of the show.” Julian teased, mimicking the shaking of a tambourine with one of his hands. “That’s what it’ll probably be, to be honest. I’ll just call you every other day and make sure you’re not being a complete idiot about something. Don’t want you to get yourself killed before you can even follow me anywhere.” He joked. Honestly, as much as they joked around about her following him somewhere... he wasn’t sure it was the best. He would love it if she came to wherever he was going, but if it wasn’t what was best for her and her education or life, he didn’t want her to do it. “I mean... yeah, I would. But only if you can get what you need out of it - you know? Like, don’t plan on doing this just so we can live together.”

@whyjulying

“Sometimes, I’ll start a sentence, and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way.” She laughed.

Julian looked up at the girl as she spoke and nodded slowly. “Fascinating...” 

“I’d really rather stay here than have to get in touch with all my admission consolers again.” Greer groaned, she had applied to a good amount of schools so it would be a hassle. “Honestly, I just need to commit to a school and be done.”

“Oh yeah, me too. The music program is way better here than at Southbank anyway, it looks a lot better on my applications.” But then again, there were more good musicians at Northlake too - which meant less spots in a given university for him to get into. 

“Not at all. That’s it- that’s what I’m gonna do. I’ll drop out and follow you around for the rest of my life” Even as a joke, that didn’t seem all that unrealistic to her since the two of them had been basically inseparable since the moment they met save a couple months after their breakup where things were just a little awkward “I would be honoured to be your groupie- though I’d much rather be in the band” she pondered before the grin fell from her face “I won’t be. The only reason I haven’t accidentally gotten myself killed is probably because I have Mother Hen Julian around. You’re totally gonna get into a great school, are you kidding me? I’ll beat them all up if they don’t let you in. I can take a couple old white dudes”

“And you can stay in the same hotels and live near us - or hell, with  us. It’ll be great.” Julian said with a laugh, pausing when she mentioned that she’d rather in the band. “I could probably swing that. Oo, you could be the tambourine player.” He nudged her playfully, grinning ear to ear. He honestly couldn’t imagine what it would be like when he graduated and left - he and Momo had been inseparable ever since she moved in the first place. “You’ll just have to pretend I’m inside your head. Like a weird conscience.” He said, voice more subdued but still jokey. “Please don’t die in your senior year, though. We have to move into an apartment together and mock our neighbours. And collect four other friends, all with their own quirks, and we have to make sure one of them has a weird ambiguous gender neutral name like Chandler.” He ignored the part about him getting into a school - it was one thing to get in, it was another to qualify for enough loans to pay for it.

“That’s just complete bullshit. Getting into college was already going to be hard enough because Southbank teachers aren’t the best, and now having to explain the situation to admission counselors who honestly think I was lying about what school I went to. It’s so dumb.” Greer kept complaining, she knew there really wasn’t anything that could be done anymore, but she needed to vent.

“Not to mention the fact that they might switch us back again before the end of the year, if they fix that mold problem. Then we’ll have to contact all the universities again and tell them that we switched again... it’s just a frustrating situation.” Julian complained, rolling his eyes about it. “I’m just hoping we start to get letters soon.”

“I mean, what’s a better reason to drop out of high school? Do we even truly need diplomas anymore? And I’ve already got a job all lined up- not sure if the pay is good but you can totally support the both of us, right?” she giggled, pondering the thought of him graduating this year “I forgot you’re leaving. And Jim-jams. What the hell am I supposed to do next year? I’m gonna die” 

“I truly believe that there isn’t one.” Julian said with a bit of a laugh, shaking his head at the idea. “Oh for sure. I’ll just become a famous rock star - oh, you can be my groupie! We can tour together.” He joked, rolling his eyes at the very idea of it. As she mentioned him leaving though, his smile fell a bit and he winced. “Yeah... I’m sure you’ll be fine. Besides, who knows if either of us will even get in anywhere.” And who knew if he’d ever be able to afford going?

“This being at Northlake thing is really annoying. I have to like email all my admission councilors telling them why I’m suddenly here and not at Southbank.” Greer rolled her eyes as she locked her phone, the whole college thing was hard enough, but having to explain the merge situation more than one time was exhausting.

@whyjulying

“Oh my god, I know right!? It’s getting really frustrating just trying to explain it. One of the schools threatened not to accept my transcripts unless I got one of the school officials to email them about it. Thank god they did.” Julian said with a roll of his eyes. 

“babe can we go and do something fun? this school is the last place i want to be right now.”

Julian’s eyebrows raised at her words and a grin formed on his face. “Where do you have in mind, babe?”