・゜゜・．・゜゜・．

chapter one !
(takes place during 1x02 'Bright')

・゜゜・．・゜゜・．

・゜゜・．・゜゜・．

MORNINGS IN THE SALAZAR-RIVERA HOUSEHOLD WERE ALWAYS BUSY. With each member rushing around, trying to get ready for the day ahead, whilst also making sure to each have at least one slice of toast that had been hastily prepared only about ten minutes beforehand.

The youngest member of the family, Trinity Salazar-Rivera, was currently in a fight to the death with her hair. She sat at the chair in front of her vanity table, glaring into the attached mirror as her hands attempted to separate her just-below-shoulder length hair and pin the top part with a bobby pin. Her attempts were futile, and her arms began to ache as she let out a resigned sigh and dropped her hands back down, letting the hair she had just been holding up, fall back down and frame her face.  

"Guess I'll just have to deal with the frizziness today." The Latina murmured with a frown.

She knew she shouldn't have showered so late the night before. Now her hair was a weird combination of frizzy and ridiculously soft and she couldn't do anything to fix it. Plus, she knew if she got annoyed enough, she could pester her best friend, Stevie, into giving her a hair-tie from his ever-growing collection of them he always seemed to have.

Feeling eyes on her, she looked at her bed through her vanity mirror, smirking lightly as her black cat, Vader, tilted his head in curiosity at her. She turned in her chair, scrunching her nose and jokingly glaring at him.

"Don't judge me, mister." She chided softly, pointing her forefinger at him. Vader merely peered at her with even more curiosity.

Trin checked her phone for the time, seeing that it was nearing six thirty AM, and letting out a sigh. Usually she wouldn't be up this early, she'd sleep in until at least twenty past seven. But, knowing that she had to tutor Carlos Molina for his upcoming science test, Trinity had begrudgingly set an earlier alarm.

Yawning loudly, Trin rose from the seat in front of her make-up table and quickly gathered her school stuff, shoving a few notebooks in her bag, along with her pencil case and make-up bag. The Salazar-Rivera girl then grabbed her denim jacket from where it was hanging on her door handle, quickly slipping it on over her red crop top.

As the teen briskly walked downstairs as she hummed a song she'd made up the night before, turning the corner, to the kitchen, where her foster parents both sat at the counter, she couldn't help the small smile that came to her face as she watched them eat some of the toast that must've been made only five minutes previously.

Marco Salazar was a big, kind-eyed, Mexican man with a heart of pure gold. His dark, black hair was peppered with specks of grey near the bottom, and the same with his beard. The Salazar man often joked that it was his wife and foster daughter who brought upon his grey haired-ness, what with how much he claimed they both stressed him out.

Marco was quite the joker, much to Trin's amusement, and sometimes chagrin. He almost always had a grin on his face. Particularly this morning. His posture was relaxed as he sat across from his wife at the table in their kitchen, his eyes skimming over his notebook and the seemingly-endless pages full of his messy handwriting. 

Trin peered quickly over her foster father's shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of what he was writing. She had watched Marco agonize for days over what he wanted the theme of his new novel to be. With the previous successes of his first two books, a sci-fi romance, and murder mystery, respectively, it seemed as though pressure was mounted even higher for the patriarch of the Salazar-Rivera household to produce an equally as successful third book.

"Whatcha got there, pops?" Trinity wondered aloud, walking back over to the counter and grabbing a slice of toast for herself.

Marco and Phoebe both looked up at the sound of their foster daughter's voice, both of them sending her grins.

"Oh, morning, mija." Marco greeted. "These are just some ideas for book number three. What do you think? Any favourites?"

Trin bit into her toast, peering down at the notepad on the table. She skimmed over the list her dad had written down, raising her eyebrows in surprise at one, using her finger to tap the specific idea.

"Paranormal Romance?" She asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "How would that even work if one of 'em is dead?" 

Marco grinned in excitement. "I knew you'd like that one!" He called out, and Trin couldn't help but chuckle.

"I never said I liked it," Trin corrected. "I asked how it would work."

"Well. . . it's worked between me and your mother." Phoebe looked up from her phone at this, and Trinity also tilted her head in confusion at Marco's words. The Mexican man smirked at the confusion on both their faces before he finally explained. "I mean we're still going strong and she's been dead inside for years."

Trin found herself choking on her food as she began to laugh at his words. She tried to calm herself down as she glanced over to her foster mother through blurry eyes, as she struggled to contain her laughter.

Phoebe Salazar, in many ways, was the opposite of her husband. Her face was always more stern, and she had what Trin often called Resting Bitch Face. Even though they weren't biologically related, Trinity thinks that she's inherited her stoic resting face from the Salazar woman over the five years she'd been in their care.

Though, on the outside, Phoebe often looked intimidating, she was similar to Marco in the way that she also had a heart of gold. Even after a thirteen hour shift at the hospital, the matriarch of the family always returned home, eager to see her husband and daughter. She also always made sure to stay awake long enough so that they could all have dinner together, and she had done so for the entire time Trinity had been a part of their family.

Trin knew she had been extremely lucky when it came to her parents, and she also knew that not every foster child had as much luck as she did. And for that, she was extremely grateful to Phoebe and Marco, and she always tried hard to make sure that they knew so.

"Wow," Phoebe drawled out from her seat beside her husband, who was still laughing at his joke.

Her face then grew it's own smirk as she opened her mouth to speak. "Babe, maybe you should write a Family Drama novel, instead." She suggested and Marco looked slightly confused. "One where the husband keeps giving his wife attitude and then she divorces him." She finished talking with a sickly sweet smile on her face, patting her husband's hand.

Trin let out another laugh as she finished eating her slice of toast, pouring a small glass of orange juice. She swigged it down rapidly, keeping an eye on the clock as it edged closer to seven.

Her foster parents still seemed to be playfully bickering with one another as she grabbed her school bag, slinging it over her shoulder. Her movement was enough to bring their attention to Trin once again.

"Okay, I'm gonna go to the Molina's before I become a child of divorce." The teen joked, making both of the adults smile.

"Are you tutoring Carlos again today?" Phoebe asked, leaning up to kiss Trinity on the cheek as the teen leaned across to reach her, the two girls made a 'mwah' noise as Phoebe's lips met Trin's cheek.

Trin nodded, making her way over to Marco, who she gave a half hug to, kissing his cheek in a goodbye. She turned to face her foster mother, and began walking backwards towards the exit, still answering her question.

"Yeah, I'm going over there now, and then after school, too." The Rivera girl told her. "He has a science test in a few days, so I'll probably be over there a lot 'til that's done."

Her parents both nodded in understanding. Phoebe looked back up at Trin one more time, pointing a finger at her.

"Remember, always be home for dinner!" She reminded. "And if you genuinely can't, then call one of us and let us know."

Nodding as she slipped on her vans, Trin smiled at her mom. "I will, don't worry." She then looked at the clock again. "Okay, I'm leaving now! Bye, love you guys!"

"Love you, too!" Her foster parents chorused in unison.

・゜゜・．・゜゜・．

The journey over to the Molina household never took Trinity too long. She always rode her bike there, and with them only living a few streets apart, it took Trinity about six minutes in total to reach said household.

There was often a feeling of sadness that the Salazar-Rivera girl associated with the Molina home now. It never used to be that way. Trin always loved coming over to Julie's house, seeing Ray, Rose and Carlos, then spending hours up in her best friend's bedroom as they watched movies, talked about boys, and, begrudgingly, did their homework.

All that came to an end, however, when Rose Molina died. It had been almost a year since her passing, yet Trin still felt it everyday. The eldest Molina woman had been another maternal presence, besides Phoebe, in her life since she moved in with the Salazars. Phoebe and Rose had been best friends for over a decade, and so now that the latter was gone, Phoebe often felt lost, and Trinity knew this.

The thoughts of Rose Molina dissipated as Trin rang the doorbell, only having to wait a few seconds before the familiar face of Ray Molina appeared.

"Trinity, hey!" He smiled widely, stepping aside to let her past him and into the foyer of the house.

"Hey, Mr Molina," she greeted politely, though she knew the correction that was inevitably going to come from the older man.

"Please, Trin, how many times have I told you to call me Ray?" There it was.

Trin smiled sheepishly at Ray. "I know, you've told me a lot." She grinned. "Sorry, Ray."

Her emphasis made the oldest Molina chuckle quietly. He then gestured to the stairs. "Carlos should be done getting ready soon."

Trin nodded. "Cool, this study session shouldn't take too long." She told Carlos' dad, who nodded along. "It's only really to give him some flashcards and go over his homework."

Ray nodded, before tipping his head down so he could talk quietly to Trin. "You know, we do really appreciate you doing this for him." He told her sincerely. "After this everything with his mom, his grades slipped, and it's just been good for him to get help from a familiar face, and not some random from a few grades above."

The teen couldn't help but be slightly shocked by Ray's sincerity. She gulped down the lump that had formed in her throat at his words, before nodding with a small smile on her face.

"Of course," she told him nicely. "You guys are still family, no matter what's happened."

The underlying meaning of Trin's words were picked up by Ray, who nodded in response.

Of course, another reason why coming to the Molina household was slightly painful for Trin, was also due to her deteriorating friendship she had with Julie.

The two of them had been practically inseparable from the moment they met one another. Phoebe and Rose had excitedly introduced their daughter's, not too long after the Salazar's had first fostered Trin. The two tween girls had instantly clicked, bonding over their shared love for One Direction and Taylor Swift.

(Taylor's Reputation era was one of her best, Trinity Salazar-Rivera would die on that hill.)

Much to a thirteen-year-old, newly-fostered Trin's delight, hers and Julie's friendship solidified pretty fast. The two of them often having sleepovers at the other's houses, even on school nights. They went through thick and thin with one another, including Trin's first relationship (more on him later), then the inevitable break-up. And most recently, the loss of Julie's mom.

Trinity assumed that their friendship would've survived this too, despite the situation being entirely different and worse than any other the two had faced before. But she had been sorely mistaken.

The sound of light footsteps on the stairs broke Trin out of her thoughts of Julie. She turned to see the youngest member of the Molina clan making his way downstairs to greet his father and his tutor.

Grinning widely, Trin held her arms open for the younger boy to embrace her. "Carlos, buddy!" She exclaimed. "Ready to kick some science butt?!"

Carlos eagerly made his way into Trinity's awaiting arms, wrapping his skinny arms around her torso, smiling slightly at her mock-excitement. He then pulled back and rolled his eyes with a smile on his face.

"Can't wait to get it over with, more like." He corrected her.

Gasping in fake-offence, Trin placed a hand on her heart as the two of them sat down at the kitchen table. "Are you trying to get rid of me, little Molina?"

Carlos shot her an annoyed look. "No, I just hate science." He pouted.

Nodding in understanding, Trin began retrieving her notes she'd made for Carlos the night before from her bag. "I feel that. Science sucks."

"But you're good at it, though." The younger boy pointed out.

Trin shrugged. "Doesn't mean I like doing it." She gave him a pointed look, and Carlos shrugged in agreement.

After that, it was strictly science talk, the two kids sat at the table with their heads huddled over Trin's notes. Ray pottered about the kitchen, glancing over every so often to make sure Carlos was paying attention to what Trin was saying, and grinned proudly each time as he saw his son was doing so.

After about ten minutes, Trin's attention was brought away from Carlos and their tutoring session at the sound of the Molina's front door opening. She looked over to see Flynn, her classmate, and Julie's other best friend, making her way into the foyer of the house.

Ray was no longer present in the kitchen, and Trin realised he must be getting ready for work upstairs. Flynn's gaze fell on the two at the table, not looking surprised to see Trin, as she had probably been informed of the tutoring sessions by Julie.

Trinity gave her a small smile, which the other girl half-heartedly returned, before the dark-skinned teen's mouth turned back into a frown as her eyes glazed over with tears. Trin frowned, going to ask if the other girl was okay, but Flynn spoke first.

"Have either of you seen Julie?" She wondered.

Trin's face remained impassive as she shook her head. "Uh, no. I haven't seen her since I got here."

Carlos then piped up. "She was in the garage when I was getting ready." He told his sister's childhood friend. "She's probably still in there."

Flynn nodded, a frown still evident on her face as she quickly thanked them both, and exited the house. Trin watched from the window her classmate walked down to Rose's old studio, not full-on crying.

Giving Carlos a look of concern, Trin asked "is she okay?"

A slightly sad look came across the younger boy's features. "Probably not. Julie got kicked out of the music programme yesterday."

Trinity's mouth fell open at his words. She then thought back to music class yesterday, and Julie had ended up running out after being unable to play a piece on the piano.

She also remembered how she wanted to run after her ex-friend, or do something to comfort her. But she knew that she'd be the last person that Julie would want any comfort from, especially because it was something to do with music and Rose's death. That much had become evident over the past ten months.

That didn't stop Trinity from kicking the back of Carrie Wilson's seat hard enough that the entitled, rich girl almost fell off it when she'd made a snide remark about Julie, though.

"Oh," Trin's voice was quiet as she recalled the previous day's events.

Seeing the older girl's forlorn expression, Carlos quickly attempted to reassure her. "But, guess what? It's not all bad. . ." He trailed off as Trin looked at him, confused. "I heard Julie singing for the first time since mom this morning."

Trin couldn't help the excited look that automatically appeared on her face, as Carlos shared this news with her.

"Wait, really?" The Salazar-Rivera girl double checked, and Carlos nodded. "That's huge! Oh my god, I'm so happy for her!"

Carlos grinned at her excitement and nodded in confirmation.

Her happiness was slightly deflated, however, when she remembered that Julie was already out of the music programme. Though she didn't let this thought plague her for too long, instead choosing to focus on the fact that Julie had finally sang again.

With a smile still on her face, Trin glanced at the time on her phone, realising that she should probably leave pretty soon if she wanted to get to school on time. She bid a quick farewell to Carlos, promising to see him after school for another tutoring session.

After exiting the Molina's she began to get back on her bike when two female voices brought her attention to a few feet in front of her. She inhaled sharply as both Julie and Flynn came into view, the two girls laughing at something.

Julie was first to spot the Salazar-Rivera girl, the curly-haired teen sending a soft smile in Trinity's direction. Trin smiled back.

"Hey," Julie greeted, taking Trin aback slightly, the other Latina not expecting Julie to say anything to her.

Well, it had been that way for the past ten months, she hadn't assumed anything could've changed overnight.

"H-hi." Trin replied, her grin growing wider. "I, um, I like your outfit, both of yours." Her words came out slightly rushed.

Her eyes flitted from Julie, who looked adorable in a pair of plaid pants, and a cute grey sweater with little bows tied at the bottom of the sleeves, then over to Flynn, ever the fashionista. Flynn was wearing a bright red strapped dress, a cute graphic tee underneath, and knee length socks with a pair of sneakers on her feet. Trin also loved her jacket, and remembered being at the mall with Flynn when she had bought it.

She felt a tad underdressed, but assumed that's how most people felt in Flynn's presence.

"Thanks!" Flynn said brightly, pointing to the crop-top and plaid skirt combination Trin was wearing. "You look hot, too."

This comment made Trin and Julie both laugh, Trin nodding with an appreciative look. "Thanks." She chuckled.

The three of them then finally fell into a silence until Trinity cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Well, uh, I should probably go." She announced. "Need to make sure no one takes the last spot in the bike shed." She then gestured to the mint-coloured bicycle she was balancing on.

Julie and Flynn nodded, waving to her as she began to cycle away.

"See you in class!" Flynn called out, and Trin nodded with a grin, giving a brief wave.

As she got further down the road, she couldn't help but smile to herself. She knows that Julie had only really said a few words to her, but that was the most the two girls had spoken since they'd grown apart from one another. It was progress, no matter how small.

And for now, that was enough for Trin.

・゜゜・．・゜゜・．

Los Feliz High School was always annoyingly busy.

Almost everyday, Trin had to fight for her life in an attempt to get to her locker without getting accidentally hit in the face with a basketball, lacrosse stick, or instrument of some kind. And if she managed to escape with her nose still unbroken, she then had to contend with all the high-school couples who decided to have make-out sessions in the middle of the corridor.

It really was a struggle.

Today wasn't any different. Trinity had already successfully dodged two trombones, an electric guitar (thanks, Nick!), and ruthlessly walked right in between a guy and girl who looked ready to shove their tongue down one another's throat.

Now, as she approached her locker, she felt a grin appear on her face as she saw a familiar, curly head of hair walking towards her, the two meeting right where the Latina's locker was.

"Hey, bitch." Trin greeted as she entered her locker combo, seeing a small grin appear on Stevie's face.

Stevie Brooks was Trin's closest friend. Though their friendship only began about nine months prior, when they had been partnered together for a History project. Cracks had already been starting to show in hers and Julie's friendship, the latter opting to spend more time at home with her family, or only with Flynn.

Initially, Stevie had been very closed off towards Trin, only really speaking to her if he had to, or if she instigated the conversation. The first few times he'd gone to the Salazar household to work on their project, they'd pretty much sat in silence, like that scene in Twilight where Bella and Edward meet for the first time and pretty much awkwardly stare at one another the whole time?

Trin now knew that the reason Stevie had initially been so reluctant to form any type of friendship outside the classroom was due to his fear of her judging him. Like pretty much the rest of the school did. Though, it only took about three of their project sessions for the Brooks boy to figure out that Trin was probably the least judgemental person you could ever meet.

The two teens hit it off after that, and when they finally handed in their project on the Suffragette Movement, they made a more conscious effort into solidifying their blossoming friendship, thus bringing them to where they are now.

Though, one thing Trinity would never grow used to, was the random facts that her friend greeted her with every morning.

"Hey," Stevie greeted her back, before an eager look came across his face. "Did you know that the smell of grass after you mow is actually the grass screaming for help?"

In case you were wondering, that was one of his facts.

Trin turned her gaze from the books inside her locker and moved her head so she could lock eyes with the boy beside her. "Where did you hear this, Stevie?"

"Lawnstarter.com." He answered, shrugging his shoulders lighty.

Trin gave him a weird look. "Why are you looking on there?" She was genuinely curious.

"I got bored and fell down an internet rabbit hole at like two AM." He informed her, making Trin shrug goodnaturedly in response.

"Been there." She told him in solidarity.

A small bout of silence fell upon the two friends, as Trinity focused all of her concentration on neatly placing her textbooks into her locker. A persistent tapping on her shoulder from Stevie then caused her to whip her head back to him in alarm, thinking something was wrong with him.

"What?" She asked in confusion.

Stevie's eyes were narrowed as he watched something behind Trin's back, but the rest of his posture was more relaxed as he folded his arms and opened his mouth to speak.

"Not to alarm you," he began. Always a strong start. "But your ex-boyfriend happens to be walking in this direction right now."

At the mention of Milo Bowen and the role he'd once had in her life, Trin quickly turned her gaze to where Stevie was looking, and felt a glare come across her face as an initial reaction. Trin swallowed thickly as her ex and some of his lacrosse buddies got closer and closer.

The Salazar-Rivera girl averted her eyes, deciding to look back at Stevie, who's eyes were still narrowed at the Bowen boy.

Trin swatted his arm. "Stop glaring at him!" She warned him. "He might feel your eyes on him and actually look over at us!"

The Brooks boy looked at Trin, offended, as he rubbed the spot on his forearm that she had swatted. "Um, ouch!" He whined. "Remind me to never be angry on your behalf again."

Rolling her eyes at her friend's dramatics, Trinity briefly flitted her eyes as she felt the group of lacrosse players they had been glaring at previously, pass by them. She kept her gaze on their backs, well, Milo's back in particular. She then jumped and tore her eyes away from him, as he unexpectedly met her eyes.

In the quick seconds that the two held one another's gaze, the Bowen boy sent Trin a small, kind smile. But, Trinity only scowled in response, finally averting her eyes and looking back at her locker.

She felt herself begin to grow warm. A usual response for her, whenever she felt herself getting mad or upset. Stevie saw her reddening face, and gave her a sympathy-filled look, though he opted not to say anything right away, giving his best friend a few moments to collect herself, which she greatly appreciated.

Trin eventually did so, gently closing her locker, before turning around and leaning against the row of them.

Stevie prodded her shoulder with his finger. "You good, T?" He asked her gently.

Smirking at the nickname, Trin nodded at him. "Yeah," she assured him. "It's just annoying. He can leave me for another girl at the drop of a hat, leave me heartbroken for the past year then just smile at me like that?" The Latina complained, Stevie nodding in response to his friend's ranting.

"Yeah, boys suck." Stevie concurred.

Trin snorted. "Yeah, that's true." She agreed, before pinching his cheek and smiling at him. "All of 'em apart from you, Stevie Nicks."

The curly-haired boy rolled his eyes with a smile at the playful nickname Trin had given him. He then pushed her hand from his cheek, taking a step back so that there was a bit of distance between the two.

"Wow, thanks." He replied sarcastically, before adjusting the folder in his arms, gesturing to said folder with a bored look on his face. "I gotta drop this off before class, so, I'll see you at lunch?"

Trin nodded. "Yeah." She confirmed, before pointing at him with an excited look. "Ooh! Can you get me chocolate milk if they have any?" She asked him, knowing the Brooks boy was always in the cafeteria before she was.

Stevie nodded in response, sending her a thumbs up. "You got it!"

"Thank you!" She yelled back.

The small smile remained on Trinity's face as she remained leaning against the row of lockers, bringing her phone out of her pocket as she waited for the first bell to sound. She was broken away from scrolling through Twitter when she saw a familiar figure at the corner of her eye.

Looking up, Trin watched as Julie approached her own locker, about six away from Trin's. The Molina girl had a disappointed look on her face as she entered her locker combination, a loud sigh emitting from her mouth.  

Trin frowned at the sad look on her ex-friend's face. Before she really knew what she was doing, and almost as though it was instinctive, the Salazar-Rivera girl began walking towards where Julie was standing.

Maybe it was their awkward-yet-nice encounter at the Molina house earlier that morning that had subconsciously spurred on Trin's confidence in approaching Julie, but Trin knew she couldn't just stand and watch Julie be so sad, no matter the circumstances of their friendship.

So, shoving her phone back into her jacket pocket, Trinity started to make her way over to Julie. As she reached the curly-haired girl, Trinity cleared her throat quietly, but it was loud enough for Julie to hear, and she spun around to look at whoever had approached her.

The look on Julie's face, at first, was one of slight annoyance. This was almost off-putting to Trin, until she saw the Molina girl's expression morph from annoyance, to one that was more relaxed when she saw that it was Trin.

Smiling slightly, Julie raised an eyebrow at Trin. "Uh, hey?" She greeted the Peruvian girl. "Are you okay?"

Trin nodded, fiddling awkwardly with the rings on her fingers, before answering Julie. "Yeah, I'm good." She told her, before nodding in Julie's direction. "That's actually, uh, what I came over here to ask you."

Julie looked confused.

"You looked pretty sad when you got to your locker, so I wanted to check on you. . ." Trin trailed off, as Julie still hadn't really responded, suddenly overcome with the notion that approaching her in the first place had been a bad idea. "Sorry, this was really weird of me to do, I'll go-"

Trin went to turn around and start speed walking her way to her first class, but Julie's voice stopped her.

"No!" Julie interrupted the Rivera girl's ranting. "It's okay. I, um, I really appreciate you asking, Trin."

Trin smiled slightly at that.

Julie continued to speak. "It's just. . ." The Molina girl trailed off, having a mini debate in her mind as to whether she wanted to bother Trin with all her current problems, especially seeing as it was pretty much down to Julie that the two weren't speaking much anymore. But Trin's awaiting face and kind, empathetic face was enough to convince Julie to carry on. "I played piano and sang this morning. It was the first time I had done that since. . . since mom died."

Trin nodded sympathetically as she blinked rapidly to try and clear the tears from her eyes. "Yeah, Carlos was telling me earlier." Trin informed Julie, shooting her a genuinely happy smile. "I'm really happy for you, Jules."

Both girls stiffened slightly at the old, affectionate nickname as it rolled easily off of Trin's tongue. A brief silence fell upon them, and Trin looked nervously at Julie as she awaited her reaction to it.

Much to Trinity's delight, Julie smiled softly. The Molina girl's face softened at her words. "Thanks." She spoke sincerely. "Mrs Harrison was happy for me, too. But, she said that it never changed anything, I still can't come back to the music programme."

A frown fell on Trin's lips as she watched the disappointment return to Julie's face. She placed a hand on Julie's shoulder and looked at her ex-friend with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry, Julie." She said sadly. "That sucks."

Julie nodded in agreement.

"The music programme is gonna be so crap without you. Who the hell's gonna outshine Carrie Wilson now?" Trin said, only half-joking.

A smirk made its way onto Julie's face at Trin's words. "Guess that'll be down to you and Flynn now."

Trinity felt her heart skip excitedly for a brief second at these words. It had been a while since she'd paired herself, in any context, with either Julie or Flynn. Though she didn't let herself get too excited, in case this casual, reminiscent conversation was a mere fluke.

She wouldn't allow herself to be hurt like that once again.

As the silence between the two girls started to edge more towards becoming awkward, Trin decided to break it.

"Um, I'm coming over after school to tutor Carlos again." Salazar-Rivera informed.

Julie nodded in understanding, and there was a hint of hope in the Molina's eyes, one that Trin expected, was also in her own. The two of them seemed to both want to ask the same thing to one another, but were too scared.

Come on, Trin said to herself in her mind. Just ask her!

So, biting the bullet, Trin did.

"Would you maybe wanna. . . hang out afterwards?" Trin asked as she nervously picked at her nails, looking anywhere apart from at Julie. "We could, like, catch up? Or just talk. . .about anything." She finished with a nervous laugh.

When she eventually did look back at the Molina girl, Julie was looking at her with a small smile. And, much to Trinity's relief, she nodded, a smile still evident on her face.

"I'd really love that." Julie told her.

Trin let out a relieved laugh. "Cool." She nodded.

"Like ice." Julie retorted.

As the two girls began laughing at her crappy joke, the school bell rang, signalling for them to start heading to class.

"Okay, well, I'll see you later?" Trin double-checked.

"Definitely." Julie confirmed, slowly backing away, and going in the opposite direction as Trin.

The two then waved at one another, and Trin turned to start walking to class. She felt as though someone had just taken a weight off of her shoulders, and couldn't help as a large smile spread across her face.

Julie Molina had an equally large grin on her face as she also made her way to class, her shoulders relaxing at the thought of finally talking to Trinity in such a long time, and finally being able to make up for the time they'd missed out on, which she still blamed herself for.

But that was all going to change after school, and neither of them could wait.

・゜゜・．・゜゜・．

Trinity was back at the Molina household for the second time that day. Not that she was complaining, though. She loved being over at Julie's house, it always felt so cosy and homey. She felt about as comfortable at the Molina's as she did at her own house.

And now that she knew her and Julie would be hanging out after she'd finished tutoring Carlos, there was excitement bubbling in her stomach as well as the comfortable feeling she was used to having.

Speaking of Carlos, the Salazar-Rivera girl couldn't help but laugh out loud as she watched him play on his XBox, shouting some Kidz-Bop insults at the TV. Trin had suggested that they take a break, seeing as they had been studying for almost an hour and a half. She always felt bad whenever she had to tutor him for longer periods of time.

She didn't want Carlos to feel any stress whatsoever during these sessions, the mere thought of him being upset triggered some sort of big-sister-defence-mode within her. So, when she had suggested they take a break from his science work, and he'd asked her if he could play on his XBox, she'd, of course, let him.

"Oh, come on!" The youngest Molina yelled, his eyebrows furrowing at the scene in front of him. "What was that?"

Trinity squinted at the television, kind-of wishing she had brought her glasses as the figures on the screen were slightly blurry for her. She couldn't really see what was happening, or what Carlos was yelling at due to her near-sightedness.

"I take it you're not winning, bud?" She asked Carlos from her seat at the dining table.

"Oh, no." He answered her. "I am, why?"

Tilting her head in confusion, Trin eyed him curiously. "Then why were you yelling a minute ago?"

"Because that shot I just did was so lame!"

Trinity couldn't help the snort that she let out. She had never understood video games, and could count on one hand the amount of times she'd actually played one.

Carlos sent her a playful glare as he heard her laugh at his antics. "This is a very serious situation, Trinity. You shouldn't be laughing."

"You're so right, Carlos." She spoke seriously. "I'm deeply sorry."

"I suppose I can find it in my heart to forgive you."

At this, the Latina shook her head with a fond smile, bringing her attention to her phone as it lit up from its place on the dining table. She smiled slightly as she saw a text from Stevie pop up on her lockscreen.

1 NEW MESSAGE!

FROM: buzzfeed unsolved 🔎

are you still at the Molina's?

was gonna facetime you if you were back home x

FROM: illuminati 👁

yee yee. taking a break from tutoring rn tho

carlos is yelling at some video game and i have no idea what's going on lmao

FROM: buzzfeed unsolved

damn, little man must be going thru it.

how about after?

Trin bit her lip, a guilty feeling washing over her. Of course she wanted to Facetime Stevie, but she also couldn't wait to finally hang out with Julie again, especially after so long. But the last thing she wanted to do was hurt the Brooks boys' feelings.

Still, rather than being a wuss and making up a lame excuse, she decided it was better to just be truthful with her best friend.

FROM: illuminati

i think me and julie might me hanging out once i've finished tutoring carlos

but we can facetime after that? or tomorrow?

Stevie read it almost immediately, and Trin noted how he still hadn't turned his 'Read' receipts off yet, despite her showing him how numerous times. She tapped her foot nervously as she awaited his response, and silently prayed he wouldn't be upset or annoyed with her.

Trin mentally cursed her overly-anxious mind.

Suddenly, there was a loud thump from upstairs, causing Trinity's attention to be diverted away from her phone screen, and in the direction of the stairs in the Molina's foyer. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

It was only her and Carlos in the house. Ray and Julie had gone to Target to pick up stuff for their dinner, not long after the kids had returned from school, and Ray from work. So she knew for a fact it wasn't either of them.

The Latina waited a few more moments to see if there was another noise, but she felt herself relax once more as all that was heard was silence.

She felt her phone buzz and quickly looked back down, somewhat nervous to see Stevie's response to her last message.

FROM: buzzfeed unsolved

wait really?

thats awesome trin!! we love progress!!

Trin grinned with relief.

FROM: illuminati

thanks stevie x

im so excited tbh

but i promise we'll facetime tomorrow, okay??

well i'll see u at school but like i mean after that

FROM: buzzfeed unsolved

ofc ofc

the spirit rally is tomorrow anyways so we'll have a lot to discuss

especially since carrie is performing

it shall be inch resting

Trin went to type out another response, but and even louder bang than before sounded throughout the house. This one caused the Salazar-Rivera girl to actively shoot out of her seat.

That bang was going to be harder to ignore, or write off as a door slamming because of the wind. A few more shuffling noises came from where Julie's room was.

Footsteps.

Trinity felt her eyes go wide as she realised what type of situation she could now be in. And, being the oldest person currently in the house, this made her responsible for keeping Carlos safe.

Now what kind of Panic Room (2002) type situation am I being thrust into? Trin thought to herself as she edged closer to the staircase.

She turned to see Carlos's reaction to the loud noise, but was perplexed to see him continuing to play his video game, as though there had been no noise at all.

The younger boy did sense Trin's sudden movement, though, and turned to where she was now standing at the bottom of the staircase. He lifted a brow at her and looked confusedly at her.

"What're you doing?" He asked her, removing one side of his headphones so he could hear her answer.

She shot him an incredulous look. "Did you not hear that?" She asked him.

Carlos minutely shook his head. "Uh. . .no?"

Trin's face changed to one of puzzlement. That sound was loud. How the heck did Carlos not hear it like she did? She then turned back to the stairs briefly, shaking her head.

"Never mind." Trin resigned her confusion for the time being, and held her hand out towards Carlos. "You stay here okay?" She ordered him in a semi-stern voice.

Shooting her one more confused glance, Carlos nodded, before shrugging his shoulders. "Whatever."

He then put both of his headphones back on and turned back to play his video game.

So, he's probably not gonna hear anything if I get murdered by an intruder, Trin thought. Great.

The Salazar-Rivera girl scanned the small table next to her, trying to find anything that could possibly be a weapon. Her eyes finally settled on a cordless lamp that the Molina's owned.

It was better than confronting the intruder empty-handed, so she grabbed it. Trin slowly walked up the stairs, her socks making little to no noise on the carpeted steps. At least she would have the element of surprise.

She turned a small corner, quickly recognising the familiar door of Julie Molina's room. As she approached the door, she began to strain her ears as there was talking coming from the room.

"Dude, we shouldn't be in here!" One voice whispered, sounding alarmed.

There was a beat of silence before Trin heard a second voice chime in. "Chill, Alex." It said. "The only people downstairs are Julie's little brother and some girl." The person moved suddenly, giving Trin a quick glimpse of a leather jacket from where she stood just outside the door.

Trin wanted to scoff at the some girl remark, but held her tongue so she wouldn't give away her position. She also noted the use of Julie's name, and frowned deeply in confusion.

So, they knew Julie? How were they in her bedroom? Had they been here the whole time?

Her questioning was silenced by a third voice. "Yeah, and I'm pretty sure she was tutoring him or something, so they'll be way too engrossed in that to hear us."

Trin quickly slipped her phone out of the waistband of her skirt, where she had placed it before coming up here. She pulled up the dialpad, entering 911 into it, before taking a deep breath.

She didn't care if these people somehow knew Julie, the fact that they hadn't announced themselves to her, or Carlos, despite knowing they were downstairs didn't sit right with Trinity.

With one last, shaky breath, Trin finally stepped into Julie's room, a look of determination on her face.

The sound of her footsteps alerted the three people to her presence. The Latina was shocked when she finally laid her eyes upon the three that had been giving her heart palpitations for the last five minutes. They were teenage boys, probably not that much older than she was.

Also, very cute. But now wasn't the appropriate time for that observation.

The three boys all paused their actions. There was one of them, a lanky brunette with impeccable cheekbones, laying starfish on Julie's bed. There was a red flannel shirt tied around his waist, and Trin recognised him to be the one with the leather jacket that she saw through the crack of the door.

The second one, a tall, tow-head blonde wearing a pink t-shirt and black jean shorts, whipped around from his position at the Molina girl's dressing table. He looked somewhat like a frightened puppy as he saw her standing in front of them all with an angry expression.

And the last one was a shaggy-haired brunette boy. He was standing on a soft kickstool from near the window, using it so he could reach a box on one of the shelves. As Trinity briefly scanned his figure, she couldn't but notice the sleeveless hoodie-thing he was wearing.

Doesn't it being sleeveless kind of defeat the whole purpose of a hoodie?

"What the hell is going on?" Trin demanded in a loud voice.

None of the boys spoke at first, each of them glancing at one another in shock.

Trinity grew annoyed at their ever growing silence, so she turned her phone screen to show them how close she was to calling for back-up.

"Hello?" She tried again, more snappily this time. "Can you guys not hear me or something?"

This seemed to snap them out of their surprised trance, the shaggy-haired one stepping off the stool and coming to stop just before he bumped into the side of Julie's bed. His eyes were wide as he stared at Trin.

"Hold up," he said. "You can see us?"

Trin stared at him incredulously. "Yes, of course I can see you!"

"How is that possible? How can you see us?" He persistently asked her, and Trin scoffed loudly.

"Um, because I have eyes, genius!" She retorted sarcastically. "And you're all wearing pretty bright colours. If you wanted to break-in and not be seen, you should've worn all black."

The blonde one now stepped forward, his eyes were kind and looked less intense than the boy before him. But the intrigue was still there.

"Woah, we're not breaking in." He tried to tell Trin. "We swear."

Trin narrowed her eyes, tilting her head. "Do I look dumb?"

"No!" The one on the bed exclaimed, and Trin shot him a suspicious look.

She'd had enough by now. Trin didn't know why they were so shocked that she could see them, and frankly, she didn't care that much.

"Okay, this has been nice, but I'm calling the cops now." She informed them.

"Wait-!" The one in the blue, sleeveless hoodie exclaimed, taking another step forward. This movement causes Trin to hold up the lamp to him in a threatening manner, warning him not to come any closer.

The brunette boy held up his hands defensively, taking steps backwards.

The leather-jacket one looked at Trin from where he was lying. "Please don't call the cops." He practically begged her. "We're not burglars!"

"Yeah, yeah! We're definitely not!" The blond one reiterated.

Deciding to humour them for a few seconds, Trin let her finger hover over the Call button. Looking at them with a smirk on her face. "Okay, then what are you?" She asked patronisingly.

The three guys all looked at each other with uncertainty. The shaggy-haired one finally nodded. He looked over at Trin, and looked her straight in the eyes.

"We're ghosts." He told her, his eyes looking sincere.

Trin was surprised that she didn't immediately burst out laughing. As crazy as it sounded, she found herself believing the words that came out of his mouth as the two of them continued to stare each other down.

". . .You're what?"

・゜゜・．・゜゜・．

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A/N:
i do not own julie and the phantoms or any characters associated
with the show. the only characters i do own are trinity, her parents, and
stevie and milo. all rights go to netflix and kenny ortega.

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A/N:

AHHHH yay i finally published it!! i've been working on this first chapter for about a week now🥲, now i'm just so relieved i finished it lmaooo😂🥰!

okay first of all, i wanna thank anyone who reads this cos it really means a lot to me! i only recently got into jatp bc i binged it all in one night whilst i was off work. 'twas a very fun night🥰.

also, i was heavily inspired by maya's (justanothergleestan ) fic called 'Just For A Moment' its literally so so so good! her oc alison is literally the most adorable person ever, AND she's so cute with luke as well🥰🥰!! plus maya has been putting up with me constantly bombarding her with ideas for this fic, so for that she should be commended cos i'll bet i was very annoying😂❤️. ilysm bestieeeee💖!!

also! peachpick also had to put up with my annoyingness, so pray for her too lmao. plus she's also the amazingly talented person who made the cover for this book 🥺💖!! and also the gifs as well. she is basically the only reason this book looks good, so we stan her for that❤️❤️!! ily boo!!

okay that's all! i hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! and i really appreciate anyone who reads this!💖💖

— jade

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