Unwritten // Julie and the Phantoms (Reggie Peters)

3

[Bright]

Alex stepped forward to hug Julie, but Luke and Odette pulled him back and teleported out of the garage.

The blond boy frowned. "Dude, Odette, why'd you two stop me? Julie needs a hug!"

Odette shook her head. "We're dead. Remember? We'd just go right through her."

Luke nodded. "Trust us. What Julie needs right now is a little bit of privacy."

A small smirk crossed Odette's face. "You can't handle a crying girl, huh?"

"I should know!" Alex cried. "I cried in a room for twenty-five years and I didn't get a single hug from any of you, excluding Odette! Which Reggie protested to, but that doesn't matter."

Reggie moved to hug Alex. "All right, dude, bring it in-"

"Don't touch me!"

"This is why no one hugs you. Okay, I think the first thing we should do is get the courage to ask Julie why she lied about playing the piano."

Odette nodded. "I agree, but we should phrase it differently. Um, perhaps compliment her on her talent."

Luke nodded. "Yeah!"

Reggie held up his arm. "She's legit! I got ghost bumps." He held up Odette's arm. "So does she!"

Flynn walked past, crying, and Alex asked, "Oh my gosh, was she crying, too?"

"Yes!" Luke exclaimed. "And the only thing scarier than one girl crying is two girls crying!"

Odette frowned. "Tread carefully, Luke."

He shot her a look before saying, "Guys, we can't go in there!"

"We can listen."

Reggie nodded. "Odette's right. We can listen." He grabbed Odette's hand and they stood outside the garage and listened.

Odette tried her best to ignore the butterflies she was feeling. Did ghosts even get butterflies? She decided they did. Who were scientists to argue against what ghosts felt?

"Carlos told me you'd be out here," Flynn said. "We need to talk."

"Are you okay?" Julie asked.

"No, I'm not okay! You just got kicked out of music school! I've been up all night thinking about what I was gonna say. Might have drank seven sodas, but I need to get this out..."

"Wait, I have something to tell you-"

"No, it's my turn to talk. You can't give up music! Your music is like a gift and it would be a tragedy! You're basically cancelling Christmas and I love Christmas-"

"Flynn-"

"Uh-uh! When we were six, we promised to be in a band together! Double Trouble!"

The girls continued their conversation as they exited the garage.

"Quick!" Odette hissed. "Act casual!"

Odette leaned against the wall, Alex pretended to "fix" the light, Luke put a hand on his hip. and Reggie looked up at him, then to Odette.

"Oh, hey!" Julie greeted. "Um, let's hustle!" She waved to the band and pretended to hit a bush.

"Don't worry, we weren't listening!" Reggie told her as Luke kicked his side and Odette shot him a look.

The ghosts walked through the garage and Reggie said, "I wonder why Julie didn't tell us she could shred on the piano."

"And sing," Luke added. "That girl can sing!"

Odette phased a hand through the piano, wishing she could play. "My guess is it has something to do with her mom."

Alex made his way to the loft. "Hey, some of the clothes we left behind are still up here!" He threw three black bags and a light blue one down.

"Sweet!" Luke exclaimed as he pulled his shirt off. "Same clothes since '95, boys, Odette!"

Odette pulled out a black Sunset Curve shirt. "Oh, how it feels nice to have a change of clothes. No peeking, boys."

Reggie pouted. "Not even me? We all know about your little crush. At least, that's what we think."

"No, not even you, Reg." She ducked behind a pillar and slipped on the shirt and leggings she'd grabbed. "Much better."

Julie's father walked in and walked right into Reggie.

"Whoa, that was weird," Reggie commented as the man brought the camera up to his face. "But somehow I can tell this man has a kind heart!"

"So, how have you been?" Julie's father asked.

"Honestly not that good," Reggie replied. "So we ate these hotdogs and Odette had this heart attack of sorts-"

"Julie sang for the first time this morning. Ah, she hadn't done that in almost a year. You would have loved it."

A soft smile crossed Odette's face.

Reggie continued. "Yeah, we saw 'cause we were - oh! Oh, I get it! He's not talking to us."

"You are so lucky you could play the bass," Luke told his fellow bandmate.

Odette frowned. "Hey, be nice."

Alex dangled his feet from the loft as he said, "I'm pretty sure he's talking to Julie's mom."

"That's what I thought." She glanced down, missing her parents more than she ever thought she could. Sure she could visit them, but they wouldn't know she was there.

Julie's father spoke again. "She's such an amazing woman. Every day she reminds me more and more of you. Oh, I'm, uh, taking pictures for the real estate website. I don't really wanna move, but - I guess it's best for Julie. There's so many memories of Julie playing next to you, and Carlos was trying to sing with his missing front teeth."

Luke was on the verge of crying and Reggie looked at him. "Oh, no, Luke, not you too!"

"He's talking about moving, but the poor guy doesn't want to move!" Luke said through his tears.

Julie's father clicked the camera as he said, "It's like they grew up out here. Oh man, now he's got big too." Reggie fanned his eyes.

Alex frowned. "Okay, how am I the emotional one?"

Reggie glanced back. "Can we go to my family to see how we're doing?"

"Yeah, listening to this feels wrong."

Odette nodded slowly. "I agree. I wonder if my parents still remember me."

Reggie took Odette's hand and squeezed it gently. "They could never forget you, Etty."

"I hope not. Come on, let's go before we eavesdrop any more."