Unwritten // Julie and the Phantoms (Reggie Peters)

7

Reggie, Luke and Odette sat on the couch, watching Alex pace back and forth, deep in thought.

"I think he's practicing his model strut," Reggie guessed as he laced his fingers through Odette's.

"He's so nervous, it's almost making me nervous," Luke said as he glanced at Reggie and Odette's intertwined fingers and smiled.

Odette nodded. "You're nervous, I'm nervous, we're all nervous."

Alex looked between them. "Okay, you guys know I don't handle change well. Excluding Odette joining the band, as she was already sort of part of it. All right? Death? That was a change. Okay? Then we became ghosts-"

"Another change," Odette interrupted.

"Yes, thank you. And now we can be seen whenever we play with Julie. Big freaking change!"

"You have to admit it was a cool change."

"Yeah, but still."

"With Julie, we can play on stage again and be the band we never got to be," Reggie said. "With Odette as a band member."

"I mean, who wouldn't be? I just - you know, I wanna figure out."

"Forget why," Luke told him. "Man, I say we invite Julie to join Sunset Curve."

Odette nodded. "That could be fun. Having another girl in the band would be nice."

Reggie grinned. "Yeah, she could be the new lead singer."

"I'm the lead singer!" Luke argued.

"Dude, that girl has the voice of an angel and can make us visible. Without her, we're just like elevator music." Odette shuddered at the thought.

"You don't have to be so mean about it. And we're on the runway again." Luke pointed to Alex.

"I'm sorry, okay?! I gotta clear my head," Alex said as he walked to the garage and tried to open it in frustration.

"Dude, you're a ghost," Reggie told him. "Just poof out!"

Odette nodded. "You'd look a lot less stupid."

"Don't tell me how to ghost! Be nice, Odette!" Alex inhaled and poofed out.

---

Alex walked the streets of LA, trying to clear his head.

He saw two men walking towards him who looked like Ghostbusters.

"Oh God, I'm busted," Alex muttered. "Oh God! No!" He cowered into himself, but the men went through him.

Alex stood straighter. "Okay."

"Beep beep!" a boy called with a chuckle as he skated. "Comin' through! Hey! Oh! Nice hat! Cheese!" He chuckled and hit Alex, knocking them both to the ground.

Alex groaned and coughed. "Aah!"

"Ah," the boy said with a cough and cleared his throat. "Oh man! Oh, you dinged my board."

"I dinged your board? Dude, you ran me over. You're lucky I didn't... Y-Y-You... you... you ran me over. You're a ghost?"

"Mm. Yeah. Ever since I learned the hard way that..." he removed his helmet and threw his head back, causing his hair to cascade down, "...skating in traffic was bad. Hey, sorry I, uh, smashed into you. I thought you were a lifer and I'd just pass right through."

"Uh, a lifer?"

"Yeah, that's, uh... That's what we call people who are living." The boy smiled, seeing Alex's puzzled expression. "You're new to this whole ghost thing, aren't you?"