Dead and Alive

Chapter 3

Julie jumped away from Willie, feeling close to panic. She hadn't mentioned Willie to her parents; not since they'd told her she was "too old" for imaginary friends when she'd turned seven. And now he was standing right in front of her dad, along with the three dead members of Sunset Curve. She had no idea how to explain any of it.

Flynn, with her amazing brain, was the first to recover. "Hi, Mr. Molina!" she said cheerfully. "How nice to see you!"

"Good to see you too, Flynn," Ray said calmly. His eyes were still focused on the four boys and his expression was less than welcoming. "I don't think I've met your guests." He put the tray down on the coffee table and stood back, arms crossed.

Willie shot Julie a nervous glance. "Hello, sir," he said. "I'm Willie."

"Willie," Ray repeated like it tasted bad.

"He's a friend, from school," Julie said, hoping her voice sounded normal and not like she was about to throw up from nerves. "You know, Willie? From school?" She laughed, then winced at how fake it sounded.

"Of course. Willie from school," Ray repeated in a tone that said he wasn't buying it. "And who are the others?"

"Um. I'm Luke, by the way?" Luke said, sounding way less confident than he had mere moments before, "an..and this is—"

"Reggie, I'm Reggie. Hey," Reggie said, smiling at Ray like he was totally thrilled to meet Julie's dad.

"A..and..." Luke stuttered the word.

"Alex," Alex said quietly with a small wave-like twitch of his fingers. "How's it going?"

"Ba dum," Luke sang quietly, gesturing at his friends like he was introducing them in a magic show or something. It was painfully awkward and Julie cringed.

"Okay," Ray said. "Why do the three of you look like you've been cleaning chimneys?"

"We do?" Reggie wiped at his face and then looked surprised at the soot he found on his fingertips. "Oh, wow."

"We were in a fi—" Alex started. Luke nudged him hard enough that he stumbled and he shut up.

Inspiration struck. "They were helping me clean the loft!" Julie said at a volume way louder than it needed to be.

"Oh, yeah," Flynn said, immediately picking up what Julie was laying down. "They knew Julie was cleaning out her mom's stuff and they volunteered to help."

"It was really, um, dusty? Up there?" Luke gestured vaguely towards the loft, and then ended up just rubbing the back of his head. Ray noticed his shirt was sleeveless and his frown deepened. Luke put his arm down. He wrapped his arms around himself and then clearly decided it was making everything worse so he put his hands behind his back. Julie would've laughed at his discomfort if she wasn't feeling it so acutely herself.

"We knew it would be hard for Julie and we wanted to help." Willie looked at Julie as he spoke, and she went back to him and took his hand, still amazed that she could hold it after all this time. He squeezed gently and let go.

"Yeah," Reggie chimed in. "Julie's done so much for us, so it seemed fair to help out."

"Oh?" Ray's expression stayed dangerously chilled. "And what is it that she's done for you? Considering I've never heard of any of you until now?"

"They've started a band," Flynn blurted. Julie glared at her and Flynn shrugged, her expression showing that she couldn't think of anything better.

"Started a band?" Ray repeated. His whole demeanor softened and his eyes lit up. "You've been playing music again?"

Julie closed her eyes for a moment, feeling nearly overwhelmed with the joy on her father's face. It was the worst lie Flynn could've thought of, but right that second Julie would've given anything for it to be true. "Not yet," she said, trying to infuse the lie with some reality. "But we're working on it."