Infinite

Starts With You, Part II

𝄃 𝄞♬♪ 𝄂
It's too high a cost
For the life I'm living
There's too much I've lost
Waiting for the moment I can stand
On my own two feet so maybe
When all is said and done
I can start living
And it starts with you
𝄃 𝄞♬♪ 𝄂

"What is this, Alex?" Luke stared at the pile of books on the stage. Well, two piles. One was of the books he'd read and the other was the books he'd yet to read. "Are you reading books?" None of them had read a book since ninth grade of high school (though, how they managed that was beyond most of their teachers).

"You would be correct." He didn't even look up from the book that he was in the middle of reading. He liked them, and not just because they taught him the insight into doing the really big things. They created a huge story—though he'd been reading them all completely out of order. On top of the rather intriguing story, he'd learned more than he could've dreamed.

"What for?" Luke knew it couldn't be for fun. None of them did anything like that.

"Just to learn." Luke didn't believe him, but it was clear that, whatever Alex was doing, he wanted to keep quiet about it.

"Okay, whatever. Do you want to come with Reggie and I to a club?" The expected answer was a firm, "no," and that was what Luke got. Not just because Alex had holed himself up in the Kaleidoscope for the past four days alone, but also because it wasn't his style. For every ten nights they went out (while they were alive), Alex went out one. At best. He liked spending time with his friends, but his anxiety made it hard to enjoy that environment. "Alright."

He kept reading, not caring about clubs or most other social activities. If it were up to him, he wouldn't even step foot into Julie's music studio until Willie was safe. Even so, Luke and Reggie, a couple hours later, went back to the Kaleidoscope to convince him to practice.

Just because they were signed to a label and didn't have a demo due until the end of the year didn't mean they didn't have gigs. Their new manager—who was, unfortunately, not Flynn anymore—had gotten them on the list for that Friday.

"Come on, Alex. You can not read for a couple hours." He didn't want to, but how was he supposed to tell his best friends that? Every second he wasted not reading was another second he'd have to wait to get Willie back.

"Alright, I'm coming," Alex replied, with a half-smile plastered on his face. His smile couldn't have been more fake if it was slapped on with a sticker. Let's just get this over with, was what he actually thought. But they didn't need to know that. They didn't need to know how much it hurt him to know that Willie wouldn't be waiting for him to come back. Just when his afterlife got good, it went crazy again and he couldn't fix it.

"Oh, good. You are all here. We have to practice before our gig Friday. We're doing our new song and 'Edge of Great'." They all nodded, on board with Julie's plan. It seemed, to Alex, that they'd be playing in a lineup, which meant they didn't have to be there for nearly as long.

"Let's get started," Luke said, rubbing his hands together.

For three hours that Sunday afternoon, they played song after song after song until they knew them forwards and backwards, and had most of their choreography set. They agreed that most of it would actually be spontaneous, but they wanted general ideas. Get the gist of what they wanted to do. At least, for Julie's sake. She was the one who had to live with the bad press if they screwed something up.

"Okay, boys. I have homework and dinner and since you have neither of those things, get out." Julie kicked them out. They all had their own homes to go to; and that was not her studio. "Come on, out."