Dancing Queen (Julie and The Phantoms)

12. Feeling Appreciated

"I still don't get how I convinced you to get ready with me," I shrugged, plopping my spirit on the girl's bed.

Yesterday, after Julie asked me if I wanted to get dressed with her for the school dance. Having a third of a trash bag of clothes left and wanting to really prep for our first real performance, I whole-heartedly agreed. It also helped to get us both distracted on the fiasco we made on Bobby's mansion.

She opened the door of her closet with a smile plastered on her face. "Well, you're the only girl in band with three boys. And this is the boys from Sunset Curve we're talking about."

I flinched, knowing I had to correct her. "Technically, we started with four."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. It must suck to have your music stolen." Julie began removing shirts, dresses, and jackets from their hangers and throwing it unto the bed. All the pieces that landed on it went through me, so I stood up and rested my back on the wall instead.

"No, I-I can somehow get why he did it." Awesome, I was spiralling again in my head. The silence made Julie hide on her shoulders, so I try to lighten the mood. "But let's not focus on that. Let's think about other happy stuff!"

Content with the change of topic, she ignored the plie of clothes and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I've been meaning to ask about your backpack. I love the pins you have on it! Do they mean something?"

"Yes, they do! I bought or made each one at different special moments in my life." Getting back in the bed, I pointed at the botton in the top left corner. It was a sunflower. "Okay, so this one I bought when I entered high school." The next one had a music pentagram behind a G major key. "Luke gave me this one when we wrote our first song together."

"And what about this one?" She pointed at one in the center who had a smiley face in a pink background.

I giggled. "Oh, I made it when Alex came out to me. He has a matching one, but he doesn't wear it often."

I continued explaining all button pins in the back of my backpack. Most stories were related to Sunset Curve, like when we started the band, when we rehearsed for the first time in the studio, when we recorded the demo, when we released it, and when we did our first gig. Others, however, were more personal achievements. For example, that time I didn't cry at my broken pinkie finger, when I overcame symptoms of my disease or when I finally stood out to my parents.

Julie seemed fascinated by the meaning behind my leather backpack. It felt so weird to be listened without a dumb joke or fake snoring. It felt... amazing!

"And this one..." Sighing, I pulled out from a pocket the last button pin, which had fireworks and was scratched in the edges. "was going here after the Orpheum performance."

Julie stared at her feet. "I'm so sorry, Liz. Is there anything I could do?"

"I told you, it's fine. Really. I'm sure we can find something to do way cooler with you." Those words triggered a memory in her, because she sprinted to her closer to grab a shoe box. "What are you doing?"

"Add this one because it's from when we created our band." She revealed a lavander button pin, decorated with a dahlia in the center.

I clipped it in the top left corner. Tears were threatening to spill out. "Thank you, Julie. It really means a lot."

"Anytime, girl."

Now focusing on the matter in hands, Julie struggled to choose between bottoms. "Those pants look fire!" I said when she showed me blue pants with red and white lines on the sides.

She blushed. "Thanks."

We kept talking, choosing what she would wear. We agreed and did our hair, but so far, no luck in the shirt deparment yet. She told me about a couple of ideas for possible songs, each one sounding more interesting than the next.