Oozing Chemistry

5th Thing's 5th

"Well, the good thing is that everyone thought you guys were holograms, and I got back into the program." I expect her to be brimming with excitement, but she looks the exact opposite.

"That's amazing! Why do you look so bummed?"

"Yeah, dude, you're making this face," says Luke as he pulls Alex and Reggie in, all of them putting on their ugliest frowns. 

"That... is not my face," Julie declares with a hint of sass and the boys heavily disagree. "And things just got weird between me and Flynn. She asked about you guys, and I couldn't say."

Flynn! That's her name. Best friend is Flynn, got it.

"Sweet," Reggie whispers not-so slyly to Luke and he high-fives him down low. "Girls are already talking about us."

I roll my eyes and glare at him. "You're forgetting they're actually alive, Reg."

"Guys, I'm serious. I can't tell her about you guys for the same reason I can't tell my dad. She'll think I've gone off the deep end."

A school custodian drives his cart of brooms, mops, and sponges between the boys, and Reggie points at him, brows raised. "This dude definitely thinks you've gone off the deep end."

I laugh slightly, trying not to seem like I'm on the boys' side, and Julie returns to class. 

Hours later, the four of us poof back into the studio, and Alex immediately begins pacing back and forth. I sit smooshed between Reggie and Luke on the couch, feet propped up on the table. 

Reggie leans over to whisper, "I think he's practicing his model strut," and I bite back a laugh, Alex clearly upset over something.

Luke whispers back, "He's so nervous he's almost making me nervous."

"OK, look," Alex pauses, his face contorted and worried. "You guys know I don't handle change well. Alright? Death? That was a change. OK? Then we became ghosts. Alright? Another change. And now we can be seen whenever we play with Julie? Big freaking change!"

"Yeah, but it's a good change," I assure him. "You guys can play again. That's amazing!"

Reggie clears his throat and corrects, "Excuse me, but we can play again. That includes you, Izzy. Let's not pretend you didn't shred on that piano."

I look away, hiding the blush that's crawling up my cheeks, and stand up, announcing that I'm going to check up on Julie before walking out of the garage. I'm not the biggest fan of the whole teleportation thing right now. I'm trying to be as normal as possible, so I'd rather walk shorter distances. 

When I reach Julie's bedroom, I knock quietly, but no one answers. I stick my head through the door and peek around, finding the room being completely empty. I drift through, my feet wandering until I stop right in front of the box Luke was checking out yesterday. Curiosity must be contagious.

I glance around as if waiting for Julie to walk in and catch me, but after a couple seconds of silence, I stare at the box and bring my hands up, but they go straight through. I try again, concentrating as hard as I can and imagining myself pulling the cover open, and to my amazement, it busts right open, tiny shreds of paper bursting out. 

I bend down and collect them all, my eyes catching an interesting lyric, and I smile, another idea popping into my head. Quickly, I close the box, shoving all the pieces of paper back in, pretending I was never here, and race down to rejoin the boys. Not bothering to try to open the wide doors and nearly drained from simply opening a small wooden box, I run through the wall.

To my surprise, Luke and Reggie have their instruments out, strumming random chords and riffing off each other.

"And Sunset Curve is reborn! Oh, hey, Izzy," Reggie smiles, his bass hanging from his neck.