Oozing Chemistry

6th Thing's 6th

Reggie stares intently at me, biting his bottom lip and contemplating if it's worth it. "And if you can't," his smile morphs into a wicked grin, as if expecting I'd lose. Joke's on him. Electric really isn't all that different from acoustic. "You join the band."

I bite on the insides of my cheeks, trying to stop myself from smiling, knowing I have this in the bag. "Deal."

Reggie wraps his bass around his neck again and I pick up Luke's electric guitar, doing the same. He opens the book, smirking adorably and pointing to a song. "Take a good look. You'll need it for when you join the band."

"Oh? We're getting cocky now. OK," I laugh, pretending to graze over the notes when all of Luke's songs are already firmly planted inside my mind. "Ready when you are, Reginald."

"One, two, three, four," he mumbles and begins plucking his strings while I strum, keeping up with ease. 

He widens his eyes in shock, and my eyes never leave his, not even needing to see where my fingers are because I've played this song countless times, practicing with Luke before we died, before he even showed it to the guys.

"Aw, man, Izzy, I love it when you play that song," Luke compliments, fading through the garage doors and clapping to the beat.

"What?" Reggie's face goes slack and pale. "She... She knows how to..."

"Yeah, man," Luke says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "She's been playing for what like five years? Bobby taught her what he knew and when she mastered that, I started teaching her electric. It's not that different from acoustic, but she learned that on her own."

He's fuming, and I'm suddenly scared, "That's no fair! Bet's off. You cheated!"

"I did not!" I defend, taking Luke's guitar off and returning it to its stand with my hands up in surrender. "You didn't ask!"

"What else can you do then, huh?"

"You should see the stuff she writes," Luke gushes, tossing himself on the couch and throwing me into panic mode. "She helped write a couple Sunset Curve songs, too."

"Luke!" I shout through gritted teeth, and his eyes go wide, face screaming 'uh, oh.' "Remember that part when I told you not to tell anyone? Yeah, that means don't tell anyone!"

Luke sinks back into the couch and hides behind a pillow. Meanwhile, Reggie's interest is at an all time high. "You write songs? Why haven't I seen anything? Lemme read it!"

"No," I immediately refuse. If anything, it'll be more motivation for him to try and get me to 'embrace my awesomeness.' "I'm not writing anything and nothing is finished." 

I cross my arms, case closed, but of course, Reggie doesn't believe it. With a smirk, he mocks my posture. "Sure, cupcake. Try that again tomorrow. Maybe I'll believe you then." And I stomp out in frustration, headed to none other than Julie Molina's bedroom.

I knock and wait to be invited in before stepping through the door, finding her sprawled across her bed with a bunch of randomly scattered papers. 

"Whatcha doin'?" I plop right next to her, and she rolls over, her glasses falling off her head.

"I need to get all this homework done before we start rehearsing 'cause I know I'm gonna forget about it... but it's so much."

I peek over her shoulder, finding a mix of biology and algebra with hints of world history. "Oh, please. I got the science and math."

"No, I can't ask you to do that," she stutters, slightly surprised.

"You didn't ask," I smile, insisting I help her in some way. "Plus, when I was alive, I loved this stuff. When I wasn't playing music with the guys, I was knee-deep in books in our school library. It'll help me feel normal."