It was well past midnight when Alex poofed back into the studio.
"Where the hell have you been?" Luke yelled at him.
"Relax," Alex said, annoyed. He pushed the garbage bag of 1995s clothes off the sofa bed and sat down. "It's not like I can die a second time."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Haha. Jeez, Alex, we were worried!"
"Yeah." Reggie nodded. "I mean, what if you'd been found by a ghostbuster or something?"
Alex laughed, but then saw that Luke and Reggie weren't. "You're not joking."
"Do we know what bad things could happen to a ghost?" Luke demanded. "It's not like we've ever done this before!"
"That is a really good point." Reggie shook his finger. "Alex, you gotta be more careful!"
"I was fine, guys, I promise." Alex got up and went to where they were standing, noting the fear in their eyes. He immediately felt bad. They weren't wrong. One of the reasons he'd gone to see Willie was because of how much he didn't know about being a ghost. "I'm sorry I scared you, but I was with Willie the whole time. Totally safe."
"Okay," Luke said, mollified. He broke out in a grin. "And how was your date with Willie?"
"Yeah!" Reggie sat down in the chair by the couch. He leaned forward. "Did you kiss?"
"Reggie!" Alex's face flamed.
"You did!" Reggie crowed. "Was it awesome?"
"Yeah. Yeah, it was awesome." Alex couldn't help his smile.
"Awww," Luke cooed, "our little baby boy, all grown up."
Alex grabbed one of the pillows off the sofa bed and threw it at him. Luke ducked, but the corner sailed right through him, and Alex felt some of his good mood dim. "So, still the same, huh?"
"Yeah, we are as insubstantial as ever," Reggie sighed. "But in better news, Flynn's arranged for the band to play at the school dance tomorrow night!"
"School dance? That sounds pretty...amateur."
"It's practice performing together," Luke corrected Alex. "And besides, it's important to Julie." He said it casually, but it was clear as day how important it was to Luke to make her happy.
"School dances can be fun," Alex said and was immediately rewarded with Luke's beaming smile.
"And all those kids? They'll love us, and then we'll build a following for when we release our first song online!" Luke said.
"We'll get tons of hits on the You Tubes." Reggie nodded.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Alex said. "But it sounds great."
"Julie was telling us all about it," Luke said, flopping down beside Alex. "Music is done totally different these days." He then launched into a detailed explanation of everything Julie had taught him and Reggie, grinning wildly the whole time.
Alex couldn't help but get caught up in his enthusiasm. Alex loved music, but music was Luke's life. It was like his Gift came straight from his soul. His passion was contagious. If anyone could become a famous musician twenty-five years after he died, it'd be Luke.
"And that's how Julie says bands get famous!" Luke finished with a flourish. "What do you think?"
"Willie invited me dancing," Alex blurted.
Luke raised himself up on his elbows. "Please don't tell me you haven't heard a word I said."
"I heard all of it. And that's what made me think of Willie's invitation. He says he knows a ghost who owns a club! Maybe we could play there?"
Reggie sat up from where he'd been lying sideways on the end of the sofa bed with his feet dangling. "A ghost club? Really?"
"Yeah, I guess? At least that's what Willie was saying." Alex sat up as well. "Could be worth checking out."
"We should do it!" Luke said excitedly. "Maybe we can be famous with ghosts, too!"
Alex laughed. "I'll ask Willie next time I see him."
"You should invite him to the dance," Reggie said. "That would be so cool!"
"Maybe." Alex grinned at his friends. They were so supportive of him. They'd always been like that, for everything. He leaned over and put his hand on Reggie's knee. "You guys are the best, you know that?"
Luke and Reggie smiled at him. "You're not totally awful, either," Luke said.
Julie couldn't believe how things had gone from being so awesome to being so badly so quickly.
Julie and the Phantoms had totally rocked the school dance the night before. She'd looked cute in the rainbow shirt of her mother's she'd found in the chest the guys had brought in from the studio for her, and her singing had been totally on point. The boys had been amazing, hitting every musical cue and playing to the crowd like they were already a famous band playing sold-out stadiums.
And she and Luke had chemistry when they sang together. It was so strong she felt like she could touch it, like she wanted to be able to touch his strong arms with her hands, or his lips with her own...
She shook her head. Now was definitely not the time to be daydreaming about her lead guitarist. Especially not while her father was checking his email from her math teacher, and was two seconds away from realizing she'd missed a calculous test.
"I slept in!" Julie blurted before he'd finished reading.
He looked up from his phone. "What's that, mija?"
"I slept in. After last night's concert," Julie explained. "I told Flynn not to wake me up unless there was a nuclear disaster, and she didn't know I was joking? Anyway, by the time I got up I'd missed three classes, including math. I'm sorry."
Ray blinked at her. "And you decided to tell me this now. Just before I read the email?"
Julie smiled brightly. "Yes?"
"Julie!" Ray stood up from where he'd been sitting at the dining room table. "I can't believe you tried to hide that from me."
Julie opened her mouth to respond when she saw a flash of golden light and Reggie appeared in the kitchen. "Hey Julie!" he said cheerfully. "I know we can't eat or anything, but I really miss food. Can I look in your fridge?"
Julie's eyes widened as Reggie reached for the fridge door. He was so focused on the big chrome appliance that he hadn't seen Ray sitting at his desk. The dining room table had a clear line of sight to the fridge. It would be impossible for her father to miss seeing the fridge door open by itself. And there was no way she could tell Reggie not to do it without freaking her dad out.
"I'm hungry," she said quickly to Ray. "You hungry?" without waiting for his answer she ran to the kitchen and threw open the fridge door.
"Happy?" she hissed at Reggie.
"Yeah, thanks!" he said. He searched the fridge with his eyes. "Oh, you have leftover pizza. I love pizza."
Ray followed her into the kitchen. "Julie, we were talking."
"I'm sorry dad. You know you sometimes can't control the munchies." She laughed feebly.
Ray frowned at her. "Julie, you need to pay attention to this. I don't want to have to yell."
Reggie turned to look at Julie and then Ray. "Is he mad at you?"
Julie glanced at Reggie and gave him a quick nod. "Dad, I'm sorry about the test. I should've told you."
"I appreciate your apology, but that's not good enough. You know how I feel about lying, even lies of omission. I can't just let that go."
"He's mad at you," Reggie whispered. "Is he going to hit you?"
"What?" Julie said to Reggie, appalled, "No!"
"Don't backtalk me on this," Ray said angrily. "You'll just make it worse!"
"He is not going to hurt you!" Reggie grabbed a knife off the counter. His hand went right through and he made a frustrated noise and tried again. This time he was able to pick it up and he stood in front of Julie, holding the knife threateningly in front of him.
Ray took a step back, hands up and eyes on the knife that was floating in the air in front of him. "Julie..."
"Oh my God. Reggie, what are you doing?"
"He wants to punish you," Reggie hissed, eyes never leaving Ray. "He's going to hurt you!"
"Reggie, my dad's not going to hurt me." She tried to turn him towards her, but she couldn't touch him. Her hand slid right through his white T-shirt. "Reggie! Listen to me!"
"No," he said, gaze never faltering from her dad. "He's not going to touch you. I promise."
"Julie, what's happening?" Ray's eyes danced back and forth from the knife to Julie and back again.
"My friend Reggie is scared you're going to hurt me," Julie explained tightly.
"I'm not going to hurt you!" Ray said, horrified. "Is that why he has the knife?"
"Yes." Julie nodded. "Reggie, you heard my dad. You need to put the knife down. Please!"
"He's lying," Reggie whispered. "My dad always lies."
Julie's eyes flew to her father's in dismay at Reggie's words. Her father was still looking at the knife; not reacting to what he said, and Julie remembered that Ray couldn't hear him. "Reggie," she said, trying to keep her voice calm, "you're having some kind of flashback. You need to snap out of it!" She wondered if she could reach through Reggie's body and grab the knife, but instantly dismissed the thought. He was so spooked right now, who knew what he'd do? She wished one of the other guys were here, but she was on her own, trying to help a freaked-out ghost who was having some kind of episode of PTSD.
"Reggie," Ray said, glancing at Julie to confirm he got the name right. "Reggie, I'm not going to hurt Julie. I promise. I know you're scared and I know you're trying to protect her, but no one is trying to hurt her. Can you please put the knife down?"
"No!" Reggie slashed out, forcing Ray to jump back. "I'm not falling for that again!"
Julie's heart broke at Reggie's words. She didn't need all the details to know that something terrible had happened to him. No wonder he was terrified. She wished she could hug Reggie, do something to ground him and bring him back to the present. I need to fix this, she thought.
She was immediately reminded of the night the boys had first arrived, and how she'd used her Gift to help Luke. It ended up making them all visible and solid. If she could do that now she'd be able to touch Reggie, which might help him snap out of whatever horrible nightmare he'd gotten stuck in. "Dad," she said quietly, "I'm going to try something."
"Do it," he said, voice strained. Reggie had backed him up against the fridge, the threat obvious.
Julie put out her hands and concentrated on finding that tingling feeling she'd felt before. It happened almost immediately: a strange sensation of fizzing along her spine and under her skin, like static electricity, surging to her fingertips. There was a pause, where it felt like all the hairs on her arms were standing up, and then a flash of pure, white light.
She opened her eyes just in time to see her father knock the knife out of Reggie's hands and then pull him into a hug. Reggie fought him, struggling and screaming, until he just...stopped. And started to cry: great wracking sobs that sounded torn from his very soul.
Ray kicked the knife across the room and then slid down the fridge, still holding Reggie until they were both sitting on the floor with Reggie in Ray's arms. Reggie was still ugly crying, and Ray was murmuring soothingly in Spanish, rubbing his back like he was much younger. "It's okay, mija," Ray said softly to Julie, "I've got this. Maybe call his friends?"
Julie didn't need to be told twice. She ran out to the studio and pushed open the door. Luke was the only one there and he looked up from where he'd been writing in his notebook. "Julie?"
"Come quick!" she panted, "Reggie!"
He got up immediately. "I'll teleport," he said. There was a pause when nothing happened, and he looked at her.
"Why can't you teleport anymore?" Julie asked hysterically.
"Did you do your Lifeforce thing again?"
"Yes! I must've made you solid!" Julie said, instantly realizing that it was true. She took his hand, warm and real in her own. They ran back to the house.
Dude let me tell you that I kind of cried writing that part about Reggie T-T
What did you think?