THE BOYS ARE mildly concerned and shocked at the Latina's outburst.
"That did not go well," Reggie observes.
Luke lets out a small scream and catapults across the room onto the couch. I laugh heartily.
"Will you join our band Lila Mae?" Luke asks with puppy eyes that could melt anyone's heart.
"You haven't heard me play," I reply, "and I thought you only want me if I'm good."
"Well, our options are pretty limited," Reggie admits.
"Reg!" Luke chides. "This is not how to convince someone to join your band, especially when she shouldn't even need convincing! Our talent should speak for itself."
He cuts his eyes over at me.
I smirk, sauntering over to him and sitting down on the sofa arm. "Ever heard the phrase 'actions speak more than words'?"
"Yeah," he replies, suppressing an agitated eye roll.
I put my hand to my chin and innocently feign confusion. "So then, please explain to me, why are you still talking? You've insulted me and your arrogance is not helping."
Luke scoffs, eyes flitting over to Reggie like he is absolutely shocked that someone actually stood up to him. The bassist is amused, smiling at me like he is proud.
"Arrogance?"
"Did I stutter?" I ask, batting my eyelashes at him. "I don't think so."
"Why do you have to be so difficult," Luke grumbles. "Just join the band."
The last part turns into more of a whine.
"Only if Julie says yes." I decide that I've tortured him enough with my fabulous attitude. "You shouldn't have gone through her stuff. That's personal."
"I know, but it's so good," Luke mourns. "Reggie and I loved that song. We really spiffed it up."
"She and her mother wrote that," I emphasize. "You can't change anything that they wrote together. It's forbidden, okay? That's really special to her and it's like altering her memories. Don't you see why it would be really upsetting?"
"Yeah," Luke realizes, sitting up. "That wasn't a good move."
"I don't get it," Reggie cuts in. "If it was going to sound good, what's the harm?"
"It's personal," I confirm. "Now, for my performance tomorrow, I was thinking we could work on a song I wrote a while ago."
"What is it?" Luke asks, suddenly interested.
"I don't really know honestly," I say, pulling a journal out of my backpack. "This was in my possessions when they found me."
I flip through it to find the song I'm looking for.
"Let me look at it." Luke teleports over to me, sitting on the sofa.
"It has the same theme as the song Julie wrote for Flynn," I tell him, "I just wish I could remember who I wrote it for and why."
"Your name's written at the top," Luke notes. "Lila."
"Yeah." I hesitate as I wonder how much I should tell him and Reggie. "I also have a tattoo of that name over my heart."
I pull down my shirt just enough to show the name, but not reveal too much. The tattoo is high enough that it could be seen if I wore a low-cut tank top, but to avoid questions I've decided to cover it up.
"So, what's your backstory?" Reggie questions with curiosity. "We know Julie's, but we don't know much about you."
I sigh. "Join the club."
"What does that mean?" Luke furrows his dark eyebrows.
"Something happened to me last May. We have no idea what, but someone found me unconscious and alone on a street," I say to them, watching their expressions shift to sympathy. I haven't even told Julie the details about this. We were too worried about finding Flynn. "I was dead or at least they thought I was. They called an ambulance and they used the defibrillator on me. It somehow shocked me back to life."
Their eyebrows raise simultaneously in shock and disbelief.
"That explains how you can see us," Luke breathes. "You went through a lot."
I nod, suddenly feeling self-conscious as I stare at my feet. "I don't remember anything from before that."
"Woah, that's so cool!" Reggie exclaims.
Luke gives him a horrified look and slaps his arm. "Dude!"
"I mean, cool in a sick way," Reggie covers. "We died eating street meat in 1995."
"Seriously?" I can't help but laugh. "That's a dumb way to go!"
"Shut up," grumbles Luke, "I'd rather not think about it."
"Sorry," I blurt. "That was insensitive."
I didn't mean to be mean this time or teasing. To my relief, Luke moves on quickly. The topic is obviously uncomfortable for him.
"Let's work on this music, okay?" Luke jumps up and conjures his guitar out of thin air.
I blink.
I'm not sure I will ever get used to that.
"I wrote some basic chords on the top, but I don't know any of the strumming patterns," I admit.
"That's alright, we can figure it out together," Luke smiles warmly. "What about this?"
He plays some strings gently and I begin to sing the first verse. The tune comes back to me.
"Good morning, you're leaving, I'll see you in the evening," I sing, "my best friend to the end. My better half, no pretend."
As I continue to sing a wave of emotions roll over me. At the ending I touch my cheeks and am surprised to find them wet with tears.
Luke hugs me and I melt.
I won't break down.
I refuse to.
I bite my lip in protest.
"Well, I can see I'm not needed here." Reggie flashes out of view.
"You okay?" Luke asks, brown eyes staring into my blue ones.
"Yeah," I reply, wiping my face. "I'm fine. Maybe we should try a different song, yes?"
Luke picks up my notebook to flip through it, then thinks better of it.
"May I?" he asks, eyebrows moving into a pronounced frown.
"Yes," I say.
He finds a song that I wrote to be played on piano.
"I would like to try to add guitar to this and Alex might like to play drums. If you give us some time, we can have this done in a couple of hours," Luke promises. "I just need to find him."
"Sure," I respond, walking over to the piano.
I play through the instrumentals and hum the vocals before playing again. As I add the lyrics, Luke picks up on the chorus, singing and playing.
We are too focused on the song to hear a knocking at the door. Carlos peeks his head in and sees Luke and I playing. I immediately freeze.
"Woah! Where did he go?" Carlos asks, running over where Luke stands.
I give Luke an alarmed look. Carlos could see Luke while I played with him. That was good, but it also meant I had to lie quickly.
"Yeah, um Julie found a band of boys from Sweden and they are playing through the projector." I dash across the room to grab one. "When you entered the room it blocked the light. That's why he disappeared."
"Oh, that's so cool." Carlos widens his eyes at me. "I just came to use the bathroom. You can keep playing."
He heads to the toilet.
"Leave now," Luke advises, ushering me out the door. "Trust me, you don't want to be here."
"That bad? Okay," I say with a laugh as he urgently presses my notebook into my hands. I grab my back. "I'll go talk to Julie and see if I can get her to come back so we can work on 'Flying Solo.'"
"Aight," Luke replies with a grin. "I'll get Alex to make a fast-paced beat for your song. You think you can handle that?"
I roll my eyes. "Later, Luke."
"You know you love me!" he shouts after me as I make a swift exit.
"You wish!" I call back in a sassy tone.
Julie might not appreciate me having a moment with Luke right after he invaded her privacy. I need to make my living friends my top priority. No offense to the boys, of course.
"Julie?" I call up the stairs. "Can I talk to you?"
"She's in her room," her dad tells me.
He's on the phone.
"Sorry," I mouth to him.
Mr. Molina waves my apology away like it's fine. I jog up the stairs to find Julie going through an old trunk at the end of her bed.
"What's all this?" I ask softly. I think I may already know.
"Mom's stuff."
"She had great taste," I note. I pause to rephrase my next question. "Are you okay after what happened earlier?"
"Of course not! Luke just went through my stuff as if it were nothing! Who knows what else he could have found," Julie replies with frustration.
"Here's an idea: make him curious about a box containing feminine products. I guarantee he'll leave you alone after that," I joke. She cracks a smile.
"Imagine that."
"He did agree to play for my audition tomorrow and your song for Flynn," I remind her, "at least there's that."
"I know, but I'm still angry," she says looking up at me.
I sit on her bed and she stands from the floor to sit next to me.
"It doesn't look like they're going away and you don't seem like the type of girl to hold a grudge," I say slowly, "so how about you call a truce?"
Julie sighs in defeat. "Fine. Only if they agree not to snoop."
"Makes sense." I look out the window to see a familiar face. "Julie, Flynn's outside in your backyard."
"What?" She darts over to the window. "I've been trying to contact her!"
We sprint downstairs and outside. I'm panting heavily and Julie gives me a concerned look.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think about your health condition---"
"---I'm okay," I interrupt. "Go talk to Flynn."
"Okay." She runs over to her best friend. "Flynn! What are you doing here? I've been texting you all day. The least you could have done is text me back."
"You've been texting me all day?" Flynn asks with annoyance. "How can you do that when you've been spending all day with your new best friend?"
"That's not fair," Julie says. "She's not your replacement."
"Really? Did you tell her the truth about your boy band?" Flynn interrogates. Julie stays silent, confirming Flynn's thoughts. "That's what I thought."
She turns to leave.
"Wait! Look, I'm very sorry for not telling you, but I-I need you to know how important you are to me," Julie assures her. "There's no way I would have made it through this year if it wasn't for you."
"Yet it was three strangers who got you back into music," Flynn argues. "Then now I find you've been singing with Lila Mae? I thought we were best friends. Double Trouble."
She pulls out a T-shirt.
"I know!" Julie says.
"I don't need someone in my life who lies and keeps things from me," Flynn states. "Goodbye, Julie. You can be happy with Lila Mae and those cute boys."
I kiss my teeth, knowing I won't be able to hold myself back. It's too painful for Julie to lose her best friend.
"They're ghosts," I blurt, gripping Flynn by the shirt as she tries to leave us. "Only Julie and I can see them."
"It's true," Julie agrees, "the boys in our band, they're not holograms. They're ghosts. When we play together people can see them."
"People can see them when I sing too," I tell her.
Julie's eyebrows go up.
"You've got to be kidding me," Flynn says with an eye roll. "I'm not falling for that. What do you mean 'ghosts?'"
"We mean we see actual ghosts," I confirm, "like that creepy kid in the movie my foster dad was watching last week."
"What?" Flynn asks, still thinking we are pranking her.
"You know, the kid who says, 'I see dead people.'" I do an impression of him.
"Seriously?" Flynn says.
"Yeah, these guys are just normal dead dudes," Julie pipes up.
"Well, Reggie's a little questionable," I add. Julie nods in agreement.
Flynn gets out her phone and starts typing.
"Who are you texting?" Julie demands, leaning over to see the screen.
"Your dad," Flynn tells her. "He told me to text him if I was worried about you. And um...I'm worried. You're seeing things Jules. Both of you are."
She shakes her head. My annoyance grows. Flynn has way too much attitude over one mistake! I snatch her phone.
"Alright. So you want to be difficult. Meet us in her mom's studio in thirty minutes," I demand. "We'll prove to you that we're not crazy."
"And please don't text my dad," Julie supplements.
"Yeah, don't do that," I say, cautiously passing Flynn's phone back to her.
Flynn looks very done with us right now. "You have thirty minutes."
Julie sighs and looks down. "Eggs? Why did you bring eggs?"
"Oh umm...no, no." Flynn rushes to hide them. "See I grabbed those by mistake."
"You were going to egg her house, weren't you?" I ask in shock. "That's totally not being a good friend."
"I was mad, okay?" Flynn responds. "Thirty minutes! Go."
Julie and I leave for the garage.
"How are we going to pull this together?" she hisses at me. "If we mess up, this is all your fault because it was your idea."
"Trust me," I say, "we can pull this together."
Well that's the end of chapter 5! I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please let me know what you think of this fanfic. I'm trying my best.
xoxo,
Lynn