Believer // Julie and the Phantoms

17

Julie walked down the stairs and heard her dad singing Finally Free and saw him, Reggie in the kitchen.

"Hands up," Reggie said, raising his hands as Ray continued to sing.

She saw her dad making breakfast and said, "This is new."

"Yeah," her father replied. "I was in the mood for cooking some breakfast."

Reggie giggled. "He thought you were talking to him. Me and your dad are pals now. It's a little one-sided, but it works."

Julie's dad said, "Look, after the talk we had the other night, I was thinking that I may have cost you an opportunity with that manager. So, I was thinking-"

Julie cut her father off. "Dad, no. I should've never snuck out."

"Let the man speak," Reggie argued. "He's been stress eating all week. I don't know where he puts it though. It's like... firm."

Julie's father continued. "I know, but I really want to support your band, so I called in a few favors, and I booked you a local gig."

"Best dad ever!"

"What?"

Julie's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. Where? Did you call your buddy from Drakes?"

"Not quite. I called Flynn, and she's gonna help us throw a party. Here. Tonight."

"Oh! So you booked us a gig at our house?"

"Maybe I was early with the "Best Dad Ever" award," Reggie said.

Julie's father continued. "All right. Hear me out. You invite some of your friends over, you play with your band, and I'll get some colleagues to put you on film. That way, you have something professional for your YouTube."

Julie chuckled. "You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah."

Reggie grinned. "Back to "best dad ever." I'll go tell the guys. Have a good day at work, Ray. It's cool. You don't have to answer. Just..." He nodded and whooshed away.

---

Julie walked to her locker and put stuff in. She closed it and saw Luke.

"Hey," Luke greeted.

Julie gasped before saying, "Normal people don't do that. And ghosts definitely shouldn't. What are you doing here?"

Luke smiled. "I have to talk about what song we're gonna play tonight. I was thinking Great."

Students snickered and a girl said, "Hey, Julie. What's up?"

Julie cleared her throat. "Hold up."

Luke frowned. "You're taking a call while we're talking? You know how rude that is?"

"Hey! Thanks for calling. Otherwise people might think I'm talking to myself."

"Right." He nodded. "Nice!"

"No. But, yeah. I think Great is a great choice."

"Sweet. Well, I mean, that's pretty much all I wanted to talk to you about. So..."

Julie frowned a moment. "Oh! Okay."

"Uh, actually, no, there is one more thing that I wanted to talk to you about. It's... Look, I know I'm not the easiest person to work with, but I..." he scratched the back of his head nervously, "I wanted to tell you that I think you make me a better writer."

Julie smiled. "I think we make each other better."

"You know what? Why don't you just ditch school today. Let's go rehearse."