"and they tell you that you're lucky, but you're so confused / 'cause you don't feel pretty, you just feel used"
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Josephine "Jo" Newton is the rhythm guitarist for Caleb Covington's legendary house band at the Hollywood Ghost Club. Playing her in...
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Olympia Dukakis, Lin Manuel Miranda, Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell. These names, even those that didn't mean anything to her, were burnt into the back of Jo's eyelids as her skateboard slid over each star.
"Beep beep!" Willie exclaimed as they skated down the sidewalk.
"Ah! Excuse us," Lina squeaked. While Willie's long, brown hair was hidden by his helmet, Catalina Covington's tight, black curls poofed out around the edge of the orange plastic, though her bright grin was the real attention-grabber.
Jo saluted the woman on the edge of the street. "Long time no see, Marilyn." Josephine Newton, unlike her friends, disregarded the need for a helmet. They were already dead, she argued, what more damage could she do? And so, the faded purple of her hair billowed behind her freely.
The three laughed as they phased through each lifer tourist. Jo flipped her board beneath her and, when she looked back up, realized neither of her friends were beside her. She looked back to see Willie on the ground groaning beside a blonde boy while Lina kicked up her board and ran back towards them.
"Oh, man. You dinged my board," Willie complained, looking over the wood worriedly.
"Dinged your board?! Dude, you ran me over! You're lucky I didn't... Y-you... You ran me over," he realized, calming down slightly.
"You alright, man?" Lina asked softly, putting her hand on the blonde's shoulder.
"You... You're ghosts?"
"Uh... yeah," Willie said obviously. "Ever since I learned the hard way that skating in traffic was bad." The blonde's face changed as Willie shook his long hair out of his helmet. "Hey... Sorry I, uh, ran you over. I thought you were a lifer."
"We usually just run right through," Jo added with a laugh.
"Wait... uh, a lifer?" the boy questioned.
"Yeah, that's what we call people who are... living," Jo said.
Willie narrowed his eyes on the blonde playfully. "You're new to this whole ghost thing, aren't you?"
Alex exhaled a laugh. "That obvious?"
"Hey, I'm Willie," he said, shaking the strange boy's hand. "And that's Jo and Lina."
Jo saluted him while Lina waved ecstatically. "Nice to meet you!"
"I'm Alex," the new boy filled in.
"So what brings you to L.A?" Jo asked. "Sight-seeing? Getting a picture with Ms. Monroe?"
"Actually, I was just having a minor afterlife crisis, so, you know, just clearing my head before you tried to crack it open." Alex's eyes kept cutting over to Willie nervously.
