I woke up to the sun peering through the trees and bushes that lined our driveway. I must've left the curtains open overnight. Whoops. I looked over to my left to see Flynn, sound asleep on my double bed. She had stayed the night, after I had spilled about the deal I had made. As I thought of the deal with Caleb, I felt sick. Reggie was gone, and my mother was still nowhere to be seen. I looked at the clock on my phone. It was 7:00 on the dot. I Gently shook Flynn awake. She grunted in response.
"Flynn, it's time to wake up. You need to get ready for school." I murmured, shaking her a bit harder.
"Go away!" Flynn grumbled, swatting my hand away. I sighed.
"If you get up now, you can steal my clothes for school today." Flynn opened one eye.
"Anything?"
"Yup." She smiled, sitting up to look at me.
"Good morning." She greeted as if she had been asleep the whole time. I smiled and shook my head.
"Come on, Let's get ready."
I sat in the silence of my maths class. Everyone had their heads down and were powering through the test in front of them, but the silence was unnerving, and I couldn't concentrate. My brain was overwhelmed with thoughts of Reggie. It wasn't long before my thoughts spiralled... my hand shot in the air.
"Can I go to the bathroom sir?" I asked. Flynn turned to see me, and she knew something was up.
"Julie we are in the middle of a test, you'll have to wait." He replied. Flynn stood up in protest.
"No, she can't wait, it's a, uh..." she paused for dramatic affect. "... urgent matter." She finished, staring the teacher down. The teacher got really uncomfortable.
"Uhm... fine, off you go." He murmured, gesturing to the door. I walked out, Flynn following me. We walked in silence all the way to the girl's bathroom. The whole time, I was thinking of Reggie seeing Caleb, the look of shock, panic, and betrayal on Reggie's face as he pleaded to me to not make the deal.
"Jules, what happened back there, are you okay?"
"I-I don't know, it was too quiet, a-and I just had to get out."
"Is it Reggie?" I nodded.
"I think it was a big mistake, giving him to Caleb. I don't know what to do."
"It's up to you Jules, just trust your gut." That's when I knew. I needed to get him back.
As soon as school finished, I got on my phone, determined to find Caleb's club. I just had to remember what it was called... the LA spirit bar? No, no that's not it. Hollywood something... ah! Hollywood ghost club. I punched in the words into google, but there were no results. Of course, it was a club for ghosts. Why would it be online? I sighed. Trying to think of what to do next. A weird feeling suddenly appeared, like something was passing through my body. I looked up to see a skater spear in front of me, as if he had phased through my body. I was confused for a second, before realising. He was a ghost. Wait, didn't Alex say willie was a skater.
"Hey! Are you Willie?" I called, running after him. He stopped his board abruptly.
"You can see me? How? You're not a ghost, or I wouldn't've hit you."
"Yeah, I'm alive- "I got a few weird looks from passers-by, so I quickly pulled out my phone.
"-I'm Julie." I told him. Willie's face fell, and he looked really uncomfortable.
"Oh, you're Julie."
"Would you maybe show me the way to. The Hollywood ghost club?" Willie didn't look at me.
"Why do you wanna go?"
"I- uhm, need to talk with Caleb."
"Sorry, I can't."
"Why not?"
"You've done enough."
"What?"
"I know you agreed to get rid of Reggie so you could have Luke back, I don't want anything to happen to Alex."
"Why would- "
"You know how close they are,"
"No, I would never- "
"But you've already done it once, meaning you would."
"I'm trying to get Reggie back! I don't know what I was thinking when I made the deal, but what do know, is that it was stupid, and I'm going back to Caleb to take back the deal!"
"You can't take back a deal."
"But he didn't even complete his half of the deal, my mum still hasn't appeared, so technically the deal wasn't completed."
"Caleb always stands by his deals; he is forced to. Unfortunately for you, there's a loophole. He can't do anything about ghosts who have crossed over. If he makes a deal to find a ghost, and they crossed over, the deal is still complete, and the other person gets nothing in return." Willie explained. I felt numb. I was tricked.
"There is nothing I can do?" I asked quietly. Willie shook his head.
"I've gotta go." He picked up his board and poofed out, leaving me feeling worse than before.
