iii. The Boys Are Back

Los Angeles

2020

Sitting in the loft of the studio, Angelina hums Now or Never as she fiddles with the angel wing necklace that Luke had gotten her. Sometimes she sits up there and goes through the boys' stuff. Doing this makes her feel like they are there with her. She reaches into one of the bags, she hadn't gone through yet, and pulls a CD out.

When she sees that the CD is Sunset Curve's demo, she opens it. She pulls out the sleeve of the CD and stares at the picture of the band. A smile appears on her face as a stray tear escapes from her eye. She puts the sleeve back into the CD case and closes it. She sets the demo down on the floor of the loft before reaching back into the bag.

She pauses, however, when she hears the doors of the studio open. She looks to see who opened the doors and finds Julie standing in the doorway of the studio. Julie walks in and goes over to the light switch. She turns the lights on and looks around the studio. When she glances over toward the loft, Angelina quickly ducks down so that Julie can't see her. Julie walks over to the piano and takes the white sheet off, exhaling shakily. At this point, Angelina poofs away to Julie's room, to give the girl some privacy while going through her mother's stuff.

Julie walks over to the piano bench as she drags her fingers along the top of the piano. On the bench, she notices sheet music with a journal laying next to it. She picks them up and sets them on top of the piano. Julie sits down on the bench and sighs. She then inhales deeply as she looks up, "I'm so sorry, mom. That I haven't been here."

She gets up from the piano and walks away from it. Julie looks up at the loft before making her way over to the ladder. She climbs up the ladder and looks around at all of the boys' stuff. She notices the demo laying on the floor of the loft. She picks it up and climbs back down the ladder.

As she walks over to the CD player, she takes the CD out of its case. Once Julie reaches the player, she puts the CD in before placing the demo case on top of the machine. She walks over to the couch and sits down as the music starts playing. She lightly touches the teacup on the table before resting her hands on her knees.

Alex

1, 2, 3

Luke

Take off

Julie starts nodding her head to the music.

Last stop

Countdown til we blast open the top

Face first

Julie then hears louds screams that sound like they are coming from the speakers. As the screams get louder, she covers her ears.

Full charge

Electric hammer to the heart

The song stops playing as three guys appear out of nowhere and fall onto the floor. Julie gasps and jumps to her feet. The three boys lay on the floor, groaning loudly. They cough and gasp for air as they slowly stand up from the ground. "Whoa," the boy with the shaggy brown hair says. The boy with the blonde hair runs his hand through his hair before putting his hat back onto his head. The boy with the shaggy hair gasps for air once again as he looks around the studio before saying in a lighter tone, "Whoa!" He scrunches up his face and lifts his hand to point to the roof before swinging his arm back down to his side. "How did we get back here?" he asks the two boys standing on either side of him.

Julie lets out a loud scream. When the boys finally notice her, they start screaming as well. The three boys grab onto each other, still screaming, while Julie is still screaming too. The young girl then runs out of the studio screaming as the boys, who are still holding onto each other, watch her run away. Once Julie sees her dad she exclaims, "Dad!"

"Whoa! Hey!" her dad says as Julie runs into his arms. "Whoa! Slow down. You look like you've seen a ghost." He tries to comfort his daughter while holding onto her arms.

"I have!" She exclaims.

Her little brother, Carlos, who is standing next to their father says, "Cool."

Julie turns to her brother and shouts, "Not cool!" She grunts as she turns and runs toward the house. When she reaches the door, she turns and yells, "Run!" to her dad and brother. She throws the door open, screaming as she runs into the house and up the stairs to her room.

Meanwhile, Angelina is hanging upside down on the end of the bed. She was waiting for Julie to come back from the studio so she could make sure that Julie was okay. This was the first time that Julie's been in the studio since her mom died. Angelina just wanted to make sure that Julie wasn't hurting too much.

Startled by Julie's screams, Angelina fell off the end of the bed. "What is going on?" Angelina mumbles, curious as to what scared Julie so much. Hearing footsteps pounding up the stairs, Angelina jumps up from her sprawled out position on the floor. Julie bursts into the room looking frazzled.

"Hey, Julsie," Angelina says, looking at the girl with concern, "What's going on? Are you okay?" Ignoring the older girl's questions, Julie runs and hides behind the pouf at the foot of her bed. Julie pulls out her phone to text her best friend, Flynn. She mutters to herself and panics as Flynn doesn't answer her. Man, whatever Julie saw must have really scared her.

"Julie!" Angelina yells. Julie, realizing that the girl is there, looks back at her.

"What?" Julie says.

Angelina looks at the girl with a worried expression, "Are you okay? What happened?"

Julie looks at her with a scared expression, "I saw ghosts in the studio," she says in a panicked manner. At the mention of ghosts, Angelina's eyes widened.

Since Julie thought that Angelina is just an imaginary friend, she doesn't want to tell Julie that she is actually a ghost. She is afraid that it would scare Julie away and that she wouldn't be able to keep her promise to Rose. Taken aback by Julie's exclamation, she looks at her with surprise. "Ghosts? Are you sure?" Angelina skeptically asks Julie.

"Yes!" Julie shouts, "I'm positive that I saw ghosts in there."

As Angelina opens her mouth to reply, Julie's dad knocks on the door frame. "Hey!" her dad says.

Scared by his entrance, Julie screams and turns around. "Dad," Julie says as she gives her dad a pointed look.

"Sorry," He says, walking into the room. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay," he tells his daughter as he stops in front of her, a concerned look on his face.

Julie sighs in defeat, "You don't believe me, do you?" she asks, upset that her dad doesn't believe her.

"Honey, of course I do. Mija, I see your mom all the time," he says carefully, trying to comfort her. At the mention of Rose, Angelina goes over to Julie's dresser and looks at the picture of Julie and her mom. She looks at it with a sad smile. She really misses her latina friend, who had always been there for the blonde before she passed away the year before.

Julie looks at her dad exasperatedly, "It isn't like that."

"I know. It's different for all of us," her dad says, thinking she's talking about her mom.

Frustrated that her dad wasn't understanding what she was saying, Julie sighs, "Dad, you're not listening to me." She grabs her dad's arm and turns around, gesturing to the window. "I saw something out there."

Angelina looks at Julie, thinking that maybe Julie was right. Maybe she really did see something out there. She walks towards the window and looks out of it, trying to catch a glimpse of what Julie saw.

Wanting to hear what Julie says she saw, her dad sits down on the armchair in Julie's room, "Alright. Okay. Okay." He looks back up at Julie as he rolls up his sleeves, "I'm listening." Julie looks at him with an annoyed look on her face. Her dad signals her to go on, "Tell me what you saw. It's just you and me here." Waving his hands between him and Julie, he gestures to the both of them.

Julie crosses her arms and rolls her eyes, sighing, "You sound just like Dr. Turner." Angelina walks over to the pouf and sits down on it.

"Well, maybe seeing Dr. Turner again isn't such a bad idea," her dad says suggestively.

"Dad!" Julie exclaims, holding up her hands, "Can we just drop it?" She drops her arms back down to her sides. Angelina knows how much Julie wants to drop the subject. The young girl doesn't like to see Dr. Turner, who tells the girl that seeing her imaginary friend again is a sign of coping with the death of her mother. The doctor doesn't make Julie feel better about missing her mom.

Julie's dad drops his hands on his lap. "Alright," he says, looking up at Julie, "Dropped." He crosses his arms in the air before resting his elbows back on his knees.

Julie looks at her dad thankful that he agreed to drop the subject. Her dad nods at her, standing up. "We good?" he asks as he holds out his pointer finger.

Julie gives a small smile, putting her pointer finger against her dad's. "Yeah," she says softly. They link their fingers together and shake their hands lightly. Julie's dad chuckles before heading towards the door. He waves his fingers and snaps as he leaves the room, giving one last look at Julie.

As his footsteps recede, Julie glances over at Angelina. "You believe me, right?" Julie asks with a hopeful expression.

"Of course, sweetie." Angelina says with a reassuring look.

Julie turns around and heads toward her window. She peers out of it, checking to see if she can catch a glimpse of the ghosts. Julie heads toward the cross on her wall and grabs it.

As Julie starts to head for the door, Angelina stops her. "Where are you going?" she asks with a confused look. When she sees the cross in her hand, she's even more confused.

"I'm going to prove that I'm not crazy and go back out there," Julie says insistently. She heads for the door again, ignoring Angelina's attempts to stop her.

"No, just wait..." Angelina says, trying to get Julie to slow down and think about this. Realizing that Julie was just going to ignore her, Angelina sighs and says, "Okay." She walks over to where Julie keeps her books and picks up the first Harry Potter book. She then lays down onto the bed on her stomach with her feet dangling in the air as she reads the first page.

•••

Julie walks into the studio with the cross held out in front of her. She looks around the whole studio while pointing her cross at everything. When she can't see the ghosts, she calls out, "Are you still here?" She doesn't get an answer and she turns in a circle while still holding out her cross. She pauses and exhales shakily as she continues, "Whatever you are?" She walks toward the piano. When she still gets no answer, she drops her arms and says, "I know I saw something. I'm not crazy."

The three ghosts appear behind her. The shaggy haired boy standing in the middle replies, "Well," Julie turns around and looks at them. "We're all a little crazy," the boy continues as he holds his left arm out to his side.

Julie abruptly throws her arms out in front of her, cross in hand as she lets out another loud scream. The boys flinch and take a step back. Each of the boys have a different reaction to her screams. The boy, on the right, with the leather jacket puts his hands in front of him in a defensive manner. The boy, in the middle, with shaggy hair took a few more steps back, looking confused. The boy, on the left, with the backwards cap puts his left hand next to his ear.

"Oh my God! Please stop screaming!" the one on the left says in desperation.

Julie stops and looks at them hesitantly. She moves the cross out a little further. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my mom's studio?" Julie asks defensively, looking at them with a suspicious look in her eyes.

"Your mom's studio?" the boy with the shaggy hair asked, walking forward towards Julie. She points the cross in his direction and he quickly dodges away from it. "This is our studio. Trust me, my...," the boy says as he slides over top of the piano, trying to get away from the cross Julie was waving in his direction. "The grand piano is new, and... and... and..."

The boy slides off the piano and back onto the floor as Julie points the cross at the other two ghosts. "My couch!" the shaggy haired boy laughs as he runs over to the couch and jumps onto it on his back. He sighs happily as he feels the familiar comfort of the couch. As he slowly sits up, the boy looks behind him at a guitar sitting next to the couch. "That is definitely not my six-string," he says as he points at the guitar and looks around the studio in confusion.

Taking in the surroundings of the studio, the boy with the shaggy hair realizes how much has changed. He looks up and sees the chairs hanging from the ceiling. He looks back down and quickly gets up. "Can you give me just one second?" the boy asks in an exasperated tone.

He steps onto the chair and moves to walk past Julie to his bandmates. As he moves closer to her, Julie again points the cross in his direction. He jerks away from her, "Just... give me a second. Thank you." The boy says with an offensive tone as he backs up to the other boys.

They huddle around each other and have a quiet conversation amongst themselves. "Guys, what is going on?" the boy with the shaggy hair asks as he turns to look at the boy wearing a leather jacket. "How did she get her stuff in here so fast?" he questions and turns to the other boy wearing a backwards cap.

"Maybe... maybe she's a witch," the boy in the leather jacket suggests. He points up before continuing, "There's chairs floating on the ceiling." The shaggy haired boy follows his movements and looks up as well.

The boy with the shaggy hair continues to look around the studio. "Okay, there is no such thing as witches," the boy with the backwards cap says in annoyance.

The boy in the leather jacket looks at him with a quizzical expression. "You sure? 'Cause I used to think there was no such thing as ghosts," he says in an obvious tone. The shaggy haired boy looks back at the blonde and nods in agreement.

"That's fair," the boy in the backwards cap says as he looks down.

The boy with the shaggy hair looks back at the boy in the leather jacket. "Okay, so we're going with witch?" he asks with furrowed eyebrows.

"No! We're not going with witch," the blonde boy with the backwards cap says. He hits the shaggy haired boy's arm and both boys turn to look at him. "She's not a witch. Okay, look. She's just scared," he says, looking back at Julie. She's still clutching the cross with her arms extended out. "Okay? Let someone," he gestures to himself, "With a softer touch handle this."

The boy wearing the leather jacket gives the one wearing the cap a pointed look. "But Ang isn't here," he says with an obvious tone.

The boy with the cap has the revelation that she's not there and looks around. "Yeah, where is she?" he asks with a confused tone.

"Dude, we don't know. She wasn't with us," the boy with the shaggy hair says dejectedly, "We don't even know if she came back."

The boy wearing the leather jacket looks sad as he says, "Or at all." The other two boys turn and glare at him, giving him a 'what the hell' expression.

The boy with the cap mutters, "Okay..." He claps his hand onto the shoulder of the shaggy haired boy as he turns to walk over to Julie. He stops in front of her and leans forward while saying in a demeaning tone, "Why are you in our studio?"

Julie looks at him with a confused look before punching the cross into his chest. She rapidly pulls her hand back when she sees that it went right through him. The shaggy haired boy jumps as the cross goes right through his best friend. She looks at the cross in her hand with shock. Turning back to the boy, she asks, "Oh my gosh! How did you do that?"

Annoyed, the blonde boy says, "Okay, well, clearly you're not understanding..." He turns back to his bandmates, continuing, "Clearly she doesn't get it." The boy with the leather jacket just shrugs while the shaggy haired boy looks down at himself in concern, wondering if the cross would go through him as well.

The blonde turns back to Julie, gesturing to the three of them and says as he throws his hands around, "Okay, look. We're ghosts, alright? We're just three ghosts, and we're really happy to be home. And if someone could please tell me where I can find my sister, that would be great. So, thank you for the flowers. They really brighten up the room." He sarcastically finishes his rant and takes a few steps back. The other two boys come up next to him.

"We're actually in a band called Sunset Curve," the boy with the shaggy hair says matter of factly.

The boy wearing the leather jacket points at Julie and proudly says, "Tell your friends."

"Last night was supposed to be a really big night for us. It was gonna change our lives," the shaggy haired boy states passionately.

The boy in the cap leaned over to him and whispers, "I'm, uh... I'm pretty sure it did."

Julie shakes her head and pulls out her phone, dropping her arm that holds the cross. "This is freaking me out," she says with disbelief. She quickly remembers the cross in her hand and holds it back out to the boys.

"What is that? What are you doing?" the boy with the shaggy hair asks as he points at the phone.

"It's my phone," Julie says in a 'duh' tone. "No! Stop talking to them. They aren't real. There's no such thing as cute ghosts," she says with a mocking tone, waving her phone around.

The boy wearing the leather jacket smirks and smugly says, "Oh, think we're cute?"

Julie gives him an annoyed look before looking back to her phone. She types on it as the boy with the cap grins and asks in a teasing tone, "Who you calling?"

"I'm Googling Sunset Swerve," Julie says with sass.

"Sunset Curve!" the boys quickly correct her with offended expressions.

Julie exhales and gives them a small sarcastic smile before turning back to her phone. "Whoa," she exclaims as she clicks on an article about the band. "There is a Sunset Curve," she says looking back at the boys. They look at her with expectant looks before she continues, "You did die." She shakes her head, "But not last night." They give her confused looks. Julie hesitates before questioning, "Twenty-five years ago?"

"What? No. No, no, no. Th-Th-That's impossible," the boy with the leather jacket says shaking his head. He looks at the boy wearing the cap and continues talking, "After we floated out of the ambulance, all we did was go to that weird, dark room where Alex cried." He gestured to the blonde boy wearing the cap, presumably Alex.

In a high pitched voice, the boy with the cap, Alex, says, "Well... I don't think..." He looks at the other boys, "I think we were all pretty upset. Okay." He dismissively chuckles as he finishes talking.

"But that was just for like an hour," the shaggy haired boy says, confused. He looks at Julie, "We just showed up here."

Julie shows them the article on her phone. "Look. I'm just telling you what my phone says." The boys lean forward to get a closer look at the article. "See? You died in 1995. When you were seventeen. It's now 2020." The boys lean back, looks of realization on their faces.

"So, this is the future?" the boy in the leather jacket says in amazement.

Rolling her eyes, Julie lowers her phone and puts it away. "Wait. So... so, it has been twenty-five years," Alex says in confirmation. "I have been crying for twenty-five years? How is that possible?" he exclaims while waving his hands around and emphasizing each word.

"Well, you're a very emotional person," the boy in the leather jacket says, trying to make Alex feel better.

Abruptly turning to the boy, Alex exclaims emotionally, "I am not!"

"Thought you were afraid to come out here," Carlos says as he walks into the studio. At the sound of his voice, the three boys turn around. They separate as Carlos walks between them. "You talking to your ghost friend? How does he look? Is he hideous?" Julie's brother inquires, crossing his arms.

Alex chuckles, "He can see you," he says and looks at the boy in the leather jacket.

Julie looked at him. "No, he can't," she responds to Alex before looking back at her brother.

Carlos looks around, confused as to who Julie is talking to. "What?" he asks, looking back at his sister.

Caught off guard by her mistake, Julie stutters, "Uh... What do you want?" she asks her brother in annoyance.

"A normal sister, for starters. Stop being weird and come eat," he says sassily, dropping his arms back down to his sides before leaving the studio.

The boys look back at Julie with amused grins on their faces. Julie just looks at them in confusion. "He couldn't see you," she says with an amazed tone.

Alex shrugs, "Yeah, I mean, that's..." He looks at the other two boys before continuing, "Usually how ghosts work."

Julie sighs in annoyance and heads for the doors of the studio. She turns to look at the three boys before saying, "Look, I'm very sorry for what happened to you guys, but this isn't your studio anymore. You have to leave." Julie turns to leave but is stopped by the shaggy haired boy.

"But wait. We..." he says, taking a step towards Julie. She abruptly turns around, annoyance clear on her face. "We didn't get your name," the boy says gesturing his arms out to his sides.

Julie looks at him, "It's Julie," she says with an extremely annoyed tone.

"Cool," the boy says and breathily chuckles. "I- I'm Luke, by... by the way," he says as he moves forward to shake her hand. Before he could get too close, Julie puts the cross back up, keeping him away from her. Luke backs up a bit as he continues talking, "And this is--" he gestures back to the boys, signaling for them to introduce themselves.

The boy in the leather jacket holds up his hand and cheerfully says, "Reggie. I'm Reggie. Hey."

Luke gestures to the boys again, "And..." he says with a slight laugh.

"Alex. How's it going?" Alex awkwardly says, linking his hands together in front of him.

Luke holds his hands towards the boys like he was presenting something. "Ba-da," he says softly, hesitant towards Julie's reaction.

"Okay?" Julie sarcastically says before turning and leaving the studio.

Luke turns towards his bandmates with a look that says 'can you believe her?' on his face. Reggie smiles as he looks at Alex and Luke. "Julie seems nice," he says, grinning at the other two.

Alex groans and looks down at his hands, "Did you miss the part where she kicked us out, or..." he rhetorically asks as he looks back up at Reggie. The raven haired boy stares off into space, thinking about what Alex said. Alex nods his head at Reggie, "Yeah. Okay." Alex looks back at the piano and walks toward it. Reggie walks forward and Luke hits his back as he passes by, heading for the couch.

•••

In the Molina household, the family of three set the table for dinner. Carlos sets a plate down at the empty space on the table for Rose and places his hand on it for a moment while Julie sets down the utensils onto the napkin that is sitting next to the plate. "There we go!" Ray says as he brings over a hot dish with pasta in it and sets it down on the table. Julie then brings over the salad bowl and places it next to the bowl with the pasta. Her father then removes his oven mitts that he used to carry the pasta and places them onto the table while saying, "Okay." He then sits down before continuing, "Let's do this."

Julie and Carlos sit down as well while the youngest Molina speaks up, "Let's do it." Ray pushes up his right sleeve before holding out his hands on the dinner table. The two siblings place a hand on top of their father's and their other hand out on the table for Rose. "Your turn, Carlos," the father tells his son.

Carlos then starts the prayer, "Thank you for our leftovers and the power of the mighty microwave. Amen."

"Amen," Julie says, repeating her brother. They all retract their hands. Ray grabs the tongs and starts scooping out pasta as Julie holds out her plate. He chuckles before saying, "So..." He puts some pasta onto Julie's plate as he continues, "Carlos tells me he found you in the studio."

"She was out there talking to herself," Carlos tells his dad, holding out his plate. Ray scoops up more pasta and places it onto Carlos' plate.

Julie rolls her eyes and waves her fork around while saying, "I was rehearsing for a play." Ray scoops up some pasta to put onto his plate.

"Hello, hello!" a woman's voice can then be heard by the family of three and they all start to panic.

"Oh, busted!" Carlos exclaims as he gets out of his seat. Ray quickly puts down the tongs.Julie grabs the utensils and Carlos grabs the napkin from the empty space of the table.

"Yeah," Ray says to his children. "We're in here," he shouts out to the woman. Julie hands her dad the utensils as he quietly shouts, " Quick!" He then throws the utensils onto the island in the kitchen. Julie grabs the extra plate and puts it on her lap while Carlos grabs the placemat and throws it behind him.

They then continue eating as the woman walks into the kitchen with a pan and a bowl filled with food in her hands. "Huh! Spaghetti. Again?" she asks when she sees what the family of three is having for dinner.

Ray is looking down at his food, smiling before replying, "Yeah." She then places the food onto the island.

"That's too bad. I brought you my pasteles and arroz con pollo," she says as she picks the dishes up again. She moves over to the fridge.

"Yum," Ray says as he looks over at the woman.

Julie looks over her shoulder and nods her head as she speaks up, "Mm! Thanks, tía. It smells great."

Julie's tía, Victoria, waves her hand in the air before saying, "You can have it tomorrow." She then turns and opens the fridge. "I can't let you have leftovers every night," she tells the family of three as she puts the dishes into the fridge. She then closes the door and continues, "My sister would kill me, may she rest in peace." Tía Victoria then does the sign of the cross as she mentions Rose and walks over to stand between Julie and the empty space at the table. "Oh... I see things here are going better?" she asks as she rubs her hand on the empty space of the table.

Ray nods his head before saying, "Actually..." He pauses and sniffs. Julie had just put some food in her mouth. "Julie," at the mention of her name, Julie freezes and there is some pasta still hanging out of her mouth. "Has been cleaning out mom's studio," Ray continues as Victoria starts rubbing the young girl's back. With pasta still hanging out of her mouth, Julie glances at her tía from out of the corner of her eyes. "Hopefully, we can get the house on the market and some offers soon," Ray finishes as he nods his head.

Julie looks back at her brother while her tía puts her hand on the back of the girl's chair and says, "Well, I like the sound of that. Moving from here is only gonna help you move on." Alex then walks through the door followed by Luke and Reggie, who trips through the door. The two boys look back at the raven haired boy with disapproving looks on their faces and Reggie just shrugs at them. They look over to the dinner table where Julie is with her family. Tía Victoria leans forward and shakes her fist as she says, "You've got to rip that band-aid off and get the pain over with."

The boys smile and walk forward. Julie notices them and yells out. The three boys stop abruptly with alarmed looks on their faces. Tía Victoria looks over at the girl with a concerned look on her face. Luke moves forward and exhales sharply. Julie turns her head to her family and chuckles awkwardly, "That's me. Ripping off the band-aid." She pretends to rip a band-aid off of her arm and she yells out again, quieter this time, "Aah!" Her brother shakes his finger at her and chuckles.

Julie looks up at her tía and the older woman grabs Julie's chin while leaning forward and saying, "There's my brave girl." Her tía stands back up straight as her dad and brother continue to eat. Luke rushes forward and leans down on the other side of Julie. The girl whips her head in his direction as he starts talking, "Hey, Julie, I really like what you guys did with the place."

The girl leans toward the boy while saying, "You shouldn't be here." The smirk on Luke's face falls. Tía Victoria gasps and Julie's father gets a stern look on his face.

Julie whips her head back to her tía and Luke puts his hands in the air as he backs away. "Oh, I'm just here to help, mija," Victoria says while rubbing Julie's back.

The young girl turns her head to the boys. Alex leans down toward Luke as the two boys back away while saying, "Oh... I think that's our cue to leave." Luke nods his head.

"I mean, you should be at pilates," Julie says after she turns back to her tía. The older woman lets out a chuckle. Julie hugs Victoria while saying, "Thanks for bringing us food." Still hugging her tía, she whips her head back to glare at the boys.

Reggie rushes back over to the boys while saying, "We should've called first."

The two boys look over at their raven haired friend as Tía Victoria says, "It's nothing." Reggie pushes Alex back toward the door and the three boys go back to the studio. "And now that you're no longer in the music program," Victoria says, causing Ray to stop eating and stare at the young girl. "You can concentrate on classes that matter," her tía continues as Julie lets go of the hug and leans back into her seat. Carlos looks up at his sister and their father puts his elbows on the table. Julie looks down as she rests her arms on the table in front of her. "You got the email from the school, right?" Victoria asks the teenager's father.

From behind his hand, which are folded together over his mouth, Ray nods before responding, "Yeah. We're still discussing it." He moves his gaze from Julie and onto his sister-in-law.

Tía Victoria sighs and looks over at Carlos before saying, "Bueno. I'm off to pilates. Mwah!" She blows a kiss with both her hands toward the youngest Molina.

"Oh yeah!" Carlos says as he stands up and grabs the kiss. He then throws it in the air and pretends to swing a bat, while his tía copies his movements. "Wa-chow! It's gone," the boy says as he pretends to hit the kiss with the bat. Victoria giggles and kisses Julie's head before saying, "Yo quiero mucho mijos." She says something to Ray before leaving and he nods his head.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys!! I hope you like this chapter and are having a great week!