"Hey, what happened to you guys last night?" Athena asked, taking a seat at the table beside the three boys at a coffee shop. "When I showed up, the school literally looked like a ghost town. And when I got back to Julie's, everyone was totally MIA."

"Hey, Thena. Yeah, sorry about that; we were just trying to give Julie some space." Alex explained, causing Luke and Reggie to nod.

"I'm taking things didn't go well with the dance."

"Last night was a complete bust." Luke groaned. "But we will make it to Julie. Tonight."

"And how exactly are you planning on doing that?" Athena asked, raising her eyebrow.

"I wrote our names on the playlist for tonight," Luke announced.

"I'm getting a little worried about him." Alex whispered toward the Michaels girl before turning toward the Patterson boy as he got louder. "He keeps forgetting Julie quit the band."

"And she's going to come back, just as soon as she knows we have a great gig," Luke said.

"But if she doesn't come back, let's not forget; we do have somewhere else we can play and eat pizza." Reggie stated.

"Dude, I know. It was awesome to be seen by lifers at Caleb's party, but... Luke trailed off. "But we got this with Julie. We don't need him."

"Luke's right. You guys are better off without him." Athena said, sending the trio a small smile, but it quickly went away as she watched the three boys spark as they groaned in pain. "Guys, are you okay?"

"Oh! It's the same thing again!" Alex groaned.

"Just like yesterday!"

"It feels like that time I was fixing my amp in the rain." Reggie spoke, causing Athena to give the boy a concerned look.

"Reg, you shouldn't." Athena started but quickly trailed off. "Nevermind."

"Do you think there's something wrong with us?" Alex questioned.

"Yeah. Yeah, we ate ten pounds of pizza without a stomach." Luke stated, causing the other boys to nod. "I'm sure it's just our bodies working through it."

"So we're just gonna forget about getting back at Trevor? That jerk stole our music." Reggie reminded them.

"And he has to live with that guilt. It's just like Julie said. We have a new band, a new sound. That's what we should be focusing on."

"Isn't that Willie?" Alex interjected, causing the group to turn their heads to the window to find the long-haired boy quickly rushing away.

Alex jumped from his seat as he ran through the door.

"Well, someone's not focusing on our music." Reggie teased, causing Luke to chuckle.

"Guys, be nice." Athena said, hitting the Peters boy's arm.

The girl looked back toward the window with a guilty feeling inside.

...

Athena heard commotion coming from down below in the studio, causing her to get up to investigate.

There she found the three boys standing before an annoyed-looking Julie.

"I missed it." Athena groaned, causing all four heads to shoot up at her before she quickly climbed down the ladder. "I gave up watching 2 hours ago."

"Glad to see that you're still alive." Julie stated, causing the three boys' eyes to go wide as Athena sent her a fake smile.

"What?"

"Athena not alive?"

"She knows?" Reggie asked, causing Luke to hit his arm as the trio gave him a warning look.

"What do you mean by that, Jules?" Athena questioned, looking back over at the Molina girl.

"What I mean is, you kind of went MIA on us last night, and you didn't show up for school this morning." Julie said, causing Athena to let out a breath she was holding as she sent Julie a real smile.

"Yeah, that. I, uh, wasn't feeling well last night or this morning. I think it might have been a 24-hour bug or something." Athena lied, causing the three boys to nod in agreement.

"Are you okay?" Julie asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, never better." Athena nodded. "Sorry if I let you down."

"We're sorry too." Luke added. "We know it wasn't okay that we flaked on the dance last night. We know we let you down."

"Yeah, and none of us wanted to disappoint you." Alex spoke. "You and Thena are the best things that've happened to us since we became ghosts."

"So, in hopes that you'll rejoin the band, we booked a new gig." Luke informed the girl, handing her a flyer.

"A mega-important, life-changing gig." Reggie added.

"Okay, check it out. Tons of managers go here to listen to new bands." Luke explained. "All we gotta do is blow them all away, and we're living the dream."

"So this means a lot to you, huh?" Julie snapped. "Kind of how playing in front of my whole entire school meant a lot to me."

"Sounds like sarcasm." Reggie spoke, causing Alex and Athena to glance over at the boy.

"That's because it is." Athena said, patting the boy's arm.

"Look, we know we messed up." Alex told the Molina girl.

"But we need you in the band," Luke said.

"Of course you do, because without me, no one can see you guys play. You know, I thought that the music that we were writing was special, but you're too obsessed with your past to even care."

"I do care!" Luke exclaimed. "Our band has a real chance at greatness. I'm not gonna let that get away from us again."

"Oh. Right. So then why did you bail on me to get back at Trevor?" Julie asked. "I'll tell you why. Because there's only one thing you care about, and that's yourself.

Julie didn't even spare the others a second look before she turned around and stormed back inside her house.

Athena slowly approached the Patterson boy as she touched his arm.

"Luke, she really didn't mean it." Athena said, causing the boy to glance over his shoulder at her before he poofed away.

"Where's he going?" Reggie questioned.

"Where do you think?" Alex spoke, causing Athena to glance back at the duo. "Remember what today is?"

"What's today?" Athena asked, causing the duo to share a look before glancing back over at the girl.

...

The two boys poofed into the Molina's living room right in front of the girl, while Athena made her way through the kitchen.

Julie ignored their presence, not once glancing up from her books.

"Hey, you, uh, you got a second?" Alex asked, causing Julie to let out a sigh, placing her book down on the couch beside her as she continued to ignore them.

"Oh my gosh. She can't see us anymore!" Reggie cried out.

Athena and Alex shared a knowing look before they approached Julie on either side of the couch.

"Julie, please." Athena spoke, causing Julie to glance over at the girl beside her. "Just hear them out. It's important."

"I already told you that I'm done with the band." Julie sighed, turning her attention over to Alex.

"Yeah, we know, all right? But before you decide that forever, we just... we wanted you to know that Luke isn't as selfish as you think."

"Yeah, you've got him all wrong." Reggie spoke, agreeing with what Alex said, causing Julie to let out a scoff before she turned her attention back to her book.

"You remember that song, Emily?" Alex questioned, gaining Julie's attention as she glanced over at him, nodding lightly. "Can we at least show you who that's actually about?"

...

Athena, Julie, Alex, and Reggie peeked their heads from around trees that sat in the front yard of the Patterson household. From where they were standing, you could see inside the kitchen. If you were most people, you would just see a lovely couple setting the table, but Athena Michaels should see her friend sitting on the counter, watching them with tears on his face.

"So Emily's his mom?" Julie asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, Luke comes here a lot." Alex said.

"He thinks we don't know, but..." Reggie spoke, crouching in front of the Micheals girl. "We've been following him. All he does is just hang out like this and watch them. They never really do anything, though."

"They're having cake." Julie pointed out. "That's something."

"It's a... It's a birthday cake." Reggie explained. "For Luke."

"I never knew Luke was hurting this much."

"It's even worse because when he died, he left on bad terms." Alex explained. "You know, his parents didn't want their 17-year-old in a rock band, so... he just left. He never got the chance to make up with them."

"That's why Luke was so angry. If Trevor had given Luke credit for writing all the songs, then... Reggie sighed. "His parents would've known his dreams were worth chasing."

"They would have been so proud." Athena breathed out, wiping her tears away as she watched the boy.

Athena felt the Peters boy grab onto her hand, causing the pair to share a small smile before she turned her attention back to the window.

The group watched as Luke blew out the candle with his parents, causing a small smile to grow on Athena's lips.

"We know how bad it hurts whenever someone who should've had your back... completely lets you down." Alex stood up, causing Julie to turn to face him. "We never meant to make you feel that way."

"Julie, we love our band, and Luke does too." Reggie said. "Please give us another chance."

Julie slowly looked away from Reggie, turning her attention to Athena, who gave her a supportive smile before she turned to look at Luke.

...

marching on proud
turn it up loud
'cause now we know what we're worth

Athena was sitting in the chair, watching the trio practice with a smile on her face.

Her eyes grew wide when the Patterson boy poofed into the room, landing directly in her lap.

"Hello to you too." Athena chuckled as the boy quickly got up, causing him to send her an apologetic smile.

"Woah, Julie." Luke said, surprised to see the girl sitting at the piano in front of him.

"Grab your guitar. We got work to do." Julie smiled, nodding toward the boy's instrument that Athena held up.

Luke glanced around the room before letting out a chuckle as he grabbed his guitar from the Michaels girl.

"Thanks." Luke whispered as the duo shared a look before the boy let out a chuckle. "All right, boss. Where we at?"

"Oh, and by the way, happy birthday."

"Happy birthday, Lukie." Athena beamed happily, causing the group to chuckle at the girls excitement. "Sorry, I just really love birthdays."

"Thanks, Thena." Luke spoke, sending the girl a smile before he turned back to Julie. "What made you come back?"

"I realized how important music is to all of us." Julie explained. "And we've lost so much already. We can't lose this too."

"Alright, let's go from the pre-chorus." Julie instructed as Luke made his way over to his place on the other side of Alex.

"One, two, three, four."

...