─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"we can't be down forever." stasie attempted to cheer up her down friend.

the duo was sat in the music room alone as everyone had gone to the spirit rally, mostly to see carrie and dirty candy perform. stasie had suggested that they should go but flynn was quick to decline.

"yes, we can." flynn told her, while picking up a trumpet and sitting back down.

"i thought we left you and trumpets in last year." stasie frowned, slowly putting her hands to her ears.

"desperate times call for desperate measures." flynn breathed as she placed the instrument to her lips and began playing discordant trumpet notes.

"what are you two doing, and where is everyone?" julie questioned the two girls.

"oh, thank gosh you're here jules, flynn was going through..." she started whispering, "desperate times."

"everyone's at the spirit assembly." flynn sighed, "i was kind of blowing it off cause i wasn't feeling very spirity, and i forced stas to stay here with me."

julie's face dropped and the two quickly noticed.

"what's up?" stasie asked her.

"you okay?" flynn added, shifting her position on the chair.

"not really." julie shook her head, "i had this new plan to play for mrs harrison, hoping that she'd let me back in, but... i guess i missed my chance."

flynn and stasie transmitted a look that immediately put a grin on the latter's face.

"no..." flynn sat up, "you didn't."

"now can we go?" stasie quizzed.

"yep, now we can go."flynn confirmed before putting her arms on their shoulders' like she always did, and leading them out.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

♪ made moves on the rise now... ♪

the three girls strolled into the main hall to see flashing lights and a spotlight on dirty candy. the group of five were all wearing matching sparkly clothing and colourful wigs.

"look who spent all her daddy's money on costumes and katy perry's choreographer." flynn crossed her arms with an unamused look.

"well, it paid off." julie confessed.

"going to have to agree with you, they look good." stasie stared at them in awe.

♪ make 'em say, "wow" ♪

watching dirty candy perform was surprisingly impressive. they moved in sync and their voice's worked extremely well together.

in the middle of their performance, the friendly ghosts appeared. julie and stasie both whipped their heads around in confusion and wonder.

"oh. hey guys, didn't expect you to come to the school," stassie admitted.

"hey."

"hi stasie."

"what are you doing here?" julie interrogated.

"we wanna see you stick it to the man." luke grinned before turning to the other two, "isn't that right, boys?"

alex nodded in agreement, but reggie had his focus on something else, "man, i miss high school." he spoke with his mouth agape.

stasie turned to alex with a look of confusion, but the boy simply shrugged and smiled at her.

as the girls danced and sang, alex found himself mirroring their moves, catching the two girls' attentions. when he accidentally nudged luke, the brunette held his shoulder and motioned him to cut it out.

once the performance was over, everyone began cheering, some even going as far as giving the group a standing ovation. stasie began softly clapping yet flynn noticed and gave her a glance, the girl gave her an innocent one back and pretended she had never clapped.

"thank you!" carrie yelled to the audience with a large smile as her group lined up behind her.

"we love you, carrie!"

"oh, i love you too!" carrie waved, "make sure to check out my new youtube video. oh, go bobcats." she quickly said.

as the hall erupted into an applaud again, dirty candy made their way off the floor in a single filed line.

principal lessa and mrs harrison made their way into the centre, "thank you, dirty candy."

"now's your chance." flynn nudged the molina girl with a wide smile, "go talk to her. see you in music class." she turned to stasie, "you coming?"

"i'll catch up with you."

flynn gave her a curt nod before making her way to the bleachers with the rest of the school.

"that was sweet." the principal said, an awkward silence following after, "okay then. before we let you go, we have a few more announcements-"

"what are you waiting for?" reggie asked her, "this is your time."

"yeah. i mean, you look really nervous." alex pointed out, "like yack in a bowl nervous."

"alex, i don't think she needs to hear how nervous she looks." stasie shook her head, went over to the girl and placed her hands over her shoulder, "you've got this jules. just go out there and sing with your gorgeous voice."

"thank you stas."

"and if you do get nervous." she turned to alex, "worse than 'yack in a bowl nervous', just... picture everyone in their underwear."

"how is that going to help her become less nervous?" alex crossed his arms.

"that tip doesn't sound very effective." reggie explained.

"or i could say random facts like stas does when she's nervous." julie joked.

"i do not."

"you so do."

"what's the problem?" alex asked her, "is it performing in front of everyone?"

"it's not that, i just don't think i had enough time to work on the song." julie panicked.

"i wouldn't have given you the song if i didn't think you were gonna rock it." luke reassured her, "now, there's a piano on that stage with your name on it."

julie nodded at the four before running out to the stage door.

"good luck, jules!"

"we look forward to our girls swim team defending our state championship." principal lesser continued, "go, bobcats!"

"the swim team isn't very good," stasie told the boys as the gathering in the hall praised emphatically.

"how'd you know?" luke questioned.

"i was on it." she explained.

"you're trashing your own team?" reggie frowned.

"no, no. i was on it." stasie clarified, "i quit, that's why it's not very good."

the trio chuckled at the girl's joke, but she was entirely serious.

"so why'd you quit?" alex asked her.

she shrugged. "i decided music was more fun, makes me feel more stable."

"you seem pretty stable to me." reggie declared.

before stasie had the chance to reply, she noticed julie was now on stage but everyone seemed to already be leaving. she played a few notes before stopping. julie looked over to stasie who was giving her two thumbs up and a comforting smile.

"you got this." luke told her.

julie nodded and resumed her piano playing. the man working the lights noticed she was performing and turned on a spotlight to her.

"♪ sometimes i think i'm falling down ♪" the molina girl began singing.

julie had finally caught everyone's attention and they paused to watch.

as she sang the song luke had given to her, in the blink of an eye, reggie, alex and luke had made their way to the stage, their instruments with them as they began playing with julie.

stasie had a look of bewilderment on her face but began cheering nevertheless. alex was in the back playing his drums, luke with his lead electric guitar and reggie playing his red bass guitar. as they played, the group soon realised that everyone in the hall was able to see the boys, not just hear them.

"uh, is this really happening?" julie muttered to luke.

"just go with it." he shrugged, feeling ecstatic that more than two girls could see them, "♪ in times that i doubted myself ♪"

stasie manoeuvred through the crowd, trying to find someone to stand with, but she was stopped by carrie.

"what is going on?" the girl asked her, not impressed.

"julie's playing," stasie told her, although it was pretty clear.

"yes, i can see that anastasia. who is she playing with?"

"three boys." stasie explained, "one's playing the drums and two are-"

"okay! okay, forget it."

stasie was clapping and yelling extremely loudly in support of her friends, but when she caught reggie's eye, he cheekily grinned and sent her a wink. the girl froze in place, her face heating up. a cute boy had just winked at her. yes, she didn't know him well and yes, he was a ghost. but he was undeniably cute. carrie glanced over to her with raised eyebrows, having seen the interaction.

"did you know there's only one letter that doesn't appear in any U.S. state name?" stasie told the wilson girl, "and it's the letter q."

"i don't really care." carrie hummed.

♪ fight through the dark, and find the spark ♪

julie turned around, accidentally going straight through luke's figure, but the crowd didn't question anything - they just cheered louder.

"♪ and rise through the night, you and i ♪" they all chorused together,"♪ bright forever ♪" they finished.

once the song was over, there was uncontrolled applause and cheers all around the large hall. however, when julie and the boys bowed, the three ghosts phased away, their instruments following. loud gasps came from everywhere in the room, and the clapping slowly shifted into muddled expressions.

"what the..."

"amazing!"

"did you see that?"

julie turned around to see her bandmates had gone, she faced the audience again and gave a nervous chuckle.

"what just happened?"

"and how do you explain that?" carrie turned back to stasie.

"correct me if i'm wrong, but i think they disappeared." stasie shrugged.

"what?

"wow!"

"what was that?"

"did you see that?"

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!

stasie 🤝 supporting her friends

the gif has no link to the chapter, i just thought it was super cute xo