─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

flynn and stasie stood in the corner of the corridor, watching as julie interacted with her life-long crush: nick. they waited until nick had walked off to rush to their best friend.

"well, that wasn't just a 'what's up?'" flynn pointed out.

"yeah, tell us what happened." stasie nudged julie.

"nick wanted to go on a date." julie confessed.

the two girls gasped, turned to look at each other and squealed.

"... and i said no." julie concluded.

"what?"

"no way."

"you know what you two said." julie sighed, "this luke thing isn't going away any time soon, so i-i figured: why waste nick's time?"

stasie agreed, "that's considerate of you, jules. you don't want to lead him on."

"exactly."

"awh! my baby's all grown up." flynn gushed. "she's choosing to like someone who doesn't really exist, but she's all grown up."

"but he does exist. to me." julie told her making stasie nod in understanding, "and he might just be air, but we connect in so many other ways."

flynn hummed, "you are the most watchable duet-ers i've ever seen."

"but it's not just singing." julie shook her head, "when we write, we're drawing from the same pain. we both know how it feels to lose our mums."

stasie frowned and began to feel sympathy for her friend. she put her arm around her shoulder and tugged her closer.

"do not make me cry." flynn began fanning her eyes, "i'm having a really good eyeliner day."

the jackson girl moved closer to flynn's face, "yeah, you are."

"it's just... luke's hurting so much, i wish i could help him." julie explained.

"maybe you could write him a song!" flynn suggested, "that would make him feel better!"

"oh my gosh, flynn, you're a genius!" julie's face lit up.

she slid out of stasie's hold and began walking in the opposite direction.

"jules!" stasie called out.

"julie, you still have class." flynn reminded her.

"right." julie turned on her feet and began walking towards them, "like i said... genius."

"see ya."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

nothing very interesting happened during school, so stasie went straight home. as she opened her bedroom door, she was greeted with reggie sitting on her floor, strumming his guitar.

"reggie."

"oh, hey stasie." reggie gave her a smile, "what are you doing here?"

"i mean... this is my bedroom." she told him as she set down her school bag, "what are you doing here?"

"right." reggie nodded, "i was hanging with ray-"

"hanging with ray?"

"well, he does things and i watch him." reggie explained.

"okay." stasie nodded while crawling onto her bed. she sat crisscross, facing reggie as he spoke.

"then, carlos came in, said some things... he thinks the house is haunted by ghost chefs."

stasie chuckled, "can you cook?"

"well... no. but-"

"mm-hm." stasie nodded, a developing grin on her face.

"anyways, i got pretty bored and i knew you'd be coming home soon, so i came here." reggie finished, "surprise."

stasie shook her head and laughed, "lovely surprise, thank you."

"so, how was your day?"

the brunette went on about her school day, not leaving anything out. she talked about her classes and what she had for lunch as reggie listened intently. before she was able to tell him about her last period, he grunted in pain as a purple jolt buzzed through his chest.

stasie quickly sat up in worry, "hey, reg? are you okay?"

"yeah." the boy groaned, "i'm alright."

"what was that?"

the boy sighed loudly, knowing he now had to tell the girl what was going on.

"well, we found out we had unfinished business." reggie started.

the girl looked at him in bewilderment, "what? you mean you have something that you guys haven't done?"

"that's the smart way of saying it, yeah." he nodded, "that's why we came back as ghosts."

"well, what's your unfinished business?"

"playing the orpheum."

the tan girl suddenly realised, "of course, that's what you guys were going to do before you..." she trailed off.

"i got it."

"i'm sure we can get that done." stasie shrugged, "the video ray posted is trending - everyone loves you guys."

"really?" reggie grinned, "i guess everyone told their friends."

stasie laughed at his joke but then frowned, "alright, so you guys need to play the orpheum, i've got that. but, why did you jolt like that?"

"we, uh... were running out of time." reggie described further, "it all happened the night of the dance."

"when you went to get revenge on trevor?"

"mm-hm." he nodded, "we met this ghost and he put on a performance for us. there was a ton of food and dancers and lights and-"

"reggie?"

"sorry." he apologised, nervously, "we met this ghost, and he put this curse on us. and if we don't do what he says, then those jolts will destroy us."

"what does he want you guys to do?" stasie quizzed, her heartbeat rising rapidly in anxiety.

"be in his house band forever." reggie admitted, "but, if we play the orpheum, then we can cross over and avoid being in his band."

"cross over?" she asked, her voice breaking.

"well, we are hoping it's Heaven or something like that."

"so, you guys either: are stuck with some ghost, have the jolts destroy you or crossed over to 'Heaven'?"

"yeah." reggie whispered.

"could you... could you please go?"  stasie muttered with tears welling up in her eyes, "i'll talk to you later."

"okay, i'm sorry anastasia." reggie told her before dispersing away.

stasie groaned in exasperation, turned around and sank into her light blue pillow with tears dampening it.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

ironically, when stasie trudged her way over to julie's house, the girl was in the same state she was in. the two made their way over to the couch and sat with each other to speak.

"i think i actually like reggie a little bit, i almost forgot he wasn't real," stasie said to julie.

the molina girl nodded, "i get what you mean."

stasie shut her eyes and could feel her hands trembling. julie noticed and quickly put them in hers. she clasped stasie's hands and gave her a sad smile.

"come on, talk to me."

"i'm being so selfish." stasie shook her head, "you're going through the same thing."

"it's okay." julie reassured her, "talk."

"i feel stupid." stasie told her, "for getting roped up again."

julie nodded, this wasn't the first time stasie had been feeling that way. fortunately, julie knew how to comfort her friend.

"it's not your fault." julie told her, "you can't help it, it's like an instinct to you, right?"

"right." stasie nodded while rubbing her tears away, "i'm sorry, jules."

"it's okay stas." julie took her best friend's other hand in comfort, "i know how you're feeling."

"it's like everyone i get attached to leaves."

"i'm still here, so is flynn." julie reminded her, "and we don't plan on leaving any time soon."

stasie unhappily smiled and allowed julie to draw her into a embrace.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

julie had messaged flynn to come over. after their discussion, the two girls were now sat in julie's bed.

flynn rapped on the door and entered, "hey. i got your text."

"don't come too close." julie warned her, "anyone we seem to care about disappears."

"or are going to disappear," stasie added on.

"you can't get rid of me." flynn told the pair, "i'm like the crazy glue of best friends."

"i just don't get it." julie sighed, "when my life starts to get good. great friends, great band, great guy... then bam!" julie lifted up the drawing of an explosion she had been working on.

"i seriously don't know why all of this is happening to you two, but that's gonna be a great album cover one day." flynn walked over and began folding up some of julie's clothing.

"you don't have to do that."

"i know, but i get to check out all your mom's cool stuff."

"whoa..." flynn pulled out a sunset curve white tee, making the girls look over in confusion, "did you know this was in here?"

"oh my gosh." stasie gaped.

"what the heck?"

"how do you think she got it?" flynn quizzed.

"i-i don't know, but the guys said they didn't know my mum." julie reminded her, "why would they lie?"

"maybe they didn't." flynn suggested, "maybe she knew them. she could be a fan!"

"or maybe they did meet... and-and they just didn't remember her." stasie chimed.

"i mean, sunset curve was playing the hollywood club scene around then." julie added.

"oh my gosh." flynn gasped, "what if you were right? what if the guys are connected to your mum? a-and yours too." she pointed at stasie.

the jackson girl looked up at her in slight confusion, wanting her to elaborate.

"well, your mums we're together 24/7 when they were teens." flynn continued, "maybe she was a fan too."

"she did say she recognised the boys..."

"she did?!" the two exclaimed.

"yeah."

"it all adds up. they're linked through music or something." flynn stated.

"because she bought their t-shirt?"

"think about it. they were the ones who made you wanna play music again and michelle has seen them before." flynn described, "maybe your mum knew they could help you."

"so, you mean to tell me that my mom is somewhere out there planning all this?" julie questioned.

stasie shrugged, "seems like a logical explanation."

"if she wanted me to play music again, why wouldn't she just tell me herself?" julie inquired.

"maybe she can't. maybe she has to do it another way. you know, through signs." flynn informed her, "you've been through these clothes how many times and haven't found this t-shirt?"

"she's got a point."

"thank you. so why now?" flynn resumed her speech, "this is another sign. i'm just saying. i'm not over, julie!"

julie was not as convinced as her friends, "really? 'signs'?"

"you're in a ghost band." flynn reminded her, "it's a crazy world."

julie sighed.

"look... you two are gonna lose them no matter what. and it sucks." flynn spoke, "but they helped bring you back to life." she turned to stasie, "and helped you stabilise yourself."

stasie cheeks flushed red and nodded in agreement.

"now it's both your turns to help them." flynn concluded, "they have to cross over. let them go."

⎯ ❃ neens speaks!

stasie showed so much emotion in this chapter makes me quite sad

gif is probably stas' reaction to the news