IT WAS LIKE A stare-off between Julie and me and the crowd. Their eyes were diverting all around the stage, trying to find any sign of the guys while Julie and I were trying to rack our brains for any kind of way to explain what just happened. We would share a look every few seconds, telepathically asking the other who was going to be the one to speak up– but neither of us would.

"Hey, where'd the rest of the band go?" The stage manager asked, rushing onto the stage.

Julie and I looked at each other, then I turned back to him. "Uh–"

"Wait, were those holograms?" Lily asked, standing next to a very unamused Carrie.

"Yes!" Julie replied, pointing at her as she gave me a 'go along with it' look. "Yes, they were holograms. Um, I...plugged it into the ceiling projector before the show. I'd explain it, but it involves algorithms and science stuff."

The crowd applauded, seemingly buying Julie's excuse while the three boys stood off to the side of them. Reggie jumped onto the stage and started to wiggle his butt to the crowd, I looked over at them and made eye-contact with Alex, motioning towards Reggie and shaking my head. Alex just shrugged as Reggie walked down the steps to the stage.

"Okay, people, show's over!" Principal Lessa said, interrupting the applause and turning to face the crowd. "Let's get back to class, please."

"Julie, you did great!" I said, turning towards her and nodding my head. "Also, quick thinking on that hologram thing."

"Thanks, I owe it all to Lily. If she didn't suggest it, we'd still be sitting ducks." Her smile fell and she looked at me, furrowing her eyebrows. "But, what was up with what you said during the performance? About you and the guitar?"

I saw Mrs. Harrison walking towards the stage and I turned towards her. "Oh, Julie, look! It's Mrs. Harrison!"

Julie gave me a look before walking to the edge of the stage, sitting down on it as I sat down beside her, only to scoot myself down off of the stage. "Mrs. Harrison, I am so sorry for not asking for permission. I-I just wanted to show you I belong here." Julie apologized, resting her hands in her lap.

"As amazing as that was, your spot's already been filled by another student." Mrs. Harrison said, motioning off toward the stage steps as a small boy, struggled to carry his cello down the steps, the instrument thudding against each step.

"Come on, that thing is way too big for him!" Julie said, watching the boy walk off, dragging his instrument behind him,

"He'll grow into it." Mrs. Harrison replied, giving Julie an empathetic look. "I wish that I could help you, but my hands are tied."

"Mine aren't, and as much as I didn't approve of this little stunt that you pulled," Principal Lessa said, walking up and giving the two of us a disapproving look. "I will not go down in history as the principal who kicked Julie Molina out of the music program."

Julie and Mrs. Harrison shared a look and I smiled, looking up at Julie and nudging her leg with my arm. "Thank you!" Julie smiled, looking shocked.

"But, when you win your first Grammy, I want to be thanked." Principal Lessa smiled, pointing at Julie and then herself.

"Definitely," Julie laughed, as Principal Lessa walked away.

"Thank you," Mrs. Harrison whispered, nodding at Principal Lessa before turning to Julie with a big smile on her face. "Congratulations! Welcome back!" She said, hugging Julie.

"I can't wait to be back in class on Monday," Julie smiled, as they pulled back from the hug.

"Penelope," Mrs. Harrison turned to me, a soft smile on her face. "That was a really valiant effort on your part up there." She sighed and brought her hands in front of her, shaking her head. "But I'm sorry, I can't count that as your performance because you left the stage and didn't even come back with a guitar."

"I know, Mrs. Harrison," I replied, crossing my arms.

"I'm afraid that our original deal still stands. You have to have a complete performance with the guitar or you lose your seat in the music program." She stepped towards me and held onto my shoulders, giving me a small nod. "But I am very proud of you for stepping up and trying today."

"Thank you," I replied, nodding as she let her hands fall and then turned to walk out of the gym.

"Penelope..." Julie said, turning towards me. "Are you going to answer my question now?"

I smiled and looked over towards Flynn who was standing there waiting for us. "I would, but oh look– it's Flynn! Hi, Flynn!" I replied, walking over to her.

Julie sighed and hopped off of the stage, making her way over to Flynn who was standing with her hands in her pockets. "Wow. You did it." She said, looking at Julie and me. "Both of you."

"Thanks to you guys," Julie smiled, looking at Flynn. Flynn just sighed and Julie's smile fell. "Hey, you okay?"

"Uh...I'm great," Flynn replied, putting on a fake smile. "When did you start playing with a hologram band?"

"Oh, it was just one song. We're not a band. They're a band, a hologram band. Definitely holograms." Julie laughed, shaking her head and looking at me. "Right, Penny?"

"Well...we're definitely not a band," I replied, crossing my arms.

Flynn laughed nervously, furrowing her eyebrows. "Yeah, I saw. Why have you guys been keeping those cute boys a secret?"

"We're not," I replied, looking at her. "I mean, we are, but we're...not?" I looked at Julie, shaking my head at her for help.

"There's a reason for that," Julie stepped up, nodding at Flynn. "It's just...really crazy."

"Oh, I'm all about crazy. Let's hear it." Flynn smiled, waving her arms out to her side.

Julie sent me a panicked look and I shrugged my shoulders as she looked back at Flynn and took a deep breath. "Okay. Um, so they're...from Sweden. Yeah. Turns out that they're not only great at making meatballs, but also good at making music."

"They're great at technology too," I replied, waving towards the stage. "Hence the whole...hologram thing."

"Yeah," Julie nodded, working off of me. "So they play there, I stream them here, we play together, they leave, then that's it."

"Poof!" I added, motioning towards the stage again before looking back at Flynn. "It's practically like magic."

"Exactly!" Julie smiled, waving her hands at Flynn. "Anyway, who's excited that I'm back in the music program?"

Flynn sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Are you guys lying to me?" She looked between the both of us, the hurt in her eyes relevant. "I-I mean, not even two days ago Penelope was at risk of losing her seat because she can't play the guitar."

"Still at risk, actually," I replied, raising my hand. "I kind of choked on stage and ran off so..."

"A-And you," Flynn said, motioning towards Julie. "You just decide to play the piano out of nowhere the day after you lose your seat! And then today you're both doing the things you haven't been able to do for a year...out of the blue, but with some hologram band?" She looked between the two of us, a hurt expression on her face. "So? ...Are you guys lying to me?"

Julie sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we're lying."

"Since when do we lie to each other?" Flynn asked, shaking her head. "I mean, besides the fact that Penny's been lying to us for what? A year?"

"That's not fair, Flynn," I replied, shaking my head. "That's not fair and you know it."

"Isn't it though?" She scoffed in disbelief. "I mean, we've been friends for what? Almost 10 years? Never once have we lied to each other about anything. And now you're both lying to me."

Julie took a deep breath and looked at me and then Flynn, sighing and stepping towards her. "Flynn...I'm sorry, okay? We're sorry."

Flynn looked at us in shock before rolling her eyes. "'I'm sorry'? That's all you've got?"

"It's complicated, Flynn..." I said, stepping towards her. "The whole thing is just...it's complicated to explain."

Flynn looked between Julie and me and scoffed, turning around without another word and running out of the gym.

"Wait, Flynn, no!!" Julie said as we started to run after her. "Come...wait come on!"

"Flynn, come on!" I called out, the two of us rushing through the double doors and back into the busy hallway as kids went to get back to their sixth-period class.

"Come on, Flynn." Julie groaned, running ahead as Flynn disappeared into the busy crowd. "Wait!"

"It's no use, Jules," I sighed, standing next to her. "We'll just have to try and corner her after school."

"Think you can manage to keep her from running away after class later?" Julie asked, crossing her arms.

"That's assuming she doesn't move her seat away from me." I sighed, barely catching the last glimpse of Flynn.

"Julie, Penelope, those holograms were so cool!" Some random upperclassmen said, cutting us off in the hall with a member of the dance team beside him. "It's like we were in Coachella, but, like, not in the desert and without the sweat."

"Thanks," Julie said, both of us trying to see past them as they each gave us a high five. Julie sighed, shaking her head. "She's gone, I can't see her."

"I guess sixth period is going to be our saving grace," I replied.

"It's true," Nick said, walking up and standing in front of us. "What he said about the holograms. They were so cool, it– that was incredible." He smiled, his eyes lingering on Julie.

Julie's eyes were wide before I gave her a subtle nudge in the side, only to not gauge a verbal response from her. I sighed, rolling my eyes before looking at Nick. "Thanks, Nick. That's really nice of you to say."

"It was way better than when you cried and ran out," Carrie said, coming up beside Nick and stepping just a little more in front of us. "Though, I guess," she looked at me, a sarcastic smile on her face. "You were the one to do it this time, huh, Penelope? Friends who choke together stay together."

"Was our performance that good that you couldn't look away, Carrie?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"No, but seeing you run off the stage after fumbling over the most simple guitar chords was." She smiled, crossing her arms. "Guess that guitar talent didn't cross over to you, hm?"

"Hey, um..." Nick said, looking extremely uncomfortable as he stepped towards Carrie. "Maybe we should...get to science."

"Uh, yeah, then maybe you can study the chemical properties of manners or something," Julie said, giving her best sass to Carrie.

Carrie laughed, totally unbothered. "Was that supposed to be a comeback? Wow."

"Wow, yourself," Julie replied, shaking her head.

Carrie gasped softly, a condescending smile on her face. "Another winner." She looked between Julie and me and then rolled her eyes before turning away and walking down the hall. Nick looked at me and then Julie, looking as if he wanted to apologize for Carrie, but instead ran off after her.

"Again," I sighed, shaking my head. "I don't understand how we were friends with her!"

"I don't want to think about it, now come on," Julie said as the two-minute bell rang, grabbing my arm. "I think I saw Flynn go around the corner."

We walked through the few people that were still in the hall and walked toward the atrium. "Julie! Penelope!" Three voices yelled, causing Julie and me to pause in our tracks.

"Ah!" Julie and I yell, holding onto each other's arms. Alex and Reggie were letting Luke stand on their legs, each of them holding out their arms with big smiles on their faces.

"You!" Julie pointed, shaking her head. "Stop doing that. I'm serious."

"Seriously, I think I almost had a heart attack." I sighed, holding my hand to my chest. "Also, can you like...please stop calling me Penelope?"

"Well...what are we supposed to call you?" Alex asked, looking at Luke and Reggie in confusion.

"Penny. My friends call me Penny." I replied, holding onto my backpack straps.

Reggie gasped, a big smile on his face. "We're your friends now? I thought you still hated us. I mean, you kinda act like you do– I was trying to rock with you on stage and everything and you just stood there like–" He stood straight, a stoic look on his face. "So the fact that you think we're friends now is just–"

Luke clasped his hand over Reggie's mouth, shaking his head and laughing. "Relax, Reggie before she changes her mind."

"Thanks, really." I sighed, looking at them. "So...why are you guys still here, exactly?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Reggie said, shaking his head away from Luke's mouth. "This one's all on you guys. We were already here. Well, actually, we were over there, and then we came over here."

"Are we not gonna talk about what just happened?" Luke asked, looking back and forth between Julie and me with a smile on his face as he was lightly bouncing on his feet."

"Yeah, the whole school saw you," Julie replied, looking at me. "It's kinda freaking us out."

"Okay, good," Alex sighed, reaching out towards us. "Because it's kind of freaking me out too. You know, you guys could see us a-a-and then people could see us whenever we play music. And my clothes are made of air, but for some reason, I'm still getting a wedgie. So many questions."

Julie and I looked at each other before looking back at them and I laughed. "You guys seriously need to like, meditate, or something. Your freaking out is freaking me out, and my freaking out is going to lead to my Mom taking me back to therapy."

Alex sighed, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets and nodding. "Therapy sounds kind of nice right now, actually."

"The important thing is that we rocked that place," Luke said, looking back at us. "They were loving you guys!"

"Are you kidding?" Julie laughed. "They loved us! That was a great song, Luke. Thanks."

"I'm sorry, are we talking about the same performance?" I asked, looking at all of them. "I-I mean, you guys rocked it and they loved you! I choked on guitar chords I already knew and ran off the stage. I'm practically a laughing stock."

"But–"

"Hey Penelope, Julie!" I leaned my head back slightly before Julie and I both turned around to see Noah jogging towards us, a smile on his face.

"He must not be her friend," Reggie laughed, nodding at the boys. "He called her Penelope."

"Hey, Noah," Julie said, nudging the back of my shoe with hers. "Nice to see you."

"That was sick, what you guys did on stage." He said, standing next to me and looking at us. "I mean, those holograms? They looked so real! Like they were actually on stage with you."

"I kinda like this guy," Luke said, crossing his arms. "Hey, ask him if he thought we were good."

I sent him a look and he held up his hands in defense, shrugging his shoulders. "Thanks, Noah. It's uh...a new hobby we picked up one weekend." I said, looking back at him. "The internet, am I right?"

"Well whatever you guys did, it was sick. And Julie? I didn't know you could sing like that!" He smiled, digging his hands into his letterman jacket. "You've got some serious talent."

"Thanks, Noah," Julie said, patting my shoulder. "But I definitely couldn't have gotten up there without Penny."

"For sure," he said, looking at me. "You've got a great voice too.

"Uh...is that it?" Alex asked, crossing his arms. "Hello? She can play too!"

"Stop it!" I hissed, shaking my head slightly.

Noah furrowed his eyebrows. "Huh?"

"I-uh, I mean...stop it, that's...too kind of you." I laughed nervously, crossing my arms.

"No problem, really. I mean," his smile fell as if he was teetering on his words in his mind, unsure if he wanted to say them in case they came across the wrong way. "It just sucked...seeing you run off like that, you should've heard Carrie."

"I bet," I mumbled, holding my arms tighter against me.

"Don't let it get you down, though, okay?" He smiled, reaching out and holding onto my arms. "You've still got a killer voice, you might not even need to play an instrument."

"Okay, I take it back," Luke scoffed, shaking his head as he pointed at Noah. "I definitely don't like this guy."

"I mean, I know your dad was really good but did you ever think that maybe music just...isn't for you, y'know?" He said, letting his hands drop. "I mean, like, playing music, not singing it."

"I get it, yeah, no," I replied, clearing my throat and trying not to let my face turn red at the fact that the three guys were seeing this, as well as Julie. "No need to explain."

"Okay, yeah, I just didn't want that to come across wrong or anything," he said, putting his hands back into his pockets.

"Nope, message received," I said, forcing a smile on my face as I gave him a thumbs up.

"Can this guy leave now?" Luke asked, appearing behind Noah. "He's seriously one word away from me tying his shoes together or something."

"Yeah, I'm really not liking this guy," Alex said, appearing on the other side. "Not to mention that he's wearing way too much cologne."

As if he could sense the two of them, Noah looked on either side of him before shaking his head slightly. "Anyway, I hope that you're still considering what I told you yesterday...about Monday?" He smiled, starting to walk away. "I've got to get to class, but remember, just let me know."

"Yep, got it!" I said, exhaling a sigh of relief once she disappeared down around the corner. "That was a nightmare."

"Who was that guy?" Alex asked, both him and Luke appearing back beside Reggie. "And someone needs to tell him to lay off of the cologne."

"That is Noah," Julie said, crossing her arms and looking at me. "He's the guy Penny's talking to."

"Well, duh," Reggie said, looking at Alex and Luke. "We know they're talking, we just saw them."

Julie laughed, shaking her head. "No, not talking– talking."

"We're not talking," I said, giving her a look.

"Fine, they were talking, whatever," Julie replied, rolling her eyes.

"Again...we know they were talking, we just saw it," Alex said, motioning towards us. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, right, 90's slang is different." Julie sighed, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "Okay, so what did you guys call it when you're like...dating somebody, but not dating them."

"You're dating that jerk?" Luke asked, looking at me as he pointed behind me. "He just told you that you can't shred on the guitar and we know you can."

"I'm not dating him! Agh," I groaned, turning towards Julie. "Please stop, you're making it worse."

"Sorry," she replied, giving me an apologetic smile before looking back at the guys. "Basically, they've been texting, snapchatting, and hanging out at their siblings' soccer games since the summer. Noah keeps trying to get her to go out on a date with him, but she says no."

"Good," Luke said, crossing his arms. "Don't talk to him, talk to us instead."

I choked on my breath, my eyes widening as Julie laughed at my attempt to hide my blushing face. "Anyway, Flynn and I have been pressing her to go on a date with him...but after that, I think I'm okay with you saying no from now on."

"Thanks," I replied, motioning at them all. "All of you for your stamp of disapproval, I appreciate it."

"No problem." Reggie smiled, Alex, reaching around and smacking his shoulder. "Ow!"

"Seriously though, Penny," Luke said, shaking his head. "If he can't see that you're crazy, stupid talented at the guitar...then he's not worth it."

"Yeah," Alex chimed in, crossing his arms. "I mean, I didn't think he was worth it from the moment he sounded so surprised that you guys could sing. Obviously, there's something wrong with him."

"You guys are like the older brothers we always wanted," Julie said, nodding at them.

"Ew, don't say that," Luke said, furrowing his eyebrows as he shook his head.

"What?" Julie asked, looking at me. "Older brothers? Why?"

His eyes widened and he cleared his throat before crossing his arms and shrugging. "...just because."

"Yeah, don't call us old, either. We're young and hip." Reggie said, copying Luke.

"Say the old people," Julie whispered, as we both laughed.

"Whatever," Luke laughed, rolling his eyes. "But back what I was going to say before that jerk interrupted me." He looked at me and shook his head. "It doesn't matter if you messed up the chords, Penny. You had them right there in the beginning, you were killing it! You've just gotta get out of your own head."

"He's right, Penny." Julie sighed, looking at me. "You had them down in the beginning and then it's like..."

"Like I choked, yeah, I know," I replied, crossing my arms. "Can we maybe not talk about that, please?"

"Yeah, sure," Alex said, giving Luke a look before rocking back on his heels. "So..."

"Did you guys see the cheerleaders looking at me?" Reggie asked, a big smile on his face as he changed the subject. "I think they were looking at me." He turned to Luke, holding onto his shoulders, "Please, tell me they were."

Julie and I laughed as Luke cupped Reggie's face, smiling and nodding. "Bro, they were looking at you."

"Oh, I knew it." Reggie beamed, turning towards Julie and me. "Anyway, you guys can get me their numbers?"

"We'll get right on that, Reg." I laughed, looking at Alex. "You okay there? You're kind of...quiet."

"I'm so...I'm so confused, you know? The afterlife should come with instructions or a quick start guide or something!" He replied, starting to talk with his hands.

"Well, the good thing is that everyone thought you guys were holograms, and I got back into the program," Julie replied, putting her hands in her pocket.

"Why do you look so bummed?" Reggie asked, looking at me for an answer as I shrugged my shoulders back.

"Yeah, dude, you're making this face," Luke said, draping his arms over Alex and Reggie's shoulders and bringing them into his side while they all made mocking pouting faces.

Julie scoffed, looking at me as I tried not to laugh before looking back at them. "That...is not my face."

"Eh..."

"It's your face."

"And...things just got really weird between us and Flynn. She asked about you guys and we couldn't say," she sighed, crossing her arms and looking at me. "Plus, not to mention, apparently someone is going to lose their seat in the program, too."

"Sweet. Girls are already talking about us," Reggie smiled as Luke gave him a low-five.

"Whoa, whoa, you're losing your seat now?" Alex said, pointing at me.

"I would've been fine if I didn't run off the stage, but yeah," I replied, sighing and shrugging my shoulders. "I need to play the guitar at our next progress check-in or I'm out."

"Okay, easy. We'll get you back in, then. It shouldn't be too hard." Luke said, shrugging his shoulders. "I can help."

"Please, you've done enough if today was evidence of that." I sighed.

"It'll be like tutoring!"

"I don't need a tutor–"

"Obviously you do, come on let me help." He said, stepping towards me and sticking out his bottom lip. "Please?"

"Okay, stop. This is serious, okay?" Julie sighed, waving him back. "Penelope can't lose her seat and we can't tell her about you guys for the same reason we can't tell our parents."

"Yeah, I can't exactly go home with that kind of news. I mean, what am I supposed to say? 'Yeah, Mom, my day was good I may or may not have met three ghosts?'"

"Sounds good to me," Reggie shrugged, looking at Luke and Alex.

"No, not good!" I replied, rolling my eyes at them.

"They'll think we've gone off the deep end!" Julie added.

"Well, this dude definitely thinks you've gone off the deep end." Reggie laughed, pointing behind him as the school custodian came up behind them with his cart, looking at both Julie and me with concern.

"We've gotta get back to class," Julie replied, shaking her head.

"Yay, calculus." I groaned, the sarcasm in my voice evident as Julie looped her arm through mine and we walked by the boys.

"Later, Julie and Penny!" Reggie called out. "Oh, tell those cheerleaders I'm single!"

"Oh, and that he's dead!" Alex chimed in, he too was being sarcastic.

"Ooh yeah, I'll add that detail in for sure," I replied, looking over my shoulder to see Alex and Luke laughing.

"Oh no, no, no! Leave that part out!" Reggie called out, waving his arms in the air.

"Too late!" Julie sang, the both of us rounding the corner and out of view from the guys. "Oh, and by the way. You're definitely explaining to me what you were talking about on that stage."

"Julie–"

"No way, you're not getting out of this one." She said, opening the classroom door for us. "My house after school, no buts."