[1.7]

"i love the band, luke. i do. but it is not my dream"

"Hey, I'm gonna go check out the crowd."

It was almost time for Julie and the Phantoms to go on in the backyard, which was slowly filling up with people from Julie's school. After changing into one of Bobby's old Iron Maiden shirts, which she had turned into a fashionable crop top, and a pair of jeans, Mickey decided to head outside. She informed Reggie as such as she wrapped her arms around him from behind. He was working on tuning his guitar.

"Have fun," he said, looking over his shoulder and smiling at her. He puckered his lips, requesting a kiss, which Mickey gladly gave him.

"Gross," Luke grumbled from across the studio.

Mickey snickered and kissed Reggie once more — Luke loudly protested the whole time — before poofing outside. The backyard was full, and Ray was almost done setting his camera up. The grand piano had been rolled outside for the performance, and lights were strung around it. Mickey walked through the crowd of teenagers, just seeing who all was there.

"Hey!" As Mickey neared the fence, Carrie had spotted the ghosts and headed her way. However, Carrie was holding her phone to her ear, so Mickey hadn't thought she was speaking to her. It took several moments of Carrie just staring at her to realize her mistake.

"Oh! You're not actually on the phone!" she said, shaking her head, which made Carrie laugh. "My bad. Hi, Care."

Mickey hadn't seen Carrie since telling her about Bobby. But she was smiling, so it likely meant that things were okay between the two girls, which was all Mickey could hope for.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I'm surprised that Julie invited you," Mickey said honestly.

"She didn't," Carrie said, smiling tightly. "I came anyway. I wanted to see you."

"Well, I appreciate it," she said. Then she nervously bit her lip. "Are... are we good? You're not, like, mad at me, are you? I've been worrying that I shouldn't have told you."

Carrie shook her head and smiled softly. "No. I'm really glad you told me. I mean, now this all kind of makes sense — me seeing you and everything. You know, at first, I thought I had a cool ghost friend, but now I have a really cool ghost aunt."

Mickey cringed and let out a chuckle. "Don't call me your aunt. Makes me feel old. I'm only like two years older than you."

"I'll figure out a cute nickname," Carrie said, sounding confident.

"Can't wait to hear it," she said, smiling. "I've gotta get back, but I'll see you after the show. Yeah?"

"Of course. Break a leg."

Mickey waved goodbye before poofing back into the studio. She quickly grabbed her guitar and stood beside Reggie to wait for Flynn to announce them. He smiled down at her and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips to gently kiss her palm. They both ignored Luke, who was fake gagging in the background, and Alex, who was trying to shut him up to let the new couple enjoy the moment.

"What's up, everybody?" Flynn asked the crowd, who cheered loudly. "Time to put your hands up, do a little dance, yup. Here's the new anthem from Julie and the Phantoms."

Carlos and one of his little friends opened up the garage door to reveal Julie, who smiled at the audience.

"Thanks for coming, everyone," she said, sitting at the piano. Then Julie played the starting notes to Edge of Great. "Running from the past. Tripping on the now. What is lost can be found, it's obvious. And like a rubber ball, we come bouncing back. We all got a second act, inside of us."

Julie got up from the bench as the rest of the band flashed in. As usual, the crowd loved it. Mickey moved happily to the beat, enjoying what may be one of her last performances with the band.

"I believe, I believe that we're just one dream away from who we're meant to be. That we're standing on the edge of something big, something crazy. Our best days are yet unknown. That this moment is ours to own. 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great. Great. Great. 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great."

As they performed, Julie made her way to each of them — all except for Luke. He glanced at Julie nervously, who had ignored him. Then he shot Mickey a questioning look, who simply shrugged and kept playing. Luke walked up to his mic to sing the next verse.

"We all make mistakes, but they're just stepping stones to take us where we wanna go

It's never straight, no."

Luke did a head nod to signal Julie to come over to him, but again, she brushed him off. Instead, she danced over to Mickey and shared her microphone with her. Mickey wasn't complaining, but it was definitely throwing off their usual stage presence.

"Sometimes we gotta lean, lean on someone else to get a little help until we find our way. I believe, I believe that we're just one dream away from who we're meant to be. That we're standing on the edge of something big, something crazy. Our best days are yet unknown. That this moment is ours to own. 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great. Great. Great. 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great."

Reggie bounced his way over to Mickey as Julie climbed on top of the piano to sing. He smiled down at her as they sang the backup notes. In the back of her mind, Mickey knew she would miss performing with Reggie like this, but she knew the alternative would be better.

"Shout, shout. C'mon and let it out, out. Don't gotta hide it. Let your colors blind their eyes. Be who you are no compromise. Just shout, shout. C'mon and let it out, out. What doesn't kill you makes you feel alive."

Luke crept up behind Julie, improvising a little guitar solo to get her attention. It worked and she turned to sing at him, smiling happily.

"Ooh-oh. I believe, I believe that we're just one dream away from who we're meant to be. That we're standing on the edge of great."

Pleased with getting her attention, Luke returned back to his own mic and his mood had drastically improved.

"Something big, something crazy. Our best days are yet unknown. That this moment is ours to own. 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great. Great. Great. 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great."

The plan had been for the band to flash out right before the song ended, and Julie would finish it out alone on the piano. However, Luke had other plans. As Mickey, Reggie, and Alex poofed away, he stayed and sat on the piano bench next to Julie. They leaned in close to share the microphone, staring deeply into each other's eyes.

"Running from the past. Tripping on the now. What is lost can be found, it's obvious."

The audience cheered as Luke flashed away and the song ended. He poofed back into the studio, and Mickey looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"What?" he asked, readjusting his guitar strap.

"Nothing," she said, smirking. "But I don't wanna hear another word about how gross me and Reggie are because you were pathetic back there."

Luke scoffed and put his hand to his chest, faking pain. "I am not pathetic!"

"Dude, she didn't pay attention to you for two minutes and you fell apart," Reggie said, grinning as he wrapped his arms around Mickey. "Then you tried to impress her with that cute little solo."

Luke rolled his eyes and then pouted. "Um, I did impress her. Also, Reg, you almost lost your mind that summer that Mickey spent a week in New York at a ballet camp. You called her every day and moped around until she got back."

"Awe," Mickey cooed, turning in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled lovingly up at him. "Babe, that's so adorable."

Reggie leaned down to kiss her, but they were interrupted by a pillow being thrown through their heads. Alex pretended to study one of the plants in the corner, but they knew he was the one to throw it.

"I had to go forty-two years without kissing this girl and I will not let you two stand in the way now that I can," Reggie declared, crossing his arms and playfully glaring at his friends.

"Uh, that's on you for waiting so long, dude," Alex reminded him, smirking.

"Go dance outside like the disgustingly happy couple you are," Luke muttered, scoffing.

Mickey stuck her tongue out at him before Reggie pulled her outside. They weaved through the crowd until they reached the back section of the yard, where not too many people were hanging around. No one could see them, but they didn't want to risk being walked through.

Reggie placed one hand on Mickey's waist and held her hand up with the other. She smiled and leaned her head on his chest as they danced to the soft music that was playing. MIckey spotted Carrie over his shoulder, looking at them with an amused smile — granted, to her, it looked like Mickey was dancing with air.

"I'm really happy," Reggie muttered softly, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Yeah?" she asked, smiling against his shoulder.

"Yeah. I know we're dead, but I have everything I need. I have you, I have the guys, and I have the band. Sometimes I miss my family, but we both know I'm better off without them," he said, as they gently swayed back and forth.

"We're your family too, Reg." Mickey stood on her toed and pecked his lips. However, he quickly cupped her cheek and pulled her back in for another.

"I love you so much," he whispered against her lips.

"I love you too. More than anything."

|||

Once everyone had cleared out after the party, Flynn, Julie, and her family went into the house to have pizza for dinner. As they ate, the four ghosts hung out in the backyard. Later, Mickey planned to break the news that she was going to accept Caleb's offer to join his club as a dancer. Hopefully, they wouldn't be too mad at her decision. In the meantime, Mickey had poofed herself to sit on the rim of the basketball hoop. The boys took turns throwing the ball, trying to get a basket, but Mickey was having too much fun slapping the ball away.

"C'mon, Princess," Luke groaned as she blocked yet another shot. "Come down so we can actually play."

"But I'm not good at basketball," she whined. It was true. She was laughably bad at the sport. "You'd have an unfair advantage."

"Yeah. That's why you'd be put on Alex's team."

"What? I don't want her! Give her to Reggie," Alex said, shaking his head.

Mickey looked down hopefully at Reggie, but he winced. "Uhh, or what if she just sits on the bench?"

Mickey scoffed and was about to chew all three of them out for being rude. However, she was cut off as one of those jolts hit all of them. Mickey fell off the basketball hoop and landed roughly on the ground. She screamed and held her body, which felt like it was on fire. After a moment, Reggie managed to get up off the ground and he checked on her. He helped her sit up and let her lean weakly against him.

"That wasn't like the other ones. It's getting worse," Luke groaned.

"Why is this happening to us?" Reggie asked. Mickey took his hand and got to get feet, still holding on to her stomach, where the pain was lingering.

"It's because you guys are in serious trouble." They all turned to see Willie walk up to them. He had a worried look on his face.

"Willie?" Alex asked, surprised to see him. They all were, especially after the skater had bailed on him earlier.

"We need to talk."

|||

The four ghosts followed Willie. He walked them down the streets of LA, explaining everything to them. And as he finished, Mickey felt truly sick to her stomach.

"All these jolts that we're feeling is because Caleb put his stamp on us?" Luke asked.

"He's threatened by you. He wants you under his control. You're the only ghosts that can be visible to lifers without his help," Willie explained.

"And you let him do this to us?" Alex asked, hurt clear in his tone.

Willie stopped walking and turned to face them. "I can't stop him! He owns my soul! All right? He owns everybody's soul at that club. If he even knew that I was here talking to you, he... he would destroy me."

"So why are you risking it all of the sudden?" Mickey asked, biting her lip. She was leaning into Reggie's arm, taking all the comfort she could get. "You didn't say anything earlier today when you were spying on Alex. Why now?"

Willie sighed as he looked her over. "Because of you, Mickey."

"Me? I haven't seen you since the club," she said, confused.

"Caleb came in this afternoon bragging about the talk he had with you today — how you were ready to take his offer and leave the band. He figured that once he had your soul, he could get the other's soon after."

"You were ready to what?" Luke asked, giving her a hurt look. Reggie and Alex also stepped back to look at her disbelief.

Mickey sighed before glancing at Willie in annoyance. Then she turned back to the boys. "It's not what it sounds like."

"So, he's lying. You weren't really gonna leave the band, right?" Reggie asked, wanting to give her the benefit of doubt.

"I—" Mickey closed her eyes and sighed. "I was going to talk to you guys about it later tonight before I accepted his offer. It's not like I'd be trapped there. I'd still be around all the time. However, he did leave out the little tidbit about owning my soul." She glared at Willie as she said the last part.

"But what about our band?" Luke asked, getting more upset. "It's our dreams come true."

"Your dream, Luke," she corrected, tangling her hands in her hair. "I - I love the band, Luke. I do. But it is not my dream. Dancing is like breathing for me, and I need it just as much. Julie couldn't give me that, but Caleb can. You can't blame me for wanting to take his offer!"

"Watch me!" Luke snapped.

"Luke," Reggie said, putting a hand on his shoulder. But Luke angrily shook him off and stared out at the street, avoiding eye contact with all of them. Reggie sighed and turned back to Willie. He still had lots of questions. "So if we don't join his club, then the weird power outage thing continues until there's no power left at all?"

"Yes," Willie agreed.

"What exactly happens when the power goes out?" he asked.

"That... that's it. You're done."

"Done?" Mickey asked weakly. Reggie reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Uh-huh. Yeah. And what exactly do you mean by "we're done"?" Reggie asked, though they all had a feeling about what the answer would be.

"You just — you don't exist... anymore. Not anywhere."

"What?" Alex asked.

"So we have no choice? We have to say goodbye to Julie, give up everything we've built together, and work for Caleb?" Luke asked angrily. Willie sighed and looked at the ground. "That's some club you guys got going on."

"But there is another option. That's why I'm here," Willie told them.

"Another option?" Alex asked, scoffing. He didn't want to hear anymore.

"Just please hear me out," Willie begged. "All right. If you guys could just figure out what your unfinished business is, you do it in time, you could cross over and be free from all of this."

"Okay, so what's our unfinished business?" Luke asked.

"I - I don't know, but since you all died at the same time, it might be something you need to do together."

"Why should we listen to a word you say?" Alex asked.

Willie took a small step closer to him. "Because I care about you, Alex. And I hate that I brought you and your friends into this mess. I, uh... I can't be away much longer. I'm so sorry. For everything."

Willie flashed away with tears in his eyes, leaving the four distraught ghosts together.

"This is all my fault," Alex muttered. "I - I met Willie, Willie introduced us to Caleb, and now - now we're screwed."

"We all wanted to go see Caleb," Luke said, sighing.

"We have to tell Julie," Reggie said.

"No, we can't do that. This just means more loss in her life. But if we don't want Caleb to own our souls, then we have to figure out what our unfinished business is."

"Yeah, man. And how are we supposed to do that? All right? There was so much we wanted to do." Luke was looking at something over Alex's shoulder with a concentrated look on his face. "What is it?"

"Yeah, but the night we died, there was one thing we all wanted to do together," Luke told them. They followed his gaze to the big sign for the Orpheum across the street.

"Play the Orpheum?" Reggie asked.

"Getting that gig was literally impossible," Alex stated. "Even after people knew who we were, we had to hustle, call in every favor we had. It took us years."

Then another powerful jolt hit them, making them groan in pain.

"We don't have years," Luke said, holding his stomach.

As the four ghosts stared up at the sign, one of them felt dread creeping up on her. Mickey took a small, unnoticed step back from the guys with a pained expression on her face. Maybe Sunset Curve's unfinished business had been to play the Orpheum, but she hadn't been a member of Sunset Curve. However, she was the only one to make the realization.

Even if they did somehow manage to book the gig, Mickey knew she wouldn't be crossing over with them.