[1.3]

"you look like the popular girl in pretty much every movie ever"

The audience stared up at Julie with wide eyes, muttering amongst themselves. The young girl could do nothing but awkwardly smile down at them, unsure of what to do now. There was nothing that the four ghosts could do as they stood to the side of the stage and watched.

After a moment, the guy who ran the sound and lights for the spirit rally rushed on stage. "Hey, where'd the rest of the band go?"

"Wait, where those holograms?" one of the girls who was a part of Dirty Candy asked. She was the one in the color purple.

"Yes!" Julie exclaimed, pointing at the girl in purple. "Yes, they were holograms. Um, I plugged them into the ceiling projector before the show. I'd explain it, but it involves algorithms and science stuff."

The crowd quickly believed the lie, and they started to clap and cheer for Julie. She smiled and waved at them, glad that she didn't have to try and explain the situation further. The four ghosts watched from the side, staring at the crowd.

"That's wild," Luke said, still high from the excitement of the performance. "They could see us when we were playing, but not when the music ended."

"We should double-check," Reggie told them. Then he hopped up on stage and shook his butt in a circular motion while looking back at the crowd. Mickey covered her mouth to keep from laughing, but other than that, no one in the crowd seemed to see him. Mickey did notice Carrie glancing at her with a frown on her face, but she didn't react to Reggie's little show. "Yeah, I don't... I don't think they can see us."

"I wish I couldn't see you," Alex mumbled as Reggie got off the stage. 

"Okay, people, show's over," the Principal announced. "Let's get back to class please."

The crowd started to disperse, leaving Julie alone on stage. Mickey walked closer to Carrie, where she was talking to the purple girl from her group. She seemed upset with her. "What was that? Were those holograms? What even is that? What was that?"

Mickey tried to wave at her, but only received a short glare before Carrie and her friend were stalking off. Reggie noticed the pout on her lips and wrapped an arm around her to comfort her, despite not knowing what had upset her. They followed Luke and Alex into the hallway to wait for Julie while she spoke with her music teacher. After a couple of minutes of Luke just talking excitedly, Mickey spotted the pink wig around the corner.

"Be right back!" she said quickly before flashing away from the guys — she was gone so quickly that Reggie couldn't even complain about her leaving.

Mickey flashed in front of Carrie, who was opening her locker in the pretty much empty hallway. Carrie flinched, still not accustomed to the fact that she was a ghost. But then, the younger girl narrowed her eyes.

"Hey—"

"The other girl that can see you is Julie Molina?" she asked in an angry tone.

Mickey frowned, not sure why she was so hostile all of the sudden. Carrie had been nothing but nice before. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I didn't know you two knew each other."

"And you just had to go and join a band with her? Holograms? Really?"

"I—"

"Did you tell her about me?" she cut her off, crossing her arms.

"N - no, I don't think I ever said your name or anything," Mickey answered, fiddling with the ends of her blonde hair. "Did I do something wrong?"

Carrie sighed and slammed her locker shut. "Just don't say anything else about me. I can't be known as a freak who sees a ghost. And don't talk to me after pulling that hologram band stunt in there."

Carrie rushed off to class, leaving Mickey alone in the hallways with a dumbstruck look on her face. For whatever reason, Carrie's attitude had done a complete one-eighty towards the ghost, and she wasn't sure why. She decided not to chase after her and would let Carrie calm down before trying to figure out what was wrong.

After her disappointing talk with Flynn, Julie had lost all of her excitement about the performance and getting back into the music program. She walked down the hall with a frown on her face. As she walked around the corner, she wasn't expecting three of the four ghosts to be waiting for her. Luke was being held up by Alex and Reggie, and they greeted her with big smiles.

"Julie!" they shouted.

Julie screamed and jumped back. "You! Stop doing that! I'm serious."

"Woah," Reggie said, putting his hands up in defense. "This one's all on you. 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 her.

"Yeah. The whole school saw you. It's kinda freaking me out," Julie admitted. "They saw Mickey too, and she wasn't even in Sunset Curve originally."

"Okay, good, 'cause it's kind of freaking me out too," Alex told her. "You know, you can see us, and people can see us whenever we play music. And my clothes are made of air, but for some reason, I'm still getting a wedgie." The others gave him disgusted looks while he took a deep breath. "So many questions."

"The important thing is that we rocked that place," Luke said, excitedly at Julie. "They were loving you."

"Are you kidding? They loved us," she told them. "That was a great song, Luke. Thanks."

"And did you see the way Mickey was looking at me when we sang together? At least, I think she was looking at me" Reggie said. Then he held Luke's arms. "Please tell me she was."

Luke grinned and held Reggie's head. "Bro, she was totally looking at you. The chemistry was off the charts between you two."

"Oh, I knew it!" he exclaimed. Then he frowned, remembering that she had flashed away with no explanation. "Wait, where did she even go?"

"She said she'd be right back," Luke said, shrugging. "You know the princess does what she wants."

Reggie pouted. "But I — Oh! Hey, Mickey!" As he spoke, Mickey had poofed back beside them. He noticed a small frown on her lips, but it was gone in seconds. He was also quick to put his arm over her shoulder like always. "Where'd you go?"

"Oh, I saw a girl with a dance bag, so I followed her to find the name of her studio," Mickey quickly lied. "Think I might sneak into a studio sometime this weekend. Might check out hers. But that's not important. What's important is that we just totally rocked that spirit rally! Like, how did that even happen?"

Mickey's attempt to change the subject worked flawlessly, as Alex was happy to voice his own concerns. "But I'm so... I'm so confused, you know?" Alex told them. Mickey frowned, not happy that her friend was so bothered by all the sudden changes. "The afterlife should come with instructions or a quick start guide or something."

"Well, the good thing is that everyone thought you guys were holograms," Julie told them. "And I got back into the program."

"Congrats!" Mickey said, grinning. "You totally deserve it."

"Why do you look so bummed?" Reggie asked Julie, noticing the frown on her face.

"Yeah, dude, you're making this face." Luke pulled Alex and Reggie into his side and they all frowned deeply at Julie.

It at least got Julie to smile a little bit. "That is not my face.

"It's your face," Luke said, nodding.

"Yeah, that was pretty spot on," Mickey teased.

Julie sighed. "Things just got weird between me and Flynn. She asked about you guys, and I couldn't say."

"Sweet. Girls are already talking about us," Reggie said, getting a low-five from Luke, who was smirking. Mickey couldn't help but frown as he talked about other girls. Alex was the one to notice. Like he had at The Orpheum, he pulled her out from under Reggie's arm and under his own. The bass player pouted from the loss of contact, but Mickey stayed put under Alex's hold.

"Stop," Julie told them. "I'm serious. I can't tell her about your guys for the same reason I can't tell my dad. She'll think I've gone off the deep end."

"This dude definitely thinks you've gone off the deep end," Reggie said. He and Luke moved out of the way as the janitor passed by. He eyed Julie strangely since he couldn't see the ghosts.

Julie shook her head once the janitor left and sighed. "I gotta get back to class."

"Later Julie," Reggie said as she left. "Oh, tell those cheerleaders I'm single."

Mickey rolled her eyes and leaned against Alex. "Oh, and that he's dead," she called after Julie, with a slightly bitter tone.

"Oh, no, no, no! Leave that part out. Leave that... She's gone," Reggie said, watching Julie disappear around the corner.

"I'm gonna head back to the studio," Mickey muttered before flashing out.

Once she was gone, Alex hit Reggie on the back of the head. "For someone that's in love with Mickey, you have a pretty shitty way of showing it."

Reggie sighed and looked at the floor. "She doesn't feel that same way—"

"You dumbass," Luke muttered, rolling his eyes. "She was totally jealous when you brought up the cheerleaders. That's why she left so quickly. You two are completely oblivious to each other."

"Let's just get back to the studio," Reggie mumbled, his cheeks heating up. Then the three ghosts poofed back to the studio, where Mickey was waiting.

|||

Once they were all back at the studio, Luke, Reggie, and Mickey settled into the couch. Then they watched as Alex anxiously paced back and forth, trying to wrap his head around everything. He had always had problems with his anxiety and dying most certainly didn't do him any favors.

"I think he's practicing his model strut," Reggie whispered as they watched Alex walk back and forth.

"He's so nervous, he's almost making me nervous," Luke said.

"I mean, he's dead so he can't take his anxiety meds anymore," Mickey added, frowning. "But he still has the same brain, so he still needs them." Luke and Reggie shared a look, not having thought about it like that. Then they turned back to their friend with worried looks on their faces.

"Okay, look," Alex said, finally standing still and speaking up. "You guys know I don't handle change well. It took me two weeks to adjust when Mickey dyed her hair blonde unannounced. All right? Death? That was a change. Okay? Then we became ghosts. All right? Another change. And - and now we can be seen whenever we play with Julie. Big freaking change!"

"Yeah, but, bro, it was a good change," Luke told him. "With Julie, we can play on stage again and be the band we never got to be. Come on, I mean, you gotta be down for that."

"Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't be? I just... You know, I wanna figure out why."

"Forget why," Luke said, getting off the couch. "Man, I say we invite Julie to join Sunset Curve."

"Yeah. Totally," Reggie said, getting up as well. "I mean, like, think about it. With a new lead singer, this band would be legendary."

"Hey! I'm our lead singer," Luke reminded him.

"Um, Julie has the voice of an angel and she can make us visible," Mickey said, twirling some hair around her finger. "Without her, we are quite literally nothing. Elevator music at best."

"You don't gotta be so mean about it, Princess," Luke said, pouting. Then Alex started pacing again. "And we're on the runway again."

"Okay, I'm sorry, all right. I just... I gotta go clear my head," Alex told them. He walked to the door and tried to pull it open with his hand, but it passed right through the handle. He tried again but got frustrated.

"Dude, you're a ghost. Just poof out," Reggie told him.

"Don't tell me how to ghost!" Alex snapped. He sighed before eventually poofing out.

Reggie, Luke, and Mickey all shared a look, but they knew Alex needed some alone time. Reggie whistled lowly before rejoining Mickey on the couch. After a moment, Luke also poofed out without mentioning where he was going.

"So," Reggie said, grinning down at her. "How did it feel to perform with Sunset Curve? I know it's been a lifelong dream of yours."

Mickey giggled and leaned against him. "I don't know about a lifelong dream, but it was a lot of fun. It was amazing and I somehow felt closer to Bobby because of it."

Reggie smiled softly and kissed the top of her head. "You know, we could ask Julie about your family. Her dad might know where they moved to after selling the house."

Mickey frowned and looked down at her lap. "Does it make me a bad person if I say no? At least, for now? I miss Bobby more than anything, but I'm scared."

Reggie frowned, not wanting Mickey to be scared. On instinct, he pulled her into his arms and she leaned her head on his chest. "Why are you scared?"

"B - because he's like forty-two. He must have, like, a whole family and everything. W - what if he just forgot about me and moved on?"

"Oh, Mick, no one could ever forget about you," he whispered, running his hands through her hair. "Bobby loved you more than anything. You were each other's best friends. He probably talks about you all the time to his family. And when you're ready to find him, I'll be there with you the whole time."

"Thank you, Reggie," Mickey said softly. "You always know what to say."

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. Reggie blushed as she did so. For a moment, his eyes glanced down at her lips as he thought about what Luke had said earlier. He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and Mickey could've sworn he was leaning in.

"Break it up, lovebirds! We've got a song to write."

Mickey quickly slid off of Reggie's lap and turned to look at Luke, who was smirking at the pair. In his hands, he had a folded up piece of notebook paper. Reggie cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair.

"W - what song?" he asked, trying to ignore the fact that he had finally manned up enough to almost kiss Mickey.

"So, I finally managed to open Julie's dream box and—"

"Oh, she is gonna kill you again," Mickey muttered, chuckling.

"She has this killer poem," Luke said, continuing as if Mickey never spoke. "We just need to add a few more lyrics and a chorus and then add in the music. So, let's get to work. Princess, you're about to help make your first Sunset Curve song!"

"Fine," she said, getting off the couch. She grabbed Reggie's hand and pulled him up as well. "But I'm not taking any of the blame when Julie tries to rip your head off. We already know she's in a bad mood, and you going through her stuff will just make it worse."

|||

It didn't take too long for the three of them to come up with a good melody for the new song. They sat around with their guitars, just trying out new riffs and bouncing ideas off of each other.

"What do you guys think of this?" Luke asked, altering the new riff just a little.

Mickey grinned while Reggie nodded. "Sweet. I'm feeling that. And then I come in with a little, uh..." Reggie added in the bass notes, and Mickey started playing a mix of the two to fill in the harmony. The three grinned from how great it sounded.

"And then Julie comes in with her killer lyrics!" Luke said.

"And Sunset Curve is reborn," Reggie said, grinning.

Then, Julie finally came into the studio, looking just as displeased as she had earlier. Which meant that she hadn't fixed things with Flynn. "Guys, you aren't supposed to be out here playing alone," she told them.

"But we're not alone," Reggie said. He grabbed Mickey's hand and Luke hugged Reggie from behind. "Cause we always have each other."

Julie rolled her eyes before unplugging each of the guitars from the amps.

"But - but we had the volume on one," Luke told her.

"But we rocked it on volume ten. You want us to play it again?" Reggie asked her. Julie simply replied by snatching the last cord out of the amp.

"I really don't think she does," Luke whispered. "We've actually been waiting for you to get home. Okay, so we have some pretty major news to tell you. We had a band meeting earlier and—" He pointed to Reggie, who gave a drumroll on his legs. "We wanna invite you to join Sunset Curve. And no, you're not dreaming!"

"Oh," Julie said, her shoulders sagging. It clearly wasn't the response that the boys were expecting, but Mickey knew she was still bothered by what happened with Flynn.

"Oh?" Luke repeated. "Uh, oh, she said, "Oh." Um... That's what you say when you get socks on your birthday, not when you're invited to join the most epic band ever."

"Well, you're no Backstreet Boys," Mickey muttered. Reggie smirked and pinched her side, and she held back a laugh.

"Sorry. I'm honored, but I can't think about anything but Flynn right now. She's still mad at me for lying. She hasn't even texted me back."

"Yeah, you're in a tough spot."

"Yeah."

"Boys," Mickey mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"So, you wanna join the band?" Luke asked her again.

"Read the room, dude," Julie said, glaring at him. Then she walked past them to leave.

"Oh, come on!" Luke said, chasing after her. "We need you, and you need us because you need music. We found this poem that you wrote, Reggie, Mick, and I, we added this really cool melody to it. It sounds awesome."

Mickey took in a sharp breath as Julie turned to glare at Luke. "Where'd you find that?"

Luke panicked and pulled Reggie in front of him like a shield. "Uh, definitely not your dream box."

"You went through my stuff?" Julie shouted. She chased after Luke, who ran away.

"Yeah, we can do that now!" Reggie said brightly, just happy he wasn't the one being chased.

"No! No, you can't," Julie told them, still chasing Luke around the piano. "Boundaries! Give it back."

"No! Hey, you need to realize how insanely talented you are!" Luke yelled at her as he jumped up on the piano. "Okay, listen to this. If somebody hurts you—" Julie tried to snatch the poem back, but he pulled it away. "If somebody hurts you, I'm gonna get hurt too. And my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo."

"Oh-oh!" Reggie added, which made Mickey smile, something he always considered an accomplishment.

"It's a killer melody," Luke told Julie.

She sighed. "I wrote that about Flynn when she was helping me with all my mom stuff," Julie told them. She sighed again before turning to leave. "I gotta go."

"Hey, what about the band?" Luke asked her.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Stay out of my room!" Julie said, slamming the door shut.

Luke jumped off the piano and ran after her, sticking his head through the door. "We will if you join our band!"

Mickey rolled her eyes at his persistence. Clearly, he didn't know how to handle the whole situation. Without telling them where she was going, Mickey flashed out of the studio and outside. She appeared in front of Julie, who had just gotten to her porch. The younger girl sighed when she saw her.

"I'm not joining the band," she insisted.

"That's not what I'm here about," she said, putting her hands up in defense. "I just wanted to say that I really hope you fix things with Flynn. She seems really special and I wouldn't want you to lose a friend like that."

Julie smiled sadly. "Yeah, she is special."

"Then keep ignoring the guys and do whatever you need to do to get her back," Mickey said. "I probably would've killed for a friend like that when I was still alive."

Julie raised an eyebrow. "You kind of seem like you would've had a ton of friends in high school. You look like the popular girl in pretty much every movie ever."

Mickey chuckled and took it as a compliment. "I was pretty popular, but I never had any real friends at school. And then my ballet program was so competitive that none of the other girls were concerned with making nice. My brother was basically my best friend, and then when he joined Sunset Curve, I spent all my time with the guys. But before that, I didn't really have anyone like that."

"I didn't know you had a brother," Julie said softly. "I - I can't imagine life without Carlos, even if he can get a little annoying."

"I mean, at least he didn't die with us. My parents couldn't have handled losing both of us," she muttered. Then she cleared her throat and gave Julie a tight smile. "Just, uh, good luck with Flynn. I really do hope everything works out."

"Thanks, Mickey. I'll see you later."

Once Julie was gone, Mickey leaned against the rail on the porch and sighed. For a moment, she thought about returning to the studio to help with the song, but then she remembered something. She had been too distracted by Julie and the guys to think about it before.

Mickey had a pink wig-wearing teenage girl to go check on.