——————
chapter four: flying solo
——————
"it's about julie."
——————

fin looked over at the boys, them having the same lookin their faces as her. they were ghost that just performed on stage. . . people could see them.

"hey, where'd the rest of the band go?" a teenage boy asked, running onto the stage to julie.

"wait. were those holograms?" fin heard a girl in the crowd ask, not really caring who.

julie looked at fin, who quickly nodded her head, telling julie to go with holograms.

"yes! yes, they were holograms." julie answered. "um, i plugged it into the ceiling projector before the show. i'd explain it, but it involves algorithms and science stuff."

this made the students start to cheer again.

"that's wild. th - they could see us when we were playing, but not when the music ended." luke said, speaking everyone's thoughts.

"we should double check." reggie suggested before he ran up the steps that led to the stage.

he then looked back at the crowd before he poked his butt out, doing a little dance with it before he came back down to his bandmates.

"yeah, i don't. . . i don't think they can see us." he said, fin looking up at him.

"i wish i couldn't see you." she mumbled.

"okay, people. shows over." pantsuit lady told the teens. "let's get back to class, please."

this made the crowd disperse, exiting the gym and going into the halls.

fin, luke, and alex started to follow the students into the hall, but stopped once they saw reggie trying to talking to one of the dirty candy girls. fin rolled her eyes and went over to the bass player, grabbing his hand and pulling him.

"hey! i was trying to get the purple one's number!" he exclaimed, pouting.

"i hate to break it to you, reg, but. . . she can't see you anymore." fin told him, patting his back. "i think we should wait for julie here."

"yeah, that seems like a good idea." luke said.

fin waited at the corner of the hall to see when julie was close, and when she was, the female ghost poofed over to the boys. when she turned the corner, they all screamed,

"julie!"

"you! stop doing that!" julie told the four ghosts, who were proud of what they had done. "i'm serious."

"whoa! this ones on you. we were already here." reggie told the molina girl, making fin nod in agreement. "well, actually, we were over there, and then we came over here."

fin took her snapback off, running her fingers through her hair before she put it back on backwards. this caught julie's attention, her heart skipping a beat.

"are we not gonna talk about what just happened?" luke asked everyone.

"yeah, the whole school saw you. it's kinda freaking me out." julie said.

"okay, good, cause i - it's kinda freaking me out too." alex said. "you know, you can see us, a - 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."

fin made a face of disgust. "alex, we really didn't need to know that."

"so many questions." he said, looking down at her.

"the important thing is that we rocked that place." luke told everyone.

"yeah, they loved you!" fin added, smiling at julie.

"are you kidding? they loved us." julie corrected, mirroring fin's smile. "that was a great song, fin. thanks."

fin's smile grew wider. "you're welcome, buttercup."

"a - and did you guys see the cheerleaders looking at me?" reggie asked. "i think they were looking at me. please tell me they were looking at me."

"bro, they were looking at you." luke told him, grabbing reggie's face.

"i knew it!" reggie said, an excited smile on his face.

"i'm so - i'm so confused, you know? the afterlife should come with instructions or a quick start guide or something." alex said.

"well, the good thing is that everyone thought you guys were holograms, and i got back into the program." julie told the band.

"why do you look so sad?" fin questioned, her smile dropping into a frown.

"yeah, dude, you're making this face." luke said, pulling his bandmates together before they pouted.

julie looked at fin, feeling her heart flip at the pout on her face. she then scoffed, "that. . . is not my face."

"yes it is." fin shot back.

"and things just got weird between me and flynn." julie said, answering fin's question. "she asked about you guys and i couldn't say."

"sweet. girls are already talking about us." reggie said, a smile on his face.

"stop. i'm serious. i can't tell her about you guys for the same reason i can't tell my dad." julie told the ghosts, fin feeling bad for the girl. "she'll think i've gone off the deep end."

"well, this dude definitely thinks you've gone off the deep end." reggie said, the band splitting so that a janitor can walk past.

"i gotta get back to class." julie said, walking past the band.

"later, julie." reggie called. "oh, tell those cheerleaders i'm single."

"oh, and that he's dead." alex added.

"oh, no, no, no!" reggie called out. "leave that part out. leave that -"

"reg, she's already gone." fin told him.

the guys poofed out, probably going back to the studio. but fin poofed next to julie, who was still walking to her class.

"hey." she said, making julie jump. "i'm sorry, i keep forgetting. but i just wanted to tell you to just talk to flynn, tell her what's actually going on."

"this is me." julie told fin, stopping in front of a door. "thanks, fin. that helped."

fin smiled, "anytime, jules." and with that she poofed out of the school and into the studio.

she appeared next to luke on the couch, furrowing her eyebrows once she saw alex pacing back and forth.

"what did i miss?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

"nothing." luke answered, shrugging.

"so why is he pacing?" fin questioned, watching alex walk back and forth.

"i think he's practicing his model strut." reggie answered.

"he's so nervous, he's almost making me nervous." luke said, the three ghost watching alex just go back and forth.

fin furrowed her eyebrows, deciding to ask what was going on. "hey, alex, what's wrong?"

this made alex stop pacing, turning to his three beat friends. "okay, look, you guys know i don't handle change well." he said, making fin nod. "alright? death? that was a change. okay? then we became ghosts. all right? another change. a - 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." alex said.

"forget why." luke said, standing up from the couch. "man, i say we invite julie to join sunset curve."

"yeah, totally. i meal, like, think about it. with a new lead singer, this band would be legendary." reggie said, making fin shoot up and stand next to luke.

"we're the lead singers!" fin and luke said in unison, hurt from what reggie had said.

"guys, that girl has the voice of an angel, and she can make us visible." reggie reasoned with the two. "without here, we're just like elevator music."

"well, you don't gotta be so mean about it." luke told reggie, fin turning back to alex to see that he was pacing again.

"and we're on the runway again!" she said, making luke and reggie look over at the blonde.

"okay, i'm sorry, all right?" alex told them. "i just. . . i gotta go clear my mind."

with that alex walked over to the doors, going to grab the handle but his hand went right through. fin sighed, watching alex try to grab the handle again.

"dude, you're a ghost. just poof out." reggie told him.

"don't tell me how to ghost!" alex yelled at him before poofing out.

~~~

it had been a few hours since alex had poofed out, fin being worried about him. although all of the boys were her best friends, she was closer to alex than anyone. after the whole thing with her parents and the boys finding out she liked girls, she went straight to alex.

"hey, guys, check out these lyrics." luke said, poofing into the studio.

fin released a sigh, getting up from the couch and going over to the patterson boy, reggie following. fin looked down at the paper, skimming the paper before smiling.

"this is good." she said. "where'd you get it?"

"uh, i just found them." luke answered quickly, making fin look at him weirdly. "we should try and come up with something to go with it."

fin nodded, walking over to grab her electric guitar. the boys did the same, putting the guitar strap around her shoulder.

she thought for a few seconds, humming the lyrics with different melodies before she found one she liked. she then began to play a riff, reggie and luke smiling at each other.

fin was always a good writer when it came to music, being the only one out of the band that can play multiple. she can play piano, bass, the drums, but obviously she preferred her guitar over anything.

fin continued to play, switching the chords up eventually to how she actually liked it, smiling.

"you guys like this riff?" she asks the boys, both of them nodding.

"and then i come in with this. . ." luke said, starting to strum his guitar, making fin and reggie start to nod their heads to the music.

"sweet. i'm feeling that." reggie told the two guitarists, a smile on his face. "and then i come in with a little. . ."

he then started to play his bass, making fin smile. all they were missing was their drummer.

"then julie comes in with her killer lyrics." luke said over the music.

"and sunset curve is reborn." reggie added.

"guys, you aren't supposed to be out here playing alone." the voice of julie said, making the three stop playing their instruments.

"but we're not alone cause we always have each other." reggie told her, fin and luke walking over to hug him.

julie rolled her eyes before she unplugged the amp, making fin frown.

"but - but we had the volume level on one." luke reasoned, taking the guitar strap off his shoulder and putting his guitar back on its stand.

"but it we rocked it in volume ten. you want he to play it again?" reggie asked julie, fin watching her unplug luke and fin's amps.

"yeah, reg. i don't think she does." fin told him.

"we've actually been waiting for you to get home." luke told julie. "okay, so we have some pretty major need to tell you. we had a band meeting earlier, and. . ." luke continued, fin and reggie patting their thighs for a drumroll. "we wanna invite you to join sunset curve."

"and no, you're not dreaming." fin added, a smile on her face.

"oh." julie said, making fin's smile drop.

"oh?" she repeated, looking at the boys. "she - she said oh. that's what you say when you get socks on your birthday."

"exactly, not when you're invited to join the most epic band ever." luke added.

"sorry. i'm honored, but i can't think about anything but flynn right now." julie told them, making fin frown. "she's still mad at me for lying. she hasn't even texted me back."

fin walked over to her, "did you try talking to her physically and talking to her?"

"no, not yet." julie answered.

"so how about your try that, buttercup?" fin suggested, a small smile on her face.

julie smiled back, luke looking at the two in jealousy.

"so you wanna join the band?" he asked.

fin rolled her eyes before she slapped the back of his head, making his beanie fly off. this made him glare at her, rubbing his head.

"read the room, dude." julie told him before making her way over to the doors.

"oh, come on!" luke said, julie stopping and turning around. "we need you and you need us because you need music. we found this poem that you wrote, and the three of us, we added this really cool melody to it. it sounds awesome."

"where'd you find that?" julie asked him, looking down at the poem in his hands.

"uh, definitely not your dream box." luke answered, moving reggie to stand in front of him.

fin raised her eyebrows, looking at luke. "dude! you seriously went through her shit?!"

julie walked around reggie, luke running away from her.

"i know, but -" luke tried to reason, running around the piano.

"yeah, we can do that now!" reggie said, a happy smile on his face.

"no! no, you can't!" julie told him, still chasing luke around the piano. "boundaries! give it back!"

"no!" luke told her before he jumped onto the piano bench. "hey, you need to realize how insanely talented you are. okay? listen to this."

he then put the the poem on the piano, looking down at it.

"if somebody hurts you -" he started to read, snatching the paper away from julie once tried to take it. "if somebody hurts you, i'm gonna get hurt too."

he then started to sing,

and my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo

"oh - oh!" reggie added, making fin smile slightly.

"it's a killer melody." luke told julie.

fin then poofed behind luke, snatching the paper out of his hands before she poofed next to julie.

"as much as i hate that he went through your stuff. . . he's right." she told julie, handing her the poem back.

"i wrote that about flynn when she was helping me with all my mom stuff." julie told them as she took the paper from fin's hand. "i gotta go."

"hey, what about the band?" luke asked her as she walked to the doors.

"dude, seriously?" fin asked him.

"oh, i almost forgot." julie said, opening the doors. "stay out of my room!" and with that she closed the doors.

luke jumped from the piano bench, running over to the closed doors before he stuck his head through. "yeah?! we will if you join our band!"

~~~

fin was writing in her songbook, sitting at the piano. luke came and sat down next to her, snatching her book from out of her hands. she rolled her eyes, not phased from it since he's been doing this since the 90s.

she looked at him read the lyrics in her book, smiling slightly.

"who's the lucky girl that you wrote this about?" he asked her, handing the book back to her.

fin rolled her eyes, standing from the bench and walking away. "no one."

"oh, come on, fin. we share all of our songs, tell me who it's about." luke said, following her. "reggie, don't you wanna know who fin's new song is about?"

"yeah!" reggie answered, appearing next to fin.

she looked over at him, seeing that he was leaning on the piano with a smile. she rolled her eyes and put her notebook on the piano, leaning on as well.

"it's about julie." fin mumbled, it being a little low for the boys to hear.

"what?" reggie asked.

"it's about julie." she repeated a little louder, the boys hearing her.

"julie?" luke questioned, feeling jealousy start to course through his veins. "you like julie?"

"yeah." fin answered, seeing the slight frown on luke's face. "why?"

"nothing. it's nothing." luke told her, making his frown disappear. "do you have a melody for it yet?"

"no, not yet." fin said.

"well, let's make one." luke said, a small smile on his face.

the three bandmates started to work on the melody, fin singing the lyrics to the melody that luke had suggested. they stopped when alex poof in, appearing on the piano.

"oh, hey, man." reggie greeted. "where you been?"

"yeah, i was starting to get worried about you." fin told him.

"sorry." alex apologized. "but i kinda been everywhere. yeah. no, i met a new ghost friend."

"really?" reggie asked.

"yeah, he answered a ton of questions." alex said.

"he?" fin questioned, a sly smirk on her face, making alex roll his eyes.

"yeah? like whether julie was gonna join the band or not?" luke questioned, snatching fin's notebook from under alex's butt.

"hey, don't you dare treat my song book with anger!" she yelled at him, snatching the book from his hands.

"sorry." he mumbled.

"um. . . well, we didn't. . . we didn't really get to that, but i think i know why we're here." alex told luke, noticing the slight frustration radiating off of him. "okay? all ghosts have, like, unfinished businesses. so we need to do our unfinished business so that we can cross over."

"why would we do that?" luke asked him. "i'm just saying, this is like our second chance. all we need to do is get julie to play with us."

"yeah. not only can that girl sing, she can write too. she's like another fin." reggie added, making fin smile slightly. "the three of us made a killer melody to one of her lyrics."

"oh, without your drummer?" alex asked. "cool."

"drumming is so 90s, okay?" luke told alex. "we're just gonna. . . stomp our feet now."

"okay. well, you know what else is so 90s?" alex asked. "being rude. all right? get woke. these are sensitive times."

alex hit luke's chest, making the patterson boy frown slightly. alex then turned to reggie and fin.

"learned that from my ghost friend." he whispered to the two.

"woke." reggie said. "that's - that's a cool word."

"what does it mean?" fin asked.

"no clue." alex answered, making fin laugh.

~~~

fin heard a knock at the doors, letting her and the boys know that it was flynn. they watched as julie walked to the doors, opening them to reveal flynn.

"thanks for coming." julie said to her best friend. "we just wanted to rehearse the song so it was perfect, which it's not, but whatever."

"no, if i'm gonna hear a song from your imaginary ghost band, i want it to be perfect." flynn told julie. she then started to look around. "so, get back in there. all of you. you too."

"they're not out here." julie said, chuckling.

"oh, i know." flynn said, walking into the studio.

julie closed the doors before she turned to the band. "all right, guys. you ready?"

"can you ask her to go over there? i don't wanna walk through her. i feel weird going through people." reggie asked julie, the molina girl nodding.

"uh, actually, can you go over there? reggie needs some space to rock out, and he kinda feels weird walking through you." she told flynn.

flynn then laughs, "boy, when you create a world, you really live in it."

julie rolled her eyes before she led flynn over to a chair. "just sit." she said before pushing flynn into the chair. "if you'll notice, there's no equipment that will produce a hologram. feel free to look around."

and that's what flynn did while julie walked over to her piano.

"the guys took a poem that i wrote about you and put it to music." julie said.

"aww! i wish i didn't have to talk to your dad after this." flynn said, making fin chuckle.

"it's called flying solo." julie told her. "hope you like it."

julie the band both

if i leave you on a bad note
leave you on a sad note
guess that means i'm buying lunch that day
i know all your secrets
you know all my deep dish
guess that means something they never, they never

change
we both know what, what i
mean
when i look at you it's like i'm looking at me

fin and the guys started playing their instruments, appearing behind julie. this made flyn scream, looking at the ghosts.

my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo (oh - oh - oh)
my life, my ode would be real low, zero, flying solo without you (oh - oh - oh)

fin and luke started to walk around the studio, fin smiling at flynn as she did so.

hey, yeah
hey, yeah
my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo without you (oh - oh - oh)

fin and the guys stopped playing, watching as julie got on one knee in front flynn. fin pulled herself up onto the piano, fixing the mic stand and pulling it to her mouth.

the band started to play their instruments again, julie bring the mic back up to her mouth alto sing again.

yeah, you know who i'm likin
way before i like them, duh
cause you like them first
and if somebody hurts you
i'm gonna get hurt too
that's just how we work, yeah that's just how we work
it will never

change
we both know what i, what i
mean
when i look at you it's like i'm looking at me

fin moved her body to alex hitting the drums before she continued to strum her guitar. she watched as julie grabbed flynn and brought her to luke

my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo (oh - oh - oh)
my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo without you
hey, yeah

she then brought flynn over to alex, the blonde smiling at her as he sung into his mic.

hey, yeah
my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo without you

alex, luke, and reggie stopped playing their instruments, leaving fin strumming her guitar. julie brought flynn over to reggie, the girl putting his hand through reggie.

"weird, right?" reggie asked her with a smile.

"they're ghosts!" flynn exclaimed.

"oh, we prefer, uh, musician spirits." alex told her, reggie pointing his finger at him.

"buttercup." fin called out, making julie look at her with raised eyebrows.

julie walked over to the carter girl, flynn following her. she looked at julie with raised eyebrows, questioning the nickname that fin had said.

"does this mean you're joining our band?" fin asked her, still strumming her guitar.

"um, actually, i think you're joinging her band." flynn corrected, making fin release a chuckle.

"i'm gonna go with what she said." julie said with a smile, putting her arm on flynn's shoulder.

julie and fin stared at each other, fin smiling at julie. flynn noticed the way that the two stared at each other, raising her eyebrows again.

the boys started playing their instruments again, this time joining julie in on the singing.

my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo
my life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo without you
hey, yeah (yeah)
hey, yeah
my life, my life would be real low zero, flying solo without you
you

the band smiled as they watched julie and flynn, the song coming to an end.

"still wanna talk to my dad?" julie questioned.

"no, i'm good." flynn answered, making fin chuckle.

~~~

ahhhhhh another chapter. i'm really excited :). this is also the first episode that could fit into one chapter.