･ﾟ☆ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭:
"𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴"

"WE'RE PLAYING A SCHOOL DANCE?" Reggie grinned, looking over the flier Julie had brought home to show them. "Sweet!"

Ellie leaned over his shoulder, "Julie and her hologram band." She read aloud, grimacing. "First duty of tomorrow–coming up with a better band name."

"It's not exactly the Strip." Luke frowned over at Julie who chuckled as she watered the plants.

"And you're not exactly alive, so maybe you should be happy we have our first gig." Reggie countered.

Julie placed down the watering can. "I wasn't in love with the idea at first either, but it could be a great way for us to build a following, right?"

Ellie nodded. "Definitely! We need to play
wherever we can, whenever we can. You boys forget who did your marketing before." Her words gained raised eyebrows from Julie.

"You were Sunset Curve's marketing team?" The alive girl asked, leaning on the piano in front of her.

Ellie crossed her arms proudly. "Yes I was. The only reason they got to play the strip in the first place was because I knew how to pull the right strings."

Reggie grinned and threw an arm around her shoulder. "What would we have done without you?" He asked.

Ellie felt her stomach flutter, something she didn't know could still happen. She wasn't dumb, she recognized the feelings she had been experiencing around Reggie lately. They were like the ones she used to get around Bobby at the beginning of their relationship, only stronger.

Luke's face became determined. "No, you're right. Let's rock those kids' faces off and then play the clubs."

"And then record a single that gets a billion streams?" Julie added in hopefully.

"I don't know what that is, but hopefully
it gets us a manager and a tour." Luke replied.

"Then we release a bunch of hit albums!" Ellie clapped excitedly, imagining all that they would be able to accomplish. It was only just hitting her that they were really getting their second chance at success. She could only hope nothing would get in the way of it this time.

"Put out a country album that does surprisingly well." Reggie suggested. Julie raised her eyebrows. "I shred on the banjo, and Elle plays a mean harmonica, so..." He explained, an eager nod from Ellie following.

"Then I'll learn how to fiddle." Julie said, reaching out her fist. Ellie laughed lightly as her and Reggie did the same and hovered their own fists near Julie's.

Luke stood up straight. "And before you know it, we're being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame!" He exclaimed, slamming his hands on the piano for emphasis.

"But one of us isn't there." Reggie held up his hands. "Because we had a blowout in 2032. My money's on Alex. He's just so sensitive." He said making Julie chuckle.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get rehearsing!" Luke cheered. Ellie could already tell his switched had flipped, sending him full force into music making mode. Something that was difficult to pull him from once he started.

"Uh..where is Alex?" Julie asked, already coming from behind the piano to her keyboard.

"With his new ghost friend." Ellie wiggled her eyebrows in Julie's direction. "He's be gone for a while already, he'll probably be back soon."

The sound of Luke and Ellie's guitars paired with Reggie's bass and Julie's piano filled the volume of the garage. Finally Free was the name of the song they planned to play tonight at the dance. Ellie had helped Luke and Julie write it over the weekend, though with how easily the two's minds had melded together, they didn't need much assistance from Ellie.

Not that she was complaining, it was definitely worth it to witness the sparks between her old friend and her new one.

"One more time." Luke said to the others, the four of them repeating their notes for the chorus

Just as they finished, Alex casually strolled through the door.

"Oh. Hey, Alex." Reggie greeted.

"Where have you been?" Luke questioned. "We need to start practicing."

"Yeah? For what?" Alex asked excitedly.

Before anyone else could answer, the studio door opened. "Dance news!" Flynn came in, striking a pose. "I don't have a date. But I don't care because I'm so psyched to see you guys perform."

"Oh man! We're playing a dance?" The blonde boy groaned.

Ellie through her hands up exasperatedly. "You guys are so ungrateful."

"Of course, dude." Luke sat down, ignoring Ellie's words. "That's how we get a following nowadays." He informed him.

Julie scoffed out a laugh. "Yeah, get with the program, Alex." She said, sharing a smile with Luke.

"What?" Flynn yelled. "The band is here?Hey, guys!" The girl turned the complete opposite way the ghosts were and waved happily.

"Other way, sweetie." Julie mused.

"Oh." Flynn quickly turned the right way and waved again, earning greetings that she couldn't see or hear.

"Okay, well, now that Alex has graced us with his presence, can we start working?" Luke asked impatiently.

Julie nodded eagerly. "Yes!" She looked over at Flynn. "We're gonna rehearse. You wanna stick around?"

Flynn's face turned to one of contemplation. "I'm supposed to blow up 500 balloons for the school dance, but this sounds way better."

"Hey, Julie!" A new voice called. The occupants of the room all looked over as Julie's little brother walked in, unknowingly walking through Alex as he did.

"Remember those orbs in Dad's pictures? I-I think they're ghosts." Carlos placed a stack of photos onto Julie's keyboard. "But don't worry. This room is..." He paused and spun in a slow circle, looking around the room with narrowed eyes. "This room is clean. I'm not getting the ghost tinglies." He said, gesturing to his head.

Reggie chuckled. "Wrong again, little dude." The boy felt his smile grow as Ellie laughed at his joke.

"Have no fear. If they come back, I will protect you, because I am the man of the house." Carlos declared, his big sister watching him with an amused expression.

Ellie cooed. "He's so cute!"

"Isn't Dad supposed to be the man of the house?" Julie questioned as she folded her arms.

Carlos faltered. "There can be two." He replied, making everyone laugh. "And Dad needs all the help he can get, right?" The boy pulled container from his pocket. "According to the internet, salt burns their souls out."

The grins fell from everyone's faces, replaced with looks of worry and fear. "Oh, god. It's like that supernatural show Julie showed me." Ellie whispered, leaning back into Reggie subconsciously.

"A little sprinkle will keep them from ever coming in here." Julie no longer looked amused, staring warily at the salt container in her brothers hand.

Carlos suddenly whipped around, tossing salt right where the spirits were. He hit the floor near Reggie and Ellie first, the two of them yelping. The bassist quickly pulling Ellie back as he lifted his feet. Luke did the same when the kid sprinkled some by his feet. Alex wasn't able to react as quickly, getting hit by salt.

"No!" Alex screamed, his friends all looking over worriedly. "Oh God, I'm..." He paused, looking at his hands and realizing that nothing had happened. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Totally fine." He straightened up, smiling casually like nothing happened.

Julie shot Flynn a look, clearing her throat and nodding subtly to her brother.

"Oh! Carlos, you know who's hungry? Me. Um, salt me a path to the kitchen." Flynn was able to successfully distract Carlos, the boy easily obeying and leaving with Flynn following close behind.

The band all recovered from the scare, getting back into rehearsal mode.

"Shall we try this again?" Julie questioned the ghosts.

Luke shot up from his seat. "Yes, please. But remind us later. There's some Sunset Curve songs to show you." He informed her, Ellie, Reggie and Alex all grinning in response. They had talked about showing Julie some of their old songs, hoping she'd maybe be able to modernize them a bit more

"Ooh!" Julie grinned excitedly, pushing her microphone away from her face. "Show me now."

"Yeah, okay." Ellie smirked as she watched Luke fumble towards his journal at Julie's request. Julie had no idea she'd already managed to get the brunette wrapped around her finger. "Home Is Where My Horse Is." Luke read from a page sticking out of the book. "Reggie, stop putting your country songs in my journal."

"That was a gift." Reggie defended.

Luke patted him on the arm. "Thanks, buddy."

"Yeah, you should maybe circle back..." Reggie trailed off with a faint frown as Luke ignored him.

"I dog-eared the ones that I think you would slay." Luke said, handing his journal over to the awaiting lead singer.

Ellie smiled softly, walking over to Reggie and nudging him with her elbow. "I didn't know you finished your song." She spoke quietly, remembering how Reggie had been wanting to tryout songwriting for himself.

Reggie's eyes lit up, not only at their close proximity but also at the fact that she was actually interested in discussing his song. The bassist nodded with a grin, going to reply when Julie said something that made all of the ghosts freeze.

"Who's Emily?" Julie asked, looking up at Luke curiously.

"That one's not dog-eared." Luke moved to take the journal back but Julie was quicker, standing from her seat and pulling the book to her chest. Ellie glanced wearily between the two singers as Julie looked down at the page and proceeded to read the lyrics out.

"If you could only know that I never let you go. Wow, Luke, I didn't know you were such a romantic." Julie teased, though Ellie could see their was something in her eyes that wasn't amused.

"He's not. That one's actually about–" Alex didn't get to finished his sentence as he was pulled back by Ellie and interrupted by Luke.

"No one. Uh, that's just something that I tried, and.." The brunette boy stammered, ignoring the concerned stares from his fellow dead musicians. "But if you go to the next dog-eared page, I got a tune that's just–It's got a killer beat."

Luke bounced over, plugging together the amp with his guitar and playing a riff that they had been working on before they that fateful night.

Julie raised her eyebrows. "So you wanna sample."

Luke chuckled in confusion. "What do you mean sample?"

"Sample someone else's music." The hispanic girl explained like it was obvious, only confusing the ghosts further. "Me and my mom used to sing that song at the top of our lungs all the time. It's a classic Trevor Wilson song."

Ellie laughed lightly despite the odd feeling in her gut. "Yeah, Jules, we know what sample means, but that is a classic our song." She said, her boys nodded in agreement.

"Pure Sunset Curve." Reggie added. "Never even heard of Trevor Wilson."

"Yeah, maybe you're mixing it up, you know, with another song." Alex suggested.

"I don't mix up songs." Julie retorted. "Trust me. Me and his daughter used to be best friends. I used to hang out at their place all the time. I know that song."

The ghosts all shared amused but doubtful looks, not going unnoticed by Julie.

"Here." She turned slightly to grab her laptop from the coffee table behind her. "I'll prove it." Ellie and the boys watched her open the device and tap on the keys.

"His first album had a bunch of hits,
but none of his latest stuff is as good." She explained, turning the laptop around for them to see.

It only took a second for Ellie to recognize the man in the picture. Although he may have aged, he still had the same nose, the same lips, the same eyes. Staring back at her was a picture of none other than her ex boyfriend, Bobby, only twenty five years old than she last saw him.

Ellie felt her blood run cold, her face turning white and her body stuck in its position. She knew they would probably cross paths with him again at some point, she just wasn't prepared for it to happen so soon.

The three boys seemed to also come to the same realization, all staring at the screen in shock. "That's Bobby."

Julie gave them an annoyed look. "Seriously, I just told you his name is Trevor."

"Okay, great. Th-then he changed it, all right? That's definitely Bobby. He was our rhythm guitarist." Alex told her. The blondes words seemed to strike a cord in Julie, the girl looking over at Ellie, who was still frozen in her spot, with wide eyes.

"Your Bobby?" Ellie could only muster up a nod.

Alex and Reggie were still preoccupied with staring at the picture, whilst Luke had joined Ellie in silently processing the information.

"I can't get over how old he looks." Reggie narrowed his eyes at the screen.

"Oh...He looks like a substitute teacher." Alex observed in disgust.

"Julie..." She looked up at the boy who called her name. "What were his other hits?" Luke asked. Ellie almost wanted to stop her from answering, but she couldn't bring herself to speak.

"Get Lost." She quickly replied. The filipino girl could feel herself become nauseous, the pieces of the situation started to fit together, creating an image that sent shivers down her spine.

Luke's face immediately fell, looking over at Ellie with a face of concern mixed with anger. "Yeah. Ellie and I wrote that."

"Long Weekend?" Julie tried, hoping for a different answer.

"Yeah, they wrote that one too." Reggie informed her, his frown deepening as he continuously stole glances at Ellie. Her hand had moved to rest over her mouth, eyes glazed over as she stared at nothing.

"Crooked Teeth?" Julie questioned cautiously.

"And that." Alex said. "It was about Reggie."

"What?" Reggie's face grew offended as his folded arms fell to his side. "I thought it was about you!" He said to Alex. "I don't like that song anymore." He stomped. Both Luke and Ellie were caught in their emotions to explain the context of the song.

"Wait. This is... freaking me out." Julie waved her hands in distress. "Trevor's songs are kind of big to me. He's the one who introduced me to rock."

Alex scoffed. "Yeah. Luke and Ellie introduced you to rock." He gestured to said ghosts, Luke throwing darts and Ellie chewing on her nails.

"So this whole time, I thought you were connected to my mom. But instead, you're connected to Carrie's dad?" Julie frowned in confusion, looking back and forth between the four ghosts. "Out of all people, it had to be the one girl who had it out for me."

Alex from his new spot sitting in front of his drums, shrugged. "All right, well, add it to our list of questions."

"Back when Carrie and I were friends, the three of us used to talk about music all the time." It was then that Ellie realized that not only had Bobby apparently been playing their songs all these years, but that he was also probably married and now had a sixteen year old daughter. It hurt her more than she cared to admit. "He never mentioned you guys."

"And that's unbelievable!" Luke threw a dart at the board. Okay, he can take all the credit, and he doesn't even mention us?" Alex and Reggie shook their heads in disappointment.

"Jules?" Ellie spoke in a small voice. The other occupants of the room snapped their heads towards her in surprise, as she hadn't said a word the entire time. "Did...did he happened to have a song, called something like Disconnected?"

Julie's shoulders seemed to drop further at the realization of what she was asking, because she indeed did know a song of the same name, and if it was the song she was thinking of, it had become so much worse.

Luke, Alex and Reggie all shared a look of worry, knowing exactly what song Ellie was talking about. Although their relationship would most likely have come to an end soon if they hadn't died, the boys remembered the love Ellie and Bobby had for each other in the early stages of their relationship. Ellie had felt so strongly about the boy, that she had even written a song for him for his seventeenth birthday.

Julie gave Ellie a defeated look. "I always thought it was about Carrie's mom."

Ellie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, feeling her chest clench in pain. At the same time, she could feel the anger boiling in her veins. Not only did Bobby take credit for their songs, he never once mentioned his old band mates, his closest friends and his girlfriend of two years; it was like they never existed. All the work they had put in to make sure they would make their mark on the world, erased like it was never there. Did anyone even remember Sunset Curve?

"And he never...?" Ellie trailed off, hoping Julie understood what she was trying to ask.

Julie, with apologetic eyes, shook her head sadly. "I've never heard him mention you." She replied softly.

Ellie felt a hand grab her clenched fist, looking over at Reggie, who smiled reassuringly and intertwined their hands. If she wasn't so upset, Elle would have felt her heart flutter.

"And he's rich." Julie muttered, only rubbing salt into the wound. "He has his own helicopter."

Luke let out an angry yell, chucking a dart that landed in the boarded roughly.

Alex jumped up from his seat. "He has... He has a-a helicopter?" The blonde repeated for confirmation. He along with the other ghosts approached Julie's keyboard to get a better look at her laptop.

"With his face on it." Julie pointed at the picture. Sure enough, it showed a helicopter flying right above a large building.

"And he parks it in front of that hotel?" Reggie asked with wide eyes.

"No. He gets to park it in front of his mansion." Julie corrected for emphasis.

"Mansion?" Reggie repeated in a high voice.

Alex clenched his jaw and turned to Luke. "Dude, we live in a garage."

"It's not about the money. It's about the music!" Luke exclaimed, chest rising and falling in fury.

"It's a little bit about the money though!" Reggie argued, earning an agreeing statement from Alex. "He could have shared it with our families! Maybe then my parents wouldn't have had their house turned into a bike shack!"

"What he did is steal our legacy." Luke said, an angry frown etched on all their faces.

Ellie found herself stepping forward, looking at Julie with a determined glint in her eyes. "Where does he live?"

The others snapped their heads towards her in surprise, immediately understanding her intentions and not expecting them from her of all people. But they didn't get it. Sure, Bobby had taken something from all of them, but none of them knew him like Ellie did. She had given so much of herself to him, only for him to betray her like this.

When Julie was hesitant to answer, Ellie dipped her head down, golden eyes glaring into those of the girl who brought them back into the world. "Julie. Where?"

The boys glanced between the girls, the younger of the two clearly uncomfortable under Ellie's stare.

"Above the beach in Malibu." Julie caved.

Disregarding her atypical behavior, Luke nudged Alex on the arm, grabbing his coat from the chair he recently occupied.

Reggie squeezed Ellie's hand, waiting for the action to be reciprocated before he let go. "Let's go teach him a lesson."

"Wait. What?" Julie shot up abruptly. "Guys! We have to rehearse for the dance. This is our first gig!"

Ellie felt her eyes soften for a split second at the younger girl, before they hardened again. "Sorry, Jules." She muttered, the four ghosts disappearing in a flash.

𝗔 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗫𝗜𝗦:
𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺. 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦. 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥! 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 5𝘴𝘰𝘴. 𝘪 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴. 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴?