･ﾟ☆ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱:
" 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵 "

AFTER THE GHOSTS HAD DISAPPEARED from the stage, the four had found themselves in the crowd of students by the stage.

The way that no one batted an eye at them and continued to stare at Julie was enough to assume that they could no longer see them.

The guy that had been in charge of lighting came from backstage. "Hey, where'd the rest of the band go?"

Julie opened to mouth to answer, but another question came from the crowd.

"Wait. We're those holograms?" One of the girls from Dirty Candy, the one dressed from head to toe in purple, asked. Ellie saw Carrie shoot her friend a glare.

"Yes!" Julie blurted. "Yes, they were holograms. Um..I plugged it into the ceiling projector before the show." Ellie was impressed with how well the lie seemed to put itself together, knowing that Julie wasn't the best at improvising stories. "I'd explain it but it involves algorithms and science stuff."

The students seemed to buy it, applauding Julie once more for her performance.

"That's wild. They could see us when we're playing but not when the music ended." Luke said.

Reggie nodded, face lighting up. "We should double check."

Ellie was going to agree until Reggie climbed the stairs to the stage, shaking his butt and looking for any type of reaction. When nothing happened, he stepped back down, returning to his spot next to Ellie. The girl folded her lips into her mouth, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, I don't–I don't think they can see us." He let them know, oblivious to the odd looks his friends were giving him.

"I wish I couldn't see you." Alex muttered.

"Alright, people!" The principal clapped her hands. "Shows over. Let's get back to class, please."

As the students started to file out of the gym, the ghosts followed behind, eager to know if people were going to talk about their performance. Realizing someone was missing, Ellie looked back to see Reggie next to Carrie and her friend. While the girls argued, mainly Carrie being upset that her friend got so excited about Julie's band and the friend apologizing, Reggie walked with them, asking the purple dressed friend for her number, seemingly forgetting that they couldn't see or hear him.

Ignoring the unfamiliar feeling in her chest, Ellie silently walked to him, grabbing him on the shoulders from behind and guiding him out of the gym despite his protests. "They can't see you, Reg, it's useless." She said, the words coming out harsher than she intended.

Feeling guilty for being the cause of his frown, Ellie gave him a smile. "I'm sure there's a ghost girl out there somewhere that'll let you sweep her off her feet." The two of them walked to meet up with Luke and Alex, the girl not noticing the longing look in Reggie's eyes as the words left her lips, his mind immediately going to one ghost girl in particular.

Luke, of course, was practically bouncing off the walls. Performing always got him in a good mood and today was no exception.

"Did you guys feel the energy in there? I can't believe that people can see us when we play!"

But while Luke was jumping around excitedly, Alex was was forcing a smile, trying to not look as freaked out as he probably felt. Ellie knew how he felt, and she also knew that he hated to be the one to bring down the mood. She, however, was much more outspoken.

"Don't get me wrong, it was awesome, but aren't you the least bit curious as to how that happened? I know we figured out to to conjure our instruments but unless I've blacked out at some point in the last two days, we still haven't figured out how to become visible!" She ranted, her hands waving wildly as she spoke. From the corner of her eye, she could see Alex sigh a little in relief that he wasn't the only one weirded out by the situation.

Luke wasn't at all fazed by Ellie's outburst, grabbing her by the shoulders. "We can deal with the how later, don't worry about that right now. Besides, you rocked out there!"

And just like that, Ellie was successfully distracted. "Really?" She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear bashfully, oblivious to the amused grins the guys shared. "It's been a while since I really performed."

"You were amazing, as always." Reggie nudged her with his shoulder playfully. Ellie didn't seem to notice the way her cheeks became rosy, but Alex and Luke did. They'd noticed the small changes with Ellie and Reggie's friendship, not even just since they became ghosts, but also within the few months before they died. Something was definitely there that hadn't been before.

The schools bell suddenly rang, all the students that had previously been in the hallways now herded into classrooms. They ghosts heard footsteps and Reggie's face lit up. "That's probably Julie. We should surprise her!" He whisper yelled.

The guys agreed and soon Luke was standing on Reggie and Alex's knees while Ellie kneeled on the floor beneath them. Sure enough, a figure clad in camo walked around the corner, jumping as the ghosts yelled out, "Julie!"

Julie yelped. "Ah! You! Stop doing that." She gave them glares as they giggled and stood from their pyramid. "I'm serious."

"Whoa! This ones on you! We were already here." Reggie raised his hands in defense. "Well, actually, we were over there and then we came over here." He pointed behind them.

"Are we not gonna talk about what just happened?" Luke burst.

"Yeah, the whole school saw you. It's kinda freaking me out." Julie admitted, though she also seemed excited.

Alex's shoulders dropped. "Okay, good. Cause it's kinda freaking us out too!" He told the girl, gesturing to himself and Ellie. "You know, you can see us and then people could see us whenever we play music and my clothes are made out of air but for some reason I'm still getting a wedgie." Alex rambled, very similar to Ellie, as Luke rubbed his back comfortingly.

Ellie had the same reaction to his words as Julie and Reggie, her nose scrunching up. "TMI, Al." She mumbled.

"So many questions." Alex exhaled.

"The important thing is that we rocked that place!" Luke tore his eyes away from their nervous friend, his excitement coming back full forces "They were loving you!" He said to Julie.

Julie grinned. "Are you kidding? They loved us." She spoke to all of them before her attention was brought back to the male guitarist. "That was a great song, Luke, thanks. And thank you, Ellie, for helping me rehearse." The two ghosts smiled back at the living girl but Ellie didn't miss the way that Julie's eyes lingered on Luke just a tad bit longer.

"And did you see those cheerleaders looking at me? I think they were looking at me. Please tell me they were looking at me." Reggie pleaded to Luke.

Luke laughed, grabbing Reggie's face between his hands. "Bro, they were looking at you!"

"Oh, I knew it!" Reggie beamed.

And there it was again. That weird feeling in the pit of Ellie's stomach. She'd never experienced this feeling before when they were alive, so she chalked it up to it being a ghost thing. Still, she didn't enjoy it at all wondered what could be causing it. Maybe she could ask Julie about it.

"I'm just so...I'm so confused, you know?" Alex spoke up again. "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 and I got back into the program." Julie said, head hanging.

"Julie, that's..." Ellie's smiled faltered, noticing the girls upset demeanor. "Great?"

"Why do you look so bummed?" Reggie questioned.

"Yeah, dude, you're making this face." Luke pulled the other ghosts towards him, all four of them dramatically pouting at Julie.

Julie cleared her throat, holding back a smile. "That is not my face."

"It's your face." Luke disagreed quietly.

"And things just got weird between me and Flynn. She asked about you guys and I couldn't say." Julie frowned, Ellie sending her a sympathetic smile.

"Sweet. Girls are already talking about us." Reggie whispered to Luke, the two of them sharing a low five that had Ellie rolling her eyes.

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

"Well, this dude definitely thinks you've gone off the deep end." Reggie commented. The five of them all looked towards the janitor, who stopped in between them, giving Julie a weird look before grumbling as he wheeled his cart away.

Julie shook her head and chuckled. "I gotta get back to class."

"Later Julie!" Reggie grinned as she walked away. "Oh! Tell those cheerleaders I'm single!"

"Oh, and that he's dead." Alex retorted.

"No, no, no! Leave that part out!" Reggie looked back to wear Julie had disappeared, frowning when he didn't see her. "She's gone."

Luke cheered. "Whoo!"

Once they'd made it back to the studio, Alex was immediately pacing back and forth. Luke, Reggie and Ellie were all sat on the couch watching him warily.

Ellie understood his worries, but whereas Alex was insistent on figuring out all the answers, Ellie figured it was probably easier to just go with the flow and trust that everything was happening for a reason.

"I think he's practicing his model strut." Reggie commented.

Ellie hummed. "If he is, that posture will get him no where. He does have the legs for it though." She replied, earning a nod of agreement from the pale boy.

"He's so nervous he's almost making me nervous." Luke told them.

Alex acknowledged their words and stopped his pacing. "Okay, look, you guys know I don't handle change well. Alright, death? That was a change." The others nodded. "Okay, then we became ghosts. Another change. And now, we can be seen whenever we play with Julie. Big freaking change!"

"Yeah, but, bro, it was a good change." Luke reminded him. "With Julie, we can play on stage again and be the band we never got to be. C'mon, I mean you gotta be down for that." He spoke gently, trying his best to get Alex to see the positive side of things.

The blonde boy sighed. "Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't be? You know, I wanna figure out why."

"Forget why." Luke shot up from his seat. "Man, I say we invite Julie to join Sunset Curve."

Reggie followed his actions and stood. "Yeah, totally. I mean, like, think about it. With a new lead singer, this band would be legendary."

"Hey!" Luke frowned. "I'm our lead singer.

Reggie gave him a pointed look. "Dude, that girl has the voice of an angel, and she can make us visible. Without her, we're just like elevator music." He stressed, earning a pout from Luke.

"Well, you don't gotta be so mean about it." He mumbled. "And we're on the runway again."

The ghosts all looked towards Alex who had, once again, begun wearing a hole into the floor.

"Okay, I'm sorry, alright, I just-" Alex inhaled deeply. "I gotta go clear my head." The drummer sped to the garage doors, his hand going through the handles rather than grabbing onto them like he intended. Ellie saw him tense up in frustration, watching him with worried eyes.

"Dude, you're a ghost, just poof out." Reggie suggested.

"Don't tell me how to ghost!" Alex snapped, his voice thick with overwhelmed emotions. Reggie shut his mouth quickly. Alex took a deep breath before he followed the suggestion, poofing out of the studio.

The other three dead musicians were left in an awkward silence for a few seconds before Luke sighed. "I'm gonna go see if Julie's home yet. You guys coming?" He asked, already halfway to the door.

Reggie quickly followed, the two boys looking back at Ellie when she remained in her seat. "Um...you guys go ahead. I'll stay here."

Luke raised a curious brow and Reggie looked at her in concern. "You sure?" The bassists asked, contemplating to himself if he should stay with her.

Ellie gave them a reassuring smile that she prayed looked convincing enough. "Yeah, yeah. I'm still a little freaked out about everything too so I need a few minutes alone anyway."

The boys nodded, leaving through the door, but not before Reggie could give her one last glance. She felt herself sigh once they had gone, finally able to get her thoughts straight without them to distract her.

Her excuse hadn't been a complete lie, she was still slightly freaked out that they can be seen only when they're playing with Julie, but for the most part, Ellie had been willing to look past it and just enjoy the possibilities like Luke had been preaching.

The actual reason she needed to be alone was because of Luke's suggestion. Ellie also thought that asking Julie to join the band was a good idea. Not only was she extremely talented but it seems like that's the only way they could ever be seen.

She tells herself that, that's why they're eager to invite her to join, but it's hard to even convince herself. The larger part of her brain, however, was focused on the fact the boys had never wanted Ellie in the band as they seemed to want Julie. Even when they started Sunset Curve, the offer had never been given to her. It was more of them announcing that they were going to be a band and Ellie taking the initiative to help write music and step in when needed. With Julie in the band, another amazing songwriter and talented musician, would they even need her?

And Reggie had never told her that she had the voice of an angel.

In the back of her mind, she knew she was overreacting and had no real reason to be upset, but despite that, her chest still ached at the thought.

Ellie really hated how sensitive she could be sometimes. Anytime someone raised their voice at her she would have to hold back tears. On top of that, her anxiety made it extremely hard not to take things to heart, such is obvious with her current predicament.

But the boys seemed so excited about being able to play again. And Julie had finally gotten passed her fear of playing music without her mom. If Julie joining Sunset Curve was essential to them being happy, who was Ellie to stand in the way of that?

𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬:
𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺'𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮!