･ﾟ☆ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨:
" 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 "

   NOT LONG AFTER, THE GHOSTS became bored with looking around the studio. It hadn't changed much with the exception of some new furniture and instruments that weren't there when they were alive.

They decided to go explore the house, curious as to what it looked like from the inside now. It was Bobby's before, which made Ellie a bit hesitant. The last time she had seen him was before they died, and he was flirting with another girl, so she wasn't thrilled to have to be in his house again. But the boys convinced her and they made there way to the front door, grinning excitedly when they realized they could walk right through it.

Reggie tripped and stumbled on the way in, earning looks from his friends. When he recovered, they all looked towards the sound of voices and smiled when they spotted Julie eating dinner with her brother and two adults.

The ghosts started towards her, but upon spotted them, Julie yelped, their shoes squeaking on the ground as they froze.

Julies family gave her weird looks, the girl chuckling awkwardly at her mistake. "That's me...ripping off the bandaid." She made a motion of doing so with her hands, repeating a much tamer version of the noise she previously made.

The woman besides her smiled proudly, grabbing her chin. "There's my brave girl!"

"Hey, Julie," She turned to come face to face with Luke, who was leaning down to talk to her. "I really like what you guys did with the place."

"You shouldn't be here." She hissed, once again not realizing that the rest of her family couldn't see or hear them.

The woman gasped. "Oh, I'm just here to help, mija." She said, smiling at Julie.

Julie gave the ghosts a panicked look. "I think that's our cue to leave." Ellie whispered to the boys, keeping her eyes on the flustered girl.

"I mean, you should be at Pilates. Thanks for bringing us food." Julie corrected herself, hugging the woman while shooting a glare at the ghosts.

"We should have called first." Reggie apologized as they all backed up, quickly leaving the house.

"Now I kinda feel bad." Ellie frowned as the four of them walked back to the studio.

Alex and Reggie both hummed in agreement, but Luke beamed instead, looking like a light bulb had gone off in his head.

"I know what will cheer us up." He grinned, jogging away to the studio.

The other three ghosts shared confused glances but chuckled and followed their hyperactive friend.

When they arrived back in the studio, Luke was up in the loft, holding up his guitar over the railing for them to see. "Our instruments are still here!"

The boys made noises of excitement, poofing up to grab their things and coming back down with their instruments. They also found two large speakers they brought down, plugging everything in.

As Ellie helped Luke and Alex set things up, Reggie was still rummaging through the loft, his eyes lighting up when he spotted something familiar.

"Elle!" He called out excitedly. "Look what I found!" He poofed down, another guitar in hand.

Ellie turned around in her spot and gasped, her jaw dropping at the sight of the pale yellow guitar the boys had all pitched in to get her for her 16th birthday.

"Oh, my gosh!" She ran over to Reggie, taking the instrument from his hand. "I completely forgot I left this here."

"Plug it in!" Luke said, "Late Last Night?" He asked once she was finished. He received nods in response and Alex counted them off.

It felt amazing to play again, especially with the guys. It seemed like it had been forever and she realized that, technically, it had been. With midterms approaching, Ellie hadn't had a lot of time to mess around and play with the guys before they died. Feeling the instrument in her hands and the music that resulted was a feeling like no other.

The moment was short lived, however, when Julie barged into the studio, stomping with her leopard print dinosaur slippers.

"Guys! Guys, stop!"

Ellie couldn't help but chuckle at the younger girl, continue to bounce around with Reggie.

"Enough! Stop! Cut it out!" Julie yelled over the music, drawing a line across her neck with her hand. Reggie and Ellie faded out, Luke playing one last riff and Alex beating his drum once with a grin.

Julie folded her arms. "The whole neighborhood could hear you. I thought I told you to leave." She scolded them.

But the four ghosts were only focused on the first part. "Wait. People can hear us play?" Luke asked disbelievingly.

"Yes!" Julie hissed. "And so did my dad and my brother!"

Reggie, Ellie and Luke and put down their instruments, looking over at Alex who stood from his drums. "W-W-Wait–so, only you can see us, but everyone can hear us?" Alex, a smile starting to form. The other three spirits were also grinning at the realization. "I mean, what kind of ghosts are we?"

"Who cares, man?" Luke exclaimed. "People can hear us play!" They fist bumped.

"We might be dead, but our music isn't." Reggie declared, grinning at Ellie's gleeful laugh.

The door to the garage suddenly opened, the ghosts going quiet as the man from inside came in.

"Dad!" Julie greeted with a forced smile.

"Hey." The man replied. "Just making sure you're okay." Ellie smiled softly, wishing she could have interactions like this with her own father.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Julie assured. "Just had to turn off the CD player.

Her dad turned his head, eyes widening at all the instruments laying out. "Wait, is this the junk that was in the loft?"

"Junk?" Both Luke and Ellie repeated, looking offended at the word.

Julie's dad walked behind the drum set, messing with each piece. "Some of this stuff is in pretty good shape." He ran his hands along the cymbals. "Hey, maybe we can make a couple bucks."

Alex popped up behind him. "What? Yo, stop touching my drums!" He looked over at Julie. "Tell him to stop touching my drums!"

Luke gestured at her dad and Julie just shrugged apologetically.

"I like that song you had on." Julie's dad walked back around, not noticing one of the cymbals still moving as Alex wiped it with his sleeve. The ghosts all grinned at his words.

"Sweet! We're Sunset Curve." Luke told the man as if he could hear him.

"Tell your friends." Reggie chimed

"It's just an old CD I found." Julie replied.

Ellie frowned, looking over at Luke who was closest to her. "Old?" She mumbled.

Her dad smiled. "Still, it's nice your listening to music again." Ellie silently wondered why Julie apparently hadn't listened to music in a while. She doesn't think she could survive without music in her life. "Out here you can play whatever you want," He spread his arms, the ghosts all flinching as the went through Luke and Reggie. "Whenever you want."

"Aw! That's nice." Reggie grinned.

"Stay out of this." Julie seethed. But, of course, her dad thought she was talking to him.

"I-I'm sorry honey, I didn't..."

"You should really get better at that." Ellie smirked, not appreciating the frown on Reggie's face after Julie snapped at him.

Julie's eyes grew in size. "Oh no, no, no, no. Not you. I mean..uh–er–you know, give me a minute." She laughed nervously, dragging her had back to the door.

"Hey. Hey, hey." He stopped before she could push him out the door, grabbing onto his daughters shoulders. "We're gonna figure out this music program thing." He promised.

Julie smiled forcibly. "Thanks, dad." Then with a final jerk of her thumb, her dad finally left. She closed the door behind him, turning to shoot daggers at the ghosts with her eyes.

"He likes our song!" Luke said excitedly.

"Yeah, he doesn't count." Alex shrugged. "He's a dad."

"Why can't you guys just be normal ghosts?" Julie cried exasperatedly. "Hang out in an old mansion. I hear Pasadena's nice! Ugh!" She groaned, leaving and slamming the door shut without another word.

Alex turned with a grin. "I think she's warming up to us."

"Yeah, I've always wanted to go to Pasadena." Reggie grinned. Alex's face fell and he looked to Ellie for help, the girl just shaking to head slowly and mouthing Don't bother.

There was a small whooshing sound from behind her, and when Ellie turned, Luke was no longer standing there. "Where'd he go?"

Alex turned to the garage door, peeping over to look out the window. "He's talking to Julie." He quietly informed them.

Reggie perked up. "Ooh. Should we go listen?"

"Guys I really don't think-" But before she could finish, she was alone. Ellie sighed, throwing her head back before poofing to the guys.

"-what I just felt in there actually made me feel alive again."

She caught the back end of Luke's sentence. His words seemed to affect Julie who inhaled sharply.

"We all felt alive again." The boy stressed, glancing briefly at his friends who were now quietly listening. "So, you can kick us out if you want but we're not giving up music. We can play again! That's a gift no musician would ever turn down."

Luke had always had the ability to get through to people with his speeches and it seemed Julie was no exception.

When Julie didn't respond, Luke sighed. "You gotta know that. Clearly, your mom is into music."

"Was." Julie finally spoke. "She passed away."

Ellie felt her mouth dry up. How Julie was feeling was something all too familiar to her.

"I am..so sorry." Luke whispered.

"We didn't know." Ellie spoke softly, bringing Julie's attention to her.

"It's alright." Julie sighed, leaning onto the stone railing. "You guys haven't see her anywhere, have you? From wherever you're from."

The ghosts all exchanged looks, each of them shaking their heads. "No. No, I mean, you're kind of the first person we've seen." Alex said. Julie looked disappointed but nodded anyways.

"Yeah, but she's not dead, so it doesn't really answer her question." Reggie pointed out.

"Yeah, I think she knows what we mean." Alex shot back. Ellie let out a breath through her nose, using her hands to push the two away from each other and stepping between them.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Ellie said to the girl, offering her what she hoped was a comforting smile.

The girl gave her an appreciative one back. "Thanks."

"Sorry I got mad. You guys are kinda good." Julie shrugged, the frown she'd been wearing since they met starting to disappear.

"Kinda?" Luke faltered. "You know that's like twenty five years of rust getting dusted off." He said, making a motion with his hands.

"Yeah." Reggie agreed. "Do you play the piano too?"

Julie shook her head. "No. No, I don't play. That was my mom's stuff in there."

"No way. She was an amazing songwriter." The brunette boy beside her said.

The Hispanic girl smiled softly. "She was." She looked at Luke in confusion. "Wait. How would you know?"

"There's a song on the piano." Luke stammered. "If it's hers...your mom was really talented."

Julie nodded, awkwardly smiling at the four ghosts before turning to walk away. At the last second, she pauses, reluctantly turning back around. "I guess...if you need a place to stay, you can stay in there." She offered, gesturing to the studio. "There's a bathroom in the back and a couch that turns into a bed if you still use any of that stuff."

"Dibs on the shower!" Reggie called, everyone looking at him. "I just really like showers, and somethings the occasional bath." He informed them.

"Oh, Reg." Ellie shook her head, her fond smile a contrast to the weird looks everyone else was giving him.

"This..." Julie whispered, looking like she couldn't believe any of this was actually happening. "This is just too weird." She motioned to the situation with her hands, letting them fall and finally making her way through the gate.

The ghosts all made noises of victory, high fiving and excitedly walking back into the studio. Ellie looked back before going completely in, grinning at the familiar look on Luke's face as he stared at where Julie once was.

"C'mon, Romeo. We gotta get settled in."

The four ghosts poofed onto the roof of The Orpheum, Ellie landing in between Luke and Reggie. They all took a second to look around at how the shops and restaurants around the building had changed.

"Hey, I know being dead isn't our first choice," Luke began, patting Alex on the leg. "But, I mean, it sure is easy getting around." He chuckled.

"Easy for you, maybe." Reggie said, the other three looking over at him curiously. "I lost my shirt on that one." He held his leather jacket open for them to see.

Ellie quickly averted her eyes, ignoring how red her cheeks probably were. Reggie's shirt suddenly reappeared on his body. "Ooh, nevermind! There it is!" He said, receiving laughs.

"Okay, so, why'd you bring us here?" Alex questioned. "Just another painful reminder of where we never got to play." He smiled sarcastically, patting Luke's chest. "Thanks, Luke."

"I mean, guys, the game isn't over yet!" He declared, the four of them poofing down to the ground, walking amongst all of the living people. "I'm telling you, we've been given a second chance. Let's find some music. Let's see how many clubs we can hit before sunrise."

Ellie laughed, unable to hide her excitement. "Catch, Reg!" She called. The boy stopped at the familiar words, quickly bending down with his arms held out behind him. Ellie ran towards him, jumping at the last second and squealing when she landed on his back, his arms quickly wrapping around her calves and holding her secure.

Reggie didn't move when he saw that Luke was looking back, all of them looking to Alex who was staring curiously at a tall man in a cape and top hat who was walking away.

"Hey, Alex! You coming?" Luke called.

"Let's go!" Ellie grinned, tapping Reggie's shoulder playfully. "We don't have to be twenty one to get in anymore!"

The ghosts all cheered, walking into the night and not returning home until the morning.

By the time Luke, Reggie, Alex and Ellie made it back to Julie's house, deciding to walk instead of poofing, the sun was starting to blanket the Earth with its warm hues.

The ghosts were able to make it to six live music performances before the clubs all closed.

As they made their way up to the house, they spotted Julie's little brother, Carlos they learned, on the front porch, leaning on the railing with a smile. It was then that they noticed the music flowing through the air.

"What is that?" Luke asked, his friends all shrugging.

The music seemed to grow louder as they approached the studio. They then found, Julie's dad, Ray, leaning on the gate entrance to the studio.

Ellie slowly started to grin as the voice singing began to sound familiar. "Is that Julie?" She questioned, not waiting for a response before she was appearing in front of the slightly ajar door.

   "So wake the spirit, spirit.
   I wanna hear it, hear it.
   No need to fear it, you're not alone,
   You're gonna find your way home!"

Ellie shook her head with a disbelieving smile, listening to the Julie's powerful voice, ignoring the boys as they appeared behind her. The sight when she peeked into the studio was even more powerful, the sunrise seeping into the room and surrounding Julie with a halo of light.

   "Wake up, wake up, if it's all you do.
   Look out, look inside of you.
   It's not what you lost, it's what you'll gain,
   Raising your voice to the rain."

Ellie didn't have time to protest before a hand was wrapped around her wrist and she was suddenly being poofed into the studio, the four of them landing quietly behind Julie as she continued to sing, oblivious to their presence.

   "Wake up your dream and make it true,
   Look out, look inside of you,
   When you feel lost relight that spark,
   Time to come out of the dark,
   Wake up."

Julie sat back down on the bench, playing out the last notes of the song beautifully. "Mm-mm, wake up."

Ellie could hardly contain her smile. Still, she stayed silent, feeling like this was an invasion of privacy, which it probably was.

Her grin, however, faltered when Julie picked up the last sheet of music laid out in front of her, Ellie reading the small notes at the bottom over her shoulder.

Julie, you can do it.
Love mom.

𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬:
𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘳, 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴!