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𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗔 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧

ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ ＴＷＯ:
bad day

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STILL A LITTLE shaken up by her literal paranormal experience involving three cute ghost boys from the 90's, Emilia sat stiffly at the dinner table next to Apollo. She rested her chin in the palm of her hand and pushed her spaghetti around with her fork. It seemed as if her whole appetite left her. Those cute ghost boys made her a little nervous, and when she's nervous, her stomach twists and turns.

"Are you all right, Emilia?" Ray questioned.

"Hmm?" Emilia hummed, looking up. "Oh, uh, yeah, I'm okay. Just not that hungry, I guess."

Ray raised an eyebrow. "Apollo told me he found you and Julie in the studio."

"Yeah, they were talking, but it didn't seem to be directed towards each other," Apollo agreed.

Julie laughed slightly. "We were just reading out some lines for a play."

"Hello, hello!" a woman's voice called.

Everybody at the table stopped eating with wide eyes. It was Julie's Tía Victoria, who frequently came over. She was the one who was encouraging Ray to sell the house and try to urge them to move on from Julie's mom's passing.

"Oh, busted!" Carlos exclaimed.

"Yeah, we're in here!" Ray yelled before lowering his voice. "Quick."

Emilia, Apollo, Julie, Carlos, and Ray all scrambled to hide the spot at the table that they had set for Julie's mom. Once the spot was completely cleared, all of them went back to eating like normal. And Emilia, well, she just went back to sipping her glass of water.

Tía Victoria exhaled loudly as she walked into the kitchen. "Spaghetti? Again? Oh, hello Emilia and Apollo."

Emilia smiled at her. "Hi, Miss Victoria. How are you?"

"I'm very good querida, thank you for asking," she replied as she put a dish in the fridge. "I would be better, though, if you were eating my pasteles and arroz con pollo."

"That sounds delicious, Miss Victoria," Apollo voiced.

Julia nodded in agreement. "Thanks, Tía. It smells great."

Tía Victoria waved her off. "You can have it tomorrow. I can't let you have leftovers every night, especially when the twins are here. My sister would kill me, may she rest in peace." She approached the table and stood by to the empty spot next to Emilia. "Oh . . . I see things here are going better?"

"Actually . . ." Ray trailed off. "Julie has been cleaning out mom's studio. Hopefully, we can get the house on the market and some offers soon."

"Well, I like the sound of that. Moving from here is only gonna help you move on. You've got to rip that Band-Aid off and get the pain over with."

Suddenly, in the middle of sipping her water again, Emilia looked up to see Luke, Reggie, and Alex standing in the house. The three of them smiled and began to approach the table. Julie yelled while Emilia choked on her water. She coughed into her hand. Everyone looked at the two in concern while the three boys stopped in their tracks.

Julie awkwardly chuckled. "That's me. Ripping off the Band-Aid. Ah!"

Emilia placed her glass back down on the table. "And Julie scared me."

Tía Victoria took Julie's chin in her hand. "That's my brave girl. And you sure you're okay, Emilia?"

"Yep. Yep, perfectly fine," Emilia replied, nervously laughing.

Luke crouched down in front of Julie's chair. "Hey, Julie, I really like what you guys did with the place."

"You shouldn't be here!" Julie scolded.

Tía Victoria gasped. "Oh, I'm just here to help, mija."

"Oh . . . I think that's our cue to leave," Alex said to Luke and Reggie.

"Yes," Emilia responded to Alex, but making it seem like she was agreeing with Tía Victoria while giving Julie a pointed look. "I think that's a great idea."

Tía Victoria placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "Aw, thank you, Emilia."

"I just meant that you should be at Pilates!" Julie quickly corrected. "Thank you for bringing us food."

"We should've called first," Reggie whispered while pushing Luke and Alex out of the door.

Her aunt pulled Julie in for a hug. "It's nothing. And now that you're no longer in the music program, you can concentrate on classes that matter."

Everyone at the table froze. Julie slipped out of the hug and sunk back into her chair. Emilia focused her gaze down at her plate.

Tía Victoria looked right at Ray. "You got the e-mail from the school, right?"

"Yeah," Ray breathed out. "We're still discussing it."

"Bueno, I'm off to Pilates," Tía Victoria announced.

She blew a kiss. Carlos stood up and pretended to hit it with a baseball bat. Tía Victoria then kissed Julie on the back of the head, waved to Emilia and Apollo, and spoke to Ray in rapid Spanish before leaving.

"So, Julie, wanna hear how I slid into home and was almost safe?" Carlos asked.

"You're a good brother," Ray commented, snapping his fingers twice. "That's not gonna work."

Carlos sighed. "I tried."

He stood up and took his plate in his hands. Emilia and Apollo followed in suit. She sent a reassuring smile to Julie before following Carlos into the living room.

Emilia sat down on one of the couches and looked straight at Carlos. "All right, Carlos, tell me. How did you slide into home and was almost safe?"

Carlos' face brightened and he began to explain what had happened at his baseball game. Emilia tried her best to follow along, even though she knew nothing about sports. Meanwhile, Apollo was actively engaging with Carlos and asking him more questions about the game. Emilia's heart warmed as she watched the two.

Suddenly, rock music began to play, and it sounded like it was coming from the studio. Emilia's eyes widened in realization — the boys. Carlos and Apollo looked at her curiously as she stood up from the couch. She quickly walked into the dining room again with both of them trailing behind her.

"What's that?" Carlos inquired.

"I must have left the stereo on in the garage," Julie answered, standing up and grabbing Emilia's wrist. "Emilia and I will go get it."

The two of them quickly walked down to the studio. When Julie opened the door, it revealed Luke playing the guitar, Reggie playing the bass, and Alex playing the drums on some of the old equipment that had been there since Julie's mom and Ray bought the house. Emilia assumed it must have been theirs. Despite still being a little freaked out, Emilia had to admit that they were kind of good. But that didn't excuse the fact that their music was blasting.

"Guys!" Julie yelled. "Guys, stop!"

They continued to play.

Emilia rolled her eyes. She walked over to the amp where Luke had his guitar plugged into and unplugged it. The sound immediately died out, making Reggie and Alex stop playing as well.

"Hey, give that back!" Luke protested, reaching out to take the plug.

Emilia dropped it to the floor and quickly placed her foot on top of the plug. "No." She crossed her arms and flickered her eyes between the three boys. "Okay, you may be ghosts, but you just disturbed the whole neighborhood with your loud rock music."

"Yeah, and I thought I told you to leave," Julie agreed.

Luke looked stunned. "Wait, people can hear us play?"

"Yes, and so did my dad and my brother and Emilia's brother!"

"W-W-Wait," Alex stuttered, standing up from the drum seat as Reggie and Luke put their instruments down. "Only you and Emilia can see us, but everyone can hear us? I mean, what kind of ghosts are we?"

"Who cares, man?" Luke questioned excitedly. "People can hear us play!"

"We might be dead, but our music isn't," Reggie stated.

All three of them shared a fist bump. Then, the door suddenly opened to reveal Ray.

Julie looked at him. "Dad!"

"Hey," Ray responded. "Just making sure you and Emilia are okay."

Emilia smiled awkwardly and locked her hands together in front of her, discreetly kicking the plug out from underneath her foot. "I'm perfectly fine, Ray. No need to worry about me."

"And I'm fine, too," Julie added. "I just had to turn off the C.D. player."

Ray pointed to the drum set. "Wait, is this the junk that was in the loft?"

"Junk?" Luke asked incredulously.

Ray walked up to Alex's drum set and played it with his hands. Emilia winced as all three boys stared at him dangerously.

"All of this stuff's in pretty good shape," Ray realized. "Hey, maybe we can make a couple bucks."

"What? Yo, stop touching my drums." Alex looked in between Julie and Emilia. "Tell him to stop touching my drums!"

Alex, Luke, and Reggie looked at them urgently. Julie spread her hands helplessly while Emilia cleared her throat awkwardly.

"I like that song you had on," Ray told Julie.

"Sweet, we're Sunset Curve," Luke said.

"Tell your friends," Reggie encouraged.

"It's just an old C.D. I found," Julie explained.

Ray laced his fingers together in front of him. "Well, still, it's nice that you're listening to music again. Out here you can play whatever you want, whenever you want."

When he spread his hands out, they passed through Luke and Reggie's chests. Emilia blinked. She was never going to get used to that.

"Oh, that's nice!" Reggie exclaimed.

"Stay out of this," Julie scolded through gritted teeth.

"I — I'm sorry, honey, I didn't . . ." Ray trailed off.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, not you, I mean, uh, you know, give me and Emilia a minute."

Julie quickly led her dad over to the doors. They had a quick conversation Emilia couldn't quite hear before Ray finally left the studio. Emilia let out a deep breath and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"He likes our song," Luke voiced.

"Oh, yeah, he doesn't count," Alex argued. "He's a dad."

"Why can't you guys just be normal ghosts?" Julie yelled.

"I mean, Jules, they kind of are, emphasis on kind of," Emilia responded. "Look, our hands even go through them."

Emilia raised her hand and thrust a fist out towards Luke's back. However, instead of going through like it did with Julie and Ray, Emilia actually punched his shoulder. She gasped and slapped her other hand to her mouth.

"Ow!" Luke yelped. He held his shoulder in the palm of his hand. Suddenly, he froze as he realized what just happened. "Wait . . ."

Emilia's eyes flickered down from her hand to Luke's incredulous expression multiple times. Hesitantly, she lifted her hand back up and poked his shoulder. And, again, it pressed against his skin instead of going through it. Her eyes turned wide as she recoiled her hand.

She slowly dropped her hand from her mouth and waved the other boys over. "Reggie, Alex, come here."

They stepped forwards. She poked both of her shoulders, and just like what happened with Luke, it poked their skin. Emilia stumbled backwards away from them in shock.

Emilia felt her heart rate increase. "How am I touching all of you?"

"I — I don't know," Luke stuttered. Emilia was just about to scream, but Luke held up his hands in a comforting manner to stop her from doing so. "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, don't freak out."

"Oh, easy for you to say," Emilia countered. "You're not the one touching people who are supposed to be air that have already died!"

Reggie leaned closer to Luke. "She's got a point."

"I don't know how Em can touch you, but can't you guys just hang out at an old mansion?" Julie inquired, obviously frustrated. "I hear Pasadena's nice."

Julie then left, leaving Emilia along with Luke, Alex, and Reggie.

Alex turned to them. "I think she's warming up to us."

"Yeah, I've always wanted to go to Pasadena," Reggie agreed.

Emilia placed a hand to her forehead. "Oh my God, this is too complicated."

"Listen, we're really sorry we don't have any answers for you," Luke told her, making her look up at him. "We're just as confused as you are. I mean, we became ghosts like an hour ago and have suddenly discovered we can still play music. And you are the only one actually able to touch us? It's all a little head-spinning."

"Yeah," Emilia laughed slightly, gesturing to her head. "I feel it."

Luke laughed along with her before turning serious. "Is there any way to try and convince Julie to let us stay?"

Emilia sighed. "She's had a pretty rough day. I think talking to her might help."

"Cool. Thank you, Emilia."

With that, he disappeared out of thin air.

Emilia blinked. "Uh, okay then."

Alex nodded his head over to the doors. "Let's go see what they're chatting about."

Emilia followed him and Reggie out to see Luke talking to Julie on the path up to her house.

"—what I just felt in there actually made me feel alive again," Luke was saying. "We all felt alive again. 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. You gotta know that. Clearly your mom is into music."

Emilia frowned and looked down at her hands.

"Was," Julie corrected. "She passed away."

A shocked expression painted across Luke's face. "I am . . . so sorry."

"Yeah, we . . . we didn't know," Alex spoke up, making Julie look down at them.

Julie sighed. "It's all right. The only one of you who did was Em." She paused for a moment. "You guys haven't seen her anywhere, have you? From wherever you're from?"

"Um," Alex began, glancing at Reggie who was shaking his head. "No. No, I mean, you and Emilia are kind of the first people we've seen."

"And was able to touch," Luke added. "Which is still really crazy."

Emilia scoffed. "You could say that again."

Reggie pointed in between Emilia and Julie. "Yeah, but they're not dead, so it doesn't answer Julie's question."

"Yeah, I think they know what we mean," Alex replied before looking back to Julie. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Julie nodded. "Thanks. Sorry I got mad. You guys are kinda good."

"Kinda?" Luke inquired. "You know that's, like, twenty-five years of rust just getting dusted off."

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

"No. No, I don't play," Julie answered, and Emilia resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the lie. "But Em does."

Luke looked down at her. "You play?"

Emilia nodded with a small smile. "Yeah. The guitar, too. And I occasionally sing and songwrite. But Julie here was actually the one who got me into all of it at a young age."

"She plays a mean rendition of Hopelessly Devoted to You from Grease," Julie added.

Emilia shrugged. "What can I say? That song is a classic. How can I not sing it every time it comes on?"

Luke pointed to her. "I definitely want to hear you sing that one day." He then glanced back to Julie. "And you seriously don't play?"

Julie shook her head. "That was my mom's stuff in there."

"No way," Luke stated. "She's an amazing songwriter."

"She was." Julie then looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Wait, how would you know?"

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

They all went silent. Emilia placed her hands in her pockets and rocked back and forth on her heels.

Julie went to leave, but she turned back to the boys. "I guess . . . if you need a place to stay, you can stay in there. 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 exclaimed, raising his hand. He lowered it once he saw the confused looks from everyone. "I just really like showers and sometimes the occasional bath."

Emilia blinked. "Um, what?"

"This . . . this is just too weird," Julie said. "Come on, Em. You gotta get back home."

Emilia gave them a tight smile. "Night, boys."

She bounded up the steps, accidentally brushing her shoulder with Luke's. Emilia felt a shiver run throughout her entire body when she did so. She turned back to him with a confused expression to see him doing the same thing.

"Emilia!" she heard Apollo yell. "We have to get home!"

She snapped out of it. Emilia turned back around and walked up to the house where her and Apollo's car was parked. And as she sat in the car on the way home, she couldn't help but think of a certain shaggy-haired boy in a way that she had never thought of anyone before.

But he was a ghost. That would never happen . . . right?

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nobody:
me: yes let's update this book during class