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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟏
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐒

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"Can we talk for a second?"

The familiar voice made Lexi's body tense for a moment before she turned to see Carter standing a few feet away from her. Her first instinct told her to turn away from the boy and completely ignore his existence. However, the look on his face made the Daniels girl's feet stay glued to where she stood as continued to stare at him with her mouth sealed shut. The redhead watched as the Wilson boy's face went from expressionless to conflicted as he glanced between the girl in front of him and his sister, who was glaring up at him from her place on the dance floor.

"I'm so not in the mood for one of your 'I'm better than you' moments," Lexi said to the boy while fighting the urge to run her hands through her hair before letting out a sigh, "can this wait until later?"

"Okay, first off, this isn't my 'I'm better than you' moments. Second, no, this can't wait because I'm actually trying to help you out here," the raven-haired boy responded, causing the annoyance that flowed through the girl in front of him to turn to curiosity as she stared up at him with a quirked eyebrow, "a lot of people down there are talking about how, and I quote, 'Dopey Daniels is ruining another dance.'"

Lexi's eyes slightly widened as she turned her attention away from the Wilson boy to look down at the crowd of dancing students. At first, she didn't believe the words that were coming out of Carter's mouth and assumed that it was just him trying to psych her out. That was until she began noticing how many of her peers were whispering and laughing amongst one another while pointing and staring straight at her. Her body became a statue due to the unwanted attention before she felt someone grab her by the arm and pull her back into the wings.

Carter escorted the younger girl as far as he could from his peers' eyes before turning her around to face him once again. His brown eyes studied the fearful look on her face for a long moment before a wave of guilt flowed over him, only for him to shake it off before letting out a sigh. "Look, this whole helping thing is a bit new to me so don't get used to it. But if I were you, I'd get out there with or without those holographic boys and show them that you aren't Dopey Daniels anymore."

Before the redhead could respond, the Wilson boy turned his back to her and left the stage. Lexi watched him until he was out of sight before she looked towards Julie, who was leaning against the wall with a blank look on her face as she stared down the phone in her clenched hands. After replaying Carter's words in her head one last time, the Daniels girl finally came to a conclusion that satisfied most of the thoughts that were running through her head. Lexi wasn't going to perform without Julie and the former knew her curly-haired friend wasn't going to get out there without Luke, Alex, and Reggie.

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Flynn's music played throughout the gym for the last two hours as Lexi sat next to Julie on the stage, the latter stared down at the machine sitting in front of her. While the Molina girl had a sad look on her face, her redheaded friend was fighting the urge to rant about how the ghosts of Sunset Curve broke their promise to be there, even though they knew how important this was to Julie.

"I can only stall for so long. It's eleven o'clock," Flynn's voice met their ears, causing the pair on the floor to look up at their third Musketeer with blank expressions on their faces, "I think the two of you should just play yourselves. I mean, holograms or no holograms, you'll be amazing."

"You saw me the other day. I can't play without them. They'll be here. They have to," Julie retaliated, completely oblivious to the unconvinced look that was plastered onto Lexi's face.

After Flynn tapped her wrist to indicate that time was running out in response to her curly-haired friend's words, the former turned and made her way back onto the stage. The Daniels girl stared at Julie for a moment, contemplating trying to convince her friend that the two of them could perform without the ghost boys. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak to one of her best friends, the sound of footsteps cut through the air before Lexi glanced back to see Nick making his way towards them.

"Issues?" he questioned as soon as he came to a stop behind Julie, causing said girl's body to tense before she looked up at the boy. After the blonde boy sat down on the other side of Julie, Lexi tuned out the rest of their conversation as her mind continued to race with possibilities as to why the guys hadn't shown up. The anger she was feeling towards the trio unexpectedly turned into worry when thoughts of something bad happening to them ran through her head.

The redhead was quickly pulled out of her thoughts at the sound of Julie's panicking voice before she looked up to see the curly-haired girl on her feet and Nick making his way toward the turntable. Lexi jumped to her feet just as the blonde boy took the microphone off its stand before calling out to the dancing crowd, making them all stop what they were doing to turn their attention towards him.

"We fixed the hologram thing! Who wants to see a show?!" The crowd cheered in response to Nick's announcement while Julie and Lexi exchanged a nervous look before the blonde boy's voice filled the air once again, "now...give it up...for Julie and the Phantoms!"

Shouts from the students erupted once again as Nick waved for the two girls to join him on stage. While Julie took a hesitant step towards him, Lexi refused to move from her spot and kept her feet planted to where she stood, only for her curly-haired friend to grab her wrist and force her to follow her out of the wings.

"Hey, no. Let go. He said your name, not mine," Lexi said to the Molina girl, who continued to drag her redheaded friend along as if she never said a word. When the two reached the center of the stage, the Daniels girl broke free of Julie's grasp and made her way to the back of the stage to stand next to Flynn while their third Musketeer awkwardly took the microphone from Nick and stood behind the turntable to face the crowd.

"Uh...hi," the girl in the tie-dye shirt greeted the students in front of her, who were all staring back at her as silence began to fill the gym, "so here's the thing...even though we got the machine fixed, thanks to Nick...I can't seem to link up with the guys. Wi-Fi, am I right?" Julie hesitated while waiting for some kind of reaction from the crowd, only to be greeted by silence before letting out a barely audible sigh. "I'm sorry, but...I'm gonna have to cancel."

While the crowd groaned and shouted in protest, a cocky smile made its way onto Carrie's lips before she walked up the small set of stairs and turned to face the disappointed crowd.

"Anyone know the Heimlich? Julie's choking." Laughter cut through the silence in response to the Wilson girl's statement while the pink-clothed girl walked towards the turntable. "Only one way to save this dance," she stated as she took the microphone away from the Molina girl before facing the crowd once again, "who wants to see Dirty Candy?"

Cheers filled the air as Carrie reached for one of the knobs on the turntable, only for Flynn to reach forward and break it off while Lexi sent the Wilson girl a smirk. However, her smile quickly faded when the girl in pink announced that the party was moving to her house before the crowd in the gym began to dwindle. The Daniels girl kept her feet planted to the ground as she watched everyone leave the dance. Soon the anger she was feeling toward the three ghosts slowly returned.

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Popping replaced the music that once filled the gym as the lights from the ceiling continued to flash all over the place. Flynn, Julie, and Lexi sat underneath one of the balloon arches in silence as they used safety pins to pop the colorful globes that made up the inflatable curve. After the three of them finished popping the balloons that were within their reach from their spots on the floor, the Molina girl let out a barely audible sigh, causing her other two friends to stop what they were doing to look at her.

"I can never show my face at this school again," their curly-haired friend muttered while staring at the plain-colored ceiling above them.

"Welcome to the club," Lexi responded as she deflated a light blue balloon, "according to Carter, I need to prepare myself for Dopey Daniels part two."

"This is what we get for depending on boys," Flynn scoffed before looking down at her intertwined fingers resting in her lap.

"I don't know if I should be mad or worried. They're ghosts. I don't know what kind of trouble they can get into."

"Well, you can be the worried one because I'm mad," the Daniels girl responded to Julie's statement while lying down on her back to gaze up at all the balloons they still needed to pop before leaving, "you'd think three ghosts who can appear wherever they want whenever they want wouldn't be late."

"I'mma get us some ice cream from the cafeteria. Fools gave me the keys," Flynn announced while getting to her feet before looking back down at her two best friends, "we can crash at my place and forget this whole nightmare."

After popping one last balloon, Flynn sent the two girls a smile before making her way towards the cafeteria. As soon as the brightly clothed friend was out of sight, the gym doors flew open and crashed against the walls, causing Lexi to sit up to see the ghosts of Sunset Curve rushing into the room. Her brown eyes stayed glued to the trio as they looked around the empty area before Alex glanced over and made eye contact with her. The two just stared at each other for a long moment before the blonde boy nudged his two friends and gestured to where Lexi and Julie were sitting.

While the Molina girl got to her feet to speak to the three boys making their way towards them, her redhead friend stayed seated on the ground and watched with a hint of irritation in her eyes. No matter how much the Daniels girl wanted to give the ghost band the benefit of the doubt, she wasn't in the mood to hear their excuses for missing one of the most important days in the girls' high school careers.

"Look, we are...so, so sorry that we bailed on you guys," Luke told the pair of girls as he, Alex, and Reggie stopped in front of them.

"Yeah, I mean, the night really got away from us," Alex explained.

"Just please tell me it had nothing to do with you getting back at Carrie's dad," Julie responded, making Lexi glance up for the first time since the ghosts began speaking to see guilty looks plastered onto their faces.

The three stumbled and mumbled their responses to the curly-haired girl while waving off her words like they were the craziest thing in the world. While Julie stared at the three of them with a hint of disbelief in her eyes, Lexi quirked an eyebrow in their direction while trying to contain her urge to scream. "Seriously? You're lying to me?"

Their guilty faces returned as they stared at the curly-haired girl in front of them with their mouths slightly parted. Julie's brown eyes studied them for a moment longer before she let out a long breath and told Lexi she was going to find Flynn. When the Molina girl disappeared, the redhead finally got to her feet before taking Julie's place in front of the boys with her arms crossed over her chest and an annoyed look plastered onto her face.

"Okay, look, it was something we needed to do," Alex attempted to explain to his niece, only for her to send him a small glare before Luke took a step forward to draw her attention toward him.

"But we'll do whatever it takes. We'll play the next school-"

"You're kidding, right? Another dance where you can bail on Julie and me and make us look like the biggest fools in the world?" Lexi cut off the brunette guitarist, causing his mouth to slam shut before he took a step back to stand in line with his expressionless bandmates. While her brown eyes studied the three of them, she clenched her fists under her crossed arms before her gaze landed on Reggie, who was watching her with the most ashamed look on his face. "The three of you practically begged Julie to join your band while pushing the idea on me every chance you got. We trusted you to be here, you gave us your word, and you never showed up because you were so hung up on something from the past. On top of that, all three of you knew what Julie's been through and the history I had with my last band, and then you do this?"

"We're really sorry, Lexi," Reggie spoke for the first time since he entered the gym, drawing the younger girl's brown eyes to him as he fiddled with the sleeves of the flannel that was tied around his waist, "we'll find some way to make it up to you guys."

"You know what? Just forget it. It's my fault anyway," the Daniels girl replied, making their guilty looks transform into confused ones while they continued to stare at the redhead, who let out a sigh, "I knew I shouldn't have put my trust into another band."

Before any of the ghosts could say another word, Lexi turned her back on them and walked out of the gym to find two of the few people in her life who would always be by her side.

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