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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐎 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐒

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When she reached the Molina residence across the street, Lexi found Julie rushing out of her house with the cross that usually hung on her wall in her hands. The redhead quirked an eyebrow at her curly-haired best friend before Julie grabbed Lexi's wrist and dragged her towards her mom's studio without saying a word. As soon as they reached their destination, Julie released the Daniels girl's wrist before tightly gripping the cross in her hands and entering the garage.

After watching the girl spin around in circles for another minute, Lexi followed behind the paranoid girl as Julie looked around the room and called out to no one. That continued for a moment longer before the two of them came to a stop in front of the piano with their backs to the door. They stood there in silence for a moment then Julie brought her arms to her sides as she let out a quiet sigh.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on? Or are you gonna continue walking around the room like a crazy person?" the redhead asked, causing the curly-haired girl to shoot her a look before she rolled her eyes at Lexi.

"I know I saw something, Ali. I'm not crazy," Julie defended as she looked at her friend with determination in her eyes before a faint whooshing was heard behind them.

"Well, we're all a little crazy," an unknown voice said, causing the two girls to exchange a confused look.

Julie let out a shaky breath as the two girls slowly turned around to find three boys standing in the doorway with huge smirks on their faces. Both girls screamed as Julie held her cross out in front of her once again while Lexi clung to her curly-haired friend like her life depended on it. While their shouts continued to fill the air, the three boys cringed at the sound as they brought their hands up to cover their ears.

"Please stop screaming!" the boy in the pink sweatshirt exclaimed, making the girls go silent with Julie keeping the cross in her outstretched arms and Lexi maintaining her death grip on her friend's arm.

"Who are you? And what are you doing in my mom's studio?" the Molina girl questioned as the redhead next to her studied the boys who appeared out of nowhere.

"Your mom's studio? This is our studio," the shaggy-haired boy responded as he made his way over to us. Just as he got within reach, Julie shot the cross closer to him, causing him to jump on the large instrument behind him. "The grand piano is new." He claimed as he slid across it in an attempt to avoid the cross before his eyes landed on the sofa against the wall.

"My couch!" the boy in the long coat shouted in glee before jumping onto the piece of furniture.

It wasn't long after that when Lexi finally let go of Julie and carefully studied the boy who continued to look around at the objects around him before his smile fell. After claiming that wasn't his guitar on the wall, he looked up at the chairs hanging on the ceiling before his expression transformed into confusion.

"Can you give me just one second? Just...one second. Thank you," he asked Julie and Lexi as he approached the two other boys.

While the three boys had an inaudible conversation by the doorway of the studio, Lexi and Julie exchanged another look. Despite both of them having a million thoughts running through their heads, neither one knew what to say. Before they could fully comprehend what was happening, the boy in the pink hoodie made his way over to the two girls with a small smile on his face and stopped a foot away from them.

"Why are you in our studio?" he questioned as Lexi and Julie continued to stare at him in utter confusion before the latter shoved her cross toward the blonde boy, only for it to go straight through him.

"Oh my gosh! How did you do that?!" Julie exclaimed.

"I knew it! Jules, I knew it!" Lexi shouted as she pointed at the three boys while everyone else jumped at her sudden outburst, "you're being haunted by teenage studio spirits!"

"Studio spirits? I don't even...no. Clearly, you guys aren't understanding. They don't get it," the boy in front of them muttered as he looked back at his friends before turning his attention back to Lexi and Julie, "okay, look. We're ghosts, alright? We're just three ghosts, and we're really happy to be home. So, thank you for the flowers. They really brighten up the room."

"We're actually in a band called Sunset Curve," the shaggy-haired boy told Lexi and Julie as he and the boy in leather made their way to the blonde's sides, "last night was supposed to be a really big night for us. It was gonna change our lives."

After the blonde whispered something to the boy in the long coat, Julie muttered something about her freaking out before pulling out her phone. Lexi continued to study the three boys to try and figure out why they looked so familiar while her curly-haired friend typed something into her phone with her cross still out in front of them.

"What is that? What are you doing?" the shaggy-haired boy asked as he pointed to the device in Julie's hand.

"It's her phone," Lexi answered, causing Julie to look up at her friend with a hint of panic in her eyes.

"Stop talking to them. They aren't real. There's no such thing as cute ghosts," the curly-haired girl told the redhead just at the same time the latter made eye contact with the smirking leather-clothed boy.

"Oh, think we're cute?" he responded, making Lexi's face heat up as the boy's smirk grew before she tried to hide her now red cheeks behind Julie.

"Who you calling?" the boy in pink said.

"I'm Googling Sunset Swerve."

"Sunset Curve!"

Julie and Lexi exchanged another look after they saw the offended expressions on the boys' faces. Another moment passed before they turned their attention back to Julie's phone. It wasn't long after Lexi started reading the article that a vague memory popped into her head. The Daniels girl instantly looked back toward the blonde boy standing in the middle of the three, who was completely unaware of the girl staring at him longer than she should be. An eternity passed of Lexi trying to understand why she was suddenly drawn to the boy in pink when Julie's voice brought Lexi back to reality.

"There is a Sunset Curve," the curly-haired girl said as she finished the article before looking at the three boys in front of her, "you did die. But not last night. Twenty-five years ago."

"What? No. No, no, no. Th-th-that's impossible," the boy in the plain white t-shirt stuttered before turning to face the two boys next to him, "after we floated out of the ambulance, all we did was go to that weird, dark room where Alex cried."

"Well...I don't think...I think we were all pretty upset," Alex retaliated in a high-pitched voice as he glanced back and forth between his friends.

"But that was just for like, an hour," the boy in the long coat told them before turning his attention back to the two girls, "we just showed up here."

"Look. I'm just telling you what my phone says," Julie bluntly responded as she held her phone out for them to see.

"You guys died in 1995. When you were seventeen. It's 2020 now," Lexi added while the boys carefully read over the screen in front of them, "welcome to the future...I guess."

"Wait. So...so, it has been twenty-five years," the blonde boy muttered before a slightly irritated look appeared on his face as he looked at the shaggy-haired boy next to him, "I have been crying for twenty-five years? How is that possible?"

"Well, you're a very emotional person," the leather-clothed boy answered.

"I am not!"

"Thought you were afraid to come out here," a new voice said, causing everyone to turn their attention to the door to see Julie's younger brother, Carlos, confidently strutting towards them. Julie and Lexi exchanged a quick look before the redhead sent the younger boy a smile while the curly-haired girl's body tensed up a bit. "Oh, hey, Dra. Did you know Julie's replacing you with a hideous ghost friend?"

"He can see you," Alex mocked the leather-clothed boy.

"No, he can't," Julie responded, making her little brother look around the garage in confusion before his eyes landed on his sister. While Lexi tried to hide the smile threatening to break free, Julie let out a shaky breath before turning her full attention back to Carlos. "What do you want?"

"A normal sister, for starters. Stop being weird and come eat," the young boy responded with his arms crossed over his chest before his eyes landed on Lexi, "Dad didn't know you were here so he didn't make enough for four. Sorry, Dra."

"It's totally fine, Los. I should probably be getting home anyway," the redhead said with a smile that the boy in front of her happily returned before he turned and made his way back to the house. Once she was sure Carlos was out of earshot, Lexi's eyes landed on the three boys once again as confusion coursed through her veins. "He couldn't see you."

"Yeah. I mean, that's...usually how ghosts work," Alex retaliated as the boy in the plain white t-shirt nodded along with his words.

"Then how can we see you?" the ginger-haired girl questioned while gesturing to herself and Julie, only to receive shrugs from the boys in response.

Lexi's attention was soon drawn back to her curly-haired friend when the latter let out an irritated sigh and started walking toward the door. When she reached the exit, Julie turned around to face the boys while Lexi carefully walked past them to stand at her friend's side.

"Look, I'm very sorry for what happened to you guys, but this isn't your studio anymore. You have to leave," the Molina girl stated.

After looking at the boys for a moment longer, the two girls turned to exit the garage, only for Lexi to stop in her tracks when one of the boys called out to them. Once her annoyed friend was out of sight, the redhead slowly turned to face the three smiling boys as chills ran up and down her spine.

"We didn't get your names," the shaggy-haired boy said.

"Oh, right. Well, I'm Lexi and the girl that just stormed out is Julie. Sorry if that was a bit awkward. Having three studio spirits appear out of nowhere is a little much for anyone. Especially since one of you-" Lexi cut herself off when she saw the smiles on the boy's faces grow a bit, "I'm rambling, aren't I? Sorry. I tend to do that when I don't know what else to do or when I'm nervous. And this is all a lot because you...and I'm doing it again. Sorry. I'm just gonna stop talking now."

"It's cool," the shaggy-haired boy said as the three tried to contain their laughs while Lexi's cheeks turned a bright shade of red once again, "I'm Luke. By the way. And this is-"

"Reggie. I'm Reggie. Hey."

"Alex. How's it going?"

After Luke held his arms out in front of him as if finishing a performance, Lexi sent them one last smile before saying her goodbyes to the three ghosts. The redhead shook her head with a smile when she heard Reggie shout "later, Lexi" at her retreating figure before she walked up the steps and back towards her house across the street. As she entered her house and made her way towards her room to continue her homework, Lexi was completely unaware that she would be encountering the ghosts of Sunset Curve once again sooner than she expected.

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