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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟒
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐂𝐃

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It was the morning after the ghosts of Sunset Curse appeared in Lexi's room and the redheaded girl was rushing downstairs to have breakfast. Once she reached the kitchen, she found her parents and Ryder already sitting around the table with bacon and eggs on their plates. A small smile formed on the youngest Daniels' face as she slid into her vacant seat before digging into the plate that one of her family members set up for her. The four of them ate in comfortable silence with an occasional conversation here and there until everyone was done with their meals. Without a second thought, Lexi gathered everyone's plates before putting them in the sink to be washed later that night.

After saying a quick goodbye to her parents and brother, Lexi ran back upstairs to her room to grab her backpack before making her way back the way she came. The redhead quickly slipped on her black Vans then slung her bag on her shoulders and walked out the front door. Like every other Thursday morning since the beginning of time, Lexi made her way over to the Molina residence to wait with Julie for Flynn to arrive before the three of them caught a ride with Mr. Molina to school.

Just as she walked through the back gate that led to Julie's mom's studio, Lexi's eyes landed on the three studio spirits who randomly visited her last night. The smile on the redhead's face did nothing but grow at the sight of the trio peaking through the windows on one of the doors of the garage. A silent laugh passed over the brown-eyed girl's lips as she made her way down the steps and towards the three boys who had yet to notice the shorter girl walking in their direction.

"You guys really need to learn about the concept of personal space," the redhead told the ghosts of Sunset Curve, causing the three to jump before turning to face the source of the new voice to find Lexi standing a few feet away from them with her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk on her face, "see? It's not fun when people pop out of nowhere, is it? What are you even doing?"

Just as Luke opened his mouth to respond, the sound of Flynn ranting filled the air around them before Lexi peaked into the studio to see her two best friends having a private conversation. The ginger-haired girl's mouth slightly parted as she looked away from her two friends and back to the boys to see them innocently smiling at her. After rolling her eyes at the ghosts, she pulled the door open a bit more and entered the studio to join the discussion Julie and Flynn were having.

"I just played the piano and sang again," was the first thing Lexi heard, making her stop in the middle of the room as the wide-eyed girl stared at her curly-haired friend.

"What? Why didn't you just say so?" Flynn questioned as smiles began to form on the three girls' faces before Lexi joined them at the piano.

"I was trying and then your seven sodas kicked in."

"I'm so happy for you!" the redhead exclaimed while pulling Julie in for a tight hug as their laughter continued to fill the air around them.

"Look at you, looking all, I don't know, alive again. Now, we just gotta get Ali up on stage and everything will be perfect again," Flynn said as she slung her arm around the Daniels girl's shoulder, completely oblivious to the redhead's faltering smile, before she let out a gasp that made Julie and Lexi jump, "we need to tell Mrs. Harrison you can play so you can stay in school and my life won't be that said picture I just painted for you."

The ginger-haired girl's happiness transformed into confusion as she looked over at her curly-haired friend for answers. The only response she received from Julie was a simple shrug before Flynn grabbed their wrists and began dragging them out of the room. As soon as they got outside, Lexi's eyes landed on Reggie, who was sitting on the ground while looking up at Luke doing a model pose, before they landed on Alex as he studied the light on the wall like it was the most interesting thing in the world. A small laugh escaped the redhead before she sent them a small smile then she followed Flynn as if the studio spirits weren't listening to their whole conversation.

"Oh, hey!" Lexi heard Julie say, making both her and Flynn stop in their tracks and turn around to see Julie staring at the ghosts. The girl in the fedora stared at her curly-haired best friend with a confused look on her face before the latter quickly realized that Flynn wasn't able to see who she was talking to. "Let's hustle!"

The Molina girl quickly made her way toward her two friends while waving back at the three boys before playing it off as if she was swatting something away. At the sight of Julie almost tripping up the steps after attempting to act normal, Lexi's smile did nothing but grow at the thought of her not being the only awkward in their little group.

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The redhead's foot tapped against the floor below her as her eyes kept glancing away from the board and to the clock on the wall. Unlike her two friends, Lexi signed up for an extra songwriting class in the morning, meaning she couldn't go with them to see if Mrs. Harrison would let Julie back into the program. While the Daniels girl looked up at the clock for the hundredth time in the last five minutes, a brunette boy on the other side of the room cast his gaze over at her, trying to figure out why the usually quiet and focused girl was so on edge.

As she waited for the bell to ring, Lexi opened her notebook to a blank page and began to doodle while her teacher began to talk about how important it was for the lyric of a song to mean something. Her pencil started to shade in the outline on some random wave she drew a million times before her hand came to a sudden stop. She stared at the doodle for a long moment while her brain began to act as if it was trying to remember something. Just as the redhead felt as though she was about to have a recollection, someone pulled up a chair next to her, derailing her train of thought before she looked up to meet a pair of brown eyes.

"Mr. Zachary just partnered us up to write a song and it's due next week," Carter Wilson told the Daniels girl as he sat down before a smirk formed on his face, "just like old times, huh?"

"Right, old times," Lexi responded while attempting to hold back a scoff before she wrote down the information about the project that was on the whiteboard, "we can work at my house if you want."

"I think your brother and his little bandmate would kill me if he saw me," the boy chuckled as the smirk on his face grew, "we can meet at my house. My dad just redid our studio and I'm sure Carrie won't bother us."

Just the thought of being in the same house as both the Wilsons caused Lexi's body to grow stiff. Her grip on her pencil tightened until her knuckles grew a ghostly white before she sent Carter a small nod. Before he could open his mouth to say something else to the girl, the bell dismissing class filled the air and Lexi rushed to put her belongings in her bag before muttering to the Wilson boy to text her a day that works then she raced out of the room.

The ginger-haired girl relaxed as soon as she was a good distance away from her previous classroom before she made her way toward Julie's locker. As soon as her destination was in sight, her eyes landed on the sad faces of her two best friends, making Lexi realize that their attempt to get their curly-haired best friend back into the program had failed.

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As soon as Lexi got home from school, she grabbed a snack from the kitchen as she wrote down some lyrics in her songbook. The redhead hummed the potential tune of the song as she struggled to figure out what the next lines should be. She grew frustrated when all she could think about was her upcoming project with Carter and the idea of going over to his house, the same place she swore she'd never go again. Not after what they did to the Daniels girl last year.

Just as she was about to give up on writing her lyrics, Andy and Rachel Daniels walked in with smiles on their faces before they sat down on either side of their annoyed-looking daughter at the counter. Both adults scanned over Lexi as her eyebrows scrunched together in concentration while she looked down at the almost empty page in her book. At the sight of the worn book, Rachel's mind raced with memories of her and Andy working with one of their best friends on songs for their bands before she exchanged an amused look with her husband.

"Having a hard time there, Alexandra?" Andy asked, causing the girl to nod in response without looking away from her songbook, "maybe we can help you out?"

"Unless you can convince Mr. Zachary, the most stubborn teacher at our school, to switch my partner for my project, I don't think you could help me," she sighed as she rubbed a hand over her face before looking up to meet her parent's confused faces, "he paired me with Carter Wilson to write a song."

The amused and confused looks on her parents' faces fell as Andy's mind raced with memories of the Wilsons and everything they did to the Daniels family before a long breath passed over his lips. "The best way to show them you're stronger than they think is to get the project done. Show them that what they did doesn't matter."

After letting her father's words sink into her head, Lexi opened her mouth to respond, only for her eyes to fall on the ghosts of Sunset Curve walking through her front door. Her eyes slightly widened as the three boys looked around the front entrance for a moment, completely oblivious to the three talking in the kitchen, before they walked up the stairs. The initial shock that coursed through Lexi's body quickly faded as she looked back to her parents to find them staring at her with confused looks on their faces once again.

"Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it. But I have a lot of homework. Can we finish this conversation later?" Lexi quickly said to her confused-looking parents, who simply nodded in response. The redhead rushed to shut her songbook before shoving it into her bag. As soon as she had everything she needed, she slung her backpack over her shoulders and sped up the stairs toward her room. Once she got there, Lexi swung the door open to see the three ghosts looking around her room without a care in the world.

"I really wish I could put a bell on the three of you like Julie did with Carlos during his snooping phase," the Daniels girl sighed as she rubbed her hands over her face once again while the three boys turned their attention toward the younger girl, "what are you even doing here?"

"Julie was annoyed that we were in her room so we decided to come over here," Reggie answered, earning a quirked eyebrow from Lexi in response while the two other boys looked at him with unamused expressions on their faces.

"Hey, Lexi," Luke said, drawing the girl's attention to him before he pointed to the worn black notebooks her parents gave her when she first showed an interest in writing songs, "what's in the journal?"

"If you wanna hang out in my room, you're gonna have to learn that some things aren't your business," the redheaded girl responded as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against her wall.

"Oh, okay. I get it," the brunette boy chuckled as he looked at his bandmates, "girl stuff."

"Oh, like butterflies and glitter?" Reggie questioned with a quirked eyebrow as she waited for the girl in front of him to answer, only for Lexi to match the expression in response as she tried to hide the smile threatening to form on her face.

"Oh, come on," Alex scoffed as he looked at his friends before his gaze went back to the Daniels girl, "I'm sorry about them."

"It's fine," Lexi said before looking back to Reggie, who was still waiting for an answer to his butterflies and glitter question. The smile she was holding back finally appeared on her face before she went over to her shelf. After taking the old songbooks into her hands for the first time in a few months, she laid them on her bed for the boys to get a better look at them. "If there's anything sparkly in those books, it's probably in the one that was my mom's. She and my dad gave those to me a few years ago if I ever needed inspiration for my songs."

The redheaded girl stared at the covers for a short moment before turning her gaze to look at the three studio spirits, only to find them staring at the books with blank expressions on their faces. The grin on her face quickly fell as Lexi watched them with confusion in her eyes. Her mouth opened to question the emotion on their faces just as her door swung, causing the four of them to stand as straight as possible while Ryder watched his sister from the doorway.

"Hey, Lexa," the older Daniels sibling greeted his sister before he plopped down on her bed. Lexi watched her brother as he flipped through the pages of her mom's old songbook with a smile on his face. This continued for another minute then came to a stop on a page that made his smile do nothing but grow before he looked up at his baby sister. "You know, Mom wrote this with one of her friends like twenty-five years ago. They actually recorded it. I think she and Dad still have the CD."

"Really?! That's so cool! I wanna hear it!" the girl exclaimed, completely forgetting about the three ghosts standing behind her for a moment as her brother left to go grab the disk while she looked down to read the lyrics.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lexi saw the ghosts of Sunset Curve exchange a look just as her brother came back into the room with a black CD case. Her brown eyes followed Ryder's movements as he walked over to her stereo and placed the disk inside before pressing play. The loud rock music began to fill the room just as Lexi sat down next to Ryder, who was lying down on her bed with his eyes closed as he listened to the different instruments. The two Daniels siblings listened to the song with smiles on their faces before the younger's eyes traveled to the ghost boys, only to see their mouths slightly parted before Reggie magically appeared inches away from her face.

"Your mom is Rachel Daniels?" the leather-clothed boy asked the redhead in front of him, only for her to nod in response while keeping her mouth shut so her brother wouldn't think she was crazy.

Before the brown-eyed boy could continue questioning the girl, he was pulled away from Lexi by Alex, who looked equally as shocked as his friends. The Daniels girl just stared at the boys who were standing closer to her than they ever had before she glanced over at the picture of her parents when they were younger. Her eyes stayed glued to the image for a long moment before they landed back on the drummer. It was at that moment that Lexi finally saw the resemblance and the reason why she was so drawn to the boy in the pink hoodie when he first appeared in Julie's garage. The reason why he looked so familiar and why she thought she knew the ghost from the '90s.

He looked exactly like a younger version of her father.

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