V. SECOND CHANCES

"Wait, where'd the rest of the band go?" Asked a boy from the crowd, coming up to stand on the stage.

Julie's eyes began to dart between the students in the crowd, her face paling as she failed to come up with an excuse. Dahlia couldn't even help her, equally as stumped with attempting to find a believable lie.

"Wait, were those holograms?" A voice rang out, one that Dahlia recognized to be a member of Dirty Candy.

The excuse was perfect, and the girl had seemingly opened her mouth to speak again, before she had been shut down with Carrie's evil glare.

Julie's eyes widened, face brightening as a relieved smile grew on her face.

"Uh...yes! Yes, they were holograms," she chuckled awkwardly, trying to buy time to build her lie, "I...plugged it into the ceiling projector before the show. I'd explain it, but it involves algorithms and science stuff."

Dahlia's concern didn't fade as the students began to clap, an innocent and believable enough excuse. The Molina girl hadn't even noticed she had strayed off to an empty spot of the gym during the performance, standing by the front of the stage's steps.

She wasn't alone for long, and mere seconds later the ghosts she had been worried about appeared behind her suddenly. Dahlia jumped in surprise when she saw their beaming smiles, and her friends had been looking at her with confusion from a few feet away.

She decided that maybe it wasn't the best time to talk to the ghosts when she had a group of very judgmental girls a short distance away, so she awkwardly excused herself, pushing her and the boys to the other end of the crowd.

"That's wild. They could see us when we were playing, but not when the music ended."

"We should double check!" Reggie added enthusiastically, no time for before he was rushing to the stairs and swinging his hips around wildly.

Dahlia raised an eyebrow, amusement washing over her as she noticed Luke and Alex's exasperated expression.

When Reggie received no attention, he grumbled as he walked back to his friends.

"Yeah, I don't...I don't think they can see us." Reggie said, and Luke huffed.

"I wish I couldn't see you," Alex sighed, running a hand over his face.

The pure sarcasm that dripped from his tone amused Dahlia, a laugh bubbling out from her lips as she shut her mouth abruptly so it wouldn't seem like she was not only talking to herself, but laughing, too.

Luckily students lost interest in the gym's performance when the bell rang out, piles of teenagers filing out of the space to get to their lockers and next classes in time.

Dahlia began to walk towards Julie, who had hopped off the stage and was making her way to Mrs. Harrison. Alex and Luke followed behind her as Reggie attempted to flirt with the member of Dirty Candy that he had previously winked at while playing.

Dahlia suddenly paused when Flynn began approaching her, opposed to Julie.

"Hey, Flynn, what's up?" Asked Dahlia, trying to sound nonchalant. Unlike her father, she was able to make it sound convincing.

"What's up is that I've been trying to get Jules to play music for almost a year. Then these random guys come along and suddenly it's like she's never had any trouble at all?" Flynn ranted, hands flailing as she spoke.

Dahlia looked at the girl with pity, and she was reminded why she had been mad at the boys in the first place. It wasn't fair that their loved ones had tried so hard to get them back into music, just for some ghosts to come along and make it seem as if nothing had ever happened.

Dahlia knew that to an extent she was being ridiculous. To an extent she knew that the truth was she was simply afraid to let anyone else in, and she didn't want to get hurt.

But Dahlia was far too stubborn to admit that, so she thought the easiest thing was to blame the boys.

"I'm really sorry, Flynn. Maybe talking to her might help?" Dahlia suggested, Flynn shrugging as she nodded with a frown. Dahlia watched as Flynn dropped her hands, making her way to Julie.

Dahlia wanted to be nosy, she wanted to see what was going on, but she knew it wasn't her place. If Julie wanted her to know, she'd tell her.

***

Dahlia had turned around the corner, a textbook in her hand as she trudged down the locker-lined hallway.

She was still in her cheerleading uniform, and wished she had made time to change out, because the air conditioning was on full blast, her small skirt and tank too not doing much to keep her warm.

She blinked slowly, her sneakers pounding against the tile as she heard three familiar voices call out to her.

"Dahlia!" They called excitedly, and Dahlia froze.

She knew it would be pretty shitty of her to keep walking, but it would be worse to start talking to air in the middle of the hallway.

Still, Dahlia chose the latter option, closing her eyes with a preparing sigh as she faced the ghosts.

They looked at her with excited grins, and Luke was practically vibrating with excitement.

"That...that was rad. Our lyrics totally killed it." Luke said to Dahlia, a glimmer in his eyes as Dahlia tilted her head.

"Yeah, we did," she agreed, nodding slowly.

Luke glanced up at her, his fingers playing with his rings as Reggie rocked on his heels. It was clear that the performance left the ghosts with more energy before, and no one was quite sure what to do next.

There was a beat of silence, Dahlia nor the ghosts not quite sure what to say. Dahlia was frustrated with herself, not sure why she was so awkward.

They were just teenage boys that had been dead for twenty five years and lived in her garage...no big deal, really.

Instead, Dahlia thought it might do her some good to change and go to her next class, but the three boys that followed behind her obviously had a different idea.

When Dahlia turned around, she had planned on politely asking the ghosts to leave her alone.

However, when she came face to face with the ghosts, their faces held mischief and excitement as they put a hand to their lips, motioning for her to be quiet.

Dahlia gave them a look, but listened anyway. There was a beat of silence, before Julie came speeding down the hall.

"Julie!" The ghosts and Dahlia yelled happily, making Julie jump back.

"You! Stop doing that! I'm serious." Julie said, rolling her shoulders backwards as Luke got off of Reggie's shoulders.

"Whoa! This one's all on you, we were already here," Reggie defended, "well, actually we were over there, and then we came over here." He explained, pointing down the hallway and then to his feet.

"Are we not gonna talk about what just happened?" Luke asked incredulously and Julie nodded with wide eyes.

"Yeah, the whole school saw you. It's kinda freaking me out."

"Okay, good, because it's kind of freaking me out too," Alex began, "you know you guys can see us...and then, and then people can see us whenever we play music—and my clothes are made of air, but for some reason I'm still getting a wedgie."

Dahlia raised her eyebrow as Julie cringed from beside her. Alex inhaled sharply as Luke patted his back, "So many questions."

"The important thing is that we rocked that place. They were loving you!" Luke said with a grin, and Julie shook her head.

"Are you kidding? They loved us," Julie began, turning to Luke and Dahlia, "That was a great song, thanks guys."

"And did you guys see the cheerleaders looking at me? I think they were looking at me—please tell me they were looking at me," Reggie said, turning as he placed his hands on Luke's shoulders.

The guitarist gave him a bright smile as he placed his hands on the sides of Reggie's face and nodded.

"Bro, they were looking at you." He agreed happily, and Reggie squealed.

"Oh, I knew it!" Reggie beamed, looking to Dahlia as she gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up.

However, when Dahlia glanced to Alex, it was clear he did not share his friends' excitement.

"I'm so...I'm so confused, you know? The afterlife should come with instructions—or a QuickStart guide...or something." Alex stressed, hands on his hips as Julie sighed.

"Well, the good news is that everyone thought you guys were holograms, and I got back into the program." Julie explained, and Dahlia noticed her extreme lack of happiness at the news.

She only assumed things went south with Flynn, taking notice of her sister's droopy shoulders.

"Why do you look so bummed?" Asked Reggie a moment later, Luke nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, dude, you're making this face," Luke put his arms around Alex and Reggie's shoulders, bringing their faces squished together as they all dramatically pouted.

Julie rolled her eyes.

"That...is not my face. That's Dahlia's face," she joked, and Dahlia raised her eyebrow in amusement.

"Yeah, she's right." Reggie decided, studying Dahlia's face as she sighed, turning her attention back to Julie.

"Things just got weird between me and Flynn. She asked about you guys, and I couldn't say."

"Sweet. Girls are already talking about us." Reggie bragged, high-fiving Luke as Dahlia groaned.

"Stop, this is serious." She scolded, waving a stern finger in their direction as her narrows eyes was enough for them to pull it together.

"I can't tell her about you guys for the same reason I can't tell my dad. She'll think I've gone off the deep end." Julie explained, being cut off by Reggie once again.

"Well, this dude definitely thinks you've gone off the deep end," he said, pointing to the janitor that gave Julie and Dahlia a very weird look as he passed by.

"Hmph." Dahlia said, listening to Reggie hum in amusement.

"I gotta get back to class." Julie decided a moment later, making her way past the ghosts as she turned down the hallway.

"Later, Julie! Tell those cheerleaders that I'm single."

"Oh, and that he's dead." Alex droned sarcastically.

"No..no! Leave that part out! Leave that...she's gone." Reggie huffed, and Dahlia chuckled, turning on her heels to walk in the opposite direction.

However, she felt someone grabbing at her arm before she could make her exit, turning around and seeing Luke with furrowed eyebrows.

"Can I help you?" She asked sassily, dropping her arm from Luke's.

"Yes, actually, you can." He replied, crossing his arms to mirror Dahlia's position.

"I told you, I'm done writing music. Did becoming a ghost affect your ability to understand basic concepts?" Dahlia said, rolling her eyes.

Luke opened his mouth to speak, closing it, and opening it again. He repeated this about three times before he waved a finger in Dahlia's face, asking for a moment of privacy.

Dahlia had no idea why she was still there. She should've left a while ago, but she decided to humor whatever Luke's plan was.

She watched as the three ghosts spoke in hushed whispers for a few minutes, before turning to her with proud smiles, as if they had come up with the idea of the century.

"Give us a chance. One day. If we can't change your mind, fine. You never have to talk to us ever again." Luke began, a hopeful glint in his eyes.

Dahlia glanced to Alex and Reggie, who looked equally as hopeful.

As much as the ghosts hated to admit it, Dahlia was cool. She was a decently okay friend from what they'd seen so far, and it wouldn't hurt to befriend another person.

However, Dahlia disagreed.

"Nope. No way."

***

Twenty minutes later, Dahlia found herself hanging out with Luke, Reggie, and Alex back in her garage.

Dahlia had no idea how they actually managed to convince her that this was a good idea, because it definitely was not.

The first few minutes had gone smoothly, smooth enough for Dahlia to de-stress and not be too worried at the fact she had ditched school. Her classes weren't super important anyway, and she supposed that missing one day wouldn't hurt.

The only thing she was worried about was maintaining her public image. It might've sounded stupid, but it was the only thing that gave Dahlia structure, especially when she was struggling—without some sort of order in her life she definitely would've lost it.

Everything had been going okay—as okay as it could be for a teenage girl to be hanging around ghost boys; up until Alex began to grow nervous. The group had been discussing and attempting to find out why Dahlia could see them, even though she hadn't been there when Julie played the Sunset Curve's VHS tape. While trying to find out a semi-decent explanation, Alex shot out of his seat, as he began to pace back and forth.

"I think he's practicing his model strut," Reggie whispered, his eyes droning back and forth on Alex's retreating figure.

"He's so nervous, he's almost making me nervous." Luke whispered back, and Dahlia hit his shoulder.

"Leave him alone, he has a right to be freaked out. Honestly, all of us do," Dahlia defended.

She knew what it was like to struggle with anxiety, she knew what it was like to get caught up in her own head. She knew commentary such as what Luke and Reggie said certainly did not help, so she tried to get them to quiet down.

To her surprise, it worked.

"Okay, look, you guys know I don't handle change well," Alex started, his pacing coming to a stop, "alright...death? That was a change, okay? Then we became ghosts, another change..and now, we can be seen whenever we play with Julie, big freaking change."

"Yeah, but bro, it was a good change. With Julie we can play onstage again, and be the band we never got to be. I mean, you gotta be down for that." Luke tried to reason.

"Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't be, I just... you know? I wanna figure out why."

"Forget why, man! I say we invite Julie to join Sunset Curve." Luke suggested to Reggie and Alex.

"Yeah, totally." Reggie agreed, "I mean...like, think about it; with a new lead singer, we can be legendary."

Luke's ear perked up at this, as he turned to Reggie, offended.

"Hey! I'm our lead singer."

Reggie shook his head.

"Dude, that girl has the voice of an angel, and she can make us visible. Without her...we're just like, elevator music."

Luke paused for a moment, thinking it over.

"Well, you don't gotta be so mean about it," Luke mumbled, his eyes shifting to Alex who resumed his distressed pacing, "and we're on the runway again."

"Hey, I'm sorry—alright, i just...I gotta go clear my head." Alex sighed, making his way to the garage doors as he attempted to grab the handle. However, it was proven unsuccessful as his hand went right through.

The drummer repeated this action a few times, growingly increasingly more frustrated with every failed attempt.

Luke and Reggie had looked to each other, clearing their throats awkwardly.

"Dude...you're a ghost, just poof out." Reggie suggested, looking at Dahlia with apologetic eyes.

"Don't tell me how to ghost!" Alex pouted, eyebrows furrowing as Reggie's eyes widened.

Dahlia sighed as the room fell into silence, before Alex exhaled sharply and vanished into thin air.

The Molina girl rocked back on her heels, running a hand through her hair.

"Oh, yeah, Luke. You were totally right," she began sarcastically, "hanging with you guys was a great idea—I mean, we went a whole fifteen minutes without an issue!"

Luke rolled his eyes, flopping back on to the couch.

"Hey, it wasn't a total bust. We can still try to salvage things, right?" Luke tried, and Dahlia rolled her eyes.

What else did she have to do? She had already reached a new low...skipping school to hang out with her new ghost friends...yeah, she really did need to find a hobby.

"How do you plan to do that?" She questioned, straightening her back as she watched Luke smirk, a thought popping into his head.

He sat up a moment later, taking Reggie with him as the two began to walk to the other side of the room, whispering frantically to each other. Dahlia raised an eyebrow.

The two dispersed a moment later, Luke digging through his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper.

It was crumpled, ripped at the side as Dahlia found herself growing more curious.

"What's that?"

"So, um, we found this song you wrote—" he began, and Dahlia cut him off.

"You went through my stuff?" She questioned angrily, suddenly understanding Julie's frustration when they had gone through her things.

Dahlia stepped closer as she snatched the paper from Luke's hand, reading over the paper. She recognized the music instantly. That explains the rip, it had been torn from her songbook.

"Uh..." Luke suddenly grabbed Reggie, using him as a shield.

"It was just collecting dust! It was like...begging to be opened!" Luke attempted to defend, and Dahlia's hands squeezed into fists at her sides.

"You saw every song in there?" She asked, watching as Luke lowered his gaze to the ground, and that was enough of an answer for her.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Writing with you was a one time thing...no, it was a mistake," she spat, "if I had known you were going to completely ignore every sense of boundary I had ever established, I would've never said yes last night. Those songs are personal, they mean a lot to me, and you completely disreguarded that." Dahlia said, eyebrows furrowed as she spat angrily.

Luke's argumentative expression suddenly fell, his face resembling guilt as he looked down.

Yes, he had read the lyrics and thought they were great, but it was obvious he hadn't taken the time to try and figure out the songs' meanings.

Dahlia sighed, turning to Reggie to see if he'd involve himself in the conversation, before noticing that the bassist had poofed out a long time ago, leaving Dahlia and Luke alone in the studio.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? It's just, you're a really talented songwriter, Dahlia. I just wanted you to see that you have real potential, and I didn't realize the way I was going about it was stupid. I really want to make this work, you and Julie could add so much to Sunset Curve."

Dahlia scanned Luke's face, seeing it held nothing but sincerity.

"I know you just wanted to help, Luke. But songwriting has such a deep meaning to me. I mean, I promised to myself that I wouldn't write again," Dahlia took a deep breath, "and now you're making me question all of that, and it scares me. I thought I had put songwriting behind me."

"Songwriting is different for everyone...but I saw the way you lit up in there, last night, and if you just gave it a chance, I know you'd like it. I'd be there to help, and the second it's too much you could stop. You could burn your songbook for all I care...but just give it a chance, please."

Dahlia sighed, chewing on her bottom lip. Of course she wanted to write music again, but the voice at the back of her mind kept reminding her she'd be betraying her mother.

But for once, Dahlia countered that voice. Did her mother really want Dahlia to give up songwriting? Would she be proud knowing that Dahlia gave up the thing that made her the happiest?

Of course not.

Dahlia knew that Rose just wanted her to be happy, she knew she needed some sort of light in her life again after all these months.

Dahlia wanted to say no, she wanted to take the safe option and get away from whatever hurt she'd potentially go through. But Dahlia didn't want to take the safe option.

For once...she just wanted to live a little. She deserved that much.

"Okay," she said slowly, "I'll give it a chance. You and me, we'll try this whole writing partner things out."

Dahlia could see Luke's eyes brighten at this, a smile overtaking his face as he leaped up, taking Dahlia's hand.

"Really?" He said hopefully.

Dahlia shrugged, trying to keep her calm.

"Really."

Luke grinned, flashing his pearly white teeth as he took the paper from her again.

"I promise you won't regret it."

— argentsires
i finally updated this story lol
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