EDGE OF GREAT

by flowersandlight

Summary:

Julie and the Phantoms season 2 ~~
The band is back, but it's only just the beginning, starting right from the cliffhanger that left off in season 1. Includes slowburn romance, new (original!) songs, new characters, high school drama, love triangles, and more!

Notes:

This fic has (partially) been pre-published on Wattpad! 24 chapters have already been published on there, but this is for anyone who doesn't really like it or just hasn't read and wants some sort of a season 2 of JATP!

Hope you all enjoy <3

Updates will come weekly, for the first few weeks I'll probably post 3-5 parts until I get to all the already published, and then continue from there :)

Chapter 1: This Band is Back

"I can't believe we played the Orpheum!" Julie shouted with a giggle as she and the boys jumped around in a circle. "Yea, baby! Take that, Caleb Covington!" Reggie exclaimed passionately.

Once they all calmed down a little, Luke raised an eyebrow and asked, "Hey, Julie, do you think anyone else can see us now that the stamps are gone and we can touch each other?"

"That's a really good question, and I have no idea. We can just ask Flynn in the morning if you guys want. It's been a very, very long night, and I still have to go talk to Carlos," Julie said with a chuckle. Alex nodded with a sigh. "Ah, yes. The boy-band confronter."

Julie raised an eyebrow in confusion. "The what?" Alex just shook his head. "Nevermind. You should just go talk to him. I think we're all a little exhausted after everything that went down tonight." Julie smiled warmly as she nodded. "You're right. I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay? I'll have Flynn come over early in the morning so we can see what's going on."

Luke tilted his head with sad eyes and asked, "Aww, come on, Jules, you're leaving already? You just got in here." Julie laughed softly and said, "I promised Carlos I'd talk to him after I came in here. I'll see you tomorrow, I promise."

"Okay, okay, just wait one more second," Luke replied with a mischevious smirk. Julie was about to turn her head back around to re-face the boys when Luke ran and picked her up off her feet from behind. "Aaaaaahhh, Luke, put me down!" Julie giggled as she wiggled her feet in the air as he held onto her in a tight bear hug.

Alex and Reggie looked at each other with a knowing look that things were about to get very... interesting now that Julie and Luke could actually touch each other. Not even being able to hold hands to being able to cuddle for eternity was going to be a very abrupt change.

Luke finally put Julie down after a few more minutes. "Sorry, had to do that one more time now that I can actually hug you," He said as his cheeks became a flushing pink color. Julie shook her head and smiled. "You're crazy. Goodnight, Luke. Goodnight, Alex and Reggie."

Alex waved goodbye while Reggie watched Luke with a smirk as he watched Julie leave with anticipation. As soon as he turned back around to face his two friends after she was gone, they were both giving him smirks and raised eyebrows. "What? Can't a guy just hug his best friend?"

"Oh, no, we didn't say anything. Not one word, Lukey Pookie," Alex said with a humorous wink. Luke shook his head and quickly threw a pillow at his head. "Come on, guys! Julie and I are just friends." Reggie smirked endearingly at Luke. "For now, Luke. Just for now."

Carlos was waiting in the living room when Julie walked in the front door. "You're back! I thought you'd spend forever with those bandmates of yours." Julie shook her head. "Uh, what are you talking about? My bandmates live overseas, remember?"

Carlos raised an eyebrow as he smiled with excitement. "Oh, really? Then why did I find this in the box of old stuff from the garage?" He asked as he flashed Julie the Sunset Curve brochure in his hand. "Dios ayudame," Julie muttered underneath her breath. "Carlos, I can explain."

Carlos nodded with an expectant smile. "Okay. I'm waiting."

"Look," Julie said with a sigh, "it's not what you think, okay? They're not just some ghosts. They brought back music into my life, and it's not a small thing. They're my best friends, and... well, they kind of live here. Not in the house or anything. They just stay in the garage. Just please, please, please don't tell Dad, okay? He can't know. At least not yet."

"Okay," Carlos replied contentedly. "So, how long have they been here? Wait, wait, wait, have they always been here since they died so long ago?" Julie hesitantly shook her head. "Um... no. I kind of brought them back. Not on purpose. It just sort of happened. I was listening to their old album, and they just kind of appeared out of nowhere."

"Why are you the only person who can see them unless they're performing? Shouldn't Dad and I be able to see them too?" Carlos asked. Julie shrugged. "I don't know. None of us do. It's all kind of confusing. Look, can we talk about this more tomorrow or something? It's kinda been a long day, and there's a lot of stuff happening at once."

"Okay. I'll come out to the studio tomorrow so you can introduce me," Carlos said with a nod. "What? No!" Julie exclaimed in fear. "You can't! The band and I have something we have to do tomorrow morning. Can I just talk to you tomorrow night or something?" Carlos sighed. "Fine, but if I don't hear you guys rehearsing after lunch, I'm coming out to talk to them."

Julie nodded firmly. "Deal."

As soon as Julie opened the door to her room, she jumped back in surprise and let out a hearty shout. "Aaaah!" Luke smiled at her and let out a chuckle while Alex said, "We're sorry. We didn't mean to scare you. We were just waiting to hear about what happened with Carlos." Before Julie could say anything, Reggie asked, "So, is he cool with us? Do you think he'll like me?! Is he going to tell your dad?"

"Julie, are you alright? I heard you shout from my room," Ray exclaimed as he entered Julie's room. His jaw dropped to the floor and eyes widened as he saw what stood before him. "Are these the boys from the band? Why didn't you tell me they were in town?! We could've had them over for dinner!"

Julie's eyes widened in fear and shock as she asked, "You can see them?"

Reggie hopped up and down with excitement. "Yaaay, Ray!! I've been waiting for what seems like ages to finally meet you!"

"Of course I can see them. They're standing right in front of me," Ray responded. He slightly tilted his head at Reggie's comment. "Sorry, son. How do you know my name? You must be the guitarist that duets with Julie."

Reggie's eyes filled to the brim with tears as he looked over at Luke and Alex and whispered, "He called me son. This is my dream come true. Oh, Ray, can I give you a hug?!"

Ray was taken aback as Reggie ran to his arms and pulled him into a warm bear hug. He wasn't quite sure what to say, so Alex said, "Sorry, that's Reggie. He's a really big fan of yours. He's just excited. I'm Alex. It's good to finally meet you, Mr. Molina."

"Well," Ray said with a hearty smile as he looked at Julie, "the boys in your band certainly are very warm and spirited. How long are they here for?"

"Um... about that. There's something I need to tell you," Julie replied quietly out of nervousness. Ray nodded. "Alright. Go on."

"I don't really know how to tell you this in any other way, but the guys in my band... they were ghosts. I guess they're not anymore, but it's really complicated," Julie said confidently, hoping her father wouldn't laugh in her face with disbelief.

Ray heaved out a heavy sigh. "Julie, I think you might need to go see Dr. Turner for a little while again. I love you, miel, but the boys in your band aren't ghosts. They're standing right here in front of both of us."

"Mr. Molina, she's telling the truth, I swear," Luke jumped in immediately. "Sorry, but your son-- Carlos-- he can help us explain it to you. I'm Luke, by the way. I play the guitar and write songs with Julie. That's Alex, the drummer, and Reggie, the bassist. We really didn't mean to uproot your life by coming into it like this. It just kind of happened."

Ray raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Ah, so you're the guitarist who seems to be fond of my daughter. It's good to finally meet you, Luke. Your performing skills are some of the best I've seen in ages. I'm glad you get along so well with Julie, but you and your bandmates clearly aren't ghosts. I have to take her back to Dr. Turner."

Julie sighed desperately. "Dad, please give us a little bit more time to explain. I'm going to go grab Carlos. I know he can help. Please, please, just don't send me back to Dr. Turner's office three days a week. I'm past that now. It's the last thing I want."

Seconds later, Carlos entered the room behind his sister. "Holy cow!" He exclaimed, turning to Julie. "Your boy band is actually here, and I can see them?! Now I can finally interrogate them for my Youtube channel!"

Luke squinted in confusion. "What is it with everybody and Youtube? Is that some kind of tube you channel your anger into or something for therapy or something?"

Julie couldn't help but smile at that question. "I'll explain it to you later. Right now we have more important matters at hand. Carlos, I need you to show Dad that same Sunset Curve brochure you just showed me. He doesn't believe me that the guys used to be ghosts... or still are. Whatever they are. You know what I mean."

Carlos flashed the brochure to his father just like he had to his sister a few minutes prior. One of Ray's eyebrows shot up. "You three were Sunset Curve?! You were one of my wife's favorite bands. She said she knew you would've gone onto greater things before the accident. She never cared to explain what happened to the three of you."

Luke smiled warmly at the thought of Julie's mom liking them so much. It was like she was almost giving him her blessing to be with her or something. "I never knew her, but from the way you two have raised Julie, I can only imagine how awesome she was. I'm glad someone so cool was a fan of us before we were the real best band in town."

Ray smiled as he nodded. "I am too, Luke. I'm glad I'm getting to meet you three. I just know she would've loved to. So, how long have you three not been ghosts? Only a few nights? Do you have a place to stay?"

"I was only able to actually hug them after the show tonight. They've kind of been staying here, since I was the only one who could see them... and you know, they're my band. Is it okay if they just stay here with us?" Julie asked earnestly.

Ray nodded warmly. "Of course it is. Do they still have family around they'd want to visit? I can take any or all of you in the car around town tomorrow if you'd like."

"Reg and I don't have family anymore, but Luke does," Alex replied.

"Perfect. Luke, would you like to go visit them and tell them you're... well again? I could show you around town if you'd like," Ray said to Luke.

Luke's eyes drifted towards the floor. "I-- I'd like that eventually, but not yet. I don't think I'm ready to face them again yet. I need some time to prepare if that's okay with you, but I'd love to go around town with you when I decide I'm ready if that's alright with you, Mr. Molina."

"That sounds just fine. Just let me know whenever you're ready, and I'll make sure to take you anywhere and everywhere you'd like to go. I think it's better if you three don't sleep in the same room as my daughter, so you can come follow me to where you'll be staying," Ray replied.

Reggie's eyes lit up with hope. "Heck, yeah! All hail Father Ray!"

Julie giggled out loud at that comment. "Did you just call my Dad Father Ray?"

Reggie nodded confidently as he walked out the door. "I sure as heck did, and it's going to be his nickname for as long as we're alive."

Alex rolled his eyes and smiled at Julie. "Goodnight, Julie. See you in the morning." She smiled warmly in return. "Night, Alex."

Luke smirked as he passed Julie on his way out and squeezed her hand as quickly as he could before walking out. "Sleep well, Jules."

Julie shook her head with a giddy grin on her face. "Goodnight, Luke."

Chapter 2: Cute Ghosts

Julie woke up the next morning to the smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen. She smiled as she stretched out her arms until she let out a scream of surprise. "Aaaaaah! What are you doing in here?!"

Luke shrugged with a little smirk spread across his lips. "Alex and Reg aren't up yet, so I decided to wait for you 'cause I know you're an earlier riser than them. Didn't wanna go downstairs and have an awkward conversation with your Dad since he's the only other one awake."

"Okay, well, can you wait for me outside my room, please? I just woke up, and I'm still kind of processing everything that happened last night," Julie said with a forceful smile.

Luke frowned as he gave her puppy dog eyes. "Awww, come on, Julie. We just found out that we can actually be seen by other humans and are practically alive again! This isn't the time to go process everything in your head yet! We've gotta write a song about it!"

"I already invited Flynn over to talk to you guys today. We can just hang out today, okay? What if we write more songs tomorrow or something? I'm sure my dad already has plans to get you guys back in school and stuff by the end of the week anyways," Julie replied as she plopped her head back onto her pillow.

Luke scrunched up his face in dismay. "School, really? Why you gotta bring up something so dull, Jules? We're basically ALIVE again! Come on! Get up and outta bed! Andale! Andale! Andale!"

Julie tilted her head with a lively smile on her face. "Do you even know what that means?" Luke rolled his eyes and said, "Of course I know what it means. Now come on, and get up outta bed!" He exclaimed as he quickly grabbed her two hands and began to drag her out of bed.

"Okay, okay, okay! I'll get out of bed! Just give me a second to change and I'll be downstairs," Julie said with a big smile and a little giggle.

When Julie got downstairs about fifteen minutes later, Reggie and Alex had joined Luke. She was met with a quick comment from Reggie. "Well I'm glad someone's finally awake. Luke wouldn't stop yelling at us until we came down here." Julie offered an apologetic smile. "Yeah, I think he's just excited. He did that to me too."

"Hey! I'm right here, and I have ears, ya know!" Luke exclaimed with a pouty face. Alex sighed out a laugh. "Yeah, well maybe if you'd just waited for Julie alone then Reg and I would still be asleep and then you could have your alone time with--"

Before he could finish his sentence, the door bell rang, and Ray checked the ring camera from his phone. "Ah, Julie, it seems to be your friend from school. Do you mind getting the door while I flip over the rest of this batch of pancakes?"

"Hi, Nick!" Julie exclaimed with a bright smile on her face. She was glad to see another friend. He smiled and turned around with an oddly confident look on his face as he approached her. He didn't say a word as he handed her a boquet of pretty pink flowers. Julie smiled in admiration of the flowers. "Thanks."

Nick nodded. "Of course, Julie. Who would have known you and your band could sing so lively before last night? Playing the Orpheum is a big deal." Julie nodded with a large smile on her face. "Yeah, the boys and I are really happy about it. It's kind of been a dream of ours for a while."

"Ah, yes, I can only begin to imagine," Nick replied with a sly nod. "Do you wanna come inside? My dad's making his homemade pancakes if you're hungry," Julie offered with a kind intent. "That's kind of you to offer, but I have some things to take care of. I will see you at school, though, right?" Nick asked.

Julie nodded. "Yeah, of course. It was nice seeing you, thanks for stopping by!"

"Hey, Papi, do you know if we have any extra vases in the cabinet?" Julie asked as she walked into the kitchen, blushing just a little bit to where it was noticeable. One of Luke's eyebrows shot up. "Flowers, huh? I wonder who got them for you. Oh, I know! It's that cute dancing boy, right? What's his name, Brick?"

Julie stifled a laugh. "It's Nick, and yeah, they're from him." Reggie and Alex flashed each other quick glances, knowing that jealous Luke might start to come out sooner or later if "Brick" kept showing up to their house with flowers for Julie.

"Ah, give him a chance, Luke. Nick seems like a nice fellow. There are a few extra vases is in the top cabinet. Did he want any breakfast?" Ray asked, turning to Julie. "Nope, he said he had something to take care of. But I wouldn't make any less. These boys haven't eaten real food in a long time. I think they're practically starved," She said sarcastically looking at Reggie who was fawning over the chocolate chips and maple syrup.

"Hey, don't make fun of me! Chocolate is my favorite kind of candy!" Reggie exclaimed in defense. "Yeah, dude, and that maple smells like Heaven. How long until the first batch is done?" Luke asked eagerly. Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry. Ignore them. They have no manners when it comes to eating."

Julie started to walk away after putting the flowers in the vase, but she saw Luke frowning deeply as she was heading out of the kitchen. "Uh, Luke, are you okay?" He didn't even blink before saying, "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you? Where are you going? You don't wanna skip breakfast! It's the most important meal of your entire life! Our first real band meal!"

"That's not a real thing," Julie said with a little laugh. Luke crossed his arms with sass. "Heck yes it is, girl. We haven't eaten in twenty five years, and the last time we ate we died. It's a big deal!" Julie rolled her eyes with a little smile pulling at her lips. "Calm down, drama queen. I was only going to get my phone from upstairs to know when Flynn is coming over. I'll be back in a second."

Luke nodded with pursed lips in anticipation. "You better be. I don't got a lot of patience to wait for the pancakes much longer." After Julie grabbed her phone, she hurried back down the stairs so she wouldn't get any more silly little comments from the boys. Unfortunately, the world had other plans.

"Well look who finally decided to join us again," Reggie muttered loudly with crossed arms. "Oh, come on, I was only gone for like a minute and a half," Julie said with a little shake of her head and a hint of a smile. "Eh, don't listen to him, Jules. He's just hungry and angry," Luke reassured her as he simply shrugged.

"You mean hangry?" Julie asked with a laugh. "Ummm, no? I mean angry and hungry. What the heck is hangry supposed to mean?" Luke asked with a serious face.

"Angry plus hungry equals hangry. It's just combining the two words when someone gets angry because they're hungry," Julie explained. Luke rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Psh, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Who calls a person hangry? That's like combining the words homework and nerd. Homerd. It's not even a real word. I'm surprised you'd even use it, miss songwriter."

Julie stifled a laugh. "If you say so, mister songwriter. I can already tell that you're not going to be a fan of gen z lingo." Luke furrowed his brow in confusion. "Gen z?" Julie shook her head and laughed. "Oh boy. You still have a lot to learn before you're back in school again."

"Oh, oh, I know what gen z is! Let me explain!" Alex exclaimed. Julie shrugged. "Go for it." Alex smiled softly and turned to Luke. "Gen z is an abbreviation for generation z. It's basically a time table of when a kid was born. Gen z kids were specifically born anytime from 1997 to 2012. You, Reg, and I are technically at the very end at gen x, but since I guess we're aging now like Julie we're in gen z now. I don't know how that works, but I don't think it really matters."

Luke looked Julie up and down. "Dang, sometimes I forget you were born so long after us. Man, we've got a lot of stuff to learn from you. Starting with who the heck Harry Styles is. I keep hearin' his name everywhere. Seriously, who's last name is Styles?"

"Oh my gosh, Flynn is going to eat this up!" Julie exclaimed with a little giggle.

Luke's light smile quickly twisted into an unhappy frown. "Nobody's gonna be eating up our pancakes. We haven't eaten in twenty five years."

"Shut up, Luke. Nobody's going to eat our pancakes. Saying someone is 'eating it up' is gen z lingo for doing really great or have a ball or whatever you wanna say for admiration," Alex muttered.

Reggie tilted his head in confusion as he looked over at Julie. "So you... admire Flynn? I thought you and Luke had a little thing going on, and that's why he said--"

"Reg, that's not what I meant. Not in love with the person or whatever. You just find some of their personality qualities likable," Alex interrupted.

Reggie's cheeks deepened into a dark red shade. "Oh. My bad."

"So," Julie said with a raised eyebrow and interest as she turned to Luke, "what exactly did you say about us?"

"I-- I-- uh, just mentioned that we had a really good thing going as cowriters. Reg just likes to take things out of context sometimes. Isn't that right, buddy?" Luke said as he elbowed Reggie in the chest.

Reggie immediately nodded. "Y--Y--Yes! I definitely do that. All the time!"

"Oh brother. This is going to be a long day," Alex muttered.

After the boys and Julie had eaten their pancakes, Flynn came barging in the front door. She was extremely caught off guard at the dark-haired boy waiting for her and jumped back in shock. "Aahhh!"

Julie heard her from helping doing dishes in the kitchen and already knew what had happened. "Reggie! I thought we talked about this! No scaring the people that are actually going to be involved in your lives!" She exclaimed as she rushed to the front door.

"Oh my god, that was the most out of pocket thing I've heard all day," Flynn said as she ran to engulf her best friend in a hug. Reggie frowned in confusion. "Out of pocket? Like you write words in your pocket and take them out when you're bored?"

"Gen z lingo," Julie replied with an awkward smile.

Seconds later, another voice was heard coming from out of the kitchen. "Hey, Julie, do you know when the next time we can eat is or do we have to wait for--" Flynn's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she saw the blonde boy walk up to Julie. "Ohhh, Flynn, hi. It's nice to meet you. I'm Alex," he said as he held out a hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you... officially, I guess," Flynn said with a smile and a shrug. She then turned to Julie. "Hey, do you know if your lover boy is around here somewhere? I'm surprised he hasn't been clinging to you like a koala like when you guys sang Edge of Great."

"Aha! I knew there was something going on between you two!" Reggie exclaimed. "Why didn't anybody tell me? I'm surprised Luke hasn't declared his undying love yet since he seems so smitten. Julie, you seriously have no idea how truly and overwhelmingly he has--"

"Luke and I are just friends," Julie interrupted with a soft smile. "I think that you guys keep forgetting you're ghosts."

Alex tilted his head, pondering the subject. "Are we still, though?"

Chapter 3: Finally Free

"If I can see you and touch you, I don't see how you're still dead," Flynn said with a simple shrug. Reggie nodded with a sigh. "She makes a good point."

"Hey, I like this guy. He agrees with me first thing," Flynn said with a nod to Julie. Julie smiled in return. "I'm glad you guys are getting along. If only I could find Luke. I don't know where he went, but I'm guessing the garage. I'll go see if he's out there."

Before Julie could go look for Luke, he walked in from the back door into the kitchen shouting her name. "Hey, Julie, are you in here?!" Julie laughed and said, "Well, I guess that answers my question. Let's go see him." The others began to follow her into the kitchen after she called back, "Yeah! Coming to the kitchen!"

One of Luke's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know Flynn was already here." Julie merely shrugged. "She just got here, no need to worry." Just as she was about to officially introduce him to Flynn, Carlos walked down the stairs and said, "Hey, Julie, Dad said that Trevor and Carrie are coming over for dinner tonight."

"What? No! They can't!" Julie exclaimed as she ran to talk to him to talk about it. Flynn shrugged and looked to the boys, saying, "Don't worry about that. I'm sure Julie will get it sorted out and they won't actually come over."

"I think we're already past the worrying stage. We should really go talk to Carlos and Ray about this," Alex muttered. Reggie nodded passionately. "Yeah, otherwise things are going to get really heated really fast." Before Luke could chime in and follow the other to boys to Julie and her brother, Flynn tilted her head and smiled at him insinuating for him to stay.

"So, you're Luke, huh? You seem to be crushing on my girl Julie pretty hard. I don't blame you. She's the kind of girl your kind falls for. Just be careful with her heart, okay? She's had some really hard things in her past. I'm sure you already know that, but I just wanted to make sure. Because if you aren't careful with her care and trust, I will hunt you down like a dog and make sure you get put back into that grave where you came from."

Luke didn't know what to do, so he just played dumb. "What? I'm not crushing on Julie!" He exclaimed as his cheeks started to get more red by the second. "Did Reggie tell you that? He and Alex have a little running joke about us being duetters, but that's it."

Flynn squinted at him suspiciously. "For someone so hopelessly obsessed, you seem really oblivious. You guys obviously have some little thing going on, even if it is just when you're singing. Everybody's been talking about it."

"What do you mean, everybody's talking about it? There's not anything to talk about it. Julie and I are just good friends. We're in a band together and we spend time together because we write songs. What is everyone else saying?" Luke asked as he felt his heart beating out of his chest.

Flynn shrugged with a slight hint of a smile. "Guess you'll never know since you're still... a ghost?" Luke rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Yeah, I dunno if we are or not either. I'm sure Jules will tell me what they're saying about us."

Flynn couldn't keep her laugh in at that comment. She was doubling over in laughter when Alex, Reggie, and Julie walked back over to her and Luke. "Uh, what's going on?" Julie asked with a confused smile. Luke shrugged and said, "She's laughing 'cause she doesn't believe that you'll tell me what other people are saying about us."

Julie felt her heart rate start to escalate as she nervously chucked in response. "Well, I don't know what she's talking about. No one's really mentioned us to me. Anyways, Carlos is going to talk to my dad so hopefully you don't have to see... Bobby and I don't have to see Carrie tonight."

"Actually, I think we should have him over," Luke retorted. "I mean, now that we're basically alive again and other people can hear us and see us and touch us, we can beat him up for what he did."

"Luke, come on," Julie said with a disapproving stare. "What? He stole our songs, our legacy! I know you didn't want us going after him after Caleb's club, but this isn't us going after him, Julie! He's literally coming over to our house!" Luke exclaimed passionately.

Julie tried really hard to ignore the fact that he had just called it their house. It almost made her believe for a split second that they could be something... more. She sighed sadly, remembering that even if other people could see them, they didn't have pulses... or did they?

"Uh, Julie, you have anything to say to that?" Alex asked, bringing her back to reality. "Sorry. Got lost in thought. Um, but yeah, Luke, that's not happening. You obviously still have some really deep feelings of resentment towards him, and I don't think it would be good to just act on them," Julie commented in response.

"Aww, come on, Julie. We've talked about this! The first night I gave you Bright, remember? We don't ask for permission. We just do!" Luke jumped up as he shouted, wanting nothing more than to give Bobby a piece of his mind.

Julie shook her head and chuckled a little. "Yeah, but that was about booking gigs. Not going all crazy about Trevor on me." Luke's lower lip folded down and he gave her puppy dog eyes, pleading for a chance. "Come on, Julie. We'll never get another chance. What if this is our unfinished business?"

That question hit Julie like a stab to the heart. The reminder that the boys still had unfinished business only reminded her once again that they weren't back for good. If they truly would always be ghosts, she felt like her heart was physically going to break if that meant losing them. Just the thought of it made it hard to breathe, and Julie started to feel unsteady and lightheaded.

"Jules, are you okay?" Flynn asked in concern as she tried to balance her best friend by holding her shoulders steady. Julie took a deep breath. "Y--Yeah, I'm fine. Look, can we maybe talk about this later? It's a little overwhelming."

Luke tilted his head to study her a little better. "Yeah, of course. Maybe we should just wait until your dad comes back with something to say." Julie took another deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. That sounds... good."

"Do you need to sit down for a second, Jules? You're looking a little pale," Flynn commented quietly. Julie shook her head. "No, it's fine. I think I'm just gonna go up to my room for a little while. You wanna come with?" Flynn nodded with a reassuring smile. "Of course. What else are best friends for?"

Julie and Flynn went to walk upstairs, thinking the boys would stay downstairs, but they started following immediately behind them. "Um, what are you guys doing?" Flynn asked, a little caught off guard. "We wanted to come with you guys! Julie looks like she needs a pep talk! I know just the thing! Alex and I know how to salsa!" Reggie exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Yeah, we just wanna make sure Julie's okay," Luke chimed in. "I'm her best friend. Don't worry about that. I'll take care of her," Flynn replied. Luke frowned and crossed his arms with sass. "We're her best friends too, you know. We wanna be there for her too."

Flynn smirked a little. "Oh, I'm sure you do. But this is girl talk. I don't think you could handle that." Julie had to laugh a little at that. Luke tilted his head a little at her. "Whatcha laughing at, Julie? You think I can't handle being around girls? I'll have you know back when I was in highschool, I was friends with lots of girls. They all loved me very much."

Reggie nodded. "It's true. He was a real babe magnet." Julie made a weird face at him. "Um, first of all, that doesn't help your case at all, Luke. Second, please never say that again, Reggie. It sounds really weird. Oh, and by the way, Luke, you sounded like an old grandfather when you said that. Back when I was in highschool..."

Flynn and Julie giggled in unison. Alex nodded understandingly. "They're not wrong, you know. That's a real weird thing to say, Reg, and Luke, we all know why you want to spend time with Julie, but this isn't the time to stare longingly into each other's eyes while you write songs. There are bigger things to talk about."

"Yeah, just not right now," Flynn interrupted. "Julie's still looking a little pale, and I have to go talk to her alone, so if you'll excuse us, we'll take our leave of absence."

Luke's jaw dropped in offense to Julie's comment. He couldn't believe she'd just compared him to an old grandfather! And then Alex had gone and talked about them staring longingly into each other's eyes! Not that he was necessarily wrong, but that wasn't the point.

"So, what was that all about, Jules? You scared me for a second there. Is it something Luke said?" Flynn asked as they sprawled out on Julie's bed. Julie shrugged. "He just mentioned crossing over, and I guess it just scared me. I mean, I feel like I just got them back. For real this time, and I guess I thought they'd want to stay here. I think they do. It's just..."

"Aww, Julie, I'm sorry. I know you have strong feelings for him. Just don't forget that he's a ghost, okay? I'm sure there's someone way better than him just waiting out there for you," Flynn said reassuringly.

Julie buried her face into her pillow and groaned. "Ughhh! You keep saying that, but I don't think there is, Flynn! And what if they're not ghosts? Other people can see them and touch them and hear them. What if they actually have pulses now?"

"Hmmm," Flynn wondered. "That's a good question. Why don't we go ask them? We don't have to bring up the whole crossing over thing. We can just ask them if they have heartbeats. We can check the sides of their necks for pulses. I'm sure Carlos still has something that we can use from when he was in his little doctoral phase."

Julie scrunched her nose at the thought of it. "Um, I don't think so. The last thing I need right now is to physically touch Luke's neck and then have the sudden realization that he's still a ghost and that I'll end up heartbroken when something bad happens."

"Then I'll check Luke for a pulse," Flynn suggested. "You can check Alex or Reggie, and I'm sure Carlos will wanna help too." Julie sighed reluctantly. "Fine, but you have to deal with Luke if he starts complaining about it."

"Okay, boys! We're ready to talk to you now!" Flynn shouted as she started heading down the stairs with Julie trailing right behind her. "Oh, Julie, thank goodness," Luke said as soon as he saw her walking behind Flynn. "The boys keep trying to make me salsa dance with the two of them, and I just cannot do it. Will you dance with me?"

Julie felt her heart drop to her stomach. "Sorry, can't. We have bigger things to do right now. We're going to figure out if you guys are actually, you know... alive again." Luke frowned and sighed. "Okay, okay, fine. I guess that's more important, and it'll at least stop them from tryna get me to salsa dance with them."

"I'll be right back, Jules. I'm gonna go ask Carlos for his stethoscope real quick," Flynn quickly commented as she patted her best friend on the back, heading away from her and the band.

Luke's eyes fell directly on Julie as he stared intensely. "So, how are you feeling? Little more steady?" Julie nodded with a slight shrug. "Yeah. Just had to take a second to breathe. Everything just got a little intense, and..." She couldn't tell him that she was afraid of them crossing over.

"And what?" Luke implored. "Nothing. It wasn't important," Julie said with a small shake of her head. Luke eyed her suspiciously, easily telling she was lying. "That's a lie if I've ever heard one. What's bothering you, Julie?"

Julie glanced away, earnestly trying to avoid eye contact. "Now's not really the best time to talk about it. Maybe later." Luke sighed, just hoping she'd feel close enough to them to truly let her walls down. "Come on, Julie. There's nothing you can say that's gonna make it any different. You can trust me. All of us. I promise."

Julie inhaled a deep breath and softly, but directly, looked Luke in the eyes. "Do you guys still want to cross over? I know it's stupid, but I just... I feel like I just got you guys back for good... and when you mentioned confronting Trevor being your unfinished business, I guess it just caught me off guard. I'm sorry. That probably sounds really selfish. I just don't know if I can handle what it feels like losing you guys again."

"Julie, I promise you'll never lose us," Luke replied softly. "I'm sorry if I made it seem like I wanted us to cross over. I guess I just got in over my head. I just haven't really been able to cope with what Bobby did to us. He took so many of my songs and just said they were all his. Having something that's yours, and truly yours alone, stolen and put on display for the whole world alone isn't something that I take lightly. I'm sure you'd feel the same way if it'd happened to you."

"Yeah, I can't even begin to imagine being put in that position. I'm sure I'd feel the same way too. So... does this mean you're okay if he doesn't come over for dinner with Carrie tonight now?" Julie asked with a little eyebrow raise.

Luke nodded. "Yeah, definitely. You were right. I definitely don't think I'm ready to face that jackass again. I think I'd just lose control over my entire body, let alone my emotions."

"Alright, alright, phantoms, it's time to see if you're still phantoms," Flynn announced as she re-entered the kitchen with a stethoscope in hand. "Oh, also, Trevor isn't coming over anymore. Ray said since you guys have such personal history with him, it'll be better if you guys wait for a bit before seeing him."

Reggie's smile dropped immediately. "Aww, come on, Flynn. Alex and I were just re-starting our salsa dance! Can't you wait until we finish? You can join in with Julie if you want since Luke definitely doesn't wanna dance with us."

"Sorry, Reggie. This can't wait. Knowing if you're, well, alive again is a lot more important than... whatever you were calling that 'salsa' dancing," Flynn replied.

"Hey! That's not fair! We worked on that for over an hour!" Reggie exclaimed defensively. Flynn shrugged. "Well, it needs more work. Not trying to be rude, just honest. I'm sure Julie could show you guys what I'm talking about with her pretty little song Perfect--"

Flynn discontinued her sentence after seeing Julie's deep and intense glare. Apparently she was not supposed to be talking about Perfect Harmony. Flynn wondered if any of the boys had even heard it, let alone seen the lyrics.

"Perfect what?" Alex asked. "Yeah, I don't think I've seen a song called Perfect anything," Luke said, turning his attention towards Julie. Julie shrugged. "Oh, it's just something I was messing around with a little, but it didn't work out. Nothing important."

"Well, I'm sure we could give it a little more life if we worked on it together. We make a great team. You know that," Luke said with a little shrug and flirtatious grin.

Julie shook her head with a little awkward smile. "Nah. Not really something I'm interested in working on again. It doesn't really fit with the rest of our songs. I'm sure we can come up with something way better and a lot more engaging for audiences."

Luke shook his head as he let out a little tsk-tsk. "You underestimate yourself so much."

"Alright, enough lover quarreling, can we just get onto whatever Flynn's doing so Alex and I can finish our salsa dance, please?!" Reggie exclaimed. Alex nodded. "Agreed. Love the lovers quarrels, just wish they didn't last so long."

"Psh, lover quarrels. Between who?" Luke asked as he sheepishly let out a humorless laugh. "Alex and Reggie, obviously. But they're right, we should really be getting to the part of figuring out if you're still phantoms or not," Flynn replied.

Flynn was the first to check Luke for a pulse, and then after, she whispered to Julie, "This is so weird. I knew you thought your man was hot and all, I mean everyone does, but daaang girl, he's got some muscles on him."

Julie's face burned red as she blushed. "Flynn! He's not my man!" She whisper-hissed. Flynn had to laugh out loud at that comment. "If you say so, sweetie. Anyways, I'm not letting you take Alex and Reggie's. I'll take care of them."

"Why? Do you have a crush on Reggie now?" Julie whispered with a smirk. Flynn rolled her eyes. "Shut up, girl. You know I've only known him for like an hour." Julie shrugged as she whispered, "Crushes can form really quickly."

After checking all three of the boys for pulses, Flynn only had one thing left to say.

"Guys... I think you're alive again. For real, not just being able to hug."

Chapter 4: Big Freakin' Change

Alex's eyes started watering as his heart bubbled over with emotions. "We can't be, though! This will mess up everything!"

Reggie started jumping up and down like a toddler because his excitement level was so high. "Yes, yes, yes, yes! I can finally ask out that hot girl who wears the blue from Dirty Candy!"

Luke didn't say anything out loud. Instead, he just kept a quiet smirk to himself. If they were really alive, maybe he could finally date Julie. Maybe not. He knew right now wasn't the right time to think about that since there was about to be so much change... but maybe, just maybe, in the near future they could be something. Something more than friends.

"Well, that's... not what I was expecting," Julie heaved out with a large breath. "Does that mean you guys can't poof in and out anymore? Because if you can't, that means we're going to have to do some really in depth explaining to anyone who's ever seen us perform since they all know you as holograms and will be wondering--"

Before Julie could even finish her sentence, Luke poofed out and back in like nothing had changed. "I guess that answers that question," Reggie said with a quick shrug. Julie nodded. "Yeah.... I guess so. But if you guys do enroll at my school, we're gonna have a lot of explaining to do. I've been telling everyone that you guys are from Sweden."

"Sweden? Really, Julie? You didn't think to just say that we were from Canada or somewhere even relatively close to the states?" Luke asked with a slight frown. Julie shrugged innocently. "I was put on the spot. What else was I supposed to tell them? You're ghosts?"

"Um, Alex, are you okay? You've seemed a little... off since I told you that you're basically alive again," Flynn interrupted abruptly. He shook his head as tears streamed down his face. "I'm... I'm fine. It's just... a lot of change at once. I don't even know if I'll ever see Willie again... and I guess I just miss him. I don't wanna lose him after everything we've been through together."

"Aw, Alex, don't worry about that, bro. If we can still poof in and out, I'm sure you can still see Alex and hang out with him. Just be careful, man. I'm sure Caleb's still out there with some freaky plan up his sleeve," Luke muttered as he patted Alex's arm with reassurance.

After spending more time together trying to figure out how to go about things now that everything was different, everybody went to do their own thing. Flynn went home to help her parents with something, Reggie walked Alex around in circles before salsa dancing to try to cheer him up, Luke went to work on a new guitar riff, and Julie went upstairs to work on a new song.

Julie's song wasn't something she necessarily wanted to share with anyone. Even though the other songs she'd written with Luke were personal, this one was different than the others she'd written. She'd written Perfect Harmony and hidden it away in her dream box, but this song was about the hope she had... hope that she and Luke would very soon become something more than just "friends", even though it already seemed like they were making very positive progress in that direction.

"I'm only beginning to dream of a life with you,
You're the one mending all of my old wounds,
Darling, please give us a chance to become
One of the greatest love stories under the sun,"

She sang the lyrics with a smile on her face that was only for something so delicate and vulnerable. She had big dreams for what they would become. She just wasn't sure if it was worth it to risk the wonderful friendship they'd already formed...

"La, la, la, la, la, la! I'll teach you the best moves!" Reggie sang into Alex's face as he swooshed his hips back and forth with the biggest smile on his face that anyone had ever seen.

Alex sighed and plopped down on the couch in the living room. "Reg, I appreciate the attempt, but I'm really not in the mood. We've been walking in circles forever, and I've been watching you shake your hips back and forth for the past hour. It's no use."

"Alex, I'm sure Willie's doing fine. Hey, I have just the song for you that I wrote a while back! It's not finished or anything, it's just a chorus repeated twice and a verse, but I'm sure it'll make you feel better. Oh, and please don't judge it for being country. I know Luke hated Home is where my Horse is, but it's amazing. You'll love it," Reggie said with a soft, understanding smile.

Alex nodded quietly. "Okay, fine. I'll listen to it. Just don't go into Home is where my Horse is after. Luke's been talking about how strange that song is since you've never actually ridden a horse before."

Reggie frowned, taken aback. "Hey! Let a man dream!" He picked up his bass and quickly started strumming a melody.

[AUTHORS NOTE: all songs written in this fic are written by me :) and just be prepared for a bit of comedic relief 😂]

"When the waves seem to crash over the island,
Don't you worry, sonny,
Don't wanna see you cryin'
When you're feelin' like the day's no longer funny,
Don't you worry, my man,
Don't wanna see you cryin'"

"It'll be the written story the old folks pass on,
It'll be the old folk song that's been passed down,
'Cause a cowboy always sees his battles won
So the horse jumps through the hoop around and 'round"

"When the waves seem to crash over the island,
Don't you worry, sonny
Don't wanna see you cryin'
When you're feelin' like the day's no longer funny
Don't you worry, my man,
Don't wanna see you cryin'"

Alex's tears of mourning quickly turned into tears of laughter at Reggie's verse lyrics. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," He said, slapping his knee in complete laughter, "Did you just say the horse jumps through the hoop around and around? Reg, a tiger jumps through a hoop at a circus! Not a horse when they're racing!"

"Hey, that's not true!" Reggie exclaimed defensively. "I saw a horse named Secret jump through a secret hoop on Youtube! You should just ask Carlos! It was on his laptop!"

"Ah, thanks for cheering me up, Reg," Alex said in continuous laughter as he slapped his knee over and over again, hardly being able to handle the lyrics. "I needed that, sonny."

While Julie worked on her new song and Alex and Reggie were having a ball with Reggie's incredible country lyrics, Luke was playing the same guitar riff he'd played in Edge of Great over and over and over again.

He couldn't quite figure out just what had happened that night to make Julie ignore him. He'd seen her just earlier that day at her school. She'd smiled that big beautiful smile, laughed at him, told him to shut up (in front of a lifer!), and even told him how great of a team they were together.

Then she didn't even acknowledge for three fourths of the entire song except for the one time she looked over at him when he motioned for her to come over and she hadn't. But the way she'd smiled at him when he'd gone up to her... it made him feel like he was on cloud nine. There was nothing just plain old friendly about that look.

She hadn't acted weird since that day, and he wanted to go talk to her about it. He didn't know exactly how to start the talk since it would probably seem like "girl talk" or whatever she and Flynn had been yapping about earlier on in the day.

When he walked into her room, still without opening the door, he sat in silence just listening to her play what she was working on. Her voice wasn't just angelic. It was every single thing he loved in someone's voice. The perfect tamber, the perfect pitch, and the perfect sound. Even the new melody she was singing was flawless. It was all right in front of him. She was the perfect girl. Perfect Julie Molina.

He did, however, get a little thrown off by the lyrics. It seemed to be some kind of love song... maybe even for some boy at school. Was it that boy Rick? Tick? Dick? Whatever his name was. He certainly hoped not. If it was, he'd have to show Julie that he was better for her than Ricky Ticky Dicky.

"Under the sun,
Oh, under the sun,
We'll see what our love becomes,
Where the great war is won,
Under the sun,
Oh-Oh, under the sun,
We'll see what our love becomes
Where the great war is wo-on,"

Luke's lips spread into a warm smile as he imagined spinning her around and dancing with her in the sun. He hadn't been much in the sun since he and the boys had been brought back. Now more than ever, he wanted to scoop her into his arms and twirl her around like the perfect princess rock-star she was.

"Wow, Julie, those lyrics... are beautiful," He said quietly behind her as tears began to gather in his eyes. Julie let out a little gasp as she realized that he was standing directly behind her... and had heard those lyrics... that he had written about him.

"Luke? What are you doing in here? I-- I thought you were downstairs with the guys," Julie said with wide eyes as she faced him. "Oh, yeah, well, I went into the studio to just mess around... and then I came up here just to talk to you. I'm sorry, I just didn't wanna interrupt you. Your voice is so beautiful," Luke replied in a soft voice.

Julie titled her head slightly as she asked, "Oh, what did you come up here to talk about?" Luke shrugged with a slight smirk on his face. "I dunno. Guess I was just wondering about the other night..." Julie frowned in confusion. "The other night? What are you talking about?"

"Um, when we were singing Edge of Great. I was just wondering if we were okay... since you seemed kinda on edge that night... and not on the edge of great. On the edge of angst and avoidance," Luke muttered as he avoided eye contact.

Julie's eyes widened as she realized what he was talking about. "Oh, shoot! I'm so sorry, Luke. We're totally fine. I just... got a little too in my head earlier that day, and Flynn said it was best to just try to focus on the lyrics and not other distractions."

Luke's lips curled into a haughty smirk. "Oh, so you think I'm distracting?"

Julie immediately face-palmed herself. "No, of course not! I just... got nervous. That's all."

"Nervous, why? Because I'm too distracting?" Luke asked with an even more flirtatious smirk.

Julie shook her head firmly. "No. That's crazy! We're band-mates, Luke! We're supposed to be professionals!"

Luke was taken aback by that sentence. "Professional? Jules, me and the boys were dead for twenty-five years. You can probably imagine why we're a little unprofessional." He sighed with a little chuckle as he added, "But I guess it makes sense that you're unprofessional if you're gettin' all distracted by little ole me."

Julie pursed her lips together as she shook her head, trying to fight off the extreme blush that had colored her cheeks. "Shut up. This is so not the time to be talking about distracting things."

"Aha!" Luke exclaimed. "I knew you thought I was distracting! You finally admit it!"

"Lukeee, stop it," Julie groaned with a laugh. "There are so many more important things right now."

"More important? I dunno about that, Jules. That song you were singin' sounded pretty important to me. Guess you're not so keen on Ricky Ticky Dicky now, though, huh?" Luke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, Ricky Ticky who?!" Julie exclaimed.

Luke crossed his arms with sass as he nodded and said, "You heard me right. Ricky Ticky Dicky. Guess he's not so deserving of some love song of yours now."

Julie couldn't stop herself from bursting out laughing. "Oh my gosh, are you talking about Nick? I didn't write a love song for him. I just got bored and I had an idea of something to write for fun."

"If you say so," Luke said with a shrug. "Well, that's all I had to say. Catch you later, Jules."

Julie's jaw dropped open the second he poofed out. How could that have just happened? So it was official. Luke definitely knew she had a crush on him... but for a second, when he was talking about Nick, it had almost seemed like he was jealous.

That couldn't mean he felt the same way for her, could it?

Chapter 5: It's been Years

"I can't believe you're actually making us go back to school," Alex muttered as he grabbed an apple from as he headed to the car with Ray, Julie, Carlos, Reggie, and Luke. "Yeah, Ray, I love you, but you've got our priorities all wrong. Rocking out always comes before school!" Reggie shouted with passion.

Ray shook his head with a warm smile on his face. "You high school boys and your priorities. Education comes first in this house. You'll have time to work on your music after school and on the weekends just like Julie."

"Yeah, but Julie's never around when we start writing stuff," Luke complained. "She's been at school every time we've planned stuff." Ray shrugged. "Well, now you'll have her with you whenever you're planning. Education comes first, always. Just wait until you meet my sister in law. I'm sure she'll have a long talk with each of you."

Julie's eyes widened with realization. "Oh, no, Papi, you can't be serious about that. You're going to tell Tia Victoria about the boys?! She's going to freak out when she finds out that they were the ghosts haunting her and Carlos the last time she was here!"

"Heck, yeah! I'd pay to see her reaction to that!" Carlos exclaimed with a bright smile. Ray laughed at his son's comment with a fake disapproving shake of his head. "Ah, come on, Carlos. Don't be like that. Your mother would have never let you live that down."

The ride to school was relatively quiet excluding the occasional comments from Reggie pointing out people walking their dogs and strange outfits people on the sidewalk were wearing. Everyone would laugh a little at first, but then Luke just started to roll his eyes while Alex clamped a hand over Reggie's mouth to stop him from talking.

Countless questions swarmed through Julie's mind as they drove. What was she supposed to tell the kids at school? Would Nick try to be weird around Luke? And would Luke try to be weird around Nick? Would there be a hundred girls flocking to the boys by the time lunch rolled around? Would the boys be able to join her in the music program? Would she still be able to spend time alone with Flynn at school if the boys were with her all the time?

Julie went off to class like normal while her dad helped the boys got settled in with the front desk. They weren't officially registered for classes yet, so it would be a few hours before the boys got all of their schedules figured out. Maybe she'd still have one last normal day before they were with her all of the time at school.

After her first three periods, she was getting her Chemistry binder from her locker when Luke approached her with an excited smile on his face. "Hey, Jules, what class do we have next?" Julie gave him a funny look. "Don't you mean what class I have? We definitely won't be in the same classes."

Luke crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Well, apparently according to the educational coordinator, we will. She says the classes we last took were too outdated, so we have to go back two grades. We have to repeat sophomore and junior year. So we won't be graduating until you do."

"Oh, wow.... that's... not what I was expecting," Julie muttered. "Um, when do you guys start?" Luke shrugged. "Not 'til next week, but she said we're 'shadowing' you today and Wednesday, whatever that means. So basically we're just following you around like lemmings."

Julie raised her eyebrows and forced a happy smile on her face. "Oh, wow... okay. I-- I guess you can just follow me, then. Good luck not being eaten alive by the girls here. I'm sure Carrie will have some interesting questions for you guys."

"Eh, girls don't bother me. I'm sure they'll think I'm hot or whatever, but I'm used to it. Kinda just ignore them at this point," Luke muttered with a shrug. Julie looked at him like he was the most oblivious man in all human kind. "Um, hello?? I'm a girl. Are you just going to ignore me and Flynn forever too?"

Luke rolled his eyes and smiled giddily. "Yeah, but you're different. You're one of my best friends... and Flynn is one of your best friends. You're the only girl I really care about." Julie rolled her eyes at that comment and smiled, trying not to let him onto her feelings. "Whatever you say."

Julie and Luke walked over to where Reggie and Alex were standing to get them before heading to Chemistry. When they walked in, a collective number of other students gasped in unison. They couldn't believe the phantoms from Julie and the Phantoms were standing before them. "Holy shit, they're actually here," someone muttered. "I thought they lived in Sweden," murmured another.

Reggie immediately spotted the girl from Dirty Candy and raised an eyebrow flirtatiously. "Hey, my name's Reggie. What's yours?" Flynn raised an eyebrow, both suspiciously and disapprovingly, at him as she walked up to Julie. "Jules, what are they doing here? I thought they weren't starting until tomorrow."

Julie sighed and said, "They're just shadowing today and Wednesday, so we still have tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday without them. Apparently they're joining our grade too which is definitely going to be... interesting to say the least."

Flynn nodded, still suspiciously eyeing Reggie. "Yeah, I can tell. The girls have already been talking about them for the past few weeks. What am I supposed to say when they ask if Luke's dating someone? I can't just give them free reign to just do whatever they want with him when you're in love with him!" She whisper-hissed.

Before Julie could say something in response, Luke walked up to them and whispered, "What are we talking about? How weird everyone in this room is acting? 'Cause I'm thinking about just ditching. What do ya say, Julie? Can we leave now?"

Julie swallowed nervously and shook her head. "We can't. We just got here, and my dad will kill us if we skip. I already got in enough trouble with Tia for sleeping in and missing a Calculus test. The last thing I need is for her to get on my tail again."

"Okay, fine, then can we leave after this class? 'Cause all these kids are staring at me like I'm some statue or something. It's weird," Luke muttered in response. Julie rolled her eyes. "Well, you better get used to it if you're gonna be here every day. Flynn says that all the girls have been talking about you guys too."

Luke rolled his eyes at that comment. "Yeah, well, none of them matter. We have bigger things ahead of us than some stupid high school girls that just wanna hook up. It's stupid." Julie laughed a little. "Geez, Luke. You still sour about some girl breaking your heart before you died?"

"Ew, no," Luke said with a shake of his head. "I wasn't that kinda guy, Jules. You've gotta remember that we dropped out and literally spent all of our time playing. We didn't have time for school or girls. There was this one girl who tried to ask me out a lot, but she was kinda freaky anyways. Last thing I need is another Jenn around."

Flynn had to giggle at that. "Sounds like someone isn't interested in any other girls. That's good news for you," she whispered into Julie's ear, quiet enough so Luke couldn't hear. Julie rolled her eyes as a grin unconsciously spread widely across her face. "Shut up."

Luke raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What? Was she talking bad about Jenn or somethin'?" Julie shook her head as she laughed. "Neither of us even know who Jenn is, but you sound obsessed. Are you sure you never dated her or anything?" Luke rolled his eyes. "No, we really didn't. She messed around with me and Bobby-- Trevor-- whatever the hell you wanna call him-- all the time. I hated her. She was my menace. Treated Alex and his sister horribly when Bobby told her he was gay."

Julie's eyebrows shot up like a rocket. "Trevor outted Alex to a girl you guys couldn't even stand?! Gosh, he sounds horrible. Why were you guys even in a band with him?" Luke shrugged. "He was a childhood friend of mine. We were just kinda thrown together when we were kids. I was never close with him, but Reg was. He's the most depressed about the whole Trevor thing out of the three of us."

"Julie, would you like to stop whispering to these boys and introduce us?" Mrs. Mendeleyez asked with an unwavering frown. "Oh, sorry," Julie replied a little awkwardly. "This is Luke, Alex, and Reggie. They're shadowing me for the day and again on Wednesday. They're my band-mates, and they're starting here next week."

Mrs. Mendeleyez nodded. "Thank you. Blonde boy, you can sit with Julie. You two," she said, pointing to Reggie and Luke, "can sit on either sides of Mr. Danforth-Evans." Luke raised an eyebrow. "Mr. who now?" Mrs. Mendeleyez smiled impatiently. "Nick Danforth-Evans. He sits in the row behind miss Molina."

Luke shriveled his nose at the thought of sitting next to Ricky Ticky Dicky, but he did as he was told. Nick smiled and held out a hand. "Hello, Luke. I'm Nick. It's good to finally meet you." Luke didn't return the favor of holding out his hand, and instead, nodded and said, "Yeah, I've heard a lot about you, Ricky Ticky Dicky."

"Aw, how sweet, Julie has told you about how much she is in love with me. That's awfully kind," Nick said with a creepy smile, completely ignoring Luke's lovely nickname for him. Luke raised an eyebrow. "In love with you? I don't think so, bro. She seems pretty repulsed by you in my opinion."

Reggie watched in awe as the two boys next to him conversed. He stifled too many laughs to count. Jealous Luke was certainly something else. "Did you just call him Ricky Ticky Dicky?" He finally asked with a giggle. Luke smiled and nodded confidently. "I sure as heck did, and I'll continue doing it until the day I die."

Seconds after Luke stated his sentence in confidence, none other than Carrie Wilson opened the classroom door and strutted in with a raised eyebrow. She looked at Reggie with an intense stare. "Who are you, and why are you in my seat?"

Reggie glared at her before jumping up onto his seat and exclaimed, "I have a declaration! Carrie was mean to the girl I like! She's really pretty and has a nice laugh, but Carrie was mean to her! All who agree to banish her from the classroom, say I!"

Kayla, Reggie's crush, stared at him with wide eyes in fear of what Carrie would do to him. "I!" Luke chipped in immediately. "I second that!" Flynn shouted from the other side of the room. "Make that a third vote," Nick said, staring only at Julie.

"Enough of this nonsense! Everyone needs to sit down in their own seats. Miss Wilson, you can sit in my chair for the class," Mrs. Mendeleyez announced. "Come on, that's not fair treatment! What happened to 'all men are created equal'?" Luke growled.

Carrie flipped her hair as she walked by him and said, "You're right, but I'm not a man, sweetie. Women rule the world. I would've thought you would know that since Julie is your band's lead singer."

"Actually, Luke and I are both lead singers. Get your facts right before your crown slips off the top of your head," Julie confidently said in response. "Heck, yeah! That's my girl! You tell her!" Luke exclaimed with a proud smile taking over his face.

Julie felt her face get warmer with color as she shook her head with a slight smile. One of the girls in the class frowned. "Julie is your girl? You're dating her?" She asked. Luke shook his head. "Nah, we're not dating, but she's one of my best friends." Flynn glared daggers at the blonde-haired girl who smirked with devious intentions. "That's great! You wanna go out sometime?" The blonde called from the other side of the room.

"No thanks, I'll pass!" Luke shouted in response.

Reggie giggled like a little girl, and Kayla looked over at him as she started laughing with him.

Alex rolled his eyes at the idea of dating a girl. Obviously Luke was meant for Julie, but the whole Reggie and Kayla thing was weirding him out. They hadn't even officially met but just a few minutes ago! It made him miss Willie more than words could express.

"Enough!" Mrs. Mendeleyez shouted once more. "I won't put up with this tomfoolery in my classroom. You can either stay quiet and act civil or leave."

Luke was about to get up and leave when Julie shot him a deep stare that warned him if he left now, he would never hear the end of it. He sighed and put his elbows on the table as Mrs. Mendeleyez began teaching her lesson.

Chapter 6: Somebody has a Crush

Two weeks after the boys had started going to Julie's school, they officially had a new normal. It wasn't something any of them really enjoyed, but Reggie certainly found Ceramics class interesting. It was the only other thing he talked about besides Kayla. They weren't officially dating, but they were around each other all the time.

Luke and Alex relatively stayed to themselves in class after their first shadow day. Alex was still quite a bit sad and worried about Willie, and Luke was solely focused on writing songs. He hadn't had much time to write with Julie because he had so much work to catch up on, and it made him extremely moody.

When he got to school one day, there was a girl standing in front of his locker talking to her friend next to her, and he completely lost his patience. "Dude, can you move? Has no one ever told you to get out of the way when someone's tryna get to their locker? Seriously, it's like you live in your own little world and it's all about you. What's up with that?"

The girl crossed her arms defensively. "Who stuck a stick up your butt, skater boy? Hasn't anyone ever told you to mind your own business?" Luke rolled his eyes and muttered, "Just move, girl. That's all I'm saying. You're in front of my locker."

"Who are you, and what is your problem? You don't get to talk to me like that just because you're a dick," the girl exclaimed in response. Luke sighed and said, "You're right. I'm sorry. Bad day. I'm Luke. What can I do to make it up to you?" The girl smiled and said, "Don't worry about it. I was just messing with you. We all have bad days every once in a while. I'm Alayna. It's nice to meet you, Luke. You're in that band, right? Julie and the Phantoms?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I am." Alayna smiled as she waited for Luke to get his things out of his locker. "That's cool. Music is a really awesome thing to be into. You guys played at the Orpheum, right?" Luke raised an eyebrow, suddenly taking an interest in the girl. "Yeah, we did. You like music too? Do you play any instruments?"

"I play a little guitar and the bass. So, where exactly are you from? You didn't use to live here, right? The main girl in your band-- at that school dance she said she couldn't connect with you guys with wifi, but you sound just like a local," Alayna told Luke as they walked down the hall together.

"Oh, I am from here. We moved across seas a few years ago for school stuff, but we're back for good now," Luke said with an inviting smile. "How long have you known the band girl for? Are you guys childhood friends or something?" Alayna asked. Luke nodded, secretly smiling to himself. "Something like that, yeah."

"I know I haven't known you for very long... like, at all, so I'm sorry if this comes off weird, but would you wanna chill sometime?" Alayna asked with a glint of hope in her eyes.

Luke thought about it for a good minute. Even though Julie was the one he wanted to be with, he knew it could never happen. Not really. She would never like him back in the way he liked her. He didn't want to ruin their friendship. They were co-writers. That could really screw up the whole band. Plus it would be easier to date someone outside of the band. The boys would also stop messing with him and Julie and their eye contact, and Flynn wouldn't absolutely kill him if something bad were to happen between him and Julie. Alayna was the perfect fit for everything he wanted!

She was a very, very beautiful girl with extremely dark hair, flawless skin, perfectly shaped lips, and a paler colored skin with a lovely wanderdust spread of rose on her cheeks. She looked much like the woman in the movie he'd seen the other day, Wonder Woman. The actress's name was Gal Gadot, and Alayna could practically be her sister.

{Reference Picture}

Luke smiled at the idea of being close friends, maybe even something more, with Alayna. "Yeah. That'd be cool. Just give me an idea of when so I can make sure I don't have anything with the band that day."

Luke and Alayna started to become close friends very quickly. She visited the Molina's house before Luke's band practice just a week after meeting him, and that was their first time really hanging out besides a class or two in school. Nobody else was in the garage, so it was just Alayna and Luke talking about life.

Alex was the first one to enter the room, thankfully not poofing in, as he walked in through the double doors. He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Uh-- hey, Luke. Who's this?" He asked, motioning towards Alayna. Luke smiled softly and said, "This is Alayna, a good friend from school. She just came to hang out before band practice."

"Oh, well, Reg should be here any minute, and Julie will be coming in any time now too, I'm sure, so we're probably gonna start soon. Sorry, I don't mean to kick you out... Alayna. It's probably just better that Julie doesn't find out that Luke had someone over at her house without her dad's permission," Alex said with a forced smile and hinting stare at Luke.

Luke didn't seem to take the hint. "You didn't tell me this was the lead girl's house. Why aren't we at yours?" Alayna asked. "Oh, we all live here. Don't worry about it. I'm sure Julie will be cool about it. Alex just gets a little sensitive when he's caught off guard," Luke replied with a shrug.

Just a few minutes later, Reggie walked in behind Alex and frowned as soon as he saw Luke hanging out with a girl other than Julie. "Luke, what are you doing? Where's Julie?" He asked. "I'm sure she's up in her room or something before practice. This is Alayna, by the way. She's a good friend of mine," Luke said as he introduced Alayna to Reggie.

Reggie nodded and gave a small smile as he extended a hand to shake. "It's nice to meet you, Alayna. How did you two meet?" Alayna chuckled lightly as she looked over at Luke before explaining. "We met at school. Luke was having a rough day, and we just kind of figured that we'd be good friends."

"Aw, that's sweet. Have you met Julie yet? I'm sure you'll love her too," Reggie said with a flushed smile. "Oh, no, I haven't. I'm sure I'll like her too. Any friend of Luke's is a friend of mine," Alayna replied. Reggie felt his cheeks color into a deeper red. "Yeah, she and Luke are definitely good... friends."

Luke made a weird face at the way Reggie had just said that. It's not like he'd ever admitted his feelings about Julie to the guys when he still had them. He didn't get why they were acting weird around Alayna. She made him happy, and she was nice to everyone she met, obviously even when they were having a bad day.

Julie didn't go into the studio until a little while after Reggie and Alex. By the time she got down to the garage, Alex's drums were ready to go, Luke was strumming his guitar with Alayna, and Reggie was jamming out on the bass.

"Hey guys," she said with a warm smile as she opened the doors to the garage. Her smile faltered just a little when spotting Luke and Alayna. Of course there was already a girl. How could she be so stupid?! All of the girls were obsessed with Luke the second he walked into that school. There wasn't anywhere else she could be from, and it hurt a little that he hadn't even mentioned that she was coming over. In fact, he hadn't mentioned a girl at all.

"Oh, hi, I'm Julie. What's your name?" Julie asked Alayna. "I'm Alayna. It's nice to finally meet you, Julie. I've heard you're a really good singer," Alayna replied as she smiled at Luke flirtatiously. "Thanks. That's sweet. Um, I'm really sorry, guys, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to practice today. I'm... not really feeling up to it," Julie muttered with zero emotion.

"Yeah, I agree. Let's just call it off for today. I'll walk you back up to the house," Alex replied. Julie flashed him a grateful smile as she turned to leave. "Thanks."

Luke frowned as he watched Alex get up to leave with Julie. It seemed like something was bothering, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. "Hey, Julie, are you okay? Did something happen with your dad or something?"

"Um-- Yeah, I'm okay. Nothing happened with my dad. Just not a great day. I'll see you guys later," Julie replied, avoiding his eyes at all costs. "What do you mean? Then we should definitely rehearse today. It always makes you feel better," Luke insisted.

"Not today, Luke. I told you, I'm really not feeling up to it," Julie said with a shake of her head. "I don't understand. What happened? You know you can talk to us about whatever it is," Luke replied. "I'll see you guys later on. Have a good night," Julie replied with the world's saddest smile.

As soon as Alex and Julie were out of the garage and out of hearing range, Reggie stood up and rolled his eyes at Luke before walking towards the doors to leave. "You're so stupid sometimes, Luke. Even I picked up on what was bothering her so much. It was good to meet you, Alayna. I'll see you around."

Luke frowned as he watched Reggie leave. "Gosh, now I've got all three of 'em mad at me for something I don't even know what I did." Alayna rested her head on his shoulder and said, "I'm sure it's nothing you did, Luke. Probably family drama or something. I wouldn't worry about it."

Luke looked down at the girl leaning on his shoulder and smiled heartily. "Thanks, Alayna. That means a lot. Hey, since I don't have rehearsal anymore, do you wanna go do something before I gotta be back for dinner?" Alayna's eyes lit up with excitement. "Yeah, let's go hang at the beach!"

Alex started fuming to Julie the second they were out of the hearing range of the garage. "I'm so sorry you had to see that girl with Luke, Julie. I don't know why he's acting so stupid. I know he can be stupid sometimes, but I swear he's taking it to a whole new level. You guys are obviously more than friends, and now he's bringing random girls into your garage without even telling any of us. Gosh, if I could go to the government right now, I'd sue him for being so rude."

"So he didn't tell you guys about her either?" Julie asked with a skeptical frown. "Nope. Not a single freaking word about her. I didn't even know he had any friends other than us and Flynn at school until I walked into that studio today," Alex muttered with a heavy sigh.

Julie felt another pang in her heart when she reluctantly asked, "He likes her, doesn't he? The way he was looking at her... is the same way he used to look at me."

Alex's eyes darted towards the house, purposely not looking at Julie's heart-broken face. "Yeah. He does. I don't know how he developed a crush in a freaking week. I'm sorry, Julie. If I could scream at him right now, I would. I just don't think his new little rat girl would handle it well."

Even though it still stung, Julie had to laugh at that comment. "Little rat girl?"

"Yeah. If Luke's acting like a rat, she's in the same boat as him. I really am sorry, though. You deserve better than that," Alex replied sadly.

"They're not... you know, officially dating yet or anything, right?" Julie asked hesitantly. Alex shook his head. "Nah, not as far as I'm aware. I know he's being stupid and senseless, but he wouldn't just bring a girl home and call her his girlfriend for the first time on the same day. Reg and I will talk to him about it, I promise."

"No, you don't have to do that," Julie immediately insisted. "I don't like how this has happened, but if he likes someone else, I'm just gonna have to get used to it and get over him. Even though I care about him a lot, I can't jeopardize what we have going with the band. Things are just starting to get good for us."

"Yeah, I know, but what Luke did isn't cool, okay?" Alex responded. "I won't mention you, okay? I'll just mention the fact that you guys had something. You at least deserve some kind of closure. It's not fair to you that he just goes to another girl without saying something. It's so unlike him too."

Julie smiled sweetly. "Thanks, Alex. That means a lot." Alex nodded with a sad smile. "Of course, Julie. We'd do anything for you."

After they got back up to the house, Julie went to go write a song about what she was feeling, Alex went to go chill in the boys' room, and just a few minutes later, Reggie joined him there.

Julie smiled as she pulled out the ukelele her mother had left in her box. Even though her mom hadn't been able to teach her much before she'd passed, there were two sheets full of chords to learn from.

It was times like these that made Julie miss her mom the most. Ray was the best father a girl could ask for, but the whole thing with Luke wasn't something Julie could bring up with him. It would definitely make Ray not like him as much, and Julie didn't want Luke to get any hate. Even if they weren't meant to be, she would always do her best to protect him.

"Crushing at first, didn't know where to look
Now sitting here waiting by the brook
Were the moments ever truly ours
Wouldn't know 'cause he was never able to buy me flowers"

"Perfection in all areas, sweet Alayna
You're everything he now loves, Alayna
Holding the boy I used to love the most
Dancing with the boy that women wrote"

"In our time, he wished to hold my hand
Now he doesn't want to even though he can
Does he hold you like there's no tomorrow
Does he sing to you while I'm full of sorrow"

"Perfection in all areas, sweet Alayna
You're everything he now loves, Alayna
Holding the boy I used to love the most
Dancing with the boy that women wrote"

"In another lifetime, he's holding my hand
In another lifetime, he's a true gentleman
We sing to each other note by note
We dance to a song no one else knows
In another lifetime, he's holding my hand
In another lifetime, he's a true gentleman
We laugh at each other's unfunny jokes
We don't care if the world runs rogue"

"Perfection in all areas, sweet Alayna
You're everything he now loves, Alayna
Holding the boy I used to love the most
Dancing with the boy that women wrote"

"This old flame will linger on through the night
Even if there's no more fire left in our eyes"

About halfway through of Julie writing her song, Alex went back down to the studio to give Luke a firm talking to while Reggie messed around on Carlos's laptop. As soon as Alex was down the stairs, Reggie left the room to go downstairs to get something to eat, but stopped right outside of Julie's door as he heard her play.

His eyes began to fill with tears listening to the lyrics coming from her mouth. "In our time, he wished to hold my hand. Now he doesn't want to even though he can. Does he hold you like there's no tomorrow? Does he sing to you while I'm full of sorrow?" He began to sob like a child, wanting to be held by his mother. Oh, how he missed his parents and little brother. Where was his brother now?

Alex busted into the studio with anger raging through his entire body shouting, "Luke, you and I are going to talk about what's going on right now!" It took him a brief second to realize Luke and Alayna were no longer in the garage strumming the guitar. Of course they left. What else would they have done?

He was about to leave the room when he heard a very familiar sound... the sound of a ghost poofing into the room. He turned around, expecting to find Luke coming back from wherever he'd gone with Alayna, but saw a completely different face instead.

The deep brown eyes stared back at him with an unforgettable smile, and Alex's heart felt complete for the first time in weeks. He couldn't say anything, so the other person did first. "Did you miss me, hotdog?"

Chapter 7: Other Side of Hollywood

"Willie, what are you doing here?!" Alex exclaimed in an exasperated gasp. Willie looked taken aback for a second. "You okay, hotdog? You seem a bit flustered." Alex shook his head and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah-- I'm fine. There's just drama between Luke and Julie right now, and I was about to go off on him. I thought you were him. Sorry, overflow of emotions."

Willie smiled sadly and shook his head. "No need to apologize, Alex. I've missed you. I would've come sooner, but there's a lot going on at the club right now. It wasn't easy to get away." Alex smiled warmly as his friend wrapped him in a fuzzy hug. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was really worried Caleb had done something to you."

"Yeah, about that," Willie said as he pulled away from Alex, just a little enough to look directly into his eyes, "you guys are in danger. More danger than you ever were in before."

Alex narrowed his eyes as his heart started beating out of his chest. "What do you mean? H-- How? I thought Caleb was gone. After the Orpheum, our stamps--" Willie nodded as he interrupted. "Disappeared, I know. It's all Caleb's talked about since then."

"How does Caleb know? He wasn't the one to remove them, was he?" Alex asked in a high-pitched squeal out of nervousness. "No, of course not. That's what angered him so much. Only he knows why. He refuses to tell anyone else about it," Willie muttered with a sigh of exhaustion.

Alex frowned deeply. "So, what does this mean? How are we in danger? It's just me and the guys, right? Not Julie?" Willie swallowed nervously. "Um-- no, actually. Julie's in the most danger out of all four of you."

"What?! How?!" Alex shouted at the top of his lungs. A dark shadow crept across Willie's face. "Caleb--he possessed a kid she knows. He said they were working together. It's going to be really bad if his plan succeeds, Alex. He's going to use Julie to get to all of you. He wants to erase her memory and send you all to a place you can never come back from."

Alex started pacing back and forth all throughout the studio. "I-- I don't understand! How is that even possible? Who the frick is he possessing?!" Willie shook his head dismally. "I wish I knew more. All I know is that it has to do with Caleb's past. How he first became the owner of the Hollywood Ghost Club in the first place. I'm so sorry. I've gotta get going. He'll be back soon."

"Wait, Willie, please don't leave. At least not yet," Alex begged. Willie immediately walked over to Alex and carefully cradled his face in his hands.

"I'm so sorry, Alex. We're going to fix this. I promise. I'll work my hardest to figure out a way to get rid of him for good. I want to be with you, but I can't like this. He'll kill us both if he finds out. I'll update you guys every time I get the chance. I'll see you soon, hotdog. I promise. I'll miss you," he said before planting a kiss on Alex's cheek before poofing out.

Alex's legs started trembling in fear. How could this have happened? He was so glad that Willie was safe... but the fact that Julie wasn't was a really, really bad thing. Especially now that Luke wasn't absurdly acting in love with her. It was all too messy. Too many things at once. He felt the lights dim and as his breathing started to hasten. Seconds later, he was unconscious on the floor.

A deep golden sliver of light blinded Alex's eyes as he slowly blinked repeatedly. "Alex, are you okay? What happened, man? You had me really worried for a second there," a familiar voice boomed over him. Alex held his hands to his ears as he whispered, "Talk softer. I think I'm going to have a migraine."

The dark figure stood up and left the room, leaving Alex wondering not only who had just spoken to him, but also why they didn't give a rip about his pounding head pain. How rude. After the occurrence of recent events, he figured it must have been Luke.

A few minutes later, the same figure walked into the room. Alex's eye sight was a little bit better, and he clearly saw Luke with his own two eyes. "Oh. It's you. How nice of you to come back. I'm surprised Alayna isn't attatched to your arm," He muttered bitterly.

Luke frowned, taken aback by the back-biting comment. "Chill, dude, I just went inside to get you some water. You looked like you were gonna pass out again. And, hey, leave Alayna outta this. She never did anything mean to you."

"Oh, thanks. I'm sorry, I guess that was uncalled for... except the Alayna part," Alex muttered underneath his breath. Luke raised an eyebrow in confusion, still not happy with the conversation at hand. "Seriously? What is your issue with her? You and Reg both are giving me crap, and Julie's acting like the most distant planet from earth."

"How is that even a question? Do you seriously have no idea what you've done?" Alex asked, eyes narrowing on Luke's. Luke shook his head, absolutely clueless. "I seriously don't get what you guys are all caught up on."

Alex face-palmed himself as he felt a wave of second-hand embarrassment from Luke. "You brought a girl home without even mentioning her name to any of us. Not only to the house, but to the studio. Without asking Ray, and without even looking at Julie first. I thought you liked her, Luke. We all did. That's gotta hurt. And I'm not talking about you."

Luke felt like he'd just been stabbed in the heart. He wasn't even thinking about Julie. There was no way she had feelings for him in the first place, but he didn't want to risk hurting her. "Wait, did Julie say something to you?"

"No. She didn't have to. You were being a distant, cold-hearted jerk to all of us. You didn't even introduce us. How long have you even known Alayna? You've never been an eff boy. I don't think you wanna give off that vibe now," Alex warned.

"I'm sorry, a what?!" Luke exclaimed. Alex sighed before explaining. "An eff boy. Short for the really dirty f-word. It's gen z lingo for someone who's distant, selfish, and eff's with other people's emotions. Or someone who just goes from one girl to another every week."

Luke placed a hand over his heart, passionately offended. "You think I'm that kinda guy, Alex? After all this time we've known each other, you think I'm someone like that?"

Alex rolled his eyes but spoke softly. "That's not what I said, Luke. I said you don't want to come off as that kinda guy... you know, especially to Julie. You can't deny the fact that you had something with her, and then you met Alayna in like a week and are already acting like you're dating her. Even more than you were with Julie."

"Does Julie think I'm that kinda guy now?" Luke asked quietly. "I-- I never meant to hurt her if I did. You have to believe me when I say that. Even if she did like me, which we all know she doesn't, we couldn't be together. The band would suffer fatally if anything bad were to ever go down between us. I don't think either of us could live with that."

Alex nodded slowly. "Well, I guess it's a good thing you still care that much about her because I have some really bad news to share with you about her. You might wanna sit down for this."

Luke felt his heart beat start escalating rapidly. "What are you talking about? Alex, what happened? Is Julie okay?"

"She's okay... for now," Alex said quietly.

Luke jumped up and walked up as close as he could and grabbed Alex's arm, forcing him to look at him. "Alex, what are you talking about? What does that mean? For now?"

"I-- I just saw Willie, and he came with some really bad news. Caleb possessed someone Julie knows, and he said she's in more danger than any of us. He's going to try to erase her memory and send us away for good," Alex revealed directly.

Luke shook his head immediately. "No. No way we're letting that happen. I'll talk to you later. I've gotta go find Julie. Do you know where she is?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, but, Luke, I really don't think you should be the one to go talk to her about his after everything that just--"

"Is she in her room?" Luke interrupted. Alex just nodded quietly, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop him now.

By the time Luke made it upstairs, Reggie had stopped bawling his eyes out to Julie's song and left to go on a walk to try to find his little brother. He started heading to the local library to try to find some news on him or his parents.

Even though Reggie's cry session had ended, Julie's singing had not. She wasn't singing her own song anymore, but a much more popular song by Gracie Abrams. "Nothing happened in the way I wanted. Every corner of this house is haunted, and I know you said that we're not talking, but I miss you, I'm--"

Julie felt a small gasp escape her lips as she heard the door behind her open. "L-- Luke, what are you doing here? I already told you, I'm not rehearsing today. I'm not feeling up to it."

"I know. That's not what I'm here to talk to you about," Luke replied firmly. "Has Alex talked to you yet?"

Julie felt her heart start beating out of her chest. Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Of course Alex had told Luke about their conversation. He was far too sensitive to keep a secret. She couldn't control her words as she began rambling. "I'm sorry I got so upset. I just-- I didn't expect to see you there with some girl I'd never met, and it wasn't fair how I reacted. I just didn't want to lose you again after how far we've come with--"

"What?" Luke interrupted abruptly. "I was talking about Caleb. What are you talking about? Were you and Alex talking about me?"

Julie's eyes widened in fear. So, Alex hadn't told him about their conversation! "Wait, what? What about Caleb? I-- I thought he was gone for good. What are you talking about?"

"No, no, no, no. Go back. Finish what you were saying," Luke said with wide eyes and intrigue. Julie shook her head. "No. What you were talking about is way more important. What about Caleb?"

Luke crossed his arms sassily. "Excuse me, miss 'I'm not feeling up to it', I'm not leaving this room until you tell me what the heck you were talking about. You never answered my question. Were you and Alex talking behind my back?"

"No. We weren't. Alex and I were talking about something else entirely," Julie lied. Luke gave her a knowing look. "You're such a terrible liar. Tell me what you were talking about."

Julie pressed her lips together, holding down firm. "No." Luke walked up closer and closer to her until he was inches away from her face. "Tell me," he repeated. Julie did not say another word. "Tell me!" He exclaimed, jumping up into the air.

"What's going on in here?" Reggie asked as he peaked in through a crack in the door. His eyes widened immediately and a grin grew on his face so big it reached ear to ear. "Oh, yaaay!! You guys made up! No more writing sad songs about girls who are stealing our man!" Reggie exclaimed.

Julie's jaw dropped immediately as Luke turned to face her with wide eyes. "I'm sorry, writing songs about what?!" Reggie's face flushed into a color as red as a tomato. "Uh oh. I guess that's my cue to leave."

"Luke, it's-- it's not what you think. I wasn't writing a song about you. I was writing a song about the book I've been reading," Julie started defending. Luke squinted his eyes at her suspiciously. "Oh, yeah, is that right? What's it called?

"The-- The Summer I Turned Pretty," Julie replied in a little gasp as she stepped backwards. Luke shook his head, crossing his arms. "I don't believe you. Show me the song you were writing about me."

Julie glared back at him. "No! I wasn't writing a song about you! I'll show you the book I'm talking about! It's right here on my shelf!" She exclaimed as she pulled the trilogy down from her bookshelf.

Luke frowned, seeing that the book really did exist. But he was also relieved. That meant Julie didn't have feelings for him at all, just like he expected. She was far too out of his league anyways.

"Okay," Julie said with a sigh, turning back to him after replacing the book on her bookshelf, "what were you saying about Caleb?" Luke squeezed his eyes shut for a second and heaved out a heavy breath before spontaneously grabbing Julie's hand and saying, "Let's go downstairs and talk about it with the guys. There's a lot to talk about."

Chapter 8: Running from the Past

"Luke, slow down!" Julie giggled as Luke pulled her down the stairs as fast as he could to go talk with the guys in the garage. "Can't, this is too important!" Luke shouted in return with a husky breath.

Julie rolled her eyes and smiled as he pulled her into the studio. As soon as they stepped foot into the room, he dropped her hand and turned around to face her. "Jules, you might wanna sit down for this."

Julie eyed Luke skeptically. "Uh... okay." Luke sighed out a heavy breath as he turned to Alex. "Have you told Reggie about our situation yet?" Alex shook his head. "No. I-- I thought it would be better if we could do it together. So I guess it's a good thing you guys got down here."

Reggie frowned deeply. "What are you guys talking about?" His eyes widened in fear. "Oh my gosh, don't tell me another Star Wars movie is being made! They have to bring Han Solo back to life!" Alex shook his head and let out a sad sigh. "I wish it was about something that lighthearted."

"Okay... so what do you guys have to tell us?" Julie asked quietly. "You're in danger, Julie. Caleb-- he's back, and Willie told Alex that he's possessed someone you know. But he doesn't know anything else about who it is. So you literally can't hang out with anyone except the band right now since we know it's not one of us," Luke said firmly.

"Oh my god!" Reggie shouted fearfully. "What if it is one of us?! How-- How-- How would we know if he possessed us? Oh my god, Julie, what if Luke's possessed, and that's why he was acting all hoity toity earlier?!"

Julie rolled her eyes. "If Luke was possessed, he wouldn't be telling us this, and Alex wouldn't have told him. And don't worry about yourself. You're obviously very much still yourself. And I'm still hanging out with Flynn," Julie said, turning her attention back to Luke. "She's my best friend. Caleb wouldn't know who she is to possess her."

Luke shook his head. "Don't make the mistake of underestimating him, Julie. Nobody's safe to be around except us and your dad and Carlos. He said friends. We're all basically family."

"We'll just make sure to thoroughly question Flynn the next time we see her," Alex said. Julie nodded. "Okay, fine. That's fair enough, I guess. She's not gonna be happy about it, though."

"None of us are," Luke muttered in response. "Oh, and Luke," Alex said with a haughty little smile, "That means you can't hang out with Alayna for a while either. It could be her. You never know if Caleb's been watching."

Luke crossed his arms with a frown. "Okay, that is so not fair. Julie didn't meet Alayna until today. There's no possible way that it's her." Alex shook his head. "Willie said it's a kid Julie knows. That literally could mean anyone. No Alayna until we figure out who the person is."

Luke huffed and rolled his eyes as he kicked the floor. "This is so not fair." Julie dully sat on the couch with a frown on her face. "Welcome to the club. I guess that means we can't perform again until we figure out who it is, either then."

"I bet it's that Ricky Ticky Dicky guy who gave you flowers the other week. He's been bothering you recently, hasn't he?" Luke asked Julie. She merely shrugged. "I mean, not really. I haven't talked to him too much since then. I've really only seen him when we've been dancing."

Reggie smirked at that comment. That was certainly a way to bring jealous Luke out. Luke rolled his eyes and said, "Okay, but that doesn't say anything. Caleb's a performer. He could totally dance the night away. Besides, when I first officially met Ricky Ticky Dicky he said that you were in love with him. Come on, honey, you're obviously not. That's gotta be a dead giveaway."

"Aw, he called you honey," Alex said sweetly with a kind smile on his face, but quiet enough so that Luke couldn't hear him. Julie smiled a little and rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Alex. Alayna's his girl," she muttered underneath her breath.

She then turned back to Luke. "Fine. I'll ask him some questions sometime tomorrow at school."

"Whew, that was a close one," Reggie said, letting out a sigh of relief. "I was really scared it was Kayla for a second. Now I can still spend time with her!! I'll see you guys later, I'm gonna go spend time with my lady!"

"Wait, Reg, don't leave yet," Alex announced as he stood up. "There's still more to what Willie told me." Reggie's eyes widened as his lips curved into a frown. "There's more?!" He whined.

Alex glanced away, anxious to tell them the final news. "Yeah. Uh, Willie kinda said that Caleb's master plan is to erase Julie's memory and send us to a place that we can't return from. He said it's got something to do with Caleb's past."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Julie groaned as she melted even further into a slump on the couch. "Don't worry, Jules. We won't let him get near you. The three of us have got six eyes. I'm sure we can stop him before doing anything. I promise I'll keep you safe," Luke said with a warm smile.

Alex rolled his eyes as he watched Luke flirt with Julie. "Dude, now is so not the time for that crap." Luke frowned, a bit taken aback. "What are you talking about?" Alex gave him a look that very clearly stated he was done with the crap. "You know what I'm talking about."

"I'll make sure to be careful, Alex. I promise. I'll keep my eyes out for creepy old men with magical powers. I really wanna go spend time with Kayla," Reggie said with a plain face as he walked out of the garage.

Julie got up to leave seconds after him. "I'll talk to you guys later. I'm gonna go get something to eat and text Flynn." Luke immediately went to follow her. "I'll come with you."

"No, sir, you will not," Alex announced angrily. Julie and Luke both turned around to see him with crossed arms standing in a very dad-like stance.

"Uh, I think you better stay here and see what he wants. I'll see you later," Julie said to Luke. He rolled his eyes and went to jump on the couch. "Alright, then. See you later, Jules."

Not even a minute after Julie was gone, Alex erupted with energy. "What was that?! What were you doing, dude?! Have you no sympathy for what you're putting our poor girl through?!"

"Alex, bro, what are you talking about?" Luke asked in confusion. "You obviously like Alayna, don't you?" Alex interrogated. Luke shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, she's a really cool person to be around. What does this have to do with her? I thought you were cool with her now."

Alex sighed as he held his hands to his temple. "Sometimes you really are just a doofus, Luke. Why are you suddenly acting all chummy with Julie and flirting with her? You're really starting to sound like an eff boy! I, personally, am offended for Julie! You're playing with my little sister's feelings!"

"Alex, I was not flirting with Julie. We write songs together, and we're friends. It's that simple," Luke replied. "Well then, Lucas, you ought to start acting like it. My girl Julie knows that you don't like her. Heck, she even called Alayna 'your girl' if that says anything. I'm warning you now that it's going to end up coming down to the choice between Julie and Alayna," Alex exclaimed with raised eyebrows.

"What do you mean, choose between them? Julie and I are just friends," Luke said with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, you keep saying that. When it comes down to the question of Julie or Alayna, if you can't make the decision, Reg and I will make it for you. And that means you can be saying goodbye to your little rat girl," Alex replied.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Can we talk about something else? I get it. You're not a fan of Alayna. I won't bring her around here again. No biggie."

"You do what you want, Luke," Alex said with offense. "It doesn't matter anymore if you were going to pick her over Julie in the end anyways."

Before they could talk about anything else, Alex dramatically poofed out of the room. Luke rolled his eyes at the thought of having to pick between Julie or Alayna. How was that even a question? Of course he would pick-- Wait, who would he pick? He didn't even know what Alex's question meant.

It felt like he was falling in love with Alayna. Obviously the one to choose would be Julie!

The next day at school, at lunch, Julie decided to go talk to Nick about a song idea, and that was how she was going to question him. She made sure to go somewhere that a lot of people weren't around so it could just be the two of them.

"So, Julie, what did you plan on talking to me about?" Nick asked. Julie smiled and said, "Oh, well, I was wondering if you could help me with a song I'm working on." Nick smiled. "I'd be delighted."

They sat working on the song for about fifteen minutes, laughing with each other, when Julie firmly decided not to question him because the boys were definitely wrong. Luke was just acting weird because it was Nick. The same way he did the other week about that song she'd written for him.

The more she talked to Nick, the more she liked being in his company. He was really sweet, and his eyes were pretty. He made her laugh in a way she hadn't for a while. Near the end of lunch, Julie asked him, "Hey, Nick, you know how you asked me out the other week and I said no?"

Nick's eye twitched for a split second before his smile reappeared on his face. "Yes, I do." Julie smiled softly and said, "Is that offer still on the table?" Nick raised an eyebrow and smiled deviously. "Yes, it is, Julie. It always is when it comes to you. You're an incredibly talented and beautiful girl."

"Aw, thanks. You're so sweet. I'm so glad this is happening. So, when are you thinking? Do you have downtime after school today?" Julie asked sweetly. Nick smiled and nodded. "Yes ma'am, I do. Do you want to just leave from here and I can take you home after?" Julie nodded. "Yeah, that'd be great."

After throwing away their trash, they decided to head back into the main lunch room. Nick quickly slipped his hand into Julie's and held it tightly. She smiled at him which made him beam with pride.

Luke was sitting with Reggie, Alex, and Flynn at the lunch table when the two of them walked in, hands intertwined. He felt a dark knot twist in his stomach and his jaw tense. "What is she doing with him?"

"Oh my god," Flynn said as her eyes lit up with excitement. "My ship is finally sailing! She's finally moved on!"

Luke frowned deeply. "Moved on from what? A decent taste in men?" Flynn flashed him a disapproving frown. "No, silly! She's finally moved on from the idea of dating a boy who's not even alive!"

Luke felt his heart tighten in his chest. Did that mean... Julie really had had feelings for him? And he'd just been too blind to recognize it?

He sat there, staring at the most beautiful girl in the world, wondering how in the world he'd lost her. It was too late. It didn't matter anymore anyways. He'd been planning on making Alayna his official girlfriend soon, and Julie was obviously head over heels over Ricky Ticky Dicky.

He'd lost his chance... and Julie was with the guy that was quite possibly possessed by his worst enemy.

Chapter 9: Watch Me Make a Move

Alayna frowned as she watched Luke's eyes narrow on Nick and Julie. A deep pit of bitterness and hatred whirled around in the bottom of her stomach from jealousy. "Hey, Luke, why don't you come over to my house tonight, and I can introduce you to my little brother and--"

Luke didn't even realize he was ignoring Alayna until she started waving a hand in front of his face. "Hello?? Are you in some kind of trance or something??" His lips curled into a frown. "Sorry, just got really worried for a sec."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I just wanted to make sure you were okay... so, are you?" Alayna asked hesitantly. Luke's eyes flickered back to Nick and Julie as he said, "Uh-- yeah, I'm fine. I just don't want Julie to get hurt. That Ricky Ticky Dicky guy is a really bad guy."

"Are you sure about that? I don't think that boy's done anything to make anyone question him in his entire life," Alayna replied with a light laugh. She frowned as Luke's eyes once again narrowed on Nick and Julie, perpetually obsessed with the sight. "I'll catch you later, Luke," she muttered with an eye roll before walking away.

"Well that girl seems to notice that you can't keep your eyes off Julie," Flynn said with a little smirk, noticing the deep infatuation the brown-haired boy seemed to have with her best friend. "Huh? Did you say something about Julie?" Luke asked, turning back around to look at Flynn.

"Oh, no. Nothing, nothing at all," Flynn replied with a sly smile. Luke nodded firmly before saying, "I'm gonna go talk to her." Flynn's heart jumped at the thought. "What? No! You can't!" She exclaimed. "Oh, yeah, why not?" Luke asked.

"Because she's with Nick, and they're obviously having a moment together!" Flynn exclaimed. Luke rolled his eyes and heaved out a heavy sigh. "I think her safety is more important than having a little moment with a boy who looks like a little rat with a thin blonde mop on the top of his head."

Flynn's eyes filled with panic as Luke firmly stood up and walked over with a certain kind of confidence that only came from boys who were jealous of their girl giving other boys attention. She knew that if Julie didn't listen to what he said immediately, there was going to be quite a scene... and a fight between Luke and Nick in the middle of the lunch room sounded like the worst possible thing at the moment.

"Hey, Julie, can I talk to you for a second?" Luke asked with a quiet smile as she approached her with confidence. "Oh-- sure," Julie stuttered. She gently let go of Nick's hand and whispered, "Sorry, this will only take a minute."

Luke walked out of the lunchroom only so far that Nick and the others couldn't hear them, and then he crossed his arms like an upset father. "Julie, what are you doing with him? I thought you were going to go interrogate him, not score yourself a date with the devil."

"The devil, really?" Julie asked as she subconsciously took a step backwards. "You can't trust him. You know Caleb's little advocate could be anyone. There's no way you figured out if it was him or not in the few minutes you guys were away," Luke said with an intense stare.

Julie shook her head. "I've known Nick for a long time, Luke. A lot longer than I've even known you and Alex and Reggie, and longer than you've known him. We grew up going to school together. You can trust me when I say it's not him."

"But how do you know? How do you know Caleb's not just inside of him waiting to come out when you least expect it?" Luke asked endearingly. "Look, I'm not tryna be rude about this. I just don't want you to get hurt, okay? Everybody's gotta be safe about this kinda stuff right now."

Julie smiled warmly. "I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but I don't need it. We've known each other for a while now. You know you can trust me when it comes to other stuff, so you know you can trust me on this too. Please. I know it's not what we decided on as a group, but Nick's a great guy. He wouldn't hurt me."

Luke's shoulders sagged as he sighed dismally, giving in to his friend's request. "Okay, fine, but only if you keep us updated twenty-four-seven while you're gone. Deal?" Julie nodded with a sparkling smile. "Deal."

Julie held out her hand to shake on it, and Luke gladly went along with it for a few seconds before pulling her into a deep bear hug. "Luuuuke, come on," Julie giggled.

When he finally let her pull away, his smile was the biggest it'd been in weeks. "You look happy," Julie noted. "Yeah, I am," Luke said with a nod as he subconsciously bit his lower lip.

"Oh, hey, can you tell Dad that I don't need a ride home after school when he picks you guys up? I'm going somewhere with Nick after school," Julie said with a shy smile. Luke nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll see you later, Jules."

Ray was happily surprised when he learned that his daughter was out on a date with Nick when he picked the boys up. "Well, that's wonderful! I guess I'll have to meet him sometime!" He exclaimed happily with a spark in his eyes.

Even though he was happy, he quickly noticed Reggie's deeply imprinted smile. "Oh, Reggie, what's wrong? Did something happen between you and Kayla? Are you having a rough day?"

"No," Reggie's voice quivered as he broke down into tears. "I just really don't want Julie going on that date with Nick." Alex and Luke looked at each other in confusion, not having a single clue in the world where he was going with this.

"Really, son? Why's that?" Ray asked with a furrow in his brow. "He-- He's not her soulmate. She-- She left her soulmate to watch and die of pain and suffering while waiting for her to come to him and admit her feelings," Reggie painfully wailed.

Alex's eyebrows shot up as high as they could, quickly realizing he was talking about Luke... even though Luke was basically dating Alayna anyways. "Reg, this is really, really not the time for this."

"What are you talking about, Reggie? Who is this soulmate you speak of?" Ray asked, intensely worried for his daughter and her future relationships. That question made Reggie bawl even harder. He couldn't stop. "A boy who doesn't even recognize his own love for her."

Alex immediately face-palmed himself out of reaction to that statement. Luke tilted his head, deeply trying to analyze the words coming out of Reggie's mouth and failing extraordinarily. "Dude, what are you yapping about? If the guy doesn't love Julie, he's obviously not her soulmate."

Reggie's eyes were now a deep red from the pure agony he was going through. "Don't you dare say that, you petty, petty boy! Go spend the afternoon with Alayna!" He exclaimed angrily.

Luke's jaw dropped in offense. "Hey! What did I do?! You're just talkin' about some guy who's not realizing his feelings for Julie!"

Reggie sat back in his seat and crossed his arms, refusing to talk. "Let's just go home, Ray. I want to speak with you privately about this without these two emotionless creatures in the car."

Alex's eyes widened as his arms went flying up in annoyance. "That's enough, Reg! We didn't do anything wrong, you're just acting dramatic! I need to talk to you as soon as we get home before you go talk to Ray!"

Ray just sat in silence as he covered his face with his hand. He'd only had one son just a few weeks before, and now he essentially had three... who had no idea what self control was. He wasn't use to such emotional boys around him. High school boys certainly still did have their ridiculously high testosterone levels.

Immediately after the last class bell rang, Julie ran out to her locker to grab her things before heading to Nick's car. He smiled as he watched her run out and crossed his arms smuggly thinking about how easy it would be to lure the boys to him after he captured their precious Julie.

"So, are you ready to head out now, or do you need to do anything before we leave?" Nick asked as he smiled over at Julie. She was indeed a beautiful girl, but most infinitely naive. Getting her out of the picture would be the easiest thing possible, and once he rid his body of Nick, Nick and Julie would have their happily ever after-- just like Nick desired at his core.

Julie shook her head. "Nope, I'm ready to go whenever you are." He nodded as he put the car into drive and headed off to their very important location: downtown Los Angeles. After parking in a parking deck, which was quite a struggle for Nick because he hadn't ever done it before, they got out and started walking down the streets of LA.

"So, where are we headed?" Julie asked with a friendly smile. Nick raised an eyebrow and smiled deviously as he said, "I'm so glad you asked, Julie. I have something extremely... special in mind for you."

Julie chuckled. "I'm surprised you were able to pull something together so quickly. I guess you must have a lot of connections with people downtown, don't you?" Nick nodded hesitantly with an even stranger smile on his face. "Yes. That's quite a way to put it."

Julie was about to walk past the old, dark, deserted looking building when Nick abruptly grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to look at it. The one building where it all had started, the Hollywood Ghost Club. Only ghosts knew where it was and could see it truthfully, and that's what made Caleb so special, being able to make it come to life to the lifers.

"Oh, is this our stop? What is this place?" Julie asked wearily as she stared up at the haunted looking building. "It's a very special place to me, Julie. It's where my life peaked. You'll see what I'm talking about in just a minute. Do you mind if I show you around inside? I promise you won't be in there for long," Nick said with a reassuring smile.

Julie shrugged. "Um, sure. Let's just not stay in there too long. It's kind of giving me negative vibes." Nick laughed deeply as he nodded. "That's very understandable, but I promise it gets better. You'll understand why it means so much to me. Then we can go somewhere that means something special to you."

Nick held onto Julie's hand tightly as they entered the place, and it looked darker than ever before. To Julie, it looked completely deserted. "Close your eyes. I have a surprise, and I don't want to ruin it for you," He whispered into her ear and led her to the back rooms.

He took her to one specific room where she would stay trapped and locked the door behind him. Of course, only ghosts could go through the walls, so it would trap Julie inside. "Open your eyes, Julie Molina."

Julie opened her eyes to see Nick staring at her intensely with an off-putting smirk. "Um, Nick, what is this place? Some sort of... backstage studio?" Nick nodded as he stared at the walls in awe. "I guess a performer could call it that, but for you, it's going to be home. I've been waiting for you to be my guest here for quite some time now. You have the lovely Sunset Curve boys to blame for that."

Julie felt her heart beating out of her chest. She needed to find a way back to call Flynn or Luke or Alex or Reggie or her dad. It all felt... completely wrong. Something bad was about to happen. In response, she decided the only thing to do was play stupid. "S-- Sunset Curve? What are you talking about? Is that... some kind of, I don't know, painting thing or something?"

"Oh, pardon my manners, I forgot to introduce myself!" Nick said with a different voice. It kept growing... deeper and deeper. Almost like some voice she'd heard in some kind of nightmare when she was younger.

"Introduce yourself? Nick, I've known you since we were nine years old. Do you seriously think I don't know you?" Julie asked with a flinch. She was afraid of who he was now. What was happening? Luke couldn't have been right about Nick being possessed by...

"Young Julie, so sweet and naive. Just like I was once. I think we both know my name isn't Nick Evans-Danforth. I wondered if the ghost boys had told you about me. I guess they really do love a good secret. Pardon my manners. I'm Caleb Covington," Nick said, his voice now completely different, sounding like a stranger.

A dark shadow crept across Julie's face. "What do you want with me? The boys aren't joining your band. They're human again. You can't force them to do anything. You've already lost his fight, Caleb."

"Oh, see, I'm afraid you already know what my plan is, Miss Molina. I'm not as naive as some might think. I know your friend Alex has been seeing my boy Willie, and I know what Willie has told you and your friends. Of course, I won't erase your memory yet. I'll let the boys do that on their own. They'll have to watch before I send them away for good," Nick said with a sly smile.

"Who do you think you're fooling? Once they know I'm gone, they'll know it was you. Luke will come after you with everything he is," Julie mustered.

Nick smiled and twisted his face around. "You're correct, Miss Molina, which is why I'll dispose of the boy who's body I'm in after I've conquered your memory. I'll have him waiting for you, dear girl. Don't worry your pretty little head about it. I'll be talking to the ghost boys in my own flesh. You, however, will never see my true colors since you were foolish enough to fall for me in another's."

Julie's nose crinkled at the thought of it. "Thank God. You're already ugly enough in Nick's body. I can't imagine how ugly you actually are in your own. The boys were right about you. You're nothing but trouble."

She was shocked by her own words. Of course, she never found Nick ugly. She found him handsome, but after everything... the way Caleb was acting in Nick's body just made her repulsed. Even if she ever saw the light of day, she sure wouldn't be dating Nick after.

Nick didn't say another word before leaving, and Julie was left with her own thoughts.

When the boys got home, Luke went to take a nap upstairs while Alex and Reggie went to talk out in the studio.

Alex practically exploded when he got into the studio with Reggie. "Oh my god, I can't believe you! You can't tell Ray that Luke has unrealized feelings for Julie! Yeah, we both know he's in love with her, but he has to figure that out for himself, dude!"

Reggie immediately burst into tears. "What am I supposed to do? Sit around and wait for them to confess on their own?! I can't be around another day watching Luke flirt with Alayna! I just can't!"

Alex sighed and shook his head. "I know. I know, me too. I hate seeing Luke with Alayna more than anyone. I've talked to him about it already... but we just have to give him time. If we try to force it on him, he'll just believe that Julie doesn't have feelings for him. I know she does, and it's obvious. We just have to... let them realize it on their own."

Reggie sat on Luke's couch as more and more tears streamed down his face. "I wish there was another way. I wish there was a way we could... make them realize."

Alex sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Me too, Reg. Me too. Let's just give them some time, okay?"

Reggie nodded as he wiped some tears from his eyes. "Okay. I'll go tell Ray I had an emotional day and that I didn't know what to do other than rant about something fake."

Alex nodded with a sad smile. "Okay, Reg. You go do that."

Before Reggie even made it out of the studio, Willie popped in again. "Oh my god! There you two are! I have to talk to you, now! I found out what the kid Caleb possessed looks like and where he goes to school and a lot of other stuff out about him!"

Alex's eyes immediately widened in fear. "Oh, crap. It's a him? Please don't tell me he's a blonde kid that goes to school with Julie."

Willie's jaw dropped in shock. "How did you know that? How did you guys figure it out before I did?"

Alex looked at Reggie, a flash of fear and panic jolting through them. "We have to go talk to Luke. Willie, come with us. We're gonna need your help. Julie's with him right now."

"Oh my god. Please tell me you're joking," Willie said with scattered panic.

"I wish he was," Reggie muttered sadly. "Man, this day just keeps getting worse and worse."

When the three of them made it upstairs to the bedroom, they found Luke laying sound asleep curled up in a little ball. Reggie smiled softly. "Aw, he looks like a cute little puppy. Maybe we shouldn't wake him."

Alex slapped him on the shoulder immediately. "Are you kidding?! Julie's life is in danger!"

Reggie's eyes widened. "You're right, you're right! Wake him up!"

It didn't take another sentence to wake Luke up. The fighting was enough. He rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Oh, hey. What are you guys doing up here? Heyyy, Willie, how ya been, dude? Do you have any info on who it was Caleb possessed?"

Alex and Reggie shared an anxious glance. Alex looked at the ground and back up at Luke as he said, "Look, try not to freak out, okay? Nick is the one Caleb possessed... and Julie's out with him right now. And, uh, we don't know where she is."

"WHAT?!" Luke exclaimed.

 

 

Chapter 10: Tripping on the Now

Luke felt his chest physically hurting when the boys told him Nick was the one Caleb possessed. Julie was with him, and that meant she was in danger. In danger of losing every memory they'd ever had together...

Saving her wasn't just something they wanted to do, it's something they needed to do. No music was worth making if it wasn't with her. He was lost in thought about Julie and her beautiful eyes when it hit him like a brick. "Oh, crap, I was supposed to hang out with Alayna tonight. Sorry, guys, I've gotta call her before we go."

Alex and Reggie looked at each other and rolled their eyes as they followed behind him. Luke's loud stomping rumbled down the stairs as he went to find Ray. Ray frowned as the boys entered the living room because all of them looked beaten down into the ground. "Is something wrong, boys?"

Reggie nodded as tears once again gathered in his eyes. "Yeah, we just found out Julie's in--" Alex forced a smile as he clamped a hand over Reggie's mouth, giving him a death stare warning to not tell Ray what was happening. "A really hard spot lyrically. She and Luke can't get past the song they're writing right now, and it's kinda got them in a funk."

"Yeah," Luke nodded sadly, easily going along with the little white lie. "I was wondering if I could borrow your phone to call my friend to talk about it with." Ray smiled softly and nodded as he handed Luke his phone. "Of course you can. Just don't take too long. We're eating dinner as soon as Julie gets home."

Alex, Reggie, and Willie all waited outside the studio while Luke paced around inside while on the phone. "Hey, Alayna, I'm so sorry, but I can't hang out tonight anymore," He muttered breathily.

It took the girl a second to actually say something in return. "Oh. Are you okay? Did something happen?" Alayna asked in a monotone. Luke wrung his free hand by his side anxiously as he replied, "Uh-- yeah. It's a family thing. I'll see you at school, okay? I'm sorry. I wish we could've hung out."

"Do you want me to come over so we can just sit together? I don't mind just being there with you," Alayna said sweetly. Luke rolled his eyes. "No, it's okay. Thanks, though. I'll talk to you soon, Layna. Promise." He heard a loud sigh come through the phone. "Okay. Thanks for letting me know. I'll see you later, Luke." Luke nodded wearily. "Yeah, see ya later. Bye."

Alex came crashing into the studio mere seconds after Luke hung up. "Oh, thank god. I thought she'd never hang up. That took way longer than it needed to." Luke shrugged. "She just cares, Alex. It's like you and Willie."

Alex rolled his eyes at that comment. "Yeah, it's not, though. Me and Willie are basically dating at this point-- just not officially because of Caleb. You and Alayna are just... avoiding the inevitable." Luke smiled and shook his head. "Whatever you gotta tell yourself to sleep at night."

"You guys can argue about which ship is better later, okay? We've gotta go help your friend now so that Caleb can't hurt her!" Willie exclaimed, stepping in between the two sassy boys.

Before anyone had the chance to utter another word, Caleb popped into the room, sitting on the piano just like he had only a few weeks before. He was back in his own body after having trapped Nick in another room at the Hollywood Ghost Club for when he needed him again. "Oh, boys, I'm afraid it's a little too late for that, now, isn't it?"

Luke felt his veins pulsing with hatred in a way he'd never felt before. "You son of a--" Caleb shook his head, giving a little tsk-tsk-tsk. "I'd watch your words if I were you, young man, unless you wish some kind of harm on that pretty little girlfriend of yours."

Luke stepped back in fear and confusion. How did he know about Alayna? "W-- What? How-- How did you know that--"

Caleb rolled his eyes and smiled deviously. "It's simple enough to possess a high school boy, and it was even easier to recognize that that girl Julie of yours was only using Nick to get to you. Yes, yes, we all know you have feelings for each other. Blah, blah, blah. All of those things. She thought she could use me of all people, but she was wrong. She just ended up bringing you boys right into the palms of my hands."

"Wait-- You were talking about Julie?" Luke asked, even more taken aback. Caleb gave him a really stupid look. "Well, of course I was. Who else would I be talking about? The invisible girlfriend you must've had when you were alive the first time?"

Luke winced at the thought of other people thinking him and Julie were dating. If only that could've happened after the Orpheum... No, no, no. He was with Alayna. They just hadn't made it official yet. But Julie was still so unbelievably perfect...

"Just let her go. She has nothing to do with this," Luke said, shaking his head. Caleb laughed at the thought of it. "Oh, dear boy, she has everything to do with it. Julie can make you visible. She even brought you back to life, for goodness sake. But you don't need to worry about her. She'll forget you even existed once I'm done with her."

"You won't win this time, Caleb. These guys are stronger than you, and you know it. Just give them back the girl," Willie told him. Caleb frowned sadly at the skater boy. "William, I had almost forgotten you were here. I'm very disappointed in you. You know you can't be in love with someone who's... alive. It's too bad you'll never get the chance to say goodbye now."

Before Willie could say anything in response, Caleb kissed his hand and blew a purple looking dust at him, sending him away back to the Hollywood Ghost Club to wait for eternal punishment.

"NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Alex shouted at Caleb. The creepy old man chuckled heartily. "Now, now, Alex, you have to calm down if you want to see him again. Let's take a visit to my club, eh? Maybe if you're good I'll let you go visit your little singing friend."

"You're stupid! We won't fall for that trick!" Reggie exclaimed with tears in his eyes. Caleb tilted his head with great expectation. "Won't you? How else will you save your dear little Julie? Trying to fight me doesn't sound like the best option, now, does it?"

Alex angrily shook his head. "He's right. We don't have any other choice." Reggie's jaw dropped in shock. He couldn't believe Alex was going to willingly be taken to the Hollywood Ghost Club again! He turned to Luke, expecting a different response.

But Luke was too in his head. All he cared about was Julie. "It's the only way, Reg. We have to go. For Julie." Reggie began to wail as he fell to his knees dramatically. "Oh, god, save us now! Just take us away, Caleb!"

Seconds later, the boys stood in a backroom with Caleb staring at them by the door with a creepy crawly smile on his face. "Don't worry. I'll be back before your bed time, boys. I've got a show to perform. The rest of this will be taken care of tonight... oh, and as for Willie, he's free in the club, but he won't find you. You should just know that you'll never see him again. Ta ta, boys. Have a good last night of your final life."

Luke's eyes widened in fear. Where was Julie? Where was Willie? Where was Ricky Ticky Dicky? He didn't understand what was going on. All he remembered is what Alex had said Willie had said before. Caleb was planning on sending them away to a place where they couldn't return...

While the boys waited in agony in their backroom, Julie was pacing around in hers. She had to find a way out. And after that... she would have to find a way to apologize to Luke. She felt so indescribably horrible that she hadn't listened to him when he'd warned her about Nick possibly being possessed by Caleb. How could she even face Luke again after that?

Oh, god, and to think that she'd actually even gone out with Nick... it just made her sick to her stomach. She should've just told Luke about her feelings for him when she'd had the chance. Maybe then none of this would've happened.

Julie could've wondered about the what ifs for hours if a loud bang hadn't been heard against the door to the room she was being kept in. "Who's there?" She called out confidently, even though she was feeling the most internally frightened she'd ever felt in her life.

"Wait, who's in there?!" The voice called through the door as the door knob rattled. "My-- My name is Julie! Do you know a safe way to get out of here?" Julie shouted back in return.

"Oh my god, Julie! You can help me with who I'm looking for. I need your help," The voice called back. Julie frowned in confusion. "Sorry, who are you looking for? I don't know anyone else here besides Caleb... and Nick, I guess, but I don't think you know who that is."

The voice stayed quiet for another second before the door finally swung open. She saw a boy with long brown hair and deep tan skin stare back at her with intensely adoring looking eyes. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Willie."

Julie raised an eyebrow. "You-- You're Alex's Willie, as in the one who first introduced him to Caleb?" Willie glanced sadly at the ground. "Yeah, that's me. I really wish I'd just never spoken to him. Then you guys wouldn't be in all this trouble."

"Hold on a second, they're in trouble too?" Julie asked in pain. Willie nodded. "Oh my god. You don't know. Caleb-- He kidnapped them and brought them here too. I just... don't know where they are. But I do know what he's planning for them..."

Chapter 11: Clock that Lies Broken

"What do you mean, what he's planning for them? They can't die a second time, right?" Julie asked with a shaky voice. Willie shook his head. "I don't know. I just know what Caleb did before to make sure someone couldn't hurt him. It's how he became the one in charge of... this whole place."

"You mean, this place existed before Caleb?" Julie asked. Willie nodded. "Yeah. The guy before him is the reason he died. The guy who ran this place before him... was a ghost, and he didn't know that. His name was Ferdinand."

{Reference picture}

"Ferdinand? As in the bull?" Julie had to laugh a little. Willie merely shrugged. "Yeah, but this guy existed before the bull. Anyways, Ferdinand was an advisor to Caleb. They met through Caleb's dad's boss. I guess he was rich since that's the only way people find out about this place."

Julie nodded, still trying to grasp the bigger picture about how this related to the situation with the guys. "Okay... so, how did Caleb die?"

Willie sighed before revealing the truth. "Caleb was a magician, and he performed for huge shows. One night when he was talking to Ferdinand, Ferdinand advised him to do a really dangerous trick called the Bullet Catch."

Julie rolled her eyes at the stupidity of Caleb. How could someone be so stupid as to do a trick with the name Bullet Catch? Just the name in and out of itself was asking for disaster and harm. "So, I'm assuming he died from the trick or..."

Willie nodded. "Yeah, but that's the part that actually matters. When Caleb came back as a ghost, he saw Ferdinand walking down the streets of LA one day and followed him home... only he didn't go home. He came back here, to the Hollywood Ghost Club. It didn't take him long after to realize what Ferdinand was doing, so he decided to figure out a way to end it once and for all."

"So, he... killed a ghost? That doesn't make any sense. How would he even know how those jolt things worked back then? Is that how he figured it out, because Ferdinand was doing it first?" Julie asked, extremely confused in the moment.

"That's my point. He didn't kill Ferdinand. He just sent him away. I'm not really sure how it works, but it does, and I know the steps to it. He's got it written in his old journal. It took a lot of digging, but it was worth it. We have to stop him before he can send Alex and your friends away for good," Willie warned.

Julie frowned deeply. "And Ferdinand still exists out there today?" Willie nodded. "Yeah, and we have to be really, really careful to not let him free. I don't know who's going to be the next leader of the Hollywood Ghost Club if we succeed with this... but we have to be smart about it so that Ferdinand doesn't escape."

Julie groaned, extremely annoyed with the present situation. "Why does it always have to be so much more complicated with ghosts?" Willie shook his head, at a loss for words. "I wish I knew."

"So... where exactly are the guys? How do we help them?" Julie asked. Willie looked at the ground with a far away sadness in his eyes. "Well, that's the thing. I can't exactly find them. I know they're here. Caleb had to have brought them here. It's the first step to his master plan. When Caleb found me with them and sent me back here, I think he made sure that I couldn't find them... or more specifically Alex. He wants to make sure I pay for helping them."

Julie heaved out a heavy sigh and shook her head. "I can't believe I fell for his stupid trick. I should've listened to Luke when he told me Nick could be the possessed one."

Willie shook his head, looking back up at her. "Hey, don't pin that all on yourself. Caleb's the one to blame here. Not you or anyone else. He's trying to make you feel guilty so that you forget what you're really after."

"You're right," Julie said with a firm nod. "Let's go find the guys."

Alex frowned deeply at the sight of Luke's eyes filling with tears. "Luke, I'm sure we'll find a way to work this out. We'll make sure we see Julie again and get her out of here safe. I know it feels like we're in a pretty sticky situation, but we were in one before, and--"

"Julie saved us," Luke finished his sentence. "The last time we were in trouble, Julie was the one who saved us, not the other way around. We're the weak ones in this relationship, Alex. We should've done what we could've to protect Julie from Caleb. She's god knows where because of us."

Alex raised an eyebrow at the word relationship. It almost sounded like Luke was talking about just him and Julie for a second, like he felt guilty for not keeping Julie safe. "Julie's tough, Luke, but I know that we need to help her. All we have to do is just find a way out of this... freaky house of horrors."

"House of horrors?!" Reggie exclaimed frightfully. "You know I hate clowns! Why would you bring up a house of horrors?!" Luke rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Shut up, Reg. Julie is a lot more important than your fear of clowns. It's time to man up and grow some chicken nuggets."

Reggie smiled warmly at the thought. "Ah, I would do anything for a box of warm chicken nuggets right now. When we save Julie and get out of here, can we head to McDonald's to get some?"

"Sure, Reg. But that might take a hot second. We still have to get out of here and find Julie," Alex replied with kindness. Luke frowned at Alex's weird word choice. "Did you just say 'hot second'? What the heck's that supposed to mean?"

Alex smiled dismally thinking of Willie and the gen-z lingo he'd been taught by him. "I'm sure you can ask Julie as soon as we find her."

Julie and Willie roamed through the back halls, doing whatever they could to find the guys. They opened several doors to back rooms, walking in on many different performers preparing for their acts on stage.

Finally, Julie spotted a door with a very strange symbol that seemed to call out to her. The symbol was three little hotdog ghosts who seemed to be playing instruments. There was no doubt in the boys were behind that door, so she quickly tapped Willie's shoulder and pointed to it.

His eyes widened and his smile got bigger as he realized what it meant. "You're a genius, Julie! I'm sure Alex and Luke and Reggie are there!"

The two immediately busted open the door to find the boys sitting on the ground having what looked like a very deep gossip session. If Julie and Willie weren't so emotional in the moment, they would have burst out laughing.

"Julie," Luke let out a whisper as he immediately got up and ran to hug her.

"Willie!" Alex exclaimed as his eyes widened in disbelief his favorite person was once again standing before him.

"Kayla!" Reggie exclaimed hopefully. After a few seconds, he looked around and then frowned, realizing Kayla was most definitely not in the Hollywood Ghost Club.

"I can't believe you're actually here," Alex said as he cupped Willie's face in his hands. Willie's face immediately broke into a smile. "You can't get rid of me that easy, hotdog. And I had help."

Julie felt her heart beating out of her chest behind held so tightly in Luke's strong arms. "I'm so glad you're okay," She whispered. Luke felt a chuckle erupt from his stomach at that comment. "Me? I thought I'd lost you for good, Jules."

Julie pulled back just a little so she could look into his eyes when she began saying, "Luke, I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you about Nick. You were right the entire time, and I put my feelings above my trust for you, and I'm so sorry I didn't listen to what you had to say."

Luke shook his head as he looked deeply into her eyes. "Julie, you have no reason to apologize. I should've trusted you more too. It was really, really bad communication on both of our parts. All that matters is that you're safe."

"Oh, how sweet, the lovebirds reunited just in time to say their final goodbyes," Caleb interrupted with clasped hands and a face that was dripping with sweat from his last performance.

It was beginning to look like the boys might not get their happily ever after with their true lovers after all...

Chapter 12: Something Big, Something Crazy

Luke's immediate instinct was to protect Julie. Nothing else mattered in the moment. He was fine with whatever came next as long as he knew Julie was safe. He stepped in front of her, blocking Caleb from even looking at her.

Caleb shook his head as deep laughter erupted from his mouth. "Do you think that's going to do anything, Luke? You know I can't have you and Julie live happily ever after. Not after all of the pain you've caused my club."

"You don't have to worry about us living happily ever after. Luke and I will go our separate ways if you let us go. We won't write songs together anymore, and we won't be friends. Just let us go. Let your hatred for the guys go," Julie replied stubbornly from behind Luke.

Luke frowned at the thought. Leave Julie? He'd never do that, even as a friend. She was the first one who he saw as a ghost, and again since he was... basically alive again. She meant more to him than his own family once did. She was even more than family.

Caleb laughed even more when he saw Luke's reaction to Julie's statements. "Now, don't be so sure of that, Miss Molina. It seems that your ghostly boyfriend has other plans in mind. Don't you, Lucas? You'd never do anything to hurt your favorite girl, now, would you?"

"Weeeeeell," Alex squeaked, "I don't know about all that, but--"

Caleb raised an eyebrow, suddenly deeply invested in the drama so that he could use it for his plan. "Oh, is that not so? Luke, have you done something to upset your little girlfriend? Have you not told her you love her enough?"

Luke felt a twang of hurt in his heart. He couldn't help but look back at Julie to try to figure out what Alex was referencing. Her face revealed absolutely nothing. For a moment, he even got lost in her eyes, and was about to take her hand into his own when Reggie interrupted.

"Luke and Julie are just friends. It's common knowledge. They're both in love with other people," Reggie stated with a simple shrug.

Caleb smiled widely and sighed with ease as he let his shoulders sag just a little. "Well, isn't that perfect. The ghost and the lively girl finally found their matches. I'm so glad you two won't be getting in the way of what's about to happen now. Luke, move out of the way. My plans for Miss Molina don't involve you or your silly little amateur band."

Luke's jaw tensed as he stood even firmer in his position in front of Julie, not uttering a single word. Caleb rolled his eyes at the little act of unrealized affection and forcefully used his powers to shove Luke out of the way so that Julie stood single-handed before him.

Luke felt his breath quicken as he watched Caleb slowly get closer to her inch by inch. He yearned to run and pick up Julie in his arms and poof out, but there was no chance it could happen. The last thing he could do for her was tell her how he felt-- Wait, no. He couldn't. He was basically with Alayna. But he had to...

"Julie, you have to do what you can to stop him. You have to know that I'd never intentionally hurt you. Please, Jules, I know I was kind of forceful with the way I said it before, but I'm so sorry. You have to fight for this, for us. If we can't be together-- as a band-- then life's not worth living. We need you, Jules. Please don't give up. You know I need you more than--"

Julie was just about to go along with Caleb when she locked eyes with Luke. She had to reassure him that it was the right decision. Obviously she would never leave Luke or the guys. She just had to say it so that she could do something to help.

"That's enough from you, Lucas," Caleb muttered as he forced Luke's mouth to shut. Julie stared straight on at Caleb, wanting nothing more than to murder him at that second in time, but decided to give in once again. "Dear Julie," Caleb said with an endearing smile, "I just want you to watch what happens. The boys won't have to watch what happens to you. All I want is for you to forget they ever existed after."

Julie frowned at the idea of Caleb sounding nice. Well, maybe nice wasn't the right word... but he didn't want to hurt her. He just wanted to get the guys out of the picture. Was she stupid enough to fall for it? Absolutely not. It was a good thing she knew how he worked because of the guys.

Alex and Willie clasped hands as Caleb approached them. Caleb smiled at them, once again endearingly, too. "Aw, young love. How sweet. I once had that too... but I was robbed of it in one single second. I'm surprised you learn the story behind what happened so quickly, William. I suppose it will be too melancholy when I have to begin your eternal torture."

While he was speaking to Alex and Willie, Luke felt the bonds of his mouth and body free. He immediately ran to Julie and pulled her into his chest.

Julie felt the heat of his breath on her cheeks as he whispered only centimeters away from her face. In that moment, she was willing to give up anything in the universe to be loved by him.

The tension grew stronger between the two as Luke whispered, "Julie, you have to know how much you've changed my life. I just played music and wrote it with the guys before. It was special in a way before, but ever since I've met you, you've brought a spark into my life that I've never--"

Caleb immediately whirled around, filled with rage. "Now, what did I tell you two about being together? This will not happen!" As he shouted, a great purple colored mist began rising in the room.

Luke tried to hold onto Julie, but the force that was pulling her away from him was too strong. He lost her in the midst of the chaos.

Alex and Willie clung to each other like koalas, begging for their love to survive the night... but the fates had other plans. They were ripped apart, and Willie was sent flying to the side of the room Julie was on while Alex and Luke stood on the other.

Reggie just ignored what was going on completely. He stood there with his arms crossed, glaring at Caleb. He tried to repress his emotions, but they fell on him like he'd never experienced before. He is Reggie after all...

Countless tear drops streamed down his face as he watched his best friends be ripped apart from their soulmates. He turned back to Caleb and stomped his foot so loudly that the mist began to evaporate into the floor. "You're what Regina George calls a fugly cow!"

Julie clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to hide the giggles that were bubbling inside of her. When had Reggie even had the time to watch Mean Girls?? The moment was absolutely priceless.

Caleb rolled his eyes in annoyance as he muttered, "I am not aware of what you are referencing, Reginald, but your jokes will not delay the inevitable. The time of Julie and the Phantoms has come to an end."

The purple mist once again rose from the floor and surrounded the band, forcing Reggie to join by Luke and Alex's sides. There was nowhere to go, and everyone was stuck.

A great sound could be heard from the middle of the room, directly in between Alex, Reggie, and Luke and Julie, Willie, and Caleb. Only seconds later, a great dark void swallowed the middle part of the room. It was a true wormhole... into nowhere.

"Ah, lovely! Thank you, Patricia. Your timing is impeccable," Caleb exclaimed as he clasped his hands together. "Patricia?" Alex mouthed to Willie in confusion. Willie merely shrugged. He certainly didn't know anyone at the Hollywood Ghost Club who was named Patricia.

"Alright, boys, who's first? Reggie, I know you want to know what's in there. Go get 'em, tiger!" Caleb exclaimed. He frowned when there was no response from Reggie. "Aw, too sad. Alex, what about you? This will be your true perfect ending. A bittersweet ending to your love story with your perfect boy."

Alex did not say a single word in response, making Caleb shout in excitement. "Ah, of course, Luke! Why didn't I think of you first?! I know why you'll leave first. You don't want to see your dear loving Julie get hurt, now, do you? I know you'll do anything to protect her."

Luke clenched his fists, coming to terms with the fact that there truly was no other option. He was going to have to walk into that dark void... and never return.

He slowly took one step at a time and avoided Julie's eye contact until the last possible second. "I'm sorry."

When he finally had one foot in the dark void, a very plump looking man came flying out of the void, crashing directly into him.

"Luke!" Julie shouted. She tried to move to run to help him, but Caleb's force still had her stuck right next to him and Willie.

"No! I refuse to let you stop me again, Ferdinand!" Caleb shouted angrily. He quickly whirled a sharp knife out of the inside pocket of his cape and forced it against Julie's throat.

"The next person who moves is responsible for this girl's death!" He roared.

Luke immediately stopped trying to get up. "You said you wouldn't do anything to her!"

Caleb smiled and forced Julie's body to crash into the far away wall. "You're right. You're the one I want to end the most, Lucas."

"Oh, no, you don't!" Ferdinand roared as he began to fight against Caleb. Instead of a purple mist, Ferdinand summoned a ghastly green mist with sharp razor blades coming out from it.

"I won't let you take advantage of me again, Ferdinand! You will never win! This is my forte now!" Caleb exclaimed vengefully.

The two fought hand in hand until Caleb pushed so far into the void that he could not escape.

As soon as he was gone, Luke ran to Julie's unconscious body lying by the bottom of the wall where Caleb had thrown her. "Julie!"

He turned her over so that he could pull her into his arms and hold her face in his hands, waiting for her to awake. "I'm here, Julie. Please, wake up. You have to wake up."

Luke's eyes began to well with tears. He felt her pulse, and it was completely normal. All he could do was wait. Willie, Alex, and Reggie all circled around him, waiting for their dear friend to wake up. Alex looked down at the ground sadly as he put a hand on Luke's shoulder. "She'll be okay. I promise."

It took another good ten minutes for Julie to start opening her eyes again. When she finally did, Luke pulled her so closely into himself that she could hardly breathe. "Luke-- can't hold on that tight-- can't breathe right," Julie laughed a little.

He let go of her just enough so that he could see her face. "God, Julie, I'm so sorry. If I had known that Caleb was going to hurt you like that, I would've done something to--"

"It's okay, Luke," Julie reassured him with a warm smile. "I'm okay."

While they were having their moment, Ferdinand quickly found his way around the void and figured out a way to close it for good. After everything was sealed, he turned around to see the five friends congregating closer than ever before.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here. A bunch of Caleb Covington defiers."