Chapter Two - Julie and The Phantoms

Practicing All Day

Flynn was watching Julie, Alex, Reggie and Luke rehearse at the studio. They were trying to perform visibly instead of as holograms, just to see how well it could work.

Flynn was enjoying the view very much, flushing every time Reggie would glance at her. She noticed how Luke was flickering a lot more than Alex and Reggie were. He even disappeared once while they were rearranging.

"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna work," Flynn motioned for them to stop, watching as the guys flicker in front of her yet again.

"Really?" Reggie sounded a little bummed.

"Yeah..." Flynn hesitated. "Everyone's gonna notice and be like uh... whatsgoingon?"

"It's not an easy thing to perfect," Alex defended them.

"I'm having an off day, too," Luke said.

"Luke, every day is an off day for you," Alex shook his head.

"You completely vanished at one point," Flynn pointed at Luke. "And y'all were flickering a couple times," she added, pointing at Reggie and Luke.

"Well, excuse me for being stamped by an evil demon ghost, and if that wasn't enough, he went ahead and poisoned me," Luke crossed his arms in frustration.

"Yeah, you've been through it, buddy," Reggie rubbed Luke's back in an attempt to comfort him.

"That's it," Julie said firmly. "We're just gonna do it like we always do. Forget about being visible. It's not worth the hassle until you guys can perfect it."

Flynn nodded. "And it makes your band name sound dumb," she added.

"I don't think it does," Alex mumbled sadly.

"I'm sure we'll get it right one of these days," Julie said right as Luke started flickering again.

—

The day of the show was a nerve-wracking one. Julie was pacing back and forth all day, worried that something bad might happen.

In the school gym, everyone was on the dance floor enjoying themselves. Flynn could see Julie pacing right by the stage and sighed, running over to her.

"You're kidding, right?" She asked.

"What?" Julie looked at her with concern in her eyes.

"What are you so worried about?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe just the fact that something has to go wrong every single show!"

"Caleb is gone, Julie. You can relax," Flynn pushed her friend into a fold-up chair that was placed by the stage. "Take a deep breath. You guys are gonna be amazing."

They watched as Dirty Candy took the stage and performed one of their upbeat songs, getting massive applause at the end as usual.

When they marched off the stage, Carrie stopped by Julie and Flynn for a second. "Break a leg," she smiled at Julie.

Julie was surprised. Carrie had seemed genuine in wanting to wish her luck, which only confused Julie more. It seemed as though Carrie wasn't sure if she wanted to be friends with Julie or not.

Flynn laughed, gave Julie a quick hug, and ran over to the box they used to produce the "holograms" for each show.

Julie took a deep breath and walked onto the stage to hoots and hollers from the students. She smiled and started off the song slowly on the piano as usual, watching the audience's eyes light up as soon as the beat kicked in and her band appeared on the stage.