𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 ♫ 𝐣𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬 ¹

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟓

"That's just what Mom and Dad called him, also why my middle name is Xander, but most people called him Alex," Ryder responded, placing their parents' old songbooks back on his sister's shelf before laying the case on top of them.

After Ryder told her to keep the CD, he sent his sister one last smile before walking out of her room and closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, the three ghosts appeared out of nowhere in front of the shorter girl, causing her to let out a small yelp and stumble backward before landing on her bed. Lexi pushed herself up on her elbows before sending them a playful glare and sitting up on her bed. Even though Luke, Alex, and Reggie stayed silent, the redhead knew all three of them had a million questions running through their heads.

"Why didn't you tell us you were Andy and Rachel's daughter?" Alex questioned as he fiddled with his fingers in front of him with a look on his face that seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

"Well, for one, I thought your name was Xander and you never really got close enough for me to actually see how much you look like my dad so I didn't really put two and two together until now. Also, my parents never told me the name of your band or showed me any of your songs. Probably because it's always really hard for them to talk about you guys," Lexi rambled while running her hands through her hair before looking back up to meet their stares, "plus, I've also been pretty overwhelmed by the fact that I am one of the only ones who can see a ghost band from the '90s."

Just as she was calming down, her mind played a cruel joke on her by reminding her of the upcoming project she had to complete. A sigh passed over Lexi's lips as she rubbed her hands over her face once again before collapsing back onto her bed. While the three studio spirits continued to watch the younger girl in concern and confusion, Lexi wondered how her life could possibly get more complicated.

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After the craziness she experienced the night before, Lexi was in the music room as she continued to work on one of her unfinished songs. Sitting a few chairs down from her was Flynn, who had her feet propped up on the chair in front of her as she played the trumpet discordantly. The Daniels girl flinched at one of the loud, off-key notes her friend was playing before looking up to send Flynn a playful glare, only for her to stop midway through her actions when she saw Julie walking towards them.

Their third musketeer came to a stop a few feet away from the doorway as she stared in front of the pair. After Lexi sent her a shrug in response to her confused look, Julie turned her attention to Flynn as she continued to hurt her friends' ears with her trumpet playing.

"What are you doing? And where is everyone?" the Molina girl questioned, causing their colorful-clothed friend to stop playing the trumpet before the latter finally looked over at Julie.

"Spirit assembly. I was kinda blowing it off because I wasn't feeling very...spirity," Flynn sighed as she brought the brass instrument into her lap while Lexi carefully closed her songbook to fully emerge herself into their conversation.

"I just didn't wanna go. Wasn't really in the mood to watch Carrie show off," the Daniels girl added before zipping up her bag and placing her notebook inside.

"You okay?" the girl with the trumpet asked, causing Lexi to look back up to see the distraught look on her curly-haired friend's face.

"Not really," Julie responded before letting out a long sigh, "I had this new plan to play for Mrs. Harrison, hoping that she'd let me back in, but...I guess I missed my chance."

"No, you didn't," Flynn told her with a devious smirk that sent chills through Lexi's body as the former set the trumpet down and jumped to her feet. Before either of the girls could ask their friend what was going through her head, the colorful-clothed girl grabbed her two best friends by the wrists before dragging them out of the room and towards the gym.