[I Got the Music]
Julie stood by her locker as she hummed I Got the Music.
"Hey, can I have my sticks back?" a boy in a marching band uniform asked.
Julie frowned and looked in her back pocket to see drumsticks. She handed them to the boy with a frown.
Flynn walked up to her friend.
"Hey, what's up?" Julie asked.
Flynn smiled. "Nothing. It's just nice seeing you back to your weirdo self."
"Thanks?"
"So how's the band? Still hot? Still talented?" She glanced around. "Still dead?"
Julie chuckled. "Amazing. Luke and I spent the whole weekend writing songs. Come on. You wanna hear some of them?"
"Duh!"
The girls made their way to the music room and Julie said, "Like it was flowing through me, like when I used to write years ago."
Julie sat on the piano bench and Flynn stood in front of her.
The curly-haired teen said, "So, this is the first song Luke and I wrote." She took out a few papers that had been scribbled with notes. "Here's a bit of the chorus."
She played part of the chorus of Edge of Great.
Flynn smiled widely. "Wow! I like it! Definite Gaga vibes."
"Thanks!" Julie replied. "I think we have an anthem with this one. It's something me and my mom worked on. Luke and I finished it with her help. Check it out."
Julie played the melody as she looked at another sheet and began singing once again to Stand Tall.
Flynn said, "That's... That's beautiful. And my girl Julie has got a crush, and his name is Luke."
"Luke's a ghost!"
"A cute ghost."
"With a perfect smile."
"Ha! knew it! Just remember he's made of air."
"Cute air."
"Just don't get hurt, okay? Obviously you guys have a connection. Everybody's talking about when you're gonna play again."
"Play again? We don't even have anything planned. Luke and I have just been focused on writing songs."
"Lucky for you, your marketing team has been way ahead of you."
"I don't have a marketing team."
She pulled a flyer from her bag. "Yes, you do! And surprise! You're playing the school dance tonight, and I'm DJ-ing too."
Julie grabbed the flyer which read 'Julie and her hologram band'.
"I posted it all over social media. You have an excellent marketing team."
Julie's eyes widened. "No, no. This is in front of the whole school!"
Flynn picked up her vibrating phone. "Sorry! You already have 68 likes." She walked away.
Julie grabbed her bag, picked up the flyer and said, "Wait!"
---
Reggie held a pink flyer up and said excitedly, "We're playing a school dance? Sweet!"
"It's not exactly the strip," Luke replied with a sigh.
"Hey, you're not exactly alive, so be happy to have our first gig."
"I wasn't in love with the idea at first either, but it could be a great way for us to build a following, right?" Julie said.
"Yeah. Yeah. We need to play whenever we can, wherever we can." He grinned.
"Let's rock those kids' faces and play the club," Luke said.
"And then record a single that gets a billion streams?" Julie asked.
"I don't know what that is, but hopefully it gets us a manager and a tour."
"Put out a country album that does surprisingly well," Reggie suggested as everyone shook their heads. "I shred on the banjo, so..."
Julie gave him a fist bump. "Then I'll just have to learn how to fiddle."
Luke glanced at him. "And before you know it, we're being inducted into the rock n' roll hall of fame."
"But one of us isn't there because we had a blowout in 2032," Reggie added. "My money's on Alex. He's just so sensitive."
"What are we waiting for?" Luke wondered. "Let's get rehearsing!"
Julie glanced between the ghosts. "Uh, where is Alex?"
---
Alex and Willie stood in front of a museum.
"You know what?" Alex said. "I don't think this is about the art. I think you just like breaking the rules."
Willie smiled. "Maybe. You should try it sometime."
"We're going in there, right?"
Willie chuckled and took Alex's hand and Alex chuckled lightly. The two blipped away.
"Wow," Alex commented, looking around the museum.
"Sick, right?" Willie said, dropping his skateboard. "And we got the whole place to ourselves." He laughed as he skated around. "Huh! Oh!" He chuckled. "Woo-hoo! Ha! Woo-hoo!" He giggled and grunted.
Willie pointed to a bench. "Oh, dude. Move that bench over there. I'm gonna try to jump it."
Alex stared at the bench. "Uh... Yeah. I can't move that. I can barely move small things."
Willie snickered. "Dude, trust me. If you focus on putting all your energy into your hands, you can move anything."
"Okay. All right." He strained and grunted as he tried to lift the bench and the two chuckled. "No, I guess I gotta start doing ghost push-ups."
Willie sighed. "No. You just gotta focus."
"Yeah. I've always had a hard time focusing. I've always been a little anxious, and then I died. Which did not calm me down."
"Right."
"So..." He chuckled.
Willie moved to Alex's side and took his hand. "Hey. We got this. Okay?"
Alex grunted and managed to lift the end of the bench. "Yo, you've got, like, ten seconds to get on."
"Yeah, all right!" Willie grabbed the other end. "All right. Let's go, let's go, let's go. All the way, all the way, all the way." They set the bench down where Willie wanted it. "Boom! Not bad, man. All right, stay there. Stay there."
Willie began skating and grunted and chuckled. "Yes! Oh man! That felt good!" He studied Alex who was standing awkwardly. "You're wired a little tight, huh? Okay." He chuckled. "Is that why you started playing drums? To help with your... anxiety?"
"Yeah," Alex replied. "I mean, pretty much. There's no better way to work out your problems than wailing on some drums, right?"
"Hey, do you know what makes me feel better? Yelling in... museums." He yelled loudly and chuckled.
Alex yelled weakly and Willie snickered before saying, "You gotta stand up."
"No," Alex argued.
"You gotta put your heart into it, man."
"Okay."
"Ready?"
Alex yelled, then Wille, then Alex, and both yelled together and exhaled sharply.
"Feels good. Right?" Willie asked.
"Yeah," Alex said. "It does."
---
The band was practicing. Alex was still missing. Luke was playing electric guitar and Reggie was playing bass.
"One more time," Luke said.
"Where have you been, man?" Luke asked when Alex appeared. "We need to start practicing!"
"Yeah, for what?" Alex wondered.
"Dance news!" Flynn exclaimed. "I don't have a date. But I don't care because I'm so psyched to see you guys perform."
"Oh man! We're playing a dance?"
"Of course, dude. That's how we're gonna get a following nowadays," Luke explained.
"Yeah, get with the program, Alex," Julie added.
"What?" Flynn asked as she looked around. "The guys are here? Hey, boys." She waved to air.
"Other way, sweetie," Julie told her.
"Oh." She waved and the ghosts waved back.
"Okay, well, now that Alex has graced us with his presence, can we start working?" Luke asked.
"Yes!" Julie exclaimed. "We're gonna rehearse. You wanna stick around?"
"I'm supposed to blow up 500 balloons for the school dance, but this sound way better," Flynn said.
Carlos and Cameron entered, walking through Alex, and the former spoke to their sister. "Hey, Julie. Remember those orbs in Dad's pictures? Cameron and I... we think they're ghosts. But don't worry. This room is... is... This room is clean. I'm not getting the ghost tinglies. Cameron?"
Cameron shook her head. "Nope, no ghost tinglies here."
Reggie said, "Wrong again, little dude, little girl."
"Have no fear," Cameron reassured.
"If they come back, Cameron and I will protect you, because I am the man of the house and she's my right hand," Carlos said.
Julie crossed her arms and said, "Isn't Dad supposed to be the man of the house?"
"There can be two." Julie chuckled. "Dad needs all the help he can get, right?" Julie chuckled again. "According to the internet, salt burns their souls out." The ghosts exchanged a terrified look. "A little sprinkle will keep them from ever coming in here." He and Cameron sprinkled some on Alex, who gasped and grunted.
"No!" Alex cried. "Oh! Oh God, I'm... I'm fine. I'm fine. Totally fine." He cleared his throat.
"Oh!" Flynn exclaimed. "Carlos, Cameron, you know who's hungry? Me. Um, salt me a path to the kitchen."
Carlos and Cameron left with the salt. Flynn followed after moments later.
"Phew!" Alex said.
"Shall we try this again?" Julie suggested.
"Yes please. But remind us later. There's some Sunset Curve songs that I want to show you," Luke told her.
"Ooh! Show me now."
"Yeah, okay," Luke replied as he knelt down to a journal. "Home Is Where My Horse Is? Reggie, stop putting your country songs in my journal."
Reggie pointed to the paper that had fallen to the ground. "That was a gift."
Luke patted Reggie on the back. "Yeah, um, thanks, buddy. Hey, maybe you should circle back and-"
Luke gave Julie the journal as he said, "I dog-eared that. I think you would slay."
Julie opened the journal and something caught her attention. "Ooh, who's Emily?"
Luke tried to take the journal back. "I didn't dog-ear that one."
"'If you could only know, that I'd never let you go.' Wow, Luke. Never knew you were a romantic!"
Alex stepped closer. "He's not. That one's actually about-"
"No one," Luke replied. "It's just something I tried, but, um, if you go to the next page, I got a tune that's just -- it's got a killer beat." He strummed his guitar.
"So you sample?"
"What do you mean, sample?" Luke asked.
"Sampling someone else's music. Flynn and I used to sing that song at the top of our lungs with my mom when we were younger. It's a classic Trevor Wilson."
"Nope, it's a classic our song," Luke told her as he leaned forward to grab his notebook back.
"Pure Sunset Curve," Reggie added. "Never heard of Trevor Wilson."
Alex nodded. "Yeah, maybe you're mixing it up with another song."
Julie looked between them. "Um, I don't mix up songs. His daughter and I used to be best friends! I went to their place all the time. I think I know that song. Okay." She opened the laptop and typed on her keyboard. "Here. I can prove it." She turned the laptop. "His first album had a bunch of hits, but his last ones are trash."
Alex hit Reggie's shoulder as Luke said, "That's Bobby!"
Julie frowned. "Guys, his name is Trevor."
"Okay, great," Alex said. "He changed it, all right? That's definitely Bobby! Our rhythm guitarist."
"He was in your band?"
"Yeah. He was," Luke replied.
"Wow. I can't get over how old he looks," Reggie commented.
Alex scoffed. "Oh, man. He looks like a substitute teacher."
"What - what are his other hits?" Luke asked.
"Um, Get Lost," Julie replied.
Luke pulled his guitar off. "Yeah. I wrote that."
"Long Weekend?"
"Yeah, Luke wrote that one, too!" Reggie exclaimed.
"Um, Crooked Teeth?"
"Yeah. It was about Reggie," Alex said.
At the same time, Reggie said, "I thought it was about you." He frowned. "I don't like that song anymore." He turned away like a petulant child.
Julie looked between the ghosts before she said, "Wait. This is freaking me out. Trevor's songs are kinda big to me. He introduced me to rock!"
"Well, Luke introduced you to rock," Alex corrected as Luke threw darts.
"So this whole time I thought you were connected to my mom. But you guys are connected to Carrie's dad? Out of all the people, it had to be the one who had it out for me."
Alex sat on the floor. "All right, well, add it to our list of questions."
"I used to talk about music all the time with him and he never mentioned you guys," Julie said.