"And where is it that you think you're going?" Caleb said as he appeared on the piano behind them, his hand locked around Jo's arm. She was in a long sleeved, green dress with laces up the center. It looked tight and suffocating and red was growing around the choker wrapped around her neck.
"What are you doing here?" Luke asked angrily.
"And let go of Jo!" Reggie added.
Caleb gasped dramatically. "Such hostility. I'm just here to congratulate you on your big night." He chuckled lightly and pulled Jo closer. "I mean, not everyone gets to play the Orpheum."
"No! Okay, we know that it's your stamp that's hurting us!" Luke said.
Caleb hummed and looked at Jo. All of them could see the fear in her eyes. "She didn't tell us! She- She kept it from us! And we hate her for it!" Reggie quickly made up.
Jo didn't let her scared gaze waver from Caleb, scared he'd see a different emotion in her eyes if she looked at Reggie. "We already told you," Luke picked back up, trying to take the attention away from Jo. "We have a band. We don't wanna join your little club."
"Yeah. And you can't make us either!" Alex yelled.
Caleb clicked his tongue. "Right. You're crossing over tonight. So exciting! Funny thing about the cross over, no one really knows what's waiting on the other side. Isn't that right, Josie? Why, that's why you agreed to join the club in the first place."
Jo forced a smile and nodded, like she was still Caleb's little salesperson, convincing the boys that the club wasn't so bad. "That's right. The Hollywood Ghost Club saved me."
Caleb finally let the grip on Jo's arm go and patted her cheek. "Exactly." She held the spot on her arm where she was sure a bruise was growing and finally chanced a glance over at the boys. "But I know what's happening on this side." He blew a kiss at them, whisking them off to the club, then hopped down from the piano and offered his arm to Jo. She took it and they poofed out of the garage as Caleb laughed maniacally.
The boys appeared backstage at the club in extravagant suits. Pink for Alex, blue for Luke, and red for Reggie. "Well, don't you look nice," Caleb muttered as he fixed the cuff link of his own purple suit.
"Sweet threads," Reggie said.
"How... How'd you know our sizes?" Alex stuttered.
"That's your question?" Luke mocked as he pulled at the collar of his button-up.
Caleb sighed at the bickering boys. "I know you boys aren't my biggest fans. And an eternity at my club might seem overwhelming, but... I just put you in sweet threads, so humor me this one last pitch.
"Now, for starters, isn't it nice that you're all here together? And, believe me, everything you want... including Willie... Josie," he said, pointing at each corresponding boy. "Is here. And, on my stage, you don't vanish when the music stops." Caleb stepped up to Luke, pandering only to him with this part of the pitch, then tightening his tie. "You soak in the applause for as long as you want. The connection that you will feel with that audience will be like no other... I promise."
Reggie looked up at him on those words. He'd made a promise. To Jo. Even with the draw of the cheers, of being with his friends, then the pain of another jolt. "That one looked like it hurt," Caleb said playfully. Even with everything against them... He'd made a promise.
"Now let me remind you," Caleb said as two men helped him into his overcoat. "You don't know if playing the Oprheum is your unfinished business. Do you really have time to make that mistake? I suggest you accept my offer, because the clock is ticking.
Another body-wracking jolt as the swing music picked up behind Caleb. "Ouch! You know where to find me."
The man pushed out onto the stage through a curtain of tinsel and greeted the crowd, jumping into a similar song to the one he'd serenaded them with their first night at the club. "You know you wanna take a chance and be a little bit bad. Ain't nothing quite like living on the edge! So get ready to go. I'm chasing down a thrill. And looking fit to kill! So listen to the words a wise man said!
"He said, 'Covington, I got an offer that you can't refuse.' Ha! You got nothing to lose, boys! Lose! Lose! Lose!"
In the wings, the boys' feet started tapping almost unconsciously. "You got nothing to lose, boys! Lose! Lose! Lose!" He beckoned them once more and Alex's hand raised beside them, drumstick twirling between his fingers.
"You got nothing to lose!" Caleb sang as Alex poofed out and reappeared on the stage behind a logoed set of drums. "Alex! Show me what you got!" Caleb scatted along with the band until Reggie appeared beside them with his bass guitar. "Reggie! Swing it, baby!" Caleb said as he took Jo's hand from the side of the stage and spun her towards Reggie.
"What are you doing out here?" she hissed as Luke tried to resist Caleb pulling him out onto the stage.
"It's like I can't control myself, Jo," he said nervously as his fingers plucked the strings.
"Wait, you're on bass," Jo realized. "So where's Lina?"
"How do you like my new band!" Caleb announced as the four stood around him. He picked back up with scatting until the final verse. "So come over here, baby! I got what you need. Let yourself go crazy! All bets on me... It's electrifying! From your hat to your shoes! I feel it in the air! We got nothing to lose! La, la, la! La, la, la, la, la!"
The crowd erupted into applause as the boys finally got a good look at each other. Jo suddenly ran off of the stage, searching for Lina. She was in the hall up to Caleb's wing. "Jo, where are the boys?" she asked quickly.
Jo took Lina's hands in her own. "Babe, are you okay? C-Caleb, he-"
"Replaced me, Jo. He replaced me. With the snap of his fingers... Like he always said," she muttered, before looking back up at her friends' eyes. "Now where are the boys?"
Jo hesitantly beckoned the band into the wings. Lina led them up the stairs to where Willie was waiting for them, his foot bouncing anxiously. "Willie?" Alex said.
"Caleb restricts our ghost abilities within the borders of the club," Lina told them.
"But his rooms are one of the few places where we're able to freely poof out from," Willie said. "And only through his fireplace."
Jo smiled at Lina. "You're breaking them out?"
"Yes," Lina whispered. "I'm done being his puppet, Jojo. You guys need to get out and complete your unfinished business and be free."
"Thank you," Alex said genuinely, his focus on Willie.
"Go... We'll see you around," Willie smiled.
Alex ran his fingers along the top of the fireplace and suddenly it was like they could hear the opening notes of Julie's piano flood the space. "Don't blink, no I don't wanna miss it. One thing and it's back to the beginning 'cause everything is rushing in fast. Keep going on, never look back..."
"Catalina!" Caleb's voice drifted up from the stairs.
"Boys, get out of here," she ordered before turning to her friends. "Willie, Jo, run. I'll take care of him."
"Li, what the hell are you talking about?!" Jo exclaimed.
"Jojo... just go, okay? He'll take it easier on me."
"Not by much," Jo said honestly.
Lina looked back at the stairs nervously as her father called her name again. "Run, Joey." She turned around to see Willie already descending the alternate exit as the boys went for the fireplace.
Reggie caught Jo's wrist. "Or you could come with us."
Jo glanced back at Lina, then down at where Willie was waiting for her. "Go on without me," she told him with a huge smile. "I'm gonna go live my not-quite-life."
Caleb was suddenly at the top of the stairs. "Catalina!" he scolded roughly as he grabbed hold of her forearms. Alex ran and disappeared into the fireplace. They could hear the drums join the fray of the song, his button-up loosening and relaxing the outfit.
She ripped her arms from his grasp and suddenly felt something in her stomach. Like warmth and the fluttering of butterflies. She looked up at her friend with a smile. "I love you, Jojo," Lina said softly as she disappeared into golden sparks.
"What did you do to her?!" Jo screamed.
Caleb stared at the space his daughter had just taken up. "I... I did nothing."
"Her unfinished business," Reggie murmured, clutching onto Jo's side.
"Run!" Luke yelled, pushing his friends into the fireplace.
Reggie and Jo appeared on stage, the bass and rhythm guitar joining the song. Reggie's overcoat was gone and Jo's dress had shifted from a tight, laced long-sleeve to a green, marbled halter dress.
"Right now, I'm loving every minute. Hands down, can't let myself forget it, no," Julie sang. "'Cause everything is rushing in fast. Keep holding on, never look back!" It looked like Luke was trying to appear on the other side of the stage, but his figure was flickering as Julie determinedly sang at him. "And it's one, two, three, four times! That I'll try for one more night! Light a fire in my eyes!"
"I'm going out of my mind!" Luke intoned as he joined the band on the Orpheum stage. Reggie jumped up onto Alex's risers and helped Jo up beside him. "Whatever happens, even if I'm the last standing, I'mma stand tall, I'mma stand tall!"
The two repeated together, "Whatever happens even if I'm the last standing, I'mma stand tall, I'mma stand tall!"
Reggie and Jo looked at each other, both smiling ridiculously as they jumped from the risers down to the rest of their friends. Julie stepped up beside Jo and held her microphone between them as they belted, "I gotta keep on dreaming! 'Cause I gotta catch that feeling! Whatever happens, even if I'm the last standing, I'mma stand tall! I'mma stand tall!"
"Like I'm glowing in the dark!" Jo sang into Luke's microphone while she and Reggie danced down the stage that jutted into the audience. "I keep on glowing when it's all falling apart!"
"Yeah I know it with all my heart," Reggie joined her into Julie's microphone. "Ooh-ooh-ooh! Ooh-ooh-ooh!"
"Never look back!" Luke shouted.
Alex grabbed onto his own mic and took it with him as he stood up behind the drums. "Whatever happens, even if I'm the last standing, I'mma stand tall, I'mma stand tall."
"Whatever happens, even if I'm the last standing," Reggie sang, "I'mma stand tall, I'mma stand tall!"
"Stand tall!" Julie and Jo joined, the latter joining Reggie at his microphone.
"Stand tall!" Luke concluded.
"Whatever happens, even if I'm the last standing, I'mma stand tall, I'mma stand tall," they all sang together. "Whatever happens, even when everything's down, I'mma stand tall, I'mma stand tall." Luke switched to Julie's microphone and they moved across the stage together as the band continued, "I gotta keep on dreaming, 'cause I gotta catch that feeling! Whatever happens, even if I'm the last standing, I'mma stand tall!" Reggie took Jo's hand as they stepped up on one side of Julie and Luke, Alex on the other. "I'mma stand tall!"
The crowd exploded in cheers as they all looked at each other, a goodbye. Jo leaned down to Julie's ear, "I'll see you around." They bowed together and the ghosts disappeared from the stage, leaving Julie to stand alone.
>author's note
enjoy, babes <333