Los Angeles 2020 - Los Feliz High School
A school bell rang and students giggled.
A girl walked through the hall with her head down as she made her way to her locker.
The girl opened her locker and opened it just before another girl came up to her and greeted, "Hey, underachiever."
"Hey, disappointment," Julie replied.
"Okay, I know you don't want me to ask, but have you figured out what you're gonna do today?"
"I'll know in the moment."
"Really, Jules? That's all you're giving me? Mrs. Harrison said this is your last chance."
"I know. I was there." Julie let out a sigh.
"See you at the rally!" a girl said.
"Ugh! What is she handing out?" Flynn wondered.
"Hi!" Carrie greeted.
"Desperation?" Julie guessed.
Flynn snickered. "Mm."
"Here you go," Carrie said. "My group's performing at the spirit rally tomorrow. I'm sure you guys have nothing better to do."
Flynn said in a sarcastic tone, "Oh my gosh, Carrie. Thanks!"
"Oh my gosh, Flynn! Don't bother coming!" She walked away and handed another flyer to someone. "Here you go. Come see Dirty Candy tomorrow. Nick?"
Flynn followed her friend's eyes. "Still? You know they're gonna get married and have a bunch of unholy babies."
"Nick's a sweetheart," Julie said.
"You'd actually have to talk to him to know that. And only one of them has to be a demon to make a demon baby. Demon!" Flynn yelled, looking at Carrie, causing both girls to snicker. "There's that smile. Now, let's go prove everybody wrong."
The girls chuckled lightly.
MUSIC CLASSROOM
A guitar riff played and the students cheered.
"Wow!" the music teacher said as Carrie giggled. "Nice job, Nick. Almost as impressive as your game against Glendale." Nick chuckled. "Okay, we have our last performance." She clapped. "Julie?"
Julie stepped up to the piano and let out a heavy sigh.
"Take your time," the music teacher said.
Julie opened the piano, put her hands on the keys, let out another sigh and stood. "I'm sorry."
Flynn sighed as she stood and Carrie asked, "Is this when we clap?"
"Watch it, Carrie," Flynn retorted.
Students erupted in laughter. Julie had run out of the room in both embarrassment and tears.
JULIE'S HOME
Julie was sitting at the table doing homework.
Julie's father walked down the stairs and said, "Oh good. You're home." Julie closed the book and looked at her father. "I was about to go watch your brother's game. I've had photoshoots all day. Didn't even get a chance to eat. But... I got a phone call today."
"Yeah, I figured as much," Julie replied as she pulled off her glasses.
Her father sat. "Yeah. Well, it was my realtor friend."
"Oh, that."
"Yeah, and she says if we are serious about selling the house, then she wants me to take some pictures for the website. Which means we have to do a lot of cleaning and get rid of some stuff. And maybe you can... tackle Mom's studio?" Julie looked away. "You're the expert. You know, your brother and I wouldn't even know where to begin. It's okay, honey. If you're not ready, I-"
"No. It's all right. Maybe I'll try tonight."
"Yeah?" He clapped. "Awesome, mija. Thank you. Oh, and don't forget the loft. You know, those old instruments that were there when we moved in? They need a new home." He stood.
"Mom would like that."
"Yeah, she would. Oh God. I'm gonna be late." He began looking for his keys.
"Under the mail."
He snapped his fingers. "You're a lifesaver." He grabbed his keys and Julie shook her head, chuckling lightly.
That night, Julie slowly made her way to the garage. She let out a sigh and a shaky breath before sighing again. She turned on the lights and pulled the cover off the piano.
Julie inhaled deeply as she picked up sheet music and sat on the piano bench. "I'm so sorry, Mom." She made her way up the ladder to the second floor. "That I haven't been here."
Julie found a Sunset Curve CD and started playing it. The music started and she bopped her head to it.
The sound of guys and a girl screaming filled the air. The screaming intensified.
Julie gasped, seeing four people appear in front of her and the four newcomers groaned. Julie immediately stood.
Reggie groaned loudly.
Luke coughed and gasped for air.
Reggie let out another groan.
Rellie stood and looked around. "What is this place? Hang on." She turned to the boys. "How are we back here?"
"Whoa!" Luke exclaimed. "Whoa! How did we get back here?"
The blonde frowned. "I just asked that."
Julie screamed, soon joined in by the ghosts.
"Dad!" Julie called, pointing and running to meet her father.
"Whoa!" Julie's dad said. "Hey! Whoa! Slow down. You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I have!"
"Cool," Carlos said.
"Not cool!" Julie grunted, running towards the house. "Run!" She ran inside and up the stairs.
She ran into her room and hid behind her bed, glancing out the window. She sent a 911 text to her friend and sighed. "Come on, Flynn. 911 means 911! Why aren't you answering me?" She exhaled sharply.
"Hey," Julie's dad greeted.
Julie screamed before realizing who it was. "Dad."
"Sorry. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"You don't believe me, do you?" Julie asked.
"Honey, of course I do. Mija, I see your mom all the time."
Julie shook her head. "This isn't like that."
"I know. It's different for all of us."
"Dad, you're not listening to me. I saw something out there." She gestured to the window.
He sat. "All right. Okay. Okay. I'm listening. Tell me what you saw. It's just you and me here."
Julie sighed. "You sound just like Dr. Turner."
"Well, maybe seeing Dr. Turner again isn't such a bad idea."
"Dad! Can we just drop it?"
"All right. Dropped." He stood and held up his right pointer finger. "We good?"
Julie placed her right pointer finger to her dad's. "Yeah."
The two linked fingers as her dad chuckled, snapped his fingers, and left the room.
Julie looked around her room, made her way to her window, and peeked out. She grabbed a cross from the wall.
Julie made her way to the garage, holding the cross in front of her, and asked, "Are you still..." she exhaled shakily, "whatever you are? I know I saw something. I'm not crazy."
"Well, we're all a little crazy," Luke said as the four ghosts appeared behind Julie.
Julie turned and screamed, holding the cross in front of her.
"Oh my God!" Alex yelled. "Please stop screaming!"
Relloe nodded, holding her ears. "It hurts, surprisingly."
A dog howled.
"Who are you, and what are you doing in my mom's studio?" Julie demanded.
Luke stepped closer to Julie and said, "Your mom's studio? This is our studio. Trust me, my..." He sat on the piano while scooting away from Julie. "The grand piano is new, and... and... and..." He giggled. "My couch!" He sighed happily as he plopped on the couch. "That is definitely not my six-string." He sat up, then stood. "Can you give me just one second?" He walked towards the other three. "Just... give me a second. Thank you. Guys, what is going on? How did she get her stuff in here so fast?"
"Maybe... maybe she's a witch," Reggie guessed. "There's chairs floating on the ceiling."
Rellie stared at him. "She's not a witch."
Alex frowned. "Okay, there is no such thing as witches."
"You sure?" Reggie asked. "I used to think there was no such thing as ghosts."
"That's fair."
"Okay, so we're going with witch?"
"No! We are not going with witch."
Rellie shook her head. "No, we're not going with witch."
"She's not a witch," Alex said. "All right, look. She's just scared. Okay? Let someone with a softer touch handle this." He walked up to Julie and clapped. "Why are you in our studio?"
"Huh!" Julie exclaimed.
Julie put the cross through Alex, causing a whoosh to sound. "Oh, my gosh! How did you do that?"
"Clearly you're not understanding..." Alex trailed as he turned to his sister and friends. "She doesn't get it." He turned back to Julie. "Okay, look. We're ghosts, all right? We're just four ghosts, and we're really happy to be home, or to have found a new home. So, thank you for the flowers. They really brighten up the room."
"We're in a band called Sunset Curve," Luke said. "She helped us with lyrics and other stuff."
"Tell your friends," Reggie added.
"Last night was supposed to be a really big night for us. It was gonna change our lives."
"I'm, uh... I'm pretty sure it did," Alex and Rellie replied.
"This is freaking me out," Julie said as she breathed sharply, grunted, and pulled out her phone.
Luke pointed to the phone. "What is that? What are you doing?"
"It's my phone," Julie told them. "No! Stop talking to them. They aren't real. There's no such thing as cute ghosts."
"Oh, think we're cute?" Reggie asked.
Julie tapped the keys and Alex asked, "Who you calling?"
Rellie stared with a frown, then widened her eyes at the phone. "How is that so small?"
"I'm Googling Sunset Swerve," Julie replied. "This is how phones are nowadays."
"It's so tiny."
"Sunset Curve!" the ghosts exclaimed.
Julie exhaled shakily. "Whoa. There is a Sunset Curve. You did die. But not last night. Twenty-five years ago?"
Reggie frowned. "What? No. No, no, no. Th-Th-That's impossible. After we floated out of that ambulance, all we did was go to that weird, dark room where Alex cried and where we reconnected with Rellie."
Alex spoke in a high-pitched tone. "Well... I don't think... I think we were all pretty upset. Okay."
"But that was just for like an hour," Luke said. "We just showed up here."
Julie turned the phone to the ghosts. "Look. I'm just telling you what my phone says. See? You died in 1995. It's now 2020."
"So, this is the future?" Alex asked.
"It's a strange future," Rellie mumbled.
"Wait," Alex said. "So... So, it has been 25 years. I have been crying for 25 years? How is that possible?"
"Well, you're a very emotional person," Reggie told him.
"I am not!"
"Thought you were afraid to come out here," Carlos said, entering the garage. "You talking to your ghost friend? How does he look? Is he hideous?"
Rellie frowned. "Hey, there's a she ghost present."
"He can see you," Alex said.
"No, he can't," Julie replied.
"What?" Carlos asked, looking around.
Julie looked back at her brother. "Uh... What do you want?"
"A normal sister, for starters. Stop being weird and come eat." He left.
"He couldn't see you."
"Yeah," Alex answered. "I mean, that's... usually how ghosts work."
"Hmm," Reggie hummed.
Julie sighed, started to leave, and turned. "Look, I'm very sorry for what happened to you guys, but this isn't your studio anymore. You have to leave." She turned to the door.
"But wait," Luke called, causing her to turn. "We... We didn't get your name."
"It's Julie."
"Cool." Luke chuckled, walking up to Julie, who immediately held up the cross. "I-I'm Luke, by... by the way. And this is-"
Reggie cut him off. "Reggie. I'm Reggie."
Rellie waved. "Rellie. Alex's twin."
"Hey," Julie replied.
"And..." Luke was once again cut off.
"Alex," Alex said. "How's it going?"
Luke gestured to his friends and stated softly, "Ba-da."
"Okay?" Julie replied in a questioning tone as she lowered the cross and left.
"Julie seems nice," Reggie said.
Rellie nodded. "Yeah, she does."
Alex groaned. "Did you two miss the part where she kicked us out, or..." Reggie took a moment to consider and Rellie nodded, letting out a sigh. "Yes. Okay."
Julie walked to the house.