THIRD PERSON'S POV.
It was weird not rehearsing with the band the morning before school. Flora had gotten used to their early morning practices and started enjoying them a lot. Well, not anymore now that both she and Julie made it very clear that they were done with the band. On the plus side, no one had yet to make comments toward Flora about last night's dance.
Flora hadn't seen Julie at all this morning at school. She would've assumed Julie left Flynn's house after their sleepover and gone to her own as Flora did, but the girl hadn't shown up yet. It wasn't like Julie and Flora knew that the girl wouldn't purposely ditch, especially when they had a test in the morning. It was only the fourth period of the day and Flora was in her dance class, one she shared with Julie and Flynn. Both she and Flynn stood by each other, growing worried about Julie's whereabouts. While their dance teacher instructed them to stretch, Flora stepped to Flynn's side with her arm pulled across her chest.
"Where is she?" Flora asked.
"Well, she did say she didn't want to show her face in school again," Flynn said as she mimicked Flora's movements.
"You didn't wake her?" Flora questioned in disbelief because both girls knew Julie was a deep sleeper. "Dude, she didn't mean that literally."
"Oh, my bad," Flynn uttered as Flora's face fell. "What? I'm a very literal person."
Flora sighed and stood back in her given space as the music began. Their dance teacher counted the class down and they all began doing the choreography they'd been learning. At that moment, the doors to the gym opened, and in entered the person Flora was so worried about. The dance teacher instructed Julie to take a spot and she made her way over to where Flynn and Flora stood. She stood on the other side of Flynn, while both Flora and Flynn smiled at her.
"So, why didn't you two wake me up?" Julie asked her friends. "I missed my first three classes."
"Flynn, why don't you take the lead on this," Flora uttered. Flynn lightly shook her head at Flora and faced Julie.
"You said you were never gonna show your face at school again," Flynn reasoned. "And I'm a very literal person."
"Yeah, maybe too literal."
"It's okay," Julie assured them. "It's those stupid ghosts that I'm really upset at. I'd kill them if they weren't already dead."
"Oh, don't worry. I'm gonna find a way how," Flora insisted. "But on the plus side, no one's mentioned last night's epic fail so far."
"Oh, great. That's one thing I don't have to worry about anymore."
"Having a band is supposed to help your social life, not ruin it," Flynn said.
"Ex-band," Julie corrected her.
"Right. Sorry. Ex-band."
"Wait, what's wrong with my social life?" Flora questioned.
"For starters, your ex and your ex-friend are dating," Flynn remarked.
"Wow, Lizzo was right. The truth hurts."
"It's all so messed up," Julie continued as the class got in a crouched position. "I thought they were in this with me. With us. But obviously, I was wrong."
"Hey, don't blame yourselves. You guys can only be so strong when three cute ghosts ask you to join a band," Flynn said before taking a double take at Julie. "And speaking of cute, have you talked to Nick today? He was pretty chatty at the dance."
"Yeah," Flora piped in. "It almost was like he wasn't tied onto Carrie's leash."
"Haha. Very funny, Flora." Julie mocked a laugh. "But, no and I'm kinda dreading it. At least I know I won't see him in this class." The girls rose from the floor and bent over. The only view Flora had was of Flynn, so she was a bit confused when she heard Julie groan. "You've got to be kidding me."
"What?" Flynn threw the question as she stood upright.
"What's happening?" Flora asked as she and Julie followed Flynn's lead and stood up. Her head was feeling a little queasy considering it was upside down, but Flora finally saw why Julie was frustrated and couldn't help but grow frustrated herself. At the entrance of the gym stood the lacrosse coach, Coach Barron, and the whole of the lacrosse team, which included Nick and also Robbie and Peter.
"What are they doing here?" Julie whispered to her friends, who just shrugged in response. Not many boys (in fact, no boys) were in the dance class, so it was odd seeing a team filled with them in their class. It seemed like their dance teacher planned this, because she walked up to the coach.
"Right on time, Coach Barron," the dancer teacher said. Flora stood beside Julie and Flynn, with the former on Julie's other side and the latter trying to play it cool and lean onto Flynn's shoulder. "So, students, Coach Barron and I have decided that his lacrosse team will be part of our class for a few weeks. Many pro athletes have used dance to help them with coordination and mobility."
"This isn't about flirting with girls," Coach Barron interjected, earning a few snickers from the boys. "It's about making us better so we can actually win a game. We lost against Burbank. Burbank!"
Flora shared odd glances with her friends, trying to restrain her laugh.
"Well, let's all remember that composure is a big part of dance. Everybody pair up."
When none of the boys moved an inch, Coach Barron clapped his hands at them. "Let's go!"
The boys dropped their bags and hurried to any available girl. Flora groaned when she made eye contact with Peter, who motioned for them to be partners. She frowned at the girls and reluctantly headed his way. At least she was dancing with him rather than Robbie, who was on the other side of the gym with Tate.
"Hey. Weird that the team and I are here, right?" Peter tried to make conversation, but Flora ignored him. If he thought that everything between them was all peachy, then he had another thing coming. "You're still mad at me?"
Flora faked a laugh as she faced him. "No, of course not! Let's pretend we're best of the besties and that you didn't hurt my feelings."
"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry for us to be okay again? I'll say it again, I'm sorry. I didn't know that I was hurting you and if I did, I would've stopped. Honestly. Is there anything I can do to make you forgive me?"
Flora looked at him and could tell that Peter genuinely did care for her. However, she didn't want to second guess herself, so she looked to the front.
"This is one of my favorite classes so if you don't mind, could you not talk to me?"
Peter nodded his head. "Got it." Flora sent him a pointed look and Peter had an epiphany before he pretended to zip his lips, lock them, and throw the key away.
"So, ladies, let's do what we learned last week," the dance teacher announced from where she and the coach stood in the front. "And we will perform this with the boys this Friday. Coach Barron and I will demonstrate."
"No," Coach Barron quickly refused. "I don't dance. So..."
The dance teacher grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind her. "You do now." Flora took her stance in front of Peter as her dance teacher began the choreo they learned last week. Dance was something that came to Flora with ease, just like music did. However, her partner was having trouble with the choreo and Flora winced when he tripped over his own feet and almost fell. Peter let out a nervous chuckle and he and Flora got back in their starting position. "Let's do it again. Half-time, no music."
"I swear, if you in any way break my feet, I will break you," Flora warned Peter. The boy chuckled but soon realized that Flora wasn't kidding when she didn't break a smile.
"Oh, you're serious," muttered Peter.
After doing the choreo a second time, which ended in Peter eventually falling on his butt, Flora sighed. Maybe she should ease up on him. After all, she had seen him dance, and right now, he was terrible.
"Just follow my lead, okay? And try not to trip."
Peter nodded but sent her a small smile. "Will do, boss." At the third attempt, now with the music playing, Peter managed to not trip and do the choreography decently. When they finished, the boy immediately went to high-five Flora, but she pressed her lips together and raised an eyebrow. Peter realized his mistake and dropped his hand. "Sorry. I got excited."
Flora lightly chuckled. "It's fine. From the top, okay?"
. . .
Maria and Alberto Rojas were running up and down the halls of their house, muttering out Spanish words to each other as they tried to gather whatever they forgot to pack. While they were panicking, their granddaughter was sitting in the living room with a bowl filled with Doritos. Only the sound of music coming from the TV was heard, which was playing the movie, Frozen. Flora's grandparents were going away to their friends' wedding for the week which was in Florida. They didn't feel like leaving Flora home alone because it was the first time since Flora's mother left that she would be without them for a while, so Ray was happy enough to have Flora stay at his place for the week. The last time Flora slept over at Julie's was when they were eleven, so she was happy with the decision. It would give the girls more time to catch up on the past year and do what they always did when they had sleepovers — karaoke night.
Flora shoved another handful of chips into her mouth as one of her favorite scenes of Frozen came on, the one where Olaf sang about his love for summer. She hummed along to the song, getting rid of her grandparents' shouts in the background so it wouldn't distract her. However, at that moment, something else managed to distract her — three of her ex-bandmates flashing in right in front of the TV.
"Hey!" Flora hissed at them, trying to shoo them away with her hand. "Move! You're in the way!"
Alex, Reggie, and Luke didn't move but turned around to face the TV. The scene seemed to catch the three ghosts' eyes because they just stood there, taking in the lovable snowman's song. Flora let out another sigh before standing up and dusting off her hands. She grabbed the remote and switched off the TV, causing the three boys to groan.
"Why'd you do that?" Reggie asked as they all turned back to face her. Flora crossed her arms, sending each boy a glare. "We probably should've knocked first."
The girl let out a huff. She glanced back to the kitchen, where her grandparents were deep in a conversation about their passports, and then back at the boys. She took out her phone from her pocket and put it on her ear.
"What are you guys doing here?" Flora asked.
"Look, we know you're mad, but we wanted to apologize," Luke spoke up.
"You and Julie are the best thing that's happened to us since we became ghosts and us flaking on you guys wasn't cool," Alex said.
"But we're really sorry," Reggie continued. "And to tell you how sorry we are, we wrote a song—"
Flora shook her head. "Don't want to hear it."
"Or not... But we have something else that will make things better. Luke?"
Luke pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, which was a flyer for one of the nearby clubs, asking for any bands to sign up.
"In hopes that you and Julie will rejoin the band, we signed us up for an upcoming gig," Luke revealed.
"A huge, life-changing gig," Reggie emphasized. Luke handed the flyer to Flora, who took it and looked down.
"A lot of managers come to check out new talent. We just have to play and blow their faces off, which I know we will."
"Wow, this is cute," Flora dryly remarked as she looked up to the guys, who's faces fell. "This gig is really important to you guys. Playing at the dance was really important to Julie and me. But, hey, I guess that's okay. Because if you guys don't show up again, me and Julie will just face that embarrassment all over again."
"This sounds like sarcasm," Reggie muttered, receiving looks of disbelief from Alex and Luke. "Oh... Oh! I get it now."
"Have you even asked Julie if she's cool with this?" Flora asked and the guys remained silent. "Figures."
"We messed up big time, okay, but we need you and Julie," Alex began.
"I know. Without Julie, no one can see you. Actually, without Julie and I, you won't be seen. You'll just be nothing." Flora looked back to see her grandparents were rolling their suitcases and then to the desperate boys in front of her. "You know what? I'm not wasting my breath arguing with you guys. All three of you knew how bad my old friends treated me. Heck, you witnessed it with your own eyes. And then you do the same thing to me. Find another way to play your gigs — I'm out."
Flora put her phone back in her pocket and picked up her bowl. The boys knew that there was no way to convince Flora to change her mind, so they just watched her turn on her heel and storm off into the kitchen.
"Well, that went great," Alex muttered.
"Come on, guys. Let's not give up yet. We still gotta talk to Julie. Maybe she'll forgive us," Luke suggested, even though he was losing a bit of hope too. He and Alex looked to Reggie who had been awfully quiet. "Reggie, you alright?"
"Yeah," Reggie lied. It pained him to know that he hurt Flora this much, but they still had to speak to Julie. "Yeah, I'm good. Let's go talk to Julie."
Neither Luke nor Alex argued when Reggie teleported out. They looked back at Flora, who was helping her grandparents with their belongings, and disappeared in a flash.
. . .
Flora found herself bored out of her mind as she sat upside down on the couch she and Julie were on. Julie was busy with school work, considering she missed her first classes today, and Flora was not in the right mindset to do anything school-related.
"So, you and Nick seemed cozy during dance," Flora's comment made Julie look up from her books and roll her eyes.
"It was just one dance," Julie insisted.
"Hmph. And many more to come," Flora joked before turning herself to sit upright. "But seriously, what do you see in him? Plus, he's dating Carrie."
"Actually, they broke up."
"What? No way! But, no offense, I still don't see you and him being together. You guys just don't click."
"What makes you say that?"
"Name one thing you know about him that I or the rest of our grade don't know," Flora said. Julie opened her mouth and was about to say something, but then shut it, "See. But hey, I guess I'll be that friend that supports your stupid decisions."
"Can we not talk about boys now?" Julie exasperatedly asked.
"Sorry. You're right. I forgot the conversation you had with the guys must've been hard for you, especially with Luke."
Julie informed her about the apology the three ghost boys gave her and how she was also set on not rejoining the band again.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I know you like him," Flora replied with a light chuckle.
Julie sighed at that and shook her head. "First Flynn, now you?"
"Dude, you two have so much chemistry when you sing on stage."
"What about you and Reggie?" Julie questioned, deciding to turn the tables.
"Me and Reggie?" Flora repeated in disbelief. "We're friends. Or were. Plus, he's a ghost and that sounds impossible."
"But he likes you. He flirts with you all the time."
"He doesn't like me because he flirts with everyone."
"Not with me."
"Okay, I'm starting to not enjoy this conversation."
"You're the one who started it."
"And now I'm dropping it."
Flora took her phone out of her pocket, aiming to find a new distraction that was not Reggie. She didn't know what Julie was talking about. Her and Reggie? As more than friends?
Firstly, that would be impossible because he was a ghost. And secondly, she and Reggie were friends. Well, until he and the guys bailed on her and Julie. But why would Reggie even like her? Flora considered herself to be even too much for her to handle, so she knew she couldn't attract anyone. Heck, she was surprised Tate was attracted to her. So what was special about Reggie? Just as she was slowly pushing her thoughts of Reggie away, two out of the three ghosts appeared. Flora didn't look up from her phone when Alex and Reggie appeared, not wanting to have the same conversation again.
"Hey, you, uh... You guys got a second?" Alex asked and neither girls answered.
"Oh my gosh. They can't see us anymore!" Reggie exclaimed in shock. Alex gave his friend a look of disbelief before going over to sit on the armrest of the couch.
"Julie, Flora, please."
"Are we seriously going to have the same conversation again?" Flora spoke as she tore her eyes from her phone and looked at Alex. "You guys really can't take a hint."
"We already told that we're done with the band," Julie voiced as she looked up from her notebook.
"Yeah, we know, all right?" Alex said. "But before you both decided that forever, we just... We wanted you to know that Luke isn't as selfish as you guys think he is."
"Yeah, you've got him all wrong," Reggie added. Flora rolled her eyes. She and Julie returned to the items in their hands.
"Remember that song Emily?" Alex inquired, gaining Flora's attention. "Can we at least show you guys who that's actually about?"
. . .
"Are you sure this doesn't count as trespassing?" Flora asked. Alex and Reggie had taken Flora and Julie to a house unfamiliar to Flora, but she assumed this was where the infamous Emily lived. They were all hiding behind three plants — Alex at one, Julie at the middle one, and Flora and Reggie at another one.
"Well, we're ghosts, so..." Reggie trailed off.
"Julie and I aren't," Flora said, but decided that worrying about trespassing wasn't important at this moment. Her eyes trailed back to their view of an elderly couple in their kitchen and Luke sitting on the counter with a tear-stained face. "So, this is where Emily lives?"
"Yeah," Alex confirmed. "This was Luke's house."
"So, Emily's his mom?" Julie assumed the obvious.
"Yeah. Yeah, Luke comes here a lot."
"He thinks we don't know, but..." Reggie started. "We've been following him. All he does is just hang out like this and watch them. They never really do anything though."
"They're having cake," Julie noticed. "That's something."
"And it's chocolate. Chocolate cake means good things, right?" Flora added with a shrug.
"It's a... It's a birthday cake," Reggie said.
"For Emily?"
"For Luke."
Flora felt her heart aching for Luke. He always seemed like such a happy and chill person, but now knowing what he was going through made her feel guilty. He was always wearing a smile during rehearsals, but she never really did ask him about his life before he became a ghost. Or even Alex or Reggie about their lives.
"I never knew Luke was hurting this much," Julie admitted.
"He always seemed... fine," Flora voiced. "I guess I was wrong about that."
"Yeah. It's even worse because when he died, he... left on bad terms," Alex explained. "You know, his parents didn't want their seventeen-year-old in a rock band, so... he just left. He never got the chance to make up with them."
Flora watched as Luke sat down. He looked like he was about to break down and cry even more tears when he sat down in the empty seat. When his dad lit the candle, he blew it, but it seemed like his parents thought it was the wind. Little did they know, it was their son. Flora wiped a few tears off her face, some she didn't even notice until now.
"That's why Luke was so angry," Reggie carried on. "If Trevor had given Luke credit for writing all the songs, then... his parents would've known his dream was worth chasing."
"They would've been so proud," Julie spoke.
"They would've had a part of him with them through his music," Flora muttered out.
Luke's parents relit the candle and held their hands together. They blew it out, with Luke only doing the same seconds behind them. Flora sniffled and wiped another tear. She and Julie had it wrong the whole time. Luke wasn't selfish and neither were the guys. He just wanted his parents to be proud of him; Alex and Reggie, being the good friends they were, wanted to help him.
"We know how bad it hurts whenever someone that should've had your back... completely lets you down," Alex said as he faced the girls. "We never meant to make you both feel that way."
"Flora, Julie, we love our band, and Luke does too," Reggie continued. "Please give us another chance."
Flora and Julie looked at each other, neither of them having a single dry eye, and then back at the kitchen. A second chance didn't seem like a bad idea to Flora.
. . .
bitches be crying to this episode.
it's me.
i'm bitches.
please don't be a ghost reader :(
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