TODAY JULIE AND I decided to dress up. Nothing special, but better than what we usually wear. She went with a red cropped hoodie with a blue tank underneath, jean shorts that come down to her knees, fishnet stockings and sneakers.
I decided to wear a yellow cropped tee with high wasted jeans with rips and my yellow and white checkered vans. When we got to school, we met up with Flynn at Julie's locker. "Hey, what's up?"
"Nothing. It's just nice seeing you back to your weirdo self." Flynn flashed Julie a smile, making me laugh.
"Thanks?"
"So how's the band? Still hot? Still talented?" She looked around before whispering "Still dead?"
"Very hot, very talented, and very much dead." I answered her questions, earning a laugh.
"Luke and I spent the whole weekend writing songs."
"Yea, and Reggie and I spent the whole weekend talking about our favorite shows, video games, and food. Turns out, we both love street dogs. Well, actually that's a sore subject for him." I made an awkward face before looking at Julie.
"Anyway," She laughed in between her sentence. "You wanna hear some of them?"
"Duh!" Julie closed her locker, leading us to the music room.
Julie was talking about her and Luke the whole way to the music room. "Like it was flowing through me like when I used to write with mom." She walked over to the piano, sitting down. "So, this is the first song Luke and I wrote. Here's a bit of the chorus."
" 'cause we're standing
on the edge of great
great
great"
"Wow, I love it. Definite Gaga vibes." I shook my head, chuckling at Flynn.
"Thanks! I think we have an anthem with this one. It's something mom, Belle and I were working on." Julie gave me a small smile. "Luke and I finished it, check it out." I tried not to let it bother me that Julie didn't even bother asking me if I wanted to help finish it since I was helping her and mom write it.
"and it's one, two, three, four times
that I've tried for one more night
light a fire in my eyes
I'm going out of my mind."
I remember that song. We named it Stand Tall.
"That's... that's beautiful. And my girls got a crush, and his name is Luke." I nodded my head in agreement with Flynn.
"What? No. Luke's a ghost...with a perfect smile." Julie added, making me laugh.
"Why are you laughing? Julie and I both know who your crush is." Flynn turned to me, one eyebrow cocked with her arms crossed.
"And who would that be?" I asked, crossing my arms as well.
"Reggie." Both Flynn and Julie answered.
"What? Not uh. Like Julie said, he's a ghost. He's made of air." I pointed out.
"Cute air." Julie jumped in, making me look at her.
"Why does he have to be a ghost." I pouted, making both Flynn and Julie laugh.
"If he wasn't a ghost, he'd be like forty." What Julie said made me shudder.
"Guys, just don't get hurt. Okay? Obviously you and Luke, and you and Reggie have a connection. Everybody's wondering when you'll play again." I looked to Julie, shocked.
"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." Flynn gave Julie and I a smile.
"Marketing team? We don't have a marketing team." I answered, looking to Julie for confirmation.
Flynn pulled a paper out of her bag. "Yes you do!" The paper said, The Molinas and the holograms. "You guys are playing the school dance tonight, and I'm DJ-ing too."
"Tonight?! Flynn that's like super soon." I was kind of panicking.
"It'll be fine. Besides, I already posted it all over social media. You have an excellent marketing team." She put her hands on my shoulder, flattering herself.
"No, no." Julie laid the paper down on the piano. "This is in front of the whole school."
Flynn pulled out her phone. "Sorry. You already have sixty-eight likes."
I counted down the time until I'd be home again, talking to Reggie.
seven hours
five hours
two hours
forty-five minutes
Finally, I was back home. I found myself running to the garage to tell the guys the news. "Hey guys!" I walked in before Julie, throwing down my backpack and heading over to the piano where they were. "Big news, we're playing the school dance tonight." I handed Reggie the flyer, realizing that's the closest we'll ever come to being in contact with one another.
"You know, Bee, when you said to me earlier in school let's both tell them, that usually means both of us would tell them." I gave her a guilty smile.
"We're playing a school dance? Sweet." Reggie smiled down at the paper.
"It's not exactly the strip." I watched as Luke kept his gaze on Julie.
"And you're not exactly alive, so maybe you should be happy we have our first gig." Reggie gave him the you know better look.
"Bee and I weren't in love with the idea at first either, but it could be a great way for us to build a following. Right?"
"Yea. Yea, we need to play wherever we can, whenever we can." Reggie's enthusiasm was actually getting me kind of excited.
"No, you're right. Let's rock those kids faces off and then play the clubs." Luke agreed, still watching Julie.
"And then record a single."
"And we'll get like a gazillion trillion streams." I smiled, turning to Luke and Reggie.
"I don't know what that is, but hopefully it lands us a manager and a tour." Luke added on.
"Then, we release a bunch of hit albums."
"Put out a country album that does surprisingly well." Reggie jumped in, earning confused glances from all of us. "I shred on the banjo, so." I smiled at how cute he is.
"Then I'll learn how to fiddle."
"And I'll help Reggie play his banjo." I nodded.
"He said he knows how to play tho." Julie referred to what Reggie said, seconds earlier.
"Yea, but he might need help. The strings are really close together." I shrugged, hoping I wasn't being obvious.
"But he said he's really good..."
"Reggie you'd need help, right?" I asked, turning to look at him.
"From you? Any day." He held his fists up, air fist bumping Julie and I both at the same time.
"And before you know it, we're being inducted into the rock n' roll hall of fame." Luke slammed his hands on the piano.
"But one of us isn't there. Because we had a blowout in twenty-thirty-two. My money's on Alex. He's just so sensitive."
"Where is Alex, by the way?" I asked, having not seen him around all day.
"Probably with his ghost friend. Why?" Reggie looked to his hands and back up to me.
"No reason, just haven't seen him. And we kind of need to rehearse for tonight."
We practiced a few times before Alex walked through the studio doors. "Oh, hey Alex."
"Where've you been, man? We need to start practicing."
"Yeah? For what?" Alex asked, clueless.
"Flynn!" I perked up when I saw Flynn walk through the door.
"Dance news! 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?" Alex sounded super bummed.
"It's not that bad. If you just drown out the teenagers. Anyways, it's just to help us gain a following." Flynn realized I was talking to thin air.
"What? The guys are here?" She turned the opposite direction that the guys were in, waving. "Hey guys!"
"Other way, sweetie." Julie joked. This time she waved at the boys but only Alex and Reggie waved back.
I guess I was staring at Reggie because Flynn was giving me a disapproving head shake. "Is she looking at-" She didn't need to finish her question for Julie to understand and nod.
As I was smiling at how cute he is, Flynn walked right next to me where Alex's drums were and banged on them. I jumped, my head snapping to where she was. "What?"
"You were staring." She raised her eyebrows.
"Well, now that Alex has graced us with his presence, can we start working?" Luke asked, making me nod my head in return.
"Yes! We're gonna rehearse. You wanna stick around?" Julie asked Flynn.
"I'm supposed to blow up five hundred balloons for the school dance-" I cut her off.
"Please, please stay." I walked over to her, giving her a side hug. "Besides, you'll be able to see the cute boys."
Reggie and Luke smiled at me, Reggie flipping his nonexistent long hair, while Alex chuckled. "And I like boys."
My mouth dropped when he said that. "Really? Wow, that's sad, you're really hot." I looked at Reggie and saw the frown forming on his face. "Well, but not as hot as Reg- I'll stop talking now." From the corner of my eye, I could see Julie's eyes about to pop out of her head, Flynn's mouth was slightly parted with a wide grin on her face, and the boys looked shocked. Aside from Reggie, of course, who was wearing a proud smile.
"Hey, Belle, Julie. Remember those orbs in dads pictures?" Carlos walked in, handing Julie and I the pictures.
"Oh thank god." I mumbled, thankful for the attention to be on someone other than me.
"I think they're ghosts. But don't worry, this room is... this room is clean. I'm not getting the ghost tinglies."
"Wrong again, little dude." Reggie said from his chair. I ever so slightly scooched a little closer to Reggie.
"Have no fear. If they come back, I will protect you." He pointed to me and Julie. "Because I am the man of the house."
"Isn't dad suppose to be the man of the house?" Julie laughed.
"There can be two." He crossed his arms, making us laugh.
"What if we don't want the ghosts to be gone?" Flynn smacked my arm as that left my mouth.
"Why wouldn't you want them gone?" Carlos asked, turning to me.
I felt like I was under pressure with all eyes on me. "Well, what if they're cute?" I took a quick glance at Reggie before turning my eyes back to Carlos.
"There's no such thing as cute ghosts." He argued, making me chuckle.
"That's what I thought."
"If they come back, I'll use this." He pulled salt out of his pocket. "According to the internet, salt burns their souls out." The guys faces dropped. Reggie turned to me with worried eyes and I gave him a reassuring smile. "A little sprinkle will keep them from ever coming in here."
He whipped it in the direction of Reggie but it didn't touch him. Then, he whipped it in the direction of Luke, but he jumped up on the chair and dodged it. Finally, he whipped it in the direction of Alex, and it hit him. "No!" He yelled from between me and Flynn. "Oh god, I'm... fine, I'm fine. Totally fine."
Julie cleared her throat, nodding her head in the direction of Carlos as in a way of telling Flynn to get him out. "Oh! Carlos, you know who's hungry? Me. Um, salt me a path to the kitchen."
They walked out and we all got into our positions. "Shall we try this again?"
"Yea, please. But remind us later, there's some Sunset Curve songs we want to show you." Luke glanced back and forth between Julie and me.
"Ooh! I wanna see!" I swung my guitar around my back, clapping like a little girl.
"Show us now!" Julie smiled, pushing the microphone away from her face.
"Yeah, ok." I walked over to sit next to Julie while Luke looked for the music. "Home is where my horse is? Reggie, stop putting your country songs in my journal." I smiled at the boy.
"That was a gift." He pointed to it.
"Thanks, buddy." He left the sheet music on the floor, walking to Julie and I. "I dog-eared the ones that I think would be great for your voices."
I was looking over Julie's shoulder as she flipped through the pages. "Who's Emily?" She asked, looking up to Luke.
"That one's not dog-eared" He reached for the journal, only for Julie to pull away and stand up.
"If you could only know that I'd never let you go. Wow, Luke, I didn't know you were such a romantic."
"He's not. That one's actually about-" Luke cut Alex off before he could finish.
"No one. That's just something that I tried, and... but if you go to the next dog-eared page, I got a tune that's just... it's got a killer beat."
I stood next to Julie as Luke started playing the beginning of the song. I looked at Julie surprised, how do the boys know who Trevor Wilson is? "So you wanna sample." She shrugged her shoulders.
"What do you mean sample?" Luke laughed.
"Sample someone else's music." Julie answered him. "Me, Belle, and our mom used to sing that song at the top of our lungs in the car all the time."
"Yeah, it's a classic Trevor Wilson song." I cut in.
"Nope." Luke looked to me, annoyed. "It's a classic our song."
"Pure Sunset Curve. Never even heard of Trevor Wilson." Reggie shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe you're mixing it up, you know, with another song."
"Uhh, no." I disagreed with Alex. "The Molina's don't mix up songs."
"Trust me. Me and his daughter used to be best friends. I used to hang out at their place all the time. I know that song."
"Okay." Alex looked to Luke as if we're crazy.
"Listen." I started playing the song on my guitar as Julie got out her laptop.
"Okay? You could've heard me playing it or something." Luke shrugged his shoulders as I rolled my eyes.
"Here." She turned her laptop to them with a picture of Trevor Wilson and an article about him. "His first albums had a bunch of hits, but none of his latest stuff is as good."
I walked over next to Reggie as Luke spoke up. "That's Bobby."
"No? We just told you, that's Trevor Wilson." I pointed to the screen.
"Ok, great. Then... then he changed his name, alright? That's definitely Bobby. He was our rhythm guitarist." I looked at Alex, shocked.
"Trevor Wilson was in your band?" Julie scoffed.
"I can't get over how old he looks." Reggie scrunched up his face.
"That's what happens when you age." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Oh.. he looks like a substitute teacher."
"Wait..." Luke started, making us all turn to him. "What were his other hits?" He looked between me and Julie.
"Get lost." Julie said the first one she thought of.
"Yea. I wrote that." Luke started walking to the dart board with a hurt look.
"Long weekend?" She continued.
"Yea, Luke wrote that one too." Reg spoke up from beside me.
"Crooked teeth?" This time I asked.
"And that." Alex answered, turning to me. "It was about Reggie."
"What? I thought it was about you! I don't like that song anymore."
"I knew there was a reason that song was my favorite." I mumbled under my breath, earning a knowing look from Alex.
"This is freaking me out. Trevor's songs are kind of big to me. They're big to us. He's the one that introduced us to rock."
"Yea. Luke introduced you to rock."
I shook my head, listening to the darts hit the board. "This is crazy. I mean, we grow up listening to Trevor's- Bobby's? We grow up listening to his songs that were wrote by you guys. And then years later, you show up in our garage? Something isn't right."
"Yea, this whole time I thought they were connected to mom. And instead they're connected to Carrie's dad." She turned away from me and back to the guys. "Out of all people, it had to be the one girl who had it out for me."
"Alright, well, add it to our list of questions." Alex shrugged.
"Back when Carrie and I were friends, the three of us used to talk about music all the time. He never mentioned you guys."
"And that's unbelievable!" Luke yelled, still in front of the dart board. "Okay, he can take all the credit, and he doesn't even mention us?"
The boys all looked so sad, I just wanted to hug them all. "And he's rich." Julie added, making me give her a death glare. "He has his own helicopter."
"Julie." I mumbled. "Shut up. Can't you see they're sad. Give them their time to grieve."
"No, no. I wanna hear about this." Reggie moved past me, Luke and Alex following him.
"He has... he has a helicopter?" Alex looked to me for confirmation.
"Yea." I looked down. "It has his face on it. You know, it's a lot prettier from inside than out." I received confused looks.
"You rode in it?" Luke questioned me.
"Well- I mean, yea. But only because Nick invited me." My voice got small.
"So he parks it in front of that hotel?" Reggie pointed to Julie's laptop screen.
"Oh no, that's a mansion. His mansion." I clarified.
"Mansion?" Reggie looked at me in shock.
"Dude, we live in a garage." Alex said to Luke.
"Hey, it's not that bad, okay? I mean, you get to see Julie and me every day. That's pretty great, right?" I asked, standing up tall.
"No." He laughed. "A mansion sounds better."
"Hey, it's not about the money. It's about the music!" Luke yelled, annoyed.
"It's a little bit about the money, though." Reggie pointed out, Alex joining in. "He could have shared it with our families. Maybe then my parents wouldn't have had their house turned into a bike shack."
"What he did is steal our legacy." Part of me was wondering why Luke was the most mad of the three, but the other half was thinking about how I'd be just as angry and hurt as Luke. "Where does he live?"
I turned to Julie with wide eyes, shaking my head to try and stop her from telling them. "Above the beach in Malibu."
"Let's go teach him a lesson."
Julie was quick to stand up, while I just stood there. What did she expect to happen? "Wait, what? Guys! We have to rehearse for the dance. This is our first gig." Before she could finish, they poofed out of the garage.
"Julie! Why would you tell them where he lives?" I started walking out of the garage.
"Where are you going." She followed me.
"Above the beach in Malibu!"
Julie and Flynn ended up following me and soon we made it to Carrie's house. We had to sneak past the gate, but we finally made it to the door where Julie rang the doorbell.
"Hey!" Julie and Flynn said together, smiling. I just stood there, giving her a scowl. I wasn't gonna be nice to someone who isn't nice to us.
"What are you guys doing here? How'd you get over the security gate?" She pointed past us and to the gate.
"Teamwork." Julie cut in before I could say something smart. "Do you have a band-aid? The barbed wire's new."
"What do you want?" She turned to look at me.
"Don't ask me. If it were up to me, I wouldn't even be here right now." I rolled my eyes.
"Uhh..." Flynn was staring me down. "We just thought you should know that their band is playing at the dance tonight."
"Yea, feel free to stay home and not show up!" I said in a peppy voice.
"Gladly." She rolled her eyes at me. "You two are acting weirder than usual." She gestured to Flynn and Julie.
"Probably because we're thirsty." Flynn agreed with Julie. "Can we come in for a glass of water?"
"Ugh. Fine, if it'll make you leave faster." She smiled at us. First Julie and Flynn walked in and when I went to walk in, Carrie stood in front of me. "Oh, but not you. You can wait outside."
"Seriously?" Before I could get much out, someone interrupted me.
"Hey, Belle, what're you doing here?" It was Nick.
"Oh, hey Nick. Just trying to get in." I gestured to Carrie. "You're girlfriends stricter than a bouncer."
"Come on, let her in babe." She rolled her eyes before stepping aside.
"Oh thank you so much! I am forever grateful." I placed a hand over my heart sarcastically.
We walked into the living room while Carrie went to get us some water. "I've gotta use the bathroom. Nick, you're in charge of telling Carrie where I went, or else I might get my head ripped of and shish kabobed."
I made my way upstairs, looking for the boys. There was a lot of ground to cover, considering it was a mansion and all. Plus, I'd never been in Carrie's house before.
I'd finished searching all the rooms but one. When I walked in, I saw someone standing there, making me almost scream in fear. That was until I realized it was Julie. I quickly shut the door behind me. "What're you doing up here?"
"Looking for the boys, duh." She shrugged.
"Well I already looked in all the other rooms up here, they're not in any of them." Both of our heads shot to the door when we heard Trevor running down the steps, saying something.
We both walked down the stairs slowly and quietly. Julie pointed to the back doors, trying to get Flynn to distract Nick and Carrie. When we walked outside, the boys were standing up, zipping up their pants and buckling their belts. "Feels like I'm interrupting something."
Julie rolled her eyes, getting straight to the point. "Did you guys have fun in there?"
"You'd do the exact same thing if he stole all your songs." Luke explained to her.
"I know I would. I mean, maybe not the mooning him part. Who am I kidding, I would." Alex smiled and held up his hand.
"That's why you're my favorite." I air high-fived him while Julie ignored him.
"You have new songs. With us."
"Jules, it does kind of suck though. I mean, think about it. What if someone stole Stand Tall? We spent all that time working on it with mom."
"And Luke and I finished it." She shrugged as if it weren't a big deal.
"Yea, thanks a lot for asking me if I wanted to help finish it, by the way." I said sarcastically.
"What's the big deal, Isabelle?" My eyes went wide with shock when she called me by my full name. She hadn't done that since mom had first adopted me.
"The big deal, Julie, is that it was suppose to be the three of us. We were suppose to work on it together."
"Yea, well in case you haven't noticed, mom's dead." She shrugged as if it weren't obvious.
"Oh you are so full of it. And in case you haven't noticed, Luke's dead. I'm so tired of you acting like she was just your mom. She was my mom too!" At this point, I was yelling.
"Well she was my mom! The only reason she adopted you was because she felt sorry that your real mom didn't want you. She wasn't yours." At that moment I swear I felt my heart shatter. "And neither is my dad, and neither is Carlos."
"I guess I'm not your sister then either, huh? You know, I've heard a lot of people say the same stuff behind my back... but I never ever expected it to come from you." I didn't realize I was crying until I felt a tear roll into my mouth.
I walked back around to the front of the house and walked back home. I was in the garage, singing my favorite song, just to get my mind off of things.
"Wise men say
only fools rush in
but I can't help falling in love with you"
I saw Alex poof in front of me but I just kept singing. It wasn't until he joined in on the song that I looked up at him and gave him a smile.
"Take my hand
take my whole life too
for I can't help falling in love with you"
He sat next to me on the bench where I was playing the piano.
"For I can't help falling in love with you"
Alex clapped once we finished. "You have a really good voice."
"Thanks."
"So, how you feeling?" He asked, trying to get my attention back.
"You mean why did I blow up like that earlier?" I forced a chuckle. "I guess I just had enough. Julie always acts like the victim."
"It was pretty harsh, what she said to you earlier." I shrugged.
"Yea. I never knew she felt like that." I looked down, not wanting to cry anymore.
"Hey, no, I'm sure she didn't mean it. You know, sometimes people just get confused. Like your feelings for Reggie." My head popped up at that.
"What?"
"You heard me. I know you like him. Or you think you like him. You think you know you like him?" He confused himself.
"I do not like Reggie. He's a ghost." I tore my gaze from him and focused on the couch in front of me.
"If liking a ghost is wrong, I don't wanna be right." I raised my eyebrows at what Alex said.
"Looks like someone has the hots for ghost boy." He shook his head, smiling.
"Anyway, back to your thing. Look, if you want, I can talk to her about it." He looked back to me.
"You would do that for me?" His face softened.
"You're the closest thing I've ever had to a little sister, I'd do anything for you." I felt myself smiling.
"It feels like I've known you forever. Like it was meant for us to meet. Alex, it may be too soon to say this but, I love you. Thank you for being the brother figure I never had." We both leaned in for a hug before remembering and chuckling.
It was nine o'clock when I got to the dance. I saw Julie and Flynn standing together by the stage, so I walked over to them. "Hey, girl! You look so good!" Flynn hugged me.
"Hey, can I talk to you?" Julie asked, pulling me aside from Flynn. "Belle, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of it. Sometimes it's just nice to remember when it was just her and me, you know? It made me feel special. But, I realized that I was being selfish. Obviously she was your mom too. And for the record, she didn't adopt you just because she felt sorry for you. She adopted you because I wanted a sister." We both laughed at that.
I pulled her in for a hug. "I could never stay mad at you. You're my best friend. My sister."
"I never thought I'd say this but, my mom seriously couldn't have picked a better sister for me."