It was 3:25am and Julie was lying in bed, yawning loudly. The flowers were in a vase next to her, ready for the attack.
"Don't fall asleep yet," Reggie whispered from somewhere in the darkness.
"Be quiet," she said. "You keep scaring me."
"Sorry," he whispered back.
Julie tried to open her eyes wide and stare at the ceiling. She tried to think of things to keep her awake. She thought about her kiss with Luke and smiled, her eyes glancing over into the darkness where he stood, waiting.
It was then that a figure appeared in the room. The guys noticed it before Julie and jumped, quickly running over to stop him from getting closer.
"Caleb, stop!" Luke hissed at him.
"So you've figured it out," Caleb laughed, eyeing all three guys. "And you're here to what... stop me?"
"Something like that," Alex answered.
While they were talking, Julie hopped out of bed and reached for the flowers, shoving them behind her back.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Caleb scoffed. "With a 16-year-old?" He pointed at Julie, who was approaching him.
"Leave her out of this," Luke said firmly.
"Oh, I forgot you had feelings for her," Caleb said, his smile growing. "How tragic to be a dead and in love with a person...not so dead."
Julie quickly shoved through and pulled the flowers out from behind her back, stuffing them into Caleb's face so he had no choice but to breathe in their toxins.
Caleb coughed. "How did you..." he started, his knees starting to wobble. Alex and Reggie each took a shoulder, holding him up.
"Yeah, we're not as dumb as you think we are," Luke said, watching Caleb's eyes slowly close.
"I'll get rid of these," Julie said, running into the bathroom with the flowers.
"And we'll get rid of this," Alex said, nodding his head toward Caleb. Him and Reggie popped out of the room with Caleb in their arms to put him god only knows where and Luke looked over at Julie, who was walking back out of the bathroom.
"Thank you," she smiled at him.
Luke let out a small chuckle. "You know we would do anything for you."
He leaned forward and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "Get some sleep," he whispered.
"Goodnight," she whispered back, feeling her face heat up at the spot his lips had touched.
Down in the studio, Alex was laying Caleb down onto the couch when Luke appeared.
"So, I just realized that we didn't think this through," Luke said, pointing at Caleb's body.
Alex scratched the back of his head. "Yeah," he said slowly.
"He's stronger than us... than me!" Luke said, his voice getting louder. "He'll fight off the poison for sure."
"Well, he doesn't have Julie to help him fight it off, so it might be a while," Reggie shrugged.
"It won't be that long," Willie's voice floated in from the door.
"Way to bring the mood down," Alex threw his hands out in frustration.
"What are we supposed to do then?" Luke asked.
"Look, I have an idea," Willie started. "I just don't know if it'll work."
"We'll try anything at this point," Luke practically begged.
"Well, you could negotiate with him..."
"Out of the question," Alex shook his head. "We're not singing at some ghost club."
"Yeah, that place is cool and all, but I don't like being controlled like that," Reggie agreed.
"Well, you could give him like rules and regulations. When you would perform-" Willie tried to argue.
Alex held his hand up. "It's not happening," he said firmly.
"Okay, you could also stamp him," Willie shrugged.
"I'm sorry, what?" Luke stepped closer.
"Like what he did to us?" Reggie asked.
Willie nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know if you guys can do it," he said slowly. "It might have to be Julie."
"Absolutely not," Luke protested immediately. "We are not bringing her into this again."
Willie's face softened. "Luke, there's something about her. She's strong enough to pull you out of a poisonous state. She's strong enough to make those stamps disappear in the first place."
"It's worth a shot," Reggie shrugged.
"I don't like it," Alex shook his head. "Isn't that like dark magic or something?"
Willie nodded. "Kinda."
"Yeah, not happening," Luke nodded his head.
"Then it's gotta be one of you guys," Willie said. "You have to make the deal with him."
Alex and Reggie both looked at Luke. His mouth dropped open in shock. "Me? Why me?"
"You're the strongest!" Alex pointed out.
"You were poisoned and then got out of it," Reggie agreed.
"Because of Julie," Luke said. "I could barely get away for the Orpheum performance. If anything, it's Alex."
Reggie's eyebrows went up. "He has a point," he said. "You were able to get out first."
Alex put his head in his hands. "Fine. I'll do it," he motioned for Willie to come closer. "So how does this work?"
—
"What's the plan?" Flynn wrote onto the same notebook paper that Reggie had left in her locker. She had kept the paper with her all morning, knowing she wouldn't see Julie until 4th period.
"Hello????" She wrote.
"What are you doing?" Julie's voice came from behind her. Flynn crumpled up the paper really fast and turned around.
"Julie!" She said nonchalantly. "Wassup?"
"What's wrong with you?" Julie laughed, taking her seat.
"Oh my gosh," Flynn eyed her suspiciously. "Is it really you?"
"It's really me," Julie laughed, letting her best friend hug her.
"You don't know how happy that just made me," Flynn said, wiping fake tears off her face. "Do you know how hard it is to communicate with ghosts you can't see?"
Julie burst out laughing. "I heard about that."
"Yeah, we need to work on getting them visible for me, because I'm tired of it," Flynn huffed. "I need to feel out the potential with Reggie."
"You need to what now?" Julie laughed at her friend.
"You heard me!"
"Hey, Julie!" Nick sat down at the desk in front of her and swiveled around to talk to her.
Julie smiled awkwardly, remembering how Caleb had possessed him for probably a week or two before they had even noticed. "Hey," she said.
"Feeling better today?"
"Just peachy," she grinned.
He laughed. "That doesn't sound too promising," he said, winking.
Julie stopped smiling, and lowered her voice so that people around them wouldn't hear. "Listen, Nick," she started. "I'm sorry if I like lead you on or something..."
"No," Nick cut her off. "I got the hint, don't worry," he laughed it off. "I'm actually talking to Carrie again."
Julie's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Oh! Well, I'm happy for you."
"I'm happy for you," Nick smiled at her then turned back around just as their teacher started walked in.
Julie turned to look at Flynn who had her eyes wide open, darting back and forth between Nick and her.
"Don't tell me Julie Molina finally made a decision," Flynn whispered.
Julie tried to hide her laugh. "He kissed me last night," she whispered, making Flynn audibly gasp and everyone to turn around and stare at her.
"Ha ha," she said. "Sorry."
When everyone turned back around, Flynn turned and gave Julie a death glare, unable to comprehend how her best friend had left out such an important detail.
—
"So, I don't have to actually say anything?" Alex asked.
"Nope, you just have to be thinking it...feeling it really," Willie explained.
Alex nodded his head and shook his hands out, preparing himself.
"Do you think it's gonna work?" Reggie whispered to Luke.
"It's a long shot," Luke grimaced.
Alex walked over to Caleb's sleeping body and closed his eyes, focusing hard. They had been doing exercises for the past hour with Willie to try and get the stamp to work. But with no one to practice on, it was really either going to happen and they wouldn't have to deal with Caleb again, or it wouldn't.
Willie pulled Alex's arm before he was able to kneel down toward Caleb. "Can I ask for a favor?"
"Sure," Alex nodded, smiling thoughtfully.
Reggie sighed. "I'm the only one without a person," he whined.
"Don't worry," Luke laughed. "We'll find you a ghost girlfriend."
"What about Julie's friend?" Reggie asked excitedly.
"She can't even see you, man. How would that work?"
"So how are you and Julie gonna work? You're dead!"
"Good point," Luke grimaced. "Way to bring that up."
"Sorry," Reggie said.
They watched as Alex approached Caleb and knelt down. But before Alex could grab Caleb's wrist, Caleb reached out and grabbed Alex's.
Alex yelled out and Luke and Reggie ran forward, prying Caleb's hand off of him.
"You okay?" Luke asked.
Alex nodded, taking deep breaths.
"You gotta hurry. He's healing fast," Willie said, nervously stepping back toward the doors.
Alex moved closer once more and reached out, placing his hand on Caleb's wrist, which had gone slack again.
Nothing happened.
"Are you sure you did it right?" Reggie asked.
"Try again!" Willie encouraged.
"Bro, just take a deep breath. Clear your mind and relax. You got this," Luke clapped his friend on the back then stepped backward to give him room.
Alex took a deep breath and grabbed Caleb's wrist, closing his eyes to concentrate. He felt a weird pinch and let go, watching a blue stamp appear on Caleb's wrist.
"I did it!" Alex jumped up.
"I knew you could do it!" Luke yelled, punching the air.
"Hell yeah," Reggie ruffled Alex's hair.
Willie ran forward and hugged Alex. "Thank you," he whispered.
Alex smiled. "Anytime," he said.
Willie walked over and put a hand on Caleb's shoulder. "Nice doing business with you, gentlemen," he said, then disappeared, taking Caleb with him.
"So what was that about?" Luke nodded his head toward the couch that was now empty.
Alex chuckled. "I kind of added an extra condition to the deal."
"What was it?" Reggie asked curiously.
"That Caleb couldn't control Willie anymore," Alex shrugged.
"That's so sweet," Reggie said, placing a hand over his heart.
"Aw, look at you two lovebirds. So adorable!" Luke teased.
Alex laughed. "I really hope it worked," he said. "I'm new to this whole ghost magic thing."
"You gotta teach us," Luke punched him in the arm.
"Ooh! Teach us how to be visible first!" Reggie suggested.
"I don't even know how to do that myself, Reggie!" Alex pointed out.
"Right," Reggie said. "Well, have Willie teach you, then teach me."
Alex rolled his eyes and laughed. "Can we just not have any drama for a little," he sighed.