Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“No music is worth making, Julie, if we’re not making it here with you”, Luke says, eyes watering with tears. “No regrets.”

Julie can’t help but jump to his neck to hug him. Her first instinct is to hold him as tight as she can, so he can feel her love for him. And as they slowly stop their embrace, they realize what just happened. How can they touch each other ? 

Just when they start asking, Luke starts glowing and feeling stronger. One band hug later, and all the boys are glowing and speaking about not feeling weak anymore. Not fully understanding what’s happening, the group decides to just enjoy the moment and hug again, celebrating the fact that Caleb’s curse wore off. 

As Luke rightfully says as they are in each other’s arms, “the band’s back.”

But for how long ?

Chapter Text

It takes them a full minute to stop hugging each other. As she looks into each of their eyes, Julie smiles for the umpteenth time. They’ve been craving that kind of moment for a while, but being made of air didn’t help the boys.

“So, what now ?” says Alex, still looking surprised but also happy to be solid again.

“Yeah, we kind of are not ghosts anymore, that’s so weird…” Reggie adds.

Luke slaps his hands on the other two’s backs, smiling like crazy.

“Dudes, it doesn’t matter what just happened, we’re alive again ! Think about it ! We can do everything we want again. It’s what we dreamt of !”

“Yeah, but it’s so strange… And what about Caleb ? Are we safe again ?” Alex asks, looking worried now. 

Julie smiles at him, trying to look reassuring when she’s not feeling that great anymore. Thinking about Caleb again reminded her of the dire situation the guys were in. Is it really the end of it, or is the danger still lurking ? As she thinks about the answer, she feels a touch on her hand and looks down. The corner of her lips raise as she sees Luke’s thumb softly rubbing against the back of her hand. She looks back at Alex, feeling more safe. 

“Alex, don’t worry about it for now. We’re not going to learn anything new at the second, so why not just enjoy the happy news ?”

Alex hesitates before answering with a light smile, “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s enjoy tonight.”

“So uh, not to ruin the happy news as you said Jules, but… since we’re solid again, where are we going to live now ?”

“Ohhhhh… Yeah, that…” Julie says, her mouth shaped in a perfect O. “I think you can stay here for tonight, I’ll find a way to explain your presence to my dad tomorrow. Just try to not make any noise, that would be great.”

“Don’t worry Jules, we’ll be as silent as the dead… Well, you get the idea,” joyfully answers Luke before realizing what he just said. 

“Silent as the dead uh ? Well, doesn’t look like it.”

The four of them turn around to the entrance and find Carlos, his back against the door. 

“Carlos !” Julie almost screams, surprised but trying to keep her composure to fool her brother. “As you see I had to talk to the boys about something, but I'll turn down the machine so that I can talk to you !”

“I don’t know exactly how I can see them now – and that’s so cool ! – but there's no machine, right ?”

Julie stops as she was walking towards her brother. She looks behind her to seek an idea from the boys, but they look as dumbfounded as her. 

“Wh-What do you mean Carlos ? How could they be here if there’s no machine ? I mean, it would be crazy right, so it’s impossible…” 

She tries to save the situation, but she can already tell it’s getting out of her control. How does Carlos know about the guys ? Carlos cuts her off by catching her by the shoulders, on the tip of his toes. 

“Julie, I know about ghosts,” he says before dramatically pausing, and then continuing again, “and it’s SO COOL !”

He starts to jump a little in excitement of his knowledge, as Julie just gives up lying, seeing him happy. Luke gets to her first, followed by Reggie and Alex seconds later.

“Well, I always said that adults should believe more in their kids, and that’s the perfect exemple. This kid’s a genius ! I love Carlos,” Reggie comments, smiling at the kid’s happy dance. 

“I think we got that long ago Reggie but yeah, this kid’s cute,” says Alex, looking at his friend. “So, excuse me if I repeat myself but, what do we do ?” he adds while pointing at Carlos still jumping around. As he asks, the kid finally stops and comes back to them. 

“You explain everything to me of course ! I know some things because I’m an awesome detective, but I still want to know everything in detail !” he answers to Alex, his eyes almost sparkling. He runs to the couch, sits down on it before tapping the space next to him to signal them to come. The band joins him, and they talk for about an hour, about all the Sunset Curve drama and how Julie and them met. Julie voluntarily leaves out the Caleb part of the story, as she doesn’t want to scare her little brother. Luke almost starts talking about the Hollywood Ghost Club, but a light kick and a glance from the rest of the band stops him. 

“So, you’re all dead because you ate bad hot-dogs ? That’s a dumb death for sure,” finally says Carlos after hearing the story. 

“Don’t need you to remind us of that kid,” answers Luke with a sigh.

“We know it wasn’t the gloriest death, but at least we met your sister and formed Julie and the Phantoms… Although now it seems we’re not phantoms anymore…” starts Reggie before gasping loudly. “Wait, are we going to need a new band name ?”

Julie rolls her eyes before reassuring him.

“Of course not Reggie. It’s still who we are, even though the reality has slightly changed.”

The latter looks reassured as Carlos intervenes again. 

“Julie, can I say something to you ?”

She acquiesces, and her brother bends over to whisper in her ear : “Are you and Luke like… in love ?”

Although Julie doesn’t see herself right now, she’s almost certain she is bright red and starts hiding her face in her hands for a second. Then she thinks about what Carlos could say out loud if she doesn’t stop him. 

“Carlos, I think we need to get inside the house or Dad will start to worry, come on ! Guys, as I said you can stay here for now and we’ll think about tomorrow, bye !” she says quickly as she’s getting up, before catching Carlos by the arm and almost dragging him out, closing the doors behind them. 

As they get to the door of their house, Julie pinches Carlos as he is laughing.

“You’re in love with a ghost !”

“Keep your voice down ! I don’t want him to know, it’s complicated enough already !”

The kid tries to lower his laughter, still smiling hard by the time they get inside the living room.

Chapter Text

The next day, Julie feels like she got hit by a bus. The stress and adrenaline from the last day left her extremely fatigued, and all she can do as she wakes and sits up is lay down again. Yesterday was weird , she can’t help but think as she stares at the ceiling. The day felt like a roller coaster, and she was more than happy that it was still the weekend. 

The door suddenly opens up to Carlos, startling her. Her brother looks a little bit worried, which makes her feel worried too. 

“What is it Carlos ?”

“Dad is going to the studio ! He heard a noise and wants to see what it was.”

That simple sentence is enough to get Julie out of bed in a second. Without even changing out of her pajamas, she runs out of her room to the studio, hoping that she gets there in time to stop her dad. She rushes down the stairs, trying not to fall head first while yelling “Dad !” with the little breath she has left. 

As she gets outside, her dad has his hands on the door handles, seconds away from entering the studio. He turns his head to see where the commotion is coming from, and sees his kids running out of the house and joining him in front of the door. 

“Dad ! Why are you here this early ?” says Julie, trying to buy time.

“Early ? It’s ten in the morning Julie,” he says with a little laugh. “To answer your question though, I heard a thud in the studio, so I wanted to go see what fell.”

“Oh, I know what it is ! It must be the guitar I showed Carlos last night ! You know, I’m not used to them, so I must have not put it in place correctly. Right Carlos ?” she tries to explain with a glance at her brother. He gets the message and answers too. 

“Oh yeah, that guitar ! Yeah, I even looked at it a little bit after you left, maybe I touched it too much, you know…”

Ray looks at both of them, raising an eyebrow. Even though their excuse sounds suspicious, he decides to play with it for now and answers with a smile. 

“A guitar, huh ? And which one was it, out of curiosity ?”

“The acoustic guitar !”

“The electric guitar !”

As they both answer something different, the siblings look at each other, knowing they’re doomed. Ray laughs again and turns back to the doors, finally pulling them. He enters the room, not seeing behind him his children silently fighting with big gestures about who’s fault it is. 

“Okay, let’s see this guitar…”

Carlos and Julie redirect their attention to the room in front of them, trying to locate the not-so-ghosts-anymore before their dad. As she looks everywhere, Julie finally sees them, hiding behind the couch. Just as Ray is turning to the other side, she signals them to keep their head hidden with her hands. She then plays the good kid, putting her hands behind her back and putting a big smile on her face as her dad turns to her. 

“Julie… Do you have something to say ?”

“Nope ! Nothing ! I promise !”

I’m not suspicious at all right now , she thinks sarcastically while her dad looks at her for a second before shrugging and turning back to the guitar. She sighs in relief, and checks on the boys again, but sees nothing behind the couch. She looks at Carlos, worried. Where are Luke, Reggie and Alex ? She just saw them, they can’t have gone far, especially now that they have a physical body. As she starts looking for them around the room again, Ray turns around again to face her, a smile on his face and a guitar in his hands. 

“Is that guitar the one you showed Carlos ? It was laying down next to where it’s supposed to be,” he says. Seems like the guys had enough time to hear what we said and make it believable , she thinks as she nods yes to her dad. He puts the guitar back in place before patting her head with his hand. 

This kind of moment is what makes Julie almost feel guilty about lying to her dad. She knows he just wouldn’t believe her and send her right back to her therapist. But she can’t help thinking about how easy it would be to just say everything to him and stop hiding everything. He always trusts her, and does she do in return ? Lie to him about what’s important in her life. Her heart sinks for a minute as she listens to her dad talking about Carlos and her being good siblings trying to cover for each other. He pulls her and her brother in a quick hug before exiting the room and going back to the house. Carlos sighs in relief and turns to his sister. 

“Julie, where are they ?”

“The guys ? I don’t even know ! They were just behind the couch minutes ago,” she answers as she goes there and uses her two hands to point at the place, “but now they’re gone !”

“But they can’t have gone far, right ? I mean, they can’t evaporate anymore, no ?”

“ I don’t know… We found out about them getting physical bodies only yesterday, so we didn’t do much testing yet,” she answers, trying to theorize what happened to the guys. 

“Well now we know what we have to do as soon as they get back here,” jokes Carlos, as Julie rolls her eyes with a smile.

“They are not in the studio anymore, so let’s just get out of here and hope they didn’t get in trouble, as they seem to always do,” she says. She didn’t really like stopping the search for the boys, but didn’t have much choice as they obviously weren’t there anymore. Following her suggestion, the two get out of the room and finally head back to the house too. 

Meanwhile, the three boys appear a little further down the street in a dead end. In a circle, they look at each other, as if they are trying to gauge who is going to talk first. 

“Well, that was something,” Alex finally says, letting out a loud sigh. 

“Yeah, seems like our ghost powers still work ? I don’t know how, but it’s awesome !” cheerfully adds Reggie. 

“Yeah, it’s so weird. First we get physical bodies, and now our powers still work even though we are seemingly alive again ?” finishes Luke.

“I mean, we don’t know if we’re alive again. We just were able to touch lifers and be seen by them, we don’t know anything else,” comments the blond. He looks rightfully worried, almost scared. Some more big changes happened, and he is not liking it at all. Even though the whole ‘We get our physical bodies back’ idea seems awesome, Alex is still worried about the consequences of this. What happened ? Why didn’t they cross over ? Why did Caleb’s curse wear off ? Why did they get these new bodies ? So many questions he would like an answer to this instant, but it seems like it will have to wait at least a few minutes until they get back to Julie’s. As he is lost in thought, Luke pinches his friend to get him back to reality.

“Dude, don’t worry. We don’t know much right now, but think about the good side of it. As I said yesterday, we got our bodies back, that's all that matters for now.”

“Of course we’re going to search for answers Alex,” adds Reggie as he places his hand on his friend’s back. “But we’re not going to find anything at the second, so the priority now is to get back to Julie’s house and not look weird in the streets.”

Easier said than done , they all think at the same time. They had the luck to randomly poof into this empty alley when they teleported away from Julie’s dad, but they can’t poof back in the studio without taking the risk of being seen by a lifer, now that they are visible. Trying to look cool and not strange, the three of them walk out of the dead end and make their way to Julie’s. 

Five random people bumped into later, the boys are finally back at Julie’s front porch. 

“Okay, and now how do we get inside without being seen ?” says Alex, turning to his friends. 

“I have an idea,” Luke answers as he starts going around the house to the backside, signaling the other two to follow them. Once they are in the back of the house, Luke picks a pebble and, after taking a second to aim, throws it at Julie’s window. A few moments later, the said-window opens, revealing Julie and Carlos. As she sees them, it seems like her shoulders are suddenly more relaxed, and she tells them to wait for her as she closes the window again. Luke can almost hear Julie’s loud footsteps across the house before she finally passes the back door and runs to them, Carlos on her tail. 

“Hey there kid ! How’s it going ?” joyfully says Reggie in Carlos’ direction. 

“I’m good mister ghost number 3 !” 

Julie can clearly see Reggie’s dramatic offended gasp behind Luke. She can’t help but laugh at his reaction before correcting Carlos and repeating each of the boys’ names. As he repeats each of them, the one who’s called waves to him in return. As he waves last, Luke suddenly thinks about something.

“Wait, Carlos… You didn’t tell us about how you found out about us, right ?”

Julie’s eyebrow raises as she looks at her brother, curious about the answer too. 

“Well, you didn’t really try to hide your identities so… I stumbled upon your CD in the box that was in the studio. Your faces are in it, so it was an easy deduction really,” Carlos explains, like it’s the most logical thing in the world. 

“Well… It is kind of obvious when you say it like that yeah,” shamefully whispers Alex.

As he says that, the band starts to realize what that implies. Anyone who knows about the boys from their time alive could recognize them and know the truth. Although someone uncovering the truth was bound to happen from the start, Julie isn’t sure how to feel about it. She knows what are the risks of someone ill-intentioned learning the truth about the guys (and the risks are even higher now that they have physical bodies), but she also can’t help but think that everything would be easier if they didn’t have to hide anymore. 

“Let’s get into the studio so dad doesn’t find us suspicious again,” Julie says before leading them in the said studio. As they all sit on the couch and on the floor, the conversation continues about what they should do about the ‘Sunset Curve secret past’, as Reggie started to call it. A bit dramatic , thinks Julie while she listens to their ideas. None of them are that great, sadly. They can’t find a good way of handling the people they knew in their past life, and their least worst idea is to kidnap everyone who knew the boys and erase their memory – too much imagination from Carlos, but at least he tried. 

In the end, no ideas are kept aside from the “Maybe we could just tell the truth to those we care about ?” from Alex. Even though they all deep down want to do that, all of them are still scared about the consequences. How does anybody sound of mind react when someone close to you that you thought dead is finally almost alive 25 years later ? The question sounds crazy and they all know it. A collective sigh comes out as they all put the idea in the back of their mind for later.

“So, what’s the plan now ?” asks Julie.

“Well, maybe we should get everyone who knows and search for information about what’s happening to us ?” suggests Alex, still anxious about their new situation. 

“Hey, good idea bro !” answers Reggie with a smile and a hand on his friend’s back. “So, who does that concern ? Do we make a list ?”

“I first thought about Willie, but considering his link to Caleb, it might not be a good idea if we want you three to stay under the radar for a few days,” starts Julie before thinking about it a bit more. “Aside from him, the only other one’s Flynn right ?”

As the others nod in agreement, the bell starts to ring. 

“Speaking of the devil, it's probably her,” she says as she gets up to answer the door. But just as she's walking through the backyard to welcome her best friend, she can hear her dad from the living room commenting on the visitor.

“Who's that boy ?” he says, before speaking louder so that he knows his daughter hears. “Julie, someone's here for you I think !”

Before she knows it, Julie is running upstairs to find something okay to wear that isn’t her pajamas. Even though she doesn't have a crush on Nick anymore – she's almost sure it's him – she doesn't want to appear like that in front of him.

She puts on jeans and an orange button shirt with short sleeves before running down the stairs again to open the door. As she gets in front of the door, she takes an extra second to regain her composure before finally opening the door. In front of her is Nick, or rather Nick’s back. 

“Hi, Nick !” she says, trying to sound as friendly as she can to not seem weird.

Nick turns around, looking at her eyes for a moment before handing her the flowers he had in his hands. As she thanks him, Nick smiles at her before replying.

“I know you said you didn’t want to go on a date with me, but maybe we can stay friends ?”

“Sure ! I’d love to,” she answers, reassured that the boy isn’t going to do anything more than that. He is just her friend, and that’s good news for Julie.

Chapter Text

It’s after a few minutes of chatting that Julie starts to check the time, trying to see how much time she kept the boys waiting. Even though she really likes Nick as a friend, she has other fish to fry at the moment. As she tries to end the conversation, Nick starts to smile again. 

“Maybe you have some guests over ? I can see you are looking at the time a lot. I’ll leave and come back later, so we can hang out a bit ?” 

“Sure ! Sorry again, I don’t want to leave my guests alone for too long…”

“No problem, I understand. See you later Julie,” he says while waving his hand at her. Nick turns his back and starts to leave as she closes the door. But just as she does, Nick turns around again, staring at the window and seeing the girl going back to the back of the house. A creepy smile starts to appear on his face as Caleb drops the act. He has an idea to get back at the boys, and it seems like the first step was a success. He finally turns around for good and leaves the Molina’s property, still smiling hard. 

Back at the garage, Julie finds the boys chasing Carlos around. She sighs at how childish the guys are, and manages to get them to stop.

“Tell your brother to tell us !” Reggie says a little too loud. 

“Tell y’all what exactly ?” she answers, wondering what happened. 

A silence fell. Julie could read the three’s faces like an open book. They had said something they shouldn’t have, and now they are wondering how to save the situation. 

“Guys ? Tell me what Carlos told you, and maybe the next song I write isn’t about how I killed you three,” she says almost menacingly, even though they all know it isn’t true. Or at least I think so ? thinks Alex for a second. They don’t have the time to think about it, as Carlos answers for them. 

“I told them you love someone, and that it’s not Nick,” he says before hiding behind Luke. 

“Hey, why me !” 

Julie can’t help but feel her cheeks burn quickly. She knows who Carlos is talking about of course, and it’s for this very reason he is hiding behind this specific guy right now. But this isn’t how she wants to tell him. If one day I even tell him… she thinks before chasing her brother herself. He successfully dodges a few times before getting caught and being tortured with tickles. After a few “Sorry!” and a few more “I won’t say it!”, Julie finally releases him, and the boy just stays laying on the ground like a starfish. 

“Now that that’s been taken care of, let’s continue our conversation and finally call Flynn, okay guys ?” She says. Her exaggerated smile while saying that tells the guys all they need to know, and they all silently swear to themselves that they won’t ask again, even if they want to know.

They all sit down on the floor in a circle, Julie’s phone in the middle on speaker. The phone starts to ring, and it takes a few seconds for Flynn to pick up. 

“Hello bestie ?”

“Hey girl ! Could you maybe like… Come to my house really quick ? Like, really quickly if you can.”

“Hi Flynn !” Reggie says, finally able to say hi without singing. A moment of silence follows, as Flynn tries to understand what she heard. 

“Was that… Wait, was that Reggie ?”

“Flynn, please come as fast as you can, okay ? That’s all you need to know for now, I’ll explain everything when you arrive,” Julie quickly answers as she glares at Reggie. The latter looks down, realizing he might have surprised a little too much Julie’s best friend over the phone. They had all agreed before calling that they would wait for her to arrive to calmly explain what happened in order to not give Flynn a heart attack, but of course Reggie got too excited to contain himself. 

“I’ll be as quick as I can girl ! Wait for me !” Flynn answers, and the group can hear chaos behind her as she searches for her stuff to go out. Julie tries to tell her to not put herself in danger as she tries to be fast, but the call is ended before she can finish her phrase. 

Ten minutes later, a running Flynn appears in front of the studio, visibly sweating and a little bit tired. She enters the studio like a ghost hunter, literally. Julie can see her looking everywhere, trying to see the boys. Finally, she sees Julie sighing on her right and stops her search to greet her friend. 

“Julie ! Hi ! How are you girl ?”

“I’m good, thank you for asking,” she answers with a smirk. 

“Soooooo… Was it really Reggie I heard on the phone ? It sounded like his voice, but I only heard him sing so I’m not so sure right now…”

Julie smiles harder as she imagines Reggie saying something along the lines of Owww, she recognized my voice even though she only heard me ! I love Flynn wow . She turns around to signal the boys to get out of their hiding spot. One by one, they line up in front of Flynn, who looks too stunned to speak. The girl has her mouth wide open, like she is trying to say something but just can’t get a sound out of her mouth. She points at each of them, then points at herself in disbelief, before looking at Julie with even more questions in her eyes.

“H-How ? When ? What the–”

“I’ll explain,” interrupts Julie to dodge a monologue from her best friend. “So, to sum it up quickly : the guys played at the Orpheum with me to finish their unfinished business, to cross over and escape Caleb’s curse, you remember ? Okay, so,” she continues as Flynn nods, “after the performance, I thought the guys disappeared because they crossed over, but they didn’t. I found them in my studio in agony, slowly dying again from those cursed jolts.”

She can hear the guys next to her complaining about her choice of words, but she doesn’t care. When she saw them hurting on the ground of the studio, she realized how attached she was to them again. Seeing someone you love getting hurt isn’t easy, and Julie knows it better than many people. They scared her so much last night, and she can’t be happier now that the curse is off their wrists. 

She can see Flynn looking at her, waiting patiently for the rest of the story. 

“I tried to tell them to go back to Caleb's club to survive, but a certain romantic vocalist next to me answered that, and I quote, no music is worth making if it isn’t with you Julie , so…”

Flynn laughs a little as Luke blushes. Not really hiding it , she thinks, but Julie doesn’t seem to notice so she keeps it to herself. 

“My first reflex was to hug that idiot, but–”

“Wait wait wait,” interrupts Flynn. “You hugged him ? How ?”

“Well…” Julie says, then picks up Alex’ hand in hers to hold it up. “Like that ?”

Flynn is stunned again, looking at Julie being able to touch the boys. She tries to touch Reggie’s shoulder to test it, and, instead of going through it, her hand is stopped by something solid. A body, even though they are supposed to be ghosts. That doesn’t make any sense , she thinks as she looks at the boys again. Looking at Luke’s face, she can’t help but notice that he looks a little bit flustered and frustrated that no one used him to show that they have physical bodies. Once again, Julie doesn’t notice, and lets go of Alex’ hand to take Flynn by the shoulders. 

“Flynn, Caleb’s curse is off their wrists, and they have physical bodies now ! Do you realize how big this is ?”

“Hell yeah I see that ! Girl, I don’t understand how it’s possible, but that’s so cool !”

Flynn thinks about it for a second before adding another thing. 

“But… How do we deal with all the people who know them before their death ? I mean, the question still existed before that whole Caleb mess, but will it not be even harder to handle now that they have physical bodies ?”

“That’s the second reason why we called you here, Flynn,” says Alex. “We need every brain we have that knows about our situation to think about how to handle the situation, and well… Aside from us three, Julie and Carlos, you’re the only one left that isn’t connected to Caleb.”

Suddenly, Flynn notices Carlos, standing next to Julie, almost hidden behind her. 

“Wait, Carlos knows ?”

“About that…” starts Julie before explaining quickly how Carlos learned the truth. 

“Okay, I see how difficult this whole problem is starting to become,” Flynn comments as Julie finishes. “Well, let’s brainstorm something, maybe we’ll find an idea, or at least some form of temporary solution.”

An hour and some reheated lasagna later, Flynn is laying on the ground, staring at the ceiling. 

“I can’t find anything, that’s crazy ! I mean, I usually have good ideas, why can’t I find a single one right now ?”

Julie slides from the couch to the ground, sitting next to her best friend’s head. 

“Flynn, you know this situation doesn’t have a perfect solution to it ? I mean, look at how crazy it is : 3 ghosts, in my garage, visible to everyone , might I add ! Don’t you think it’s a little too crazy for us to blame ourselves for not finding an answer right away ?”

Her friend sits up, smiling.

“You know what ? You’re right. For now, let’s say that if anyone asks you about your resemblance with Sunset Curve, you try to play it cool and dodge the question as much as you can. If anyone thinks about a better idea later, I’m all ears !”

Everyone nods. Flynn looks at the boys, a dangerous glow in her eyes. 

“And now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the fun part : tests !”

Julie laughs loudly. She can see them gulp out of fear for what's coming for them, and Reggie even shivers, seeing the mad scientist look on Flynn's face. 

Chapter Text

Flynn gets the guys in front of them, almost perfectly lined up. Julie can see them looking worried about what her best friend is going to do, but it makes her smile. She can’t help it when she sees them like this. Their bond as a band was strong, but got even stronger with the events of the last few days, like a family. And who doesn’t laugh when your siblings are about to suffer? 

“Okay guys, stop it with the weird faces, I won’t kill you yet . I just wanna check how this whole… Orpheum resurrection, let's call it, changed you three.”

Reggie sighs with relief in an almost caricatured way. Alex lightly slaps the bassist’s back, with a glare that screams ‘ Don’t be happy too quickly dude, look at her smile ’. 

“So, for the first test, I wanna see if you have any control over yourselves. Like, can you make your bodies invisible or intangible? We know you can still poof, so you likely still have some ghost abilities…”

The boys look at each other with confused faces.

“Chop chop, guys, get moving! Try to make yourselves disappear first.”

Luke is the first one to try to make himself invisible again, focusing so hard that it shows on his face. Flynn can’t help but laugh loudly, erasing a few tears before commenting.

“Luke, I’m so sorry but right now you look like you’re constipated on the toilet dude,” she finally says before laughing again. 

“Laugh all you want, but it’s kinda hard to do it consciously, it was part of us until now.”

Reggie jumps in to add something, defending his bandmate.

“It’s true! I’m trying too, but since we don’t know how to do it, it’s hard okay?”

“If we even still can…” comments Alex in the background. 

The boys all nod in agreement, getting almost disappointed by the fact that they seem to not be able to become invisible anymore. Even if they were ghosts for a short time, they had gotten used to it, and another change in their condition was frustrating. 

“Guys,” Julie intervenes, placing her hands on Alex and Luke’s shoulders and giving a look at Reggie, “I know your situation right now isn’t common, but we have to try, to understand what’s going on. Caleb is still out there, more dangerous than ever. We need to know what you can or cannot do in the future. Okay?”

Flynn can see on the guys’ faces that they feel bad making Julie worry. She smiles in front of the cute scene playing out in front of her. Even though she knows very well what’s going on between her best friend and the band’s guitarist, it is still adorable to look at from her point of view.

“Guys, as Julie said, try not to think too much about the situation and just focus. I know you can do it!”

Reggie thanks Flynn for the trust and tries again, making a weird face once again as he focuses. The other two follow shortly after, trying to meet the girls’ expectations. After a few minutes, Alex opens his eyes to look at himself, but doesn’t see any changes.

“Rah, why won’t it work!”

But when he looks up, his eyes meet Julie’s, which are shining with pride and happiness. He raises an eyebrow as a silent question, only for the girls to get a mirror in front of him. In front of him is nothing but a small halo of light, just like in Ray’s pictures of the studio. 

“Wait, wait, wait… It worked?”

“Yessss!” screams Julie before lowering her voice a bit. “You might not see the difference because you’re a ghost yourself, and I don’t see it too since I can see you as ghosts, but Flynn’s face says it all.”

Julie’s best friend smiles in what she supposes is Alex’ direction, not being able to see him anymore. Shortly after, Luke and Reggie also disappear from her sight. The girl tries to get her hand through them, guided by Julie, but stumbles and completely goes through Reggie, making him shiver. 

“So,” she says after getting back on her feet and facing the guys again. “Now we know you can be visible or tangible whenever you wish for it. And you can still teleport. That’s great news, if you wanna stay in her garage for a little longer,” she continues while pointing at Julie. 

“True,” her best friend adds. “You can stay here as long as my father doesn’t see you, which would’ve been hard if he was able to see you now.”

“Yeah, I can see why,” Alex comments. 

“Guys?” Reggie starts. “If we can now make ourselves visible and tangible, do you think we gained other powers in that whole mess?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t think it’s possible to know without accidentally using it, so stop it with your weird ideas man!” Luke answers, rolling his eyes. 

“Yeah I guess, but I feel stronger now, so I thought that maybe…”

Reggie looks at Alex to seek a positive answer, but the drummer shrugs. 

“I agree that I feel different in a way, but I don’t think it’s due to some kind of new power… Most likely because we are free from the curse and kinda got our bodies back.”

Luke nods in agreement. As much as they would love to have superpowers – who wouldn’t? –, they had to admit that it was most unlikely. The situation was already weird enough for them to add conjectures on top of it. 

Reggie’s theories still got Julie’s mind wandering. We have to find some kind of answer to what the heck is going on… Thinking about Caleb creates knots in her stomach. That creepy magician had already done so much damage to her friends. A few days ago, she was feeling like I couldn’t be worse, but now that she had them back… She is scared that it will all be taken back from her again. She can’t help but feel like something’s up, something they don’t know yet. 

“Maybe we can search on the internet? It won’t help much but we never know right?” she asks the others.

“Yeah, and I think we also can ask some ghosts who aren’t linked to Caleb in the city if they know something about our situation. I mean, we are pretty new still to this whole thing, so maybe they know something we don’t?”

Julie nods at Alex’ suggestion. 

“I agree, but be sure to ask ghosts you are sure are not linked to him. Take absolutely NO risks. Promise?”

“Promise,” the three of them answer simultaneously. 

They divide into two teams, Double Trouble taking the Internet side while the boys poof out to start asking questions. 

The guys appear in an almost empty street near a residential area. As they make their way to a busier street to try to find someone to question, they can’t help but discuss the weirdness of the situation they’re in. The whole thing still feels unreal since they don’t have any answers, and the menace of Caleb hovering over their heads didn’t help to feel reassured. 

As they continue walking, a strange woman appears around the corner. At least Alex finds her strange, since she looks straight out of the 70s, dressed like a hippie. Nobody seems to notice her, and it’s only when she goes through a businessman that Alex realizes what she is. 

“Guys! Look at that girl, I think she’s what we’re looking for!”

The three of them speed up to get to her, stopping her before she crossed the road. 

“Hi there! Are you a ghost by any chance?”

Reggie gets pinched on both sides for his stupid question, making him scream in a high-pitched voice before continuing. “Do you know someone named Caleb?”

The girl looks at him with a confused face before answering hesitantly.

“Yes, and… no? Why?”

“Perfect! You seem like someone who’s been a ghost for a long time, which is not our case, so we were wondering if you could maybe answer a few of our questions.”

The woman sighs.

“Sure, but quick, I have someone to see in a moment.”

Luke asks questions about unfinished business and curses, but all he gets are shrugs. Alex tries to ask about powers but gets the same answers. Finally, the girl leaves, as the guys look at each other, dumbfounded. 

“Well, seems like she didn’t know anything. Better luck next time.” 

But as they encounter other ghosts, the answers stay the same. Either I don’t know , or Doesn’t ring a bell . No actual answer. 

“I feel like that was to be expected. How would they know about something we maybe are the first ghosts to experience?” 

“Stop being negative Alex,” Luke answers. “It was worth a try at least. Let’s hope that maybe the girls have more luck than we.”

They come back to the studio, only to find the said girls on their backs on the ground, sighing louder and louder. 

“I know it is only logical not to find any answers on the internet like this, but still it’s so frustrating!”

“Agreed, even dealing with the guys at the start was less frustrating…”

“HEY!” the guys protest in unison. The two quickly get up, Julie apologizing as Flynn friendly laughs at her bad timing. The friendly banter goes on for a few minutes before the group calms down, thinking about what to do next. Putting the strange situation they’re in aside for now, they start thinking about the band’s future, now that they can be on stage for as long as they want. Of course, it doesn’t solve the bigger problem, but it felt nice thinking about happy stuff for a change. 

“We need to find your next gig! As your official manager, I’ll get to it, but you need to come up with songs in the meantime, okay?”

Julie smiles at her friend in agreement as she thinks about the songs she started to write with Luke. She also has one song written by herself on a piece of paper, but that one wasn’t meant to be played yet. Perfect Harmony was her secret, the central tree of her secret garden until she was ready to let Luke inside. 

“Then let’s do that: you write and practice new perfect songs, I get you gigs, and we go from there!” Flynn says, hyped for what’s coming.

Chapter Text

Caleb walks down some big street in Hollywood, enjoying the light wind breezing on his new face. Nick’s hair was getting in his face, but he still was kind of proud of him for his idea. How could he not? He is the best magician this country has ever seen, has powers that make others jealous, and is now young again with a new body for his revenge. That part is still getting him frustrated though. He just couldn’t understand how this all happened. He had the three boys in the palm of his hand, his curse on their wrists ready to make them disappear if they didn’t join his club, and next thing he knows, they are free and happily chatting with that girl. 

Trying to hide his fluctuating feelings in public, Caleb turns at the next corner in a calmer street where he can speak freely. The man-turned-teen kicks a trashcan in anger, incapable of thinking of anything else but his failure. His plan was in motion, but the very idea of having to plan a revenge because his usual plan failed was making him go insane. His cursed stamps were infallible, how was it possible? 

The magician takes a deep breath to calm down, before continuing his stroll, passing in front of Nick’s house. He plays his part perfectly, staying undercover as the young man to investigate the band that made him so mad. Slowly but surely, he gets the group to like him. Deep down, each time he made progress in gaining their trust, something felt right. Like it was only right for him to deceive them like this after what they did to him. His plan is pretty simple: getting them to trust him enough as Nick, so that he can curse them again. The only problem is getting all of the boys cursed without them snitching on him to each other before the end. He has to be discreet enough for it to go smoothly, hence why the cover as Nick. He can feel that boy in his head, fighting back to regain control. But it is getting weaker and weaker as Caleb stays in his body. He hadn’t imagined the boy so mentally strong, but it was bound to die down soon. 

He decided last week that he will try to curse them today. He has trained his powers for it to be discreet, painless and invisible to the one getting cursed by cursing random ghosts here and there for fun, verifying at the same time that he was still able to curse even in Nick’s body. He of course can’t risk his cover if the first try doesn’t work, so the training seems worth it to him. But still… he can’t wait for them to understand they’re doomed all over again, just when they thought they were free. Today is the perfect occasion, since he is invited to discuss some new songs the band has written. 

As he gets to the Molinas house, he can’t help but show his excitement to what’s about to happen. But he gets it under control rapidly to play his part of the nice friend, here to help the band choose their next song for a gig at some bar downtown. He knocks on the door, waiting a few seconds before Julie opens the door. 

“Thank you so much for being here Nick, Flynn said she just can’t choose since the songs are all too good, so we really need some external advice.”

“No problem, happy to be here really!”

Telling the truth is easier for him, since Julie can’t possibly guess what he really means by him being happy to be here. 

“Great, come in then, the boys are in the garage!”

The girl leads him to the studio, where the three musicians are in a heated discussion. A wave of hatred runs in Caleb’s veins when he sees them, but he keeps his face motionless, even cracking a smile at them. 

“Hey guys!”

They greet him in return before going back to their argument. From what Caleb picks up, they’re debating on what song to choose, as Julie explained earlier. She gets them to calm down, before turning to her friend. 

“So, Nick, we’ll play all three songs to you, and you’ll tell us which one is best to get the crowd vibin’ okay?”

“Sounds good!”

As the band prepares, Caleb thinks about what he knows to get the perfect opportunity. He had gotten close to the group a few weeks earlier, only a short while after he had started possessing Nick. From what he saw until now, it seems like the boys can be seen by everyone even without playing music now. Julie explained that the guys ‘moved to LA after the success of the band’, but Caleb quickly deduced the truth in his head. Since then, Caleb has his theories on what happened, but nothing makes sense. Nothing can explain how three ghosts that should have been cursed and vanished are now visible to everyone just like him. He closes his eyes for a second, refocusing on the present and his fake identity before anything slips up. Just then, Julie signals him they’re ready, and Caleb turns the band to listen.

“Okay, so this first one is called New beginnings , hope you like it!”

The song starts with Julie and her piano, before being joined by the guys. Seeing them like this makes Caleb think about that time at his club again, with them playing his song You Got Nothing to Lose next to him. The dream, really. He is longing to get that back. As he daydreams, the song ends, and he claps his hands to congratulate them, smiling at Reggie. Caleb had always found him to be the most naive one out of the three, almost stupidly kind. A perfect first target. Reggie smiles back at him, holding up his hand for a high five. Catching the perfect opportunity, Caleb gets up and taps his hand, just low enough to also tap the wrist with the tip of his fingers. Reggie lets out a “Yeahhhhh!” of happiness, as if nothing happened.

But something feels wrong to Caleb. First of all, nothing actually happened: Reggie isn’t cursed right now, he’s sure of it. But there’s something else. As he sits down again on the couch, the gears in his mind start turning, before he realizes the problem. Reggie held his hand up, expecting him to hit it, even though the bassist is a ghost. Nick is supposed to be a lifer, someone that would go through Reggie if they tried to touch. So how… As realization starts to set in while the band plays the other two songs, Caleb tries five more times to curse the guys before giving up. He can’t seem to curse them anymore, as if they were immune to him. Worse, it seems like a lifer being able to touch them is normal to them. Julie puts the final nail in his coffin when she hugs Alex effortlessly. The boys are tangible, visible, and seem immune to his curses, which is the worst case scenario for him. How did they acquire such powers? How can they be more powerful than him, the best magician and most powerful ghost in the city?

A new feeling starts to make its way in his mind: rage. He’s enraged to see them, looking happy and all, while he is playing an act as a stupid teenager to get back at them. It’s unfair. As his knuckles become white because of how hard he is clenching his fists, a new plan builds in his head. He needs to know more about the guys before he does anything else. He might be hungry for revenge, but he is not stupid. Without any information on what powers and skills those guys have right now, any blow to his cover while trying to get them down would be a huge step back on the way to his goal. He needs to get closer to them, for the betrayal to be even more satisfying to watch as they fall in despair when he gets his revenge.

Chapter Text

Nick goes home in the evening, leaving Julie and the guys exhausted from rocking out all afternoon long. They sit down on the couch, spreading their arms and legs onto one another. 

“Dammit, forgot how tiring performing can be sometimes…”

Luke flicks Reggie’s head after his comment.

“How can you be tired from just rehearsals? Well, not even rehearsals, just choosing between songs?”

“I don’t know man, maybe I got used to being a ghost, free of fatigue and hunger?”

Alex sighs at the two’s argument, before turning to Julie. 

“Julie? Quick question I have been thinking about… What do you think about contacting Willie now?”

Luke and Reggie stop mid-argument to turn to their drummer, while Julie raises an eyebrow at him. 

“Huh? Willie? Why? I thought we said it was too risky to contact him for now, considering his link to Caleb?”

Alex nods in agreement before answering.

“True, but I think it’s been enough time since the Orpheum performance… We’ve been lying low for a few days now, and even though we searched as much as we could, we got no answers on what happened to us. Willie helped us behind Caleb’s back before. I think we can ask him what the situation in the ghost world is right now, at least.”

A silence falls as everyone in the room thinks about what Alex just said. Even if they know the risk, it is still tempting to try to contact Willie to get information. As Alex said, it is their last resort, since they couldn’t find anything else elsewhere. Still, Julie isn’t too happy about that idea. What if Caleb surprises the conversation between Alex and Willie? What if Caleb gets the occasion to curse them again? So much uncertainty and so little reassuring news. 

Luke notices the look on the girl’s face and gently grabs her by the shoulders, locking eyes with her. 

“Listen, Jules… As much as I find Alex’s idea risky, I still agree that it is worth the risk if we can get some information. Right now, we are in a lockdown that prevents us from getting anywhere in this search for answers. So trust him, alright? He knows Willie better than anyone. He knows what he’s saying.”

Julie pauses for a second before smiling lightly. Of course, Luke is right. But she can’t help but feel anxious for her best friend. 

“Alright, alright… But Alex, please stay safe and poof out if anything bad happens. Don’t take any unnecessary risks, okay?”

The drummer bends down in a prayer motion, exaggerating his agreement to Julie’s advice. He picks up his jacket and silently disappears into thin air. Julie exhales, trying to calm her nerves as she starts waiting for him to come back. 

Alex reappears somewhere in the city. Following his instinct, he poofed to one of Willie’s favorite spots to skate. He looks around, trying to locate the skater, and it takes him a minute before he notices him doing tricks on the sidewalk. He discreetly approaches him, trying not to scare him. Sadly for him, it fails as Willie notices him at the last second and falls off his skateboard. He takes a second to breathe before hugging Alex as hard as he can. 

“Oh my god, Alex! What the fuck are you doing here?”

“You mean here, like, in this spot, or the fact that I am still alive… Wait, no, uhm… Anyways, you get my question, I hope.”

Willie can’t help but start giggling.

“As awkward as ever I see. Very Alex of you.”

Alex pouts as Willie laughs even more. 

“Okay, hotdog, first let’s get out of here to talk, we never know. But you better answer my questions once we find a spot.”

Alex nods and follows Willie into the city to a discreet spot in a small alley. 

“So, now that we’re here, care to explain how you are still here and well?”

Alex stumbles over his words as he tries to find a way to explain the situation to Willie. Frankly, he hasn’t thought about it until now, making it hard for him to come up with the words on the spot. 

“So, um, how do I explain this… Oh yeah, right, remember how we were cursed by Caleb and we performed at the Orpheum to cross over instead of ending up in that twisted magician’s band?”

“Of course I remember dude.”

“Perfect, so after that, um… We didn’t cross over, actually,” explains Alex. 

“Huh?”

“Yeah, so, in order not to worry Julie, we poofed back to the studio to make her believe we crossed over. Not the most clever idea, but at the moment it was all we could come up with.”

“Agreed, go on.”

“But Julie came back to the studio and found us on the floor in pain from the jolts. We almost couldn’t move anymore because of it.”

“Alex…” Willie whispers, a mix of worry and pity on his face. 

“Not the best moment of my ghost life, I agree. After explaining to Julie that we wanted her to think we crossed over to ease the pain for her, we tried to get her to understand why we preferred dying again like this instead of going to Caleb’s band, and that’s when she hugged Luke.”

Willie nods before freezing, suddenly understanding what he just heard.

“Wait, what? Hugged him?”

“Yep. Just after that, Caleb’s stamps wore off, and we were able to do a real group hug, like the normal physical one. And I still don’t get how that’s possible!”

Willie’s expression at this point is just pure confusion. 

“Anyways,” Alex continues, “the situation now is the following: we are apparently able to have tangible and seeable bodies for lifers and we don’t know why, Julie’s little brother Carlos found out about us, and we can’t find any explanation out there that makes even a bit of sense to explain our situation since we try to stay off Caleb’s radar while searching. Rah, I can’t do this anymore!”

Alex grabs his head in both hands, ruffling his hair at the same time. Seeing him panic like this, Willie places his hands on his shoulders, trying to calm him down. 

“Easy now, hotdog, panicking won’t change much. I don’t know how you ended up in this situation, but at least I can tell you one thing: Caleb’s not at the club anymore.”

“What?”

Willie nods at Alex’s question, confirming what he just said.

“Yeah. No one knows where he went, or why he’s just not here anymore. The whole club stopped like a day after you guys performed at the Orpheum.”

Alex pauses, taking a moment to register the new information. Caleb… disappeared? He can’t say if it is good news or bad news. On one hand, with Caleb not there to keep terrorizing half the ghosts in the city, the band can finally search for answers easily outside. But they don’t know where Caleb is. His shadow is still looming above the city, and Alex feels uneasy thinking about the possibility of the magician hiding somewhere to spy on them. He can’t help but shiver at the idea. If he had to be honest, then… Yeah, Caleb being hidden somewhere around them in the city absolutely terrifies him. His heart is racing, and his head is spinning. What should he do? What was the best course of action? 

“Hey there, hotdog, stay calm we said. Think about it. Yeah, you’ll have to be cautious to prevent you three from getting attacked. But if Caleb’s trying to go with the discreet method, he can’t really attack you anywhere, especially if you can have physical bodies now. His reputation would be ruined. So right now, your new powers are your greatest defense,” Willie explains, trying to get Alex to breathe slowly. He brushes through Alex’s blond hair softly, pressing his thumbs against the skin to soothe the guy. Willie knows how Alex can be when he is nervous, of course. But seeing him like this still pained him. It felt like his chest was being crushed each time Alex cried or got anxious. Almost like he is… No. It can’t be… Right? Willie thinks for a moment while Alex calms down, before giving up on repressing what he feels and admitting the truth.

He fell deeply, completely, and irremediably in love with this guy.

Chapter Text

Alex poofs back in the studio as the others are discussing whether or not a tomato is a fruit. The drummer facepalms, seeing how engaged they are in a pointless discussion, and tries to speak above the noise level.

“Guys, can you please listen to me?”

The discussion stops almost immediately, as if they had only just noticed Alex was back. Reggie gets up and hugs his friend like he had gone to war and came back unscathed. It makes Alex smile, thinking about how much his friend loves him. He can’t help but feel… safe here, with all his friends. This studio is the one place they can be themselves, despite all the turmoil they are surrounded by, thanks to Caleb and his powers.

After a moment, Reggie lets go of Alex and sits back down. 

“So, did you see Willie? What did he say?” asks Julie. 

Alex sits down before answering. 

“Well, long story short, it seems like Caleb isn’t much of a threat right now.”

“What? What does that mean?” Luke interrupts, confused. 

“You’d know if you kept listening instead of interrupting me,” comments Alex in return. Luke apologizes and leans his back against the couch, ready to listen. 

“So, as I was saying… Apparently, according to Willie, Caleb disappeared after our night at the Orpheum. He didn’t come to the Hollywood Ghost club since, and hasn’t spoken to anyone. It’s like he either vanished or he is hiding. Willie said we should be safe since now we can have physical bodies, Caleb can’t attack us in public that easily anymore, but…”

A silence falls in the room. Everyone comes to the same conclusion as Alex a few minutes before. If Caleb is hiding, it’s probably because he is planning something. He is the biggest ghost magician ever, and definitely not the type to give up fame that easily. 

As they are all deep in thought, a sound of fallen keys rings outside the studio’s door. All four of them freeze instantly, anxious. Julie silently gets up, walks to the entrance, pushes the door, and… behind it, the band discovers Nick, crouched to stay hidden from the door’s window. 

“Oh, right, um… Sorry?” Nick tries to explain, but his stumbling answer doesn’t convince anyone. The guys join Julie in front of the boy, a confused and worried look on their faces. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Julie asks, taking the lead. 

“I just wanted to hang out with you all, so your dad let me in. I didn’t mean to spy or something, I swear!”

Luke comes forward, asking his own question.

“And what did you hear exactly?”

Nick pauses before answering. The brief moment of silence is enough to make the guys shiver, thinking about what the answer they are about to hear could imply. 

“I… Well, I won’t lie, I heard everything.” he pauses. “You three are ghosts, right?”

Julie sighs loudly. They had been too careless, feeling safe to speak in their studio. Her heart feels heavy thinking about the risks she didn’t protect the boys from. The guilt knocks at the door of her mind, reminding her of its presence. Of course, it wasn’t entirely her fault, considering she couldn’t have anticipated Nick’s presence in her house without her knowledge, but still. As she is ruminating on the situation, Luke grabs her hand, rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand. Immediately feeling calmer, she breathes before answering. 

“Okay, listen Nick. I’ll be honest too, yes you’re right. Those three are ghosts I discovered in my studio a few weeks ago. It’s a bit thanks to them that I’ve been able to sing again. But you can’t tell anyone. Please. You have to keep it a secret for now. It could put them in danger. I’ll explain everything but you have to promise first.”

“Okay okay, I promise. I won’t tell anyone. You’re kinda making me scared…”

“Don’t worry, we won’t haunt you or anything, we’re past that!” Reggie playfully comments, earning glares from the rest of the band. Pouting, the bassist goes back to the couch, arms crossed. Luke rolls his eyes and joins him, signaling the rest to follow. After they all sit down, Julie starts telling the story. The story of how she joined a ghost band and ended up with 3 new best friends.

As Julie starts telling the story, Caleb smiles inside his head. His new plan was going perfectly, almost too perfectly. He arrived at Julie’s house, thinking he would have to create an occasion to make them tell Nick the story. But as he arrived in front of the studio, the conversation going on inside made him rethink his plan as quickly as he could. Taking advantage of the moment, he waited for the conversation to stop for a moment before accidentally letting the keys in his pocket fall. And now here he is, hearing a story he partly already knows. 

But the more he hears, the angrier he feels. How did they just make the stamps vanish? How do they have physical bodies, as if they were alive again? It isn’t just being visible and being able to touch stuff like he can. No, it was bigger than this. Bigger than himself. And he just can’t accept that. Not after all he did, all those years, to get there. What if they started to have other powers like him? He can’t even bear the idea of it. It can’t be. 

He has to find a solution. Anything. Anything to keep them from outpowering him. What can he do? What can he do? Whatcanhedowhatcanhedowhatcanhedowhatcanhedowhatcanhedowhatcanhe-

Suddenly, his mind calms. The storm is finished. He knows what he has to do. If they are alive again, he just has to kill them again. Problem solved. His thoughts at peace, his inside smile comes back. He can feel the boy shivering in the corner of his mind. But he doesn’t care.

The hunt can begin.

Chapter Text

At the Wilsons' house, Carrie can’t help but feel upset since the Stand Tall performance at the Orpheum. Even worse, she can’t get her dad’s face that day out of her head. That look of pure shock he had seeing Julie’s band on her screen, and the bewildered eyes he had after seeing them live at the Orpheum… She doesn’t get it. What does he have with these four that she doesn’t know? It can’t be just Julie, her dad knows her too well for that to be it. It has to be those three holograms with her; she’s sure of it. But it feels so awkward to ask her dad about it right now that she is just stuck like this, arms crossed, sitting on the living room’s sofa. 

Another option would be to directly ask Julie if she knows anything, but she isn’t there yet. Of course, Carrie couldn’t help but notice her hatred for the girl had started to subside these last few days. It has been a year since they grew apart, and she feels like a year was the longest time ever. How do you even become friends again after spending that much time hating each other? It felt impossible to even approach Julie without thinking about all the resentment and jealousy she was feeling. All those feelings which appeared after the girl’s mom died last year, after Julie stopped singing… It all feels too much. Another thing I wish I could talk to my dad about, Carrie thinks before shaking her head. Her dad wouldn’t get it, just like she didn’t get his attitude lately. He would probably shrug and say something like Just speak to her about it or something else completely useless. As much as she loved her dad, he wasn’t much help on those subjects. 

Just as she was ruminating on her feelings about the situation, the door opened, letting Trevor Wilson in from his usual therapy session. Carrie turns her head to fake a smile to him, but the look on his face tells her something is different. Instead of the dazed look he has had for the past few days since the Orpheum, he looked more determined than before. His eyes look around, finding his daughter looking at him. With a light smile that doesn’t feel forced but still a bit sad – almost scared – to Carrie, he approaches the sofa and sits next to her, his hands shaking a little. Before she can comment, he grabs a cushion, takes a deep breath, and speaks. 

“Carrie, I… We have to talk about something. Something important.”

Anxious, Carrie stays silent, waiting for her dad to continue, encouraging him with her eyes. 

“It’s about… about the boys in Julie’s band. My therapist said that–”

But Carrie isn’t listening anymore. Finally, she will get the answers she was looking for. But still, it feels almost wrong, like it is too soon. She was so worried about his dad, but also even angry that he wouldn’t speak about it to her, his own daughter. But now that he is ready, it feels like a giant wave is about to crash into her, as if she isn’t ready for what he is going to say. Rubbing her temples, she tries to reconnect to the discussion happening. 

“–and so even if I couldn’t say anything else to her about it, I think I want you to know.”

“I see… I’m ready, you can tell me,” she lies, trying to relieve her dad’s stress. She can see it is already hard enough for him. 

“Okay…” he murmurs to himself before closing his eyes, trying to slow down his breathing before continuing. 

“For you to understand what’s happening, I need to come clean about something that happened 25 years ago, when I was a teenager.”

“Oh my god, did you kill someone?”

“No, absolutely not! Although it does involve death, I’m not responsible, even if I feel guilty about it now.”

Now completely lost, Carrie shuts up, her puzzled expression signaling her dad to keep going. 

“So, back in 1995, I was in a band called Sunset Curve with three other boys my age, friends of mine. We had some good songs that some of us wrote and composed, and we even got offered the opportunity to perform at the Orpheum at the time. But, to make it simple, after our last rehearsal there, the three of them went to get hot dogs while I stayed behind to speak with a girl. Believe me, I feel bad enough for that to this day. If I had convinced them to go elsewhere… Sorry, I’m straying from the original story.”

He stopped to get his mind back on track before speaking again.

“They went to a shady street food stall that got them food poisoned. All three of them. They all died that night, leaving me the only member of the band still alive.”

A silence falls into the room. Carrie tries to speak, but the words just won’t come out. Her dad is right; he isn’t responsible or guilty of anything. But still, the idea that he was involved in such a tragic event at her age makes her feel powerless to say anything that might ease his pain. She can see it as clear as day, the guilt eating him inside. 

“Dad, I… If you’re telling me this now, it must be because there’s something else, right?”

“... Yeah. And what I just said isn’t the worst part of it. I did something I’m not proud of, and I don’t know if you’ll forgive me for it, considering even I didn’t forgive myself.”

“You can’t be sure until you tell me. I promise I won’t hate you.”

Carrie’s dad pauses again, gathering the courage to tell the story. His eyes meet his daughter’s, and the spark of trust he finds in them gets him speaking. 

“After their death, I tried to keep on living like usual, I really did. But I just couldn’t. I couldn’t deal with the grief, the pain of losing them. I had lost the people I was sharing my passion with. Even music didn’t taste the same after their passing. It all felt so… dull.”

Carrie grabs her dad’s hand, rubbing it like he usually does with her when she cries. 

“Then, one day, when I was lying down in the garage we used to rehearse in, crying, I… I found a notebook.”

“A notebook?”

Trevor nodded.

“The notebook in which one of our members wrote his songs. It had all the unreleased songs we had played together. I browsed through them, and each of them reminded me of the time we spent trying hard together for our dream. Their absence crushed me even harder seeing this notebook. And that’s when I thought that…”

Trevor swallows, trying hard not to break down because of the guilt. 

“That’s when I had the idea of recording those songs.”

“Wait wait wait… You recorded your old band’s songs? I didn’t hear about it. Was it before your first successful songs, and I was too young to remember?”

“No… My first songs were those band songs. I didn’t credit them on the recordings.”

Carrie’s fingers stop moving on her dad’s hand. The shock came before any disappointment, making her freeze. 

“You mean… You stole your old band’s songs and recorded them as your own? Without telling anyone?”

“Yes. At the time, I felt like recording those songs was the perfect tribute for them, the only way for me to keep their memory alive, and so I did. But at first, I wanted to keep them to myself, as some sort of keepsake. But then came the anger. I began to hate the way they left my side, the fact that they left me alone here. I felt so alone and angry, and the resentment against them grew bigger and bigger as time went on. After a while, I stumbled upon the recordings I had made, and that’s when I decided to release them in my name. It was like a revenge against them for leaving me like this.”

Carrie isn’t sure of how to feel. Of course, at first, it feels disappointing to hear the truth about her dad’s songs, but she just can’t hate him. It all feels logical. His heart filled with resentment for his dead friends, him being alone with the dreams they once shared… In the same situation, Carrie isn’t sure she would have acted better. 

“I released all the songs I recorded at the time, and then released my own songs riding on the success the band’s songs brought to me. But when the anger subsided, all I felt was guilt. Guilt for not crediting them, guilt for hating them when they didn’t choose to die, guilt for living our dream alone, guilt for not being brave enough to come clean about the songs to the public. Over time, the guilt lessened, but I could never fully shut it off completely, of course.”

Carrie nods, letting him take the time he needs to process his own thoughts and feelings that he was bringing back to the surface. 

“I… I had finally reached the point where I felt like I could go on and live with the pain, where I felt almost okay for the first time in a while. But then something weird happened. Something I didn’t even know was possible, but apparently is, or else I’m going insane.”

“What do you mean?” Carrie asks, trying to guess what it could be — but nothing is coming to her mind. 

“A few weeks ago I think, do you remember that day when I came home, but left again to see my therapist in panic?”

“Yeah I remember, it was so weird. Wait, was it linked?”

“It was. That day in my room, weird stuff happened. Music started playing alone, the shower started… When I went to the bathroom to check, something was written on the mirror.”

“Damn it’s so creepy!” Carrie can’t help but let out, followed by a whispered sorry.

“It was written ‘Hello Bobby’. And it’s normal if it doesn’t mean anything to you, but to me it does.”

Trevor Wilson can see the confused face his daughter is now making. It makes sense, since she doesn’t know about his past self, Bobby Shaw. 

“Trevor Wilson isn’t my birth name; I changed it when I started doing music in order not to be linked to Sunset Curve. My old name was Bobby Shaw, the name that was written on the mirror that day.”

“But then,” Carrie interrupted, “it means the only people who know about it are grandpa and grandma, mom, and… Oh my god!”

An idea had started to form in Carrie’s mind, and she doesn’t like it at all. It wasn’t possible… right? 

“Yeah, you can see the reason I left in a hurry that afternoon.”

Trevor is finally starting to calm down, now that most of the secret is out. He is finally able to speak without his voice shaking or him stammering. Only one part of the story is left, but he trusts Carrie with it. 

“After that, nothing else like this happened for a few days. It was like I imagined it, and I almost thought it was the case for a moment. And yet, just as I was starting to believe I had hallucinated, came Julie and her band. When I saw their performance on your laptop, it felt like my whole world had gone upside down. My three friends, dead for 25 years… Luke, Reggie, Alex… There again…”

To Carrie at this instant, it feels like her dad is seeing something else instead of her, like his eyes left for another dimension, one where Sunset Curve is alive again in front of him. But her mind keeps thinking, continues on the trail started by her dad. Julie’s band, her and three guys that reminded her father of his three dead friends… Three holograms that appear and disappear each time they perf— 

She reaches the answer before her dad comes back to reality.

“THEY ARE GHOSTS?!”

Carrie’s literal scream gets Trevor back on Earth. He nods, and suddenly it all becomes obvious to the young woman: the three boys from another country, the holograms, the weird machine that supposedly makes the holograms appear, Julie’s even more suspicious attitude than usual… It all makes so much more sense to her now. Somehow, she isn’t shocked, or scared, but rather relieved. Relieved that the truth is all out now, that she finally has answers to her gut feeling telling her something was wrong. Feeling a sudden urge to hug her dad, she gently pulls her arms from her dad’s hands before putting them behind his back. Her head finds the soft spot on his shoulder, as she takes the time to enjoy the peacefulness of the moment. From behind her, she can hear her dad ask:

“So… You don’t hate me?”

Without pulling back, Carrie doesn’t even think before answering. 

“Why would I?”

She can feel her father’s surprise in her arms, hearing her answer.

“Well, because of everything. I lied, I stole, I couldn’t help anyone…”

Carrie softly gets back in front of her dad, and looks at him right in the eyes.

“Dad, listen. I can never hate you, you know that? You made mistakes, right. But you were young and grieving, nobody can hold it against you. And then you got scared, that’s normal! Please remember that, you can make mistakes. You don’t have to always pick the right choice, it’s literally impossible!”

Trevor’s eyes immediately start shining with tears upon hearing his daughter’s words. It felt so good to finally share this secret that had been eating him from the inside for 25 years. 

“Also, it’s not like you just didn’t care. You obviously feel guilty enough so no need to wait for anyone else to make you feel like that. Just think about what you can do now. Think about it, if they’re really ghosts, maybe you can speak to them! That’s an opportunity no one else has in that situation.”

Trevor sits straight again, thinking about his daughter’s idea. Speaking to the guys… Although he is scared as hell just thinking about it, he has to admit he does need to do it. To finally close that chapter of his life, one way or another.

The discussion continues on the matter between the father and his daughter, but Trevor remembers another thing he wanted to bring up with her.

“Say, Carrie…”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not sure, but I remember you getting up to applaud Julie and her band at the end of their performance at the Orpheum. Did I miss anything between you and her recently?”

Carrie sighs, not sure what to answer.

“I’m not sure myself, honestly. Especially after her stunt at the rally, I thought I couldn’t hate her more. But then you made me come to her performance, and… I don’t know, I feel like the song she performed and the message she carried got to me a bit maybe. All this time, I hated her because of how she acted after her mom passed. I hated how it felt like she always had the bigger pain in the room whenever I was with her, as if mom didn’t die around the same time too. I just couldn’t stand her own pain on top of mine, you know?”

Her dad quietly nods, letting her speak freely. He knows all too well how much his daughter suffered last year. Hearing her speak about it like that feels almost reassuring to him, seeing her finally express her true thoughts.

“At the time, it felt like the only way to deal with those feelings was hate. I thought that if I hated Julie, then everything would be easier, because then I wouldn’t have to deal with her pain as a friend. And I know it’s egoistic. But it all felt too much, and I just couldn’t handle it anymore…”

Carrie pauses in her explanation, takes a deep breath in order not to cry, before continuing. 

“But now… Hearing her sing for the first time in a year at the spirit rally hit like a truck, because it was the first sign that my hate was losing its meaning, you see? I tried to find myself excuses in front of Nick to hate her still, but it started to feel fake. And then she sang at the Orpheum about how she overcame her pain, how she finally kept going… It felt like I really was the mean one who couldn’t deal with her own stuff, like I made the bad choice by being selfish.”

Trevor grabs his daughter’s hands, trying to reassure her. 

“Carrie, it’s your turn to listen to me. Everyone grieves their own way. Julie couldn’t play music for a year because of it, you couldn’t help but resent your best friend because of it… Just like you said to me, no one can hold it against you, not even Julie herself. You had painful moments to deal with just like her, and you handled it like you could. You were right to find one way or another to deal with the pain, but now might be the time to break those walls you built around yourself, don’t you think?”

It is now Carrie’s turn to cry. Waves of feelings she tried to bury to make it easier to deal with them are coming back to her. Those feelings of guilt for hating her best friend, of doubt when she started thinking about saying sorry after a year, of melancholy thinking about their happy memories together… Everything is back even stronger than before, going through her defenses. 

As she tries to control her breathing, a question rises above the walls, making itself unmissable: why do you still hate Julie, after a whole year?