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Julita and the Phantoms

Summary:

Shortly after the death of Julie's mom, Rose, Julie's cousin Lita moves in with the Molinas.

A little while after that, three adorable ghost boys from the nineties show up and suddenly Lita finds herself in a band with them and her cousin.

Luke Patterson x alive!OC

Notes:

Title of the fic is pretty self-explanatory.

Title of the first chapter is from the song "I Lived" by OneRepublic

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: With Every Broken Bone, I Swear I Lived

Chapter Text

I rolled over and smacked my head on the nightstand, forcefully jolting me awake. I grimaced in pain as the light from the blind trickled into the room. As I rubbed my forehead just above my eyebrow, a droplet of blood smeared onto my finger. I sighed, pushing myself up from the bed and walking over to the wardrobe. I pulled open the door and scanned the rows of clothes before finally deciding on a white shirt with a rainbow on it that read “sounds gay, I’m in”, a pale blue flannel shirt, a light grey beanie and a pair of ripped denim jeans. 

When I finally got downstairs, Julie was at the table with a glass of orange juice in one hand and her phone in the other as she scrolled through Twitter. Her eyebrows raised slightly and almost disappeared under her burgundy cap when she saw the cut on my eyebrow and sighed, disappearing to grab the first-aid kit from under the sink without a second glance. 

Carlos shot past me at lightning speed, a pair of jeans in one hand and a hoodie slung over his shoulder as he ran up the stairs and narrowly avoided crashing into me. Julie returned with the first aid kit and sat it down on the table. “I feel like I’m doing this every other day,” she said pointedly, and I shrugged as she continued. “I’ve barely been awake for ten minutes, why are you like this?” 

“Not my fault I’m accident-prone. Surprised I’m still alive at this point.”

“You’d make a terrible ghost.”

“I’d make an excellent ghost.”

She shook her head in disbelief as she dabbed at the cut with a wet cotton pad. 

“Right. Obviously. Are you doing your presentation today?”

I changed the subject. “Are you singing today?”

“I’ll know in the moment,” she sighed, refusing to meet my eyes. 

I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “Jules, there’s no rush, but if you love music as much as I know you do, then staying in the music program is something you need. I know it’s hard, but playing songs like the ones she used to sing with you, it keeps her memory alive.” 

Julie put her hand on top of mine on her shoulder, “I know, Li. I know. Thanks.”

“Plus you have a killer voice,” I added. “Like siren singing men and lesbian pirates to their dooms kind of killer voice.”

She smiled, “So do you. There, all done.” Julie packed away the first aid kit and pointed me towards the toaster. “Waffles?”

“Waffles,” I confirmed.

~

I put one earphone in as I made my way through the crowded corridors, a Vistas song in the background as I waved at Flynn before finally stopping to lean against the locker next to my best friend AJ. “Morning.” 

She looked up, shutting her locker and smirking when she noticed the cut above my eyebrow. “Someone’s been busy.” 

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, yeah, I know.” 

But it wasn’t until she lifted up a piece of hair from in front of her face to reveal an almost identical cut above her left eye that I realised why she was smirking. “In a move straight out of my brother’s playbook, I rolled over in bed this morning and hit the corner of the dresser.”

I grinned, “This. This is why we’re friends.”

“Really?” She joked, “Not my sparkling personality?” But then her face turned serious, “Ready for that oral presentation?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” my mood soured and I ran my hand along the tattoo on the inside of my wrist, a spur of the moment decision from last summer that my mother hated, but I couldn’t seem to find any way to regret it. “Unless, of course, you’re a good enough friend to run me over?” 

AJ laughed, “Yeah, sure. With my driving skills? I’d probably hit the wrong thing, and you know it. Then you’d be alive and doing that presentation, and I’d be in prison for vehicular manslaughter. Where’s the fun in that?” 

“You make a valid point,” I scowled. “Hype up?”

“Hype up,” AJ agreed. “Think we can risk being five minutes late for Miss H’s algebra class?”

“I think it’s time well-spent,” I grinned, and she pulled one of my earbuds out, only pausing to wipe it on my sleeve—which I scowled at her for— before putting it into her ear to listen to the song. Teenage Blues by Vistas started to play and she nodded along to it as we took the long route to class.

 

Gone away for a while

All the familiar places change

But you’re the same, and so am I

What will I be without you?

~

By the time third period rolled around, the dread had had time to set in and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as I waited. Taking psychology as an elective wasn’t the worst idea I’d ever had, but it wasn’t the best either. There were only so many times I could put off the introduction presentation. We’d each been assigned an approach to research and put together a presentation on as a quick start to the course. 

Mr Parker was late, as per usual, so I had about three minutes left to not die until he showed up and forced me to speak. There were a grand total of twenty-six people in this class. I knew eight of them, and I liked three of them. Those three included AJ, AJ’s brother Ky, and Kayla. Once Mr P arrived, he was just... excitable? Energetic? Well, whatever he was, he had way too much energy for half nine on a Tuesday morning, and it made me nervous before he even called my name. 

My hand rested on the table, tapping out the steady beat of I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas. I wished I had my ukulele with me. Or my guitar. Or even a drumstick. My song choice was ironic considering it was not going to be a good night. Not by a long shot. 

Parker locked eyes with me and in that moment, I knew that I was screwed. 

“Lita, care to come up and introduce yourself? I expect you came prepared?”

I shrank back into my seat as all eyes in the room turned to me. 

I wanted to be anywhere but here. I wanted to be anywhere but here. Anywhere. Anywhere but here. Unfortunately, I had only just been able to snag the last spot in the psychology elective once one of the boys dropped out, which meant coming into class a week later than everyone else, after they had already done their introductions. It might have been easier if they were as nervous as me, but I didn’t have the luxury to find out. 

Reluctantly, I pushed myself out of my seat, my hand tapping a beat against the side of my leg that I wasn’t sure was already from an existing song or something that I had just made up on the spot. If I had made it up, it probably would be a good idea to remember it, but that thought didn’t seem to cross my mind while I shifted uncomfortably in front of the whiteboard.

AJ shot me a thumbs up, but instead of a confident response, I mouthed back the words “help me”. I clenched my hands into fists around the hem of my t-shirt, but it only made me look more awkward. I gave up on that and instead pulled the sleeves of my shirt down over my hands to allow me to curl my fingers tighter without risk of my nails breaking the skin. 

Anywhere but here. Anywhere but here. Anywhere but here.

“Hi...” my breath seemed to get caught in my throat. “Nope.”

I wasn’t sure what happened, but the next thing I knew there was a crash at the other end of the room and the moment Mr P went over to investigate, the sprinklers turned on and the fire alarm started to wail. Something pulled my sleeve up and grabbed hold of my wrist, their warm skin anchoring me back to reality at the sudden contact. I stared blankly at AJ’s hand, oblivious to the dampness as the sprinkler water slowly soaked my clothes, and the loud blaring of the alarm as she dragged me out of the room and along with the rest of the class to the fire meeting point.

Principal Lessa caught us just as I managed to make eye contact with Julie and we were marched to her office for the disturbance. She gestured for us to sit down and I shared a look with AJ. Not even the comfy “just here for a little chat” seats, the professional seats that she uses for important guests. We were definitely not here for a little chat. 

We came out of the aforementioned “little chat” with a week’s worth of detention for the stunt AJ pulled with the fire alarm to get me out of my presentation. We shared the blame, despite AJ’s protests, because she did it to help me. Plus, with all my free time filled up with music and detention, I wouldn’t have any time to panic over the presentation I would undoubtedly now be doing on Friday. (That’s called procrastination, kids.)

AJ and I left the room virtually okay, and ready for lunch. It was only when I was halfway down the corridor that it hit me. “Oh, fuck.”

“What?”

“My mom is going to kill me.” 

~

As Julie had spent some of the evening at Flynn’s house, anxious to come home after being kicked out of the music program— I found out after lunch, and promised her that it would be okay, but there was really no way of telling— and I had detention, we arrived back at the same time. 

“You first?” I tried, but she shook her head.

“No way, you first.” 

“You know my mom’s gonna be here soon, I’m a goner,” I pleaded.

“Might as well get some spaghetti before she shows up then,” Julie shrugged.

“How was your presentation?” 

“It went about as well as your music class.” 

We looked at each other for a moment before sighing in unison. 

“Together?”

“Together.” 

I pulled out my key and unlocked the front door. The first thing we did was ditch our bags at the table and grab snacks before attempting to do a piece of homework. Julie pouted at me from behind her calculus textbook and I pulled a face back. “You think I know enough to help? Me? I barely passed that class last year,” I replied to her look pointedly.

Ray came downstairs behind us and her and I shared a look, waiting for the inevitable. “Oh good, you’re home!” He smiled. Smiled. Did he not know? Or was he trying to play it cool? “I was about to go watch Carlos’ game. I’ve had photo shoots all day,” he sighed, “Didn’t even get a chance to eat!” Ray ignored his daughter’s disapproving look at the last comment. “But... I got a phone call today.”

Julie cautiously took off her glasses and placed them down next to her textbook. “Yeah, I figured as much.” It was too early to tell which one of us it was about. 

“Well, it was my Realtor friend.” 

I breathed a sigh of relief, and tried to cover it up by pretending I’d just worked out the answer to a hard question, all-the-while sharing a subtle look with Julie about how we were luckily both in the clear. “Oh, that,” she nodded, encouraging him to go on. 

“Yeah, she said if we’re serious about selling the house then she wants me to take some pictures for the website. Which means we have to do a lot of cleaning and get rid of some stuff. Maybe you two girls could tackle Mom’s studio? You’re the experts... You know Carlos and I wouldn’t know where to begin. If you’re not ready, I can...” 

“No,” Julie cut him off. “It’s alright. Maybe we can try tonight?” She glanced at me and I nodded reassuringly. 

“Tonight works for me.” Once Ray had gone, I studied her carefully. “Jules, are you gonna be okay?” 

“Yeah,” she replied weakly. “Together?” 

“Together.”

~

It was dark by the time Julie and I went out to the garage. We both hesitated by the door. I had been back in here a couple of times, but it felt weird that we were going in here to start clearing the place out. It was hard to imagine someone else using it. Julie’s hand hovered over the double handles before she got up the courage to push both doors open. 

I followed her inside, tracing a light finger across the piano keys. My eyes flickered to the sheet music on the stool but Julie barely paid attention to it as she put it on top of the piano. “I’m sorry, mom,” she whispered. “That I haven’t been in here.”

Everything was left as it was when Rose died. The instruments in the loft, left there by the previous owner when the Molina’s first moved in. The row of guitars. The little keyboard and drum-pad. 

I made my way up to the loft and a CD caught my eye. It was a small black case with a white logo on it reading Sunset Curve. The demo had four songs on it, and I passed it over to Julie to take a look. She put it into the CD player and the first song— Now or Never— started to play.

 

1, 2, 3

Take off, blast off

Count down til we blast open the top

Face first, full charge

 

It wasn’t even the end of the first verse when the sound of shouts filled the studio. I took the steps down from the loft two at a time to see what was going on, just in time to see the horrified look on Julie’s face as the boys appeared out of nowhere and hit the ground with a thud. The demo stopped playing as the guys gasped for air and leant on each other to get up from the ground.

The guy in the middle looked around in confusion. “Woah. How did we get back here?” That was when Julie started to scream. It wasn’t long before the guys joined in the screaming and she shot out of the studio, almost slamming into her dad as he and Carlos arrived back. 

I stared at the newcomers, surprisingly the first person to recover enough to speak. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the most productive use of words. “Well...” 

I could just about hear from outside the conversation between Ray and Julie. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” “I have!” Before she started screaming again and ran inside. I stayed in the studio, staring at the boys. 

We stood there holding intense eye contact for the five minutes it took for Julie to return, no one daring to break it, and each theory my mind came up with was crazier than the last. When I heard Julie’s footsteps I turned around to see her, and she was advancing into the studio with a cross held out in front of her. “Where’d they go?” She hissed.

I frowned. What did she mean? But when I turned around, the three guys were gone. I blinked. “So this is a thing that is happening.”

“I know I saw something, I’m not crazy,” Julie muttered, and I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince me or herself. 

“You’re not crazy, I definitely saw them too. Whatever the hell they were... The point is, we’re not crazy.”

An unfamiliar voice chimed in from behind us, “Well, we’re all a little crazy.” 

Julie spun around and started screaming again, and one of the boys—the blond one— visibly winced. “Oh my God! Please stop screaming!” 

“Who the hell are you?” I glared at them. “And what are you doing in my Aunt’s studio?” 

“Your Aunt’s studio?” The boy in the middle stepped forwards, apparently in charge. “This is our studio. Trust me—“ he got cut off as Julie pushed the cross towards him, causing him to skid across the piano in an attempt to avoid getting hit with it. “The grand piano is new, and... and... and... my couch!” The boy flopped onto the couch and inhaled loudly as the springs quaked under the force of his entrance. He looked around in confusion a moment later, “But... that is definitely not my six-string.” 

I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s not. It’s mine.” 

Julie watched them cautiously, “We’ll ask again. What are you doing in my mom’s studio?” 

The boy stepped forwards, narrowly avoiding Julie’s outstretched arm and the cross, and he dodged away from me to return to his two friends. “Just give me a second. Just... give me a second. Thank you.”

He wasn’t exactly subtle, as soon as he started talking we could hear the whole conversation. Julie and I shared a suspicious look as we eavesdropped. 

“Guys, what is going on? How did they get their stuff in here so fast?” 

The boy in the leather jacket eyed the decor weirdly, “Maybe... maybe they’re witches. There’s chairs floating on the ceiling!” 

I mean, personally, I always thought those were a little questionable, but I never said anything on the subject. 

The boy with the snapback rolled his eyes, “Okay, there is no such thing as witches.”

Leather jacket raised an eyebrow, “You sure? I used to think there was no such thing as ghosts.” 

“That’s fair.”

“Okay,” boy-in-charge decided, “So we’re going with witches?”

Snapback swatted his arm and sighed, “No we are not going with witches. Okay, look, they’re probably just scared. Let someone with a softer touch handle this.” 

Julie’s scared. Honestly I’m more confused at this point.

“Why are you in our studio?” He whirled around and asked, and I folded my arms. 

“This isn’t your studio,” I reminded him, as Julie reached forwards and plunged the cross into his chest. It moved straight through him. Maybe they were ghosts? Ghosts, in my Aunt’s music studio? Apparently more likely than you’d think.

“Oh my gosh... how did you do that?” Her eyes widened in horror.

“Clearly, you’re not understanding,” Snapback turned towards his friends to keep them in the loop. “She doesn’t get it.” Before turning back to Julie. “Okay, look, we’re ghosts. We’re just three ghosts, and we’re really happy to be home. So, thank you for the flowers. They really brighten up the room.”

Boy-in-charge stepped in and supplied, “We’re in a band called Sunset Curve.”

Leather-jacket-and-plaid— that boy’s gotta be bi. No straight person wears plaid and leather at the same time. I wonder if he cuffs his jeans? Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked— added, “Tell your friends.” 

“Right,” I acknowledged, “But—” no matter how cute y’all are— “Doesn’t explain why you’re in our garage?” Sunset Curve. Why did that ring a bell? Other than the CD we put in that managed to summon them here.

“Last night was going to be a really big night for us. It was gonna change our lives…” boy-in-charge trailed off. 

I pulled out my phone, determined to get to the bottom of this Sunset Curve business as snapback whispered to his friend, “I’m, uh… I’m pretty sure it did.

Julie glanced at me, leaning over my shoulder as I typed their band name into google. “This…. is freaking me out.” 

“This… is not the weirdest thing I’ve seen this week,” I muttered half-under my breath, waiting for the page to load. 

“It’s Tuesday, Li.” 

“I know.” 

“What is that?” One of the boys asked, looking at the phone warily. 

“My phone?” I replied, raising an eyebrow.

Snapback leaned forwards, “Who you calling?” 

Julie shook her head as the page finally loaded, “Stop talking to them. They aren’t real. There’s no such thing as cute ghosts.” 

“You think we’re cute?” Leather-jacket-and-plaid’s face broke into a grin and I suppressed a smile. Glad to know Jules and I were on the same page about that at least. 

“We’re googling Sunset Swerve,” Julie told them. 

“Sunset Curve,” all three boys corrected her simultaneously. 

The page finally loaded and I managed to control the degree of surprise plastered on my face, forcing my eyebrows back to a normal height as I read the headline. “Right, so there is a Sunset Curve, and y’all did die. But that was in ‘95, and it’s kind of 2020 now. You’ve been dead like 25 years…” 

Way to soften the blow, Lita. Yeah, yeah, I know.

Leather-jacket-and-plaid looked like he’d seen a ghost, which was ironic in the current circumstance. “That’s impossible! All we did was eat those hotdogs and then go to that weird, dark room where Alex cried.”

Okay, so judging by his response that meant that “Snapback”’s real name was Alex. He immediately went on the defensive. “Well… I think we were all pretty upset.”

Boy-in-charge frowned, “But that was just for like an hour? We just showed up here.”

I held out the phone so they could read it for themselves. I was almost tempted to say “Read it and weep” as I did so, but a part of me thought that would be unfair on Snapback Alex, as he seemed to have already been doing that for the last twenty-five years or so. Instead, I shrugged and said. “Look, it’s all here.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “So it’s really been twenty-five years? I have been crying for TWENTY FIVE YEARS? How is that possible?” 

“You’re a very emotional person?” Leather-jacket-and-plaid tried to reason with him. 

“I am not!

Ha. Mood.

Before they could answer, Carlos walked in. “Dinner’s ready. You talking to your ghost friend? How does he look, is he hideous?”

Alex glanced at leather-and-plaid on his right, smirking. “He can see you.” 

“No, he can’t,” Julie cut in, but Carlos was already looking around in confusion. She covered it up by saying, “We’ll be in in a minute.”

Once he’d gone, she eyed the boys cautiously. “He couldn’t see you.”

“That’s usually how ghosts work,” Alex pointed out. 

Damn, the sass levels on this kid were high. I like him already. I paused for a second, trying to think about it rationally. “If Carlos couldn’t see you… why the fuck can we?” 

Language,” Julie warned, in the exact tone my mom uses. I shuddered and raised my hands in surrender as she sighed exasperatedly and turned towards the ghosts. “Look, I’m sorry for what happened to you guys, but this isn’t your studio anymore. You have to leave.” 

I shrugged, “The stuff’s yours, the place isn’t. Take whatever used to belong to you.” 

Boy-in-charge caught us before we could go, “Wait! We didn’t get your names.” 

“It’s Julie.” 

“Lita. Hey,” I shot finger guns from next to her, fully aware of my own cringiness. 

“Cool, I’m—” he got slightly cut off as Julie raised the cross in a warning. “I’m Luke, by… by the way. And this is—”

“Reggie. I’m Reggie. Hey,” leather-jacket-and-plaid waved.

“Alex. How’s it going?” He trailed off.

There was a soft “badaa…” as Luke gestured to the three of them. 

I nodded, unsure of how to reply as I turned to Julie. “Food?” 

“Food,” she sighed, lowering the cross and letting me throw an arm around her shoulders as we walked out. 

“By the way, I like your t-shirt!” Alex called after me. I didn’t turn around, instead giving him a thumbs up as I walked into the house. 

~

We finished laying the table and I collapsed into a seat. Taking Carlos’ hand on one side and Ray’s on the other, Carlos began to say grace. 

“Thank you for our leftovers and the power of the mighty microwave,” he announced firmly. “Amen.” 

“Amen,” I laughed as I started to serve myself some of the spaghetti. 

“So…” Ray started, “Carlos says he found you two in the studio.” 

Before anyone could answer, I had the overwhelming feeling that I was about to be grounded for life. “She’s here,” I warned, the faint sound of the car pulling up being the only thing I could focus on. 

As if she’d been summoned, my mom’s voice echoed through the door as she unlocked it. “Hello hello!” 

“Busted…” Carlos muttered, hiding the place setting that had been left out for Rose before mom had a chance to come in. Julie put the plate on her lap and Ray tossed the mat across the kitchen just as she came in. 

“We’re in here!” Ray called out.

“Spaghetti. Again? That’s too bad… I brought you my pasteles and arroz con pollo.” 

“Smells great, ma,” I feigned a smile, waiting for the hammer to come down. 

“If I let you have leftovers every night, my sister would kill me. May she rest in peace. Lita… a word in the other room?”

Here it comes. 

I’m grounded for life.

“Could it wait until after dinner?” I pleaded, glancing at the spaghetti on my plate. She answered with her eyebrows and I sighed, grabbing another plate and flipping it on top of my food to keep it warm. “Pray for me,” I hissed at Julie, who almost choked on her spaghetti as she held back laughter. 

We hovered in the living room, my mom the first one to break the silence. “I got a call from the school today. About an incident with the fire alarm.” 

Busted…

“It’s really not as serious as it sounds… I mean, can we even call it an ‘incident’? It was just a one-time—”

“Carmelita—”  

Ouch. Full name. So screwed. So very screwed. 

“It won’t happen again, I promise. I panicked about the presentation and AJ managed to get me out of it. I’ll work on it and everything will be fine,” I pleaded. “If it ever happens again you can ground me for the rest of high school?” 

She sighed, “Fine, but you better not miss a single one of those detentions, mija,” before pulling me into a bone-crushing hug in the way only she could. “Are you sure it’ll never happen again?” 

Luke chose that moment to appear out of nowhere, barely three feet away from us. “Nice couch. Do you think you could point me towards the kitchen?” 

No!” I hissed. 

“No?” Mom pulled away, confused. 

“Not you, no! I mean, yes! I mean… thanks for bringing us food?” 

She seemed to temporarily buy the distraction enough to go back in the other room, barely noticing me silently arguing with Luke under my breath. When I sat back down at the table, the other two boys walked in and Julie yelped when she saw them, causing them to freeze awkwardly. 

“As I was saying,” Luke grinned at Julie. “I really like what you guys did with the place.” 

“You shouldn’t be here!” she protested, causing my mom to raise her eyebrows in confusion.

“Oh, I’m just here to help, mija.” 

I tried to save the conversation, “What Julie meant to say is ‘you shouldn’t be here’ because you should be at pilates! Thanks for bringing us food.”

“I think this is our cue to leave,” Alex nudged the others. 

“We should’ve called first,” Reggie agreed.

I subtly tried to angle my head in the direction of the door, prompting them to leave, and the trio slowly backed out through it, their bodies phasing through the wood.

My mom put a hand on Julie’s shoulder, “And now that you’re no longer in the music program, you can focus on classes that matter. The same cannot be said for my daughter, of course.” Both Carlos’ and Ray’s eyes widened at the news and Julie froze as the table grew silent. “You got the email from the school, right?” She prompted.

Ray smiled as he lied, “Yeah… we’re still discussing it.”

Mom blew a kiss at Carlos before pulling Julie and I into a hug and kissing the top of our heads. “Well, I should be going to pilates, call if you need anything.” 

As soon as she was gone, Carlos tried to revive the conversation in an attempt to get the focus away from Julie. “So… you guys wanna hear about how I slid into home and was almost safe?” 

“You’re a good brother, but that’s not gonna work,” Ray sighed, gesturing towards the couch.

“You too, Lita. I need to have a one-to-one with Julie.”

“Sorry,” I mouthed as I grabbed my plate and joined Carlos on the couch. 

Carlos finished a mouthful of spaghetti before nudging me, “So… Tía isn’t the most subtle of people. What exactly happened with the fire alarm?” 

Before I had a chance to answer, the house was filled with music as the studio lit up. The volume seemed to be on maximum and Carlos shot up to investigate. Julie and I locked eyes as we both realised who was playing it. Goddamn Sunset Curve.

“We must’ve left the CD player on,” Julie lied, making her way towards the door. 

Ray frowned as I joined her, “And it needs both of you to turn it off?” 

“It needed neither of us to turn itself back on?” I tried, “So I wouldn’t rule it out.” 

~

We dashed into the garage to try and stop the guys from playing. Well, in any other circumstances I wouldn’t have wanted to stop them, considering they were actually pretty good, but Ray and Carlos could walk in at any moment and see the instruments floating and that could cause a few issues. Or at least, that’s what I assumed they’d be able to see, considering both Julie and I could see the guys. 

She tried to shut them off by standing in front of them and gesturing to cut it out. “Guys! The whole neighbourhood could hear you! I thought I told you to leave?”

The pick fell from Luke’s hands as all the boys were shocked by the new information. “Wait. People can hear us play?”

“Yes! And so did my dad, and my brother!” She complained. 

Alex came out from behind the drum set and Reggie and Luke both set down their guitars. “Wait,” Alex tried to summarise. “So only you two can see us, but everyone can hear us? I mean, what kind of ghosts are we?”

“Who cares, man? People can hear us play!” Luke cheered.

“We might be dead, but our music isn’t,” Reggie pumped his fist.

I grabbed Luke’s guitar before he noticed, throwing the strap over my neck as Ray came in. 

Hey…” I waved at him. “Just… vibing to the music… which we just turned off…” 

“Dad! Hey! That CD player has a mind of its own,” Julie lied, rubbing the back of her neck. 

“Just making sure you’re okay,” Ray smiled, before he caught sight of the equipment. “Wow, look at all this stuff! Is this the junk that was in the loft?”

Junk?” Luke spluttered, visibly offended.

“I was testing it out,” I pulled out the first excuse I could, strumming a few chords. “Nice equipment.”

“Hey!” Luke complained, “Stop touching that!” 

“If you don’t want to get discovered, let me hold this for two more minutes,” I hissed out of the corner of my mouth. 

Ray frowned, “What was that?” 

“I said… it’s great to get all of this uncovered, isn’t it?” 

“Nice save,” Reggie gave me a thumbs up. 

Ray moved towards the drums, tapping each of them and whistling in approval. “Some of this stuff’s in pretty good shape.” He ran his fingers around the symbols, much to Alex’s dismay. “Maybe we could make a couple bucks?” 

“What? Yo, stop touching my drums!” Alex gestured frantically, “Tell him to stop touching my drums!”

Oblivious to Alex’s complaints, Ray walked around to the front of the drum set. “I liked that music you had on.” 

“Sweet!” Reggie grinned.

Luke sidled up to Ray, despite the fact that my uncle couldn’t hear him. “We’re Sunset Curve.”

“Tell your friends,” Reggie added.

“We found an old CD,” Julie explained. 

“It’s nice that you’re listening to music,” Ray smiled. “Out here you can play whatever you want, whenever you want.” He gestured around, his hands going through the torsos of both Reggie and Luke. 

“That’s nice!” Reggie remarked. 

“Stay out of this,” Julie hissed at him. 

Ray, thinking she was talking to him, frowned. “I-I’m sorry honey, I didn’t…”

“Not you,” Julie sighed, “Just—” she tried to find the words, “Give me a minute.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her into a hug before he left, “Hey, we’re gonna figure out this music program thing.” 

“Thanks, Dad,” she sighed, watching him go. 

I walked over and rested my arm on her shoulder, “Besides, the school would be nuts to take a spot away from Julie Molina. They all know you’re gonna be big someday.”

Luke’s face broke into a grin the moment Ray had gone, “He likes our song!” 

“Doesn’t count,” Alex shrugged, explaining. “He’s a dad.” 

I snorted at that, and tried to cover it up and failed. 

Julie groaned, “Why can’t you guys just be normal ghosts? Hang out at an old mansion! I hear Pasadena’s nice.” She let out another groan before marching out of the studio. I moved to go after her but Luke appeared in front of me. 

“Wait, let me—”

I walked through him to get to the door, and as I did so a weird sensation rushed through me. I shivered, looking back at him. Woah. So that’s what it feels like to walk through a ghost. Luke stared at me for a second, deep in thought, except he managed to recover first and poofed out of the studio to talk to Julie. 

“That… that was weird,” I gestured vaguely. “That was all kinds of weird.” 

“I think Julie’s warming up to us,” Alex smiled hopefully. “What about you?” 

“I think you guys probably picked the wrong house to haunt,” I sighed. “But I could probably get used to having you around.” 

“I’ve always wanted to go to Pasadena,” Reggie announced.

I glanced at the spot where Luke was. “So I have to ask, I’ve seen that exact tee on a vintage website… Did he cut the sleeves off himself? Or…” 

“No, yeah, totally,” Alex shrugged, his eyes flicking to the window. “Heys, should we check on them?”

“Yeah.”

I pushed open the door as the guys walked through either side of me. That was definitely going to take some getting used to. We arrived just in time to hear Julie say “ Was. She passed away.”

Luke’s expression softened, “I— I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, we… we didn’t know,” Alex added comfortingly. 

“It’s alright,” she sighed. 

“You guys haven’t seen her anywhere, have you? Wherever—” I gestured vaguely— “Wherever you’re from?”

Alex shook his head, “No. I mean, you’re sort of the first people we’ve seen.”

“Yeah, but they’re not dead so that doesn’t really answer the ques—”

“I think she gets that, Reg.” Alex offered a sympathetic smile, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks,” I echoed Julie, shifting uncomfortably. 

“Sorry I got mad,” she apologised to the guys. “You guys are kinda good.”

Luke’s voice rose a couple of octaves. “Kinda? You know that’s like 25 years of rust just getting dusted off, right?” He mimed physically dusting it off. 

“Yeah,” Reggie added. “Is that your piano?” 

“No, I don’t play. That’s my mom’s stuff in there. Lita does, but we haven’t really touched that grand in a while…” 

I shrugged, “I have a keyboard in my bedroom that I use instead.” 

“No way, your mom is an amazing songwriter,” Luke shook his head in disbelief. 

“She was,” I agreed.

“Yeah…” Julie trailed off, “Wait, how would you know?” 

“There’s a song on the piano,” he explained. “If it’s hers… your mom was really talented.”

Ah, so they’d discovered Wake Up. Figures.

Julie sighed, giving in to the silence for a minute before replying, “I guess… if you guys need a place to stay, you can stay in there.”

“You already know about the couch, I’m guessing,” I shrugged. “And there’s a shower in the back. Although I don’t see how you’ll need any of it.” 

“Dibs on the shower!” Reggie shouted, before pausing to elaborate. “I just really like showers. And sometimes the occasional bath.” 

Julie blinked. “This… this is just too weird. I’m gonna head out.”

The guys grinned, celebrating while I rolled my eyes. 

“I’ll see y’all, I guess,” I shrugged, giving them a mock salute as I headed inside.

~

I lay flat on my back on the bed, scrolling through the news article detailing the tragic deaths of Sunset Curve. I also practically had their demo album (which someone had uploaded to SoundCloud) on repeat so much that I could probably play Now or Never on the electric guitar if I tried hard enough, since it seemed to only include four chords. 

I desperately wanted to try. 

Then again, I also had been desperate to try out playing any all of the songs in the new Vistas album.

Of course, that meant I was met with a problem. 

I’d have to sneak into the studio. Sneaking into the studio involved making my way quietly past Ray and Julie’s bedrooms to get to the stairs, not waking up Carlos going down the stairs, and then on the chance I did manage to get into the studio at half past midnight, I was risking running into the three ghosts who, presumably, aren’t able to sleep. 

Yeah, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

In the meantime, I just had to focus on getting down. I unlocked the window and judged the distance from there to the trellis. This wasn’t the first time I’d done this, so it was unlikely something really bad would happen, and it wouldn’t be the last. I grabbed my notebook and tucked it under my chin after putting my guitar pick between my teeth so I wouldn’t lose it. 

Slowly, I lowered myself out so that my feet were resting firmly on top of the trellis. I was about to climb down when a newly familiar voice distracted me. 

“Whatcha doing?” Luke.

“You know, if you’d scared me I could have fallen and died. I think you’re familiar with the concept?” I rolled my eyes, starting to descend the trellis.

“You didn’t freak out when I poofed in earlier, thought I’d take my chances. Besides, you seem like a fun person to hang out with.” 

I rolled my eyes again, even though he couldn’t see it. Sure, make puns about hanging when I’m dangling out the side of my house. The next words were muffled slightly thanks to the guitar pick still between my teeth, but I think he got the point. “You’re not funny,” I replied, trying to hide my smile. 

“I’m pretty funny.” 

Pretty damn annoying.” 

I let go of the trellis and dropped the final few feet, the impact causing the book to slip. Luke caught it before it hit the ground, intrigued. 

“What’s this?”

I sighed, “Hand it over.” Before he got the chance, the book fell through his hands as they shimmered. He cursed, reaching for it only for them to pass through it again. I picked it up and tucked it under my arm. “Are you guys gonna mind if I use the studio for a bit?”

“We were planning on going out into Hollywood until dawn because we can do that now, since we’re ghosts,” Luke explained. 

I unlocked the door and pushed it shut behind me as Luke phased through it. I watched for a second, wondering what it was like to be intangible. “Is it weird just being able to walk through walls?” 

“It’s a lot more fun than walking into them?” He supplied, and I let out a short laugh. 

“Right.” 

“So which of this stuff is yours?” Luke gestured to the instruments. 

I pointed at a black and turquoise bass guitar, “That one…” then the tie-dye effect blue, purple and pink electric guitar on the wall, “There…” and then finally the acoustic that Luke had noticed when he first arrived. “And that. And, like I said, I’ve got a keyboard in my room. I’ve also got a couple of ukuleles up there. Jules helped me decorate one of them.”

“Rad,” he whistled. 

Before I could ask Luke a question in return, Alex and Reggie poofed back into the studio. Alex stumbled backwards in surprise at the fact that it was close to one in the morning and I was alive and awake, but he recovered quickly. “Lita, hey. Luke, you ready to go?” 

“Yeah,” he nodded, wrapping an arm around both of his friends’ shoulders as I plugged my electric guitar into the amp and then connected my headphones. I set my phone up on the side with the chords for the new vistas album. 

“Oh, guys?” I caught them before they left, and Luke was the first to spin back around, turning the other two with him. “If you ever want catching up on some of the music you missed in the past twenty-five years…” I gestured to the studio and towards the house, letting out a weak laugh. “You know where I live.”

Luke grinned, “Alright, I’m holding you to that Carmelita .”

I scowled at him. He didn’t have full name privileges just yet. 

“Hey Lita, how do you feel about country—” Reggie got cut off as the other two poofed out of the studio, taking him with them as I shook my head, laughing in disbelief and turning my attention back to the music. The first song I tried, 15 Years was one of my new favourites. (Yes, this is the album that Teenage Blues is from).

 

Bright lights, this city

I know I got it in me

To find the words to say

Please sing them back to me

And you

Were always on my mind