[Finally Free]

The doors to the dance studio opened and Julie rushed in.

"Oh, Julie, how nice of you to join us," the dance teacher said.

"I'm so sorry," Julie apologized. "I overslept."

"Take your spot."

Julie walked to one side of Flynn and began repeating what the teacher was doing.

"So... Why didn't you wake me up?" Julie asked. "I missed my first three classes."

"Julie, you said you were never gonna show your face at school again, and I'm a very literal person," Flynn replied.

"It's okay. It's those stupid ghosts I'm really upset at. I'd kill them if they were already dead."

"Having a band is supposed to help your social life, not ruin it."

"Ex-band."

"Right. Sorry. Ex-band."

"It's all so messed up. I thought they were in this with me. But obviously I was wrong."

"Hey, don't blame yourself. You can only be so strong when three cute ghosts ask you to join a band. And speaking of cute, have you talked to Nick today? He was pretty chatty at the dance."

"No, and I'm kind of dreading it. At least I know I won't see him in this class." Something caught her eye. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Flynn asked before looking back to see a group of boys walking towards them; including Nick.

"What are they doing here?" Julie whispered.

"Right on time, Coach Barron," the dance teacher said. "So, students, Coach Barron and I have decided that his lacrosse team will be part of our class for a few weeks. Many pro-athletes have used dance to help them with coordination and mobility."

"This isn't about flirting with girls," Coach told the boys who laughed. "It's about making us better so we can actually win a game. We lost against Burbank. Burbank!"

"Well, let's all remember that composure is a big part of dance. Everybody pair up."

The boys went to find a dance partner. One approached the girls and found a spot with Flynn.

"No, no, no," Julie said.

"I'm sorry," Flynn apologized as she was led away.

"Don't leave me. Please." Julie held her hands out.

"Hey," Nick greeted as he walked up to Julie.

"Hey, you," Julie replied awkwardly.

The dance teacher said, "So, ladies, let's do what we learned last week, and we will perform this with the boys this Friday. Coach Barron and I will demonstrate."

Coach Barron shook his head. "No. I don't dance."

"You do now." Everyone began following the teacher's instruction and learning the dance routine. "Let's do it again. Half-time, no music."

"You ready for this?" Julie asked Nick.

"Sure," Nick replied. "Uh... My little sister throws a lot of princess dance parties."

"Five, six, seven, eight," the teacher said and the students began dancing again.

Julie chuckled. "Not so bad, Your Majesty."

"Thank you," Nick said. "So, about last night's dance."

"Yeah. I was kind of hoping that if I didn't talk about it, it'd be like it never happened."

"You'll be fine, okay? You're tough. You've been through way worse." The two stumbled and stood closer to each other. "Sorry. I... I'm just... I'm not used to dancing like this."

"You and Carrie never danced together?"

"No, and we never will. We broke up."

"Oh... You did?"

"I'm... done with the drama. And I don't know if you noticed, but she's not the nicest person."

"What? I never noticed."

Nick spun out and fell. He looked up at Julie and said, "Uh... You sure you wanna be partners?"

"No. I... I want you." Nick looked at her curiously and Julie's eyes widened. "To be my dance partner!" She offered her hand. "Let's just... go over it again." Nick grasped her hand. "We'll get it eventually." She pulled him up and smiled while he let out a sigh.

---

Alex and Reggie sat in a café watching a woman take pictures of her food.

"Oh, great angle," Reggie said. "Yeah. Now that's a good pic."

Alex frowned. "Is this what we came here for? To watch people take pictures of their food?"

"It's fun. Watch this." He moved the woman's plate. "Look. People don't ever stop looking at their phones. Oop! Ehh! Woo!" Reggie chuckled. "And Luke said something about this being a hotspot for music industry people."

"Yes!" Luke whispered before he picked up the pen and wrote the band's name.

"Boys!" Luke called. "Being a ghost has its privileges. I just wrote our names on the playlist for tonight."

"I'm getting a bit worried about him," Alex said. "He keep forgetting that Julie quit the band."

"She'll come back as soon as she knows we have a great gig."

Reggie met Luke's eyes. "But if she doesn't come back, let's not forget, we do have somewhere else we can play and eat pizza!"

"Dude, I know!" Luke replied. "It was awesome to be seen by lifers at Caleb's party, but we got this with Julie. We don't need him!" Another jolt hit them and the three groaned.

"Oh, it's that same thing again," Alex said.

"Just like yesterday," Luke muttered with a pained groan.

"It feels like that one time I fixed my amp in the rain," Reggie said.

Alex said, "You shouldn't -- Okay, look, do you think something's wrong with us?"

"Yeah, yeah, we ate ten pounds of pizza yesterday without a stomach!" Luke replied. "I think it's just our body working through it."

Reggie frowned. "Tell me we're why we're forgetting about Trevor. The jerk stole our music!"

"And he has to live with that guilt. It's just like Julie said. We have a new band, a new sound, okay? We should be focusing on that -- Isn't that Willie?"

Willie stood in the window. The ghosts turned to look at him and he skated away. Alex ran out after him and stood outside, looking for Willie.

"Well, someone's not focusing on our music," Reggie commented with a smirk.

---

Willie skated through an alley and stopped, seeing Caleb. He pulled his board up with his foot.

"Hello, William," Caleb greeted.

"Caleb, hi," Willie replied. "Um..." He pulled off his helmet. "I... I was actually just-"

"Checking on the boys for me? How is my band doing?"

"Uh... Well, they're flickering. Just like you wanted them to." He smiled nervously.

Caleb spread his hands a moment and grinned. "Wonderful." He turned to walk away, then turned back with a finger in the air. "Oh, and William, the next time you want to check on the boys for me, let me know."

Willie glanced down a moment and nodded once. "Yeah, my bad."

"You do love skating the streets of Hollywood. Would hate to have to take that away from you." He disappeared.

Willie stood in the alley a moment before putting on his helmet, readying to go.

---

The three made their way back to the studio and when Julie entered the garage, the ghosts sang, "We're sorry! So sorry! We're super-duper, crazy, stupid sorry!" They did jazz hands and smiled.

"In case you missed it, we're really sorry," Reggie said.

Julie pursed her lips. "Yeah, I got that part."

"We've been here for, like, three hours," Alex informed.

"Yup," Reggie confirmed as Alex and Reggie high-fived.

"We almost sang to your little brother and little sister," Luke told Julie.

"They come in here a lot, but he mainly comes in to use the bathroom."

"It's not our favorite part of the day," Alex admitted.

Luke turned to their newest bandmate. "But Julie, it wasn't okay that we flaked on the dance last night."

"You're the best thing that's happened to use since we became ghosts."

"So, in hope you'll rejoin the band, we booked a gig," Luke said, handing her a paper.

"A mega important, life-changing gig!" Reggie added.

"Tons of bands and managers go there to listen to bands. All we gotta do is blow them all away and we're living the dream."

"So this means a lot to you, huh?" Julie asked. "Kinda like how playing in front of my whole school was important to me."

"Sounds like sarcasm," Reggie said. "I'm starting to think our plan isn't working."

"Look, we know we messed up," Alex told Julie.

"But we need you in the band," Luke commented.

"Of course you do," Julie replied. "'Cause without me, no one can see you guys playing. You know, I thought that the music we were writing was special, but you guys are too obsessed with your past to even care."

"I do care! Our band has a real chance at greatness. I'm not gonna let that get away from us again."

"Uh-huh. Right. So why did you bail on me and Julie to get back at Trevor? I'll tell you why. 'Cause there's only one thing that you care about and that's yourself."

The girls walked away.

"Dude, she didn't mean it," Alex said.

Luke glared and poofed away.

"Where's he going?" Reggie asked.

"Where do you think?" Alex replied. "Remember what today is?"

---

Julie was studying on the couch in the living room.

Alex and Reggie appeared in front of the girl.

"Hey, you, uh... You got a second?" Alex asked.

Reggie's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. She can't see us anymore!" Alex stared at him. "Oh. Right. Yup."

The blond sat near the teen. "Julie, please." She looked at him.

"I already told you that I'm done with the band," Julie said.

"Yeah, we know, all right? But before you decide that forever, we just... We wanted you to know that Luke isn't as selfish as you think he is."

"Yeah." Reggie let out a sigh. "You've got him all wrong."

"You remember that song Emily? Can we at least show you who that's actually about?"

---

Luke sat on the countertop of his house. He sat in silence.

He'd been going to his house for awhile to check on his parents.

Julie, Alex and Reggie watched from behind a big tree and bushes.

"So, Emily's his mom?" Julie asked.

"Yeah," Alex replied. "Yeah, he comes here a lot."

"He thinks we don't know, but he's disappeared so much we've been following him," Reggie said. "He just like to hang like this and watch them." He sighed. "They never really do anything, though."

"They're having cake. That's something," Julie noted.

"It's a birthday cake -- uh, for Luke."

"I never knew Luke was hurting this much."

"It's even worse because when he died, he left on bad terms," Alex said. "You know, his parents didn't want their 17-year-old in a rock band, so he just left. They never got to make up."

Luke stood and walked over to the cake.

The father lit the candles on the cakes and Luke blew the candle out. They looked around and relit the candle.

"That's why Luke was so angry," Julie realized. "If Trevor had given Luke credit, then his parents would have known his dreams were worth chasing."

The candle was blown out again. Luke's father cut the cake, but could barely take a bite. Luke stood and looked at his parents sadly.

Julie wiped her tears away.

"We know how bad it hurts whenever someone that should've had your back... completely lets you down," Alex said. "We never meant to make you feel that way."

"Julie," Reggie called, causing the girl to turn to him. "We love our band, and Luke does too. Please give us another chance."