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𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗔 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧

ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ ＦＩＶＥ:
wondering

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THE CROWD WAS stunned, and frankly, so was Emilia. Her eyes flickered between her classmates and Julie, her mind racking for any possible kind of explanation for what happened. Her thoughts scrambled to find one that was realistic, because just saying they're a bunch of ghosts who apparently I can touch and only show up when Julie and I are singing would get her a one-way ticket to a psychiatrist.

"Hey," the light technician began, standing next to Julie and Emilia. "Where'd the rest of the band go?"

"Wait, were those holograms?" Kayla, a girl from Dirty Candy, asked in excitement.

Julie turned, her eyes wide in realization. "Yes! Yes, they were holograms. Emilia and I plugged it into the ceiling projector before the show. We'd explain it, but it involves algorithms and science stuff."

The crowd all cheered again. A small smile appeared on Emilia's face and she looked to Julie. However, it slipped off her face when she noticed Reggie standing on the stage moving his hips in a circle. She sent a confused expression to Luke and Alex. The two of them merely shook their heads.

Principle Lessa clapped her hands once, gaining everyone's attention. "Okay people, show's over. Let's get back to class, please."

Everyone began filing out of the gym. Mrs. Harrison walked up to the two girls. Both of them sat at the edge of the stage to talk to her.

"Mrs. Harrison, please hear us out," Emilia voiced. "We're sorry for not asking for permission first, but . . . Julie just wanted to show you that she belongs here. And I was just along for the ride."

Their teacher shook her head. "As amazing as that was, Emilia, Julie's spot's already been filled by another student."

Her entire mood deflated as she looked to where Mrs. Harrison was pointing. A small boy, possibly a freshman, was lugging a large instrument case down the stairs of the stage.

"Come on, that thing is way too big for him!" Julie protested.

"He'll grow into it," Mrs. Harrison replied. "I wish that I could help you, Julie, but my hands are tied."

"Mine aren't," Principle Lessa announced, walking up and standing besides Mrs. Harrison. "And as much as I didn't approve of this little stunt that you two pulled, I will not go down in history as the principle who kicked Julie Molina out of the music program or getting Emilia Carpenter in trouble for singing."

Emilia's face broke out into a large smile.

Julie lightly chuckled. "Thank you!"

"But," Principle Lessa cut in, holding up her pointer finger. "When you two win your first Grammies, I want to be thanked."

Emilia laughed. "Grammies are a little extreme, but most definitely."

"Thank you."

As Principle Lessa walked off, Mrs. Harrison hugged Julie quickly. "Congratulations! Welcome back." She then hugged Emilia. "You did amazing, Emilia. I always knew you could do it."

Julie and Emilia hopped off the stage when they noticed Flynn standing there.

"Wow, you did it," Flynn commented.

"Thanks to you," Julie responded.

Emilia immediately frowned, noticing that Flynn's facial expression wasn't excited at all. "Hey, are you all right?"

"Uh . . . I'm great," Flynn answered. "When did you two start playing with a hologram band?"

"Oh, it was just one song," Julie stated. "We're not a band. They're a band, a hologram band. Definitely holograms."

"Yeah, I saw. Why have you both been keeping those cute boys a secret?"

Emilia nervously giggled. "Uh, well, it's kind of a crazy story."

"Oh, I'm all about crazy!" Flynn exclaimed. "Let's hear it."

"Okay, um . . ." Julie trailed off. "So they're . . . from Sweden. Yeah. Turns out they're not only great at making meatballs, but also good at making music. Yeah, so they play there, Em and I stream them here, we play together, they leave, then that's it. Anyway, who's excited that I'm back in the music program?"

Flynn stared at her incredulously. "Jules, Em, are you lying to me?"

Emilia sighed, locking her hands together in front of her. "Yeah, we are."

"Since when do we lie to each other?"

"Flynn . . . we're sorry," Julie admitted.

"We're sorry? That's all you've got?"

Flynn scoffed softly and ran out of the gym.

"Wait, Flynn," Julie called after her. "Wait, no!"

Emilia ran after her into the hallway. "Flynn, please!"

She attempted to follow the girl's pink sweater, but it was immediately lost in the sea of people. Emilia got cornered by some of her classmates congratulating her and Julie on their performance, but she wasn't really paying attention. She frantically looked around for Flynn until Apollo stepped in her path.

"Em, what the heck?" Apollo questioned. "You and Julie absolutely rocked it. Why didn't you tell me you were in a band?"

"Because I'm not," Emilia answered. "That performance was just to help Julie get back into the music program. The boys were just there to help as well."

Apollo went to say something else, but then one of his lacrosse friends called his name. He patted her shoulder. "I'll see you later, Em. Ray's house for dinner again?"

"Yeah, see you."

Apollo rushed off to meet his friend. Julie appeared by her side, and Emilia let out a deep breath. She slung an arm around Julie's shoulder as they both walked in the direction of their calculus class.

"Julie! Emilia!" three voices yelled.

Emilia shrieked and slapped her hand to her mouth (her normal reaction, what's new) while Julie screamed. Luke was standing on top of Reggie and Alex's thighs, and all of them looked incredibly excited. Emilia's heart rate decreased and she lowered her hand from her mouth and her arm from around Julie.

"Will you three stop doing that?" Emilia complained. "You might actually give me a heart attack one day."

Reggie pointed to her. "Woah, this one's all on you two. We were already here. Well, actually we were over there, and then we came over here."

"Are we not gonna talk about what just happened?" Luke questioned.

"Yeah, the whole school saw you," Julie voiced. "It's kind of freaking me out."

"Okay, good, 'cause it's kind of freaking me out too," Alex agreed. "You know, you and Emilia could see us, and Emilia could touch us, and people could see us whenever we play music. And my clothes are made of air, but for some reason, I'm still getting a wedgie." Emilia blinked as Alex inhaled sharply, Luke rubbing his back in comfort. "So many questions."

Luke stared at him for a moment before turning back to Julie and Emilia. "The important thing is that we rocked that place. They were loving you two!"

"Are you kidding?" Julie argued. "They loved us!"

Emilia nodded in agreement. "I've told you this once before, but I'll tell you again. Luke, that song was amazing. Thank you for letting us use it."

Luke gave her a smile in return. She sent one back, her heart glowing.

"And did you guys see the cheerleaders looking at me?" Reggie inquired. "I think they were looking at me." He then grabbed Luke's shoulders. "Please tell me they were looking at me."

Luke chuckled and took Reggie's face in his hands. "Bro, they were looking at you."

"Oh, I knew it!"

"I'm so . . . I'm so confused, you know?" Alex revealed. "The afterlife should come with instructions or a quick start guide or something."

"Well, the good thing is that everyone thought you guys were holograms, and I got back into the program," Julie told them.

However, her heart didn't seem really into it. Emilia's excitement had also been dimmed. She stared down at the floor and scuffed it with her shoe.

"Why do you two looked bummed?" Reggie asked.

"Yeah, dudes, you're making this face," Luke said, grabbing Reggie and Alex's shoulders to pull them close while all three of them dramatically pouted.

Emilia rolled her eyes. "First off, I do not look like that. And second, Flynn's mad at both Julie and I. She asked about you three and we couldn't tell her."

"Sweet, girls are already talking about us," Reggie stated.

Luke held out his hand, and Reggie gave him a low-five.

Emilia raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious? Guys, Julie and I can't tell Flynn, just like the way Julie can't tell her dad and I can't tell Apollo."

Julie pointed to her in agreement. "They'd think we've gone off the deep end."

Reggie gestured to the janitor walking behind him. "Well, this dude definitely thinks you've both gone off the deep end."

The janitor stopped and stared at Julie and Emilia for a moment. Emilia gave him an awkward smile, and the janitor continued on.

"Em and I gotta get back to class," Julie announced.

Emilia sighed. "Oh great. Calculus. Can't wait to be completely lost."

The two of them walked through past the boys in the direction of their classroom.

"Later, Julie!" Reggie called after them. "Later, Emilia! Oh, tell those cheerleaders I'm single!"

"Oh, and that he's dead," Alex added.

Emilia shared a look with Julie before they both erupted in giggles. The two continued to walk on, their hearts both racing in excitement from their performance yet shattering in sadness from a friendship breaking. They had to fix things with Flynn before their entire friendship completely fell apart.

𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙 ♔ 𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁

EMILIA WAS SAD. And when she's sad, she writes. So she sat herself down on the couch in Julie's studio (she knew the girl wouldn't mind if she was there, Julie still had one more period while Emilia had a free one at the end of the day so she left) and scribbled down some more lyrics that popped into her head for a song she had been writing in her red songbook. Luke and Reggie were playing their guitar and bass in the background while Alex was nowhere to be seen. Emilia chewed on the end of her pencil as she tried to think of a new lyric.

"Hey, Lia," Luke began.

"Hmm?" Emilia hummed in return, looking up at his expectant expression. "Hey, what's up?"

Luke took a seat next to her and peered over her shoulder. "What'cha writing?"

"A new song that I've been writing for the past couple of days." Emilia wrote down the final words before smiling triumphantly. "And I just finished it. This whole situation with Flynn gave me some new ideas."

Luke gestured to her songbook. "Can I read it?"

Emilia handed him the songbook.

"Wondering?" he read out loud.

She nodded. "It's a little personal, but I guess all songs are."

Emilia watched as his eyes scanned over the rest of the lyrics. Reggie appeared next to Luke and also read the lyrics to her song. She looked down at her lap and fiddled with her fingers. What if they didn't like it? What if they thought it was stupid?

Reggie looked back up at her. "Emilia, this song is amazing."

Her head snapped up to look at them. "Really? You think so?"

"I know so," Luke replied, smiling widely at her. "These lyrics . . . they're fantastic."

Emilia's cheeks flushed a light shade of red as he handed her the songbook back. "Thank you. It's a bit sad, but it kind of reflects my mood right now."

Luke stood up and offered her his hand. "Can we hear it?"

She glanced in between them. "You want to?"

"Of course," Reggie replied, nudging her with his elbow, an excited look on his face.

Emilia smiled. She took Luke's extended hand to pull herself up, pushing away the feeling of tingles running up and down her arm from the touch. Emilia walked over to the grand piano and sat down at it. She placed her open songbook on the piano and softly began to play the first notes of her song.

"Seems like a part of me will always have to lose, every single time I have to choose, swore that it felt right, but was I wrong? Is this where I'm supposed to be at all?" Emilia sang, looking back up as her own lyrics were embedded in her brain to see the boys watching her. "I don't have the answers, not today, it's like nothing makes the questions go away, what I'd give to see if the grass was greener on the other side of all I've had and lost, would it be enough? Or would I still be wondering? If I could go back and change the past, be a little braver than I had, and bet against the odds, would I still be lost? Even if I woke up in my dreams, would there still be something I'm missing? If I had everything, would it mean anything?"

Emilia nodded her head at Luke and Reggie to beckon them over. The two of them rushed around and stood behind her, staring at the lyrics on her page.

"Maybe I should turn around and take the other road, or maybe I'm just looking for what I already know," the three of them harmonized.

"I'm just wondering," Emilia voiced alone.

She looked up and Luke and nodded her head once, telling him it was his turn. His eyes flickered between her and the songbook for a quick moment.

"Feels like I might have broke the best thing that I had, I said too much to ever take it back," Luke stated.

Emilia now nodded her head to Reggie so he could sing by himself.

"Scared I'll never find something as good, and would I even know it if I could?" Reggie sang.

Emilia and Luke joined back in with him. "If I could go back and change the past, be a little braver than I had, and bet against the odds, would I still be lost? Even if I woke up in my dreams, would there still be something I'm missing? If I had everything, would it mean anything . . ."

Emilia stopped playing the piano to sing the final line by herself. "To me?"

The studio went silent. Emilia looked up between them expectantly as they just stared at her. She lowered her fingers from the piano and nervously clasped them together in front of her.

"Well?" she questioned after a moment of silence.

Luke let out a breathy laugh. "Lia, that was incredible. Your voice and the piano went so well together."

Emilia smiled softly at him. "Thank you. And thanks for singing that with me, it sounded great with both of you."

Luke went to respond, but Julie walked into the studio. Emilia closed her songbook and tucked it to her chest while waving to her, standing up from the bench and walking around the piano with the boys behind her. She joined Julie's side while Reggie and Luke went to go stand next to their instruments again.

"Hey, Em," Julie greeted. "What's up?"

"She was showing us a really cool song of hers that all of us sang together," Reggie answered. "Emilia's a killer writer."

Julie nodded in agreement. "I know. Her lyrics are unmatched."

"Except by maybe me," Luke cut in with a teasing tone and a confident smile on his face.

Reggie seemed to realize something. "Wait, what if you and Emilia wrote songs together? Then they would be twice as good."

Emilia looked to Luke. "I mean . . . I'm down for it if you are."

"That actually leads into the next thing I wanted to ask," Luke voiced. "We've been waiting for Julie to get home. Okay, so, we have some pretty major news to tell you. We had a band meeting earlier, and . . ." Reggie drum-rolled with his hands on his thighs. "We wanna invite you and Julie to join Sunset Curve. And no, you're not dreaming."

Emilia blinked. Of course she loved playing music, she loved how happy the boys were when they were up there on that stage, and she loved the feeling of singing with Luke and Reggie, but joining a ghost band? Not to mention the whole situation with Flynn. No matter how many texts Emilia and Julie sent in their group chat, Flynn ignored them. Joining this band would be betraying Flynn even more. Or maybe Flynn was just being over dramatic. That was also another possibility. Either way, Emilia was still completely stunned.

"Oh," Julie stated.

The smiles slowly dropped off of Luke and Reggie's faces. Emilia felt her heart sink. They looked so happy.

"Oh," Luke repeated. "Oh, she said oh. Um, that's what you say when you get socks on your birthday, not when you're invited to join the most epic band ever."

"I think that title belongs to One Direction," Emilia admitted.

Luke stared at her. "Who?"

She shook her head. "Never mind. I'll show you later."

"Sorry, I'm honored, but I can't think about anything but Flynn right now," Julie admitted. "She's still mad at Em and I for lying. She hasn't even texted us back!"

"Yeah, you're in a tough spot," Luke responded. He paused for a moment. "So, you two wanna join the band?"

Julie blinked. "Read the room, dude."

Emilia lightly tapped him on the head with her songbook as she passed him, just about to leave the studio with Julie. "We've got bigger things to focus on, Ghost Boy."

"Oh, come on!" Luke protested, stopping them just as they reached the doors. "We need you both, and you need us because you need music. We found this poem that Julie wrote, and Reggie and I, we added this really cool melody to it. It sounds awesome."

"Where'd you find that?" Julie asked, staring at the piece of paper.

"Uh . . ." Luke pulled Reggie to stand in front of him. "Definitely not your dream box."

Emilia's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me the entire time I was sitting there, you were adding music to a poem you stole from Julie?" She placed a hand to her forehead. "Oh my God, I'm gonna have to start babysitting them."

"You went through my stuff?" Julie inquired loudly.

"I know, but—" Luke began, running away to escape Julie's wrath.

"Yeah, we can do that now!" Reggie exclaimed.

Emilia shook her head and patted his shoulder. "No you can't, Reggie."

"No!" Julie yelled as she chased Luke around the piano. "No, you can't! Boundaries! Give it back!"

"No," Luke responded, hopping up to stand on the piano bench. "Hey, you need to realize how insanely talented you are. You too, Emilia. Don't pretend I didn't notice how you kept asking for mine and Reggie's approval."

Emilia frowned. She didn't necessarily mean to keep asking for their approval, but making sure people were happy with what she was doing sort of became second nature to her when she was thirteen. Like every other problem in her life, it was because of her parents.

"Okay, listen to this." Luke unfolded the poem. "If somebody hurts you—" Julie attempted to snatch it back, but Luke pulled it closer to him. "If somebody hurts you, I'm gonna get hurt, too." Luke then began to sing it. "My life, my life, would be real low, zero, flying solo."

"Oh-oh!" Reggie added.

"It's a killer melody," Luke insisted.

Julie sighed. "I wrote that about Flynn and Emilia when they were helping me with all my mom stuff."

Emilia's eyes softened and she took a step forwards. "You wrote a poem about Flynn and I?"

"Yeah," Julie replied. "I would've never gotten through it if it wasn't for you guys."

Emilia's heart warmed. She walked up to Julie and pulled her into a tight hug, resting her chin on the girl's shoulder. Never in her life did she expect Julie to write a poem about how her and Flynn helped her through such a tough time in her life. And somehow, after years of friendship, Emilia felt their relationship grow stronger.

"You do realize I'm gonna have to write a song about you now," Emilia said once she pulled away.

Julie laughed. "I'll be expecting it." She nodded her head to the door. "Come on."

The two of them walked towards the doors to go back up to Julie's house.

"Hey!" Luke called. "What about the band?"

Julie turned, her hands resting on the door handles. "Oh, I almost forgot. Stay out of my room!"

With that, she shut the door. Julie shared an exasperated look with Emilia before the two of them walked up the path that would lead to Julie's house, determined to at least find a way to get Flynn to talk to them.

-ˋˏ ༻ ☁︎ ༺ ˎˊ-

this election has my anxiety going 📈📈📈📈

anyways I originally had em show luke and reggie all I want (bc yk liv wrote the song herself) but I felt like wondering fit her situation better :) and omg she wanted them to sing with her bye I'm soft

(I also based it off of the small version they sing in hsmtmts and not the full version)