────── ♫♫♫ ──────

────── ♫♫♫ ──────

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟖
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐑

────── ♫♫♫ ──────

After avoiding talking to Carter about their project that was due in a few days every chance she could, Lexi met up with Flynn in the hall outside of her last class before the two of them made their way toward Julie's locker. As they wove through the sea of students that littered the halls, Flynn couldn't help but cast a few glances at the girl next to her, knowing that the redhead had a million thoughts running through her head just by the look on her face. The two girls continued to walk in comfortable silence until they finally reached their destination, only to find their oblivious third Musketeer dancing around as she looked through her locker.

Flynn and Lexi stood there for a moment as they watched their carefree friend before they stepped forward to make themselves known. Once Julie caught them out of the corner of her eye, she removed her earphones and placed them in their case before sending her two friends a large smile.

"Hey, what's up?" the Molina girl greeted as she took her backpack out of her locker before slinging it over her shoulder.

"Nothing. It's just nice seeing you back to your weirdo self. Makes me feel a little more normal," Lexi teased as she and Flynn formed matching smiles while Julie sent them a playful glare.

"So how's the band?" Flynn asked with a smirk on her face, "still hot? Still talented?" The girl in the pink beanie paused as she looked around to make sure no one was listening before grabbing Lexi's arm and forcing her to move closer to the conversation. "Still dead?"

"Amazing. Luke and I spent the whole weekend writing songs," the curly-haired girl answered as the smile on her face slightly grew, "you guys wanna hear some of them?"

The two girls in front of Julie quickly nodded, causing the latter to grab the lock off the top shelf before closing her locker. Once it was secure, the three of them linked arms and made their way through the halls and toward the music room with smiles on their faces. Laughter cut through the air that surrounded the trio as they talked about various things before they finally reached their destination.

While Lexi and Flynn stood next to the piano, Julie sat down on the bench before lifting the cover and gently placing her fingers on the keys. The smile on the Molina girl's face never faded as she sang the chorus of one of the songs she and Luke wrote while Lexi and Flynn danced along with the music, completely over the moon that their friend was into music again.

"Wow! I like it! Definite Gaga vibes," Flynn told Julie as Lexi nodded along before the girl in the pink beanie's smile turned into a slight look of confusion. Before the redhead could even try to figure out her friend's sudden mood change, Flynn looked away from Julie and turned to face the ginger-haired girl. "I thought writing songs was more your thing?"

"Who said I wasn't writing songs?" Lexi retaliated, receiving curious looks from her two friends before the Daniels girl let out a long sigh to prepare herself for her upcoming ramble, "Reggie would randomly appear in my room at some point over the weekend. When he came, we'd bounce ideas for songs off each other. He's working on some country song, which wasn't too bad, and wanted some help with it. He helped me with one of my songs too. Sometimes Alex would be with him but I think it was mostly so he could see my mom and dad."

"Oh, okay. So one of my girls has a crush on Luke," Flynn responded as she gestured over at Julie, who looked back at her with wide eyes, before the former turned back to Lexi, "and my other girl has a crush on Reggie."

"What? No. Luke's a ghost," Julie scoffed while Lexi stood there with a blank expression on her face, knowing no matter what she said couldn't cover up what Flynn discovered. While Flynn watched her friend at the piano with an unconvinced look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest, the Molina girl just stared back at her before letting out a long sigh, "a cute ghost...with a perfect smile."

"Ha! I knew it! Just remember they're made of air. I just don't wanna see you guys get hurt, okay?" Flynn responded while inconspicuously glancing over at Lexi a few times before looking back at Julie with a smile on her face, "obviously, you guys have a connection. Everybody's wondering when you'll play again."

"Play again? We don't even have anything planned. Luke and I have just been focused on writing songs."

"Lucky for you, your marketing team has been way ahead of you," the raven-haired girl told Julie before digging through her backpack. While she was looking through her bag, Julie and Lexi exchanged a confused look right before Flynn pulled out a light purple piece of paper and handed it over to the Molina girl. "You're playing the school dance tonight, and I'm DJ-ing too. I posted it all over social media. You have an excellent marketing team."

"No. No. This is in front of the whole school," Julie stated as she placed the flier on the piano, giving Lexi her first look at the poster.

The Daniels girl's brown eyes scanned over the light purple paper for a moment before three words caused her whole body to tense. Her heartbeat quickened as she picked up the flier and scanned over it one more time, hoping that she just misread it, only to find the words staring back at her as if they were mocking her.

Julie and her Hologram Band
Tonight
At the Dance!
feat. Lexi Daniels

"Uh, Flynn," the redhead said just loud enough for her two friends to hear her before she spun the paper around and pointed to her name, "why is my name on here?"

"It's on there because you looked so happy playing with Julie and the guys the other day. Happier than I've seen you in a long time," the girl in the pink beanie told her friend while slinging an arm around Lexi's shoulder, who was staring at the flier with wide eyes once again, "plus it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission."

"I can't play in front of the whole school!" the Daniels girl exclaimed as she placed the poster back on the piano before looking up to meet Flynn's eyes, "you need to take my name off. Like now."

The only response Lexi received was a small smirk before Flynn pulled out her phone from her pocket. The girl typed on it for a moment as her eyes scanned over the screen before she looked back up at Lexi. "Sorry, it already has sixty-eight likes."

Before the redhead could say another word, her raven-haired friend sent her one last smile before turning and walking out of the room. As soon as she was out of sight, Lexi looked over to Julie for help, only to receive a shrug from the Molina girl before she grabbed her bag and chased after Flynn. The Daniels girl just stood in her spot as she continued to reread the flier over and over before the text tone of her phone went off twice. A small sigh passed over her lips as she pulled out the device to see two messages from the people she'd never talk to again if she had the choice.

🙄CARTER🙄:
Come over at 4 to work on the project

🙃CARRIE🙃:
You and Julie are both playing the
dance? I knew it was gonna be lame 🤣

────── ♫♫♫ ──────

As soon as she got home from school, Lexi sat in her room doing her homework while her leg was bouncing like she had twenty cups of coffee. Her eyes kept glancing over at the clock on her nightstand as she silently prayed that time would just stop or she could skip to tomorrow or something would happen so she wouldn't have to go to the Wilson residence to work on that project. She didn't really know what was worse; actually doing the assignment with Carter or asking Ryder for a ride when he got home.

Music from the Molina house across the way made Lexi stop in her tracks before she looked out her window and toward the source of the noise. A small smile formed on her face as she listened to the faint sound of Julie rehearsing with the guys as her pencil bounced on her homework page to the beat of the muffled music. This continued for a few more minutes until the song died down, causing silence to surround Lexi once again as she continued to stare at where the music originated. The Daniels girl truly was happy that Julie found herself again, she just hated how she was getting dragged into it.

The stillness of her room was quickly interrupted by the front door opening and closing downstairs before the muffled sound of Ryder and Cami's voices cut through the air. After looking at her clock once again to find that she had thirty minutes before needing to be at Carter's, a long sigh passed over Lexi's lips as she placed her songbook in her bag before throwing it over her shoulders and making her way downstairs.

"Hey, Ry. Hi, Cami," she greeted the two older teens who were sitting on the couch with soda bottles in their hands. Once they saw the look on Lexi's face, their smiles fell as Ryder muted the TV before they turned their full attention toward the girl. "Uh, do you think you could give me a ride to Carter's?"

"Carter? As in Carter Wilson? The boy who you never wanted to see again?" Cami replied as she leaned forward to look around her boyfriend and at his little sister, only to receive a sad nod in response.

"Why would you want a ride to his place?" the older Daniels sibling questioned with a quirked eyebrow while his eyes scanned over his sister's face, "you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," Lexi sighed as she ran a hand through her hair before plopping down on the couch next to her brother, "and I don't want to go to his house, I need to go to his house. We have a project that we need to get done."

While the redheaded girl stared at her intertwined fingers in her lap, Ryder and Cami exchanged a skeptical look before the former let out an extremely long sigh. This caused Lexi to glance up at her brother to see him grab his keys off the coffee table before the two older teens got to their feet. A grateful smile formed on the Daniels girl's face as she copied their actions before the three of them made their way towards the door and outside to Ryder's truck. Once all of them were in the vehicle with their seatbelts on, the Daniels boy started the car before pulling out of the driveway and in the direction of the Wilson residence.

As soon as they reached their destination, Lexi caught Ryder and Cami sending her skeptical looks through the rearview mirror. After the younger teen reassured them that she'd be okay, the redheaded girl hopped out of the truck while the two older teens told her to call her if she needed anything before Lexi turned and made her way toward the mansion in front of her. With the sound of her brother's vehicle driving away in her ears, the Daniels girl hesitantly knocked on the large door and waited for a moment before it opened to reveal a confused Nick staring back at her.

"Lexi? What are you doing here?" the blonde boy asked her as his eyebrows scrunched together to match the expression on his face.

"Nice to see you, too," the redhead responded, earning an apologetic look from the boy in front of her before she let out a small forced laugh, "and I'm here to work on a project with Carter."

"Right. He mentioned something about that," Nick mumbled while taking a step back to allow Lexi to enter.

The Daniels girl sent a grateful grin the boy's way before slowly walking into the large house. Once Lexi got into the living room, she stopped in her tracks and her eyes slightly widened. Staring back at her from the bottom of the staircase were the ghosts of Sunset Curve. The three boys sent her small waves along with innocent smiles before she felt a presence next to her. Lexi immediately noticed Reggie's grin fall, causing her to look up to find Carter staring down at her with a confused look on his face.

"What are you staring at?" the Wilson boy asked before he looked where the redhead was once staring, only to find his empty living room.

"Uh, I just forgot how big your house actually was," Lexi lied while the boys sent her apologetic looks before racing up the stairs.

"It is pretty big," the raven-haired boy smirked as he looked around at the white walls of his house then cast his gaze back down to the girl next to him, "anyway, let's go start on the project. The sooner we finish the better."

After mumbling an agreement to the boy in front of her, Lexi followed after him and toward the studio where the two of them used to write all their songs. As they continued through the halls, the Daniels girl felt her phone going off in her pocket before she discreetly pulled out her phone to see a text from Julie.

🤩JULIE🤩:
We have a problem!! Are you
still at the Wilsons??

🥰LEXI🥰:
Yep. Does our problem have to
do with the guys being here??

🤩JULIE🤩:
Of course, it does. They found
out Trevor stole all of Luke's
songs and didn't give them
any credit

Flynn and I are on our way.
Can you stall until we get
there?

🥰LEXI🥰:
I can stall Carter but Carrie
is with Nick in the den on the
other side of the house

🤩JULIE🤩:
Ok. Flynn and I will figure
something out. Thanks Ali!! 💖

────── ♫♫♫ ──────

────── ♫♫♫ ──────