| 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 | 𝙹.𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚊 | 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚍

19 | STAMPS

     THE BAND HAD no idea that they had completely missed the time when they were meant to be at Julie's school. It had been two hours since they were meant to be there, time had flown past and the concept of time was basically thrown out the window.

"Oh, pizza! Man, I missed you!" Luke said, finally finishing the slice.

Hayden chuckled and then looked at Reggie. "Are you kissing that meatball sub, Reg?"

He looked back at her. "Its what you do with the things you love."

"I love you dweebs but you don't see me kissing you guys."

"I take it you're all enjoying the feast?" Caleb asked from the stage, the crowd cheered in response. "So many delicious sights, so many tantalizing sounds. But, your eyes still hunger for more. Something sweet. Something savoury. How many newcomers do we have in the club tonight?"

A few hands went up, including the bands.

"Ladies, lets show our guests how we do dessert. A one, two, three, four!"

The Hollywood Ghost Club band erupted into music and people began to dance in front of them. For this song, Caleb just scatted throughout it while people mainly focused on the dancers.

Willie, who had joined them just as teh food had arrived, jumped from his seat and joined in on the dancing. He then pulled teh band up onto their feet, a woman danced in between them and in front of Reggie, making him swoon.

Caleb swung two women, twins, at Luke and Reggie and they began dancing. Then the woman who had winked and waved at Hayden came out, she began to dance with the ghost while Alex started dancing with two guys. Caleb was really catering to the whole band.

The dance ended with the music and then a bell chimed.

"Oh, the haunting hour is upon us." The band started again.

Hayden looked at the clock, it had been three hours since they were meant to go join Julie. She politely pulled away from teh woman she was dancing with and then not so politely dragged Luke away from his dancing partner.

"Luke! It's twelve!"

He looked at the clock and his eyes grew wide. "How did that happen?"

The two turned to Reggie and after he ignored them, Luke lifted the boy up and away from the twin he was dancing with. "Dude, we lost track of time! We were supposed to be at Julie's school at nine!"

"Oh shoot. That's right. Maybe we can still make it. Where's Alex? Alex, we forgot-"

"Up here!" The boy called out, the other band members looked up to see Alex on a sort of hoop swing. "Julie. I know. This place is...one sec. This place is some kind of time warp."

Hayden rolled her eyes. "Poof down here, we gotta get going!"

The four grabbed their jackets and began to race to the exit, only stopping because Caleb appeared in front of them.

"What's the rush?" He asked them. "The party's just getting started and you have an eternity, after all."

"You know that girl that can see us?" Reggie began. "We sort of bailed on her. There's this dance at her school, and she's got this friend, Flynn, who's like a super cool DJ, like-"

Hayden hit his arm. "I don't think he has and eternity to hear this story. Basically, we're late for a gig."

"But what about my offer?" Caleb asked.

Luke looked at the older ghost, having just put on his jacket. "It's very cool of you, Mr. Covington, but, like we said, we already-"

"Have a band of your own. I understand." The band went to leave but they were stopped once again. "Oh, if you ever want to come back and fix that little problem with your friend, the Hollywood Ghost Club is always open."

"Yeah, man, we'd love to come back."

"Ah! Music to my ears." He offered his hand out to Hayden and shook it, going down the band and leaving odd purple marks on their wrists that soon disapeared. "Oh, its just a little club stamp. Until next time."

Hayden grabbed Luke's arm and pulled him out of the club, knowing Reggie and Alex wouldn't be far behind.

The four ran to the school, forgetting that they could just poof there, they ran down the hallways and into the gym where they found Julie alone in the hall.

"Julie, we are ready to rock this dance, which is clearly over." Reggie said.

The band faced Julie who had stood up from the floor. 

"Look, we are so sorry." Hayden said first. "We're sorry that we bailed on you."

"Yeah. The night really got away from us." Alex sighed.

"And the twins." Reggie mumbled, earning a smack on the arm by Luke.

Julie sighed. "Just please tell me it had nothing to do with you getting back at Carrie's dad."

Luke scoffed. "Oh, of course not."

Hayden just pulled her lips into a thin line, the boys were not convincing Julie at all and were probably making it worse.

"Seriously?" Julie spoke. "You're lying to me?"

"Okay, look, it was something we needed to do." Alex responded.

Luke nodded. "But, we'll do whatever it takes. We'll play the next school dan-"

"What?" Julie asked, cutting him off. "Another dance where you can bail on me and make me look like a fool? Save it. You know what really sucks? Our songs were good. And all of you knew what I've been through, and how tough it's been for me to play, and then you do this? Bands don't do that to each other. Friends don't do that to each other. This was a mistake."

"You mean the school dance, right?"

Julie shook her head. "No. I mean joining a band with you guys."

"Princess." Hayden stepped forward.

"It's Julie." The girl snapped back before running out of the gym.

Reggie looked at the heartbroken girl. "Well, if Julie's not in the band, then..."

"There is no band."

Hayden then felt a sharp pain in her chest, she gasped and leaned over, holding a hand over the spot. She looked up to see her bandmates had seemed to experience something similar.

"What was that?" Alex asked.

"It felt like we were dying all over again."

Hayden furrowed her brows. "How can we die if we're already dead?"