Songbird | Luke Patterson

Chapter 7

LOS ANGELES, 2020
LOS FELIZ HIGH SCHOOL

Julie stood on the stage by herself, facing a crowd who I could tell have a ton of questions. One of the stage crew members walked up to Julie.

"Hey, where'd the rest of the band go?" He asked her.

"Wait. Were those holograms?" Kayla, a member from Dirty Candy asked Julie. Julie looked over at me for validation, and I nodded slowly, so no one would notice.

"Yes! Yes, they were holograms. Um, I plugged it into the ceiling projector before the show. I'd explain it, but it involves algorithms and science stuff." Julie lied. Everybody started cheering for her. I saw the guys appear out the corner of my eye.

I slowly walked over to where they were, again, not trying to draw any attention to myself.

"That's wild. They could see us when we were playing, but not when the music ended." Luke says.

"We should double check." Reggie says, and he walks up the steps, and shakes his hips around. He walks back down the steps to the guys and I.

"Yeah, I don't...I don't think they can see us." He says.

"I wish I couldn't see you." Alex whispers. I try to contain my laughter, so I wouldn't get any weird looks.

"Okay, people, show's over. Let's get back to class please." Principal Lessa says, clapping her hands together. People start walking to the door, and leave to their classes.

I see Julie sit on the edge of the stage, and start talking with Mrs. Harrison.

"Guys! She's talking to our music teacher." I tell the guys. We all look over to Julie and Mrs. Harrison. Principal Lessa joins the conversation, and next thing we know. Julie's smiling, and thanking Principal Lessa.

"I think she's back in!" I say. We all silently cheer for her.

"Luke, great idea. Thank you for telling me." I say, flashing a big smile at him. So much has happened over the past few days. I met ghosts, heard Julie sing for the first time in forever, and now, she's performed in front of the whole school, and got her spot back in the music program.

"Anytime." He says, popping his collar like some cheesy, action hero. I chuckle, and run over to Julie as soon as Principal Lessa, and Mrs. Harrison walk away.

"Did you get back in?" I ask.

"Yes!" Julie cheers. We both squeal, and hug each other. I assume the boys went home, because they weren't in the gym anymore. Julie hops off the stage, and we walk over to Flynn.

"Wow. You did it." She says.

"Thanks to you guys." Julie says. I smile at her, but Flynn doesn't. Something's wrong.

"Flynn, you okay?" I ask her.

"Uh, I'm great. When did you start playing with a hologram band?" She asks Julie.

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

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