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002. you can see

"Shhh," Julie whispered to Flynn as she held her pointer finger over her lips. "They don't know you're coming, and we don't know if you can see or hear them yet. I wanna surprise them."

She opened the studio doors as quietly as she could and spotted the boys lying on the couch, sleeping. "WAKE UP!"

As soon as Reggie opened his eyes, he was screaming. Alex covered his ears with his hands so he wouldn't hear the scream.

Luke tried to ignore the screams as he casually walked over to Julie and Flynn. He looked at Flynn first, waving his hand in front of her face. "Hellooo? Can you hear me?? Can you see me??"

Flynn rolled her eyes. "Considering you aren't really a ghost anymore, I'd be surprised if I couldn't."

Reggie's jaw dropped. "YOU CAN SEE US TOO?!"

Alex'a eyes widened. "Oh, no. This is bad. This is really really bad. Now I don't know if I'll be able to see Willie because if he's a ghost and I'm not then-"

"CAN YOU TOUCH US TOO?" Reggie shouted at Flynn, running up to her from the couch.

Flynn slowly reached out and punched her fist into his shoulder for more effect.

"OUCH!" cried Reggie. "That was mean!"

Flynn shrugged. "I was just tryna help you out. Seriously, who else that you knew would've wanted to reach out and find out if their best friend's band were still ghosts?!"

Luke smiled at Julie. "Did you bring our food?"

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yeah. I only brought one thing for each of you though because we don't actually know if you can eat yet."

"Oh, we definitely can," emphasized Luke.

Julie smiled and shook her head, holding out one of the packs of cakesters for Luke. "Okay, well, you guys can try, but we kinda have to move on to more important things."

"What's more important than food?!" exclaimed Reggie. "Water?!"

"Uh, no," said Julie. "The fact that everyone else can see you and touch you..."

She saw Alex sitting silently in the back and knew he was struggling. She walked over to him, offering a comforting smile. "Hey, I'm sure you can still see Willie. I mean, it's not like you guys could've just gone from 100% ghost to 100% alive again."

"I dunno, Jules," Luke interrupted, walking over to them. "But these weird soft puffy off-brand Oreos are really good. You've gotta try them, Alex. They're to die for."

"Um, no offense, Luke," said Alex, "but I already died once from eating food, and I don't really want to again. Especially not in pain."

Luke rolled his eyes. "If I thought you would've died from them, I wouldn't have told you to eat them. Obviously, I'm still alive, so that argument's not gonna work."

Julie turned to Luke with a heartfelt smile. "Okay, Luke?"

He smiled and slowly leaned closer. "Yeah?"

"I'm gonna need you to go eat your cakesters over there with Flynn and Reggie," said Julie.

Luke leaned back in offense with his mouth hanging wide open. "Really, Jules? I'm just tryna get him to eat the best off-brand weird-looking Oreos. He hasn't eaten in decades!"

Julie smiled at him, trying not to laugh. "Yeah, well my dad is inside right now probably wondering where I am, and if he comes out here and sees all of you guys here, he's really gonna be wondering what's going on."

"You've gotta start taking more risks and chances, Jules," Luke emphasized. "Your dad is gonna have to come in here eventually, and he's gonna see us anyways! Why can't we just go tell him we're here and get some more food?!"

Alex smiled and shook his head. "You're one to talk about taking chances."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Luke.

Alex smiled and simply shook his head. "Another time, man. Another time."

Julie shook her head as she fought off a smile. "Yeah, that's not happening. I think my dad would ground me for the rest of my life."

Luke shrugged. "Well, your brother already knows about us, so I don't see what the harm in telling your dad-"

"Carlos knows?!" exclaimed Julie.

"Yeah," said Luke. "I thought you knew. He came in here and confronted us about it before the show yesterday."

Julie closed her eyes and shook her head. "Oh my gosh. This is a total mess."

Luke shrugged. "I mean, it might make it easier to tell your dad now."

"Yeah," Reggie called from across the room. "Ray is the best! I'm sure he'll understand!"

Flynn and Reggie walked over to the others and they all sat down together. "Okay," said Flynn, "Maybe we should tell him by like saying there's something we need to show you and we bring him here. Keep it short and simple, right?"

Julie shrugged. "Maybe... but I don't know how's he going to react period. He could be kinda chill with you guys... or I guess since it's technically his house he can throw you guys out."

"Throw us out?!" exclaimed Reggie. "He can't! I love Ray! He's my hero!"

Luke let out a sigh and looked at Julie. "I think you should just tell him some of it and bring him in here, Jules. Like Flynn said, short and sweet."

Flynn smiled and nodded in approval. "It's a good thing you're supporting me."

"Guys, I don't think he's going to like us very much," said Alex. "If he finds out how long we've been staying here, he could get seriously mad at Julie."

Julie nodded, thankful that someone else understood the possible consequences at hand. "Thank you, Alex. That's what I'm saying. He might get really mad, guys. Maybe we shouldn't tell him yet."

"Come on, Jules," said Luke. "And then he'll come in here one day and see us and start questioning us and put us on the street. Then how are we supposed to become the greatest rock band in all history?"

"Can you guys still poof in and out?" asked Flynn. "I mean, maybe you could just go tell him now."

Reggie shrugged. "That doesn't sound that bad. I'm sure I can knock some sense into him. Ray and I are tight."

"NO!" exclaimed Julie.

"Hey, Julie, are you in there?" A voice asked from outside.

Julie's eyes widened in fear. "Uh, yeah! Just one second, Dad!"

Unfortunately, Ray didn't wait long enough to walk in and saw the boys.

"Julie?" He asked with a frown on his face. "What is your band doing here?"