Written in the stars

chapter 2: Wake up part 2

Charlotte's pov
Keeping hidden from the boys had
proven to be harder than i thought it would be. I knew it was just me being stupid, but i also knew how hard they would take it if they saw me now. They would feel like they had caused it and i didn't want that. I had to think of the perfect way to tell them. I had almost been found by them a while before when Reggie went searching for their things up in the crawl space i was hiding in. It was so hard to not just hold onto him as tight as a I could, I had watched him stop at the sight of my guitar, kneeling onto the ground with a sad look on his face as he gently picked the instrument up. He had held it in silence for the longest time, his eyes glossing over slightly before he had whispered, "I'm sorry we weren't there for you" hearing him say that broke my heart even my longing to just hug them only got worse especially now that i found myself watching them play together just like they always had after school. Their music was effortless and i imagined being down there and playing with them. I was now holding my guitar tightly in my arms, having figured out how to pick up objects a while back when the boys had disappeared into Julie's house for a while. Holding my guitar was the only comfort i had as i watched them play, but i desperately wished to be playing with them.

At that moment, Julie came running
into the studio, her eyes wide with
anger as she yelled, "Guys! Guys,
stop! Enough! Stop! Cut it out!" Reggie
stopped immediately, Alex playing a
few more notes while Luke did a full
guitar riff before smiling at the girl.
Julie did not looked amused as she
said, "The whole neighborhood could
hear you. I thought I told you to leave." I perked up at that, my eyes sparkling with excitement as i whispered, "They could hear them?" "Wait. People can hear us play?" Luke questioned, his facial expression matching the one that was on my own face. "Yes!" Julie exclaimed. "And so did my dad and my brother!" "W-W-Wait. Wait" Alex insisted while Reggie and Luke placed their guitars down. "So, only you can see us, but everyone can hear us? I mean, what kind of ghosts are we?" He finished looking at the others "Awesome ones," i whispered amazed at the fact that we could play and be heard by a living, Glancing at my guitar i smiled. I had a sneaking suspicion that i could be heard too which meant i was about to have a lot of fun with the whole being a ghost thing "Who cares, man?" Luke asked as he fist bumped Reggie and then Alex "People can hear us play!" "We might be dead, but our music isn't," Reggie said, smiling so wide that my heart skipped a beat. His smile always had been able to do that to me, even when we had only been kids and i hadn't understood what liking someone had meant.

At that moment an older man walked
in and Julie immediately straightened
up. "Dad!" she exclaimed. "Hey," he said, smiling at his daughter "Just making sure you're okay" "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had to turn off the CD player," she said, gesturing towards the object while i chuckled softly to myself seeing as Julie's father had no clue what was really going on
That was when Ray Molina's eyes
caught sight of the instruments sitting
out. "Wait. Is this the junk that was in
the loft?" he asked while the boys all
looked hurt at his words. "Junk?" Luke questioned while i looked down at my guitar with a frown. Our instruments were definitely not junk Ray walked across the room and over to the drums where he began to beat against it with his hands while Alex watched with wide eyes. "Some of this stuff's in pretty good shape," Ray commented as he continued to mess with the drums. "Hey, maybe we can make a couple bucks" "What?" Alex asked. "Yo, stop touching my drums" He looked to Julie in desperation. "Tell him to stop touching my drums." Luke and Reggie both looked to Julie who just shrugged because she had no clue how she was supposed to tell her father to stop touching the drums because he was making a ghost mad.

"I liked that song you had on," Ray
said as he walked away from the
drums. Alex frowned and wiped at the cymbals while Luke smiled and walked towards the man who couldn't see him. "Sweet! We're Sunset Curve," Luke said, knowing the man couldn't hear him. "Tell your friends," i muttered at the same time as Reggie, the boy stilling slightly and glancing up but not until after i managed to duck out of his line of sight. "It's just an old CD I found" Julie told him. "Well, still, it's nice that you're listening to music again. Out here you can play whatever you want, whenever you want " Ray said, his words making me smile. "Aw, that's nice" Alex smiled. "Stay out of this" Julie practically seethed, her words making Alex frown while Ray gave his daughter a confused look. "I-I'm sorry, honey," Ray stammered. "I didn't..." "Oh no, no, no, no. Not you. I mean. ..uh...er...you know, give me
a minute," she said as she grabbed her
father's hand and tried to push him out of the studio. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey,' Ray said, turning to his daughter. "We'll figure out this music program thing" He spoke softly "Thanks, Dad" Julie whispered before he turned and left. The boys all stared after him, Reggie waving after the man even though he couldn't see them. Julie was quick to close the door before turning to the boys. Luke held his arms out with a smile, "He likes our song" he says "Oh yeah. He doesn't count," Alex insisted. "He's a dad." "Why can't you guys just be normal ghosts?" Julie questioned. "Hang out at an old mansion, I hear Pasadena's nice" She then let out a frustrated groan before storming outside.