Written in the stars

chapter 3: Bright part 1

Charlottes pov
By the time Julie left for school with
her friend Flynn, i was already beginning to wonder about the numerous possibilities as to why the young girl lied to the guys about not being able to play the piano. From what I've seen in my time watching over her Julie really knew how to play. It seemed the boys were wondering the same thing because they walked back into the studio not too long after Julie had left, Reggie giving Alex and Luke a confused look as he said, "I wonder why Julie didn't tell us she could shred on the piano?" "And sing" Luke added. "That girl can sing" "It probably has something to do with her mom, You know?" Alex suggested "Must've been hard" i softened at that, knowing exactly what Alex was talking about. I had been the same way the moment i found out the boys had died. It was like something inside of my had snapped and the thought of even attempting to continue to play at the Orpheum had been enough to make me sick. If i had been alive longer, i knew i wouldn't have been able to play for the longest time. The boys inspired me to play and without them, it was like there was no point. Julie must've been feeling the same way about her mother. "Anyway,'" Alex announced as he made his way towards the ladder that led up to the crawl space. "I really feel for her" My eyes widened in panic and i was quick to hold onto my guitar and poof away, instead hiding behind some of the random junk that was below the crawl space and just out of view from Luke and Reggie. I winced when i made the tiniest of noises, Luke glancing my direction with a small frown before shaking his head and looking away after not seeing anything. "Yeah, but. ..now she's got music back in her life, just like us" Luke told them. "Yeah, I'm not sure you can call what we have a life" Alex countered before frowning as he looked around the attic. "Reggie, didn't you say you saw char's guitar up here?" Reggie hummed in agreement, his gaze lowering to the floor at the mention of me "Well, it's not up here" Alex said. Reggie's head shot up at that and i winced as i glanced towards the guitar in my hands. "W-What?" Reggie questioned, his voice so soft that it made me feel guilty for taking the guitar.

All i could think about was what could be running through Reggie's head, how the guitar had been one of the last traces of me that he had left and now it was suddenly missing. "Yeah, I don't see it at all," Alex commented. "Maybe you just thought you saw it, Why would char give up her guitar? She's loved that thing since the day Luke gave it to her." "I wouldn't just think that up" Reggie tried to argue, a look of pain and confusion on his face. "I. . .I saw it, I held it, It was there, I promise" Alex cleared his throat, "Oh hey, some
of the clothes we left behind are still
up here." He then began to drop some
bags down onto the ground and Luke's face lit up once again. "Sweet!'" Luke exclaimed as he quickly took his shirt off and went for his bag "Oh, same clothes since '95, boys" At that moment, the doors to the studio
opened up and i shrunk down even more, afraid that it was Julie. If Julie saw me then i was done for and i really wanted to make a better entrance than just popping out from around the corner Luckily it wasn't Julie, but her father -Ray. Reggie and Luke hadn't seemed to notice him and i watched in amusement as Ray walked right through Reggie who stumbled and whispered, "Oh, that was weird! But somehow I can tell this man has a kind heart"

"So how've you been?" Ray asked, the
question making Reggie still before
looking around in confusion
"Honestly, not that good," Reggie said
making I had to put a hand over my mouth to hide the laughter that almost slipped out. "See, we ate these hot dogs, and-" "Julie sang for the first time this morning," Ray continued, cutting Reggie off and making the boy frown. "She hadn't done that in almost a year You would've loved it" "Yeah, we saw 'cause we were" Reggie began realizing what was happening. "Oh!" He waved his hand in front of Ray's face, the man obviously not reacting since he couldn't see them. "Oh, I get it. He.. . He's not talking to us" Luke gave the boy a look before saying. "You are so lucky you can play bass." Reggie gave him a confused look and i smiled softly, wanting nothing more than to just hug the boy because of how oblivious he is sometimes.