Ghosted - Luke | Julie and the Phantoms

Chapter Seven

"Where did Luke go?" I asked the band as I fell back onto the couch.

"No idea." Reggie told me as he picked up a guitar. "Do you wanna play?" He asked me. I shook my head as I sat up.

"I don't play." I told him.

"We were both here when your dad said you could play the guitar." Alex said. "Why don't you show us what you've got?"

"It's been months. I don't even know if I can play anymore."

"It's easy. It's like riding a bike. You never forget."

I smiled and hesitated before standing up and taking the guitar from Reggie. I then put the strap over my head and I started to play the guitar. After a few moments, Alex and Reggie started to join in on the bass and the drums and after a few more minutes, I stopped. "You're really good." Alex smiled.

"Yeah." Reggie agreed.

"Thanks." I said as I put the guitar down. "I haven't really played since my mom died so it's nice to hear that."

"I wanted to ask... that note that fell out of that picture in Julie's room... was that-?" Alex began.

"I'm sorry, Julie. It's too hard. I miss her. Sophie." I said. "That's what it said."

"So did you...?" Reggie asked.

"Kill myself?" I then questioned before frowning. "I guess, technically... yes... I got, uh, very careless when my mom died. Julie tried to make me stop but I was staying out late, getting into trouble and I stole my dad's car and drove myself off of a cliff." I told them. "That was the only note I left and I hate myself for it."

"We're sorry." Reggie told me. "We didn't know."

"Okay, guys!" Luke then exclaimed as he entered the garage with Julie following closely behind. "We're helping Julie get back into her music program."

"How?" Alex asked.

"We're gonna teach her to be more like Sunset Curve." Luke smiled. "We never got anywhere by asking. We got places by doing."

"Let's do this." Julie smiled.

***

"Look who spent all of daddy's money." Flynn said to Julie as they entered the gym whilst Dirty Candy was performing in front of the school. As much as I hated Carrie, I had to admit it. They were good.

"What are you doing here?" I heard Julie question. I turned my head to see Luke, Reggie and Alex standing beside us.

"We wanna see you stick it to the man." Luke smiled. "Isn't that right, boys?"

"Man, I miss high school." Reggie said, mesmerised by the performance.

Dirty Candy then finished and Carrie grinned. "Thank you!" She said.

"We love you, Carrie!" Someone in the audience shouted.

"Oh, I love you, too. Make sure to check out my new YouTube video. Oh, go bobcats." She finished before she walked to the side of the gym, followed by the rest of Dirty Candy as the crowd cheered.

"Thank you, Dirty Candy." Principal Lessa smiled as she walked to the centre of the room with Mrs Harrison by her side.

"Now's your chance. Go talk to her." Flynn told Julie. "See you in music class."

"That was sweet." The principal joked but nobody laughed. "Okay then. Before we let you go, we have a few more announcements."

"What are you waiting for?" Reggie asked Julie as the principal continued to talk.

"Yeah. I mean, you look really nervous. Like yack in a bowl nervous." Alex added.

"Do you really think that's helping her?" I questioned.

"I just don't think I had enough time to work on the song." Julie admitted.

"I wouldn't have given you that song if I didn't think you were gonna rock it." Luke told the girl. "Now, there's a piano on that stage with your name on it."

I then smiled as Julie made her way onto the stage as the students began to leave the gym but she plucked up the courage to play the piano before she started to sing softly. "She's amazing." I told the boys and before I knew it they had flashed onto the stage with their instruments. It didn't take me long to notice that everyone in the room could see Luke, Reggie and Alex on the stage as they played and I have to admit, they sounded great. I couldn't even help but smile when Luke sang a solo.

When the song had finished, Julie bowed and the rest of the band disappeared along with their instruments. The crowd clapped until this happened and they began to look around the area, looking confused. "What was that?" One girl asked.