Blue Melodies // Julie and the Phantoms (Reggie Peters)

25

The Molinas and Joys made their way to the Molina home, as they were going to have a small celebration together. They were in a conga line chanting Stand Tall.

"You two and your Phantoms were unbelievable tonight," Ray complimented. "You know, Chris and I'd like to thank them for bringing music back into your lives."

Julie smiled before saying, "Eli and I already did. But we didn't thank you, Papi, Mr. Joy." She gave Carlos her dahlia and hugged her father.

Carlos looked at the dahlia a moment then said, "Hey, Julie, Eli, can I talk to you two for a second?"

Julie and Elijah nodded before the former said, "Yeah. Yeah, uh, just give us a minute." They were going to the garage.

"Okay, I'll wait up. Don't ghost me." He winked and entered the house.

Ray and Chris chuckled and Julie and Elijah turned back to their fathers and said, "Just a minute."

"Okay," Ray and Chris replied before Julie kissed her father's cheek.

The father and daughter linked their pinky fingers and Julie walked towards the garage, followed by Elijah.

"Love you," Julie said.

"Love you, too," Ray replied.

---

The ghosts were back in the garage.

Eloise frowned as she looked around and asked, "What are we doing back here?"

All four were weak from a jolt.

"Just stay in here. They're not gonna come," Luke said as they laid on the ground.

Eloise crawled towards Reggie and collapsed next to him.

"They are!" Alex and Eloise cried.

Julie and Elijah opened the garage door and slowly walked inside before, letting out a deep sigh and the former said, "I -- I know we already said this, but, uh, thank you, guys."

"You're welcome," Reggie said softly as Alex groaned.

"Dude!" Luke called.

Elijah turned on the light.

The ghosts laid on the ground and coughed.

Julie turned the light on. "Why -- why are you here?" Another jolt hit the ghosts and they let out a pained groan. "We -- We thought-"

Eloise let out another pained groan and sighed.

"No -- no!" Elijah cried as he and Julie looked around. "We thought you guys crossed over! Why didn't you cross over?"

"I guess playing the Orpheum wasn't our unfinished business," Alex replied as he and the other three sat up.

"Point Caleb," Reggie and Eloise muttered.

"We wanted you two to think we crossed over, so we pretended to," Luke told Julie and Elijah. "We just -- we had nowhere else to go."

"We thought you'd both go straight to bed," Reggie said.

"Yeah, well, Ellie and I knew she was gonna come out here, but nobody ever listens to me and never seem to listen to her," Alex stated as he stood.

Another jolt hit them.

"You have to save yourselves right now!" Elijah cried. "Go join Caleb's club."

Julie nodded. "Please! It's better than not existing at all. Please just go. Go! Poof out! Do something! Please! Do it for me and Eli!"

Eloise shook her head. "No, we can't go back there."

Luke made his way to the teenagers. "No music is worth making, Julie, Elijah, if we're not making it with you two." Julie looked at him tearfully. "No regrets."

Julie hugged Luke as she sniffled and said, "I love you guys."

Elijah threw his arms around his sister and whispered, "I love you, El."

Luke and Eloise started glowing and Julie and Elijah stepped back. "How can I feel you?"

"I... I... I don't know. I..." Luke replied as Julie gasped and touched his cheeks. In return, Luke sniffled and touched her cheeks a moment before taking her hands. He turned to his bandmates. "I feel stronger." He turned back to Julie.

Eloise nodded. "I do too. Gosh, I missed brother-sister hugs."

Julie and Elijah said, "Alex, Reggie, come."

The other two walked towards Luke, Elijah, Eloise and Julie.

The group hugged each other and Reggie said, "Whoa... I... I... I don't feel as weak anymore."

They pulled away from the hug as Luke and Eloise chuckled.

"Yeah, me neither," Alex agreed. "Not that, you know, I was ever weak." The group chuckled.

The ghosts held their wrists up, watching as Caleb's stamp disappeared.

"What do you think that means?" Julie and Elijah wondered.

"I think the band's back!" Luke replied, causing everyone to smile.

"Can we do that hug again?" Eloise asked softly.

Alex nodded and said, "Like Ellie asked, you guys think we could try that hug thing one more time?"

Reggie nodded and chuckled before saying, "Yeah."

The six shared another hug.

"Hugs are good," Alex commented as they pulled away.

"I like this," Reggie admitted.

Eloise nodded and smiled as she and Julie said, "Me too."

"Aww!" Julie said, causing everyone to chuckle.

The six hugged and jumped in a circle. As they did so, Julie and Elijah exclaimed, "We played the Orpheum! Whoo!"

"Yeah, we did!" Luke cried, causing the group to giggle.

Things finally seemed to be looking up. The band was back, the club stamp was gone, and they were finally Caleb-free; or so they thought.

Eloise turned to Reggie and smiled. Reggie returned her smile and went to kiss her cheek, but Eloise turned her head ever so slightly and their lips met.

The two pulled back with shocked expressions.

Julie, Luke and Alex smiled at the interaction while Elijah narrowed his eyes. His sister might be dead, but that didn't mean he wanted anyone kissing her in his sight.

---

The next day, Nick, flowers in hand, made his way to Julie's and rang the doorbell.

A whoosh sounded and Caleb said, "How sweet. The broken-hearted teenager fighting for his girl."

"Do I know you?" Nick asked.

"You will."

Nick gasped and a purple smoke entered his mouth as Caleb possessed him. Wind howled and bones cracked.

"I have a fight too," Nick/Caleb said.

Julie opened the door and smiled. "Hi, Nick!" He handed her the flowers with a devious smile.

Julie sighed and said, "Thanks."