Silence of Music

20

[Unsaid Emily]

A horn honked.

"This is awesome, you guys," Luke said. "We're playing the Orpheum! I can't even count how many bands have played here and then ended up being huge." He chuckled. "We're gonna be legends. Eat up, boys, 'cause after tonight, everything changes."

Willie sighed and moved to sit next to Alex who was sitting on the Orpheum stage and asked, "Is this seat taken?"

Alex sighed heavily before saying, "This whole thing sucks."

"Yeah, I messed up."

"No, it's like you said... you know you didn't have a choice. I mean, Caleb owns your soul."

"No." He inhaled sharply. "No, still, I know what he's capable of. I brought you guys right to him. When you guys asked me, I should've just skated away."

"I would have still followed you."

Willie chuckled lightly. "Man... I would do anything to take back what I did to you." A jolt buzzed and Alex groaned, causing Willie to wince sympathetically. "I am so sorry. I mean, did you guys figure out what your unfinished business is?"

Alex scoffed. "Not like it's gonna happen. We have to play here."

"The... the Orpheum?"

"Yeah, I mean, we were two hours away from getting on that stage the night we died."

"You guys were gonna be legends."

"We were."

---

An amused smile was on Bianca's face as she watched her friend and brother being bombarded by people asking for pictures.

Flynn walked up to Bianca. "Julie rejected Nick."

Bianca nodded slowly. "Oh."

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

Flynn hugged her friend and said gently, "Come on, let's get to class."

Bianca nodded and followed her friend to class, Flynn's arm around her shoulders.

---

Reggie and Ray were sitting at the kitchen table. Ray had his laptop open.

"Hmm... Wow!" Reggie said. "Ooh, I like this one. It's got a good composition, buddy."

Alex popped in next to Reggie, let out a loud sigh, and asked, "What are you doin'?"

"Eh, I needed a pick-me-up, and hanging with Ray always does the trick."

Alex looked at Ray who was staring at his computer and asked, "Does it? Okay."

Carlos walked in holding a box and said, "Dad, I have a ghost update."

"Okay, this could be interesting." The ghosts looked at Carlos.

Ray looked up before saying, "Really? Come on, Carlos. We've talked about this."

"I know you're not a believer, but listen to this."

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

Reggie smiled and pointed to Carlos. "You go, little man."

"After Julie, Ricky and Bianca played with their hologram band last night, I couldn't sleep."

"Those songs do get stuck in your head," Ray commented.

Reggie glanced at his bandmate. "He likes our new music too."