Charlie's band sunset curve was gonna be legends, that was until they ate some bad hotdogs and ended up dying; now it's 25 years in the future, and somehow a girl named Julie can see them. Their band has a second chance, and nothing can stop them, o...
"I cannot believe you guys are making me go to this," I groan; I really didn't want to hear Julie sing a song I wrote or watch Luke look at her as if she's the most fantastic thing in the world.
"C'mon Charlie, don't you want to see Julie stick it to the man?" Luke asks, placing an orange beanie on his head; I stay silent, and Luke frowns; he was probably expecting some witty remark in reply.
"C'mon, sis," Alex urged me, "Aren't you the one who's always talking about supporting your fellow women?" I sigh and stand from the couch, causing Luke to smile widely at me.
"I am only doing this to support Julie," I point out; all three of the boy's nod; Luke poofs away first, then Reggie; I expect Alex to go next, but he stays next to me.
"I know you may not admit it, but it's okay to be upset with Luke and Julie," Alex reassures me.
"I'm not upset with Julie," I tell him, and I'm being honest, it's not like she's purposely trying to take my songs or make Luke fall for her. "I'm a little annoyed with Luke," I admit, little being an understatement, "but I'll get over it."
"Okay," Alex answers hesitantly, "but if some-"
"If something bothers me, I'll tell you," I finish for him, "Promise." Alex holds his pinky up at me, and I roll my eyes but hook my pinky around his anyway.
"Okay, let's go; who knows what Luke and Reggie will get up to without us." Alex chuckles, and both of poof away, arriving in a school gymnasium moments later.
"What are you guy's doing here?" Julie must have heard us poof in somehow because she turns to greet the four of us.
"We came to see you stick it to the man," Luke encourages her, "Isn't that right, boys?" Alex and Reggie both smile and nod in agreement.
"Man, I miss high school," Reggie mumbles; I turn to watch the group performing and scrunch my face up in disgust.
"They're so-"I say, unsure how to describe the girl group performing in front of us. "colorful." We all stayed silent for a couple of moments, watching the group dance; I didn't even know the girl, but I could already tell we would not get along. Alex begins dancing along next to me, and I chuckle, shaking my head. Julie looks back at us, and her face drops slightly at seeing Alex enjoy this performance so much.
"Dude," I elbow him lightly, gesturing towards Julie. He stops dancing along and smiles bashfully towards her, "Sorry," I mouth to her; the music ends, and the small crowd begins applauding the group of girls.
"Hey Charlie," Luke whispered to me, "you should join their band; it looks like they're missing the color green." I stay quiet, staring straight ahead of me, "seriously, nothing?" Luke asks; I glance over at him slightly, "C'mon, that was funny; it was a joke."
"Haha," I say sarcastically, "So funny." Luke frowns lightly and shakes his head.
"Did I do something?" Luke asks me; I sigh and face him fully, ignoring the girl with a pink hair greeting the crowd.
"You're kidding, right?" I ask him; Luke shakes his head, "Luke, you gave her our song." I remind him; Luke nods in confirmation, still clearly confused at what I'm trying to say. "You gave her a song we wrote together," I sigh, running my fingers through my hair in frustration, "without asking me if I was okay with it."
"Charlie," Luke's eyes widened slightly in realization, "I didn't-"
"Save it," I cut him off, "I didn't come to this stupid school assembly so we could argue; I'm here to support Julie." I step forward to where Julie is, and she looks over at me nervously.
"What are you waiting for?" Reggie asks her, gesturing to the stage. "this is your time."
"You look really nervous," Alex points out, "like yack in a bowl nervous." I glare over at my brother, pointing that out isn't going to help.
"I just don't think I had enough time to work on the song," Julie admits anxiously; I sigh and shake my head.
"Julie, I heard you in the kitchen last night; this song was made for you," I reassure her, pushing away my own feelings. "Now go on that stage and show this school what they're missing out on." I encourage her; Julie smiles at me thankfully and rushes over to the steps leading onto the stage. The principal finishes her announcement, dismissing the students to go to their next classes, and Julie sits at the piano, but instead of playing, she stares at the keys nervously.
"C'mon Julie," I yell encouragingly, "You've got nothing to lose." Julie nods and hesitantly playing the piano. Julie began singing along moments later; at first, everyone continued walking towards the doors, ignoring her singing; it wasn't until the pre-chorus that everyone turned to listen, suddenly intrigued by the performance. I kept my focus on the stage in front of me, knowing that if I saw Luke's reaction to her singing, it would break me; A bright flash appeared, and the boys appeared on the stage with Julie. I rolled my eyes, but I wasn't shocked, I mean this is Luke, Alex, and Reggie after all. What did surprise me was the gasps coming from the audience; I turned to see the crowd and saw them all pointing at the stage with wide eyes.
"They can see them," I mumble to myself, confused by how that was possible. I cross my arms and watch the band performing in front of me, with Julie at the keys; they no longer needed me.
Julie moved away from the keyboard, and I expected her to go to the middle of the stage; to bask in the applause of the crowd; but instead, she moves over to the side over the stage and waves me over. I smile up at the girl, grateful that one of them wanted me on stage and poof onto the stage, behind the keyboard. As I start playing, everyone in the crowd gasps again; they can see me too now. Luke begins singing the second verse, causing girls in the audience to scream loudly.
"How is this happening?" Julie asked me; I looked around the room; everyone in the crowd looked amazed.
"I have no clue," I tell her honestly; Julie jams out with me at my keys for a couple of minutes before moving to do the same with Reggie and Alex. We continue playing the song, and for a moment, I had forgotten about how upset I was with Luke, keyword, moment.
"In times that I doubted myself," Luke began singing the bridge, and Julie walks over to him, holding out her mic to him. He moved away from his own mic, leaning into the one Julie held out for him. My heart shattered at the sight; there was that look again. Reggie must have noticed my expression change because he was at my side seconds later, placing a mic into the mic stand by me. I smile lightly at Reggie, playing the piano softly while Luke and Julie sing the bridge together.
"That girl in the purple wig is totally checking you out," I whisper to him, nodding towards the girl in the crowd. Reggie's eyes landed on her, and he winked, causing the girl to giggle out of excitement. The chorus comes around again one last time, and this time Reggie, Alex, and I join in; Reggie and I sharing the mic in between us. The chorus comes to an end moments later, and Julie sings the final note, hitting it flawlessly; the crowd erupts into applause moments later, and Julie holds her arms out, signaling for us to bow with her. The five of us bow in unison, except when we come up, the crowd gasps; they can no longer see us. • • •
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