Chapter Text
A finger presses against the doorbell, sounding with a chime. We zoom out to see Nick, possessed by Caleb, at the door of the Molina house. He is gripping a bouquet of flowers, glaring at the door. Once it cracks open, his face shifts into a smile.
JULIE:
Nick? You’re here? Hi!
NICK [CALEB]:
Hi Julie. I didn’t catch you after last night. You were amazing.
JULIE:
Oh? Thanks Nick… that’s sweet of you.
NICK [CALEB]:
I… um… I have flowers for you. Can I come in?
Julie nods awkwardly, opening the door further so Nick [Caleb] can enter. When Julie’s back is turned, we see Nick [Caleb] grin.
Cut to theme.
Fade into the garage. Reggie and Luke are lounging on the couch, while Alex is going through boxes in the loft.
REGGIE:
That. Was. Awesome.
LUKE:
That place was packed! The biggest crowd we’ve played. They could all FEEL the music, I know it.
REGGIE:
And did you see how many cute girls were in that crowd? They were obsessed with us!
Reggie GASPS excitedly.
REGGIE:
What if we get a stalker?
ALEX:
They can’t stalk what they can’t see, man. Besides, we got more important things to worry about. Like what exactly happened last night. Those stamps… they just disappeared when Julie hugged us. And I don’t know about you guys but I haven’t felt any jolts since then.
LUKE:
Does it really matter? We’re ALIVE! Well, you know what I mean. And now we can keep playing with Julie and spread our music to the world. That’s what’s important.
ALEX:
It just doesn’t make sense.
REGGIE:
You get used to it, Alex. Not much makes sense. I’m gonna say morning to the Molinas. Oooh! Maybe steal some bacon!
LUKE:
You can’t even eat it!
Reggie poofs out of the garage. Alex sighs, and goes back to rooting through boxes. Luke stands and looks up to him, worried.
LUKE:
You worry too much. Maybe we just enjoy it for now? Just make our music with Julie. And I’m sure Willie would like to see you too.
Luke sends a crooked smile to Alex and poofs out. Zoom to Alex’s face. He is thinking something over. Fade out of the garage.
Fade into the Molina’s kitchen. Ray is standing at the kitchen counter, plating eggs and bacon. Reggie is standing next to him. Julie, Nick [Caleb], and Carlos are sitting together at the table, chuckling about something.
RAY:
Now, opening for Panic! At the Disco, next you’re gonna be the main event! I’m gonna have to get used to the paparazzi around here!
JULIE:
I’m not that famous, Dad.
REGGIE:
You know, Ray. I think so. We got star power!
NICK [CALEB]:
Don’t underestimate yourself, Julie. It was a great show!
CARLOS:
Yeah! How are the guys?
JULIE:
Oh, they’re excited.
NICK [CALEB]:
It must be a little different though, right? They’re not exactly from here.
Julie chuckles nervously. Reggie cocks his head confusedly.
JULIE:
Yeah, not many Julie and the Phantoms fans in Sweden.
Luke poofs into the kitchen.
RAY:
You got any new gigs coming up?
REGGIE:
We will!
JULIE:
Dad, it’s been less than twelve hours since the Orpheum! I’m sure we’ll get some calls soon.
LUKE:
Jules, we can hit up the strip tonight. Try and get our name on a few lists if you want.
Julie nods in Luke’s direction. Carlos clocks this and raises his eyebrows at his sister.
RAY:
Oh I’m sure you will, my little superstar! Just make sure you tell me about them first. Remember-
JULIE:
School first. I know, Dad.
NICK [CALEB]:
If you ever need help managing it, offer still stands to be study buddies.
Luke rolls his eyes.
JULIE:
Thanks for the offer, Nick. But it might still be a little too much to juggle.
Luke is staring at the exchange. Nick [Caleb] notices.
NICK [CALEB]:
I should probably head out. See you soon, Julie!
Nick [Caleb] stands up and sticks his hand out, as if to shake Julie’s hand. Somewhat surprised, Julie lets her hand meet his. He grips her hand softly, for a little too long. When he pulls his hand back, we zoom to Julie’s wrist. A purple stamp has been placed on Julie’s wrist, but for only a second. It quickly starts glitching, shifting between purple and gold. It fades away into a gold light. The stamp does not work. None of the characters notice this. Nick [Caleb] chuckles nervously, awkwardly rushing out of the house.
CARLOS:
So, your band needs merch, right?
REGGIE:
Woah! We do need merch! Julie, we need merch!
JULIE:
You are not gonna be our merch man, Carlos.
CARLOS: REGGIE:
Why not? Why not?
Julie rolls her eyes, chuckling. Fade out of the kitchen.
Fade back into the garage. Alex is alone, now on the ground floor. He is going through an old shoebox of sunset curve memorabilia. He hears a sudden noise outside. When he turns, he sees Willie’s head in the window. Willie crouches down from the window and we hear skateboard wheels roll against the pavement outside. Alex jumps up and rushes towards the door.
ALEX:
Willie? Willie?
Cut to a glimpse of Willie, skating past the corner at the edge of the driveway. Alex begins to run after him.
ALEX:
Hey! You’re not running away again!
Alex stops suddenly, panting. Willie continues skating into the distance. It seems like Alex has lost him. When Alex catches his breath, he realizes he hasn’t lost Willie yet. He poofs out and appears in front of Willie’s skateboard, where Willie crashes into him. The pair come tumbling down.
ALEX:
You pancaked me.
Alex stands up. He smiles and holds his hand out to Willie. Willie hesitates before taking it to stand up.
WILLIE:
I thought you would be gone. Why aren’t you gone?
ALEX:
I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.
WILLIE:
The Orpheum wasn’t your unfinished business?
ALEX:
Nope. We came back, we were about to fade. But then Julie hugged us, and those stamps just disappeared.
WILLIE:
Woah, Woah. Julie can touch you guys?
ALEX:
Now she can, I guess? I don’t know. And I don’t know why the stamps are gone.
WILLIE:
I’ve never heard of that before. Caleb is the most powerful ghost of our time, his magic can’t just be broken.
ALEX:
Except apparently it can! And Luke and Reggie just keep telling me I worry too much and none of this means anything. Something else is going on, I know it. Caleb’s not just gonna leave us alone now.
WILLIE:
Speaking of Caleb, there’s something you should know.
Alex and Willie share a concerned look and we fade out on the street where they stand.
Fade back into the garage. Julie and Luke are sitting together on the couch, hunching over Luke’s songwriting notebook. Reggie is sitting on the other end of the room, plucking strings on his bass guitar.
LUKE:
So you start the chorus on your own, kinda soft, restrained. Then BAM! We all come in with the harmony the second time around. You just let that voice shine.
JULIE:
What’s the melody for the softer part? Same thing but cut the drums?
LUKE:
Kinda… Reggie can you play a softer version of the bass part?
REGGIE:
Sure.
Reggie begins to play a soft, but upbeat melody. Flynn bursts through the door and everyone turns to look at her.
FLYNN:
Guess who is the best band manager in the world?
JULIE:
Is it you?
FLYNN:
Obviously! I just got you and your ghost band a super awesome gig at The Underground! 30-minute set, tons of managers, and of course at least four of my favorite bands have gotten a record deal there.
JULIE:
Oh. My. God. Thank you Flynn!
LUKE:
That place is still around? We played there in ‘94.
REGGIE:
Bad tippers.
JULIE:
They’re not supposed to tip? The venue pays you a cut of the profits.
LUKE:
That might be because we weren’t exactly supposed to be there. We may have just gotten on stage and started playing, and they didn’t kick us out.
Julie laughs.
JULIE:
That might be why.
FLYNN:
You wanna share with the class? You know there are some non-ghost whisperers in the room.
JULIE:
The guys played there when they were in Sunset Curve.
FLYNN:
Not as interesting as I was hoping. In other news, you guys are absolutely blowing up on Insta. 10K new followers! Julie and the Phantoms is officially the hottest new band around!
LUKE:
Tight!
REGGIE:
That many people live here?
JULIE:
That’s great!
LUKE:
We still going to the strip tonight?
JULIE:
It’s only one gig. Plenty of free time to find a few more.
FLYNN:
More gigs?
JULIE:
Yeah, the guys and I were planning to head down to the strip tonight. See which venues are good and sneak our name onto a few lists.
FLYNN:
Getting gigs is so much easier when you’re invisible.
Julie laughs.
JULIE:
A little bit. We’re just waiting for Alex to get back.
REGGIE:
Where is he anyways?
LUKE:
Not sure. Probably hanging out with Willie.
Luke coos at the idea, making Julie and Reggie laugh.
JULIE:
Can’t be too long.
Julie shrugs and we fade out of the garage.
Fade into the Wilsons’ mansion. Carrie is on her laptop at the kitchen counter. We are zoomed in to her computer screen, which is scrolling through an article about Julie and the Phantoms performance at the Orpheum the night before. As we zoom out, Trevor comes into focus past her laptop screen. He is trying to meditate, but consistently getting distracted. He is muttering to himself, shaking his head.
TREVOR:
Not real. Not real.
CARRIE:
Can you be quiet? I’m trying to sulk over here.
The two sit in relative silence for a moment, Carrie is scrolling and Trevor is fidgeting. Suddenly, music starts blaring from Carrie’s laptop. It’s a recording of Stand Tall, by Julie and the Phantoms. Trevor flinches.
TREVOR:
(Pained)
Oh. Is that Julie’s band?
CARRIE:
Yeah… I guess they’re not half bad. Not nearly as good as Dirty Candy, but still.
Trevor rushes beside Carrie, mesmerized by the video.
TREVOR:
So. Where did Julie meet this band of hers?
CARRIE:
Why would I know? We’re not exactly friends anymore.
TREVOR:
Well has she told you anything? Their names? Where they live?
CARRIE:
Why are you so obsessed with Julie’s stupid band?
TREVOR:
I’m not obsessed, just curious, baby. Just curious.
CARRIE:
I wonder if I can get Dirty Candy in at the Orpheum. If Julie managed it, it can’t be that hard.
TREVOR:
What songs do they have?
CARRIE:
Are you serious right now? All it takes is one cheap hologram gimmick and they have like a million fans? Two weeks ago Julie couldn’t even play the piano! She just cheated her way into the spotlight!
Carrie slams her laptop closed and runs up the stairs. Trevor has a conflicted look on his face.
TREVOR:
We don’t talk about people that way, Carrie!
Trevor is staring at the closed laptop. Fade out of the mansion.
Fade into Julie’s bedroom. She is digging through an open chest, pushing clothes to the edges. It is the chest with her mom’s belongings. Luke poofs in.
JULIE:
Geez! Boundaries?
LUKE:
Sorry.
Julie continues looking through clothes while Luke stands, a little awkwardly.
LUKE:
Are you picking an outfit for tonight?
JULIE:
Yeah. Figured, knowing you and the guys, we might end up performing.
LUKE:
Not a bad bet.
Julie looks up and smiles at him. Luke plops down onto Julie’s bed.
JULIE:
These are all my mom’s clothes. At least the ones I still have. Dad and I had to get rid of a lot when… you know.
LUKE:
She had a great sense of style. They fit you perfectly.
Julie stops rooting through the clothes and turns to look at Luke. She is sitting on the floor, back against the chest.
JULIE:
I like wearing them when I perform. It makes me feel closer to her.
LUKE:
I’m glad. I bet… wherever she is… she’s proud of you.
JULIE:
I hope so.
She pauses, considering something.
JULIE:
You said you didn’t know her, right? Not at all?
LUKE:
Not that I know of?
JULIE:
I always knew she had your CD, but she could’ve gotten that anywhere. Then, when I was going through this the other day, I found this.
Julie pulls out a bedazzled Sunset Curve T-shirt. Luke is surprised, coming closer to get a better look. He reaches out to touch the fabric.
LUKE:
Woah.
JULIE:
Yeah. Woah.
LUKE:
Geez, this feels like it’ll dissolve at the touch. Definitely our merch.
JULIE:
Do you think she was a fan?
LUKE:
Superfan, really. We printed like a hundred of these, at most. She would’ve needed to go to one of our shows to get one.
Luke crouches down and sits next to Julie. Not quite touching, but close.
JULIE:
Sometimes I think she sent you guys to me. To bring music back into my life.
LUKE:
Tell me about her. Your mom.
JULIE:
She was… wow I don’t even know how to describe her. She was kindhearted, with this endless optimism. No matter what happened, she was always so confident that everything would be okay. When she was sick, she didn’t let it control her. She still did everything she normally would. We would write music together, have family dinners. She once tried to teach me to play Alex’s drumset. I was so bad at it. One night, she just went to sleep and she didn’t wake up. It felt like my life ended that day.
LUKE:
She sounds a lot like you.
Julie smiles at Luke sadly. The energy is charged, electric.
JULIE:
I wish I knew more about her. It’s only been two years, but the memories are already starting to fade.
LUKE:
I’m sorry I didn’t know her. It would be a lot easier if I could tell you more about her.
JULIE:
When is it ever that easy?
The conversation reaches a comfortable pause, for a moment.
LUKE:
We’ll figure it out.
JULIE:
We?
LUKE:
Yeah, we. It’s the least I can do. You’re the reason my mom knows I never stopped loving her. That I regretted leaving. I couldn’t imagine her thinking I died hating her.
JULIE:
Thank you, Luke.
Luke reaches his arm around Julie’s shoulders, letting her lean into his side. This time, she doesn’t faze through him. Julie can touch the ghosts.
JULIE:
This is an interesting little relationship you and I have.
Luke laughs.
LUKE:
It is, isn’t it.
Julie leans her head into Luke’s shoulder. Zoom out on Julie’s bedroom, camera moving through the window then showing the whole house. A figure is standing outside. As the camera zooms on the figure, we see it is Nick [Caleb], with brows furrowed. He is angry.
NICK [CALEB]:
They are too powerful. I must find a way to separate them.
Fade to black. End credits roll.