xvi. Perfect Harmony

At school, Julie is putting her books into her locker while a man is talking over the PA system. Angelina is leaning against the lockers, humming Power of Two as she looks at the purple butterfly that is on the door of Julie's locker. Julie pulls her backpack out of her locker, causing Angelina to look over at the lifer. The curly haired girl has the black dress draped over her left arm as she uses her right hand to put her backpack on her left shoulder. Julie notices Angelina watching her so she gives the blonde a goofy look, causing the ghost to let out a laugh. Angelina looks down at the ground and a smile spreads across Julie's face as she looks into her locker before closing it.

Right as Julie closes her locker, Luke speaks up as he leans on the lockers, "Hey." Angelina whips her head up and furrows her brows at the brown haired boy while Julie lets out a gasp before she glances around the hall.

She turns back to Luke, telling him, "Normal people don't do that. And ghosts definitely shouldn't." She crosses her arms over her chest before asking, "What are you doing here?"

Luke takes a couple steps forward as he never breaks eye contact with Angelina while saying, "We need to talk about what song we're gonna play tonight." He furrows his brows and scrunches up his face, "I was thinking... Great." Julie moves over a little bit and Angelina stands behind Julie, looking at Luke over the lifer's shoulder. Luke breaks eye contact with Angelina to look at Julie, awaiting the girl's answer.

Julie smiles over at a girl who says, "Hey, Julie. What's up?"

Julie pulls out her phone and clears her throat before looking down at the device, "Hold up." She purses her lips together before she lifts the phone up to her ear.

Offended, Luke speaks up, "You're just gonna take a phone call while we're talking?" He squints his eyes at Julie and asks, "You know how rude that is?"

Angelina rolls her eyes at the brown haired boy. She knows exactly what Julie is doing. Julie has done it to the blonde many times before. The blonde girl tells Luke, "She isn't going to right out talk to you in the middle of a crowded hall. People might think she's crazy."

Julie pretends to speak into her phone, "Hey! Thanks for calling. Otherwise," she looks up at Luke, "People might think I'm talking to myself."

"Right," Luke whispers in realization. He moves over so he can stand in front of Julie and Angelina. He scrunches up his face and nods his head, whispering, "Nice."

Angelina shakes her head and smiles at Luke, who notices her and gives her a big smile. Julie speaks up, causing both ghosts to look over at the lifer, "No. But, yeah. I-I think Great is a..." She looks away and nods before looking back at Luke, tilting her head, "Great choice."

Angelina nods her head before looking over at Luke and enthusiastically says, "We should definitely do Great tonight. I've been waiting to perform that song for weeks." Luke smiles lovingly at the blonde girl.

"Sweet. Well..." Luke trails off as he throws his hands out to his sides. He shrugs before continuing, "I mean, that's pretty much just what I wanted to talk to you about. So..." He trails off again.

"Oh! Okay," Julie says to the boy as she looks away.

Angelina gives Luke a confused look before saying, "That's all you wanted to talk about?" The Patterson boy nods his head before the blonde haired girl continues, "You didn't have to come all the way down here just to ask what song we should sing. We could have discussed it when Julie and I got home." Angelina looks away from Luke to look at the students mingling in the hall. Luke looks down at the ground, debating if he should say anything else.

It is quiet for a while, until Luke shakes his head and nervously says, "Uh, actually, no," He looks up at Angelina before looking back down at the ground once the blonde turns her attention to the brown haired boy. "There is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about. It's..." He pauses and licks his lips before he looks up at the two girls, telling them, "Look, I know I'm not the easiest person to work with, but I..." He looks between both girls, his gaze lingering a little bit longer on Angelina. "I wanted to tell you that," he scratches the back of his head as he stutters, "I-I-I-I think you both make me a better writer." He puts his hand down and looks over at Angelina, who is giving him a sweet smile.

Julie nods her head and says, "I think we all make each other better."

Luke's gaze never leaves Angelina as she looks over at the lifer, nods her head and agrees, "Definitely."

Luke looks at Angelina with a loving gaze for a few seconds longer before he looks to Julie and offers, "You know what?" Angelina looks over at the brown haired boy, waiting to hear what he has to say. "Why don't you just ditch school today? Let's go rehearse." A look of disapproval appears on Angelina's face.

Julie closes her eyes and disagrees, "What? No. No." She leans forward before standing up straight, looking up at Luke, reminding him, "I-I promised my dad, school first."

Luke shrugs his shoulders, "Right. You were at school first, now you're leaving to go rehearse." Julie gives him a pointed look as the boy tries to persuade her, "Come on." He looks over at Angelina and shakes his head as he continues, "I can't do this without you."

Julie hesitates before ultimately saying, "I can't. I..." Angelina looks over at Julie, who lets out a sigh before she continues, "I told Nick I'd be his dance partner."

Angelina nods and looks back over to Luke, adding, "Besides, if Ray found out she skipped school, he'll make her quit the band. And then we wouldn't ever be able to rehearse or play a gig ever again." Luke reluctantly nods his head, agreeing with the blonde.

Julie looks over at Nick, who is wearing his outfit for the dance that he has to do with the Molina girl. Nick walks up to them and chuckles, "Hey, Julie!"

Julie's eyes widen and a smile grows on her face, causing Luke to look over at the girl, who awkwardly says, "And he's heading this way." Luke turns over his shoulder and sees the blonde boy walk their way. Luke moves out of the way, standing in front of Angelina, allowing Nick to stand in front of Julie. The lifer pretends she is talking to someone on the phone, "Gotta go. Bye."

She pulls her phone away from her ear and looks over at Nick, who greets, "Hey!"

Angelina leans over to Julie and loudly whispers, "This is Nick? You were right, Julsie. He is cute."

At the blonde girl's words, jealousy courses through Luke's veins, causing the boy to tease Nick, "Well, don't you look sharp." Angelina gives Luke a pointed look and when the ghost boy notices her, he gives her an innocent look.

"You ready for our big performance?" Nick asks Julie.

Julie becomes nervous and awkward as she says, "Oh yeah. Yeah." She tucks some hair behind her ear before nodding her head, "We're gonna do great." She chuckles awkwardly as Luke looks back and forth between the two lifers with a wide grin on his face.

Nick chuckles and nods his head while saying, "I'm glad you're confident." Nick scrunches up his face and continues, "Even after three classes, I still think I got worse." Luke looks at Julie with his brows furrowed and a pout on his face as Nick smoothly says, "It's a good thing I got my secret weapon."

Luke looks at Nick before he opens his mouth and his eyes widen in realization as he looks over at Julie. He looks back over to Nick and teases, "Uh-oh!" He moves over so he is looking at Julie over Nick's left shoulder and says to the Molina girl, "I think somebody has a crush on Julie." A smirk grows on Luke's face as Angelina gives him a look that tells him to stop.

Julie smiles and tilts her head, saying through her teeth, "Shut up." At the girl's words, Nick looks at Julie confused and the smile grows on Luke's face, happy that he was able to make Julie say something stupid in front of her crush.

Angelina leans over to Julie and says, "You just told Nick to shut up, sweetie."

Julie's eyes widen as she stammers, "Um... Shut up!" She waves her hand at her crush as she awkwardly chuckles.

Luke leans over Nick to see the look on the boy's face as the blonde boy answers, "No, seriously, Molina." Luke leans back and looks at Julie, pouting his lip and nodding his head. "I...I...I'm nothing without you." Luke furrows his brows and shakes his head, causing Angelina to shake her head at the boy as she can't stop a smile from spreading across her face. Luke smiles widely at the fact that he inevitably made Angelina smile.

Julie throws out her hand toward the boy and looks away from him, "Shh. No. No, you're..." She looks back at Nick as she leans forward and pushes his left shoulder, causing Luke to jump back, not wanting to go through the blonde boy. Luke furrows his brows and cocks his head at Julie, who continues "You're gonna do fine." Julie looks at Luke and awkwardly chuckles as she moves back into her previous spot. She looks back to Nick and asks, "See you in there?"

Luke's mouth is hung open in a slight smirk as Nick squints his eyes and replies to Julie, "Yeah." The blonde lifer points to himself as he looks back up, "I'll be the guy," Luke looks over at Nick, who leans forward and starts backing away. Luke points to Nick as he backs up, mocking the blonde, "Trying not to make us look stupid." Nick chuckles as he turns around to walk away, Luke still mocking him. Luke looks to Nick, who glances back at Julie one more time before completely turning around and walking away.

Luke follows after Nick for a little bit before he gasps as he turns around and walks back up to the two girls, speaking up as he points at the receding Nick over his shoulder with his thumb, "Well, he's just too cute!"

He stops right in front of Angelina as he looks down at Julie, who looks up at him and says, "Boundaries." She nods her head and looks down at the ground before she looks back up at Luke, "I'll see you after school."

Julie walks away as Luke moves over so he is standing in the spot Julie was once standing in. He puts his left hand on the locker and leans on it as he tells Julie, "Guess we'll just have to carry you tonight just like we always do!" Angelina rolls her eyes at the brown haired boy, who shouts out to Julie and points at her, "I know you're smiling." He removes his arm from the locker and dances toward Angelina before dancing back toward the locker as he shouts, "Kill it on the dance floor."

Angelina lets out a laugh and playfully shoves the boy's shoulder as she says, "Stop teasing the girl, will you?"

Luke moves over to the lockers and leans his back on it while crossing his arms over his chest as he looks at Angelina before he says, "I haven't seen you at all today, Angel."

Angelina smiles at Luke and replies, "I went up to Julie's room this morning and she was nervous about her dance performance with Nick so I had to cheer her up and get her mind off of it. Then I came to school with her, so..."

Luke nods his head and looks down the hall, looking at all the students rushing as they try to get to class on time. He looks back at Angelina and asks, "So Angel, do you want to get back to the studio so we could rehearse?"

Angelina smiles and replies, "I would love to," Luke perks up and smiles at the girl, thinking that she will agree and he can spend the whole day with her. "But I can't," Angelina tells the boy, who deflates and leans back onto the lockers in defeat as Angelina explains, "I promised Julie that I would watch her dance performance with Nick. You know that promises are important to me and that I hate breaking them."

Luke gives Angelina a slight smile and a small head nod before saying, "Yeah, no. Totally. I get it. A promise is a promise." Angelina bites her lip and looks down at the ground. It is quiet for a bit before Luke speaks up, "I'm glad you're here." Angelina looks up at the Patterson boy with a confused look on her face, so he explains, "When you weren't there in the dark room, we got really scared. Alex was crying and you are usually the one to comfort him but you weren't there. It was weird without you being there, next to us. I'm so used to you always being around and when you weren't there, it was like a piece of me was missing."

He pauses for a beat to look down at the ground, "When we landed in the studio and you weren't there, it scared us even more. I thought I would never see you again, but then there you were in the studio the next morning singing your heart out. Alex, Reggie, and I were new to the ghost thing and didn't understand what was going on but seeing you there..." He trails off as he looks up at Angelina before continuing, "Suddenly, everything felt better. Everything felt whole. Everything made sense."

Angelina smiles at Luke, happy that he is opening up to her, "When I first landed in the apartment of Julie's mother, I was confused. We had just died the week before and I was in my own dark room for what felt like the longest thirty seconds of my life." She shakes her head and looks down at the ground, pausing before she looks back up at Luke to continue, "At first, I couldn't accept the fact that I was dead. I thought I was still alive and that I had dreamt the dark room. But when I realized that I wasn't dreaming and that you guys weren't with me, I broke down. It took me a long time to get used to the fact that I wouldn't see you guys everyday anymore."

Angelina hesitated before saying anything else, "I thought I would never get to see you or Reggie or my brother ever again and I had to learn to cope with that fact. There was a void that formed when I thought I lost you and the guys. Julie's mom filled a piece of that void and then when Julie was born, she filled another piece. Though it felt as if there was still a piece missing that would never be filled. When Julie's mom passed, the void got even bigger. Seeing you guys in the studio again, brought everything that I had been missing back. You guys completely filled the void."

Luke gave Angelina a sad but loving smile. He was upset that Angelina had to go through that but he was glad that she didn't have to do it alone. He admires Angelina for everything she had to go through the twenty five years spent without her favorite boys. Luke looks down and nervously scratches the back of his neck, "Angel, there is something I have to tell you." He pauses as he looks up at the blonde. Right before he can tell the girl what he's been wanting to tell her for the longest time, he takes notice of the shirt the girl is wearing, "Wait a minute." He points to the shirt and asks, "Is that my shirt?"

Angelina looks down at the shirt and a blush forms on her face. She had in fact put on one of Luke's shirts that morning and she didn't think the boy would mind. In a high pitched voice, the girl lets out as she tries to think of something to say, "Uh..." She looks down the hall and shouts, "What's that, Julsie?" She looks over to Luke, who has his brows raised before making a lame excuse, "I can hear Julie calling for me to hurry up."

Luke smirks and says, "I don't hear anything."

Angelina awkwardly says, "That's because you aren't listening, silly." She playfully yet awkwardly shoves Luke. She rests her hand on Luke's shoulder and says, trying to act cool, "So, I'll see you later? After school?"

Luke lets out a laugh as he says, "Sure, but you do know that you don't actually go to school here right?"

Angelina sarcastically laughs before she says, "I'll see you later, Luke." She removes her hand from Luke's shoulder and without thinking, she gives the boy a kiss on the cheek. She then turns and rushes down the hall, going in the direction that Nick and Julie went as she shouts out, "I'm coming, Julsie!" As she is rushing off, Luke watches her go. He has a starstruck look on his face as he raises up his hand and touches the burning spot on his cheek where Angelina had kissed him.

•••

Angelina is sitting on the railing of the bleachers, looking at the dance teacher and the lacrosse coach standing in front of the large mirror that was set up in the gym. The coach is giving the boys a pep talk, "Boys, I want you to focus and leave it all out on the field." All the students, including Angelina give the man confused looks. The dance teacher leans over to the coach and whispers something to him, causing him to whisper back to her.

The teacher turns to her students and the boys of the lacrosse team telling them, "Breathe in..." She exhales before she shakes out her hands, saying, "...shake out your nerves." All of the students start to shake their arms in order to shake out their nerves. The teacher then continues, "Surrender to the music and to your partner. Here we go." She walks off and the coach stands in his spot for a second, looking around at the students.

When he notices that she is no longer standing next to him, he awkwardly hits his hands together as he lets out, "Oh, ah!" He walks off, following after the dance teacher. Julie and Nick turn to each other, the latter talking to the former. Julie says something to Nick, causing the boy to nod his head before the both of them turn to face the mirror once again.

The music starts up and Angelina shouts out, "Whoo Julsie!" Julie sighs at the blonde as a slight blush covers the girl's face out of embarrassment, even though she knows that no one else can hear Angelina.

Julie shakes out her nerves one more time as the teacher counts them in, "Five, six, seven, eight." The students all start to dance with each other, but Angelina smiles as she watches Nick and Julie as their reflections dance in the mirrors.

When Nick jumps and spins in the air, Angelina lets out, "Whoo, Nick. I see you." Julie lets out a little giggle at Angelina and at Nick, who slides on the ground before he continues the dance. Angelina's smile falls off her face as the music slows down and she glances away from Julie and Nick's reflection, her eyes land on Luke, who is standing in the mirror and walking toward her. The brown haired boy is wearing black dress pants and a white button down shirt with his hair slicked back. Angelina's breath gets caught in her throat at how attractive he looks.

Everyone in the room disappears and Angelina poofs off of the railing of the bleachers. She appears in the middle of the empty gym, wearing a black dress and black ballroom heels. Instead of the low ponytail her hair was in, it is now curled while the hairs that frame her face are in fishtail braids and pinned back so no hair can get in her face. Luke steps through the mirror as he starts to sing.

Luke

Step into my world

The gym fades away to a black room with white silks hanging from the ceiling and touching the floor. There are candles on the ground in between each white silk. Luke walks toward Angelina, both ghosts never break eye contact from each other.

Bittersweet love story about a girl

He stops in front of the girl, noticing a stray hair has escaped the fishtail braid and is now hanging in her face. He brushes the strand of hair behind the blonde's ear, looking at her lovingly.

Shook me to the core

He moves his hand to cup Angelina's cheek. She leans into his touch as he rubs his thumb over her cheek.

Voice like an angel

He removes his hand from her face as he extends both of his hands out for her to take.

I've never heard before

Angelina places her hands in Luke's, smiling brightly at him. They swing their arms up over their heads and bring them back to their original place. Angelina leans back before pulling herself back up and swings her hands out of Luke's. Her right hand remains in the air by her head as her left hand returns to her side. Angelina looks over at her right hand as Luke moves his right hand up to hers, not breaking looking away from her.

Angelina

Here in front of me

Once Luke grabs Angelina's hand, he pulls her hand closer to him so that he is standing behind the girl. He grabs onto her other hand as they both look at their right hands. They pull their hands in close to Angelina's chest before they swing their connected hands back out.

Shining so much brighter

Luke moves their hands down to Angelina's waist before picking her up and turning around in a circle as Angelina's left leg is bent back.

Than I have ever seen

Luke puts her back on the ground as he spins Angelina around to face him. He switches his right hand, which is still holding Angelina's with his other hand. They stare into each other's eyes as they swing their connected arms back and forth, building up momentum. Luke then spins Angelina around himself. Once they are back to back, Luke grabs Angelina's other hand as the girl continues moving away from the boy with the hand that Luke let go extended.

Life can be so mean

Angelina turns her head and meets Luke's eyes, causing them both to smile at each other. The blonde moves back toward Luke as she rests her left arm on his shoulder and puts her right hand on his chest. Luke puts his hand over Angelina's right hand as he leans back, causing Angelina to lean with him.

But when he goes

Luke stands up straight as he grabs ahold of Angelina's right hand. The boy dips her and swings her to the left before swinging her back up.

I know he doesn't leave

They push away from each other as they start to sing together. The brown haired boy jumps into a position on the ground, his right hand holding him up and his other hand extended in the air. He spins forward, rolling on the ground toward Angelina, who stops backing away and locks eyes with Luke as she sings to him.

Both

The truth is finally breaking through

He gets back into his position, his right hand holding him up and his other hand extended in the air. He brings his left arm forward and puts it on the ground as he brings his right hand up in the air. He does this as he spins toward Angelina. He gets on his knees right in front of Angelina, holding out his hands for her to take.

She swings her arms before placing her hands in his hands as she walks in place, moving her hips as she does so. Luke spins the blonde before bringing her around to his backside. Angelina leans over, extending her leg as she looks at Luke over his shoulder. The brown haired boy turns his head to look at Angelina, smiling at her when their eyes meet.

Two worlds collide when I'm with you

He spins her out as he turns on the ground as Angelina extends out her hand. Luke spins Angelina back into him before he lets go of her hands, wrapping his arms around the girl's legs before he stands up. Angelina throws her head back and spreads her arms out wide.

Our voices rise and soar so high

Angelina brings her arms toward her chest before extending them again.

We come to life when we're

Angelina places her hands on Luke's shoulder as he slowly brings her back down to the ground, both of them never breaking eye contact with each other.

In perfect harmony

They continue to gaze into one another's eyes as they smile at each other.

Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa

Luke takes Angelina's hands and bounces in place as he sings to the girl.

Perfect harmony

They move to Angelina's left before Luke swings his right arm up and over Angelina, so her back is facing his chest. Angelina leans to the left before both ghosts look over at each other, gazing in one another's eyes.

Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa

Angelina looks away from Luke, who moves over to stand directly behind Angelina, his head placed right next to hers. He throws up Angelina's hands, both of them looking up at the girl's hands.

Angelina

We say we're friends

Luke slowly moves his hands up to lace them together with Angelina's.

Luke

We play pretend

Luke extends their arms out to their sides as Angelina closes her eyes and Luke looks over at his right hand which is interlocked with the blonde's. Angelina brings their arms over her chest as Luke looks down at her.

Angelina

You're more to me

Luke sings in Angelina's ear as the girl smiles with her eyes still closed.

Luke

We create...

He spins Angelina out, letting go of the girl's hand.

Angelina

The perfect harmony

Angelina is awoken from her daydream as some of the students start to cheer, happy that they completed the dance performance with success. Angelina is back in Luke's shirt and her jeans as she is still sitting on the railing of the bleachers. She looks to the mirror where Luke was with confusion written across her face. The bell rings and Angelina hops off of the railing onto the gym floor, not caring if she falls on the ground.

When she lands on her feet, she walks to the doors of the gym in a rush. Meanwhile, Julie hugs Nick in excitement, a smile spread across her face. Her face falls as she notices Angelina walk through the gym doors. Julie furrows her brows and pulls away from Nick. She looks up at the boy and says, "I gotta get going." Julie walks after Angelina and Nick watches the Molina girl leave the gymnasium with confusion written across his face.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys!! I can't believe this book has reached over 11k!! I honestly never thought that anyone would actually want to read this story.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter and the story.