xviii. Unsaid Emily

While Julie is off at school the next day, Angelina is reclining on the Molina girl's bed wearing jeans and a mustard colored sweater as she reads the next Harry Potter book in the series. She has been avoiding Alex, Reggie, and Luke lately because the jolts have become worse and more frequent. The three boys still don't know this has been happening to the girl and she is trying to avoid them as well as trying to stop them from finding out as long as possible.

Alex and Luke have taken notice that Angelina has become reserved and distant while Reggie is oblivious to her recent elusiveness. Luke is confused as to why and Alex has been avoiding the girl as well. He could never keep a secret from his twin and he knows that he would end up telling her if he is always around her, so he's been keeping his distance.

As Angelina reads about the Yule Ball, another jolt courses through the girl. She drops the book and gasps out in pain, tightly closing her eyes. She puts her hand over her chest and starts to slowly rub the area to soothe the searing pain. Once the pain subsides, she opens her eyes as she sighs before picking up the book to continue reading where she left off.

Hours later, Julie storms into her room and declares, "We are going to help Luke since he's hurting so much."

Angelina furrows her brows as she sets the book down on the nightstand and sits up straight, asking, "What do you mean?"

Julie sets her backpack down and explains, "He's upset and missing his mom. I figured we could do something nice for him. He wrote a song about her and I thought that we could take it to her."

Angelina stares at Julie speechless for a few seconds. The blonde jumps off of the bed and exclaims, "Julsie, that is an amazing idea! I wish I thought of it."

"I figured you would want to be a part of it since the two of you are so close," Julie says as she gives Angelina a suggestive look, causing the blonde to roll her eyes, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

Changing the topic, Angelina says, "We need to come up with a plan. We need to sneak into the studio and take the song when no one is looking. Preferably when the guys aren't in the studio."

Julie nods her head, "Right," she pauses, "What if the guys are in there?"

Angelina smirks, "Then we are going to need a diversion."

•••

Angelina opens the door to the studio and walks inside, leaving the door open for Julie. Luckily, Luke's song journal is sitting on the coffee table, free for anyone to go through it and take the song for his mother. Unfortunately, Angelina sees the three boys standing around the piano, talking intently to each other. When they hear the studio door open, they turn around to see Angelina. The three of them immediately stop what they were talking about, not wanting the girl to overhear. Angelina walks forward and says, "Well, don't stop talking on my account."

Luke playfully rolls his eyes as he smiles and turns back to the piano while saying, "As I was saying, boys." Alex and Reggie turn to face the brown haired boy, who is giving them a look to help him out with coming up with something random they would have been talking about instead of the jolts. Meanwhile, Angelina turns to the studio doors and beckons Julie in. The Mercer girl walks around the piano to stand behind the bench so she can keep her eyes on Julie and so the boys don't notice her.

Alex speaks up, "You were talking about how I should spend less time thinking about Willie and more time focusing on the band."

Reggie looks between the two boys clueless, as he says, "But we were- Ow!" The raven haired boy is cut off as Luke elbows him in the gut. Reggie looks over at Luke, who gives him a stern look. Reggie picks up what the look means, looks to the blonde girl and covers, "Right. Alex is way too occupied with Willie right now."

Luke nods at Reggie, "Yeah." He looks over to Angelina and asks her, "What do you think, Angel?"

The blonde, who was watching Julie as she slowly creeps into the studio, snaps her attention over to the boys as she says, "Alex, don't listen to these two knuckleheads." Reggie and Luke look at the blonde girl, offended as she continues speaking, "You need to follow your heart. There is always time for both boys and the band." The three boys look between each other, giving surprising looks at Angelina's words. Julie stops in her tracks and gives Angelina a knowing look. The blonde narrows her eyes at Julie and signals for her to keep going. When the guys look back at her, she innocently smiles at them before adding, "Besides, I was talking to Willie last night."

The three boys glance at each other, nervous that Willie told her about the stamp that Caleb gave them and the jolts they are getting because of it. They look back at her as Luke nervously speaks up, "Oh yeah?"

Angelina smiles and nods her head before Alex cautiously asks, "What did you talk about?"

Angelina watches as Julie reaches the coffee table and slowly crouches down next to it, "Oh, you know. He showed up after the party last night, looking for you guys." The three boys nervously look at each other again before they turn their attention back to Angelina, who continues, "I told him you guys were outside the studio shooting hoops."

Reggie leans forward and asks, "That was it? He didn't say anything else to you?" Julie slides Luke's song journal closer to her so she can find the song.

Luke kicks Reggie's leg as Angelina adverts her gaze from Julie and looks to Reggie, "Yeah. That was pretty much it."

Julie flips through the song journal as the three boys let out sighs of relief as they start to turn around. Julie stops in her tracks and the boys turn their attention back to Angelina, who shouts out, "He did say that Alex is a babe though."

The three boys look at the blonde girl in confusion as Alex asks, "He said what?"

Angelina licks her lips and spouts out, "Uh, he said that you are a... hunk of burning... something or other." Julie finds the song that she was looking for and does a silent little victory dance.

Alex smiles as he asks, "He said that?" He rubs the back of his neck as a blush forms on his face, "A hunk of burning what?"

Angelina replies, "Well he didn't say those exact words, but it was implied." Luke rolls his eyes and moves to turn around. Angelina shouts out right as Julie rips the page from Luke's journal, Angelina's loud voice masking the sound of the page tearing out of the journal, "Hey!" Luke turns around and looks at the girl with wide eyes, "You should look at me when I am talking to you guys. It is very rude."

Luke throws his arms up in defense as Julie closes the song journal and puts it back in its previous spot on the coffee table. The lifer stands up and gives a thumbs up to the blonde before she makes her way out of the studio. The blonde shakes her head and says, "I should not have told you that. What was I thinking? It isn't any of my business if you and Willie decide to have smoochies."

Alex blushes at his twin's words as Luke and Reggie look at her with a mixture of confusion and appall. Angelina goes on, "My God. Shame." She looks over and sees that Julie has left the studio while repeating, "Shame." She looks back to the guys and blurts, "I have to go." She rushes out of the studio, the guys turn around and watch her leave with confused looks on their faces before she closes the studio doors.

"What just happened?" Reggie asks Luke and Alex.

Luke shakes his head, "I have absolutely no idea."

Outside the studio, Angelina walks up to Julie, "Did you get it?"

Julie holds up the song, "Oh yeah. I can't believe that worked." The two girls laugh as Julie folds the paper up before sticking it in her pocket.

When their laughter subsides, Angelina nods her head toward the stone steps and stuffs her hands in her jeans, "Come on. Let's go."

The two girls walk up the stone steps as Julie blurts out, "Nick asked me out today."

Angelina smiles over at the lifer, happy for the girl, "Really?" Julie nods her head in confirmation. Angelina exclaims, "That's great news!" When she looks over at Julie and doesn't see the smile on her face, the blonde asks, "It is great news, right?"

Julie solemnly nods her head as she opens the gate, both girls walking through the gateway. When Julie closes the gate, she turns to Angelina and speaks up, "Yeah." She pauses for a moment, looking at Angelina who gives the lifer an encouraging look, "I told him that I want to focus on the band and on my music. I basically told him that I don't have time for a boyfriend."

Angelina gives Julie a sad smile as the two girls turn to walk to the Patterson household, assuring Julie, "You might be too busy for a boyfriend right now, but that doesn't mean you will be too busy in the future. Just because you don't date him now, doesn't mean that there isn't a future for the two of you."

Julie smiles at Angelina, "Thanks, Angie. You always know exactly what to say in order to cheer me up."

Angelina smiles at the girl, "I'm always here to help." The smile falls off the blonde's face as she remembers that with these jolts, she won't be around forever. She is either going to do her unfinished business, whatever that is, and cross over or the jolts are going to catch up to her and she is going to disappear forever. The only option that is completely out of the question is joining Caleb's house band.

•••

The two girls walk up the driveway to the Patterson house. Angelina hasn't been to this house in a very long time. It still looks the same as it had when she was still alive and Luke was still on speaking terms with his parents. When the two girls reach the front door of Luke's childhood home, both girls take in a deep breath before Julie exhales slowly and Angelina exhales shakily. Julie wipes her hands on her pants before lifting up her hand, reaching out to ring the doorbell.

Before she has a chance to press the button, Luke appears in front of the door. Angelina turns to him and says with surprise lacing her voice, "Luke!"

Julie turns to Angelina and notices the blonde is looking at something. Julie turns to see what Angelina is looking at, only to see the brown haired boy looking at them with shock and confusion. "Hey," Julie says nervously to the boy.

Luke turns to the two girls, looking between them and asks, "What are you doing here?"

Julie turns to face the boy, throwing out her hands as she explains, "Okay, look. I... I just wanted to know more about you," Julie looks down at the ground as Luke walks over to the two girls, "You know, just curious. Um..." she looks up at the and admits, "So, I-I came here last week on your birthday."

"You were spying on me?" Luke asks Julie, who looks down at the ground in shame. "Even after all your speeches about boundaries? You were spying on me?"

Julie quickly looks away before looking back at the boy, shaking her head, "I know. I'm sorry. It was wrong."

Luke turns to Angelina, "Did you know about this? Were you spying on me too?"

Julie quickly answers, "No. She didn't know."

Offended Angelina adds, "Do you really think I would spy on you?" Luke looks down in shame as Angelina continues, "I know you well enough to know that you were coming here." Luke looks back up at the blonde. "I figured you needed your space so I gave it to you. But Julie and I are worried about you."

The Patterson boy glances down at the ground before looking back up at Angelina, whispering, "You don't have to be." He turns to look out at the street.

Julie shakes her head, emotionally opening up to the boy, "I get it. I know how hard it is when you want to speak to someone you love and can't. I feel that way everyday. Angie has had to deal with that pain for years. She understands what you're going through too."

Luke licks his lips before looking over at the two girls and says, "I don't even know what I'd say to her," he turns his head to gesture to the door before looking back at the girls, "Even if she could hear me."

Angelina takes a step toward Luke and states, "Yes, you do."

Julie shakes her head, adding, "You've already said it."

Luke furrows his brows before turning to Angelina in confusion. The blonde gives him a tight lipped smile, saying, "Trust us." Julie turns to the doorbell as Angelina smiles at the boy, who keeps his eyes on the blonde as he moves over to the doorbell. His hand hovering over it, hesitating before eventually pressing it. He walks around Julie to stand next to Angelina, stuffing his hands in his pockets as the lifer moves to stand in front of the door.

When Luke's dad opens the door, Angelina puts her hand on the boy's shoulder before moving him over so the two ghosts could stand behind Julie. The oldest Patterson man looks at the lifer before looking around to see if anyone else was there. He looks back at Julie and asks her, "Hello. Can I help you?"

Angelina grabs Luke's hand, rubbing her thumb along the back of the boy's hand which immediately eases the boy's worries as Julie answers, "Hi. I'm Julie." Luke looks down at the girl before looking back up at his father, "Um... I believe you had a son named Luke?"

Mitch, Luke's father slightly smiles at the thought of his son. He nods his head before looking back over at the young girl in front of him, replying, "Yes, that's right." He looks at Julie for a moment before furrowing his brows and asking, "And you are again?"

Julie nods her head, replying, "Julie Molina. Um..." Luke glances down at Julie again before looking back to his father, "Your son's band used to play in my family's garage." Mitch slightly shakes his head, not understanding why that would bring her to his house. Julie looks down before reaching into her back pocket, causing the two ghosts to look at the lifer. "I... I came across this song," Julie pulls out the song from her pocket before holding it up for Mitch to see. Luke looks at it over Julie's shoulder before averting his confused gaze to Angelina, who smiles at him. "That he wrote and figured you might be interested?" Julie holds the folded up paper out to the man as Luke looks back at it.

Mitch stares at the piece of paper with an open mouth. He quickly glances at Julie before looking back at her outstretched hand, holding the song written by his son. "Um... Well, yes," he says, finally able to find words. He shakes his head and holds out his hand, inviting the girl into his home, "Uh, please... please come in. I'm... I'm Mitch." Julie moves forward and shakes the man's hand, saying, "Nice to meet you." Julie walks into the house and Mitch walks away to the living room. Luke hesitates and stands in the doorway, debating on whether he should enter or not. Angelina looks over at the boy as Julie turns around and looks at the two ghosts as she holds onto the door.

Luke turns to look at Angelina, causing the girl to squeeze his hand and give him a reassuring smile. Luke looks over at Julie, who gives the boy a reassuring nod. The two ghosts walk into the house and Julie closes the door behind them. Mitch looks over his shoulder and asks Julie, "Can I, um, get you something?"

Julie turns to the man and replies, walking toward him as he turns toward the girl, "Oh, no. I'm good. Thank you." Luke timidly walks forward, causing Angelina to slowly walk with him due to their interlocked hands. Julie stops at a little table with picture frames on top of it. She picks up a photo and asks, "Is this your son?"

Mitch looks at the photo and replies, "Yeah, that's Luke." The two ghosts stop next to Julie as Luke's father adds, "When he was two." Luke and Angelina look down at the photo, the former blinking away his tears and the latter smiling at how cute the boy was when he was two.

Julie looks up at Mitch as she asks, the man looking back at her, "Do you have any other children?" The two ghosts turn their attention to the older man.

The older man looks off into space as he shakes his head before ultimately replying, "No." He looks back at the girl as she puts the photo back down onto the table. The two lifers and the two ghosts look over to a woman, who enters the room. Luke squeezes Angelina's hand when he sees his mother, Emily.

The older woman walks over to her husband, asking him as she holds out her hand to rest it on Mitch's arm, "Did I hear the doorbell?"

"Hi, hon," Mitch greets his wife as he puts his arm around her back. He turns back to Julie gesturing to her, causing Emily to turn to Julie as well, "Um, this is Julie."

Julie gives the woman a tight lipped smile as Emily walks up to her, "Hello, Julie." Julie nods her head in greeting, smiling at the older woman. She looks down at the young girl's sweater, complementing, "Oh, that's a beautiful sweater."

Julie looks down at the sweater she is wearing and responds, "Thanks." She looks back up at Emily, "It's my mom's."

Mitch turns to Emily, putting his hand on her shoulder causing the woman to turn to him as he says, "Julie lives in the house," Luke turns his gaze to his father, "Where Luke and the band rehearsed." Luke looks to his mother to see her reaction. "She was just telling me she found," Mitch turns his head and gestures to the piece of paper in Julie's hand, causing Emily to look between the girl and the paper. Mitch turns back to Emily, adding, "A song that Luke wrote." Emily quickly turns her head back to Julie before she glances back to her husband, who looks to the young girl.

Julie looks down at the piece of paper, "It's a song about a girl named Emily?" She looks back up at the married couple, who have shock written across their faces.

Mitch turns to his wife and whispers, "Emily..." The older man turns his head to look at the paper.

Emily whispers before she glances at Mitch before looking back at the piece of paper, "Oh..." The older woman leans into her husband's touch as she glances between Julie and the paper, saying, "I'm Emily." The older woman moves out of her husband's arms and walks closer to Julie.

Julie looks down at the folded paper in her hands, "Then I think your son may have written this song for you." Luke looks up at the interaction between Julie and his mother before looking back down at the song. Angelina looks over at the brown haired boy, giving him a sad smile as she sees the tears in his eyes. Julie hands the paper over to Emily, who sniffles as she unfolds the paper. Mitch walks forward and puts his hands on his wife's shoulders as he looks at the words on the paper that were written by his son. Angelina turns her gaze away from Luke to look at the reaction that his mother has to the song Luke wrote about her.

Once the paper is unfolded, Emily reads the words and tears stream from her eyes as she lets out, "Oh..." Luke starts to sing the words of the song, causing Angelina to look over at the boy with tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. The brown haired boy's eyes never waver from his mother as he sings to her.

Luke

First things first

We start the scene in reverse

Mitch puts his hand over his mouth before placing his hand back on his wife's shoulder and Emily puts her hand to her chest before lifting said hand to cover her mouth, both of them reading their son's words.

All of the lines rehearsed

Disappeared from my mind

When things got loud

Luke looks over at Angelina, who gives him a tight lipped smile as some tears escape from her eyes.

One of us running out

Luke lifts his hand and wipes some of Angelina's tears away, giving her a sad smile before looking back to his mother.

I should have turned around

But I had too much pride

No time for goodbyes

Didn't get to apologise

Pieces of a clock that lies broken

When Luke left home on his bike with his guitar case and a bag hung on his back, he ended up at Alex and Angelina's house. The boy rode his bike onto the grass before stopping under the window he knew belonged to Angelina's room. He let the bike drop on the ground as he climbed off of it. He picked up pebbles and started throwing them at the blonde's window as tears flowed from his eyes. The light turned on once the noise got the attention of the blonde.

When she looked out the window only to see a heartbroken Luke, she quickly threw on a sweatshirt and ran out of her room. She quietly snuck out of her house so she wouldn't wake up her parents or her brother. Once outside, she rushed to where the boy was sobbing. Without a word she pulled the boy into a tight embrace, comforting him as she rubbed her hand up and down his back.

After he told her that he got into a fight with his mother once again about his music and how he left home for good, Angelina allowed Luke to crash in the garage where the boys practiced their music. She told him that he could stay there for as long as he wanted. Luke gave Angelina a grateful smile and fell even harder for the blonde girl. Instead of getting any sleep that night, the boy stayed up until dawn writing a song about his mother titling it, Unsaid Emily.

If I could take us back

If I could just do that

And write in every empty space

The words I love you in replace

Then maybe time would not erase me

If you could only know

I never let you go

And the words I most regret

Are the ones I never meant to leave

Unsaid Emily

When Luke finished writing the song, Angelina was the first person that he played the song for. Tears fell from Angelina's eyes as she told him that the song was absolutely beautiful. She suggested to him that he should perform it with the band and once they become legends, his mother would know that her son's dream wasn't foolish. He smiled at her, thankful that she is always so supportive of him in everything that he does.

Silent days

Mysteries and mistakes

Who'd be the first to break

Guess we're alike that way

He said, she said

Conversations in my head

And that's just where they're gonna stay forever

If I could take us back

If I could just do that

Angelina was also there the first time that he practiced the song with Alex, Reggie, and Bobby. She smiled at him, telling the boys how amazing the song sounded and how she couldn't wait to hear it playing from the radio when they became rock stars. All four boys gave her grateful smiles, but Luke was the only one that looked at the blonde with total love and devotion, adoring the girl that sat in front of him.

And write in every empty space

The words I love you in replace

Then maybe time would not erase me

If you could only know

I never let you go

And the words I most regret

Are the ones I never meant to leave

Unsaid Emily

If I could take us back

If I could just do that

And write in every empty space

The words I love you in replace

Then maybe time would not erase me

If you could only know

I never let you go

And the words I most regret

Are the ones I never meant to leave

A tear falls from Luke's eyes as both of his parents cry at how beautiful the song is.

Unsaid Emily

Angelina tentatively moves the hand that isn't in Luke's grasp forward before she wipes the tear from his face. He looks over at her and gives her a grateful smile for still sticking by his side, even after both of them died. Mitch looks up at Julie, who is also crying as Emily hugs the paper to her chest. The older man looks back to his wife, who looks up at Julie, briefly putting her hand over her mouth before returning it back to her chest as she says, "Thank you." Julie tearfully nods as Emily lets out a sob.

The young girl looks up at Luke's father, who says as he shakes his head, "Um... You have no idea..." Emily brings up her hand and rests it on her husband's as he trails off, sniffling. Emily closes her eyes and deeply breathes in before deeply exhaling, trying to hold back any more tears from falling. Julie closes her eyes and nods her head as tears slip from her eyes and fall down her face.

Julie opens her eyes and takes a deep breath before looking up at the couple, telling them causing the two ghosts to look over at her, "I write music in the same room that he did," Luke looks back over at his parents, "And I can tell you it is a magical, happy place." Emily closes her eyes and chuckles as she leans back into her husband, who is smiling at Julie.

Emily reopens her eyes as Mitch nods his head, "That's so nice to know."

Julie quickly glances down at the ground before looking back up at the older couple telling them, "I know that he was only seventeen when he..." she trails off, not wanting to mention the fact that he died. Luke looks over at Julie, sniffling and wiping tears away from his eyes with the back of his plaid jacket before he looks away from the scene. Julie looks down at the ground before looking back up at Mitch and Emily, nodding her head as she continues, "But he lived doing the one thing he was born to do." Julie shakes her head, "Not many people find that, but Luke did. He was lucky." Emily nods her head, agreeing with Julie's words.

Luke sniffles and breathes shakily as he looks between Julie and his parents. He squeezes Angelina's hand before letting go, using the hand to wipe his tears away. The girl looks over at the brown haired boy in confusion as he takes a step back before he poofs away all together. Angelina moves toward Julie informing her, "Luke just poofed away. I'm going to go find him, make sure he is okay. Will you be okay here by yourself?" Julie subtly nods her head so she doesn't draw attention to herself, telling the blonde it is okay for her to leave. Angelina smiles and says, "Thanks Julsie. I'll see you later at home." Without another word, the blonde ghost poofs away in search of the sad brown haired boy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys!! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. One of the scenes I added is taken from an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I hope you guys have a great week!!