2 years later

No one's POV

Julie walked home from school with a smile on her face. Her high school days were finally over! The stress of final exams was lifted off her shoulders, and now that it was summer she could finally relax.

Sure, the goodbyes had been bittersweet, and Julie really wasn't ready to leave the music program- not to mention she had to start applying for colleges now- but it wasn't all bad. She planned to keep in touch with many of her friends, and maybe even go to college with some of them.

Another thing to be excited about was that the summer left loads of time for rehearsals with the band. Julie and The Phantoms had gotten so popular due to them finally getting a good manager. A few months ago, they had actually gone on tour! 

Julie sighed happily as she opened the front door. 

"I'm home!" She called. To her surprise, however, the house was silent and the lights were off. Julie frowned as she walked over to the light switch and flicked it on.

"SURPRISE!!!"

Julie shrieked and jumped, her heart skipping a beat. When she saw who was in front of her, however, she immediately calmed down.

Her dad, Carlos, Flynn, Carrie, Nick, Tía, Willie, and the guys were standing in front of her, their arms open wide and giant smiles on their faces. Her dad held a large cake in his hands and there was a banner stretched across the ceiling that read "Congratulations!"

Julie's eyes immediately filled with tears as she took in the scene around her. Everyone had started clapping, laughing as they whooped. Luke was the first to approach Julie.

"Congrats, babe!" He laughed, pulling her into a side hug. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You know you guys didn't have to do this," she said as Alex and Reggie walked over to her.

"Yeah, but we wanted to," Reggie replied as Luke released Julie from the hug. 

"Sooo, how does it feel to be a high school graduate?" Alex asked, ruffling her hair. "We wouldn't know."

"No, seriously, we wouldn't know," Luke grinned. "We died a few months before our graduation."

Julie laughed and shook her head. She kept forgetting that the guys were supposed to graduate in '95 because they're- well, alive now!

Throughout the course of the year after Caleb was defeated, the boys had gradually come back to life. They slowly lost all their ghost abilities, the last one being their ability to poof. Reggie had found out the hard way when he tried to poof out of the way of a girl riding her him towards him. That was a long afternoon of cleaning cuts.

Once the boys lost their ability to poof, Julie and The Phantoms became a live band. Their fans loved them so much that they didn't care that the boys wouldn't poof in anymore- if anything, switching to a live band just made them more popular.

As for Willie, he had recently started coming back to life as well. He had lost all his ghost abilities except for poofing, so Julie and the boys thought he'd be completely alive within the next couple of months.

They still didn't know for sure why the boys were alive now. Their idea was that their unfinished business was finally finding their family and coming alive again, because let's face it- the guys and Willie were never supposed to die. It seems far fetched, but after Julie met and formed a band with three ghosts, who knows? It's a crazy world.

"Come have cake, mija!" Tía exclaimed, pulling Julie over to the table. 

After Julie's knee finally healed, her and her family finally decided to tell Tía Victoria the truth. She was extremely freaked out at first- she didn't enter their house for months- but eventually she came around and was very good friends with the guys.

Julie sat at the table next to Nick and Carrie. She smiled at them, and they returned it enthusiastically.

After Nick got over his crush on Julie and Carrie finally became a good person again, the two had gotten back together- and this time, their relationship was very healthy. Although it took a while to trust Carrie, she had resumed her old position in their friend group. Julie hadn't planned on telling Carrie that the guys were ghosts, but the girl figured it out herself, just like Carlos had. She finally got to meet Alex and the two had been inseparable ever since.

Finally, Julie looked over at Flynn. Her best friend, her other half, the girl who had been by her side her whole life. If it was even possible, Julie and Flynn had gotten even closer after the whole Caleb ordeal. They were the best friends in the world, and no one could deny it- not even Carrie and Alex, who liked to think they were the best friends in the world.

"Make a wish!" Carlos said from the other side of the table. Julie laughed.

"It's not my birthday."

"True," her dad said, leaning his hands on the back of her chair, "but you can't not make a wish when you blow out candles."

Julie looked down at the cake, and then at the people around her. They were sitting at the table, staring at her expectantly, and suddenly, Julie felt a wave of emotions wash over her.

The people sitting around the table were the people who had gotten her through every struggle, every tough time in her life, and she would be forever grateful. She would never replace them for anything because they were the best family she could ask for.

Julie wasn't going to wish for anything. She had everything she needed right there with her. She leaned forward and blew out the candles, smiling as everyone around her erupted into loud cheers. While they were celebrating and jumping around, Julie stayed in her seat, smiling at the vase full of Dahlias sitting on the counter in the kitchen.

I love you, Mom, she thought, her heart finally full again.

And thank you... for everything.

Oh my goooooosh, this book is finally over! This has been a wild ride!

But wait! Don't go anywhere! There's still one more chapter I want you to read, it's super important. Let's go over there now!