A/N: Loved Freaks & Geeks the show, was bummed it ended before any of Lindsay's potential relationships fleshed out. This is a continuation of the first season, taking place the summer after Lindsay returns home from seeing the Grateful Dead, with all of Lindsay's potential relationship interests (Daniel, Nick, Barry) showing interest at once. Probably won't be quite as gratifying for Daniel-lovers though (sorry, just couldn't see it going very far with Lindsay after the 'Tests and Breasts' episode, not to mention I'm writing Kim as her best friend in this story).

Chapter 1

Only sixty-two more days until Labor Day, Lindsay thought, as she picked up a fishing pole to place it gingerly in the display window next to the others. She never in a million years thought she would be so excited for school. But that was before her parents caught her lying to them about going to the Academic Summit.

She thought she had gotten away with it, done everything to cover her bases.

She had begged Kim, Laurie, and Victor to leave a day early and miss the last show so that they would have more than enough time to make the return trip and she could arrive back in Chippewa by the time the summit ended. They hadn't wanted to.

She had also sneaked a calculus book on her travels. She didn't get stoned seeing the Dead- her lone marijuana high while babysitting was enough to put her off the drug for good- but everyone else smoked, of course. Lindsay didn't drive much. Kim didn't trust her to, not after she crashed her dad's car, and made that point clear to everyone in the van (Lindsay wanted to bring up the Goliath incident in retaliation, but instead took the high road and kept her mouth shut). On the road, Lindsay frequently found herself the lone awake, sober passenger (thankfully, whoever was driving usually had the good sense to not smoke, but Lindsay usually rode in the back of the van, making conversation prohibitive). She read calculus, even did some problems. She thought for sure she'd be able to fudge her way through what she would tell her parents she learned at the summit.

Lindsay had even called the office at the University of Michigan and asked to speak with one of the summit organizers to request information about the program the day she left. She wanted to give her parents a few more details about the actual school and the environment of the summit. They would be listening more to that than the math anyway.

Too bad they called her back at her parents' house after she was already on the road. Apparently, there were some last-minute changes in the program that would affect the arrival time, and therefore travel into Ann Arbor. Since Lindsay had sounded desperate for information when she had called, and had given them the impression that she was attending the summit, they were calling her back as a courtesy. When her parents asked for a message, enough was said to arouse her parents' suspicion. So they requested to be put in touch with their daughter directly, since she should have already been there, housed in a U of M dorm room.

That's where it began.

Of course, even after her parents found out, they had no way of getting in touch with her on the road- they had no idea where she was. Even calling Kim's mom didn't help; Mrs. Kelly had no idea where Kim was either.

As oblivious to her fate as she had been before that, the instant Lindsay came home, she realized how much hot water she was in. One look in her dad's eyes.

The rest of my summer is screwed.

Lindsay had suggested herself that she take the college-level calculus course. It would help her with college admissions, she told her folks, and she could work at her dad's store to get the money to pay for it. She had pitched the idea knowing her parents would be thrilled about it (they were); perhaps they would give her a reduced sentence (they didn't).

The rest of the grounding: No phone calls. No going out with friends. No TV. Until school started.

It had been two weeks since they laid down the law, and overall, Lindsay was pretty miserable.

Of course, it wasn't quite as severe as it sounded.

The phone calls part was pretty easy to get past- her parents went to bed pretty early, so she could dial out pretty much anytime after 11, as long as it wasn't long-distance and she kept her voice low. But she couldn't receive calls- her parents would snatch the phone out of her hands if it came to that (defeated, Lindsay didn't even try)- and they always made it a point to tell whoever was calling that Lindsay was grounded and couldn't come to the phone, just for good measure. Worse, they wouldn't even tell her who called, and as time passed, it seemed to happen more and more frequently. Lindsay had the sneaking suspicion her friends were calling her on purpose just to mess with them.

Her afternoons and evenings were shot. When she was working, her dad watched her like a hawk whenever he could. When she was home, her mom watched her like a hawk- she wasn't even allowed to keep her bedroom door closed. So she worked. And studied. Worked and studied.

Lindsay contemplated sneaking out to see her friends after her parents went to sleep, but there was no way she could risk driving- her parents were relatively light sleepers and she feared that they would hear her starting the engine. Even if she knew she could leave without waking them, Lindsay shuddered in horror when she vividly imagined the worst-case scenario- wrecking their car again- and what would become of her if she did so. So driving to meet her friends was out.

She called Kim a few times to see if Kim would come and pick her up, but by the time Lindsay could finally escape, whatever it was her friends had gotten into was usually in full swing; no one wanted to leave to come get her. So she quickly stopped trying.

That was probably what hurt the most about her situation- her friends seemed to be getting along just fine without her. Sure, they called, but it seemed to be for their own amusement rather than out of any kind of feeling for her. She regularly spoke to Kim, but that was it.

As Lindsay moved on to stocking the basketballs, she thought of Nick. She assumed that things with probably good with Sara because Kim hadn't mentioned him at all- so he probably wasn't hanging out with their crowd. It made her feel conflicted. Nick, out of everyone she knew, deserved to be happy, and she was genuinely happy for him- he was too sweet to deserve the way that she treated him when they were dating, she now realized guiltily. But- she really missed him, and the time away from him only cemented her realization of it. She had spent that week and a half this summer following the Dead in a completely different world, one where music meant everything, where songs affected her like no other time in her life. Somehow, she felt that out of everyone, Nick would understand that world. She wanted to call him, talk to him about it. But she wasn't sure if that was breaking the rules. She didn't want to do anything to mess up his relationship.

Or maybe she did. Because there was a part of her that wanted him back. She couldn't believe that Nick had stopped smoking pot and was trying to straighten his life out for Sara. Why hadn't he done that for her?

Lindsay was still stocking basketballs when Kim strode into the store. Kim had visited her once or twice in here, carefully timed, of course, to when she could see Linsday's father step into the back from the parking lot. Kim always had to keep her visits short to keep Lindsay from getting into more trouble, and for that reason, they usually had a purpose. Something was up. But it was usually something Daniel-centric, something "on" or "off" again in their constant on-again, off-again relationship.

"Hey," Lindsay whispered to her. "What's going on?"

"I heard something last night that you might find- well, interesting," Kim said pointedly. She wasn't whispering- Lindsay wasn't sure if she knew how. Lindsay shushed at her to lower her voice.

"My dad's going to be back in a minute," Lindsay whispered urgently. "What is it?"

"I saw someone last night I thought you might want to know about," Kim said wickedly, at only a slightly lower decibel level. "Nick."

Speak of the devil, Lindsay thought. "And?"

"And, well- he looks really, really, good- I mean, good for Nick," Kim corrected bluntly. "Like he's been playing a lot of basketball so far this summer. Tan. Muscular." She picked up one of the basketballs from the bin and began swirling it, attempting to balance it on her fingertip. It didn't stay there but a half a second before she had to reach out and catch it with both hands.

Ever since she had seen Nick's basketball trophies, Lindsay secretly hoped Nick would get back into it, take the sport a little more seriously. He seemed like he was so good at it. Instantly, she felt a little flutter in her stomach. But she quickly took a deep breath in an attempt to push it away.

"I hope you didn't come in here to make me feel bad, Kim," she said, a little shakily. "What did you hear? Did you talk to him?" Kim was really dragging this out, seemed to be enjoying it; Lindsay wondered how her friend could be so insensitive. Thinking about how good Nick looked only made her feel worse. Avoiding eye contact, Lindsay braced herself for more bad news.

"Nick and Sara broke up, and he asked about you," Kim said quickly.

Lindsay's jaw dropped, and she immediately raised her gaze to meet Kim's. "They did?" she managed to whisper. "What did he say to you?"

Before Kim had a chance to respond, Lindsay heard the door to the back open, indicating that her dad would see them within seconds. She quickly gave Kim an "I'll call you later," gesture with her hand and all but shoved her out the door. Heart pounding, her dad was upon her the instant that Kim had ducked out of sight.

"How's it going up here, Linds?" her father asked.

Lindsay shrugged, trying to will her heart rate to come back down to normal. "Okay, I guess. Kinda boring, actually," she lied through her teeth.

"Well, get used to it, kiddo," her dad replied. "Ever since the mega-chain opened up, 'ol A1 Sporting Goods has slowed down a bit. This is probably going to be a pretty dull summer for you."

Five minutes ago, she would have agreed with him.