Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I in any way associated with, JONAS (the show or the band).
AN: Of course I would write this. Angellwings wrote a JONAS fic, so now I have to write a JONAS fic. It's how we work when we fall in love with the same show. So I blame her for this public display of fanlove.
True Friends
"I am definitely gonna have to join a fraternity," Joe said, looking over the tables the various Greek organizations had set up.
It was a long holiday weekend, which meant colleges were having special events to lure prospective students. Mrs. Lucas didn't trust the men to choose a college for its academics so she'd been elected as parental supervision, which meant Stella had to come too, if only so Mrs. Lucas didn't spend four days traveling in a van full of testosterone. This was their third college so far and somehow the boys had managed to hide their identities from all but the few members of the administration who they'd been required to introduce themselves to.
"I don't know," Mrs. Lucas said, adjusting Kevin's hat before he could slip away, "the stories they tell about hazing…"
"Oh, Mom," Joe said, throwing an arm around his mother's shoulders, "they keep all that in check now. There's guidelines and safeguards and …"
Nick leaned closer to Stella. "He has no idea what he's talking about, does he?"
"Not a clue," she said.
As the boys began discussing fraternities versus their own brotherly bond and how the two would coexist Stella veered off towards the sororities.
"Hi," she said pleasantly to a pair of girls in matching pink t-shirts.
The two looked her over.
"Hello," one of them said dryly.
Stella's hand stilled over the pile of brochures. She met the challenging gaze of the girl who'd spoken and gave her a small shrug of indifference before walking away. If the girls in a sorority were going to judge on looks alone, she didn't want them anyway. And, she screamed mentally as she approached the next table, she was Stella Malone! She dressed JO--
Screams filled the room and Stella whirled just in time to see Nick standing, sans hat and shades, in the middle of the room. Joe's hand locked around her wrist and she was suddenly part of the madness as she was dragged along with the boys. The herd of girls following them was both terrifying and pathetic in Stella's mind. At least Macy could keep it under control … sometimes.
"This way!" Nick called and they changed directions suddenly. Stella realized that they'd lost Mrs. Lucas back at the start of the chase and was glad for small miracles. At least the poor woman wasn't risking damage to her designer heels the way Stella was.
They clambered through a pair of automatic doors as soon as they opened far enough to slide through, only to be loudly shushed.
"Library," Stella panted, putting her free hand to her side to ease the pain stabbing pain. Joe was still holding her right in an iron grip.
"Basement," Nick said and Stella let out a small whine as they raced towards the stairwell.
The basement was stereotypically creepy. The lights seemed dimmed and the rows and rows of books stood eerily tall, blocking any view of their surroundings. Joe led the way, weaving through the rows until Stella was completely lost. Eventually they came to a wall of study rooms. The walls of each room only went halfway up, with windows reaching the rest of the way to the ceiling. Stella guessed this was to discourage students from giving into their hormonal urges in the library. The four of them piled into the first room and collapsed onto the floor, keeping their backs to the wall that faced the library at large so that they were less likely to be seen.
"Do you think they followed us down here?" Nick asked.
"Shh!" Kevin snapped. "Fangirls have supersonic hearing."
Joe rolled his eyes and slowly maneuvered himself around as best he could with Stella and Nick on either side of him. He carefully looked over the rim of the window. "I don't see anyone out there. I don't think anyone uses this floor very often."
"Of course not," Stella said, leaning into Kevin to avoid Joe's knee as he resumed his seat, "it's all theses and final projects. No one cares about this stuff."
"Poor books," Kevin muttered. The others ignored him.
Nick bent forward so he could pull off his backpack and Stella was surprised he hadn't dropped it the moment they were recognized. It was just one more thing for the girls to grab.
He reached inside, then frowned at what he saw. "Great," he muttered, "my Ipod's dead."
Joe reached into the bag and pulled out a bad of Doritos. "At least there's snacks."
"Hey! Those are mine!" Nick tried to grab them away.
Stella let out a small, sad sigh as she rolled her eyes. She really hated fangirls.
As Joe and Nick continued to fight, Kevin leaned gently into Stella to get her attention.
"Hm?" she said.
"Why is Macy your only girl friend?" Kevin asked.
The fighting on Stella's other side stopped abruptly and she could feel the boys' eyes on her. She shrugged cavalierly. "I'm very particular about who my friends are, always have been. Macy's the only one who can live up to my exacting standards."
"No, you're not," Kevin said. "You used to have tons of friends in elementary school."
"Yeah," Joe said around a mouthful of Doritos, "you always got the most Valentines."
Nick added, "And you were always walking around in this huge pack of girls. We had to make appointments to play tag."
Stella shoved Joe, forcing him into Nick and solving two out of her three problems. "Everyone's friends with everyone in elementary school and everyone has to give everyone else Valentines so they all get the same. I'm really very picky," she said haughtily. "You guys are lucky you made the cut."
Joe was about to argue when a shrill scream sounded above them. They all turned to see a girl looking down at them from the other side of the glass and screaming her head off.
"Oh man," Stella moaned.
"It's not you they want!" Nick said as they hightailed it out the door.
"Yeah, but it is my clothes they destroy!"
They made it to the elevators just before the girls caught up to them and breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"What are we gonna do?" Joe asked. "We can't ride this thing forever."
"Or can we?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No," Nick said. "No, we can't."
"Oh. Then I'm out."
The door chimed then and they all turned in horror. They were on the first floor again and it stood to reason that the fangirls who hadn't thought to go to the basement would be just beyond those doors looking for them.
"Mom!" Kevin cried when he saw her with dozens fangirls at her back. "Run!"
"We'll keep you safe!" Joe added and he and Nick stepped half out of the elevator and began taking really bad karate stances in an attempt to be menacing.
"That's all right, boys," a man said and for the first time the brothers noticed the balding man beside their mother. "I'm the Dean here and allow me to say I am truly sorry that your first visit to our campus has been so hectic. Please, let me treat you all to lunch in the cafeteria and hopefully by the time we're done these young ladies will have calmed down enough for you to continue your tour of our campus."
Several of the girls had the good sense to look chagrined at that, though they still had that menacing gleam in their eyes.
Stella slapped Joe's arm down as she passed and he dropped his stance with a small pout.
"Where did you learn to do that, Power Rangers?" she teased.
Joe laughed sarcastically as they followed after the Dean. The sea of girls was silent as they passed through and Kevin whispered, "Creeeeeepy."
"You got that right," Nick said, eying the girls critically.
"Hey!" a voice called when they exited the library.
Stella paused and saw the sorority girls in the pink shirts. The one who'd spoken held out a brochure. "You forgot this," she said, though Stella could tell she was having trouble focusing on her and not the guys.
"No," she said, not even bothering to give an obviously fake smile, "I really didn't."
The girl called her a dirty word as she walked away but Stella ignored her. Joe slowed down until they were side by side. "That's why you don't have many girl friends, isn't it?" he asked quietly. "Because they just want to get closer to us."
She smiled at him the way she did when he'd said something silly. "I told you, I'm particular."
"Yeah, because you have to be. Macy only makes the cut because … why does Macy make the cut?"
"She doesn't care," Stella said tightly. "She's made it clear that she's my friend first, a JONAS fan second. And she's never once used my friendship to get closer to you guys, it's in our friendship contract."
"You have a friendship contract?"
"Of course. You guys have that weird law book, I have a contract."
"I've never signed it."
"You were my friend before I had it drawn up, you were grandfathered in."
Joe nodded, though he wasn't quite sure what that meant. After a few more steps he put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Stella said, forcing a smile, "I like having real friends."
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