Note: I'm so sorry for the incredibly long wait! I was away for the whole month of August, with a couple days at home, and in those couple days, I didn't have the inspiration I needed for this story. God, I'm sounding like suffering artist, but you know what I mean. So anyway, here's the first chapter! I hope you guys like it! The second will be up Wednesday/Thursday!

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters: they all, along with School of Rock, belong to Mike White and Paramount Pictures, except for Kaleb Brown. He's mine, figuratively speaking. I also own the plot and a couple names, but other than that, nada.

Chapter 1 - A Second Summer Reflection

August 7

Dear Diary,

Time flies, eh? I mean, I'm sitting here, doing nothing, just thinking, and then I realize how much has happened in the past year. Think about it: it was right around a year ago when Alicia and Dewey quit, and that was the start of everything; kind of a chain reaction, domino effect. But not really.

Wow. It just hit me again. Our lives have changed so much. What time is it? 3:17 pm, I have time. Let's go over everything that happened.

So, first there was Alicia and Dewey quitting the band. That was a blow. Marta and Alicia had always gotten along, even if Marta had predicted Alicia's downfall once or twice. So when their catfight broke out, everyone was way too stunned that it was happening to do anything about it. I guess it was a matter of two people too much alike… It was really tense all year with Alicia and the band. Except for me. Me and her were okay all year. Well, we kind of had to be, seeing as our lockers were right side by each.

Then, like, three minutes later, Dewey quit. That was horrible. I've thought about it a lot, and I've decided that thinking it would've been better if he had waited a couple days to quit wasn't me just being immature. It was way too much at once, and it turned into a complete overload. And, it showed Dewey wasn't serious about the band, if he was willing to just pack up and move cross-country for an audition. Zack was totally right when he said Dewey was being propelled by money.

I felt so bad for Zack and Freddy when it happened. They looked up to Dewey as if he was their father or something. He brought Tomika out of her shell, and Lawrence doesn't consider himself a loser anymore. It doesn't make much sense: Dewey does all this, and then leaves as if he were God damned Mary Poppins.

What happened next… Oh, stupid question. Marta and Freddy. They were adorable with a capital "A."

And then Eleni really decided to butt into places where she didn't belong. She's such a clown. I can look back now and see that Zack wasn't totally into her. But, back then, how could I have realized it? He wasn't doing anything to stop her… I can't think about it. It was practically a year ago, but truthfully, it still kind of hurts.

Then there was Kale. Kale's awesome, he's totally cool. I mean, it's obvious sometimes that he doesn't take the band seriously, which is annoying, 'cause we do. But what I like is that he doesn't treat us all as though we're two years younger than him… It's just like we're his buddies that he hangs out with once or twice a week.

Then there was the best part of the year so far - Eleni's birthday party. I mean, duh. Zack says on our one year we should sneak back into the Afflerbach's and "finish what we started"… Teehee.

And then… Oh God… Katie's Halloween party. I got a total of an hour of sleep that night, Marta got none. Supposedly it was the same over at Freddy's house, according to Zack. It was actually really sad for everyone. Even though Marta had outright insulted us to look cooler, I was really affected by the whole thing.

Big deal, though. I remember when Freddy called me a couple weeks later. He said Kale had just called him, saying the whole situation had been his fault, and not to blame Marta for any of it.

It was obvious it was a lie. I mean, Kale was smashed out of his mind that night; Marta probably had to revive him from passing out before she started flirting or something. I told that to Freddy, too. He got really mad, and started calling Twink a whore. But then I told him that what Kale had said meant something. Think about it: he could take or leave the band, he has tonnes of friends his own age, and he's two years older than us, so why would he care what we think, right? It was obvious to me that Kale saw something between the two, like they belonged together. Freddy agreed right away. Suffice to say, they got back together. And it was great, too, because miraculously, there was no tensions between them and Kale. Weird.

Yeah, all this bliss, only to break up and get back together twice before the new year. Yeah, I know, that kind of couple.

Then, November twenty-third to be quite exact, my parents laid an absolute bomb. Mom was pregnant. Like, holy shit. I guess I could've figured it out; mom never gets sick, and she was practically bed ridden for a week in September.

They told me while we were out for dinner, so I got home and told Marta right away. She freaked. She kept going on about finally having a little baby brother or sister. My parents found it amusing. Why wouldn't they?

Then what… Well, there was the Christmas dance, which caused all the band-related commotion in the first place. It went well, nothing special. We played ten songs, then there was a DJ for the rest of the night. Kale didn't stick around, but it was fun just the same. Marta and Freddy got back together. Again. No surprise there, though.

New Years wasn't much, the band hung out at Marta's… January was pretty boring…

Oh. Valentine's Day. After the fifteen years of being alone on February the fourteenth, I thought I would finally have fun on the stupid holiday.

Whatever, Summer, keep on dreaming.

I shouldn't joke about it, it's not funny at all. Zack phoned at, like, ten in the morning and asked if he could come over. I was still in my pyjamas, but I said okay, of course.

He showed up holding flowers and trying to hold back tears. I didn't know what to do, but it didn't really matter, he sat down on the couch and just started crying. It turns out I had a right to be slightly suspicious all those times I noticed bruises on Mrs. Moone… Laura. Zack told me his dad would come home drunk two or three times a week and beat him mom. What a fag. Like, absolute jerk. People get locked up for years for doing that. Then they get pushed around by their fellow prison mates.

He never touched Zack, thankfully. But Zack knew about it, and had to go through all the emotional pain.

Zack said his dad told them back in December that he was going sober and he was sorry and all that bull. He and his mom were so happy, and Luke supposedly kept his promise until February, when he came home absolutely tanked. Before he could do anything, though, Laura picked up the phone and called the police.

The day before Valentine's Day, Laura told Zack they were getting a divorce. It hit him harder than he expected; after all, he said he said he knew it would happen sooner or later.

So that explained why my mom had Laura for a client. Zack stayed over all day. We didn't do anything, but I knew that's what he wanted. He told me he loved me though, and that he'd never hurt me. I told him the same. Duh.

Um… Um… Dewey came back for a bit. He mailed me, asking if we could all meet, Everyone in the band but Kale, Freddy and Zack agreed to go. Kale didn't know him, and Freddy and Zack were too mad at him still. For good reason. Anyway, Dewey said he got offered lead guitar with Red Lunch Syndrome, and that he accepted. We were all fairly quiet. He tried to get us to talk, but we didn't want to, frankly. I think he went back to California a week later or something.

My birthday was awesome. May fourteenth I turned sixteen, it should be a national holiday. I was smart enough to only invite the band over, unlike some blonde idiots, and we just vegged. Lazing around has never been more fun, to tell the truth. We watched all my favourite Disney movies: Aladdin, the Lion King, Peter Pan (that was a must), the Little Mermaid, and Alice in Wonderland. Kale especially enjoyed Alice in Wonderland. Yeah, we're onto him. Everyone raided my room, and Katie found my CD collection. Uh oh, right? Wrong. Everyone was laughing so hard, all four bathrooms were occupied in no time.

Zack got me the most beautiful I.D. bracelet I've ever seen. It might have been meant to match the one I got him for his birthday. So cute! My name's on it, and underneath it says, "For my little girl on her sweet sixteen." I swear to God, he's only four inches taller than me, I don't know why he always acts as though I'm 3'5".

On May twenty-second, my brother was born. 1:33 am, too, so I hardly got any sleep. Shouldn't complain though, at least I wasn't the one having the baby.

The best part was that Marta came to the hospital with us. I knew that my parents considered her next to family, but it totally surprised me when dad told me to call the Hale's house at 9:30 at night while he was packing up the care. Not that I'm complaining, though.

So, Parker Landon Hathaway is my baby brother. He's cute. Except for when he takes a poopy. That's not cool. The good thing is, though, that I'm way old enough to realize that my parents don't love him more than me, so it's more fun than stressful having Parker around.

On the last day of school, Alicia came up to the band and just started talking to us like nothing ever happened. It was totally weird, but it wasn't awkward at all. The conversation carried on as though no one had ever quit. She hung out with us the whole day, even apologizing to Marta. I couldn't believe it! Twink was totally taken aback, but heard Alicia out. That was surprise number 370514358 of the day. Alicia said that she had been jealous of the rest of the band members and was sick of just being referred to as "one of the back-up singers." So, she tried to stand up for herself, insulting Marta in the process.

So many things were going through my head… I was totally ready to forgive and forget, but everyone knew that it all depended on what Marta felt. Thankfully, she was cool with it. Everyone did a lot of growing up this year, her included… I think she realized how trivial their tiff had been.

Alicia didn't want to be a singer, though. She said it wasn't fun anymore. She… how did she put it… She wanted to relieve me of my "dual duties." So, if we would let her, she wanted to be band manager.

So… wow. The band has changed tonnes. But the cool thing is that we're still a band. The band: School of Rock. We only had to find Kale, and we didn't even have to look that hard.

Overall, the year was pretty good. Bad stuff - horrible stuff - happened, obviously, but in the end, I think everyone turned out okay.

The summer's been fun. The band has practised five or six times, it's really slack in the summer… Everyone's been hanging out together, even Kale. Marta and Freddy are currently together, and have been for a month and a half. That's pretty long. Zack and I have been together for ten months and a week, so ha. He's the coolest ever. Eleni's finally over him… I think… So there isn't that tension anymore. We still hate each other, it's just not so much about Zack now.

4:35! Zack'll be here in half an hour and I'm nowhere near ready!

Ciao!

Summer

A/N - Okay, so that was short and boring. Ha. sonsofpitchesfangirl suggested ever so smartly that I get my ass in gear in regard to the timeline of the story (thanks bunches for that, by the by!!!), so I thought that I'd outline the passing year, which, by the way, was mapped out before/during the time I was writing You Never Know. Now, I'll shut up and let you review! Awesome! Thanks so much you guys!!