Hello. Thanks for all the comments and reviews. This chapter really welcomes Joe to the story, who usually doesn't do much in my stories, but will have his own storyline in this one.

Disclaimer: Not my characters.


Chapter 2: Let the music begin

Macy's smile widened as she sat next to Nick on the bench in the atrium. His eyes narrowed and his hands held his guitar tightly.

She nodded.

"Hi..."

"Hi," she chirped.

Nick watched her for a moment, the grin never fading from her face.

"What's up, Macy?"

"Well, I was thinking, did you know that I have never interviewed you for my Jonas fan site?"

Nick shook his head. "I guess so. I mean, I've never thought about it, but you never have."

"I've interviewed Kevin and Joe, but I've never interviewed you."

"And I guess this is your way of asking to interview me?"

Macy's grin somehow widened.

"So what do you want to know?"

Macy pulled out a stack of cue cards from her bag. "All right, first question: what do you look for in a girl?"

"That's your first question?"

"Yep."

"That's your first question? Nothing about my music, my brothers, favourite colour or anything like that?"

"Well, I..."

"Not favourite song, band, concert, or tour experience?"

"I just..."

"Are trying to get an edge on Kevin with this bet you two have going on."

Macy's jaw dropped.

"He used the exact same ploy this morning, saying you were too shy to ask me the interview questions yourself. As if I would believe that you would be too shy to do anything. You guys think a little too much alike."

Macy sighed. "So what did you tell him?"

"The same thing I'm going to tell you. Leave me out of it. I'm not some bet."

"Oh come on. We're going to do it no matter what. And who would you rather see win, me or your brother? No one wants their big brother to win, right? There has to be some sibling rivalry somewhere inside of you, Nick."

"No, I—"

"Mr. Lucas."

Both heads sprung up at the sound of the new voice.

"Yes, Mrs. Banter?"

"You're not in class."

"I have study period. So does Macy," Nick added before the guidance counsellor could set her sights on anyone else.

"I'm not worried about Miss Misa at the moment. You are the student I was looking for."

"You were looking for me?"

"Yes. Would you mind coming by my office since you don't have class?"

Nick looked over at Macy to see if she might have some explanation for him, but the only thing she had to offer was a confused shrug of the shoulders.

"Um, sure, I guess." He grabbed his bag and guitar and rose to follow the guidance counsellor.

"We can finish our conversation later, Nick," Macy called after him.

"We can, but we won't," he answered with a smile despite the worry swirling in his stomach.

***

Nick let his binder fall on the table and exhaled a loud huff of air.

"I'd ask you how it went," Macy said as she scooted her chair closer to Kevin's to make more room for Nick, "but I have a feeling that the answer is 'not well'."

"Apparently, I'm not involved in enough extra-curricular activities. Can you believe that?"

"Um... yeah," Kevin answered for the four other people around the table.

"What are you talking about? I'm as involved in extra-curricular activities as you guys are and none of you have been called to the guidance counsellor's office and told that you have to be more involved if you expect to go to college one day."

"What? All you've ever done is participate in one play and one orchestra recital. I've done both of those, plus I was a cheerleader. Actually, I think I've attended a meeting of every club this school offers at least once. New members usually get gift baskets with cookies or something."

Macy shook her head and shrugged. "I'm on every sports team imaginable, and I'm president of a club which Kevin has recently joined. Don't look at me."

"I now design all sports uniform and I get a say in next year's dress code as honorary member of the student committee. Apparently that's impressive enough. Plus, I actually hung around for more than one play in theatre. I am still in theatre group."

Joe cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders. "I do stuff."

"Like what?" Nick asked.

"Stuff."

Stella giggled which earned her a confused look from Nick.

"That means wherever Stella goes, Joe goes," Macy clarified.

"What?" Joe asked, his voice suddenly high. "I have good fashion sense. I should also have a say as to what we wear around here."

"We're still working on hems though. And he's been officially banned from using the sewing machine."

Kevin laughed as he watched Joe blush once all eyes turned in his direction.

"What's the big deal, Nick? Just join something. You can come join the Jonas fan club with me and Macy. We could use more guys."

"Or I could always use extra hands," Stella shrugged.

"As unappealing as both those options are, it doesn't matter anyway. I told the guidance counsellor I wasn't interested in joining anything, so I was assigned something."

"Please tell me it's cheerleading. I swear there's enthusiasm somewhere inside of you and that might just get it out."

Nick narrowed his eyes at Kevin. "No, I've been assigned to help with the school musical."

"You've already done a play."

"I've been in a play; I haven't helped write one and apparently I should."

"That's not so bad," Joe said, dropping his hand against Nick's back. "You write music all the time. This is just more music that goes with a story."

"I don't have time for a musical."

Joe shrugged. "Well, I guess you're just going to have to make time, Nick."

"Besides, how bad can it be?" Kevin asked. "You just think up a story, write some music, give it to the director and be on your way."

"I'm only writing the music. Someone else is writing the story."

"Even better," Stella said. "You've just cut your work in half."

"Another student is writing the story."

"You were expecting Shakespeare?" Kevin asked.

"Penny is writing the story."

Four faces around the table winced.

It was one thing for Penny to break up with Nick. They had barely lasted a week, and Joe and Kevin who hadn't been sure of the pair since the start couldn't say they were entirely surprised. It was the way the couple had ended that had been the problem. Penny had dumped Nick because his songs were, in her words, "childish, monotonous and exaggerated. There were more things to life than teenage puppy love and you should really try writing about things that mattered, Nick."

The boys had eventually found out that "things that mattered" meant Penny had found an older boyfriend who was involved with PETA and SALAR, Students Against Lab Rats. He wrote music that didn't rhyme and that only featured one musical instrument: the snapping of fingers.

She could have broken up with Nick because he was boring. She could have broken up with him because she was seeing someone else. She could have broken up with him because he disgusted her. Nick could have taken any of those reasons. But she broke up with him because of music. It was one of the few times in his life that music had let Nick down, and it had taken him a long time to get over it. Now that he had, he was suddenly being thrust back towards Penny.

"So, you write the songs, she writes the story, and never the two shall meet."

"Because it's her story, she has to approve all the songs."

A silence fell over the table.

"You're sure you can't just join cheerleading?"

***

"I feel bad for Nick."

Kevin's brow furrowed as he looked down at Macy who was leaning back against his chest.

"You're thinking about Nick right now?"

Macy giggled and shifted to face Kevin on the couch.

"I can't help it. I feel bad for him. It took him so long to get over what Penny said to him, and now the school is giving her a golden opportunity to make him feel bad about his music all over again. Plus, if Nick is feeling all horrible about his music, it'll just make it that much harder to get him to fall for someone. Depressed Nick barely even notices the girls around him, much less agrees to date any of them."

Kevin pulled Macy tighter against him and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Don't worry about Nick. He's used to people criticising his music by now. Believe it or not, not everyone is as big a fan of Jonas as you are."

"First of all," Macy said, springing up and out of her boyfriend's embrace, "no one is as big a Jonas fan as I am. No one. Second of all, everyone does love Jonas; they just aren't all willing to accept it. I promise you though, there is a Jonas fan in all of us."

"That's very comforting. Either way, Nick is used to criticism. He'll just be Nick about it and stick his tongue against his cheek and narrow his eyes and get sarcastic or walk away. In the end he'll remember that he has to do this for school, and he'll find a way to compromise with her. Besides, now that we know what to expect, we can all look out for Nick."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Well," Kevin grabbed Macy's hand and pulled her once again to sit on his lap, "Stella's in theatre group and Joe and I decided that we would join for this play too, just so that we're there in case Nick needs backup. Stella had told Joe it was the one club he wasn't allowed to join with her after the Three Musketeers fiasco, but she's lifting her ban for the musical."

"Why wasn't I involved in this conversation?"

"Because you don't have free period with us. And you're already so busy with all your sports team that no one's expecting you to join another school activity."

"But all of you are going to be there every time there's a rehearsal. If I join, I'll be with you. Besides, half of the sports teams have already finished their tournaments for the year, so I have some more free time now."

"Hey, if you want to spend all your afternoons with me, I'm definitely not going to object."

Macy smiled and reached up so her lips could meet Kevin's. The contact only last a few moments before they were interrupted by the sound of a cough. Macy jumped off Kevin's lap at the sound of her father, just as he rushed to stand up. Somehow, neither of them fell to the ground.

"Hi, daddy. Guess what. Kevin and I are going to be joining our school musical."

"Musical?"

"I might help with decorations or something. I'm not going to try out for a singing part."

Her father nodded and then turned his gaze to Kevin.

"First cheerleading and now a musical. You didn't feel like trying out for baseball or basketball, or... something involving a ball?"

"My little brother's helping write the musical. We're all going to join to help out."

"Of course." Mr. Misa sighed and shifted his gaze to his daughter for a second. "Are you staying for supper, Kevin?"

"No. I have to go home and watch Frankie. Thank you for the invitation, though."

"I was just asking," the man said with a shrug of his shoulders as he left the room.

Kevin rolled his eyes once he was alone with Macy. "He hates me."

"He doesn't hate you. He really likes you."

Kevin narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well, he likes you better than my last boyfriend if that's any help."

"Great. That's real promising."

"Go home, Kevin. You don't need your father mad at you too because you make him late for his night out with your mother."

He stuck out his lower lip in a pout, but Macy simply gave him a quick kiss, then turned him around with a firm grip on his shoulders and sent him toward the front door.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow. We can talk more about poor Nick then."

"I'm sure we can find something more interesting to talk about," he called over his shoulder, but was gone before she could answer anything back.

***

Joe ducked to avoid the baseball sailing over his head for the fifth time that night.

"Why are we studying at my house and not the firehouse?" Stella asked. It was the fifth time she'd spoken the words as well. One for every time the ball had almost hit them. "You know my little brother never lets us study in peace when we try to get anything done here."

"If we were studying at my house, we'd be baby-sitting Frankie at the same time. At least here, your mom can distract your brother whenever you yell for her."

"Next time we're going to the library," Stella huffed as she turned the page in her book.

"I thought you'd banned the library."

Stella's cheek turned red as she processed the words. It wasn't the first time she threw a little hissy fit about their study venue, but the last time she had said something and they had gone to the library, she had somehow found herself pressed up against a shelf of books with Joe's lips against hers and his hands on her hips. In typical Joe and Stella fashion, they had vowed to pretend the incident had never happened and she had banned the library as a study venue.

"Stupid rule," she muttered to herself.

Maybe if she hadn't said no to any future library visits she and Joe would finally have discussed what had happened between them, and not completely ignored it as they were doing now. Just like when they had shared their first kiss after the disastrous double-date at El Meat. They had kissed, they had kissed again the next day, and then... nothing.

It had confused Kevin and Nick as much as it had them, but in the end, all four of them were now at the point where they didn't mention the incident, and really pretended it had never happened at all.

"So is the library banned or not?" Joe asked, clearing his throat with the question.

Stella tilted her head and scratched behind her ear. It was a loaded question, if she said yes, she might be inviting future, never to be discussed make out sessions with Joe. If she said no... there was the possibility that she would never again feel his lips against hers.

"Stella?"

"Huh?"

"I asked you if that meant we might... study in the library. You know... sometime in the future."

"Well, I mean, if we had nowhere else to go."

"Yeah?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

Joe smiled the grin Stella had already identified as the one that came out when he was nervous.

"Cool."