Title: United
Summary: It all started with that pink slip, now they tour the world, together. As a band. They are United. AU.
Rating: T
Point of View: 3rd Person
Disclaimer: I do not own HOA.
A/N: I know that it took me forever to post this chapter, but I have school so I was focusing on that. But never fear! An new chapter of United is here!
The next day Joy was buying her tickets for the Halloween Bash when Mick noticed her and smirked evilly. He looked up the stairs and still saw them there. This should be good. He walked over to her as the vendor handed her ticket. "Hey Joy," he said nonchalantly.
Joy looked at him out of the corner of her eye as he approached her. "Hi," she said timidly.
Mick tossed around the bottle he had in his hand. "Have you seen the new weight room?"
Joy shook her head and tried to reject him kindly. Mick faked a look of surprise and grabbed her wrist. "Okay, now you have to see it."
He led her up the stairs, and tried to distract her as they went up. "Its amazing. So how's that band thing coming along?"
Joy, confused answered warily, "Yea, its good. I mean we have rehearsal soon, and-"
She was cut off when she rounded the corner after you got up the stairs, and saw K.T. wearing Fabian's letterman jacket while she felt him up. She was giggling, but stopped abruptly when she saw Joy. Fabian turned around and had pure shock written across his face. "Hey Joy," he began. "You know K.T. right?" Joy felt the tears well up in her eyes and ran back down the steps. "Joy wait!" Fabian called.
All the while, Mick was behind her trying to stifle his chuckles. He walked next to Fabian who, began to go after her, and held him back. "Whoa. Let her go man. She's made her choice." Fabian scowled at him and walked away. "Oh and good luck tonight!" Mick called.
The music boomed in the background as all the students danced around on the gymnasium floor. Everyone was in costume. From a bottle of ketchup to giant babies. It seemed like everyone was having fun, except for Lemonade Mouth. Jerome, Joy, and Patricia waited backstage anxiously awaiting Nina's arrival. "Nina said she would be here," groaned Patricia.
For once Jerome tried to be reasonable. "Maybe she just got held up."
Joy leaned forward and looked at her other two bandmates. "Guys, we're on in fifteen minutes! Eddie is still looking for her. She's not coming."
Eddie ran over, out of breath. He panted and sat down. "Guys, I can't find her anywhere."
They leaned back and sighed when Amber and her friend Alfie ran in with a bunch of cords. "Alfie! Don't set those cords near that soda! Just do the regular set up!" Amber yelled.
Alfie quickly nodded and began to hook up various wires to the sound board. "Those mudslide jerks ruined the set up we had for your instruments. They hid our stuff to delay you guys. Don't worry though we have it under control."
Joy had an exasperated look on her face. "It doesn't matter. We can't go out there without a lead singer!"
Amber looked back at them. "You mean Nina? I just saw her run through here about ten minutes ago."
Patricia stood, and the rest followed. "What?" she questioned.
Alfie nodded. "Yea, she went towards the bathroom. She looked like she was going to hurl."
They band stood and ran towards the bathroom.
Mr. Roddenmar took up a glass of that foggy punch when Fabian and Mick stood on both sides of him. "You know Mr. Roddenmar," Mick began. "That new band still hasn't gone on yet."
"Yea," Fabian agreed. "We have two sets ready. We can go on instead of them."
Roddenmar looked at them skeptically and mumbled, "One minute."
He walked over towards Mr. Winkler who was checking his watch every few seconds. "Jason," he called out. "Are they still coming out?"
Jason quickly pretended to dance and replied, "Oh yeah! They're still coming out. They'll be fine." He looked Victor up and down. "Nice pirate costume by the way."
Victor faked a smile and complimented him. "Thank you, and nice Harry Potter costume as well."
Jason awkwardly moved and pointed in a random direction. "Look, at the costume of there!" he said animatedly and ran off.
Patricia and Joy ran into the girls bathroom calling out Nina's name. "Nina!" Patricia yelled out. She looked underneath stalls and accidently ran into someone. "Sorry, Poppy." She apologized.
Joy looked under one more and saw Nina's feet. "Guys! She's over here!"
Jerome and Eddie stood at the threshold of the bathroom and debated going in. "Dude, I'm not going in there!" Jerome argued.
Eddie argued back as well and finally shouted. "We're coming in!"
Eddie walked over to the door of the stall that Nina was in. He leaned his arm against it and whispered. "How are you feeling Nina?"
On the other side of the door Nina coughed and sputtered above the toilet. "I'm great. Just super," she coughed.
Patricia smiled and made a noise of triumph. "That's my girl!"
They all smiled. Nina, panting said "But I still don't think its the best idea for me to go out there. You know? Physically."
Jerome heard footsteps behind him and saw a girl trying to come in. "Sorry. Maybe you can go next door?"
Patricia looked over at her bandmates. They all looked exasperated and worried for the well being of their friend. She walked over to the stall door and tried to encourage Nina. "Come on Nina. We have rehearsed these songs a million times. We've put everything we have into these songs."
Patricia backed away as Eddie leaned against the door. "I'm scared," Nina croaked.
"Come on Neens. We're all scared," Eddie reasoned.
Patricia looked down at her watch and whispered fiercely, "We have like six minutes."
Eddie looked back at Patricia and noticed all the cans around her waist. "What are those?" he questioned.
Patricia looked down. "These?" Everyone nodded. "I stocked up on lemonade from the machine. I thought we could use it tonight."
She pulled one out of its holder, and Joy grabbed her arm, and looked at Eddie. Eddie took the can from Patricia's cold hands and tried to pass it over to Nina. "Here Nina." She took the can and looked down at it, contemplating her next move. She thought and thought until Eddie's voice entered her mind. "Look, we believe in you Nina. I believe in you."
Nina just stared at the stall door for a moment, imagining Eddie's face behind it. She could see the desperation and the total honesty. On the other side, the others shared only looks of hope that this would work. Then, they heard the pop of the can opening and Nina's sips. They all exchanged looks and backed away from the stall door.
There was a moment of silence, pure agony, and hope. Then, the stall door opened and out walked Nina with a slightly uneasy look on her face. "I'm ready," she whispered.
They all cheered and ran out the bathroom in excitement for their first ever gig.
The lights were dimmed on the stage and the crowd waited anxiously for this new band to start. In an instant the bright lights came, blinding the band. All the Mudslide crush fans booed them to an extent, before being shushed by teachers. Mick took one look at the band onstage and shouted "Hey! Where are your costumes?" He looked closer. "Wait you aren't wearing any? Yikes."
Everyone started laughing except for Fabian. He hit his shoulder and warned, "Cut it out man."
Nina nodded her head off towards Eddie who began to play the melody. Nina gripped the microphone stand as she waited for her musical cue. "Trying hard to fight these tears. I'm crazy worried." She looked out to the audience. "Messing with my head, this fear. I'm so sorry. You know you gotta get it out," She took a breath.
"I can take it. That's what being friends about," she sang.
Boom. Everyone else came in with their parts as Nina sang the next lyric. "I! I wanna cry." Nina gripped the microphone so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "I can't deny. Tonight I wanna up and hide, and get inside." She took the microphone off the stand and brought it closer to her mouth as she gained more confidence.
"It isn't right. I gotta live in my life."
Joy jammed out on her base with every beat Jerome brought. "I know I, I know I, I know I gotta do it. I know I, I know I, I know I gotta do it!" Nina sang as they reached the chorus.
Joy, Patricia, and Nina sang the next part. "Gotta turn the world into your dance floor! Determinate! Determinate!" They sang as they slid left and right.
"Push it till you can and then demand more! Determinate!" They each stuttered the last determinate. "D-d-determinate!"
"You and me together!" Joy sang. "We can make it better!"
Nina and Patricia joined in again. "Gotta turn the world into your dance floor! Determinate! Determinate!"
Everyone was jamming, except for K.T., Mick, and Fabian. Even Willow was dancing. Mick nudged Willow to stop as Nina sang the next line. "Hate to feel this way, and waste a day. I gotta get myself on stage. I shouldn't wait or be afraid. The chips will fall where they may."
The song began to build a little again before they jumped back into the chorus. "I know I, I know I, I know I gotta do it!" The trio sang it one more time, this time with much more force and power. "I know I, I know I, I know I gotta do it!"
They belted out the chorus, "Gotta turn the world into your dance floor!" Joy, Nina, and Patricia sang.
The whole band rocked out and danced along. Even a trio of girls cheered for Jerome. "Determinate! Determinate!" Eddie hit the keyboard's keys hard as they jammed out. "Determinate! D-d-determinate!"
Nina ran around on the stage, all the fear she once had gone. "Push it till you can and then demand more! Determinate! Determinate!"
She walked back to center stage and got down on her knees. "You and me together!" She then whipped her hair to the lyrics, like a rock star. "We can make it better!"
She stood back up and sang these last notes, until Eddie came in front with a microphone in hand. "Gotta turn the world into your dance floor. Determinate! D-d-determinate!"
Eddie walked upstage and brought the microphone to his lips. "It's Eddie and I'm heaven set. Music like a veteran," he rapped. "Renegade lemonade, use it in my medicine."
He began to walk across the stage with Joy and Patricia playing at his sides. "Go ahead and try to name a band we ain't better than. Reason why the whole worlds picking us instead of them. People need a breather, feeling adrenaline."
He inched forward to the beat of the music. "Stop. Hurry up let us in, knock! We're coming to you house. People keep smiling like a lemon's in their mouth."
He walked off towards stage left to Nina and finished. "We're not in it for the mill. We're in it for the thrill. Get down now. I ain't laying around Put your feet up on the ground."
Joy came in and sang a long yeah while Nina and Patricia came in and continued. "Gotta turn the world into your dance floor! Determinate! D-d-determinate! Push it till you can and then demand more!"
They all did the dance and sang. "Determinate! D-d-determinate! You and me together! We can make it better!" The same group of girls that like Jerome screamed his name again.
"Gotta turn your world into your dance floor! Determinate! D-d-determinate!"
"C'mon!" Patricia yelled.
"Come on and, come on and, come on and get it going! Come on and, come on and, come on and get it going! On the dance floor!"
They all shuffled back to their original places. "On the dance floor! D-d-dance floor! Determinate!" Nina sang, ending the song.
The crowd cheered and cheered.
Fabian smiled and said, "Looks like we've got some competition at Rising Star."
All the while Mick scowled and said to Fabian, "They're not that good."
Fabian, astonished stared ahead of him. "No, they're great."
Nina had the biggest smile on her face from the rush of their first performance. "Okay," she breathed. " Well we are Lemonade Mouth and here are a few words from our lead guitarist, Patricia Williamson."
She handed the microphone to Patricia as she walked over. Nina and Eddie grabbed these large tin buckets and brought them to the front pf the stage as Patricia spoke. "Come one. Everybody, we want you to pass these back so hurry up. We'd like to shone a light on a recent change that affects us all."
Patricia pointed to Jerome for a drum roll as Joy, Nina, and Eddie passed the lemonade back. "We'd like to talk about... lemonade." She smirked as she said those last words.
Patricia spoke passionately. "The Jasper's Lemonade Machine in the basement is scheduled for removal to help pay for this stupid gymnasium. Its about this school, its treating certain people like they matter more than others, or like funding for sports is more important than a music program." The crowed booed to these new findings.
"Or a school newspaper," She continued. "Or anyone of us."
Victor looked over at Jason accusingly and asked, "Did you know anything about this?" Jason just placed his hands up in surrender.
Jerome began to play a steady drum beat in the background. "We all deserve to be treated like we matter," Patricia preached. "Because ladies and gentleman," she continued.
Nina grabbed Patricia's guitar from the back and placed it around her for playing while Eddie picked up a microphone to get ready. Jerome did one last drum roll before the music kicked in. "We do matter!" Patricia chanted.
The entire band chanted, "Be heard! Be strong! Be proud!"
"I wanna make some noise!" Nina sang.
They all did their choreographed dance for this song. "Stand up, come on, be loud!"
"We're gonna raise our voice!"
"Come on, come on, come on!"
"You gotta hear me now! You gotta hear me now! You gotta hear me now!" They yelled.
Patricia did a hitch kick and started rapping, "Hey now, we no longer wait around. My team's stronger like weights now. Keeps on growing, our muscle keeps on showing."
She tossed the microphone to Eddie who continued, "We came here to make a change. We came here to rearrange. We came here cause we believe. We came here cause we achevie!"
Eddie ran past Patricia and swiftly passed the micropone to her. "While I got the microphone, make sure how I feel is known. All for one we rock the zone. How I feel to each his own."
She tossed it back to Eddie. "All my people treat 'em right! We reserve the right to fight. For what we want, for what we need. To the front we shall proceed!"
Nina stepped up the mic while she played the guitar and sang, "Here we come and we're ready to go, go, go! You better run 'cause we don't take no, no, no! Come on!"
The band chanted, "Be heard! Be strong! Be proud!"
While Principal Roddenmar started to charge forward. Yelling at the band while telling them to stop.
"I wanna make some noise!" Nina echoed.
"Stand up! Come on! Be Loud!"
"We're gonna raise our voice!"
"Come on! Come on! Come on! You gotta hear me now! You gotta hear me now!"
"Joy, I will call your father!" Victor threatened.
Patricia pulled out a bullhorn and preached, "I said we're tired of this!"
"Eddie what are we doing?" Victor yelled.
"We're gonna stand up for what we believe in. We might be on our own, but we are one. Everybody ready? Let's go!" She yelled.
"Be heard! Be strong! Be proud! I wanna make some noise! Stand up, come on, be loud. We're gonna raise our voice!"
Victor ran up to the front of the stage yelling, "Shut it off! Shut it off!"
"Come on, come on, come on! You gotta hear me now!" The band chanted.
At this time, Patricia took off the vest she was wearing and showed the shirt she had on. It was the same shirt she had on the first day of school. She turned around towards the audience as Nina sang, "You gotta hear me now! You gotta hear me now!"
Victor reached the electrical panel and shut it off. Surrounding this renegade band in nothing but darkness.
The five rag tag misfits stood deathly still in Principal Roddenmar's office as he glared at them all. "A school dance is certainly not the place for a political tirade. I don't know what that little fiasco at the Halloween Bash was about, but this lemonade business, " He gestured towards them. "Is over. Now, I will let you all off with a warning, but if I hear as much as a hum from the locker room showers you all will be expelled."
He turned and stood in front of Patricia. "You," he pointed his old fingers at her. "You told me that when you wanted this band to play at the Bash that there would be no funny business."
"But, Principal Roddenmar this wasn't funny. We spoke our minds and you shut us down."
Roddenmar ran his fingers through his grayish locks. "Yes I shut you down. The things I do are for the good of this school, okay? And with that good in mind Lemonade Mouth is finished. You will not use the music room. You will not use the instruments. I meant what I said about that expulsion. Am I understood?" he boomed.
The group of five quickly dispersed out of his office.
Strike one for the band.
Eddie stared absentmindedly at the lab equipment in front of him. His band can't play anymore, that means its over. It can't be over, it just can't be. He watched as the teacher walked over to another lab table. "Psst," Alfie whispered.
Alfie sat across from Eddie in chemistry every day, but today was different. Alfie took a cd out of his bag and slid it over to Eddie. It's cover read Lemonade Mouth: Live At The Bash. "What's this?" Eddie questioned.
"It's you. Your show. Look, a bunch of kids were asking if they could buy them. I hope you don't mind, but I've already sold like eight copies, 10 bucks a pop. I figured that the Av club gets thirty percent, and you take the rest. Deal?"
Eddie stared at the disk thinking of everything they've gone through people deserved to hear them one last time. "Yeah," he breathed.
"Excellent," Alfie smiled.
"And Lemonade's mouth performance will be known in Vista High history as the best one yet. Too bad they were shut down. Remember these words: Be heard! Be strong! Be proud! We all can't wait to hear what Lemonade Mouth has next!" Read Patricia. She gasped and passed the paper around. "I can't believe it!"
"Our first review," Jerome breathed.
As the paper got to Eddie he replied sadly, "And apparently our last."
Mara and a couple of girls walked past the group and giggled as they past Jerome. A smile crossed his face and turned towards the band, "I think they like us."
Nina took a sip of her lemonade and laughed, "I don't think its us they like Jerome."
Jerome looked around the lunch table. "What do you mean?"
They all laughed while Eddie threw him a look that said Really?
Eddie and Jerome were walking through the weight room when they noticed a bunch of kids looking at them. They waved and did a combination of movements representing what they did at the Bash.
While Nina and Joy were walking through the hallway from class they were astonished at what they saw. There were millions of posters on the walls all promoting Lemonade Mouth, but they were all fan made. As they looked at the posters they heard a girl whisper excitedly, "Oh, my gosh its them."
People were looking at them and waving as if they were actually famous. They didn't notice when a girl by the name of Macy was trying to get by in her wheel chair. "Oh, sorry Macy," they apologized.
They let her through and looked at the back of her chair. There was Lemonade Mouth memorabilia all over it. "Oh my god," Joy choked out. "That's Lemonade Mouth."
Nina looked at her excitedly. "That's our band." She jumped up and down slightly. "That's us. Oh, my gosh."
"I know," Joy breathed.
At the end of the day Patricia was walking out of school when Principal Roddenmar stopped her. "Hey Patricia. Come here." She walked over towards him as he seethed with anger. "Now, I thought I made myself clear. This Lemonade business is over." He pointed towards the sign that some students hung up earlier.
Patricia looked up at it and was shocked. "It wasn't us."
Roddenmar rolled his eyes. "You're playing a dangerous game here Miss Williamson."
"We had nothing to do with that," Patricia cut in.
"And you're going to lose," he warned.
He turned back towards the janitor and yelled, "Don't hit it like a piƱata! Hit it! Take it down!"
Later on in the week the group sat in a booth at the Pizzeria. "What would you say," Patricia started.
"If we told you we could play again." Eddie finished.
Joy scoffed. "I'd say you're crazy. Roddenmar would never change his name."
Patricia leaned forward. "We're not talking about at school. We're talking about here."
Jerome shook his head. Eddie looked at their faces. "Look guys, I gave the owner, Tony our CD and he loved it. Yeah, he said we could start playing here. See Principal Roddenmar can tell us not to play at school, but he can't tell us not to play anywhere else."
"And it could become a regular gig." Added Patricia.
Nina could feel her stomach tying itself into knots. "Wait, wait, a regular gig? I barely made it through the first one."
"Guys, my parents already think that I'm at soccer practice every afternoon. There's no way I can pull this off," Jerome confessed.
"Me either," Joy began. "Fabian eats here, and I'm planning on not seeing him again for the rest of my life."
Jerome smiled slightly at this new information. "Guys," Patricia started. "We mean something to people. Lemonade Mouth is their voice. It's like we're at the center of a movement here."
Joy looked towards the door and watched as Fabian came in with K.T. Probably on a date. "Guys," Joy interrupted. "Good luck with your movement, but I've got homework to do." She picked up her bag and walked outside.
The rest of the band stared at her and quickly ran after her. Joy continued to walk and turned around slightly and caught a glimpse of a billboard, and her jaw dropped. "Joy, you okay?" Patricia asked.
Joy couldn't say anything. She just pointed up towards the sign on top the Pizzeria. They all stood side by side, amazed at the sight in front of them. It was a poster of the band from when they played the Bash. On the bottom it read Don't Stop The Revolution!
"No way!" Eddie breathed.
"It's beautiful," Nina cooed.
"Look at us up there," Jerome said.
"Maybe we do matter," Joy thought aloud.
"Of course we do," Patricia preached.
This was a momentous thing for the band. They've become a symbol for freedom of speech.
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review! Check out my other stories!
