I am so sorry this has taken me so long! I've been completely overwhelmed by work and family the past couple of months. Thank-you (and especially ein grosse vielen dank for my new German friend! And sorry for butchering that last phrase…) for the kind reviews and for the adds. I will try much harder to get the rest of this story up more quickly.

I don't own Lemonade Mouth; I just borrow it. ;)

Chapter 11

When Veronica got home, her mother was waiting for her. She gasped at the sight of her daughter's new look.

"That bad?" said Veronica.

"NO! Oh, Ronnie! You look amazing!"

Veronica sighed, relieved. "I'm a little nervous about it."

"I can imagine. But you know what? You can really have a lot of fun with a new look. You're always you underneath; it's just the packaging that changes!"

"Easy for you to say. By the time you were my age, your hair had been every color in the rainbow!"

"And it was MUCH harder to find the good colors those days! Half the reason your father and I were so excited to play at the Paladium was getting the chance to shop on Melrose." She laughed at the memory.

"I'm going to put all of this stuff away," said Veronica. "Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Thank-you. You're the best!"

"No, sweetie, you are."

"Thanks." Veronica smiled, and turned to leave.

"Wait," said her mother. She stopped. Mrs. McKenna continued. "It's true. You constantly think of everyone else around you, making sure that no one is unhappy or uncomfortable. You put your own wants aside for everyone else. And you always know the exact right thing to say to put a person at their ease. No one ever feels awkward or uncomfortable around you."

"Thank-you, Mom!"

"So, I'm just, real happy to see you do something for yourself."

Veronica gave her mother a big hug and then went to her room to put all of her stuff away.

Afterward, she sat at her computer to do her homework, but decided to check her email first. There was a message from Charlie.

"Hey Veronica, I hope you had a good day. That was nice of your parents to offer me that poster, but I don't think I can accept it. It's WAY too much! Take care, Charlie."

She was in the middle of writing a reply when her IM interrupted her. It was Charlie.

"Hey."

"Hi! I just read your email."

"Yeah, I think I want to change my mind again."

"I was going to tell you that you don't have a choice anymore. You're taking them! My dad has MANY."

"OK, if you're sure…"

"Yes, of course! I'll bring them into the coffee house. And you can pick them up whenever you get the chance."

"OK, thanks!"

"Of course! So, ready for Wednesday's hard-hitting interview?"

He typed, " *changessubject* how was your day?"

Veronica laughed out loud. He'sfunnyaswellasnice!Toobadhe'snotmytypenotthatit'ddoanygoodifheweremytype.

She let him change the subject. She suspected that he didn't like to be interviewed, and so she wouldn't make him more nervous than he probably already was.

She replied, " *letshim,butremindshimthattheaudienceisonlyahandfulofblogreaders* It was good. My mom let me off early, and Stacy took me out. Well, really, she dragged me out, and my mom kinda kicked me in her direction."

" *askshertodefine 'handful' andremindsherthattheywillnowseehiminalivestreamandwillseehispanicifthere'sadifficultquestion* Dragged? Kicked? Did you have a dentist appointment?"

"No, and you have a good point, although they will probably not be asking you for help in calculus."

"You're dodging my other question. And there are other types of difficult questions."

"True on both counts. Stacy and my mom decided that it was time to upgrade my personal aesthetic."

"How? Why?"

Veronica had a hard time finding a way to answer his one. She was embarrassed about the whole Jordon thing. If she told Charlie, he would undoubtedly feel the need to compliment her, to make her feel better. And the last thing she needed right now was some kind of insincere, polite, placate-the-insecure-plain-girl compliment.

"Oh, I guess they thought that changing my hair color would bring out my eyes more. I'm not very good at speaking Girl. It's not that I speak Boy either. Does that make me genderless? Ew."

"You're definitely a girl." Charlie hit send before he knew what he was doing. Ohno! Veronica was a very nice girl, but she didn't exactly throw herself at him. In fact, she made no demonstration at all that she had any interest in him. And the last thing Charlie needed these days was yet another cute girl who wanted to just be his friend.

Zing! Reading that little sentence on her screen shot a small thrill through Veronica that she had not expected.

Charlie quickly tried a diversion. "So, did you dye your hair green?"

"What? Green? Why?"

"You said they wanted to bring out your eyes more. They're green. So, is it green hair that does that?"

Another zing. In all of Veronica's life, no one had ever known her eye color. Even her parents had said, "Generally, they tend to be green."

She decided to play it cool. Iwillnotletmyselflikethisboy.Therearecountlessteenagegirlsalloverthecountrywhoadorehim,andhe'llprobablyendupwantingStacyanyway. She wrote, "Not green. Apparently, red hair brings out green eyes."

"And matches your Irish last name." Lame. Charlie was annoyed with his inability to hold decent conversation, especially with a cute girl. Stop.Donot fallforher.

"Good point! Hey, about that interview. Stacy asked me to help her. I'm no good at that kind of thing. But, for what it's worth, I'll be there. And I'll try to intervene in case there are any tough calculus questions."

"Thanks! Because I totally suck at math."

"I'm very good at it. And I'm also good at other tough questions. Or so I'm told."

"Thank-you, Veronica."

"Of course!"

"Hey, I have another question."

"Yes?"

"What's with all your nicknames? Does anyone call you by you real name?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just one of those nickname people. Or maybe because Veronica is an odd name on a teenager?"

"Do you like your name? Do you like all the nicknames?"

An odd question, but inexplicably, it touched her. "Honestly, no one has ever asked me that. I do like my name, but no one ever calls me by it."

"I will."

Zing again. She needed to change the subject before this got dangerous. "So, what kind of music do you like, besides obscure old-school punk?"

All the girls in Charlie's life belonged to two groups: one was fans, and the other was Mo, Olivia, and Stella. Not one of them had ever asked him that question. He wasn't that part of the band's creative process, so his bandmates never thought to ask. And the fans didn't seem to be terribly interested in his music…

He wrote back, "Oh, all sorts."

"Please. Everyone our age likes 'all sorts' of music. You're a musician. I'm pretty sure you have a better answer than that." Right after she hit send, she regretted her sassy attitude.

Charlie was amused at Veronica's calling him to the carpet on that. "Fair enough," he replied. "I like to find music that has unusual instrumentation or beat. So, my all-time love is Latin jazz. And I have a secret love of big band, because it's fun." He thought a second, and then added, "Specific enough?"

"It'll do," Veronica replied. She was a bit surprised at her boldness in teasing this rock star and nationwide teen heart throb. Her thoughts were interrupted by another message from said heart throb. "What about you? Everyone in your life bows to your musical knowledge. So…what do you like?"

"ARGH! Unfair!"

"Totally fair."

"OK, well, I respect all of it, even if I don't necessarily prefer all of it. My (whatwasJordan? "mycrush"? "mytotallyfruitlesswasteoftime"? "mymostrecentsourceofhumiliation"?) friend, Jordan, is a total snob. He says rap isn't music, and that metal is just screaming."

"One of those people."

"Yeah. He's wrong. Rap has a fascinating history, and it absolutely ismusic. So is metal. Besides, I'm intrigued by angry people connecting to music. It's like finding the route to taming the savage beast."

"Veronica, you are unreal."

"What? How?"

"Do you find something positive about everyone?"

"I guess so."

"That's amazing."

"I don't know."

"Does everyone in your life totally love you?" He immediately felt foolish for sending this. But he couldn't help it. It was like Veronica was all the best qualities of Stella, Olivia, and even Mo, rolled into one. But she was more…

"Not exactly." Oops.She was going to have to get into the Jordan mess now. With Charlie. The boy voted "Hottest Up-and-Coming" by Teen Sweet magazine was going to be subjected to her pathetic tale of woe.

"Who would be so stupid?"

"I've got a lot of homework. And my mom is gonna kill me if she sees me here instead of working on it."

"Hmm…I think you're trying to escape."

"Maybe."

"Well?"

"It's a lame story."

Charlie realized she didn't want to talk about it. Or maybe she thought he didn't want to hear it. He decided to take a risk. "I'm sure yours isn't as bad as mine."

"A guy I'm interested in."

"Isn't into you?"

"There's a bit more."

"?"

"He's interested in Stacy."

"Lame."

"Yeah."

"Does she…"

"No, thankfully!" Then, "oops, sorry."

"Huh?"

Ohno!Ioverstepped!"Sorry, again. I just thought you"

"What?" Howcouldsheknow?

"Well, um, on Moxie's show, it looked a little like you have a thing for Mohini. But it was probably weird editing or something."

Crap!Thiscan'tbehappening!"It did? How?"

"Well, when she asked if you had anyone special in your life, you said, 'no, not yet', and you looked at Mohini when you said it." Veronica quickly added, "OK before that sounds all stalker crazy, I only know this because Stacy made me watch it about a hundred times and analyze every second of it. So, again, probably weird editing."

Charlie felt as if he were going to pass out. His stomach ached. Her words were a boot in his gut. He thought he had worked at no one knowing this. And now apparently the entire country was in on it. But he got the feeling that if anyone could help him, it was this lovely girl.

"Can I trust you?"

"Of course."

"As in, not even Stacy."

"Charlie, especially not Stacy."

"Yeah, I do."

"From working with her in the band?"

"No, from long before that."

"So, then, the band…"

"Yeah, I kinda joined in the hope of getting her."

"So, you didn't, and you also have to see her with Scott."

"Yeah."

"Well, that explains how you're able to fend off all the fans so easily."

"Sort of."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, partly it's because I don't want to hurt anyone. So I try to keep a distance. And partly, it's"

Veronica interrupted him, "that you're too into Mohini to notice them."

"I guess it was that at first. But actually, what I was going to say was that our manager, and now Mo, keep advising me to keep my distance. There's the safety issue, with stalkers and all. And Mo is freaked out about the band getting a reputation for a womanizing drummer."

"OK, that can't be easy at all."

"What part?"

"That the girl you're into is telling you who not to get involved with. I mean, I totally get the safety issue. But all the same, it can't be easy to be getting that kind of advice from her of all people."

"YES!" It was such a relief to hear that from someone else.

"Wait. You said, 'at first.' So, does that mean you have a hope of getting over her?"

"I think so. I mean, I used to think about her all the time. But now…I think my thoughts are beginning to go elsewhere…"

Superzing! She had to calm herself. Stopit.Hecan'tpossiblybetalkingaboutyou.

Charlie was ready to kick himself for letting that out. And then he started to panic that she was taking too long to answer. So, he tried to change the subject, a little bit. "And you? Any hope of getting over this idiot who wants Stacy?"

She replied immediately. "I think so. I mostly feel foolish about the whole thing."

"You shouldn't."

"Thank-you. Maybe my thoughts can go elsewhere too."

Charlie saw a glimmer of hope. Couldshemean.? "Elsewhere thoughts are good."

"True. OK, really, I have to sleep, or my mom will really kill me. You don't want to anger a former punk rocker. Even one who dabbled in punk/folk ironic fusion!"

"Good point. Good night, Veronica."

"Good night, Charlie."