Thank-you again, everyone, for such warm support and fun suggestions! I'm having a lot of fun writing this, and I'm so happy that you are enjoying it, too!

I'm actually almost done with Chapter 13, but I'm struggling with some phrases. As soon as I can get them the way I want them, I'll update.

I do not own Lemonade Mouth.

Chapter 12

They arrived at school just in time to run at break-neck speed to first period as the last bell was ringing.

During mid-morning break (no one knew why it was so necessary to stop calling it "recess" after elementary school), Stella used the restroom. While she was enclosed in the stall, she heard two familiar – but not friendly – voices.

"Did you see that Scott tried to make up a schedule for us to visit Ray in shifts?" said Jules.

"Yeah, as if any of us would listen to that traitor. Whatever, Scott." replied Patty.

"Totally! But….are you going to go see him?"

"Ray? Well, we have practice after school…"

"Yeah, and I've got a huge history test tomorrow. But.." Jules pressed again, "Patty, you're his girlfriend. If you want to go see him, I can totally cover for you at practice."

Stella was a little bit surprised. So, they're 'on again'? It's a good thing I didn't kiss him last night. She stayed put in order to eavesdrop some more.

"Yeah….but….I don't know, Jules. Did you see him? He's a total mess. And you know how grumpy he gets. He probably doesn't want to see me anyway. And…I know this is going to sound totally superficial and all…but…like…what if he has…scars…on his face…like, permanent?"

Jules finished Patty's thought for her, "You think you won't be attracted to him anymore."

Patty was relieved to not have to say it out loud. "Yeah. And prom pictures? You know? Those are, like, forever souvenirs of high school…and if they're not perfect…"

Stella, although completely appalled by this conversation, couldn't stop her mind from wandering for a moment to the thought of standing next to a certain blonde guy in a tux with some manly-livin' marks on his face, smiling for a photographer…that'd be a pretty nice pic…

Again, she physically shook her head to remove the weirdo fantasy. She flushed the toilet to announce her presence to the girls, and she left the stall.

"Oh, uh, hi, is it Stella?" said Patty. Stella thought it hilarious that the only defense the Pretty People Crowd had on the nationally famous freshman rock band members was to pretend to never remember their names.

"Yeah," she replied over her shoulder while she was washing her hands.

"I was wondering if you could maybe do me a favor."

This ought to be interesting. Her reply was to glare, but to at least make eye contact, so that Patty could decide to continue.

"Well, I'm super busy with cheerleading and all. And I'm pretty sure that Ray wants to be alone anyway…"

Man, for a school "power couple", these two don't know each other at all. I guess being pretty is enough to have in common.

"And Scott says that you're some kind of frea…uh, person, who can totally handle being in hospitals and all."

"What do you want…was it…Patty?"

Patty narrowed her eyes at Stella's attempt to pretend that she didn't know who she was. "I want you to tell Ray that I can't come see him."

"Today? Or, any day?"

Patty looked down for a split second, and then she looked away. "Any day, I guess."

"Let me get this straight," Stella said, saying each word clearly but keeping her tone in check, "You want me to break up with Ray Beech for you?"

Patty shrugged. "I guess, yeah. But you like doing mean things, right? So, it shouldn't be a problem for you. It would just be too hard for me to see him hurt like that. But you…you can do that kind of thing."

Wow, thought Stella.

The bell rang. "I gotta go," said Patty, and she bolted out of the restroom.

Jules stayed behind. "Hey, Stella?"

"Whom do you need to break up with?" Stella asked, exhausted from the strangeness of her entire morning, but angry at Patty's audacity.

"I just wanted to say…thanks…for everything you've done…for Ray," and then she, too, bolted out of the restroom.

Man, it's Pretty People Sprint Day. So, somewhere deep down, Jules was a tiny bit human. But Patty, she was nothin' but rotten through and through. In her defense, thought Stella, I guess it takes an absence of humanity to date Ray Beech on purpose.

The rest of the day was uneventful, just insane piles of make-up work from their absence from school.

"Any news, Charlie?" asked Mo on their way to Scott's car.

Charlie was turning his phone on. "Here it is, looks like she sent this an hour ago. She found the cruise ship, made contact, and is now working to get them to the nearest port and the quickest flight back."

"Wow!" said Stella. "I'm glad the band has such a stellar travel agent! Oh, and speaking of convenient parental connections, did everyone get Wen's text about the manager situation? Are we good with it?'

"Yeah, of course," said Mo. "Has Mr. Gifford gotten to the bottom of the CD signing show?"

"He did," said Charlie. "It turns out that the store where we were supposed to do the signing is sponsoring a concert tour. So, he agreed for us to play in the show that'll be near here in a couple of weeks. That seemed to keep them happy."

On their way to the hospital, everyone was complaining about all the homework they had. Something dawned on Stella. "Scott, have you been home at all?"

"Yeah, after visiting hours last night, I went home."

"You must be more tired than I am. And you probably have Mt. Everest in homework."

"I do, but Ray is more important."

"Well, why don't you go home today? I'll take a double shift."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

Everyone in the car looked at Stella as if she had grown a second head.

Stella shrugged. "I'm good with hospitals. And I found out last night that Ray can help me with my math."

"I'm sorry. What?" said Mo.

Stella shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess he's bored or something. But I have a ton of math, and….so….yeah. Scott, go home and get some sleep."

"I'm going to drop you off and then drive away really fast before you wake up from whatever weird trance you're in."

He did just that.