Here's Chapter 26!
The next few hours were not pleasant for Lemonade Mouth. The police had taken them to their station, called their parents, and now here they were, in a holding cell.
"So much for Rising Star." Charlie mumbled as he stared at the prison bars. Of all the places he imagined he would be in his life, this certainly wasn't one of them.
"We can't skip it." Stella argued.
"Well, we can't play." Mo shot back.
"It's over." Wen groaned with his eyes closed.
"Wen's right." Charlie said, driving back to the others. "We lose."
"So we lose." Stella said. "So what?" Stella got up to face the others. "Lemonade Mouth is bigger than a competition." She said. "We did it to be heard. For our fans. For ourselves."
"For our friendship." Olivia rasped.
"Thank you." Stella said, turning to her.
"Guys, we can't give up." Olivia rasped again.
"Olivia," Mo began. "This isn't just humiliating ourselves on like, a high school level."
"Look, we're not doing it!" Wen shouted.
"Agreed." Charlie said. Wen turned to Stella.
"In case you haven't noticed Stella," he began. "We're in a holding cell! Okay? And you're the only one to blame."
"Me?" Stella asked, shocked.
"Yeah, you." Mo snapped.
"This is pretty much all your fault Stella." Charlie added.
"We didn't actually get arrested!" Stella argued. "Okay? We're waiting for our parents to come pick us up."
"Great." Charlie muttered sarcastically.
"Guys, can you please stop fighting?" Olivia whispered. After an uncomfortable pause, Charlie took out a coin and began tapping it on a pay phone in the holding cell. Then, Mo started playing with a rubber band. Stella began tapping on the holding cell bars. Then, Olivia and Wen joined in the music. Suddenly, they all started humming the very first song they ever sang.
When they were done, Stella asked "Are we in?" In response, they swallowed each other in a group hug.
The first person to get picked up was Olivia. She drove out to see her grandmother.
"Darling," her grandmother began. "When I said "Get out of the house," this isn't what I meant." That was a good thing about Olivia's grandmother. She could never stay mad. She and Olivia hugged.
Just then, Wen drove by them to see Sydney waiting for him.
"Wen," she began. "Your dad, he's stuck in time at work. He's on his way. I thought I'd just come and…." She never finished her sentence, because at that moment, Wen hugged her.
"Thanks for coming." He said.
"Absolutely." She replied.
Then, Mo drove by them, and stopped dead when she saw her parents. Her father was furious. He did nothing but drive out the door. Mo and her mother drove after him.
"Okay, look." Mo began. "I know you're disappointed in me and…"
"I don't want to talk about it." Her father said, cutting her off. "Let's go." He began to drive off, but Mo stopped him.
"No, Papa, please." She said. "I need to say this." Her father sighed, and decided he would listen. "Look," Mo continued. "I'm never gonna be this, perfect Indian daughter you want me to be. I'm never gonna be just, a regular American teenager. I guess I don't know what I am exactly. Maybe a little bit of both, but, what I'm trying to say it, I'm finding my way. And, yeah, I'll make mistakes, but, I deserve for you to just let me be me. Could you at least try Papa?"
Mo's father turned to her and nodded.
"But you're still in trouble." He said. Mo smiled.
Charlie drove past them and saw his brother Tommy waiting for him.
"Tommy?" Charlie asked, driving over to him.
"You're lucky I picked up the phone instead of mom." Tommy replied.
"Tell me about it." Charlie laughed.
"Here's the thing Charlie," Tommy began. "You wanna play music? Then you need to stand up to mom and dad and tell them that. Tell them soccer isn't for you. That you wanna go to, music school. Not Stamford."
"That's easy for you to say." Charlie scoffed. "They think everything you do is perfect."
"Yeah well, they're not thinking that for long." Tommy replied. Charlie gave him a quizzical look. "My grades this semester," Tommy continued. "Not so hot. So much for that whole "perfect" thing huh? Well, here's an idea." Charlie turned to him. "What do you say we go tell mom and dad?" Tommy asked. "Together." Then, Tommy held up his tire, and Charlie gave him a high-five.
Last but not least, was Stella. She drove out into the office, where her mother was waiting. Stella drove over to her.
"Yeah, I know." Stella said. "Grounded for life." Her mother shook her head.
"You got off with a warning, let's just leave it at that." She said. Then, she turned to Stella. "Do you know what I see when I look at you Stella?" she asked. Stella turned to her. "I see the most focused, determined girl I've ever known." Her mother continued. "I mean, look at what you've done! You started a band, stood up for what you believed in, I'm sorry that I've been so distracted lately. But Stella, I couldn't be any prouder of what I see." Now there were tears rolling down Stella's face. She hugged her mother happily. "Let's get out of here." Her mother said. They both drove out the door.
"Hey," Stella began. "You wanna come see our revolution?" Her mother smiled.
"We've been planning on it." Her mother replied. Stella looked confused.
"We?" she asked. Just then, her father and 2 brothers drove out. Her father was holding her guitar. Stella hugged them with shock and joy. Before any of the members of Lemonade Mouth knew it, Rising Star was upon them.
BTW, in case you're wondering, yes, this story is almost over. But don't look so sad yet, we've still got a few more chapters to go! And speaking of that, chapter 27's coming soon!