2 weeks went by, and they felt like over a month. Melody had an amazing time, but she missed Neal like crazy. He didn't call at all the first week since he was still grounded, so Melody had begun to write a list of things she wanted to tell him when they finally did talk. The second week her roommate had begun to grow annoyed by her because Melody was on the phone with Neal for at least an hour and a half each night. He told her that the same day she'd left Bill finally asked Kayla out and they were annoyingly adorable together. Melody was happy to hear Bill and Kayla were happy. The first week Melody tore herself apart deciding on whether or not to tell Neal about Lindsay ditching the summit. She figured there was no need to make a special call just to tell on Lindsay, but now that she was talking to Neal she couldn't just not say anything. Neal told Sam, who told his parents, who according to Neal both lost their minds. They called the police to try and track her down, part of Melody felt bad, but the other part of her knew she couldn't live with herself if something horrible happened to Lindsay while she was off god knows where and Melody had done nothing about it. Neal assured her that she did the right thing, and whether Lindsay liked it or not it was in her best interest that her parents knew where she was.

Melody loved the summit, getting to debate with other people her age who were as smart and enjoyed learning as much as she did. But she could not wait for that Sunday morning when she packed up her bags and got back on that bus to go home.

Melody read the entire bus ride and almost didn't notice when they pulled into Chippewa. The bus came to a stop and she looked up, taking in her surroundings. She looked out her window and saw Neal, Sam, Bill, and Kayla standing outside at the bus stop waiting for her. She smiled widely, grabbed her bag from beside her and jumped up from her seat and speed walked down the bus. She jumped off of the bus and ran over to her friends and grabbing them all in a big group hug.

"Ugh, I missed you guys so much!" She said happily squeezing her arms around her friends. It felt so nice to feel her friends arms wrapped around her. To be around familiar faces once again.

"Welcome back to the land of the simple." Kayla joked.

They all released from the hug and smiled at each other.

"Good to have you back Melody." Sam told her.

"Good to be back." She smiled at him, then looked to Neal and smiled at him brightly.

Melody wanted to just jump on him and kiss him, she missed his lips. But she figured right now with all her friends right next to them wasn't the best time. So she just smiled at him and tried to tell him with her eyes that she had a special hello for later.

"Did you learn lots of fancy stuff while you were gone?" Bill asked, resting his arm over Kayla's shoulder.

"You know it, I've learned all there is to know. I'm done. No more school." Melody joked.

"Oh well aren't you the lucky one." Neal laughed, standing behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, hugging her and resting his head on her shoulder.

Melody held his hands over her stomach and smiled into the hug leaning her head backwards to rest against his. "As always." She smiled widely. She missed how warm he made her feel.

Sam looked back and forth between the two couples, Bill with his arm around Kayla and Neal holding Melody from behind, and rolled his eyes. "Oh my god, get a room you guys." He said half annoyed, half joking.

"Sorry Sam." Melody laughed.

"Is this going to be our lives now? You four just coupling it up and me fifth wheeling all the time?" Sam asked as the group began to walk toward the parking lot.

"Oh don't be ridiculous... Sometimes you'll be third wheeling it." Neal pretended to assure his friend then laughed.

"I'm sure you'll meet someone else soon Sam." Melody tried to comfort him.

"Yeah, you already dated Cindy, once girl's know you're available, I'm sure they'll show some interest." Kayla told him.

"Well thanks for the support." Sam joked.

"So where are we going? How are we getting home?" Melody asked.

"My mom drove us." Neal told her.

"Well that was nice of her." Melody said.

"Yeah, well I have some sway with her. Only man in her life who didn't lie and cheat her." Neal joked.

"Would you listen to that, I knew I got a good one." Melody joked. The other's laughed.

Sam, Bill, and Kayla continued to walk as they turned around a corner but Melody hung back for a moment and grabbed Neal's hand to hold him back.

He looked at her confused. "What?"

Melody pushed him against the wall leaned down and kissed him passionately. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she racked her fingers through his hair.

"Hi." Melody pulled back and smiled at him.

Neal smiled back, obviously winded. "Well hello there." He laughed flirtatiously.

"I thought a proper hello was in order."

"Well tell a proper hello, that I am a fan." He smiled widely and laughed.

"Will do." She laughed then kissed him again. "We better get back." She said even though she didn't want to.

"Yeah yeah, in a minute." He said, holding her closer and kissing her again.

They pulled away and she took a deep breath smiling at him, "I really missed you."

"I really missed you too." He told her. She wanted to lean in and kiss him again but she knew the other's had to have noticed they were gone by now.

She gave him a quick peck then grabbed his hand and walked around the corner to follow their friends who all gave them sideways glances. The 5 all rode in Mrs. Schweiber's car back to Neal's house, where they spent the afternoon playing board games and just hanging out.

A few weeks into being back Melody, Kayla, and Bethany were all hanging around Melody's house talking.

"Did you hear about the whole Lindsay thing?" Kayla asked.

"What Lindsay thing?" Bethany asked confused

"Well Lindsay Weir skipped out on the summit." Kayla explained.

"Yeah, I know." Bethany pointed out, because Melody had already told her that part.

"Well her parent's called the cops and they dragged Lindsay and Kim all the way back home, and Lindsay's parents have her on house arrest." Kayla looked at Melody, "She is really pissed at you." Kayla laughed.

"I don't care. If she didn't want to get in trouble, then maybe she shouldn't have gone gallivanting across the country in a hippie van, or maybe she shouldn't have lied to her parents. Maybe she should have just gone to the summit, like she was supposed to." Melody pointed out. "Let her be pissed. It's not my fault, her parents deserved to know."

"How do you know all that?" Bethany asked.

"Bill." Kayla smiled.

"So how are thing's going with Bill?" Melody asked Kayla as she grabbed a handful of chips from the table.

Kayla smiled contently. "Good. Really good." She seemed happy.

"That's good. You two seem happy." Melody replied.

"We are. I found one of the good ones." Kayla beamed.

"I told you, nice guys are where it's at." Melody said proudly.

"You know Bethany," Kayla gave Bethany a look she didn't quite like. "Melody and Neal are going pretty well. Bill and I are going really well... There's three of us, and three of them.. Sam-" Kayla was cut off.

"Don't finish that thought." Bethany told her, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Kayla protested. "Sam's a really nice guy."

"I'm sure he is. And no disrespect, I'm sure Bill and Neal are great too. They're just really not my type." Bethany explained.

"Oh really? Well then what is your type? You could do a lot worse then a nice guy like Sam." Melody told her. Sam had grown more and more discontent with his fifth wheel position and the girl's wanted to help him out.

"My type? My type is cool." Bethany told them bluntly. "And as nice as these guys might be, they're not cool. They spend their afternoons playing Dungeons and Dragon's, I like to spend my afternoon's at party's. You know, like with other people. Having fun." Bethany explained, and saying no offense really didn't make any of it less offensive.

"Hey what's wrong with Dungeon's and Dragon's? I play." Melody replied, offended.

"Yeah, and that's fine. I don't mind being friends with a geek. But I don't want to make out with one. I like a little danger."

Kayla laughed at this.

"What?" Bethany said offended by Kayla's disbelief.

"Oh, please. You like Nick. Nick is the opposite of danger." Kayla pointed out.

Melody and Bethany both looked at her shocked. "You what?" Melody asked Bethany confused.

"No I don't." Bethany protested, unconvincingly. "You said you wouldn't say anything!" She snapped at Kayla.

"I'm sorry. But come one, like she didn't know? Also, Nick is the opposite of dangerous. It needed to be said." Kayla told her.

"I did not know." Melody told them.

"He's kind of dangerous. He's cool, and he's in a band. He drinks, and he smokes." Bethany tried to defend him.

"He was in a band. A bad one." Kayla pointed out.

"And he doesn't smoke anymore. He stopped after Sara." Melody pointed out.

"Oh, whatever. Can we be done talking about this?" Bethany said embarrassed.

"Hey, Nick's done a lot worse then you, go right on ahead, I don't care." Melody laughed at Bethany.

"Wait really?" Bethany asked.

"Go ahead, I don't care. I mean, I don't know why you'd want to. You know he's clingy as hell right?" Melody pointed out.

"I think it's sweet." Bethany smiled.

"Ok, Gross." Melody pretended to gag. "My only rule is don't break his heart. Every time a girl breaks up with him he's a complete mess, and I don't want to deal with that again. So if you're serious about him, go ahead. But no take backs. You can't just decide he's too much once you're already involved. Know right now, from the beginning. He is too much." Melody said seriously.

Bethany smiled appreciatively. "I'll keep that in mind."

"So, how was the girl's night yesterday?" Neal asked, as he moved one of the giant chess pieces to a different position on a board at the park.

"Good, Bethany's felt neglected lately, so it was nice." Melody answered, moving one of her own pieces. "What about you guys? Was Sam just thrilled for a girlfriend free evening?" She laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous. He likes you guys." Neal insisted, moving another piece and taking one of her pawns.

"I know he does, but he doesn't like that he's the only single one of you guys now." She pointed out, taking one of his bishops. "You thought I'd let you get away with that pawn huh?" She joked.

"Hey! I just took a pawn, I only have two bishops lady!" He protested.

"That's the name of the game sweetheart." She laughed at him.

"You know, for someone who's so grumpy about being single, he could stand to be less picky." Neal told her.

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"Well Bill and I talked to him about Beth yesterday and he was just not interested." Neal told her, moving another piece.

"It's alright, Kayla and I tried and she wasn't biting either. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Hey we got 4 out of 6 matched up, that's not bad." Melody laughed, taking one of his rooks.

"Seriously how are you so good at this game?" He asked annoyed.

"God given talent." She joked. "Hey get this, apparently Bethany's not interested in Sam because she like's my brother." Melody laughed.

"Why?" Neal asked shocked.

"Beats me." Melody laughed. "Kayla and I will just have to find another girl for Sam."

"What's the rush? You know, I kinda like being the cool one compared to Sam for once." Neal pointed out.

"Hey, you're always the cool one compared to Sam." Melody told him.

Neal smiled and walked over to her, hugging her side and kissing her. "See, that is exactly why I like you." He laughed.

"Oh because I know how to feed your ego?" She joked.

"Exactly." He smiled at her, she laughed, and he started to guide her away from the chess board.

"What about the game?" Melody asked looking back.

"Oh please, you're winning. It's mate in 3." He pointed out.

She looked at him confused. "How'd y- Wait were you letting me win?" She asked him shocked, hitting his arm.

Neal looked back at her in mock shock "Me? Letting you win? Why I'd never." He said sarcastically.

"You completely suck." She laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He laughed as he guided her over to an ice cream stand. They sat down together and talked, laughed, and participated in a bit of PDA.