Welcome back, to the final chapter (minus the epilogue) the superawesome conclusion, and, the return of the highly anticipated FUN FACTS!!! Ooooh, the thought makes me want to write REALLY REALLY FAST!

Chapter Fourteen

Clear leaned her head against the wall, thinking of singing to George. She had felt so nervous, yet she did it anyways. And George had loved it. Her smile grew. Yet, she still felt like a prisoner in this room. She had been in there for about twenty-four hours. It was driving her mad.

Through the walls, she heard the phone ring and Maralynn answer. She rolled her eyes. This was the first time in fourteen years when people actually called her--and now it was taken away from her.

She looked down sadly at her dirty fingernails and then whipped her head to the door, where Maralynn had just burst in, holding the portable phone to her chest.

"Clear, that was Jerry Waggner."

Clear winced, preparing herself for another punishment of some sort.

"He says he has a guitar that needs fixing and his boys said you would be able to do it... you may go, if you're back by dinnertime."

Clear grinned. Great! An opportunity to see the guys! Plus, she would be happy to fix a guitar for Mr. Waggner. She always looked forward to having to fix something, to use tools, anything to keep her busy. "Thanks, Maralynn," she said gratefully, and gave her stepgrandmother a kiss on the cheek before practically dancing out of the apartment.

'What a beautiful day!' Clear found herself thinking. The sun was bright in her eyes, the grass was dewy, the lake was calm and sirene. She jogged gaily over to Mr. Waggner's shed, where he was sitting on the bench drinking soda.

"Hi, Clear!" he greeted. He opened the fridge next to him. "Watchya drink?"

Clear looked at the large selection of pop cans. "Iced tea, please." He took out a can and tossed it to her. She caught it easily, then opened it to get a little bit of splatter in her eyes.

"How have things been?" she asked carefully, wondering what he thought about her and George.

"Great... the guys miss you. 'Specially George."

"Tell him and Tod happy birthday from me!" she said quickly.

"And happy birthday to you, too... what a coincidence, huh?"

"Yeah... where are the guys anyway?"

Mr. Waggner shrugged. "Tod and George went down to the tuck shop to buy some junk food... and I think Alex, Carter, Terry, and Billy are swimming."

"Oh," Clear said, trying to hide her dissapointment, "So, where's this broken guitar?" she asked Mr. Waggner, attempting to get to the point.

"Er, it's inside..." he stood up and stepped out of the shed. She followed his gaze to down the grassy path, where Tod and George were walking with a few bags of chips and each of them had a slush puppy.

"I'll be one second," Clear said impulsively, and then rushed over to the brothers. "Hey!" she greeted, "Happy birthday, guys!"

They both smiled, and George gave her a peck on the cheek. Tod grimmaced. "Spare me," he muttered, rolling his eyes dramatically. The long bruise on his leg proved that he hadn't been that swift last night trying to peep into the wash house, so, naturally, he wasn't in the best of spirits today.

"So," George asked, "Is your grounding over or something?"

"Maralynn let me out of that cage for an hour," she explained, "Your dad needs me to fix his guitar."

Tod and George exchanged glances that read, 'Is she alright?' "Clear," Tod began, "My dad doesn't have a guitar."

Clear nodded with surprise, and then looked suspiciously over at Mr. Waggner, who went over to them.

"Er, I'm sure facts got a little bit mixed up..." he stammered, "Why don't you three come inside?"

They all looked at one another and shrugged, as if to say, 'What else is there to do?'

They followed Mr. Waggner down the cobblestone path, up the wodden stairs on the patio, through the oak door frame, and saw...

A large banner with messy red and blue writing that read, 'Happy Birthday Tod, George, and Clear!'

Clear gasped with a smile. Tod and George were also beaming, but trying to look as if they didn't care. Clear looked forward at Carter, Alex, Billy, and Terry, who were tossing balloons at them.

"How did you guys have time for all this?" she asked in awe.

"Simple," Alex told her, stepping forward, "The job of getting you out of the way was already done for us, and George, well..." he stared at his friend. "We know he's a real sucker for you. No denying. Getting Tod out was just dumb luck."

Tod blushed sheepishly.

Clear stepped forward and gave Alex a hug, followed by Terry, then Billy and Carter, who seemed a little surprised. Then Clear went back to George and gave him a big hug. He gave her a kiss. She blushed a little, feeling that everyone was watching them, but decided she didn't care and kissed him back.

"Alright, alright!" Carter cried, "Let's get this show on the road and hand out the gifts!"

"Gifts?" Tod asked with a raised eyebrow, "When did you have time for that?"

Billy looked proud. "Why did you think I went home last night?"

Tod laughed, and smacked Billy on the back. "Hitchcock, you're not as bad as I thought you were."

Billy laughed, then plopped himself down next to Terry on the couch. Clear looked at his arm around the blonde and smiled. "Ohhhhh," she said knowingly, "I know what's going on here."

Terry nodded with a grin.

George jumped when a small package in blue wrapping paper was tossed to him. He began unwrapping it and tossed the paper aside like a child would. He opened the box and removed a long silver chain with some Asian symbol at the end. "Was this by any chance Alex's idea?"

Alex nodded triumphantly.

"Thanks, man!"

Tod was next to catch his gift. He unwrapped it in the same manner as George and removed it from the package. It was an offensive T-Shirt... the kind he liked! It was black, and in really tiny, almost impossible to read white font, it read, 'Nosy little screweball aren't you?' Tod burst out laughing.

Clear didn't expect there to be a gift for her, but indeed, there was! Terry chose the safe way to give it to her; she actually got up and handed it to Clear, telling her, "This one was a group effort."

It was a flat backage, like a book. "Sheet music," Clear mumbled happily to herself. She carefully removed the paper, then gazed at the title of the song they all obviously wanted her to learn. The music was 'Come To My Window' by Melissa Etheridge.

Clear beamed, laughed, and said, "Guys, this is really awesome..." once again, she gave hugs all around.

"Okay, okay," Carter declared, taking charge, "Enough of this mushfest--now, we couldn't get a cake in time, but we got... ICE CREAM!"

***

Clear and George sat side-by-side on lawn chairs late that night. Mr. Waggner had phoned Maralynn and told her what was up, and, fortunately, Maralynn let her stay. Tod and Alex sat on the steps of the patio, watching sadly as Terry, Billy, and Carter brought out their bags.

"I can't believe you guys are leaving," Clear told them sadly, dissapointed that she wouldn't be spending any more time with Terry.

"I HAVE to go," Carter groaned, rolling his eyes, "My mom found out about Mark getting picked up and now she doesn't want me 'imposing' on you." His voice had more than a hint of sarcasm. "It seriously blows goats."

Billy sat down on the ground sadly. "My folks got a call from my supervisor that I was fired--and they found out the reason why, too. So, needless to say, I'm grounded for life."

Terry brought her last bag out of the tent. "Things just weren't working out," she sighed, "I mean, I would stay with you guys, but... well, you're GUYS."

Clear stood up and put a hand on Terry's shoulder. "Sorry 'bout you and Erica," she told her sincerely, "I guess we all grow out of friendships."

Terry shrugged. "Well she'll be kicking herself when I'm top of the pyramid at the fall pep rally," she declared with a smirk.

Clear smiled back. "I'll see you 'round."

Billy looked and saw the taxi cab comming. "See ya," he called as the three of them walked to the yellow car. "You wanna come with?" he asked pathetically.

"Love to," George told him, "But we can't leave Clear alone."

Billy scoffed with a smile and they all got into the cab. It drove away.

"Man," Tod moaned kicking the ground, "What are we gonna do now? The next week'll be so boring."

George and Clear smiled at each other. "I guess WE'LL be pretty busy," Clear said flirtaciously, more to George than to Tod.

Alex rolled his eyes dramatically. "Wha' 'bout me and Tod?" he asked tiredly.

Tod looked around the corner, and saw, the golden lab, rolling in the grass, staring at Tod. Tod gasped, jumping up. "I'll give you something to do," he told Alex, "You're gonna spend the next week keeping that thing away from me!"

~~~

It's........ OVER!!!!