A/N: I don't know if this chapter is any longer than the rest... I tried, anyway. If not, oh well. Hope nobody minded my "notes" page that I posted earlier today... hopefully it cleared some things up. Also, just so everyone knows, I'm a vocalist, not an instrumentalist, so if whatever I make the band play sounds completely stupid or is way to hard for them, sorry! But I tried. Oh, and if nobody likes Mr. Lemming, don't worry - he won't be around for long! *evil laugh*

Chapter Four: It's time to rock!

The mess hall was loud. But loud was how Nikki liked it. Loud held energy, and passion, in her opinion. A piece of what appeared to be garlic bread whizzed past her ear. All right, loud was one thing - utter chaos was another.

The chaos was short-lived, however, because a tall, middle-aged woman with red-rimmed glasses climbed up the steps to the stage at the front of the building. She adjusted the microphone to her height and cleared her throat. Not one kid even took notice. The lady decided not to sit by and watch the campers endanger themselves with bread any longer. "QUIET!!!" she cried into the mike. The campers' chatter faded off, and the bread returned to their plates.

"Thank you," she began. "Welcome to the 38th year of Camp Rock!" The kids all cheered enthusiastically.

"Now," she said. "My name is Ms. O'Keefe. I am the director of Camp Rock. My office is the blue building right next door, so if you need anything, please don't hesitate to come find me.

"When you return to your cabins this evening, you counselors will have a list that assigns you to a band. Each band is composed of six members - a guitarist, a bassist, a keyboardist, a drummer, and two singers. On the list is also the building your band will be practicing in, and who your director is. There are 15 bands, so each band cannot practice at the same time. Bands 1 through 8 will practice from 9:30 - 11:30 am, and bands 9 through 15 will practice from 2 - 4 pm. When your band is not rehearsing, you are free to swim or play sports or whatever you choose."

Nikki smiled. She was sure she'd like this camp. As Ms. O'Keefe returned to her seat, Girls Table 3 chatted excitedly.

"I hope some cute guys end up in my band," Carmen said excitedly, "like that kid over there... see him? With the black hair? I think he's a guitarist." She pointed over at Boys Table 5.

"He is pretty cute, but I like the Chinese guy beside him, with the spiky hair," Leah said, smiling. Nikki glanced around at all the different boys at that table. They were certainly the best-looking ones in the camp. She had to admit that all of them looked equally good.

"We're allowed to name our bands, right?" asked Jenna, frowning. "I don't want some lame-assed name like Band 11 or whatever."

"Nah, we can name them," Hailey, who had been at Camp Rock the previous year, told them.

"Good," nodded Jenna.

*************************************

At nine-thirty the next morning, Band 8 assembled in the staff rec hall. They spent the first fifteen minutes shoving furniture aside and setting up equipment. All the while they were sweating profusely. While it was a nice temperature outside with a gentle breeze, the staff lounge seemed to trap all of the heat, and none of the breeze. Then in walked a young man in his twenties. His hair was blond, shaggy, and curly all at once. He was wearing jeans and a green t-shirt.

"Hey guys!" he exclaimed. "I'm Mr. Lemming, your band director. So... who've we got here?"

"I'm Jordan Mooneyham," Jordan introduced himself.

Aaron looked up from where he was fiddling with his keyboard. "I'm Aaron Stewart," he said, winking at Nikki, who was eyeing him. In turn, she giggled.

"Hi, I'm Rory Johnson," said Rory, plugging into his amp.

From behind the drums, Marissa tilted her chin at Mr. Lemming. "Marissa. Jones," she told him.

"I'm Nikki Jennings," piped up Nikki.

"I'm Carmen - Davidson," she added into the mike.

"Nice to meet everyone," said Mr. Lemmings. "Now that we're all acquainted, I'd like to hear what you can do. Everybody know 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'?"

All six of them had very similar expressions on their faces - disgust.

"Duh - I learned it when I was, like, four," said Aaron.

"Well, I'd like to see what you can do with it," Mr. Lemming told them. "All right, Aaron, give me a C with the E overtop - move those as we progress." Aaron nodded, still looking skeptical.

"Rory, give me a repeated C, switching to a G on the 'little lamb' part. Marissa, some bass-cymbal work should be good. Jordan, you know the melody - play it with attitude!" The instrumentalists moved their fingers to the correct spots, waiting.

"Carmen, we'll start with you soloing on two verses, then we'll break for Jordan and Rory, who'll do a sort of echo duet, then we'll give Aaron a keyboard verse or two, then we can have Marissa take over, followed by Nikki closing us up for two verses. This is just to let me get a feel for where you guys are musically," instructed Mr. Lemming. "1, 2, 3, 4!"

He counted them in, and the band began. After playing what Mr. Lemming instructed, they broke off. You could read disappointment all over their faces. Sure, they had played well, and they were all in synch. But really, 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'? That wasn't rock, that was preschool!

"Sounds great, you guys!" smiled their director. "Jordan, you really seemed to get into the song." Jordan couldn't help letting out a very quiet snort of disbelief.

"Now... let's try expanding our vocalists on something more challenging... how about 'I'm a Little Teapot'?"

*************************************

Band 8 left the rec hall at 11:30, instruments in tow. They were all shocked at how their rehearsal had turned out.

"That was the most pathetic thing I've ever done," Carmen complained.

"I know! Nursery rhymes? Totally lame," agreed Aaron.

"Hey, guys, Mr. Lemming seems nice. Maybe tomorrow will be better," suggested Rory quietly.

"Nice? Nice and boring, you mean," groaned Jordan.

"Calm down, guys. Look, there's a concert at the end of the summer - we can't play nursery rhymes then! If things don't get better, we'll just... rehearse on our own in the afternoons," decided Nikki.

"Okay," they agreed.

The six reached the quad. The girls turned left for their cabin, and the guys turned right towards theirs.

"Hey - Nikki!" called a male voice. She turned around and saw Aaron jogging towards her. She waved her friends on down the path, standing alone until he reached her side.

"What's up?" she asked, nervously running a hand through her hair. Man, he really was cute.

"Listen, um..." he paused. "Tell that blond girl in your cabin... what's her name? Liza? Lisa?"

"Leah?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's it," he said smoothly. "Can you tell her that I'll be at the lake this afternoon if she decides to drop by?"

"Oh... sure," agreed Nikki, crestfallen. Of course a cute guy talks to her at camp... to ask out her friend!

"Thanks!" said Aaron, and he jogged down the path to his cabin.

A/N: Just wanted to thank one more reviewer...

chocl8chps: Glad my side note helped. Yes, I did invent Katie's last name as well, because the only people's names we actually know are Zack's, Freddy's, and Summer's (I found that quite interesting, to be honest...) You know, I didn't even think about making Rory's father significant, but now that you mentioned it, I came up with an idea that I think is pretty good (I think so, anyway). Thanks for the help!