A/N: Wow, everyone! This is the final chapter of "School of Rock: The Second Generation". It's actually pretty sad - I'm going to miss writing about Jordan, Rory, Aaron, Kory, Marissa, Nikki, Leah, and Carmen! They're my own creations - my babies (lol). But no matter - more fics will come, I promise! I wanted to get this last chapter out for you guys today because I'm off to the cottage for a week and will be without a computer. But for now, sit back and enjoy the final chapter!

Chapter 14: Epilogue

Freddy leapt down off the stage, completely exhilarated. He couldn't believe how great it felt, being up there onstage once again. The children's concert was over, and Keisha, Freddy's wife, ran over to meet him. Flinging her arms around his neck, she cried, "Oh my God! Freddy! You guys were incredible! I had no idea you were that good!" He grinned and hugged her back. All of a sudden, he felt something small come pelting into his side. Looking down, he saw Marissa clinging to his waist. Freddy realized with a start that this was the first time she'd willingly hugged him since she was about six.

"So I guess you're not such an uptight stiff anymore," she said, pulling back.

"Guess not," he agreed.

Marissa studied him for a moment, and then said, "I still can't believe you said my drums are noise, though."

At this, Freddy couldn't help but laugh. Trust Marissa to remember every little picky thing he'd said to her. "Pretend it never happened," he told her.

"Hey, that thing you did with the drumsticks was pretty tight. You know, that twirly thing?" she said.

"Dewey taught that to me when I was ten. I'll teach you when we get back to New York," Freddy promised.

Carmen could hardly contain her excitement. As soon as Tomika set down her microphone, Carmen was at her side.

"Mom, that was amazing! You looked so cool up there!" bubbled Carmen, bouncing around, full of energy.

Tomika gave her a small smile. "Thanks. But what about you? Your band was great!"

Carmen shrugged. "Yeah, we were good, weren't we? But who cares about that - it's you guys that stole the show! I'm proud of you, Mom."

Tomika could feel a blush start to creep up over her cheeks. "Hey, you're the daughter, I'm the mother. You're not supposed to be proud of me."

Carmen smiled and hugged her mom. Her voice muffled by her mother's side, she said, "I know."

Meanwhile, Aaron was still having a tough time getting used to the idea of his workaholic father as an intense rocker. Eventually, Lawrence approached him, smiling ever so slightly. "You played very well, Aaron," he told his son proudly.

"Me?" exclaimed Aaron. "Ha - you can play circles around me! You're so good, I totally had no idea! I guess I've inherited your talent, huh? That's so cool! We could even play together, in some sort of family band. Well, maybe not, cause that would be lame. But still, this is just too great! And all this time there was, like, this keyboard prodigy in the house and I never knew! This is so cool, how come you never told me? You made me feel so stupid for wanting to take lessons in the first place! You should have told me that you did this stuff too when you were my age. I mean, yeah, it's a little weird to see you all rocked out and stuff, cause you're always so uptight -"

"Aaron?" Lawrence interrupted, giving his son a smile.

Aaron paused for breath. "Yeah Dad?"

"Can it."

At that moment, Dewey's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Would all the members of 'School of Rock' and 'Eclipse' please report to the staff lounge - NOW," he drawled.

"That's us, is it?" asked Marta.

"Yup," agreed Leah.

The two of them set off in the direction of the staff lounge, vaguely aware that others were walking behind them. They were silent for a little while, and then Leah decided she had to say something.

"Hey Mom?"

"Mm?" asked Leah.

"I'm sorry about Grandma."

Marta felt her eyes prickle, as if she were about to cry. She wrapped an arm around her daughter's shoulder for a minute. "Thanks."

"You were really brave, you know. Singing at her funeral, I mean," Leah ventured carefully. She didn't want to keep talking about it if her mother didn't.

"Not really," admitted Marta. "I mean, I ran out halfway through. How's that for brave?"

"I would have done the same thing," Leah told her.

"I guess it was just all too much," Marta decided.

They reached the top of the hill, and there was the staff lounge, with Dewey standing proudly in the doorway. He waved at the approaching procession of parents and kids. It made him feel a little funny inside, to know that he had brought this all about. Sure, with help from the kids and Summer, but still. It was - kind of cool.

"Come on in, guys!" Dewey exclaimed, and stepped back to let everyone in. They filed in and seated themselves around the room, exchanging happy glances with one another and saying a few words to Dewey.

"Now," Dewey began. "This was your first show in a long time, 'School of Rock', so I'm gonna take it easy on you. But it should be pointed out that Zack, you played at least six wrong chords, Freddy, your sixteenths were off by about half a beat, Lawrence, your solo moved too slow, and Alicia, I think you hit a couple wrong notes during the 'Ooh la la la's." He grinned at them all. "And somehow, you've never sounded better."

"I would proudly like to introduce everyone!" he continued. "Here we have Lawrence - a fine accountant, with his son Aaron, the keyboardist. This is Alicia, a grade seven teacher, with her singing daughter Nikki. We've got Katie, the manager of a bookstore, with her rockin' bass player son Rory. Here we have Zack, an established criminal lawyer, and his shredder, Jordan. This is Freddy, a financial advisor, with his totally punk daughter Marissa. We have Tomika, a pediatrician, and her daughter with her mom's amazing pipes, Carmen. Here's Marta, a high school English teacher, and her very talented daughter Leah. And last but not least, we have Summer, former band manager and now Long Island's representative to the White House, and her way cool son Kory. This is the band now. Make it last."

And then Dewey walked off to the corner of the room to start fiddling with a dead mike, obviously leaving them to mingle. Everyone hesitated for a moment, and then the kids jumped into action. They knew their parents hadn't spoken in twenty years, and it was up to them to get the friendships started up again. Marissa tugged her father's (expensive) Ralph Lauren polo shirt, and dragged him over to Kory and Summer. Leah, Nikki, and Carmen herded their mothers together for a good gossip session. Aaron and Lawrence made their way over to Dewey to talk to him for a minute. Jordan and Rory met each other's eyes and pulled their parents together.

At first, Zack and Katie just stared at each other, having difficulty starting up a conversation. Rory could see the fear in his mother's eyes - she knew that she would have to tell Zack. But she didn't know how. Zack, of course, didn't know about Rory being his son. He just patted Jordan on the shoulder and spoke - their first words shared in twenty years.

"Wow, Katie - it is so good to see you again!" he smiled genuinely at her.

She smiled back. "It really is," she agreed.

They fell silent again, and Zack felt he had to say something. "So... where's your husband? I didn't see him down in the crowd."

"Oh," faltered Katie, and she turned very pale. Zack noticed this right away - he was good at picking up other's expressions.

"Wow, this must be a touchy subject. I'm sorry, Katie - I saw your son Rory here and I just assumed..."

"Oh look, Aaron's waving us over!" cried Jordan suddenly, and the two boys ran over to Aaron, who, as far as Zack and Katie could tell, hadn't been so much as looking in their direction.

"Do you want to step outside?" she asked him.

He smiled warmly. "Sure."

The two made their way out the door of the staff lounge, and began to wander along the little path that snaked alongside of it. "Listen, there's something you should know about Rory," Katie blurted out. She figured she'd just have to get it over with.

"What is it?" Zack asked, puzzled.

"The thing is - he's never met his father. Well, actually, that's not true. He just met him," she said, trying to figure out how to word this.

"Oh. I guess it was pretty insensitive of me to bring up a 'husband' then," he said, laughing a little.

"It's okay," she reassured him. "It's just - do you remember when you told me that your father burned your flying-V guitar? What happened afterward?"

Zack thought for a moment, and then blanched. "Wait.... what are you saying?"

Katie gulped. Maybe he wouldn't take it as well as she'd hoped. "See, the thing is... I found out I was pregnant. About a month later."

"Does that mean - are you saying that - is Rory...?" he trailed off, leaving this as a question. Biting her lip, she nodded.

Zack sighed and plopped down on the nearest thing he could find - which just happened to be a rotting log. As soon as he put his weight on it, however, it crumbled beneath him and he ended up in the dirt.

Katie couldn't help herself - she started to laugh. He just looked so funny, sitting in the dirt in his suit... and the expression of shock on his face! "S-s-s-sorry," she said between giggles. She fought to get herself under control. But he laughed too.

"Oh well - just a new suit," he laughed, then patted the spot beside him. She sat down on the ground, surprising him a little. Her outfit looked pretty nice to be sitting in the dirt. But oh well.

"So why didn't you tell me?" he asked, looking right into her eyes.

She faltered for a moment, thrown off-guard at the intensity in his brown eyes. "I - you were so upset with your father, and so worried about college and everything.... I just.... didn't want to burden you with anything else," she said helplessly.

"So you took on the burden of being pregnant for nine months, giving birth, and raising and supporting a child - by yourself?"

She nodded.

"I wish you'd have told me." He looked into her eyes again. "If you had, I would have married you."

At this, Katie couldn't help but chuckle. "Zack, we were seventeen. We weren't even finished high school! We weren't ready - not at all. It would never have worked. Besides, you found Jennifer, and had Jordan. So everything worked out."

Not for you, Zack couldn't help thinking to himself. "But I loved you," he said, biting the corner of his lip.

"I know you did," she said, putting her hand over his. He looked down at their hands, and couldn't help feeling very safe and secure.

"So who else knows?" he wanted to know.

"My parents and my sister, Rory, my friend Lauren in New York - oh yeah, and Rory and the rest of Eclipse, Dewey, and probably all of 'School of Rock' now."

His mouth dropped open. "All of them?"

She nodded, hoping he wouldn't be too upset.

"Well, it happens. They should have found out long ago," he decided.

"You're taking all this very well," she remarked, and got to her feet. She extended a hand to help him up, and he took it.

"Well, I kind of like the idea," he admitted. "So - what's your New York address? I'll want to visit my son, of course."

It was the last day of Camp Rock. Everyone had packed up their luggage, swept out the cabins, and exchanged email addresses and phone numbers. They all agreed - they had made real friends that summer. Eclipse was already making plans to get together within the next week or so. Parents were due to arrive in about fifteen minutes, and all the campers were milling around, saying last-minute goodbyes to friends and band directors. To everyone's surprise, Kory had shown up to say goodbye as well. After he'd wished everyone well, he grabbed Marissa's hand. "Can I talk to you?"

The two moved off alone - his hand still in hers, Marissa noted happily. Eventually, when they were safely out of sight and earshot of the other campers, he stopped and faced her.

"Did you know that my mom often comes into New York on business?" he said to her.

"Oh yeah?" she said.

"Yeah. So I'll visit lots," he promised.

Marissa smiled at him. "Good - you'd better."

"Now," he said, "I have here -" he handed her a slip of blue paper "my email address, phone number, and home address. If I don't hear from you within five days, I will be very upset."

She laughed. "Well, we must be psychic or something, because I have for you -" she pulled a piece of yellow paper out of her pocket "my email address, phone number, and address for you." Kory took it from her, grinning.

"I'm really going to miss you," she said softly.

"I'm going to miss you more," he challenged her. "I won't get to see you playing your drums every day."

"I'll make tapes," she laughed. Then, through the trees, she saw cars start to pull up the gravel drive, and recognized her father's car. "My dad's here," she said regretfully.

"Okay," Kory said. He leaned over and kissed her. Just a small one, but on the lips. Then with a "See you soon, Marissa," he walked off, back towards the other kids.

Marissa floated back to the car.

"Bye!" yelled many voices in unison - eight of them being the band members from Eclipse.

"I'll write every Tuesday!" promised Nikki, to someone that they weren't quite sure.

"Keep in touch!" Rory called to Jordan.

"Call me, Leah!" Aaron cried.

"Marissa, your dad's hot! Can I come over for dinner?" hollered Jenna out her car window. Marissa's eyes widened, and glanced over at her father. She didn't think he'd heard Jenna - then again, his lips were curving up in a small, I'm-pretending-I-didn't-hear-that smile. Maybe he did. Man, that girl was weird.

And so eight cars crunched out the gravel driveway, each one carrying the members of one of the best rock bands ever, with their promising offspring in the backseat.

The real epilogue: The members of 'School of Rock' and 'Eclipse' all get together twice a month. They talk, share pizza, listen to records, and jam with each other - parents and children together. Zack took on the role of father to Rory very seriously, and called every evening without fail, visiting every other weekend. Carmen, Leah, and Nikki wrote long, continuous e-mails to each other, detailing every little aspect of their lives. Aaron called Leah several times - but she was only "home" once. And no, Jenna never went to dinner at Marissa's house.

THE END

A/N: (sniff, sniff) This is very sad - the fic has come to an end! I'm very upset, I'll miss writing it. But really, it wouldn't have been half as fun if it weren't for you, my readers! Thank you to EVERYONE who ever read this story, even if it was to read one paragraph. Thank you so much to EVERYONE who took the time to review this story, even if it was just one chapter. And an extra-special thank-you to those couple reviewers who reviewed almost every chapter without fail! You have no idea how great it made me feel to open up my story and see all the wonderful reviews from you guys - you all really make me feel like a writer! It means a lot to me that you guys had so much faith in me. Hopefully I will be able to make you guys as happy on other fics that I write! Oh, and thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I got so many, shout-outs would take absolutely FOREVER.

Now, I hate to ask, but... please review this last chapter! I'd love to know what you thought about this final chapter, and the whole story in general. I'd really like to keep you guys happy in the next story I write, so if you guys wouldn't mind answering the following questions in your reviews...

1) What was your favourite chapter and why?

2) What was your least favourite chapter and why?

3) Which flashback sequence (of which person) did you most enjoy and why?

4) Which new character did you most like, and which did you most dislike? (And why)

5) What advice do you have for me for any future fanfics I choose to write?

And, once more.......................... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (passes out chocolate chip cookies all around). You guys rock!!!