Author's note: Hi! Sorry it's been so long!

Disclaimer: Same as before! If I use any songs, I'll list them at the end like normal! I guess I should start this with a song quote as usual…

Reconsider Me: Part Three

All these years I've been wandering around

wondering how come nobody told me

All that I was looking for was somebody

who looked like you!

The ride to the restaurant/bar/whatever was an interesting one. Dewey had several near accidents because he couldn't keep his eyes off of his newly transformed passenger. She seemed to be having a hard time getting used to her changes as well; she spent a good portion of the ride checking her makeup in the mirror and fluffing her hair, which was already more fluffed and piecy than usual.

Dewey began to think that his principal companion really had been replaced by a pod person. This Roz was uninhibited, cheerfully humming along to the car radio and smiling out the window. Instead of sitting as she usually did, hunched over and with arms crossed defensively across her chest, she was leaning casually back, her legs crossed and her elbow rested on the ledge of the open van window. Once Dewey caught her waving flirtatiously at a passing driver, who was leering right back.

"Roz!" he exclaimed.

"What?" she asked, her head whipping around and a faint semblance of her former perpetually flustered expression crossing her face. Dewey gave her an open-mouthed and slightly accusatory stare in return, and she giggled and shrugged in an uncharacteristically flighty manner.

"He was cute, huh?" She scrunched her nose up with delight and turned to see if her Romeo in a Toyota was still in sight.

"What kind of monster have I created?" he mumbled as he changed lanes in a not-so-stealthy attempt to put some space between Miss Mullins and her consort. His selected phrase reminded him of the Metallica song "Some Kind of Monster", and he hummed it and felt a little better.

Rock is so soothing…

When they reached the site of the gig, Dewey hustled out of his seat in an attempt to be all debonair by opening Roz's door for her, but she was so overtaken by excitement that she hopped out and slammed the door heartily before he was halfway around the car.

She began striding toward the building, and Dewey had to break into a jog to catch up with the lengthy steps of the long legs he so appreciated. As they approached the double glass doors of the establishment, they swung open and a barrage of preadolescent band members poured out. The kids exited the building in a flurry of chatter and pre-show nerves, but when they saw their made-over principal, they fell silent one by one, each distinctive face gaining eerily similar expressions of shock.

As usual, Freddy had the first comment. "Miss MULLINS?" he gawked.

"Hi Freddy," she replied innocently. Dewey glanced at her and saw that she was practically smirking.

"You look… great!" Summer blurted out, displaying the fact that her old teacher's pet habits had not yet died completely.

"Oh really? Thanks!" Miss Mullins tossed her hair.

Dewey felt the need to restore a healthy level of chaos to the group. "What are you all standing here for? IT'S TIME TO ROCK!"

The kids looked stunned for a moment, then gave half-hearted replies. "Yeah! Whoo… rock…" the group feebly intoned.

"That's pathetic! Come on, isn't it time for sound check?"Dewey cried. He began to dash through the door, but then remembered his former resolution to act suave. He paused and turned back to offer his arm to Miss Mullins

"M'lady?"he said with a fake British accent and an exaggerated bow. Wow, a Monty Python impression. There's a great way to bag a babe, Dewey reproached himself

But Miss Mullins just giggled and linked her arm through his, and the kids followed the couple through the door like a herd of lobotomized sheep.

It might have been nervous energy, or maybe the urge to impress, but for whatever reason, Dewey was sure that the show that night was one of his greatest. He played like Kirk Hammett, sang like Robert Plant, and bounced around with enough energy to fuel an entire mosh pit. Every few chord changes, he looked around for Miss Mullins, who, after a long debate over whether it was cooler to be backstage or front row, had settled on standing in the wings of the stage, swaying with barely suppressed energy and clapping tothe music. As they neared the end of the set, he practically had a crick in his neck from turning his head toward her vantage point.

The trouble began during the next to last song. When he glanced over at the spot where Roz had been standing, he saw that she had been replaced by his arch-nemesis and band replacement—the pansy guitar goon, Spider!

Dewey was so startled by this horrible shock that he missed a power chord completely, causing his guitar to let out a nasty squawk and a low-pitched thrum as his pick slid past the bass string. Zack gave him a confused look, but he was too perturbed to even acknowledge it.

Dewey's annoyance worsened as he realized that Roz hadn't vanished; instead, she was standing right next to Spider, apparently chatting happily and ignoring the onstage music that had fascinated her a moment ago.

Grr, she actually has to look up when she talks to him, Dewey thought jealously. Spider was leaning against the edge of the stage door, smiling casually down at Miss Mullins, who was gazing up almost adoringly.

Dewey stumbled through the rest of the set, trying to ignore the disturbing scenario unfolding. After a rockin' encore, he left the stage with the rest of the band, deliberately bumping Roz's shoulder as he passed. She barely noticed, just tossing a casual "Great show!" in his direction.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. Dewey nursed a beer and glowered throughout No Vacancy's set, interrupting his grumpy haze only when absolutely necessary (like when he prevented Freddy from buying a beer and told Frankie to stop playing keep-away with Billy's fabric samples). Miss Mullins stayed backstage until well after No Vacancy's set was over. When she emerged and rejoined the group, she had a positively dreamy look on her face.

Ugh, she looks like she's in puppy love or something. She's, like, forty! Dewey thought evilly.

"Um, Dewey, are we gonna be going home soon?" she asked abstractedly.

He was distracted from his irritation by the rather girlfriendly sound of her question, but then he remembered his reason for annoyance and frowned. "What, did your man Spider leave?"

"Yeah…" she replied, still looking like she was on cloud nine and barely listening, let alone responding to his mocking phrase.

Dewey drove the remaining band members home in stormy silence, while Roz hummed along to the radio and twirled the same strand of hair around her finger for the entire ride, staring into space and smiling as though thinking about a much younger, hotter, and more guitar-goddish guy than the one she was with.

My life sucks! Dewey thought, resolving to write an angsty ballad when they got home.

Dewey spent the weekend browsing through guitars he couldn't afford at Guitar World by day, then going to his favorite bar at night. Basically, he spent the time avoiding Roz. When he finally returned to the apartment, she was asleep. Or at least shut up in her room. Hopefully alone! (Every time he came into the apartment, he imagined that he heard guitar playing that was not his own.)

When Miss Mullins woke up on Monday, she was sure that the room was spinning around. She opened her eyes drowsily and saw that the room was stationary, but her head seemed to be spinning anyway. She tried to sit up, but was stricken by immediate dizziness and a pain in her stomach.

"Ugh," she moaned. "There goes my perfect attendance record." Now the question was… how would she even reach the phone?

She spend a few minutes vainly trying to stretch her arm over to the phone on the dresser, then remembered that for once, she was not alone in her apartment.

"Dewey?" she croaked weakly. No response. "Dewey?" Still nothing. "DEWEY!"

"What, what, what?" an equally drowsy voice called from the other room. A few moments later, the man himself appeared, clad in boxers and a blanket draped around his shoulders.

"Could you call the office at Horace Green and tell them that I won't be in today?"

"Whatsa matter, got a hangover?"

"What?" Miss Mullins tried to remember the night before. "No! Gosh, no, I didn't drink anything last night…I don't think. There's been this stomach bug going around."

"Fine, yeah, whatever," Dewey grumbled as he stumbled out of the room.

"Thank you!" Miss Mullins called, trying to sound grateful, even though it came out as tired and puzzled.

A few minutes later, Dewey's scruffy head reappeared. "Do you want some water or something?"

"Yeah, that would be nice, thanks."

A few minutes after the water appeared, a bottle of Pepto-Bismol was shoved through the door. "Do you want some of this pink crap?"

"Sure."

A few minutes later, soda crackers and coffee followed. By this time, Rosalie was sure that she was hallucinating. Dewey was being thoughtful? Dewey was being considerate? She must be sicker than she thought… maybe even delirious! She asked the apparition of Dewey for a thermometer, which confirmed that she did indeed have a temperature. She laid weakly back on the pillow, deciding that if this was a dream, it was a good one.

I'm going crazy. I'm losing it. I've gone soft! Dewey thought grumpily as he carried a wet washcloth down the apartment's short hall to Miss Mullins' room.

When he woke up, he had been pissed off that he was awake. Then he was doubly pissed off when he remembered how Roz had been all over his guitar rival. But when he saw the pathetic state of his principal roommate, he couldn't help but feel a little pity for her. Then he had remembered how he had basically jeopardized her career. Then he had remembered that she was letting him stay in her house. Then he remembered how cute she had looked in her miniskirt. And before he knew it, he had gone all Florence Nightingale. Pretty soon he would be giving her a backrub or something! (But wait, that might not be so bad…)

It was kind of nice to see how grateful she was.

It was kind of nice just to see her.

A/N: sarcastically Gee, do you think this is long enough? Hahaha! Please review. The next chapter (which will be the last Dewey/Roz chapter) should be coming soon! At least I hope so! It will be better than this one, I promise!

The song quote is from "I've Got a Feeling", which is performed by the Beatles and written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.