AN: This chapter has absolutely no clues in it, so I'm giving you one here. The original parallel that inspired me to write this was that in the classic one of the main problems is two people getting into trouble together, but only one of them being punished. In this case, only Joe is punished for the mistake that both he and Stella made.

A Little Bad

The usual shuffle between third and fourth period that day was broken by Joe Lucas racing down the hallway yelling, "Freeeeeeedoooooommmmm!"

Joe's pronouncement stopped when he reached Stella's locker, where he grabbed Stella and spun her around, dancing a chaotic waltz in the middle of the hallway. Stella laughed, pulling away from him.

"Joe! What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm free! Angeletti let me off the hook! We're going to Washington!" He pulled her back into the dance and this time she went along with him, half-hugging him in her joy.

"Oh my gosh!" she cried. "I have to tell Macy!" She ran away, leaving Joe standing alone on his personal dance floor. He frowned after her for a moment before running off to tell his brothers and to call his dad.

"Maaaaaaaccccyyyyyy!" Stella yelled. She reached her friend's locker and had to grab onto Macy to slow herself down, sending them both spinning.

"What is it?" Macy asked when they'd finally stopped.

"We're going to Washington! Joe's off the hook!"

"Oh."

"Mace," Stella said, finally noticing Macy's frown. "What happened? Did Angeletti give you detention? Do I have to destroy the world of fashion? Because I would do that for you, Macy," she said seriously.

"No," Macy said, forcing a smile. "I just found out I have a game on Saturday."

"A game? Macy, I know how you are about sports but the coach will let you off to go to Washington!"

Macy shook her head. "No, it's okay. You go without me. Bring me back a fake Declaration of Independence?"

"Just like in National Treasure," Stella said.

Macy nodded and hurried towards her next class. Stella watched her go, not believing for a second that Macy was doing the right thing. She was going to fix this.

"I need your help."

Nick jumped and came back to the ground gripping the edges of his locker. "Jeez, Stella! You scared me half to death! What do you need my help with? Did Joe ruin the trip again?"

"No. Macy did. She's not coming."

Nick frowned. He knew Stella really wanted Macy to come and that it had made his parents happy for reasons he didn't want to think about too deeply, but he'd never really been too excited. Sure, Macy was fun and she was his friend, but none of his other friends got to come with them on band business -- unless they were like Stella and worked for the band, but she didn't count for just that reason. And anyway, having Stella come caused it's own special brand of trouble. She and Joe would inevitably get into a fight of some sort and chaos would ensue. Nick didn't think Macy and Kevin would get into a fight -- neither of them was quite admitting to liking each other yet and their denial wasn't anywhere near the self-destructive level that Stella and Joe's was -- but he also knew that two people in a non-relationship-relationship always led to trouble. It was only a matter of time.

But he couldn't tell Stella any of this. If he did, she'd want to gush about Kevin and Macy, then she'd be mad at him for implying she had feelings for Joe, and then she'd be furious with him for thinking love was a reason to keep Macy from coming. So instead he only said, "Really? Why not?" in a tone of mild interest.

"She claims to have a game on Saturday."

Nick opened his mouth to point out that with all of Macy's sports teams it was not only possible, but very probable that she had a game.

Stella cut him off. "And I know she could very easily have a game, but this is Washington, D.C.! Any one of her coaches would want her to go! Plus, I already checked with all the girls' coaches. They say there's no game that day that Macy's supposed to be in."

"So what do you need my help for?" Nick asked, very worried about where this was going.

"I need you to go ask the guys' coaches what sport Macy's supposed to be playing this weekend."

"Why can't you --?"

"They're guys, Nick! Their offices are in the guys' locker room! Now go. I'll be waiting here for your report."

"My report?" Nick echoed, but Stella's no-nonsense look left him no choice. He hurried towards the locker room, wondering how hard it would be to convince the guys they needed a new stylist. Ten minutes later he returned, his stomach rumbling from putting off his lunch.

"Well?" Stella asked. Sure enough, he'd found her standing right beside his locker.

Nick grimaced. "Well … none of them have Macy playing on Saturday either."

He was surprised and a bit frightened when Stella only nodded. Apparently she'd been expecting this turn of events.

"Okay, now I need --"

"No!" Nick said, holing up his hands to ward her off. "I am not getting involved in one of your crazy plans. Go get Joe if you want a sidekick."

"I can't use Joe," Stella said as if Nick was several more than two points away from being a genius. "Joe can't be covert. He's Joe. But you, Nick," she said sweetly, sliding an arm around his shoulders and steering him down the hall, "are the quiet one, the responsible one. No one will ever expect you of skulduggery."

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?" Nick asked.

"Nope. Now go to Macy's locker and poke around. Here's her combination. I'll go grill Macy for intel on her supposed 'game.'"

"Stella, could you please not pretend you're Michael Weston? Don't say words like 'intel.'"

Stella patted him on the back. "I'm gonna go have some yogurt. Have fun and don't get caught."

Macy brought her tray over to the lunch table where Kevin was currently guarding the free seats with every bit of his body he could get to reach.

"Can I sit here?" Macy asked.

Kevin looked up. He was on his side, curled into a C shape so he could reach around the benches with his arms and legs. "Yes!" he said gladly and resumed his seat across from her.

"Where is everyone?" Macy asked as she sat.

"I have no idea," Kevin said. "You don't think they all got in trouble with Angeletti? First Joe and now Stella and Nick …"

"Didn't you hear?" Macy asked. "Joe's off the hook. Angeletti changed his mind."

"Really? That's great! Now we can all go to D.C.!" Kevin said brightly. "But they could still be in trouble now. Angeletti's mean like that."

"No," Macy said, deciding she didn't want to be the one to break it to him that she wasn't coming, "I'm sure the others are fine." If they had gotten in trouble she'd be giving Angeletti a piece of her mind. She wasn't about to play a game she hated just to have the jerk give her friends detention anyway.

"I hope so." He lowered his voice and leaned across the table. "But I am glad they're not around."

"Why?" Macy asked, surprised.

"Because I want to talk to you about Mr. Piebald. He really loves the ball and he said to thank you for the kibble you got him."

Macy grinned, her bad mood evaporating. She'd carried the ball to school herself on Monday and then hidden it in her football helmet so no one -- namely Joe, Stella, or Nick -- would think twice about the odd-shaped lump in her backpack. The kibble she'd picked up in the pet store that weekend as an extra gift for the little guy.

"Tell him he's welcome," she said. "I'm glad he likes it."

"I was actually worried he'd eat too much of it, like the goldfish Dad got me for my sixth birthday. How much is too much for a hamster?"

"I have no idea," Macy said honestly. "But I know where we can find out. You wanna go to the library this afternoon?"

"Sure! Did you bring your car or --"

"Oh, I can't come right after school," Macy said stiffly. "I have practice."

Kevin frowned. Macy was usually excited about practice. She'd once had the chance to see them record a new single and been more than happy to miss it to run drills with the ping-pong team, but the way she said the word now sounded like she was being punished.

"Well, I can wait around if you want."

Macy shook her head and stood, taking her half-full tray as she did. "No, I'm not sure how long it'll go. I'll call you when I'm done." She hurried to dump her uneaten food in the trash and Kevin watched her go, unsure what had just happened. Stella entered the room just as Macy reached the open doors and stopped mid-hello when Macy kept going. Stella gave Kevin a "what was that about?" look. Kevin shrugged, watching Macy's head bob down the hallway in worry. His worry increased when Stella took two steps towards him, then stopped, a look of horror crossing her face. The next second Stella was running down the hall after Macy.

Kevin wondered where his brothers were and if they would have a better idea of what was up with the girls.

Stella took a shortcut through the (thankfully unoccupied) chemistry classroom and beat Macy to her locker. She pulled Nick away, quickly set Macy's belongings in something approaching order, and dragged Nick down the hall and around the corner.

"What are you doing?" Nick demanded.

Stella slapped her hand over his mouth and leaned cautiously around the corner. When Macy was gone she sighed in relief and released Nick.

"Did you find anything?" she asked.

Nick gaped at her. All that and no explanation whatsoever? He was definitely not looking forward to having Stella for a sister-in-law and he didn't even want to think about what she'd be like as his future kids' aunt.

"No," he said with a shrug. "Just her school books, a small umbrella, and a travel chess set -- I was wondering about that. Does she play or does she just use it for checkers like Kevin and Joe, 'cause if she does play I'd really like to…" He trailed off, seeing Stella's worried expression. "Is something wrong? Was the umbrella a clue that I just totally didn't understand?"

Stella walked away, lost in her thoughts. Nick watched her and decided it might be best if he took his future children to some foreign country where they wouldn't see their aunt so often.

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