Overview: What would have happened if Wen hadn't been so anti-confrontational when Ray was bothering Olivia in the cafeteria that day?
Disclaimer: I do not own Lemonade Mouth, nor do I have any rights to the characters herein.
Note: Previously posted under my other account, Thayne M.
A/N: I just couldn't get it right. It still doesn't feel completely right to me, but you guys be the judge. The next chapter will be the last one.
REVIEWS ARE SINCERELY APPRECIATED! ...Oh, and the lyrics in this chapter are from "In The Summertime," by Adam Hicks & Daniel Curtis Lee.

"Yeah, Dad," Wen said absently into his phone as a few kids ran past. It was just after three-thirty and he was waiting outside of the high school, sitting under a wide bur oak to escape some of the sun's rays. "I can pick Georgie up; I'll leave here as soon as Olivia gets done with her make-up test."

"Oh, Wen," his father sighed on the other end of the line, "I didn't know you had plans with Olivia. I wish I could get out this meeting, but-"

"Dad, I said it's fine," Wen interrupted, "It's not a problem." And he was telling the truth. He'd spent all of his afternoon classes trying to think of 1) what he was actually going to say to Olivia about the song she'd written, and 2) what his idea for the bridge was. He'd been lying when he said he thought he could fill it in, so desperate for an excuse to spend time with her, and now he was grasping for straws. Piano solo? Thirty seconds of gospel-esque vocalization? Dubstep breakdown? After four classes, he still had nothing. He hoped that having Georgie around would offer enough of a distraction - she and Olivia had a mutual fascination with each other - that he might be able to scrape by with the skin of his teeth. It would be so easy, he imagined, for him to screw everything up again. He couldn't let that happen.

His father sighed, relieved, and his smile was almost audible, "Thanks, bud; dinner's your choice tonight. Invite Olivia, if you want."

"Cool…" Wen trailed off as he heard the heavy front door of the school bang shut and he turned to see said singer standing outside, looking around. Looking for him. His chest got so tight that he thought he might be having a heart attack, and he mumbled a quick "sounds great, talk to you later, bye" into his phone and shoved it into his backpack, leaping to his feet. He grabbed the three cans of Mel's that had been sitting next to him and called out, "Olivia!" When she turned, he tossed her one, remembering too late that she, like Charlie, wasn't known for her coordination. Luckily, her hand shot out on reflex and caught the can before it could bean her in the forehead, though her eyes still went wide with alarm.

"Hey!" She called out defensively, "I know I took a few minutes longer than I said I would, but that's no need to throw things at me." Then she cracked a smile and just like that, she was the old Olivia again. Or, at least, the one she'd been for the past couple of weeks as they all got to know each other.

Wen grinned apologetically, "I probably could have given you a better warning, I guess."

She shrugged, looking down at her foot as she pushed a pebble around with her toe. "So," she said slowly, "Where are we headed?"

He cracked open his can of lemonade and shook the third, "First I have to go pick Georgie up and watch her until five. Is that okay?"

Olivia nodded, smiling again, "Sure. You know I love Georgie." Yes. Yes I do, he mentally applauded himself. "In that case, we could go to the park," she went on to suggest, "She could play and we could work at one of the picnic tables." Wen agreed to this and went with her to collect her bike, taking the handlebars to wheel it along as they started away from the high school. Olivia thanked him with a shy little nod and watched her feet as they walked, and Wen desperately wished he could hear her thoughts. He knew she wasn't mad at him - after all, she was here, wasn't she? - but he didn't know much besides that. Had he crossed a line the day before, revealing too much of his feelings for her? Feelings for her, he noted to himself, Is that what these are? Well, they must be, he decided. There was no other way to explain the elephant on his chest, the warmth to his hands, the way he couldn't form coherent thoughts whenever she got just a little too close. All at once, he felt terribly awkward and unsure of himself. Though he must have known all along that there had to be more to their relationship than innocent friendship on his part, the official realization hit him like a high tide, bowling him over and flooding his senses. Was his face red? It felt like his entire body was on fire.

If he thought he had a million questions when Olivia showed up in Mrs. Reznik's room for lunch, now they were infinite. What if she didn't have feelings for him? What if the things he'd said the day before made her uncomfortable around him? What if they were doomed to an awkward acquaintanceship for the rest of their lives? Had he ruined everything?

"You're being pretty quiet," Olivia said softly after a few long minutes of silent walking. Wen finally snapped out of his thoughts and realized they were almost to the elementary school already.

"Sorry," he tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a hacking sound. You're so cool, his inner-voice told him sarcastically, It's a wonder you're not beating girls off with a stick.

There was a pause before Olivia asked, "Something on your mind?"

Only about a million things, but he couldn't tell her that. Fortunately, he didn't have to. As soon as they were in view of the school, a little girl with blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and two missing teeth came bounding toward them from the front steps, all smiles. "Wen! Oh my gosh, you brought Olivia! Hi, Olivia!" When she reached them, she threw her arms around the older girl's waist and bounced a little.

Olivia laughed, hugging her back, "Hey, Georgie-porgie!"

"What, I don't get a hug?" Wen feigned offense until the little girl gave him a patient look and went to wrap her arms around him. He gave her a squeeze, lifting her off the ground, and then handed her the third can of Mel's, "There ya go. Do you mind hanging out with us at the park until Dad gets off work?"

By the look on her face, this was Georgie's idea of heaven and she shook her head frantically, "I don't mind at all!" She smiled her big gappy smile at him and took a big swig of the lemonade - it was funny that, before that day in detention, Wen himself had never even had a can of Mel's. Now he had his little sister as addicted to the beverage as he and the rest of the band were. It had become a regular thing for Georgie to pass two quarters to him every morning before school, asking him to bring her a can when he came home.

"Okay, but we can't play with you too much," Olivia said, taking the little girl's free hand in hers as they started walking, "Your brother and I have to work on a new song."

"I won't bother you, I promise," the little girl insisted, swinging their joined hands and taking another gulp of her drink. She started skipping and humming the tune to "Somebody" - she often hung around during band practices and had chosen it as her "most favoritest song ever in the history of the world" - and looked between the two older kids with a confused expression when they both seemed to go pink in the face. "What?" She demanded with a pout, mistaking their reactions for an insult, "Wen hums it all the time and I'm a better hummer than him, my daddy said so!" Wen blushed even deeper, ducking his head and pushing the bike a little faster, putting himself a foot ahead of them. Behind them, he could have sworn he heard Olivia giggle.

Once they got to the park, they spent a few minutes listening to Georgie talk about the iguana Tommy Feldership had brought in for Show & Tell and how it had been as long as her arm and had "seriously for real tried to eat Mandy Sun's finger." Then she bounced away to claim one of the higher-sitting seats on the swing-set and started pumping her legs back and forth, leaving Wen and Olivia to awkwardly shuffle papers around on a graffiti'd picnic table. As he'd tried and failed miserably to come up with a bridge, Wen had at least managed to revise some of the piano music and Olivia had changed the pitch and measures of some of the lyrics. They played around with these for a while, all business, until there was nothing left to distract themselves with. Wen spent a few moments staring hard at his sister, trying to tap into some dormant telepathic sibling bond and draw her back to the table, but if she felt his desperate thoughts, she didn't acknowledge them; she just kept swinging back and forth, giggling madly when her toes skimmed the leaves of a tree branch.

There was no other way of putting it off, so he gathered his wavering courage, shook his hands out under the table, and sucked in a deep breath.

"I, um," he cleared his throat and kept his eyes on the tabletop doodle of Marvin the Martian, "I really like these new lyrics."

"Thanks," she said absently, the way she always did when someone complimented her lyrics. There was always a heavy tone of modesty, like she was trying not to contradict them and criticize herself.

Wen licked his lips, allowing himself a quick glance at her; she was bent over her notebook, pretending to write though he was sure she was just sketching in the margins or retracing over words to make their lines thicker and darker. "No, I mean…they're really great."

She finally looked up, as if sensing his change in mood, and paused for a moment before offering a little grin, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he affirmed, looking back down at Marvin. "Actually, more than great; they're incredible." He heard her shift in her seat and continued on, "They're…powerful. And very you."

"Very me?" She laughed lightly.

He nodded with a tiny smile, "Probably more you than all of your other songs combined; it really shows what kind of person you are."

Another laugh, "And what kind of person is that?"

Again, Wen looked up at her only to find her staring back. The minute their eyes locked, the intensity was so overwhelming that Wen wanted to look away, but he couldn't. She was too mesmerizing; how had he never noticed that before? "The kind of person," he said slowly, finding it a little difficult to form thoughts when her big chocolate brown eyes were pouring into his, "That pushes through even when she's terrified. A very, very," he swallowed roughly; why wouldn't she break their gaze? "Strong person. Stronger than maybe even she knows."

Olivia blinked at him for a few minutes before shaking her head and looking away, "I wouldn't say 'strong.' You're the one that gave me the pep talk yesterday, remember?" It was the first time either of them had mentioned the previous day's events and Olivia seemed to realize this, blush creeping around her neck.

Wen cleared his throat again and opened his mouth to agree, but stopped short. Yes, he'd been the one that showed up at her house, begging her to stay in the band. Yes, he'd been the one who recanted that plea and told her to do what made her happy. Yes, he'd been one who rattled on about friendship until he was red in the face. But even still, he couldn't take credit for this. "Honestly, it had nothing to do with me," he heard himself say, though he hadn't fully formed the words in his mind. He was speaking on automation, which could either end in glory or disaster. "I mean, okay, yeah, I gave you a pep talk, if you want to put it that way. But I also gave you an out," he reminded her, "I told you that you could be done with the band and we'd all understand and we'd still lo-uh, want to be your friend." He scratched his head, trying to cover up his embarrassment over almost dropping the l-word on her. "You're the one," he concluded softly, "That decided to stick with us. You could have backed out scot-free and it would have been easier, but you didn't choose easy."

Olivia continued to gaze at him, expressionless but with a ghost of a smile across her features. "What did I choose then?"

Wen considered this, then shrugged, "I like to think that you chose happy, even if it's a little more stressful."

Finally, she looked away, but there was a smile on her face as she reached for the last gulp of her lemonade. "Wow, Wen," she laughed quietly into the can, "That was very…inspiring."

"More like inspired," he mumbled with a grin before he realized what he was saying. Once he did, his eyes widened a little and he added, "You can just say it; I sound like a fortune cookie."

"Oh, you totally sound like a fortune cookie," Olivia immediately agreed with a big laugh that lit up her entire face. Wen felt the skin on his arm raise as the delightful sound reached his ears, and he couldn't help but laugh too. Soon they were both doubled over, holding their stomachs and laughing like idiots until they were almost purple and Georgie came running back from the swing-set.

"Hey!" She waved her hands around to get their attention, "What're you guys laughing about?"

Wen snorted and Olivia reached up to wipe a stray tear from beneath her eye, telling the little girl, "Nothing really, Georgie-porgie; it wasn't all that funny."

"Then how come you're laughing so loud?"

The older girl shrugged, still smiling, "Sometimes it's just what people do. They laugh because they need to laugh."

Wen nodded in agreement, "You'll see when you get older."

Georgie eyed them both skeptically, clearly preferring to believe that they were either lying to her or they'd both lost their minds. Then she put her hands on her hips and said in a very parental voice, "Aren't you guys s'posed to be working on something?"

Olivia's lips tugged to the side guiltily, and Wen couldn't help but watch them - the way they pressed together and curled up in an ashamed sort of pout. Get a grip on yourself, bro, he mentally berated himself. "You're right." He tried not to focus on her lips as they said these words. "We really do have to get working on that."

Wen reached down to tug his laptop out of his bag, his own share of guilt settling over him. "Um, I have a confession," he told her as he booted the computer up and opened VirtualPiano, "I have no idea what to fill the bridge in with."

She gave him a look of surprise before her brow furrowed and she opened her mouth to say something. Before she got the chance, however, Georgie asked, "You're filling up a bridge?"

Her big brother couldn't help but laugh, "Not like a car bridge. In music, a bridge is the contrasting standout-" Seeing that he was already losing her, he simplified it to, "It's sort of like the big finish, and sounds different from the rest of the song."

"Something fun and special," Olivia added helpfully.

"Ooh," Georgie nodded slowly as she began to grasp the idea. Then, like she had a bright idea, she snapped her fingers and pointed at Wen, "Use one of your mixes!"

The way a dark red rose steadily from Wen's neck to his hairline, he looked like a cartoon character who'd just been duped into eating a habanera pepper. Intrigued, Olivia asked, "Your mixes? What are your mixes?"

"That's what he calls them," Georgie explained for her brother, plopping down on his lap so she could start messing around on his computer. "He says…what d'you say, Wen?…like, putting together John Rahs like old people music and rap. Here!" She squealed, clicking a button and slapping Wen's hand away when he tried to stop her. There were a few beats of static before a soft, classical-sounding piano started, then fused with something more synthesized, and then:

"You see, that summertime healin' got me feelin' like a million
See the faces of the children as emotions hit the ceilin'
All the water that I'm spillin' as I'm chillin' like a villain
If you feelin' what I'm givin' then you need to admit it"

Wen finally managed to sneak a hand past Georgie and hit the stop button, successfully the shade of a ripe tomato now, and scowled at his little sister. "Jeez, Georgie, ever heard of boundaries?"

"No," the little girl said innocently, making her blue eyes open as wide as they could go, "What's boundaries?"

"Wen," Olivia said with a stunned, breathless laugh, "Wa-was that you…rapping?" In response, he just ducked his head. The singer covered her mouth with her hands to cover her uncontrollable smile, "That would be perfect for the bridge!"

Suddenly, she had the keyboardist's full attention. "Huh?"

"You're so good," she almost squealed, like she couldn't believe it. He didn't blame her; not many people would believe that a scrawny redheaded kid like him could rap. "Do you think you could come up with a rap for the bridge?"

He stared at her for a long moment before shaking his head, "Nah. I mean, the lyrics are all deep and inspiring and I just-"

"It doesn't have to be a State of the Union address, Wen," Olivia laughed. "It just needs to be something fun; something that reflects the band." He still didn't look convinced, so she added, "We trust you."

Still planted on his lap, Georgie turned around and smiled, eyebrows raised in a my-idea-was-a-good-idea fashion. Her brother wrapped one arm around her stomach in a half-hug and rested his chin on the top of her head, thinking. "I guess," he mumbled, "I could try to figure something out."

As soon as the words left his lips, both girls started clapping and cheering, loud enough to attract the attention of a family sitting on another bench nearby. Despite himself, Wen smiled at the scene before him - the girl he loved most in the world, and the girl he was beginning to realize he could eventually love just as much, but in a different way. Both of them happy and carefree, and both of them his.