A/N-I DO NOT OWN THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND!

Hey guys!

I'm back from vacation! I can see I've got some new readers on here so I've been working hard on updating for you guys. I even cut into my vacation time to write! (Not that I minded, I really wanted to write anyway.) So thank you all for being so patient!(: I'll start updating regularly again!

Enjoy the chapter!

Nat's and my "day off" included us sitting around literally doing nothing but watching TV and eating popcorn. It was actually a lot of fun because we got to joke around a lot, which is what we do anyway, and just hang out with each other. It made me feel a lot better to know that Nat cared enough to skip band practice with me. (Because trust me, it takes a lot to get Nat to skip.) The feeling in my stomach was gone, and I'd actually barely thought about Juanita or any of the kids at school. "Hey Nat," I said, looking over at him at the other end of the couch. "Do you think Juanita will forgive me?"

"Forgive you? If anything, you should be the one to forgive her. You didn't do anything."

"Okay, okay, let me say that again. Do you think Juanita will ever talk to me again?"

"How could she not? She's known you since you were eight years old, Alex. If your eight year old self didn't steer her off I don't know what will."

"Hey!" I said, throwing a pillow at him.

Nat laughed. "Seriously though Alex, I'm sure she'll talk to you again. And if she doesn't…" He trailed off, looking away.

"What's that supposed to me?"

"Don't work yourself up again," He said, looking back at me. "But I'm just saying, if she wouldn't talk to you again, for some weird reason, then it just wasn't meant to be. You don't need someone like that in your life anyway, Alex. You're supposed to surround yourself with people who support you and care about you."

"I know but it's Juanita–"

"Juanita isn't a special exception, Alex. If she's going to be like this, and believes someone else over you, and especially makes you so upset you get sick…" He shook his head. "I don't want you to be friends with her."

I sat up and looked him in the eye. "You can't tell me who I can and can't be friends with."

"Alex, calm down, I'm just saying you shouldn't be friends with her if she's going to do this to you. She's not worth it."

"How can you say that?" I snapped. "She's my best friend!"

"Alex, stop it! Stop saying that! If she was your best friend she wouldn't believe what other people say without asking you first. I know Juanita too, I know how much she means to you, but if she's going to treat you like this, she doesn't deserve your friendship!"

I sighed as I fell back into the couch. "I know…"

"I'm sorry Alex. I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't, but it's just hard…you know? I miss talking to her."

"I would too. But hey," Nat said, giving me a goofy grin. "You've still got me. You'll always have me."

"Darn," I joked.

Just as I said this, the phone rang. Nat shook his head, stood up from the couch, messed up my hair and walked away to find the phone.

It was then that my thoughts drifted back to school. I'm sure tomorrow there would be more whispers because everyone would wonder why I disappeared in the middle of the day. I wonder if Juanita wondered why. I wonder if she cared. Usually if this would've happened, she probably would've skated over here the minute school let out to see what was wrong. But now with her boyfriend around, she probably doesn't even skate anymore.

"Alex, I have some good news," Nat said, walking back over and sitting next to me.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at him.

"Dad's coming home tomorrow."

"Great," I mumbled, turning back to the TV.

"I thought you'd be more excited," He said. "We haven't seen Dad in weeks."

"I know, but Dad just…Dad doesn't get it. And have you ever noticed how smooth things run when he isn't around?"

"Alex, that's a terrible thing to say," Nat said sternly.

"Sorry," I said. "But think about it, Nat. When he's not here, we don't have to worry about Betty or anything. We just have to worry about ourselves."

"That's true. But does Dad really cause that many problems when he's here anyway? All he does is play his accordion."

"True…but wait! Do I have to stay home tomorrow?"

"We'll see how you feel, okay?"

~NBB~

After dinner, Nat called Rosalina for their daily talk on the phone and he even put it on speaker so we could all talk. After that he called Cooper and talked about I don't know what, we played around on our instruments and then we went to bed. And as I was lying in bed that night I started thinking about how much Nat really does care about me. I mean, he says it all the time He even said it long before any of this happened, but he'd never really shown it until now. It meant a lot. It made me realize how much he cared, and the same went for Rosalina. I always knew we were friends and everything, but I never thought she cared about me so much. As for the guys, I don't know what they think because, now that I think about it, I haven't seen them in a while. Hopefully tomorrow Nat will let me go to practice. "Nat, are you awake?" I whispered.

"Are you okay Alex?" He whispered back immediately.

"I'm fine. I was just wondering if you were still awake."

"Yeah, I am."

"I was just wondering…can I go to band practice tomorrow?"

He laughed quietly. "We'll see Alex, okay? Just get some sleep now."

"Okay…thanks Nat."

~NBB~

"Alex, remember–"

"I know, I know. Don't worry Nat, I'll be fine. How much worse can it get?" The next morning I felt…a little better. At least, I felt well enough to go to school.

"Okay…well have a good day. We'll see you later," He said.

"See you later, Alex," Rosalina spoke up.

"Bye guys." I walked into the middle school and tried my hardest to ignore all the staring and whispering. Nat was probably right. This would all blow over in a few days and everything would go back to normal, right? This time, while I was walking to homeroom I bumped into Matt again, but this time he shoved me and said, "Watch it, backstabber."

"I'm not a backstabber. Maybe you should get your facts straight before you go calling someone a name," I snapped at him.

He stepped really close to me, so close that we were only an inch apart. "You better watch what you say. Otherwise your reputation won't be the only thing that'll have a bruise."

I wanted to say something that I knew would make him mad. I wanted to say it just to make him mad. But I knew that would only give him a reason to hate me. I didn't want that. I turned away from him, and stormed away. In homeroom, I sat alone at my desk. I opened a notebook and started writing:

Personality, immortality, I saw it's rainin' outside, it's rainin' outside, the changing. Personality, rationality, fame has died you think that you cried and you're gone. And I'm waitin' I'm slaving for this moment I just can't wait anymore. Changing, waiting, changing, waiting. The big style isn't worth the while, she screams at me it seems to be that we're fadin'. All my photographs, all the perfect laughs, are gone from me, it seems to be that we're changing. Personality, rationality, fame has died, and you think that you tried, and you're gone. And I'm waitin', I'm slaving for this moment I just can't wait anymore. Changing, waiting, changing, waiting, changing, waiting, changing, waiting.

It was an old song, I know. I'd written it when I was nine years old. But it really felt good right now. And if I could, I'd read this to Juanita to tell her how I really felt. But I couldn't and I wouldn't, so I didn't.

…

The rest of the day was basically the same as yesterday. People still stared and whispered. I was learning to live with it though. As I walked into the lunch room, my stomach tied itself into a knot again. And for good reason. As I pulled open the door, Juanita walked out and stared at me. We stood staring at each other for a few minutes until she continued walking out of the cafeteria. I glanced inside the cafeteria and made a split second decision and walked down the hallway to the bathroom. Sitting in the bathroom alone during lunch is less humiliating then sitting in the cafeteria alone where everyone could see you. I had barely pushed the door open when I heard voices in the bathroom. I froze in place.

"I heard that his dad left him and his brother," One voice said.

"I would too. He's such a liar. He makes everyone think he's an innocent little kid but he's not. He spreads rumors about everybody else," A voice that I recognized as Matt's said.

"But Alex doesn't seem like that," Another voice said.

"He talks about Juanita," Matt said.

"But how do you know? Did you ask him?" The second voice asked.

"No, but what's the point of that? He wouldn't admit it anyway."

"I don't know, Matt…that doesn't sound like Alex."

"Look, Alex Wolff is a lying backstabber. End of story."

A/N-Matt's a jerk. I hate him.

Lol. (He's based off of someone I know.)

Review please?

~NatalinaFanForever~