This picks up where my other story, "Don't You Wish You Were Us?" ended. It's another ensemble piece, with a little more focus this time on the characters that had less "air time" in the other story. I hope you enjoy it!

I do not own Lemonade Mouth. But I'm taking ownership of Veronica McKenna.

Chapter 1

"Thanks for coming out, guys!" said Charlie. "It's great to see all of you!"

The cluster of girls giggled and thrust out pieces of paper to Charlie to sign. Charlie signed all of them, though his stomach grumbled and he ached to be in a booth at Dante's, finally sitting down and inhaling half a meat-lover's pizza.

"We love you, Charlie," cried a voice from the back of the crowd. The girls frequently said this to Charlie. Rather, he frequently heard faceless voices say this. None of them ever said it directly to him. Once the fangirls were facing him, they suddenly became shy. If they made eye contact, it was brief. They seldom even had the courage to ask for an autograph. Usually, they silently held a piece of paper out toward him, as an unspoken question. It was often followed by running far away from him with more giggles and squeals.

These same girls were totally different with the female members of Lemonade Mouth. The instant they met Olivia, Mo, or especially Stella, they acted as if they were all BFF's together. They gushed about every detail of their lives and often tried to make plans with the girls to hang out together.

Mo had explained to Charlie that for girls, celebrity crushes were a sort of "safe" thing. A guy they didn't know was whoever they wanted him to be. And it was frequently best that they knew as little about him as possible, so that he could live up to their dreams about him.

None of this made the least bit of sense to Charlie. But, since Mo was a girl (and what a girl!), Charlie figured she knew about other girls than he did, so he took her at her word.

The crowd slowly dwindled, and a blonde-haired girl made her way to the front. "Hey, Stacy!" Charlie greeted the girl. "Thanks for coming! And thanks for spreading the word about the show!" It had taken Charlie a while to figure out how to talk to fans; after all, he was still getting used to not being a total nobody at school anymore. But he was getting the hang of polite-but-sincere-without-getting-too-personal conversation with fans.

"Are you kidding me?" Even when asking a question, Stacy always spoke to Charlie in exclamations. Overwhelming, perhaps, but Stacy was one of the few Charlie Girls (their name for themselves, not his) who spoke directly to him. "Everyone was over the MOON to get to be the ones to hear the new song! Hey, who's Ray Beech? The kids here tonight from your school were acting all surprised that he wrote your song! Is this the same Ray Beech as the one from Mudslide Crush? Why is he writing you songs? Did he leave Mudslide Crush? OMIGOD, did Mudslide Crush break up? Is this because Scott Pickett joined Lemonade Mouth?"

"Woah!" said Charlie. Yeah, Stacy was pretty overwhelming. Also, Stacy ran a Lemonade Mouth blog, so she was constantly on the prowl for news to post. Charlie did not need Mo's coaching (although she had given him plenty, whether or not he asked for it) to know to tread carefully when talking to Stacy. "OK, it's a long story, and it looks like they're closing up around here. Ray's…" what the heck was he, anyway? Scott's best friend, Stella's boyfriend (still adjusting to that one), everyone else's personal tormentor…until recently…argh, what to say to Stacy? "…closely connected to all of us. And, well, he wrote a great song." Please don't let her ask any more questions. "Anyway, it looks like they're closing down here, and I've got school tomorrow!" He rolled his eyes, just to make sure she didn't think he loved going to school or something. He started to turn away.

"Charlie, I have another question!"

Oh no! Charlie was terrible at lying, and he was even worse at responding to unexpected questions or comments from others. In Charlie's opinion, this was the hardest part of fame, knowing the right thing to say at all times. If I knew how to do that, a certain conversation with a certain Indian girl would have had a different outcome…

"Yes?" he turned back reluctantly.

"Do you think you could give another interview on the next We Love Charlie Night?"

He could do that. A web interview gave him time to think of his replies, and she was kind enough to give him her questions in advance.

"Sure!"

"Great! This time, we'll make it a live stream (I just figured out how to do it)! OH, and we'll have the subscribers give you their questions!"

Great, what have I gotten myself into? "OK, well, uh, let me check the band's schedule…and I'll get back to you."

Just then, another girl approached Stacy. "Hey, Stace, you ready?" She saw Charlie and said, "Hello." with a not unpleasant smile.

Eye contact, and a simple "hello". Charlie was immediately at ease with this stranger.

"OK, Mac!" said Stacy. Then, to Charlie, she said, "Charlie! Remember when you talked to my friend, McKenna, on the phone while I was at work?"

"Of course I do!"

"This," gesturing to the other girl, "is McKenna!"

"It's nice to meet you, McKenna," said Charlie, putting out his hand to shake hers.

"It's actually Veronica," said the other girl, shaking Charlie's hand. "McKenna's my last name."

"Oh, ok," said Charlie, a little bit confused.

Veronica explained, "It's Stacy's attempt to get me to join the track team with her. She's been doing it for years. She thought that calling me by my last name, like coaches do, would get me into being an athlete."

"Did it work?"

"Not so much. I don't run unless I'm being chased." Charlie laughed.

Stacy rolled her eyes and said, "It'll work one of these days…"

Veronica said to Charlie, "I really like your music."

Even though she did not speak in exclamations, her compliment sounded more sincere than most did.

"Thank-you!" said Charlie.

"I really liked the new piece."

She said "piece" and not "song". That caught Charlie's ear, as it was typically the type of term a musician used.

Veronica went on, "The lyrics had more of a bite than your normal stuff. But that's the Ray Beech signature, I suppose. And it wasn't offensive, just humorous. And the bridge, that was genius to have Stella sing it. The edge in her voice mixed with that emotion was such a perfect mix for the message! Usually you have Mo sing the more emotional lyrics, so it was an interesting change to have Stella sing that one." She stopped herself. "Anyway…" she was suddenly embarrassed that she had spoken so much.

Charlie asked, "Do you play an instrument?"

Stacy laughed, "Just a little!" But Veronica emphatically shook her head, "Not at all."

"Which is it?"

Veronica explained, "I love music, all kinds. And I can't commit to one instrument. Once I learn how it's played, I lose all self-discipline to practice and master it."

Stacy said, "Mac knows everything about music!"

"Hardly," said Veronica.

"Well," said Charlie, "I'm flattered that someone as knowledgeable as you likes our stuff." His stomach grumbled, this time audibly. "And now, I've got to go! Veronica, it was great to meet you. And Stacy, I'll PM you on your site and let you know about Wednesday."

Charlie gave Stacy a hug. Right at mid-hug, Mo walked in.

"Charlie, we've got to g-" she stopped short at the sight of Charlie hugging a fan. She was not pleased.