The radio sponsor for Rising Star heard our demo and put it on the air.

Stella, Mo, Charlie and Madi were at Stella's house playing board games when Wen called Madi to turn on the radio to WRIZ. So they did. And guess what.

Determinate was playing. On the radio. Their song!

"Oh my god. It's us." Madison breathed out, turning around slowly. Everyone's face turned into pure shock. They were silent until they started cheering and jumping around.

"We did it guys!" shouted Stella as she reached her hands out for a group hug.

It was a dream come true. For all of us.

But just when the future looked brightest for Lemonade Mouth, everything started to fall apart.

Lemonade Mouth was performing at Dante's again. But well, it wasn't so good. Mo was sneezing and coughing and you could barely hear Olivia singing.

Screw 'it wasn't so good'. It was terrible.

"Mo, you sure you okay?" asked Charlie as he played the drums. "Yeah. I think it's just allergies." Mo shook her head softly while she tried to keep playing. Madi and Charlie exchanged looks.

Madison turned to Mo with a concerned look. "That doesn't sound like 'just allergies'. Neither does it look like." Madi told her. "I'm sure it's nothing. I promise, Mads." Mo said with a smile.

Madi nodded in response even if she still worried for the girl.

Olivia kept singing, which still could he barely heard. She still managed to sound great. What a queen. "Loser!" yelled Ray from the crowd. This caused Olivia to stop singing and look at Wen.

Wen just nodded. It made Olivia feel better because she knew he's there for her. And so are the others if anything happens.

Olivia turned back to her mic and continued singing as if nothing happened. "I'm just saying, I'm gonna take you down at Rising Star tomorrow. You just wait." Ray yelled once again.

The blonde clearly didn't want to sing anymore. "Look, just ignore him." Wen told Olivia. Olivia was about to sing again, but Ray beat her to it and snatched the mic from her hand.

"Hey! Good evening ladies and gentlemen. May I uhh, introduce Loser Mouth!"

Wen walked up to Ray and grabbed the mic from his hand. Though Ray was quick enough to hold it with both of his hands, therefore making it harder for Wen to get ahold of it.

This resulted in them pulling it, and when Wen let go Ray went back falling onto a table where he started flirting with a girl. Little did he know her boyfriend was right next to her.

This started a small fight that evolved into a big one between the whole restaurant. Everyone started throwing red plastic cups onto each other, but mostly the band.

Madi quickly grabbed Olivia's hand and dragged her behind Charlie and his drum set, where they hid behind a pizza box. Not that it helped much but it's still better than nothing.

Olivia even started eating. And so did Charlie. "Seriously?"

"What? I'm hungry."

"Me too."

Madi rolled her eyes, but couldn't resist. "God, give me one too please." she said as Charlie grabbed one for her and passed it. "Thanks." "Sure."

Ray and Wen bumped into each other, making Wen fall onto a table, right on top of the pizza. His shirt had a stain on it now. At least he'll have a memory now.

The blonde jerk stumbled on the cups all over the floor and fell right on his face. He helped himself up and grabbed the hose where they got the soda from and started spraying it on everyone. Things got even worse when he sprayed it on a certain someone.

Dante.
_______________________________________

"I can't believe he did that. Never thought I could hate him even more." Madison said, making the boy next to her laugh. "Well, he got what he wanted I guess." shrugged Charlie as they walked down the street.

Madison thought Ray reached the top of her hatred level, but she was so wrong. He broke it. "He'll always be the number one on my hate list." "You have a hate list?" asked Charlie as he looked at the girl with wide eyes.

"Yes. It's a totally normal thing. It makes me feel organized, like I have the people I hate on a paper from one to god knows what number."

Charlie furrowed his brows, letting out a laugh. "How many people do you have on that list, jesus." "A lot. Mostly teachers and students." said Madison.

Madi slowed down since they got to her house. She turned around and smiled at him. "See you tomorrow then?" he asked. "Yup."

He nodded awkwardly. Madi reached her arms out and hugged him. He gladly accepted it and hugged her back.

Madison realized she loves hugs. She missed out on them. The girl really needed them. It was comforting.

After a bit, Madison pulled away. "Bye." she smiled, waving as she walked up to her front door." "Bye, Mads." he waved too, walking away.

This boy.
_______________________________________

Madison was getting ready to go out and skate a bit around her neighborhood. Lately she hasn't been skating that much because of the band. She's been pretty busy with rehearsals and hanging out with her friends.

"Mom! I'm going out! I'll be back in like 20." she yelled as she grabbed her keys and shut the front door. Madi put her skateboard down and put her foot on it. With the other one she started pushing herself.

10 minutes into skating, she was going fast. It was not the smartest idea, since a dog came running towards her out of nowhere. Madison was not gonna hit that dog.

So she tried to stop and turn at the same time. She admits that it was the dumbest idea. Her action resulted in her falling of her skateboard, gaining cuts and bruises all over her body. It hurt and burned bad.

She carefully got up and walked back to her house. Madi wasn't that far but it was a long walk for her in this condition. At least she'll have dope scars.

"Madison what happened to you?" her mom asked as Madi entered the house. "I fell." "Jesus. Stupid skateboards. Come on, I'll clean you up."

Overall Madi was fine.
_______________________________________

Madison was sleeping when Stella had called her which made her wake up. She groaned before she turned around and grabbed her phone from the bedside table.

She picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey. It's me." said Stella. "Yeah, I know it's you, Stell. What's up?" she said, as she got up and leaned against the headboard of the bed. "We have an emergency."

Madi furrowed her brows. "What emergency? Are you okay? Where are you?" she bombarded her with questions. "I'm right in front of the school." answered Stella. "School?"

"Yeah, now hurry!"

Stella hung up, leaving Madi confused as hell. She didn't waste any time and got up and dressed. She put on black mom jeans with a black band T-shirt and a black sweater. Yes, she loved black.

When Madison arrived, she was greeted with Mo, Olivia, Wen and Charlie. "Anybody know what this is about?" asked Charlie as he caught up to his friends. "Where is she?" Olivia asked, her voice completely gone.

Wen looked at Olivia with a shocked look. "What happened to your voice?" Olivia just ignored him and kept walking towards Stella.

"There she is."

Mo kept coughing every 5 seconds. That really was not an allergy. "What happened? Did you all get hit by a bus or something?" asked Stella when the rest of the band approached her.

"Look who's talking."

"What's going on Stella?" asked Mo annoyed. Who wouldn't be though. You're sick and you need to be in bed but your friend drags you out to school for an apparent emergency.

"Yeah. What are you doing?"

"I am protesting the removal of our Mel's Lemonade machine." Stella explained with a proud smile on her face while she sat on the floor.

"You're kidding right?" Madi sent Stella a look. "In this weather?" Mo protested. It was literally about to rain and Madison didn't bring anything.

"Okay kid. No playing around. I got three more pick-ups today." one of the workers said. "It's gonna rain. Let's get out of here." the other worker suggested as he scratched the back of his neck.

Stella looked at one of the workers. "Are you really willing to support the rampant tyranny and oppression of the powerful over the voiceless?" said Stella as thunder was heard.

Soon rain started to pour from the sky, really hard. Olivia shrieked as she opened her umbrella. "Can I?" Madison asked Mo, pointing at her umbrella. "Yeah." Mo said as she passed it to her.

Madison opened the umbrella. Charlie and Mo squeezed themselves under it so they don't soak.

"You move or I'll move you." the worker warned her. "Your choice, kid."

"Hm. I am not moving until you put our lemonade machine back!"

"Have it your way kid." the worker shrugged as him and his colleague picked Stella up and started walking away with her. This made the band freak out and angry.

They started yelling and attacking the workers. Mo even jumped on his back. It really was not a good idea.

The police showed up.
_______________________________________

The band was in a holding cell.

Needles to say, that day was a bit of a low for the band.

Never in a million years would have Madison thought she'd be in a holding cell. At least she's with her friends, right? Right?

Nothing was helping. She was bored out of her mind and she didn't even want to know her mother's reaction. The guitarist was ready for the worst.

"So much for Rising Star." sighed Charlie as he stood and held the bars. "We can't skip it." said Stella. "Well, we can't play." argued Mo, rolling her eyes.

"It's over."

"Wen's right. We lose." the boy walked back and sat down. "So we lose. So what?" scoffed Stella, looking at Charlie. She then stood up and walked in front of the band. "Lemonade Mouth is bigger than a competition. We did it to be heard. For our fans. For ourselves."

"Fod our friendship." Olivia added, her voice cracking. "Thank you."

Stella was right, but they can't play like this. Mo was sick, Olivia's voice is gone and she can barely even talk, Wen can't see clearly because of his eye, Madi can't move that much because of her cuts and Charlie has three broken fingers.

They were screwed.

Olivia sighed. "Guys! We can't give up!"

"Olivia. This isn't just humiliating ourselves on like, a high school level." argued Mo, standing up and walking over to the bars. "All of us are somehow injured and it's stopping us from playing our instruments. How are we supposed to perform?" Madison threw her hands up in defense which made her hiss from the pain.

"Exactly. Look, we're not doing it." agreed Wen. "Agreed." Charlie told them. He got up and made his way to the phone.

Stella leaned against the wall. Wen turned to look at her. "In case you haven't noticed Stella, we're in a holding cell. Okay? And you're the only one to blame."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you."

"Yeah. It's pretty much all your fault, Stella." agreed Charlie.

Stella let out a scoff as she jogged over to Mo. "We didn't actually get arrested. Okay? We're waiting for our parents to come pick us up."

"Great. Our parents."

"Guys, can you please stop fighting!" Olivia tried to yell. Madison leaned her head on the wall, closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm herself down.

Positive things. They were hard to find. She tried to think of when they all met in detention, but that pretty much led them here. A damn holding cell.

Charlie got a coin from the phone and started tapping it on top of the phone. Mo started playing with her hair tie, Stella was tapping her hand on the bars her ring continuing the beat, Wen played with his zipper, Olivia started drumming and Madison started humming the melody to the beat.

The others slowly joined in creating the song step by step. Turn up the music. The song they sang in detention.

Just let go

The melody continued.

Still be singing
Come on, come on
Turn up the music

Olivia was now clapping as the beat went on.

It's all we got
We're gonna use it
Come on, come on
Turn up the music

"Are we in?"

The band went silent, but secretly shared smiles. Stella jumped off the bench and they all hugged each other as they laughed.

"Oh, watch my eye."

"I know. Sorry."

After 15 minutes they were finally let out. Their parents have arrived to pick them up. The moment Madison dreaded so much. She didn't know if she should be happy because they were out or scared because of her mom.

She felt anxious and it only increased when she saw her mother. The goosebumps, her heart almost jumping out of her chest, sweaty palms.

Madison slowly walked up to her mom. "Mom, look. I'm so-" she was cut off by arms being wrapped around her. "No. I'm sorry." her mother mumbled into her hair. "I'm sorry that I haven't been a good mother. That I haven't been supporting you in your life decisions and there's no excuse for this. I promise I'll try."

Madison expected anything else besides this. An apology. The girl got emotional and let the happy tears falls. They pulled away and her mom put her pinky out. Madison smiled and intertwined their pinkies.

"I'm just so proud of you. You are so strong and I can't believe you went through all that torture I put you through alone. And look at you now. A future star! You're chasing your dreams with your friends at such a young age and making a change." Mrs. Price proudly smiled at her daughter as she cupped her face with her hands and wiped Madi's tears.

"Thank you, mom." sniffled Madi as her mom gave her a side hug and they started walking out of the station. Madison leaned her head on her mom's shoulder. "Now. When are you guys performing next?"

A sigh escaped Madi's lips. "Tomorrow, actually. Rising Star."

"Rising Star? You mean the competition?"

"Yup. I don't know how though. We're all dead. Mo's sick, Olivia lost her voice, Wen has a black eye and can barely see, Charlie has three broken fingers, I can barely move and the only person that's fine is Stella." she explained.

Her mom laughed. "Well, you guys are gonna do fantastic. And I'll be coming."

¡authors note!
ughhh one more chapter and the book is donee. i need to finish my other book but i have zero motivation😩 anyways ily<3