The following week was mildly agonizing for Melody, Ellie blabbing to their entire friend group about the new kid who seemed to have a mysterious connection to Melody. Despite the teasing and verbal probing from her friends, Melody kept her mouth firmly shut on the matter and stuck to vague answers accompanied by shoulder shrugs. She and Drake hadn't really talked much more after the first day, but she was struck by an idea at Friday lunch that she contemplated through the weekend and resolved to try.

"Hey." Melody greeted as she approached Drake's locker at the end of the school day.

Drake flinched, surprised, looked over at her and smiled. "Hey back."

"Didn't mean to scare you there." Melody adjusted her backpack strap on her shoulder, steeling her resolve.

"No, it's cool. I was just a little surprised." He lowered his voice and leaned towards her, conspirically. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone but I'm to expect some hockey team hazing and from what I hear they're going to pour Gatorade over my head when I least expect it."

Melody was surprised to hear this and couldn't help but giggle. "Could be worse. At least they're not going to make you streak across the school or anything."

"Sssshhhhhh! Don't say that too loudly or you'll give them ideas."

Melody laughed in response. "Speaking of the hockey team, I have a question for you."

"Oh?" Drake raised his brows.

Melody's heart sped up, this was the moment. "You seem to be chummy with them. Does Mike have feelings for his ex?" Melody watched the surprise at the question run over Drake's face and it seemed to be followed up with something else...hurt? Disappointment? She wasn't sure.

"...Not that he's mentioned. They ended pretty mutually…Why?"

"Well...I might know a girl that has a crush on him."

Drake's lips pursed slightly. "Oh? Well, he is kind of crushing on another girl right now so…" He seemed surprised at his own outburst of information and flushed deeply. "Sorry, I didn't mean that." He began to hastily stuff his textbooks into his bag. "We shouldn't be talking about this. I shouldn't have said that."

"Who?" Melody pressed. "Wait, wait! Who is it?" She grabbed Drake's arm after he closed his locker door to stop him from hurrying off. "Tell me who it is and I'll drop it, I promise."

Drake shook his head. "No...I can't do that."

"Why not?" Melody rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're sworn to secrecy."

"Doesn't you're 'friend' want secrecy?"

"Well, yeah she does to an extent. But she kind of makes herself obvious."

Drake frowned. "That's a weird way to talk about yourself."

"Myself? I literally just said my-" realisation dawned on Melody and she laughed. "Oh, you thought I said that just to make it sound like I was asking for someone else! No, no. Seriously, it's not me."

Drake looked at her hesitantly.

"At least give me a hint."

"She's in his English class."

Melody's eyes lit up. Ellie was in Mike's English class. "Is she blonde?"

Drake didn't actually respond but the flare of his nostrils was answer enough for the niece of Teresa Lisbon and Patrick Jane. "This is going better than I thought it would. Thank you!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Drake reached out and held onto Melody's forearm before she could run off. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to know what the situation was."

"What situation?"

Melody sighed. "Between Mike and my friend."

"Well, why didn't you just ask him?"

"Come on, duh. It would have ruined everything. My friend would be so mad."

"And she won't be mad that you asked me?"

"She might, but not as mad if I had asked him."

"But what if I tell him?"

"Are you going to tell him?"

"I might."

Melody faced Drake, setting her shoulders determinedly. "What's your price, then?"

Drake's eyes widened in surprise and he blinked. "What?"

"The price for your silence. What is it?"

"Wha- I don't have a price."

"As my uncle says, everyone has a price."

Drake looked at her a moment longer, mouth slightly ajar. "Well, I don't."

"Yes, you do. Out with it."

Drake flushed, feeling very put on the spot. He contemplated then opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by yips and yells just before a bucket of Gatorade was promptly dumped over his head and splashed onto Melody, who gasped.

"Haha! I told you we'd get you man! The look on your- oh crap, Melody, sorry! We didn't mean to get you, too!" Mike took the towel off from around his neck and handed it to her as the other hockey players quieted their yips of laughter to apologize for soaking her with Gatorade.

"Well, I guess I should have seen that coming." She sighed and looked down at her red and white striped sweater that now was splashed with blue Gatorade. Melody dabbed at her face and neck.

"I'm super sorry." Mike apologized again. "I can give you the money for a new sweater."

Melody smiled. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. It's just a sweater. It makes me look like a giant candy cane, anyway. Relax. I'm not going to snitch." She looked over at Drake, pointedly. "I guess you're officially on the hockey team then. Congrats. I'll leave you guys to whatever hazing is left. See you later!" With that, Melody headed back to her locker to get her jacket for her walk home.

-Mentalist-

The next day Mike approached Melody at lunch. "Can I talk to you?"

Everyone at the lunch table stared and a few pairs of eyes from surrounding tables lingered on the exchange, Ellie was confused. Melody glanced back at her friends, to show them that she was equally baffled before looking back to Mike and accepting. She slid out of her seat and followed him just outside the doors of the cafeteria.

"What's going on?" Melody asked, intensely hoping he wasn't about to confront her about a friend of hers that might have a crush on him.

"I just wanted to thank you for not going to the teachers or anything about the Gatorade thing. They put up with it because the hockey team does well and makes the school look good...also because we struck a deal that we would mop it up after if they let us do it."

"Really? You guys mop it up?" Melody's heart leapt with relief.

"Well, the hazed person mops it up and we bother him while he does it…" Mike gave her a lopsided grin. "The point is that it gets cleaned up. Anyway. We owe you a favour. As the captain I figured I should come tell you personally."

"Ah, well." Melody shrugged. "I have no favours to ask of you at the moment. Maybe a raincheck?"

"I will agree to that so long as I'm allowed to turn down any especially wild favours. You are a bit of a wildcard, you know."

"Am I? How so?"

"Anyone that gets into a massive feud with Gigi, especially on the first day of school, should be considered a wildcard. And as far as I can tell the feud has not been resolved."

"You're right. She's been rather quiet for a while. I'm good to keep it that way for now. Enjoy your lunch, though. I'll let you know when I have a sinister use for your favour you owe me." Melody grinned as they walked back into the cafeteria.

"I still reserve my rights." Mike shot back.

Melody laughed and then joined her friends back at her table, meeting each of their shocked and confused faces. Ellie even looked a little hurt.

"What?" Melody asked.

"What!?" Erin retorted. "How can you ask that!? What are you doing having secretive conversations with the captain of the hockey team? You guys hardly talk and now you've got secrets?"

"I thought he wasn't your type." Ellie piped up, still looking hurt and angry.

"Whoa, there." Melody held up her hands. "First of all, he definitely isn't my type. Second, he was just thanking me for not snitching out the hockey team."

"Excuse me." Anthony's eyebrows shot up. "What would you have to snitch on them for?"

"Okay, you guys just need to calm down. Yesterday I accidentally got caught up in their Gatorade hazing. I was standing too close to the new kid and I got splashed with the Gatorade. I told them I wouldn't go to the teachers about it. That's it. He was just thanking me." At her friends still skeptical looks she added, "I swear on my gymnastic medals, that's it, that's all."

This appeased her friend group and they were able to go back to their normal lunch conversation. And once they finished lunch Melody and Ellie walked back to their lockers.

"What did he say to you, exactly?" Ellie asked. "Why were you standing near Drake anyway? And why don't you ever refer to him by his name?"

"He literally just said 'thanks for not snitching. I owe you one.'"

"Well you guys were out there longer than it takes to say that." Ellie said, her voice sounding small.

They had reached their lockers and Melody looked at her friend as Ellie started to combination to her locker. "What's wrong? Are you really that upset about it? Ellie, literally nothing happened. He thanked me and then made a joke that he was concerned I would ask a crazy favour of him and/or the team."

"Like what type of favour?" Ellie asked.

"Ellie, I don't know. He didn't say anything specific. He probably just meant nothing illegal. Seriously, I don't understand why you're upset about it."

Ellie squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and took a deep breath before looking over at Melody. "You know he probably likes you, you know. He was probably using that as an excuse to flirt with you. Because you know it happens all the time."

Melody's eyebrows shot up and her eyes went wide. "What?"

"Come on, Melody. You know it's true. You're the really cool, pretty extrovert and I'm the quiet, shy sidekick that no one ever pays attention to."

"Ellie-"

"You can't tell me that's not true." Ellie's voice wavered and her eyes were glossy. "It is true. I love you, but sometimes I feel like your shadow. I know you don't treat me like that but that's how other people see me. That's how boys see me. Just as 'Melody's friend'."

Melody's heart squeezed and her throat tightened. "I'm sorry that's how you feel. You're my best friend. You're like my sister. You're totally wrong. There's so many people that think you're cool and pretty and all that regardless of if you're my friend or not. I bet if you asked Mike, he'd say he thinks you're cool regardless if you're my friend or not."

"You can't promise that, Melody. You don't know that. Both of us barely know him."

"I might not know him very well, but I know I heard him tell one of the other hockey players that he likes a girl in his English class. So if your theory is that he likes me, then you're wrong because I'm not in his English class." Melody blurted and then pressed her lips together. She hadn't meant to tell Ellie that information so bluntly but she was feeling so emotionally pressured that it had come out.

"When did you hear that?"

"Yesterday. After the Gatorade. I was leaving and they probably thought I couldn't hear them." Melody felt kind of bad for lying about how she'd come across that information, but she knew that would make it worse.

"You seriously heard that?"

"Yes, I heard that he had a crush on a girl in his English class."

Ellie contemplated this information. "Okay. Maybe I'm overreacting."

"Do you really just feel like my shadow, though?"

Ellie looked down at her feet. "Sometimes." She mumbled. Just then the bell rang.

"We'll talk about it tonight?" Melody offered.

Ellie gave a tentative nod and both girls hurried to class.

-Mentalist-

"Hey you. Why so quiet back there?" Jane looked over his shoulder at Melody as Lisbon drove to Melody's gym.

Melody shrugged.

"Hey, Teresa." Jane looked over at Lisbon. "Have you heard the joke, how is interrogating a criminal and talking to a teenager the same?"

Melody responded before Lisbon could. "Oh, I have. The answer is that you're annoying to both of them, Patrick."

"Melody!" Lisbon chastised.

"Glad to hear you still have your feisty spirit." Jane commented. "Anyway, out with it. What's bothering you?"

"Leave it alone." Melody grumbled.

"Is it boy trouble?" Jane inquired.

"Not everything is because of boy trouble, Patrick!" Melody resisted the urge to forcefully kick the back of his seat.

"Friend trouble?"

"Oh my god." Melody threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Ah, friend trouble then." Jane nodded, thoughtfully.

"Teresa!"

"Okay, quiet! Both of you!" Lisbon shot Jane a look when he opened his mouth to say something. "If you don't want to talk about it, Melody, then you don't have to."

"Thank you." Melody mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and slouching into the seat more.

Lisbon pulled into the gym parking lot minutes later and the trio exited the car, grabbing Melody's bag from the trunk. Melody hurried ahead into the building.

Lisbon sighed heavily. "You don't have to antagonize her like that for answers. She's not a perp."

"I know that." Jane protested. "She likes the attention. Besides," Jane pulled the door open and let Lisbon through first, "it seems like something very important to her and she seems especially bothered."

"That I can't argue with." Lisbon agreed. "Which friend do you think is the trouble?"

"It's got to at least be one that sits at the lunch table with her. Otherwise, they're probably not close enough to upset her like that." Jane theorized. "It might even be Ellie."

"Ellie?" Lisbon raised her brows. "They've been friends forever, why would you think her?"

"Yes, I know but that would make it even more likely to be her. Think about it. They're growing and changing and they're going to have at least a few quables from time to time."

"This seems more like a quable."

"Agreed. But teenagers can exaggerate sometimes. Maybe they just need some time to cool off. Whether it's Ellie or someone else."

"I really hope so." Lisbon watched Melody enter the practice area and let her coach know that she'd arrived. Melody and a few other girls began their warmups.

"No, something is very wrong." Jane said after they had been watching Melody work on her beam routine.

"Her form is way off." Lisbon added.

"Mhm." Jane nodded and was about to say something else when Melody tumbled off the beam coming off of a back walkover. The room gasped as she hit the mats with a smack. Lisbon got up and hurried to the edge of the training floor, Jane right behind her, as Melody's coach hurried over.

"I'm okay." Melody said as she got up, rubbing her side.

Jane and Lisbon watched as Melody's coach prodded Melody's side gently and a quiet exchange was made between the two, ending with the coach gesturing Melody towards her aunt and uncle. Melody looked over and then back at her coach and then shook her head and gestured toward the beam again, insistently. Nobody needed Jane's lip reading skills to know Melody was insisting she continue her practice while her coach was telling her to take a break. Melody's coach shook her head firmly and then gestured toward Lisbon and Jane again. Melody looked at her feet and nodded, making her way toward the side of the practice area.

Lisbon grabbed Melody's shoes and socks, as Jane promptly took it upon himself to disappear, and offered them to her niece as Melody stepped off the practice area mats. "How about a walk?"

Melody looked at her shoes for a moment and then shrugged, not meeting her aunt's gaze. She took the socks and shoes and slipped them on her feet then followed her aunt into the hallway. They walked in silence, side by side, through the pretty much deserted hallways.

"What would you like to do?" Lisbon finally broke the silence.

Melody looked up at her, brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Right now. What would you like to do? Do you want to go home? Is there somewhere you'd like to go?...Do you want to talk about it?"

Melody looked down at her feet again and when she spoke her voice was small. "I don't want to talk about it, I just want it fixed."

"What do you want fixed?"

"I don't know if Ellie wants to be my friend anymore." Melody's chest felt like it was tightening as she said it and she had to squeeze her eyes shut against tears.

Lisbon put her arm around Melody's shoulders. "Why would you say that?"

"Because…" Melody choked on a sob. "It's so stupid! She basically thinks nobody really likes her because they like me better. But that's so dumb because people like her and why can't they like me and her the same? They do like us the same. Like now she feels like being friends with me is just stopping her from being 'cool' or something. How is that fair? I'm not even making sense now." Melody had started to cry and Lisbon pulled her into a tight hug, but Melody couldn't stop her rambling now that she had started. "Now I just feel like such a terrible friend because I make her feel that way. But I don't want to. I don't understand. What did I do wrong? And I can't even do a back walkover now? What's wrong with me? Those aren't even that hard."

"Nothing is wrong with you, Melody." Lisbon assured her, stroking her hair. "You're just a little distracted, and that happens to everyone. I'm sure you and Ellie will work it out. Maybe she had something else troubling her and she didn't really mean that. You guys can work it out, I'm sure. You're a wonderful friend, Melody. And no matter what, I'm going to be here. Fixing it with Ellie might be hard, but it'll be worth it, right? But if you decide it's not, then that's okay as well. I'm sure you guys will figure it out, whatever the outcome you decide."

"What am I going to do about practice right now, though?"

"What do you mean?"

Melody pulled away to look at her aunt. "You saw me take that dive off the beam. How am I supposed to go back in there now after that?"

"Easy." Lisbon wiped at Melody's tear soaked cheek. "You go back in there and do better. Blow them away with what you can do and they won't even remember it."

Author's Note: Hello all that are still out there. Thanks for being patient! That's the new chapter for you, I hope you enjoyed! See you next time!