The next morning, Alysha woke to the sound of a knock on the door. Sitting up, she got up and walked over to answer it, managing to get down the stairs in the process, "Who is it," she asked, still not being able to see through the peephole.

"It’s Davy," the Englishman’s voice came through, "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Alysha answered, "Just a second." She opened the door and allowed him inside, "What’s up?" Alysha, though appearing calm on the outside, was thrilled to see Davy.

"I was just about to go for a walk on the beach," Davy replied, "And I was wondering if you would like to join me." He eyed her outfit.

"Great," Alysha said quietly, "Just let me change real fast. Unpacking can really get you tired. Be right back." She rushed off and into her room, frantically searching through her closet. Finally, she spotted the perfect outfit, a pair of bellbottoms that actually fit and a light blue top. A fringe belt was kept in the loops of the pants. She threw it on quickly and combed her hair. She stole one last glance in the mirror before walking downstairs.

"Ready," she said and Davy glanced at her new outfit.

"Much better," he said, "Will your friends mind if we left without saying anything?"

"Not at all," Alysha reassured him, "I do this all the time. They won’t be worried. Let’s go." She walked outside and gently closed the door behind her. The view in front of her stopped Alysha in her tracks. The deep blue of the water contrasted deeply with the light blue of the sky, gold flecks reflected into the water, casting a perfect half circle in the ocean. Davy grabbed her hand and they made their way down the beach.

"Amazing isn’t it," he asked her, "Have you ever seen such a beautiful site before?" Alysha shook her head.

"I’ve seen plenty of sites, but this tops them all," she answered, "Texas isn’t as nice as it is here." Davy stopped at the name of the state.

"Texas," he asked, "’hat is a long ways from here."

"Yeah," Alysha said, "but let’s forget about Texas. I’m in California now." They continued on down the beach, stopping every once in a while to admire the view. By the time Alysha came back, she kept reminding herself that it wasn’t a dream. Her friends were up and around when she walked back inside.

"Where have you been," Stephanie asked, rushing up to her when she entered, "We didn’t know where you were."

"I went for a walk," Alysha answered, sighing happily, "With Davy."

"She’s got it bad," Mandy said, "This girl is in l-o-v-e." With that, the girls started the song all over again.

"You don’t have to spell it out for me," Alysha said, "He’s a great guy. He’s funny and charming."

"And you know what else," Mandy asked, interrupting," She’s almost as tall as he is." This sent the other girls into another laughing fit.

"Very funny," Alysha told them, "but I don’t see any of them coming over here to visit you, do I?" They went quiet, getting the point and glaring at her silently. A knocking at the door caught their attention.

Alysha raced over once again. This time it was Peter who greeted them, "Hi," he said, walking inside. He glanced over at the girls, his eyes resting on Sara a second more than the others, "We were wondering if you girls wanted to come over and have breakfast."

"Who’s cooking," Alysha asked.

"You are," Peter answered and Alysha looked relieved.

"Great," she said, "We’ll be on our way over in a few minutes." She closed the door after he left.

"What was that," Sara asked, "You volunteered us to make breakfast for them?"

"Believe me," Alysha said, "I’ve seen the show. You don’t want to eat what they make. Ever heard of Crème of Root Beer soup?" Her friends’ faces took on looks of disgust, "Then you don’t want to eat it." She lowered her eyes and grinned slightly at Sara, "Besides, there’s something I noticed when he came in. Sara and Peter…" And the song continued from there.

Five minutes later, the four girls walked over to the guys’ place and knocked on the door. Davy opened it and moved aside to let them inside, "If you’re cooking I’d hurry to the kitchen. Peter’s attempting to make something in there and I’m scared to look."

"Come on Sara," Alysha said, "Let’s go help Peter in the kitchen." She agreed readily and Alysha dragged her over, "Hey Peter." He looked up from the cookbook he was holding.

"Can you guys help me please," he asked, "I can’t seem to get this recipe right." Alysha ducked under him to get a look at it. Crème of Root Beer soup? No way. She pointed out another recipe. It was for simple omelets.

"Simple," she said, "Just hand me those eggs and I’ll make everything." Peter handed them over, "What do you want in it? Cheese, tomato, anything, hand it over." Peter gave her some ingredients and she set to work. He moved aside to give her room, slowly inching towards Sara, who had nothing else to do. She could only be glad he wasn’t making Crème of Root Beer soup anymore.

When Alysha finally finished, she handed it to Peter. He took the plates out to the dining room and set them out. Davy, Micky, and Mike glanced at it warily before sitting down. But that soon changed.

"Peter," Mike said, "This is actually pretty good. Where did you find the recipe?"

"I didn’t make it," Peter told them, grinning, "Alysha did. I wasn’t doing too well with the recipe. She found in a magazine."

"Alysha made that," Stephanie asked Mandy, "I thought she couldn’t cook."

Sara turned to her friend after she was done, "I thought you couldn’t cook."

"I can’t," Alysha said, "I’ve just seen my dad make them so many times before, I knew I could do it. Ask me to do anything else though, you don’t even want to know."

"That bad," Sara asked. Alysha nodded, "I’m not letting you cook at our place then. You’ll be gone by the time we get up anyway if you go walking every morning with Davy."

"As far as I know it’s a one time thing," Alysha told her friend, "I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to see if he comes back." Sara nodded in understanding and accepted the plate her friend gave her.

"Hey guys," Alysha asked, coming out of the kitchen, "Mr. Babbit told us that you have a band? Is that true?" They nodded, "And you’re called the Monkees?"

"That’s us," Micky said, "I know it’s a strange name, but it’s not like we’re big time stars or anything." The girls smiled, knowing full well that they soon would be.

"I think it’s a groovy name," Alysha told them, "It’s different, but it fits you well."

"Hey," Micky said, taking on a look of mock anger. Mandy laughed at his change of expression. He grinned at her.

"Do you want to hear us play," Mike asked. The girls nodded enthusiastically. Alysha was the most excited though. She was about to get her first live concert, something she had wanted for a long time. Ironically, they started with the song ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’, the last song the girls had heard in 2003. Then they moved on to ‘Daydream Believer’, ‘Your Auntie Grizelda’, and lastly ‘Goin’ Down’. Alysha barely noticed that she was mouthing the words the whole time and kept up during ‘Goin’ Down’. The band members gaped at her in astonishment.

"She has a good ear for music," Sara explained quickly, "She can get a tune down like that." She snapped her fingers for emphasis. The guys finally accepted her explanation.

"That was great guys," Alysha told them, "but I’m afraid we have to go now. We need to get some supplies and need to see what we have." The girls exited and headed to their house.

"I’m sorry," Alysha tried apologizing for the hundredth time, "I forgot where I was for a moment. In our time, that wouldn’t seem a bit strange."

"Well this isn’t our time," Stephanie explained, "We have to be more careful out here. This is different. There are new words for us to say, clothes we have to wear and things we have to do."

"It won’t happen again," Alysha told everyone, "It’s just been days since I’ve heard a Monkees’ tune."

"It’s only been one," Mandy reminded her friend, "Yesterday was our first day here remember?"

"Funny, it seems a lot longer than that," Alysha said, "but I promise to at least keep from singing any songs but our own okay?"

"I know what you mean," Mandy said, "How would the people here look at us if we burst out into N’Sync in the street? We all have to be careful about what we say and what we do."

"You got that right," Stephanie agreed, "You know, that makes me wonder what’s going on in our world right now. Does it exist like we were never born?"

"It probably does," Sara said, "and if it doesn’t, our parents must be so worried…or mad that we didn’t say where we were going."

"Come on girls," Alysha spoke up, "I bet we don’t even exist in that world anymore. We’re in the sixties. Just think about it. Isn’t this nicer than we ever had it before?"

"It is," Mandy agreed, "It’s so nice and peaceful here. No parents are telling us what to do. No one is yelling at us to do our chores or go to school."

"Then why should we even think about going back," Alysha asked, "We don’t even know how to get back there. We have a band, four really cute guys living next door, and some best friends. What more could you ask for?"

"Not much," Stephanie said, "I think we should stay. We really have everything going for us now. Who’s with us?" Sara and Mandy agreed to stay.

"I never thought about it before, but we could make a big difference in the sixties," Alysha said, "Just don’t get too famous than the Monkees." They all immediately agreed on that one, "Also think of it this way. There are four of them and four of us. It’ll all work out."

"So you got Davy," Sara spoke up, "I have Peter, or will soon. Mandy likes Micky, so that leaves Mike for you Stephanie."

"I can live with that," Stephanie agreed, "He’s nice and calm. Someone needs to help him have fun. Count me in." The four friends glanced around the house once again. This was going to be their new lives. They didn’t have much back in 2003. Here, they had great guys living ten seconds away, the music they loved, and a chance to make life better. Nobody told them how to live their lives. They could just relax and enjoy themselves…as long as Alysha didn’t cook any of their food.

Simultaneously, ‘I’m a Believer’ played in their heads and they began to sing it. They were well aware of their surroundings now and nothing changed around them. No swirling colors, just the familiarity of their new home. It was almost as if by singing this song, life was binding them to their new time period. There was no turning back now and they didn’t want to. Everything they could ever want lay ahead of them.

The girls felt that they truly belonged somewhere now. Alysha had never fit in at school before. She loved the sixties the way it was, not the way her schoolmates made it turn out to be. This was a place where she was understood for her own creativeness.

"And know something else," Alysha asked them. They turned to her, "Now we can rip off some songs from our time and nobody would know the difference. We could change history."

"Speaking of history," Stephanie said, "This band will be history if we don’t getting practicing. And we’ll be history if we don’t get some food."

"Food," Mandy asked, "Is that all you ever think about?"

"No," Stephanie replied.

"Come on Steph," Alysha said, "Your lunch consists of chocolate chip cookies, honey buns, ice cream, and Dr. Pepper. Oh no!" Her friends turned to her in astonishment, "They haven’t invented Dr. Pepper yet. Even if they have, we’re in California, not Texas. Texas is the Dr. Pepper capital! What are we going to do?" Stephanie looked shocked too.

"Drink water," Sara suggested and Alysha looked up in disgust. If there was anything she disliked worse than being short, it was drinking water, "Or we can drink something else too."

"Anything but water," Alysha agreed, "I’ll drink Root Beer if I have to." This caused another look of astonishment from her friends. That was another drink she hated.

"Hold it," Stephanie said, "Let’s go shopping first and see what they have. I think it would be better if Alysha stayed here while we go. We’ll make sure to bring back something you like okay?" Alysha nodded and Steph, Mandy, and Sara went to the store. As long as she didn’t have to cook, she didn’t care what they bought.

She walked upstairs and to her room, picking up the guitar from the window seat and taking its spot. This was the perfect time to practice her songs. Her friends didn’t know it, but she had secretly been working on a new song the day they arrived. Alysha was the type of person who could express herself better on paper than by talking.

So she quietly strummed the guitar and sang the words on the paper in front of her. Even though she was a writer, Alysha didn’t always liked being looked to for the song ideas, it was just something that she liked to do in her free time. She knew that it would be a while before the song was completed since she always found some way to edit her songs to sound right.

She repeated this sequence, trying to figure out the perfect tune. Alysha suddenly jumped as something tapped on her window. Rushing over, she glanced down to find Davy standing there along with the rest of the guys, "Hi," she called down enthusiastically, "What’s up?" She suddenly wished she hadn’t said that, saying ‘what’s up’ wasn’t exactly popular in that time.

"Are you playing the radio or something," Micky asked, "We could hear it at our place."

"Radio," Alysha asked, "No, I’m just playing the guitar. Working on a new song, things like that."

"So you have a band," Micky asked.

"We’re trying to," she answered, "but we don’t have a groovy name yet. Can you help us out?"

"Can’t think of anything right now," Mike replied, "Where are your friends?"

"At the store," she said, "They left me here by myself. I hate grocery shopping."

"I can understand," Davy said, "That’s why we usually send Peter to do it for us." So that’s how he managed to get the ingredients for Crème of Root Beer soup, Alysha thought to herself. I’m just scared to know where he got the recipe. Wait, I do know!

"Hey," Mike called up to her, "We actually came over because we were wondering…if, you girls would like to…come to our gig tonight?" Alysha nearly shouted in excitement but managed to control herself.

"Great," she said, "They would love to come, you didn’t even have to worry. Shall we meet you there?"

"Sure," Mike said eagerly, "It’s just a few blocks away from here. It’s called Vicent’s. You can’t miss it. We’ll see you then? It starts at seven."

"Of course," Alysha said, "We’ll be there early so we can get a good spot." The guys then walked off to their place.

The minute they were out of site, Alysha turned away from the window and tried to stay calm. But she couldn’t contain it any longer, "Yes," she yelled, "I can’t believe it! This is better than I imagined." For as long as she could remember, having the chance to meet the Monkees had only been a dream of hers. Now though, it was reality. It seemed too good to be true. Everything seemed perfect and she couldn’t imagine anything better than this. Well, except for one thing…

"Hello," someone called downstairs and Mandy walked upstairs, "Alysha, we’re back." She walked into Alysha’s room, only to be greeted by a screaming girl jumping up and down, "What are you so excited about?"

"The Monkees invited us to their gig tonight," Alysha answered excitedly, "They want us to meet them there. Isn’t it wonderful?"

"I guess," Mandy replied, backing up from her friend.

"You guess," Alysha stopped jumping suddenly, "You get invited to a gig by one of the greatest bands in history and you only guess? Mandy, Micky’s going to be there too." Mandy’s face lit up at the mention of the drummer.

"It just got wonderful again," Mandy said, "What am I going to wear?"

"Clothes," Alysha suggested, stating the obvious, "Girl, didn’t you notice that your closet must have every type of clothing imaginable in it? Find something!" Mandy started to walk off, "But before you do that…help me first!"

"I thought you just said that we have everything," Mandy said, "Why do you need my help?"

"Mandy please," Alysha pleaded, "You know that I have no taste in fashion whatsoever. You need to help me!" Alysha hadn’t even worn a dress since Easter and as much as she hated them, she never thought this day would ever come.

"Why don’t you find something yourself," Mandy asked, "I’m sure you could find something in that closet."

"But Mandy," Alysha protested, "Davy’s going to be there. I don’t want to look stupid out there in front of those people. Besides, Davy’s going to be there. You have to help me."