"It was so great," Mandy said, "We danced for a while and got to talking. We have a ton in common." Alysha listened and glanced at her watch. Mandy had been talking for fifteen minutes now.

"That’s great," Alysha replied evenly, "Now come on girl. It’s late already and we are going out with the boys tomorrow afternoon…or rather today."

"I know," Mandy apologized, "I’m just so excited. Micky is a really nice guy and I think he likes me too."

"I figured that’s why he asked you to dance," Alysha replied, "Chill girl, he likes you. What are you so worried about?"

"Nothing," Mandy insisted, "I’ll be quiet now, okay? Let you sleep and dream about Davy." Alysha stood up gratefully and walked upstairs to her room.

The next morning, Alysha woke up to pounding from downstairs. Deciding to find out what it was, she got dressed and walked down, following the noises to Mandy’s room. There was Mandy, drumsticks in hand was practicing her instrument, oblivious that anyone else was up. Alysha raced upstairs and brought her guitar down.

At a certain point in the song, she started playing, causing Mandy to jump. Mandy stayed on beat though and kept playing. They continued this for a few minutes, singing the words that they knew, until another pounding came from the door. Both girls jumped up and ran for the door. Both reached it at the same time, and they fought over it. Finally, Alysha reached it and opened the door.

"Hello luv," Davy said, "Are you ready for a walk on the beach?" Alysha nodded and left, waving a quick goodbye to Mandy. Mandy seemed a little disappointed to see that it was Davy, but managed to wave back anyway. No guy would take the time to take her for a walk along the beach. She closed the door and went back to her room to practice.

Minutes later, she heard knocking on her door and looked up. She hadn’t even heard anyone yet. Who could this possibly be? She placed her drumsticks down and opened the door, only to find out that it was Micky.

"Hi," she said, barely containing her excitement, "What are you doing here?"

"Sara let me in," he explained, "I heard you practicing. You’re pretty good, but can I give you a few tips?"

"Sure," Mandy immediately agreed, letting him in. She played for him and he gave her tips on various tricks that she could do. They didn’t even notice when Davy and Alysha returned.

Sara sat in the kitchen, deciding what they should do for breakfast. She had purposefully waited for Alysha to leave before coming out. The last thing she wanted was to have Alysha fix breakfast. It had been ten minutes since she had let Micky in and she could still hear the drums going, occasionally stopping when Micky had more advice.

She had only started on a simple meal of eggs and toast when someone knocked on the door one more time. Thinking that it was Davy and Alysha returning, she walked over to let them in. Instead of them though, she found Peter and Mike standing outside the door.

"Hey guys," she said, "You’re just in time. I’m making breakfast if you’d like to join us."

"Sure," Mike agreed, "Say, do you know where Davy went? He was gone this morning when we got up."

"He probably went for a walk on the beach with Alysha, " Sara suggested, "I know he did yesterday. Besides, Alysha’s not here either. And you probably know that Micky’s here." The two glanced around the house, "We didn’t decorate if you’re wondering. Someone else did that for us."

"We just don’t know who," Stephanie said, coming down the stairs, "It’s strange. When we walked in, it looked exactly like this. We liked it and kept it the same."

The door opened once again and Davy entered, followed by Alysha. They were talking and laughing about something. They stopped when they saw that they had an audience, "Hello," Alysha said, "What are you guys doing here?"

"We got offered a free meal," Peter explained, "Sarah’s cooking though. Where were you at?"

"The beach," Davy answered, "We were going for a walk. I told you that yesterday Peter."

"Oh," Peter said, "I guess you did tell me that. I didn’t know that you were serious." Mike glanced over at him, "Sorry about that."

"Come help me in the kitchen Peter," Sara said, giving him an excuse to get away, "I want you to help me with something." Davy and Mike looked over at each other, trying not to panic. Peter in the kitchen? They guessed Sara would have to learn the hard way.

A few hours later, Alysha looked up from a sink full of dirty dishes. This is what she got for going out with the guys, who had promised to pay, only to find that they had accidentally left their money at home.

"When you told me it was a lunch date," Alysha said, turning to Davy, "I didn’t think you meant it literally." She glanced in disgust at the food covered dishes, "I thought we were actually having lunch."

"We are," Davy answered, "It’s just that it’s going to take a little longer to pay it off." He grinned at her.

"This is great," Mandy complained from beside Alysha, "We could have stayed at home and cleaned our own dishes. Instead, we’re cleaning someone else’s." She looked closely at the plate, "What kind of food does this place serve anyway?"

"Don’t know," Davy replied, "This is our first time here."

"I don’t even want to know," Mandy said, holding the plate away from her and wiping it quickly. Suddenly, a huge splash was heard and Mandy, Davy, and Alysha were drenched. They turned to find Micky on the floor, holding a stack of plates, a large puddle of water at his feet.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly, "They should put up caution, wet signs or something."

"I think that’s implied," Alysha told him, glancing at her water-drenched clothes, "Luckily, we only have a few dishes left." Mike and Peter were on the other side of the room, along with Stephanie and Sara. The four of them were watching the others with amused expressions. Micky stood and placed the plates in a clean pile.

"Are we done yet," Mandy asked, "I don’t know about you, but I’m not looking forward to spending hours in clothes soaked with dish water."

"Almost," Mike answered, "We still have a few left." Minutes later, the eight were done and they walked back into the diner.

"What happened to you," the manager asked, looking at Davy, Alysha and Mandy.

"He did," Mandy said accusingly, pointing at Micky, "Can we go now? The dishes are all done."

"Go," the manager told them, "And next time you want to eat here, bring money with you." The group agreed immediately and walked outside. They walked down the street, Davy and Alysha hiding in the middle of the group. Mandy tried her best to hide, but found it harder to do since she was taller.

"Finally," Alysha said, "I knew there was an advantage to being short. You can blend into any crowd. And you teased me about it too."

"I can tell you one thing," Mandy said in reply, "I wish I was short right now. This is so embarrassing. People are staring." Sure enough, it was the truth. Seeing eight teenagers walking down the street, three of them soaked, wasn’t something she looked forward to. Davy and Alysha hid in the group again. Mandy turned to glare at Micky, "This is all your fault."

"Come on," he protested, "You do realize who you’re talking to right?" Mandy seemed to realize that he was right, "Forgive me?"

"Okay," Mandy agreed, "It wasn’t your fault anyway. I just realized who I was talking to. You’re right." Micky tried to look angry at her remark, but failed to do so. The others laughed at the expression of anger and laughter on his face. Mandy didn’t even seem to mind that she was soaked anymore as they began to enjoy themselves.

"How about we go swimming when we get back," Micky suggested, "I don’t think you girls have been to the beach yet have you?"

"If you don’t mind," Alysha said, "I don’t feel in the mood to be soaked again today. Maybe later though?" The guys reluctantly agreed.

The girls finally reached their beach house and gratefully walked inside after promising the guys to come over to hear them practice. Mandy and Alysha changed quickly. Then the girls ran over to the guys’ place, which didn’t take long at all, considering that they lived next door. Mike was scanning the newspaper when they arrived, apparently looking for gigs. Micky was reading over his shoulder.

"Hey, a contest," Micky suddenly exclaimed and grabbed the paper from Mike, "Band Contest held by KWIX radio station. Sign up at the studio downtown for a chance at five hundred dollars." He looked at Mike, "Can we do that?"

"Five hundred dollars is a lot of money," Mike agreed, "and a contest might just be what we need. We stand a good chance of winning."

"Let’s sign up tomorrow," Davy said, "The studio is closed by now."

"We can enter too," Mandy said, "That way we could split the profits. We have a double chance at the prize."

"That’s a great idea," Mike said, "Got any songs ready?"

"We have a few," Mandy replied, "Alysha writes most of our songs so we have plenty." Davy, Micky, Peter and Mike walked onto their makeshift stage. The four girls watched them get set up and begin with ‘Saturday’s Child’ and a few of Alysha’s other favorites. When they were done, the girls left. That night, the four girls came up with a list of songs they could sing for the contest.

The next morning, the girls were still trying to wake up when the guys showed up. They got dressed as quickly as they could and walked downstairs to allow them in. It was soon agreed that they would all ride with the guys in the Monkeemobile. Soon, they arrived at the building, where they would sign up for the contest. The guys approached the guy first.

"We would like to sign up for the contest," Mike stated, "We’re the Monkees."

"Sorry fellas," the man said, "I can’t sign you up. This is a mixed contest." The others turned to look at Davy.

"No," Davy said, "There’s no way I’m dressing like a girl again. Remember what happened?"

"No girl, no contest," the guy, who’s nametag read ‘Jerry Blavat’ said. The guys turned around and walked back out. The girls turned to look at them from where they were talking quietly.

"You have to go," Mandy said, talking to Alysha, "You’re the only one who knows any of their songs." Alysha finally agreed.

"We heard the whole thing," Alysha explained, "and it’s obvious what we should do. We’ll give you one member of our group, if you’ll give us one of yours. Simple. The group volunteered me to go with you. Who’s joining us?"

The Monkees talked amongst themselves for a second, "Davy," they said in unison, "He can play guitar if you need him too and of course don’t forget the tambourine and maracas. Besides, you need someone short in your group still." Micky’s last comment resulted in Alysha punching him, not enough to hurt, but enough to get the message across.

"Okay, I didn’t mean it," Micky said, "Davy, how do you always end up with the strange ones?" He glanced over at Alysha, "Forget I even said that."

"Let’s go sign up," Alysha said, "It looks like you girls are going to have to figure out who’s going to sing my songs." The group walked back into the room.

"I thought I told you no girls, no contest," Jerry said, glancing up.

"But we do have a girl in our group," Micky said, "She’s right here."

"Miss Jones," Jerry said, "When did you get back?" Micky and Mike signaled her to go with it, "Boys, I’m not falling for this trick again."

"You must have me confused with someone else," Alysha said, "I’m Miss Alysha Davis. It’s nice to meet you Mr. Blavat."

"Yes, I can see that," Jerry said, "You are now signed up for the contest. I’ll be seeing you soon then Miss Davis." It was more of a statement than a question. Alysha forced herself to smile at him.

"Great," she said, "We’ll be here for the contest." The four walked back out to the others, "All right, we’re signed up."

"I have the perfect outfit for you," Davy said as he and the girls went in to enter. Alysha groaned, knowing full well about the one episode when Davy had to dress like a girl.

"Here it is," Davy announced, handing out the dress. It was covered in colorful stripes with a yellow scarf around the neck. A wig was on the top of the hanger, "I’ll be glad to get rid of this thing."

Alysha handed the wig back, "I don’t think I’ll be needing this." She glanced over at him, "And I won’t even ask why you have it." Davy looked grateful to not reveal this one secret, "Oh, and good luck working with my band. I wish we could work together, but we’ll be seeing more of each other at our places."

She turned and left the room, knowing that the guys wanted her to rehearse with them before the contest. They quickly handed her some lyric sheets, which she recognized all the names to. She glanced through them and placed them on the stand they had set before her. They started with the song ‘You Just May Be the One’ and then another called ‘For Pete’s Sake’. Last they did ‘Shades of Gray’ which Alysha knew Davy sang lead on.

"What are you going to do about Davy’s part," Alysha asked, "It won’t sound the same without him singing it, I’m pretty sure." She was holding out all hope that they’d give her a chance to sing lead on something.

"Why don’t you try it," Micky suggested, "I think you could pull it off. What about it guys?" Mike and Peter agreed automatically, "Let’s try it." Alysha glanced at the sheet one last time before they started.

Davy walked out when he heard the unfamiliar voice singing his song, and stopped when he saw Alysha singing lead. Micky, Peter, and Mike were staring at her in surprise. She couldn’t blame them, she had just gone through the beginning without messing up. It was one of her favorites.

"I didn’t know you could sing that good," Davy replied after the shock had worn off, "I heard you sing your own songs before, but this is the first time you’ve even seen the words." Alysha looked around nervously. She didn’t want to lie, but no one wanted their secret to get out about them being from the future. There was a truth to it though, she hadn’t seen those words on that paper before. And it was the first time for her to sing it out loud for an audience.

"Should we do that song for the contest then," Alysha asked, "Or do you want to do one with one of you singing lead?"

"Let’s try that one," Mike said, "It’s a good song, good beat, good singing. And for once, the person onstage won’t try to run off." He looked meaningfully at Davy. Alysha laughed to herself. ‘Some Like It Lukewarm’ was one of her favorite episodes, next to ‘Success Story’, where she had first heard ‘Shades of Gray’.

"Can I go now," Alysha asked, "or you want to go all the way through the song?" The guys wanted to do the whole song through, this time with a larger audience. Soon Mandy, Stephanie, and Sara were over too. They started the song over.

When the song was over, Alysha’s friends were gazing at her in astonishment. Alysha never really liked to sing the slow songs, but this was better than they expected.