Facing the Music

On the afternoon of a big week for her band, Jules Kendall is in the middle of rehearsal with her bandmates Gunner, Razz, and Dominick when her older sister Connie pulls into the driveway and orders her into the car. Jules assumes she is in trouble over an unfinished school report, and on the silent drive to Trickle Lake she jokingly guesses which object lesson Connie has planned for her. Instead, Connie drops her off at the shore and drives away, and Jules turns around to find a wonderful surprise: her boyfriend Buck Meltsner, visiting from out of town for a whole week. Buck has arranged a sunset picnic featuring all of Jules's favorite foods, from peanut butter crackers to mashed potatoes with orange juice, and the two agree that being together feels just like old times. He promises to be at the fair on Saturday, cheering loudly when her band performs the songs she helped write. When rain suddenly breaks up the picnic, Jules dashes off with the umbrella held over the food, declaring that sacrifices must be made to save the peanut butter crackers.

Back at home, Connie admits to her friend Jillian Marshall that she has mixed feelings about helping Buck plan the surprise, since she does not really want Jules in a relationship at all. Jillian points out that forbidding the romance would probably only make Buck more appealing, and that this way Connie at least knows where the two of them are. Jillian, a secret agent on vacation, has been keeping her skills sharp with a small local mystery: a rental car that spun out with Connie's friend Pamela inside turned out to have completely bald tires, even though the rental company insisted they were new. Digging deeper, Jillian discovers that one recent renter kept the car only a single day and drove just four miles, which makes her suspect someone rented it simply to swap its brand-new tires for worn-out ones. The license on file belongs to a young man named Chad Berry, so Jillian and Connie visit his house with a made-up story about a lost wallet. Chad, busy lifting weights in the garage, insists he has not rented a car in ages, though he admits his license went missing for a few days before his mom found it in the couch. He also mentions that he is house-sitting while his parents are away in Madagascar. Jillian believes his story, which means someone else used his license.

Meanwhile, at band practice, Jules makes an upsetting discovery. Razz's treasured "lucky" green water bottle turns out to hold what the band calls special water, with a little extra something added, and the other boys admit they drink it too. Jules tells them her dad is an alcoholic and that his drinking wrecked his marriage and his relationship with her. She refuses to join in, but she tells the band that what they do is up to them, and she asks them to make sure Buck never sees it. When Buck arrives to meet the band, Gunner corners him privately and tries to talk him into leaving, claiming his presence makes Jules nervous. When Buck refuses to go, Gunner finally snaps, "I don't think you're good enough for her." Buck guesses that Gunner has a crush on Jules, and the rehearsal goes on under a cloud. Afterward, Buck tells Jules he noticed a smell like alcohol in the garage, and Jules lies to his face, blaming empty bottles from Razz's uncle and insisting that no one in the band drinks.

Wanting to repay Buck for all his sweet gestures, Jules asks Connie and Jillian for help planning a surprise of her own, built around the things Buck loves most, especially giraffes and anything wrapped in bacon. Jillian, a former sous chef, prepares a picnic of bacon-wrapped goat cheese, dates, asparagus, olives, and even brownies. While they cook, Jules happens to mention that Razz has been living on takeout pizza ever since his parents left for Madagascar, and that his real name is Richard Berry. Jillian instantly connects the dots: Razz is Chad Berry's little brother, and he must have used his brother's missing license to rent the car and steal its new tires.

At the fair on Saturday, the band plays a strong show, but backstage the celebration is cut short when Officer Burke arrives and arrests Razz for theft, identity fraud, and reckless endangerment. As the officer approaches, Jules quietly kicks Razz's green water bottle under the couch. She postpones her special date so she can go to the station to support Razz, and Buck kindly offers to carry her things home. Earlier that evening, Connie has confided to Buck that Jules has been lying to her about homework, grades, and a parking ticket, and Buck accidentally reveals there was more than one ticket.

Later, Jules texts Buck to meet her at the zoo, where Jillian's contact has opened the giraffe exhibit after hours for the bacon-wrapped picnic. Buck is touched, but before they go in, he stops her. He saw her hide the water bottle, and after she left he opened it. "It wasn't water, Jules," he tells her, which means she knowingly lied to him about the band, just as she has been lying to Connie about school. Buck reminds her of the day he told her she was the one person he would always trust, especially after being deceived by Mr. Skint and lied to about his own parents. Jules tearfully promises to be honest from now on and begs him not to give up on them, but Buck says he would question everything she told him from that point forward. He tells her she is changing, lying to everyone and thinking only of herself, and that he cannot be in a relationship with someone he does not trust. Though he cares about her more than anyone, he says goodbye and walks away, leaving Jules calling after him in the dark.