He just had to make it a little bit longer. He couldn't disappoint them, then they'd just leave. Everyone and everything always ditched him and he hated that.
"Jason? You ready?" Nate asks, knocking on the bathroom door. Their at Camp rock, campers are waiting for them to rock out.
"Yeah. You go, I'll catch up" he calls, straining to keep his voice normal.
Nate shrugs to Shane who is beside him. The two walk outside to the stage. A minute later Jason arrives. He avoids eye contact. All he has to do is play the guitar he knows.
It's not easy. He misses notes as his vision blurs. The cold water from the faucet didn't help much. Only distracted him for a couple songs.
They get to 'Play my Music' and he feels a coughing fit come up. Jason's knees buckle and the two boys hear Mitchie gasp.
Seconds later they see their friend fall.
"Jason!" Their voices clash with others as they rush to the unconscious singer. "He's burning up" Brown murmurs.
The boy is turned over and his condition finally kicks in.
"Jason probably has the flu, he never said anything to us" Shane said. He gives Nate a look.
"We gotta get him inside, he never should have been out here" Nate agrees. The guilt is registered on his face as well.
With the support of Brown, the two boys manage to carry Jason to Brown's cabin and lay him on Shane's bed.
Mitchie grabbed a washcloth and draped it over Jason's forehead. He groans slightly.
"Shows over?" he moans and Shane nods. "It is now" he says quietly.
Jason sighs. "Guys..." he starts and tries to sit up but both of his best friends stop him.
"Jason Michael Green, you are not moving" they tell him together. Jason nods and sees the hurt in their eyes.
"Please...don't hate me...I can't lose you...guys" he slurs. Mitchie had rushed off to the bathroom when he woke up and now put a thermometer in his mouth.
"Stay awake Jay" she instructs and a moment later grimaces. "103, Jason you should have said something, I'm really disappointed in you" she says and Jason grimaces.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to be a bother" he says and sits up to cough.
"Dude, your our big brother from another mother, we don't want you to be miserable" Shane says and Jason has to laugh.
"Thanks man, you guys mean a lot to me too" Jason agrees and the three singers smile fondly at one another.
"Shane is right, did you think we'd replace you because you were sick?" Nate asks. Jason doesn't answer, his smile droops and the boy is given the answer.
"Jay..." Mitchie coos.
"Happens...a lot...it's why I like...birdhouses...the birds then come back...people always...leave" Jason slurs his explanation.
"We won't leave you Jay" Nate promises and Jason nods. "Everyone...says that...broken promises...last goodbyes" Jason answers.
He turns away from them and lets his tears fall. He's failed them. They deserve someone better he knows.
The boys and Mitchie leave Jason to rest.
"Poor Jay, I never did hear how you three met? Was he always lonely?" Mitchie asks. Shane and Nate share a look.
"Might as well tell her Shane, not much else to do with Jay in bed" Nate says.
"Sit Mitchie" Shane instructs.
He takes her hands as she sits beside him. "Yeah, he was pretty lonely, always outside by his birdhouses, strumming a guitar" he begins.
Nate gives him a look. "Shane" he says and both sigh.
"When we met, Jason was cutting himself, it's been three years, we thought he grew out of it with all the fame" Nate explained.
"Guess not, he doesn't even want us to know he's sick Nate" shane adds. Both go quiet and Mitchie looks at the room with a great feel of pity.
"I won't let him go back to that depression, Jason is my brother too, being with you three has made me so happy" she says and both smile.
"It's decided then, operation save Jason is set" a new voice enters. Caitlyn sits beside the three listening in on the conversation.
"Lets let him sleep a little bit and then we bring him soup, no one is to leave him alone though" Mitchie said nodding to her best friend.
The four shake and Jason shakes his head still awake. They had left the door open and he listened to them.
"If only you took care of yourself better" he scolds himself. He couldn't let them waste their day on them he knows.
Jason continues to cry in his pillow. Why did he have to be born? he wonders.
