When it gets cold outside and you got nobody to love
You'll understand what I mean when I say
There's no way we're gonna give up
And like a little girl cries in the face of a monster that lives in her dreams
Is there anyone out there cause it's getting harder and harder to breathe

- Harder to Breathe, Maroon 5

Chapter 1: Renewals and Gifts

Mitchie POV

I ran through the streets of Oak Park, Illinois, carrying a plastic Wal-Mart bag filled with various items. I was so excited I felt as if my entire body would burst. I couldn't wait to tell Maggie!

It was early May, the time of year when the taste of summer is just on the tip of your tongue, taunting you as you wait for the horror of finals to end (and begin) and for summer to burst free. I had managed to drive the short drive down from my home in Little Village, Chicago, to my cousin Maggie's house in Oak Park, one of the suburbs. Granted, Maggie much prefers Chicago, but I still liked to poke fun at her for living in the suburban hellhole.

This past year, our junior year in high school (Maggie was born on October 5th, I was born on November 12th of the same year) had been a little hellish. I mean, I wouldn't have traded it for the world, but that didn't change the chaos that ensued for me. Maggie's year was completely normal and boring. Mine? Not so much. All thanks to a little thing called Camp Rock and a little person named Shane Grey, who just so happened to be my boyfriend. And, of course, an insanely famous pop star (though he preferred the term rock star.)

After the end of Final Jam last summer, Shane and I had gotten together and had our first kiss. Since then, things just sort of exploded. I saw my face on tabloids, I texted my boyfriend more than I saw him thanks to tours, and my song was almost famous, but I wouldn't trade it for the entire world.

Of course, now he was on a European tour for three months (from mid-April to mid-June.) Then he and his band, Connect 3, would come and instruct at Camp Rock for the summer. The rest of Connect 3, Nate and Jason, were incredibly sweet guys as well. It meant I never got to see him, and texts were less frequent. This sucked so much I was counting the seconds until Camp Rock started and I got to see him again. Shane was even so determined for me to go he insisted on paying for it for me himself, which meant my mom and I felt guilty and she had an unused discount for Camp Rock. This brings me back to why I was running to my cousin's.

Maggie is sort of an… amalgamation. Her mom, my aunt María and my mom's older sister, was actually born in Mexico unlike my mom, who was born after mis abuelos moved to America. Aunt María then married a French-Canadian man, Mon oncle Marquis. Maggie was fluent in both Spanish and French, had a French last name but had a mostly Mexican accent (when she was two to five she lived with mis abuelos down in Mexico while her father went off to Alberta, Canada to work. Although it had caused turmoil in their family, they came out stronger on the other side and now are financially stable.) Maggie also has the unpleasantness of having four older sisters, ranging from seven years older than her to seventeen years older. Since I have no siblings and we are practically twins, Maggie is a lot closer to me than any of her older sisters. She's also amazing at science, history and language arts, although sort of lacking in the math department. She also is an amazing piano player, awesome singer (although she thinks she's horrible) and a decent guitar player, although is a horrible driver (don't tell her that) and not so good at sports. I loved my cousin to death, and couldn't wait to tell her about my mom's idea. Since Maggie always wanted a summer to work on her musical productions and piano songs, my Mom thought that Aunt María could pay for half of the discount cost, which was like one forth of the usual cost, and Maggie and I could have our summer together. Not to mention the fact that Caitlyn and I had been looking for someone else to share our cabin.

Caitlyn, although she doesn't live in the Chicago-land area (New York, actually, in Brooklyn) kept in touch with me throughout the year, and we grew closer than ever. I also kept in touch with Lola, Peggy, Ella, Barron and Sander throughout the year. All of my Camp Rock friends, coupled with Sierra (who still stood by me all the way, although we just couldn't relate as much anymore) and Maggie, made me feel more loved than I had felt in a long time.

I rushed into Maggie's house without knocking. Her mother was shouting in Spanish up the steps.

"¡Margarita! ¡Te necesito ahora! ¡Necesitas limpiar tu dormitorio y necesitas terminar tus tareas!" My aunt turned around and jumped a little when she saw me, "Mitchie! Oh, I'm sorry, let me get Maggie," she turned back to the stairs, "¡MARGARITA! ¡ES MITCHIE!" I rolled my eyes a little as Maggie came rushing down the stairs. She, too, had long thick brown hair. She was also tall, with eyes that actually changed color. I grinned and hugged her.

"Guess… what!" I gasped.

Maggie raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"You can go to Camp Rock!" I breathed in excitement. Maggie looked at me like I was crazy.

"I have no money, Mitchie," she sighed, "Even if it were to drop down to half the price…"

"Shane is paying for me this year, so my Mom is offering to pay for half the discount that she has, which means you only have to pay one forth the price!" I grinned uncontrollably.

"Seriously?" Maggie sighed, "Mama!"

My Aunt came over, "Yes?"

"Can you pay one forth of the price of Camp Rock?" she sounded dejected. I was a little confused.

"Well, of course, niña," Aunt María smiled, "Thank you, Mitchie, you girls will have fun this summer."

"Yeah," Maggie sighed. I pulled her over up to her room and shut the door.

"Don't you want to go?" I asked, "I mean, I wouldn't give my discount to anyone else…"

Maggie shrugged, "I dunno. I was going to work at the Field Museum this summer, get some extra cash for when college rolls around…"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "Look. This is the last summer you or I can go to Camp Rock unless we're invited back as counselors. I'm most definetly going, and I really want you to come to. You can work on your music without distractions! Please?" I begged. Maggie smiled.

"Fine, fine, anything for you," Maggie laughed, "Who knows. Maybe I can get over Ed…"

Ed was her ex-boyfriend, an abusing bastard that didn't deserve her at all, but I kept a tactful silence of that fact until she broke up with him a month ago.

"Yeah, I bet I could hook you up with someone," I grinned. Maggie rolled her eyes.

"You know as well as I that it takes me a long time to let someone in like that, especially a boy. I'm coming, okay? Geesh. It will be fun," Maggie laughed, "I will get loads work done on my song, I'll get to meet this Caitlyn you're always talking about and maybe work on my dancing skills."

"Sweet," I grinned, "Do you want to make outfits for Final Jam?"

"What?" Maggie demanded.

"Final Jam, the big performance at the end. Everyone does it, and everyone looks so fabulous. I learned the hard way last year that our usual outfits aren't going to cut it, especially at Final Jam. Let's glam some of this stuff up," I laughed, digging through her closet.

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Maggie rushed forward, forcefully shoving me out of her closet, "You will not go anywhere near my clothes!"

I laughed, "Come on. I brought an outfit for myself and my Bejewler," I pointed to my plastic Wal-Mart bag, "We're going to make outfits for Final Jam that match."

"You know that I would rather kiss the devil than sing on that stage," Maggie sighed.

"You can play piano, it's okay," I rolled my eyes, "Please, Maggie?"

"Fine," she sighed, "Let me see what you brought."

I pulled out my favorite skinny jeans and an emerald green peasant top. Maggie nodded and rushed to her closet, pulling out dark blue jeans and an aqua peasant top. I grinned.

"Okay, so I'll make a whale design on yours and a crane design on mine," I laughed, taking her jeans from her hands. Maggie rolled her eyes.

"Since when are you as obsessed with cranes as I am with whales?" Maggie laughed, "I thought giraffes were your thing."

"Since giraffes can't fit nicely onto jeans and I met Jason," I sighed, "The King Bird Obsessee." Maggie rolled her eyes and drew a design for me for her jeans, and as I started on that drew a design for my jeans. These outfits would be awesome.

Maggie suddenly looked up and smirked at me, "So how's dear old Shaney micShane?" she laughed, wiggling her eyebrows. I blushed.

"W-well… I mean…" Maggie laughed again.

"Dude, I'm just messing wit' chu. But please, you haven't told me, is he a good kisser? For serious," Maggie giggled.

I blushed and giggled along with her, "Of course. The best kisser in the history of the universe."

"Sweet," Maggie nodded, "Like no one could have guessed…"

I threw a particularly large rhinestone at her. She ducked and stuck her tongue out at me.

"What? He has that awesome hair," Maggie wiggled her eyebrows, "The only one who beats him is the guy who played Prince Caspian, Ben Barns."

"You and your long dark haired boys," I rolled my eyes, "No wonder you like Harry Potter so much."

She picked up the rhinestone I had just thrown and chucked it back at me. I laughed and rolled my eyes after ducking, going back to her jeans.

"But I can't stand blonde-haired boys, at least as crushes go," Maggie sighed, "They just seem so pretty-boy typed."

"Well, I can't stand redheads," I shrugged.

"No wonder you can't stand the Weasleys," Maggie stuck out her tongue. I rolled my eyes.

"But hey, what's wrong with curly-haired guys?" I laughed.

"Nothing," she shrugged, "I just prefer straight hair. But hey, how did we get on this topic?" Maggie raised an eyebrow. This happened with us a lot; we would get on some random subject and then forget how we got there.

"I think we were talking about Shane… possibly," I giggled. Maggie sighed and rolled her eyes again.

"I'm going to go study, finals are still happening, you know," she moved across her room to her desk. I rolled my eyes.

"You and your academics," I sighed.

"You and your music!" she giggled. We both giggled together before turning back to our work, completely silent yet still amused and occupied.

She was, after all, practically my twin.

CampRock

Nate POV

I looked around the jet, my eyes lost in the surroundings. We had another week left on our European tour, and then we were off to Camp Rock to instruct. I was teaching singing classes and Brown said I might have to occasionally fill in on guitar. I was looking forward to the experience; it would be good PR and a chance to relax. Jason would finally get his birdhouse, Shane would get his head out of the clouds from missing Mitchie because Mitchie would be there, I would get to clear my head from all the chaos, and it would be good.

Shane was currently working on another song, which normally I would be excited about but currently was dreading. All his songs lately were sappy love songs or even sappier I-miss-you songs. As much as these were successes on the charts, they were extremely tedious when you only came out with them. Jason was reading a book, which would seem like a surprise and normally was, except it was a book on birds. This wasn't so much of a surprise.

Shane suddenly stopped writing and whipped out his phone, smiled, and started texting. I sighed, instinctively knowing that it was Mitchie on the other end due to Shane's wide grin and extra speed in his thumb movements.

Don't get me wrong, I love Mitchie. She helped Shane rediscover himself, we've come out with some really good songs having to do with her, and Shane has been easier to live with because of her. Not to mention Mitchie herself was an awesome friend. But you shouldn't overdose on a person, no matter how you felt about them. (cough Shane cough)

"Hey Nate, guess what?" Shane called from his chair. I looked up from my reverie.

"What?" I answered, rolling my eyes and flipping on the TV.

"Mitchie's cousin Maggie is coming to Camp Rock!" he laughed.

I sighed, "And I would care… why?"

"Because apparently Maggie is you in female form," Shane rolled his eyes. I sighed. Shane had been trying to set me up since he had started dating Mitchie. I appreciated the effort, but I just was too ensconced in my music and career right now. I saw how Shane was distracted, for example. Jason looked up.

"Think she'll like birds?" he asked hopefully. Jason probably wasn't looking for love either, just wanted someone to talk to birds about.

Shane shrugged, "Mitchie hasn't told me much about her, just that she's talented, looks a bit like her and really smart and creative. Oh, and her driving skills are horrible, that she shouldn't be let out on the roads," Shane chuckled.

I raised an eyebrow, "How did that come up?"

"Mitchie called me after driving with her complaining about it," Shane chortled, "I believe the direct quote is, 'Shane, don't you EVER let me get back into that car again! I nearly DIED! Maggie should NOT be let on the road, I tell you, she's a hazard to everyone's health, especially my own!'" Shane continued to laugh. I rolled my eyes and turned off the TV. Shane continued to text Mitchie, and I relaxed back in my chair, excited for a summer that I knew I would never forget.