Disclaimer: I don't own Camp Rock. And sorry for not thinking of a witty line for the disclaimer.

Why isn't he here yet? He's the one who asked me to meet him here. And here I am. I've been waiting nearly two hours for His Highness to show up, I'm cold, I'm hungry and he's still not here!

I should probably introduce myself, right? I'm Mitchie Torres, currently camper at the famous Camp Rock, but I'm just your average teenage girl who loves music. Normally, I'm a fairly patient person. Today, however, is a completely different matter. I'm supposed to be meeting him today, after days of not talking, and to say I am excited would be an understatement.

The 'him' in question? Rock star and teen sensation, Shane Gray. That's right. I'm waiting for Shane Gray to meet me at the docks so we can go for a canoe ride like he promised.

See the thing is, we were getting to be really good friends, before I had to go and mess things up. Let's not go into detail about all that…it's quite boring, I assure you. Anyway, we just managed to sort things out and I think a canoe ride was his way of letting me know that things were back to normal. At least that's how it would be if he ever got here. Clearly you can tell how much he cares about me – he still hasn't turned up!

Maybe I'm being a little harsh. After all, the campers are free to go and spend time with their friends as soon as Final Jam is over but the instructors have a meeting, which is probably where Shane is right now. He did tell me he wouldn't be free until seven…I checked my watch and immediately felt guilty. It was only quarter to seven and I had been yelling at him in my head for no reason.

I stopped pacing along the docks and sat down, sighing to myself. Why am I over-reacting so much? Surely I wouldn't be like this if I was waiting for Caitlyn? Shane was allowed to be on time – he wasn't as weird as someone like me, who felt the need to wait for him two hours before he was due to turn up.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. I didn't like Shane, did I? I burst out laughing as I went over those words in my head again. What a stupid idea! Shane was a good friend. That was it. I mean, sure he was a cute friend. And a sweet friend. And I got along with him fantastically well…but that was it. He was just a friend.

At once the word sounded bitter on my tongue. Friends. And that's when it hit me. I liked Shane Gray. As more than a friend. I groaned. How could I have let this happen? Just when we had sorted things out as well. I looked at my hands. They weren't shaking and I wasn't showing any sign of shock. Why? Why wasn't I the slightest bit surprised on discovering that I liked Shane? Was it possible that I already knew, but just hadn't wanted to accept it?

"Mitchie!" called a voice behind me, interrupting my thoughts.

I turned around to see Shane jogging towards me. I couldn't help the grin that made its way onto my face as I took in the sight of the 'rock star.'

"Canoes?" he asked, once he had caught up to where I was sitting.

"Let's go, rock star!" I said, using the hand he had held out to pull myself up.

To my surprise, he didn't let go of my hand as we made our way over to the canoes. I was confused. I didn't know what to do and I couldn't figure out what I wanted in terms of my relationship with Shane. Should I tell him or not?

"Why so quiet, Mitch?" he asked, cutting into my thoughts.

"No reason. Just…thinking, really," I replied, hoping I had sounded convincing.

"Okay. Come on, then!" he said, as he threw me a life jacket.

We pushed the canoe out slightly before we got in, and somehow, despite mine and Shane's appalling canoeing skills, we found ourselves in the middle of the lake. Once we had got there however, we began going in circles again. It was almost as if it was our thing.

"So… What are you thinking about? Must be me, right?" he asked, smirking at me.

I rolled my eyes. "No, actually, I was thinking about…Final Jam," I replied, hoping he hadn't noticed the brief pause.

"Yeah, you were really great, you know," he said, looking me straight in the eyes.

"I know! I mean, you sounded a little pitchy in places but that was OK, 'cause it made me sound better," I joked, unable to hide the grin that had worked its way onto my face.

Shane looked slightly surprised. Then he started laughing. I rolled my eyes again. I swear, the boy has the most infectious laugh I've ever heard and pretty soon, we were both laughing as though there was no tomorrow.

"Oh man, I'm going to miss this," he managed to say, once we had both stopped laughing like idiots.

I looked at him. "Miss what?"

"This…just you and me, messing about, I guess," he said slowly.

"Yeah…I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow. I'm really going to miss everyone," I said.

Shane didn't say anything in response. I had a feeling it was only just hitting him – that today was technically the last day of camp, and everyone would be leaving tomorrow.

"Hey, Mitch?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll still keep in touch, right?" he asked, and for the first time since I'd met him, he actually sounded nervous. "I mean, like, we could swap numbers and we could call each other and chat on the internet and we can maybe meet up every now and then, like when I've got time off, I could come – "

"Shane. You're rambling. Stop it." I cut him off mid sentence.

He looked sheepish. He had sounded really keen to keep in touch.

"Of course we're going to keep in touch. You can't get rid of me that easily!" I said, in an attempt to bring some humour into the conversation which was very easily slipping into the definite category of 'awkward.'

He seemed slightly more cheerful as I said this.

As for me, on the other hand, I was really confused. He had seemed so anxious that we should keep in contact and not lose touch. Did he really value my friendship that much? I found myself back at my unanswered question. Should I tell Shane that I liked him or not? Instantly I found myself answering. No. Shane and I had only just got back to being friends. I didn't want to risk telling him if it meant losing our friendship. The few days that he had stopped talking to me had been terrible and I had been a mess. I wasn't ready to go through that again.

I heard Shane laughing again. I frowned. "What's so funny, now?" I asked.

"You looked like you were having an argument with yourself. Did you win?" He asked, almost mockingly.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "None of your business, rock star. Although, I do have a question that you need to answer," I said.

He raised an eyebrow in response after choosing to ignore my immaturity.

"Is Nate single?"

I had to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing. I don't think I have ever seen anyone look as shocked as Shane did then.

"Nate?! Are you out of your mind, Mitch? I can't believe you like Nate! No way! You can't! I absolutely forbid it. You and my best friend? Never. Not in a million years. So you can get that thought out of your head right now," he finished.

I stared. I was annoyed beyond imagination. Did he just imply I wasn't good enough to date his best friend?

"Actually, rock star, I was asking for Caitlyn. But it's nice to know you think so highly of me," I said, lifting my oar up, ready to begin rowing back to the docks. Unfortunately, I'm not particularly lucky like that, so all I managed to do was turn the canoe a bit, but it was still nowhere near the docks. Seriously debating with myself whether or not it would be worth it to jump out and swim back to the docks, I was interrupted by Shane trying to get the oar out of my hand.

I glared. I couldn't believe him! I didn't want to be anywhere near him. I couldn't believe that less that less then fifteen minutes ago, I was thinking about how much I liked him.

He sighed. "Mitch, I swear I didn't mean it like that. Just hear me out, please."

Reluctantly I turned to look at him, waiting for him to explain.

"I didn't mean anything bad about you," he began. "I just wouldn't want you and Nate to get together. It's not that I don't think you're not good enough for him, or the other way around, but I just wouldn't want you to be with him. You are an amazing person, Mitch, and you deserve to be with someone who will really love and respect you. I'm not saying that Nate wouldn't, I just don't think I'm strong enough to be able to see you and Nate together," he finished, his eyes fixed on mine as they had been through his whole speech.

I let out a breath. "So, Caitlyn, huh? That could work," he looked away from me and attempted to sound cheerful.

"Why?" I asked

"Why, what? Why Nate and Caitlyn could work? Well, there's – "

"No. Why do you think you wouldn't be able to see me and Nate together?" I asked, as confidently as I could manage. On the inside, however, I was a nervous wreck. What had he meant?

"Because…I like you," he stated simply.

Oh man. That's what it feels like to have your breath taken away. Seriously. Cue fainting now. Did he actually just say what I think he said?

Before I could say anything, he started rambling…again.

"It's okay if you don't like me back like that, hey, you don't even have to like me as a friend. I mean, I know I wasn't very nice to you after Beach Jam, so why should you, right? But, even if you did, like me back I mean, I would still want to get to know you a bit more –"

"Shane, shut up."

"Okay."

I sighed, trying to make sense of the babble that he had just come out with.

"I like you too, Shane," I stated. His eyebrows shot up and for a second, he looked like a five year old kid on Christmas Day.

I almost didn't want to say the next couple of things. I thought he was right. We had only just repaired our friendship – was it really wise to try and jump into a relationship when our friendship was still recovering?

"But, I think you're right. I think we should get to know each other a bit more first, before jumping into anything."

He looked relieved that I felt the same way.

"So…what does this mean?" he asked me.

"I think we should carry on as friends for now and just wait and see what happens in the future," I said.

He looked at me and smiled. In that moment, I knew that we were doing the right thing. I mean sure, I had seen Shane smile before, but none of those smiles had actually held some meaning like this one did. One thing I knew for sure. Shane Gray was stuck with me for the foreseeable future.

"Friends," he confirmed. "For now, anyway," he added winking at me.

I smiled. For now, I thought to myself as we began to row back to the docks. Shane interrupted my thoughts once again.

"So, what's this about Nate and Caitlyn?"

I laughed, feeling for the first time in ages, truly content.

AN: For those of you that managed to make it to the end...Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!! I know this has been done before...this is just my take no the canoe ride. I'm going to be slightly annoying now. I would really appreciate feedback for this. It's only the second story I've ever written so any tips on how to improve my writing would be great! I don't mind if you hated it - just let me know why! Please?

Merry Christmas!