The Song Inside of Me

By Jeune Ecrivain

Rating: T

Summary: In this sequel to "I've Found You," which begins a few weeks after Mitchie's departure from Camp Rock, her and Shane's secret relationship continues to develop as she carves out a joint career with Connect Three.

Disclaimer: The movie Camp Rock and all related trademarks belong by rightful copyright to the Walt Disney Company. This story is written only for entertainment purposes out of respect for Disney's work. No profit is being made from it, nor is it the author's intention to do so.

A/N: Well, this is my attempt at a more thorough exploration of the aftermath of Camp Rock as I envision it (i.e. one with an actual plot instead of just fluff like "I've Found You"). As in my HSM story "Besar," a Spanish-language theme plays a part here (mainly as an excuse to showcase some of my song translations), but the focus will be on the ups and downs of Shane and Mitchie's relationship and how it progresses. I'm trying hard to come up with a decent lovers' spat for them to have later on just for the sake of realism, but rest assured that Shane and Mitchie will not only endure as a couple but grow from the experience. Also included will be original lyrics for a song that Shane and Mitchie write together. Read on, fellow Smitchie fans!

"Oh, this could work out very well!"

Shane Gray looked up at his bandmate Nate Black. The two were in the small yet cozy bedroom of their band's large tour bus traveling smoothly down a busy American highway the identity of which they neither knew nor cared to know. There was a bunk bed placed carefully against opposite maroon walls, and various photos and posters chronicling Connect Three's rise to fame covered the wall facing the door. Shane was lounging on the lower bunk of one bed while Nate sat with his legs dangling over the upper bunk of the other bed and a computer in his lap. "What are you onto now, Nate?" the lead singer asked, resisting the temptation to roll his eyes.

"I shrugged it off back at camp, 'cause you were acting like a lovesick fool, but you actually had a point about singing in Spanish! I did some looking around on the 'Net in the last hotel we were at, and I've been running some figures here. We've totally underestimated the Hispanic market! Do you realize that just a couple of Spanish songs on our next album could potentially open up a new fanbase?"

"Do you realize that, if you were a cartoon character, you'd have dollar signs in your eyes right now?" Shane retorted, half-amused by the eager look on his longtime friend's face. "Besides, wouldn't we have to hire a translator and get our accents up to par?"

"Yeah, you're right," Nate said as he began to ponder sarcastically. "Gee, if only one of us had a Hispanic girlfriend who'd probably be willing to work for kisses instead of money!"

Shane chuckled wryly. "Yeah, that'd be quite a phone call." He formed an imaginary cell phone with his hand. "'Hey, honey, we need some Spanish lyrics for our new song. If you make us sound really good, I'll throw in some extra tongue later on.'"

Nate fell backwards laughing. "Seriously, though, it can't hurt to ask and look into the possibility. You want to involve her in your career anyway, so this would just be another way to do it. If nothing else, it'll give you an excuse to spend more time with her."

Shane thought for a moment and decided that his longtime friend had presented a very compelling argument. He drew out his real cell phone from the pocket of his black jeans and dialed Mitchie Torres' phone number, feeling a familiar twinge of eagerness as he brought the receiver to his ear. After two rings, a distinct smile that was quickly becoming second-nature to him formed on his lips in response to the voice that so enchanted him. "Hey!" it said cheerily.

"Hey, beautiful!" he greeted. "What's happening?"

Miles away, in a moderately populated town near Sacramento, Mitchie sat cross-legged on her bed in with a guitar strewn across her lap and her cell phone in hand. A keyboard stood on a thick wire stand next to her bed, a laptop sat on the desk underneath a large window, and the mauve walls of her bedroom were decorated with Connect Three and other musical paraphernalia. "Nothing much," she replied. "It's just a lazy Saturday afternoon. I was playing around with some chords."

"If that 'playing around' turns into a new song, I expect you to let me hear it when it's finished."

"I promise," she reassured him with a slight chuckle. "So, how about you? Are you keeping yourself occupied on the road?"

"Well, Jason's birdwatching. I'm just lounging around, occasionally strumming my guitar or humming random songs to myself,…"

"Random? I think not!" Nate interrupted loudly as he moved from his perch atop the bunk to search for his back-up computer battery. "You still sing 'This Is Me' or the Spanish version of it to yourself more than anything besides maybe 'Gotta Find You'!"

"…and, as you can probably hear, Nate's being his usual pain in the butt!" Shane finished, glaring at his bandmate and blushing.

Mitchie laughed. "You sing it in Spanish too?"

"Yeah," her boyfriend admitted with a resigned sigh. "My accent probably stinks, though."

She giggled.

"What?" he asked suspiciously.

"Piece of advice, Shane," she replied. "If you're going to sing it in Spanish, replace ésta with éste, 'cause otherwise, you're kind of calling yourself a girl."

Nate, who had momentarily been close enough to hear her words, burst into a fit of laughter. Shane glared at him once more before replying dryly, "Great. I'll keep that in mind."

Mitchie chuckled again.

"Anyway, that's sort of why I'm calling. Nate heard me singing it and got the idea that we could widen our appeal to Hispanic fans if we sang a few of our songs in Spanish. He was wondering if you'd be willing to translate a few of them for us and maybe coach us on pronunciation," he explained, looking at Nate for confirmation, which the latter signaled with a vehement thumbs-up gesture.

"Oh, so now you want to exploit your new Hispanic girlfriend?" she teased, reveling slightly in the applicability of the term 'girlfriend' even after two weeks of officially being his.

Shane smirked. "Well, look at it this way: besides the two duets we hope to record, I have yet another excuse to get you involved in our music and therefore spend more time with you. That was actually the main selling point for me."

"Well, that is pretty tempting, I have to admit," Mitchie grinned. "Why don't you guys talk it over with Jason and maybe pick a couple songs you want to try doing in Spanish, and maybe I'll see what I can do."

"Sweet!" Shane concluded. "Thanks, Mitch. Now I won't have to deal with Nate nagging and scheming for the rest of the tour," he added, soliciting another giggle from her.

Nate rolled his eyes. "That hurt, dude," he said as he clutched his chest in mock pain.

Shane ignored him. "Anyway, I can't wait to see you in Sacramento! I swear, after this tour's up, I'm going to see if I can talk HotTunes into letting us stay close to home for about a year or at least six months. That way, I can come see you pretty much whenever I want for a good while."

She grinned warmly. "That'd be awesome! I like talking to you online and everything, but after a while, there's just no replacement for actually having you here with me."

"I know the feeling," he said with great sincerity. "I miss you."

Nate suddenly grabbed his throat and began feigning a life-or-death struggle. "Can't…breathe! Drowning…in…sap!"

Shane promptly grabbed his pillow and tossed it quite forcefully at Nate, hitting him squarely in the head.

"What was that?" asked Mitchie, having heard the sounds of his actions.

"Nate's just being a jerk," he smirked. "I think it's his turn to meet a girl and fall madly in love so he's inspired to be a better man."

Her cheeks flushed. Even though it was in jest, Shane had, in a way, admitted to being in love with her or at least believing he was headed that way. "Well," she recovered with a half-joke of her own, "I caught Caitlyn eyeing him a couple times. Perhaps a little match-making is in order!"

"Strangely enough, I caught Nate checking her out too a few times. Discretion is not exactly his forté."

"Checking who out?" Nate inquired, suddenly suspicious.

"Caitlyn," Shane mouthed teasingly before replying to Mitchie, "Hooking them up might not be a bad idea, Mitch. Nathan here could use someone to soften him up." He smirked at his now apprehensive bandmate, amused at having turned the proverbial tables on him.

Nate was about to retort when a cry of "We're here!" from Connect Three's manager Dick Steinner rang out from the front of the bus. The former immediately began gathering up instruments and other necessary items.

"Well, Mitchie, Dick just announced our arrival at our next concert, so I gotta go."

The rock star's girlfriend pouted. "Okay," she replied. "Call me again soon, alright?"

"No worries there," he answered. "And anytime you want to talk, don't you hesitate to call me either. The only time I won't answer is when I'm performing."

"Cool," she replied with a warm smile. "Have a nice concert, and don't get squashed by stampeding fangirls."

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" Shane smirked again.

"Jerk!" Mitchie retorted.

He grinned, and his voice softened. "But I'm your jerk, and only yours."

"Let's go, Romeo!" Nate shouted with an impatient roll of his eyes.

"Fine!" grunted the lead singer. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"I'm looking forward to it!"

"Good." Shane smiled and paused for a moment before saying a simple "Bye," fondness coloring his tone.

"Bye," Mitchie echoed with a small smile before finally hanging up. She moved to resume her musical experimentation, but was cut short by a knock at her bedroom door. "Come in," she called. The door swung open in a split second and in rushed a petite, bespectacled girl with long, bushy blonde hair in a pair of jeans and a striped pullover. The squeal that accompanied her entrance was promptly joined by Mitchie's own high-pitched exclamation. "Oh, my God! Sierra!"

The two teenage girls embraced each other. "I missed you so much, Mitchie! You have to tell me everything!" Sierra pulled away but didn't pause her ranting, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Your mom told me that you ended up going to Camp Rock after all! I'm so happy for you! What was it like? Did you sing? Did you get discovered like we both know you deserve to?"

Mitchie's grin blended excitement and amusement. "One question at a time, Sierra!" she giggled at her friend's albeit understandable giddiness. "You might want to sit down, 'cause I have quite a story to tell!"

"Oh, if you want me to calm down, saying something like that is so not the way to do it!" Sierra practically jumped onto Mitchie's bed, grinning broadly and urging her with her eyes to begin her tale. Mitchie giggled once more and promptly began recounting the dramatic events of Camp Rock's summer 2008 session, pacing mildly in front of Sierra as she recalled the emotions associated with each key event and milestone. She strategically omitted the identity of the primary male figure in her story and his band as well as the nature of her current relationship with him, temporarily leading her friend to believe he was just an attractive boy who was a member of an aspiring musical group with whom she had formed a close, friendly bond. As she finished retelling it all, she was once again struck with a sense of wonder at all that had transpired. Sierra, however, was completely awestruck. Her mouth had been gaping open since roughly two-thirds into Mitchie's monologue, and her eyes had apparently grown in size throughout until they looked like dinner plates. Finally, as if to signal that her tale was complete, Mitchie quietly claimed a seat next to Sierra.

"Wow!" Sierra breathed. "That's…surreal! Completely amazing! You really tried to convince everyone that your mom was the president of HotTunes' Chinese division?"

The brunette responded with a sheepish, embarrassed half-smile. "Yep. I had a good thing going for a while, too, but then Tess found out, and it all came crashing down on me." She paused bemusedly. "I don't regret it though. I learned a lot from that one, huge mistake."

Sierra shook her head in awe. "This is unbelievable! It's like something out of Mean Girls, Mitch!"

Mitchie laughed out loud at her friend's comparison and nodded, realizing that, in many ways, she was right. "You could say that, yeah."

"Too bad you didn't win Final Jam, though. It was so cool how you found that loophole and how Brown secretly gave you that loophole on purpose! Kudos to him for seeing that you would never really steal anything!"

"Yeah, Brown's a cool guy. In fact, he's the uncle of that guy I told you about that I made friends with and who spent the whole summer looking for what turned out to be my voice!"

"Oh, yeah! That was so romantic, especially the duet you guys did at the end! So spontaneous! By the way, what was his name? You never did tell me."

Mitchie smiled impishly. She knew that wouldn't have escaped Sierra's notice for long. "Well, I have a confession to make. I left out the details about him on purpose."

The blonde looked quizzical. "Why?"

"I guess…I didn't want it to overshadow everything else that happened."

Sierra shook her head in confusion. "How could this guy's name overshadow the amazing story you just told me?"

"I'm going to tell you," the brunette began tentatively, "but you have to promise you'll keep it a secret, no matter how tempted you might be to shout it out to the whole neighborhood. For one thing, I don't think anyone would believe either one of us. Even you probably won't believe me at first."

"Oh, my God! You're driving me insane here, Michelle Demetria Torres!" her bespectacled friend said, eyes wide with anticipation. "Seriously, what are you talking about? What was this guy's name? Tell me!" She clutched Mitchie's arm to emphasize her demand.

Mitchie beamed knowingly, and finally revealed slowly, "His name was Shane Joseph Gray."

Sierra blinked and, for a second, just looked at her longtime best friend blankly. Then, from out of her mouth escaped a squeal of epic proportions.

Mitchie covered her ears, half expecting every glass surface in her room to shatter. "Holy crud! Even by female standards, that was high! Are you sure you're not part Chipette or something?"

"Oh, my God! Like, O-M-G times a thousand! I'm going to berate myself later for acting like a crazed fangirl, but seriously! Shane Gray of Connect Three! Oh, my God! The rumors were true!"

It was Mitchie's turn to look puzzled. "What rumors?"

"It's been going around like wildfire that Shane was sent back to Camp Rock during his cooling-down time! I wasn't sure if I believed them until now!" Sierra explained, rising from the bed. "Scratch that! I'm still having a hard time believing that you not only met but actually became friends with Shane Gray! Are you sure you're not just making this up or imagining it?"

"I thought you might say something like that," the brunette said with a smug smile, opening and reaching into the drawer of her nightstand. "So…how did I get these?" She drew out and proudly held up the concert tickets and pass Shane had given her.

The blonde's jaw dropped. "Get out!" Rushing forward, she grabbed the precious slips of cardstock. "And a top-access backstage pass, too?! No effin' way! Your parents might have been able to afford the tickets if they were feeling enormously generous, but a backstage pass is just not possible!"

"It's completely possible if you're friends with Shane Gray!" Mitchie beamed, briefly indulging herself in good-natured smugness. "These didn't cost me or my parents a dime! Not one red cent! And on top of that, Shane offered to send you and one other friend a backstage pass if we send him all the info he needs! If you still don't believe me, you will when you come to the concert in Sacramento with me!"

In a daze, her bespectacled friend handed back the tickets and pass and began fanning herself. "Okay, I have to calm down and get used to this." She let out a huge sigh and reasserted a calm composure before reclaiming her seat next to the brunette. "This is just alot to take in. My best friend leaves over the summer for Camp Rock and comes back telling me that she's become a close enough friend of one of the hottest rock stars in America to get free tickets an backstage passes to his concert! I'm still not sure if I'm ready to believe it all, but at least you're really making me wonder! Why can't I have had your summer?"

Mitchie laughed. "Don't worry. We are so going to that concert in Sacramento! It'll be the experience of a lifetime, and I'll introduce you to Shane, Nate, and Jason! Once you get to know them, there's really nothing to be intimidated about. Behind all the glitz and glamour, Shane's just a nice guy who loves music, just like me. And I'm sure Nate and Jason are probably the same way."

Sierra shook her head in awe once again, which only reinforced her brunette friend's silent decision to not reveal that she and Shane had actually gone beyond friendship until the concert. "This is just…alot to swallow! I'm really happy for you, Mitchie, and I can't wait for the concert!" She bolted up and rushed to the door. "I'm going to go home right now and make sure my parents will let me go!" The blonde let out a squeal before clutching the doorknob. "I'll be back in a while, and then you and I have got to go to the mall or something to celebrate!"

Mitchie watched in amusement as her giddy friend exited her bedroom and closed the door behind her. With a contented smile, she slowly gripped her guitar and strummed the chords of a developing melody.