A/N: This is actually a response to pyrolyn-776's Lyric Challenge. I actually like how this turned out. This is the first of a few that I did. It's a Tess introspective (my favorite thing for this category). Also, please vote in the poll on my profile. Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! –Mac

Disclaimer: I don't own Camp Rock.

#2: "She swallows all her tears and soothes her mind with lies."

Lying Makes Her World Go Round

Everything is going to be okay. Just breathe, breathe. You can do this. You can make it through this. It's difficult, but you've never been one to back down from a challenge. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Everything is going to be okay. Just breathe, breathe…

That is the speech that was running on loop through Tess Tyler's head. It was the only thing that had kept her from the brink of a nervous breakdown since she had left Camp Rock. It was going to be the first time she was really alone in a long time—a feeling worsened by the fact that she knew she could be longer truly depend on her mother to be there for her.

In the short time following the Final Jam, Tess had made amends and found herself a circle of friends. As she recounted her experience on stage and how she had felt about what happened with her mother even Mitchie—who, honestly, was utterly distracted by her blooming romance with Shane—had offered Tess comforting advice. It was the first time Tess felt comfortable being a part of the crowd, instead of leading it. She had created a bond with real friends.

But they weren't there now.

Tess was enroute to her luxurious, but empty, home sans her mother. TJ Tyler was jetting off to Tess-didn't-know-where for Tess-didn't-know-how-long. Tess could already feel the loneliness creeping in. She was afraid to feel so alone, but fear had no place in Tess Tyler's "perfect" life. So she swallowed it down and repeated her little speech back to herself again:

Everything is going to be okay (lie). Just breathe, breathe (can'tbreathedrowning). You can do this (lie). You can make it through this (no can't, too hard). It's difficult, but you've never been one to back down from a challenge (backdownnotworthit). What doesn't kill you makes you stronger (this is killing you). Everything is going to be okay (lieslieslies stop lying). Just breathe, breathe…(can'tcan'tcan't)

Maybe it was all a lie, but if it got her thought the day, Tess was just fine with that.