Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Camp Rock.

--

She stood in front of the floor length mirror, dispassionately checking her appearance. Dressed in skinny jeans and a simple t-shirt with several long necklaces the slender girl looked effortlessly stylish. Despite the fact that she didn't have even a hint of make up on her face she was gorgeous. Judging by the expression on her face, however, it didn't seem like this mattered to her in the least. Shrugging her shoulders slightly, she turned around, tossing straight brown hair over her shoulder as she did so. "Mitchie, sweetie, are you almost ready? We have a long drive ahead of us."

Mitchie Torres smiled ruefully as she turned around to face her mother, "Yeah Mom, I'm almost done. Let me just look around and make sure I didn't forget anything."

As her mother closed the door quietly, Mitchie walked to her night stand and grabbed her cell phone, sticking it into her pocket. Giving the room a cursory glance she froze when she noticed the bit of yellow poking out from under her mattress. Mitchie bit her lip before straightening her back, erasing any hint of the shock and vulnerability that she'd displayed just seconds before, and walked over to pull the yellow book from under her mattress, folding it and tucking it into her back pocket, as she used to do. Standing at the doorway she looked over the room she'd lived in for practically her whole life and slowly turned around and closed the door. She paused and pulled the yellow book out of her pocket, barely giving it a glance before putting it into her purse and walking down the stairs.

--

"We're here, Mitchie! What do you think? Are you excited?"

Plastering on a fake smile for her parents Mitchie nodded, saying, "Yeah, of course! I can't wait to get started… It's so weird to think that I'm actually going to college. It seems like just yesterday that I…"

Her voice trailed off and she pretended not to notice when her parents looked at each other, worry clear on their faces. Injecting some more energy in her words she said brightly, "Well we better get started! I think we all know that I have a lot of stuff that needs to be moved in."

Her parents gave her skeptical looks but, thankfully, decided not to say anything. Mitchie let out a sigh of relief and grabbed one of the boxes stacked in the van. As she ducked to get out of the door she bumped into someone, causing her to gasp and immediately apologize, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry I wasn't looking. I just couldn't really see over the edge of the box."

When the person she bumped into laughed she started to sigh in relief until she realized how familiar the laugh was. Her eyes widened when the voice clinched it, "Don't worry about it! I'm totally fine, I shouldn't have been standing so close to an open door. I was just trying to take in the whole effect of Berklee and I wasn't paying attention. And I should really shut up. I'm…"

Mitchie finally got over her surprise and said the girl's name softly. "Caitlyn."

Caitlyn paused, looking confused. She dropped the hand she was holding out for Mitchie to shake. "Uhmm yeah. Caitlyn Gellar. How did you… Mitchie Torres?! Oh my god… Is it really you? I haven't talked to you in forever, much less seen you! How have you been? Wait… are you going to Berklee too??"

Mitchie smiled, getting caught up in Caitlyn's enthusiasm. A bright, genuine smile lit up her whole face. Her parents, who were standing off to the side during the whole exchange, looked at each other, identical smiles on their faces. It had been years since Mitchie had smiled like that. "I should've guessed that you would be here at Berklee too! Wow this is so cool! This better mean that we'll be hanging out. I can't believe we didn't keep in touch better."

Caitlyn laughed and nodded, "Same here! I kept meaning to call but then I'd forget or I'd get busy. I promise not to let that happen again though! Especially since we're going to be so close to each other. God. I'm so glad you're here too Mitchie! I'll have to admit I was a little scared to be going off to college all by myself. It's nice to have a friend."

"I know what you mean. I was panicking a little too. So where are you staying?"

Caitlyn looked down at the slip of paper she was holding in her hand and rattled off a dorm name and a room number. Mitchie stared at her, "You've got to be kidding me."

She put the boxes down and pulled a folded paper out of her pocket, handing it to Caitlyn. Caitlyn unfolded it, a confused expression on her face. Mitchie laughed when Caitlyn's jaw dropped as she read the paper. "You're my room mate?!"

--

"Okay sweetie, that's the last of your stuff."

Connie Torres set the last of the boxes on the floor. Straightening her back, she stepped back and took a long look around the room, her eyes settling on the bare mattress. Unwilling to leave her daughter yet, she walked over to the suitcase resting next to the bed and opened it quickly, pulling the sheets out. She stood up and smiled ruefully when she saw Mitchie suppressing a smile. She rolled her eyes and said, "I know, I know. Mother hen. Last thing, I promise."

Mitchie smiled but didn't say anything else, simply walking over to the bed to help her mother. Connie sighed when the task was done, turning to face Mitchie. "Alright then… I guess that's it? We should get going… It's a long drive home."

Mitchie stepped closer to her mother and hugged her tightly, closing her eyes and breathing in the familiar scent of her mother's perfume mixed with whatever spices she had used that day and, of course, the slightest hint of smoke from the grill. Finally she stepped back and launched herself at her dad, hugging him just as fiercely, blinking back tears when he kissed her gently on the top of her head.

When she got back to the room after walking her parents to the car, she found Caitlyn sitting cross-legged on her own bed, looking through one of the brochures that had been left on their desks. Caitlyn looked up when she walked in, a smile on her face, "Hey Mitchie! Have you read all of these?"

Mitchie shook her head, "Nahh. I haven't really had time yet I guess. I mean I did some research before I applied but I didn't really look at all the details. Why?"

Caitlyn patted the spot next to her, saying, "There are some pretty cool things that I didn't know about!"

Mitchie kicked her sandals off and settled on the bed next to the excited girl, her voice holding a hint of laughter as she asked, "Really now. Like what?"

Caitlyn laughed, smiling at Mitchie, "Oh come on! I know you're excited about college too! At least a little bit right?"

Mitchie shrugged, saying casually, "A little…" Caitlyn shot her a disbelieving look, causing her to roll her eyes and grin, "Okay a lot! Alright Cait. Spill it! What got you so excited?"

"Well I mean… a lot of things! I was reading about the random lectures that we can go to on top of our classes. It seems like as far as their topic is concerned, anything goes as long as it's related to music! But I'm most excited about this… Did you read about how there's going to be concerts at the end of every semester?"

"You mean bands will come here and perform?"

Caitlyn shook her head, "No. Us students! I think everyone's required to perform at least once a year. There's a bunch of different concerts for each of the major groups of music and then the final day is a huge free for all concert. It's going to be so cool! Like Final Jam all over…"

Her voice trailed off as she realized what she'd just said. She cast a worried glance at Mitchie, frowning when Mitchie closed her eyes, trying to mask the pain that was written all over her face. The memory, and the pain that came with it, would always be fresh in her mind. Caitlyn bit her lip, berating herself for bringing the subject up. It was a night she had never forgotten either.

--

"Cait… even if we can't perform in Final Jam, we can still watch right?"

Caitlyn gave her a wry smile and shrugged, "Sure. Brown never said we couldn't. Do you really want to though?"

Mitchie laughed softly, "Of course. This summer was supposed to be all about music. Yeah it sucks that we can't perform, but that doesn't mean I like music any less! It'll be fun. You know you don't want to miss Tess and her lemmings, much less Lola, Barron and Sander."

Caitlyn smiled and nodded, "You're right. Let's go!"

Linking their arms together they ran over to the hall, slipping in right at the beginning of Hasta La Vista. They watched the performance, their smiles growing wider as the song progressed. Clapping and cheering at the end, Caitlyn looked at Mitchie and said laughingly, "Classic Barron and Sander."

Mitchie opened her mouth to reply but closed it when Brown started talking.

"And next up we have Tess Tyler!"

Mitchie caught Caitlyn's attention and rolled her eyes, causing the two of them to dissolve in suppressed laughter. When the first notes began coming out of the speakers, however, Mitchie froze, her eyes widening. Caitlyn, noticing her friend's reaction, stopped laughing as well and tilted her head, paying more attention to the music. She frowned but it wasn't until Tess began singing that her eyes widened.

I've always been the kind of girl that hid my face

So afraid to tell the world what I've got to say

If Caitlyn hadn't been so worried about Mitchie she would've laughed out loud. Tess Tyler, hiding her face? Tess Tyler, afraid to say what was on her mind? Seriously. As if. But the shock on Mitchie's face caused her to hold her tongue as she started pondering why Tess would steal Mitchie's song. It was when her gaze fell on the judging table, and saw the surprised look on Shane's face, that everything finally clicked into place. Mitchie was the 'Girl with the Voice.' And Tess… jealous, conniving Tess, had somehow figured that out, even though neither Shane nor Mitchie knew.

That was what the whole bracelet incident was about. Tess wanted to make sure that Mitchie wouldn't perform her song because then Shane would've known that the girl he was looking for the whole four weeks of camp was the girl he'd already started liking. And that would've meant that Tess would lose. So she'd gone a step further and decided to steal the song, hoping that she could fool Shane and replace Mitchie. Caitlyn glanced at Mitchie and winced when she saw the blank expression on her friend's face. "Can we get out of here?"

Caitlyn nodded and grabbed Mitchie by the elbow, carefully steering her out, but not before shooting another glance at Shane and wondering why the expression on his face was more confused than delighted.

--

"Mitchie! Our schedules are online!! What classes do you have?"

Caitlyn ran over to Mitchie, practically bouncing from excitement. Mitchie laughed at her enthusiasm, shaking her head slightly. "Actually I totally forgot that our schedules were being posted today. I haven't checked yet. Give me a second."

"How could you forget? We're going to be taking these classes for the next couple of months. How could you not want to check on them the second they went online?"

Mitchie just laughed, quickly logging into her account and clicking on 'Schedule.'

"Uhmmm… let's see. I have Essentials of Songwriting, Jazz/Rock Improvisation for Guitar, English and…"

Her voice trailed off as she looked at the small typed words, marveling over how five simple words could cause her such a panic. Caitlyn frowned, asking, "What? What else do you have?"

When Mitchie merely stared at the screen, Caitlyn leaned over and looked at the computer screen. "Advanced Technique of Voice Production. Wow! That's awesome. They must've seen how good you are to let you skip so many classes. I mean, I knew you were good enough but they might not… what's the matter?"

She trailed off when she noticed that her friend's reaction was not one of joy but one of panic. Mitchie looked up at Caitlyn and sighed. Finally she said, "I haven't sung for three years."

Caitlyn's jaw dropped and she asked incredulously, "Wait what?! Uhmmm don't take this the wrong way or anything but… why are you here?"

Mitchie laughed, a little bit of her panic dissolving. "I'm here for guitar and piano." She took a deep breath and continued, "I… didn't feel comfortable singing after Camp Rock. But I mean… there's no way I could give up music. So I focused on guitar and piano. I still compose, but don't write lyrics that often anymore. And when I do it's usually for a friend or something and I never sing them."

She shot Caitlyn a bright fake smile and shrugged a little. Caitlyn's lips tightened as she bit back her instinctive reply, instead saying softly, "Mitchie she's not worth it."

Mitchie smiled sadly, "I know but it's not just because of Tess, Cait. It was the whole summer."

She looked up slowly, not sure that she wouldn't fall apart if she saw the slightest hint of pity in Caitlyn. She needn't have worried. Caitlyn's expression was unfathomable as she started talking, "Mitchie you have one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard and it's not like I've been stuck in the middle of nowhere my whole life. You are really really good and it was stupid of you to let anything stop you from doing something you used to enjoy so much. Yes, what happened at that summer sucked for you, to put it plainly, but I can't believe that you would stop singing. And it's not even just the singing. I've only been around you a couple of days but I can already tell you've changed so much and I don't like the girl you are now. Get over yourself Mitchie. Stop letting yourself wallow in the past. Tess Tyler isn't worth it. Shane Gray isn't worth it either. Come find me when you're ready to be yourself again."

By the end, Caitlyn's contempt was clear, both in her eyes and in her voice. Casting Mitchie one more disdainful look, she spun around and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Mitchie stared at the closed door. What the hell had just happened?

--

A/N: Hope you guys enjoy this! I haven't written fan fiction in about a year… I've never stopped reading though, and recently got into CR. There're lots of wonderful CR stories around but I've been reading them so much I can't find too many more to read! Lol. So I decided to try and write something as well. Not that I'm saying this will be wonderful. I have to warn you that I'm going off to college so I don't know how often this will be updated. But I'll try my best! Please review and let me know what you think!