This is another product of me having nothing to do at work but write (I know, can you believe they pay me to just sit here and write Fanfiction ;-)). Enjoy it while it is here. It may or may not be as long as the last one (which was pretty effin' long) but it'll still be good, promise.
Also, since I forgot it last time --'
Disclaimer: I don't own Camp Rock or any of its associated characters; I only use them to further the imagination of all.
ooOOoo
Shane looked up at the building in front of him. It was old and dingy and the rooms in it he was sure were insanely small. Most freshman college dorms had the same things in common and he resigned himself to his fate. At least he was here. His band hadn't gotten any less popular over the years and he was afraid that his fame and his schedule would prevent him from going to college, something he'd wanted to do for as long as he could remember. Everything managed to work out though and he was here, studying at Penn State.
He hefted his bag onto his shoulder—the rest of his things had already been brought in by the move in crew that helped all freshmen into their rooms. He took the elevator up to the third floor.
"Three thirty-three, three thirty-three," he muttered to himself over and over, looking for his room assignment. Next to the stairs he saw his room number. Taking a breath he walked into the room, prepared to meet his new roommate. Imagine his surprise when it wasn't the "Josh Reynolds" that his rooming assignment paper had told him but someone else entirely.
"Mitchie? What are you doing in here?"
Mitchie dropped her things in surprise before turning around and coming face to face with the last person she ever expected to see, let alone in her dorm room.
"Shane? Why are you at Penn State? Why are you in my room?"
Shane looked down at his paper. It still said 333 but she wasn't his roommate and he couldn't see his things.
"I… thought that this was my room. Apparently not."
"Well, what's your room number?" she asked him.
"Three Thirty-three," he answered, his eyes roaming around her room. She pointed across the hall.
"That's your room. This is three thirty-two," she explained.
"Oh," was the only answer that he could muster. "So, how have you been?" he asked her. He wanted to ask her a million questions. Why had she left early two years ago at Camp Rock? Why did she never call him and ignore his calls when he tried? Why wouldn't she forgive him for what he'd done when he had forgiven her? Would she ever consider taking him back now even though so much time had passed? Despite all the questions, he voiced none of them.
"Fine, I guess. I didn't realize that you had decided to come here. I figured you'd be too busy for college," she said to him. The awkward moment continued to drag on but he couldn't stop talking to her.
"Nah, I've wanted to go to college my whole life. I wouldn't let some stupid career get in the way of that."
"You're not afraid of getting mobbed by the populous of Penn State?" she asked him, her left eyebrow raised elegantly.
"I'm pretty sure that I don't have to worry about that. I only hope that people have better things to do than constantly harass me." No sooner than the words came out of his mouth, Mitchie's roommate walked into the room.
"Hey, Mitchie, who's you're friend?" Before Mitchie could answer, she answered herself. "Oh my GOD, you're Shane Gray. Mitchie, Shane GRAY is talking to you," she all but squealed. Mitchie sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"Yeah, Jessie, this is Shane. Shane, this is my roommate Jessie," she introduced with a slight wave of her hand.
"You know him?" she asked, shocked.
"Yeah," Mitchie answered reluctantly. "We went to the same camp about two years ago."
"We're old friends," Shane answered Jessie, hoping that it was true. If it wasn't, well then he would have to change that. He looked over at Mitchie and the look that she gave him suggested that it wasn't entirely true in her eyes. "I better be getting to my own room but it was nice meeting you, Jessie. See you soon, Mitchie." He picked up his bag again and walked across the hall and into his own room. When the door was closed Jessie turned back to her roommate.
"Mitchie! Why were you so rude to him? That was Shane Gray!"
"Believe me, there is barely an acquaintance between me and him," she reassured her friend. Jessie scoffed.
"Right. And the fact that he's in love with you, we're just going to ignore that part," she answered sarcastically. For the second time that day Mitchie dropped her things.
"He's what?"
"You couldn't tell?" Jessie asked. "It's pretty obvious that you're pretty much the single most important thing to him. He barely talked to me, called you 'old friends' even though you glared at him and didn't take his eyes off you once. He didn't even stop talking to you even though the situation was awk-ward."
"I think you're reading too much into this," Mitchie responded, folding her clothes.
"Funny, I don't think you're reading into it enough."
ooOOoo
Shane couldn't believe his luck. All this time he had been trying to get her to talk to him, to at least acknowledge him and nothing. Now, just a few short months after he had given up completely she ends up living across the hall from him. Two years ago he had really screwed up. Instead of forgiving her for lying, instead of just letting it go, he held onto a grudge. He was just stupid. He realized too late that the reason that he was so mad she had lied was because he had fallen so far in love with her. Unfortunately for him, when she told him how much she cared for him, that she was falling in love with him, he answered her with malice and then went and kissed Tess in front of her, knowing it would hurt her. He had been unendingly stupid and immature about it. The last day of camp he went to her to try and apologize and to tell her how stupid he had been but she had already left two days earlier. He was sure she had left devastated.
He had tried to fix things. He had called, email, even tried the old fashioned way and wrote her a letter. Nothing worked. Nothing was ever returned to him (unless it was returned unopened like his letters were), nothing was ever answered. He finally had given up and resigned himself to the fact that the one person he ever really cared about, the one person he could ever see himself loving, wanted nothing to do with him.
The last thing that he expected was for her to be living across the hall from him at the college that he chose to go to. Since it was actually happening, he decided he wasn't going to let the opportunity pass him by. He had an entire year that they would be living in such close proximity and he planned to start winning her back tomorrow.
Satisfied with his plan, he set his bag on his bed and began unpacking his things.
ooOOoo
"Oh, God, you have got to be kidding me," Mitchie moaned when Shane walked up to her in class the next day. "I have a class with you?"
"Guess it's your lucky day," Shane answered with a smile.
"Or my worst nightmare," Mitchie contended. Shane sat next to her and she looked at him incredulously. "What are you doing?"
"Sitting down. Class starts in two minutes," he answered.
"No, I know that part. I meant why are you sitting next to me?" she clarified, though she had a feeling he knew exactly what she had meant.
"Because I know you and I just don't like sitting next to people that I don't know so it seemed like the most logical choice," he explained to her, smiling.
"You can't just-"
"Hey, Mitchie." Both parties looked up to see who was attached to the new voice. Shane didn't recognize him but clearly Mitchie did.
"Hey, Jake," she greeted the new stranger, easy smile coming across her face. Shane was jealous that this guy that she had probably just met was getting a smile like that while he was met with muted hatred. Seeing her two vastly different reactions made him realize how much he had really screwed things up and how far he had to go.
"Do you mind if I sit next to you?" Jake asked her with a poignant glance towards Shane.
"Not at all," she answered, moving her books off the seat next to her. She introduced the two guys as Jake sat down. "Jake, this is Shane, an old acquaintance that I found out lives across the hall from me. Shane, this is Jake. We met yesterday at the café." The boys nodded at each other, not wanting to really acknowledge the other. Jake and Mitchie started chit chatting like they were old friends while Shane and Mitchie barely said a word and they actually were old friends, despite her saying that they were old acquaintances.
"So, what do you have planned after class?" Jake asked Mitchie. Shane's eyes narrowed.
"We were planning to go to lunch," Shane answered before Mitchie could say anything. She looked at him stunned and it took a minute or two before she could recover.
"No," she interrupted before Shane had the chance to get another word out, "we actually weren't." She turned back to Jake. "Why do you ask?"
"I was hoping that you and I could get lunch together," Jake answered her, "but if you have other plans…"
"I don't. I promise," she answered and gave a quick look to Shane that said 'don't you dare say a word.' Shane sighed in resignation. The teacher came in seconds after and ceased all conversation. Shane was antsy through the whole class. Since it was the first day nothing really that important was going on and all he could think about was how to prevent Mitchie from going to lunch with that guy. Obviously saying they had plans hadn't been the way to go. He didn't even know why he had done it. All he knew was that he had to keep this Jake guy from going out with Mitchie and it just… came out. Class finally ended and Shane all but threw his books into his book bag.
"Ready to go?" Jake asked Mitchie as he threw his own bag over his shoulder.
"Yeah, let's go." She threw her laptop into her saddle bag and then turned around and looked at Shane. A frown deeply creased her face. "See you later, Shane."
"Yeah, bye, Mitchie." He nodded in her direction and watched her walk off with another guy.
'I don't care what it takes,' Shane thought to himself, 'but I'm never going to watch her walk off with another guy again.'
ooOOoo
"Shane Gray! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!"
Shane, who had been enjoying a nap between classes, fell out of bed when he heard the screeching from across the hall. He jumped up off the floor, whipped open his door and ran over to Mitchie's room.
"What the hell?" he yelled when he got there. Mitchie got right up in his face.
"Who the hell do you think you are? I like that guy, okay, liked him. But do you know what's going to happen now?" she asked him, her voice low and strained. Shane knew better than to answer that question, so he just stayed silent. "Nothing! Abso-fucking-lutely nothing because you decided you needed to be a jackass and run him off! He thinks that we dated and have unresolved issues. I swear to God, you do that again and I'm going to kick your ass into next Tuesday!" She paused for a moment in her rant, just now noticing that he was wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. He looked awfully comfortable in his relaxed jeans, bare feet and very in shape chest. She got mad all over again. "And next time put on a shirt! It's distracting when you're practically naked!" She slammed the door in his face before he could say a single thing to her. Shane smiled.
Oh sure, she was mad at him but there was also some very telling points of the conversation they just had. Well, conversation in the sense that she yelled and he kept his mouth shut. Him being without a shirt wouldn't have been distracting if it didn't have some sort of positive effect on her, something that made her feel something that she didn't want to feel. It let him hope that maybe there was some small glimmer of a hope that she might forgive him. He probably wouldn't ever pull that stunt again like he had pulled with Jake (though the idea of her beating him up was a little on the appealing side) now that he knew how mad it made her. She may like seeing him shirtless but fleeting lust was a far cry from the overpowering love that he felt for her.
Shane meandered back into his room, closed the door and plopped onto his bed. He was going to do something to make it up to her, something that would show her that he wasn't a complete tool. After thinking for a good five minutes he finally gave up. The more he thought about it, the less likely he was to think of something. Better to just let the idea come to him. With that idea in his head, he turned over, closed his eyes and resumed his nap.
ooOOoo
Mitchie slammed open her door, still furious with what Shane had pulled. She had really liked Jake and despite all her efforts she couldn't convince him otherwise. So when she saw the vase of her favorite flowers on her desk, she naturally thought that they were sent by Jake saying he believed her. She snatched the card out of the little plastic stick that held it in the bunch of yellow daisies and opened the envelope.
Mitchie,
Sorry.
Shane.
She groaned and let the card fall onto the desk. Stupid jerk. Why was he sending her flowers? She barely tolerated him and he thought that they were close enough to send her flowers? What a pretentious little jackass he was. Suddenly there was a knock on her door. She ripped it open and standing there was Shane looking way better than she thought was okay.
"Hey," he said shuffling his feet, his hands shoved into his jeans pockets. There were none of the smiles that usually graced his face. She decided that she didn't like his face so serious.
'No, I must stay mad at him,' she thought, determined not to let him off the hook.
"What do you want, Shane? Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" she accused.
"I'm sorry. Did you get the flowers?" he asked.
"Yeah, I got them. What I don't understand is why you sent them."
"Because I screwed things up for you and I really had no right." He shrugged. "I hurt you more than I ever wanted to and I know that flowers don't fix anything but I want you to know that I plan to," he explained, trying to get her to understand that he was sorry for everything.
"Don't you think that it's too little just a little too late? There was a reason I never called. There was a reason I didn't open your letters or keep your gifts or accept your invitations to come and see you when you were in town. Give it up. Just because we happen to be living in close proximity that doesn't mean that it's going to affect our relationship at all." Before he could respond she closed her door in his face.
How dare he think that he could just waltz right in and change everything! She wasn't lying when she said that there was a reason for all her actions. After Camp Rock she vowed that she would always protect her heart. She was never going to let any boy get to her like that again, certainly not a boy named Shane Gray.
ooOOoo
Shane stared at Mitchie, two rows behind her. He had tried sitting next to her but she had taken to either getting there later than him or sitting with someone on either side of her. In all three classes that they had together. He didn't know how to get her to trust him again. She wouldn't even consider a friendship with him and after that stunt with Jake; well he wasn't on her favorites list that was for sure. He had hoped that they flowers would've had at least a small effect but they didn't. If anything she was just madder at him.
The professor finally ended class and dismissed everyone. Shane started to head out when he noticed that the professor pulled Mitchie aside. He stayed right outside the door so he could listen but not be seen.
"You wanted to see me, Professor Judkins?"
"Mitchie, you really didn't do that well on your previous history test and I am worried that it's going to be a trend. I don't like seeing students fail, especially the ones that are actually trying."
"I'll just study harder next time. It's just the first test."
"Usually when someone fails the first test, they continue on a downward trend with their grades if they don't get some help. I suggest that you get some help."
"Ok, thanks, Professor Judkins." When Mitchie walked out the door she smacked right into Shane. He wrapped her arms around her to keep her from falling. She was soft and warm, just as he always imagined she would be. Too soon she shrugged him off and the angry look that seemed to grace her face when she was around him surfaced.
"What the hell are you doing? Were you eavesdropping?"
"I'm sorry. I was just… worried." He stayed silent looking at her, gauging her reaction before continuing. "Mitchie, do you want me to tutor you? I'm amazing at history and studying with someone usually helps more than studying by yourself."
"No, actually, I don't want your help. My sentiments haven't changed. I don't want to have anything to do with you." She started to walk off but Shane grabbed her arm and pulled her close.
"You need help. I want to help you and you can hate me all you like but the end result is still the same. Let me help you. I don't care if you want to hate me through the whole thing, you can hate me after but I'm not going to let you fail because you're stubborn."
"Fine," she sighed. "Meet me tomorrow night in the library."
"Why don't you just come by my room at eight instead of both of us dragging our butts out to the library which is about a twenty minutes walk across campus?"
"Fine," she conceded. "I'll see you tomorrow at eight then."
ooOOoo
Hair? Check. Clothes? It had only taken him about three hours to pick out an outfit that made him look amazing yet casual at the same time, but check. Cologne? He sniffed himself a little to make sure he hadn't over done it. Books? He looked over on the floor where his books were strewn. Check. Now all he needed was the girl. Two seconds later there was a knock at the door. He ran over then stopped right in front of it, composing himself. He didn't want to seem too eager and if he opened the door so soon after she knocked that's what it would come off as. After an adequate time, Shane opened the door and looked at the vision before him.
She had to be a Goddess because that was the only way someone could be so beautiful when they weren't even trying. Her hair was down, falling lightly around her shoulders. She wore jeans that hugged her hips enticingly and a low-cut tank top giving him just a hint of her chest but leaving the rest to his very vivid imagination. She had a messenger bag slung over her shoulder and she had an impatient look on her face.
"Hey," she said, breaking him from his what he was sure was a blatantly obviously stare.
"Hey," he answered her. They both stood there for a moment, awkward, not knowing what to say to each other. Finally Mitchie sighed.
"Look, let's just get this over with Ok?"
"Yeah, alright." He stood aside so that she could enter the room. She looked around and then turned back to him, a look of sarcasm on her face.
"Why is it so… clean? Does your roommate even exist?"
"Actually, I don't really know. He never showed up the first day so I'm assuming that he's not planning on attending. It's kinda nice having my own room I have to admit," he explained as they sat down on the floor, leaning again his bed.
"I bet. Some of us don't have that luxury."
"Not getting along with the roommate?" he asked.
"No, she's actually pretty cool. There are just times that I wish for my own room again. Or even for her to have her own room. There's not a lot of privacy when you're living with someone," she mumbled. Shane raised his eyebrow. "She has a boyfriend," Mitchie explained. "And they're not as quiet as they think."
Shane snorted, trying to hold back his laughter which earned him a smack from Mitchie. He shrugged, then leaned in close enough that she could feel his breath on her cheek.
"Maybe you can return the favor," he murmured to her. Mitchie shoved him away.
"Maybe we could actually start on some real homework and not molest me in your bedroom," she suggested. Shane just smiled at her in that way that she always seemed to be able to make him smile.
"Ok, but the offer still stands," he said and opened his book to chapter five.
ooOOoo
"Hey, Mitchie, wait up!" She didn't slow down and Shane had to run to catch up with her. "Hey, slow down."
She turned on him so fast he almost fell over when he was forced to stop so abruptly. She smacked him across the face, anger chiseled into every feature on her beautiful face.
"You piece of shit! You're such a jerk off! I needed help, HELP and all you did was flirt with me and talk to me and tried to do everything to win me over. You did everything but actually teach me the material. I can't believe that I trusted you to help me, to teach me! And now I have a D and if I don't get an A on my paper and my next test, I'm not going to pass. Because of you I might fail," she spat at him.
"Mitchie, I-"
"No," she interrupted, "Don't. You know that you never really tried to help. I thought that you at least gave a shit. I mean you go on and on about how you want to fix things and you do nothing but-"
Shane grabbed her, pulled her so she was pressed up against him and slammed his lips into her own. The kiss was rough and heated and had both of their fury put into it. She fought him at first, pushing against his chest to separate them. After a few seconds though, Shane felt her whole demeanor change and suddenly she was pressing herself closer, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and tangling her hands in his hair. They couldn't seem to get close enough. She jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and his arms supported her, making sure that she stayed as close as possible.
She tasted like vanilla and honeysuckle. Her lips were soft but in charge as he realized that she was now controlling this kiss even though he had started it. He felt her tongue slip past his lips, felt the velvet feel of it against his own. Someone's cat call finally caused them to realize that they were getting x-rated in the middle of campus. Mitchie finally broke the kiss and looked at him.
"Wow," he managed to breathe out.
"Oh, my, god…" She jumped out of his arms, grabbed her messenger bag that had fallen on the ground at some point during their make out session and ran as fast as she could away from him. Shane took a few steps after her before deciding to let her go. He knew where she lived and he figured she hadn't intended on giving herself over to the kiss, especially that fully. No, it was probably best to let her figure things out. It would also give him time to figure out his next move. When she came to her senses she was bound to be mad about the kiss, added to the anger about the test (which was actually not his fault. He did try and help her, the girl just was bad at retaining information she wasn't interested in) and it was going to take a lot of effort on his part to get her to just talk to him again.
Shane smiled to himself, licked his lips and enjoyed the taste of vanilla and honeysuckle.
ooOOoo
"What do you want?" Mitchie asked when, for the first time in weeks, Shane plopped down next to her in their history class. She didn't even look up from the paper that she was studying.
"What, I'm not allowed to sit next to a good friend?" he asked her, feigning a hurt expression.
"We're not good friends," she answered him as she flipped over the notebook page and continued to read her notes. Shane just smiled, knowing she didn't realize the window she had left open. He leaned in close, his lips almost touching her ear.
"You're right. You'd have to be much more than a friend to kiss me like you did the other day," he whispered. Mitchie's head snapped at and that ever-familiar look of anger was on her face. He could draw that face in his sleep by now.
"What the hell are you telling people?" Mitchie demanded.
"I'm not telling anyone anything. Though, I can't say I've had more than a few people ask after that performance on the Great Lawn the other day," he informed her and then before she could start yelling again added, "but I told them all to mind their own business!" He saw relax visibly in her seat and he tried to ignore the pronounced pain in his chest. He knew that she wasn't ecstatic about the idea of being with him but did the concept really repulse her that much? Suddenly Shane wasn't so confident about his abilities to win her over.
"That kiss the other day was… not what you think it was. Just a lot of things built up to stress me out and make me angry and your mouth happened to be the first outlet that all that frustration had. It didn't really mean anything," she answered, doodling on her paper. Shane felt that pain in his chest again only this time it hurt more. She couldn't really mean everything that she was saying to him, could she?
"Mitchie, please, don't-"
"Don't what?" she interrupted, looking him straight in the eyes. "Don't tell you how I feel? Don't tell you that I'm tired of you pursuing me? Don't tell you that you screwed up a long time ago so badly that it's simply not fixable? Two years you've been after me and I haven't once given you any sort of impression that I wanted you in my life. Just because you got one kiss don't start assuming that everything has changed between us. Nothing has changed, Shane, nothing."
Shane just sat there for a moment, stunned. He couldn't believe that she had just said that, had been so absolutely cruel about it. He wasn't sure he could move after an onslaught like that but if he didn't he wasn't sure he was going to be able to keep it together. He slowly nodded his head and then packed the few books he had taken out of his bag back in.
"You're right," he said softly. "You never asked for this and I should've given up when you told me the first time. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I've done and seem to continue to do to you." He stood up, swinging his bag onto his back. "I'll see you around I guess."
"Where are you going? Class starts in about two minutes," Mitchie said to him.
"I have a big paper due. I really need more time to work on it," he answered her and before she could respond, he walked out the door.
ooOOoo
Shane slammed the door to his room shut. He fists were clenched at his sides and his lips pulled into a tight line across his teeth. His arms were shaking as he tried to control his anger. Finally, it all spilled out. He screamed and turned around and punched his wall, putting a hole in it. He took off his book bag and threw it across the room, his books spilling all over and broke something but he didn't really care enough to find out what. He fell onto the floor, his back against the door. He pulled his knees to his chest and just sat there. He didn't know for how long, hours probably. When he finally looked up, he noticed that it was dark outside. The thing that broken was his laptop, the screen now cracked. That was going to be expensive to replace but it wasn't a big deal. It wasn't like he didn't have the money to get a new laptop, or even 100 laptops if that was his desire. He noticed something red everywhere and his hand ached like someone was closing a vise around it. He looked at his hand and noticed that it was covered in dried blood and misshaped. He realized that he had probably broken it putting it through the wall like that. He couldn't even bring himself to care that much.
Why keep going after her? Why bother when she had made it so painstakingly clear that she wanted nothing to do with him? He couldn't even hope for a friendship at this point. He was sure there were plenty of girls on campus plenty willing to date him and be with him. Why should he show preference to Mitchie?
'Because you love her, stupid," his subconscious told him. He ignored it. There was no point in loving her. She had made it clear that she wasn't going to love him at any point so why continually put himself through the pain of it all? No, the best idea was just to forget it and to move on. Everyone had a first love that they eventually get over and he was no different.
That decided, Shane stood up and opened his door and left to go to the hospital and get his hand fixed.
ooOOoo
So, I decided that I'm going to split this story into a couple of parts. This is not the end so don't worry. But the next part I think I'm going to do from Mitchie's point of view (since just about all of this one has been done from Shane's). Yay for playing w/POV! You should try it friends! (I once had a professor who made us read this story and make a mark every time the POV changes. It's more often than you would think). Anyways, the next installment will be out soon I suppose.