Summary: Shane Gray's third year at Camp Rock gets turned upside down when he starts crushing on his former best friend and band mate, Nate Black. Watch the drama unfold as Shane finds himself confessing his feelings to Nate and becoming friends with his ex-girlfriends worst enemy.
Mitchie and I hung out all summer long just talking and writing music. Near the end, though, that's when the romance took an unexpected turn. No longer was I able to write the sweet, acoustic songs or even talk to her. We were both trying to make conversation but all we'd say were a couple haphazard conjunctions here and there to try and fill the awkward gaps until one of us made up an excuse to leave.
"So…" Mitchie said, attempting to somehow permeate the silence.
"So…" I restated, unable to think of anything else.
We're both supposed to be asleep right now. Sneaking out before the morning bell used to be one of my favorite things to do with her. Each of us were never too close in a boyfriend/girlfriend kind of way but we had something going when we would lean on one another, sit on that old bench and watch the sunrise over the luminous water. It made me feel isolated and ever so slightly rebellious. But lately I've felt uncomfortable sitting hip to hip with her head resting on the front of my shoulder and there's no doubt that Mitchie has all the same feelings I do.
Both of us sit up and look into the other's eyes. I quietly stutter a little with nothing to say but cut it off with a sigh. We're about to do the thing I had been dying to do when we first met and now I don't even know anymore. But I had to find out.
I gradually lean in, as does she, and close my eyes. Our lips gently touch and I feel something. It's nothing but a diminutive spark in the pit of my stomach. When we first started cliquing, I got the same feeling and so much more. It was like it covered my skin and practically stabbed me in the chest… but in a good way. I want to feel that again but as much as I reach for it, nothing's there.
We pull apart and look at each other, discomfit. I open my mouth to speak but then she says the very thing I was about to. "We need to talk…"
I look down at my watch to check the time when realize the morning bell is going to wake up the whole camp in two minutes. Mitchie and I decide we'll talk later then run back to our cabins before we get caught outside. Still my pajamas, I sneak past Jason and Nate, my band mates to whom I share a cabin with, and lay down in my bed just in time to fake wake up at seven-o'clock.
A few seconds pass while I attempt to make up for the sleep I missed but give up once I grasp the fact that I can't do that on my agenda. I get up and casually walk over to my dresser and start to look for cloths.
"You look like you've been up for hours," Nate speaks, groggy and tired from just waking up.
"More like thirty minutes," I say with a smile knowing he's too sleepy to care what I'm talking about.
At breakfast I sit next to Tess so I can avoid talking to Mitchie. She doesn't like her because she's still a snob sometimes but she's not as bad as she was last summer.
"Why aren't you sitting next to Mitchie again?" Tess asks.
"It's complicated," I answer. It's not like we'd have to talk about our relationship while we're around all these other people, I just don't feel as comfortable with her ever since we became boyfriend and girlfriend. Things were so much better when we were just friends.
Although, I don't know what make the two situations so different from each other because the closes we've come to dating was the awkward kiss we shared this morning. We were best friends last year and we hung out all summer long but a little over a week ago, we saw each other for the first time in a year. Last summer I thought I was in love with Mitchie Torres… and I still thought so the first day back when we decided to take things to the next level. Only to find out that my 'love' was really just an admiration of our friendship. Now I've ruined it.
"Gotta go," I stand up.
"But you just got here," Tess asserts.
I throw away the food I didn't finish and grab my bag. "The band and I got a busy schedule. See you later," I start to walk away.
"Bye!"
As I arrive at rehearsals, Jason's working on some new chords with my uncle Brown while Nate watches. They finished just as I walk up and Brown calls up Nate and me to work on the new song too.
"Oh, I forgot my drum sticks back at the cabin," Nate remembers out loud, "I have to go back and get them."
"Don't worry about it," I stop him, "I'll get them for you."
"Thanks!" I hear him say while I'm walking back to the cabin.
While I'm searching through his things, I hear the door creek open behind me. I turn around to find Mitchie. Without thinking; I stand there and stare blankly at her, not realizing how rude I'm being.
She opens her mouth without saying anything but after a few more seconds of silence, she says; "I think you know what I'm here for."
Really, I'm just making an excuse to leave but I am being truthful when I say; "I need to get back to band rehearsals with the guys."
"Okay," she gradually walks towards me, "but I need to tell you something before you leave." She pauses and we both sit down on my bed behind us. "I really like you, Shane, and I want to be your girlfriend. I yearn for what we had just a couple days ago and hope we could still manage that the way we did but I don't want to be with someone pretending to love be back because they're too nice to reject me. I need an honest answer, Shane, when I ask you… Do you feel the same about me as I do about you?"
I sigh, "I don't know."
But she knows me too well. "I think you do."
I want to feel the same way, I want to be with Mitchie so everything can be easy again and I want to be entirely sure about what I want. But-as hard as it is to except it-being her 'boyfriend' isn't going to make anything easy again. And finally I realize my answer that won't actually answer anything but it's more important than my answers. It's the truth.
"No," I say.