A/N: This is a teaser/prequel for a new series that's coming soon called "Come Awake". I wanted to show Brown some love because I feel like he's such an awesome character. The way he loves Camp Rock and the way he loves to teach kids about music is just too beautiful to not write something about it. This is based on Dia Frampton's song "The Broken Ones"! Happy reading!
angellwings
The Broken Ones
by angellwings
I can't help it,
I love the broken ones,
The ones who,
Need the most patching up.
Brown's favorite spot on Camp Rock's grounds was the Mess Hall. It was the only building that regularly housed all of his campers at once. Years of working with children and young adults had trained his eyes to spot things most adults would miss. The sheer number of his campers that were broken in some way, both figuratively and literally, never ceased to surprise him. Every year he could spot the ones who needed Camp Rock the most.
The first year his nephews attended he'd spotted a record number of campers that needed music the most. His nephews were on that list. True, their childhood was happy and normal, but all three of them had a drive and a need for something more. They were lost and restless and unsure of what they were looking for or how to find it. No one had really presented music as a possibility to them, but Brown knew. The moment Jason touched his first guitar Brown could see it and when Nate realized that there was more to music than just playing it he saw it again and Shane was addicted from the first moment he stepped onto a stage. Each had their own area of expertise and a natural gift and all three fit very well together. Jason's love of playing and his determination to master the guitar gave them the drive to succeed, Nate's creativity and passion for relating to complete strangers gave them the means, and Shane's presence and willingness to entertain got them all noticed. Together they had succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams, but in order to do that they'd needed Camp Rock. They needed a home away from home that would allow them to truly focus and explore.
And that's what Camp was for a lot of these kids. He'd wished he'd had a place like this to express himself when he was younger. He'd been obsessed with music from a very young age but no one ever told him a child could be a true musician. When you're a kid your passion is often seen as a "hobby" by most grown up people and it is rarely taken seriously. He wanted to build a place where age didn't matter. He wanted a place that encouraged the serious exploration of who you were and what you were passionate about no matter what your age.
His initial intentions had been realized, but he was discovering that he wanted so much more for the campers he'd come to love. Children were complicated and resilient and yet still fragile. They could withstand a lot, but you could never predict what would break them. Sadly, he'd discovered that some were broken before they'd even reached him. Ella had taught him that. Until Ella the minimum age for attending Camp Rock was twelve. He'd been too late to really do much for her other than to let her know she was safe with him. For Ella, Camp Rock was a refuge.
At twelve years old Ella had already learned how to fake a smile, and he'd spotted it immediately. He'd seen that look on his own face during the worst of his destructive phase. It was his opinion that a twelve year old shouldn't feel the need to fake anything. Someone so young should still be honestly genuine. He'd seen the same ability to pretend and deceive in Tess. Tess, the girl who appeared to have it all, was all but completely shattered. She was faring better than Ella, but she wasn't far away from the permanent scarring that Ella possessed.
That first summer with them he'd discovered that twelve years with their families had wounded them long before he'd had a chance to help them. Now all he could do was mend their injuries and hope they'd eventually heal. He'd give these two shattered hearts a home where they could shine and be who they really were and he would love them unconditionally. He would be proud of whatever they decided to be because that's what children deserved. Tess and Ella had inspired him to create a new curriculum at Camp Rock, A program that would reach kids even younger than twelve. The next summer he'd introduced The Junior Rockers.
The ones who,
Never been loved,
Never been loved,
Never been loved enough.
And now he had the privilege to meet children like Trevor, who were happy and healthy but in need of interaction and encouragement. Trevor was an observer and Brown could tell he was used to being an outsider. He'd never really been included in much during his everyday life. Brown could tell by the way he hid behind the camera. He documented everyone else's fun but never really participated himself. Trevor would learn a lot at Camp and Brown hoped he would return home feeling more engaged and with a little more confidence to include himself if need be.
Speaking of including themselves, he'd never had that worry with Caitlyn. Honestly, he'd never seen Caitlyn as broken until her second summer at Camp Rock. She'd always been a ball of energy who had no trouble standing out and being noticed. She always utilized her talents and had a thirst for knowledge of the music business that Brown had never seen the likes of before. But then something had changed. To this day he wasn't sure what, but Brown suspected being a teenager finally got to her. Other teenagers could be mean and they would use any weakness they could find. The minute he'd seen Caitlyn with Tess his fears had been confirmed. Tess had found Caitlyn's weakness.
He'd watched as Tess's own scars affected those around her. She'd convinced both Caitlyn and Ella to hide behind her. Both girls changed part of their identity for a small piece of Tess's notoriety and fame. They were best friends with TJ Tyler's daughter and it gave them a status boost that he was sure seemed exciting. Caitlyn volunteered less and asked fewer questions. She stopped performing her songs at Jams and toned down her neon colored wardrobe. Ella had changed in other ways. Things that he'd know about Ella that made her unique and quirky were buried under layers of sequins and glitter. Her dinosaur stuffed animal she'd brought with her during her first summer had vanished along with her sketch book and colored pencils. Caitlyn and Ella had become shadows of who he knew they really were. It had saddened him to watch it, but there wasn't much he could do other than continue to encourage them to be themselves and hope they'd grow out of it.
Brown had a strategy to cope with it though. His plan was to encourage Tess to work with Caitlyn and Ella instead of steak their spotlight. When Peggy attended Camp for the first time Brown thought he'd just found his ticket to reach Tess. Peggy was independent, talented, supportive, and extremely intuitive. The more he saw of her the more he realized she worked well with others. She was a talented musician with a heart of gold and he'd put her in Tess, Caitlyn, and Ella's cabin in the hopes that she would be a good influence. His plan had worked on Caitlyn. Peggy's presence had encouraged Caitlyn to stand up to Tess, but that had been the extent of it. Caitlyn had left the group and a wall had been put up between her and the others. He could see one being built between Tess and the other two as well, but that one was being built slowly and would take a while to be finished.
That's when he'd started working on encouraging his campers to explore their individual talents as well. He'd started a class on song composition and hired Dee to conduct one on one vocal lessons. He'd wanted to make Camp more personal. The summer he'd initiated all of these things was the summer Mitchie showed up. Mitchie had taken him a while to get an impression of. She was quiet and shy, but after a few classes he'd been able to see why. Self confidence. She didn't believe in herself enough to show anyone else what she could do. She had a fire and a potential that he'd only seen a handful of times before. If he could get her to understand her own talent she would be unstoppable.
That summer had changed everything. Caitlyn had used her hard earned lesson to help Mitchie. Mitchie had been broken in a different way. Her lack of confidence had left her with a weakness Tess understood very well. She'd had the mistaken belief that if she wasn't somebody she was nobody. She'd felt the need to lie to earn Tess's approval and Tess had used that against her. Mitchie wasn't as easy to break as Ella or Peggy or Caitlyn though and she'd fought back. She'd fought back and caused a rebellion. Brown had never felt more proud of his campers than he had that summer. His wounded warriors had declared their intention to be who they were and allow that alone to inspire them. It had repaired something in Brown that he hadn't even realized was hurting.
Maybe I see a part of me in them.
The missing piece always trying to fit in.
The shattered heart,
Hungry for a home.
His faith in music had been restored that summer. His belief that music brought people together had, for once, been proven correct. That Final Jam was one he'd never forget. Watching Peggy and Ella strike out on their own and prove just what they could do, Mitchie stand up and face her fear, Shane realize that he could be who he wanted to be and not who the label wanted him to be, and Caitlyn take the stage again had healed him just as much as it had them.
He'd been reminded why he'd started all of this in the first place. He'd started this to reach kids like himself. Kids that had no one to believe in their potential, kids who needed a safe place to just be, kids who needed to be loved, kids who needed to feel that someone in this world was proud of them, and kids who needed to learn how to believe in themselves. He'd learned all of his lessons on his own. It had been a tough, lonely battle and he could have used a supportive hand to guide him. He never wanted anyone else to go through that alone. He intended to be there for as many children as he could. This was his mission. This was what he wanted for the rest of this life. He would spend the remainder of his days loving the broken ones because they were the ones who needed it the most. He would protect them, bandage their wounds, and give them a place to belong. As long as he was alive the broken ones would always have a place at Camp Rock. He would do whatever it took to show all the children he could that they weren't alone and never would be.
Because that's what he'd always wanted for himself.
No you're not alone,
I love the broken ones.