Good Girl Gone Bad
Mitchie looked down at her pillow. Covering it were small, wet specks. Tears. Her tears.
Caitlin had brought her back to her cabin after Tess had told everybody the truth. Caitlin was a true friend. She stuck with Mitchie through thick and thin. She hadn't told anyone her secret, no matter how much she might have wanted to.
Mitchie remembered a quote she had read over the internet. It was from a guy named Walter Winchell. "A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."
That was a good quote for this situation. She thought that Shane would be the one she said that kind of thing about. But it had ended up being Caitlin. She was glad it was Caitlin instead.
Shane was being a total jackass. So Mitchie had lied. She hadn't lied directly to him. Word had just spread. He had heard it from someone else. Someone else had lied to him. She hadn't. All she had done was go along with the lie. She had even tried to tell him the truth, but she knew that if she did, she'd get the boot. Of course, silent treatment wasn't much better, and that was what she was getting.
But, as Mitchie sat up in her bed, realization dawned on her. Now she could lie to Shane. She could show him and everyone else a side of her they had never seen. An evil smile spread over her face. A plan was brewing, and it was a beauty.
Mitchie stepped into class the next day, the door slamming behind her.
"What a joke." Tess sneered as she walked by. Mitchie held back a smile. Everything was going according to plan. It was working. Everyone was staring at her, waiting for her to do something, like cry. She didn't do anything. She walked over to the corner and started stretching.
"Okay everyone, take a seat," Shane told them as he walked in. Everybody took a seat around him. He did a triple take as he realized that Mitchie had been stupid enough to come to class today, even though everybody was trash talking her. She was an idiot.
Shane's students turned to look at Mitchie. Her hand was up against the window, her other hand holding up her leg as she stretched it out. She stared out the window in a daze. Shane sighed.
"Ms. Torres." She still didn't answer. She just continued to stare out the window. "Mitchie!"
Her head snapped to look at him. "Yeeeessssss?" She drawled out the word, loving how things were falling into place. Already a few students were looking at her in wonder. It wouldn't be long now.
"Sit," Shane commanded as she pointed towards the floor. Mitchie released her leg and folded her arms across her chest.
"Why should I? You're not my mother."
Everyone gasped at her. She had just questioned Shane Gray. The Shane Gray. Even though he was somewhat decent now, she was still going to get it. She was going to get it good.
Shane glared at her, his eyes narrowing. "Thank goodness, Ms. Torres. But as it turns out, your mother didn't do much to help you either, except raise you as a liar."
There was a chorus of laughs, snickers, and "Burns." Mitchie gave him a sickly sweet smile.
"So?" she said, holding the smile on her face as she said the single-syllable word through her teeth.
"So…even though I am not your mother, I am still your instructor here at this camp, and my job is to instruct. Now sit," Shane told her. He didn't mind playing this game with her. He could keep going, and just keep on threatening her. He knew his next threat would send her up in flames.
"Yea. I know that. I pity everyone in this class for that reason, even though they sure don't pity me," she told him, shifting her weight from her left leg to her right.
"Well, you should sit, or I'll get you kicked out of both this class and this camp." With that, everyone started laughing and everything increased in volume. As did Mitchie's smile. Once everyone had settled a little, Mitchie decided to speak. Nothing could ruin her plan now.
"Aww, isn't that cute. The big rock-star is going to tattle-tale on me and tell his big mean Uncle Brown." Everyone stared at her as if she were crazy. She smiled a little at this. Perfection, that's what this was. And then she said the words that no other camp rocker had ever said before.
"Send me home. See if I care."
Every person gasped. Nobody had ever used those combinations of words, ever, to make those two innocent sentences. And Mitchie, the girl who had bigger dreams than any of them, was straight-out telling him to send her home. Tess decided to step up. So she did.
"You know Shane," she started as she stood and walked over to him. Shane kept his eyes on Mitchie. Mitchie's eyes stayed on Shane. "Maybe you should just do as she says. Everything can go back to running smoothly, like they were before she came here. You're an instructor. You have the power to ban her from this camp. Do as she asks."
Shane realized what Tess was saying. Ban Mitchie? He couldn't do that. That meant she could never step on camp grounds ever again. He didn't want that to happen. Because even he himself knew that he still liked her. For some reason, he had kept a speck of hope in his pocket ever since last night when Mitchie had said that she wasn't pretending. And he felt he believed her. But then she went around acting like this. It reminded him of someone…
Himself.
Before his transformation, this was who he was. He was always trying to scare people off, block off everyone and keep his true feelings hidden. But then he had met Mitchie, and he had changed. Big time.
"Maybe you should just shut up, Tess." Shane was startled out of his thoughts as Mitchie walked over to them and unfolded her arms, leaning into Tess's face.
"This is between me and Shane. This doesn't include you, and it's never gonna include you. For once, there's an actual conversation which you have no right to come in on," Mitchie continued. She hadn't meant to go this far, but okay. Tess seemed at least a little aware now. But only a little.
"Uh-huh. Well, I'm sure Shane would much rather talk with me, since my mom is after all, the T.J. Tyler."
Shane looked over at Tess in surprise. He knew she had looked familiar. But he also knew that T.J. Tyler was totally bossy and snobby. He wouldn't be surprised if someone else wrote all the songs she had claimed to written all these years.
"Yea. Speaking of your mother, Tess," Mitchie began, and all eyes turned back on her. She smirked. "Did you ever wonder why she never pencils you into her schedule, or bothers to call you back? Did you ever think that maybe it was because you were never supposed to happen, that you were just some big mistake? She probably never even planned on having children before you. Maybe you were a mistake, but your mom was one of those women that decided not to get an abortion, even though she definitely would've been better off if she had."
The room went dead silent. No one had been expecting that. Mitchie felt a pang of guilt, but it was quickly washed away when she saw the look on Tess Tyler's face.
"Mitchie," Caitlin whispered as she stood. "Stop."
"No! Why should I stop?! Tess ruins everybody's lives on a daily basis, only because she doesn't want to face the fact that maybe there's somebody out there that's better at something than she is. As you said Caitlin, she's so full of it. No, she's so full of herself."
Everybody continued to stare at the enflamed Mitchie. Tess felt like she was about to cry. She had never thought about it that way. Or maybe she had, but she had pushed the thought away, not wanting to think about that horrid possibility.
"No. That couldn't possibly be it. My mom always wanted children. There was no way I was a mistake…" she said, but Shane could hear the uncertainty in her voice. Mitchie could too, unfortunately.
"Yes, well, another possibility could be that she had a child and then realized that that kid wasn't at all what she wanted, and shut her daughter out completely. Think about that one."
Tess thought about it. Instantly tears sprang to her eyes. She fought them back. If there was one thing she had learned from her mother, it was to not cry and show people you were weak. But her mother was the reason she was in this mess. Tess let the tears fall, choking back a sob. Shane wrapped an arm around her for an unknown reason and turned back to Mitchie.
"Oh look. Tess Tyler…is crying. Now look at who's the joke," Mitchie said, and everyone fell quiet. In only a matter of minutes, Mitchie had become the new most feared person. Ever since she had gotten to Camp Rock she had been the super-sweetheart. She was nice to everybody, even the people who weren't nice to her.
"Okay, listen up. All of you thought I was lying, and I did. But I lied to Peggy, Ella, and Tess. I never lied to anybody else. Word spread, and soon everyone knew that I had said my mom worked at Hot Tunes TV China, which she doesn't. She's a cook here, but what's the difference? I help my mom cook. Yea, so what? It was the only way I could afford this camp, as Tess mentioned yesterday. But if everybody thinks I was lying then, look at me now." Mitchie held her arms up and gave a little spin. Everyone looked at her.
"This is not at all the real me. Telling people off, disobeying orders. But this is who I'm going to be until all of you learn to accept the fact that I'm not like some of you. Either stay out of my way, or cross me and get burnt down, I don't care which. But I gave you a fair warning, so you can't blame me."
With that, she waltzed out of the room, feeling powerful and happy with herself, knowing that she had at least made her point.
There was only a week left till Final Jam. Mitchie still blocked everyone out. She skipped class, she would barely talk to her mom, and she would only eat a little bit while she was in the kitchen. Nobody had told Brown Cesario about Mitchie and Tess's discussion that day in the hip-hop class.
Tess had went on like it hadn't bothered her, but it had. She didn't bother calling her mom lately, because she was starting to fear that maybe Mitchie was right; maybe her mom never wanted a kid like her. She had a hard time sleeping, and would be tired during all her classes. Camp was becoming a nightmare. How could she win Final Jam if she wasn't even close to focused?
Caitlin had steered clear from Mitchie for a while. Sure they were still friends, but Caitlin knew that her sometimes negative attitude would just upset Mitchie, and then she would just start messing with Caitlin.
Shane didn't know what to think. He laughed whenever he thought about what Mitchie did that day. You could tell she was an amateur. If you're going to be the bad kid, you don't tell everyone why. But he knew that this was just a way for her to help heal her emotions. It was almost as if Shane and Mitchie had switched places. Now she was being bad. She was the one who had changed him, and now she was the one with the problem.
But life went on. It wasn't easy, but everybody was convinced that if they just left Mitchie alone, she would be fine. Shane knew that wouldn't work. She needed someone to talk to. She just didn't know it yet. But as much as Shane disliked her right now, he couldn't let her screw up her life. He had been like that for too long, and now this was how she was acting. He had started out like Mitchie. Maybe not as quiet and shy, but kind to everyone. When he had gone bad, it was only supposed to be temporary, but then he had liked the power he felt of telling someone what to do. Then every bone in his body was rotten.
Mitchie sat down at the pier, finally thinking about what she was doing. She couldn't just call it all off now. She finally had some power to run this camp. She was scared though. What if, after camp ended, she stayed like this? What would it take to get the sweet, kind, shy Mitchie back?
She sighed heavily. She hated what she had become, but she found that she liked her new rein of power. It made her feel like she was worthy of something. It was something she couldn't describe. Now she knew why Shane had always been so mean to everyone: he had liked the power.
Shane. Just thinking his name made her groan. She wished that he were there right then, sitting next to her and singing to her with that hypnotic voice of his, the voice she could never get enough of. God, just to hear it talking directly to her again, just like he had that day in class…
"Mitchie…"
She stiffened at the sound of a voice and loosened when she realized who the voice belonged to. Slowly, she tilted her head back and looked at the sky, which was dark with clouds. Silently, she thanked God. Then she faced forward again.
"What?" she asked in the snotty voice that she was now very used to using.
"Wanna go for one last canoe ride? For old times sake?" he asked her, holding out an ore. She looked at it, confused.
"What do you mean, 'One last time'?" Mitchie was kinda hurt by this. She couldn't keep the pain out of her voice. Then Shane smiled that smile.
"I know when I'm not wanted, or needed." He stopped smiling. "And either way, you still lied."
"But I didn't…" she started. He shook his head and held the ore out.
"I don't really wanna talk about it. Can we just go for a ride?" he asked her. She looked at the ore again and nodded sadly. She took it and they headed to get a canoe from the lakefront.
They rowed without the laughing. They actually went straight this time, so their wasn't much to laugh about. When they reached where they wanted to be, they stopped rowing and put the ores in the canoe. Mitchie looked down at her hands. Shane, however, looked right at Mitchie with a content gleam in his eye.
"Are you going to apologize again?" he asked her smugly. He really hated acting like his old self, but he had to find a way to put Mitchie down below him.
She looked up at him and shook her head. "Why should I? I already have. You never accepted those. Why would you accept this one?"
Shane laughed and nodded. "True. Very true." He watched in delight as Mitchie's shoulders slumped in disappointment. He was about to do the finale, he just needed a little bit more out of her. Not that he…you know, enjoyed…putting her through this. Of course not.
"Why did you do this to me? Why did you put everybody through that stupid lie of yours? You hurt a lot of people Mitchie. You really did," he told her. She just nodded. He frowned. He had wanted her to start crying, or maybe yelling. She just stared right into his eyes hypnotically. He was the first to look away, and he cursed himself for doing so. He hadn't meant to do that. He decided that he should end it early. He sighed loudly and looked up at Mitchie, who still stared at him blankly.
"Can you swim?" he asked simply, an evil smirk. She nodded slightly. His smile grew. "Prove it."
Before she could say anything, he had his arms firmly around her waist and was jumping over the side of the canoe. She screamed slightly before thinking about taking a breath. She took one last breath before she and Shane broke through the calm surface of the black water they had been floating on. The same black liquid they were now drowning under.
