(I'm adding in this author's note. The note below was written back when I originally posted this on April 22, 2008. I just wanted you all to know that this was written waaaay before the movie came out. Actually, two months and two days before. So excuse some possible wrong information.)
Hey, Camp Rock fans! I've had this written for a while, but I just put it up here. Because the world needs more Camp Rock fanfics. The beginning is a bit boring, but it gets loads better in the end. Enjoy!
Hi, my name's Mitchie Torres. I'm currently at Camp Rock, this awesome yet super expensive camp that teaches you how to, well, rock. Sadly, my family isn't that rich.
In fact, we're what's considered "lower middle class". That's government talk for "barely richer than a hobo". So how am I here, you ask? I wash dishes in between classes. I know, gross. But still, I get to spend a lot of time with my mom, who works in the kitchen.
I had friends here. Yeah, you heard me right. Had. But, sadly, here at Camp Rock, you're friends are your competition. And competition is what it's all about.
So friendship here is like a title. If you're "friends" with someone, it means you're planning on stabbing them in the back. I, being so uneducated in the art of snobbery, didn't know this. So the second my "friend" Tess Tyler discovered I was washing dishes to pay for camp, she told everyone. So no one talks to me anymore.
And the worst part is that in my anger at the people here at camp, I wrote a song called "This is Me". While I was singing it, rockstar Shane Gray overheard me and suddenly became a better person. Now he and I are actual friends, not fake Camp Rock friends.
I know what you're thinking. Why am I angry that the hottest rockstar in America is interested in me? It's because I'm cursed with bad luck. And I'm not kidding.
The day Shane decides to come into the kitchen and talk to me, I slip and fall in a puddle, soaking me and spilling sloppy joe all over my clothes.
The moment I walk into the camp, a frisbee hits me in the head and for some reason knocks me out.
When I was given my cabin, the stupid housing lady's computer paired me up with Tess Tyler, who is perhaps the evilest snob on the face of the Earth.
And I could go on all day, but I won't. The point is, with my bad luck, I'm bound to do something embarrassing in front of Shane. And if I'm not nervous enough, I have to add the fact that I like him more than a friend.
I know what you're going to say. Celebrity crush. That used to be true. But then I met Shane Gray, and we actually hung out. And that's when I realized that he's totally perfect. And not in the Tess Tyler image of a perfect guy, in the Mitchie Torres way.
So in an attempt to avoid Shane, I decided to go in a rowboat and go boating. But, of course, I remembered that I forgot my oars the second after I pushed off the dock. So I was floating out to the middle of the lake with no way of steering/propelling.
Which leads to where I am now. Stuck in the middle of the lake in a rowboat. Thinking back, I should have jumped out and swam back to the dock. But I thought that I'd reach the edge at some point. But, I didn't.
The momentum of the boat totally ended at the middle of the lake. And now it's too far to swim back. Luckily, though, there's no Shane Gray to see my stupid mistake.
"Mitchie!"
And the bad luck strikes again. I had to say it. I had to mention that Shane wasn't there and jinx myself. Because now, he's coming towards me in his own rowboat. And when he gets here, he'll notice that I have no oars.
But still, I don't want him to think I'm ignoring him, so I wave back. Which might have been a mistake, because now he's rowing faster.
"What are you doing just sitting in the middle of the lake?" He asks.
I think you should understand something about lakes and being in the mountains. Everything echoes. So Shane's yelling is being echoed all around camp. Which means all of those campers who hate me because of my poorness can listen in on our conversation.
You see, I have no problem telling Shane that I forgot my oars. Okay, well I have a problem with it. But not a big enough problem to not tell him, I'd just be extremely embarrassed. But with all of camp able to listen, I'm not going to scream it to the world.
So I'm going to simply sit here and wait for him to get here. But he doesn't know that, and takes my not answering as me not being able to hear him. So he feels the need to get louder.
"Mitchie! Can you hear me? I'm asking you why you're sitting in the middle of the lake!"
I'm a bit angry now, because I can see some campers coming out of their cabins and watching what's going on. And even though they're too small to identify, I can tell which one is Tess because of the posse surrounding her. Which is the last thing I need.
I guess I should say something to Shane, just so he doesn't get any louder and cause the whole entire population of the camp to come out and watch.
"I know!" I scream. Okay, that was a bit of a dumb answer. But at least he knows I can hear him.
"Then why aren't you responding?" He asks. He did get a bit quieter, but like I said, everything echoes. I can't really answer this question without the bystanders hearing, seeing that Shane is still fifty meters away.
"Um, I don't know." Great. Now he and the rest of the camp must think I'm stupid or something. I mean, who doesn't know why they're not answering a question? But Shane, thank god, hasn't responded yet. He's almost at my rowboat now.
"Mitchie, you have to know." He's a lot quieter now, mostly because he's only about ten meters away now. I'll tell him when he comes next to my boat. It takes him a few seconds, but he does manage to row his boat right next to mine.
"Well, if you take a good look at my boat, you'll see that I'm missing something." I whisper. He looks at my boat, then back at his.
"You don't have any oars?" He asks. I nod. And, bless his heart, he doesn't laugh. I look back at the people watching. The group was growing smaller, but I could see Tess and her posse standing their ground.
"Yeah." Okay, I take back what I said when I said he wasn't laughing. Because he is now. But he's not laughing at me, like I expected. He's sort of laughing with me, even though I'm not necessarily laughing.
"Do you want to come in my boat so I can take you back to the dock?" He asks. I have to smile. If it were Tess in that boat, she'd laugh and then row away. Well, not really. Tess has people row for her.
"That'd be great."
I stand up to get in his boat. I put one leg in his boat, and then balance myself. I try to put my other foot in, but I lose my balance and fall backwards. Shane tries to grab me to prevent me from falling into the water, put that just pulls him back too.
The next thing you know, we're both sitting here in the water, our life jackets threatening to choke us to death. His boat is tipped over, and I can see his oars floating away. I can hear laughing coming from the shore, especially one high pitched cackle that I can easily identify as Tess.
"Sorry. My bad luck is kind of contagious." I admit. He smiles, which I don't get. I just caused him, in all of his designer brand glory, to fall into a mucky lake. And he's laughing.
"That's okay. And I don't mind your bad luck. My good luck's gotten me into more trouble than it should." He tells me. He swims over to his boat, and I follow.
"And you don't consider this trouble?" I ask. He flips over his boat and I climb inside. There's still some water at the bottom, but not enough to make it flip over again.
"No. I consider this hanging out with my good friend, Mitchie." He smiles. He really surprises me sometimes.
"You know, I don't get you. Of all the girls here, you choose me to be friends with. I mean, I'm Mitchie Torres. And you're Shane Gray. Why not choose someone like Tess Tyler?" I ask.
I really should stop doing that. Whenever something good in my life happens, I have to doubt it. And I have to place that doubt into the minds of others. I wouldn't be surprised if Shane looked right at me and said, "You know what? You're right. I'm gonna go hang out with Tess." But he hasn't said that yet, which is a good thing.
"And that's why I like hanging out with you. Because you're not fake or anything, like Tess Tyler. You're also not high maintenance and superficial. You have real feelings, real personality, and real talent. And, plus, you might be the only girl in this camp who could fall into this lake and not scream about how your outfit and hair are ruined." He laughs.
I think he might have just deafened me. I mean, back at home I'm far from popular with the guys. And here is Shane Gray, the guy who was voted as Most Wanted by People magazine, telling me that he likes me for me.
And I'm starting to believe him.
And I also just noticed that he's still in the water. I think he might have just noticed too.
"Wait here." He tells me. Yeah, as if I had anywhere to go. He swims out and gets the oars, then comes back. He puts them in the boat, and then carefully climbs in. He begins rowing us back to the dock.
I look at the group of people who were watching, hoping that maybe they've gone away. The only people there are Tess and her group. Knowing them, they're probably waiting for me to do something else embarrassing. I sigh gloomily. Shane, who must have been watching me, seems to notice.
"Is everything okay?" He asks. I wonder if I should tell him about how the whole camp can't stand me. I've been skipping his class just so he won't see that they don't associate with me. But I can't skip forever, so I might as well fill him in.
"The whole camp basically hates me because I'm not rich. Tess and her group hate me most." I explain. He nods solemnly. When we reach the dock, he reaches out his hand and helps me out. The two of us, still soaking wet, begin walking.
I'm expecting that we're going to one of two places. Either a place that has towels, or our usual hangout, the secret tree house that's hidden in the trees somewhere. But, surprisingly, he walks towards Tess.
I hesitate for a moment, wondering if I should follow. Maybe he's decided that I'm an annoying whiny baby and that he'd rather hang out with someone like Tess. But he turns around, grabs my hand, and pulls me along with him.
When we arrive, Tess seems like she's fighting a battle in her head. I think she's deciding whether to look hatefully at me or lovingly at Shane.
"Shane. Mitchie." I'm surprised at the venom she uses when she says my name. Shane seems surprised to, and I can't help but notice that he hasn't let go of my hand.
"So I hear you don't like my friend, Mitchie, here." He says. I'm surprised. Of all the things I was expecting him to do, sticking up for me was not one of them.
"You heard right." Tess answers. She says it really weird, like she's sort of angry at his support for me yet also flirting with him.
"Well, I was just wondering what you don't like about her." Is Shane asking my worst enemy what's wrong with me? Because Tess could go on all day.
"Well, she's really…she's really…she's really poor. Like, more than half of her clothes are from department stores. And she…uh…she washes dishes. That is so gross." Tess answers. Maybe I was wrong about going on all day. Was it just me, or did Tess have trouble thinking of things that were wrong with me?
"So you think that it's gross to wash dishes." Shane says. I take the time out to look at Tess's posse. Half of them are wearing the same expression as Tess, as if they think that if they try hard enough they'll look just like her. The other half is staring at my left hand, which is still being held by Shane.
"Well, yeah." Tess laughs, as if that was the obvious answer. She's still attempting to bag on me and flirt with Shane at the same time, which seems pretty hard to do.
"And are you a fan of mine?" Shane asks. That is one of the stupidest questions he could ask. Back when Tess and I were "friends" she'd told me all about her love for him. In fact, she already has their future planned out, right down to the breed of their dog.
"Of course! You're the hottest guy alive!" Tess smiles. I see her eyes quickly flash to his hand, which is still holding mine, and then look back at him. I don't think she likes the fact that her future hubby is holding hands with a dishwasher. Or that he's covered in lake water.
"So would you be disgusted if I told you that sometimes, actually a lot of times, I help Mitchie wash the dishes?" He asks. I try to hide my smile. He's totally exposed her.
"Um, well, uh, no." She answers uneasily. I hate to admit it, but it feels good to see Tess nervous.
"But I thought it was gross to wash the dishes?" Shane asks. I really can't help but smile now. I mean, I get bullied back at home. And here I get bullied too. And I never expected to be defended by Shane Gray.
"Oh, it's not really." Tess smiles. I don't think she realizes what she's just set herself up for. But I can see where Shane is going with this.
"Okay, so since dishwashing isn't gross then you can't hate Mitchie for being a dishwasher. Which leaves her being poor. Do you know what they call rich people who hate poor people and only like other rich people?" Shane asks.
"Uh, pretty?" Tess asks, even though what she said wasn't a question. I really don't think Tess is that stupid. I'm 99.9 sure she's avoiding the answer.
"No, they call those people superficial. And do you know what kind of people I hate?" Shane asks. I realize that the half of Tess's group that wore her expression are now staring at Shane dumbstruck. And the other half are still staring at my left hand, which is still in Shane's.
"Dishwashers?" Tess suggests hopefully. Shane tightens his grip on my hand, and I can tell that her answer made him mad.
"No. Mitchie, can you tell her for me?" Shane asks, looking at me. I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. I know the answer, it's pretty obvious. I just wasn't prepared for the question to be given to me.
"S-superficial people." I finally manage to say. I'm glad I did, because I didn't want Shane to think I'm an idiot. I could die of laughter from Tess's expression, though. Shane Gray, her future husband, just indirectly told her that he hates her. He turns around to walk away, his hand still holding mine. I'm still a bit stunned at what happened.
"Shane, you can't be friends with her! She's poor and…ugly! Well, uglyish. Okay, so maybe she's not ugly. But she's not as pretty as me! And…if you stay friends with her then I'll hold my breath until my face explodes!" Tess screams, puffing out her cheeks to signal that she's not breathing. I think that's the way Tess gets most of the things she wants. But Shane starts laughing.
Before I know what's going on, he grabs my face and kisses me. At first I can't respond because I'm too bewildered. But when I finally do, he wraps his arms around me and I put mine around his neck. When he pulls away, he turns and looks at Tess.
"There, now we're not friends anymore. So you don't have to worry about blowing up your pretty little face." He smiles. He grabs my hand and we walk away. And I hate to say it, because I am a naturally nice person, but I love the sound of Tess's defeated scream.
"So, since we're nice people, we don't want Tess to explode. So, I don't know if we can stay friends. So do you want to, um, be my girlfriend?" Shane asks me. And, oh my god, I can honestly say that he's nervous. That's right, I made Shane Gray nervous! Even more, Shane Gray just asked me out! And he's most likely waiting for my answer.
"Oh, uh, s-sure." I answer. I'm really mad that I stuttered. It kind of ruined the moment. Well, not really. The moment can't be ruined, seeing that I kissed America's biggest rockstar! Speaking of which, he's leaning in to kiss me again. And I'm leaning in too. I have to suppress a squeal when our lips touch, just because it's the most amazing feeling.
"Do you still think you have bad luck?" He asks me when we pull away. I think for a moment.
"Yes. But I think that good luck is contagious too, and you've given me a heck of a lot of it." I smile. He smiles too. And I still can't believe that I, Mitchie Torres, unpopular nerd, kissed Shane Gray, and am dating him. Especially with my bad luck.
But then again, Shane has enough good luck for the both of us.
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