There was a mountain

and there were three trees

There was a good man

and there were two thieves

The Gray family had neighbors. They had neighbors with a cute little dog, a blue station car and a beautiful garden. A garden with three trees. Two young and strong, big trees with green leafs, and a older one, not quite as big, the colors and contrast more dull.

It was the old one that was overlooked the most by people on the street, as they stopped to admire the two beautiful young trees. But no one ever really took notice in the old one. That is, except their neighbor, recently turned 19, Jason Gray.

When he first moved in, he found the tree very annoying because it would always cast a big, dark and ugly shadow in to his room. Actually, afterwards, he could kind of relate to the tree. It was placed in the middle of the larger trees. Their bigger crowns, would always shadow the middle tree. That's what it was like for him.

Always suffering on others behalf. He was usually the one standing in the shadows of his brothers, even though he worked just as much for the band as they did. When he walked down the street with his girlfriend Chloe, she cast a shadow over him too. She was so beautiful and tall. No one ever noticed Jason by her side. And like that little tree, Jason would always stand in the middle.

He was the middle man. He was the one that solved fights, and problems between his brothers, friends or just strangers. He had always been called the middle man. It was meant as a compliment, he was sure. But he didn't take it as one.

When he first moved in, a year ago, that tree was just as big and powerful as, if not more than, the other two. Over the year, it had become somewhat pathetic. It was as if it had lost some of it's pride. Now, Jason had even heard his father have a conversation with the neighbor, discussing whether they should cut it down or not.

Jason sighed. If they did, he was going to miss it. Miss waking up everyday, and see it in front of his window. Miss that he wasn't the only man in the middle. He was just going to miss it. Terribly.


''So, why are we in New York. Again?'' asked Shane confused, his mouth full of cheerios.

Jason shuddered at the insight of his brother's digestive system, before answering. ''Because, this fancy school in New York booked us for a show. And it was something about meeting Miley here, to prepare the BOBW tour, which, FYI, begins in a week.'' Jason explained. For the millionth time.

''Oh.'' Shane answered, and looked deep in thought, though Jason knew he didn't really follow.

''Go talk to Nate. He knows the details better than I do.'' he shrugged, and tried to write something for a new song. Natw had been stuck with it and asked Jason for help. He had worked with it for a week, but he couldn't really seem to finish it.

He looked up and saw that his younger brother, still hadn't moved an inch. ''Shane, can you look at this?'' he asked, and handed it to him, while he looked after Nate.

''Where is Nate, anyway?'' Jason asked, and knitted his brows together.

''He wasn't feeling good.'' mumbled Shane, his eye fixated on the paper. Jason sighed, and laid his head on the table, when he heard his mothers voice.

''Boys, we have to go now.'' Jason looked up and saw his mothers smiling face, and he couldn't help but smile back.

''Where is Nate?'' Kevin asked, while he stood up. When he saw no motion from his younger brother, he hit him on the head with his morning paper, causing Shane to spill his cheerios. Not on himself, thank god.

Shane looked up with a 'what the hell?' expression on his face, and Jason just threw his head discreetly in the direction of their mother. ''Oh, hey mom.'' Shane smiled, and stood up as well so he could give their mother a hug.

Cadence, their mother, laughed, and shook her head. ''Good morning Shanial. Nathanial is in the car, waiting. He's feeling better now. You ready?'' she asked, and looked from Shane to Jason, who both nodded and followed their mother.


''Wow.'' breathed Nate, from inside the car with the tinted windows. ''That's a school?! That's a big, big, BIG school!'' he exclaimed, most likely just a tad overwhelmed.

Jason laughed. Nate were always the one with the words, able to express exactly how he felt, and now he seemed to have completely lost it. ''I'm glad you're able to state the obvious.'' he shook his head.

''But he's right!'' then came Shane, his eyes just as big as his little brother's. ''It's a BIG school. Which kind of school is this?'' he then wondered, and pressed his face so close to the window, that if the windows weren't tinted, people on the street would have thought that Quasimodo was a real, living creature.

''Boarding school.'' Cadence then explained. ''It's a very respected school, you should be honored to play here. People from all over the world sends their kids here, so they can get the best possible education.'' she looked very serious, while she told her boys this.

''That's kinda neat.'' Jason nodded his head. ''But the green school uniforms, are definitely a down side.'' he laughed, and Nate laughed with him, at the boring dark green sweaters the girls were wearing. Shane on the other hand, quickly perked up from his Quasimodo stage, and began to frantically search for something outside his window.

''Same green uniforms.'' he mumbled, and looked around. There it was. ''Same star bucks, just on the corner.'' he continued to search. ''Nerdy girls, with facial hair.''

Jason looked over at Nate, and then his mother. They both looked about as clueless as he felt. ''Shane?'' he asked. ''You okay?''

But Shane didn't answer. He kept looking. It must have been lunch break, because suddenly students piled out from the main doors. ''There's the dude, she was hugging.'' he then mumbled.

Suddenly Nate got an alarmed look in his eyes. ''Shane, no.'' he said, like he was telling a lost puppy, not to eat from the table. ''Shane, forget her!'' he whined, and banged his head into the car seat in front of him.

''Forget who?'' Cadence asked, and looked between her sons.

''Her. The one he can't stop talking about. Michelle.'' Nick sighed, and rolled his eyes. Everyone in the car groaned, even the driver.

Shane hadn't stopped talking about her. He had kept saying that if they had just met her, they would too, be unable to get her out of their heads. Jason doubted it. Shane meets a thirteen year old girl, who politely turns him down, and all of the sudden, she's the only thing he can think about? She gave him the boost to call it quits with Amy. Not that any of them minded that. Shane had been too much of a chicken, way too long. But, it just seemed so weird. He guessed he had yet to meet her, before she could work his magic on him.

Cadence sighed, and opened the door. ''Let's just get this show over with, shall we?'' she smiled, and walked out. Nate & Jason looked at each other and shrugged, before dragging Shane with them.


They had just finished their show, and were now just talking with some of the students. Nate had almost been kidnapped by half of the female student body, and were now trapped with them. Shane and Jason were signing stuff for people, and avoiding the random girl trying to kiss them.

Jason had noticed a tall brunette girl standing in the corner, her fingers furiously working the pushbutton keyset of her Sidekick phone. Shane soon followed Jason's gaze and then hit him on the arm. Hard.

''Ouch, Shane, what the hell?'' he asked and rubbed his arm.

''That's her! Michelle!'' he exclaimed, and was about to go talk to her, when Nate spoiled that plan.

The swarming girls were getting a little too much for him, so he decided to lead the attention else where. ''Look! It's Shane Gray!'' he shouted, and pointed to where Shane was giving him a 'what-the-hell' look. Nate just smiled apologetically, and gave him a small shrug when he saw half the girls there had before been swarming himself, now relocated to Shane.

Jason laughed, and decided to get something to drink. It wasn't before he stood at the table with the snacks, he noticed Michelle was there too. Why not figure out why she was oh-so-special?

''Hi, Jason Gray.'' he said and stuck his hand out. Michelle turned her blonde head to look at him, and was about to open her mouth to say something, but Jason beat her to it.

''Don't worry, I'm a better age judger than my brother. I'm not going to hit on you.'' he assured her, with a smile.

Michelle laughed. ''Well, that's a first.'' she said, and for the first time Jason heard her hoarse, European accented voice. ''Michelle Torres. Mitchie for short.'' the brunette smiled, and folded her long, slender fingers around his, in a handshake.

''So, I'm still trying to figure out why my little brother can't stop talking about you.'' he told her, and tilted his head to the side.

''What is your secret? You know, he finally broke up with a girl who made him absolutely miserable, after meeting you.'' the boy told her.

She skeptic lifted her eyebrow. ''Really? Is that so?'' Mitchie asked. ''I wonder why.'' she then added.

''Yeah. But I just think he was amazed by the fact, you turned him down.'' at this, the girl laughed.

''Well, even though I bet he's a really great guy, too much drama is going on in my life already.'' she sighed, and suddenly looked vulnerable. Not the confident girl she came off as, at first.

''How's that?'' Jason asked, and immediately regretted it. Too personal, he thought, and mentally kicked himself. But she didn't looked offended by the question, at all.

''Well, first off there's my parents. They're getting a divorce. Surprise, surprise.'' she added sarcastically. ''They're just fighting over the custody. My mother has moved to Switzerland with her new ''beau'','' she grimaced, using with air quotes, ''while my father is back in Spain where he just moved in with some, 20-year old gold-digger.'' Mitchie sighed.

''And my father wants me to stay here in New York, which I'm grateful for, while my mother wants me to come to lame-ass, Switzerland to go in some school there.'' the brunette girl, looked down and tugged a strain of hair, behind her ear.

''Oh, I forgot to tell you about my grandmother in California, who raised me from I was six till I was eleven, who now wants me to move back to Cali.'' Even though she was fighting to be strong, Jason could see her helpless eyes getting a little teary.

''Wow.'' Jason breathed. He didn't know what to say to her. ''Well, I guess, at least you have your friends with you.'' he said.

''What friends? The people here? Don't get me wrong, they are very, very nice, and I never feel left out, or anything. I get invited to every single get-together, but I don't have a real friend, you know? The friendships I have are shallow, and we never tell each other things. And oh my gosh, I told you way too much already. I just met you for crying out loud!'' she exclaimed and buried her head in her hands.

Jason took her hands away from her face, and hugged her. She seemed surprise by the gesture at first, but seemed to accept it. He pulled back and looked at her broken face. Gosh, how self-centered he could be sometimes. He was complaining about that he didn't get enough attention. And here she was, overloaded by the attention from school, sick of the attention from home. Or the lack there off.

She raised her, now again, perfect face. ''Let's talk about you.'' she then decided. ''I'm guessing you have a girlfriend, but…'' she started off and tilted her head till the side. ''you're doubting the relationship.'' she decided.

His eyes got big. ''How could you tell?'' he asked, shocked.

She shrugged and laughed. ''I'm very good at reading people.''

He nodded, his eyes still big. ''Well, yeah, I would say.''

A smile stretched her face. ''I think you should be absolutely confident when you engage yourself in other people. You should be confident in your relationship, Jason.'' she told him, her face serious.

''Are you telling me that, I should dump Chloe?'' Jason asked, confused.

''I'm not telling you to do anything. And I don't want you be defended!'' she had to clear this with him first, before she could finish.

''No, not at all.'' he assured her. In the corner of his eyes he saw Nate mouthing something, that could look like, 'we have to go'.

''I just… if I were in a rocky relationship, which I have been too many times…'' she trailed off, ''If it was me, if I had a friend, I would want him or her to tell me when enough was enough. You know, look out for each other. But I don't know this Chloe and I don't have a friend either, so I'm probably not the greatest to advice you about this. After all, I'm no walking soap opera.'' she laughed, and gave him a small smile.

He tilted his head, and grinned at her. ''No, you're a great adviser. And, you definitely do have a friend now.'' he quickly grabbed a napkin and scribbled down his cell phone number, along with his address. ''I have to go now, but call me, anytime Mitchie!'' he shouted at her, while he ran backwards, before turning around and sprinting to his brother.

''Did you just give her your number?'' Nate asked his oldest brother shocked. Jason rolled his eyes. Yeah, okay, he would have been like this if he had never talked to Michelle, and it was Shane who gave her his number, but still! He didn't need to be this judgmental.

''Yeah, we're friends now.'' he shrugged, and looked for Shane. ''Where's Shane?'' he then wondered.

Nate ignored his big brothers last comment. ''Friends? Friends?! You do know how absurd this is, right?'' he asked, and shook his head. ''What the hell is it with this girl?'' he then wondered out loud.

Jason sighed. ''She's a little lost puppy, who needed a friend. Now, where is Shane?'' he asked, and kept looking around for him.

''I'm right here!'' Shane came running, a smile on his face and a yellow post-it in his hand. ''So, Jase, I saw you talked to Michelle. Isn't she awesome?'' he asked.

''Yeah, she is!'' he grinned. ''But I still don't get that you have any more than friendly feelings towards her.'' Jason shuddered.

''What? I don't.'' he replied indifferently. Jason searched his face for something, indicating he was lying, but found nothing. Well, that's a start. ''Anyway, I just talked to her, I apologized about being so, you know, inappropriate the last time we saw each other, but she was totally cool about it, said it didn't matter. So, I asked for her cell phone number, so we could keep in touch. And look!'' he said, and opened the little yellow piece of paper. On it, was in a beautiful handwriting neatly written 8 digits.

''Awesome.'' Jason said, as they walked out to the car. Nate could do nothing but shake his head, and follow his brothers.


No yellow flowers, no trees in bloom

the scenery was so dull

Three crosses stood black and bold

against a darkened sky

And not from pain but a broken heart

that middle man died

''So, what do you guys want to do, before going out for dinner?'' Cadence asked her sons, while she stroke Nate's curly hair. He made an annoyed sound, but decided not to protest his mothers caring.

''I'm going to call Chloe.'' Jason said hesitantly. She wasn't someone he would like to mention in front of his mom.

Cadence looked away from him. ''Uhm, oh, okay.'' she answered.

Jason sighed. His mother never liked his current girlfriend. Neither did his brothers, but they weren't quiet about it. His mom, on the other hand, tried to be supportive even though she despised her boy dating such a… no, she would never use that word. And that just made it even more unbearable to see his mother lying, about how lovely she thought she were. He gave them a small smile, before going into his hotel room and shutting the door. Jason quickly dialed the familiar number, and waited for his girlfriend to pick up. Except, she didn't. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he decided to leave her a message.

''Hey, It's Chloe. I'm not here right now, but you can leave a message after the beep and I'll call you back. Uhm, okay, bye!'' Jason drummed his fingers on the table, until he heard that damn beep.

''Uhm, hey Cho. It's me. Jason. Your boyfriend. I actually need to talk to you, but I'm in New York and you're not picking up. As usual. So, I'll guess I'll just have to have this very important conversation with your machine. Yay me. I guess it makes it easier.

Well, today I met this girl, and before you delete this message, no it's not what you think. She's thirteen and her name is Michelle. Well, Mitchie. Her name doesn't really matter. But she told me something. She told me that you should be completely confident in your relationship. That you shouldn't doubt your relationship. And then she told me that I shouldn't listening to her.'' Jason chuckled.

''But I chose to do so, anyway. So, here it is. Chloe, you make me feel like I'm completely worthless. You're always trying to overshadow me. Sometimes I wonder if you're only with me because I'm 'famous'. Actually, I'm starting to think my brothers were right all along. You always make me feel like the middle tree. No, the middle man. You probably have no idea what that means, but that doesn't matter.

I'm done with being the middle man. I don't… no, not anymore. I know this is a really crappy way to get it said. I'm aware of that. But you know, why make the ending anything else than what the relationship was, you know? So, I guess what I'm trying to say is--'' the machine cute him off. A rare curse slipped under his breath, as he dialed the number again.

''Hey, It's Chloe. I'm not here right now, but you can leave a message after the beep and I'll call you back. Uhm, okay, bye!''

''We're over, Chloe.'' Jason finished his last message and hung up the phone.

He fell back on his bed, and let out a sigh. He closed his eyes, and didn't notice when his younger brother, who had been standing in the doorway through most of the conversation, entered the room.

''Feels good, doesn't it?'' he startled his older brother.

Jason's eyes flew open. ''Huh? Shane?'' he squinted his eyes.

Shan grinned, and threw himself down beside Jason, both of them facing the ceiling. ''To break it off. You know, when she's holding you down, and making you feel good. It's such a relief, don't you think?'' he asked, his eyes fixated on a little black spot on the white surface above him.

Jasonshrugged. ''I feel like crap.'' he confessed.

''But?'' Shane asked. He knew a but was coming.

Jason grinned. ''But, there was no other way.'' Shane nodded, agreeing with him. ''No, there really wasn't, was there?'' he asked rhetorically.

They lay there in silence for a while, until Shane spoke up again. ''Michelle?'' he then asked.

Jason laughed. ''Gave me the final kick in the butt.''

Shane laughed, and stood up. ''Yeah, me too.'' he consented. ''Come on. Don't lye here all day, and sulk. Dad & Davie is on the phone. Davie has some very important news for you.'' Shane called over his shoulder, as he walked into the main room.

Jason sighed once again, but then stood up and followed his brother. When he entered the main room, he noticed his mom with her phone in hand.

''Oh Davie, he just walked out. Okay. Yes, I'll tell Nate. And Shane. Okay, love you too honey.'' she said, and handed the phone to Jason, who took it.

''Davie, hey what's up? Getting some girls lately?'' he teased. ''Five? Wow, you better treat them right Casanova.'' Jason grinned, and saw Nate out of the corner of his eye.

''FIVE?!'' Nate mouthed, and looked absolutely in awe of his only little brother.

Jason laughed, and returned to the conversation. ''My inbox?'' he then asked confused. ''Okay, sure I'll check it out.'' he replied, still confused, but nevertheless opened his MacBook and signed into his mail.

''Yes, yes, I got your mail.'' Jasom told his little brother, while he opened it. ''Attached file?'' he then asked, and opened it. ''Yes, yes, I see it now.'' he replied softly.

There his little brother was. Standing on top of a cut down tree. His tree. The middle tree. ''Yeah, you definitely look like a superhero. Yeah. Okay. Tell Dad I said hi. Love you too Davie. See you soon.'' he said, and hung up.

Jason sat and looked at the picture. That tree, that he had related to, was now cut in to pieces. It had died. It had died along the middle man in Jason. Now he was just a man, and that was just a bunch of firewood. And Jason had never felt better in his entire life. Finally, there was no tree to cast a big and ugly shadow over him. No Chloe to do so, either. Just Jason. Just Jason and his brothers.

And Mitchie, he thought.