"Tasha, I'm not joking!" Kayla Gray raced after the ten year old girl and tackled her to the ground. "I want that picture back!"

"But what's so special about it?" Natasha Jones held it out of the older girl's reach and examined it. "It's just a picture of Nate and you!"

"Exactly!" said Kayla, snatching it back.

"Please can I see it?" begged the younger girl.

"No, Tasha."

"I'm telling mom!"

"Not if I tell her first!" even at seventeen, Kayla was still a child at heart.

Tasha raced down the stairs. Kayla got ready to follow but her cell phone began ringing in her room. She groaned and ran to it.

"What?"

"Eh," her best friend Jason's voice was afraid. "If this is a bad time…"

"Nah, I'll live," Kayla collapsed onto her bed. "How'd Final Jam go?"

"Shane found her."

"The girl with the voice? Really?" Kayla perked up. "Who was she?"

"Mitchie Torres, I don't know if he told you about her…"

"That HotTunes girl gone kitchen-help?"

"Yeah, that one. He told you then?"

"No, I got the info from you, remember?"

"Oh," Jason was quiet for a while before he said, "You know he misses you, right?"

"Shane?" Kayla was incredulous.

"You know who I mean."

"I already told you, Jase. I killed myself by doing that. It'll kill me more if I accept and then make a mistake."

"Alright, fine. When's graduation?"

"September. My feet hurt from the practicing. So where's Shane?"

"Oh, hold on. We see him. I'll get him to talk."

Two minutes later, her brother's voice sounded through the line. "Yeah?"

Kayla sighed. "Hey, Shane. What's new?"

"Nothing that you don't already know."

"Right. Have you seen Peggy?"

"She won."

"Really?" Kayla sat up, exited. "No way!"

"Yeah, she did. She was pretty good too."

"Good. And when can I meet your girlfriend?"

"When I actually tell her about you."

"I think it's unfair you haven't told her."

"She's barely been my girlfriend for an hour." He was getting angry.

"Why do I think you hate me?"

"Cut it out, Kayla."

"Do you?" she pressed.

"You're being ridiculous, kid."

"Maybe I am."

"Alright, fine!" he said angrily. "I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Come on, Sh-"

"Kay?"

She stiffened slightly at the new voice. "Hey, Nate."

"What did you say to him?"

"Nothing much, he's just being touché."

"Try not to upset him. He's nervous."

"You make this Mitchie sound more like a monster and less like his girlfriend."

"She seems nice enough."

"Remind me again why I can't meet her?"

"Because she doesn't know you exist, Kay," she bit her lip at the sound of her nickname.

"That's Shane's problem."

"He's not going to keep her in the dark forever. You'll see her soon enough."

"Please can you convince him?"

Nate snorted. "He's not about to listen to me."

"Promise me, Nate."

"I'm not making promises I won't be able to keep."

"Please?"

"Fine."

"Before graduation." Kayla was firm.

"I'm not a miracle worker."

"Well, work on your persuading skills."

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this."

"You have three weeks."

"Okay, your jerk of a brother is calling now. I gotta go."

"Nate…"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll see Mitchie before graduation. Happy now?"

"Yes," Kayla grinned widely. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, thank me now. There's only one way I can think of, and Shane'll probably kill me."

"I'll arrange the funeral."

"Thanks for the support. Bye."

"Bye!"

Kayla hung up, feeling a bit better. She hated that his voice could do that; she melted and all her worries disappeared. She was still staring at the blank screen of her phone when someone knocked on her door.

"Come in!"

"Kayla, dear?"

"Yeah, Aunt Liz?" Kayla looked at the woman standing in her doorway, noticing for the millionth time that her eyes were the exact same chocolate brown as her son's. She held a guilty looking Tasha's hand.

"Tasha says you wouldn't give her a picture, and she snuck it out of your room. Is that true?"

"Well, yeah, but it honestly doesn't matter."

"Nevertheless, Tasha wanted to apologize. She knows it's very wrong to take someone's things without permission. What have you got to say, young lady?"

Tasha looked up guiltily. "Sorry, Kayla."

"Apology accepted. Now come here and I'll tell you a story before dinner, huh?"

"About Camp Rock or school?" Tasha flew across the room and settled herself next to the older girl.

"Whichever one you want."

"A new one."

The door closed behind Kayla's godmother and she looked at Tasha in confusion. "Which one?"

"When you and Nate were still friends."

Kayla felt a lump in her throat as she gracefully got off the bed. She went to her chest of drawers and rummaged in it until she found what she was looking for. A large box, studded with real jewels, was safely hidden under her socks. She picked it up and carried it over to the younger girl. She took of the lid and pulled out several albums, picture frames and other, smaller boxes. Each had a white tag attached, with a name and a date on it.

"Your memory box?"

"You wanted a story, kiddo," Kayla smiled, a brilliant fake smile achieved after practicing long and hard. "Here they are. My memories since I was fourteen. Nate, Jason, Shane, your parents, Uncle Brown… you name it, something from each of them is in here. Take your pick and we'll start."

Kayla was an amazing dancer, but her biggest talent, which made Tasha worship her, was her ability to tell stories. Her godmother called her Sara Crewe, from the novel A Little Princess. Kayla merely smiled, trying to hide her feelings. Sara Crewe's father had lived. She had had no siblings who hated her. Her love life wasn't in turmoil like Kayla's.

"This one," Tasha said after scavenging through the boxes and albums. She picked up a pale blue jewelry box, made of velvet. The white tag read, Shane to Kayla; 16th birthday present, February 2006.

"Ah," said Kayla, taking the box from the smaller hands that held it. "This is empty. It used to contain this," Kayla reached up and showed her a gold chain around her neck. It had a musical note for a pendant that glittered in the hollow of her throat. "Shane's birthday present to me. Nice, huh?"

"Wow," Tasha looked wide-eyed at the piece of jewelry. "I wish I had a brother like that."

I'm glad you don't, thought Kayla to herself. Nate's much better for you.

"Do you still have Nate's present?" asked Tasha, cutting into Kayla's thoughts.

"Yeah," Kayla bit her lip and pulled up her sleeve to show her the glittering silver charm bracelet she wore. Tiny, silver charms tinkled with her every movement. She had never taken it off. Nate thought she didn't have it anymore.

"Ooh, I remember this one!" squealed Tasha. "The way he gave it to you was really sweet."

"You mean the roses?"

"Yeah. That was soo sweet."

"Yes, it was." Kayla stared at one of the charms which she had always loved. It was a flat heart which had a strange glitter to it. Only close examination revealed the minute letters inscribed in silver glitter: I love you.

"Kayla?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you like Nate?"

Kayla looked at her warily. "Where're you going with this?"

"Just asking. 'Cause it's pretty obvious he likes you."

"Sweetie, get a little older and I'll tell you exactly how I feel about your brother."

"How old?"

"Thirteen."

"I can wait. But I'm hungry. Can we eat?"

"Go ahead. I'll just clean is up." She gestured to the albums and boxes strewn everywhere.

Tasha scampered off alone and Kayla glanced at the mess on her bed. She swept everything back into the box and carried it to the chest in the corner. After she'd closed it, she heard her godmother call her and raced down, forgetting all about the picture lying face-down on her side table.

It was a picture of her and Nate. In fact, there were millions of pictures of them, but this one had a special significance.

In every other picture, the two were smiling or laughing, never touching.

In this one, Nate's arm was around Kayla's waist. He was looking at her with a look of pure adoration. She was leaning her head against his shoulder, clutching one of his hands, smiling.

Kayla hadn't smiled like that for a year.