Essential Circuitry
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Camp Rock or the Jonas Brothers. Camp Rock belongs to Disney and the Jonas Brothers belong to themselves.
Characters: Jason and Nate
Words: 1, 571
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to comment on the last chapter! It was really great to see all your feedback. Hope you like this chapter. :)
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***Five Weeks Earlier
"Jason!"
Fifteen-year-old Jason Matthews looked up in time to see his baby brother Rhys come flying over, barrelling into him and nearly causing him to lose his balance. Jason chuckled as he fell back onto the grass, pulling the four-year-old onto his chest with him, the little boy laughing rumbustiously.
"What'cha doin'? What'cha doin'?" Rhys asked through his smiles.
"Nothing," Jason answered, sighing happily as he stared up at the sky. "Just watching the birds."
"You're always watching the birds," Rhys pouted, rolling off of him and going to stare at the sky as well. "Why? Clouds are way funner!"
Now it was Jason's turn to pout. "They are not. Birds are the best!"
"Please tell me we're not going on about birds again," complained another voice.
Jason tilted his head back to find himself staring at his older sister, Emma, who was staring down at him with an exasperated expression. "And so what if I am?" he demanded somewhat defensively.
"Never mind," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "It's just…" she paused to lean over and scoop Rhys up. "I get that birds are your thing or whatever, but don't you think it's getting a little old?"
"Don't you think you're a little too old for Elmo pajamas?" Jason challenged.
"No," she scoffed. "Elmo pajamas are actually cool if teenage girls wear them."
"Yeah, well," he mumbled, getting to his feet. "Birds are cool too."
With that, he left his sister to her own devices, leaving her to play with Rhys and keep him entertained. Climbing up the three steps that led to the back veranda, Jason paused by his cockatiel's cage, sparing the bird a few words before sending one last disappointed look out at the backyard where Emma was now happily pushing Rhys on their tire swing. He supposed that when you were one of six kids, with two parents making a family of eight, birthdays were pretty easy to forget if you kept quiet about them.
Sighing to himself, Jason ignored his other siblings watching baseball in the front room and jogged up the stairs to his shared room. Finding it to be void of life, Jason flopped onto his bed in relief, glad for the chance to be alone. Whatever contentment he thought he'd find though was short-lived though as someone presently decided to knock on his door.
"Come in!" he called, not even caring who it was.
"Hey Jason," his mother said quietly as she entered, shutting the door behind her to give them some privacy.
"Hey Mom," he replied, offering her a heartfelt grin; or at least, the best one he could manage.
"Oh baby," she sighed, sitting down next to him and leaning over to kiss his forehead, carding a hand through his hair. "Turn that frown upside-down."
"I'm trying," he promised, though he couldn't stop his eyes from dropping dejectedly.
"Jason," his mother said seriously, causing him to look up. "Is this because you think I forgot your birthday?"
Jason started, eyes widening. "You remembered?"
"Of course I did," she said seriously. "How could I ever forget? I love you Jason, and I'd have hoped that you knew that. You're such a good boy," she murmured, toying with his hair again. "You never ask for things, you never fight for attention, and you're always there whenever someone's upset. I think you're very special, so much more special than you think."
Jason blushed, dipping his head shyly. "Thanks Mom," he whispered.
"So," his mother continued. "Your father and I thought we'd get you something special for your birthday this year. We really hope you'll like it."
Jason frowned when his mother passed him a simple red envelope – the kind made of the thick paper that prevented you from seeing what the card said from the outside. More confused than anything, he tore it open, mouth dropping open when he realised what he was seeing.
"Mom, you-…you and Dad…Thank you!" he finally settled on, flinging his arms around his mother, holding her tightly. "This is the best birthday gift ever."
Because there, held securely in his fist, was a confirmed enrolment to Camp Rock.
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***Nine Days Earlier
There was near silence as Nate made his way down the hall back towards his room. He'd just overheard his mother – eavesdropping was a habit he'd picked up over the years, something Courtney would be ashamed of if she ever found out – saying that she would not be attending her work's conference. He knew how important this conference was, and he knew that, if his mother presented her piece well, she was almost guaranteed a promotion. He also knew why it was she was saying no.
Him.
While Courtney would never admit that that was why, Nate knew it was true. He knew his mother wasn't comfortable leaving him alone for two weeks while she went to London and he knew she didn't want to bother with the expenses of hiring a nanny for a fortnight, not that he needed one. Being a single mom was never easy and Nate respected everything his own mother did for him, even when she could be doing so much more.
Which was why he was doing what he was doing.
Upon arriving back to his room, Nate grabbed his laptop and fired it up, opening his web browser the moment it was loaded. If his mom was saying no because of him, he needed to remove himself from the situation. If he wasn't in the equation, Courtney had no reason to decline, which in turn meant she would get the promotion she had always wanted. So, some form of summer camp seemed like the best option to get him out of the house for an extended period of time.
Shifting himself onto his stomach, Nate did a quick Google search, eyes scanning the top results. Frowning at the third one down, Nate clicked on it, taking in the information and processing it. He hated camps, and the last thing he wanted in the whole world right now was to spend weeks and weeks somewhere unknown but he had to sound excited to his mother, which meant that he had to pick something that sounded like it would appeal to him. This 'Camp Rock' seemed an appropriate choice. Printing off a flyer from his wireless printer, Nate grabbed the paper and headed down to his mom's office.
"Mom?" he called, rapping his knuckles against the door as he pushed it open.
"Hi sweetie," Courtney said, beckoning him in. "Is something wrong?"
"…No," he murmured, putting on a nervous air to aid his performance. "I was just wondering if I could ask you something."
"Of course you can," she assured him, gesturing for Nate to come to her side. "What is it? What have you got there?"
Nate handed over the Camp Rock brochure. "It's a music summer camp. All my friends at school were talking about and it sounded really fun," he lied. "Do you…do you think I could go…maybe?"
Courtney looked surprised. "If you wanted to go, why didn't you say so earlier?"
He shrugged. "It's kind of expensive…?"
She gave him a look. "That's no concern of ours and you know it. Of course you can go, if you want to."
He nodded determinedly. "I really do! You know I'm good at music and it'll be really fun to spend a whole summer with kids who like it just as much as I do."
"Well if you're sure," his mother replied, flipped the brochure over to read the back. "Uh oh," she said, looking up and meeting his gaze slightly sadly. "Registration ended last Friday."
'Damn!'
"But…but you can call!" Nate suggested desperately. "You can call, can't you? Maybe they still have an available place? Please Mom?"
"Alright, alright," she laughed gently, picking up her phone and dialling. "This is a perfect example of why you tell me earlier and not at last minute, understand mister?"
Nate nodded quickly, leaning forward as someone obviously answered on the other end, his mother launching into a rapid-fire explanation of her situation. Yes, she knew the cut-off date was earlier and she would willingly pay more as punishment, something that seemed to be knocked back.
"He wants to know if you're keen," Courtney said, eyes flicking to his.
"I am!" Nate replied instantly, adding an excitement to his voice that he didn't feel. "I really want to go, I swear!"
"Well, there's your answer," Courtney said into the phone with a laugh, going silent again as the other person seemed to resume talking. A few minutes later, coupled with multiple thanks, she returned the phone to its cradle. "Well," she said, meeting his eyes and smiling warmly, "The answer's 'yes'."
"Yes!" Nate exclaimed, his mother leaning over to gently kiss his hair – which, from Courtney, was as much physical affection as she would ever give. "Thanks Mom!"
All but bursting from the room, Nate ran down to his room with feigned energy before reaching his door. There, his face fell, knowing he had just resigned himself to several weeks of torture. Silently, he back-tracked and stealthily paused outside his mother's office again.
"Mark?" his mother was saying. "Yes, can you call Mister Hughes? Tell him I will be able to attend the conference after all."
Having heard enough, Nate backed away. Well, at least one of them was happy.
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A/N: so there you have it, your first look at Jason and Nate. Next chapter should be them meeting Shane, so hopefully I'll be able to come up with something. Leave a comment on your way out if you could be so kind!
DG777
