hey, everyone.
it's eight-thirty in the morning on my summer break.
usually i'm not up until twelve-one. but hey, here i am!
anyway, enjoy the quick update. it adds quite a bit of drama.
and again, thank you for the reviews.
as your 'reward', i'm hoping to post another update to 'believe in this' before bed tonight.
enjoy!

Chasing Dreams: Chapter Three

Shane's eyes fluttered open at the noise of banging on the screen door. He could make out the groaning noises of Cam and Derrick across the room, mumbling swear words under their pillows. "Cabin 16, time to wake up! Report to breakfast in a half hour!" Brown's familiar, Australian accent sounded through the screen. Shane sat up and ran his hand through his bed head hair, watching Cam and Derrick slowly stir in their beds.

"Dibs on shower first," he mentioned to them. Both of them moaned in response, and Shane took it as an approval. He weakly ambled over to the in-cabin bathroom and shut the door. The towels were already folded over and hung on a wooden rack beside the sink. Staring into his reflection, Shane rubbed his eyes and noticed someone looking a little less than perfect. His black hair was messy and stuck up randomly, his wife beater was wrinkled, and his breath smelt absolutely horrible. Shane tiredly turned the shower on, and stripped of his clothing.

He threw his clothes on the ground and savored the water running down his body. It instantly woke him up, and he was able to rub the hair and body wash through his hair and all over his skin.

After he stepped from the steaming shower, Shane quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and picked up his toothbrush from the sink. To Shane, it felt good to get all evidence of morning breath out of his mouth. Who knew what was going to happen today?

When he got back into the main part of the cabin, Cam and Derrick were racing to the bathroom. Derrick made it in first. "Damn," Cam spat, walking slowly back to his bed. Shane already had his boxers on by now and was rummaging through his drawers for his outfit for the day. "What's the latest fashion, Gray?" Cam smirked from his bed.

"Whatever I damn well feel like." Shane snapped. He didn't feel like dealing with Cam's crap. It was too early in the morning for him, and Shane Gray never was a morning person. Cam held up his hands innocently and shrugged. Shane finally decided on a black and grey striped t-shirt, a pair of jeans and black Converse low-tops.

"Nice. That'll impress your vocal bitch."

Before Cam knew it, Shane was on top of him, pinning his chest down on the ground with a fist about a foot above Cam's face. The look on the blonde boy's face read terror. "Take it back." Shane spoke dangerously low, like a growl erupting from the deep of his throat. Cam sputtered something inaudible. "Take it back!" he repeated, loudly this time.

"Alright, alright!" Cam shouted. "She's not your bitch! Just get off of me!" As Shane released him palm from Cam's chest and stepped away, Cam looked up, disgusted at him. "What the hell, dude? Why so defensive? You two go out or something?"

"No," Shane said as he misted a cloud of his body spray all over him. The fiery scent filled the whole room.
"Just don't talk about Mitchie. Ever." Shane forewarned, before leaving the cabin and shutting the thin screen door with a loud slam.

As Shane approached the seating area of the dining hall, with his food tray in hand, many of them stared at him. Luckily for Shane, Cam was the only guy in the camp that thought Connect 3 was gay. The rest of them had enough respect to realize that at least Shane Gray had some talent. Girls swooned and sighed as he walked by, and he just kept a glance ahead. One feisty blonde cried out, "Marry me!" As Shane turned to look at her, he unexpectedly ran into someone. Luckily for them both, none of the food touched their clothes.

"Oh, sorry," she spoke timidly. Shane looked up, secretly hoping it was Mitchie, but he was greeted with someone very different. This girl had very long, dark brown hair and bright green eyes. She was quite a bit shorter than Shane with a slender figure dressed in a knee-length, flowing skirt and a short-sleeve V-neck.

The first thing Shane wanted to do was yell at her, but she seemed too delicate to do so to. "Uh, no, I'm sorry." He apologized. "I should've been watching where I was going." It felt strange for Shane to apologize to someone else. The girl finally gained the confidence to look up at him. She had a whimsical half-smile and sparkling green eyes, the same shade as Shane's favorite color. He realized they were standing in the middle of the hall. "You want to go sit down? Alone?" he added onto the end. Shane wasn't sure if he wanted to meet a bunch of people at once.

The girl looked around for an empty table. Once she spotted one, she turned back to Shane. "Sure." She began to walk towards the table, with Shane following behind her. They both set their trays down facing each other, and the girl delicately took her seat. "Shane, right?" she smiled.

"Good guess." Shane smiled back, with a hint of cockiness in his voice. "And your name?"

"Avery …Blair." She decided to add her last name, just in case.

"Pretty name," Shane shrugged his shoulders coolly. Avery blushed and used her fork to draw swirling patterns in the syrup on her pancake. Shane watched her and secretly wished it was Connie who made the food. "Anyway, is this your first year at Camp Rock?" he tried to start conversation up again.

Avery nodded. "Yeah, I'm sixteen so we'll see how it is this year and if I come back next year." She tilted her head slightly while talking to Shane. "So, why are you here? I mean …you're already famous."

Shane shrugged. "Can't ever get enough of this place." He lied. Being a jerk to a girl he just met didn't seem like such a smart idea. "Actually, my uncle owns it. I had something wrong with my throat so now I have to get it fixed, uh, I mean trained." He finished with a warm smile. Avery nodded as she listened intently. "This is my third year here."

"That's cool. I hope it's as much fun as everyone says." Avery said wistfully, again making random doodles in her food.

Shane grinned. "Yeah. A lot of people get their summer flings here too."

"Have you ever had a summer fling?" Avery teased, smiling softly. Shane smiled knowingly.

"Yeah. Mitchie. That's a story for another time."

Just as Shane was about to comment on how a 'pretty girl like her would have no problem finding a fling', a random memory popped into his mind. It was when he and Mitchie went out on the canoes and rowed in circles for about an hour, until Brown called them back in and they actually had to try to row. He sighed and slouched in his chair.

As if on cue, the door to the dining hall was gently pushed open. It didn't distract any of the chatting campers, but the girl walking by certainly did turn heads. Shane could hear someone whisper, "Is she a counselor?" and another one say, "How can I get into her class?" Shane just sat back in his chair and smiled as Mitchie made a beeline for him.

"Hey Shane." She smiled in a friendly manner, which was ten steps up from last night. Today she resembled the same Mitchie that Shane knew from two years back, which made his heart flutter and wither both at once. "If I'm late tonight, just wait in the rehearsal hall for me to come by." It took Mitchie a moment to see the girl sitting across from Shane. "Oh, am I interrupting something?"

"No," Avery answered. "I'm Avery. Nice to meet you, uh –"

"Mitchie." She smiled. Shane knew her better than most people did, and definitely knew her well enough to see that her smile wasn't completely genuine. Mitchie turned back to Shane and pointed an expectant finger at him. "Don't be late, even if I am." She reminded him. Shane stood up and grinned, standing very close to her.

"I know I'm supposed to respect my elders but," Shane looked up and down Mitchie's body. She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "You're only seventeen."

Mitchie found herself blushing and looking away. She wondered why she felt so nervous around Shane – she didn't love anymore. She wouldn't let herself. But who was this new girl, and what was she doing talking to Shane? Mitchie shook all jealous thought from her mind and smiled at him. "Actually, superstar," she spoke with a clear, beautiful voice that would make any guy turn their head. "I'm sixteen."

And with this, she turned and walked quickly away. Shane watched after her and sighed, smiling, sitting back down to face Avery. Avery grinned widely at him, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Huh! Mitchie!" she exclaimed, all essence of being shy gone from her voice. "So your fling is supposedly 'over', then?"

Shane shrugged. "Well, it's complicated. I loved her more than anyone I'd ever met in my life, when I met her two years ago. But you know, going on tour and stuff …it was too complicated for her and she just sort of stopped dealing with me."

"And y'all broke up?" Avery's warm southern accent rang clearly.

Again, Shane shook his head. "We never went out. I wanted to, and I was going to ask her …but it all sort of fell apart. She must think I'm here to hurt her because she doesn't even want to give me a second chance." At this, Shane's tone dropped into a sense of melancholy that even Avery detected.

"You really want to win her over?" Avery asked, in all seriousness. Shane nodded his head furiously, curious as to what else this girl may say. "Well, if you really want this to work before the summer ends, I'm here to help."

Shane looked up quickly at her. She was smiling widely, green eyes glossy and white teeth sparkling. She was truly being genuine about this. "Really?" he asked quizzically, somewhat confused.

"Sure!" Avery stood up, leaving her tray on the table. Shane remained seated. "I'm in Cabin 3, down by the lake. Come by sometime and we'll talk about your next move."

Shane was a bit taken aback by her straight-forward help. He pushed a few black locks form his eyes. "Well, uh, thank you."

Avery bowed her head gracefully. As she turned to leave, she looked over her shoulder and alleged, "No problem. What are friends for?"

i just wanted to establish the friendship between shane & avery, and the jealousy between avery & mitchie.
megan (xx live in love) asked if avery is true or if she's just another scheming fangirl.
i said 'we'll all have to wait and see.'
anyway, please please keep up the amazing reviews!
thank you so much! :) xok.