AN Ack! I'm sorry for not posting this yesterday, it was so hectic getting ready for school. But here it is now!

Chapter 3: The Beginning

Mitchie awoke the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed. She rubbed at her eyes and sat up in bed, yawning widely as she looked around the room. It was quiet, and the sun was barely over the horizon. Stretching her hands over her head she sat up in bed, ruffling her hair and nearly letting out a panicked cry. My hair's all gone, she thought frantically, then blinked at her unpainted nails, confused. She turned around and looked about the room, something catching her eye. Shane Gray slept quietly in the bed next over, and she watched him for a moment, the events of yesterday flowing back into her head.

Letting out a groan, she flopped back onto her pillow and put her arm over her eyes. It was too early to be awake, and Mitchie felt like she hadn't gotten any sleep at all last night. Her head was throbbing slightly, and she heard shuffling to her left. "Mitch? You all right, man?" she heard Shane question.

"Awesome," she muttered, sitting up again and shaking out her hair. He chuckled and started to go through his drawers, looking for something to wear. Before she could move, his shirt was on the ground and she was staring at him openly, her jaw slightly dropped. Shane Gray must work out, because he was so fit and muscular, like a perfectly sculpted statue. He started to turn to face her and she averted her eyes, pushing her blankets off and walking over to her own dresser.

"What are your classes today, Mitch?" he asked with a yawn, pulling on a pair of tight black jeans and a long sleeved shirt, pushing the sleeves up to his elbows. She looked around and tugged the schedule she had received in the mail out of her bag, looking down it.

"Uh," she murmured, reading down the list. "I have vocal lessons and hip hop dance, what about you?"

"Same, cool," he smiled. Ack, she thought in discomfort, picking up her new clothes and heading for the door. It wasn't much a coincidence for them to have the same classes, but it still irked her. It was like someone writing the story of her life was just trying to make her angry (and that person happened to have a username of K2-Romance.) What a pain in the neck. "Where are you going?" he asked in surprise.

"Shower," she replied quickly, running out the door before he could ask her anything else. She looked around the premises and ran into the building with the showers, closing the curtain behind her. The cold water startled her and she took her shower quickly, rinsing her hair and wrapping the ace bandage back around her chest before pulling on today's outfit. A pair of form fitting leather pants and a white tee shirt complete with a black vest and matching sneakers.

Stepping out, she dried off her short hair the best she could and looked in the mirror. With no make up on and brand new clothes that she was completely unfamiliar with, she barely recognized herself there. She pulled out a comb and tried her best to style her hair so it looked halfway decent, and after a few minutes hard work she was basically happy with the result. It looked like it was styled after the lead singer of that band of brothers that everyone was going crazy for back home, but that was the best she could do.

She walked back into the cabin and tossed her clothes into a pile for washing later, and she smiled at Shane. "Morning," she greeted tentatively as he laced his sneakers, sitting back onto her bed.

"Morning, Mitch," he said back, and then mentioned, "Dude, you smell like a girl." Mitchie blinked and glanced around, noticing that the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash she had used was the one she had brought from home accidentally. She hadn't even noticed it until now, so used to seeing it.

"Man," she complained. "Mom just got the packing all wrong, didn't she?" Shane laughed and dug into his drawer, pulling out a can of cologne, holding it out to her. She took it and cocked an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged. "Maybe it'll help." She rolled her eyes and handed it back to him, making him laugh.

"No thanks, Shane. I'll deal with smelling like a girl," she said, shaking out her hair again. It was falling into her eyes, annoying her.

"You smell like a girl, and you look like that singer for that teen band, with the brothers," he chuckled, shaking his head. "You'll have such a fun day today, Mitch. Really." She didn't even bother to ask him what he meant by that, pulling all her stuff together and hoisting her guitar case onto her back. Mitchie knew she had to be prepared for anything today, and she was almost hyperventilating she was so nervous. Shane's words weren't helping out much either, really.

Finally feeling she was ready, she began to walk towards the door to go to breakfast. "Hey, Mitch, wait up. I'll show you where the mess hall is." I just can't escape the nice guy, she thought distractedly, wondering if she would feel better about it if she wasn't pretending to be a boy. With a sigh she realized that she probably would adore the attention, especially coming from someone like Shane.

Forcing a smile, she replied, "Thanks, man. I appreciate it." They walked out of the cabin together, and they heard Nate and Jason come up behind them and, unsurprisingly, they were arguing about something.

"That wasn't necessary!" Nate grumbled, shaking out his damp hair.

Jason laughed, throwing the water bottle away in a trash can nearby. "You weren't getting up! I didn't want you to miss lunch, silly Nate."

"It's breakfast!"

"But that doesn't--"

"Morning!" Shane greeted them, throwing his arms around their necks, smiling. Mitchie rolled her eyes at the clever diversion. He must have had years of practice and years of getting tired of their arguing.

Nate glared at him, but Jason returned the greeting with his own. The four of them entered the mess hall together, looking around at the campers there. Shane pointed out a few of the people he knew, "That's Seth Jones, with the green hair in the corner, and his best friend Aaron Shows. Don't bother with them, they like to keep to themselves mostly. There's Michael Brass sitting with Barron James and Sander Loya over there, they're pretty cool." A few of the people he mentioned waved to Shane, Jason, and Nate as they walked by to the buffet table, giving Mitchie strange looks.

"Why are they looking at me funny?" she whispered to Shane, furrowing her brow.

Jason piped up, "Because your hair looks like Joe Jonas'."

Nate rolled his eyes. "I doubt that's why."

"How would--"

"Why do you--"

Shane groaned, cutting them off. "It's too early for this, guys. Spare me." He turned to Mitchie, who had started to laugh, and explained, "You're new at Camp Rock, that's probably why. You know, new people always attract a lot of attention, and as far as I can see, you're the only new guy here this summer." Mitchie thought ironically, There aren't any new guys here. Then he whispered, "Though you do kind of have hair like Joe's."

Mitchie glared at him, and he just shrugged.

"Hey Shane, Jason, Nate!" A tall lanky boy walked up to them, a pair of drumsticks sticking out of his pocket. They all exchanged what Mitchie could only assume were 'man-hugs,' excited to see each other. His dark eyes strayed to her face, and he became curious. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Mitch," Shane said, and she shook the stranger's hand. "This is his first year at Camp Rock. Mitch, this is Andy, he's a wicked drummer." Andy smiled.

"Thanks Shane. And it's cool to meet you Mitch. I hope you like camp."

"Oh, thank you." He walked away to sit with Barron and his friends, all of them laughing at something Sander said. "They all seem nice enough," she admitted, taking a bowl of fruit and putting it on her tray. Shane smiled in agreement and the four of them made their way through the crowded mess hall. Mitchie could almost smell the testosterone in the air, and it made her nervous. She wasn't really strong enough to stand up to the girls that bullied her and Sierra, let alone any guys that might bully her here. But they all seemed to like Shane, so he probably wouldn't let that happen to her.

Well, to Mitch, at least.

They settled themselves down, Mitchie sitting by Jason and Nate by Shane. The seating arrangement seemed entirely habitual; Jason and Nate probably couldn't sit by each other without the very real possibility of food fight getting started. Silence covered their table as they began to eat. Even Jason was quiet as he powered down his own breakfast. Mitchie was contemplating, her eyes drifting between her three friends at the table.

She didn't know if it was safe for her to get close to them, as much as she wanted to. They all seemed like really nice guys. But that wasn't the point, she kept telling herself. Friends, crushes (especially crushes, that would lead to very awkward situations), they were completely optional, even out of the question at some point. She was here for the music and only for the music.

After they finished eating, Nate and Jason separated from Mitchie and Shane so they could each go to their respective classes. The walk there was in uncomfortable silence for Mitchie, though Shane was smiling and whistling the entire way there. She glanced up at him from under her bangs brushed to the side, as he stared off into space. He looked content, happy to be back at the place he seemed to consider his second home.

It was kind of sweet.

"Oh, Mitch," Shane mentioned, turning around to face her. She blinked in confusion and tilted her head, her eyebrows furrowed. "I just want to tell you, my uncle teaches this class."

"Your uncle?"

Shane nodded. "Yeah, he's one of the founders of Camp Rock, and he's also an instructor. He can--"

Obviously not seeing an additional point to his observation, Mitchie stuttered, "Th-That's so cool!" Shane smiled and shook his head, throwing his arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the the correct cabin as she waited in anticipation for the amazingly cool rock star that had started Camp Rock.

AN Apparently my hair does too. When I got it cut, the lady pointed at a poster and said, "You look like him!" and lo and behold it was Joe Jonas as Shane Gray.

Go figure.