Chapter 3: Strike Three

Shane and Jason stepped into the mess hall together. It was obvious they were some of the last people here, but that was okay with Shane. Maybe Seth left already, because Shane definitely wouldn't want to deal with him. He walked through and heard a girl giggle. He blinked and saw a pretty black haired girl smile at him, then blush and turn away. Shaking his head, he walked over to the buffet table and looked at the selection.

Jason mentioned, "The food's not bad here. It's so fresh you can hear the eggs moo!" Shane gave him a weak smile as he helped himself to some of the previously mentioned eggs as well as some sausage, toast and fruit. His eyes swept around for Seth or his friend, but when he didn't see either of them, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Jason, let's go sit over there," he said, pointing to the only empty table. He nodded in agreement and carried his own tray with him. They sat down and started eat, and Shane hummed to himself cheerfully. Despite the dreary start to the day this morning, things seemed like they were really looking up for him. Jason chatted to him amiably, but all Shane did was nod in the correct places, staring out the windows and enjoying the scenery.

"Kara, did you see the gorgeous newcomer?" the young black haired girl gushed to her friend, a few tables away.

"I did Anna," she replied with a bored sort of expression. "You've mentioned him like three times, okay? He's gorgeous, I get it." Her eyes roamed around until a mop of curly black hair met her eyes. She smiled and picked up her food, telling Anna, "I'm going to go talk to Nate, I'll see you later." Anna nodded and looked at the ground, biting her lip.

"Bye." She watched as her friend walked away, sighing unhappily.

"Hey, Nate," Kara said with a smile, sitting down beside him with her breakfast tray. He gave her a nod and went back to the music sheets sitting beside his lunch tray. "You've hardly eaten anything, that's not very healthy."

"Mmhmm." He continued to pour over his music, fixing up things that in her opinion didn't even need fixing. But she kept quiet, not wanting to bother the musical genius in his work. She picked at her food, her appetite entirely lost. Kara didn't know what was wrong, but Nate was acting strange, completely different than their last Camp Rock. It was worrying her, and she worried about him a lot.

She tried again, "Hey, how about you take a break from that song and we go do something fun before classes start today."

Nate gave her a withering look. "Kara, please. I'm trying to concentrate here. Why don't you go over and sit with that girl you were just talking to. What's her name again?"

"Anna."

"Yeah, her."

Kara gave him a hurt expression that he did not see and stood up, shaking her head and putting her dishes up for the kitchen staff to take care of. Standing up from her table, Anna ran after her as she left the mess hall, Kara's heart pounding painfully in her chest.

The sound of the door closing behind them snapped Shane out of his stupor and he glanced over to Jason, who was still talking animatedly. "And that's so weird! If buffalos don't have wings, then why are they called Buffalo wings? I don't think I'll ever get that..." Shane smiled laughingly, and shook his head, patting Jason on the shoulder with sympathetic intentions.

"You and Jessica Simpson both, man," he assured him, standing up from the table. Jason shrugged and followed suit, trailing after Shane as they both left the mess hall.

"So what's first on the agenda, el Capitan?" he asked.

Shane glanced over his shoulder and told him, "I have music theory first class with my uncle, Brown."

"Brown's your uncle?" Jason asked in awe.Shane nodded. "When you called him Uncle Brown, I thought that was his name, I've been calling him that too!" Shane burst out in laughter and Jason smiled at him. "Well then I guess I'll see you later, Brown's real nephew Shane!" He waved and they parted ways, Shane whistling softly as he followed the path up to where his uncle taught class.

He walked in the door, and almost turned around and walked right back out. Seth was in the back of the room, entertaining the girls of the class with his blond friend. Taking a deep breath, Shane walked right in and let the door slam behind him. Everyone looked up from what they were doing, and a few of the girls smiled. "Hey there, Shane," one of them called flirtatiously, and he gave her a tentative wave. Seth's expression didn't change at all; he merely looked like he didn't really care what was going on.

Sitting down in the front row, Shane pulled his guitar into his lap and put his music on the stand. He strummed a few chords, but before he finished warming up, many of the girls that had been talking to the punk rocker had congregated around him. This seemed to bother him, as his popularity dwindled. The other boys in the class glanced between the two in interest.

"So Shane," a girl named Lily asked. "This is your first time at Camp Rock, isn't it?"

He nodded and smiled at her. "Yeah, but I think it's gonna be pretty cool." A pretty lame lie, all things considering, but it was the best he was willing to come up with at eight in the morning.

Before she could answer, a familiar voice called out, "Well let's see! This is what I'm working with this year then?" He glanced over to see Brown standing in the doorway, his arms crossed as he leaned against the frame. Everyone laughed and sat in their seats. "Good morning everyone! I'm glad to see you all up bright and early, especially you Seth. To class on time, for once."

Shane spared him a glance amidst the nervous chuckles before turning his gaze back to his uncle. "Well, I know how most of you sound, but there's a few of you I haven't heard yet. So, Shane, why don't you start us off, please." He was stunned for a moment, then he pulled up his guitar and sent his uncle a dirty look. All he did was smile, so Shane sighed and strapped on the acoustic.

Not wasting any time with introductions, he began to sing.

The music's mine to take

Mine to sing and mine to play

The music's mine to make

That's the way it's gonna stay

Who else knows it like I do?

Who else knows how to make it groove?

I'm going to have my time

And make this music mine

He finished and sat back down without further ado, accenting his extreme desire to not be here. Applause broke out around him, and Lily whispered to one of her friends, "Handsome and talented. How much better does it get?"

"An excellent original by Mr. Shane Gray. Now in the back, Elisha, if you could go next please..."

When the class was over, Shane exited the classroom with the rest of the students. It was a really fun class, he had to admit. As an added plus, it turned out to be, so far, the one time that he'd seen Seth that he hadn't nearly killed Shane. Which was, of course, a huge relief because he didn't know if he could stand another confrontation with the intimidating teenager.

But as he walked towards his next class, a voice called, "Shane, wait a moment!" He turned around to see Lily waving after him and he paused for her to catch up. "You were really good. What a voice you have."

"Thanks, Lily. You're a great singer too," he said offhandedly, giving her a smile. She returned the gesture and was about to say something else, but she was cut off by an angry voice.

"Lily, what are you doing?" Both of them glanced up to see Seth fuming and she pouted, her arms crossed over her chest in irritation. "That's strike three, Gray. Now you're talking to my girl, and that's the worst thing you can do. You're on the black list now." Lily blew him a kiss as Seth turned to walk away, her following him. Shane buried his face in his palm, wondering what else could go wrong today.

"Hey, there Shane," Jason greeted, playing a riff on his guitar. Shane had gone through the whole rest of the day avoiding Seth, Lily and his friend Aaron, he had learned was his name, and had no confrontations with him at all, thank goodness. But he was still freaked out by the whole affair, and it was only the second day of camp.

"What's up Jason?" he murmured, sitting on his bed and tapping his fingers against his knee.

He didn't reply and Shane glanced around warily to see what he was doing. He let out a yell of surprise when Jason's face appeared next his. "Okay, Fidgety-Bob Tense-Pants, what's the matter with you?" Shane stared at him in bemusement for a while, trying to figure out what universe this creature came from.

"Nothing, really," he replied after Jason began to get impatient. "Just not used to so much competition."

"What competition?" Jason questioned, puzzled.

Shane shook his head in disbelief. "Here. At Camp Rock."

A look of understanding dawned on him. "Oh, I see! But you're great, so there's nothing to worry about, Shane! Time for bed, good night!" As quickly as he had arrived he was under his sheets and seemingly fast asleep.

Shane, for his part, was bewildered. But something in Jason's innocent tone cheered him up a little. Of the two of them, at least Jason had faith in Shane's abilities.