While the Camp Rockers were getting ready for their spotlight moment, Tess and Luke happened to walk by.
Tess took a deep breath in, and let it out before turning to Luke and saying, "Good luck." She was nervous and was trying to shake off some nerves before getting onstage.
Luke scoffed and looked up at her while rolling up his sleeves. "I'll be lucky if you don't forget your words this time," He said with disdain clear in his eyes.
Tess narrowed her eyes and gave a quick snicker before adding in, "And by 'good luck,' I mean, 'I hope you fall off the stage.'" Luke just rolled his eyes and stomped off towards the stage. Tess scoffed and shook her head. I can't believe I love that jerk, she thought to herself in disgust. She then looked up and saw the Camp Rock girls, the ones she used to call her best friends, staring at her with clear pity in their faces. Tess gave a nervous smile and wave, which the girls gave back, Mitchie waving back as well.
Tess couldn't handle looking at them without wanting to cry, so she turned around and walked towards the stage as well. You're the one who broke it off with them, she cried to herself. What did I do to myself? She asked herself, staring at her shoes before getting in position to start their song.
Mitchie got up from the chair and walked over to where Shane was leaning on the wall, talking with Nate, both with serious faces etched on. Shane looked towards Mitchie and pushed himself off the wall, giving her a small smile, reaching for a hand to hold. "Hey," He spoke quietly.
Mitchie copied his smile and then went in for a hug. "We just saw Tess…" She whispered so only he could hear. She tried to hide the hurt, but it was there enough that he could sense it.
He wrapped his arms tightly around her, one arm wrapped around her waist with his other wrapped around her shoulders. "How was she?" He asked, knowing that while she tried to hide it, she was still hurt over Tess' actions.
Mitchie shrugged and pushed herself slightly from Shane, but still in his embrace, entangling her hands and resting them on the small of his back. "She seems… Sad. And upset," She said eventually, pausing to think her words through carefully. "She tried to wish Luke good luck, and yet all he said was some stupid mean comment that was just a dig at her." She shook her head and looked up into Shane's eyes. "She's not happy," She finished, letting out a small sign.
Shane gave a small shrug and then pulled Mitchie in closer again, resting his chin on her head. "Did we really ever expect her to be happy here, though?" He questioned, turning his head to rest his cheek on her head instead. He felt Mitchie give off a small sad laugh.
"I guess not," She spoke. Giving Shane one final squeeze, she let go and pushed him slightly away. "Let's go watch them though, see what we're up against," She suggested, already seeing the others starting to make their way to huddle around the backstage tv.
Shane grabbed one of her hands and let her drag him over, wishing they were onstage singing again already.
They all watched the screen, waiting in anticipation to see what Camp Star's act was like.
As the announcer spoke, Mitchie looked up at Shane next to her and gave a half-smile, glad he was there next to her. He returned the smile and released their held hands to instead set his left arm around her waist, squeezing her hip slightly.
The campers just watched on, give an annoyed stare when Axel's face showed up on the screen. Obviously none of them were too keen on him. The announcer then said, "Now, I know if I was gonna study music, this is the place I'd wanna be."
Caitlyn scoffed in response, her face showing off her upset feelings, asking angrily "Why is she saying that?" Peggy just looked crushed and hurt at the comment from the announcer.
Mitchie spoke up quickly to try to defuse the situation, "It's her job. She's supposed to say nice things." She gave a fake smile and nodded her head, before her face crumbled and turning to look back at the tv.
Shane just looked at her with an incredulous look. He knew she was putting on a positive face to fool the others, but she could never fool him. He wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her closer to his chest, where he breathed out a few words into her ears, "Just relax." Mitchie gave a slight nod, trying to focus all her attention on the tv, and not the butterflies buzzing in her stomach at her close proximity with her boyfriend. Shane's breath on her ear was distracting enough to keep her nerves in check some.
Ella spoke up, looking queasy. "If she doesn't stop talking, I think I'm gonna throw up." She gulped and started running towards the bathroom. "Too late." Mitchie turned to try to go after her, but Shane tightened his arms and all she could see was Shane's chest.
"Let her be," He whispered as he saw another camper run out to help. Mitchie nodded and again turned back to the tv. Shane released his right arm from around her to run it through his hair, trying to fight back what little nerves he still had left over. Sander exchanged a look with Barron, feeling guilty about not helping Ella himself.
Finally the announcer said, "Camp Star, everybody!" This was the moment they were all waiting for.
During the first chorus, Mitchie and Shane exchanged glances at each other. Mitchie's full of fear and Shane's full of disbelief. Shane shook his head and squeezed her hip again gently, trying to calm her down again.
After their performance was done, all the Camp Rockers gave a slow clap while Mitchie looked over at Peggy and Caitlyn. Peggy still had a crushed look on her face, while Caityln gave off a glare towards the tv still. Mitchie sighed and looked up at the ceiling, praying silently for her campmates. Shane looked over at the others and shook his head softly, not knowing how to clean the discouragement off of them.
The girls went back to the make-up stalls, finally catching back up to Ella. Peggy started fixing her bangs before looking next to her at Ella. She scrunched her eyes, staring at Ella's eyes. "What happened to you?" She asked, taken back from the studs now on Ella's eyelids.
Ella shrugged while taking shallow breaths and putting on lipgloss. "When I get nervous, I sparkle things," looking back over at her mirror. Peggy giggled and shook her head.
They then heard Tess and Luke returning from onstage.
"Would you stop and listen?" Tess asked in an exasperated tone.
Luke just kept walking and responded absentmindedly, "You sounded good, too." Always the one to think that anything someone said has to be a compliment in some way.
Mitchie spoke up as they passed the door, stopping the duo. "Hey, you guys were incredible," She said, trying not to sound too nerve-wracked. Tess' words from last year to Peggy still rang in her ears about how if someone is good, you should tell them that.
Luke smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "I know, right?" He kept going as Tess turned to look at him. "Only one thing would've made it better," He continued, "Doing it solo."
Mitchie looked puzzled and confused, staring off over Tess' right shoulder. Did he really just say that? She thought to herself.
Tess scowled at Luke as he looked over at her again and shot back at him, "I totally agree." He shook his head and walked off as Tess shot him one last glare before looking back at the Camp Rock girls, awkwardly staring down at the floor, unsure of what to say or do. Tess put on a fake smile and gestured between Luke and herself, trying to explain away what just happened. "It's this bantery thing that we…" She trailed off as Mitchie looked up at her with sympathy and warmth. Tess gave a small smile and said, "Thanks." Mitchie and Peggy both smiled and nodded their heads. Tess' smile grew a little bigger and she added, "Good luck," before walking off to find the rest of her campmates.
Mitchie grinned happily, feeling like there was more hope to rekindling a friendship than before.
Just after, the Camp Rockers started to hear their phones go off and checked their phones while walking towards the stage.
Peggy's voice came out first, "How come I just got a text telling me to vote for Camp Star?"
Mitchie pitched in after, "I just got one too."
Caityln pulled her face back, adding in, "Um, it's asking me if I wanna download Camp Star's song as my ringtone."
All the campers there decided to just dump their phones on a nearby table while Mitchie and Shane picked up two mics. Mitchie just shook her head in disbelief. "This is ridiculous," She murmured to herself. Shane gave a small smile and reached behind her shoulders to pull her in for a one arm hug before nudging her towards the back.
As they walked up the stairs hand in hand, their smiles started to grow as their adrenaline kicked in. Shane looked over at Mitchie, asking, "You ready?" His smile grew more as he saw hers was as big a grin as his own.
Mitchie could only respond with, "Let's do this." They walked off, about to separate to go to their separate entries before Shane grabbed her wrist and spun her around to face him.
He held her tight as he fought inside himself whether or not he wanted to kiss her. He finally decided to just kiss the top of her head and give one last look at her face. "Let's do this," He said, copying her. She smiled and leaned up to kiss his right part of his jaw, turning around with a grin and sprinting off to where she needed to be. Shane's face started hurting from the enormous smile on his face. When we win this, I'll definitely kiss her then, he mused to himself, in position for the song to start.
Wow longest chapter by far! I think it's even longer than my other story xD. Oh wow. Anyways, this does cover quite a bit of the movie in it. Hopefully it's all good heh heh.
I had fun writing this one a lot, actually. And I love putting in small moments of other ships I have. I absolutely love Luke and Tess because I can see them having such a big and violent storm romance, with Luke kissing Tess passionately while he's completely angry with her. I'm already having ideas for stories for them noooo xD.
Anyways, this was fun! I had another idea for a scene right before the last part of this chapter. I couldn't fully flesh it out right now (my mind is really stuck on school mode right now to make up for having so many days unable to work), but maybe eventually =]. I'm also hoping that by next week, I'll have the other chapter re-written (or at least starting to re-write it). 3
