Sorry I took so long, I had to move some stuff from my uni house to my house at home so things have been a little delayed. Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter and I hope you all keep reading.
AN: In the last chapter Mitchie sings 'The scientist' I had in mind a cover by Natasha Bedingfield, check it out!
Chapter 8 Under my skin
Shane and I sat and talked until I had to leave to go help my mum in the kitchen, I was surprised at how badly I didn't want to leave. He had saved my life today and I was glad, when I was near him I almost forgot about everything else and for that, I was grateful. Whilst I helped my mum put out the food for the evening I started to wonder about the message from Darren. What did it mean? What did he want? Would he come to camp? The questions whirled around in my mind and my hands started to lightly shake as I pictured a number or unfortunate scenarios in my head. I tried taking a deep breath but it didn't work and for the first time I wished Shane was here next to me. Obviously he couldn't be, he was a famous pop star, he was mobbed by girls everyday of his life everywhere he went and I was probably just some sad-act that he felt sorry for, but I didn't mind.
"Mitchie honey you almost done?" My mum asked from the kitchen.
"Erm yeah just have to put a few more cookies out and I think we're good." I replied.
My mum came through into the dining hall and gave me a small hug, "I miss your smile." She whispered before releasing me.
The words hit me like a ton of bricks, it felt as if my stomach had dropped 50ft, I was making my mum sad too and I didn't want that. I held back the tears that were threatening to spill and took a small breath.
"You can go now, Caitlyn will be here soon and you should get the food while it's warm." She spoke as if she hadn't just said those words to me.
"Thanks mum." I replied sincerely hoping that she knew I was thanking her for more than just the food.
I took off my apron and grabbed a plate from the side, helped myself to a cheeseburger and some fries then took a seat at an empty table awaiting Caitlyn's arrival. I ate the fires one by one and was almost done with them when Caitlyn arrived in the dining hall, the place was practically full and I wondered why she was this late today.
"Hey Caitlyn." I said looking up from my plate.
"Hi Mitchie." She replied quietly, something was bothering her.
"What's up?" I asked, if she was down then there was no hop in hell for me.
"I miss home a little bit that's all." She replied. Homesick, I could handle that.
"Hey it's alright, you can call your mum from my phone if you want or we can skip lunch and go do something to clear your head." I chirped up hoping to bring her back to her usually chipper self.
"The second part sounds like a plan but I'm not skipping lunch, it looks good!" The sweet brunette said with her usual enthusiasm, and I was relieved.
"So I was thinking, we should work on something for the final jam." Caitlyn said as she took a bite out of her taco.
"I don't know if I'm gonna.. I mean I'm not sure if I want to do the final jam." I replied nervously.
"Are you crazy! You play the piano crazy good, and you did promise me we'd do something to help me forget about home." She countered, damn those puppy dog eyes.
"Okay we can start doing something but I'm not good in front of crowds." I replied.
"Sure, sure but just in case you change your mind we'll have something ready." She said in a tone that meant that if she had her way, I would be singing at final jam.
After lunch Caitlyn and I stopped off at my cabin so I could retrieve my infamous song book and my guitar, then went back to Caitlyn's cabin where all her equipment was set up ready to go.
"You had this planned all along didn't you?" I asked eyeing the room suspiciously.
"No, no I swear I wasn't planning on luring you here to play some music for me." She said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Seriously, I've known you like three days and already you have me wrapped around your little finger." I replied.
"So can I hear one of your songs from that book?" Caitlyn asked, pointing to the yellow book that was positioned safely in my hands.
"Erm, not yet I need to warm up and stuff." I replied, I was working on a new song but I wasn't ready for her to hear it. I could have sung one of my older ones to her but I was shy about it.
"I won't judge, please." She said batting her eyelids in my direction and I almost relented but this time something stopped me.
"How about we sing something else first?" I suggested.
"Alright Mitchie but you can't sing someone else's song at final jam." She replied, her voice getting higher at the end of the sentence and I could tell she was teasing.
I rolled my eyes and picked up my guitar, "Okay, I'm not that good and I'm out of practice so you might not even want to perform with me at final jam anyway." I said as I nervously ran my fingers along the strings of my black, acoustic, guitar.
"Mitchie please will you just sing, you can sing anything." Caitlyn pleaded so I took a deep breath and decided to play a song that I sang for my mum. I smiled as I remembered the look on her face when I finished, she was so surprised and proud.
I sang the first few lines no problem then the reality of the song hit me and my voice cracked a little as I sang the next line.
"I'm starting to feel, all of my bruises imagined are real and I'll get through each day. I'll dig through the bad ones to get to the good ones, who's keeping score anyway?"
As I reached the chorus I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I strummed the chords on the guitar with more force and closed my eyes as I let the song take over me.
"And this is my beautiful life, the only thing sudden is everything changes, the lows and the highs and all those goodbyes. As hard as it gets I know it's still amazing to be alive."
I carried on with the song feeling every word I sang, it was a completely different feeling to when I sang this for my mum, I understood what the song meant, I lived it and I was happy to be alive. I opened my eyes to stare at Caitlyn as I plucked the last few strings on my guitar and whispered the final words to the song.
"It's a beautiful life..." A small tear escaped my eye as I spoke those words but I felt so much better for it.
"So, was it okay?" I asked nervously, Caitlyn was just staring at me wide eyed and she was never quiet.
"Mitchie are you seriously kidding me! Have you heard yourself sing, you're freaking amazing." She said in disbelief. I was just about to reply to her probably rhetorical question when she started to speak again.
"I mean if that's how you sing someone else's song I can't even imagine how amazing one of your own would be, I mean wow." She said excitedly but she was calming down a little.
"Thanks." Was all I could think to say, a woman of many words.
Caitlyn came and sat next to me on her bed and her whole demeanour changed, she looked at me with serious eyes and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Mitchie I know you don't like to talk about private stuff but whatever you thought about whilst singing that song must have really gotten under your skin. I guess what I mean to say is if you need me to talk to then I can listen." I had never seen Caitlyn this serious, it scared me a little but it also made me realise how much she actually cared.
"Thanks Cait, really I appreciate it." I replied giving her a half smile.
"Anyhow we should break this little shindig up, my roommate will be back any minute and you should really get back to your cabin before curfew or you might be forced to miss tomorrow's classes." Caitlyn said breaking up the serious atmosphere that threatened to take over the room.
"Yeah you're right, plus my mum will freak if I'm not back soon but I will see you tomorrow." I replied as I collected my things together.
"Bright and early, I forgot to interrogate you about a certain Mr. Gray." She called to me as I reached the door.
"Night Caitlyn." I said as I left the cabin, a smile gracing my lips as I closed the door, then realisation hit me. Tomorrow I was going to be bombarded with questions about Shane Gray that I couldn't answer, oh what fun lies ahead.
When I was alone in my room thoughts turned for the fun day I had with Caitlyn to the message from Darren. I shouldn't think about him, I didn't want to see his face every time I closed my eyes, every time I tried to dream but I couldn't help it. It was like my brain had been rewired to play the most horrific moment of my life over and over again until I broke down. Caitlyn was right, Darren had gotten under my skin and I didn't know how to get him out.
I really hope you liked this chapter, it took me a while to think it up and what not. For people who don't know the song Mitchie sang for Caitlyn is 'Beautiful life' By Lindsay Lohan. I know, not really known for her musical abilities but you should check the song out, it's pretty good.
