Disclaimer: Nopers

Song: Vulnerable- Secondhand Serenade

"Share with me the blankets that you're wrapped in, cause it's cold outside"

I guess I looked like a freak show this morning. I walked out of bed and it the loft of the bus flopping down on the couch. I rested my head against the side and closed my eyes. I was cold, even in my pajama pants and a short sleeved shirt, and goose bumps seemed to be running up and down my arms.

"Are you okay?" Nate asked me

"Just peachy" I replied opening my eyes to see Nate sitting right next to me

"Don't even bother" Caitlyn said from the kitchen

"Don't even bother with what?" Shane said walking into the loft, his clothes a mess and his hair sticking out in many places

"With Mitchie" Caitlyn replied perkily

"Shut up" I mumbled slipping under a blanket

"Mitchie, if you're sick…" Shane said starting to look worried

"I'm just fine" I snapped at them

"Geez Mitchie" Shane said backing away from me

"Any idea what it is?" Shane asked Caitlyn, turning to face her. I glared at her, fully aware of the fact that everyone's eyes were on me.

"She's umm…" She started not really knowing how to say

"Are you okay?" Nate asked me, again.

"Is it me or is it cold in here?" I asked hugging the blankets tighter

"Caitlyn" Shane's reprimanding voice sounded from next to me

"I really can't say it's personal" She said fidgeting here and there, her gaze wondering.

"Fine" I said defeated as everyone turned to face me, "It's that time of the month" I said pouting

"What time of the month?" Jason asked clueless as every and I just shook my head

"You know it happens once a month to a girl when you know" I watched as Nate explained it to him, a light shade a pink filling his cheeks.

"How are you feeling?" Shane asked sitting down next to me, pulling the blankets over himself too.

"Like shit" I said resting my head on the side a closing my eyes.

"I thought you never cussed" he said musing over what I had just said

"So" I said looking up to glare at him

"You shouldn't mess with her today" Caitlyn said

"Hey, she ALWAYS gets on me about my cussing" He said in defense

"Yeah, but today's not a good day" She said as a painful cramp took over my body. I leaned over, crashing into Shane's body and bit my lip. He looked up at Caitlyn hoping for an answer.

"Cramp" She mouthed as if I wasn't even there

"Are all girls this bad?" Nate asked appearing next to her

"Not really. Mitchie's only like this the first full day" She said and I glared up at her

"Mitchie" Shane said trying to calm me down

"I can be mad at Caitlyn if I want to" I snapped at him

"And she's teaching me to be calm and collected?" he questioned

"Hey, don't look at me" She said walking as far away from the couch as possible.

"Ow" I said out of nowhere causing everyone's head to look at me

"Cramp?" Shane offered

"No, it like hurts right there" I said putting pressure in between my left shoulder blade and my neck

"There?" Nate asked putting pressure where my hand just was

"Yeah" I said wincing a little

"Does this help?" Shane asked rubbing where it hurt

"A little" I said closing my eyes and falling asleep.

I couldn't really tell who was yelling when I woke up, but someone was. As I opened my eyes I saw a vague image of the boys and their manager. I blinked a few times, making the image clearer, and yawned. As soon as they heard me yawn their bodies went rigid.

"What's up" I said tearing myself away from the couch and towards them. They were silently staring at each other, not answering my question. "No seriously guys whatever it is you can tell me" I said smiling at them trying to get them talking about whatever they were talking about

"Well, boys would you like to tell her?" Phil asked looking each one of them straight into the eyes

"Well, you see we signed a contract last year…" Jason started trailing off still leaving me with questions that were being unanswered. Luckily for me Nate stepped in and continued where Jason had easily left off from.

"This contract was one that would give us a ten minute or so reality show about how life was on the road. It was to be called Connect 3 Living the Dream, but we're unsure now if we want to let cameras follow us around on tour. I think that we all feel that any unnecessary media right now is not needed" Nate said in his I-am-the-boss voice

"Nate, if this has to do anything with me being on tour with you guys, it's okay you can tell me" I said wondering if that was the real reason they weren't going to go on with this deal.

"Yeah, that's kinda it. We don't want to expose you to the media if you don't want to be exposed. I think that I feel like we shouldn't have to have cameras on tour capturing every moment. You know, Shane" He said with full sincerity

"Well, I don't mind being on camera if you guys do it. I'll just have to make sure Shane's in check, but yeah I would do it" I said trying to convince them to get along with it and do it.

"See I told you she wouldn't mine, and I don't have that bad of anger issues!" Shane shouted doing a short I-was-right-you-were-wrong victory dance around the loft.

"Oh, don't forget to tell Mitchie about the change of plans for tonight" Phil said before hopping off the parked bus and back into his bus.

"What change of plans?" I asked them wondering where Caitlyn had wondered off to.

"The change of plans" Shane said before clearing his throat. "Um, Nate you wanna tell her?" He asked pushing me towards Nate who blushed and waved his arms dramatically saying no.

"Jason, you're up" He said pushing me towards Jason

"I'm not the reason she's here" He said pushing towards Shane who was trying to retreat. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and looked him sternly in the eyes. He was going to tell me or I was…well I didn't know what I was going to do, but hey who cares.

"Fine" He said plopping down on the couch defeated.

"Finally" I groaned Sitting down on the armrest next to him

"Tess is opening tonight's show" He said looking up at me to see what my reaction would be

"Okay, that's totally okay with me" I said perkily

"And we just took Caitlyn to the airport" He said as fast as he could

"Oh. My. Freakin'. Gawd. You guys took Caitlyn to the airport without letting me say goodbye first" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

They all ran. I guess I looked pretty pissed off at them. I followed them to the back of the bus, cornering them in between the bathroom and Nate's bunk. They shielded their faces in fear of me punching them. I laughed at their silliness as I took Nate's pillow and smacked them in the head with it. Take that.

"Hey" Shane whined

"What" I said turning around and walking back up to the loft of the bus

"You wrecked my hair" He complained fixing his already perfect looking hair.

"Oh, quit complaining you're living the dream" I said jokingly as I walked a back to my bunk to change out of my pajamas.

I hurried to the bathroom and slipped on my skinny jeans, a graphic tee, my denim vest, and my converse. I pulled my hair half up and tied it with my hair elastic. I pulled the remainder of my hair up at the base of my neck and tied it there. I got out of the bathroom just in time. We were just pulling up at the venue, later than everyone else, and getting out.

"Uh oh" Shane said looking off to the right. I followed his gaze and my eyes landed upon the one and only Tess Tyler.

"Shane, Nate, Jason, and whoever you are" Tess said once she had reached us inside the venue

"We have to go rehearse" Nate said waving goodbye at Tess and me before leaving with the rest of the band to rehearse.

"Hi, I'm Mitchie" I said reaching out to shake her hand

"Like I care, you're just Shane's little helper" She scoffed at me and looked at my outfit.

"I have a name you know" I said pointing out that I wasn't just going to be called Shane's little helper

"Where'd you get that outfit, a dumpster?" She asked pulling each and every strand from my head

"No, actually I bought it when we were in L.A." I said smirking at her

"Whatever, as long as you stay away from me and my spotlight" She said a harsh smile on her face

"What?!" I yelled. Was she accusing me of being in her way.

"Nate's mine and will always be, and you better stay away from him" She said walking around me in a slow circle

"I don't even like Nate" I said strongly

"And you don't spend time writing songs with him and hanging out with him when Shane isn't there" She said. And it was true, we did those things.

"But we're just friends" I pleaded hoping that she would leave me alone

"Just stay away" She said as someone called her name and she left me alone

I walked backstage of the venue. Connect 3 was still on stage rehearsing. They sounded good, like normal, and I didn't notice how both Shane and Nate were glancing at me ever so often. They already knew Tess and I guess this was typical behavior for her, but my face still looked worried about her threat.

"What did she do?" Shane asked me as soon as he got off stage. We were all heading backstage to eat dinner before the show.

"She told me, in a very strong manner, to stay out of her spotlight and get out of the way with her and Nate" I laughed as Nate shivered at the thought of dating her

"That's ridiculous we're just friends and I've never in my life liked her" Nate said from behind us

"That's what I said, but she was all stay away from Nate. I know what's going on between you too" I said making fun of her snooty voice and attitude.

"She's such a bitch sometimes" Shane said

"Language" I reminded him as we each picked up a plate of food and sat down.

"Sometimes I wonder what goes on it that girl's brain. But then I get a extremely scary mental image of it and ewwwwwwwwwww" Shane said shuddering

"Well when I think about what goes one in your mind I get that same feeling too" I said poking fun at him

"Hey, I'm not as bad as she is" He protested pouting and folding his arms across his chest

"Geez, Shane she was just joking" Nate said just as Tess was walking by

"Mitchie joking. What a joke I bet she doesn't even know how to sing" She scoffed yet again as she walked by

"Shane" I said sternly kicking him under the table.

"What was that for?" he asked

"Dude, you looked like you were going to punch Tess in the face" Jason imputed for my benefit.

"That was what it was for" I said pointing at Jason

"I was not" He protested yet again

"You were not and I'm the Queen of Ireland" I said saying proving how silly this conversation really was

"Fine you win. I was going to punch her. I mean just look at her" He whined

"No excuse" I said

"I hate you" He said sticking out his tongue at me

"I love you too" I said smiling wishing that I was really saying this for real and not just as a joke, but it's not like I like him…or do I…

Thanks for reading and review this is an extra long chapter over 2,000 words. Sorry it took so long…I had midterms. Oh, would someone be willing to beta this story. And hey check out my awesome story Reality's Cliché and my profile which I have just updated along with this story and my username. I guess that's it. Love ya guys!

asher. rose .09