Hey everybody. Guess who!
Oh, you'll never guess if I just say guess who! It's ADEN! :D I'm totally excited to be back with you guys, but I'm not supposed to be back until chapter 18 (Part 2) so that raises the question (for those that care) where's Tianna?
Actually, it's really sad why I'm here and she's not. Tianna has been having some issues lately and we agree she needs a break.
So sadly, she's not going to be back for the rest of the summer and that's okay because she's been through a lot these past few months and she's stayed true to you all and finished off the whole first part of the story, so I'll be there to post the chapters and we'll finish it off by the end of August and take a month long break so we can all settle into the new school year (seniors baby!) and prepare for the second part which we're aiming to have October 9th.
Alright, I'm going to stop rambling and let you all get to the story!
The bus was quiet. This was probably the quietest it had been since we'd gotten to Seattle, but that was because Shane and I weren't talking and Caitlyn, Nate and Jason had decided to go out to eat for dinner. I didn't blame them for leaving though. Today had been nothing but dirty glares, harsh words and spilt milk. Admittedly, those were all from my end.
"Mitchie…talk to me," Shane whined. I just glared at the magazine in my hands, refusing to acknowledge my idiot of a boyfriend. I looked at the picture of the celebrity on the page I was reading and my anger bubbled. It was all her fault.
"Please Mitch. Tell me what I obviously did wrong," he said, getting down on his knees in front of me. He didn't know what he did wrong? A likely story. I turned the page and glared harder as her face mocked me.
"Mitchie, tell me what I did so I can fix it," he said. I threw the magazine down and glared at him.
"You can't fix it now," I said, angry and hurt as the events from the day before filled my mind. Shane groaned as he fell backwards.
"Then what did I do and let me make it up to you," he asked.
"You dragged me around with her!" I exclaimed. Shane's face twisted into one of confusion, then understanding and finally annoyance.
"Really Mitchie? You're giving me the cold shoulder because I had you and Emily hang out?" he asked. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Yes! Maybe I didn't want to hang out with her!" I exclaimed.
"Why? She's a nice person!" he exclaimed.
"Because I just didn't want to!" I replied.
"Oh please Mitchie. Tell me the truth!" Shane exclaimed.
"I didn't want to hang out with your ex-girlfriend, okay? It's not like I've ever dragged you around with any of my ex-boyfriends!" I exclaimed.
"That's because none of your ex-boyfriends are still your friend! Last time I checked, your only hometown friend was Sierra," he snapped. As soon as the words left his mouth, the room got quiet. That was a slap in my face and he knew it.
"Mitch-" he started.
"Save it," I said dangerously low. I stalked my way to the back bedrooms that I shared with Caitlyn and the guys. I slowly climbed into Nate's bed, hoping he wouldn't mind too much that I'd taken that place. My mind slowly went back to the events of yesterday.
"Shane! Can we please go to town before we have to leave? We've got three hours," I begged. Shane sighed but agreed nonetheless. So we had decided to prowl the city that we'd be leaving.
"Where do you want to go next?" he asked as we sat at a Subway and ate happily. We still had about an hour until we had to get home and leave. A thought came to mind, but I wasn't sure how appealing it would be to Shane.
"Well…there is one place I'd like to go…but if you don't want to, then we don't have to," I said. He nodded for me to tell him where.
"How about…Forever 21?" I suggested, a sheepish smile gracing my face. He nodded while chewing his food.
"Sure. Just looking or do you want to actually buy anything?" he teased. He knew that I loved window shopping more than actually spending my money, but I was hoping to buy a few things for the tour that I could easily throw in my suitcase without too much hassle.
"Believe it or not, I'd actually like to buy a few things," I said simply, sticking my tongue out at him playfully. He smiled and nodded.
"Alright then. We'll go there once we're done," he said. I took a small bite of my sandwich and threw it down.
"Done!" I exclaimed. He rolled his eyes and gave me a serious look.
"Eat Mitch," he instructed. I pouted slightly, but finished my sandwich nonetheless. Once we were done eating, we had made our way a few streets over to the huge Forever 21 that had captured my attention earlier. We made our way inside the clothing store and I immediately went over to the t-shirts.
I was asking for Shane's opinion on my fourth t-shirt when a voice halted our activities.
"Shane Gray? In a Forever 21?" the voice said. Shane and I whipped our heads to see a tall girl with curly blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes make her way towards us.
"Emily? I didn't realize you were back in town!" Shane exclaimed happily. He hugged her briefly before turning towards me.
"Mitchie, I'd like you to meet country sensation Emily Fletcher. Emily, this is the up and coming Mitchie Torres," Shane said, making us both blush at his introduction.
"Hi Emily," I said, shaking her hand.
"Hi Mitchie," she replied. An awkward air settled over us and Shane looked at his watch.
"Crud! I need to go pick something up. I'll be back in about 30 minutes. Emily, would you help Mitchie pick something out? She wants to actually buy something," he teased. I rolled my eyes, but smiled regardless.
"Sure. I'd love to help," Emily said, smiling at us both.
"Alright, thanks," Shane said, he leaned over and quickly placed a small peck on my lips before leaving the store. I looked to Emily with a huge grin on my face.
"So…what were you thinking of getting?" she asked, an excited gleam in her eyes.
"I dunno. I was thinking maybe a dress or two," I said, turning my attention to the dresses that were on a rack a few feet away.
"Then let's get you a dress," she said happily. She quickly dragged me over to the dresses and we began trying on a bunch of dresses. I was confident that Emily was my first celebrity friend who I'd met out of Camp Rock.
After about twenty minutes of nonstop dress hunting, I had tried on about six and we couldn't seem to find one that looked good on me yet. Then we found it. It was a simple blue sundress with spaghetti straps. I smiled as I tried it on in the dressing room. I slowly opened the door to see her face light up with a smile.
"That's the one!" she said happily.
"Really?" I asked, turning towards the mirror to check myself out.
"So, you and Shane are pretty serious huh?" she asked, a playful smile gracing her lips. I nodded as I looked in the mirror to see how the dress looked on me.
"Yeah. I think so anyways. So, how do you know Shane?" I asked. I looked at her to see her jaw had fallen slightly.
"You…you don't know?" she asked. I shook my head as I turned my attention to the dress again.
"Mitchie…I'm Shane's ex-girlfriend," she said. I froze before looking up at her.
"Oh…" I said, suddenly very uncomfortable with the whole situation. I began fiddling with my hands as I tried to think of something to say.
"I'm sorry. I should have told you that when I first offered to help," she said, upset. I nodded and bit my lip.
"Um…I'm gonna change," I said quietly, slipping back into the changing room. I heard Shane's voice as I slipped my jeans on and relief flooded me. I threw my t-shirt back on and opened it.
"Hey Mitch. Did you get something?" he asked. I nodded silently. He smiled and looked towards Emily.
"Thanks for helping her," he said. Emily nodded silently and gave him an awkward smile. I quickly paid for my dress and Shane and I said goodbye to Emily and made our way back to the apartment.
"Mitchie?" Shane called through the door. I sighed angrily, but opened the door nonetheless.
"What do you want jerkface?" I asked, not quite as angry as before.
"Okay, I deserve that. I should have thought about it more and then asked you about Emily before just leaving you with her," he said. I nodded.
"Yeah…you should have…but I didn't need to over react like I did," I said quietly. He nodded in agreement.
"So we're in agreement that we both are at fault?" he asked. I nodded.
"Yeah…we both are," I said simply.
"Well, you know, if you weren't so jealous, it wouldn't be a problem," he said, a slight teasing tone in his voice. I rolled my eyes.
"I know…and I'm trying…but I just wasn't ready to be around her. It's just strange," I said. He sighed, but nodded.
"So…other than the fact that she's my ex-girlfriend, what do you think of her?" he asked. I looked at him and saw the desperation in his eyes. He wanted me to approve of his ex-girlfriend?
"She's nice. I think that if I can get past the whole 'you're-my-boyfriend's-ex-girlfriend' thing, then she and I could become friends," I said. He nodded.
"Good," he said before standing and walking away. I knew that trick. Avoidance.
"Why is that good?" I asked, following him to the front of the bus. He looked at me warily before sighing in defeat.
"She's kind of been…invited to join in the tour," he said. I felt my skin begin to crawl, but relaxed when I knew it was the label that had asked. I nodded.
"Okay…fine," I said curtly. Shane sighed, knowing I wasn't fine, but let it drop.
"How amazing was Miss Mitchie Torres?" Shane exclaimed. The crowd screamed, making my cheeks flush with embarrassment.
"Aww, still giving you shout outs," Caitlyn teased.
"Hey, I think it's sweet," Emily defended. I didn't feel comfortable with Emily there, but I would learn to get used to it. I smiled at her and turned back to Shane and saw him and the guys prepare their instruments.
"This is a new song that was written about a week ago, so it's still a little iffy, but I think it needs to be put out there. Mitch, this is for you," he said, making the entire audience scream. Nate began playing the drums while Jason strummed his guitar and their pianist, Alex, played out a simple tune. I smiled as Shane took a deep breath to start singing.
"Get a rep for breakin' hearts
Now I'm done with country stars
And all the tears on her guitar
I'm not bitter," he sang, I immediately knew what he was doing. My smile faltered as I looked to see Emily's crestfallen face. I felt a sinking feeling. I knew he was just trying to reassure me…but he was hurting Emily in the process.
"Now I see everything I'd ever need
Is the girl in front of me
She's much better," he sang. I bit my lip when I saw a small smile appear on Emily's face.
"Emily…I didn't-" I started.
"It's okay. I get it, trust me," she said, a full blown smile on her face.
"You, I wanna fight with you
Tear up the sky with you
You're much better
You, I wanna fight with you
Make up tonight with you
You're much better.
Now I've got some enemies
And they're all friends suddenly
BFF's eternally but I'm not bitter," he sang. I looked at Emily who was clapping along with everybody else.
"Are you sure? I mean…he's kind of bashing you," I said. She shrugged.
"I did the same thing to him in one of my songs. Besides, he's not attacking me. He's just praising you," she said. I smiled at her logic.
"Okay. I'll accept that," I said.
"I believe that the road that people lead
Helps you find the one you need
You're much better
You, I wanna fight with you
Tear up the sky with you
You're much better, you're much better, girl
You, I wanna fight with you
Make up tonight with you
You're much better, ooh, yeah," he sang. Suddenly Jason took the stage by playing an amazing guitar solo that was backed up by the band of instruments behind them. I smiled at his love for the music.
"You, I wanna fight with you
Tear up the sky with you
Oh, you're much better
You, I wanna fight with you
Make up tonight with you
Oh, you're much better, you're much better, girl
Ooh, yeah
You, you, I wanna fight with you, oh
Much better
You're much better, girl
You, you, you
Much better
You, you, you," they finished. Caitlyn, Emily and I began cheering them as loud as possible. I was fairly certain that the audience heard our cheers and screams.
Once they began the rest of their set, we decided to go down to my dressing room until Emily's song came up. We'd only be in there for five minutes before Ronnie, Jasmine and Jenna crashed into the dressing room.
"We're gonna be famous!" they exclaimed, pulling me up. Emily and Caitlyn laughed at our antics, but Emily quickly stood and turned on the radio. I pulled Caitlyn up and the six of us danced for as long as we could, living in the moment.
So yeah, that's what I've got for ya! Hope you guys liked it! Next time, Mario Kart, sprained wrists and broken guitars! So yeah, you'll definitely have to check that out!
Again, I missed you all and I'm so glad to be back even if it's for a sad reason.
If you or somebody you know is suffering from an Eating Disorder, please don't hesitate to call the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) helpline! You can find the number on our page or google NEDA and get the toll free, confidential helpline!
-A