Chapter 9

Shane's Point of View

As promised, Mitchie met me on the docks about 15 minutes after Final Jam finished. Somehow I had managed to fight my way through reporters and fans to get here but Nate and Jason got trapped by some fans.

"Hey," she said and smiled shyly. I felt my face light up when I saw her.

"Hi," I said, walking over to her. There was a small silence as I tried to figure out how to word what I was going to say next.

"I'm sorry," we said at the same time. We laughed for a second.

"Why are you sorry?" she asked.

"I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you. I should have listened to you instead of…" I started.

"I shouldn't have lied to you in the first place," she said, "I just wanted to be popular for once and I thought that was the way to do it."

Then I did something that surprised both of us; I lifted her chin with my hand and lightly kissed her forehead. When I pulled away she had a shocked look on her face. There was something else in her eyes, though; happiness. Mitchie was happy that I had just kissed her forehead.

"We both did something we regret and we both forgive each other for it," I said, "Let's forget this and start over."

"Thanks for forgiving me," she said, "Now how about the canoe ride."

I was about to agree when I noticed the sun starting to set. Final Jam had lasted longer than I thought.

"How about another time, it's getting dark," I said. Mitchie looked around, as surprised as I was at the time. "Nate and Jason are going to want me for interviews, too," I said glumly.

"Yeah, I guess we should head back," she said unwillingly.

"We have all of tomorrow to talk," I said and her face brightened a little.

With that, we headed back to her cabin. Her mom was back at the theater, helping with the snacks for the visitors.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said and hugged me briefly. When we pulled back she was smiling.

"Yeah," I said as she walked into her cabin and closed the door. I mentally kicked myself as I walked back to the theater. Of all the things I should have said, why did I say yeah?

"Smooth, Shane," I muttered as Nate and Jason walked up to me.

"Come on, interviews," Nate said bossily. I rolled my eyes but followed him.

By now most of the campers had left to go to bed but the parents were hanging around, talking to the instructors or laughing with Uncle Brown. There were a few reporters hanging around or snapping pictures and our manager was standing a few feet away from us. The reporters spotted us and began the interview.

"Did you meet anyone interesting?" One asked.

"Yes, I met a lot of people that were amazing," I said.

"Was there any romance this summer?" Another one asked.

"No," I answered simply. Though I wish there was, I thought to myself.

The rest of the interview was about our postponed tour and a new album we were working on. Afterwards Uncle Brown was talking to us but I was zoned out. I had heard some of the reporters talking about making tomorrows deadline and that had me thinking about tomorrow, my dark day, the anniversary of the worst day of my life.

"Shane?" someone called, pulling me back to reality.

"Sorry, what?" I said.

"Never mind," Nate sighed and he and Jason walked away, leaving me with Uncle Brown.

"Thinking about tomorrow?" he asked. I nodded sadly, avoiding his eyes. Uncle Brown put his hand on my shoulder for a second then walked away.

There was no way to avoid it; tomorrow was going to be torture, but at least I hadn't forgotten this time. In the past years I've locked myself in my room and cried but this time was going to be harder because I'm just a 20 minute drive from their graves. I considered this as I walked back to my cabin. Slowly, I climbed into bed, burying myself in the covers, and fell asleep, wishing tomorrow wouldn't come.

This has been one of the most frustrating chapters to get up. This morning, and last night, whenever i tried to open , my internet would redirect me to myspace on some guys account. the annoying thing was only my computer was doing it and i'm always the one with computer problems. Well, it's up now.

This chapter is partially filler-y because i needed to get all of this stuff down before i get to tomorrow. To clear something up, in this story the campers have 1 full day after Final Jam then they leave after that.