every time i get a new review or alert i have a miniparty dance session by myself. so you can just imagine how many of those i have been having lately! you guys, i seriously. im just not even going to say it this time cause you know what i am going to say. ive said it enough the past eleven chapters. :) ive had a lot of time to myself this weekend which is really unusual. ha but im very grateful for it. i got a lot of writing done. and now i need to write even more! i have so many ideas bouncing in my head i cant keep them in there for much longer. they need to get out so i can tell you guys! haha

im glad you love the clan so much. and i wish i had a hollace. she is actually based off a kid i had to babysit once. and she was as adorable as hollace is. kids with lisps are my favorite. even if you can hardly understand them. caitlyn is back in this chapter! if you were wondering where the best friend was. :) hmm what else. i have some possible ways i might take this story. but i need to run it through my head first and then run it by you guys to see what you think. so i will be asking for your opinion sometime soon!

keep up the amazing stuff your already doing. the reason i update is so quick is because of you guys!

hereby i state i do not own camp rock or anything in it. i do not own panic at the disco. i do own everything else you dont know. like mitchies lime green shirt! its my favorite. :) here you gooo....

Chapter Eleven: Time to Dance

Well, she's not bleeding on the floor

Just for the attention

Cause that's just ridiculous...ly odd

Well, she sure is going to get it

Here's the setting

Fashion magazines line the walls now

The walls line the bullet holes

Time to Dance: Panic! At The Disco

"Bye everyone!" I called for the last time, finally able to push through the throng of people and exit the lively house.

"Bye Mitchie!" shouted anyone who heard me say bye.

Shane chuckled to himself as he closed the door stifling the noises of his family. He opened my door allowing me to scoot up into the jeep. I laughed at him as he sprinted to his side of the car. A ray of sunlight poured down on me entrancing me in the wonderment of winter sunsets. A loud thud tore my eyes away from the sun and to the driver door – Shane was nowhere in sight.

I leaned across the middle section and saw him splayed out on the driveway. For an instant I worried about his wellbeing then broke into unsustainable laughter. I fell back into my seat as he crawled, snow covered and sopping wet, onto his seat. The dumbfounded look on his face trigged something inside me and I couldn't stop laughing.

He stared forward, a glare on his face. "I'm glad you think that's funny."

I wiped away the tears falling from my eyes. "You have no idea how funny it was," I said with bated breath. "You should have seen your face."

The engine roared to life, and he was still glaring all angry like.

"Oh, come on Shane," I laughed facing him completely. "You know it was funny, and you're just too embarrassed to admit it."

His lips twitched upward.

"Ha, see I knew it! You can't stay angry at me," I stated settling back into my seat. "Drive carefully though. I've seen you walk in snow, and I don't want the same thing to happen while you're driving."

"Funny," he growled making a face at me.

"I like to think I am," I said sarcastically.

Shaking his head at me, Shane tentatively turned the car out of his driveway and onto the slushy streets. At least the roads looked better than his driveway. We road in a comfortable silence, save for the soft music of Panic! At The Disco playing in the background – I've decided that Shane has the most random taste in music ever. I mean, I guess Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco are similar music genres, but honestly I never would have pegged him for a moody, brooding music lover.

"So, my family absolutely loves you," he said after I Constantly Thank God For Esteban ended.

I glanced at him wondering what made him tell me that, so I asked him.

He shrugged keeping his eyes on the slush filled roads. "I was just thinking about it. You fit in perfectly with everyone. Mark really likes you, I can tell."

"How can you tell?" I wondered curious to know why he thought this.

"Well, for starters he barely pays attention to Caitlyn when she comes over. And today you had his undivided attention whenever you talked."

I thought back to the afternoon. After I played my song, Mark insisted I play some more songs. He took Shane's seat and sat by me while I played some made up melodies that were plaguing my mind constantly. He would listen and tweak any note he thought would sound better at parts – he was almost always right. As I didn't have many of my own songs I played other pieces I remembered from when I was younger. At one point I sat back and watched Mark's fingers dance along the keyboard expertly and beautifully. Shane, Jason, and Nate each picked up an instrument in the room and played along with him. I thought Shane and Nate sang well together before, but when you add Mark and Jason it's just ridiculous. Like, you never imagine a whole family being that brilliant at singing and making music together – well I guess there are the exceptions like the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family, but still!

It amazed me even more when all three sisters joined in. Julie, who I'd barely heard speak one word, sang the most beautifully among them. Her voice sounded like tinkling bells – perfection. Various brothers and sister added their own voices in from time to time. Hollace sat next to her dad and plunked keys down at odd times – this amused her greatly.

It also amazed me at how much this family got along and they all really liked each other and liked to be around one another. I couldn't get passed the fact that this many people could stay in one room for so long and not break out in fights – there was that one time with Keavy Rae and Bryden but it wasn't that important.

"Mo-Mo?" Shane's voice broke through my train of thought. "What are you thinking about?" he asked chuckling to himself.

"Your family," I admitted bashfully. "I just can't get passed the fact that so many people can live in one house without constant fights taking place."

"I'm getting the vibe that your family isn't as peaceful as ours can be at times," he laughed easily not knowing how true he was.

My smile faltered. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." My heart beat quickened dramatically, and I felt a nervous sweat break out on my forehead. Was this the time? Was I going to spill my whole story to him right now? Could I bring myself to actually get the words out? "Shane," I said suddenly.

He turned to me and cut the car off. "We're here."

I looked out the window and sure enough my painstakingly gloomy house sat before us. Unsuspectingly, I sighed. I didn't want to leave.

"What were you going to say?"

I shook my head, now was not that time. "Nothing," I said with a fake smile hoping he would buy it. "I just want to say thank you again for taking me in for the night and day. I had a really good time."

He absentmindedly played with his lanyard, smiling. "I really did too. Are you ready for musical practice tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah! I completely forgot about that. Of course I'm excited! I've never been in a musical or play of any sorts before."

"Don't be nervous," he said detecting the nervousness in my voice. "I know you will be amazing. At least I know you can sing. It's just the acting we might have to worry about."

I hit him. "Your forgetting – be nice!" I joked, my eyes falling on my house again. "I probably should get going. I've been gone long enough, and Mom is probably ready to send out a search party."

"Are you sure she's home?" he asked with concern, his own eyes scrutinizing the dark house.

"Yeah," I lied. "I talked to her a little while ago. Plus I have an essay I have been putting off that is due tomorrow. I really need to get that done."

He shook his head laughing. "Always a procrastinator."

I smiled my hand on the handle. "Thanks, again, for this weekend. Tell your family thank you and that I had a lot of fun. See you tomorrow."

"Wait," said Shane opening his own door. "I'll walk you to the door."

"No," I said a little too hurriedly. "It's okay, I can manage. Thanks for the offer though."

He smiled sadly settling back in his seat. "Oh, okay," he said with fake exasperation. "Have a good night, and get that essay done."

"Bye Shane," I said with a final smile.

I watched him back out of my driveway, my smile deflating along with my heart. I waited until the car was gone from sight before entering the house.

An intense smell of alcohol flared my senses as soon as I opened the door: he was home. I slinked along the wall until I reached the stairs. Once my foot hit the bottom step I raced upward, shot into my room, and softly shut the door behind me. My body relaxed when I was certain he hadn't heard me.

I fell on my bed, exhaustion overwhelming my body. I leaned on my side and brought my clock forward; it was only 6:14 – ugh! I moodily threw my arm over my eyes searching for the strength to get up and write my essay. Unfortunately it took a lot more motivation than I had. I dropped down in front of my computer and shook my sleeping monitor awake. I opened a blank word document and placed my hands over the keyboard – nothing happened.

All I could think about was Shane. He was invading my thought process so much I subconsciously typed Shane Gray loves Mitchie Torres more times than necessary. Hastily, I deleted my proposed fantasy. Did I really wish he loved me? I mean, did he even like me in that way? Could you become that connected with someone in less than a week?

Thoughts of Shane were going to be immensely hard to shake off, but I tried. No matter how hard I tried Shane kept swimming back into my thoughts. I pulled my IPod out of my pocket and set the volume up to earsplitting levels – thinking that the loudness of the music would drown out my thoughts of Shane. I was wrong.

For a good half hour I managed to steer away from Shane and focus on my topic. In less than no time my fingers were whizzing across the keys producing probably the worst essay I've ever written. I was almost done with my concluding paragraph when a crash so loud and powerful sounded through my music. The crash shook my computer violently. I placed my hands on the monitor to steady it and glanced behind me.

"What was that?" I muttered saving my essay before turning off the computer and moving to the door.

I cracked it open, listening. Nothing but silence filled the house until…

"I know you're here girl!" he bellowed angrily, his feet stampeding up the stairs.

I closed the door not caring how loud it was. There was nothing I could do now. He knew I was home, and apparently he was in another one of those moods – just my luck. Eventually, he would find me if I liked it or not. Panic bubbled inside me. I was so screwed.

I only had time to back away from the door before he nearly broke it down in his rage. His beady half-closed eyes sought me out, finally landing on me in the corner. The anger practically jumped out of his eyeballs and latched onto me. With much determination, he crossed the room and one slap later I was already on the floor.

"Where were you last night?!" he growled standing over me forebodingly.

I knew better than to answer.

"I know you came home last night. I managed to see you just in time, riding off with a boy – with a boy!" he screeched kicking me in the side. I felt the tender cut break open along my hip bone. I grimaced not allowing myself to scream. "I thought I taught you better. I didn't teach you to be a whore and spend the night with some boy!"

Yeah, you didn't teach me that, you taught me how to have zero self-esteem and wonder why I was even living in the first place. You taught me to hate myself for something I never even did. Yeah, thanks dad, you've taught me so much. I wish I had the kahonies to actually say that to him.

I waited too long to answer him, so he struck another blow to my stomach. This brought tears to my eyes. I clutched my stomach feeling the warmth of blood trickle through my shirt.

"Wanna know how I know you spent the damn night with him?" he yelled throwing my yellow duffle bag at me hitting me square in the chest. "He dropped it off saying you left it in his car! I can't even explain how disgusted I am."

The worst part of this whole experience was that he wasn't even drunk – maybe a little buzzed but that was all. He had these temper tantrums, per say, where all he wanted to do was beat the crap out of objects or me in this instance. I guess you could say he had an issue with anger management, and his way of taking out aggression was on me.

"You will never see him again!" he roared hovering inches above my face. "I will see to it that you never do."

A malicious grin spread across his stubbly face; a new ferocity in his eyes that honest to God scared the hell out of me. As he stood there and threatened Shane I couldn't help but curl my fists up. He noticed this action and I received another blow to my chest. I doubled over in pain gasping for breath that wouldn't come.

"Where's Mom?" I managed to choke out.

"I took care of her earlier," he said devilishly – not good.

"What did you do to her?" I growled, finally finding my voice – about damn time too.

"No worse than what I'm about to do to you. Now sit back and enjoy the ride."

I cringed as he carelessly picked up my beaten and bloodied body. The last thing I remember was a devastatingly excruciating bash to the side of my face. A familiar blackness surrounded me.

I missed the next two days of school. Caitlyn about had an aneurism Monday morning when I wasn't present. In all truthfulness, I think she left me 72 text messages, 36 missed phone calls, and 21 frantic voice mails all before noon on Monday. The reason I didn't answer any of her messages was simple: I was still knocked out. Obviously I didn't tell Caitlyn this bit of information, she would have freaked out to the black hole and back. And I honestly couldn't handle a freaked out Caitlyn Gellar in my current condition.

Once I finally regained consciousness around 1:30 Monday afternoon I told her I had gotten sick and slept all night long. She believed me for the most part and didn't bother me for the rest of the day, although I had no doubt she was worried sick about me.

When I didn't come to school today, which is Tuesday, she became suspicious and insisted she come over and see how I was doing after school. Knowing my best friend all too well, I didn't argue with her on account she come alone – no secret surprise of Nate or Shane popping over with her, definitely no Shane. Oh Shane, I was trying to ignore all his worried texts pretending I never received them, but he was making it rather difficult to completely ignore him when he and Caity were blowing up my phone. It's not that I didn't wanted to talk to him, and damn did I want to talk to that boy so bad. I just thought if I cut off connections with him it would be easier to get over him. Then there was the other part of me that was being rebellious and going against what my father said, when had I ever really listened to him anyway? He wasn't going to be able to tell me who I could see or couldn't. As I thought about it he wasn't really a parental figure anyway, he couldn't control me. He could hurt me all he wanted, but nothing he did was going to stop me from seeing Shane.

Vibrations coming from my phone startled me out of my thoughts. I flipped it open expecting to see Caitlyn's name. Instead Shane's name glowed back at me practically taunting me.

I can't stop thinking about you.

I cracked a smile for the first time in two days which was quite painful so I stopped. As I said before, Shane had been texting me nonstop for the past two days but mainly his texts were 'where are you?', 'are you okay?', 'what's wrong?'. Nothing like this new one. Before I could even open a reply box he texted me again.

When can I see you?

I frowned in spite the warm feeling his text gave me. There was no way I was letting him see me in this state. That would bring up questions I didn't want to have to answer yet. My fingers stopped mid-text as my door opened and a brunette flew through. Caitlyn planned on tackling me, I could see it in her eyes, but thought against it once she saw my condition.

"Mitchie," she half-gasped, half-moaned running over to the bed.

She hopped onto the vacant side of the bed and peered down at me with as much intent as a doctor would have examining his patients. I would have laughed at her antics if it didn't hurt so damn much. All of a sudden she slapped me.

"Ouch!" I proclaimed holding my arm close to me. "That was uncalled for!"

"Mitchie Leigh Torres you lied to me! I can't believe you! I'm your best friend for god's sake."

"I know, I'm sorry," I said hanging my head with shame. "I just didn't want you to worry."

Caitlyn glared. "I worry about you 24/7 no matter what, even if I know you are safe," my friend said keenly. "I will worry until I know you won't be hurt again."

"I'm sorry," I said simply.

She ignored me continuing with, "Tell me exactly what happened, and I want to see them all."

So I told her – everything I could remember that is. I showed her all my visible wounds first which were my face mainly and a couple cuts and bruises on my arms and legs – nothing too major except for my face. My previous cut above my left eye looked insignificant compared to the whole right side of my face. My right eye looks like I lost a fight with a 25-lb barbell, and then rolled around in a briar patch. Three engravings were cut into my cheek; it looked almost like a fork was scratched over my face. Not to mention the massive bruise engulfing my entire cheek and part of my nose. Then there was my nose which I swore up and down and all around that it was broken.

"Mitch," sighed Caitlyn, her brown eyes glistening.

"Does my nose look broken?" I asked lightheartedly.

She touched my nose gently but to me it felt like another punch. "I would say yes but I honestly have no idea."

"Oh well, it will heal."

Caitlyn exhaled noisily. "I'm thinking we do this way too often."

"Do what?" I asked playing with the fraying fringe of my blanket.

"Me examine your wounds," she stated. "I think we need to mix it up some, like not getting hurt anymore so I won't have to worry."

I gave her a pointed look.

"I know, I know. It's complicated," she answered exasperatedly, falling back on a pillow.

"How has school been?"

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. "Boring. I've been practically stalked around the school by Shane for the past two days. Oh yeah! I completely forgot to tell you about Tess."

"What about Tess?" I wondered slowly.

"I think she's having post-breakup meltdown," she said using her gossip voice. "She didn't even come to school on Monday which was weird because she never misses school. But today during lunch she walked in and I could barely recognize her. She dyed her whole head black like jet black, like you wouldn't even have thought in a million years it was Tess Tyler under that hair. And her outfit Mitch, seriously you would have thought she bought it at Slut-R-Us. It was just absolutely ridiculous."

"How long did her and Shane date for?" I asked curiously.

"I think almost a year. I think that's why she is having such a hard time with it. It was really sudden and uncalled for I guess. But what can you say, you can't compete with Mitchie Torres!"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"I haven't even told you the best part yet," she continued excitedly. "So she came in at lunch and walked straight to Shane's table proceeding to yell awful, awful things."

"Like what?"

Caitlyn hesitated. "Your name was thrown around a couple times. Actually it was all she ranted about: how he chose you over her, how he threw away a year relationship on a freshman, how he lost the perfect girl, how he was going to pay for it one day – that was when it started to get scary. At first everyone was just like okay, a couple just broke up and their having a very public feud about it. But when Tess started saying she was going to make him pay for ruining her life, and she wouldn't rest until she had revenge, people got a little freaked out."

"No way," I gasped.

"Yes way, it got so bad that the teachers finally had to pull her out of the lunch room. If they would have been a second later I think she would have started swinging."

"I didn't know they had dated for that long," I said guiltily.

"It's not your fault," Caitlyn told me. "It's not like you went up to Shane and was like break up with Tess and date me. I personally think he just got fed up with her. She is a spoiled rotten bitch."

I nodded not being able to find the right words to say.

"Just watch your back for awhile until this whole Tess thing blows over," she advised. "I don't want you getting mixed up in their drama even though I know she is going to try to rope you into it. I'm sure her revenge mania won't last long."

"Yeah, I hope not."

"You will be fine," Caitlyn said. "Tess isn't dangerous anyway."

I nodded, thinking. "So, why was Shane following you around at school?"

Caitlyn huffed angrily. "Because he is beyond worried about you and wouldn't stop badgering me about you. He kept asking me if you were alright, if I'd talked to you, if you were coming back to school tomorrow, blahdi blahdi blah!"
I chanced a small smile – damn it hurt! "Well, I don't really feel like showing up to school looking like this."

"It's not that bad," she said apprehensively. "I could fix you up for school. It's the physical pain I'm more worried about. Can you actually move?"

With my arms I pushed myself up into a sitting position and very carefully swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Bursts of pain shot up my left leg and exploded in my abdomen and spine. Falling back in agony, the pain had petrified me.

"I'm guessing that's a no," she said helping me to lay back down more comfortably. "Do you want me to get you anything? Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm good," I said through gritted teeth, pain still occupying every move I made.

Caitlyn shook her head, brunette curls bouncing in her face. "I wish I could make this all better. Why did you let it happen again?"

"I couldn't help it," I snapped at her and immediately took it back. "He barricaded himself in my room with me. There was no way I was getting out of here."

"You never told me why it happened."

I sighed. "Usually there isn't really a reason for this but there was this time. Shane dropped off my bag and it set him off."

A growl grew inside my friend. "So this all happened because Shane dropped off your bag, I could kill him right now. I really, really could."

"It's not like he knew any better. He probably thought he was doing a good thing. Plus, it would have happened anyway. He saw me the other night when I went home to get clothes. He knew I saw him with her."

"What do you mean?" she asked, her eyes confused.

I fixed my eyes on the ceiling fan looking at all the diminutive glow-in-the-dark stars I put up from a childhood long ago. "I saw him and another woman going at it."

Caitlyn's eyes flashed. "Is it not enough that he has to do this stuff to you, he has to cheat on your mom too? It makes me so angry and sickened. Mitchie, I'm begging you. Will you please come live with me?"

I've seen Caitlyn worked up before but never like this. There was a fire in her eyes that could kill. It was going to be hard to refuse her offer this time. She wasn't going to back down anytime soon.

"Caity," I began.

"Oh no, don't you Caity me," she said heatedly. "I don't care if you can't move, I will drag you over to my house all by myself if need be."

We stared at each other for the longest time. In my heart I wanted nothing more than to leave and live with Caitlyn forever. There was just no possible way I would ever truly escape him. Even if he ended up behind bars at one point, I would never escape him. Running away would give him the satisfaction of a job well done. He deserves no such satisfaction. If there's one thing I've learned from him it's that Torres' don't run. I was not going to run away like a coward.

"Don't make me have to use force Mitchie," tested Caitlyn sticking her arms underneath my body. "Cause I will."

I sunk away from her, my eyes pleading with hers to just drop it.

"At least stay at my house tonight," she sighed dejectedly.

"What about your parents?" I asked searching for any excuse.

Caitlyn's eyes blinked guiltily.

"You told them?" I proclaimed loudly – well louder than my usual hoarse whisper that is.

"They were suspicious from the beginning. They pretty much beat it out of me a couple weeks ago. I swear Mitch, they promised they will never," she stated upon seeing my frightened face. "Although they don't understand it either."

"They've known for weeks?" My mind still not able to get passed the fact that someone besides Caitlyn knew. "I just can't believe it."

"It's not the end of the world if people know Mitch," she tried to say soothingly. "People won't treat you any different. My parents don't."

"That's because they're your parents."

"Whatever, will you please just come over tonight? One night, that's all," she begged practically pleaded. "You need someone to clean you up."

Her reasoning was sound – as much as I hated to admit it. After much internal contemplation and conjuring up every way this plan was wrong, I finally said, "Okay, fine."

Caitlyn cheered clapping her hands together like a little kid. "I'll pack you a bag," she declared jumping off the bed. She paused turning back to me, a questionable look on her face. "Do you think you'll be able to come to school tomorrow?"

"Probably, I know I need too. I hate missing so much school," I groaned placing my feet on the floor again.

"We will see how you feel in the morning," Caitlyn said paternally. "We can even go in late so I can fix you up good. And be careful girl, I don't want you to hurt yourself even more."

My smile wavered tears working their way to the surface. "Thanks for this Caity, it means so much."

"Hey," she said walking over and placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "It's what best friends do."

Caitlyn's parents met us at the front door. She had called ahead to warn them I was coming over – they were overjoyed. Caitlyn's mom, Carmen hugged me the instant I was through the door.

"Uh honey," her dad, Owen, said awkwardly. "There's someone here for you."

Our eyes locked fearfully with one another's. Panic flared in my heart and body. There was nothing else to do as he walked around the corner. "Mitchie!?"

oooh. i love you guys. :\ cause i know your going to want to kill me now. but you cant kill me. then you wouldnt get anymore ECC. whoa. i never knew that was the acronymn for my story. haha cool.

WHOOOO IS IT!?

until next time. pahahahah.