Ch. 12 Splinters

Jason POV

It was five days left of Mitchie Shane separation, and everyone was on extreme edge. Maggie looked like she had been crying all the time, but that couldn't be. Why would Maggie be crying?

I presented this abnormality to Caitlyn while we were painting the birdhouse. She looked up and raised her eyebrows.

"You really don't pay attention to social problems, do you?" she finally sighed after giving me a long hard look.

"I try not to. They just aren't as important as the world's problems," I muttered. Caitlyn was the only person who knew how much of an environmentalist I was, and she found that really cool.

"It's okay," she smiled, "That's extremely true. But see, Nate was hanging out with Maggie, right?"

"Yeah. He likes her," I said with a shrug. Caitlyn's eyebrows shot up into her bangs.

"He what?" she choked. I shrugged again.

"Yeah. A lot, actually," I chuckled, "He mumbles her name in his sleep."

Caitlyn continued to look at me in astonishment; then shook her head madly as if to clear it.

"Anyway, well Maggie… has trust issues. With guys especially. For good reason, trust me, she told me the whole story. But she wasn't exactly… nice… to Nate the entire time they were hanging out. And naturally Nate got annoyed. He… in a sense, I mean they weren't going out… broke up with her. As friends!" She interjected again, although I had got that, "So yesterday we made a plan to get him to realize she had changed. I wasn't in her singing class, but she was supposed to raise her hand to sing. I don't know whether or not she did, but she said she did and he didn't call on her, he called on Tess who had sung more than enough in that class and didn't even look at her. So then at lunch we went up to all the people in our guitar class that afternoon and ask them to let Maggie go first in our chord progression project, and so Nate was forced to call on her. She did brilliantly, but he barely complemented her when she did amazingly, like, better than anyone else did after her, and he complemented plenty of people better than her… it was ridiculous. It's like Nate and Shane have traded places," Caitlyn scowled, "I can't believe he would do this to her."

I shrugged, "When you're hurt, you can rationalize anything," Caitlyn sighed and banged her head against the wall.

"What about Shane and Mitchie? How are they doing?" I asked, still painting my birdhouse. Caitlyn shrugged.

"As good as ever. Mitchie is still bawling constantly, and I haven't seen much of Shane," she sighed again, "How is he?"

"Very… mad," I rolled my eyes, "As always."

Caitlyn smiled at me, sighed, and grabbed her paintbrush.

"I just wish they could leave us out of it for once," she mumbled. I hugged her shoulder on a whim.

"I don't think they can help it," and we went back to quietly painting the birdhouse.

CampRock

The next day was the last day of birdhouse construction, or really, painting. I was sad to see the project end. I was glad I would see birds and get to observe them without having to go out of my way, but I was sad that I wouldn't be spending time with Caity any longer.

Did I just think of her as Caity? I thought in amusement as I walked up to the tech house.

The birdhouse was there, as always, in very nice and calming green shades that I thought would attract more birds, like a tree. But Caitlyn wasn't there. I looked around in confusion to just see her crying against the wall of the tech house.

"Caitlyn!" I sighed, running over to her and hugging her, holding her against me, "What's wrong?"

She shook her head and started crying against my chest. I liked how close we were, I had to admit, but I was still endlessly confused. I rubbed her back and tried to wait out the sobs, but soon enough they were getting to me. I cried myself.

"Seriously, Cait, what's wrong," I whispered softly. She shook her head again and closed her eyes tightly.

"Caitlyn," I sighed, "Let me guess. I won't guess it, but I can try. Does it have to do with… Mitchie?"

She shook her head.

"Hmm. Surprising. Okay, how about Maggie?" I continued.

Again, she shook her head.

"Shane."

"No," she blubbered out. Good. She was talking now.

"Nate."

"No."

I sighed, that ran out of people, "Um… Barron."

"No."

"Sander."

"No."

"Lola."

"No," she giggled a little and hiccupped.

"Peggy."

"No."

"Ella."

"No."

"Rickey," I sighed, now I had really run out of people.

"No."

"Uh… Tess!" Why hadn't I thought of her first?

"No," Caitlyn's eyes narrowed in distaste.

"I give up," I sighed, "Caitlyn, is it even a who?"

She nodded and buried herself in my chest again.

"Uh… please don't tell me it's me," I sighed. Caitlyn giggled and shook her head no against my chest.

"Brown? Connie?" I sighed; reach out on my fringes of who I thought it could be.

"No, Jay," Caitlyn looked up at me, "It's not someone you know."

"Oh," I sighed, "Then who?"

Caitlyn sighed, finally willing to talk, "My… my parents," she muttered. I raised my eyebrows. From our many talks, I had learned that Caitlyn's parents were traveling lawyers, but the musical kind, not the criminal kind.

"What about them? Did your dad forget your mom's birthday, or something?" I murmured. Caitlyn giggled again and shook her head.

"They just… they're too busy to come to Final Jam this year. Again," she sobbed. I looked at her in shock.

"Wow, Cait, that's… I'm sorry," I whispered.

She shrugged, "I should be used to it by now. I mean, they're busy. They have a very important deal to work out with this new band they found in Jersey, and everything, and it's not like they've ever come since first year, but I was just hoping… it's my last year… I thought they might have taken the time to come," Caitlyn began sobbing again, "and the song I'm mixing with Mitchie and Maggie is my best yet, and I wanted them to hear it… I guess I should just get used to the idea…" she blubbered against me. I sighed and gently lifted her chin so she was looking at me.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, instantly lost in her eyes.

She shrugged again, "I'm sorry I'm ruining your day. And, oh! We were going to paint today! I'm so sorry, Jason! Here, let me wipe off my eyes and we can get to work," she gasped, standing up. I stood up with her, finding myself shrugging.

"There's still eleven days left in camp. If you want to take a day off, it's fine," I smiled, suddenly getting a brilliant idea in my head.

"No, no, I have to start working with Mitchie and Maggie on overdrive, and that'll be harder once Mitchie and Shane are back together," Caitlyn rubbed her eyes, "Come on, let's paint!"

I sighed, wrapping my arm around her shoulder again. I knew that she didn't actually want to pain, but I was going to go along with it for her sake.

We painted the last of the side and the bottom carefully, doing much better at this than the gluing process. Caitlyn's face soon stopped looking red and started looking happy, which made me happy, which made me work faster. Soon enough, the birdhouse was all painted. I felt a small pain of sadness at the end of the companionship with Caitlyn, at least the excused companionship, but I was excited that I could finally observe the birds in my hard-earned birdhouse.

Caitlyn grinned at me, "Now we just have to wait for the paint to dry," her cheeks were still tearstained, however bright her smile was. I reached out with my finger to wipe off one of the remaining tears, and she blushed.

"You're face hasn't dried yet," I sighed, "How can one expect the paint to?"

Caitlyn blushed even more and shrugged. I smiled.

"Thanks for all your help with this, anyways," I continued, clearing up the paint and glue and wood leftover.

Caitlyn leaned over and hugged me, surprising me as well as comforting me. I liked it when we hugged.

"It was fun," she replied, pulling away, "I'd do it again."

I grinned, and on an impulse, leaned in to kiss her cheek. We were both blushing as I pulled back.

"Well, I have to go. See you later," I blushed and hurried out of there, worried that I had done something wrong.

CampRock

The next day I walked up to Caitlyn, eager with news of my birdhouse and somehow ignoring our embarrassed parting yesterday. She was in her cabin, mixing on her laptop and humming. I loved the blissful look on her face. I was quiet as I walked up to her with a wide smile on my face. She looked up and blushed furiously before smiling back.

"Hi, Jason," she greeted, her voice kind of airy, or breathless in a way.

"Hey Cait," I smiled, "Guess what?"

"What?" she pleasantly asked as she mixed.

"It's only been one night, but two birds have been sleeping at the birdhouse! They love the seed and design," I grinned. Caitlyn grinned back, still blushing.

"Aww, that's awesome!" she laughed, still mixing diligently.

"I feel bad for them, though. I'm taking the birdhouse with me when camp's over, so they'll have a short stay," I sighed.

Caitlyn shrugged, "Songbirds are used to moving from tree to tree, though, except when nesting."

I grinned uncontrollably now, "You've paid attention!"

Caitlyn blushed a little more and shrugged, "Yes, well…" she stammered, "I… uh… you made birds quite interesting and I… uh…"

I smiled and chuckled softly. Caitlyn blushed but giggled. We were silent for a few more moments.

Am I supposed to say something? The thought instantly popped into my head. I knew what I wanted to ask, but hey, I'm socially inept. I probably would say it all wrong.

"Well, uh, Caitlyn… I, uh," I blushed furiously as Caitlyn laughed out loud.

"We have switched places, I see," she giggled. I chuckled; then continued.

"I… I really liked hanging out with you… uh… you weren't weirded out by my, well, weirdness, I guess, and I, uh…" I found my words continuously tripped over my tongue, "Will you, uh…. Do you want to be my girlfriend?" I was blushing so hard I felt I was a ripe tomato.

Caitlyn's cheeks flushed as well, "Really? You want… to go out?" she whispered. I nodded meekly.

Then she did something that I would forever be joyous over. She leaned up and kissed me. Not on the cheek, like I had impulsively done yesterday, but on the lips. It was the best moment of my entire life. I swear I smiled into it.

Caity broke away and giggled, "Sure, Jay."

I grinned again, "Awesome."

We both laughed together for the longest time. I hugged her tightly, happy and peaceful. Caitlyn giggled into my chest.

"I have to get back to work, Jay," she finally murmured.

"Oh," I let her go, "Right."

She laughed again and pecked my cheek, "See you later Jason."

"See you, Caitlyn," I smiled and left, back to my newest project.

AN: Yay sweetness is back! Happy days! Please review, I love you all, heehee.