A/N: Hah. Okay, I did not realize where I had left off and that is my fault. My b, everyone. Anyways – if you're still reading, thank you! Here's a new chapter! I totally don't blame you if you are like, "really, eff this story and her sporadic updates." My apologies.

To everyone who sent a really nice review with an understanding message about how life can be crazy – thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. Those mean more than you know and it is so refreshing to see one of those amidst a sea of "Update asap plz." School started back up, my boyfriend moved away, and my mother moved in with me. It's...great...?

Read read read and I won't take long to update the next part. LOVE YOU ALL.

P.S. Follow me on Twitter if you want to read the semi-coherent-yet-sometimes-drunk ramblings of a 21 year old with a chaotic life! The_Resolution. I get real chatty though…

Her eyes closed almost instantly. She couldn't explain it. She knew she would never be able to; it was just one of those things. One of those perfect, irreplaceable, unforgettable things. At least, it was. Until he pulled away from her, a look of shock evident on his face.

"I, um, I shouldn't….um."

Mitchie could feel her heart break with every word he fumbled over.

"I've got to…"

And then he was gone. She watched all of his fluid movements in silence, unable to move or speak, even if she wanted to. He stood swiftly, didn't spare her another glance and then the screen door was slamming, leaving her alone in the large room with the piano.

"What just happened?" She wondered weakly, with no one to answer her.

She eventually moved from her frozen spot at the piano, not particularly looking forward to going back to her cabin where she was sure to be bombarded with questions about the night. Questions that she most certainly could not – and would not – answer.

She hastily left the classroom, cringing as the piano bench scraped the floor loudly as she stood up. Desperate to get out of there, she practically ran to the door, not even sure of a destination.

She ended up by the shore, sitting on a short rock wall that divided the beach from the walking paths. She dangled her feet above the rocky sand, a solid three foot drop between them and the ground, trying to make sense of her thoughts.

Nothing made sense to her. Why would he kiss her if he didn't want to? Why did he kiss her then? Did he feel guilty for the song? She could've sworn he wanted to kiss her earlier, so why then? Why at that moment? She was so conflicted; it was giving her a headache. Should she be happy that he kissed her, or sad that he bolted afterwards? It was a terribly confusing situation.

She put her head in her hands and groaned. It was all messed up now. Nothing was going to be the way it was. And to top it off, she hadn't gotten his opinion on the song.

"You did what?"

Mitchie whipped around at the noise behind her, but the movement threw her somewhat precarious balance off and despite her attempts to grasp the stones, she toppled off the wall.

"Mothereffer!" She cursed quietly, feeling her ankle twist painfully beneath her. The voices that had been coming towards her stopped when she had let out a yelp prior to her tumble, but as she cradled her ankle, they started up, and they unknowingly numbed the pain for a minute.

"I kissed her."

Shane. Shane damn Gray. And from the sounds of the gasps (was it normal to recognize people from their gasps?), Jason and Nate were accompanying him.

"Why did you do that?"

Mitchie almost scoffed aloud at that – Jason made it sound like he had detonated a bomb. He had just kissed her!

"I don't know."

She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but she wasn't sure if she could put pressure on her ankle and she was not in the mood for an awkward encounter with Shane so soon after the…incident. So she remained silent, gripping her ankle and straining her ears as the voices grew closer.

"Because you like her, jackass."

Thanks, Nate. Succinct and precisely what I was wondering, Mitchie thought.

"I don't know."

Not as much help as I had anticipated.

"What do you mean, you don't know? It's a yes or no question, Shane." Nate was quickly becoming Mitchie's favorite person.

"It's not that simple! It doesn't matter what I feel. I didn't come here looking for a girlfriend. I don't have time for a girlfriend."

"You're at summer camp, dude. All you have is time." Okay, Jason was tied with Nate.

"It's complicated," Shane gritted out.

"Sounds like you're making it complicated," Jason stated, sounding bored with the conversation.

"Sounds like you don't know what you're talking about."

Shane sounded thoroughly over this topic. Mitchie couldn't fathom pulling herself up enough and scaling the wall to see the trio, but she could practically see it all in her head. Shane getting testy, Jason holding his hands out in front of him in a non-confrontational gesture and Nate standing with his hands on his hips, looking put out with Shane. It was so familiar, she could've smiled. Had she not been in excruciating pain, both physically and emotionally.

"Maybe I don't," Jason said in his quiet, soothing voice. "But Mitchie is a great girl and I'd hate for you to lose your chance because you were too 'busy' for a girlfriend. At summer camp." There was no mistaking the disbelief in Jason's voice, but Shane let it slide.

"I know. I know, but…I don't know."

"'Cause that makes sense," Nate muttered.

"It's been a long time since I've had a girlfriend. What if I can't even do this right?"

"Since when do you care about doing something right? Usually you just…do it." Jason rested his hand on the rock wall, unintentionally giving Mitchie a little finger wave.

"This is really important."

"Yeah, sounds like it is really important to you by the way you left her in the cabin…"

Nate snorted at Jason's comment, earning the exasperation from the man in question.

"Gah!" Mitchie found herself smiling despite herself, picturing Shane running his hands frustratedly through his hair. "I'm gonna go for a walk. I just…I don't know. I need to think."

Mitchie heard footsteps getting farther away and was left with a very large dilemma of how the hell she was going to get back to her cabin with her gimp leg. She slowly made her way to her knees, gripping the rock wall for balance.

"He is such an idiot sometimes," Nate's voice came from right above her, causing her to lose her grip and topple over, not quietly.

"Jesus Christ," she muttered as she tried to situate herself. She looked up at the rock wall, half hoping to not see what she knew was coming.

Jason and Nate poked their heads over the wall and looked down, instantly seeing Mitchie's prone form, one hand gripping her ankle, the other giving a little wave.

"Mitchie?" They exclaimed in unison, which would've been cute, had she not had tears in her eyes from the strain put on her leg.

"Hey guys," she managed to get out. "How's it going?"

They ignored her question and quickly jumped the wall onto the sand to be next her – not an easy feat, even if you're prepared for said jump. Jason could just barely see over the rock wall as he landed softly on the ground.

"What are you doing down here?" Nate asked as he crouched down beside her.

"Not eavesdropping! I didn't mean to overhear, I was just – I was sitting on the wall and then I heard you guys and it surprised me and I slipped and I fell on my ankle and…oops."

"Are you okay?" Jason knelt beside her and gently touched her ankle.

"I don't think it's broken, just a sprain or something. I twisted it a little…"

Nate put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you really okay? Shane told us…"

"Yeah, well…" She didn't really know what to say, but Jason and Nate looked on, waiting for her to say something. "He spoke more to you guys about it than me. He sort of just…walked away. Or, okay. Ran away. He definitely ran away."

"What a bastard," Nate commented as he looked around, contemplating how to get Mitchie out of there.

"Hey, it's fine guys. Really. No harm, no foul."

"This," Nate gestured to her ankle, "Is foul."

"No harm, no chicken?"

"No chicken, Jase. Not this time." Mitchie appreciated Jason's lighthearted comments now more than ever.

"Well there are more than one type of bird classified as 'fowl,' you know. There's gamefowl and landfowl, and –"

"That's great, Jason, but how about we figure out how to get Mitchie back to her cabin before you start educating us on the different biological orders of birds, okay?"

"Right. Good thinking."

"Guys, I'm fine," Mitchie insisted. "See, I can – "

She tried to put pressure on her ankle, using both Nate and Jason's shoulders as leverage, but couldn't. It twisted painfully beneath her and she was caught underneath the arms as she faltered off balance.

"What were you saying?" Nate asked bemusedly.

"You don't seem very fine."

"Okay, okay. Not so fine. Can you please help me back to my cabin? And possibly avoid any jerky popstars," she added softly.

"Aye aye, captain." Nate positioned himself for Mitchie to drape an arm over his shoulders, motioning for Jason to do the same.

They slowly made their way down the beach, as they had no conceivable way to get back up the rock wall without stairs. The conversation was kept light and teasing, mostly with Jason talking about fowl or the fact that Mitchie wasn't a captain. (After all, if Nate knew that, why did he say it?)

"Finally, cabins!" Mitchie joked as they saw the first lights of the staff cabins a bit up the path. Mitchie's arms were beginning to hurt, due to the fact that she was drastically shorter than both Jason and Nate, and her ankle had developed a dull throb. Lying down in bed and pretending today never happened seemed like the best course of action possible.

"All that not walking tire you out?" Nate kidded.

"I'm exhausted!" Jason exclaimed, talking over Mitchie's humble response. "Mitchie must weigh a solid 45 pounds. My arm hurts."

The group burst out laughing at this, Mitchie included.

"If you weren't carrying me, I'd trip you, Jase!"

"With what? Your one good leg?"

She giggled at that. "Yeah. My good leg would take you down!"

They were all so busy laughing that they didn't realize the figure standing in the middle of the path. Shane watched from a few yards away, unsure of what to do. He had no idea what had happened to Mitchie and he was insanely curious, desperate to know that she was okay, but on the other hand – did he have any right? He had just kissed her and virtually abandoned her.

He made his decision hastily, as he noticed that his presence had yet to be detected. He moved off the path and up the stairs to his cabin, but didn't go in, deciding rather to lean against the rail and watch from the sidelines.

They grew closer and closer, and then…nothing. No acknowledgement. Not even from Jason. He knew that at least one of them had to be aware of his somewhat creepy presence, but none of them dignified him with a look.

Was he really that much of an asshole?

Yes.

The answer was irrefutable; he really was that much of an asshole. As the trio helped Mitchie hobble up the steps to her own cabin, he stalked back into his own cabin, the slamming door not satisfying in the least.

"Mitchie, what happened?" Connie Torres cried as her daughter hopped through the cabin door, aided by two thirds of Connect 3.

"Tripped," Mitchie mutter quickly, not wanting to get into her ridiculous night.

"Mija, you are so clumsy!"

"I thought your name was Mitchie?"

Everyone ignored Jason.

"Can I just be deposited on my bed? I'm developing this sort of throb…"

"Oh, right!" Nate hit Jason upside the head and motioned to Mitchie's bed. After they had put her down and endured a few more minutes of small talk with Connie, she excused herself to go get painkillers and an ACE bandage for Mitchie's ankle.

Connie had been gone for maybe a minute when Caitlyn and Lola burst into the cabin, panting like they ran a mile.

"She is not bleeding from the head, Jason!" Cait screeched after seeing Mitchie propped up in bed, looking slightly peaky but blood-free.

"Huh?" Mitchie looked to Jason, who shrugged sheepishly.

"I wanted to make sure they came when I texted them…"

"Jason!" Lola sounded thoroughly exasperated with the eldest Connect 3 member, who again, just shrugged.

Mitchie laughed and absorbed the feeling of being with her friends, letting it overshadow her experience with Shane for a few minutes.

"As you can see, I'm fine guys. Who knows, maybe I'll even write a sprain ballad-" Mitchie cut herself off as her face dropped.

"What's up?" Cait asked, flopping down next to her.

"My songbook. I left it in the cabin with Shane."

"Oh, I'm sure Shane would have grabbed it then," Cait dismissed her.

"No, I didn't leave it with Shane, I just left it…in the cabin Shane and I were. I need to go get it!"

"What you need is to lie down." Nate pushed her down from his position next to her.

"Don't worry about it, girl," Lola piped up. "I'll go get it for you. It's yellow, right? Has your name written on it?"

"Yes. Ohmygosh, thank you so much, Lola. I left it on the piano. It was open to a page but it should be lying right on the piano. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Lola shot a grin to the group and scurried out. Mitchie let out a huge sigh and laid back in her pile of pillows. Today had utterly and completely exhausted her.

She took this time to fill Caitlyn in – albeit briefly and leaving out a host of details concerning her emotional state – regards to her and Shane's mini-drama. It wasn't that she didn't trust Lola, she did; she just didn't want this to turn into a big deal. As if it wasn't already.

Connie came back shortly after, wrapped her ankle up and then excused herself once more to go fill out some paperwork at the nurse's office. Despite being the cook's daughter, Mitchie supposed the same steps had to be taken for everyone.

Lola burst in about fifteen minutes after she had left, which was a little bit longer

than Mitchie had anticipated, but it wasn't the time that concerned Mitchie, it was the look on her face.

"Oh no," Mitchie began, seeing the nervous and concerned look on Lola.

"I'm sorry, Mitchie, but…"

"It wasn't there?" She was trying not to freak out. Like, really, really trying. It was proving to be really, really tough.

"I looked everywhere, I really did. On the piano and around the entire room. Heck, I even looked in the piano!"

"Hey, I bet Shane doubled back and got it," Nate suggested.

"Can you go check? Please?"

Nate and Jason ran to their cabin, hoping that Shane was there and hoping against all hopes that he had Mitchie's songbook. They returned shortly after, sullen and disheartened.

"No luck?" Mitchie asked, despite already knowing the answer.

The boys shook their heads.

"He does want to talk to you, though…"

"Nate, there is a list of things I would like to do right now, but unfortunately, talking to Shane isn't on the list of them." She forced the tears back that were threatening to spill over. She knew she was tired and in pain and that she was making a bigger deal than it really was. But then she thought about how all of her secrets, all of her insecurities, all of her…all of her life was in that one book, and how she didn't know where it was and that all went out the window.

"I'm so sorry, Mitchie," Lola repeated for the thirtieth time.

"It's not your fault, don't worry. I mean, it's not like you stole it from me. I just wish I knew where it was."

"Yeah," Lola shifted her weight. "Look, I could stand here and apologize all night, but I'm sort of beat. I'll see you all tomorrow, right?" The group nodded and Lola gave Mitchie one last sad smile. "Feel better, okay? I'll keep an eye out tomorrow."

The boys left shortly after Lola, leaving just Cait sitting on the foot of Mitchie's bed.

"So," Cait began.

"So."

A beat passed.

"What am I going to do, Caity?" Mitchie couldn't hold it in any longer. She had already had the day from hell, and then her songbook going missing to top it off? She was at her wit's end. The tears escaped and it was all she could do to keep from full blown sobbing.

"Oh, it's gonna be okay, Mitchie, don't worry." Caitlyn scooted up the bed and hugged her tightly, letting her cry on her shoulder. "We'll find your songbook, I promise. And Shane's an idiot. We all knew this before we even came here. He's probably scared of how much he likes you and now he's torn up about what to do. He'll come around sooner or later, don't worry."

"He said he didn't have time for a girlfriend. So what am I then? Does he not have time for me at all?"

"You really like him, don't you?" Cait asked in a very soothing, un-Cait like voice.

"More than I should. I don't have to be his girlfriend, Cait. But I want him in my life." She buried her head in her hands with Cait wrapping an arm around her shoulder. It was going to be a long night.