Author's Note: Oh heeeeey! Remember me? I sometimes post to this ridiculously long story? And every time I update I seem to have some absurd real life excuse as to why I haven't posted in forever? Guilty. But, in somewhat exciting news, I move to my own place in a month and I plan to write my little heart out. Mostly because I don't have money for cable, but whatever…

Anyways, this chapter is drama-licious. (I can't believe I just typed that.) There's just a lot of stuff happening, but it gets better, I promise. Not so much in terms of writing quality, because that stays pretty consistent, but I mean for Mitchie! (:

The song sung in this chapter is actually an a capella version. If you want to hear the exact (or as close to exact) version that I listen to, go ahead and YouTube "Wellesley Tupelos Accidentally In Love." They have a version from 2010 on there, and while I'm a fan of an earlier version, it is the same song and melody. If you want a clean, professionally recorded version, just let me know! I will send it to you like nobody's business.

OK OK OK go read. Love you all, because you're all still incredibly sweet and still reading and reviewing and UGH I just wanna give you all hugs. Is that weird?


She didn't go to class on Thursday. Or Friday. Her instructors were told that her ankle was too sensitive (the nurse chided her on 'tripping' and injuring herself further) and she was simply following instructions to take it easy and to not injure herself further. If she was being honest, she was milking it. Her ankle twinged when she walked and sometimes had a penchant for rolling itself, but other than that, she was feeling fairly capable.

She tried avoiding the guys and even Caitlyn a little bit, but that worked for about…two hours. Shane stayed away, sensing her reluctance to talk to him, but the guys would not be deterred. So they would bring her food, talk about the day's drama (with no Mitchie, it was pretty much Kylie versus Tess), and try and get her to smile.

"It's Jam day!"

Jason and Nate ambled into Mitchie's cabin on Saturday morning after breakfast, Jason strumming his guitar, making every statement into a lyric.

"It's Jam day!" Strum. "And I love it!" Strum. "And you should too!" Strum. "Cause it's Jam day!"

"That was beautiful, Jase," Nate said with a clap on his shoulder before sitting down on the spare bed with Cait. Mitchie exercised extreme self-control to not 'aw' aloud.

"Thanks!" Jason sat at the foot of Mitchie's bed, smiling broadly at her, eliciting a smile in return. That was the best thing about Jason – regardless of your mood, he could make you smile. "So, Mitchie, what are you performing tonight?"

And the smile was gone.

"About that…"

"Aw, come on! We never get to hear you sing!"

"I'm a gimp!" She defended, shrugging. "I don't want to hobble on and off stage. Besides, you hear me sing plenty. And I'll be doing Final Jam definitely."

"Like when do we get to hear you?" Jason jutted his lip out and pouted very convincingly.

"Liiiike…in the cafeteria."

"That was one time," Nate pointed out, earning a glare.

"Fine, fine, fine, if you want me to sing so bad…" she hefted out a huge sigh before pointing to her guitar, resting on the wall near her bed. "Guitar me."

"Yes!" Jason instantly gave her the guitar and sat back down eagerly.

"This song," she began as she started to tune her guitar. "Is not an original. In fact, it is so far from an original, that there is actually no emotional significance." This led to a pointed look towards Caitlyn. "So don't go reading into this. I just want to sing this, ok?"

With nods from everyone she sat up a little bit straighter and started to strum.

"So she said what's the problem, baby?

What's the problem? I don't know, well…

Maybe I'm in love

Think about it every time

I think about it

Can't stop thinking 'bout it

How much longer will it take to cure this?

Just to cure it 'cause I can't ignore if it's love

Makes me wanna turn around and face me

But I don't know nothing 'bout love,"

She was singing the song pretty much for Jason's benefit – they had discussed their mutual admiration for the Counting Crows and she knew he'd enjoy this and as he picked up his guitar, she was delighted that he was even going to join in. He strummed in harmony at just the right times, his skills honed after years of practice. She nodded to him to sing with her and he grinned widely and nodded.

"Come on, come on

Turn a little faster

Come on, come on

The world will follow after

Come on, come on

Because everybody's after love

So I said I'm a snowball running

Running down into the spring that's coming

All this love

Melting under blue skies

Belting out sunlight, shimmering love

Well baby, I surrender

To the strawberry ice cream

Never ever end all of this love

Well I didn't mean to do it

But there's no escaping your love"

Nate and Caitlyn were holding hands and blushing while doing so, and Nate was tapping on the nightstand with his free hand. Mitchie had to laugh – to the outside world, and to her right at that moment – they must have seemed like the happiest people in the entire world. She was giggling to herself that she missed her next entrance, but Caitlyn sang it in her stead.

"These lines of lightning

Mean we're never alone

Never alone, no no

Come on, come on

Move a little closer

Come on, come on

I want to hear you whisper

Come on, come on

Settle down inside my love

Come on, come on

Jump a little higher!

Come on, come on

If you feel a little lighter

Come on, come on

We were once upon a time in love

We're accidentally in love

Accidentally in love,

Accidentally in love

Accidentally in love…"

Caitlyn took her years of professional choral training and a capella singing to add in her own harmony, singing a song Mitchie vaguely recognized from the 1990s while Mitchie carried on with the refrain,

"Look around the world, pretty baby

Is it everything you thought it would be?

The wrong guy, the wrong situation

The right time…to roll to me.

"Accidentally…

I'm in love, I'm in love

I'm in love, I'm in love

I'm in love, I'm in love

Accidentally!

Come on, come on

Spin a little tighter!

Come on, come on

And the world's a little brighter

Come on, come on

Just get yourself inside her love

I'm in love."

The group finished with a flourish and gave themselves a round of applause – it was the most fun Mitchie had experienced in a long time and hey, they even sounded good! A movement by the door caught her eyes and she was a little stunned to see Shane there on the other side of the screen door, standing a little awkwardly.

"Shane…"

"Oh, hey, guys," he let himself in self-consciously.

"What are you doing here?" Nate voiced the question that was on all of their tongues.

"I didn't want to interrupt – you guys sounded great, I just, um, thought you might want to check something out."

"Check 'something' out?" He looked down a little uncomfortably at Cait's words, but got his footing back easily.

"Yeah, I just saw Brown and he's going to do a thorough search of Tess's cabin right now…he's looking for your song book, Mitch."

"Now? Three days later?" She felt a little upset that it had taken Brown three days to find something that mattered so much to her.

"I think," Shane cleared his throat as all eyes were on him again, "I think he was having a hard time coming to the decision to go through a camper's stuff."

"That makes sense," Mitchie muttered, understanding his reasoning yet still unable to feel completely satisfied. "It's just, what if she's gotten rid of it already?"

"I doubt it," Caitlyn spoke up. "This is going to sound really horrible, but I doubt she would just use it once."

"Yeah, I mean, there's got to be a million other ways to make fun of you through that, huh Mitchie?"

Caitlyn threw a pillow at Jason, hard.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"That was for saying something that I was trying so hard not to say!" Cait gritted out.

Mitchie snorted, shaking her head at the pair.

"It's fine, guys. You're right. I'm surprised she's not selling copies right now. Let's go see how this plays out."


The trip over there was awkward – Mitchie could have sworn that Shane had something to say to her, but every time she tried to look at him, he was studiously avoiding her eyes. She felt herself grow frustrated; after all, wasn't that supposed to be her role?

When they reached Tess's cabin, Mitchie was surprised to see that they weren't the only ones outside, watching the chaos unfold. Nearby cabins had all made their way out to their porches after hearing the squeals coming from Tess and that had drawn the attention of plenty of campers. Leaning against the side of an adjacent cabin, Caitlyn was the first to comment.

"Oh. My. God."

That was really all that could be summed up. Through the open screen door and the huge front windows, Tess could be both seen and heard perfectly. And she was losing her shit.

"Just wait until my mother hears about this! This is ridiculous; you can't just invade someone's privacy like this! I have rights, you know!"

She was stomping around the inside, back and forth, hair whipping behind her. She was a stark contrast to Peggy and Ella, who were also in the cabin, but sitting peacefully on a bed together. Ella looked a little scared of Tess and Peggy looked bored of the entire situation.

"At camp, privacy is not a right, it is a privilege," Brown could be heard saying, although he was currently out of sight to those on the outside. "After much consideration, I have found due reasons to search your cabin for a certain possession that is not yours. Now, assuming you have adhered to the camp's policy regarding acceptable possessions, and assuming you do not have the possession in question, nothing bad should come of this."

"Nothing bad? Nothing bad? Those nail polishes were sorted by color!"

"Are you colorblind, Ms. Tyler?"

"What? No! Didn't you just hear me?"

"Since you are not, I believe it should be no problem for you to reorganize them just as they were."

Mitchie let out a giggle at that and she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Shane actually put his head in his hand and laughed aloud. After everything, he was still beautiful. Their eyes met briefly as he lifted his head, but Mitchie broke the contact quickly and focused on the now louder squeaks that were coming from the cabin across the way.

"I don't understand why you're doing this. Why do you hate me, Brown? What did I ever do to you?"

Brown sounded resigned as he sighed and stepped into view.

"I do not hate you, Tess. But I have a responsibility to all the campers here, not just you. And it is my responsibility to ensure the safety, both emotional and physical, of all of my campers." Brown turned around and continued rummaging. "I must say though, you are making it quite difficult."

The cabin was quiet for a spell, and Mitchie leaned towards Caitlyn conspiratorially.

"Do you think he'll find it?"

"I think maybe. I mean, Tess is no criminal mastermind. She's sort of just a bitch. I bet she had no idea that it would've been a smart move to get rid of your notebook."

It was a tense ten minutes while they waited as Brown searched. As every minute passed, Mitchie was more and more nervous that her notebook was gone forever. Well, not forever. Forever she could have handled. But she knew that her notebook wasn't ever going to be 'gone.' Just not in her possession. So long as she didn't have the notebook in her hands, someone else did. Someone else who wouldn't hesitate to use its contents to hurt her. Forever gone, she could handle. Just not this.

Just when Mitchie was about to call it quits and tell everyone to head back to the cabin, that she couldn't wait and endure that anymore…she heard Brown. He was quiet, but the chatter outside had died down and a lot of campers had abandoned the site after a few minutes. She could hear him and he did not sound happy.

"What is this, Tess?"

"Uh…" Busted, Mitchie thought. "It's a notebook. My notebook."

Everyone perked up at that. Any residual chatter died completely. Mitchie could feel the gaze of at least a dozen campers on her, watching her reaction, but she refused to give in. She schooled her face to be neutral and stared straight ahead at the cabin.

"I am going to ask you this one time, Miss Tyler." Brown stepped into the frame of the window, becoming visible to the campers and becoming intimidating to Tess. "Is this, or is this not, Mitchie Torres's song notebook?"

Caitlyn leaned into Mitchie, who still refused to look away from the scene unfolding in front of her. "I haven't heard him this angry since…well, since the last time he dug you out of trouble."

Mitchie knew she meant it to be a joke, but she felt her cheeks grow warm and her eyes burned with the familiar sting of unshed tears. She didn't want any of this, didn't people see that? That was why she was so reluctant to go to Brown in the first place. Getting him involved was another thing to add to her plate. Another thing she didn't need.

She shook off her thoughts and refocused on Brown and Tess. This was the path she had chosen and now she had to see it through.

"I thought Mitchie's songbook had a yellow cover on it? That book doesn't have a cover." Tess sounded smug even to Mitchie's ears.

"That doesn't seem like a very good defense," Jason stated plaintively.

"And this, what is this?" Brown seemed to be pointing to something on the pages of the book in his hands.

"You mean my songs?"

Mitchie almost screamed when she said 'my' songs.

"No, this. Right here." Another point at the book.

"I'm not allowed to doodle?"

"No, you're allowed to," Brown said as he flicked through the pages. "I just find it…curious as to why you would doodle the same thing on every page. At the bottom of every page with a song on it. And why those doodles would look suspiciously like the initials 'MET.'"

Silence. Deafening silence from every corner of the camp.

"That's actually Peggy's or Ella's-"

"Hey!" The two girls exclaimed, jumping up from their docile corner, ready to defend themselves.

"Tess!" Brown barked. "My office, now!"

She marched outside with Brown following closely behind, when she stopped abruptly, noticing all the kids around. Her eyes found Mitchie, who was studiously looking at the ground, and Tess unleashed a brand new type of fury.

"YOU."

"Is she talking to me?" Jason wondered quietly as Tess stalked over.

"Miss Tyler, you are on very thin ice as it is, I suggest you stop whatever you're thinking about doing and get yourself to my office. Now."

She stopped in the middle of the path between cabins, clearly at war with herself. Mitchie watched her, a little frightened if she was being honest with herself.

"You are ruining everything," Tess spoke with a distinct brand of clarity. "You should have never come here."

"She has every right to be here as you do, Miss Tyler," Brown said as he walked past her towards Mitchie. "Is this your notebook, Mitchie?"

She nodded silently, mourning the state it was in. Coverless with pages clearly torn out with doodles on some pages that she could see. Doodles in glittery pink gel pen.

"They're not even that good," Tess crowed. "No wonder you never perform at Jams. They're awful."

"I for one can't wait to hear you perform one for us at an upcoming Jam," Brown spoke quietly to Mitchie, handing her notebook over before whirling around to face Tess. "You will also enjoy hearing her play, from your seat next to the counselors."

"What?" The screech heard 'round the world.

"If it wasn't this late in the game, I would send you home, Tess. Make no mistake that you will be punished for this, no matter who your mother is."

"What about her?"

That got everyone's attention.

"What about who?"

"Mitchie, that's who!"

"What did Mitchie do to warrant a punishment, let alone to warrant you stealing her personal belongings?"

"She…" A frustrated scream and a stamp of the foot was all the answer anyone needed. "FINE. What about Lola?"

Silence.

Mitchie could feel the blood drain out of her face. What about Lola?

Her eyes found Lola, standing with a group of her dancing friends a few yards away beneath a tree. She was stock still, her eyes locked on Tess, trying to either stare her down or win some silent argument.

"Lola gave me Mitchie's song book," Tess announced proudly, as if that would absolve her from all of her guilt.

Protests erupted from all around. Caitlyn and Lola, along with all of Lola's friends were defending themselves, with Tess shouting above all of them. Brown was desperately trying to calm the group as best as he could, with Connect 3 trying to aid him in any way.

She couldn't breathe. She trusted Lola. She was her friend. But suddenly, everything started to come back to her. All the hushed conversations between Lola and Tess. All the innocuous curiosity, with Lola pestering her about what song she would sing at a Jam…all of that was becoming clear. She was never her friend. She was never an ally. She was one of them, all along.

She must have zoned out, because she came to when Brown said her name, and from the looks everyone was giving her, it was clearly not the first time. They were silent, waiting for her to respond.

Her eyes met Lola's and she could see the truth there.

"You volunteered to go get my song book after I told you I left it in the cabin," Mitchie acknowledged softly. Lola opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Mitchie nodded, more to herself than to anyone. She gathered her strength and got out the one word that was the hardest to give voice to. "Why?"

"Why wouldn't she? She told me everything." Tess Tyler shot back, her nose so high in the air, Mitchie was surprised it wasn't bleeding. "You're a nobody, Mitchie Torres. I know you like to think that you're somebody, by hanging out with popstars and making goo goo eyes at Shane Gray, but you're not. Lola prefers to hang out with people who actually are somebody. People who matter in this life – people who can get her mom's show on Broadway a renewed contract," she tossed out with a smirk.

Lola had tears streaming down her face, but Mitchie couldn't find it in her to feel sorry for the girl. Mitchie met Brown's eyes for a moment and he knew that this was already too much for her and started corralling the girls to his office.

She refused to look up and just started wandering back to her cabin. Her mind was a jumbled mess of things and she didn't know what to say to anyone.

"Mitchie…" A hand tentatively touched her shoulder.

"Not right now, Cait," Mitchie said as she continued to press forward, ignoring the girl walking by her side. Emotions getting the better of her, she stopped, staring at the girl she had come to known as her best friend. "Did you know?"

"Did I know…" Understanding dawned on her face. "About Lola? Of course not! How can you think that?"

"You live with her. You see her every day."

"I spend 99% of my days with you, Mitchie. I had no idea she was feeding Tess information; I would have stopped her. I would have kicked her ass, or something!"

Mitchie's face remained stony and Caitlyn felt the first tendrils of fear creep into her veins.

"You don't think I had anything to do with this, do you?" She let her hand, still resting on Mitchie's shoulder, drop to her side.

"I don't know."

"You don't know? You honestly think I could have done something like that?"

Mitchie felt the walls, those carefully constructed emotional walls that she had spent so long developing, start to give way to the dam behind it.

"Clearly I don't know who any of my friends are!" Mitchie's raised voice attracted the attention of plenty of campers, but she knew that they had been listening in anyway – might as well give them a show, right? Her eyes met Shane's and he looked so…so sad or guilty or pitying or something and it was that something in particular that she just didn't want to deal with. "I am so sick and tired of being lied to and talked about and walked away from! It is so goddamn hard being the bigger person all the time and I can't do it anymore! It seems like the more I find myself, the more people have a problem with that, so you know what – that's fine. I'm done. DONE. I never should have come here."

And with that, Mitchie took off in the opposite direction of her cabin, leaving a stunned audience in her wake.


Caitlyn couldn't think. She couldn't breathe. She felt so…lost. And confused.

Nate was beside her instantly, taking her hand inside of his.

"She…can't…really, I mean…"

"No," Nate assured her. "She doesn't really think that. She's just angry and confused and hurt."

"What do I do?" Caitlyn asked, eyes wide and about to be brimming with tears.

"You give her space. You go on a walk with me. You try not to think about this for a few minutes, if possible."

"And if I can't?" She asked with a watery smile, albeit small.

"I'll give you something else to think about, how's that?"

A true smile broke over her face and she thanked her lucky stars that she had a guy like Nate in her life.


A/N: C'man. Mitchie isn't perfect.