A/N: Sorry about the delays, school kicked my butt this semester. I think the up coming semester is going to be a little lighter, so hopefully that means more writing time for me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Camp Rock, all I ask is that the sequel not mess up my plot too much. I also don't own any rights to any of the songs, just my own copies of them.

Last time: Ali came clean with Jason and decided that they needed to take a break from each other.

Some Time Apart

"Dude, what's going on?" Shane asked Nate after Jason had left the table moping again. They had finished one leg of the tour and would be staying in New York City through the holidays. "Shouldn't he be shouting at us by now?" Sure, Jason and Ali had agreed on the break being what needed to happen, but his bandmates decided to place it in the break-up category anyway.

There was a simple procedure that usually occurred after someone broke up withJason,they had seen it happen too many times. As Jason had told Ali once, his personality quirks and personal space issues weren't things that people usually grew fond of. After a breakup he would pull into himself and be very quiet for about a day, be depressed for a day or so, then he would get mad, blaming everything on everybody, and by the end of the week he was back to being Jason.

That was how these things went. As a result they were confused when, for the seventh day in a row, Jason was unusually quiet and there was no emotion but sadness on his face. Sure, there had been the initial blow up about Ali and Will, but after that there was nothing.

"This is ridiculous. He needs to move on. She's gone. The end," Shane snapped after Jason had left the room. Nate looked at him honestly puzzled by his band mate and friend. Shane was nothing if not unpredictable. He could be a great guy and so creative, but other times he reverted into the self centered popstar that they forced into Camp Rock two summers ago.

"First off, she's not gone forever, she told him so and I trust her. Secondly, are you honestly going to tell me that you don't miss Ali?" Nate asked disbelievingly. Nate knew that Ali hadn't connected with Shane as much as she had with him and Jason, but they had all been pretty close over the summer.

"Sure I did. But she chose to take herself out of our lives. I got over it. I've got better things to do," he thought for a moment before adding, "Besides, I wasn't as close with her as you were, so it was probably easier for me." Shane didn't give any sign that he could tell that Nate hadn't gotten past it yet.

"Yeah, I guess so," Nate admitted quietly as Shane left the room. He missed Ali a lot. He hadn't realized how much he valued her, or how much they talked until he got the e-mail that took that option away.

Meanwhile, Jason was in his room scribbling furiously in his notebook, adding the last few notes to a well worn piece of paper.

Nate was still sitting at the table when Jason came in and headed straight for the drum set in the corner. His expression had changed from sadness to something similar to determination. Nate decided he would try to get Jason to talk. He wasn't going to try to talk about what had happened, but there was no way that he could just ignore the fact that Jason had barely spoken in a week.

"What do you have there?" Nate asked, trying to read the paper that looked like it had been crumpled and flattened out several times.

"Song," was Jason's one word response.

"Can I hear it?" Jason just shrugged and headed back towards his room. Nate took that as a yes and followed him. Jason took a seat in his desk chair while Nate sat on the edge of the bed. He sang his song and Nate was shocked.

"Wow, that's kind of great. Is that what you've been doing? Writing?" Nate asked. Jason spent most of his time in his bunk and then his room when they got to their usual hotel in New York.

"Yeah, pretty much. I've got some other ones started. I guess it helps me feel better." He shrugged.

"Good idea. If you want any help with them, let me know."

"Actually, I'm working on something that I don't think the band can use. Maybe we could give it to the label?"

"Sure, I'm sure Jasper can help us out with that. Maybe Caitlyn can mix it."

Jason nodded, liking the idea. The girls had called him trying to cheer him up, but it hadn't been very successful. But if he was throwing himself into the music, he should be ok. That's one thing the band had in common; if anything got to be too much, there was always a fair amount of music that came out of it. Nate was pleased, this was the closest thing he'd had to a conversation with Jason in a week and that song really was good.

They were quiet for a moment. Nate got up and was about to the door when Jason spoke.

"I had to let her go. She was hurting," Jason offered quietly, helplessly. He knew that he was bringing the mood down all the time, but he couldn't help it.

Nate got up and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I know Jace, I know."

Jason looked as if he was about to say something else, stopped when Shane came in.

"Hey guys are we still going out tonight?" The group had planned to go out for Caitlyn's birthday. She and Mitchie had arrived the day before. "You need to come Jason; to get your mind off things. There's a friend of mine I want you to meet."

Jason sighed and got up to leave the room, "Sure, whatever Shane. Go right ahead and try to replace Ali." That's not possible, but he can try I guess.

"Please tell me you aren't trying to set him up with some chick," Nate hung his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Dude, your timing sucks." Nate walked out leaving Shane confused and alone in the room.

- - - - -

A few hours later Mitchie, Caitlyn, and the guys were at the newest teen hot spot. Being a popstar had its perks; for starters they had made it into the VIP section and didn't have to worry about being mobbed by fans.

Shane wasted no time in dragging Jason towards the opposite side of the dance floor to meet the friend he had mentioned earlier. Nate followed, just to keep an eye on the situation.

"Jace, this is the friend I was telling you about," Shane introduced briefly, "I'll leave you guys to talk, I'm going to find something to drink."

"Hi,I'm Sarah," the twiggy, blonde girl introduced herself. Jason shot a look at Shane, before putting on a smile and shaking the girl's hand.

"Jason."

She giggled in a way that sounded too young for her body, "I know that silly."

Nate huffed and walked off, in search of anything that would distract him. Sarah looked a little hurt by Nate's exit and Jason took pity on her.

"Don't worry about him; he's just a little frustrated. He hasn't been getting along with Shane lately. That's kind of my fault," Jason hung his head a little, causing his straightened hair to fall into his face.

"Is this about Andi, Amy, Abby…"

"Ali," he corrected automatically, "What did Shane tell you about her?" He looked at her, not bothering to shake the hair from his eyes.

"Not much. She was a friend of Nate's and kind of close with you. He said that she was having some trouble and decided to not talk to you guys anymore. Though I don't see how that could be your fault," she said the last sentence gently and brushed his hair from his face, running her fingers through it in the process. Jason fought every impulse in his body that told him to pull away. He could not think of a girl that could be less like Ali, physically or personality wise. There was no way he was going to get into this conversation with her.

"I don't really want to talk about it," he told her, shaking his hair into place out of habit.

"Then we don't have to. Come on," she smile and pulled him towards the dance floor, "Dance with me."

Jason was numb; it was strange for him to be around someone that didn't know about him and Ali, and even stranger for a girl that wasn't Ali to actually seem interested. So, against his better judgment,he let himself be led into the mass of bodies.

Nate, Mitchie, and Caitlyn watched in shock.

"What's he doing?" Caitlyn asked.

"Dancing?" Nate answered, he knew he was stating the obvious, but he wasn't sure of

what else to say.

"Thanks Sherlock," Caitlyn retorted sarcastically.

"Who is that girl?" Mitchie asked, ignoring the banter of her friends.

Nate scoffed, "Her name is Sarah. Shane said she was a friend of his."

"Is he trying to replace Ali? Already?" Caitlyn asked.

"Yep, apparently Shane is over it so Jason should be too," Nate tried his best to keep the disgust and irritation out of his voice. He wanted Jason back to his bouncy self too, but he had no desire to replace anyone.

"This is ridiculous. I'm going to go talk to him," Mitchie told them, before setting off to find her boyfriend.

Caitlyn stayed next to Nate, she had heard the hurt in his voice and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You miss her."

Nate heard her voice and focused back in on her face. "It's just weird knowing she's not there to talk to. I mean we didn't talk all the time anyway, but now the option isn't even there. Doesn't it bug you?"

Caitlyn shrugged in a non-committal fashion, "Yeah, but sometimes people just need their space. I think she'll come back. She and Jason are too perfect to not be together. They will at least be friends. That means we will get her back too."

"I hope you're right," Nate sighed.

"Come on, let's dance." She smiled at him, trying to get him to do the same. She tugged on his hands, leading in the opposite direction. "I know you can."

"Caiti, you know I don't dance," he almost whined, holding his ground, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"And you know I know that's not true," she smiled. He just rolled his eyes. "Come on, we are here for my birthday aren't we?" she pulled his arm, "It'll distract you I promise."

"Fine," he caved and let Caitlyn pull him onto the dance floor as the song changed.

- - - - - -

Ali was sitting at lunch with her friends. They had managed to get her out of the house after a week of moping around. The first few days weren't so great but after that she started to talk more. It was now December 26th and keeping with tradition they had pulled her from her house the day after Christmas and dragged her to the movies. Afterwards they spent some time in the food court just talking. No one mentioned the karaoke party from the year before and Ali tried to keep her mind occupied with whatever her friends were saying, but regardless of how hard she tried her thoughts drifted and it wasn't long until her friends called her on it.

"Ali, hun, you need to snap out of it," Will sighed, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It was your idea, remember."

"I know, I know. It'll pass. I'll be back normal in no time. Don't worry about me. This is kind of what I was talking about. I need to be able to be detached from him and still be myself."

"I get that. Will's right though, I've never seen you like this," Raia confessed. She was used to seeing Ali laughing and smiling. This darker side wasn't something she was used to.

"Really?" Ali thought about how she was around her friends. "Oh, I guess not. I get like this a lot, well I did before Jason. I just get past it, usually on my own."

The table was quiet. She watched her friends absorb the fact that she would go through minor break downs on a semi-regular basis and decided to keep talking.

"When something would go wrong it went away when I would get within range of you guys. Otherwise I would run to my music." If something really affected her she would draw into herself and get lost in melodies and familiar harmonies. "I remember this time when I got into a fight with my mom. I put on my headphones and blasted Connect 3 so loud I couldn't think. I've been that way for years."

She saw recognition dawn on her friends faces. She posed a straight faced question to them, hoping they could help.

"Where do I run when the music's the problem?" Her mouth became a line. Well there, I said it. She'd been thinking it for days. It hadn't taken her long to realize that she would need a new strategy to get past Jason. Music wasn't an option anymore. But she didn't know what else to do.

- - - - - -

Connect 3 had a small Christmas celebration with Nate's aunt and uncle in their townhouse. The band's parents had all flown in. Mitchie and Caitlyn were staying through New Years. Jason tried not to wonder what Ali was doing the day after Christmas, knowing she would be spending time with her friends. His friends didn't leave him much time to get lost in his thoughts. Telling him all about everything that was going on back home and asking him to show them pictures and things he had collected from the tour so far.

Late at night when he was trying to fall asleep he realized it was mostly an act to keep him busy but he found that he didn't mind too much. Spending time with his friends felt good, especially on the few days they had off for the holiday. He found himself almost looking forward to the end of tour. After all they only had a few more weeks in New York and after that it was back home to LA with a couple weeks of shows in between.

- - - - - -

Time passed, Ali continued to spend time with her friends, taking small steps to get back to being herself. She still ignored the teen magazines in the stores to the best of her abilities. As a result she only partially missed the rumors flying around on every cover about Jason and his multiple love interests. She saw the pictures of him walking the Streets of New York with a blonde model looking girl but missed the line of pictures inside including her, Kat, and Jason's latest mystery girl, Sarah. She didn't look through magazines Christine brought home and, as a result,didn't see the poll asking who readers thought was best for Jason.

- - - - - -

Jason tried to carry on, business as usual. He filled his already busy schedule even more in hopes that it would leave him less time to think. He tried to ignore most of the tabloids, he always had, but he did hold on to some of the fan magazines he saw that had pictures of him and Ali in it. When she came back into his life, which according to her promise was just a matter of time, he figured they could share a laugh over it.

It had been three weeks since Sarah and Jason were introduced and she'd been spending as much time with him as possible. Today they were out shopping. Jason had been even more out of it than usual and finally she called him on it. She knew he was a little spacey, but she felt like he wasn't really with her.

"Jason, baby, what's the matter?" She asked, wrapping her arms around him.

"I don't think I can do this Sarah, I'm sorry," he said, pulling her arms from around his neck andfrowning. She looked confused so he decided to explain, "Shane wasn't totally honest with you. Ali, Nate's good friend… well she was my girlfriend for eight months and we broke up- gosh it's been about a month now. Anyway, she's perfect for me and I can't help but think of her around you. That's not right or fair, but I have to be honest." He looked at her with pleading eyes, hoping she would understand and not be mad. She was surprised, that much was obvious.

"Oh, ok. I see. Well thank you, I guess. Um… I'm supposed to meet up with some friends later, I better get going," she picked up her shopping bags Jason had been carrying and was about to leave but Jason caught her wrist.

"Please, don't be upset. You are an amazing person and a great girlfriend. I'm just still in love with Ali."

Sara stood right in front of him and looked into his eyes, she could see all of the hurt there now, she hadn't noticed it before, but there was an honesty that told her everything he said was true and that it wasn't her fault.

"So I guess we're done?" she asked. Jason gave her a half shrug, not wanting to say it out loud. She nodded, "Then I guess that's that." She held his face and stood on her tip toes to kiss his forehead. "I hope you get her back." With that she turned around and walked away. He hated that she was hurt but it felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest.

When he got home he found Nate sitting with his guitar in his room.

"Hey Nate, want to help me with a song I'm working on? I think the label could use it." Jason was almost excited; he had found the missing verse for it on his way home. It probably wouldn't be right for the band, but in the right hands it could do well.

- - - - - -

Ali had fallen into a music-less rhythm, she lived her life and was in charge of her own mind. She was still spending a lot of time with her friends, laughing and joking around. She was happy, or at least she was on the surface. Her friends saw it too, but if they looked closely they could tell that she still wasn't back to how she was when she had come home from Camp Rock. At school the children all saw the difference between how she acted at the end, before the holiday, and when she came back to school. They asked why she was happy now and Ali couldn't answer them.

One morning she was on her way to school, in her usual silence and something told her to turn on the radio. Come on Ali, you love music. Just let it in she told herself. Shrugging, she turned on the radio in time to hear the DJ announce a brand new song by an artist that she wasn't exactly fond of. She was about to change the station when she heard the beginning of the song. It wasn't like the other singles and Ali liked it.

"That was 'Thinking of You'. Remember, you heard it here first," the DJ said when the song had ended. Ali couldn't help but hum the tune all the way to school.

- - - - -

"That was 'Thinking of You'. Remember, you heard it here first." Nate and Jason were sitting around the radio in their living room.

"That's amazing. I think that's the quickest turn around I've ever heard for a song. How long ago did we give that to the label?" Nate asked. Jason shrugged. He wasn't keeping track of time much, just living his life.

"I don't remember, but I think I'm going to keep writing."

"Go ahead, if you want to. Everyone seems to love your stuff." Nate's phone chirped. It was a text from Caitlyn. He read it and smiled, "See I told you. Caiti says congrats on the awesome new song, and if you don't write something for her to mix she'll hunt you down."

Jason smirked, "I'll work on that one."

- - - - -

The next week Will was surprised to find Ali sitting at school with her headphones on. He sat down next to her without her looking up from her textbook. Once he was at the table he could hear her singing quietly to herself. He hadn't seen her with headphones on in over a month. It gave him a little hope that things really had gone back to normal. He smiled and took out a book, not wanting to distract her just yet. Unfortunately that plan went awry when he dropped said book a little too loudly on the table. Ali jumped and pulled off one of her headphones.

"How long have you been sitting there?"

"Not long. I didn't want to interrupt. It's been a while since I've seen you listening to anything."

"Well you failed," Ali smirked, "But thanks for the thought. Yeah, I decided to find some new music. It's not what I'm used to, but it keeps me from thinking too much."

Will nodded, understanding, "What's your latest poison?"

Ali smiled and paused her music, "Lately I've gotten hooked on 'Chasing Pavements', 'Thinking of You' and 'Paparazzi' ironically enough."

"Interesting choices," Will noted.

"Just because you don't like them doesn't mean they aren't any good," Ali pointed out.

Will put his hands up, "I didn't say anything. Aren't those songs kind of depressing? For you anyway?"

"I guess so. Well the first one, but I like the sound, it's different from what I usually listen to," Ali paused realizing what day it was, "Why are you here? I didn't think you had class today."

"I don't. However, I do have a date with the testing center," he made an unpleasant face.

"Sorry about that. I only have one class left; hopefully it will get out early." She had even less desire to sit in her boring class than usual today. "I'll have to find something to do afterwards because there's no way I'm going straight home today."

"I know. You want to go to the movies or something? There's a new musical out that I would be willing to suffer through." Will offered, he could tell that she didn't want to talk about her parents and that they were the reason she didn't want to go home. Instead he just offered a solution, no questions asked.

Ali smiled at him, "Sure, sounds like fun."

Looks like the music's working, Will thought. He hadn't seen Ali that honestly happy in too long.

- - - - - -

Will and Ali sat in the theater, waiting for the previews to start.

"So I was thinking after this we could stop by Barnes & Noble's. I've been looking for a magazine and they probably have it." He paused for a moment thinking, "Would that be too much for you, the teen magazines and everything?"

Ali shook her head, "No, that's fine. I can handle it. I'm not a China doll Will, I'm stronger than that. I'm better."

Will took in that statement and decided to take a chance and ask a question he'd had for some time.

"I hope this doesn't kill your mood but I have a Jason related question."

Ali decided she could handle it, "Shoot."

"If it hurt so much to break up with him, and you had such a hard time getting over it, why didn't you just get back together or not break up in the first place?" It seemed perfectly logical to Will: if it hurts, fix it so it doesn't.

"It was something I had to do. I needed to detach myself. It hurt too much when I wasn't around him and I felt like I was loosing control. Every thought led to him, in a downward spiral. So I ended it, to get myself back." She was telling him as much as she was reminding herself. "And it wasn't just me, the band was struggling, it was getting stressed between them, everyone was frustrated."

"And the rest of the band and your 'camp family'?"

"A clean break was best. That's all I could think to do. I was starting to argue with Nate. The guys were fighting amongst themselves. If you have any better ideas, I wish you would have toldme two months ago when I started toying with the decision. Besides, I wouldn't get back together with Jason right after I pretty much convinced him that we had to break up, it would not only defeat the purpose of the breakup in the first place, but it would be way too cruel to him."

Before Will could make another comment the lights went down and the previews started. Ali gave herself over to the fast paced images and surround sound, forgetting about everything else.

- - - -

Two weeks after 'Thinking of You' was released Nate walked into their common room with a magazine.

"Looks like you were with Sarah just long enough for the tabloids to think that you found true love." He tossed an open magazine in front of the musician. "And to have lost it. I'm kind of surprised it took them this long." He put down another tabloid that had a line of pictures, starting with Jason and Sarah holding hands outside a store and ending with her walking away.

"How did they make it look like she broke up with me?" Jason asked, taking in the pictures. He wasn't really upset, it was not as if he would loose or gain anything on these pictures.

"I'm not sure, but that's just to get attention. She says in this one that you broke up with her," Nate pointed to a small caption.

"Great," Jason mumbled.

"Well she says you did it graciously, and that you are an amazing guy that is just looking for the right girl 'and I wasn't her'," he quoted the end of the blurb.

"Did I mess up?" Jason asked, honestly.

Nate wasn't sure if he was talking about Ali, breaking up with Sarah, or being seen in the press, but whatever it was, he thought Jason was handling things well, better than he expected.

"I wouldn't worry about the press. Obviously Sarah is doing ok. If you couldn't be with her then I guess it's better that you aren't." Nate patted his band mate on the shoulder, "You're doing alright, aren't you?" Nate had been known to get frustrated with Jason, but they were like brothers and Nate worried, it had been a month and a half.

Jason nodded, "The writing helps." Nate nodded, he knew how that felt. "And you help," Jason admitted, surprising Nate, "Shane, from day one, acted like nothing's wrong and he wasn't bothered at all. You get it though. You kind of lost her too."

Nate looked at the guitarist not completely shocked by the moment of clarity. "Yeah, I guess I kind of did."

- - - - -

It was early February and things at the Spencer house had become tense by no fault of Ali's. She had spent her time in different coffee shops near the campus to avoid going home after classes, but today she just didn't feel compelled to pay for an overpriced drink she wouldn't like and sit in a room with a bunch of strangers.

Originally she'd had every intention of doing her school work at home, but when she arrived she saw her parents were out on the back patio talking in hushed tones. She was all too familiar with what that meant: a serious discussion. She didn't want to think about what it would be about so she turned a blind eye, picked up her bag, and left.

Where to go she thought to herself as she sat in her car at a red light. Just as the light turned green the perfect location hit her. She smiled and headed for the interstate. Forty minutes later she pulled into a familiar parking lot and got out of her car.

Ali smiled at the sight of the store front. It was a slightly worn piece of the endless mall of shops. There was a bay window with an off white, sheer curtain that covered the bottom half of it. On the window there were large letters outlined in gold that spelt out the name of the store. Over the door, with its painted glass window, hung a wooden sign akin to that of the shops of medieval England that read 'The Open Book'. She took a glance at the letters on the window, knowing their exact font because she had helped pick it out. Walking through the familiar door she heard the bell ring, indicating that someone had entered.

Ali had found this bookstore when she had gone shopping with Elizabeth in LA in seventh grade. The old man behind the counter looked up from his newspaper and smiled when he recognized her.

"Hi Darlin', long time no see." He came out from around the counter.

"Hey Frank, I know. Things have been kind of weird lately," she shrugged and gave him a quick hug, "Where's Mia?"

Just as he was about to answer a short woman with gray hair and a friendly demeanor came into view from behind a nearby book shelf. Her name was Amelia, but she was rarely addressed by it.

"Did I hear… Ali, I thought I heard you! Good to see you," she pulled Ali into a warm hug.

"You're going to suffocate her, Li. Let the poor girl go," Frank smiled as he said it.

"Nonsense," she pulled away from Ali anyway and held her at arms length to examine her, "What's wrong sweetie? You haven't been sleeping well? I hope this doesn't have anything to do with that musician of yours."

Ali sighed, "It's complicated." Ali didn't really feel like talking about it, it was old news. She glanced, out of habit at the usually overflowing magazine rack, where she had bought some of her first Connect 3 fan magazines. Today there rack was nearly empty. "What happen to all of the tabloids?" There wasn't a single teen magazine on the shelf either.

"Well, they aren't publishin' anything but trash these days. I don't want my shoppers reading them."

Ali eyed Mia, trying to spot the lie. Next, she turned to Frank, "Would I be right in guessing that this revelation occurred right after Jason from Connect 3 was seen roaming the streets of New York with a blonde mystery girl?"

Mia had her back to Frank as he responded, "I don't know what you're talking about," and winked at Ali.

Mia saw the smirk on the girl's face and turned around to face Frank, "You gave it away, I know you did."

Ali giggled. They were an adorable couple. They had gotten married right after high school, and had been together for nearly fifty years. They had moved to the west coast from Texas twenty five years ago and still hadn't lost their accents, which was something Ali liked;she thought it was soothing.

"Don't worry about me Mia. I can handle it."

"It's no trouble, really." Mia insisted, "Now, are you here to just say hi, or did you need something specific?"

"I have some homework to do and thought I would do it here. It's nice and quiet."

"Sure thing, but if you don't me asking, does that mean things aren't quiet at home?" Mia asked. Frank picked his newspaper back up, but Ali could tell he wasn't reading it.

"That's complicated too," Ali said noncommittally.

"Well, don't worry about that here darlin'," Frank told her. He had always tried to make The Open Book an oasis, disconnected from her usual life and that was something that Ali was incredibly grateful for.

She didn't know why she hadn't thought of coming over sooner, it was one place she knew she'd be ok. She had nothing but good memories of the shop. Before she had gotten her license she had taken the bus up to the shop on weekends or whenever she needed to get away. Frank and Mia were like a second set of grandparents only without the obligation of needing to act a certain way around them.

She could not for the life of her figure out why she hadn't spent time with Jason here. It was closer to his house and comfortable. He knew about it, it was her favorite store and he had gotten her a gift card from it the Christmas before. She realized it was because they hadn't had the time. She had spent her time at the band house and then they had left.

Maybe someday she would meet up with him here and they would talk for hours… She stopped that thought right away. She hadn't made any kind of decision about letting them back into her life yet and now, with a pile of homework waiting for her, was not the time to dwell on that fact. She sighed and pulled a text book and notebook from her bag, humming softly as she began her work.

- - - - -

A/N: Thoughts, questions, concerns? Love it, hate it? Let me know.