A/N: This chapter has a little drama in it. I'm sorry my updates haven't been as frequent but as I once saw on an icon, "Writers block: when characters get fed up with all you put them through and go on strike." I still find that quote hysterical.
Disclaimer: I do not own Camp Rock or 'Pushin' Me Away' by the Jonas Brothers.
"So you ready for our totally awesome girls trip to the mall?" Caitlyn asked as she walked in to Mitchie's room one Saturday afternoon. It had been almost two weeks since Connect 3 left on their tour and the three girls didn't seem to miss them any less then the day they left. So they all decided to go to the mall and spend hours doing girl things to distract them from missing their boyfriends.
Mitchie rose from her chair and smiled. She grabbed her bag off her vanity and threw it over her shoulder. "Let's go. Where's Sierra?"
"She couldn't get a ride over here so we're just going to pick her up on the way there." Caitlyn explained.
"Ohhh. Gotcha."
The two girls headed downstairs and met Connie in the hallway. She smiled at them softly. "You girls ready to go?"
They both nodded and Connie said, "Alright, well then let me just get my coat and I'll meet you two out in the car."
"Okay." Mitchie replied and Connie headed towards the closet and Caitlyn and Mitchie headed outside.
"So have you heard from Nate recently?" Mitchie asked her as they walked towards the car.
"Yeah," she nodded, "He called me this morning. It was brief but it was better than nothing. What about you? Hear from Shane?"
Mitchie nodded. "I guess he forgot the time difference and called me at three in the morning."
Caitlyn laughed and shook her head lightly. "Oh that boy. Did you yell at him?"
"No, I didn't yell at him." Mitchie responded. "I just calmly explained that it was three in the morning and he apologized but we wound up talking for an hour anyway."
"Oh so that's why you look tired."
Mitchie smiled sheepishly. "Yep, that would be why."
Both girls smiled and then turned their heads when they heard a door close. Connie walked off the porch towards them with the car keys in her hand. She unlocked the doors to the car and Mitchie hopped into the passenger seat and Caitlyn slid into the back seat.
"We're going to pick up Sierra right?" Connie asked once she was in the car.
"Right." Mitchie replied snapping her seatbelt in.
"Ok." Connie backed out of the driveway and started on the road to Sierra's house. When they were about halfway there, Mitchie turned on the radio and then turned her head to look at Caitlyn when she heard the song.
…try to fix what you've done, turn back the sun…
"We just can't escape them can we?"
"No matter how hard we try something always brings us back to the fact that we miss them." Mitchie agreed.
"Girls of course you're going to miss them." Connie stated. "When the one you love is gone for a little while you always see something that reminds you of them."
"This is supposed to be our day. We will not think about them today." Mitchie turned back in her seat and switched the radio station. "Sorry Shane, not today."
Connie looked at her out of the corner of her eye and smiled. "Good Mitchie, I'm proud of you. You're handling this very well."
"Thank you." Mitchie replied with a smile.
Soon the car pulled up in front of Sierra's house. Sierra was already outside waiting and when she saw the car pull up, she called a goodbye into her house and then slid into the back seat next to Caitlyn.
"Hey Caitlyn, Hey Mitchie, Hi Connie, thanks for the ride." Sierra greeted.
"Hey Sierra." Mitchie and Caitlyn greeted happily at the same time.
"You're welcome sweetie." Connie responded. "But you girls have a ride home right?"
Caitlyn nodded. "Yeah, my mom is going to pick us up."
Connie nodded. "Thank you."
It took about ten minutes for them to get to the mall. Connie pulled up in front of the main entrance to let them out.
"Thanks Mom." Mitchie leaned over and kissed her mother's cheeks in thanks.
"Thanks Connie!" Caitlyn and Sierra chorused.
Connie chuckled. "You're welcome girls. Now go have fun on your 'girls only' day."
Caitlyn, Mitchie and Sierra laughed and got out of the car. They stood on the sidewalk and waved to Connie as she drove away. Then they all grinned at each other, linked arms with each other with Mitchie in the middle and headed into the mall.
"So what do you girls want to do first?" Caitlyn asked as they walked through the crowded mall.
"I have no idea." Mitchie replied with a shrug.
Sierra let out a sigh and turned her head to the side. "Long for our boyfriends."
Mitchie and Caitlyn turned to see what Sierra was looking at and found themselves in front of the Hot Tunes store. Hanging in one of the windows was a brand new Connect 3 poster that the boys took right before they left for their tour. Shane stood in the middle with his arms crossed, his trademark smirk on his face. Nate stood to the left of him staring at the camera with that same stern look they had come to know well and Jason stood to right of Shane with his guitar around him with an emotionless expression on his face.
Caitlyn crossed in front of Sierra blocking her view from the poster. "Okay, I don't think you heard the rules of today. This is a girl's day. We will NOT think of, talk about, or miss them today."
"Sorry." Sierra muttered quietly.
Caitlyn smiled softly and placed her hand on her shoulder. "No worries. Now, I want you to look at that poster and pretend that they are just some famous band that you've never heard of before." She moved out of the way and let Sierra look at the poster again.
Sierra stared at it in longing for a few second and then her face changed into a more confident look. She let out a breathe and nodded.
"Now…who's Connect 3?"
Sierra shrugged. "Who cares?"
Caitlyn grinned and wrapped an arm around her. "That's my girl!"
Mitchie looked at them and laughed. "I say we get our girl day started with something girls only do."
"And what's that?"
She grinned. "Shop till we drop."
Mitchie, Caitlyn and Sierra hit just about every clothing and shoe store in the outlets. They didn't have much money so they spent most of their time just trying on things and seeing how they looked in different things. They each bought one cute outfit for spring which was rapidly approaching and a pair of shoes to go along with it. They even bought a pair of earrings, a bracelet and a necklace to go with their outfits. And just had they had promised they did not think about the boys at all. Even when they passed the Hot Tunes store again and saw a bunch of girls wearing t-shirts with their faces on it. They only ignored them and continued on their way.
Before they knew it they had already been in the mall for three hours. As they walked out of an electronics store they all declared that they were hungry and so they headed towards the food court.
"I love the pizza they have here one of the be-" Caitlyn stopped when she felt a force pull her back. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Mitchie stood frozen staring off.
"Mitchie?"
Mitchie let go of Caitlyn's arm as Sierra also stopped and looked at Mitchie. Mitchie swallowed and walked towards what she was staring at. The moment she saw it she felt her whole body tense up. On a newsstand, on the cover of Pop Informer magazine read the headline: Shane Gray's Mystery Girl Found!
Mitchie felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest. They had found out. She knew that day was coming but she didn't know it was going to be so soon. She told Shane that if it happened, it happened. But she would have liked a little notice first. And she wondered how they even found out because of Shane being in Europe and why they took so long to print it.
"Oh." She heard Caitlyn's voice behind her and she figured that she had seen the magazine.
"What?" Sierra asked. "What is it?" And then she heard a small gasp from Sierra.
Mitchie slowly approached the newsstand and took the magazine out of the rack. Under the headline was a little caption. Shane Gray has found love in England! Pg. 4.
She frowned. Found love in England? What did they mean by that? She hastily flipped through the pages to page four and her stomach dropped and she swore her heart stopped beating for a second at what she saw. There was a picture of Shane but the girl with him, was not her.
She quickly flicked her eyes over to the article and skimmed the first few sentences.
After nearly two months of searching we have finally discovered Shane's mystery girl! He was hiding her in England, who would've thought? Connect 3's European tour was just what he needed to see her again. The two were spotted…
She moved her eyes back to the picture. They were seated at a table at an outside café. Shane had a pair of sunglasses on, the smile that she had only seen on him when he was around her was on his face, and his hand rested on the table. The girl he was with also had a smile on her face and her hand was rested on top of his, her pin straight blonde hair falling over her shoulders perfectly and she also wore a pair of sunglasses.
And who is this girl you ask? Mitchie's eye caught that and she looked to read it. Why none other than the big hit Pop Sensation in England Sophia Gunn. Sophia had just released her second album and was seen going backstage at a Connect 3 concert.
Mitchie didn't even realize her breath started to come out hitched and shallow. She took one more look at the photo and finally seemed to notice the smaller one beside it. In that one Sophia held onto Shane's fore arm and was kissing his cheek.
Mitchie slowly rolled up the magazine and squeezed it tightly. Caitlyn and Sierra walked up to either side of her and looked at her face and then down at the rolled up magazine then back up to her face again.
"Mitchie it's okay…I know you didn't want the public to know but maybe it won't be so bad.." Mitchie looked up to her curly haired friend and Sierra guessed by her look that that wasn't what this was about. "What's up Mitchie?"
Mitchie looked down at the magazine, still too much in a state of shock to do anything. Sierra followed her gaze, realized that Mitchie wasn't going to loosen up her grip on the magazine so she grabbed another copy from the rack. She flipped to the page and gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.
Caitlyn then was too curious so she snatched a copy and quickly turned to the page. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Oh My God…" Caitlyn quickly shut the magazine and shoved it back onto the rack. She placed her hand on Mitchie's arm. "Mitchie…it's probably a misunderstanding. He loves you, he wouldn't…"
"Yeah…" Sierra agreed trying to sound confident for her best friend. "You know how these magazines are, always blowing things out of proportion."
"Getting their facts wrong, you mean." Caitlyn quickly corrected.
Mitchie finally snapped out of her stupor and put the magazine back on the rack. She looked between her friends. She still felt her heart pounding in her chest but she told them, "You know what guys; I'm not going to worry about it." Her voice was shaky as she spoke. "This is a day without the guys and we promised." She closed her eyes and turned away from the newsstand. "This does not change it."
Caitlyn furrowed her brow. "Mitchie, we can forget the promise if you want. I mean that was just because we missed them this…"
"Is nothing." Mitchie quickly cut her off. "It's nothing."
"Mitchie…" Sierra started.
Mitchie quickly snapped her gaze to her and just her look shut Sierra up. Mitchie forced a smile and took a few steps away from the newsstand. "So who's up for some Pizza?"
She started to walk towards the food courts. She paused to look over her shoulder to see if they were coming but just saw Caitlyn and Sierra staring at her.
"Come on." Mitchie waved them over. "You wanted some Pizza right Cait?"
Caitlyn and Sierra looked at each other in worry then Caitlyn nodded and headed towards Mitchie. Sierra followed quickly behind. They met up with Mitchie and the three of them headed towards the food court.
They got on line for the pizza and Mitchie started telling a funny story about her parents taking her to mall when she was little. When Caitlyn and Sierra realized that she had gone off into memory lane they huddled closer to each other and started to whisper to each other.
"How can she be so calm about this?" Caitlyn whispered to Sierra. "If it were me I would have flipped out by now."
"I've known Mitchie for a while," Sierra responded, "But this behavior is new to me. I expected her to be buried in tears by now."
They both observed Mitchie who let out a little laugh at a joke in her story and then continued to talk with a smile on her face.
"Maybe she's just concealing it?"
"She usually can't hide her emotions well."
"So you're telling me she actually doesn't feel anything about an article about her boyfriend supposedly cheating on her?"
Suddenly Mitchie paused in her story and Caitlyn and Sierra looked at her in alarm wondering if she had heard them. Then Mitchie let out a small smile, "…and then my dad asked the guy…"
Sierra and Caitlyn let out a small sigh in relief.
"I don't know." Sierra replied. "She must be feeling something."
"Well you saw her face back at the newsstand. She was shocked, she just can't forget about it like that."
"Well apparently she can."
"I don't think-"
"Guys!" Sierra and Caitlyn jumped and looked up at Mitchie.
"What do you guys want to order?"
"Oh." Caitlyn looked at Sierra in relief and then walked up to the counter and ordered two slices of pepperoni pizza. Sierra followed after her with two slices of cheese pizza.
As they moved towards the other side of the counter to wait for their order, Mitchie spoke up. "So anyway then my mom had to drag my dad out of the mall by his shirt…needless to say we never went to the mall again as a family."
Caitlyn and Sierra who had missed that entire story smiled and faked a laugh. "Geesh Mitch, your family sure is crazy."
Mitchie smiled a bit and nodded. "But I love them."
They got their pizza and went to find a seat. They sat down and while they ate Mitchie kept herself busy by talking, she barely let Caitlyn and Sierra get in a word in edge wise which was different from her normal behavior. Mitchie talked but not as much as she was doing then. She was obviously trying to distract herself from the information she had gotten earlier.
After they ate, they hit the rest of the stores that they didn't get to before hand. The entire time Caitlyn and Sierra kept a worried eye on Mitchie. They both knew their best friend was hurting inside about what she had read earlier, any normal girl would be. But still Mitchie acted like nothing happened. They were there for another two hours and by the time they headed home it was already six o'clock.
The whole way home Mitchie told Mrs. Gellar about their day at the mall, (obviously leaving out the part about the magazine) while Caitlyn and Sierra sat in the car quietly.
They dropped Mitchie off first. Mitchie thanked Mrs. Gellar and started out of the car. Caitlyn and Sierra looked at her once more silently asking if she was ok. Mitchie just ignored their looks and headed towards her house.
She watched out of her front window until the car had driven away. Connie walked out of the kitchen and smiled at her. "How was girls day Mitchie?"
"It was fun!" Mitchie replied. "We bought an outfit for spring." She held up the plastic bag in her hand. "We had a great time."
"That's great honey, are you hungry?"
"A little, we ate a couple hours ago at the mall."
Connie nodded. "Alright well dinner will be ready in an hour if you want to eat."
Mitchie smiled softly and nodded. "Okay, I'll be up in my room until then."
Connie nodded and walked back into the kitchen. Mitchie walked up the stairs and once she was upstairs bolted towards her room. She flung the door open, threw the bag down in the corner of her room and quickly shut the door.
She tightly shut her eyes and let out a deep, shuddering breathe. She felt around for a chair and slowly set down. Now that Caitlyn and Sierra weren't around to distract her, the article finally came back to her. Girls' day was officially over and once again he was brought into her mind.
She honestly didn't know what to think about that article. She knew Shane wouldn't do that to her, he had told her millions of times. And he was devastated that time they broke up. Shane was a good, faithful boyfriend. Somewhere deep in her heart she knew that was true.
But right then she was having doubts. The pictures looked so real. He only got that smile on his face when he was around someone he really liked. And they were holding hands and that kiss on the cheek? She felt her chest ache at the thought.
She really wanted to believe that Shane wouldn't cheat on her but that Sophia girl was beautiful. Beautiful and famous. She knew Shane would yell at her for doubting her self like that. But she also knew that Shane wouldn't cheat on her but yet the pictures proved other wise.
But maybe Caitlyn and Sierra were right. Maybe it was blown out of proportion or they got their facts wrong?
But it wasn't just facts, another voice told her. There were pictures too.
She took a deep breathe and buried her head in her hands. She felt herself tear up but she wasn't quite sure what she was crying about. Whether it was over that fact that Shane cheated on her, or the fact that she thought Shane cheated on her, or maybe the whole situation that she's confused on whether or not to believe Shane cheated on her.
She gasped when she heard Shane's voice. At first she thought it was her mind playing tricks on her but then she realized it was just her phone. She crawled over to her bag and dug her phone out. She saw Shane's name on the screen and waited a second, contemplating answering it, and then slowly picked it up.
"Hey Mitch!" Shane's voice cried happily through the phone.
She sucked in a breath as a tear rolled down her face. "Hi." She whispered.
"Is something wrong? You sound sad."
She closed her eyes and took a few breaths. She didn't know what to say to him. "Just curious…" She started her voice shaking. "Does England get Pop Informer Magazine?"
"Fortunately, no. Why? Was there an article about us?"
"Not us." She muttered. "You."
"What'd they say?" Shane asked frantically.
She quieted a whimper she felt coming on. How could she possibly get this out?
"Mitchie?" He asked his voice full of worry.
"They have a picture…" She swallowed. "Of you…and a girl."
"A girl?" Shane questioned slowly.
"Yeah Shane, a girl, another girl, that's not me." She finally snapped and narrowed her eyes. "Sophia Gunn." She spat out her name.
Shane was quiet on the line and Mitchie felt her heart slowly breaking. She took Shane's silence as a confirmation on what the article has said.
And then, quite unexpectedly, Shane started to laugh. Mitchie frowned wondering what he found so funny.
"Shane! What exactly is so funny?" She asked coldly.
"You…think…and…Sophia…" he got out between laughs. That really didn't do Mitchie much good to convince her of what was so funny. In fact hearing Shane saying her name made her feel worse.
Finally Shane let out a few breaths to calm down. "Oh My God Mitchie." He let out a short laugh. "Mitchie, Sophia…Sophia is my cousin."
For the second time that day Mitchie felt frozen to the bone. "She…what?"
"Sophia Gunn is my cousin!" Shane repeated. "We haven't seen each other in ages and we were catching up."
"Your cousin?" Mitchie asked slowly.
"Yes! She's Brown's daughter."
Mitchie closed her eyes and fell back onto her floor. She felt like such a total and complete idiot. His cousin. Sophia was his cousin. She couldn't believe she actually thought Shane was cheating on her. Now that she looked at it she realized it was the stupidest thing she had ever thought. Shane loved her, she knew that Shane loved her. And she should have trusted him because without trust there is no love.
"Oh My God Shane…I'm so sorry." She whispered. "I…can't believe I…"
"It's okay Mitch."
"No, it's not okay; I accused you of cheating on me!"
"You saw it in a magazine and I have to admit that Sophia and I were being really close that day we went out. I should have been more careful and I should have told you that I was meeting up my cousin."
"You were the one who told me never to believe what they say in Pop Informer. They're the bull crap magazine."
"Yes, they are the bull crap magazine but I don't blame you for thinking the worst because, well, I would have too."
"Really?"
"If I saw a picture of you with a guy being as close as I was to Sophia, I would have gone mad with jealousy."
Mitchie sighed. "I still feel like an idiot."
"Well, just to calm you mind, I'm not mad or hurt at your accusation.
She nodded slightly. "Well that helps…kind of." She sighed. "You might want to do an interview or something to get this thing sorted out before its gets out of hand."
"I will as soon as I can. Believe me I do not want to public to think I'm dating my cousin that's just…weird."
Mitchie let out a little laugh. "So, your cousin huh? But her last name isn't Brown."
"Well first of all, Brown is his first name, Cessario is his last name."
"Oh…" Mitchie blushed, now feeling like more of an idiot.
"And Brown and Sophia's mother got divorced when Sophia was little and Sophia stayed in England with her mother and then when her mother got remarried a few years later Sophia took his last name." Shane explained.
"That explains a lot." She let out a breath and shook her head. "I still can't believe I thought you were cheating on me with your cousin."
"I know you've heard this before but I would never cheat on you Mitchie. There's never going to be a need. I love you and I never could love anyone the way I love you. I will never have eyes for anyone but you."
"I know that Shane." She said quietly and sincerely. "I really do and once again I'm so sorry. I will never doubt again."
"Hopefully there will never be a need."
She crawled over to her bed and rested her back against the frame curling her knees up. "I love you Shane."
"I love you too Mitchie….only you, forever and always."
A/N: Whoever guesses where the 'I will never doubt again' 'Hopefully, There will never be a need' lines are from gets…a sneak preview of the next chapter!
And the author I'm endorsing this chapter is Kuro-no-Tsubasa
Don't forget to review!!!