a/n: hey! i'm so glad i've got this chapter out (finally!). i've been working on this for ages and it's turned out a way even i wasn't expecting. it was also the reason why i've waited so long to update. i wanted to make sure that it worked before i posted. you'll see what i mean when you get to the end.
thanks for reading and reviewing. i really hope you like this chapter and i'll try to update again asap!
xoxo seventeenforeverxoxo


Chapter 47

"Mum!" Mitchie exclaimed, jumping at the sound of her mother's voice.
She quickly turned around and saw her standing in the doorway staring her down just like she always when she wanted Mitchie to know she was in serious trouble.
Behind her looking just as angry was Officer Colt, the woman who had been with Sam and Sienna.
Over Connie's shoulder she shot daggers at the three of them instantly making Mitchie feel as if she was a teenager who'd just been caught sneaking out of her bedroom window at night rather than an adult. Taking a quick glance at the other two it was clear they were feeling the same way. After all neither Connie or Officer Colt looked at all impressed with the situation and it didn't take a genius to realise things were going to get ugly for them.

"Officer Dawson, Officer Marks-can I talk to you for a moment?"

The tone of her voice told Mitchie two things.
Firstly she outranked them in some way and secondly she was pissed-furious actually.
All of which didn't look good as the two police officers were given their marching orders to leave the room to Mitchie and her mother.

As the left the room Mitchie shot them a sympathetic look, knowing it was her fault they were in this mess to begin with.

"Sorry" She mouthed, knowing that the second the door slammed shut behind them Officer Colt would be ripping the two of them to pieces for what they had done (or were just about to do).

"Mrs Torres feel free to use this room for as long as you need." Officer Colt gave her a quick smile before slamming the door shut behind her, leaving Mitchie and Connie in silence.


The two watched each other, neither wanting to be the one to break the silence and make the first move.

"What are you doing here Mitchie?" Connie finally asked, the silence becoming too much for her to bare.

"I could ask you the same thing." She responded coolly, not wanted her mother to know how much her sudden appearance had rattled her.

"You know exactly why I'm here!" Connie snapped back as she sat down opposite her daughter and fixed her with an angry glare.
"I'm here for the same reason that you are. To get your brother and sister out of jail. The only difference is they called me, they didn't call you. So I'll ask you again. Why are you here?"

Mitchie remained silent, deliberating about what to say- whether to answer her mother's question or jump straight on in there and get Connie to ask a few of her own.

"A couple of campers were talking about Casey getting arrested. I did a little digging and found out she was here." Mitchie explained, deciding it was better to get all the small talk out of the way before they moved onto more important matters.
"I figured I should come down here and try and sort things out."

"You shouldn't be here Mitchie!" Connie insisted angrily.

Mitchie let out a strangled laugh of amusement, anger and betrayal that sent shivers of fear down Connie's spine.

"Why? Because you're afraid I might find something out that I shouldn't?"

"You know nothing about this!"

"I know enough to know that you've been lying to me! All this time you let me believe that everything was fine when really my brother and sister were criminals? How could you do that?"

"We didn't think you'd find out. We thought it would all go away."

"But it didn't you brought it here instead!"

"We didn't know she was here." Connie pleaded, her worst fears coming to life as she felt her daughter pulling away from her, the little girl she had loved and protected disintegrating before her eyes.
"He was doing better-they both were. We figured that if we didn't tell you then it would be okay, that it wouldn't matter and we could move on and forget about it."

"Well that worked out great didn't it?" She snapped back sarcastically, her anger growing more and more with every word.
" How could you think that this could just go away, that it could be forgotten like it never happened? It matters mum! It matters to me! It matters to that poor girl he threatened, who felt so intimidated by him that she had to get a restraining order against him! It matters to her!"

"We didn't know she would be here!"

"You keep saying that but that doesn't make it magically okay mum!" Mitchie screamed at her, infuriated and hurt by her mother's words and her flippant behaviour, almost like it didn't matter to her at all that this girl's life had been changed forever because of her son's actions-and from the sounds of it Casey had played a part in all this as well.
The idea that not one but two of her siblings had behaved in such a way shocked Mitchie in a way that she had never experienced in her life; making her both scared and angry at the same time.

"The second you knew that she was here you should have told them both to leave!" Mitchie continued her rant, her anger getting the better of her as she raised out of her chair to pace the room in frustration.
"But noooo! You think you can handle it all on your own without telling anyone! What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that your brother and sister have as much right to be here as that girl does!" Connie tried to defend her actions to her daughter but all it did was make her angrier.

"That's not the point mum! They shouldn't have been there by law whether you think they deserve to be there is completely irrelevant!"

"But it shouldn't be! They came to Camp Rock for exactly the same reason she did. Just because she was there before them doesn't mean she has the right to stay and they get kicked out!"
"Yes mum it does. In a situation like that you get them the hell out of there for everyone's sake but you didn't even bother! Instead you put one of our campers in danger even though you had every opportunity not to!
You let a poor, innocent girl be terrorised, frightened and abused by her worst nightmares! That police officer just told me that Kyle's been making threats against her and Casey-they had to drag her off her to stop her from yanking her hair out with her bare hands!
How could you let this happen? You should've made them leave the moment you knew she was here but instead you let them stay. You're the reason they're here and that girl got hurt. This is all your fault!"


The room fell silent and Mitchie instantly felt sorry for what she said.
Of course it wasn't her mother's fault they were in this situation that was all down to Kyle and Casey but she couldn't help but feel that Connie had played a part in this whole sorry mess. If only she'd sent them packing or at least told them what was happening they could've controlled the situation better but she hadn't and now...

"Well?" Connie demanded as the silence became too much for her to bare. "Are you going to apologise for what you just said to me?"

"No." Mitchie told her with absolute certainty, after all she might have felt bad about what she said but it didn't mean she wasn't right-or at least partially.

Connie stared at her in disbelief, not used to being denied anything by her daughter let alone being told flat out no. She just couldn't believe what she was hearing!

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I said no. Granted I might have been a little harsh saying it was all your fault but you are to blame for what happened here and for that I won't apologise.
This could all have been avoided if you had just dealt with it before it got this far but you didn't. You let it go on and on and on until Kyle and Casey ended up here and that girl was further traumatised.
You are their boss and their mother it was your duty to tell them to leave the moment you knew that girl was on site, even if she was just there for a second, you should've told them to leave but you didn't. By law you should've told them to leave and you didn't. That was all your fault no one else's and if you can't accept that it's your problem not mine."

"Mitchie Grace! How dare you speak to me this way!" Connie gasped, astounded and outraged by her daughter's behaviour towards her. "I am your mother!"

"Then bloody well act like it!" She screamed back in her face, causing her to gasp loudly with shock at her daughter's aggression towards her. Never had she seen Mitchie as angry as she was at this moment and Connie never wanted to see anything like that again.

"You've been lying to me all this time!" Mitchie continued, her whole body shaking with anger. "You lied to me, kept me in the dark and let me believe that Kyle and Casey were just a couple of regular kids!"

"They are regular kids!"

"No they aren't! They were involved in a serious crime! One that involved one of my campers, someone I have a duty to protect and you didn't think once to let me know what was going on?
Or even better! Kicked their asses out of there the second you knew they shouldn't be there but instead you let them stay; knowing that you were putting that girl in harm's way! How could you do such a thing and expect me to forgive you just because you're my mother?
What if someone had done that to me or Theresa or even Kyle and Casey? Would you let them get away with it because they were someone's mother?"

"I'm not talking about anyone else I'm talking about you! I am your mother-yours! Isn't that enough?"

"No mum it isn't! It will never be enough to excuse what you have done!" Mitchie shouted back at her. The room fell silent.

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Connie said stiffly as the shock of Mitchie's outburst began to wear off.
Mitchie's face softened slightly at the sound of her mother's voice. She sounded so sad and so contrite that Mitchie almost felt bad for what she had said before she pulled herself together; realising that her words may be harsh but they needed to be said.

"So am I but I can't change the truth." She whispered, unable to look her mother in the eyes when she saw how sad her words had made her. Connie blinked back tears for a second before answering, her voice thick with emotion as she tried her best not to lose control and cry in front of her daughter.

"I understand that and maybe you'll never change your mind about this but who said your version was the truth? You've been so quick to judge me I wonder if you've stopped for a second to think about why I did what I did?
Fine I made an error letting them stay after everything that happened between the three of them in the past but did you ever consider things from my point of view?"

Mitchie remained silent, knowing that in her rush to condemn her she'd yet to hear her mothers' side of things. Connie looked at her knowingly then began to tell her side of the story, hoping that it would have some effect on her daughter's view of this whole situation before things went too far and Mitchie never forgave her for what she had done.

"When you called me and asked if I would come to Camp Rock I saw it as the perfect opportunity. You've been so busy with everything that's been going on that we barely see you any more and I figured with what had happened with your brother and sister the best thing for them was to spend a little more time with you.
They miss you so much Mitchie-"

"Don't you dare blame me for this!" She snapped back, furious that Connie would try to guilt trip her this way to take the pressure of her. "I might not have spent all my time at home like I did before I met Shane but that's no excuse for what happened!"

"I'm not saying that I'm just..." Connie sighed deeply as she tried to get her daughter to understand.
"He's been so much better these past couple of months. He attends therapy regularly, goes to college every day and his grades are excellent. He's so much better than he ever was! It's like he's a completely different person and I'd do anything for him to stay that way.
This camp-this was the icing on the cake, the thing that would make him the best person he could be and allow him to finally move on with his life.
When I found out she was here all I could think was about how we'd got so close to getting back to normal that I couldn't bare the thought of it all falling apart again.
So I told them nothing and allowed them to carry on like nothing was wrong-like things were the way they should be.
I figured what with the size of that place and with me and Casey watching him everything would be okay- that they'd never bump into each other.
But they did and suddenly he turned back into that..monster...he was before and then there was that whole incident with the car. I knew then that I'd made a mistake but I couldn't send him back home like that! God knows what he would have done!
So I thought that if I could just keep him with me and keep him away from her he'd realise that it wasn't worth it to go back to the way he was before. I thought that everything would be okay.
I didn't know that this would happen Mitchie I am so so sorry I never thought something like this would happen! I would never willingly put anyone in a situation like that if I didn't think it would be okay.
Please Mitchie you have to understand that I never intended any harm to come to her!"


Mitchie watched her mother silently taking in her genuine look of anguish and remorse before starting.
"I believe you." Mitchie watched as her mother relaxed slightly before continuing.
"But that doesn't change what happened-or makes it alright. What you did was wrong and there's nothing you can do or say to make up for that."

Connie's frown deepened and her whole body tensed up again.

"But you can try to find a way of making this better. Nothing can change what happened but we can try and limit the damage-starting with you telling me what they did to land themselves in this place."

"Mitchie..."

"No mum if this is to be resolved I need to know then we can get them out of here and back home before this whole situation gets any worse."

"I can't see how it would get any worse than this." Connie muttered under her breath before continuing with a sigh. She didn't want to tell her daughter this but...

"Okay here it goes. The police received an anonymous tip this morning that your brother was planning to attack his ex girlfriend. He was already on a warning for breaking the terms of his restraining order so the police came around straight away. Only when they got there they found more than they expected."

"How much more?"

Connie shifted a little in her seat, uncomfortable with having to tell her daughter everything after keeping so many secrets from her over the last couple of years.
"They found some death threats towards her on his bedside table with a knife sitting beside it and...two bags of cannabis and pills stuffed in his sock draw. Kyle did a runner the second they found the drugs-the police caught up with him on the camp site and arrested him.
That's when Casey attacked her. She knew that he'd been set up and the only person who would gain anything from it would be the ex."

"What makes you so sure he was set up?" Mitchie asked and Connie's eyes widened in shock.

"Mitchie Grace! I know that you've heard some awful things about your brother but never for a second think that he'd resort to drugs! Don't you remember the effect Greg's death had on our family-especially your brother?"

Mitchie instantly felt ashamed knowing her mother was right.
Kyle and Casey might not be the people she thought they were but there was no way in hell that they would ever connect themselves with drugs after everything they'd been through with Greg, their cousin, who'd died of an overdose at Mitchie's birthday party 3 years ago.
They'd all been so close especially Greg and Kyle that they all swore the moment they found out that he had died that they would never let the same thing happen to them. Kyle may not be the little brother she thought she knew but she knew enough to be certain that he would never turn to drugs.

"But how could you be sure it was her behind it all?"

"It had to be." Connie insisted firmly.
"Who else would gain from Kyle being locked up other than her? She'd already tried to get him arrested but the police could only warn him as he hadn't made any serious attempts at hurting her then suddenly they get a call that he's done exactly that and magically find all the evidence in plain sight!
The knife they found was exactly like the ones we use in the kitchens-anyone could've walked in and taken one of them! And the notes-they were all typed, not handwritten, meaning anyone could've written them and put them and the knife there to make him look guilty. It all makes sense Mitchie- your brother was set up and it was his ex and those friends of hers that did it!"

"That still doesn't explain how the drugs got there." Mitchie insisted as she saw the fatal flaw in her mother's idea.
"Granted everything you just told me screams "fit up" but if the drugs aren't Kyle's and they don't belong to Casey then how did they get there? Security on the site is so strict you can't get anything in or out of there that even looks slightly dodgy. And security has only gotten tighter since that whole thing with the...Oh my God that's it!"

"That's what?"

"That's how the drugs got there!"
Seeing her mum's confused expression Mitchie began to explain.
"Before you arrived there was another catering company working here-only they weren't a real catering company. The people running it were using it as a front to make, sell and distribute drugs using the camp site as a base. Brown found out before it got too far but the cops were always surprised that they were here for almost two weeks and they found nothing when they searched the cabin-your cabin..."

Connie's eyes widened in realisation.

"Kyle must have found them and he was going to hand them in when the police found them in his room! That's it! Mitchie we have to go tell them! They might drop the charges if they realise that the drugs weren't his after all!"

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Mitchie babbled excitedly, feeling at least a little better that this whole mess between her brother and his ex would be resolved quickly without any more drama.
No matter what they might have done in the past Mitchie believed her mum when she said that they had changed and she was willing to move on-as long as they got this whole mess sorted out and she finally learned the truth of her brother's past. Leaping out of their seats Mitchie and Connie left the room in search of Sam and Sienna hoping that they could catch before they disappeared so that they could resolve the situation without any more outside involvement.


"There they are." Mitchie pointed them out across the other side of the room, still being berated by Officer Colt.
"Now all you need to do is go over there and tell them everything I just told you and explain the whole situation about Kyle's ex setting him up. Once you tell them everything they're sure to take it all into consideration when they come to charging him."

"Me?" Connie looked deeply shocked at the idea. "Surely you'd be better at explaining all this than me. I'm not even sure what the hell I'm talking about."

"Just tell them what I told you-they'll understand." Mitchie hugged her mother quickly before making a move to the door only to be pulled back by an anxious looking Connie.

"Hold on-wait a minute. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go and track down Kyle's ex and see if I can get her to drop the charges against Kyle and Casey."

"What? No Mitchie no you can't!" Connie insisted frantically tightening her grip on her daughter's arm.

Totally oblivious to her mother's distress Mitchie laughed lightly at the idea. After all their theories could only get them so far. The only way to ensure this was resolved properly was to try and get Kyle's ex to see that they best thing right now was for them to forget this whole sorry mess and go their separate ways.

"Of course I can-it not exactly the hardest thing in the world to do. Besides the sooner I find her and get her to drop the charges the sooner you can get them out and send them back home. It's the best outcome for everyone."

"But you don't even know her name! How are you even going to find her?"

"Mum you and I both know that gossip spreads like wild fire in that place. All I need to do is mention what happened this morning and someone will tell me everything I need to know."

"But, but-" Connie floundered, unable to think what to say next to stop her as her mind went into free-fall.
She'd been so careful to leave the identity of Kyle's ex a secret in the hope that she would never connect the dots and now Mitchie was going to find out anyway. And there was nothing she could do to stop it even though she tried her best to stop her Mitchie was insistent that she leave and find Kyle's not so mysterious ex girlfriend.

"What's your problem mum? I would've thought you'd be happy about this! Casey and Kyle will go free and this whole situation will be dealt with!" Mitchie insisted, finally picking up on her mother's change of behaviour and realising something was up.

"Mitchie please don't do this." Connie begged, her tone of voice drawing unwanted attention to them as she pleaded with her daughter to stay. "We don't need to get her involved in all this."

"But she's the reason all this started! Maybe if I just went and talked to her..."

"No Mitchie you can't!"

"Why not!" Mitchie shouted angrily pulling herself out of her mother' grasp and moving away from her, throwing her hands in the air out of pure exasperation.
"She played a part in this too! She antagonised him then called the cops on him when things got out of hand. If I can just get her to see that what she did wasn't right she might drop the charges! Then this whole sorry mess will be over and done with!
This could help them all get past it and move on with their lives without any more unnecessary pain. Why don't you want that happen?"

"I do!"

"Then let me do this! They all need to move past this and there's no way they can if they continue in this vicious circle."

"But-"

"No Mum I'm going to talk to her and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

With that Mitchie turned and stormed towards the door, ignoring the looks of the people around them and praying to God some paparazzi hound hadn't caught that whole fiasco on tape. Whatever happened Mitchie knew there was nothing that would stop her from finding that girl no matter what her mother said to try and stop her.

Or at least that was what she thought until Connie said the only word she could say that made her freeze and her blood turn cold in her veins. Suddenly it felt like she'd been punched right in the stomach and Mitchie felt herself doubling over, her breath coming out in short gasps as she turned to face her mother.

"What the hell did you just say?"

"Mitchie I-"

"TELL ME! TELL ME WHAT YOU JUST SAID!"

"Mitchie this isn't helping-"

"TELL ME!"

"Oh Sweetie." Connie said almost like a sigh as she saw the distraught look on Mitchie's face and wished now more than ever that she kept her mouth shut.
However she now knew that was no longer an option and with a heavy heart and tears in her eyes repeated those words that had caused her daughter so much pain.

"It's Layla...Kyle's ex girlfriend is Layla."