Sorry for the wait, my brother was in a baseball tournament thing...arg.

And some of you have said that you wont be around during July to read and review. That's perfectly okay, especially my parents just told me we're going on a family vacation for pretty much the whole month of July. Parents, gosh. Well...

I'll try to update one more time before we leave. We're going away on Thursday so...

Well, enough of that and on with the story!

Chapter 12

Mack stopped walking suddenly in the hallway. People walked around her as if she was a rock in a waterfall. Her eyes widened and she dropped the script she was reading. Grabbing her cellphone out of her pocket, she ran to a place where she knew no one would follower and dialed a number.

"Hey Colby, it's Mack. Is my brother there," she asked sweetly as she walked onto the roof. There was a slight pause before Troy answered.

"What the hell," she yelled into the phone.

"What?"

"The end, it was your idea wasn't it?"

There was silence from the other end. "What are you talking about?"

"The end of the musical where the jock collapses. That was obviously your idea."

"And?"

"Why," she asked. "Why would you have the jock die?"

Troy rubbed his eyes and sighed. He rubbed his temples before before he answered her question. "Not everybody lives happily ever after like fairy tales."

"But you love fairy tales," she whispered. "That's what kept you going when you got sick." She blinked slowly. "You're not sick again are you?"

There was a cough on the other end of the line. "No, don't worry about me. I'm not sick."

"Don't lie to me Troy."

"Okay," he said. "I was a little sick after Christmas. I went down to the campus nurse-"

"The campus nurse!" She was now standing up and stomping around as if her temper tantrum would make any difference. "The campus nurse couldn't do anything for you! She doesn't know your history, probably send you back with Nightquil or something."

"Yeah, that's what Gabriella said. I guess I got pretty bad, not as bad as you've seen me, but got Colby and the guys scared. Colby took me to the emergency room one night."

"Pneumonia," Mack asked.

"You should be a doctor," Troy said.

"Only because of you," she said. "But anyway, you never answered my question. Why did you have the jock die?"

"Well I looked back, and Cam told me once that one of the hospital visits...I can't remember which one, but one of them was supposed to kill me. I guess I got some inspiration from that."

"Okay Troy, good acting, now why did you do it?"

Troy laughed. "As I said, life isn't like the fairy tales." She heard a loud crash in the background. "Gotta go. Love ya."

She shut her phone and leaned on the bar, looking at the city. Taking a deep breath, she shut her eyes, shivering slightly as the cool breeze touched her body. Suddenly she felt muscular arms wrap around her waist. "What are you doing up here," Calum whispered in her ear.

"Have you read the end of the script," she asked turning to face him.

"Yeah. We should have the audience in tears," he said, his brown eyes twinkling. "I like it."

She sighed. "It looks like I'm the only one having a problem with it. It was Troy's you know, that one part."

"I had a feeling," Calum said leaning on the railing.

"Why aren't you the rest?"

"It was boring without you. Everyone is...for lack of a better word, making-out."

Mack turned her head, her blue eyes locking with Calum's. "Even Teagan?"

"He's with Keisha."

Her eyes widened. "Really," she asked. "And how come I didn't know this?"

"I'm not sure, Adam told just about everything that moves."

She giggled, believing him. "I love Adam," she said.

"More than me," he asked, pouting. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he smiled, giving her an idea. She put a finger to his lips.

"He has a cute smile," she teased. "But not as cute as yours."

"Well Miss Bolton, you have some competition too," he said. "Some younger women."

"Oh really, do I know them," she asked as if she were really concerned.

"Gemma and her friends."

"Gemma Duval? She'll be over you in a week and onto the next cute, singing sensation. I'm not worried."

"How do you know?"

She smirked. "You seem to have forgotten that I was her age once. I know, she'll drop you like a fly and you'll be all mine once again."

Calum wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his forehead gently against hers. "You will always have my heart," he whispered before she shut her eyes and he kissed her. When she opened her eyes she said, "you'll always have mine too."

hsmhsmhsmhsmhsm

"Alright, now for the big stuff. You get to sing to yourself," Adam announced. He, Calum and Teagan were standing in Calum's bedroom and Calum was right in front of a full length mirror.

"Yeah," Teagan agreed. "If you get over the fear of seeing yourself sing, singing for others should be easy."

Calum chuckled nervously. "Yeah, easy," he said his voice quivering.

"Cal, come on."

Soon, Calum's voice was filling the room and the house. Adam and Teagan looked at each other and smiled, both seeing Calum's obvious talent. On the other side of the door, Karen Boucher listened to her son's relaxing voice.

When Calum stopped singing, he turned to Adam and Teagan. "That wasn't so bad."

"No it wasn't, but I'm hungry," Adam said.

"When are you not hungry is the better question," Teagan said. Calum laughed and led the way down the stairs to get food. "I'm growing," Adam said.

"Growing," Calum scoffed. "You're the same height you were as a freshman."

"No...I've grown," Adam said. "I'm taller than you now."

"Everyone's taller than me," Calum complained. "Except maybe Cam. He might be my height."

The three laughed, knowing that the good times they shared would never end. Karen walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where they boys were. She held out a envelope. "Hun, this came in the mail today."

He grabbed what his mother was handing him and looked at the return address. His eyes widened and he practically spit out his drink.

"What is it Calum," Adam asked.

"It's from Duke," he whispered.

Okay, what could Duke possibly want with Calum...hmm...

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