Yay! 12 reviews! I'm smiling widely and typing furiously. :)

Oh, and I know that 'Sorry' was meant for Miley, but let's all pretend that it wasn't in this story, kay? :)

Okie dokie, here's chapter thirteen. I bet your just dying to find out what happens, huh? Huh huh huh? Jk. Enjoy!


Hidden Secrets

Chapter Thirteen

Nate looked at Shane, waiting for the answer. Shane was calling their manager and asking about the concert. Suddenly, Shane grinned and mouthed 'Yes!' toward Nate. Nate jumped up and started dancing around the couch.

"Stop it!" Shane said, motioning for him to sit down. Their manager asked something and he immediately laughed nervously and said, "Oh, no, not you. I was talking to... yes sir."

Nate smirked at Shane, as if saying That's what you get for telling me to stop it. Shane glared at him, which made Nate look away and think about Alex again. Everyone who glared at him made him feel bad because the last look that Alex had given him was a glare. So far, he'd gotten upset like 50 times over the last week.

He'd tried to call Alex to say sorry, but she'd promptly hung up on him. After his third call, her mom started picking up the phone and he couldn't exactly tell if Theresa had given Alex the messages he'd left. Then he started calling Mitchie to ask her if he could talk to Alex through her phone, but Alex wouldn't listen no matter what Mitchie told her. The concert would be the only thing left.

"Okay, we've got the concert. It's in two weeks." Shane said, picking up a tangerine.

"Two weeks?" Nate asked, "Why in two weeks? Why not like, today or something?"

"We need an audience to have a concert." Shane reminded him, peeling the tangerine.

Nate put his hands on Shane's shoulders and shook him hard. "Why couldn't we have it next week? The sooner the better!"

The tangerine slipped from Shane's fingers and fell onto the hard floor. Shane glared at Nate, now he couldn't eat his tangerine. This made Nate look out the window and think of Alex again.

"Ooh, tangerine!" Jason said, spotting the orange fruit. He picked it up and carried it to his room.

"But, that was my... oh forget it." Shane called after him. He whacked Nate's shoulder and pulled him out of his trance. "Let's go. We have a concert to get ready for."

"We have to get ready?"

"Yes! We have to decide which songs to do and in what order." Shane said, pulling Nate up the stairs.

"Why can't the manager just do that?" Nate asked.

"Has this Alex thing fried your brain?" Shane asked back. "Now let's go!"

"Fine, fine." Nate said, pushing Shane's hand off of him. "Let's just hope that we can get Alex to the concert."


"Alex, you have to come!" Mitchie pleaded. She got on her knees and begged. "If you won't do it for Nate, do it for me!"

Alex crossed her arms and shook her head. "No."

"I insist." Mitchie said.

"Well I refuse." Alex mocked Mitchie's tone of voice.

Mitchie pouted, trying to get Alex to come to the concert. Nothing was working. Max and Justin had tried, Shane had tried, Theresa and Jerry had tried, Nate had obviously tried, Harper had tried, and even nutty Jason had tried.

"Everyone wants you there." Mitchie said.

"Yeah, but I don't want to be there." Alex reminded Mitchie. She stepped into her closet and closed the door. "I'm not coming out of my closet."

"You can't just stay in your closet for a whole day." Mitchie said.

"Yes I can. I have all the things I need in here." Alex replied. "Food, drinks, my shoes, clothes... now if I could get cable in here... that would be awesome..."

"Alex! Come to the concert or else." Mitchie said, her voice rising.

"Mitchie! I won't come to the concert."

Mitchie sighed, and shook her head. Alex was very stubborn, she'd learned that over camp, but she didn't know that her cousin was this stubborn. Refusing to come to concert that was going to be for you was a very weird thing to do. Even though Alex was clueless about the whole concert being for her, but still, she could at least go to listen to music or something.

"Fine then. I'll just go with Harper." Mitchie said.

"You do that." Alex's muffled voice came from the closed closet door.

"Please?" Mitchie asked. "Pretty please?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I told you already!" Alex said.

"Just because you're mad at Nate doesn't mean you can have a fun time with your cousin and friends." Mitchie said.

"No."

"Well then I'll make you come."


Nate headed backstage to see if Alex was here yet. Mitchie had promised him that she would get Alex here, but so far, they both weren't arriving. Harper was here though, trying to make Nate feel better, but mostly just flirting with Jason. She found him... attractive in a strange way.

"Is she here yet?" Shane asked. "We're about to go on."

"No." Nate said, tapping his foot. He was shaking, not because of the nervousness of the concert, but because of the sign that Alex would probably not come.

"And here is Connect 3!" The announcer yelled. The crowd screamed, chanting their name.

"Come on." Shane said, pulling Nate toward the stage. "She's probably stuck in traffic. She'll come while we're on stage."

Nate hoped so as he stepped onto the stage and smiled at the screaming crowd. The concert was calming him down a little.

"Hey guys!" Shane yelled into the microphone. The crowd screamed even louder. "Alright, we're going to start things with a song we like to call 'Play My Music!'"

Nate turned his head backstage, Harper shook her head no. Alex wasn't here yet. He and Jason started playing their guitars.

" Music
Turn on that radio
As loud as it can go
Wanna dance until my feet can't feel the ground (feel the ground)
Say goodbye to all my fears
One good song may disappear
And nothing in the world can bring me down (bring me down)

Hand clapping
Hip shaking
Heartbreaking
There's no faking
What you feel when your riding home
Yeah, yeah

Music's in my soul
I can hear it everyday, everynight
It's the one thing on my mind
Music's got control
And I'm never letting go, no no
I just want to play my music
Whoa (music)

Got my six string on my back
Don't need anything but that
Everything I want is here with me (here with me)
So forget that fancy car
I don't need to go that far
What's driving me is following my dreams, yeah

Hand clapping
Earth shaking
Heartbreaking
There's no faking
What you feel when your on a roll
Yeah, yeah

Music's in my soul
I can hear it everyday, everynight
It's the one thing on my mind
Music's got control
And I'm never letting go, no no
I just wanna play my music
I just wanna play my music

Can't imagine what it'd be like
Without the sound of all my hero's singing all my favorite songs
So I can sing along

Music's in my soul
I can hear it everyday, everynight
It's the one thing on my mind
Music's got control
And I'm never letting go, no no
I just wanna play my music

Music's in my soul
I can hear it everyday, everynight
It's the one thing on my mind
Music's got control
And I'm never letting go, no no
I just wanna play my music
All night long

Yeah!"

The audience cheered and whooped, and Connect 3 went on with the concert. As they neared the final song, Nate lost a lot of hope that Alex would be there.

"Okay, we're going to let Nate take the stage with the final song!" Shane said. He and Jason stepped off to the side of the stage while Nate moved more toward the middle.

"This song is for a special person, I know I messed up and... I'm sorry." Nate said. He took a deep breath and began playing.

"Broken hearts and last goodbyes
Restless nights
But lullabies helps make this pain go away
I realize I let you down
Told you that I'd be around
I'm building up the strength just to say

I'm Sorry
For breaking all the promises that I wasn't around to keep
It's all me,
This time is the last time that I'll ever beg you to stay
But your already on your way

Filled with sorrow, filled with pain
Knowing that I am to blame
For leaving your heart out in the rain
And I know your gonna walk away
And leave me with the price to pay
Before you go I wanted to say

I'm Sorry
For breaking all the promises that I wasn't around to keep
It's all me,
This time is the last time that I'll ever beg you to stay
But your already on your way

Can't make it alive on my own
But if you have to go,
Then please go, just leave me alone
'Cause I don't want to see
You and me going our separate ways
I'm begging you to stay
If it isn't too late
I'm Sorry
For breaking all the promises that I wasn't around to keep
It's all me,
This time is the last time that I'll ever beg you to stay
But your already on your way."

The audience was deathly quiet as the song went on, they all felt so emotional as Nate began sniffling. He ended the song and quickly ran backstage. Shane took over, saying all the 'goodnight' stuff. Jason tried to get everyone happy again.

Nate walked into backstage, hoping to see Alex there. Instead, he just saw Mitchie alone.

"She didn't come?" He asked

Mitchie shook her head. There was nothing she could say. "But... Steph came." She pointed to the perky blond.

"I listened to that song, and I accept your apology." Steph said, hugging Nate.

"That song wasn't for you!" Nate yelled at Steph. He didn't care who was there to watch him break down.

"Of course it was!" Steph said. "You silly little goose person!"

"It wasn't for you!" Nate repeated. "It was for Alex! It was only for Alex! You're the reason that she won't even talk to me anymore! It's all your fault!"

Steph stared at him, then broke into tears and ran into the bathroom.

Nate sighed and stared up at the ceiling. "Are you sure she's not in the bathroom or something?" He asked Mitchie.

Mitchie nodded. "I'm sure."


I know that was a totally crappy ending, but did I get the emotional part right? Poor Nate, his plan didn't work!! :(

Review and tell me what you think of this chappy, kay? :)