Author's Note: One hundred and nine reviews for the last chapter?! I'm still blown away by how much you like this story. I never thought it would be this big a hit! So thanks so much for those who take the time to review: BoredHpfan, if.looks.could.thrill, bubblz16, x miss magic x, Lega, nrisley19892007, JaBoyYa, StargazingHighschooler, have-a-cookie, shayoom, MidnyghtVampyrezz, KungFuDuckie-x3, Shygirldee, Mitchie (anon.), XO Miz Blonde OX, deppslittlegirl, elevategirl, animeaddict2323232, JustASmile, HCSBForever, Runaway Rockstar, xCampRockHSMluva4evax, SecretSoltice, -BeeVee-THEEAmazing, dancerPat, Mina (anon.), JoBroHSMfanatic, shoppinfreak, PaoHalliwell, supergurl03, iDreamt, butterflygoodbye, zannesa-all-the-way, BBONES, IAMSOAP, Reaper Scythe, BornForThisx, Camp Rockians, anonymous (anon.), Konnichiwa Minna, bad2dabones86, katie (anon.), jesscaa, Live Like Music., blonde-gal, Jonaswifey11, XxPrincessAixX, hollywoodgal205, iWeird, ErikaEverest, crazyforpurple, pr0udpnaii x33, Toshiba19, jamierocks5195, sernity1806, Nikkieee02, foolwiz, musicbrat-0901, House.Cam-xx, XxHAPPYjONASfANxX, Paupu, afta4ever, You Are My Brand of Heroin, ShikallllTema, LosingTrack, RokerChic5, MazzLuvsJB, Gracefulfalling, Bookworm622, jonasxsister, creative-writing-girl13, oddball15, musiclvr21, xoxogirlie, pyrolyn-776, ilovehim x3, JonasGirl712, Nicole Kathrine, SHAWTii328, Florchuchizz, Amberle25, swimsiwmsiwm, xBeautiful, puppyluv166, Maeke, princess-lover, Angie-ange, NorthernLights25, The Nikster, Maiqu, XXWatchMeWorkXX, kokoro192, Peachie-Trishie, SaphirePhoenix, RushOfYou, PlzBeMineAt705, monko25, epobbp, jaina-lotr, freaky-callback-girl, Kurukus, brucas224, valetbizou, Vrai Amour, Andy the Christmas Tree, xoAlmostFamous, and Sweet Little All-American Girl. You really tend to give really great feedback, so I appreciate that.
In answer to some questions I've had about this story: yes, it is nearing its end, unfortunately. I have, at the most, five chapters left to write, but don't worry: I'll be writing many more Camp Rock fics. And if you have anything you'd like to see me write, don't hesitate to insert it into your review or PM me.
Please enjoy this chapter!
Second Chances
by PiperPaigePhoebe01
Chapter Eleven
He knew.
She didn't know he knew.
Shane took a step forward and reached for the door handle, but paused. Should he tell her he knew? Or should he wait? Mitchie obviously didn't want him to know yet, so maybe he should wait...
No, I've been waiting long enough. I finally found the girl I'm looking for, and I will not wait any longer.
He turned the handle of the door, letting himself in. Mitchie abruptly stopped singing, turning toward the door. Her expression changed from happy and content to surprised and anxious within a moment. Caitlyn was right beside her and, as she saw Mitchie's concentration break, she looked up from her laptop, her jaw dropping wide open as she saw him in the doorway.
"You're her," Shane said, surprised at the calmness of his voice. "You're the one I've been looking for."
Mitchie didn't answer, instead opting to just look down, playing with the hem of her green shirt nervously. Beneath the layer of her dark hair, he could see her cheeks steadily turning red.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
"She didn't tell you because you've been a jerk," Caitlyn said, her voice a bit cold. "She's been dropping hints everywhere, too. We were so sure you'd figure it out before this."
"I didn't," Shane said.
"That's obvious," Caitlyn responded.
Shane shook his head. "And I'm not a jerk anymore."
"Or so you say."
Shane glanced at Caitlyn, contemplated responding, but then turned back to Mitchie, who was still playing with the hem of her shirt. Looking at her now, his memories flitting back to the few times he had actually heard her sing, he was surprised he hadn't figured it out sooner. He had had everything he needed, but somehow, he had not been able to put the pieces together in a way that made sense. But then again, maybe it wasn't that surprising—up until a week ago, he had been refusing to even think of Mitchie being the mystery girl and, once he had made up with her, he didn't think much of it, so...
I was still incredibly good at ignoring what was right in front of my eyes.
He should have expected it, though. Now that he knew, he felt like hitting himself upside the head. It was that obvious, and yet he just hadn't seen it. Surprisingly, finding out Mitchie was the girl with the voice wasn't as earth-shattering as he thought it was. Sure, he was surprised, but not too terribly. It had been so obvious and yet he just couldn't see it.
I am so going to be beating myself up for ages over this.
"Shane, why are you staring at her?" Caitlyn said, breaking through his thoughts.
Shane blinked, suddenly realizing that he was staring at Mitchie. She was looking nervous, but at least she wasn't playing with her shirt anymore. She met his gaze, apprehension evident in the stiffness of her face, and Shane kept it almost before he realized it. The tension between them was obvious, the atmosphere in the room full of nervous energy.
"I don't know," he said. "This is the last thing I expected to happen."
Mitchie looked down, breaking their stare. "I know," she said. "I bet you never thought I'd be the girl you were looking for, right? After all, I did lie and seemed so unhappy with who I was."
"We've gotten over that," Shane said, even though he was still a bit angry at what had happened last year. "I still haven't forgotten, but it's behind us. What the issue is now is that you're the mystery girl, the one I've been looking for all this time, and I never expected it. I don't know why, but you always seemed the least likely person to actually be her."
"Well, maybe that's because you were looking, but not actually seeing," Mitchie offered.
"And I thought for sure that you would tell me if you were her," Shane said. "You know how much I've wanted to find her. So why didn't you tell me?"
"For a while, it was because you were being a jerk, and I didn't want to reveal myself until you stopped being one," Mitchie said. "And then I just didn't get the opportunity to tell you."
Shane nodded. "You should have told me."
"I didn't," Mitchie responded, "and now you know anyway."
"I wish I knew sooner," Shane said.
"It wouldn't have changed anything," Mitchie said. "If you had known sooner, would you really have forgiven me that quickly? You would have said that I was being fake or something like that. You didn't want me to be the girl, so you would do anything to make it so that I wasn't. Even if you knew I was."
Shane had to admit she had a point—he had envisioned the mysterious girl as someone he had never laid his eyes on. He had envisioned her unveiling as something sudden and dramatic, like standing up and announcing to the world that she was Shane Gray's mystery girl. He had seen him standing up, surprise evident on his face, as the girl began singing the song. In all his wildest dreams, he had never thought that he would sneak up on the girl, hearing her a week and a half before camp ended, only to find that she was the girl that he had both hated and liked as a friend in the space of two and a half weeks.
His memories suddenly went flying back to the first full day at camp, when all the drama had occurred. He remembered, dimly, his thoughts early in the morning, when he had told himself that he was falling in love with the mystery girl.
He shook himself at this, ignoring the strange looks Caitlyn and Mitchie gave him.
Oh hell no. My mind is not going in that direction.
Not, not, not.
He had only thought that because he was envisioning the perfect girl, not Mitchie. He had fallen in love with an image, not the actual thing, now that he knew that the girl was Mitchie.
Even though I'm relieved it's her and not someone else.
"Shane," a voice said, breaking him out of his thoughts again. "Shane, what are you doing?"
"Nothing," Shane said. "Just thinking."
"About what?" Caitlyn said.
"What do you think?" Shane asked.
Caitlyn looked at him strangely. "No need to get touchy, airheaded pop star," she said, only a hint of a teasing tone in her words. "I was just asking a question."
"Fine," Shane said, not knowing exactly why he was being so angry. "I can't believe any of this. Mitchie, I'm glad I finally found you, but I don't know where to go from here. I think I should have time to think about this."
Mitchie looked at him but nodded. In response, Shane walked across the small first floor, walking up the stairs to the second floor, feeling strange. Part of him was overwhelmingly happy that he had found the girl he was looking for, but he was also nervous, anxious and confused—three words that very rarely described Shane Gray. In fact, he was feeling incredibly un-Shane-Gray-like ever since he become friends with Mitchie.
He shook his head, walking over to his bed and sitting down on it. He liked Mitchie, sure, but having her be the girl with the voice completely changed everything. Was he supposed to just let things go in the direction they were already going in? He had found the girl with the voice, he was friends with her, so was that the end? Were they supposed to be just friends?
Of course we are.
My thoughts aren't supposed to go in the other direction, and not only because I don't want them to either.
He was only thinking about something else happening because of his earlier thoughts of "falling in love" with that mysterious girl. It wasn't because he really wanted to be with her—it was the idea of the mystery girl being everything he had ever searched for, and nothing more than that. He was being ridiculous even entertaining the ideas he was.
What is wrong with me? I shouldn't even be thinking this way. Sure, Mitchie's the girl. But that doesn't mean I automatically have to want to... to—even in his mind, he couldn't say what he was thinking—actually ask her that.
This isn't me.
I am not a sap.
Unfortunately, his actions having to do with the now not-so-mysterious girl directly contradicted that. The mystery girl was turning the media's interpretation of a cold-hearted, egotistical, typical pretty-boy pop star (he preferred rock star, but they refused to call him that) upside down. He just knew it was just a matter of time before people called him a mushy, humble, pretty boy pop star that is helplessly in love with the person he had been obsessed with for a year, regardless of the accuracy of any of those things.
And I don't want that to happen, even though the process has already started.
Whether he liked it or not, Shane Gray was changing. He had let his search for the mystery girl to affect him. Now he wasn't as egotistical and self-centered as he had always been perceived...
I'm the opposite.
Shane shook his head, reaching for the guitar at the foot of his bed. Suddenly, he had the strangest urge to sing something, sing anything. He reached into his bedside table's drawer where he kept all the scraps of songs he had written, digging out the first song he saw. He began playing, his lips forming the words his fingers on the guitar told him to before he knew it.
Everytime I think I'm closer to the heart
Of what it means to know just who I am
I think I've finally found a better place to start
But no one ever seems to understand
Shane smiled as he realized what he was singing—out of all the songs he had ever written, he enjoyed this one the most, even though it didn't help his attempts to stop being utterly obsessed with his realization that Mitchie was the girl in the slightest.
I need to try to get to where you are
Could it be, you're not that far?
He knew Mitchie was the girl with the voice. He knew that when she sang that song, it came from her heart, regardless of what he would have thought a month or so ago. She was closer than he ever imagined she would be.
You're the voice I hear inside my head
The reason that I'm singing
I need to find you
I gotta find you
I've found her.
Now I just want to know what I should say to her now that I did.
You're the missing piece I need
The song inside of me
I need to find you
I gotta find you
Mitchie's song ran through his mind as he played and he stopped singing abruptly as his fingers began playing the chorus again. He didn't sing along, instead playing the music to the chorus. It sounded... familiar, like it fit in with something.
On a whim, he began singing the lyrics to This Is Me under his breath, and suddenly it made sense.
Of course.
He had written this song in a response to hearing This Is Me, so it only made sense that the music was similar. In fact, if he had enough time, he could probably use bits and pieces of Gotta Find You to add to This Is Me—
Shane let out a soft gasp at this thought, ideas flooding his mind.
Mitchie planned on revealing herself to me at Final Jam. So that meant she's going to be singing "This Is Me."
And wouldn't that be the perfect opportunity to reveal one of Connect Three's new songs?
He couldn't help the thrill passing through him as he reached into his drawer again for a spare piece of paper and a pen. He began writing down his ideas, all of which seemed to flow one after the other in quick succession as the two songs, This Is Me and Gotta Find You, played again and again in his mind. He felt excited—why hadn't he connected the two songs before?
He smiled as the paper filled up in the space of only ten or fifteen minutes, only looking up to get another piece of paper. As he did so, however, he stopped as he glanced toward the door.
Mitchie was standing there, an odd expression on her face.
"I was just thinking about you, Mitchie," Shane said excitedly, oddly surprised at how he had so easily accepted Mitchie's being the mystery girl. He still hadn't wrapped his mind around it, but...
At least I'm not trying to deny it.
"Oh?" Mitchie said, looking a bit nervous. "Why?"
Shane smiled.
"Because I have an idea."
-
Author's Note: Gah, I'm not so sure about this chapter. At all. I'm worried about Shane's characterization a lot in this chapter, and the ending I used, but I really don't have time to edit it. I would wait until tomorrow to rewrite the entire thing, but I can't. You see, tomorrow's my birthday—I am going to be FOURTEEN. I can't believe it, really. I'm going to be going into high school. Except I shouldn't ramble on and on about my birthday, so I'll just say I doubt I'll have time to update tomorrow and I just wanted to make sure you had a chapter to read, even though it may not be as good as the last one.
Hope you enjoyed this one even though it's not my best, and please review!