A/N: Thank you a billion times over to everyone who reviewed! Here's the next chapter, hope y'all like it. I can predict this story being relatively short, maybe another one or two more chapters? We'll see. But it will move really quickly.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Sadly. *Sobs quietly in a corner with a vat of ice cream.*
MPOV
Maybe Shane was changing; he seemed nicer than when we encountered each other in the kitchens the other day. I was hungry, so I went to the mess hall for breakfast. My friends and I were laughing when somebody tripped over my foot. "I'm so sorry! Actually… I'm so not." It would be Tess who tripped over it.
"I would respond, but-"
Her nicer minion Ella said, "But you are responding by saying you're not responding."
"Shut up," came the reply. She dumped some of her noodles onto my shirt.
"Okay, that was on purpose," Caity gasped.
"Does it matter? Anything makes that outfit better," and then Tess not only dropped noodles on me, but on Caity as well. "See?"
Caity threw some of her noodles at Tess. Tess exclaimed, "I can't believe you did that!"
"Neither can I," said Nate, coming over to us. He took us to his temporary office that he shared with his brothers. He sighed, "Lay it on me."
Tess yelled, "She's always been jealous of me and can not stand the fact that I am probably going to win final jam so she starts flinging-"
Caity complained, "She's impossible! She walks around like she owns the place and treats Mitchie like-"
I didn't say anything, explaining the rivalry between Tess and myself would mean letting Nate know that I was Brown's daughter. Did I want that? Nate took control again. "Whoa! Enough! Make it plain, who was the first to throw food?"
Tess smirked triumphantly, "Easy, Caitlyn."
"That's technically true but-"
"But Tess was the first one to dump her plate on me, then she dumped it on Caity too when she defended me." I told Nate the truth, I just hoped it wouldn't come back to haunt me later.
"That's exactly what happened," Caity agreed.
"So, as I understand it, Tess was the first start to the food fight."
"Yes, but-" Tess started.
"No buts. Tess, you are forbidden from singing in every jam from here on out. I won't take away the privilege of Final Jam, but you might make me if you keep up this behavior." Nate was having fun with this, I could tell.
"WHAT?! You can't do that! My mother owns this camp!"
"She may own this camp for now, but that does not give you any special rights. You will treat everyone with respect." Why did he emphasize 'for now'?
"You can't make me! My mother will be hearing about this! She will not stand for this, and you are going to be in so much trouble, Mitchie!" She stormed out of the office, incensed. My worries, though, rested on the fact that there would be questions asked about the last statement. Shoot.
"What does she mean you are going to be in trouble, Mitchie? What jurisdiction does TJ hold over you?" Nate asked.
Well, here went nothing. "I'll tell you, but can you promise to keep a secret? Even from your brothers?"
"Umm… Yeah."
"No, I mean it, Nate. Nobody can know about this. TJ will kill me if you know."
"You have my word, Mitchie."
"My father… was Brown Cessario. When he died, TJ basically made me her maid and she and Tess have been treating me horribly since dad died three years ago. I have to work in the kitchens, and the only way I can come to classes is because Connie, the head chef is really nice, Dee somehow convinced TJ that I could attend the classes, and Caity helps me get my work done." Nate appeared to be in shock.
"You're… You're Brown's daughter. That's where I thought I recognized you! Your style of singing, your demeanor, your looks… You're exactly like him! We were hoping to meet you this summer!"
"What? Why? And what do you mean, we?"
"My brothers and I have been wanting to meet you for ages. Brown is like an Uncle to us, and we never knew what happened to you. He talked so much about you, but he never mentioned your name and the summer we were here, we never got a chance to meet you. But now I know you!"
"No, Nate. There can be no we. You know me, that's it. If this gets out, TJ will kill me. She will make my life even more miserable than it already is. She doesn't want it getting out, and I don't want the world to know; I don't want or need your pity."
"Fine, I won't tell them, but who said anything about pity? I've just been wanting to meet you. You do know that Camp Rock probably belongs to you, right?"
"What?" I was beyond confused. What was he talking about?
"If I know Brown, there is no way he would have left the deeds to Camp Rock in TJ's name. He must have a will somewhere, Mitchie." I think I officially had found an older brother in Nate, a really overprotective one.
"So all we have to do is find a will somewhere on this huge campus. So simple," Caity scoffed.
"Well, if Mitchie let me, I could tell my brothers and they would help."
"No!" I shouted. "It's not happening. I appreciate the help, Nate, but they can't know."
"Okay, I won't tell. I promise. And if you ever need any help, I'm here for you. Anyway, I have a class to teach now."
Caity blushed. "Advanced Production, right?"
"Yeah. How do you know?" I sensed the beginnings of their romance here and inwardly grinned.
"I'm in it."
He offered her his arm and smiled. Now it was his turn to blush. "Shall we, milady?"
She giggled, "We shall, kind sir." I shot her a thumbs up and they left. I was due to help Connie in the kitchen, so after stopping by the pantry to get a crate of nachos, I walked to the kitchen. Shane stopped me near the docks.
"You hungry?" he asked as a joke.
"Just a little," I chuckled nervously.
"Do you have a minute?"
"Um… sure."
"I want to run something by you."
Every time I think I'm closer to the heart
What it means to know just who I am
I think I finally found a better place to start
No one ever seems to understand
I need to try
To get to where you are
Could it be
You're not that far?
You're the voice I hear inside my head
The reason that I'm singing
I need to find you
Gotta find you
You're the missing piece I need
The song inside of me
I need to find you
I gotta find you
The song was mesmerizing, and for one moment, I thought he was singing it to me. I quickly took the thought out of my head; it was completely ridiculous. "Wow…" I was speechless.
"I heard this girl singing, and it kind of reminded me of the music that I liked. So I started playing around with some chords and, I know it's not finished, but…"
"No. No, it's good. It's really good. And I don't lie." And I didn't, I just… conveniently omitted the truth about some things. "Why are you looking at me like that?" He had a look in his eyes, or was I imagining things?
"I don't know. You just seem different… Good different."
I looked down to hide my embarrassing blush. "Yeah, definitely… different." To save the situation from becoming awkward, I said, "So, I uh, I better get going."
"Back to the kitchen?"
"What?!" He couldn't possible have known!
"To get some dip for those chips?" He picked up the crate and handed it to me.
"Oh! Haha, yeah, yeah… right." I darted away quickly, leaving behind a befuddled Shane.
I skipped into the kitchens, incandescently happy. "Hey, Connie! How ya doin'?"
"I'm alright. How are you?" she answered, bewildered.
"I'm great, I'm wonderful, I'm fantastic, I'm-"
"Putting chips into bowls," she told me pointedly. I laughed and started. Caity joined us after her production class.
"So, how was it? Was he as impressed by your producing as the rest of us?"
Caity was blushing tomato red. "He declared me assistant teacher and was so sweet. He's so funny, smart, a musical genius-"
"Ok, we get it," I grinned. "He's perfect and you're smitten."
"Pretty much," was her response, accompanied with a dreamy small.
I looked up at the clock and realized we needed to get ready for Pajama Jam. "Oh shoot, Connie, is it okay if we leave? We need to change into our PJs for tonight's jam."
"Go ahead, we're done here anyways. Thanks for your help!"
We raced out of the kitchens and down to our cabins before assembling in a cabin with a makeshift stage.
Dee was already there and we made it just in time to hear, "Next, give it up for the awesome Caitlyn Gellar!"
Caity ran to the stage and said, "This is in honor of you awesome camp rockers!" A techno beat started playing from her ever-present laptop and the keyboard, and Caity threw in a couple of amazing dance moves. Caity was fantastic, as always, and it looked like Shane, Jason, and Nate liked it as well, Nate especially.
Apparently Tess noticed too, because she cried, "Help! Help, there's a snake! Snake!" Caity stopped in her tracks.
Dee investigated the problem and sneered, "It's just the power cord to the sound system, Tess."
"Oh, right. My bad," Tess mocked. Connect 3 walked out of the door with expressions of disgust on their faces.
Caity stalked up to Tess and screamed, "You are so full of it! You can't stand the fact that people might actually like what other people do!"
Tess held up her fingers, making a W, E, M, and L on her forehead.
Caity was thoroughly frustrated. "Okay, what is that?"
Ella, Tess' lemming, explained, "She said 'Whatever major loser'."
I spoke up. "Wow, Tess. 'Whatever major loser?' That is so last year, I mean everyone knows that. Oh, well… I guess not everyone." Everyone laughed at Tess' expense and she walked out of the room, shooting me a glare.
SPOV
The next morning, I was writing a new song at the docks when Mitchie came up behind me. "So, uh, does your voice sound better out here?" she asked.
"Why don't we get in one of these things and you can tell me," I said, pointing to the canoes.
In the middle of the lake, we were going to circles. "I don't think we're doing this right," Mitchie laughed. Her laugh was musical, and it reminded me of something…
"What, you don't like going in circles?"
"Haha. So, have you found the girl with the voice?"
"Why, are you jealous?" I secretly hoped she was. I think a part of me wanted her to be the girl with the voice.
"Jerk!"
"Hey, being a jerk is part of the rock star image," I bantered.
"Keeping up an image can be tiring," she sighed.
"But it keeps the posers away. I never know if people are hanging with me for the free stuff or for the parties."
"Oh, definitely the free stuff," she played along, trying to lighten the mood.
"Funny."
"Come on, I know you're not really a jerk. I mean you're helping Andy with his dancing, and those screaming girls seem to love you."
Seeing the opportunity, I teased, "Which brings me back to the whole jealous thing."
"I take that back! You are a jerk!"
"Can I ask you something?" I broke the comfortable silence. She nodded. "Were you here when Brown ran the camp?"
There was wistfulness and sadness in her eyes as she said, "Yeah, I was." Why was she sad?
"Then do you, by any chance, know his daughter?" She looked startled.
"What? Why do want to know?" Was it my imagination, or did she turn defensive?
"I was really close to Brown, and I've been wanting to meet his daughter for years. I really regret not being able to meet her when I was here three summers ago."
"Nope! Sorry, I've never met her and I don't know who she is!" Her voice was squeaky and she looked desperate to change the subject, so I didn't press it anymore.
We fooled around some more, before it was time for Beach Jam. We rushed to Beach Jam, where Jason yelled at us for barely being on time. He noticed Mitchie and asked who she was.
I put my arm around her. "This is Mitchie, my new friend. She has amazing taste in music," I winked at her. She blushed adorably.
Dee said, "Hey gang! Okay, score! I finally talked Connect 3 into taking singing us a song, so rock the camp, guys!"
"Well, that's our cue," I told Mitchie, and Jason, Nate, and I got on stage. "So we're going to play something new, let us know what you think."
Turn on that radio
As loud as it can go
Wanna dance until my feet can't feel the ground
Say goodbye to all my fears
One good song and they disappear
And nothing in the world can bring me down
Hand Clapping
Hip Shaking
Heart Breaking
There's no faking
What you feel
When you're right at home, yeah
Music's in my soul
I can hear it
Every day and every night
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
Got my six string on my back
Don't need anything but that
Everything I want is here with me
So forget that fancy car
I don't need to go that far
What's driving me is following my dreams
Hand Clapping
Earth Shaking
Heart Breaking
There's no faking
What you feel
When you're on a roll, yeah
Music's in my soul
I can hear it
Every day and every night
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
I just want to play my music
Can't imagine what it'd be like
Without the sounds of all my heroes
Singing all my favorite songs
So I can sing along
Music's in my soul
I can hear it
Every day and every night
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
Music's in my soul
I can hear it
Every day and every night
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
All night long
The crowd went wild and we said thank you to the crowd elatedly. Nate said, "Man, they loved it! You were right!"
Jason misinterpreted it and responded, "I know I was right… What did I do?"
"Not you, Shane. The label has to let us do this!"
I sneered, "They won't. Just look at what they made us call the band.
"Yeah! How can we do that?" Jason asked, trying and failing to put in his two cents.
"As soon as camp is over, we can hit the studio and make a demo. I mean, they can't say no once they hear this." This was the first time in a while I had seen Nate so excited about anything.
"They can't?" was Jason's reply.
"No, they can't. And besides, I'm not done here." Did Nate like someone? Oh! Caitlyn!
"Neither am I," I told them. Just then Mitchie bounded up to us and hugged me. Caitlyn did the same to Nate.
"That was amazing, you guys!" Caitlyn congratulated us.
"Thanks," Nate muttered, flushing.
I saw TJ's daughter narrow her eyes at our group before making her way over to us. "Mitchie!"
Mitchie visibly gulped and Nate and Caitlyn looked worried. "Go away, Tess," Nate snarled.
She ignored him. "I forgot to tell you, Mom wants you to work tomorrow night." Work? Where? How was Mitchie related to TJ? And tomorrow night was the Masquerade Jam!
"You wouldn't!" Caitlyn gasped.
"Work? What? Explain, somebody, now!" I demanded.
"Oh, you didn't know?" Tess giggled. "Mitchie has had to work in the kitchens so Mother can save money with staff ever since-"
"Don't finish that sentence!" Nate threatened.
"Ever since her father died!" I worked out things in my head.
TJ would only have control of Mitchie if she was… "You're Brown's daughter?" She looked down. Nate and Caitlyn looked anywhere but at me. "And you knew!" I addressed Nate. "Why wouldn't you tell me? You knew that I wanted to meet you! You had so many opportunities and you've been lying every time I asked you about it!" She opened her mouth but I cut her off. "You know what, save it. I don't want to hear it." How could she not tell me something so huge? I was beyond pissed off. I thundered away, hearing Tess' vicious laughter and the sounds of Mitchie's crying. My heart broke. Should I have listened to her when she wanted to explain? No. I did the right thing. Jason came after me to comfort me, but I disregarded him completely.
MPOV
I sobbed as Nate and Caity lead me back to the cabin. How had Tess known that I lied to Shane? She must have overheard one of our conversations. On the way back, TJ found Caity and I, Nate had hidden behind a tree so she wouldn't see him. "Oh, Mitchie. I changed my mind about where you're working tomorrow. The kitchens don't need the help, but I do. You need to clean my cabin."
"What?" I asked. "That's not fair! You've only ever made me help in the kitchens before."
"Well consider yourself lucky then that you get a change in scenery. I will be back at midnight tomorrow from my party to check on you and I expect my cabin to be sparkly clean." With that she walked away. Her cabin was a pigsty.
Nate emerged from behind his tree. "Don't worry, Mitch. I've got this covered." He pulled out his cell phone and rapidly started talking.
When we got to our cabin, Caity hugged me and said, "It's okay, Mitchie. Forget about Shane, he was being unreasonable. We're going to the Masquerade Ball, you're going to sing, and you're going to have an amazing time. Shane will not ruin tomorrow night."
"I guess you're right," I smiled, my tears subsiding. I fell asleep almost instantly.
We had no classes the next day, so we had the entire day to get ready. Caity and Lola managed to make me get ready, while I was anxiously awaiting Nate so I could see what he had planned. Caity refused to let me see my dress, she had been making it for a while. I had just finished putting my makeup on when Nate showed up with… a cleaning crew? "Surprise! Told you I had it covered," he said and hugged me.
"You are officially the best, Nate! Now shoo, we need to get ready!"
"OK, OK, I will." Just then, Caity emerged in her dress. The cap-sleeved gown with a sweetheart neckline was made of black satin and was embroidered with white floral designs across it, cinched at the waist with a band of flowers. Nate was struck speechless. "Wow, Caity… You look stunning."
She turned pink and giggled, "Thanks. You look pretty decent yourself." Nate was wearing an off-white suit and did look handsome.
"Go, Nate! We'll see you later." He left, but not before staring at Caity again. I turned to her and winked, "Somebody's smitten!"
She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Now come on, here's your dress." She opened a garment bag to reveal a gorgeous silk dress. It was sleeveless and had a sweetheart neck. The bodice was ruched cream silk, the sash that tied into a bow at the back was cream lace with brown embroidery, and the a line skirt was chocolate with subtle cream patterns. They completed the look with a cream eye mask. And it had huge pockets! I loved it.
Wait, brown? "Caity, brown? It's a black and white dance, though."
She looked me in the eyes. "Wouldn't you rather wear brown?" I realized its significance and nodded. "Then go put it on!" I came out self-consciously.
"You are breathtaking, Mitchie!" Lola complemented. The girls curled my hair and styled it half up and half down, placing a white rose in it. We donned our masks, I grabbed my songbook and put it in my pocket, and we headed to the mess hall where the Masquerade Ball was happening. We definitely turned eyes with our entrance. I knew people were whispering about my dress, but I wasn't going to let anyone bring my mood down.
I was at the punch bowl when somebody approached me. "Hi. You really know how to make an entrance. That, uh, dress is amazing." He was wearing a jet-black tailored suit with a black dress shirt underneath and no tie. He wore a silver mask so I couldn't recognize who he was, but I felt like I knew him from somewhere. He was certainly somebody to swoon over, that much I knew.
I blushed and found myself tongue-tied. "Thank you. That's a nice cape. I mean coat. Nice coat…" I quickly turned to Caity and asked her, "What should I do?"
Caity was talking to a curly-haired boy who I later learned was Nate.
"Say something. Anything. He's cute!" she said quickly and went back to her riveting conversation with him. Well that was no help.
"Umm… Do you want punch? Or you have some… Okay, cool." I was at a loss for words and I hoped he would say something.
"What was that?" He didn't hear me over the noise? I heaved a sigh of relief. "I don't usually come to these things," he told me in an attempt to start conversation.
"Yeah, me too." I saw Dee motioning for me to go up to the stage. "Hey, I'll talk to you later, it's my turn to sing."
Dee handed me a guitar, my dad's old one. I looked at her in awe, but she smiled and pushed me on stage. Everyone was completely focused on me. I wanted to shrivel up and die, but I wanted to do this. For the first time in years, I was going to sing in front of people.
I've always been the kind of girl
That hid my face
So afraid to tell the world
What I've got to say
But I had this dream
Right inside of me
I'm going to let it show
It's time
To let you know
To let you know
This is the real, this is me
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now
Gonna let the light
Shine on me
Now I've found
Who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I want to be
This is me
Do you know what it's like to feel so in the dark
To dream about a life where you're the shining star
Even though it seems
Like it's to far away
I have to believe in myself
It's the only way
This is the real, this is me
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now
Gonna let the light
Shine on me
Now I've found
Who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I want to be
This is me
Everyone seemed to love it and my confidence soared. Just then, the boy that I had met earlier had the mic, started singing a song that complemented mine. The song was Shane's though, so that meant… the boy who was singing with me was Shane, and he didn't know it was me. So, I was the girl with the voice?
You're the voice I hear inside my head
The reason that I'm singing
I need to find you
I gotta find you
You're the missing piece I need
The song inside of me
I need to find you
I gotta find you
We sang together, so in sync that we were able to predict the other person's next lines.
This is the real, this is me
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now
Gonna let the light
Shine on me
Now I found who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I want to be
This is me
You're the missing piece I need
The song inside of me
This is me
You're the voice I hear inside my head
The reason that I'm singing
Now I've found who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I want to be
This is me
The whole crowd erupted in cheers, besides from the one girl who I could very clearly see was Tess because of her fake blonde hair. "So you're the one I've been looking for. You were amazing." Shane pulled his mask off.
I gasped, "Shane?" Actually seeing it was a shock, even though I had already known. I caught a glimpse of the time, it was 11:55. I had to be back by midnight. "I have to go," I said and tried to pull away from him.
"Wait, where are you-"
"I'm late. I have to go," I said and raced away.
Caity caught up with me and seemed to be in shock. "Oh my god! That was… Holy cow…"
"I feel like I have throw up. Caity, if I don't get back to TJ's cabin by midnight, I am dead."
"You were singing with Shane Gray. He was into you."
"Yeah, because he didn't know who I was… You really think he was into me?"
I managed to make it back just in time to rush Nate's cleaning service out and wear a robe to cover my dress. TJ stalked in the next second. "Hmm… Well it seemed you managed to follow orders for once." So saying, she collapsed on her bed and fell asleep instantly. I tiptoed out quietly and walked to my room, exhausted. My last thought before I floated to the land of dreams was that I didn't have my songbook.
A/N: So, review please? Thanks!