Wow. I really love you guys. Seriously. And, all I'm going to say about this one is I'm sorry it's a little on the short side. And for those of you who have been as upset as me about Jason being all alone… well… wait and see.

Chapter 14

Shane was literally glued to my side all night. From the moment we stepped out of the limo, my hip was attached to his, his arm wrapping around my back to keep my there. It didn't matter much though, because I had no desire to be anywhere else. Shane seemed to have learned the lesson I learned 5 months ago, and like every other problem he and I have had so far, I think we've grown from this. The paparazzi was outside the medium sized banquet hall where the party was being held. As Shane and I walked out first, they went particularly crazy. We laughed and posed for all sorts of pictures. When they noticed Nicky with Jason they started to freak.

"Shane! Is that your sister with Jason?" One of them yelled. Shane pulled Nicky over to him.

"Yup. Don't worry, she's only here to have fun." They took a few pictures of Shane and Nicky before we were able to go in.

As we entered, we saw about 200 people or so milling about. There were a few select reporters and photographers, talking and taking pictures. I noticed two of them were the ones that interviewed us. I waved at them, and they smiled, a bit confused, but waved back. In an article about the party a few days later, they commented on how friendly I am with reporters and such. That it was a breath of fresh air in their crazy world.

We saw the rest of the execs with Bradley, looking as if they were talking business as usual. Milo and Rich were standing with a bunch of other people actually enjoying themselves. There were other Lava stars running about as well.

What surprised all of us was the huge projection screen in the corner with an X-box attached to it. "Guitar Hero! Score!" Jason yelled running off. Nicky laughed at him, but pulled Caitlyn and I to follow. Shane and Nate had no choice but to come along as well.

By the time we made it over there, Jason had managed to lose to the girl standing next to him.

"What's up?" Shane said seeing Jason pouting.

"I lost." He whined slightly. The girl laughed.

"Well, you probably aren't used to playing on easy." Nate offered, trying to cheer him up.

The girl laughed again. "Good, 'cause I beat him on expert." Nate and Shane's mouths fell open. Jason had many good qualities in life, but the one thing that topped everything else: his ability to play the guitar immensely well. He skipped straight to expert and beat the game.

"Wow." I laughed, "Hi. I'm Mitchie." I extended my hand to her.

Raising her eyebrows slightly, she replied, "I'm nobody special." She shrugged. I took her in for a moment. She wore a simple black dress, with her reddish brown hair loose and wavy around her face. She was very pretty.

Caitlyn laughed. "Wow, you're parents were kinda mean to name you that. I've been complaining about Caitlyn for 17 years, but man."

She laughed again shaking her head. "No, they were even crueler and named me Anastasia." We laughed. "People I like call me Stas, though," She added.

"So, why are you here if you're nobody special?" Shane asked, not meaning to sound mean, although he did a little.

"My brother is your tour manager." She said simply. "His girlfriend broke up with him like 3 days ago, so little sister gets to take her place at the ball."

"I feel your pain. They think they can whip us around as they please." Nicky said sympathetically.

Anastasia laughed, "Yeah." Her eyebrows drew together in confusion, "I thought-" she gestured between Shane and I.

"Oh, I got dragged by Jason." Nicky gestured behind Anastasia to Jason, who was looking at Anastasia much like Nate does Caitlyn at times. "He didn't want to be alone with these 4." She gestured to the rest of us.

"Ah, been there. I understand." She said turning to Jason, who broke out of his reverie.

"You're really good at this game." He said gesturing to the screen.

She blushed a bit. "Thanks. You're pretty good too." Jason smiled at her. "Rematch?" She asked. Jason nodded enthusiastically.

As the two began playing again, we pulled Nicky away with us. "Great." She said. "Now I'm all alone." I laughed and wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

"I'll keep you company." I offered.

"Who's going to occupy Shane then?" I shrugged.

We began talking and making rounds. Caitlyn and Nate went off on their own, while Shane, Nicky and I stayed together.

"Shane!" Someone said as they came toward us. He looked about 15 or 16.

"Riley." Shane greeted. "What's up?"

He laughed, "Well, I noticed your sister looking less than thrilled to be with you two, so I thought I'd come see if she wanted to dance." Shane's grip tightened on my hand.

"She would love to, wouldn't she, Nick?" I shoved her forward.

She smiled sweetly at Riley. "She would." Before Shane could protest, the two made their way to the dance floor.

Shane was glaring at the dance floor when Bradley beckoned us over to him. He was still talking to the other execs. "Ah, there they are." Bradley threw an arm around each of us, making us laugh.

"Congrats on the song." Some of the others said in various ways.

"I guess it's a good thing we sent you to Camp Rock for the summer!" One of the other execs said.

"Yes, it was. I'd forgotten how much I love that place." Shane said honestly.

"Well, now we know where to send our young pop stars who need a reality check." A particularly drunk exec added. Shane and I shared a look. This was the perfect time to talk to them.

"Actually, Camp Rock might not be there much longer." Shane sighed. "My uncle says there isn't enough money. And less and less people can afford the increasing cost."

I sighed as well. "It's such a great place but people don't realize it. Sponsors are more concerned with academic programs." We were laying it on a little thick.

"That's not good! We get lots of great talent out of that place! Look at you two!" Bradley exclaimed.

"Shane, be in my office tomorrow morning. Well discuss this further." The president himself of Lava Records commanded.

"Of course, sir." Shane squeezed my hand lightly.

"Oh, Caitlyn looks scared." I said noticing the distressed look on my dear friend's face. "Excuse me." I left Shane and the execs, though a moment later Shane was behind me.

Reaching her, I asked, "Cait, what's wrong?" She sighed in relief.

"I lost Nate, and I didn't know where he went. Someone pulled him away while I was talking to him."

Shane laughed. "Poor Nate. He hates when that happens." We began wandering around looking for him, while Caitlyn told us about everyone she'd met so far. Milo showed her off to all of the producers he was talking to. We found Nate talking to a really pretty girl about the guys' age. She was tall, slender, with short dark hair.

Shane seemed to tense immensely when he saw the girl. Nate seemed less than thrilled to be talking to her, but Caitlyn still looked upset.

"Hey, Nate." I said interrupting their conversation. I saw him sigh and quickly pull Caitlyn to him.

"Hey." He said uncomfortably.

"Hi, I'm Erica." The girl introduced, seeming very fake to me. "Shane, haven't seen you since Camp Rock."

Shane mumbled something, but not loud enough for any of us to understand. "Yeah," he said loud enough for us to hear. I didn't like the way he was acting around her. "What are you doing here, Erica?" He asked tightly.

"My boyfriend is around here somewhere. I was catching up with Nate, though." I really did not like this.

"You all know each other from Camp Rock?" Caitlyn asked, hoping to ease the tension.

"Shane and I dated for a little while." She smiled. There was something evil in her smile. I felt my stomach churn as I realized this was her. The one he wouldn't even name. "He was a lot different back then. I met Jason and Nate through him."

"Oh." I said as if I were remembering something. "You must be the one he told me about." Shane gave me a confused look, curious as to what I was up to. Thankfully, Caitlyn seemed to pick up on it.

"Oh, right. That one." She said.

"Shane told you about me?" She asked, a bit surprised. "I didn't think he'd tell anyone about me. Especially not his precious girlfriend."

"Everyone makes mistakes. I can't blame him for dating you. You are very pretty." I couldn't tell if she saw the veiled insult or not, but didn't dwell on it. Caitlyn caught it and that was enough.

She smiled tightly. "Thank you. But I'm sure he didn't tell you everything."

"Yeah, he did, Erica, so drop it." Nate informed her. "You lied to him and broke up with him. You don't get to be like this right now."

"What?" Shane and I asked together. "When did she lie to me?"

"She was never…" He wouldn't say 'pregnant' due to the many people around, "…and never thought she was. She was trying to fix her mistake of breaking up with you at the end of camp."

"How do you know that?" Shane demanded.

Nate smirked. "Her best friend wasn't half as cruel as she is."

Erica looked really uncomfortable. "Wow." I said. "And I thought Tess was cruel." Caitlyn looked at me laughing.

"Come on, guys." Shane said pulling me away. "I don't want to be here anymore."

We silently made our way back to Jason, who was still playing Guitar Hero. A lot of the younger crowd were around the two, watching.

"How many times has he lost?" I asked someone.

"I don't think he's won yet." They said back. Shouts erupted as Jason lost again.

"Okay, okay, I give." Jason relented. "You are by far much better at this than me. How about you come dance with me?" He said holding out his hand. Anastasia passed someone else the guitar and took his hand. We all headed to the dance floor where Nicky still was.

After dancing for awhile, we finally conceded to going home. We girls were very tired. Actually, it was after Anastasia's brother dragged her away from us that we decided to stop. We exchanged numbers with her and Jason promised he'd call her tomorrow. We were happy for him. She seemed pretty normal, and Caitlyn and I liked her. She would be a good addition to our group.

Shane surprised Nicky when he told her she could sleep in his bed, he would take the couch. She looked at me in pure disbelief. "What have you done to him?"

We laughed as he kissed my cheek. "Made me fall in love." He answered sweetly. I wasn't alone in that feat, though. I knew I was more in love with him then I'd ever imagined possible.

Caitlyn and I were very tired the next morning and did not want to go to school. Seriously, who has a party on a Thursday? Mom was gracious enough to let us stay home that day, explaining to the school that we hadn't planned on being out that late and we've learned our lesson.

"My feet hurt." I moaned around 11 o'clock sitting next to Caitlyn in the kitchen.

"Mine, too." She complained. "Dumb heels."

"I bet the guys' feet don't hurt." I mumbled.

"Do you think Stas' feet hurt?"

I shrugged and pulled out my phone. Do your feet hurt? I sent Anastasia.

Yes! She replied. Stupid heels. I laughed and we spent some time texting Anastasia. She lived in the city with her brother, not too far from the guys' apartment, so we opted to hang out at some point that weekend.

I received a message from Shane around noon, telling me to call him when I could after school.

I smiled and called him now, as I wasn't in school. "Hello?" He answered slightly confused.

"Hey. What's up?" I asked.

"Aren't you in school?"

"Nope." I laughed. "Too tired. Our feet hurt."

He laughed. "Well, I just got done with my meeting." He said happily. "And guess what?"

"What?" I asked excitedly.

"They're going to make a deal with Uncle Brown. They want to buy Camp Rock so they can fully fund it. But they'll keep it under Uncle Brown's control and everything though. They also said they'd like some of their personnel to work their as instructors. Change up the classes a bit and stuff? Like Milo teaching a producing class and stuff."

"Oh my god! That'd be awesome." Caitlyn squealed. Her head had been pressed to mine, the phone between our ears.

"Ow, Cait." Shane winced.

"It was worse in person, believe me." I said pulling away and rubbing my ear. "But this is so awesome."

"There is slightly bad news, too." He added. I held my breath waiting for him. "We're heading out next week to record the song, because they're moving up the release date of the CD. Because they're moving up the tour dates. So we can teach at Camp Rock."

"Seriously?!" Caitlyn and I both screamed. "Sorry." I apologized. "What is bad about that?"

"We'll be gone for two weeks…" He said.

"So?" Caitlyn asked.

"Valentine's Day?" He asked. "Aren't girls like… obsessed with it?" Caitlyn and I slumped in our chairs a bit.

"No. Some girls, but not us. If it means you'll be going to Camp Rock again, we're cool." I said calmly, though I knew we were both really disappointed.

"Okay. And, we're moving the tour up." He said slowly. "We start in April." I held my breath. My birthday was in April. "The day after your birthday we leave."

"That's fine, again. You'll be here for my birthday."

"We'll be on tour for 3 and half months before you see us again." Again we slumped, even further this time.

"Well," Caitlyn said trying to be passive about it all. "We all knew it would happen eventually."

"Yeah, but we were hoping you'd be with us." Shane sighed.

"It's fine, Shane. Caitlyn and I have each other. And by that time, maybe Stas, too. And then we'll see you at Camp Rock."

"We can't 'be together' at Camp Rock, though."

Caitlyn laughed. "Shane the world knows you two are dating."

"True, but we have to look professional while at camp. You and Nate, too, Cait." We'd slumped so much during this conversation our shoulder blades were practically touching the seat.

"Well, then, we'll just have to deal. Okay?" I said and Caitlyn agreed.

We got off the phone a few minutes later, but stayed slumped in our seats. Dad came in and looked at us weird.

"You okay?" He asked as he placed fast food in front of us. "Here, eat." Mom must have told me we stayed home. She was catering a luncheon today.

"No." We said together, sliding up into proper sitting positions. "Thanks, Daddy." I said.

"Thanks, Steve." Caitlyn mumbled behind her burger.

"Well, whatever is bothering you two will work out just fine." He said simply. "It always does in the end for you all." I smiled. Dad was right. It would all work out in the end. I hoped.

Not one of my best, but... it was necessary. Sorry.