D: I'm feeling ultra sad. I seriously think I'm losing readers for this story. Is it too boring? Anyway, thank you to the people that make me open the MS work regardless of how many reviews, alerts I got: Burning-up-for-you-baby for reviewing (i was trying to give each pairing a kind of character… and I got stuck on smitchie so I tried not to make it too long… sorry ]: ) live-in-dreamland1 for reviewing (im so glad you think that way of my story! Your review made me smile so much!) kkckat3 for reviewing (you seriously give the best reviews, did you know that? Thank you for your review, it was really… it brightened my day and got me writing ;] ) Sugarshinebabyxo for reviewing (sigh… if only I could have one of those amazing Edward Cullen guys ;]) elisabeth2me (thank you! I'm so glad I've gotten another 'I liked it' from you again!) Nani Hanani03 for reviewing (I'm glad that this story makes you want to read more!) azncutiebear3 for reviewing (this chapter will let you find out :] ) nickjonasloverkcg for faving, joe-jonas-girl38 for faving and alerting.

Anyway, just wanted to say MY WRITERS BLOCK GOT WORSE (I hate those!) so I hope this chapter is up to standard. And thank you, I've made it to 50+ reviews after I updated this chapt! Enjoy (hopefully!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Another Cinderella Story or Camp Rock

Chapter 14: When Everything Seems Okay

Mary's POV

"What's this?" I asked as I lifted up a necklace with an imitation Shark tooth hanging from it. "Oh, it's nothing. Just something that Shane and Jason gave me a few years back for my birthday." Nate shrugged.

I turned around and pressed it to the base of his neck lightly, cocking my head to the side to examine it. "It looks good on you," I commented. Nate laughed and pulled me down to sit next to him.

"Let's play a game. Twenty questions." He suggested, gently taking the necklace from my hands and placing it on the bed. I raised an eyebrow playfully. "You're just afraid I'm going to discover something embarrassing while I rummage through your stuff. You probably have an old barney toy here somewhere…"

"Or… I might just want to take the chance to get to know you?" He suggested. I laughed. "You have plenty of time to do that, I want to check out the stuff in your room," I persisted and grabbed the necklace, standing up and heading over to the dresser.

Nate was too fast for me and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me back down on the bed. "Twenty questions," he said it more like a command than anything else. I sighed and put the necklace down.

"If that's what makes you happy." Nate smiled, a big grin that stretched from ear to ear. Suddenly, I knew why he wore that geeky shirt that said 'do not read me'. "I get to go first!" Nate exclaimed. I crossed my arms in mock hurt.

"No fair!" He shrugged. "No one plays fair in kindergarten." I rolled my eyes, feeling my heart flutter just from being so near him. "Kids in kindergarten so play fair." I argued. "Oh really?" Nate asked me mischievously and he lunged after me.

I squealed as Nate tickled me, laughing so hard it hurt. "Okay, okay! You can go first!" I protested. He stopped and we both stayed still for a little bit, lying on his huge bed, breathing heavily and laughing uncontrollably.

After several minutes, the both of us had calmed down and we shifted to our sides, our heads resting in our palms as we stared at each other. "First question?" I asked.

"First question. Why are you wearing that?" He looked at my maid uniform, his eyes not disgusted as I would have imagined, but intrigued. He must have thought I was some cosplaying obsessive teen.

"It's… well it's a really long story Nate," I said, making a point to stare at the clock for a long time. Nate reached out and cupped my cheek with his hand, gently turning my head back to him.

"Is there something that you're not telling me?" He asked. I nodded and groaned. "It's not exactly a story you tell to someone you just met. It's like I'm asking for pity or something. And I hate that. I've been through a lot, and I guess. I don't know. I just like to depend on myself."

"You can depend on me," Nate asked, his voice hopeful. I smiled at him. "It's weird, I've only known you for so long, but it feels like it's been forever. For some reason… I know I can trust you." I closed my eyes and leaned towards Nate, letting him wrap his arms around me in a hug.

"So… are you going to pass the question?" He asked me. I was quiet for a while, listening to the steady beat of his heart. "I think… I'll answer. Let's make a deal. No secrets from each other. Ever. Promise?" I looked up at him, grinning to myself.

"Promise." He nodded his head.

I looked back down again and turned around, so my back was leaning against him, his arms wrapped around my waist.

"Well my mom, she died when I was ten. Cancer. You know… and then my Dad, he thought I needed a mom, some form of a mom anyway. He was never good at these kinds of things. Naturally, he met someone else. And for once, ever since my mom died, he smiled. I forgot what he looked like happy, and suddenly he just was. Because he met Dominique. Then, after he married her, he died. Cancer too. It's like I'm haunted by it."

"I'm sorry," Nate whispered in my ear.

"I am too. I guess, I don't know. My life is just sad, all the time. Dominique and her evil daughters hate me, so I'm nothing but… I'm nothing but a maid to them. I'm a jinx aren't I Nate? Everyone around me always seems to leave…" My voice cracked and I started crying again.

I was right. I was a jinx. Everything that happened in my life, what was there to be proud of? I was letting myself get kicked around, only escaping in music. But what good would that do? Nothing.

"Maybe it's better if you don't get involved with me," I started, pulling away from Nate. "No." Nate said it like it was sentence all on its own. Like that one word said a lot. In a way, it kind of did. He reached out to me and hugged me again.

"No. Don't ever say that." He said, running his fingers through my hair, letting me get all my wet tears soak his shirt. "You're not a jinx. And anyone that makes you think you are is an idiot." I laughed. "So now I'm an idiot?"

"You know what I mean Mary." I wrapped my arms around him, in our first official hug. Most of the time it had just been Nate with his arms wrapped around me while I cried. "I know what you mean."

Nate chuckled. "Glad that's over. Besides, even if you were a jinx, you've still be my jinx." I couldn't help but smile a bit.

"That's not even funny, Nate." I tried to complain. Nate pulled away from me slightly and looked at my beaming face. "Well, you seem to be laughing." I forced myself to frown and buried my face in his t-shirt again.

"Promise. Promise me again." I said, gripping a big chunk of his shirt in my hand. Nate pulled away from me again and put one hand under my chin, lifting my face slightly to meet him. "What do you want me to promise?"

"No secrets, and that for a while, you're never going to leave me." It seemed ludicrous, asking him to make such a stupid promise. We were only sixteen. It wasn't as if we had found true love or anything, we had only known each other for so long.

But still, hugging him right now seemed like the most perfect thing in the world. Even if we were sixteen, it still felt like I had found true love. No matter how cheesy or weird or absolutely disgusting it might seem, it really felt like I had.

"I promise. I'm going to never leave you." He whispered back before he pulled me into a hug again.

I had found Nate.

Nate had found me.

We found each other.

--

Jasons POV

"So you're saying that you just bought this house for the break?" Tami asked me in disbelief. She was sitting next to me at the edge of the pool, her legs swinging slowly in the pool water, her tanned skin illuminated by the pool lights.

I shrugged. "We thought it'd be good to buy a nice house, seeing as how Shane is so obsessed with Mitchie, we figured we've come back here more times than usual." I grinned at her. "Especially since Nate and I have reasons to come back too." Tami blushed.

For a moment, I was captivated by the colour of her cheeks, how, when she blushed, her whole face seemed to brighten. Unknowingly I lifted a finger and brushed it along her cheekbone, before realizing what I was doing.

Quickly, I dropped my hand, horrified at what I had done. Had I stepped out of her comfort zone? "Sorry," I quickly apologized. Tami smiled at me and lifted my hand, pressing it to her cheek again. This time I was the one who blushed. C'mon, be a man, Jason! Be a man!

"It's okay, I don't mind," Tami reassured me. I blushed some more. Dang it. I'm a lost cause. "Can I see the rest of your backyard?" Tami asked me, as she stood up, her legs dripping wet and glistening under the porch lights.

I followed her and took her hand in mine. Her skin was soft and cool against mine. Like fire and ice, I thought as I headed around the back. "Do you want to get your shoes first?" I asked at the edge of the grass. For a brief moment, I pictured myself carrying Tami bridal style in my arms as I trudged through the backyard. Like I was Indiana Jones. In spite of myself, I grinned.

I was glad Tami wasn't a mind-reader. If she knew all the things that were going through my mind right now, she probably would have run away. "No, it's okay, I don't mind going barefoot." I smiled at her and we started walking through the pine trees.

"Your house has a… forest kind of feeling." Tami said as we walked under the shade, our shadows light and long by the moonlight. I shrugged. "It attracts more birds." Tami nodded slowly, like she was a student I was teaching all of these bird facts to.

I tried to remember when I had met a girl that seemed to understand me. Come to think of it, I had never met a girl just like Tami. I tightened my grip on her hand, suddenly feeling unwilling to let go of her.

We walked in silence for a while longer, until we were nearing the road. Suddenly, Tami gasped and stopped walking. I turned around to see her face a mask of confusion and fear. "Tami are you okay?" I asked as I rushed to her.

"Oh no. Oh no." She muttered to herself as she stared at the street. I turned around and saw a black car park just outside the driveway to my house. I didn't remember inviting anyone over today. "I have to go," Tami said urgently, although she was still standing rooted to the ground, staring at the car.

I pushed her behind me, one of my hands sliding down her arm to hold hers, the other wrapped around the small of her back. "Who's that?" I asked her. "Someone you should be afraid of," Tami said as she stood out from behind me, her hand giving mine a quick squeeze.

"And someone who shouldn't know I'm here." She added. "He probably does though, since he's most likely seen my car."

I turned to her. Who in the world was Tami talking about?

"Who is he?"

I heard the car door open and slam close, as Tami's eyes grew wide with horror.

"Jason," She turned to me and smiled feebly.

"Get ready to meet my dad."

--

Nate's POV

I was so angry. Furious. I could feel the anger bubbling inside of me, and it was all I could do to just storm out of my room, run down to my car and drive to wherever Mary lived and give a piece of my mind to whoever was controlling Mary like this.

"What's her name?" I asked Mary through clenched teeth. Mary shook her head and placed a hand over my clenched fist. "I knew I shouldn't have told you about my stepmom. Just… breathe, Nate. No one's handled it as bad as you." She joked, smiling at me. I sighed and relaxed. "Mary, what's her name, please," I said again, trying to sound like I was less than interested.

Mary squinted at me for a moment. I had realized in the past few minutes that that was what she did when she was skeptical of something." It's Dominique," she said while still staring at me. It was as if she was telling me to not think of any 'funny' ideas.

I calmed down a bit. That was the least I could do for Mary.

"So you're saying she just makes you wear that because she wants you to? That's ridiculous!" Mary shrugged and tried to smile at me again. She was trying to calm me down. It really wasn't working. "I mean… I uh…" She played with one of the buttons on her uniform and shrugged again. "It's comfortable… it's like pajamas…"

I couldn't resist how cute she looked while she played with her uniform and I pulled her into a hug. "That's past the point, Mary. It's the way she treats you, I just can't stand it." I looked down at her face just as she looked up at me.

It was weird, how I could be so extremely angry and suddenly feel so… calm and peaceful. That was what Mary could do to me. She was like an antidote for whenever I was feeling angry or frustrated.

"Nate?"I snapped back to reality and looked down at her, smiling. I hadn't even realized I had blanked out. Shane and Jason were right— I was out of it these days. But it was worth it. "Nate, someone just rang the doorbell. Can we go see who it is?"

I laughed. "You're really bored aren't you?" Mary giggled and slid off the bed, stopping at the door and turning around to face me. "You know, for a pop star you're pretty slow." She grinned at me and walked out the door.

That girl drove me crazy.

I leaped off the bed and raced after her. The hall was unlit and dark and I could barely see ahead of me. Who turned off all the lights? I ended up nearly stumbling over Mary. She was kneeling on the carpet and peering through the gaps in the staircase railings. "Mary? What the—"

"Shh!" She whispered and pulled me down to kneel on the carpet next to her. "What it is?" Mary shook her head and pointed at the door. Mitchie and Shane were standing in front of four people. The both of them had their hands up in front of their chests in a kind of defensive position. The both of them have really cracked haven't they?

I studied the new guests we had. One was a middle-aged man in a black suit, but he looked laid back and relaxed, like he was carrying a fatherly image. The other two were girls that looked my age. Both of them were wearing matching dresses, they just varied in color. Twins. Definitely. And the tallest of the four—only because her heels were incredibly unbelievable—was a woman in a tight purple dress that flared out at her knees in pink ruffles. She had thick blonde hair piled up so high on her head I wondered how she could balance it all.

Then, suddenly I remembered what Shane had told Jason and me just yesterday. "Some agent called us wondering if we would like to do a duet with this lady called Dominique. She's coming over to our house tomorrow night, after school."

How could Jason and Shane have forgotten? I looked down at Mary, who was frozen in shock. Her eyes were wide with… fear? "Mary?" I asked, turning my attention to her. She was trembling.

Some agent called us wondering if we would like to do a duet with this lady called Dominique.

Dominique. Why was that so familiar?

"Mary, what's her name, please?"

"It's Dominique."

Dominique. Dominique as in the 'comeback Dominique'.

Dominique as in Marys Dominique?

I turned to look at Mary and she was staring right back at me. "Mary." I said again. What was I saying her name for? It wasn't going to change the situation.

Mary's lips moved soundlessly, forming words I couldn't hear. Suddenly, she reached up and grabbed two clumps of my shirt in her hands.

"Nate," Her voice was shaking and desperate.

"You have to get me out of here."

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PS.Someone please help me! I know this is extremely stupid to ask but, you know in the document manager? And they show all your documents. And then there's a column that says life and they show a no. of days? What in the world does that mean? Thank you :)