HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thank you to all my lovely readers, I'm getting more feedback again! Just reading the reviews make me feel like 2009 is going to be another special year. So thank you to the people who reviewed and made me smile! Thank you to: NANI Hanani03 for reviewing (thank you for constantly reviewing!) Dancingwithwings15 for reviewing (im glad you love it and thank you so much for telling me!) live-in-dreamland1 for reviewing (thank you for your suggestions ;) Truthfully, this is the first romance story I've ever written, so I thought it would be too early to have them kiss…) elisabeth2me for reviewing (thank you! Hopefully my writers block is going to fly away very soon!) kkckat3 for reviewing (your review was so funny and sweet! Thank you! ) tessa411 for reviewing ( its okay you didn't review last time. Haha. Im glad you liked it!) inluvwithtv for alerting and reviewing (haha you shall see what I doooo!) XDPurpleTiggersXD for alerting both the story and me, faving, faving me, and reviewing (haha. You're so nice! Thank you!) Moonlite-is-the-sign-of-angels for faving.

That's it! It's longer, yeah? Hopefully! I know you're all expecting some drama, but I've been so busy lately, so I hope that this is good enough for you! Oh yes, I'm not so sure if I can update as often anymore. The reason? School (the root of all evil) is starting. Haha. Please (hopefully) enjoy this chapter!

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

Chapter 15: Escape?

Shane's POV

The first thing I saw was a tall lady, who would be about my height if she didn't wear those crazy retro heels. The second thing I saw was her dress, which could pretty much blind even the blind. It was tight fitting—I will never be the same again after seeing that—and flared out at her knees into layers upon layers of rustling pink fishnet.

How did that lady walk in that dress? She cleared her throat loudly and pursed her lips at me. "Are you inviting us in?" I was slightly taken aback by her sudden gesture, which seemed rude to me.

Quickly, I stepped to the side to let in the host that was standing at the door. I shook my head sadly to myself, silently berating the three of us—Nate, Jason and I—for forgetting about the conference we were going to have tonight.

Across from me, Mitchie was holding the door. Her eyes were narrowed as they glared at me while the guests walked by into the living room. When they were all in the house, she slammed the door shut and didn't even wince when the sound echoed through the house.

She spun around on her heel and closed the gap between us in one step. "Behind the house. Now Shane," She said then turned to the guests and ushered them to their seats. "Please, make yourself at home—" I could almost guess what she would have added, "Not too at home, thank you very much."

"Shane and I will be right back with food and beverages." She turned around, jerked her head in the direction of the backyard and I followed after her quickly, smiling at the guests before leaving.

Finally, when we were hidden behind the corner, huddled at the glass sliding door that opened to the garden, Mitchie stopped. "Do you know who's out there?" She asked angrily, glancing behind my shoulder, as if she was making sure there was no one following us.

"A lady named Dominique… she's here to discuss a duet—"

"And she's here with my dad," I heard someone else add. Mitchie almost screamed but I cupped a hand over her mouth and turned around, heaving a sigh of relief when I saw it was Tami standing behind me.

"Wait, that guy in the suit's your dad?" I asked in disbelief. Tami looked nothing like him. Mitchie slapped my arm and I quickly removed it from her mouth. "Sorry Mitchie." She gasped for air and pushed away from me to talk to Tami.

"Tami, your dad is not the biggest problem we have here." She whispered just loud enough for me and Jason—who had just joined us—to hear. For a minute Tami looked shocked and hurt. But suddenly, her mouth formed an 'o'.

'What's going on?' I mouthed to Jason. He shrugged. "Tami, Dominique is here," Mitchie whispered; this time she sounded more crazed. "She's here?" Tami asked, her hand flying up to cover her mouth in shock.

I couldn't take the suspense anymore. "Who's here?" I almost shouted. This time it was Mitchie who covered my mouth with her hand. "Mary's guardian. The Domifreak is in your living room as we speak."

Domifreak? As in the tyrant that was Mary's guardian? Mitchie had only mentioned her, and her daughters, a million times. I had imagined some bent old lady with a crooked cane and a humongous wart. Not the sparkly diamond-studded mermaid dressed woman that was in my house. But either way, both descriptions seemed to fit this Domifreak.

"Cut the Sherlock language, Mitch. What are we going to do? Mary's still here!" Tami interrupted, and then turned in horror towards the direction of the stairs. We could hear two loud high-pitched voices shrieking at the top of their lungs.

"Me first—"

"I'm older, me!"

"The twins," Mitchie said bitterly. Then froze—all of us did—when we heard two pairs of footsteps trample up the stairs.

To the second floor.

Where Mary was.

--

Mary's POV

What was Dominique doing here? I clenched the stair railings until my knuckles turned white. I was trembling with fear. If she, or the twins, found me here, especially in Connect Threes house, who knew what she would do to me?

I shot up immediately and grabbed clumps of Nate's shirt—Nate was kneeling next to me—and shook him, hard. But a gentle sort of hard, if that made any sense. "Nate, you have to get me out of here." I whispered fervently. I turned in horror to watch helplessly as Mitchie and Shane stepped aside to let Dominique in. No, don't let her come in here! Mitchie!

I silently willed as tears began to roll down my cheeks. But Mitchie and I hadn't really practiced any form of telepathy before, so naturally, she couldn't 'hear' me. I pushed myself against the railings to get a better look through my blurry vision.

"Mary…" Nate said as he tugged lightly on my shoulder. C'mon Mary. Move your legs! C'mon! But my body didn't seem to obey. And I realized subconsciously, was this it? After my brief fleeting moment of freedom, was I going to get locked in again?

The twins followed behind Dominique, and then, a man clad in a black suit. Her agent most likely. And with a shock of realization I pulled back. Wasn't Dominique's agent Tami's dad? I felt like shriveling up and dying right there.

Just because of me, selfish, idiotic, stupid, sentimental me, Tami had to get dragged into this mess. Sure, her dad was a thousand times better than Dominique, but still, Tami would probably be forbidden by him to see anyone from Connect Three ever again.

She wouldn't be able to see Jason.

I could feel Nate wrap his arms around me. "Shh, Mary. Calm down." I shook my head. Wasn't I being such a baby, making such a big deal out of this? But why did it seem that every time I had that one happy moment, that one moment where I felt I belonged, it always seemed to get interrupted. I was right. I was a jinx.

"Mary!" Nate whispered in my ear urgently. I jolted. "Mary!" Nate quietly urged again. But instead of waiting for my response, he scooped me up in his arms and stood up. "Nate! Put me down!" I whispered back angrily.

It'd be enough for Dominique to see me in Connect Three's house, but being carried by one of them? Not good on the agenda. "Not now…" Nate said back to me and I turned my head just in time to hear two pairs of footsteps on the stairs accompanied by the two most annoying voices in the world.

Breah and Bianca.

I had been so absorbed in watching Dominique's movements that I hadn't realized the twins were coming up to the second level.

I heard another pair of lighter footsteps then. More graceful. It was either Mitchie or Tami. "Wait! Where do you think you're going?" It was Mitchie. "Wait—ow! " I heard a thump and the footsteps continued. I looked ahead of us. Nate's bedroom was at the furthest end. We couldn't possibly make it into his bedroom before the twins saw us. Why was his house so big? "In here!" Nate said and put me down, pulling open a random door and gently pushing me inside… a closet?

I tumbled into the closet and turned around so my back was up against the wall. Nate stumbled in after me and the door closed behind him. The closet was so small that he had to lean over me, his arms resting against the wall just above my head.

The only light in the closet was the one that was filtering from the crack at the bottom of the door. Someone must have turned on the lights in the hallway. Nate shifted uncomfortable in the small space and I pressed myself closer to the wall to give him more room.

I looked down at the crack beneath the door and saw two shadows stop right outside.

"I think I saw this door open and close just now…"

I gasped in shock and buried my face in Nate's chest, too afraid to see the door open. Please, please, please, no.

"Oh, hey Nate!" I heard Mitchie shout from somewhere farther down the hall. "Nate? Where?" Bianca squealed. "Stairs!" Mitchie squealed back excitedly.

I could almost imagine her jumping up and down while she rolled her eyes. I pulled back and saw the two shadows walk away. Nate and I heaved a sigh of relief and Nate turned around to open the door. The lights in the hallway were out again.

"Get out of here! I'm sending Tami to the car now, meet her a block away," Mitchie whispered.

"Good luck," Mitchie nodded her head in our general direction—she probably didn't know where we were since it was so dark— and turned to walk down the stairs. I laughed quietly to myself. Mitchie was in Sherlock mode alright. Nate and I turned and walked to the end of the corridor. "Window?" I asked him hopefully.

"Window," He replied firmly. "But the patio in my room is the only one with a tree outside, which is safer for you than just dropping two levels. And you can't go downstairs." I nodded. "Window in your room with a tree. Awesome."

Nate chuckled to himself and went into his room, flipping on the light switch. I reached over and put the lights at minimum, so it wouldn't be too obvious that someone was using this room. If Bianca and Breah came back up and saw the light from underneath the door, we would be in so much trouble.

Nate strode across the room to two large glass doors that I hadn't realized were there earlier. They were tall and reached up to the ceiling, with long, thin, white curtains that fell down in folds.

Nate pulled them apart and opened one of the doors. A sudden cold gust of wind blew in and I shivered. "How far away is the tree?" I asked as I rubbed my hands together. Nate walked out to the patio and surveyed the large tree that was growing right outside his window.

Well, it was more of a porch patio thing than it was a window.

"I'm not sure if you can reach it." He answered my skeptically. I cocked my head to the side and grinned playfully. "I'm not that short, Nate." He sighed and pulled me into a hug. "I don't want you doing this, Mary. It's too dangerous."

I pulled away and walked to the edge of the patio, leaning over to see how far up we were. "It's only the second floor Nate," I answered when I was satisfied that if I fell, it most likely wouldn't kill me.

I walked over to Nate and cupped his face in my hands. "Don't worry about me, Nate. I can do this." I brought my hands down to rest on his shoulders and laid my head on his chest. "Believe in me."

Nate sighed and ran his fingers through my hair. "I do. I just… what if you get hurt?" I laughed. "You're making a mountain out of an ant hill, Nate." From below I could hear Dominique laughing loudly. Probably at some cheesy joke she made that she thought was drop dead hilarious.

"Let's do this." I grinned at Nate. I looked up above our heads to see one of the tree branches. It was long and just wide enough for me to grab onto. Nate followed my gaze, then stepped back and looked me up and down.

I raised my eyebrow. "What are you doing, Nate?" He laughed to himself. "Déjà vu." I shot him a weird look. "What?" Nate reached both of his hands out to me and placed them together like a platform. He looked up at me and grinned. "Déjà vu."

I stood still for a heartbeat, still too dense to realize what he meant. Then suddenly, it felt like the patio, the tree and the sounds of Dominique's laughter faded out and melted into nothingness. Instead, Nate and I were surrounded by hedges, tall, gorgeous, green hedges.

And then, as soon as the mirage had come, it disappeared and we were standing on the patio again. "Déjà vu," I whispered. I couldn't help but smile as my lips formed those two words. Silently, I slipped off my 'maid ballet shoes'. Although I knew they were light, there were two pieces of metal on the left shoe and I knew it would hurt Nate's hands if I stepped on them with my left shoe on.

I carefully dropped them over the edge and turned to face Nate. "See you tomorrow?" I asked hopefully, then silently added, with no Tess. He smiled at me and for the thousandth time that day I felt my heart skip a beat.

He bent down on one knee and held out his hands. "Tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that. And every day after the day before." I smiled at him as I gently placed my hands on his shoulder.

"Tomorrow." I said again and I lifted myself up on his hands. I reached up to try and grab the branch. "Higher Nate," I grunted. He shifted his hands a bit, and I almost lost balance. But not because he had adjusted his hands.

No it was much worse than that. Outside, I could hear a knock on Nate's bedroom door and a high-pitched squeaky voice ask, "Nate?"

One word. Bianca.

That's it! Oh yes and I've found out what the 'life' thingamajig means (thanks to the wonderful review from dancingwithwings15) lets all clap for her shall we? *Clap clap!* haha. It shows how many days you have left until the document is deleted from the document manager, although the story still remains posted. I think that's it.

So school is starting tomorrow! Ah! I'll try and update as often as I can! Review please!

Love
CauseimFearless

P.S I've decided to change the story rating from T to K+ because this story seems to be okay for K+. So… I don't even know why I'm saying this haha.