So I did a really stupid thing and replaced the trailer with the first chapter. That meant that a lot of you weren't able to review. Thank you so much to those of you who bothered to PM me or tell me what you thought of the first chapter in a review on another story. You guys are the best. :)

Catch Me: Chapter 2

The next morning I awoke to the sound of cooking and Mom singing tunelessly in the kitchen. I got up quickly, pulling on some clothes and brushing my hair back. As I studied my reflection in the mirror I heard a knock at the front door of the house. There was a shuffling noise and quiet talking. I heard a familiar laugh.

It couldn't be, could it?

I walked out into the hallway and Mom's voice drifted up the stairs. "Mitchie! You have a visitor!"

I quickly ran downstairs to the kitchen. Mom and Dad sat at the table, pancakes on their plates and laughing smiles on their faces. "Open the door will you hon?"

I ran to the front door, flinging it open as soon as I got there. Standing there was a light haired girl, a big grin on her face. "Surprise!"

I gasped. "Caitlyn!" I squealed and hugged her. "What are you doing here?"

She laughed. "You didn't seriously think I was going to let my parents ship me off to France did you?"

"What?" I was confused.

Caitlyn plopped down on the step and patted the spot next to her. "Sit down and I'll tell you all about it."

I sat down and looked at her expectantly.

"My parents are going on some big trip to Europe for the next few months. They tried to make me go with them but I really didn't want to spend my senior year at some prissy boarding school in France." She grinned, "Gosh, I don't even speak French."

I was starting to get excited. "So what are you doing instead?"

"Well I have an aunt who lives across town so she said that I could stay with her and spend my senior year here. I'm going to be going to your high school Mitchie!"

I squealed again. Inside I could here Mom and Dad laughing at my excitement. This had obviously not been a surprise to them like it had been to me.

"So, you mean," I started and then stopped, "Oh, this is the best news ever!" I put my arm around Caitlyn's shoulder and she grinned at me.

"I'm pretty excited about it too! And guess what else?"

"What?" Surely it couldn't get better than this!

"I get to stay at your house until school starts! All my stuff is getting shipped in from Cali so I'm staying here in the meantime."

I thought my face was going to fall off from all the grinning. I had thought that my senior year was going to be lonely seeing as Sierra had gone off to China for the year on a foreign exchange. I could see though that this year was shaping up to be one of the best years of my life! First Shane, now Caitlyn, how much better could it get?

Mom came to the door then, interrupting our excited chatter. "How'd you like your surprise hon?"

I jumped up when I heard her voice and threw my arms around her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's the best surprise ever!"

She laughed, "I'm glad you like it. I thought that you deserved a bit of a treat after you had such a bad time in hospital."

I hugged her again, "Well, thank you so much!"

I turned back to Caitlyn. "This is so exciting!" I grabbed onto her arms and we started jumping up and down.

"Wait," I said, stopping suddenly and almost knocking Caitlyn over. "Don't you mind being away from your parents for such a long time?"

Caitlyn laughed cheerily, "Nah, I've never been that close to them. Growing up I had one nanny after another and got sent off to camp every summer. They thought that going to France would make me happy, but that's the last thing I wanted to do."

"What's so bad about France?" I asked, "Apart from the fact that I'm not there." I grinned cheekily at her.

"Well, like I said, senior year is meant to be such an exciting year and I really didn't want to miss it. My parents said that I had to decide what I wanted to do while I was at camp so they could let the school in France know whether I was coming or not." She rolled her eyes. "It's not like the school even wanted me. I'm not that smart and I'm pretty sure my parents were just buying my way in."

I patted her hand sympathetically, "I'm sure you are smart Cait."

"I guess. Well anyway, so while I was at camp I started thinking about what else I could do and then when we got to be friends I thought of Aunty Marie who lives here. I remembered that she had once said that if I ever wanted to come and stay with her then I was welcome to. She has two young kids and is always needing someone to help out with them, so I figured maybe I could come here and kill two birds with one stone – help with her kids and have a truly excellent senior year with you."

I laughed at her last words, "Well, I'm so glad that you decided to come here! I'm so excited!" I hugged her again.

She jumped up, "So are you going to give me a tour?"

I got up too and we ran down to the car to get her things before dropping them inside the door. I showed her through the downstairs of the house, which was all open plan, and opened the French doors out to the pool. "So we can go swimming later," I giggled.

Finally we went upstairs and I opened my door. "Sorry, it's a bit of a mess."

"It's okay," she said coming in slowly and looking around. Three of the walls were light purple and one was dark purple. The closet and small bathroom were painted to match. "I like it," she said spinning around slowly. "I like your whole house already. It feels like a home."

I looked at her and she smiled a bit sadly. "I've lived in big houses all my life. Even though I've only been here for a few minutes, this already feels more like home than anywhere else."

"Aww, Cait," I hugged her. "This can be your second home if you like."

She smiled at me, "I'd like that."

* * *

We spent the rest of the morning chatting about this and that. In the afternoon we went for a quick swim and then lay out on our towels at the edge of the pool enjoying the sun's warmth.

"Do you miss camp?" Caitlyn asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, half asleep in the sun.

"I said, do you miss camp?" she sat up and looked at me. I sat up too and pulled my towel around my shoulders.

"Well yeah, but I just miss Shane mostly."

Caitlyn sighed slightly. "Have you heard from him… or Nate?"

I glanced at her quickly. "Nate? Why would I have heard from him?"

I could have sworn I saw her blush. "No reason," she muttered.

I ignored her and continued, "Oooh Cait. You want to tell me why you're blushing then?"

"I'm not blushing!"

"You are too," I said as she flushed a deeper shade of red.

"Well, okay," she said, looking up at me. "Nate and I kind of had a bit of a thing a couple of summers back. It wasn't anything serious, just a summer crush, but then when I saw him again this summer, it kind of brought it all back. Then, he was really nice to me when you went missing and well, I think I'm really falling for him." She blushed again.

"Aww, and does he feel the same way about you?"

"I don't know. I wasn't brave enough to tell him and he didn't say anything to me."

"Do you want his number? Nate can be kind of shy, so he might like it if you send him a text or something."

"Do you have it?"

"No, but Shane's going to ring tonight so I can easily get it for you."

"Okay," Caitlyn smiled at me. "I'd really like that."

"Cool." I smiled back at her, my imagination already starting to work overtime. How exciting that would be! My best friend and Shane's cousin going out! I shook my head slightly. No need to count my chickens before they hatched, nothing was guaranteed yet.

* * *

Briiingg!

The sharp sound of the phone made me sit up straight. Caitlyn and I had been hanging out in my room after dinner. Shane had promised to ring, so this would be him for sure ringing now.

"That'll be Shane," Caitlyn said, gesturing towards the phone. She got up and headed towards the door. "I'll be out in the lounge room, okay?"

Briiingg!

I nodded at her. "Okay."

She went out the door and I was reaching for the phone when her head popped back around the doorway.

"You'll remember to ask Shane about, you know, won't you?"

Briiingg!

I nodded and laughed. "Of course!"

She smiled in satisfaction and left.

Briiingg!

I pressed the talk button on the phone. "Hello Shane."

"Shane, this aint no Shane, but Ima lookin' for Mitchie. She there?"

I giggled. "I know it's you Shane."

Shane laughed. "Aw man! My gangster voice wasn't very convincing was it?"

"Nope," I laughed again. "How are you?"

"Great. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine thanks. Really, I'm almost completely better. The bruises have almost gone altogether."

"Excellent! That's what I like to hear." There was a definite note of satisfaction in Shane's voice.

"I have something to ask you."

Shane laughed. "Well I have something to ask you too."

"First though, how was your day? How did the press conference go?"

Shane and the rest of Connect Three had had a press conference last night to let the public know how Camp Rock had gone.

"It was actually good thanks. I didn't say anything stupid and so Nate didn't get mad at me. That's the first press conference in a long time that's gone so well!"

"Well I'm glad," and I was glad. Although Shane might have changed a lot over the summer, he still had a tendency to be a bit of a jerky pop star and say things that he didn't really mean. "And you have a meeting with the label this week don't you?"

"Mmm, yes, that'll be interesting."

"I know. Are you worried that they won't like your ideas for changing the sound a bit?" Shane was getting fed up with the whole "cookie cutter pop star act" and wanted to move on to music that was a bit more mature… music that really showed who he was as an individual and who Connect Three as a band were.

"I guess I'm a little bit nervous, but I hope it will be okay."

"As cheesy as it sounds Shane, just be yourself. Everyone thinks you're someone who you're not, but if you let them see who you really are – the guy that you are to me, then I'm sure that they will be happy with whatever new music you want to play."

I laughed, "That sounded really corny, but it's true Shane!"

Shane laughed along with me and then stopped, "It's hard though, you know? To have people see me as one way for so long, and now that I want to change, I kind of have to break out of the mold that they've put me in. People won't like it."

"People don't like change," I agreed. "But it's inevitable, so I guess they'll just have to get used to it."

There was a pause on the other end of the line and when Shane spoke again, his voice was soft. "I'm scared Mitchie."

"Aw, it's going to be okay," I sighed slightly. "What are you scared about?"

Shane sighed, "I'm scared that people won't like me for who I am. I don't want to be the jerky egotistical guy that I've been. And people kind of like a bad boy, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

"And I'm scared of getting a really goody-good image. That's not me Mitchie. It's really not," Shane's voice was frustrated.

"Shane, listen to me," I said softly. "You can't be anyone else except who you are. The last couple of years you've been faking and it's been making you miserable. Don't you want to be free from that?"

"Yes, but – "

"Just be who your heart tells you to be Shane. There's nothing more that you can do. And you want to know something?"

"Sure," Shane's voice was soft.

"I've known you my whole life. I knew you when you were a child; I knew you back before you became famous. I've been there all along Shane, and I want you to know that no matter what you have done, who you have been or who you will become in the future, I love you and that's all that matters."

"Thank you sweetheart," Shane's voice was tender. "You're right. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, as long as you're happy and I'm happy then everything will be okay. Right?"

"Right!" I spoke happily. "Now did you have something that you wanted to ask me?"

"Oh yes," Shane's voice perked up a bit. "But you first. It's not very exciting what I have to say."

I laughed, "Neither is what I have to say. Oh, by the way," I said, remembering something, "Guess who's at my house at the moment?"

Shane laughed, "Hmm… wouldn't be Caitlyn, would it?"

"You knew?"

Shane laughed again. "Yep."

"Aw man, everyone except me knew!"

"Yeah, your mom told me last week that Caitlyn was going to come over and stay with you guys for a few weeks before school starts. I thought it was a really good idea, especially seeing as I'm not there and Sierra's gone away. Are you enjoying the company?"

"Yes! She only just got here this morning and I was so excited. Did you know that she's staying for senior year?"

"I know everything."

"Jerk!"

Shane laughed, "Well it's true."

"I guess so, anyway, what I was going to ask you has to do with Caitlyn. See," I walked over to the door and looked out, making sure that Caitlyn was nowhere in sight. "See, Caitlyn just might like Nate a bit and she wants me to get his phone number from you. If you think he wouldn't mind, that is," I added hastily.

"That's funny!" Shane laughed. "I was going to ask you exactly the same thing?"

"For Nate's number?" I was confused.

"No, for Caitlyn's number! See Nate has a bit of a thing for Caitlyn. He was totally crushing on her last summer, but you know he can be kind of shy, right? So he didn't really want to ask her out at Camp Rock because he didn't know if she would feel the same way about him."

"Well she does," I giggled. "I hope they get together."

"They would be sort of perfect for each other, don't you think?" Shane mused.

"Totally. Nate's quite shy, but Caitlyn's not. She would be good for him I reckon."

"But," Shane paused. "We probably shouldn't tell them that the other one likes them. They will call each other if they want to."

"True, it would be best to let things just happen if they do."

There was a pause.

"But they really would be perfect for each other!" I said happily. "I mean, I've known Nate for ages, and Caitlyn is practically my best friend now, and aw…" I trailed off. "It would be so sweet."

Shane laughed. "I agree, but it's best to let well enough alone."

"Since when did you get so wise?"

"Is that sarcasm I hear Miss?"

"Never!"

Shane laughed. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, and it's only been one day."

"I know," Shane sighed. "But you'll be having fun with Caitlyn and I'll be busy with the band so hopefully the next few weeks will go by quickly."

"I hope so too."

"Well sweetheart, I will let you get to bed, but I will call you again tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you too."

I hung up the phone and lay back on my bed with a sigh. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. I love him so much.

Go on... do your little victory dance. You guessed the surprise would be Caitlyn... and you were right.

I know, I know, I'm predictable.

But you know you love me. :)

xoxo

P.S. Please remember to review! :D