Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with Camp Rock. Shoot me.
Okay, here's the thing: I trust Shane. I trust him with my life, especially after he saved it after the Lake Incident. I trust him to be there for me, and to have my back, and to tell me the truth, even if it hurts worse than a lie would.
But when he puts a blindfold over my eyes and insists on carrying me to a surprise he has for me at seven at night, yeah. That's when I have an issue.
I knew instantly when we were in the woods; I could hear the leaves crunching beneath Shane's feet, and it smelled like wood and moss. The sunlight was fading, and the cover of trees made it seem even darker in the woods. I had a pretty good idea of where Shane was taking me, but my only question was why? And how did he get my mom to agree to this? I was sorely tempted to rip the blindfold off, but I knew that would just upset Shane, and that was the last thing I wanted to do; we only had a week left until summer was over. Suddenly, a sweet scent filled my nose, and I leaned away from Shane, inhaling deeply, trying to identify the smell.
"Shane, what's that smell?" I asked when I failed to put a name to the scent. I heard Shane laugh.
"You'll see," he said mischieviously, setting my feet on a solid surface- nothing like the forest floor. I held perfectly still as Shane untied the cloth blindfold and gently lifted it from my face. I couldn't help but gasp when my eyes focused.
The entire lake was outlined by flickering rose-colored candles, leading all the way up to the porch of the lake house, where Shane and I stood. It was like a scene from a movie. Shane's arms snaked around my shoulders, and I held his hand there, unwilling to move.
"This is amazing, Shane," I said softly.
"I had help from Dylan," he admitted. Neither of us poke louder than a whisper, like the atmosphere of the lake would be ruined if we spoke too loudly. Shane slowly pulled me back so I was leaning against his chest. I closed my eyes, never wanting to move. I wanted to freeze this moment and live in it forever, but I sighed as my mind reminded I would only be able to stay like this for a week. After that, Shane would have to go back to California, and I would stay behind, stuck in Loch Arbour. Shane spun me around and lifted my chin, forcing me to look in his eyes.
"Mitch, what's wrong?" I pulled my face from his grasp, and walked to the stairs, my back to Shane. I sighed again, and Shane appeared by my side.
"Mitchie, tell me what's wrong," he insisted. I slowly sat on the stairs, wrapping my arms around myself.
"It's nothing," I said. I knew he knew I was lying. I felt him sit down next to me and take one of my hands in his. "It's just, I'm worried about what will happen when you have to leave." Shane groaned, letting go of my hand.
"Mitchie, I can promise you, nothing is going to happen. Because I'm not going back." I stared at him in shock, my jaw dropping open.
"What?" I gaped at him. "What about the band?" There was no way I was going to let him break up Connect 3. Especially over me.
"Jason and Nate will maanage with out me," he said simply, shrugging his shoulders. "They were sick of me anyway.
"No," I contradicted, "they were sick of your attitude. But you've changed now, I can tell. You're way different than the Shane Gray who first came here at the beginning of this summer." I pointed at his chest. "This is the Shane Gray I remember from my childhood, the one who would climb trees just to talk. The one who I made a blood promise with."
"Yeah, and this is the Shane Gray that disappeared he left!" Shane exclaimed, standing up. He pulled me up by my upper arms so that I was standing too. "Hollywood corrupted me. It changed me until I was someone completely different! I don't want to go back! If I go back, I'll change again, and I would lose you in the process!" He shook my shoulders roughly a few times, and he was beginning to scare me. I lifted my arms to push his hands off of me.
"Stop it, Shane!" I cried, stumbling backwards. "I don't like it either! It killed me, Shane, to see you change. It killed me on the inside!"
"Then why do you want me to leave?"
"I don't!" I screamed."I don't want you to leave! But I also don't want you to break up Connect 3 over me!" We stared harshly at each other for a few moments. Shane turned away from me, and I deflated; my shoulder slumped forward in defeat, but my anger was still burning inside of me.
"Do what you want, Shane. Just don't string me along." I ran down the porch steps, leaving him behind. As I walked through the woods towards my house, I couldn't help but wish that Shane would come crashing through the brush, and we would make up and everything would be fine. But he never did, and so I locked myself in my room, nursing my broken heart in solitude.
What hurt the most, though, was the fact that he had the audacity to lay his hands on my. When he had shaken me, I'd seen a glimpse of Hollywood shane. He'd hurt me, but physically and emotionally, and when I'd told him not to string me along, I'd meant it. If that was the way he was going to treat me every time we got in a fight, I didn't want anything to do with him.
I laid there without sleeping the entire night, just listening to the rain fall. Around seven, I heard my dad get up and start cooking breakfast, my mom getting up not long after he did. I could hear their voices, low and secretive, but I couldn't make out and distinct words. I knew they were talking about me, though. I'd seen their concerned expressions when I'd slammed the front door and stomped up the stairs, disappearing for the rest of the night.
I sighed, pushing myself up in my bed. I knew I'd have to face them eventually. Might as well get it over with. I checked the mirror quickly before heading out the door, and regretted it as soon as I saw myself. My hair was a mess, al tangled and piled up on top of my head like a nest, and I had dark shadows under my eyes. But worst of all, just barely visible under the sleeves of the t-shirt I had changed into, were hand-shaped bruises. A mixture between a sob and a scream tried to force its way out of my throat, but I managed to bite it back.
I peeked down the hall as my door creaked open, then tip-toed my way down the stairs, making sure to skip over the squeaky one.
"-idea what happened. When she lefft, she was so happy, and you saw her when she got back," I heard my mom say. My dad was about to respond when I stepped through the door.
"Morning," I mumbled, crossing to the fridge and pulling out the orange juice. I kept my back to them, hoping to hide the bruises, afraid of what they might say. However, my mother's stifled gasp told me that they has seen the bruises anyway.
"Mitchie," my mom crooned softly, "what happened to you last night?" I turned my head to deny anything ever happened, pointless as it may seem. But all thoughts of denial and staying strong vanished when I saw the worry and concern in her eyes. Instead, I broke down, allowing her to hold me and stroke my hair as if I was a little child again as I sobbed into her arms.
OOOOOH! Shane screwed up BIG TIME! 'Course I already knew that, though.
Okay, so this chapter didn't go as I'd originally planned. But then I had a really crappy day. First, I kept getting interrupted and ignored, my mom started pissing me off, and my laptop broke and now won't charge, all in one day. And, to top it all off, my mom got me up early 'cause we had to go to a Driver's Ed class thing, and I am so no a morning person. SO, I took my frustration out on the characters... which is not usually a good idea... but in this case it worked out and everything's fine! Sort of.
ANYWAYS, because of my crappy day and the fact that I took it out on the innocent little character thingies, this story is going to be a chapter shorter. Originally, this was going to be a Smitchie fluff-y chapter and stuff and the next chapter was going to be the whole problem thing. But then life happened, and I'm sorry. Next chapter is the epilogue.
And I'm too lazy to create a whole new story, so I'm just gonna make it part 2 to this story. I already have a few chapters for that written. (Actually I have like 6, and I'm working on the seventh, so MAYBE you'll get more than one chapter today).
Please review!