Hey all, here is the second chapter :)
The drive from Camp Rock in Maine back to Pennsylvania was an almost eight hour drive. Nearly the whole drive I had my phone out with my ear phones in listening to the Connect 3 albums. I even fell asleep for a few hours trying to catch up on some much needed sleep.
As soon as I arrived home I had texted Caitlyn as well as Shane I had arrived as I had promised that morning. I had no idea how I was going to survive the school year without them by my side. The unpacked suitcase and purse I brought to Camp Rock I drug up to my room and laid them down on the floor as I jumped onto my bed. I look around my room, it was exactly how I left it: my music recording instruments all over, a few t-shirts dumped on the back of a chair, my Connect 3 poster on the back of my door, and of course my Shane Gray poster hanging. I can't help but to blush at the thought that I am dating a member of Connect 3. At this thought, I remembered I promised Shane I would call him as soon as soon as I was able to. The phone only rang three times before Shane picked it up.
"I was starting to get worried, it took you this long to get back home?" He teased.
"Well considering Camp Rock is about seven and a half hours from where I live and how my mom drives basically like a grandma, we made good timing considering the circumstances," We both laugh before it went silent on the line. "What about you, where did you end up at?"
"Well, I wanted to go to New York where my parents have a place, but we all had to go to LA to talk with the studio as well as our manager, so we didn't arrive until about an hour ago," He explains. I could hear voices in the background, which sounded like Nate and Jason. "Is that Mitchie?" I hear Jason ask with Shane shushing him, causing me to giggle some. "Make sure you tell her 'hi' for me," He continues on. I hear Shane make a promise to Jason before he turns his full attention back to me.
"Jason wants to make sure that I tell you he says 'hi'," I giggle into the phone once more.
"Hi Jason," I reply back.
"When does school start back up for you?" Shane asks, quickly changing the subject.
I lay down on my bed, on my side facing the Shane Gray poster I had in my room. "Ugh don't even remind me. But I start back on Tuesday, praying my junior year will fly by because I can't wait to be away from half the people in the school,"
Shane chuckled at this, "Trust me you'll miss it when you're done."
I sigh, "I know, everyone says that, but some of the people there just love making my life miserable,"
I suddenly hear loud noises in the background, followed by a voice that sounded like Nate's, "Hey Mitch, I have to go, I'll call you later, okay?" Shane quickly speaks up.
"Okay, later Pop Star." I hear Shane laugh before I hang up.
I can't help but to roll over on my back and look up my ceiling dreaming about Shane. Wondering where we'll both end up at in the future. His music career is taking off, he's an A-list Hollywood superstar, he wouldn't be in love with some random girl living in Pennsylvania who has one friend at school. I have no idea where my future is going right now, but I sure hope he's in it. We haven't been together even a week and I can't stop thinking about him or about the future we hopefully share together.
Around an hour later, my mom calls me down for dinner. I was surprised she was in the mood for cooking tonight, I would have assumed after cooking for three meals a day for over a hundred kids, she would want a little break.
My mom, dad and I sat around the kitchen table not making any noise. I was picking at the pasta Mom had made, I didn't realize I had barely taken any bites of my food before my mom spoke up. "Mitchie, aren't you going to eat anything?" I look up and know if I don't take at least a few bites I'll have my mom a nervous wreck, she'll be scared I'll be having a relapse, even now I'm not allowed to use the bathroom for thirty minutes after a meal, she prefers if I leave the door open and even to the point if I'm in there for an extended amount of time, she'll still knock on the door if it's shut.
"Oh yeah, I'm just not hungry," I reply.
She sighed and took another bite of her dinner. I took a few bites before I decided to clear my plate and head up to my room for the night, Sierra told me she would come over later to visit. I left my phone upstairs while eating and come back to a message from Shane, it was a picture message, curious to what it was I downloaded it only to have a picture of us from Final Jam, I had no idea who took it but I was in love with it. It was when our hands were interlocked and starring into each other's eyes right after our little duet ended.
I love this, where did you get it? I texted him.
Less than a minute later, his reply came, My parents were at Final Jam, and they got this photo of us.
I love it.
I wanted to print multiple copies and have it everywhere: in my locker when I go back to school, in a framed picture in my room.
Sierra came over about an hour later. I was excited to see her since it had been basically the whole summer since I've last seen her. I didn't tell her about Shane and I, we hadn't really discussed about taking our relationship to the public level, and I knew she was trustworthy but I still wanted to discus everything with Shane first.
When she came up to my room we both screamed and hugged each other, it had been well over a month and a half since we've seen each other, the longest time we've probably ever spent apart together was a month and that was the summer going into fourth grade when she and her family went to Kentucky to visit her family for a month.
"So did you meet Shane Gray?" She asked, excitement in her eyes.
Oh if only she new I thought to myself.
"Yeah, I met him and all of Connect 3 actually. They performed a new song at Beach Jam,"
Sierra squealed in response, "Is he a jerk?" By 'he' I know she meant Shane.
"He taught my dance class, but he for sure got more approachable the more the summer went on,"
"I would have died if I were you!"
Sierra stayed for a little bit longer, she told me about her summer job and the vacations she and her family took. School was also brought up along with the normal 'I can't believe we're juniors in high school' talk that's been coming up quite often now. After she left, I took my shower. It was my first real shower since coming home from Camp Rock, as much as I love Camp Rock, the showers there could use some improvements, there was only thirty minutes of hot water per cabin per day, so pretty much everyone in the cabin would be fighting for it, also wearing the flip flops from the Dollar Store during the shower time was also really nice.
I come out of my attached bathroom and call Shane immediately. I can't seem to get this boy out of my head and hope he feels the same way.
"Hey cutie," He says after picking up immediately. I blush at his voice and we knows it. "I was just wondering how you wanted to bring up our relationship to the media. To the label, its no question that I've changed and what caused my change. I can obviously say my time at Camp Rock changed me and brought me back down to Earth, but when 'Gotta Find You' appears on our album, that'll for sure raise questions,".
I debated the options, I wanted the whole world to know that Shane Gray was taken, but on the other hand, I wasn't ready to be blasted in the public eye, to be criticized one everything. On how I looked, how I dressed and even on my weight and looks.
"Can we keep it a secret for now and then we can announced it a little later?" I ask nervously, he didn't respond for a few seconds so I quickly add, "I just don't know if I'm ready to be thrown in the public eye yet."
I hear Shane laugh, "Of course, I understand, the media can be pretty brutal. One time, I had a stain on my shirt and there were so many headlines about 'Shane Gray having a stained shirt',"
Shane and I continue talking for two more hours. I couldn't imagine my life without him right now, we could be talking about nothing over the phone, but his breathing that I could hear over the phone was enough to keep me on the line.
The first day of school sadly came too soon. I was awoken by my alarm bright and early at six a.m., I roll out of bed and hit my alarm clock to turn it off. I rub my eyes before I decided to get up. I ended up straightening my hair and throwing on a lacy white dress with a blue jean jacket over it. My makeup was simple, like normal and I even put lip gloss on my lips.
My mom insisted on taking my photos before she dropped me off at school, as much as I protested, she eventually won that battle. As she dropped me off, I rushed inside meeting Sierra at our lockers to try to decorate them before first period would start. I had brought a mini Connect 3 poster to hang, along with my locker self, locker mirror and some magnets to hang more photos.
As my luck would have it, Sierra and I had no classes together only lunch together. I guess that was better than nothing. As the first bell rang, Sierra and I said our goodbyes before we parted ways to our first period. I kept my head down walking through the hallway, not wanting to make any eye contact. I heard the giggles coming from a group of girls, not wanting to know which group it was I kept walking, knowing it was probably Heather and her friends. Heather hated my guts, she was easily the most popular girls in the school, known for dating pretty much every popular guy. She was a textbook preppy brat: bleach blonde hair, cheer squad captain and rich parents. I made it to first period before the tardy bell rang, first period for me was humanities. I walked through the door looking for an empty seat, preferably an empty seat in the back of the classroom.
As I look around my heart froze as I made eye contact with Nicholas Dart. I had first period the whole year with my rapist. And my heart continued to sink at that thought.