DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN CAMP ROCK OR ITS ORIGINAL CHARACTERS, NOR DO I OWN ANY SONGS OR QUOTES THAT MAY APPEAR IN THIS FIC!

Chapter 9

Mitchie's neighborhood (Sunday afternoon)

Mitchie's P.O.V.:

I was still sad to be leaving camp. Despite all of the drama, I was really happy I got to go and wouldn't change one second of it. This summer held some of the best moments of my life.

And now I have to return to reality. At least I have a better half to it now. I thought thinking back to saying goodbye to my friends as I stared out the window.

Flashback:

Everyone was moving really slow trying to prolong the departure to come. I'm not the only one who wants to stay.

My friends, minus Shane, had all piled into Sierra, Cait, and I's cabin really early and from that point we were all attached to one-another's hip. Even little Sarah was being cooperative. She didn't throw any fits at being woken up or getting dressed. She just went along with all of us and enjoyed even more attention that was being thrown at her by all of the friends we'd made during camp. Jason was the worst.

"You're gonna miss me right?" he asked looking sad at the thought of being forgotten.

"Yes, Jase, she will miss you! Everyone's going to miss everyone! Stop asking!" yelled Nate, finally blowing up. It was the twelfth time he'd asked. Sarah just laughed and hugged Jason.

From that point on, things went smoothly. When the time to start leaving came everyone hugged and made sure they had each other's numbers before anyone was allowed to walk away. Sierra, Michael, and Jared left first. We all hugged and agreed to meet up later before the end of the week. They hugged and shook hands with the guys, too.

"Tell Shane we said bye, whenever he wakes up," said Sierra, turning to leave.

"I will," promised Nate.

Caitlyn was next to leave, but not before tackling me and Sarah into a bear-hug.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much!" she said dramatically causing us to laugh.

"We'll miss you too. Call us, maybe we can meet up and hang out," I said releasing Caitlyn from her hug but Sarah had other ideas.

"Please stay." She said with her cute puppy-dog eyes and an adorable pout going.

"Aw, I wish I could sweet heart, but I have to go home," said Caitlyn with a small frown. The powers of a three year old are astounding!

"Okay," said Sarah in a quiet, defeated voice an even bigger pout in place.

"Mitchie," groaned Caitlyn looking guilty.

I laughed as I took Sarah back from her and placed her on my hip. "It's alright, she'll be fine. She does this every time she says bye to somebody she likes," I told her trying to lessen her guilt. "You'll see her again, it's okay." I told Sarah rocking her a little.

"Promise?" she asked her voice muffled from her face being burrowed into the side of my neck.

"I promise."

She cheered up a little at that and said goodbye to Caitlyn one last time before she got into her parents car to leave.

"And then there were 5," said Shane who was laughing at the exchange that'd occurred between Sarah and Caitlyn.

"Hi sleeping beauty. Nice to see you've joined the rest of the world." I said laughing.

"Har har, very funny," he said dryly. "Hi Sarah, how are you?" he asked, tickling her.

"I fine," she said laughing.

"Are you going to miss me?"

"Oh my God!" Nate groaned in exasperation as he walked away.

"What's his problem?" asked Shane who was now playing with Sarah.

"Jase accidentally aggravated him by asking Sarah that question so many times this morning," I explained, getting up to get Nate. "Are you good to watch her for a sec?"

"Yeah, we're fine."

I found him walking back towards Shane's cabin.

"Hey," I said caching up to him. "What wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just too early to be dealing with Jason and now Shane's at it. I love my brothers, but man..."

"Well cheer up, no frowning on the last day."

"Yeah... hey, can we go talk?" He asked, tilting his head back towards the cabins.

"Sure," I said as we walked together in silence.

"Come on," he waved me to follow him to the back where there were boxes stacked up which he began to climb. He stuck his hand out to help me get up onto the roof alongside him. You could see most of the camp from up there, as well as the uninterrupted nature beyond it. It was really pretty.

"This is beautiful," I said aloud.

"Yeah, I used to love coming up here to think. It's a good place for song writing, too."

We sat in silence for a while until I asked "What's up?"

"I just wanted to say it was really good getting to meet you, getting to become friends. You're a really cool person and I'm happy we got to spend some time together. Is it weird that I'm a little sad camp is over?" He asked with a timid laugh.

"No," I said laughing with him. "I'm a little sad, too. I'm glad I got to meet you and the others. You've been a good friend. At least this isn't a complete goodbye. We still have to record. There's going to be meetings in between that too so... yeah." I said with a sigh.

"Do you care to talk outside of meetings and stuff?" He asked looking at me through the corner of his eye.

"I'd like to," I said with a smile. I really did like having Nate's friendship. I want to see where it goes. I pulled out my cell phone and he did the same as we switched phones to trade numbers.

"Do you mind a picture?" He asked pointing to the I.D. frame above my name.

"Sure," I said and we posed for a picture together.

"Aw, that's cute!" I said after I saw the picture. "Send that to me."

"There, now we can talk whenever." He said with a smile.

"Yeah," I smiled back. We sat there for a minute or two just enjoying each other's company and then headed back down with the others. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with the group and the others campers.

End of Flashback

I smiled at the memory, but was dragged all the way back to reality when I felt the car stop. I looked out the window to see that we were in our drive way and my dad had gotten out of the car and was rushing towards someone who was sitting on our front step.

I was about to follow behind mom who was getting out of the car as well, but she stopped me.

"No, you stay here with Sarah, we'll handle it." She said with a stern look as she followed my dad who was now yelling in the face of the mystery person I had yet to identify.

As the person, who was easily identifiable as male tried to side-step around my dad, I was able to see his face and I froze.

Mica! When did he get back? I thought as I grabbed for Sarah who was taking her usual car ride nap.

He still looked the same as the last time I saw him. The same pale sharp features, tall with long lanky limbs and shaggy dirty-blond hair. Everything was exactly the same, right down to the beautiful hazel eyes he'd given Sarah. The only one of his features she'd inherited.

I rolled my window down to try to hear what my parents were saying to him.

"You get the hell off of my property, you son of a bitch!" yelled my dad as he tried to grab for Mica, but was stopped by my mom.

"Steve, stop! You can't hit him!"

"You can't keep me from my daughter either! She's mine too! I have the right to see her!" argued Mica. My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach. He can't take her can he? I hugged Sarah to me. I must have squeezed just a little too tight cause she woke up and groaned in complaint.

"I'm sorry angel," I apologized quickly.

"Grandpa angry," she said, pointing out of the window with a frown. She was always quick to pick up on someone's mood.

"No, grandpa's not mad. He's just playing a game with his friend. It's okay." I said trying to get her to focus on something else besides outside.

"We'll see about that." I could hear my dad yelling and I looked to see Mica walking passed the car. I hid Sarah and myself from his view under my curtain of hair until dad came, opened the door, grabbed Sarah and walked into the house.

"What was that about?" I asked my mom hoping she'd tell me something to help me relax.

"Nothing big, sweetheart. It's alright, we handled it." She said trying to brush the whole thing off. She went to the back of the car and grabbed a couple of the bags from the trunk.

"No, it's not nothing mom! What is he doing here?" I asked her as I followed behind into the living room. "Mom!"

"I don't know what he was doing here, okay Mitch? I don't know. Just calm down," she instructed.

"Is he trying to take her?" I panicked.

"No, Sarah's not going anywhere. Stop it." She said sitting the bags down and turning to go get more bags from the car. Dad followed to help.

"Bye-bye?" I heard from behind me. I turned to see a confused looking Sarah playing with one of her favorite teddy bears. The bunny she'd had since she was born.

"No, baby, no bye-bye." I said pulling her into my lap as I sat and hugged her. Not while I'm still breathing.

"Mommy, why you sad?" she asked placing her tiny hand on my cheek and looking at me with those knowledgeable eyes that all children seemed to have. She understands too much for a three year old.

"Mommy's not sad. See?" I asked placing a fake smile in my face. I knew she saw right through it as she hugged me tighter and offered me her teddy.

"Thank you." I said as I took the offered bunny from her.

"Mommy happy now?" she asked.

"Yes, mommy's very happy cause she has her little bunny." I said tickling her and enjoying the tinkling laughter that followed.

Mom and dad made their way back into the house with the last of the stuff and we all went about our days unpacking and getting settled back in.

I want to go back to camp. That was the last thought I had before I fell asleep in my bed that night.

The next day (Monday):

I couldn't get back to sleep after waking up at 5:00 this morning for whatever reason, so I got up and unpacked the bags that I'd ignored last night. I was still worried about the Mica situation and what was going to happen and what I was going to do about it. Once I was done, I sat on my bed and listened to some music to distract myself from worrying.

I grabbed my IPod from my night stand and set it to shuffle.

Am I loud and clear?
Or do I gotta scream like I did every day when I was a troubled teen, huh?
Do you want to know my past and see every single scar and know what they mean, huh?
17 running up in Mickey D's begging for a double cheese, huh,
Singing "I don't want to grow up don't nobody like you when you're 23"
I came from nothing but a fucking unsupportive father I don't ever see,
I had to watch a crooked jury put my brother in the penitentiary,
I never fit in.
Criticism, made me the man I couldn't be,
I'm reminiscing on when life was different spending every day at Chuckey Cheese, uh

We live on front porches and swing life away,
We get by just fine here on minimum wage,
If love is a labor I'll slave till the end,
And I'll run these streets if you give me a chance,

I've been here so long,
Maybe I should runaway,
Try to find a summer day,
What is love,
Love is pain,
Love is butterflies and stomach aches,
Love is looking out a windowpane, tears dripping looking like you're in the rain,
For someone you don't even know but for somebody you may never see again,
I am only alive once,
And I'm a die when God wants,
So fill the sky with diamonds,
Because that's how it's gonna look when I'm gone,
Had a vision as a kid that one day I would change the world with my song,
Several years have passed and now that vision came to life that boy's a fucking icon,

We live on front porches and swing life away,
We get by just fine here on minimum wage,
If love is a labor I'll slave till the end,
And I'll run these streets if you give me a chance,

Sometimes I don't want to fucking wake up,
When all they want to do is bring me down,
And all the things I've went through as I came up,
Are the fucking reasons why I run this town,

We live on front porches and swing life away,
(And to my fans, I told you)
We get by just fine here on minimum wage,
If love is a labor I'll slave till the end,
And I'll run these streets if you give me a chance,
We live on front porches and swing life away,
(All my dreamers)
We get by just fine here on minimum wage,
(Stay real)
If love is a labor I'll slave till the end,
(And to my love)
And I'll run these streets if you give me a chance,
(Stay here)
Swing life away,
(What we do)
Swing life away,
(And what we do)
Swing life away,
(Yeah)
Swing life away,
(And we just)
Swing life away,
(Let's swing life away)
Swing life away,
(Let's swing life away)
Swing life away,
(Let's swing life away)
Swing life away.

As the song played, I sat and looked around my room thankful to be home at least. No matter how much fun you have somewhere else, there's nothing like being home in your own room. I looked at everything in one small sweep. The wall of posters, as I'd named it, was directly across from my bed. It had images of everyone from every field of entertainment; people like Machine Gun Kelly, Christina Aguilera, Kellan Lutz, Halestorm, Ian Somerhalder, and many more. My favorite area of the whole small space was the little area I had set up for all of my instruments and recording gear. That space made me the happiest.

After the first time playing the song through I put it on repeat and just let it play as I laid in my bed thinking. Before I knew it, it was 9:00 and I went to go wake Sarah up and get a start on the day. I had no clue what I wanted to do, but I wanted to get out for a little bit. Maybe I can call the guys and we can take Sarah to the park.

After going through the usual battle, I carried a still half asleep Sarah down the stairs to the kitchen where mom was whipping up some eggs.

"Good morning," I greeted, sitting Sarah in her special high chair.

"Good morning."

"Do you need any help?" I asked her.

"Sure. Can you make the pancakes?" she asked handing me a bowl to mix all of the ingredients in.

"Not that I'm not glad to be back home in my own kitchen, but it's a little strange not cooking for 100 plus kids." said mom with a laugh. I laughed too because it was kind of true. We had gone from a literal assembly line just to make snacks to cooking for five once more. Dad joined not too long after and we all ate breakfast together.

Once we were done, I took Sarah upstairs to get her bathed and dressed as I called my friends to see if they were up for going to the park with Sarah and I, so we could all talk. They all agreed and half an hour later we were all at the park.

"Hi Sarah!" yelled Sierra as she ran to meet Sarah the rest of the way. You just saw her not even three days ago. I thought as she spun Sarah around in a huge circle and ran straight for the swings.

"Hey, what's up with the face?" asked Michael bumping me with his elbow as he, Jared, and I walked to 'the parent area' to sit and talk.

"Nothing, just... Mica was on my front porch yesterday when we got home." I said with a sigh of relief that someone else knew and I didn't have to stress by myself.

"What?" Michael and Jared both yelled jumping up.

"Yeah," I said with a humorless laugh. "My parents wouldn't let me out of the car, but I rolled down the window and dad was yelling at Mica to leave and he kept saying he had rights to Sarah and... can he do that?" I asked spilling everything out in a rush. "Can he just show up like that? Does he have rights to see her? Is that even legal? I mean-" I was hysterical, nearly in tears

"Mitch! Slow down and breathe," Michael crouching down in front of me as Jared took a seat next to me. "It's alright, everything will be fine. I don't know if he can do that or not, but I do know he's not going to touch you or Sarah. I'll burn him alive and eat the ashes before I let that happen and I mean it." He said with a very serious face.

"I'll bring the matches." promised Jared which made me laugh.

"Aw, my psycho friends, I love you guys." I said pulling both of them into a hug.

"We love you too Mitch." They both said returning the hug.

"Now come on wipe your face." said Jared helping me stand. "Let's go play with Short Stack."

For a good two hours we all became a bunch of three year olds having the best of times on the jungle-gym with Sarah. She tired herself out and Jared carried her the whole way home.

One week later (Monday)

The first day of school:

I woke up at 6:30 A.M. to hear "Skate Cans" blasting through the speakers of my laptop. I instantly hopped out of bed and ran for my closet. I had to find the right outfit to start off my Junior year. I decided on a yellow zip up top, some skinny low jeans, black platform sandals, yellow teardrop earrings, and a black & white diamond petal rose ring I got from my grandma for my 14th birthday.

Sitting all of that on my bed, I went to the bathroom and started my routine. By the time I was dressed and ready to go, mom had gotten up and was almost done making breakfast.

"Hey," I greeted as I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Good morning miss High School Junior." she said with a smile as she handed me a plate stacked with French toast. "are you excited for the first day?"

"Definitely. This year's going to be different, I can tell. Just wish I didn't have to go for so long. It's always so boring the first week of school. They should just make the first five days half-days. It'd be a lot easier on us."

"Oh stop complaining," said dad laughing at my complaints as he came downstairs, ready to leave for work. "Look at it this way; you'll be a smart bored kid instead of an entertained ignorant one."

"Har har, you're hilarious."

Just when he was about to respond, Hot Tunes' theme song came blaring through the T.V. and Cassie Young's smiling face appeared.

"I, along with our cameras, am here outside of Lava Record where we just greeted Connect Three as they entered the building. A clip of Shane, Nate, and Jason entering the building and waving to the reporters was shone. A Shane Gray, lead singer to the pop trio, was very pleasant and even greeted us with a smile and wave before entering. We all know that earlier in the summer, Gray was sent to Camp Rock, a camp where he spent his childhood and the same camp where he and his brothers were discovered, for an attitude readjustment, and it seems that adjustment was made. Sources tell us that there may just be a special someone behind this change. Could it be that our bad boy teen heart-throb has found someone to be better for? We'll see if we can find out later what exactly caused this change in the interview Connect Three has later this evening at 8 with Hot Tunes own Miranda Bass. Reporting live for Hot Tunes T.V., I'm Cassie Young.

"It's good to see something positive being reported about him for once," said mom with a smile as she glanced back at the T.V. "He really is a good kid."

"Thanks mom," I said grabbing my plate to clean as I got up from the table.

"You're welcome sweetheart, and slow down! You eat way too fast."

"It doesn't take an hour to eat three pieces of French toast and I have to go get Sarah ready for daycare so, thanks." I said as I walked back up the stairs to Sarah's room.

I got a small surprise when I walked in to see Sarah was already awake, sitting up and looking at the door expectantly.

"Oh, well, good morning bunny. Are we not fighting today?" I asked as I picked her up and took her towards her closet to find a nice outfit. She just rested her head silently on my shoulder, sucking her thumb.

I decided on a cute sequin shirt, with a multi-layer tutu skirt, really cute black suede bow flats, and her charm bracelet that I got her for her birthday. I put her hair down and tied back two strands from the front in twists.

"You look so adorable!" I said tickling her, trying to wake her a little more. "Are you ready to go? Grandma made French toast."

"Fen toe please." She said around her thumb, her eyes becoming brighter.

"Okay, let's go get you some French toast." I said laughing. That's my little piggy.

After Sarah was done eating she, dad, and I all went out to the car to go to our designated locations.

"Bye dad, thanks for the ride." I said as I got out of the car.

"You're welcome sweetheart. I'll pick Sarah up so you don't need to worry about that. Have fun." He called as I closed the door and waved.

Walking into school again I got some of the old feelings I always got; sadness, nervousness, lethargy, the usual. I was also happy which was new. I was happy that I was going to make this year the best one yet.

I'd finally gotten through the crowd of people trying to find their names on the list for homeroom assignment when I bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry," I said trying to help them pick up their bag.

"Oh, no my fault," said a familiar voice.

"Caitlyn?" I asked surprised to see her.

"Mitchie?" she asked with a smile before tackling me into a hug.

"OMG! What are you doing here?" I asked her smiling.

"I just moved here. Dad has some business interests going on in town and mom wanted a change of scenery so… ta-da!"

"This is great! What class do you have?" I asked, hoping I would have at least one of my friends with me. For some reason, every year, I always end up being the one alone in my classes while the others all had the same classes. I was lucky to get the same lunch period as them.

"I don't know yet. I ran into you before I could see."

"Well let's look together." I suggested.

We both turned back to each other at the same time.

"Mrs. Todd!" we announced simultaneously before we hugged and ran to find our lockers.

"We're even locker neighbors! I knew I would like this school." Said Caitlyn as she dropped all of the supplies she didn't want to carry in her locker and zipped her bag.

"Have you seen the others yet?" I asked putting some of my own supplies in the locker and hanging up some pictures of my friends from the summer.

"Nope, you're the first. That's really cute." She said pointing to a group picture of all of us on the last day with my mom and Sarah.

"I know. I miss camp."

"Me, too. I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to talk to anybody. I got home and immediately had to start packing. Dad's not so good with the heads-up thing." She said laughing.

"Well, now we can make up for it." I said.

"Yes we can," she said sticking her arm out for me to take. "Shall we?"

"We shall," I said, linking my arm through hers as we walked to our homeroom.

This day just gets better and better. Caitlyn and I had all of the same classes and in third period we met up with the rest of the group who had the same schedule as us for the rest of the day. The classes passed in a blur of introductions and papers to be signed. Lunch arrived pretty quickly and we all walked to the cafeteria together.

"This is one of the many things I did not miss this summer," complained Michael. "Men in prison get better food than this."

"And how would you know?" asked Sierra.

"I have some secrets you guys don't know about," he said in a semi-serious voice.

"Right," I said skeptically nodding as I turned to the others. "So, what are the plans for later? Dad's picking Sarah up from daycare so I'm free for a couple of hours."

"We could show Caitlyn around a little," Jared volunteered. "She can learn some stuff about the place and we still get to hang out along the way."

"Sounds cool to me. You guys in?" I asked as everyone else nodded. "Cait?"

"I'm in, it'll get me out of mom's mountain of color swatches," she said laughing. "Ooh, Harry what about this color? It's perfect for the kitchen!" she said imitating her mom and we all laughed.

"Oh, look. Mommy and the rats found a friend." I heard from behind me. I turned to see Natalia and her friends looking pampered as ever in their designer barely-there clothes, sneering at me and my friends.

"I didn't miss them either," Michael muttered.

"Of course you missed us, we gave you something worth looking at," sneered Megan.

"Is there a point to this lovely visit? You really shouldn't be seen with the bottom dwellers for too long, people will talk," said Sierra, sarcastically.

"Actually, trainee, there is a reason we're here; we came to warn the newbie," said Megan with a smirk.

"Trainee?" Sierra asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Warn me about what?" asked Caitlyn, looking around confused.

"You should be more careful about who you hang out with. These… people aren't good company to have," she sounded like she had trouble calling us people. Wow! "Are you mother, dear?"

"Actually, I think they're great people to hang out with. I spent all summer with them at camp. They're perfectly fine, thanks for asking," said Caitlyn in a cold voice.

"Oh you went to Camp Rock, too? Hmm, it doesn't seem like the place to harbor and support sluts but-"

"Alright," I said getting up from my seat. "I'm done with you and the name calling. Yes, I have a daughter. Is she any of your concern? Absolutely not! You liked him, I get it, but Mica was not a good guy! You need to get over it!" I yelled causing some surrounding table to quiet their conversations to look at what was happening.

"I'll get over it when you admit you're liar!" she said narrowing her eyes. "So, how was camp? Did you have fun trying to get in Shane Gray's pants?"

"I've never tried to get into anyone's pants, but my summer was great. Thanks for asking."

"Oh really? I got a call from a good friend of mine. Tess Tyler," she said Tess' name pretty loud. "Called me and told me all about you and your summer adventures. She saw you trying to get with plenty of guys including Shane and Nate Gray."

"Don't be jealous cause you didn't get to meet them. They probably wouldn't have liked you anyways. From what I can tell, you probably would make great friends with Tess. You can be alone together," said Jared.

"No one said you could speak to us," snarled Megan.

"No, I gave myself permission, you want to take it back?" said Jared standing from his seat. You could tell he was getting aggravated with the situation.

"Look, you came over here, said what you needed to say, now if you don't mind, we were eating lunch and you weren't invited to join," said Caitlyn, quickly and swiftly defusing the situation. Natalia and her friends just scoffed and walked away.

"Do you think I'd get caught if I followed her to a class and pushed her down some stairs? It'd be really quick, just one good shove," said Michael with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

"No, we're not pushing anyone down any stairs, even if they do deserve it. She's just going to keep going with her childish attitude. I don't understand why, but I know she will so just be the bigger person. She'll realize how dumb she is when she's still in this town thirty years from now with nothing, but the title of prom queen to show for it." I said as I sat back down in my chair. The rest of the day went by just fine and we all left as soon as the final bell rang. We all piled into Sierra's brothers new car and made our way to the first stop, the movies, pointing things out to Caitlyn on the way. We went to go see "The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug". It was actually a good movie, though I'd never really been into the Lord of the Rings stuff.

Just when we were walking out, my phone vibrated. It was Nate.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Hey, so I talked to the guys and they think we should get a start on the song in a week or two. We're cranking songs out like crazy now, but with press and meetings, it's gonna take a minute to get the proverbial ball rolling for things. They wanted me to call and see what we could set up as far as meeting dates."

"Cool, that's not a problem. School's just starting, so I shouldn't be too busy in the next two weeks. I'll talk to my parents and see when will be best, in case I need one of them to watch Sarah. What are we gonna be doing?"

"We were going to start brainstorming ideas for the song, see if you had any you would want to use for the duet. The label wants one of your parents to come with you for the first half to deal with legalities and everything, though that's pretty simple. It'll take an hour and a half at most, after that we can head to the studio." He explained.

"Sure, that sounds good."

"Maybe after you and I could hang out, maybe grab something to eat?" he asked.

I could hear someone ooh-ing and making kissy noises in the background; some shuffling and harsh whispers followed.

"What is that?" I asked laughing.

"Nothing," he said and it sounded like a door was closing. "So, how 'bout it?"

"Sounds fun! We haven't hung out in a while," I responded almost immediately with a smile.

"Great, I'll see you soon."

"Definitely," with that, we hung up and I smiled, not noticing my friends all looking at me expectantly.

"Well, cheesy, who was it?" asked Jared laughing at my expression.

"Nate," I said quietly, my cheeks flaring to life.

"Ooh!" they all said childishly while laughing as I turned redder.

"Shut up! How old are you?" I said embarrassed.

"Oh come on, Mitch. Let us have our fun. It's not every day our little Mitchie gets a date," said Sierra, pinching my red cheeks.

"It's not a date!" I said slapping her hands away as I walked towards her car.

"What'd he say?" asked Michael.

"He asked if I was free to meet up with him and the others at the label to get started with the signing the contracts and things then we could get started on the writing."

"And?" asked Michael knowing I left something out.

"And we can go get some food afterwards."

"Who is "we"?" asked Caitlyn, with a smile. Traitor!

"Look, guys it's not a date!" I said not so slyly avoiding the question.

"Whatever you say. We're headed back to your house to help you find your outfit to wear for the meeting/date," said Sierra.

"It's not a date!" I tried again in vain as we drove back towards home.

The whole way there we all argued over whether my hanging out with Nate after the meeting was a date or not and I went to bed with thoughts of what it'd be like to really date Nate.

Nate's P.O.V.:

After his conversation with Mitchie

I was in the studio with the guys trying to think of where we wanted the songs for this album to go we were really excited that the label was finally going to let us do things our way and we really wanted this to be exactly as we want it.

I decided to call Mitchie and tell her what the label had said while Shane and Jason were distracted over an argument about having a song dedicated to birds on the album. Not going to happen.

Mitchie answered on the third ring and the conversation was going well until Shane and Jase started making kissy noises behind me. I tried swatting them away, but Shane grabbed for my phone causing me to almost drop it.

"Guys… get the hell out of here!" I whispered hoping Mitchie didn't hear it. They're going to ruin it before I can even ask! They just laughed as I ran for the door closing it firmly behind me.

"So, how 'bout it?" I asked.

"Sounds fun! We haven't hung out in a while," she responded almost immediately causing me to crack a rare smile.

"Great, I'll see you soon."

"Definitely," with that, we hung up and I smiled as I entered the room immediately noticing Shane and Jason both hopping up and down with expectant looks on their faces.

"What?"

"What do you mean what? Details dude!" yelled Jason like some teenage girl.

"Details for what? There aren't any details." I said trying to brush it off.

"The hell there aren't, your smiling!" pointed Shane. "That was Mitchie wasn't it?"

"Yes and there aren't any details to share. I just called to tell her about what the label said. She'll discuss it with her parents, and be there with one of them to sign all the paper work and we'll all head for a studio to see what we come up with. That's it."

"And then you two are going on a date and…" blurted Jason, but Shane put his hand over his mouth.

"You two were listening?" I yelled. Unbelievable!

"Of course we were, we knew you wouldn't tell us anything and look at that, you were trying to leave out the most important part… you have a date."

"It's not a date, we're just hanging out."

"You're just hanging out, alone, just the two of you… right. It's so a date," Jason said laughing.

"Whatever," I huffed walking out of the studio. It's not a date… it's not!

A/N: There are 6,047 words in this chapter excluding the author's notes and little "markers" (P.O.V.'s, location, days, etc.). Okay so you saw above, I'm trying to get a little more detailed when it comes to the appearance of the characters clothing. I don't think I did very good with it, so I will be posting links to all of the looks and styles on my profile (eventually) so it's made more clear what they look like. I will also go back and edit the chapters for clothing. School is starting back up again so updates will be slow. I'll try to update once a week, more if I can. The wonderful, beautiful lyrics you see in this chapter are "Swing life away (A Rise Against cover)" by the beautiful Machine Gun Kelly featuring Kellin Quinn from his Black Flag Mixtape/Unofficial album. It's absolutely awesome, you should give it a listen. Remember to Read and Review.