M I T C H I E

"Has you-know-who tried to talk to you?" Christina asked as we walked along the shore together, the night air cool against our skin.

"You know he hasn't, he hasn't even been attending any classes we have together besides the one he teaches, and even then he avoids eye contact and bolts as soon as it's over." I rolled my eyes, looking down at my feet. "Besides, with Heather following me around, making snarky comments we know that I'm never going to get a chance to tell him how sorry I am for bringing him into the middle of this."

"But Mitch, you didn't bring him into the middle of it." Christina stopped us, turning me toward her. "If you did, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. He'd probably have gotten mad you were letting Aubrey do something like this, even though you tried to stop it but you had no control. You would've brought him into the middle of it if he knew everything, but you didn't because of multiple reasons. This isn't your fault, it's Aubrey's."

"Yeah, but I can't help but feel like I could've done something more, you know? Like, this is my life, why am I letting another person control it? What kind of best friend does that kind of stuff?" I couldn't help but ask, my mind running with different thoughts. "I just wish I could start this whole thing from the beginning. The whole summer."

"What would you do differently?" Christina asked as we began to walk again in the direction of the cabin. The moment I got kicked out of Heather's cabin (which wasn't too upsetting for me) Christina was allowed to move into mine and my mom's, gladly taking Aubrey's spot.

"I don't know. Like, letting Aubrey dye my hair was a good decision, and I'm not going to lie- some of the outfits are nice. But I feel like that was enough. I don't want to lie about my life, so that's one thing I would change. I'd change how we went about things. Like, instead of worrying about being Heather's friend and only pleasing her, I'd please myself." I explained, Christina listening to everything I have to say.

"Do you think you'd still have gotten close to Jonah?" She asked. "Or Jack?"

"I don't know," I mumbled. "I wish. Or, at least I'd like to think so. You know? Cause either way I met you, but when I met Jonah it was thanks to Heather, technically. But he told me the only reason he hung out with them was for me, so I think one way or another we'd have connected."

"And what about Jack?" She then asked, my heart jumping just as the mention of his name.

It may sound cheesy, but anytime I heard the boy's name or thought of him, my stomach got butterflies.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I really don't."

"Well don't give up, because then that'll make him think you don't care," Christina stated as we walked into the kitchen.

"I guess you're right. Right now we should focus on cooking though, because if I focus on other things who knows what's going to happen." I sighed.

"Hey girls! We gotta get to work right away, we're running late!" My mom immediately said as she rushed around the kitchen, her face red from running around.

Christina and I glanced at each other before going around and doing everything she said, and it wasn't long before Jonah was in there helping us too but he was only able to stay for a bit. He'd been coming in every day he could help us when he wasn't practicing with the band. I feel as if he likes this band idea more than he lets on, but I let him complain about it as I probably complain about things he knows I secretly like all the time.

After a while Jonah had left again, leaving Christina and me to cook alone but it wasn't that big of a deal to the two of us, as we liked spending time together.

The sound of the door opening to the kitchen got mine and Christina's attention and we turned to see Heather following in behind Brown, an angry look on her face.

"They have to have it!" Heather exclaimed, causing Christina to scoff.

"She has officially lost it."

"No, I didn't lose anything." Heather snapped, "You guys stole it."

"What?" I asked, just as my mom walked into the room.

"What's going on here?"

"Heather thinks that these two stole her bracelet," Brown explained with a sigh, clearly unamused with Heather's behavior.

I couldn't help but glare at the red-head standing in front of me, knowing she was lying as I hadn't even tried to look in her direction since the big dispute in the middle of the camp where the truth got out.

"What?" Christina asked, disbelief in her tone.

"These girls would never do a thing like that," My mother defended, telling the honest truth.

"Why don't we just settle this right now alright?" Brown asked, looking between us. "This shouldn't be happening in the first place."

"I agree," I said. "But-"

"I know it was her!" Heather cut me off, "She was lying all summer about who she is! Who knows what else she'd lie about."

"First of all, that wasn't even he-"

"Chris," I cut the girl off.

"Now, wait a minute." My mom cut in, putting her hands on her hips.

"Mom, don't." I said, "If they want to look they can. This is absolutely ridiculous but we all know that Christina and I didn't do it."

"Alright. Let me just scope the place out, and then I'll have a quick look in your cabin okay?" Brown asked me, and I just nodded as I felt tears prick the back of my eyes. I knew I wasn't going to cry in front of Heather and give her the satisfaction she's wanting.

"Fine," I mumbled.

"Whatever," Christina spat.

"You're not gonna find anything, cause we didn't st-" I stopped as I watched Brown pulled a silver charm bracelet out from somewhere I'd never even touched in the kitchen before, my heart dropping down to my stomach as the tears that threatened to spill got harder to contain.

"That's my bracelet," Heather spoke in satisfaction.

"This has to be a mistake." My mother shook her head.

"Like what, I snuck into the kitchen and-"

Brown cut her off, but at the choice of words, I looked at the girl. She had to have because neither Christina or I would do something like that. She knew she was going to get both of us in a lot of trouble doing this, and that's exactly what she did.

"I'm very wigged out right now, guys," Brown told the two of us.

"Yeah, so are we!" I exclaimed, looking between him and my mom.

"Well, I'm not." Christina sighed.

"Well, rules are rules and since it's the end of camp I have no choice. I have to ban both of you from camp activities until the end of Final Jam." He spoke with a tone that wasn't disappointment towards us, but it seemed as if it were more towards Heather.

Heather sent me one last smirk before stalking out of the kitchen, leaving Brown in there with us. "We didn't even do anything, she's lying!" I immediately exclaimed.

"Do you have any proof?" Brown asked, a spark of hope in his voice.

"Well, no, but-"

"Then there's nothing I can do. Until the END of Final Jam." He pressed on again, and I sent him a confused look but he sent me a wink, walking out of the kitchen.

**

hey it's been 68348 years since i updated sorry aha

i had a schedule set for when i updated but i never had any updates to put out so there's that

also this story's almost over OOF but there'll be a sequel out once i finish up some of my other stories and hopefully it'll be better than this :/