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Truce, temper rising

After a few more heavy knocks, the door slowly opened, revealing a dark-haired beauty in the same clothes, that she had worn earlier, her hair tousled and her eyes red. As she saw who was standing outside her door, her eyes went wide.

Shane didn't think of beating around the bush, so he came straight out.

"Why did you do it, Mitchie?"

To say Mitchie was stunned to see the raven-haired boy standing right there in front of her, in the middle of the night at that too, would be an understatement. Trying to process what was going on, starting up her sleeping brain, she opened up her mouth a few times, but nothing would come out.

Tilting her head to the side, confused, she finally managed to get a coherent reply out. "What?"

"Why did you do it, Mitchie?" Shane impatiently repeated himself. "Why did you tell Jason you would leave? Why would you leave your own brother, if you were finally getting around again?"

Not answering, she stepped out of her cabin fully, closing the door behind her.

Running a frustrated hand through his hair, Shane sighed deeply. "I just don't understand."

"Just because you think I'm a selfish bitch now, doesn't mean I want to hurt the ones that I love, Shane," Mitchie answered breathlessly.

"Huh?" Shane was even more confused now. "What? Mitchie, I don't-" but he was interrupted.

Nodding, she smiled sadly. "Of course you do, Shane. I can read you like an open book, even if I have hurt you. You're valuable to Jason, more than I could ever be, after all that I have put him through," sighing, she continued, "I don't deserve a brother like him. And I'm leaving to prevent any more heartache. For Jason, for you and for myself. Even Caitlyn is hurting with my presence here at camp."

Sitting down on the porch of Mitchie's cabin, Shane laughed humorlessly. "How can you have changed so drastically, but at the same time, you're still the Mitchie I have known for so many years? How is that possible?"

Taking a seat beside him, still keeping a distance between them, she smiled. "For a short while, I had changed, but not permanently. The real Mitchie is still in here, just too scared to come out. Too scared to face all that she has destroyed by leaving. I may have been selfish in the past, but my family is more important than selfishness. You all were my family, not only Jason."

After a few moments of silence, Shane spoke up again. "Are you really leaving, Mitchie?" Facing her, his eyes were almost pleading with her to stay.

Nodding, she looked away from his intense gaze sadly. "It's for the best."

A short silence, before the boy spoke up again. "Would you change your mind, if we called a truce?" Shane asked, still looking at the famous brunette.

"A truce?" She questioned, confused.

"A truce," Shane answered nodding. "We can try to get along. For Jason. This way he won't get hurt by you leaving and I won't loose my best friend. No one would have to leave. We could work this out."

"Really? You think so?" Mitchie wondered perplexed by Shane's offer.

"I do," Shane said sincerely. "I'm not saying I'll forgive you for hurting us ... me. I'm only saying I'll give you another chance. For the sake of it, let us try!"

"What if it doesn't work out, Shane? Will we go back to hating each other in the blink of an eye?" The brunette asked a little unsure, contemplating.

"We'll never know if we don't try. It might work out better than expected," Shane replied with hopeful eyes. "So, are you in?"

Looking up at the stars in the sky, Mitchie turned to face Shane once more, nodding softly. "Okay."

Nodding, Shane stood up and was slowly walking down the dirt path he had come, when he turned around once more, looking at the unmoving girl on her porch steps. "And, Mitchie?"

"Yes?" She replied softly.

"I really missed talking to you," and with that, Shane was gone and off to his own cabin for the few remaining and much needed hours of sleep.

Watching Shane's retreating back, Mitchie whimpered softly, holding her tears of gratitude back for only mere seconds whilst whispering. "Me too, Shane. Me too."

--

The next morning, everyone was in for a big surprise. Neither Shane nor Mitchie had had the change to talk to Jason beforehand, but that didn't matter. The mess was taken care off, leaving two rather happy people behind only one still sulking.

Sitting at their breakfast table with Jason, Nate was getting sick of his friend's behavior.

"Damn it, Jason. Would you get a grip on yourself already. Nothing's gonna change just because of you whining all day long," the curly haired boy exclaimed, getting frustrated.

Jason, instantly getting angry, only saw the worse in the situation. "Who's side are you on, Nate? Oh, well, let me answer that for you. Shane's. Should have guessed."

Nate just rolled his eyes. "I'm on no one's side, gosh. Call me Switzerland or whatever. I just want you to stop sulking."

"Yeah, right. Whatever, Nate. Nice to know who your loyalty belongs to," said Jason, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly.

Queue the tension in the air, it was Shane's moment to arrive in the mess hall.

"Just suck it up, Jason. You're getting on my last nerve. Shane is still your best friend," and with that he waved the raven haired boy over to their table.

Approaching carefully, like he would a snake, Shane didn't trust the seemingly calm. "I'm not sure 'bout that, Nate," he whispered to his friend, glancing at his almost-brother, still sulking and starting to look angry.

"Just forget about him, Shane. He can't tell you not to talk to your friends, who are inconveniently the same as his," Nate explained.

"You're probably right," Shane said, sitting down, but soon proceeded to stand up again as he spotted a familiar brunette walking in. "Over here, Mitchie."

This quite short sentence got Jason to lift his head off of his arms, his eyes wide as he looked around for his precious little sister. "Mitch?"

Walking up to the table and sitting down, Mitchie smiled. "Hey Jase. I wanted to apologize for yesterday and so does Shane. It wasn't right to make you choose and for me saying I'd leave instead of talking everything out."

Looking from his sister to Shane, who shared a few glances while Mitchie was talking, Jason shook his head in a confused demeanor. "What's going on?"

"Call it a truce or whatever, but me and Mitchie are good now. Or as good as we can be considering the given circumstances," Shane said, trying to hide his smile.

"We won't make you choose ever again. We're really sorry, Jase," the female superstar added.

Nate was the first one to react, pulling both, Shane and Mitchie into a hug. "I'm glad to have you both back. I could not have coped with a hurt Jason another day."

Pulling back, Mitchie giggled. "You've been in Jason's presence too much, I see. You hated group hugs, last time I checked."

"Just don't tell anyone," Nate joked.

"You've got to be kidding me," another, before unheard, voice exclaimed through all the hugging and joking.

Jason took this chance to speak up after a few moments of agonizing silence from his side. "It's alright, Cait. I guess our clique will be as good as new soon."

"Can you even hear yourself speak, Jason? You'll forgive them? Just like that?" A fuming Caitlyn released her anger. "'Cause I won't."

"This really isn't worth another fight, honey," Nate tried to sooth her temper that was about to flare again.

"Please, Caitlyn. Do it for us. You won't have to be all lovey-dovey or best friends again, just don't fight," Jason practically begged.

Well, here is finally chapter 12. I hope you enjoyed! Not as long, but hopefully good!

So, what do you think Caitlyn will do? Give both, Shane and Mitchie, another chance or will she get in the way of the peace?

And I really need to apologize for taking so long, but it wasn't only with this that I was stuck, but with my youtube stories as well. So, please, bear with me and give me another chance ;)
I had mean writer's block as well as only little time to write anything, but you don't seem to mind as much, I guess.

I got 9 reviews last time, have 71 over all for this story (would have never expected that!), there are 4,411 hits, 19 of you have my story in their favorites and 34 have it on alert, so THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Oh, by the way, if you haven't already, check out my other CR story "Four Is A Crowd" and my oneshots ("Always. Never." and "What happened on New Year's Eve") as well! Just go to my profile :)

Well, do you think we could get the reviews to 80 this time? I think it is rather possible, if not more, so please, just tell me what you think and I'll update as soon as I can!

- Corinna