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You watch as the boys sit there staring at you. They are very clearly in shock. You're pretty sure they had no idea about your existence. You want to welcome them to the club.

"But I didn't know he had a daughter," Nate speaks for the first time. He is looking at you, squinting like he is trying to figure out if he has seen you before.

No, you want to tell him, you've never met me before. In fact two weeks ago I didn't even know I was who I am.

"Neither, apparently, did he," you mutter under your breath. You think they can't hear you, but Shane shoots you a confused look, which soon turns to a death glare. You sigh and lean back in your chair, turning to Eddie.

"So how are we going to do this?" you ask. You're aware you and Shane can't just jump into a public relationship. He can't even look at you without grimacing. He's going to have to learn to pretend he loves you. That's quite a challenge. You wonder if he's up to it.

"Well you guys are all going to hang out," a collective groan is heard from the boys, and Eddie shoots them a warning look, as you ignore it, "get to know each other a little better, maybe meet some of Shane's friends. Then we'll go public with it."

You nod, agreeing. You stand then, pushing back your chair loudly, and picking up your Shane manual.

You nod at Eddie, and turn to the boys, who are watching you in silence.

"Nice to meet you," you say, making your way around the table, "I'll see you soon, I suppose."

Nate nods his head, Shane gives you another deadpanned stare, but you're surprised to see Jason smile.

"See you around Mitchie," he waves, and you feel the corners of your lips tug up slightly.

"Sure Jason."

You are half way down the hall when you hear Shane scream, "what was that?"

You stop and frown, afraid Jason is about to get some stick for being nice to you. Despite the fact that this is all fake, and you've never been a Connect 3 fan, you do have a soft spot for Jason. He always seemed so nice.

"What Shane? I was being polite, you should try it sometime," you laugh at Jason's retort. He may be sweet, and a little naive but he can certainly hold his own. Now all you have to do is hope you are capable of the same.

"They hate me Sierra," you complain into the phone, the next day, as you play with the lyrics on the page in front of you. You've been working on this particular song for ages but it just won't go right.

"Mitchie, you are anything but hateable. I'm sure Shane is just a little shocked," Sierra answers you. You wonder where she is exactly. Obviously she's in Wyoming, but is she in her room, out in the back yard or even at the café across from the church? You're suddenly hit by a wave of homesickness. You miss Sierra, when you were still in Wyoming you never went a day without seeing her.

"No Si, he looked like he wanted to rip my head off," you insist, crossing out another line in your song. Back to square one.

"Well what about the others?" she asks, and you can hear her shuffling paper. She is obviously doing some sort of homework or study. Typical of Sierra even during summer vacation. You sigh loudly.

"Nate seemed almost impartial, but Jason was nice I guess. He actually smiled," you admit, beginning to doodle on the margin of the page, giving up on the song.

"That's good then," she points out, "at least you'll have someone to talk to."

You sigh again.

"I suppose."

"Mitchie cheer up. You're in L.A. This has been your dream since you were little," Sierra, always the optimist, says. You want to be mad at her, you want to tell her it's okay for her, she is still at home, but you know shouting at her will get you nowhere.

"Yeah I just wish it would have come true a little differently," you groan a little as the call waiting sound beeps in your ear, "Sierra, I have to go, I have a call waiting. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay Mitchie. Remember to keep your chin up. Bye," you laugh a little at the old saying Sierra always used to make you feel better. You raise your chin slightly, like she'd always make you do, even if she's not around to make sure you're obeying her orders.

Smiling slightly, you redirect your phone to the other call.

"Hello, Mitchie Torres speaking," you say as you begin to draw stars around the first verse of your song. You've manage that and a chorus since you arrived in L.A. but you've had song writer's block ever since.

"Hello, Miss Torres, this is Eddie."

You snap to attention, dropping your pen and sitting up straighter.

"Eddie, I told you to call me Mitchie."

"Mitchie then. I'm just calling to let you know that there's a car coming to pick you up in 10. It'll take you to Shane's. The band and their friend will be there as well," you begin to panic a little at Eddie's words. You have ten minutes and your hair is only in a messy bun, and you are currently wearing sweats.

"Okay," you find yourself agreeing.

"I'll be there for the first little while. See you in fifteen Mitchie," you are slightly relieved to hear he is going to be there. He has to like you, or he'll lose his job.

"Bye, Eddie," you hang up the phone, and immediately go into a frenzy. You have nothing to wear, your clothes are all still in boxes, and your hair looks a mess. You know you don't have to impress them, Shane is going to 'go out' with you anyway, but you want to look respectable. You're a girl at heart after all.

After ten minutes of frantically searching for something to wear, and trying to straighten your hair, you are standing at the front door, song book in hand, wearing flats, a pair of black skinnies and white tank top, coupled with an assortment of bracelets. You can't help but be pleased with yourself. It's not bad for ten minute's work.

You contemplate whether you should tell your mom and him where you are going, but you decided not to. They gave up any rights they had as parents when they messed with your life. You grab your guitar case (inspiration might just hit you) and walk out the door, slamming it loudly, in hopes that it wakes them.

You gasp just a little when you see the limo waiting in front of your new 'home'. Sure the place you live in now is a mansion, but limos have always seemed so glamorous to you. Only people going to prom got limos where you lived, and you -being 16- had obviously never gotten the chance to ride in one.

You gingerly open the door, and climb inside, sliding across the plush leather seat.

"Oh Miss Torres, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you. I would have opened the door," you glanced up the extended car to place a face to the voice. An older man, in a suit, and wearing a hat, is sitting at the driver's seat, and has turned around to face you. He has a greying beard, and is watching you with concerned blue eyes.

"It's fine," you say, smiling at him, as he smiles back, "and call me Mitchie, please."

"I'm Alan, Mitchie, Mr. Gray's chauffer," he began, turning back around and starting the car, "this drive won't be too long, maybe ten minutes."

"Okay, thanks Alan," you say settling into the seating, and mindlessly drum your fingers on your black guitar case.

"Thank you," you say to Alan as you climb out of the limo ten minutes later, while he holds the door open for you.

"No problem Mitchie," you barely hear him and you take in Shane Grey's house.

"Holy shit," you mutter under your breath. It's huge, possibly the biggest house you've ever seen bar the White House. You thought his house was nice, but Shane's outshines it by a mile. Alan has dropped you by the bottom of the steps leading up to the front door. You climb them, bypassing the columns, trying not to drop your guitar, because you're shaking so hard.

You reach the huge door, and cautiously reach out to ring the doorbell. You are really afraid of who's going to answer. Shane you could deal with, but if it's a butler, which you half expect, you may faint. You're a small town girl from Wyoming, and you are not used to this kind of lavish lifestyle. For heaven's sake, you had a cow back home.

You thank your blessings when a moment later the door swings open to reveal Eddie, holding a blackberry in one hand and his other one pressed up against the blue tooth device in his ear.

"Yes, I understand, of course," he says, motioning for you to come inside. You step into the hallway and are once again shocked by the extravagance. The ceiling is double height, painted white, with these fancy engravings. There are two huge marble staircases, joining at the top.

You spin around slowly, as Eddie continues to talk into the blue tooth. You must look awestruck, and like a child, because you are so astounded by Shane's hall, but you don't care. It's amazing.

Eddie points down a corridor leading off the hall, and still talking to the person on the other line, begins to lead you down it. You follow quietly, taking it all in.

"Of course I can have her there," Eddie says, glancing back at you. You begin to concentrate on his conversation. He is talking about you, like you're not there. For some reason this doesn't get to you like it would have before. You're pretty sure once you and Shane go public people are going to talk about you all the time. You'll be with the Shane Grey after all.

Eddie reaches a door, and without looking at you, pushes it open. You catch your breath expecting to be faced with Connect 3 and their friend Eddie mentioned. Instead Eddie begins to descend the stairs he has just revealed. You follow him, a little afraid now. You are in a strangers house, with a stranger, and no one knows where you are. And to top in all off, you are being led into the basement of said house.

You are slightly relieved when you reach the end of the stairs, and are in a bright hallway, painted red, with framed pictures lined up along each side, with separate lights shining on each one.

You walk slowly, taking in each photo. Shane with Nate and Jason, looking rather young, standing on a pier of sorts, beside a lake. Shane, not much older, holding his record contract with a huge smile on his face. You wonder how long it's been since he smiled like that. If you believe everything the tabloids say, you'd guess quite a while.

The next photo is Connect 3 on stage, Shane singing into a microphone, still smiling broadly. You guess that this must have been one of his first concerts. He looks so excited to be there. It's the way you image you look every time you see a guitar.

The next is of Shane and who you imagine to be his parents. A smiling couple, you can see Shane got his hair and bone structure from his dad, but his eyes and smile from his mom. Again he looks happy, standing outside McDonalds, having his picture taken with his parents. He looks older in this photo, like it was taken less than a year ago. You add it up in your head. A little bit before he started to get an attitude.

The next photo is not actually a photo but a silver record, encased in a frame. You know this must be for Connect 3's first platinum selling album. It is quickly followed by two more. The next photo you come to is off Shane and Aretha Franklin. You do a double take at that. Shane has met your idol. You are suddenly extremely jealous. You were a little before, but now... you'd give anything to have been in his place. You realise you and Eddie are reaching the end of the hallway. You jog a little to catch up with him, but you manage to catch a glimpse of the last picture. It's Shane again, but he looks grumpy, and another girl, you recognise as Tess Tyler. Shane's ex. She is smiling at the camera, but you laugh because you see that someone has drawn a pair of devil horns, and a moustache over her face in black permanent marker.

Eddie has come to a door, the end of the hallway. He hangs up his call and turns to you. This is it, you think, the official start of this messed up 'journey' you're about to embark on.

"You ready?" Eddie asks you, and you grip your guitar case tighter, and nod sharply.

He pushes the door open, and you are pretty sure your jaw has dropped open. You have to pinch yourself to make sure it's real. You are standing in the control room of a recording studio. Albeit a small one, but still. A real life recording studio. You can't help but grin. Then you remember when you are, and that this isn't real, and you regain your composure. You take in the room you are standing in, and the separate room where Connect 3 are singing into microphones. It's a song you've never heard, and you come to the conclusion that they have failed to notice your arrival because they have continued singing. The song has a wicked beat, and you find yourself bobbing your head in time to the track. It sounds like their old stuff, like the Connect 3 music you actually liked. You watch them for a second, as they sing. They look so into it, like they belong there. All three of them have their eyes closed, and it's just them and music. Your gaze flickers to Shane, and lands there for a moment. The frown he was wearing yesterday is gone, and you marvel at how young he looks. You forget for a moment that he is eighteen, and you are sixteen, and for a second you, Shane, Nate and Jason are just ordinary teenagers again, you don't have this publicity stunt hanging over your heads, and you guys could be real friends. And then reality hits you, and you realise that no, you are never going to be real friends with these boys who obviously share your passion with music. Even before you met them, any form of friendship was bound to be fake.

Instead of dwelling on this though, you turn your attention to the girl sitting in the same part of the recording studio as you. She has hazel curls, and is wearing red skinnies, and a white print t-shirt. She is sitting at the controls, tweaking a few things, and tapping her converse to the beat of the song.

"What did I do to your heart
Tell me, What did I do to your heart
Did I break it, apart
Did I break it, your heart..."

You watch as the boys finish the song, and they come down from that high they were on. Jason blinks his eyes open first, and smiles and waves when he sees you through the glass. The girl sitting in control room frowns and turns to face you. Her face looks shocked when she sees Eddie and you, standing there silently, with guitar case in hand.

"Oh god, I'm sorry, how long have you been there?" she asks, rising from her swivel chair, and striding across the small room. She holds out her hand and you take it in yours, shaking in once, before dropping it again. She smiles at you, brightly, and you're a little scared. Shane's friends are supposed to hate you.

"Only a minute," Eddie says, not looking up from his blackberry, which is frantically typing on.

"I'm Caitlyn," she says, grinning toothily. You glance over her shoulder to see Connect 3 joining you, Caitlyn and Eddie in the control room.

"Mitchie," you return the smile, genuinely. It's the first time you've really smiled at another person since you've come to L.A. You like Caitlyn already.

"Nice to meet you Mitchie." You nod at her, stilling smiling slightly.

"Mitchie," Jason says, smiling at you too, "nice to see you again."

Nate for his part gives you a curt nod, while Shane avoids your gaze completely and sits down in the chair Caitlyn has recently vacated.

You all stand in awkward silence for a moment. All you can hear is Shane twiddling with the controls and Eddie's tapping on his Blackberry. Then suddenly, as you watch Caitlyn's eyes wander the room a thought occurs to you.

"Why didn't Caitlyn do it?" you turn to Eddie, and he looks up from his phone, "Go out with Shane? I mean at least he can stand her."

Eddie, for his part raises his eyebrows at you, and motions for you to look back at the others. Jason, for his part, is looking into space and biting his lip. But it's not even Shane's horrified expression or Caitlyn's disgusted one that tells you why Eddie didn't set it up to be Caitlyn and Shane. Of the three people staring at you, it's Nate's face that gives it away. His features are etched with anger mixed with a hint of pain. It hits you then. Nate is very much in love with Caitlyn, and he'd kill Shane if he dated her, even if it was fake.

You face Eddie again, grinning a little.

"Ah," you say, and he nods, because it's clear to you that he knows exactly what you are talking about.

"I just couldn't have them killing each other," he says, and you nod sympathetically. You turn back to the other four confused teenagers. You roll your eyes at them, they are looking at you like you are spouting gibberish. Although, you'd bet your life Nate is looking at you like he's begging you not to elaborate.

"So," Eddie says, and you turn away from Connect 3 and Caitlyn, "your first public appearance is next week at Shane's uncle's wedding. I expect you both to have read the manuals and discussed them both by then. I look forward to seeing you as a couple. Goodbye Mitchie."

Eddie nods at you, and you give him a small wave with your free hand, suddenly growing nervous. You were okay with Eddie around, at least you had someone to talk to. Now he's gone and you are stuck in a small recording studio with 4 people who hate you. Fun.

"Sit down Mitchie," Caitlyn motions to a sofa at the back of the room, and you move towards it, following her. You place yourself on the red leather sofa, and lower your guitar case on the ground. Caitlyn sits down to your right, and Jason to her right. Nate remains leaning against the far wall, and Shane doesn't move from the swivel chair.

"You play?" Nate asks suddenly, and you jump a little in your seat, from the shock of being addressed.

You glanced down at your guitar case and shrug.

"I guess," you answer, smiling a little despite yourself, because that's what music does to you.

"More importantly," Caitlyn says, bouncing a little in her seat, "do you write?"

Everyone, bar Shane, are staring at you. Caitlyn's eyes are merely curious, Jason's friendly and Nate's are stony.

"Yeah, I do," you can't help smiling again. You love music so much, that even in the worst of situations it brightens your mood. Caitlyn smiles at your grinning face.

"Will you play something for us?" she asks excitedly, and you cringe away from her expectant face. Clearly she loves music, just as much as you do, and isn't just curious as to want yours sounds like, but almost needs to know. It's written all over her pretty features.

"Maybe some other time…" you bite your lip nervously, and avoid Caitlyn's disappointed gaze.

"Come on Mitchie," Jason pipes up, leaning forward so he can see you from around the back of Caitlyn, "we'd love to hear something."

You can feel it in the air then. Nate is staring hard at you, and Jason and Caitlyn are looking at you early. You are going to lose this fight, and are going to have to play at some point or another.

"How about, we just talk about those manual things…" you trail off uncertain, because you kind of wanted to avoid the whole 'fake relationship' thing for a while, but you see no other way to get out of playing. You just don't feel comfortable singing in front of people you don't know, especially as it would be you're first time, ever.

"Yeah, let's," you shiver, and not in a good way, as Shane's voice fills the room. He spins around on the chair, to face you all, your manual magically conjured into his hands, before leaning over and slamming it on the coffee table in front you, and you flinch a little.

"Why in the world is your life so boring?" he asks, glaring at you.

Caitlyn and the boys are watching you, seeing what you'll do, while you meet his gaze, your eyes just as stony as his.

"My life is not boring," you counter, your voice indignant.

"Yeah it is," he scoffs you, and you roll your eyes, "you don't do anything. No parties. No friends, no nothing."

"I'm so sorry Shane," you tell him, narrowing you glare, your voice is coated with sarcasm, "that my life isn't as interesting as yours. And I'm really sorry, that there are no accounts in there about how I managed to get drunk, head back to a hotel room with 5 girls, and have the pictures splashed across every national magazine the next morning."

"Typical," he scoffs at you again, rolling his eyes, "judge everything by what you read."

"There were pictures!" you point out, standing, as he does, your chest heaving, and your eyes blazing. He may get away with talking to other people like that, but there is no way in hell he's going to be able to do that with you, "and look around. I don't see your band mates or friends, jumping in to correct me."

You are standing on either side of the coffee table staring each other down. And much to your surprise he is the one who breaks.

"Whatever. It's not like your opinion matters. I sing for millions, and I bet you can't even carry a tune," Shane spits at you. This hurts, but it's not like you're going to let him know that.

"Yes, I can," you argue, and he raises his eyebrows skeptically.

"Prove it," he orders, but holds up a hand when you open your mouth to start singing, "at my Uncle's wedding. In front of everyone."

You're stunned into silence at this request. You don't know what to do. Agree and prove your point, but have to sing in front of everyone, or disagree, and have Shane win. And you've never been one for losing.

"Fine," you nod, your head and turn to pick up your guitar case, and songbook.

"Great, I look forward to seeing you humiliate yourself," he sneers in your direction, before you shake your head giving up.

"Whatever Shane," you shrug, "just call Alan, I don't feel like sticking around where I'm not wanted."

His spiteful face slips and he looks at you, confused.

"Who's Alan?" he asks, and it's your turn to roll your eyes.

"Your driver Shane," you tell him, disgusted that he doesn't even know the name of the man than carts him around to all his celebrity parties, "doesn't matter anyways. I'll walk, it's not far. Bye, Caitlyn, Jason, Nate."

You open the door back into the hallway, waving at them before heading off home. You glance again at the picture of Tess Tyler and Shane, and you scrunch your nose up in disgust. And you can't help but think: I can't believe I have to fakedate that.

What's the deal with Mitchie's dad? Why are they so afraid of him? :P

And Mitchie and Shane really hate each other :)

Next chapter Mitchie sings :)

I hope you liked it.

Review please :D