“And all that was left was a bloody footprint,” Gage, the Junior Rocker, was saying, holding a flashlight up under his chin. It was nighttime, and he and the other Junior Rockers were sitting in a dark cabin with Jason, telling ghost stories.

The boys all looked at one another, shadows flickering over their faces.

“Lame,” Trevor said.

“Not even scary,” scoffed a boy named Jamal.

Jason gulped. Were these kids crazy? That was one of the freakiest things he’d ever heard. He cleared his throat. “So lame. Okay, let’s put the lights on and get into bed.”

Gage looked at him. “But you called lights-out.”

“Lights-out?” Jason scoffed, shaking out his sleeping bag. “Who would ever want to sleep with the lights out?” He flopped down on his bunk, and the boys followed suit.

Snap. Jason bolted up when he heard a stick crack outside. Was it a bear? A lost camper? A serial killer with a bloody footprint? “Did anybody hear that?” No one said anything. Apparently not. He lay back down, his pulse racing.

“Jason, do you think we’re gonna win?” Jamal asked, his voice sounding small in the dark.

“Totally. You’re rock stars,” Jason told him.

“But what if they are, too?” Jamal wanted to know.

Jason considered this. “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far.” He lay there, mulling it over. Then he had an idea. He sat up again. They’d need to grab their sweatshirts, shoes, bug spray … and flashlights.

There was definitely no sneaking out without flashlights. a little while later, Jason and his Junior Rockers were zipping in and out of the bushes and trees that dotted the Camp Star landscape, trying to stay unnoticed. They were hoping to spy on the opposing camp’s rehearsal, but their plan would fail if they were discovered.

“Stay low,” Jason instructed, his voice barely audible. He ducked out of the underbrush and raced to the next group of shrubs. The Junior Rockers, with branches taped to the tops of their Camp Rock baseball caps, followed. As they reached the top of a leafy slope, Jason leaped over the edge.

“Roll. Roll,” he called as he slid down the hill. Then, as sticks and rocks jabbed his skin, he rethought that. “Ow! Ow! Rocks. Don’t roll. Don’t roll!” He got to his feet. “Climb down carefully,” he told the Junior Rockers, who began to tentatively make their way down.

“That’s it,” Jason whispered, encouraging them. “Watch your step.”

In the short time they’d been together, they had come a long way. He was very proud of them.

They reached the top of a small wall that gave them a perfect view of the Camp Star amphitheater. Even though it was past most people’s bedtime, there was major activity going on there. A crew was hard at work building a glittery set. Axel Turner was onstage barking directions. Jason spotted Luke and Tess, along with some other Star campers going through what appeared to be a rehearsal. Then, the entire stage was lit up by lasers, and Luke and Tess began to sing. They looked and sounded amazing.

Trevor pulled out his video camera, trained it on the stage, and hit record.

Moments later, it was time to head back.

They needed to tell the Camp Rockers what they had seen!

The next morning, Mitchie and the other counselors gathered around Jason and an excited group of Junior Rockers at the mess hall to watch Trevor’s Camp Star video.

“They have this cannon thing,” Trevor was explaining as footage played of a glitter-shooting cannon. “And the stage is supercool.”

“It was huge,” said Erin, another one of the Junior Rockers.

Shane’s eyes were glued to the screen. “Wait. Slow down. So it’s just Tess and that Luke guy singing?” he asked. “Really?”

Jason nodded. “Yeah. Pretty much everyone else is doing something, but they’re definitely the stars.”

Caitlyn let out a snort. “I can’t believe Tess’s head will even fit on the stage.”

“Are you sure?” Shane asked Jason. “We watched it, like, ten times,” Jason told him.

“Yeah, you think Mitchie’s mean, you should see that Tess girl,” Erin muttered to a few of the counselors.

“Hey!” Mitchie cried, giving Erin a fake punch. “But this makes it so much easier,” Peggy spoke up. “We can totally win this now.” Mitchie was confused. “How so?” Ella sighed. “Oh, come on, even I get it. I don’t care what they’re singing, but you and Shane are better than Tess and Luke any day.” Everyone nodded. “But Shane and I aren’t singing together,”

Mitchie reminded them. “But you originally wrote the song as a duet,”

Caitlyn reminded her back, raising an eyebrow.

Mitchie balked. “I know, but—”

“I’m normally not the kind of girl who likes to sing backup, but I’d totally do it for you two,” Peggy volunteered.

“We’ll tone down some of the moves, pull the guys back a little,” Sander said, thinking out loud.

Barron agreed. “You’re our two strongest singers.”

Caitlyn’s eyes were twinkling. “And we know you’ve got chemistry.”

Mitchie really appreciated this amazing vote of confidence. But it didn’t really seem fair. “Everybody worked so hard,” she protested. This wasn’t the Mitchie and Shane show—it was about all of Camp Rock.

“To help save the camp,” Caitlyn said firmly. “If the two of you singing lead could help us win, then we have to do this.”

Mitchie felt incredibly torn. Uncertain, she turned to Shane. “What do you think?”

He shrugged. “Sounds like we don’t have a choice.”

“Then it’s settled,” Peggy said firmly. The counselors and the Junior Rockers all started talking at once about how to change the show.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mitchie noticed that Trevor, Jamal, and a couple other Junior Rockers were slinking out of the mess hall, small shoulders slumped. She walked over to them.

“You guys okay?” she asked, concerned.

“Yeah,” Jamal said, sounding dejected. “I was just looking forward to doing some of my new moves.”

“But it’s okay,” Trevor added quickly. “You know, if it means we get to come back here next summer.” He held up his video camera and looked at the images on the screen, smiling.

“You had a good summer?” Mitchie asked, hating how sad the Junior Rockers were.

Trevor nodded. “Only, like, the best summer ever.”

She looked down at his screen as a video clip of Trevor and the Junior Rockers chasing after Jason played. Then, a lightbulb went off in her head. She put her arms around the boys and gave them a squeeze, kissing each of their heads.

“Ew, gross!” Trevor cried.

“Get off of me!” Jamal protested, wiping off her kiss.

Mitchie laughed, then ran back toward the counselors in the mess hall. “Guys!” she screamed. “I’ve got a great idea!” And if it worked, not only would she save Camp Rock … they all would.