The sound of a hammer pounding a new schedule onto the board rang out across Camp Rock the next morning. Then Sander’s voice came over the PA system.

“Good morning, Camp Rock. All Rockers report to the main stage immediately. Yeah, that means you. Get movin’!”

Once everyone had assembled, Mitchie greeted them. She had a huge megaphone in her hands that she used to speak to the crowd. “All right, Rockers, there are new schedules up on the boards. From this moment on, everything is about winning the competition. Everything. We have to be completely focused.”

“What about swimming and waterskiing?” Barron called out from the crowd as several kids around him nodded.

“Focused!” Mitchie cried. Then she winced as Barron covered his ears. “Sorry.” Oops. She probably shouldn’t have used the megaphone, considering she was standing only two feet away from him.

She put the megaphone down. “Sorry, again. Seriously, if we want to save the camp, we have to put all of our energies into this and make it the best show any of us have ever done.” She saw that Brown had walked over and was standing on the edge of the crowd. She hadn’t spoken to him since listening in on his conversation with her mother. But there wasn’t anything to say, except … “We may have our doubters, but we’ve already come so far—we can’t go down now. Agreed?” she asked.

“Agreed!” they yelled back in unison.

“Okay.” Mitchie gave them an encouraging smile. “Then let’s get to work.”

No one moved. Mitchie picked up the megaphone and shouted into it, “Now!”

That did the trick.

Inside Brown’s office, Mitchie had spread out schedules, lists, and pages of ideas. The place resembled a well-organized war room. She pointed to one of the plans.

“I don’t know what to do about the set, but it’s just got to be big,” she said to a couple of guys who were helping her strategize. “Think of the biggest thing you can imagine … then make it bigger.”

“Knock, knock,” came Shane’s voice from outside. He opened the screen door and came in holding up one of the new schedules. “Uh, we seem to be moving in the wrong direction,” he said, tossing it on the table. “There’s even less free time on this than the old one.”

That was true, but there weren’t really other options. Mitchie glanced at the clock. “I’ve got a few minutes now.”

Shane grimaced. “Not really what I was thinking, but—”

Just then Ella came flying into the office. “Mitchie. Can you look at this?” she asked breathlessly, waving fabric swatches and sketches in front of Mitchie’s face. “I want us to coordinate but not be all matchy-matchy.”

Caitlyn was two steps behind her. “Mitchie—hey, Shane—I know you’re rewriting, but we’ve got to make some decisions about the music.”

Sander and Peggy followed. They too had ideas they wanted to run by Mitchie.

“Hey, Mitch,” Shane interjected, looking a little put out. “Can I have you for a sec?”

“Do you know who’s doing the vocal arrangements?” Peggy wanted to know, ignoring Shane. “If it’s me, fine—but someone’s got to tell me.”

Mitchie bit her lip. “Sorry,” she mouthed to Shane. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to get everything she wanted accomplished done. And right now, focusing on Camp Rock was where her head needed to be.

Shane stood there for a moment as if he was about to say something. Then, giving up, he walked outside, letting the screen door bang behind him. Mitchie looked up for a second—and then Caitlyn was asking her something about the sound mixing. Mitchie couldn’t let herself think about Shane.

This was just too important to mess up.

Nate had finally met a girl he was interested in getting to know—and they might as well have been an ocean apart. Or, well, a lake.

He dragged his foot through the sand, squinting in the sunlight across the water. He loved being at Camp Rock … but it would have been nice to have a girl to keep him company.

Just then Shane came walking—or rather, stalking—past. “I swear I don’t even know why I’m here,” Shane muttered, not slowing down. “Take my advice. Never, ever get yourself a girlfriend.”

Nate sighed. “No worries about that.” He held up his binoculars and looked across the lake to Camp Star. Dana was standing on the dock, holding her own pair of binoculars. He gave a little wave, and she waved back. Nate put his binoculars down and sadly headed back toward camp.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing?” Mitchie scolded as she walked past her cabin. Caitlyn and a couple of her dance students were there, but instead of practicing their routine, they were laughing and goofing around. “You guys are supposed to be rehearsing,” Mitchie reminded them.

Caitlyn laughed. “Calm down. We’ve been rehearsing for over five hours. We’re just taking a little break.” She did an exaggerated slide across the floor.

But Mitchie wasn’t in the mood for fun and games. “Yeah, well, I was watching, and I think we’re going to need a lot more work,” she said tartly before walking over to Peggy. She stood there, silent, as Peggy and another camper were busy cracking each other up.

“You guys done already?” Mitchie asked them.

Still laughing, Peggy said, “No. He was just telling this story about his sister. It’s hilarious. You have to tell her,” she said to him.

“Oh, is it the one about the group of kids who didn’t take their jobs seriously and their camp was closed down? I’ve heard it,” Mitchie snapped, watching Peggy’s face fall. She couldn’t believe her friends were being so cavalier about this.

She was stomping off when Jason came running up to her with Trevor and a few other Junior Rockers behind him.

“Mitchie,” Jason said, out of breath, “you’ve got to see this bit me and the Junior Rockers came up with. I think it’s a real spotlight moment.”

“That’s great, but whatever it is, it’s probably going to be more of a background moment,” she said, sidestepping him and making a beeline for Sander and his crew. “Sander! What’s going on?” she called out. They were studying set plans—which was what they were doing when she’d left them a half hour ago. “We have to get this built! Come on guys, work with me.”

She was dismayed to hear Sander mutter under his breath, “If I wanted to go to Camp Star, I would have signed up.”

She shook her head at him, frustrated. “That’s not fair. I am just trying to get this done. But if you don’t care …” she trailed off, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. Everyone was staring at her.

“Mitchie, we all care,” Caitlyn told her. “But you’ve got to lighten up.”

Mitchie swallowed back the lump that had formed in her throat. “Yeah, and what will that get us?”

Caitlyn stared at her for another moment, then turned back to her dancers. “All right, let’s do it again.”

Mitchie didn’t care if everyone thought she was being mean. She wasn’t trying to make friends. She was trying to save Camp Rock—her camp. Their camp. Couldn’t they see that?

“That girl is taking the f-u-n out of summer,” Ella said under her breath as Mitchie walked away.

“There is no f-u-n in summer,” Peggy told her.

“Exactly,” said Ella.

Brown and Shane had witnessed Mitchie’s mini-meltdown. Now Peggy turned to them, hands on her hips. “Seriously, I love her, but I’m going to kill her.”

“You know what you’ve got to do,” Brown told his nephew.

Shane nodded, a gleam in his eye. “I’m on it.”

As Shane headed toward the Junior Rockers’ rec room, Jason was trying to convince his campers that Mitchie hadn’t turned down his proposal—she’d said she’d think about it. But his pitch was cut short when Shane showed up.

“I’ve got a proposition for you boys,” Shane said. “Think you’re up for it?” Once they’d heard Shane’s plan, they couldn’t wait to put it into action. all of the Camp Rockers were assembled in front of the stage, and Mitchie was speaking into her megaphone. “Okay, we have a ton of stuff to go over. Where are the Junior Rockers? And Shane? And Jason? And Nate? Seriously, people have got to start being on time. First off—”

“Attack!” Jason yelled, giving the signal.

The Junior Rockers invaded from all directions, whooping like warriors. Using homemade catapults, they launched water balloons into the air while Shane and Nate hopped onto the stage and began shooting people with water guns.

Mitchie looked aghast. “What do you think you’re—aaaah!” Water blasted her from every side. The camp erupted into delighted shrieks and screams as all the campers got in on the fun, soakers and soakees alike.

“I don’t think this was on the schedule,” Connie told Brown, wringing her hands.

Brown grinned back. “Are you kidding? This is what summer camp is all about.” He stepped forward. “Counterattack!” He whipped out a garden hose he’d kept hidden from view and blasted Jason. Then Brown began tossing out packets of balloons to various campers.

Delighted, the campers filled up their balloons at the spigot and reloaded the water guns down at the lake.

A water fight may not have been on the schedule. But it sure was fun.

* * *

Mitchie scribbled furiously in her songwriting notebook, stopped, groaned, and erased. She’d been sitting alone at a mess-hall table for hours, poring over each stanza and every melody. It had to be perfect.

“You know, your sheet music is soggy,” Shane said as he walked inside. The screen door banged behind him.

“I’m pouring myself into the music,” Mitchie joked. It was true, though. She hadn’t even bothered to change her clothes after the water fight. She’d been so anxious to sit down and work on her lyrics, but they weren’t flowing as easily as she needed them to.

Shane laughed at her joke. Then he said, “That was bad.”

“I know.” Mitchie winced, sliding over to make room for Shane alongside her. “Are you here to help?”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Mitchie asked.

Shane pulled her to her feet with one hand.

“Because you and I are going on a moonlight picnic on the dock.” In his other hand were a flashlight and a picnic basket. “Admittedly, all stolen from the mess-hall kitchen. Don’t tell your mom.”

Mitchie laughed. “Now?” He couldn’t be serious. The timing …

“Right now.”

“How could you—” Mitchie started to say at the same time as Shane said, “Because I really am just that nice of a guy.”

Mitchie continued, “—think that I would just go running off?” It wasn’t as if she could turn off a switch and pretend like she didn’t have the weight of the world on her shoulders.

“Are you saying no?” Shane asked, his brown eyes disappointed.

Mitchie exhaled. “Do you not understand everything that needs to get done?”

“How could I not since I have you reminding me, like, every two seconds?” he said.

“And a water fight?” Mitchie scolded. “What were you thinking?”

Shane was frowning. “I was thinking, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be nice to have fun for a change.’”

That stung. “So you’re saying I’m not fun,” Mitchie replied. It came out as more of a statement than a question.

Shane groaned. “I don’t even know why I keep trying. The only reason I’m here—”

“Is to get to know me better,” Mitchie finished for him, frustrated by the whole conversation. “I know. Well, guess what? This is me, and I’m trying to save something important to me.”

Shane gave her a steady look. “Well, so am I.”

“How’s it working out for you?” Mitchie asked, hating how snippy she sounded but feeling powerless to stop herself.

“Not so good.” He turned to go.

“Shane, wait!” Mitchie called after him. He turned back. “You forgot your flashlight.”

Without a word, he took it and walked out.

Mitchie went back to her notebook, but nothing she wrote was any good. She squeezed her eyes shut. She knew she’d been rude to Shane, but how could she just go hang out with him when so much was at stake? Why couldn’t they see eye to eye on this?

Even though it seemed as if they were from different planets, Mitchie wouldn’t change a thing about Shane. Sure, he could drive her crazy. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t crazy about him.