For as long as she could remember, Mitchie Torres dreamed of being a performing artist like the ones she saw on the TV shows on Hot Tunes. And for as long as she could remember, that dream seemed like a farfetched fantasy. But at the start of summer, her mother did an amazing thing. Connie Torres got a job as the cook at Camp Rock, making it possible for Mitchie to go where she could eat, drink, and live music twenty-four hours a day.
Now, on the last day of camp, the fantasy no longer seemed so far-fetched. Mitchie was about to sing a duet in the Parents Concert with Colby Miller, one of her new friends from camp.
As was traditional, the Parents Concert was the last one of the summer. It was a chance for the campers to show their parents what they had learned. For Mitchie it was a chance to show her mother how much all of this had meant to her. Right before the song started, she looked out into the audience and saw Mrs. Torres. They both smiled.
The music began, and Mitchie and Colby felt it from their fingers to their toes. The mood of the evening flowed into the song, and when Mitchie held the final note as the music trailed off, the entire audience jumped to their feet and gave them a standing ovation.
“You were great!” Colby cried.
“So were you,” Mitchie said, grinning. “You nailed those high notes.”
As they smiled and waved at the still-applauding audience, Mitchie was filled with excitement about their performance. But she felt a twinge of sadness because it was all coming to an end.
“I don’t know about you,” Colby said, leaning over so she could hear him during the applause. “But I need some water. It’s hot up here.”
Mitchie was hot and thirsty, too, but she didn’t want to leave the stage yet. She closed her eyes and tried to freeze this moment in her memory. She wanted to remember exactly how it felt. After a couple seconds she opened her eyes, turned to Colby, and nodded.
“I’m thirsty, too. Let’s get out of here.”
They waved to the crowd one last time and headed backstage as the next act was coming on.
The first person to greet them was Shane Gray, who gave Colby a high five and then locked eyes with Mitchie.
“Your voice is amazing,” he said. “That’s the only word for it. Amazing.”
Something about Shane’s eyes made Mitchie forget how hot and thirsty she was. Those eyes also made her forget about the noise and all the other people who were around them. She imagined that as the lead singer of the superfamous band Connect Three, his eyes did that to a lot of girls. Still . . . he was her friend and that meant a lot.
“Thanks!” she managed to reply as she tried to catch her breath.
It was only a matter of seconds before Caitlyn Gellar, Mitchie’s best friend, was there, too, with bottles of ice-cold water. She tossed one to Colby, who instantly started chugging it.
Caitlyn gave her review in a single word. Actually there were four words, but she said them so fast they seemed like one. “Absolutely-unbelievably-incredibly-awesome!” Mitchie laughed and took a gulp of water.
She couldn’t believe that all of this had become a part of her life. Before the summer started, she had been a shy kid who wrote songs in secret because she didn’t think they were good enough for others to hear. And now she was sharing them with dozens of friends . . . and strangers. Life couldn’t get sweeter.
Thirty minutes later, the concert was over and everyone was enjoying a big barbecue down by the lake. Mitchie felt caught in a whirlwind. There were parents to meet and then one by one the good-byes started as friends loaded up their stuff and headed for home.
There were lots of hugs and more than a few tears. People swapped e-mail addresses and promised to keep in touch, but Mitchie didn’t know what the future might hold. This was her first time at camp, and it was all new to her. It had been the most amazing time in her life, but now it was coming to an end. Part of her was worried that when she drove away from camp, everything would go back to the way it had been before.
“Well, that’s that,” the camp director, Brown Cesario, said as the last car pulled away. “I guess that just leaves my super-duper cleanup crew.”
He was addressing the small group of campers who were staying for a few extra days to help clean up the camp and get it ready for the long off-season.
Together they were going to get everything spotless, boxed, and loaded for storage. Originally, it was supposed to be just a four-person job, for Mitchie, Shane, Colby, and Lorraine Burgess, who were all technically part of the camp staff.
Shane was a counselor and Brown’s nephew. That meant he had to do whatever his uncle told him. His job was to make sure the cabins were all cleaned out.
Mitchie, Lorraine, and Colby had all worked part-time over the summer in order to attend camp at a discounted rate. Mitchie had helped her mother in the kitchen, while Lorraine oversaw the care and creation of costumes. Colby had asked to help with the maintenance of the musical instruments to cut the cost of his tuition. Any little savings would make his father feel better about the fact that Colby was at a music camp, not home helping him with his boat business.
The foursome had grown to six when some last-minute developments added Tess Tyler and Caitlyn to the cleanup crew.
Tess’s mother was T. J. Tyler, a big-time pop star currently in the middle of her North American tour. T. J. had planned it so that she had a few days off to pick up Tess. But according to Tess, she had been held up doing some unscheduled publicity in New York. That meant Tess was going to be doing manual labor for the first time in her life.
Caitlyn’s parents were also stuck on tour, although theirs wasn’t nearly as glamorous. They had spent the summer driving an RV around the country and it had broken down outside of Yellowstone National Park. It took them a couple of days to get it fixed, and now they were behind schedule.
“All right, everyone!” Brown said, calling the group to order. “This is the part where I remind you that camp is over. That means we have a few days of hard work ahead of us.”
The six of them groaned.
“But that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to have some fun,” he added.
“Yeah,” Mitchie joked. “It’s so much fun scrubbing pots and pans.”
“Don’t forget cleaning out bathrooms,” Caitlyn interjected. “The bathrooms are tons of fun.”
Mitchie smiled as, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tess shudder at the thought of cleaning out a bathroom.
“Yeah, yeah,” Brown said. “I know it’s a drag, but I have a deal for you.”
“What kind of deal?” Shane asked.
“I’m thinking of adding one more concert to our little summer schedule.”
“That sounds like an interesting deal,” Mitchie said hopefully. Even though she had been onstage just a few hours earlier, she was already missing the feeling.
Brown thought about it for a moment. “We’ve got three days to get this place clean. But we’ve added two workers. If I’ve done my math correctly, I’m thinking with the extra help we can have it all done in two. If you can do that, we can put on a concert on the third day.”
“We can definitely do that,” Lorraine said.
Brown smiled. He had come up with this on the spot, so it was nice to get such a warm reception. “But,” he warned, “it’s not going to be a jam or any sort of competition. We’ve had enough of those. I want this to be a little different. This show is just going to be about the music.”
Suddenly, this sounded a bit suspicious.
“I’m going to give each of you a specific era in rock and roll, and during the next few days you’re going to learn as much as you can about it.”
“You mean in between scrubbing the pots and pans and cleaning the bathrooms?” Caitlyn said.
“Exactly,” Brown said with a laugh. “Then at the special concert, you’re going to perform a song from your assigned era.”
“That sounds kind of cool,” Mitchie commented, nodding.
“And in return,” Brown added, “I’m going to have a special surprise for you.”
“What kind of special surprise?” Tess asked.
Brown just smiled. “One that’s worth it. Believe me.”
The six of them shared a look as they considered Brown’s idea. It certainly sounded like more fun than cleaning.
“We’re in,” Shane said, and the others nodded.
“Great!” Brown exclaimed. “This is going to be fantastic. I’ve got some things to get ready—and you’ve got a camp to clean.”
Brown hurried off toward his cabin while the six of them looked at the mess that had been left after the barbecue. Suddenly, they all realized how much work there was to do.
“Yippee,” Colby said, trying to sound enthusiastic.
Mitchie wasn’t looking forward to the cleanup anymore than the others. But now there was something special waiting at the end. Much to her delight, Camp Rock wasn’t quite over yet.