What if I told you that it was all meant to be

Would you believe me, would you agree

Tess Tyler stepped onto the camp ground, dragging her brand new Armani carry-on, and looked around. Familiar faces filled her vision and she smiled. It was going to be a great summer. She had talked to her mother last summer after her talking on the phone caused Tess to blow her performance. TJ Tyler had promised to spend more time with her daughter and she had. After coming home from Camp Rock last year, her mother had taken her to Italy for a week. Tess smiled as she remembered her wonderful week in Venice. Her mother had only answered her cell phone once but hung up after thirty seconds. Things had been so good lately that she hoped nothing would change.

She spotted Peggy and Ella and waved to them. They smiled and waved back, running to give her a hug.

"Tess, we missed you so much,'' Ella squealed. Peggy nodded in agreement.

"I missed you guys too. What have you been doing since last summer?'' Tess asked.

Ella rolled her eyes and complained, "My mother sent me to a boarding school in New York. For dinner they served goopy mashed potatoes and smelly green peas. It was horrible,'' The petite girl grabbed onto Tess' arm and gave her a sorrowful look.

"That's awful,'' Tess replied sympathetically. It was bad enough being shipped off to boarding school but they could at least have a decent menu. She patted her friend on the back. Looking at Peggy, she asked, "What about you?''

Peggy broke into a grin. "I got a record deal with Disney records,'' she revealed happily. "I'm recording in a real studio at the end of the summer.''

"Oh, my gosh. That's awesome,'' Tess squealed excitedly. She gave Peggy a big hug. "I'll be the first in line to buy ten copies,'' Tess promised, smiling.

Peggy's eyebrow rose. "Only ten?'' she teased, pretending to pout.

Tess laughed. "Okay, okay. Twenty." They all giggled and Tess had never had so much fun with her friends in her whole 16 years of life. This was going to be a great summer.

Shane Grey had a guitar case over his shoulder and a duffel bag in one hand. His brown eyes surveyed the camp, hoping to see a familiar face. Or should he say the familiar face. He finally spotted a 5'2 petite girl with long brunette locks and he smiled. "Mitchie!'' he yelled, dropping his duffel bag to wave at her.

She turned to face him and grinned widely. Running over, she gave him a big hug. "Shane!'' she said, pulling back to look him in the eyes. "I missed you,'' she murmured softly.

"I missed you, too. It has been a long year,'' he whispered, his eyes not leaving hers.

She nodded in agreement. "At least we have the whole summer together.''

He smiled at the thought. After their duet together at Final Jam last year, everyone expected them to be a couple. But with Connect Three's busy schedule, Shane knew it was impossible and unfair to Mitchie if they had hooked up. So they opted to remain close friends for a year. Every night, Shane would call her after they headed back to the hotel room for a six hour rest. Sometimes they would spend the whole night talking that both of them would have black bags under their eyes the next morning that made them look like zombies.

This summer was going to be different. He was going to ask Mitchie to be his girlfriend. Connect Three's tour was over so he would have more time to spend with her. "Mitchie, I have something to tell you,'' he began nervously. "I-''

"That's Caitlyn calling me,'' Mitchie interrupted, looking back at her best friend. "I have to go. We'll talk later, okay?'' She gave him a peck on the cheek and ran to greet her friend.

"Okay, see you later,'' he murmured to a rapidly disappearing Mitchie. He looked down and sighed, running a hand through his messy locks. So much for telling her he wanted for them to be a couple. Suddenly, his cell phone vibrated and he quickly picked up. "Hello?''

"Hey nephew.''

Shane smiled. "Uncle Brown. What's up?'' he asked casually.

"Do you think you can meet me in my office? It's important.''

Shane's smiled slowly faded at his uncle's tone. He sounded serious and suddenly, Shane grew worried. He hoped it was nothing serious like his uncle was dying of cancer or something of that nature. "Okay, I'll be there in ten minutes," he promised and ended the call.

In eight minutes, Shane opened the door to his uncle's office which was actually a regular cabin with a desk inside. "Uncle Brown, I'm here,'' Shane announced, looking at him nervously.

Brown nodded at his nephew and said, "Sit down.'' He pointed to the chair across his desk.

Shane slowly pulled the chair out and sat down. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "So, what was it that you wanted to tell me?''

Brown opened one desk drawer and grabbed a bunch of magazines, throwing them onto the desk. "This,'' he replied, pointing to the stack of magazines.

Shane picked one up. It was BOP, a tween magazine, and the cover was decorated with pictures of Miley Cyrus, the Sprouse twins, and of course Connect Three. Under Shane's picture, the headline said Guess who this lead singer is dating. Shane put down the magazine and shrugged. "I don't get it. What's the big deal?"

"Look at this one," Brown said, handing him another magazine.

Shane took it and saw that it was Tiger Beat. The cover again had Miley and Connect Three. Under the band's picture, big bold words said Is Shane Grey Dating A Cook's Daughter? "How did they…?" He did not tell anyone of his late night conversations with Mitchie and he was sure she did not tell anyone, either.

"The media has eyes and ears everywhere,'' Brown answered pointedly. "There were already rumors swirling when you guys sang together at Final Jam last summer. But each day, the rumors became bigger and bigger," Brown said with a sigh, leaning back onto his leather chair.

Shane shrugged. "I was going to ask Mitchie to be my girlfriend anyways so it's not a big deal if they know."

Brown sat up immediately, alarmed. "No! No one can know anything."

Shane looked at his uncle quizzically. "Why not? What's the big deal?'' He did not know why his uncle was reacting so weirdly.

Brown put his head in his hands. "Connect Three's fan base is primarily comprise of females. If they knew that you were dating someone, you would lose half of your fan base. Your CD sales would plummet and no one would attend your concerts. Your career would be over."

Shane laughed. "Uncle, I know my fans. They won't care if I dated someone. They care about the music."

Brown shook his head. "Shane, sometimes you can be so naïve. Look at what happened to Donny Osmond,'' he pointed out.

"Look at what happened to Justin Timberlake," Shane countered.

Brown bit his bottom lip and thought for a moment. "You're right. Everyone already knows there is someone so it's too late to deny that. I know!'' He stood up abruptly, pointing an index finger towards the ceiling, almost knocking his chair over. "We'll reveal that you're dating…''

Shane leaned in excitedly. "Yes…''

"Tess Tyler,'' his uncle revealed much to Shane's horror.

"W-what? Tess? Huh?" He stared at his uncle, flabbergasted. He was sure his uncle was going to say Mitchie Torres as the magazines hinted that he was dating a cook's daughter.

Brown sat back down, looking at his nephew. "It's brilliant. Tess Tyler is the daughter of TJ Tyler, a famous pop star. You are the lead singer of one of the hottest bands right now. You two could be the ultimate pop couple." Brown looked dreamily towards invisible space.

Shane waved a hand in front of his uncle's face. "Hello? There's a problem: I don't like Tess at all."

Brown waved a hand carelessly. "That's not a problem. You're only pretending to date Tess then after a month you guys will break up. That way, your fan base will still be in tact."

"What about Mitchie?" Shane asked quietly, staring at the floor.

"You said you were about to ask Mitchie to be your girlfriend." Shane nodded and Brown continued, "So you two are not officially a couple. It's not like you're cheating on her," Brown reasoned.

"Why couldn't-"

"Why couldn't you just announce that you and Mitchie are dating?" Brown interrupted.

Shane nodded silently.

Brown sighed. "In a perfect world, it wouldn't matter who you dated. But this is the real world, Shane. What would people think if the headlines of Tiger Beat said Shane Grey, world's famous pop star, and Mitchie Torres, a cook's daughter, are going out? They would laugh their heads off or worse, look at you with disgust and contempt."

"But these magazines already said that I'm dating her," Shane reasoned, pointing to the stack of tween magazines.

Brown shook his head. "Those were just speculation, pure rumors. But we need to nip this in the bud before rumors become reality. It will only be for a month, Shane." Brown looked at his nephew, his eyes pleading.

Shane sighed. "Does Tess know about this?''

Brown smiled, knowing his nephew had just agreed. ''Not yet, but I will talk to her next." He saw Shane's solemn expression and he felt a pang of regret. "Think about it this way Shane. Perhaps the news that you two are dating would distract the public so much that you could date Mitchie without any attention."

Hearing those words, Shane broke into a smile. He dating Tess could be a decoy so that he could be with Mitchie. "You're a genius, uncle."