Camp Rock: Chapter 8 ~Close Close Lily, I am what I am~ Part Two
“Joe, look I just noticed the time and I have to grab my wig because I have to meet some of the campers as Emma, so will you wait till I come back?”
“Sure thing Lily thanks for everything!” Joe said and than watched her exit out the back door with her sling back pack, heading towards the cabins that were about a block away. Joe hummed to himself as he picked up the guitar by the neck, he started to take the strap off the guitar so he could put it back on the stand, rolling the guitar strap in a roll he watched something else roll, a Wiffle ball crookedly along the floor planks, and he could see his brother’s heading in the doorway.
“Joe there you are! Look, were just glad your back at Camp Rock, but what is that piece of paper for anyways? We believe you when you told us that it’s not the reason you went back home, but will you tell us what it’s for?” Kevin asked with a tinge of forgiveness, he scoped up the ball in his hand.
Lily came in, slamming the door behind her, her fake blonde hair whipping around.
“Joe, I still have to put my con…” She said and than started coughing to drown out that fact that her contacts were in her other hand and she looked strangely unlike herself.
“Emma?” Nick asked his legs reaching her and than giving her a tight hug. “How are you? Why are you here?”
“I’m great, thanks Nick. I’m here because I’m teaching a few classes…” She started to say now moving towards the center of the room.
“You should have told us that is so great Emma, we can hang out, tell me what classes you are teaching?” Kevin said now placing his hand on her back into a hug, Lily’s cheeks began to flush, as Kevin pulled away looking at her periwinkle blue eyes he couldn’t help by become memorized, they reminded him of somebody back in California, but there was no way his friend could be here, but with ever step back she took towards Joe, Kevin wished he could have told Lily a proper goodbye before they left to Camp Rock.
“Actually guys I’m not sure I got pretty busy because…”
“Because you were just telling me about this piece of paper, my brothers had found and asked me about during practice, but actually you got this piece of paper a few hours before you started recording with us at the recording studio for the music video…” Joe said withdrawing the dreaded piece of paper.
“That’s right Joe; I left it around that day, so you must have seen it and stashed it on your tour bus hoping to give it back to me. The government decided to seize my contract.” She lied trying to get Joe off the hook.
“NO!” Nick said, looking shocked. “But everything’s okay now right?”
“Sure is Nick, after I recorded the vocals for your song, my manager decided to look elsewhere, we are finishing up the final details and figured that I would love a vacation and I love to help out, so I got in contact with the administration at Camp Rock!”
“Wow, Sorry Joe! Well listen we should head up to where the campers are gathering, we have to pick up our own schedules. But look Emma it’s going to be okay right? I mean your still playing music!” Kevin said pointing carelessly at Joe’s guitar.
“I can while I can!” Emma said letting out a low whistling sound. “Or, well I haven’t picked up a guitar much since the piece of paper came into my hands, but I was helping Joe out for a while.” She said the only truthful words releasing from her mouth since the conversation began.
“Yeah? So were you playing any good Emma songs, or was it mainly our songs?” Kevin said looking downward at the guitar neck; Joe’s bandaged hand holding it firm within his grasp, his gauzed bandage revealing Lily’s artistic tribute. Kevin began reading what was written. Joe grabbed his other hand, placing his fingers over most of the writing. Kevin eyes couldn’t come away from the L that Joe’s fingers could reach to cover up.
“An L?” Kevin asked pointing to the bandage.
“What? There is no such thing as an L-note, Kevin!” Joe said his voice a bit sweaky. Kevin began looking from the L unmistakably on the bandage, to Emma standing there smiling sweetly and a painted confusion across her face. Maybe it was just his eyes deceiving him, or the fact that he was home sick and he had been thinking about Lily moments before. But he couldn’t place why that L on the bandage was there, but come again maybe it stood for something eternally different, maybe Joe had gotten bored one day and took a marker to the gauze. For all he knew L could have stood for anything, it could have stood for the word lucky. Or maybe it wasn’t an L at all, yeah from this angle it looked more like a J.
“Well hey it’s great to see you guys and this will sure be a summer to remember. I’ll meet you all down there I have to pick up my schedule too.” Emma said now scratching her head and heading back to a corner where a mirror stood.
The boys but one, made their way out the door, Joe stayed behind in the wake of the events.
“Lily, thanks you got me off the hook, is there anything I can do to repay you?”
“Just, can I have the piece of paper back?”
“Sure Lily, I know one shouldn’t lie, so this is what I wanted to show you before. You made up that story, because what this is really from is from Wildest Dreams Record Label.”
She gave a bothered look, as Joe placed it in her hands.
“Why do you even carry it around?” Joe asked now placing his splint back on and feeding the zipper teeth towards the bottom stop.
“Because it’s my past, until I move on, it has to move on with me.”
“But it doesn’t have to be like that Lily, look at where you are now, look how far you’ve come. Each one of us has a past, shut in a person like the leaves of a book known to that person by heart and that person’s friends can read the title, figure out how your friends are going to know about your past, let us see your future.” Joe said and than turned away, making sure his brother’s didn’t think he ditched them yet again.
Lily’s hand crushed the paper, she didn’t know how to get over her past yet, but maybe with her friends help she could figure out a way. But for now, her life hadn’t been chosen for her, she had to keep her fame on a piece of decided paper, until she could have a life free from boundaries she had to keep that paper as a reminder. But as she left the door with her contact case in her left jean jacket pocket she could tell that she was so far off, a paper in her palm was nothing more than make-believe. Her real happy ever after was going to come, eventually.
Shuffling the pieces of paper in her hands, and walking back towards the benches in the center of the camp courtyard, Lily swore she must have read the schedules wrong.
Page 1 of 2
Schedule A:
Lily V. Allen
Monday-instructor: Joe Jonas
-Guitar
-Vocals
Tuesday-instructor: Allison Brookshire
-On Tour 101
-On Tour 202
Wednesday: instructors all
-Leisure Activity
Thursday-instructor: Nick Jonas and Hazel Johnson
-Ethics in Music
-Musical Measure
Friday- Instructor: Kevin Jonas
-Ballroom Dance with movement emphasis 105
Page 2 of 2
Schedule B:
Emma Allen
Monday- OFF
Tuesday- Fashion Design Costuming and Guitar basics
Wednesday- TBA, leisure activity
Thursday- Advanced Guitar Strumming
Friday- Song writing and double-instructor Kevin Jonas, Ballroom Dance with movement emphasis 105
Note: See back for time slots, and choreography
“See back for choreography? Well that sure doesn’t help that I have to be a student in a class I’m supposed to instruct!” Lily muttered to herself and got up in a fiery. She slowed down when she retraced her footsteps back at the nurses station, Joe was laying down on a small bed, the pillow propping his head against the headboard, rubbing his eyes slowly, the nurse was busying taking off a blood pressure cuff. Lily’s heart began to slow down, she swung the door open.
“Joe? What’s wrong? Are you okay? Do you need me to get Kevin or Nick?” She asked sending a small drift of air into the nurse’s ward.
“No it’s fine Emma; they know that I am here.” He said lowering his arm and looking into her new eyes, cobalt blue with tiny white stars around the pupil.
“What happened? I only just saw you…” She asked grabbing a chair and swinging it around so she could sit down.
“Nothing, they are the reason I’m here.” He said nonchalantly.
“Come again?” She asked now moving her hair behind her ears.
“Well, we had a little bit of a misunderstanding while I was heading back to Camp Rock and well…”
“You’re hand? Did a guitar…”
“No, it’s nothing with my hand Emma calm down, it’s more to do with the plant life.”
Joe told Lily of the story, while the nurse came over and checked his glands under his neck.
“Well Joe, you are free to go, I don’t see anything that would suggest a rare case of allergies but at least come back in a few days so I can check your hand.” The nurse said tapping Joe on the knee and pushing the door to the nurse’s office open.
Lily gave her hand to Joe as he rose to go outside, she had almost forgotten about the schedule, as Joe grabbed it out of her grip.
“Did they make a mistake or are you….”
“Supposed to be in that class and teach it at the same time, yeah? What am I going to do?”
“Awkward!” Joe said laughing it off and than noticing Lily’s cheeks began to turn pink. “Look we don’t need to tell the administration of the camp who you really are, all they know is that Lily is a student, and Emma is a pop star who also happens to be an instructor. Your friend who is the cook here is the only person that knows about who you really are besides me and you. We’ll make it work, I have your back!” Joe said thoughtfully and looking down at Lily’s guitar pick necklace, a symbol of friendship.
On Tuesday afternoon Lily double checked that she had everything for her first day of classes since everybody had arrived on a Monday, classes were due to start today, both teaching and instructing. She had her lesson plans and camp instructors guide in her zipped sling backpack which now lay on the bunk bed with her wig and contact lenses next to it. She had her glasses on her face, and her hair was in a half-pony tail, she wore a hunter green sweatshirt with tiny stars, and a white tank top with a medium silver star on the bottom, she also had tan Capri’s that went down to mid-calf. Pushing her feet into her flip flops, and grabbing her mesh tote bag she was ready for the day. She walked silently to the classrooms down the hill from the courtyard. Her guitar pick necklace flopped around as she descended downward, a chipmunk curiously picked up an acorn and scattered away. Pinecones were scattered along, her foot kicked it along the path as she crawled to a stop. She could see a bunch of students gathering near the flagpole, she kept walking picking up a few words along the way towards the door of classroom 29.
“So Bridge how many concerts are you going to do when you get back home?”
“Well Ginger not many, I like small venues so my godfather is going to be looking into it.”
“Yeah but your record should be out soon, right?” A tall lanky teenager said.
“Of course Zack, but we have to wait and see, we’ll you know what happened to my godfather, so we are all just waiting. But hello! Why wouldn’t the court allow him to operate under the same record label, it was rightfully his once that old man died.” She snickered.
The instructor had given reading instructions thirty minutes ago; Lily was done in fifteen minutes. She was too worried to re-read the passage over, and she was the only person that was done. She looked up, down a few rows back she could see a girl with blonde hair and dark undertones turning the page and glancing at the white board ahead. Lily pushed her book across the desk, making the girl look at her to see where the noise came from. Lily smiled nicely, and waited for a response, the girl almost peeked out a grin before turning it into an upside down smile. Lowering her eyes she blew a bubble with her gum in her mouth, letting out a sharp snap. Lily lowered her eyes to the desk, thinking that the girl had no right to just snap her gum at her, she was nervous enough that in a few hours she would have to instruct students for her first class, her heart seem to burn a hole of anxiety right through her chest. That girl’s cold gray eyes seemed so unfriendly it reminded her of her past. Clicking her pen she laid her head down on the open book and almost closed them before seeing the faint outline of Nick’s message to her one night, Take a Breath. She could still see the words etched across, she pressed the pen on her skin. As she inked her arm she could almost feel a shift in weight, easing her situation slightly. The newly applied ink message lay untouched as she wafted in the inky scent.
“Alright you guys, that’s thirty minutes, if you have not finished reading stay in here and finish up I’m going to give you all a twenty minute break!” The instructor called from the head of the class. Lily slammed the book shut and headed outside, she felt lonely standing by herself, until she say Joe sitting down near a tree with his brother Nick. She didn’t know if she should walk up them, but than Joe began waving his hand back and forth.
“Lily! Hey how was your first day of classes? Nick this is Lily she’s a student at the camp.”
Reaching her hand out to shake her best friend’s hand she thought that Nick would have called her out, but Nick was trying to figure out what was going on.
“Lily? That’s funny I have a best friend named Lily back where I live.”
“Small world isn’t it?” She inquired and than sat down on the side where Joe sat. She lowered her body down the tree trying to obscure herself behind him.
Nick noticed she was rather shy, but he just couldn’t fit the puzzle pieces in the right frame of mind. He started to feel cramping in his legs and thighs, he hadn’t refilled his insulin for a while and he could tell the alarm was going to be going off soon, to save himself from making a scene in front of his new friend, he got up.
“Joe, I’m going to head back to the room but I’ll meet up with you around here alright?” Nick said casually.
“Nick?” He nodded observing Nick’s hand squeezing the back of his leg. “Meet you back here!”
Nick walked off, leaving Lily and Joe to discuss what just happened.
“Oh yeah thanks Joe practically give myself away after I told you all that I didn’t make it into the summer camp. It’s not like I have a twin or something!”
“Well, you never know small world isn’t it? Blonde hair and green eyes!” He said giving Lily a friendly nudge.
The girl that had given Lily a frown in the classroom now walked past her, making eye contact with Joe and fling her arm around, her gum peeked out from her teeth, a swing of her foot created a small dust pile that landed directly on Lily’s toes. Lily dusted the dirt off, as she got up, Joe told her that he would be back around to meet up with her, so that she could figure out if she had everything she needed for her first day of instructing, and Joe would double check.
The bell rang signaling the end of class, Lily took her time out the door. Joe stood off the side counting off heads and than seeing Lily lollygag out the door.
“Hey there Rockstar!” He said as she shuffled a few books from her right to her left hands.
“Hey there Joe!” She said grinning which eased up the rest of the tension that she felt. “Alright so I have everything back in the dorm, except for the textbooks which I n…” She got caught off by the towering figure of a girl who had given her a look before but now standing too close to comfort.
“Hello Joe! I thought you were taller in real life, well you know internet websites don’t do justice. I’m Bridgette!” The girl said giving her hand to Joe who didn’t take it. From the moment she could see Bridgette’s hair, she remembered the eyes that had remembered her of her past, she wasn’t kidding when she knew she had seen this person once before in a small recording studio in East Northumberland.
“Bridge?” She inquired tapping the girl on her shoulder.
“Lily? Is that you? I didn’t see you behind me.” Bridgette remarked.
“Yeah I’m sure you did, it’s not every day you see somebody with unfeeling eyes like yours, and those eyes run in the family just like corruption.” She said shaking a little bit.
“Do you two know each other?” Joe asked stepping back from Bridgette’s towering figure.
“Unfortunately…” Lily began to say.
“My godfather took over her uncle’s business well for lack of a better word left, I mean it was a very wise decision on his part don’t get me wrong, one of his better decisions unlike something that is standing here wearing contacts.”
“I’m not wearing contacts…” Lily’s words tried to say but it only appeared in her head.
Bridgette made a turn to leave feeling triumphant.
“Well bye Joe, it is nice to finally meet you.”
“Pleasure Bridgette I’m sure.”
“See you never Emma!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Do you mind not saying that for the whole world to know?” Joe smacked his voice back at her.
“Why, are you scared that somebody might know her secret?” Bridgette inquired turning back on her heel and standing so that the sunshine hit off her necklace into Lily’s glasses.
“No Bridge because your voice is giving me a headache!” She slammed back fearfully.
“Well a lot of people don’t think my voice is hurtful, but than again you never had a voice to begin with, or never will now that my godfather will be starting up a recording label again.” She said pointing at her golden necklace where on a silver chain lay three blocks of wood each containing one letter, W, T, and R.
“Bridgette what does your necklace stand for?” Joe asked nicely, plastering a grin on his face, Bridgette started to flirt her way back towards Joe.
“Well my godfather gave it me once he took over the business; it is his name, Winsor Taylor Reed.” She said now holding the letters in her hand and smiling at it.
“Oh, I thought it stood for Where Talent Rots!” He said trying to defend Lily.
“Very funny Joe! But if I were you Joe I would think of making other friends like me for example. Unless you want washed up never has been on your sleeve.” She snickered; Lily began to get tears in her eyes but held them back as she stepped back her legs shaking. Nick came up behind his brother glancing at the small circle of people, looking from Bridgette to Lily’s figure watching her life being made fun of. “But than again you can see where true talent is, and it sure doesn’t happen when your relatives think you have talent. Lily you never had talent, or near enough uniqueness to go out and make something of yourself. You’re going to be washed up along the shores long forgotten, and I’m glad my godfather took over because now I can take off where you so sadly missed the mark!”
Putting his arm around Lily’s shoulder as she shifted weight of her books in her arms, Nick was almost cheek to cheek with Bridgette and read to rip her one for almost knocking him with the Wiffle ball before.
“Bridgette, stop it Lily didn’t do anything to you!”