Sound Off! by James Ponti Page B

about Vibe Cabin needing help.”
    â€œWell,” Caitlyn said, “you know how Tess is really good at singing and dancing and pretty much everything?”
    Mitchie laughed. “Yeah, I kind of noticed that.”
    â€œWell,” Caitlyn said with a shrug, “‘pretty much everything’ doesn’t include Sound Off.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Mitchie asked.
    Caitlyn shrugged. “She’s no good at sports. No good at all.”
    This surprised Mitchie. Tess seemed pretty athletic in dance class, and she certainly was competitive. Mitchie had just assumed she’d be a natural at sports.
    â€œSeriously?”
    â€œSeriously,” Caitlyn confirmed. “And you know Tess doesn’t like to look bad. So the whole day kind of puts her in a grumpy mood.”
    â€œOh.” Mitchie gulped.
    â€œYou might want to get over there and start warming her up,” Caitlyn said. Then she looked at the clock and realized that she was falling further behind. “Now I’m eleven minutes behind schedule!”
    Reaching down, she grabbed the giant Sound Off binder she had been carrying around all week and hurried for the door.
    â€œRelax,” Mitchie told Caitlyn as she left. “It’s a daylong event. I don’t want your brain cramping up by the time we reach the Reggae Row Off.”
    â€œThanks,” Caitlyn said over her shoulder. “I’ll see you out there.”
    As she watched her friend leave, Mitchie felt a pang of guilt. Caitlyn had worked nonstop getting things ready for Sound Off, and Mitchie was kind of dreading the day’s events. Like Tess, Mitchie was not good at sports. And that had always frustrated her.
    If there was a beat, Mitchie could move with perfect precision. But if there was a ball, she seemed to have two left feet. She had been embarrassed on more than one occasion at Camp Rock, and she was pretty sure this day would provide even more opportunities to look silly. On top of it all, she would be dealing with a grumpy and equally uncoordinated Tess.

C HAPTER T WO

    I n all the times that she had eaten at the Mess Hall of Fame, Mitchie had never really paid any attention to the plaques that hung on the wall near the kitchen. They were clustered under a pair of old wooden paddles which had been painted to read CAMP ROCK and SOUND OFF. There was a different plaque for every year since the beginning of camp. Each plaque featured the names of the top three cabins as well as the winners of two individual awards—the Big Enchilada and the Golden Drumstick.
    Mitchie had no idea what either the Big Enchilada or the Golden Drumstick was or how it had anything to do with Sound Off, but she smiled when she saw some familiar names on the plaques. Caitlyn had won the Drumstick, and Shane had won the Big Enchilada during his last year as a camper.
    â€œMy proudest moment.”
    Mitchie turned to find that the pop star— and current camp counselor—Shane Gray had walked up behind her. He was wearing a striped referee’s shirt and had a whistle on a string around his neck. Despite the odd apparel, he looked every inch the pop star—from his dark hair to his brooding eyes.
    â€œWhat was?” she asked.
    â€œWinning the Big Enchilada,” he said as though it had to be incredibly obvious. “As far as I’m concerned, it was right up there with the day Connect Three got our first gold record.”
    â€œWhat’s the Big Enchilada?”
    â€œIt’s the last event of Sound Off,” he said with a big smile. “It’s an obstacle course that runs through the whole camp. It’s beyond crazy.”
    â€œAnd winning that is your proudest moment?” Mitchie teased. She had a hard time believing that the lead singer of one of the hottest bands in the universe could get pumped over an obstacle-course win. Still, ever since she and Shane became friends, he’d been surprising her.