Just A Girl

With her wavy brown locks, tan cowgirl hat and sparkling blue eyes, Miley Stewart was easy to spot in a crowd. Everybody knew her, everybody loved her. Well, except for a couple select few.

Twirling her leather satchel lightly around her fingers, she skipped through the crowd, tipping her ten-gallon hat when someone greeted her. Lost in her own thoughts, she knocked heads with someone, sending them both to the ground.

"Oh, goodness!" The brunette cried out. She reached her muck-covered hand down and helped the other girl up, "So sorry, Ma'am!"

"No, no." The girl muttered, gagging at the sight of her ruined outfit, "I'm perfectly fine."

Sighing with relief, Miley smiled and held her hand out, "I'm Miley Stewart."

"Lilly Truscott." The blonde introduced, grabbing hold of the girl's index finger and shaking it awkwardly. Noticing the man and woman beside Lilly, the brunette offered her hand, "Y'all must be Lil's folks?"

The woman refused the shake and nodded awkwardly, "Heather."

"Ken." The man introduced, shaking the girl's hand.

"Well, it sure is great havin' new people movin' here. Gives me more people to talk to, which is all fine and dandy. Where's y'alls house?"

"It's um—" Heather began.

"Hey, Miley!" A tall-ish boy ran to the brunette's side. He had shaggy hair, was covered head-to-toe in mud and smelled like fresh manure.

"What'chya needin' boy? I'm tryna greet the new people!" Miley announced, gesturing to the Truscott family.

"Yeah, dandy. I'm Jackson Stewart. Anyway, Miles I can't find the pig slop. Where did ya put it?"

"Why d'ya need that? I just fed Luanne this mornin'."

"This isn't 'bout your pet pig, Miles! You forgot to go to the market yesterday and I was hungrey, so I…"

"You ate Lulu's food? No wonder she hates you, boy!" The brunette slapped his cowboy hat, "I'm goin' to the market now. When I get back, I better not see any of Lu's food missin', or you'll be gettin' it, Jackson."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, now get." The brunette said, pushing him away and laughing as she watched him fall into another fresh pile of manure. Brushing off her hands, Miley turned back around to speak to the Truscott family. Her smile left when she saw they had vanished.

Admittedly a bit sad, she rolled her eyes and walked into the market. The brunette picked up a couple of things for her family as well. Humming to herself, the brunette pushed through the crowd and skipped the rest of the way home.

"Hey, y'all, I'm home!" The girl called out.

"Well hey there, Darlin'!" Miley's father, Robbie Ray Stewart said from the kitchen. She walked over to him and kissed his forehead hello.

"You went shoppin'?"

"Yes're." Miley answered, "Since Jackson started eating Luanne's food again, I figured it was 'bout time to get some new food."

"That reminds me, I saw that boy sniffin' out in the barn earlier."

"Oh, sweet niblets." She got up off her seat and trudged down to the barn, "Jackson, what're ya doin'?"

"Wha…? Me?" Jackson scoffed, "I was just...I was just brushin' Blue Jeans." He said, referring to Miley's pet stallion, "He was lookin' a little funny."

"Really? Ya sure Blue Jeans wasn't lookin' at you funny?" She pushed him out the barn and into the house, "Go ahead and tell Dad I'm goin' out for a ride on my horse. I'll be back 'round lunchtime, alright?"

He nodded and walked inside the ranch. Quickly tacking up her horse, Miley mounted him, and set off. Galloping through the plains, she barely even noticed Lilly watching her from her front porch. A intrigued smile grew on her face as she watched the girl and her horse pull to a stop. The brunette dismounted and leaned up against the milky white horse.

"Hey there, missy." She greeted, removing her hat and exposing her bangs, "What'chya doin' outside on a day like this?"

"Well excuse me if I don't want to be a part of your stupid, country traditions. I'd rather stay inside, thank you very much."

"Suit yourself." Miley responded, mounting her horse.

"What?" The blonde asked, surprised. Coming from a richer part of the US, she had always expected people to plead her to come.

"I ain't gonna try to convince you. If you want to stay cooped inside your house actin' like a chicken, have at it."

"I am not a chicken."

"Sure, you ain't. I'll see you around, Lil." She placed her hat back on her head and galloped away.

The blonde's mouth hung agape. When she had moved here, Lilly assumed that these stupid hillbillies would be waiting on her hand and foot. But all these people treated her so casually it was as if she was one of them.

How ridiculous!

Lillian Truscott was not one of these banjo-strumming, lip-spittin', line dancing people that lived in this ridiculous town. And she told her parents so.

"You're being preposterous, dear. You've only met two people, which I do not want you conversing with by the way."

"Oh, that won't be a problem Mother. I am going to keep a careful distance from everyone in town. Which reminds me, why did we have to move here?"

"I got a spectacular investment opportunity here, you know this already!" Her Father defended.

"Well, why did it have to be here?" Fuming, the blonde stomped into her room, refusing to come out.

Lilly was rudely woken up the next morning to the sound of someone knocking rapidly at her front door. Unfortunately, both of her parents were out this morning so that meant Lilly had to get it.

The pure agony.

Reluctantly, she slipped on some of her casual wear and answered the door. Much to her surprise, it was Miley.

"Mornin' Lil!" The brunette said, a bright smile on her face.

"What are you doing here Miley?"

"The real question is why are you wearing such a fancy getup. You're gonna get hot real fast wearin' that."

The blonde looked down at her light blue dress, it seemed fine to her. Observing the brunette's outfit, she cringed. Gingham top, overalls, brown cowboy boots and a hat to match. Yes, compared to this girl Lilly was much classier.

"Lil?" The brunette waved a hand in front of the blonde's face, "Where you at?"

"Oh, yes, of course...I...I... what are you doing at my house?"

"Invitin' you to the town music festival tonight. It's a real hoot, biggest celebration in town. 'Fact, why don't y'all all come? It would be swell to see the new folks come."

"Well, I'm apologized to say that we're not interested."

"But your folks aren't even home! How would you know if they'd wanna come or not?" The brunette asked, folding her arms across her chest and shifting her weight to her right foot.

"Well, I know my family and I speak for all of us! None of us care about your stupid, banjo-strumming talent show!"

"Uptight Mama's grumpy-ass daughter say what?" The brunette growled angrily.

"Excuse me?"

"No, excuse me for tryin' to be nice to y'all. So, y'know what? Don't show up at all." She shook her head in dismay, then walked away just like she had yesterday. She tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her left ear than rode off.

Lilly's heart sunk. This girl had been so welcoming and nice to her family, and what had the Truscott family do in return? Reject her. Turn her away. They had barley known her for two days and they had treated her like poop.

The blonde shrugged the feeling off. So, the brunette didn't want to see her again, what was it to Lilly? She should've been happy to have the girl out of her hair. But as much as the blonde tried to deny it, she owed it to the girl to attend this 'festival.' No matter how ridiculous it turned out to be.