"I know, Lily." I said into the phone. We've been talking the whole plane ride. I was going back home. Yeah, to Tennessee. Lily wasn't coming with us, and neither was Jackson. He actually wanted to stay in college. Yeah, I was surprised, too. He was doing good, and even though I didn't want to admit it, I was kinda proud of him. He wanted to be home, but Dady and I were leaving, so. . .as a going away gift, I bought our old house with some Hannah money and gave it to him. Now he has a piece of us, and we know he'll take care of it. Lily's there to make sure of that. She's living there with him now.
"Yes, I'll call you everyday, Lily. I miss you, too." I said. I looked over at Daddy, who had fallen asleep. "I'll tell you everything that happens, okay? You won't miss a thing, I promise. Oh, we're landing now. Call you when we're moved in. Bye." I hung up and nudged Dad in his side with my elbow. He jolted awake and held up his arms in a surrender.
"I didn't do it, Ma! Earl ate your apple pie, not me! These are cookie crumbs on my face, I swear!" he exclaimed. I sighed and slunk down in my seat. I felt a few pairs pof extra eyes on us.
"You were dreaming, Daddy." I muttered. "We're at the airport now." Dad mouthed an "oh" and cleared his throat.
"Sorry, Darlin." he apologized. "Guess I couldn't stop dreamin' 'bout your Mamaw's apple pie. Yeeeaa dawgies that's some southern eatin right there!" I felt more curious glances directed our way and slunk down even further. It's official: He's the most embarassing parent on and off the Earth now.
.oOo.
Okay, so we're here, standing in front of th house. I'm really proud of my Dad. This house is nice, and the inside is even nicer. He furnished the place himself and. . . it's awesome! (A/N: It's the house from Hannah Montana Forever, but Miley's room doesn't suck XD) I thought my room would be all pink and frilly and stuff, but it's soooo cool. I gotta give my dad props on this one.
"Now comes the hard part." Dad said, appearing beside me. "Moving all your stuff inside." I crossed my arms and huffed.
"I don't have that much stuff." I protested. Dad chuckled and shook his head.
"You took up half the moving van." he laughed. "And we had my stuff, the guitars, the piano, the Hannah stuff, Blue Jean's stuff, old pictures, and everything else in there." When he mentioned Blue Jeans, I remembered we had a ranch outside.
"Dad, I'll be back in a minute, okay?" I said, going out the back and onto the ranch. I saw a vast green pasture, closed in by a white wooden fence. It stretched from the far left side of our house, which hosted a horse stable and small chicken coop, to the far, far right of our neighbor's house. There was a white fence in the middle, dividing the space evenly between the two houses, but there was a big gate in the fence to join the spaces. I stepped out for a better look and stopped at the dividing gate. I heard the unmistakable sound of padded galloping and knew a horse was nearby. I turned to see a strong black horse, being ridden by a teenage girl wearing a white tank top, ripped jeans, and a black cowgirl hat. The hat, sitting ontop of beautiful, long black hair, covered the girl's face. I found myself leaning on the fence, watching her and her horse. They were flying around the pen.
"Aw, come on, Holly!" the girl laughed, leaning forward and patting her horse's neck. The wind blew her hat back a bit and I saw her smiling. "I know you can go faster than that. Justin and Kidd could catch up to you. Kidd! And Justin for crying out lou-" The horse, Holly, apparently took this as an insult, because she shook her head and huffed. She went even faster and the girl riding her had to hold onto the reigns tighter.
"See! There you go, you proved me wrong. That's my girl!" she laughed. "Now, slow down before you kill me, Holly." With a neigh, Holly ran even faster and began taking some sharp turns. The girl struggled to hold on and started stuttering.
"H-Holly, I'm serious. Y-You're gonna kill me."
Holly, apparently satisfied with herself, slowed to a stop and flicked her tail proudly. The girl tipped her hat up and I felt my heart skip a beat. I could see her face clearly for the first time. She was . . .wow. She was just . . .oh wow. I've seen pretty girls before and I've dated a few of 'em back in Malibu, but she's in a whole other league. She dismounted her horse and walked right in front of it. Holly leaned her head down and the girl lightly kissed the horse's cheek. I heard another neigh, but it didn't come from the black horse. A chesnut brown horse, ridden by a teenage boy with black hair just as dark as the girl's, came out of nowhere and circled them excitedly.
"Justin, what's up?" the girl asked. "You're drivin' Kidd like you've got your panties in a twist." Holly lifted her head and the other horse stopped beside her. Justin frowned and dismounted Kidd.
"My briefs are not in a twist, Mikayla." he huffed. "We've got new neighbors! They're the Stewarts. Dad's talking to Mr. Stewart right now. He's at the front door." Mikayla shrugged and mounted her horse again.
"And?" she frowned. Justin walked over to her and smiled.
"They bought the place next to us, Mikayla."
"I repeat: And?" She stared down at Justin and he put his hands on his hips.
"I heard he's got a daughter. And, uh, she's your age." he tried.
"Couldn't care less." Mikayla smirked. Well, ouch. Justin crossed his arms and sighed.
"Come on, be nice. She's the new kid in town." he said. "She'll probably need someone to show her around. She's a city girl and-"
"Ugh, not another one." Mikayla muttered. She rode off and Justin threw his arms up in defeat.
"Always so difficult, Mikayla!" he yelled. "Would it kill you to just pop in for five seconds and say hello?"
"Yep!" she yelled back. I turned around and jogged back into the house. I stopped in the kitchen when I heard the front door open. Daddy was standing in the doorway, motioning to some stranger to come inside.
"Miley, come here." Daddy said, walking in. "I want you to meet somebody." I padded over obediently and stood beside him.
"Yes, Daddy?" I said. He patted the stranger on the shoulder and grinned.
"This Mr. Russo." he said. Mr. Russo shook his head and chuckled warmly.
"No, Miley, just call me Jerry." he said. He looked me over once. "Wow, you've really grown. The last time I saw you, you were sittin' on your daddy's shoulders pointing at the cows on your Mamaw's farm." Wait, he knows me? I don't remember him. . . Daddy laughed at the confused look on my face.
"Jerry's my best friend. We grew up together." he said. "He and his family stayed here in Tennessee while we moved to Malibu. He's got three kids-" He turned to Mr. Russo. "Right?" Mr. Russo nodded proudly.
"Yep. Two boys, Justin and Max, and one girl, Mikayla. They're a handful, but we love 'em. My wife's at home, trying to get Max away from his chickens. . ." Chickens? "And Justin's working on getting Mikayla over here. She's kinda. . . well, she's. . . she's. . ." He sighed before he started again. "She's just Mikayla. I know that doesn't make sense now, but trust me, it will later. You're gonna be seeing a lot of her. You, her, and the boys are going to Mountaintop High just down the road. . . even though she doesn't really like school. . . oh, and she's always in the back, riding her horse, Holly, so more than likely, you'll be around her lots." He cleared his throat and added nervously, "She um, doesn't go out much. Stays at the ranch all day." I don't know if that was supposed to be good or bad, but I whatever. I don't really care right now.
"Do you think Mikayla could show me around sometime?" I asked. I wanted to get to know her. I wanted her to like me. Well, maybe not like me, but at least not hate me. She's never even met me. . .
"That's a good idea." Mr. Russo nodded. He turned to my father. "Hey, we're grilling up a couple ribs tonight. We'd love it if you two paid us a visit and mingled with the family for a while. What do you say? You wanna-"
"You had me at ribs, Jerry." Dad laughed, giving Mr. Russo a hearty pat on the back. "We'd be honored if you'd have us."
"Thought so. You could never say no to ribs." Mr. Russo chuckled. "Dinner's at 6:00. We'll come and walk you over to the house."
"But you're right next door." I said, confused. "I've never been led anywhere that was literally right ouside the front door." Mr. Russo smiled again and gave me a nod.
"Yeah, but it's just different down here in Tennessee, Miley." Mr. Russo said. "We're people people. And we love little moments, blink-of-an-eye-and-you'd-miss-it-but-will stay-with-you-forever-if-you-caught-it moments. We make those moments. And we're a little old fashioned, sure, but-"
"An oldie's a goodie." my Dad piped in. Mr. Russo nodded in agreement and started towards the door.
"I should get goin' now, but it was nice talkin' to ya." he said. "See you tonight." Dad and I chorused a "goodbye" and the man left.
"Hey, Miles? Go get the rest of your stuff up to your room." he said. "I promise you, after you eat Jerry and Theresa's cooking, you'll be too stuffed to move. Try getting all that heavy stuff up a flight of stairs! Why, I remember one time-" Oh crap, story time.
"Okay, gotta go move those boxes!" I said, grabbing a random one and flying up the stairs. I don't even think it was mine, but oh well. I walked into my room and placed the box on my bed. I looked out the window and smiled at what I saw. The Russo house wasn't that close to us, but it wasn't that far away, either. There was a big window on the top floor of their house, right across from mine. I couldn't help but notice Mikayla, resting on her bed, lying on her stomach and writing something in a notebook with a red pen. She stopped writing and chewed on the end of her pen briefly before dropping it and looking up. Her beautiful brown eyes met mine and I know there was a stupid, goofy grin on my face. I had no idea one look could do that to me. She stared back at me, slowly making her way into a sitting position. She tilted her head to the right slightly and I swear I saw a smile flicker onto her face. Well, hello, Tennessee. Miley Stewart is officially home. I could really get used to this. . .
And Chapter I is up! :) Yeah, it's another Mikiley story (so sue me, I LOVE it!) For some reason, Mikayla doesn't like Miley. Will dinner change everything? Max+Chickens=? Does Mikayla have a real REASON for shrugging Miley off before she even met her? Will Robbie Ray become so stuffed that he explodes? Will I ever stop making random things that come to me at night into Fanfics? (no, lol) You will see, but only IF I get reviews. Thanks for reading! Luv ya :)