A/N: I felt like it was time for me to start a new Liley story. Hope you enjoy it. Please R&R.

A lot of people consider Miley Stewart to have the perfect life. She's smart, beautiful, funny, charming, sweet, caring, and above all, she's 100% sure of herself. Since she can remember, guys have wanted to be on her arm and by her side. She's got the perfect family and a best friend that would die for her. There was nothing wrong with her life.

Except, of course, that she faked it.

She never felt sure of anything she did. She always felt awkward in group situations. She didn't feel like she was beautiful. She felt like everyone was constantly staring at her. Basically she felt like every other teenager in the world, except no one seemed to realize it.

How do I know all this? Well, you may have guessed it by now, but I'm Miley. I'm 18, I'm a senior, and I live in Southern California with my dad and brother. I really do have a great family. I don't think my dad and I have ever seriously fought. As far as my brother's concerned…well, he's a boy. They're supposed to get on your nerves.

The best friend part is true, too. Oliver really would die for me. He's just about the only boy that doesn't drool when I walk through the halls. He's been there for my highest points, and pulled me out of my lowest. He's a sweetheart, and I sort of wish we were interested in each other.

You may be wondering why I don't consider my life perfect at this point. Well, I've always felt different. Something inside me told me that I wasn't the same as everyone else, but I couldn't pinpoint it. That made it even worse because I couldn't fix it if I didn't know what the problem was in the first place. I couldn't talk to anyone about it, because I didn't really know what we were supposed to talk about, so I kept it to myself.

I just acted like everyone expected me to. I'd walk through the halls with this big smile on my face and a swing in my hips. I'd walk like I owned the place, because that's what everyone thought I should do. It wasn't so hard to fake it most of the time. It was just on those rare days when I felt like everyone could tell I wasn't the same as them. I felt like everyone could see through my mask and tell what was wrong with me, even though I couldn't.

The problem was boys. Boys wanted me, but I just had no interest in them. The boys that went to my school were not impressive…at all. The only boy that even came close to ever getting my attention was Oliver, and even he fell short of the expectations I had subconsciously set in my head. I didn't even know what I wanted, but I knew it wasn't in anyone that was around me in my high school.

Well, I didn't know what I wanted until Lilly Truscott moved into town.

It was just another day in school. I was in math class, just like any other day. I was barely paying attention; I didn't really need to. Math was sort of easy for me. Senior math was the easiest. It's like the administrators just decided at some point that we had all had enough of math at this point, so we got an easy year. At least, that's how it felt to me.

About halfway through class, I heard the door open. I looked up, and saw a girl walking in. She was wearing a t-shirt and board shorts. She had a pair of red Converse on that really didn't match well with her outfit. She didn't have any make-up on and her hair was thrown back in a messy ponytail. I could tell she wasn't dressing to impress like I did almost every morning, but something about her made it to where I couldn't look away. She was so remarkably beautiful, but in the way that most people wouldn't notice. They wouldn't be able to look past the shoes and the clothes to see that she was rather gorgeous.

"Ah," my teacher said. "Class, this is Lilly Truscott. Lilly comes to us from Spokane, Washington. Tell us a little bit about yourself, Lilly."

I could tell that Lilly really hadn't wanted to say anything in front of everyone. She had this look of fear on her face, but she got in front of the class and started speaking.

"Hey, I'm Lilly. I guess the teacher already mentioned that." She giggled to herself, and then continued. "I…um…I don't really know what to say. I didn't wanna move my senior year, and I kinda miss my hometown, but I hope I can adjust here. Everyone seems pretty nice so far."

I could already tell I liked her. She seemed shy and soft spoken, but friendly at the same time. Something about her voice was very…silky. No, that's not the right word. I guess I'd have to go with smooth. Her voice was smooth and relaxing.

"Well, Miss Truscott," our teacher said, "you can sit down wherever you'd like. I think we have a few empty seats available."

Lilly looked around the room for a bit, trying to find where she'd like to sit. Finally, she looked at me, and our eyes locked. She had the most beautiful eyes. They were the kind you could get lost in if you weren't careful. She smiled at me, and I couldn't help smile back. She started walking towards me, and I moved the stuff off of the seat next to me so she could sit down.

"Hi," I said as she sat down. "I'm Miley."

"Nice to meet you, Miley. That's a really pretty name," she said.

"Thanks," I replied, trying not to blush. "How're you liking it here?"

"It's cool, I guess. Different, but cool." She paused for a moment, and looked me up and down. "So, you're not from here, are you?"

"Huh?" I asked in confusion.

"I just mean I heard your accent."

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Yeah, I'm not from here originally, but we moved here when my mom died. My dad figured we needed a fresh start. He probably just felt like there were too many memories where we used to live."

"Oh wow," she said. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to make you bring that up."

"No! It's okay! You didn't know, and I've coped. I mean, you never get over losing your mom, but you deal with it…eventually."

She smiled and grabbed my hand. "She must've been beautiful." I hid my face in my hair to hide my blush. Lilly pulled back. "Sorry, I get carried away sometimes. I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything."

"Don't worry about it. That was…really nice." If anyone else had said it, I would've rolled my eyes, but something about the way she said it had made it seem so sincere.

"So…what exactly are we learning about right now?" Lilly asked.

"Well, we're learning how to balance a checkbook. It's really easy."

"Balancing a checkbook? Isn't that what they teach you in sixth grade?" Lilly giggled. I started giggling, too. Her laugh was infectious.

"Yeah, I know, but it's sort of comprehensive applicable and statistical math. It's not challenging at all."

"Well, when you say it like that, it makes it seem way over my head," Lilly said.

I smiled. "That's just a fancy way of saying it's learning how to make graphs and balance your checkbook."

"Well, if you'd said it that way in the first place, it would've been much simpler." Lilly smiled at me, and got closer so she could see out of my book. I got all these butterflies in my stomach. She was so close.

"Um…are you alright?" she asked.

"Huh?" I was saying that a lot around her.

"You're shaking and kind of breathing heavy. Am I in your personal bubble or something?" she asked.

I hadn't realized that I was shaking or breathing heavy, but when she mentioned it, I did.

"Oh, it's just because it's a little cold. I've gotten used to the California weather."

"Oh yeah. This is cold to you guys. To me, this is spring weather. It's pretty nice." She flashed me another smile, and again, I got butterflies. I figured it was just because I was nervous around Lilly because she was new. I never acted like it, but I was rather shy.

Class finally ended, and I didn't see Lilly again for the rest of the day. I couldn't stop thinking about her, though. Something about her was…different. She was so pretty without trying to be, and she had this confident air about her, but it was like she didn't even realize it was there. She was a genuinely real person, and she intrigued me.

We only had the one class together, and we barely talked. I'd offered to tutor her in math just to get to know her better, but she'd said something along the lines of you'd have to be an idiot to need a tutor in this stuff. She didn't say it in a rude way, and she almost seemed disappointed to turn me down, but that may have just been in my head.

She'd been in town for two weeks, and we'd barely seen each other. She was very quiet, and she always seemed to be writing. She'd take down notes in a journal about almost everything. I guessed she was just the type of person that liked to analyze everything around her. That basically led to us barely saying hi and 'bye to each other.

In any case, I felt like I needed to get to know her better. I just didn't know how.