Full Summary: Lilly Truscott avoids every memory she has of everything that she did before her junior year of high school, with few exceptions, because almost everything she did had to do with her. The one thing she doesn't avoid is art, the one thing that gave her refuge in a time of trouble. Going into her junior year, she plans on keeping to herself and her art, as usual, with the exception of her best friend, Oliver Oaken, the school's source of gossip. That is, until she sees the girl who moved in just down the street. Who is this girl? Why does she seem so afraid of people finding out about her past? And why is Lilly so attracted to her?
It was the first day of school Lilly's junior year of high school. She skateboarded down the sidewalk, passing a house that had a SOLD sign in the front yard and several moving vans parked in front of the house and in the driveway. Glancing up from the sidewalk, Lilly noticed a girl her age walking out to a silver Porsche.
The girl stood in her driveway, book bag slung over her shoulder as she stared at Lilly. She was wearing what looked like designer clothes that were made to look like they were old: a pair of ripped jeans, layered graphic tees, and a pair of converse sneakers. Lilly looked away as their eyes met and sped up, leaving her staring after her.
Her eyes stayed in Lilly's mind all the way to school. They were a light brown color, almost an amber. It was disturbing for her how she remembered what her eyes looked like after they had connected for a span of three seconds. They were different from anyone else's eyes she had ever seen. While everyone stared at her disgustedly, almost accusingly, her eyes were curious and… sad. As if she had just endured a great hardship and she was still recovering form it.
She shook her head, clearing her mind as she reached Seaview High School. Her best friend, Oliver Oaken, was leaning against his car, an old Mustang he had managed to get for only a few hundred dollars the year before. He waved to Lilly when he saw her and she picked up her board, pushing her way through the crowd of students that was heading into the school. Grinning, he fist-bumped her hand and gestured to his car.
"Do you like the paint job?" he asked, and Lilly noticed that it had been painted black over the rusty red it had been two weeks before. "I finally got enough money to get a good paint job. As soon as I get my paycheck next week, I'll be able to replace a few parts in the engine and she'll run as smoothly as if she had been bought brand new!"
"It looks good!" Lilly said, dropping her skateboard on the ground and starting to do a few tricks out of boredom. "Hey, um, do you know about any new kids this year? Did you see anyone touring the school when you were here last week?"
"Yeah, 'course I did," Oliver said indifferently.
"But I need… there's this girl, she just moved her, right onto Grandview Road," Lilly said.
Oliver looked up at her curiously. "This one different?" he asked sharply. "Lilly, you have to be careful. Remember what happened last time? She…"
"Yes, I know, I know," she said impatiently. "She really was different, though. I could see it, Oliver! She had wavy brown hair, brown eyes, thin, a little taller than me. Did you see her? Do you know who she is?"
"Did she look like that?" Oliver asked, pointing at a very familiar silver Porsche that was pulling into the parking lot. The girl was sitting in the passenger's seat while a boy pulled up in front of the school, dropping her off. She rolled her eyes as he said something, gave him a hug, and got out of the car, glancing up at the sign for the school before heading into the building.
"Yeah, her," Lilly whispered, following her with her eyes.
"That, my dear Lillian Truscott, is Miley Stewart, seventeen years old, junior year, and coincidentally, in our homeroom," Oliver said, smiling at Lilly. "She moved from Nashville, Tennessee this year after something disastrous happened or something like that. The boy who dropped her off was her brother, Jackson Stewart, twenty-one years old and going to Pepperdine University for biochemistry."
"What else do you know about her?" Lilly asked as she picked up her skateboard and headed towards the entrance of the school with him by her side.
"Um, she's in our homeroom, but I already said that," Oliver said, scrunching his eyebrows together. "She got straight A's in all of her classes at her old school, most of her family lives back in Nashville with the exception of someone who lives in Washington state, I don't know who. She wants to go into law when she graduates from high school. She said a lawyer, but she doesn't know what type she wants to be."
Lilly nodded appreciatively. He knew everything about everyone in their school and it was common for people to go to him for gossip to spread around the school in revenge. He always managed to be in the right place at the right time to hear information on people. Lilly helped him get information, as well, because people ignored her and even forget she was there.
"It sounds like you got a private interview with her," Lilly said. "See if you can find out anything else about her. If she's, um, you know. That would be helpful. I'm gonna try to be friends with her. She looks like a nice person and I don't want her to get caught up with the wrong group of people, namely Amber and Ashley."
"She isn't the type of person to get caught up with them," Oliver said immediately, heading over to his locker and throwing his book bag inside. Lilly opened her own locker, throwing her skateboard inside and slamming it closed again. "She said that she would stay away from social groups and try to stay out of trouble. It seems like she's the type of person who likes to keep in the shadows. Just your type of girl, Lilly. But you're sounding kind of manipulative, you know? You shouldn't mess around with her if you aren't going to honestly be friends with her if she doesn't like you."
"I know, Oliver, okay?" Lilly said angrily. "I went through all that, remember? I would never do that to someone else, especially her, okay? Are you happy?"
He backed away a little, putting his hands in the air in surrender. "Okay, okay, just making sure. Hey, there's Brittany, I'm gonna go say hello and escort her to homeroom, okay? I'll see if I can find anything else. Are you going to be okay without me here or do you want to come with me?"
Lilly could tell Oliver wanted to be alone with Brittany, his girlfriend of seven months, so she just waved him away. "Go say hi and give her a kissy face," she said. "I'll be fine." She watched as Oliver pushed his way towards Brittany and kissed her lightly on the cheek, making her smile. It would have comforted Lilly to have Oliver be with her the whole first day considering her past with first days of school, but she could survive without him for fifteen minutes.
"Hey, Lilly, where's your girlfriend?" someone called out only a few seconds after Oliver disappeared from sight. "I heard she moved away because she thought you were so disgusting. What did you do to her? Are you really Medusa underneath that mask you're wearing?"
Clenching her teeth and her fists, Lilly moved down the hall, ignoring the comments. This was why she didn't want to be alone. People were afraid to make mean comments to her when Oliver was around because he could spread gossip like wildfire considering all he knew. But once he was out of hearing range, the teasing commenced because everyone knew that Lilly wouldn't run to Oliver complaining about what they said. She was too proud to do something like that.
The comments continued as she walked down the hall, so she slipped into her homeroom, grateful for the silence that reigned in the classroom of Miss Burbidge. The teacher could be mean, but that's why Lilly liked her so much. No one hung around in her homeroom for longer than they had to, so there was often no one there. Lilly headed to the side of the room by the windows, dumping her book bag on the ground and collapsing in her seat.
"Miss Truscott how was your summer?" Miss Burbidge asked, looking up from her writing. "I trust it was enjoyable."
Lilly didn't say anything. When Miss Burbidge talked to you, you didn't answer because all of her questions were rhetorical unless she told you to answer them. She looked warily at the teacher, knowing that if she talked to you, she had an alternate intention.
"I was wondering if you would show Miss Stewart around today," Miss Burbidge continued, gesturing to Miley Stewart, the girl Lilly and Oliver had been talking about earlier. She stepped towards Lilly and away from Miss Burbidge's desk. "She's new to the school, and although she has already been given a tour, I'm sure it would be comforting for a veteran to show her around, don't you think? I've already looked at your class schedules and you have the same classes both days. It seems you both have the same interests. Miley, this is Lilly, and Lilly, this is Miley."
Miley smiled tentatively at Lilly, who smiled back at her. "I'm Lilly," she said, holding out her hand and shaking Miley's hand. "My full name is Lillian Truscott, but everyone calls me Lilly."
"Miley Stewart," the brunette said, shyly looking away.
"So this is your first year here?" Lilly asked, motioning for Miley to sit down at the desk next to her.
"Yeah, my family just moved from Tennessee last week," Miley said. "My dad wanted to make sure I was here for school and he didn't want me to start my first day with jet lag. We just moved onto Grandview Road. Wait, you're the girl who skateboarded past my house this morning, aren't you?"
"That's me," Lilly said, nodding. "I don't have a car and I don't really like to ask for a ride to school everyday, so I just skateboard to school. You're the girl with the Porsche, aren't you?"
"It's my dad's, but he's letting my brother use it to drive to Pepperdine," Miley said. "He's going for biochemistry. I'm surprised he even got in."
"So did you move to be close to him or did you just want the city experience?" Lilly asked. "I mean, we're right by Los Angeles, so you can get the full Hollywood, celebrity, and movie star experience on a normal weekend to go shopping."
Miley looked away, clearly uncomfortable, and Lilly was afraid that she had insulted her. "Actually, um, we moved because there was some stuff that happened back in Tennessee and my dad thought a change of scene would do me good," Miley whispered after a moment. "He's hoping that moving to the city will help."
"Sorry if I'm being pushy," Lilly said.
"No, it's fine," Miley said. "It's just… it isn't something I really like to talk about. I'm not really used to having people talk to me and stuff, so I guess you could say I'm a little socially awkward. I don't really like taking the spotlight."
The bell rang and kids started filing into the classroom. Oliver spotted them and sat down behind Lilly, dumping his book bag on his desk. He looked at Lilly with raised eyebrows and glanced over at Miley.
"Oh, yeah, Miley, this is Oliver Oaken, Oliver, this is Miley Stewart," Lilly said, introducing them to each other. "Oliver, I'm going to be showing Miley around for the next couple days. Miley, Oliver is the kid who knows everything that's going on in this school. If you want to know something about someone, just go to him and he can hook you up. It can come in handy sometimes, let me tell you."
"Nice to meet you," Oliver said, grinning at her. "And don't listen to a thing Lilly says. I don't know everything about everyone. Just most of it."
Miley's eyes widened as he laughed and Lilly turned around and glared at him, cutting his laughing off instantly. "Don't worry," she said to Miley. "He doesn't try to dig stuff up on anyone. It's just… he hears a lot of stuff that he isn't supposed to. If you stick to the shadows, a lot of people talk like you aren't there. And he won't start dishing out information on you if you don't want him to."
"You have to pay…" Oliver started, but immediately stopped when Lilly glared at him again. "I mean, um, you're Lilly's friend, so you're my friend, and I don't dish out stuff about my friends, you know? Besides, if you stay out of certain people's ways, then people won't be coming to me for info on you, anyways."
The second bell rang and Miss Burbidge stood up, clearing her throat for the class to quiet down. Lilly ignored her, still facing Oliver. "And if any information makes it out of your mouth to anyone except for me without my express permission, I will make sure that you pay for it," she growled, turning around to face the front of the classroom as Miss Burbidge started to call out names for attendance and handed out class schedules.
Announcements came on over the intercom and the dismissal bell rang, signaling that everyone could go to their first class. Lilly and Miley stood up together as Oliver muttered things about his class schedule.
"I don't get why I couldn't get the same classes as you two," Oliver complained as they walked down the hall. "And I heard Mr. Coleridge for calculus is horrible. You guys both have Mrs. Van Hogan and she's supposed to be the best. Although one of the seniors last year, Kelly Santiago, failed out…"
"Oliver, I honestly don't care," Lilly said, noticing that Miley was starting to get uncomfortable. "First of all, she's already graduated and probably took the summer course, and second, I really am not in the mood for gossip right now, okay? Hey Miley, we're going to be passing the cafeteria on the way to art class, do you want to stop by real quick and check it out or just go straight to class?"
Miley looked surprised that Lilly was giving her choices. "Um, I kind of took the tour last week, so I know where the major stuff is, I just don't know where the classrooms are."
"Okay," Lilly said brightly, shrugging as they bypassed the cafeteria. "We'll be early for class, then, and I can introduce you to Mr. Freidovsky. And Oliver'll have time to say hello to Brittany again. Not that he hasn't already said hello to her enough this morning."
"You just don't understand because you aren't dating," Oliver said grumpily, stuffing his schedule in his pocket. "It's like she's the only one in the universe besides me and…"
Lilly rolled her eyes. "You can just ignore him now," she said to Miley, who seemed to be paying strict attention to him. "He'll get distracted by something he hears soon enough. That always happens. Either that or he'll see Brittany and run halfway down the hall to come to a stop in front of her and just start stuttering." She smiled at Miley who smiled back at her tentatively and looked down at the ground. "Hey, am I talking too much?"
"No," Miley said quickly. "It's just… I'm not really used to this whole thing. My school back in Tennessee was a lot smaller than this, and there wasn't as much drive to bring other people down with gossip and stuff."
"Oliver is a good guy," Lilly said, turning into Mr. Freidovsky's art classroom and sitting down at one of the tables. "It's just… that's how he makes most of his money, by people paying him for information on other people or paying him to keep quiet about certain things about themselves and their friends. He has a job at a car repair shop, but he doesn't make much."
"Would he… ever tell anything about me?" Miley asked, sitting down hesitantly.
"No, not unless you told him to," Lilly said. "Besides, people aren't willing to spend money to find out about the new girl, no offense. They'll only spend money if you've done something to them or if you're really getting on their nerves. Just try not to look like a know-it-all, stay out of the popular girls' way, and you'll be fine."
The bell rang and everyone took a seat, staring expectantly at Mr. Freidovsky, who was sitting at his desk sketching in a sketchpad. He looked up after ten minutes, a surprised expression on his face. "Is it class time already?" he asked, looking at his watch. "Well, welcome to art class then and I'll just assume everyone is here. What we're going to be doing today is seeing what you have in you. If you have something that you want to draw, paint, or sculpt, go ahead and do it. And if you need an idea, just come and ask me, or one of the veterans. They'll point themselves out to you, I'm sure. Well, supplies are over there, you have an hour, so get started."
Miley looked helplessly at Lilly, who was already standing up to go get supplies. "If you don't have any inspiration, just take something from your life and use that," Lilly said. "Like… you could use your move, for example. Just paint, draw, or sculpt what you feel and you'll do fine. As long as you try and don't draw stick figures, you'll be good, okay?"
She headed over to the supplies, grabbing a sketchpad, some graphite pencils, and some good colored pencils, and sat down to start working. Miley took her example, watching Lilly for a few moments before starting herself. The front of the classroom quieted down because that was where the more serious students worked, while the back of the classroom was filled with laughter and talking.
Forty-five minutes passed and Mr. Freidovsky gave the fifteen-minute warning, telling everyone with paints and clay to start cleaning up and those who were drawing to start wrapping up their pieces. He then walked around the room, viewing everyone's artwork, giving pointers here and there, complimenting some people, and just shaking his head at other people.
He came to Lilly and Miley's table last, looking at Lilly's drawing first. It was a rough sketch of a cat staring out of the page, its brown eyes piercing whoever looked at it. Mr. Freidovsky studied it for several minutes before nodding approvingly at Lilly. "I assume you're going to try and finish it before next class," he said. "You can go ahead and take the good pencils in the supply closet like you usually do. And don't even pretend that you don't, Miss Truscott, because I caught you sneaking out with them the last week of classes last year."
"Thanks Mr. Freidovsky," Lilly said, blushing as she took the sketchpad back from him. "I have a couple pieces at home that I want to show you, too. I've been working on my drawing and painting skills over the summer like you told me to and I think it's really working."
"Good, good," he said, nodding approvingly. He then turned to Miley. "And you are…?"
"Miley Stewart," Miley said shyly, handing her sketchpad to him as he extended his hand to take it. "I messed up on that bit with the green; I thought I was using a different pencil…"
"You never mess up in art," Mr. Freidovsky said. "It's all meant to be." He was quiet as he studied her drawing, his eyebrows rising so high that they almost disappeared into his hairline. Lilly smiled encouragingly at Miley, who was getting nervous.
"Don't worry," Lilly whispered. "The longer he takes at looking at your art, the better it is. And this it's really good that he's looking this long at your first art piece."
He finally set the sketchpad down at the table and Lilly gasped in astonishment when she saw Miley's drawing. It was an intricate drawing of a dead tree being struck by lightning and surrounded by gray dirt, which gradually grew brown as it got farther way from the tree and sprouting grass at the edge of the page. The part Miley had pointed out that she had messed up on was a branch of the tree at the top that sported a few green leaves.
"This is really good," he said. "It symbolizes, for me, someone going through a hardship and is surrounded by even more hardship, but they can just see the edges of happiness. And while they seem like they've been beaten down to the point where they can't fight anymore, they still have a small amount of hope in them. Just enough to keep living. That's what that small amount of green is at the top of the tree. Why don't you go ahead and sign and date it. Keep the sketchpad, and Lilly, when you get those pencils, give a set to Miss Stewart here as well."
Lilly nodded and turned to Miley as Mr. Freidovsky walked away. "This drawing is amazing!" she exclaimed quietly. "Did you take drawing classes before this or something? Because you're absolutely amazing!"
"What was with his interpretation thing?" Miley whispered, glancing over at Mr. Freidovsky.
"He does that with a lot of people's artwork," Lilly said, shrugging. "It isn't unusual. It's his way of telling you that he really likes what you've done and that you should continue doing it. If you have time tonight, I would seriously take some time and go somewhere quiet and just sketch or something. That's what I do every night."
"Okay," Miley said quietly, standing up as the bell rang. "Um, where are these colored pencils that he was talking about?"
"Here, I'll get them," Lilly said, going into the supply closet. Someone walked up behind her and touched her on the shoulder, making her jump. She turned around to see Mr. Freidovsky standing behind her looking at her gravely. "Look, I'm sorry about the colored pencils last year," Lilly said quickly.
"This isn't about that," he said. "It's just… your new friend has a lot of emotional turmoil within her, I can tell by looking at her. She seems like she's a quiet girl, but she has a lot going on inside of her. I have a feeling that this school will break her if someone isn't there to help her out. With some of the students here… they won't be very kind. Do me a favor and watch out for her until she gets used to it here and sorts things out, okay? I would hate to have a girl with her skill go to waste because some kids were being mean to her."
"Sure thing, Mr. Freidovsky," Lilly said, grabbing the two packs of pencils. "I was planning on sticking really close to her the first couple days, anyways, and she seems like a nice person so far. I'll do as you say. And do you mind if I grab a paint set, too? I don't have enough money to get some from the store and I have the canvases all set up at home, too. There's this idea that's been bugging me…"
"Go ahead," he said gently. "And tell Mister Oaken I said hello. I notice that he hasn't enrolled for class with me this year."
"He got Miss Smith this year," Lilly explained, emerging from the closet. "He was really upset; ranting all over the places about how he didn't get the teachers he wanted. I'll tell him for you. Thanks for the pencils and paint."
She headed over to Miley and handed her the pencil set, both of them heading out of the classroom. Lilly was surprised to see Miley pull out the sketchpad and stare at her drawing before the bell in the next class. This girl was a lot more complicated than she had suspected her to be.
I promised you guys that I was going to start another story, so here it is. I know, surprising that I posted it so quickly. Well, I'll probably get the next chapter up in the New Year. I'm going out of town and probably won't have internet access. I'll see what I can do, but I won't promise anything. REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!! Thanks!
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